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KP - Countdown : Part XXIII – The Day Arrives at Last
Her dress selection was down to the 'battle of the first dates.' There was the knee-length, semi-backless cream colored dress she had worn on their first 'official' data after their Junior Prom and there was that little black number she wore on their first 'date' ever. Both had their own 'wow' factor. The black dress was short and clung to every curve, while the looser, lighter dress was very slightly sheer in the right light and was actually slightly more revealing. She would have even liked to wear the new pink dress, but that was already packed for their trip the next morning.
Then too, there was the emotions tied to those dresses. The cream dress rarely made an appearance, considering it leaned a touch to the formal side. It was elegant and beautiful, a perfect counterpoint to the way Ron dressed for that night of dining and dancing and kissing.
The black dress, on the other hand, brought back both good and bad memories. The first time she wore it, she tossed a lemonade stand aside like it was made of straw, then body-slammed because the mood-enhancing chip she was wearing was stuck on rage. Then another time she wore it they ended up stranded in a blizzard with it too cold to even enjoy snuggling.
Then again, she was wearing it when Ron achieved one of his greatest triumphs, successfully setting up a booth at the Middleton Days festival that not only raised the money they needed for the Prom, but ensured his place at Middleton College that fall.
The reality of her infamous 'little black dress' was actually all good. It was there when they had the first inkling of a possibility together. It was there on a night they ended up spending together and it was there for the victory. In the end, nothing bad had ever come of her wearing that particular dress.
"I agree." Her Mom said as she reached for it.
Kim turned around. Her mother was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her intently. "How long have you been sitting there?" It was amazing how the woman could be so quiet in high heels. Then again, she wore them almost constantly, unlike Kim, who preferred flats, sneakers and hiking boots, at least until Ron started getting so much taller than her.
"Long enough. Just a couple minutes, really. Honestly, Kimmie, I think the black one is your best choice."
"You think so, Mom? Ron's taking me to this really, really nice place tonight. I mean, it's so nice, he had to call in a favor to get reservations and all. That's why we're doing our dress-up date on Friday instead of Saturday."
Anne smiled knowingly at her child. "Are you sure it's not because the last two Saturday nights have been taken up with birthday dinners, especially since last week it was just Ron and his Dad?"
"Well, that too, plus I have a sneaking suspicion we'll end up eating on the road tomorrow night. I really want to see Amarillo and it'll take all day just getting there."
Her Mom almost sing-songed the next question. "You sure that's not the only reason the two of you are dressing up tonight?"
Kim glanced back at her mother as she rooted through her underwear drawer. "Mom, you're not going to get all weirded out like you did at my birthday, are you?"
They had a nice, long talk about that after the rest of the family got back from church the next day. Kim and Ron were left sleeping in since she had a habit of sleeping late when she was with him. The whole conversation was a little test of wills, with both women dancing around admitting what they knew, then having a good laugh about how clueless Kim's Dad was about the whole affair.
"Kimmie, I think we both know what tonight is really about. That's why Ron's been spending the day with his parents under the pretense he's just going back to his house to get a suit he didn't bring with him when he moved over here. Think back to that day he spent with his father a few weeks back. That was just like when he went to the tailor with his father for the Prom. At your party, I just thought he was going to include the whole family in it, but that was just me being a little selfish. Tonight is for the two of you."
Kim smiled a little and shrugged. "Maybe tonight's just our private little birthday get-together."
"Oh, I'm quite sure of it. I'm willing to bet he's even bringing you your real birthday present as well." She pointed at the little bit of cotton in Kim's hand. "Don't tell me you're wearing that tonight?"
She looked at the cotton bikini brief in her hand. It was pink and trimmed in lace, with a large red heart printed on it. "Too much?"
Anne grinned evilly at her daughter. "More like not enough. Hasn't your friend Monique taught you anything?"
Kim favored her mother with a strange look, then blushed slightly. "I, uh, kind of packed all of those already."
"I see." Her Mom's expression softened a bit as she leaned back slightly on the bed.
Walking behind the changing screen, Kim started getting dressed. "You don't think we're rushing things…I mean, if that's what Ron's planning tonight?"
"I would if it meant you would be coming home from this trip with a new name."
"Mom!"
"Well, there's nothing stopping the two of you from heading down to Vegas. I know you're still too young to gamble, but that city's famous for other things."
"Ew, so not. The thought of marrying Ron in that sleazy…ugh, no way. When I walk down the aisle, it's either going to be at our church or Ron's synagogue. I'm going to be wearing a white dress…"
"White?"
"MOM! There's no reason whatsoever that I can't wear white!"
"Even after this trip?"
"Ach! I swear, everyone around us seems to have a one-track mind about what Ron and me are doing." She zipped the dress and smoothed it over her hips. "Besides, in the modern world a white wedding dress just means it's a first marriage."
"Don't let your Nana or Grams Credible hear you say that. Or even Aunt June for that matter." She warned.
Kim stuck her nose in the air slightly as she sat down at her dresser. "Well, like I said, there's no reason I can't wear a white dress, by any definition. Anyway, we've already talked about this in general terms. Even if he is going to propose, we're not going through with it until…well…for a few years at least. College is going to be tough enough without being married."
"It's not so bad, Kimmie. I was still in Med school when your father and I got married, you know that. Now, it's not like I'm saying you should get married this young, but just think about what your reasons are." Anne frowned slightly. "Are you certain this isn't because you would be permanently 'off-the-market?'"
Kim turned to her mother with deep shock evident on her face. "No way! I'm with Ron for the long haul, for good. It's just…if we're married that means having to deal with a home and having to hold down a job all while doing some of the hardest school work we've ever done. Throw in the chance that, despite our best efforts, I end up pregnant. I know you were in med school when I was born, I know you had to do your residency with a small child. I just want to get through my four years of college first, then Ron and I can settle down and , you know, start a family."
Anne got up and gave her daughter a fierce hug. "Then I think the two of you are doing exactly the right thing, Kimmie."
Just as she was starting to get feeling back in her arms, Kim went back to putting on her face. "It's not really like I'm 'on the market' like you said. As far as I'm concerned, the moment Ron gives me that ring, I'm just as 'off the market' as if we'd already tied the knot."
"That ring? Sounds to me like a certain young woman already knows some things."
"You're not the only one who can put two and two together, Mom."
"Uh huh." The two women shared a look, saying 'I know you know that I know that Ron already has a ring but I'm not saying it out loud so I'm not the one spoiling it' to each other.
Kim slipped on her red bangles and her strappy high heeled sandals. The only difference from the first time she wore the dress was her emerald earrings and her two necklaces. There was no way she wasn't going to wear those tonight. Smiling, she twisted the stone of her promise ring around her fingers a couple times, a gesture that was definitely not lost on her mother.
She knew what was coming tonight and she hated playing her parents this way, but it was something that was going to be just between them for a while, until they could get the whole of both families together to do it officially. She was ninety-five percent sure he was going to give her a ring that night and not wait until sometime during their trip, but she wasn't going to wear it openly just yet. It would be their little secret for a while.
At least she would wear it during the trip itself! Sure, some tabloid photographer might get a shot of it somehow or another, but she would deal with that when the time came. They had already made some hay over the promise ring, prompting Wade to send out a press release that it was not in fact an engagement ring, that she and Ron were just dating.
Just dating was such a weak term for their relationship. Engaged was going to sound so much better.
Anne walked up to the window, looking at her watch. "That's strange, I would have thought he would be here by now."
Kim wasn't worried. "He's probably having a hard time getting away from his Mom. When I was there the other day, she was extra-huggy. She's been that way for a while."
"You two will be right back if the baby comes early, won't you?"
"I'll call in whatever favor I have to, but I'm confident it'll all be okay. The baby isn't due until a couple weeks after we're back."
"You know, it's taken almost fourteen years, but you're finally going to get your wish." Anne said, still staring out at the driveway. Clingy mother or not, it wasn't like Ron to be late when a date with Kim was involved, especially a date like this one. She checked his room earlier. The ring box was gone, and even a more detailed 'Mom' search of the room hadn't turned it up.
"What wish?" Kim tested her weight on the thick-soled footwear. How she managed to chase Ron clear across downtown with them, she didn't have a clue. Maybe that's why she had such a hard time catching him.
"For a little sister." She turned back toward the room. "Though I think you're going to be a lot more like an aunt than anything else."
"I guess. Can you imagine Dad if the Tweebs were girls?"
Anne rolled her eyes. "I don't think he would have survived. We're just lucky he likes Ron so well, and even so, his blood pressure still gets spiked from time to time, like when he realized Ron was with you the morning after your birthday."
"I was wondering about that. He did seem to be giving Ron the hairy eyeball the rest of the day."
Her mother noticed something out of the corner of her eye. "Who do you know that drives a sky blue Mustang?"
"What?" Even though she didn't want to be spotted through her window, Kim rushed up beside her mother. Sure enough, a spankin new cerulean Ford was pulling up to the curb. Her jaw about hit the window sill when Ron climbed out. She knew that car. She knew it all too well.
Buried hatchet or no, what the holy hell was Ron doing getting out of Bonnie Rockwaller's car?
Throwing the notion of yet another grand entrance out the window, Kim raced down the stairs, nearly forgetting the shoes she was wearing and almost ending up on her face in the upstairs hall. Regaining her composure, she hustled down the main staircase, just as her Dad let him in the front door.
Ron came up short when he got in the door and saw Kim there waiting for him. His eyes started at her feet and worked their way up. At first he couldn't tell the difference between the way she looked at that moment and how she looked more than a year earlier. In his mind he knew she was about an inch taller, but that was in her legs and he knew, well, certain parts of her had grown just a little bit, but it was her face that was different.
She was steamed and she had a pretty good idea that Ron had a pretty good idea why himself.
"This is a scene we haven't had in a while." James said, closing the door behind Ron. "Feels kind of funny to be picking up Kimmie for a date."
"Uh, yeah, sure Mr. Dr. P." He glanced again at his girlfriend, and her fists on her hips. She looked a lot more like angry-moodulated Kim than smitten-moodulated Kim from that night.
"Ron, where's your car?" Anne asked as she caught up to her daughter.
"Oh, it broke down a few blocks from my house. That's why I'm late."
Kim cocked an eyebrow at him. "If you were just a few blocks, why didn't you just walk home and get your Mom's car?"
Ron gulped, knowing he was doomed no matter what he said. "I…Bonnie drove by while I was still trying to figure out what was wrong."
"Uh huh. Well, guess we're taking my car tonight." Kim reached into her purse and pulled out the keys. "Come on, let's go." She brushed past him, her heels clacking on the sidewalk as she went.
"Was it really car trouble, Ronald?" James raised an eye at the young man. He was finally getting an inkling about what went on between his daughter and Bonnie.
"Mr. Dr. P, I sometimes think Motor Ed must have built that car as some kind of trap to get me when it matters most."
"Tonight matters most?" He asked, looking like he wanted to scratch his head. In fact he did just that.
Kim honked the horn twice. He looked out the door, discovering at least she had gotten in the passenger's side. It would be so strange having her drive tonight. "Um, see you guys later, uh, don't wait up?" He added hopefully.
James laughed quietly. "Ronald, you ought to know by now that phrase just means 'we darn well are going to wait up.'" He waved slightly as the younger man headed for the car.
"I wonder why that Rockwaller girl would give Ron a ride, knowing how Kim feels about her." James said as he closed the door.
"Oh, I think she might recognize how special this night is for them."
"Special? What's special about it? Unless… I swear, if that's what they're planning, I'm going to really…"
"James, settle down. It's not that kind of special, and even if it was, I don't think they would need a date at a really fancy restaurant, considering they're about to spend the next two weeks together. They're all dressed up, they've got dinner reservations…ring a bell?"
He stood there puzzling over what his wife was telling him. Slowly his eyes widened.
"You mean he's…a ring…my Kimmie-cub?"
Anne nodded slowly. "I found the ring in Ron's room about a week before Kim's birthday. I thought he was going to do it then. Go look at the pictures on your computer, where it looks like he's down on one knee. He about gave me a heart attack that night."
He looked sad for a moment as the two of them headed into the family room. "I just hoped when this time came he would ask me, man to man."
"He will, but I'm willing to bet he's waiting for his mother, too. This is a good way for them. It will be purely romantic, just them. Asking you will come later."
"They're too young." He griped.
"So? I was twenty and you were twenty two, and we still waited three years. They'll be just fine. Look at it this way, you already think of Ron like a son."
"Yeah."
"He's the best man a father could ever hope for their daughter to have. We love them and we trust them, remember?"
He took her hand. "Yeah, I do."
"Not to screw what up?"
"Uh, our big date. You know, Saturday dress-up on Friday."
"Uh huh." Kim put her hand on the back of his neck, playing with the freshly cut taper. She indulged him for a little while, letting him grow a tiny 'duck-tail,' but all she had to do was call it a mullet and he was off to the barber. His hair wouldn't slick back any more, but she liked him that way. Shaggy bangs, a little tuft of a cowlick, that's what she wanted to see framing those cute freckles and his chocolate brown eyes.
She kept staring at him as they were seated at the restaurant, smiling and looking into those eyes. It was obvious he would quickly realize she was on to him, but by that point she didn't care. She even noted he made a point of ordering for both of them, making sure a salad course would be coming. Wouldn't it be funny if he was going to use that age-old line of 'would you like karats with your salad?'
As the waiter emerged from the kitchen, with two large bowls of tossed salad, he reached into his pocket and she knew he was going to do precisely that. Leaning on the table, she couldn't help but beam at him.
At that moment, the lights went out. It was just about dusk outside, but the place had relatively few windows, leaving only the candles burning on the tables for light. The place had gone from quietly romantic to highly romantic. It was perfect, exactly as she pictured the moment.
Just where was that waiter. She wanted her salad. She wanted her karats.
In the dim light, she could see Ron's hand emerge from his pocket. There was definitely something in his hand, something the size and shape of a ring box. Her heart started fluttering.
"Ladies and gentlemen." The maitre d announced. "I have just gotten off the phone with zee power company and zey say it will be at least three hours before zey can restore our electricity. I regret that, because of safety regulations, we will be force to close for the evening."
Kim's heart sank, just as the hand bearing that little box sank back into the pocket it had come from.
"Aw, man." He muttered.
She stood up and held out her hand. "Ronnie, cheer up. This just means that much more money we can take with us tomorrow. You can take me out someplace special while we're away, okay."
"Yeah, but I wanted this for tonight." He pouted as she led him toward the door.
"Baby, the night is not over. There are plenty of places just as nice as L'Orange, and most of them give you a lot more food for your money anyway."
He perked up slightly. "You know, there is this one little place. We could cut through Middleton Park to get there. I think you know it."
"Would that be Muddrakker's?" The hamburger joint wasn't exactly what she had in mind, but it did have some good memories attached to it. Then it dawned on her…
…there was nothing quite so romantic as the park on a warm summer's night.
They walked, hand in hand, taking their time. There were very few people in the park, considering it was just after dark and dinner time. It was also likely they were going to have to wait a bit to get a table, but Kim found she didn't care. If Ron actually were thinking on his feet, they might not even make it there.
Sure enough, not far from where he had saved her life that night, he stopped her, taking both her hands. "KP, tell me something."
"Anything." She felt like she was on a cloud, waiting for his next words.
"Do you believe in soul mates?"
She cocked her head slightly. It wasn't what she was expecting, but it could still lead down that road. "You mean like with that Animology stuff?"
"Well, sort of. Do you think two people's souls are meant to be together?"
"Not like the 'Blue Fox,' 'Pink Sloth' type of thing. I think two people can be Soulmates, but it takes work. It has to be something they both want. I refuse to believe that two people can be meant to be together if they don't want to. They have to want to be together, they have to want their souls to be one."
"KP, would you do that for me?"
"In a heartbeat, Ron Stoppable. I want our souls to be one…I even think they already are. In fact I know they are."
His trademark goofy grin spread over his freckled features. She thought for a moment he was going to kiss her to complete such a perfectly romantic moment. Instead, he dropped to one knee, pulling a velvet box out of his pocket.
"Kim Possible, will you be my Soulmate? Will you marry me?"
Her hands went to her mouth and tears started forming at the corners of her eyes. She reached for his hands and started to answer.
"Y…" was all she got out as the sprinklers came on, blasting both of them squarely in the face.
'THAT'S THE LAST STR…" Ron started to bellow when Kim gripped his hands and pulled him to his feet.
"Yes, Ron. YES, YES, YES!" she shouted, not caring that the two of them were getting solidly drenched.
His goofy grin returned.
"Now let's go home, get dried off and put on some clothes we can go to Bueno Nacho in." She suggested, pulling him after her.
He hoped to heaven she would still be his little Kimmie-cub.
"I'm still a little peeved they didn't tell us." He said finally as the car turned off the street, heading for the interstate.
Anne smiled softly. "Kimmie told me. She even showed me the ring. It's small, but it's the prettiest thing. Kim was wearing it just now as they left, you didn't notice?"
He looked off in the direction they had taken just moments before. "No, I didn't. I just thought she was wearing her promise ring."
"She was, it was on her right hand. The diamond was on her left."
James turned to go back inside. "It happened too quickly." He said, sadly.
"More like it finally happened, don't you think? She's not gone, James. We've got to put up with her for four more years. They've decided they're going to get married the summer after they graduate."
"Four more years of wondering what they're doing upstairs?"
"James! That is their business. Besides, what would you do if they are? Send him to a black hole?"
He shook his head. "No, I guess not." He smiled slightly as he opened the door.
"I wonder what they'll name out grandchildren?"
...and the burning question, who is Agent Alpha, comes up again in KP - One Oh One
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