Disclaimer: I do not own the Scott Pilgrim series or any of the characters mentioned in this story. All original characters and lines belong to Bryan Lee O'Malley. This story is for entertainment purposes only. Any similarity to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A/N: Ahh... the thrill of a challenge. This story idea was presented to me by my personal favorite Scott Pilgrim fanfic writer, Voice4theMute. It's a bit of a departure from my usual writing style, but hey... gotta stretch my legs somehow, right? Of course, I'm nothing if not an efficient writer, so expect this story to play heavily in my next story, "Scott and Ramona's Precious Little Wedding" AND tie in to my already completed "Lily Pilgrim vs. Their World." And as always, feedback is greatly appreciated, though be gentle this time. I'm trying new stuff. :-)

One Night of Trouble

Part 1

The sun was already shining in the western window when Kim Pine (Name: Kimberly Pine, Status: Needs to find something to cover that window) woke up. It was her day off though, so alarm clocks be damned.

She sat up, much to the chagrin of Gideon the cat, who had been quite content using her as a human cat bed for the last few hours. He meowed sadly as he jumped down from her stomach to the floor and walked away. Kim glanced at him and then rubbed her eyes as she looked around the room. The set up was nice. She had her pallet on the floor (Suggested by Scott, Paid for by Ramona), and a small "bedside" table (Suggested by Scott, Paid for by Ramona). On the table was her trusty walkman and a full case of AA batteries (Suggested by No one, Paid for by Kim... Necessity: THROUGH THE ROOF!).

Kim slowly got up and walked to a curtain that separated her "room" from the rest of the apartment (Note: Did you seriously think Scott Pilgrim's apartment would have more than one bedroom? Silly silly people...). She peeked out cautiously. She had lived with other people before, but this was different. She had spent the last year living with one of her best friends, Scott Pilgrim (Kim Pine Note: Funny how a few weeks can turn into a year that quickly...).

No one was out in the living room. Only Gideon, who had found another comfortable spot on the couch to replace his now vertical cat bed, looked back at her.

Kim smirked at the cat. "Well Gideon... looks like it's just us today."

She put two pieces of bread in the toaster, starting the timer. That was at least one good thing about living with Scott as opposed to the roommates she'd had before. Scott didn't steal her bread. Hell, as far as she could tell, he never ate anything beyond ramen noodles (and the occasional loaf of garlic bread, but surprisingly, he usually bought his OWN bread for that). That, and whatever Ramona demanded he eat for his own nutrition. As Kim's toast finished, she pulled it out and put it on a plate (Note: Plate is a Super Mario Bros commemorative plate... it was a gift from Scott's mom).

Kim sat on the couch with her toast as Gideon quickly took advantage of having his bed stationary again by jumping into her lap. As she crunched into the first piece of her toast, she absently scratched behind his ears.

"It's gonna be a good day, Giddie."

Ramona was the first one home, and by that time, Kim had gotten dressed and taken her place, her favorite place on her days off, with a book on the couch. She barely looked up as Ramona came through the door (Name: Ramona V. Flowers, Energy: Bordering on 0%).

"Hey Rammy," she said as she continued reading.

Ramona leaned down and unsnapped her roller blades, taking them off and leaving them at the door. "Hey Kim. Enjoy your day off?" she asked as she plopped down in a chair across the room, looking exhausted.

"Yeah," she responded. Kim's eyes were immediately drawn to it, as they always were. The ring on Ramona's hand. The ring that she had actually helped Scott pick out (Kim Pine Note: Quite unwillingly, by the way). She quickly averted her eyes back to her book. That phase of her life was over. It had to be... the wedding was in just a few weeks. "Hard day at work?" Kim asked, again looking at her book.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Ramona sighed. "And it's not like that's the only thing on my plate right now. Hey... are you gonna be available to go shopping tomorrow? We've got to finalize these dresses."

"I work tomorrow, but I'll be done by 4," Kim said as she put the book down. "I guess I can meet you at the store."

"Sounds great," Ramona said as she leaned back.

"Having second thoughts yet?" Kim asked before she could stop herself.

Ramona sat up and looked at Kim, confused. "No. Just wishing these things weren't such a pain to plan," she answered. "Planning a wedding AND doing deliveries every day is a bit grating. I guess it doesn't help that Scott isn't helping with this at all," she lamented after a moment.

"Eh… he's Scott Pilgrim. You couldn't possibly think he was suddenly NOT going to be a slacker for his wedding," Kim said, picking her book up again.

"Yeah… guess not," Ramona muttered as she got up and went into the bedroom.

Kim stayed on the couch, mainly to provide a place for Gideon to keep napping. As she opened her book and continued reading, she thought she heard Ramona sigh in the next room.

A few short hours later, Scott Pilgrim (Age: 25, Status: Still awesome!) finally arrived home from his shift at the Happy Avocado. Again, the sound of the door opening caused Kim to lower her book.

"Well look who it is," she said. "The blushing groom-to-be finally comes home."

"Hey Kim!" Scott said. He was never at a loss for spirit, she had to give him that. "Good day?"

"Of course. I live to be a mobile cat bed," she answered, gesturing to the cat that was STILL laying on her lap (Gideon Fun Fact: Cats generally sleep more than they are awake).

Scott walked over and scratched Gideon behind the ears (Gideon: No response) before walking into the bedroom, presumably looking for Ramona. Kim glanced at her Walkman. It was ready to be used at a moment's notice. She wouldn't have to use it on this occasion though, as Scott and Ramona walked out into the living room.

"So Kim… what were you planning on doing tonight?" Scott asked.

"Exactly what I'm doing right now," Kim answered as she went back to her book (Book Reading Note: Approximately 3 chapters to go).

"I thought you were going to go to that party for Julie," Ramona said.

Kim put the book down and frowned at Ramona. "Oh joy… a party for Julie," she monotoned. "How could I possibly miss that?" She went back to reading.

"Well… we're going to that new sushi place that opened downtown, so I guess we'll see you when we get back," Scott said, pulling Ramona toward the door (Scott's stomach: Empty).

"You're welcome to come," Ramona offered.

"No thanks… I get enough of being the third wheel hanging out with Stephen and Joseph. No sense doing it with you two too," Kim answered. "Have fun kids."

Scott and Ramona walked out the door, leaving Kim to her book. For a moment, she DID entertain the idea of going to Julie's party. After all, they'd been friends… sort of. And this was one of the few times that Julie had come into town since moving to Montreal. It WOULD be nice to see her again… sort of. And it would take her mind off of what needed to be done the next day… namely, dress shopping, an activity she didn't quite look forward to for several reasons.

Gideon jumped up on Kim's lap and laid down yet again. She smiled down at him.

"Well… there goes THAT idea."

By the time Scott and Ramona got back a few hours later, they found Kim practicing on her drum set that was set up close to her "room." She kept pounding away on the snare, trying to get the beat that was in her head just right. Both Scott and Ramona waved a hello, but didn't stay to talk for very long, as they went into the bedroom in a bit of a hurry.

Kim stopped playing and reached over to get her Walkman. She'd tried drumming to drown them out before, but she found she just started drumming in time with them, and that was even more awkward. She put the headphones on and began blasting out the only CD she had managed to save from being packed away in storage: the Sex Bob-omb CD (Kim Pine Note: Thing's certainly getting its mileage. Glad all that time wasn't wasted… oh wait…). The sounds of Stephen Stills belting out "Herself the Elf" filled Kim's hearing as she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. Blessed isolation.

Suddenly, the wall behind her head shuddered, snapping her out of her trance. She looked out into the living room and saw Ramona walk out of the bedroom, yelling and gesturing wildly with her hands. In just a moment, Scott joined her, apparently pleading. Kim felt wrong looking in on this kind of conversation, even though she couldn't hear anything over Stephen's distorted vocals. Ramona finally threw up her hands and left, slamming the front door behind her. Scott stood there for a long moment before trudging to the couch and slumping down on it.

Crap, Kim thought as she turned the volume down on her headphones. The room was incredibly silent to have hosted such an argument seconds before.

"Scott?" she probed. Scott didn't respond. Kim slowly pulled her headphones off. It made her uncomfortable to see Scott like this, dejected. He was usually so unshakeable. It reminded her of when Ramona had left before his fight with Gideon (The guy... not the cat), a time that no one wanted to remember all that much.

She slowly walked into the room, still waiting for some kind of response from Scott. Gideon seemed to sense something was wrong as well, as he jumped up on the couch next to Scott and rubbed his forehead on Scott's hand.

"Scott Pilgrim? Are you going to answer me, or sit there like a loser?" Kim pressed further.

Scott finally looked up at Kim, and she saw that same look. The look of lost sadness, of abandonment, that he'd had when he'd shown up at her door all those months ago. It broke her heart to see him look that hurt. More so than she'd like to admit.

"She said if I didn't start taking things more seriously... maybe we shouldn't have a wedding," he said solemnly.

"Well... maybe you should," Kim replied, sitting down next to him. "I mean... you're getting married Scott. Kind of a big thing."

"I was taking it seriously. I still am," Scott lamented as he looked down at the floor.

Kim looked at Scott long and hard. She knew that Ramona just needed time to cool down and she'd come around. But she also knew that leaving Scott in this type of condition wouldn't be good. She and Stephen had worried enough before. She wasn't going to let him dig himself into that hole again.

"Alright Scott... I'm going to Julie's party, and you're coming with me," she said matter-of-factly as she stood up.

Scott looked at her with an air of confusion. "I'm not going to the party."

"I didn't ASK if you were going... you're going," Kim said, pulling him to his feet by his shirt. "I'm not going to have you mope around for the next few hours, even if I have to drag you to that party myself."

"But what about Ramona?" Scott pleaded.

"Ramona will be fine," Kim said. She hoped she was right. "She just needs time to cool off... the time before a wedding can be stressful, and she just needs to get away from it. YOU could probably stand some distance too."

"And you think going to a party for Julie will help?"

Kim sighed. It DID sound pretty dumb, when Scott said it out loud, but it was all she could think of at the moment. "Well it damn sure can't hurt, now can it?"

The party was jam packed full of people. Kim wondered for a moment how on earth so many people could know Julie Powers. Then, she wondered how on earth so many people could LIKE Julie Powers. It boggled her mind.

She stumbled through the throng, still dragging a morose Scott Pilgrim behind her (Scott Pilgrim Note: Also wondering how this many people could like Julie). After finally finding some empty couch space, she threw Scott onto it.

"Alright... you're here, so let's stop being pitiful and have some fun," Kim said with a bit of an edge to her voice. Already she was regretting this decision, and she could think of only one thing that would make it worse...

"Hey Pilgrim! You look like you just got your XXX dumped!" said a voice from nearby.

Scott and Kim both looked toward the voice to find its owner, Julie Powers (Name: Julie Powers, Status: Has major issues... and she's a XXXXX... Kim added that last part just now). She walked over and placed a hand on her hip.

"Glad you could make it to my party anyway," she continued. "I was wondering if you'd show up, what with wedding planning going and all."

"Wedding planning?" Scott was almost in a trance.

"Yeah... planning's going great. Me and Ramona are going tomorrow to finalize the bridesmaids dresses," Kim interjected. She didn't see a reason to let Julie in on the pre-marital spat.

"Well as long as my invitation doesn't get lost in the mail," Julie pouted. Then she walked away, obviously thinking more important party guests required her attention.

"I'm sure you'll be there in some way... you manage to bust into everything else we do," Kim muttered under her breath.

Scott suddenly stood up and walked off. The motion caught Kim by surprise, so much that by the time she reacted and followed, Scott had already gotten to the bar and grabbed a bottle of tequila. He was taking a swig before Kim snatched the bottle out of his hands.

"OOOOOH NO... We're not going down THAT road again," Kim said as she put the bottle back on the shelf. "I brought you here to keep you from moping around the house, not drown your troubles in tequila."

"But what if there's no wedding?" Scott said with a frown. "I can't be happy with anyone but Ramona."

The comment stung Kim a little more than she wanted it to, but she remained steadfast. "No drinking tonight, Scott. If something happened to you, I couldn't face Rammy again."

"Hey... isn't that that guy with the car?" Scott pointed over her shoulder.

Kim looked over her shoulder and saw her ex-boyfriend (Name: Jason Kim, Status: Who the hell cares?) and her co-worker (Name: Hollie Hawkes, Status: Should she really be out partying the night before work? Wait... that's what I'm doing too... crap...). They were laughing together, Jason's arm around Hollie.

"What was his name? Jason..." Scott ventured.

"Jason Kim. His name was Jason Kim," Kim said, her eyes glassing over.

"Jason KIM?" Scott almost yelled.

"Yeah. Ha ha," Kim said as she took the bottle of tequila and drank from it. It wasn't bad enough she was trying to baby sit one reminder of a failed relationship... now she had two of them in the same room. Scott took the bottle as Kim set it down and took a swig himself.

An hour (and almost 3/4 of a bottle of tequila) later, Hollie actually walked over and sat down next to Kim, who had lost track of Scott in the party and was now just sitting on the couch, the bottle of tequila still in her hand.

"Hey Kim... work tomorrow?" Hollie asked.

Kim glared at her for a moment. With the feeling she now had in her head, she was almost sure there was a hangover waiting at the end of this night. Still, she couldn't give Hollie the satisfaction of having driven her to this. "Yeah. Bright and early."

"So... you're here with Scott Pilgrim?" Hollie asked with a hint of a smile.

"Yeah. What about it?" Kim was getting more annoyed with this line of thought than she really cared to admit.

"Nothing. I just thought he was engaged to Ramona Flowers, but I don't see her anywhere," Hollie said innocently.

"It's my personal bachelor party for him," Kim replied sarcastically.

Hollie laughed. "Like I always said Kim... you're a hell child." With that, she got up and walked off.

Kim shook her head, which felt sloshy after so much tequila. What did it matter to anyone if she was there with Scott? They were friends, right? That's all they were. That's all they'd really ever been, except for a blessed year at St. Joel's. But she could let it go. She was going to, because she knew what Scott Pilgrim had with Ramona Flowers was special. More special than anything she, Kim Pine, was capable of finding.

Somewhere in the middle of her ruminations, Scott sat down next to her (Name: Scott... umm... Pilgrim. Status... drunk? Don't ask me so many questions!). He took another swig of the tequila Kim was holding onto (there goes that last 1/4) and dropped the bottle on the floor.

"Kim... you're my best friend," Scott started.

Kim rolled her eyes. "Yeah Scott... you're my best friend too."

"Y'know... without you... me and Rammy wouldn't be together... so thank you Kim," Scott slurred.

"What? I had nothing to do with it Scott," Kim said. "You were the one who fought all of those jerks to be with her!"

"But you were my support," Scott insisted. "You... were my friend, no matter what."

"That's what friends do," Kim answered.

"But I was a jerk to you," Scott frowned. "I just left you back in high school."

The memories, even in a drunken haze, were enough to bring Kim back to the present. And with a lot of pain. Sitting on the swings in Hillcrest Park, wondering what she'd done wrong. The nights she'd cried herself to sleep, wishing he was still there. And even more recently, the meetings with Stephen over ice cream to try and reconcile herself to the fact that he'd found his true love in Ramona.

"I'm sorry Kim," Scott said with a sudden clarity.

"You already apologized Scott," Kim said. "There's no reason to keep doing it. I forgave you. We've moved on. You're getting married." The last words burned her, but she buried that pain. No one needed to know about that.

Scott leaned in closer to her, swaying a little from the alcohol. "You've always been there for me..."

Kim knew where this was going. She'd heard this apology before, from a much more sober Scott Pilgrim up in the wilderness of Canada. She knew she had to get out before something happened. She stood up quickly and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Scott asked.

"I need some air," she spat out, trying to catch her breath. She walked out onto the balcony and leaned over the side, feeling the cool Toronto night air on her face. She had to hope it would stop the burning under her skin.

She heard the door behind her.

"Scott... no... don't do this..." she said as she turned around.

Scott was instantly right in her face. He didn't hesitate a moment, grabbing her and kissing her on the balcony. She tried to think rationally... remember what she had needed to do to break away from him before, when they'd kissed in the woods behind her house. She told her hands to push him away, but this time, they only entwined in his hair and pulled him closer. She desperately tried to command her legs to run away, but one simply snaked around his leg and pulled him even closer. It seemed as if her whole body was rebelling against her, until finally, she was lost in the ever brightening lights in her eyes.

Kim Pine woke with a start. She sat bolt upright on her pallet, nearly throwing a sleeping Gideon off of her (Gideon: One very unhappy kitty). She glanced toward the clock. It was 7:30 AM. She'd somehow managed to wake up 30 minutes before her alarm. She closed her eyes. That dream had felt so real. So real in fact that it had taken up her memories. She couldn't remember how she'd gotten in bed the night before. She could only remember the dream, of Scott Pilgrim holding her and kissing her like he had before, and in some ways like he had not before.

"Well... THAT'S gonna make dress shopping with his fiancee' a little more awkward," she muttered to herself as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

A groan from the other side of the pallet snapped her wide awake. She shook her head. It was only a dream. It HAD to have been a dream...

She looked over to the other side of her small pallet. There, halfway under the blanket, was Scott Pilgrim.

"XXXX!" she cursed.

TO BE CONTINUED