Meet the Rockwallers

---

Chapter : 4

The “Onnie” Factor

---

Mervin was still dead tired when he woke up that morning. Driving cross-country, no matter how nice the company, was not something he enjoyed. In fact, if Bonnie hadn’t insisted, he wouldn’t have done it at all. The last time he had been to Middleton, it was in the supersonic Go Jet, which didn’t exactly give him an appreciation for how far apart the two cities actually were.

Despite his fatigue, he really didn’t want to go back to sleep. Occasionally Bonnie would try to get him to sleep in when they didn’t have classes to go to, but that was when she was awake as well and could provide reasons for him to stay in bed, like cuddling, or just talking…

Instead, she was sound asleep. Uncomfortable as she was coming home, there was something about sleeping in her ‘own’ bed again that, when combined with her own tiredness, knocked her out pretty well.

She didn’t stir at all when he got up and slipped back into his jeans and sweater. Sitting on the end of her bed, he considered her room for a bit, then turned his attention back to his sleeping girlfriend.

If he hadn’t been able to see her there, her arms tucked under he pillow and a soft, genuine smile on her face, he would never have thought a room like that could ever be hers. Of course, she had put her stamp on their room back in Go City, but, while it was feminine, it was thoroughly modern and sophisticated, where her childhood room was…well…girly.

He liked watching her sleep. That was his little secret, and so far she hadn’t caught him at it, not that there was really anything to be embarrassed about. It was the one time he could actually look at her and see her for what he had come to learn she really was. The only drawback was that he couldn’t see her beautiful aquamarine eyes. He knew, though, that before long she would wake, and the pleasant expression would vanish from her face, replaced with hooded eyes and little bags that would remain there until she had her morning coffee, and sometimes long afterward.

Bonnie was definitely not a morning person.

That was one of the big differences between the two young lovers. For as long as he could remember, Mervin was up and ready to go first thing in the morning. That was one of the few things his older brother would routinely praise him for. Granted, Hego acted as if he never slept at all, preferring to be at the monitors in the Go Tower first thing every morning, his uniform neat, his mask and cowl up. All three younger brothers, and even their sister when she was still around, never quite got the purpose of that, considering each one of them had the quick-change technique down.

Thinking of his brother reminded Mervin about one thing. He checked his watch, making sure it still had a full charge on it. With it, he looked like an ordinary tall skinny man in his early twenties. Normally, he didn’t wear it to bed, preferring his normal appearance in his own home, but with the thought that any one of his beloved’s family walking in the room at any time, he did not want to have to launch into an explanation of why his skin was light purple and his hair the color of dark red wine.

It didn’t take long for him to start getting bored. The room wasn’t all that big and it was just so…pink. Somehow it almost reminded him of the first time he saw his quarters in the Go Tower. Whoever furnished that place thought it would be a smashing idea to decorate each of their rooms in their signature power colors. That would have been fine if he wasn’t the one with the purple glow, though it took well into his teens to get enough of his own stuff to redecorate to the point he wasn’t surrounded with the color all the time. It was bad enough being a light shade of violet himself.

With a quick check in the mirror to make sure his bed-head wasn’t too heinous, he quietly tip-toed to the door. Fortunately, the whole house was carpeted wall-to-wall, so he didn’t have any real problems keeping reasonably quiet. There wasn’t much danger of wakening Bonnie, but he had no idea if the rest of the Rockwallers were light sleepers, and since it was only about six-thirty, he figured most of them would still be down, especially since he hadn’t heard any indication that anyone was up and about yet.

The house seemed fairly solid. That seemed to make sense, as her father was a well known building contractor. It stood to reason the rather modest home would be well built, though it was a bit smaller than the older, slightly creakier home he occupied. It dawned on him that they might not appreciate a stranger snooping around in his bare feet, but Bonnie did tell him that his sisters were known for having their boyfriends over for the night almost constantly. At least he had the decency to put his street clothes back on.

He was wrong about nobody being up. When he turned the corner downstairs toward the modest little kitchen, he spotted somebody sitting at the table. At first he couldn’t tell who it was, as there was a local copy of the Examiner blocking his view, but that changed quickly.

The paper drooped, and a large man he had not met before regarded him over a pair of half-round reading glasses. To say he was large was an understatement. In fact, as far as body mass was concerned, he could probably give Hego a run for his money, though he was clearly somewhat older. His hair was just as black as his brothers, though it was graying slightly at the temples.

Mervin made a quick assumption that he was being visually apprised by none other than Donald Rockwaller, the owner of the voice coming from upstairs the night before.

“Okay, so which one are you?” He asked, using a voice that was surprisingly softer than Mervin had last heard.

“Uh, good morning, sir. My name’s Mervin Godfrey…I came in last night with Bonnie.”

The big man just grunted and flipped the paper back up. Mervin just stood there a few moments, wondering what else he should say to his girlfriend’s father. The thought occurred to him that he had just spent the night, in the room of the daughter of a very large man, one he had never laid eyes on or had spoken to before, and that it was probably pretty common knowledge in that household that, unlike their night in that room, the two of them had somewhat more to do when they got into their bedroom.

The top of the paper drooped again and Donnie Rockwaller gave him a look that seemed to ask are you still here? Instead, he looked down at the half-folded paper. “So, how was the drive from Go City?”

“It was pretty long, sir. I’m not used to driving that much, I tend to fly when I go on a long trip.”

“Hmmm. I can imagine. Haven’t been to Go City much.” He looked up at the young man. “Son, you can relax. I’m not going to break you in two for sleeping with my little girl. Besides, I like you. You’re the first one of my daughters’ boyfriends to actually call me sir.”

Mervin’s heart almost jumped clear out of his chest at the mention of sleeping with Bonnie. True, he had mentioned an act of violence in relation to it, even though it was couched in the negative, but what surprised him the most was the nonchalance the man spoke with. It slowly started dawning on him that he was speaking to a man who lived in a house full of women, grown women who very likely had been running rough-shod over him for the last couple decades. It was almost as if he was resigned to something he never thought he would have to deal with.

Donnie Rockwaller folded the paper and carefully set it aside on the table before clasping his hands on the table. “So, I’m willing to guess you don’t like being called ‘Merv?’”

“No sir. I’ve never been one to use nicknames, so it’s a little irritating when people use them on me.”

“Uh huh, then what do you call my Bon-bon?”

“Uh, I call her Bonnie. I know her middle name kind of bugs her, so I don’t mention it.”

“Mervin, Bon-bon doesn’t actually have a middle name. Her first name is actually Bonnedelia. She’s the one who breaks it into two names, so she can drop the last part.”

”I…didn’t know that. It’s a pretty name.”

“I’m glad you think so. It’s my grandmother’s name. Now, given you’ve got this…thing about nicknames, have you noticed anything about my family?”

“Uh…” He hesitated a moment, sensing a trap. “I know her sister’s names sound a lot like hers.”

“Yep, and it’s not just the girls. Everyone in this house, excepting the random boyfriend traipsing through here at all hours, has the Rockwaller “Onnie.” Connie, Lonnie, Bonnie, Ronnie…even I get called Donnie in my own house, though I prefer my friends just call me Don.”

“Uh, yes sir.” He made a mental note that, until he was told specifically otherwise, he was going to call the man ‘Mr. Rockwaller,’ and even then he was probably going to stick with that, just to be on the safe side.

“It’s really interesting somebody who doesn’t like nicknames would end up with my Bon-bon.” He regarded the younger man again, looking him up and down his slender frame. “You’re not exactly what I expected, after all that time Bon-bon spent with that Flagg boy. You don’t play sports, do you, son?”

“No sir…well, not exactly. When I was in middle school I played soccer for a bit, but only on a club team, never with the school.”

Donnie grunted and took a drink from an enormous mug of coffee. “Sports are good for a young man. Builds character, I think. Looks like it’s a good thing you didn’t play football. I’ve seen the GCU team on TV, those guys would likely snap you like a dry twig.”

Mervin bit his upper lip. That was the second time in their short conversation the large man had mentioned dividing him into two parts. It was starting to dawn on him that maybe taking the guest room might have been the wiser choice.

Bonnie’s father looked like he was going to pick up his paper again, then apparently changed his mind. “So, what do you do for a living?”

“Me? I’m actually still a full-time student. I’m a senior at GCU, majoring in Criminal Psychology.”

“Oh, you planning on going into law enforcement?” He raised an eyebrow, but otherwise still regarded Mervin with a stony glare.

“Something like that.” He almost gulped. How was he supposed to explain to the man he was actually part of a team of superheroes?

“I hope you know what you’re getting into. Connie dated a cop for a while, and let me tell you, it made her a nervous wreck, wondering if he was actually coming home to her every night. You almost couldn’t live with the poor girl.”

Mervin bit his tongue, hard. From everything he had gathered listening to Bonnie, it was nearly impossible living with either of her sisters. He couldn’t imagine it actually getting worse.

“This place you live, it’s not a dorm, I take it, since every school I’ve ever known frowns on letting couples live together in them.”

”No sir, we have a house.”

“A house? I take it then that your family is independently wealthy?”

“Technically speaking, my brothers and I all own the house together. We inherited it when our parents passed away. Besides that, I do have a part-time job that helps pay the bills.” Even after all his years, he wasn’t sure where the living stipend they were paid came from…or who was actually footing the bill for thing like the Go Tower and the Go Jet.

“I’m sure your prospects will be better once you graduate. It’s funny, maybe I should thank you for giving my little girl a place to live. The dorm she was living in the first year was almost as bad as the expenses after the academic scholarship she is on.” He shot him another glance that seemed to say he didn’t totally approve of his child’s living arrangements.

“I’ll do my best by your daughter, sir.”

Donnie regarded him with an arched eyebrow once more. “Just what exactly are your intentions for my daughter? I don’t mean what you intend when you go back home to the big city, I mean down the road?”

“I love Bonnie, sir…”

He waved his hand at him. Mervin noted the hand was larger than his, and had the appearance of being made more out of leather than of flesh. “That’s not what I mean, son. I have no doubt you think you love her now, but you’re still just a kid, and so is she. Sure the bedroom can be exciting, but I’m talking about your lives. I like you so far, but I want my little Bon-bon to be happy. I’ve already had to deal with the fallout from when that Flagg boy up and dumped her, as well as the crap I had to endure when Connie and Lonnie broke up with one of their boyfriends, but you’re in a much more delicate position than any one of them. I can take them bringing these guys over from time to time. They’re grown women, but you’ve taken it one step further. You’re living together, and from the sound of things, you’re living large in your own home, regardless of whether your brothers’ names are on the title. If you screw this up, the damage is going to be pretty bad.” He gave Mervin the first truly dangerous look he had seen. “I don’t like bad where my little girls are concerned.”

“Sir, it really does matter that I love Bonnie. I know we’re just, as you put it, kids, but in the time I’ve been with her I can’t imagine life without her.”

”Are you going to propose?”

“I…uh…well…eventually, I guess. I don’t think anything like that is going to happen at least until I graduate.”

Donnie sat back, crossing his arms. “Yet the two of you are living together like you’re married anyway. What’s the holdup? You’re not afraid of commitment, are you?” He shot Mervin that dangerous look again.

Mervin was about to tell him that he did indeed plan on popping the question right after grad, but all he could do was make his mouth work up and down for a moment. He had to wonder, why was he so frightened? If nothing else, he could always shrink down and get away, and if it came to it, his power did have a few offensive capabilities. Still, he was far more afraid of the man sitting at the breakfast table than he was of a whole room full of goons.

He suddenly found himself wanting to be back in his car, putting the small city behind him, back to his life as a college student and part-time hero. In fact, he came a heartbeat away from doing that when a light touch brought him back to his senses.

“Morning, sweetie.” Bonnie put a hand on his cheek and leaned over, kissing him warmly on the lips. “I see you’ve met Daddy.”

---

Bonnie Rockwaller, Mego and all characters from Kim Possible © Disney