Note: The newly edited version of part 1! Yay!

Sleeping Over

It's really kind of funny how some things never change. Whole continents might have been in danger of sinking into the ocean, entire nations on the brink of extinction thanks to a flesh eating Lime Green Jell-o monster, and chaos and anarchy rampant in every major city in the world. But after the day's been saved, the villains taken care of, and the dust has settled, there will always be Ron Stoppable—trying to see how many tacos he can stuff in his mouth in one go.

It did put everything in perspective. In a weird, disgusting sort of way.

Kim rolled her eyes at her loyal (and mostly annoying) sidekick. Sometimes she thought the only reason she let Ron tag along was just so she can say she had a sidekick. After all, every hero—or heroine, in this case—worth her salt had one.

"Woohoo! Didja see that KP? Seven tacos! That's like, a world record or something!"

And maybe this was why everybody said peer pressure was a Bad Thing.

"Ron, come on, we only have a day left to finish this History report," Kim said, turning on her heel and walking away from Bueno Nacho. "We really don't have time for this." She could practically feel Ron and Rufus's confused stare.

"Hey wait up, KP!" Ron's face looked like the textbook picture of "Concerned Friend" and somehow, that just annoyed Kim even more. "Yo, what's wrong?"

Kim heaved a huge sigh and picked up her pace, forcing Ron to scurry and almost plow into a little old lady. "Nothing's wrong, Ron. I just want to finish this report asap."

"Oh-kaaaay." He had one eyebrow raised even as he's rubbing the spot the old lady whacked him with her cane. Rufus made a humphing sound from somewhere inside Ron's sweater. "Does this happen to have anything to do with the fact that Bonnie just got a boyfriend?"

That piece of nonesense made Kim stop and gape at Ron before "Jeez! Ron! NO! I am NOT jealous of Bonnie and her stupid boyfriend, okay!"

And, wow, who knew her voice could echo like that in the middle of Main Street? On a Friday afternoon. With like, ten thousand people around her.

Ron blinked at her.

Kim groaned into her hands just as Bonnie—naturally—walked by, attached to her jock-strap boyfriend, smirking and giggling. "Whatever you say, Possible."

"Well, this is embarrassing."

"Shut up, Ron."

"Hey, at least you don't disappear when you blush like that last time or else you'd be nothing but a finger."

"Shut. Up. Ron."

000

By the time a girl's sixteen, she knew that her parents can't right all wrongs and magically erase every single hurt, but as Kim muffled her sniffles on her mother's blouse, she can't help but think they can at least make you feel a little less like a total loser.

"...and everybody was just STARING at me, Mom."

"Oh, honey," her mom murmured softly into her hair, smoothing it down with one hand and generally babying her. Kim silently thanked god that her brothers were out with her dad.

After a few more minutes of shameless mothering (which will be fervently denied later), Kim finally felt ready to acknowledge the world outside her mother's arms.

"Mom, why don't boys like me?" Kim paused for a beat, then winced. "And did that just come out of my mouth?"

Mrs. Dr. Possible laughed and gave her daughter one last affectionate squeeze before letting go. "Kimmie, first off: it's perfectly natural and healthy, even, for you to act like a regular sixteen-year-old girl sometimes. You're so mature and responsible most of the time that I think you forget that you're allowed to get childish and irrational. Especially about your feelings." She fixed her daughter with a serious, I-am-your-Mother-and-I'm-right look for a moment to let this piece of parental wisdom sink in before continuing, "and secondly: I'm sure a lot of boys are—"

Kim smiled, holding up a hand, "it's okay Mom, I'm fine now. You're right, I suppose I am a little overdue on my teenage angst-fest for this week. I guess I just needed a little bit of parenting." She sighed and rubbed her hands over her face, "I honestly don't know what made me blow up this afternoon; probably just residual stress from last week. It was the first time I've ever battled a giant flesh eating Jell-o monster before. It was lime green, can you believe it? I wonder why all my enemies have such horrible fashion sense."

"Er.."

"That reminds me! I totally have to apologize to Ron. I was such a brat to him today—"Kim broke off, getting an idea, and cast a pleading look on her mother. "Mom, can I stay over at Ron's for the rest of the weekend? Please? I really have to make it up to him plus we still haven't started on that report."

"Oh, ah, sure. Um, Kimmie—"

"Great! Thanks a whole bunch, Mom." Kim grinned, giving her mother a quick hug. "You know, you're really the best mom ever. Just talking to you helped me straighten everything out. I mean, the thing this afternoon will so blow over. My life is still going just the way it should be." Kim gave her mom a small wave before heading for her room to pack.

Feeling a hundred times better than she had just ten minutes ago and looking forward to the rest of the weekend, Kim packed fresh clothes and weapons into her overnight bag. Yep, everything's all right with the world: she had great parents, a best friend, a cheerleading squad, and all the villains she could thwart—what more can a girl ask for? Well, her brothers were a pain, but nothing's perfect. When she was ready with her duffel bag slung over a shoulder, she took the stairs two at a time and tucked into a neat little flip over the last few steps.

Kim was halfway to the door after yelling out a casual "bye!" when her mom suddenly appeared in front of her. "Mom, whoa, I've never seen you move so fast—did I forget something? It's the twins' turn to do the dishes."

"Ah, Kimmie, honey—ah..."

"Did you change your mind about letting me stay over at Ron's?" Kim asked, her brow furrowing a little.

"No, of course not. Well, I mean, not exactly—"Mrs. Dr. Possible stopped then seemed to mentally shake herself before continuing in a much more composed, if slightly hurried voice. "I don't have anything against you sleeping over at Ron's... because I trust you and I think Ron is a perfectly honorable young man—"

"Uh, Mom? Not making much sense here." Kim raiseed her eyebrows, "what does trusting me and Ron being 'honorable' have anything to do with me staying the night over at his place?"

Her mom sighed. "Kimmie, when was the last time you slept over at Ron's?"

"I dunno... We've been really busy the last couple of years. I'm not really sure—"

"The summer of your fifth grade."

"Wow, that long?" Kim was a little surprised. It always seemed like she spent every waking hour with her best friend and loyal sidekick that it's kind of a shock that the last sleepover they had was almost six years ago.

"Yes. Exactly that long ago. And, well, Kimmie, don't you think some things have, er, changed since then?"

Okay, Kim's never thought of herself as particularly slow—in fact, she prided herself on being lightning quick on the uptake—but whatever it was that her mom was leading up to was going completely over her head. However, "okay, I don't really know where you're going with this—but I have the sneaky suspicion that I won't like it."

Mrs. Dr. Possible sighed. "Kimmie, Ron is sixteen now, not ten; and sixteen-year-old boys are very—"

Kim screamed.

Her mom held her hands up, trying to calm Kim down. "Honey, all I'm saying is that Ron might be a little, well, NOT so little, if you know what I—"

"MOM! NO! Ohmygod!" Kim yelled, panicked and utterly grossed out. "No, no, and another thing?—NO! I cannot believe this. We are not having this conversation—about Ron!"

"But Kimmie, Ron is a boy and—"

"Of course not! Ron is Ron; Ron is not a boy—at least, not a boy-boy." Kim shook her head a little desperately, heading quickly for the door and eyeing her mother the way people usually do rabid animals. "And I would thank you very much NOT to desecrate my childhood, if you don't mind."

And with that, Kim fled.

000

The girl can certainly run, Mrs. Dr. Possible thought as she watched Kim run as though the hounds of hell were after her. Ah well, the young will make their own mistakes. Her daughter will just have to find out the hard way, as usual.

000