As Kim went down stairs, she saw her father.

“Dad?”

“Kimmicub… I want you back by eight—no excuses or questions.”

“Yes Dad.”

“And be careful.”

“I will.”

“This doesn’t get you off the hook. Just because we’ve reduced the punishment doesn’t mean it’s gone.”

“I understand.” Kim said, momentarily unable to meet her father’s gaze.

“But…have fun.” He said. Ann waited until Kim had left.

“What was that Russian Commissar act, you softie…I had to talk you out of just cutting it short.”

“I think she’s learned her lesson.”

“I know James. I think she has as well…but you know we can’t cut her a break on this. Not just for us, but for her sake.” Her husband nodded.

“Do you think we should have cracked down on these missions.”

“If I’d known how far it was going to go, yes….but now James? She’s saved literally hundreds of peoples lives… I don’t think we have the right to stop her.” Ann smiled, “Just…help her.”

“Do you think she understands?”

“Better than most of her friends.”

“Good.” James said. “She’s a good kid… Truthfully, I can see her point about Ron. He is old to be in costume.”

“I told her to tell him that—he’ll get the hint. Ron can be oblivious, but he’s never hurt her feelings deliberately.”

“Yeah.” James said and then smiled, “But speaking of that, there’s another matter… and I know you aren’t on duty so you don’t need to worry about the temptation of lying to me about this…”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. The twin's conference is due…and it’s your turn to talk to the teacher.”

“Oh goody.” Ann said, sighing. “This is about the science lab isn’t it…maybe we should amend what I said to Kim. Lying is always wrong except when you’re telling the teacher you just discovered that your two children were actually military cyborgs, so the real ones can’t possibly be held responsible for the damages.” James chuckled and then stopped.

“James?”

“Sorry Ann…you just depressed me.”

“How?”

“We’re probably the only family on the planet where the teacher couldn’t be certain that was a lie…”

“Don’t be depressed, be happy. We’re exceptional.” Ann primly reminded him.

Brilliant! (I noticed a few mistakes, but that's OK. Nobody's perfect! :) ) You should make a sequel about the twins' conference.

Keep up your awesome writing!

Good story.

It made a interesting point about trust.

Very good one-shot about a TV episode's aftermath and a thought provoking examination of how Kim's parents really see her... calling.

Nicely done, Mr. G.

You know, I'd always assumed that the sheer amount of catastrophe that resulted from the lies was the reason for the long grounding. That, and, well, when you think of the kind of parents that would produce someone as Lawful Good as KP, "uptight" is one of the first adjectives that comes to mind...although, now that I think on it, there's no real evidence for it in the series (other than Papa P's determination to keep Kim away from anything male until she's thirty or so...except for Ron...dropped the ball on that one, Dad).

This makes a lot more sense, it's more satisfying, and it fits canon at least as well, so I'm just going to assume that it really happened this way.

BTW, my own thoughts upon seeing that Ep pretty much match MrsDrP's: Kim needs to come right out and say to Ron that she'll have more fun at a costume party than trick-or-treating the entire tri-city area just because that's their "tradition". Thrify (cheap) as he likes to be, the time comes when you have to buy your own damn candy.

Good story. Classic Charles Gray - take canon KP and bend it through a prism of real-world moral and ethical dilemmas, producing something entirely believable that flows seamlessly out of the show (even if it's considerably serious and dark).

Great extrapolation. Have you been channelling two admirals? Somewhat reminiscent of an exchange. "Soul destroying-when you stand among the cheering crowd,with your honor shattered at your feet." Something our modern world is very uncomfortable with, personal honor. I especially like your twist at the end. So James isn't the bad cop he portrays. Sounds like the Drs. P agreed on a strategy for raising prodigals years ago. :) Now what, exactly, did the tweebs do? The mind boggles at the "possibilities". :P

Nice story and good job of laying the ground work for why her parents freaked the way they did. That is a lot of trust to put into your child to allow them to do something like that going around the world and what not. I mean even the smallest lie will seem big in those type of circumstances.

An excellent story and a believable look into Kim;s family life beyond the morning cup of coffee.

Once again - you start a seemingly harmless subject, but intensify the plot by putting a quite new quality to the issue, transcending a Disney fanfiction story into essential questions of today's real world - confronting us with them: how would I answer it?

"On one side, you’ll have rewards and applause and people patting you on the back with only the small sound of your broken honor in your ears…and on the other, your…honor, the fact that you didn't lie to yourself, may be the only thing that keeps you warm when everyone around you calls you a traitor and a coward for doing what you knew was right."

That one seems to be a foreboding of developments in "Inside Looking out"

Always a privilege to follow your various stories, I hope you'll find time and inspiration to continue some of your older incomplete plotlines as well!

Very cool job. Excellent interaction between Ann and Kim.

Keep the good writing.

Beautiful piece of work, sir! You've taken one of the TV episodes and expanded on it, giving us some background on the characters of Kim and her parents, along with "the rest of the story." That is, what happens to Kim during her grounding. Not only that, you have the actions and 'voices' of the characters just right, too. I always enjoy a well-written short story that deals with a quiet moment in the characters' lives. Please write more like this one.

Also, I'd like to agree with JAKT in their review, about the Whispering Gallery in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. I was there in 1976, and it was a long climb by staircase to get up there. But once you get there, the way the sound travels around the inside of the dome is positively SPOOKY! You see a friend sitting across the dome from you, and yet their voice is as clear and easy to hear as though they are seated beside you.

LTAOZFAN

"Them's my views, amen, so be it."
"Treasure Island," by R. L. Stevenson

Another wonderful story. You really have thought this one out, like you always do. Nice job with cutting to why Kim's little prevarication was indeed a big deal. As always, the dialog was wonderful.

A sound moral lesson from Mrs. Dr. P, and some strong foreshadowing of plotlines to come -- who could ask for anything more?

Good one, Charles!

Great piece.

MK2

An interesting talk to a daughter about trust and how to re-build it.A little foreshadowing about Ron and how mothers see things before offspring do.