Out of the Tree-house, Into the Woods

[ronkstoppable]

After some revision to the early draft of my previous "sequel" to So The Drama, I have decided to re-mix and re-model and re-imagine certain scenes and events in order to make more sense.

Out of the Tree-house, Into the Woods

Disclaimer and copyright notice: Kim Possible and all related characters are the intellectual property of Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle and the Walt Disney Corporation.

“It was fun. While we were kids, I mean. Time to grow up…” – Kim Possible
“Well, maybe I don’t wanna grow up?” – Ron Stoppable

Middleton High School gym, present day.
The last dance of the evening was coming to an end, and the imposing, gruff figure of Steve Barkin took the stage. Gesturing for someone to hand him a microphone, he tapped it and cleared his throat before his deep voice rumbled,
“Let’s have a round of applause for the junior class of 2005, people! It’s time to give out some awards!” Loud cheers erupted from every student, many of the more enthusiastic teens punching the air and whooping with delight. Only two students still remained under the lights to slowly dance the night, and their fears and anxieties, away. They didn’t care that the music had stopped, and their lips met again before slowly parting in a deeply passionate kiss. And then suddenly, the lights in the gym faded to a single spotlight, shining on the young couple until they managed to tear themselves away from each other. Up on the stage, Mr. Barkin began reading from the card in his hands, and a wonderful new light and warmth began to shine in Kim Possible’s beguiling bottle-green eyes.
“The King and Queen of this year’s Junior Prom, with an unprecedented six hundred votes! Ronald Kevin Stoppable and Kimberly Ann Possible, ladies and gentlemen!” Ron couldn’t believe it… This was truly turning out to be the best day of his life so far, and he took Kim’s hand in his own, racing to the stage with a wide-eyed grin. Calmly, Kim stepped forward and swept her body gracefully down into a polite curtsy, giggling into her closed hand. Ron, however, was totally caught in the moment as he called out to Brick Flagg, Josh Mankey and a bunch of both guy’s respective friends,
“Stage dive!” In the blink of an eye he was off and running, laughing with youthful abandon, and he pushed himself off the end of the wooden stage to sail through the air and land on a sea of hands as the crowd chanted his name. Cleaning some of the soot from the hem of her dress, Kim accepted the silver-plated plastic tiara that was lowered onto her forehead, before she reached down to kick off her white satin kitten-heeled shoes and leapt to join Ron before the guys carried him off.

And so they continued outside, carried on the shoulders of the revellers to the parking lot where their majestic chariot did await them. Ceremoniously lowered to be reunited with his faithful pet, Ron gave Monique a little sly wink and she winked right back.
“Well, Prince Charming, ain’t you got to get Kimderella home before your ride turns into a pumpkin?”
“Actually, I figured I’d wait ‘til after that. We couldn’t look any less dignified if we… Wait!” The crowd was hanging on Ron’s every word now, and he directed their attention up towards the ever-present sign. Managing to look both conventional and unconventional in his pinstripe tuxedo and tie-dyed bow tie combo, Josh Mankey groaned,
“I know! It bothers me too, man. It’s just so final, I mean, “The End”… Aren’t we all supposed to have one more year?” The soon to be ex-junior class of 2005 all roared in agreement as Josh and Ron turned to face them with fists raised in the air. So, then, it was settled, Ron decided as he pulled off his tuxedo jacket and reached into his pants to put on his mission gear gloves. Handed a can of red spray-paint by Brick Flagg, Ron made his way up the large metal pole with his legs wrapped firmly around its circumference. Reaching the sign, he steadied himself with his left hand as he sprayed a huge question-mark over the illuminated surface and slid back down the pole, a triumphant expression on his face. Pulling him close with a serene smile playing over her lips, Kim took the can from his hand and wiped his forehead with a pre-moistened towelette, whispering to him,
“Ron? You do realize that sign up there was in preparation for tomorrow’s senior prom, don’t you?” Ron’s face fell, his eyes growing wide as a combination of sweat and Kim’s gentle, loving touch with the cool, refreshing towelette wiped the thin layer of makeup from around his right eye.
“I… I, well, I realize it now, yeah! Aw, c’mon. Let’s just go home, and wait to see what tomorrow brings.” Climbing onto the back of Ron’s scooter, Kim waved regally to her classmates and noticed Bonnie Rockwaller still frozen in shock, her mouth gaping open.

BECAUSE TODAY IS THE START OF THE REST OF THEIR LIVES…

Possible household, 980 Middleton Heights.
“Well, dear, look at it this way. We were going to knock out that wall to put in an extension anyway,” Doctor Jonathan Possible chuckled nervously, staring at the smoking hole in the side of the family’s home until his wife playfully pressed the tip of his nose. Smoothing down his chestnut-brown hair, prematurely greying at the temples due to the pressures of his work schedule, Jonathan shared a sly smile with Andrea as her fingers danced down the back of his neck.
“Sauna or hot-tub, honey?”
“I was thinking perhaps another guest room or a study but those are excellent suggestions, you little minx, you,” the man drawled as his eyes drifted half-closed to the accompaniment of gagging and choking sounds coming from the couch.
“Eewww! Turn it down a couple of notches, mom and dad… We’ve had enough of that mushy stuff from Kim and her new boyfriend,” Tim shouted from the couch as he dumped the plastic casing of the Li’l Diablo toy in a small heap to examine the inner workings of the experimental prototype “Hephaestus” with his brother.
“Well, it looks as if you’re about to get some more, boys! I can hear an engine outside,” Andrea laughed as she sent her husband into the kitchen to fetch the champagne, sitting by the window to hear the voices of the happy couple outside.
“Come on, you piece of… Oh, you know what? We’re here anyway, why don’t we just walk?”
“Ron, if this thing were a horse you would have done the humane thing and had it shot months ago,” Kim giggled, straightening her tiara as she noticed her mother twitching the curtains. From this far away, she could swear that she heard the woman shouting “Yes!”, and she climbed down from the back of Ron’s dying motor-scooter to enter the house through that gaping wound in its side. Grabbing Rufus and securing a space for the naked mole rat in his pocket, Ron dove away from the juddering mass of metal and duct-tape, executing a perfect commando roll as his shoulder met the front lawn. Pulling Kim down to shield her, he looked back over his shoulder as the scooter let out a pathetic spluttering whine and toppled over on its side.
“We’ll give it a decent burial in the morning, I promise,” Kim joked as she turned to face her family, getting back on her feet. Grinning down at her, Andrea opened her arms to embrace her daughter and admire her tiara while Ron watched Mr Doctor Possible pouring the champagne very sparingly into a couple of fluted glasses. Politely declining the offer, both he and Kim got up to move into the kitchen, Ron loosening the bow-tie around his neck and beckoning Kim closer to check on her wounded arm.

“It’s nothing, Ron. Look, just a scratch… Oh! Mom, dad?” Andrea had drained her celebratory glass of champagne and set it aside, beaming with such pride at the couple in front of her until she just couldn’t contain the rush of emotions any more. Pulling both Kim and Ron into her arms, Andrea burst into tears and showed absolutely no signs of stopping. Returning her mother’s affections, Kim also found herself inexplicably breaking down and sobbing hysterically.
“Oh, mom… Eric, he was, I mean, he wasn’t… It was all part of Drakken’s scheme!” As if a light had been turned on inside his head, Jonathan sprang to his feet and began glancing around with a panicked, wide-eyed expression. Ron, sensing an info dump was forthcoming, retreated to the safety of the lounge while Tim and Jim compared their findings with their father’s notes, seemingly oblivious to their mother’s presence as she parked herself on the couch next to Ron, facing him.
“Ron, you don’t mind that I’ve got some questions of my own to ask, do you?”
“Uhhh, no? Go right ahead, shoot,” the young man replied as he wiped the last of the smudged concealer from around his scar. In the kitchen, things sounded like they had cooled off after the effects of the unfortunate brain-tap on Mr. Doctor Possible had worn off, Kim sighing as she replied to every one of her father’s words of warning as he remembered them slowly. Sending the boys to bed with a firm, steely gaze, Mrs. Doctor P gave Ron another friendly little smile as Rufus found his way out of the lapel pocket he was investigating.
“So, Ron. You and my daughter… About…” Interrupting her, Ron gave Rufus a nod before continuing.
“About time, right?”
“Yes, actually. Well, I just wanted to know, are you two serious? Completely committed to this relationship?” Nodding simply in response to both questions, Ron cleared his throat and gave a very mature, sensible reply.
“I’ve been committed to this for the past fourteen years of my life, Doc, and so’s Kim.” Rufus nodded curtly to punctuate the response with his own personal seal of approval; before Andrea saw fit to remind them both that she didn’t exactly list “Doc” among her preferred nicknames. Jonathan, meanwhile, was devastated by the impact of Kim’s words, regardless of how long it had taken for them to sink in. That nice young man Eric shouldn’t have been too nice to be true. Human or not, the boy had hurt his daughter and that kind of behaviour would not be tolerated! Distracted by Ron pulling off his shoes, the Doctors Possible shared a smile before Kim propped the boy’s head up with a finger under his chin.
“I don’t know about you people, but I’m officially wiped,” Ron remarked while Rufus yawned and stretched. Bidding him goodnight, Andie and Jon Possible both pointed to remind him where the den was. Remarkably, it was still standing too…
Even more remarkable, a neatly-folded pair of pyjamas was found under the cushions of the fold-out sofa bed in the den, which Ron took to understand as a good thing. Just before getting ready to bed down for the night, he tried calling his parents to reassure them somehow, but the line was busy. Who on earth could be calling his mom or dad at this hour? Unconcerned, Ron shooed Kim away to preserve his modesty while he changed for bed, and she helped Rufus prepare his own little bed in an old shoebox lined with shredded paper.
“You had a pretty exciting day, didn’t you? Mmm, yeah. Me too, Rufus,” she whispered to the little hairless rodent as he settled down to sleep. Joining her, Ron lightly patted his pet and fiddled with the buttons of his top before deciding to just leave it open. Taking him by the hand, Kim led the boy back to the sofa bed and sat him down in front of her, still with that odd dreamlike quality about her even as she spoke.
“Well, here we are then…”
“Yup,” Ron replied while his eyes told an entirely different story altogether. They were obviously trying to force his voice to say something, probably along the lines of “Don’t leave me…”
“All in one piece,” Kim joked as her worried bottle-green eyes met his, understanding the secret signal and replying “I won’t.”
“Arguably.” “I never want this night to end.”
“Yeah, the suit’s junked now. Luckily, I was just beta-testing it for Wade.” “Me neither…”
Quite instinctively, Ron’s fingers found themselves moving to cradle Kim’s cheek, and her eyes closed softly. “Oh. That’s interesting… Wait, Kim, I think I’ve got this the wrong way round all of a sudden.” She wasn’t moving away from him, so that was a vaguely good sign. Leaning into his trembling hand, Kim opened her eyes and let her fingers dance down the length of Ron’s arm as he leaned back slightly.

“Ron, do you want to know a secret? I’m stupid, Ron. I, Kimberly Ann Possible, am just a stupid, shallow and adolescent girl.” His jaw dropped open in shock, and Ron reached to grip Kim firmly by the shoulders.
“You are not… Kim, don’t you ever say that again! You’re the smartest, kindest and most, well, Kim-ish girl in the world!”
“No, it’s true. Ron, I really wanted you to take me to the prom all along. Because, you know, of what you said when we were in Nevada, when I was coming down off the Moodulator.” Kim didn’t even need to say that there were other factors involved, because her man was certainly starting to feel a little that way himself.
“Yeah? Really!? What’d I say? ‘Cause I really don’t remember… No, I’m just kiddin’, I remember,” Ron laughed as he thought back to his rare moments of clarity, and he had to concede that in Vegas, he and Kim both had total freedom to say and do and think the things they couldn’t normally. Well, now things at home were going to change. First thing in the morning, he was going to give his parents the whole story. Unless they were still busy with Dad’s crazy new project in the back yard, naturally… He didn’t notice exactly when Kim had managed to slip out of her prom dress and pull on a nightshirt, but she had somehow. Things were already blurring together in Ron’s mind, the nightmare images burning themselves into his psyche indelibly, and Kim was not without her own traumatic memories, twisting uncomfortably against Ron as his body slipped under the thin sheets.
“Oh, no… There’s Li’l Diablos under the bed, isn’t there? Please, tell me there are no creepy little robots hiding under th…” Ron squealed, eyes darting around frantically as he pulled the covers up to gather them underneath his nose. Swatting playfully at her boyfriend, Kim grumbled softly and tried to lay her head down, prompting Ron to try and do the same. Tenderly kissing his cheek just below that scar that almost split his freckles, Kim Possible rolled over slightly to drape one arm over Ron Stoppable’s chest before succumbing to peaceful slumber, Ron murmuring “Good-night, Kimberly Ann…”

Global Justice holding pens, Upperton, IL.
Roughly man-handled onto the inclinator, Doctor Drakken barely made so much as a single sound of protest. His most brilliant scheme ever had crumbled around him! His entire chapter in the history books of the future, ended in the space of minutes… His hollow, sunken eyes opened wearily, and he let out a sigh of resignation before mumbling the name that haunted him.
“Stoppable…” Her attention well and truly grabbed, Shego blinked and gave the mad doctor a surprised look.
“What is it,” she hissed as their oddly familiar-looking guard raised an eyebrow.
“I wasn’t talking to you, I said “Stoppable”. That boy…”
“Young man,” she corrected him before giving their guard a furtive glance.
“Alright, whatever. Don’t defend him. The point is, Shego, you should have seen the murderous look in his eyes!” Oh, how the mighty had fallen. Scant hours before, he had been on top of the world! His army of Diablo-Bots had been poised to crush every major city on the face of the Earth, and Kim Possible had been too distracted to stop him. Shego, meanwhile, had kept largely to herself, an odd little peaceful smile playing over her dark lips. Tonight she’d seen Kim Possible’s blood, and nothing else mattered.

[ronkstoppable]

She could have slept for years on that bed, surrounded everywhere by his familiar, comfortable presence. And yet, somewhere deep inside Kim Possible, there was a little nagging doubt. Sure, she’d been swept off her feet by this mysterious new boy who just happened to stroll into town one day and spend all his free time around her, but he wasn’t… Eric wasn’t even a human being, was he? Or was that the by-product of a guilty conscience trying to rationalize something?
“It’s too early to deal with you,” she groaned at the left side of her brain, still half-asleep. The pillow underneath her head shook lightly, a thin pale arm flashing briefly before her eyes as Ron Stoppable began his early-morning exercise routine. It may very well have been a routine that consisted almost entirely of wild, almost spastic flailing and muffled cries for help, but one that helped him to make sense of his surroundings none the less. He was just trying to figure out where the pillow covering his face had come from, and how he ended up in a strange house when his bleary eyes fell on Kim’s form. Instantly, he recalled everything from the night before that had led them to this moment, particularly the moment when they had both figuratively said “To Hell with it!” and danced together, even kissed. There was also a little piece of Ron telling him that it couldn’t be real, however he perceived his true feelings. Breaking through the early-morning fog that still curled around her brain, Kim pulled Ron up to a vertical base and led him by the hand to the kitchen, greeted not by proud parents but the disapproving glares of identical twins.

“And what’s up with you two,” Kim asked as Jim shot her an accusatory glance.
“You told mom and dad that Eric wasn’t a human being, we overheard that much last night,” Tim replied. Sharing a double-take with Ron and Rufus, Kim looked back to the boys and immediately decided against the condescending approach.
“Yes, that’s right. Eric wasn’t real. He was entirely composed of a synthetic chemical compound that…” Keeping her eyes shut, Kim leaned against Ron for comfort until Tim interrupted her again, his voice pleading.
“And you didn’t save us a piece? Awww!” Ron couldn’t help it, he just started laughing out loud at this utterly unbelievable request, and Kim turned to gently swat him across the back of his hands playfully before she too burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all.
“What? It’s not funny, we really do want pieces of Eric to study.”
“Yeah,” Jim exclaimed, “We wanna see if we can bring him back to life!” The twins might have expected the next outburst to come from their big sister, but it was Ron’s balled fists that pounded the tabletop in anger as he snapped, wild-eyed, at the boys.
“Don’t even joke about it!” Shocked, Jim and Tim gazed up at their big sister, also wearing an expression that matched Ron’s uncharacteristically adamant visage before he snapped back to normal. For the longest time, Rufus stared up at his owner with slack-jawed terror etched on his tiny whiskered face, congealed scrambled egg and melted cheese from a breakfast burrito hanging halfway from his mouth.
“Whoa. That was heavy…” Ron groaned as Jim edged a little closer to pull up a chair for the young man and listen to him intently. “I didn’t mean to… Uh, I’m sorry. Don’t know where that came from,” he said, trying to laugh it off. But to young Jim Possible, it was readily apparent where the outburst originated from, and to the quiet amazement of both his brother and older sister, the boy began to give Ron a detailed psycho-analysis as the blonde-haired teen just sat and looked bewildered. Snapping out of his own pseudo-catatonic shock, Rufus began a round of applause for Jim that was slowly joined by the rest of his stunned audience before he gave his own explanation.
“When Dad started hiding his books from us, I started dipping into Mom’s introductory Psych textbooks. Cool, huh?”
“Just once,” Kim complained to her parents who had joined them, apparently from surveying the damage to their house, “I’d like a conversation at the breakfast table in this house to be about stuff that was on TV the night before.” Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Jon looked between his wife and daughter, then to the boys clustered around the aforementioned table.
“Well, Kimmie, it’s funny you should say that seeing as how you were the only thing on the old goggle-box last night…”
“Wonderful. I’m the center of a media blitz,” the girl mumbled to herself as she trickled a spoonful of orange-blossom honey into a small pot of all-natural yogurt. Ron laid a supportive hand over hers, the fears that plagued his sleep now completely blown away by the tranquil reality of the Possible family household. And if nothing else, it had given him a new nickname for Jim…
“Way to go, Shrinky-dink,” he chuckled as he ruffled the lad’s hair just to try it out.