A Kiss in the Rain
Chapter 1

Everyone seemed to be happy and excited for her to be going back to school. Except Ron. He looked tired and worried.

She finally reached her limit. "Cut it out, Ron. I'm fine."

He gave her a kiss and a tired smile. "I'll try."

She hugged him carefully. "I'll be okay."

He relaxed into her embrace, wrapping his arms around her lovingly and steadying her. She wasn't leaning on her crutches since she was hugging him, and her balance was still poor.

"I love you," he said into her hair.

"And I, you," she mumbled into his chest.

"Go get em, tiger," he said with a smirk.

She grinned back at him and headed for her first class. She was glad to be back. Her friends all waved at her, hugged her, welcomed her back, and helped her with her stuff. She was touched that they had missed her that much.

As she was about to reach her first period class, Bonnie Rockwaller stepped in front of her. "Bonnie—"

"Welcome back, Possible," she said with a sneer as she reached her foot out. Her stiletto heel tangled in Kim's crutch and sent her hurtling towards the ground.

Ron wondered what the commotion was as he walked down the hall. His first period class was three classrooms down and across the hall from Kim's class, but he got distracted from taking her himself by Lexi, who needed help with an assignment they both had. He agreed to meet her at Bueno Nacho after school.

Now he grew anxious as he realized that the root of the problem seemed to be at the entrance to Kim's classroom. "'Scuse me," he muttered as he pushed a couple people out of the way. His eyes widened when he saw Kim on the ground, leaning on the door jamb, looking angry and in pain. "KP! Sweetheart what happened?" he cried in alarm.

"That stupid bitch tripped me," she growled. "My hip hurts, and I can't get up."

"What...?" He was confused. Surely no one would be cruel enough to trip an injured person with walking aids... right?

Wrong.

"I didn't trip you! You're just dumb and need to watch where the fuck you're going!"

"You tripped me, Bonnie," she hissed. "And don't fucking talk to me about being dumb. The reason they let you in this school was because you have an uncanny talent for being a malicious bitch and maxing out any credit card."

"Oh please, you're just jealous that I can—"

"Why would I be jealous of you? You're nothing to me," Kim said evenly. "You think you can play me but you would do well to remember who runs the show around here. I am the cheer captain still, injured or not. I am Student Council vice president. I am the chair of the student investigative and disciplinary committee. And I am done dealing with your attitude."

"You can be all of those things but I will always be better than you."

"Keep dreaming, Bonnie," Ron said quietly, drawing both girls' attention as well as the attention of the rest of the growing crowd of spectators. "You'll never be as amazing as my KP." He turned to the group of students in annoyance. "Did one of you dimwits call a teacher and the nurse? Or do I have to do everything around here?"

Several students instantly jumped into action, coming to help Kim up or running for the teachers and nurses office. Ron knelt next to her. "Are you okay, Sweetheart?"

"Hurting," she said shortly, gritting her teeth.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling guilty.

"Sorry for what?"

"I should have walked you to class."

"It's okay. You're my boyfriend, not my bodyguard," she chuckled. She closed her eyes, and that wrinkle between her eyebrows appeared, the one that he hated. The one that she had the entire time they were... dying. "Ron... in my bag in the front pocket I have some of the medication they prescribed me. Can you get it and my water, please?"

He immediately reached for her purse, unzipping the front pocket and finding a small pill container that held four white pills and two peachy capsules. "Which ones?"

"The white ones."

He shook them out immediately and placed them in her hand, along with her water.

"Thank you," she whispered. He reached for her hand, and she smiled up at him. "I'll be okay," she said quietly.

Someone from the nurse's office finally arrived, and between her and Ron, they were able to get Kim to her feet and out of the way of the door. She couldn't walk though, and Ron handed off her stuff to the nurse and Lilith, who was busy cursing out Bonnie, and simply carried her to the office.

"Can you believe the nerve of that stupid bitch...?"

"Lilith... chill, the Principal will deal with her. Let's just focus on getting KP home, okay?" He brushed Kim's hair from her face and gently rubbed her leg. That blasted wrinkle eased a little bit, and her lips lifted briefly in a smile.

"Oh well that's easy. We can drive her home, duh. I drove here."

"Yeah but they have this rule that parents have to be here when stuff like this happens. In any case, can you get my homework for me?"

"Ohhhh no. No way! You can't skip."

"KP is going to need me, I can't—"

"The hell you can't. She'll understand."

"What if it's refractured or something? She'll be so devastated... she's going to need me, and I'm going to be there."

"Look... I know she's... important... to you."

"You have no idea how much," he breathed. "Lilith... I'm going with her."

"Actually, I think your third period class is starting now." Anne's voice made him jump.

"But Anne, I—"

"Ron, it's okay. I'm okay."

He felt pressure in his hand and he whipped around. "KP... Sweetheart, you're awake! How do you feel?"

"Better." She pushed herself into a sitting position and winced.

"KP, why don't you let me—"

"Ron, stop freaking out," Kim ordered. "I'll see you at home. Okay?"

He sighed. "Okay... but if you need me, I'll be—"

Lilith took his hand and dragged him towards the door. "Come on. You know how Mr. Lancer is about tardiness."

He yanked his hand back. And crossed the room again. Framing Kim's face in his hands, he gently brushed her hair away from her face. "I love you," he said quietly, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips. "Please take care of yourself."

"I love you too," she mumbled in a daze.

"Can't I help you out to the car?"

She sighed. "If it makes you feel better."

"A little. It would make me feel even better if I could help you to the car and up the stairs to your room. And everywhere else you need to go."

"Don't you have a test next period?"

He sighed. "Yes," he grumbled. "All right... but text me okay?"

"Quit worrying."

"Yes, now would be a good time to plan a way to get back at Bonnie, actually."

"Oh no. I do not do girl-rivalries. If she were a dude I'd gladly kick her ass, but I'm not going to sit in the girl's bathroom listening to you scheme and plan while applying makeup and waxing eyebrows or whatever. I pass."

Kim laughed. "Don't worry about that you two. I've got the payback sitch under control. You don't even have to wear makeup, Ron."

"Thank God," he muttered. "Let's get you out to the car before you change your mind..." He picked her up and Lilith and Anne, who had been chuckling at them the entire conversation, picked up Kim's belongings and followed him outside. He tucked Kim into her seat and buckled her seat belt for her against her protests. "Let me take care of you," he pleaded into her ear. He kissed her forehead, and then her lips. Her leg seemed to be hurting again, so he massaged it lightly until she relaxed into sleep again.

"Come on," Lilith said quietly.

He pushed the car door closed with a heavy sigh. Anne wrapped him in a hug. "She's alright now. Try to focus okay?"

He nodded. "Thanks. I'm uh... late to class."

She smiled and waved before hopping into the driver's seat and pulling away.

Lilith touched his shoulder. "You alright?"

"I guess," he said glumly. "Let's go. I might as well distract myself."

"That's the spirit," she mumbled. They walked in silence for a while. "We can't leave her alone again," she said suddenly.

"I was thinking that. I can't always walk her to class though... I have a class on the fifth floor." The school had five floors and a basement level. It was shaped sort of like an H, with the classrooms on the sides, and the cafeterias, one for every two floors, in the middle. On either side of the cafeteria space, there were the court yards and some sports facilities. The gym was attached to the caf building. A pool building for the swim team, a track area, and a tennis court spanned the left half of the school, and on the right half were gardens and trees and seating areas. A secluded area contained a small water fountain and garden.

"Ooh... are the upperclassmen really as mean as everyone says?" Lilith asked. The upperclassmen had all their classes on the fifth floor. Sophomores like them, and the freshmen, were on the fourth floor. The floors shared a cafeteria, which was cool since some of their friends were juniors. The middle schoolers had the third floor, and they shared their caf with the third to fifth graders on the second floor. The first to third graders shared their caf with the preschool an kindergarteners in the basement level. A lot of social standing and 'food chain' issues were much more restrained this way.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Even if they are, they can't be more awful than Bonnie. Why in the living fuck did it occur to her to trip someone in crutches?! Is she out of her damn mind?!"

"You know she is, Stoppable. We can't let her get harassed again."

"We'll talk about it at lunch, when everyone is around. The more people can help her with her stuff the better."

"You know she's going to hate being babysat."

"Better than her getting her ass kicked now that she can't walk. See you at lunch okay?"

"Kay. Hey Ron?"

"Yeah?"

Lilith wrapped him in a hug. "She's my best friend... my sister. Thank you for really caring about her."

He hugged her back. "Always, Lilith. Always."

She smiled at him and shifted the weight of her book bag on her shoulder. "Call me Lili."

He winked at her. "See ya round, Lili."

When he finally got home that night, he ran straight upstairs, skidding to a halt at her door. He'd forgotten about the security in her room. She'd explained to him, after his talk with Lilith, that everyone's hand print was programmed into the system. She could actually control who had access to what parts of her room... like when anyone besides her accessed her room, her special desk locked down. Anyone could have access to her closet, but there was a part of it that required her hand print to open. He asked what was in there, but she just shook her head and smiled.

She'd also told him to talk to Wade about putting him into the system, but he never got around to it. Now he didn't know what to do. If she was sleeping, he wasn't going to wake her up just to come open the door. If she was awake, she'd be mad at him for not talking to Wade.

"Oh hi, Ron."

"Um... hi. I was just... going to see KP."

Anne gave him a knowing smile and pressed her hand to the door.

"Dr. Anne. Possible. Hand print. Acknowledged. Welcome. Kim's settings. Active."

"Thanks, Anne."

"Tell her dinner will be ready in ten."

"Okay." He ran up the steps as silently as he could. "KP?" he whispered.

"Come in," she said from her special desk. She turned to him with a smile. "Oh hey. I was expecting my mom until I heard you."

"Huh?"

"When I'm in here, it tells me when someone is coming in."

"Why?"

"Well I can run for cover if I'm in the nude," she said with a chuckle. "Then there's also that I've got to be able to close all this," she motioned to her desk, "If there's stuff people shouldn't see."

"Oh, I see." He stepped back, not wanting to invade her privacy.

"Don't worry about this," she said with a smile. "This is just the boring part of GJ that I had to catch up on. Mostly rescue assignments, nothing for my eyes only. How are you?" she asked him with a smile. She motioned him to the beanbag chair and pulled herself to her feet.

He rushed to help her. "You okay, KP?"

She rolled her pretty green eyes. "I'm fine. If I had a nickel for every time—"

"Sorry, sorry. Here," he said, helping her sit on the beanbag couch before joining her. She curled into him and he smiled. "To answer your question, much better now."

"Hey you two, Dinner!"

"Oh... crap, I was supposed to tell you to wash up for dinner."

She tensed. "I don't want to go downstairs."

"I'll bring you dinner then?"

She smirked. "Yes thank you. But, before you go." She limped her way back to her glass desk. He watched, amazed, as the glass came to life. It scanned her hands and she typed in a password. She opened a program. "Put your hand here."

"Should I be afraid?"

"No, silly. You never told Wade to get you into the system. Must I do everything myself?" She asked rhetorically as he pressed his hand to the glass. "Okay, other hand."

He did.

"ID?"

"Whoa, you need my ID?"

"There are things in this room that are classified above top secret. Everyone who comes in here has to be on record."

"Okay," he said suspiciously as he pulled out his wallet. "What I want to know is why these people trust a fifteen year old with this stuff if its so secret."

"Long story. It begins with an obscenely rich guy who stole a blueprint of a high-tech security system from GJ to secure his Cuddlebuddy collection. Mr. Paisley was his name. Naturally, he screwed something up and ended up trapped and surrounded by lasers in his own home... the idiot dropped the remote too. He somehow put a hit on my site, and I went in and used my cheer skills to get around all the lasers to the remote. I turned it off, he was arrested. I was eleven. The GJ agents were totally thrown as to how a dumb kid like me managed to work classified technology... as if it takes a genius to push a button. Anyway, the rest, as they say, is history. News got around that I could get through some pretty serious stuff. I did several trial things with GJ... rescues mainly, and training. Then the tornado hit, and stuff... within four years I've..." she smiled. "I've been all over the world. I've faced people and situations you only see in the movies. I've learned how to do things I'd never dreamed of before. But I have to keep to the rules, you know. This is my dream, and I won't let it go to shit because Lilith wanted to play with my cool glass desk."

"I understand, I guess."

"There's also that... I've dealt with some very dangerous people. People that hold grudges. If they knew that someone I know... I mean, you could get hurt, and I would never forgive myself if you got hurt because you couldn't keep your nose out of my classified stuff."

"I get it KP," he chuckled. "I promise, I'll keep my nose to my face."

"Good boy," she said with a chuckle. "You're in the system now. When you come back we'll put your settings in."

"Okay. Wait... settings?"

"You'll see," she smiled.

He retrieved their plates quickly, feeling like someone in a 007 movie when he pressed his hand to the scanner. "Ronald. Stoppable. Handprint. Acknowledged. Welcome. Kim's settings. Active."

When he got upstairs, he saw her still at the desk. "Safe to come in?"

"Of course. Now look."

He put their food down and sat down next to her. The glass showed his ID picture and several menus and options. "What is all this?"

"There are lighting options and other things that will happen automatically when you come in my room. Even music, if you want it. I asked Wade to help me set it up because Lilith always seemed so disoriented when she came in here and my settings were on. Now I know why, and she can turn music off when she's in here without getting into my stuff. Her lighting and music settings are soothing to her."

"She says she loves your room."

"She likes the colors. She helped me pick them, you know. And now I realize that she picks the music that looks like the colors in my room. It's less confusing."

"What are you talking about?"

She shook her head. "Lilith's... special. She's got this thing called Synesthesia. It means that she sees music in color. And my taste in music throws her off. So she picks her own. I didn't know until she told me, but it all makes sense now. So, Wade had her and Paige and everyone else go in and set their settings while I was in rehab. Now when they come in, everything is the way they like it."

"Talk about making me feel at home."

"You are home," she smiled. "Play with it until you find the settings you like. I'm going to eat. When you're done, hit the next button at the bottom, it will show you what to do next."

He sat there for a good hour, playing with the lights. There were even color settings for the lights! This was so awesome. Once again, he thought that the Possible family was ridiculously loaded.

She seemed to read his mind. "GJ sponsored the whole thing. So it's not a upper-class suburbia thing. It's more like... a work perk."

"I need your job," he mumbled. "This is fifteen different shades of awesome!"

She laughed. "Glad you like it."

"Okay, I'm done."

"Okay, hit next. It will give you the option to change your name. Like... Ron instead of Ronald. And it will ask you some security questions."

"Okay." When he was done with that, he hit the button at the bottom and his profile was saved.

"Want to see something cool?"

He moved aside so that she could sit next to him. "Watch."

She opened a word processor and typed a paragraph of gibberish. She drew her finger across the screen, and the document seemed to fly into the corner and disappear.

The printer came to life, asking her if she wanted to print her document or fax it.

"Whoa! So you can literally send stuff to the printer?"

"Yeah. Much faster than having to click file then print, or whatever."

"No kidding."

She closed the program and opened her media library. Selecting a movie, she pressed play. Then she drew her finger across the screen again, and the movie was suddenly playing on the TV screen behind him.

"Cool!"

"Fun, huh?"

"Ugh we should totally be allowed to play with this."

"I would... but I have yet to protect my files instead of just the computer I only got it like a month and a half before the avalanche."

"Oh so this is new."

"Fairly, yeah."

"It's very cool."

"I promise Wade and I are working on encrypting my stuff."

"Well okay. Hey, can I play with the lights again?"

"Knock yourself out," she said with a chuckle.

"Kimmie! Ron! We have some cherry cobbler for dessert!"

"I am so there. Ya coming KP?"

She shut down the glass computer and reached for her crutches. "Right behind you."

Being in her room last night had been very revealing. She took her spy/agent stuff seriously. Actually, she was kind of a teenage mercenary, except not really, since she worked for GJ most of the time. It was interesting to hear her talk about it. After they'd had their cobbler, they went upstairs again, talking and laughing and kissing until they both fell asleep on her bed. It amazed him that even though they'd spent thirty six hours talking virtually non-stop, never in the months since did they stop finding things to talk about. He asked about her collection of stuffed toys, and she told him where she got each one. Her pandaroo, which she'd gotten as a present when she was like four, was her first one. She'd loved the thing to death, and sheepishly confessed to still keeping it in her bed when she slept.

He asked her about her missions, and the glee on her face when she described all the places in the world she had been and all the people she'd met and saved made him smile.

"So you... call in a favor and get a ride anywhere in the world?"

She'd smiled. "I guess I'm lucky that way. When it's not GJ related, I'm kind of on my own. People are always willing to help. I also get hits from actual organizations. People from Red Cross and other disaster relief organizations that need help often ask me to come along and provide food and a place to stay as long as I'm there helping."

"So you're a regular grapple-gun-slinging, world-saving Mother Theresa, huh?"

She laughed long and hard. "Yeah, something like that."

He grinned and then he brushed her cheek. "You're so pretty when you laugh," he said quietly.

Still smiling, she'd pulled him toward her and—

"Ron? Hey!"

He blinked at his friend, confused.

"Dude, you've seriously got it bad."

"Huh? Sorry."

"You'll never be able to carry a normal conversation with that girl in your head."

"A small price to pay, Josh," he said quietly.

"So when do I get to meet her?"

Ron looked up at him, then noticed the girls walking through the doors to Bueno Nacho. "Now," he said brightly, jumping up to greet them.

"Sit, Kim. I'll get your food," Zita Flores was saying.

"Thanks," she smiled. "The uh... the usual. Oh, hey Ron. I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Hanging out with Josh. Come meet him, will you? I'll get your food, don't worry."

"Ron—"

He raised his eyebrows. "Sit."

"Yessir," she grumbled.

She lowered herself carefully into the booth. "Hi."

A smirk. "You must be the girl that's been messin' with my boy's head since he like... hit puberty."

She flushed but laughed. "Kim Possible," she introduced herself.

"Josh Mankey," he replied. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Kim! Oh you can't be serious! You are not ditching us to sit with your boytoy today! We're here to work!" Josh looked up and saw a girl with jet black hair wearing a black pleated short skirt, a black tank-top, and black fingerless lace gloves storming across Bueno Nacho. His jaw dropped. She had ice blue eyes that looked even icier with her dark, smoky eyeshadow and blood red lipstick. "Who are you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He raised an eyebrow back. "Who are you?"

She crossed her arms, and her hip jutted to her left. She was pissed... and she was hot. He smirked. "You... uh... you paint?"

She looked confused. "How do you know?"

He stood, stepping into her personal space. Her breath hitched.

Her hair was silky as his fingers tangled in it, pulling funny-colored paint-chips from it. "You've got paint in your hair," he said into her ear. Then dropped a ten dollar bill in front of Kim. "Tell Ron thanks for the food," he said with a wink. "Pleasure meeting you both."

Kim watched her friend as he sauntered out the door. She went from flustered to nuclear. "Asshole!" she hissed.

Kim smirked. "Ooh, Lili's got a crush."

"Shut the fuck up, Possible! I do not like him! He's... he's..."

"He's got pretty eyes and he's the first person that's every been able to successfully make you be anything other than rude in the past six years."

"Well, he did have nice eyes," she mumbled. Then she glared at Kim. "That doesn't mean anything!"

"KP, I left your food at your table—where's Josh?"

"He um... took off. He says thanks for the food," Kim told him, handing him the ten.

Ron shook his head and put the cash in his pocket. "I'll talk to him tonight. What's wrong with you?" he asked, noting Lilith's demeanor and eying her speculatively.

"Nothing," she growled, stomping back to the table.

"She met Josh," Kim explained.

"Oh, did I or did I not call it?! I told you she and Josh would hit it off. Can I get a boo-yah?!"

Kim chuckled and rolled her eyes. "I don't know... He's going to give her a run for her money."

"Meaning...?"

"I've never seen her so flustered," she said with a chuckle. "It was cute. He totally knows she likes him. I'm going to like seeing him push her buttons."

"Twenty bucks says they are official in two weeks."

"Lili is stubborn," Kim countered. "My twenty says at least a month."

"You're so on."