Chapter One: Departure

Ronald Stoppable stepped out of his home for the last eighteen years for the last time. Or at least leaving it as his home. Well it would always be 'his' home, like a haven or whatever but it was the last time that he would leave here as a resident...for some time... Oddly enough it was like leaving Bueno Nacho without getting any food. Empty and terrifying. Was that tree over their as scary looking yesterday? A car slowly drove by and Ron could think of nothing other than how fast he was going.

'Calm down Ron, you're just scared. You are taking a big step here.' he thought. 'Just do what you always do when you are nervous and narrate what you're doing'

With that Ron got into his old beaten up truck and took off.

The drive through the familiar roads and alley ways of his former home draped over him a sense of nostalgia. Ron liked that word. He figured that everyone had a couple words in their vocabulary with the extra consanant or two and what better word to capture his 'Ronness'? It was not an intimidating word nor exotic. It was familiar and something everyone had experienced, a level that normally isn't too deep but deep enough to leave an impact. You can argue about the intensity of love or hate or fear, but nostalgia? That was the embodiement of Ron; familiar and agreeable. Welcome as often as it isn't. 'Well that just sounds confusing.'

Ron erased the last line and threw the book aside. The book was soon accompanied by a thesauraus and a dictionary. After clearing his plate or rather his dashboard Ron started up his truck and drove out of the Smarty Mart parking lot.

"And there goes Middleton." Ron wasn't sure if that was more directed towards his naked mole rat or himself. All things considered Rufus was asleep and Ron often narrated to himself when he was nervous. Eventually his home was far behind him and the young man with his old truck and his best friend struck out into the 'real world' for the first time.

As the mile markers swept by and the front end of the truck continued to eat away the road Ron reflected on all that he had done. In his short life he had accomplished quite a lot, mostly thanks to his dear friend and love Kim Possible. It wasn't always easy, but it had all been worth it. The enormity of the pressure that highschool, saving the world, and his dearest of frienships had all but vanished, leaving nothing but weightless freedom and endless possibilities before him. So it was after having a conversation with his dad about what 'normal' teenagers did at this stage in their lives, Ron decided to follow in his father's footsteps and take a road trip. Of course Ron had first taken a trip to see Sensei after his mystic abilities came to surface. An annoyed sigh blew out his lips when he reflected on that visit. He preffered not to think about it. And so here it was, his journey that he took alone. This was the time that Ron would take all of the experience and knowledge that was crammed into his head out into the world. The purpose was to get things balanced and figured out. Ron knew there was a lot that was above his grasp, he knew he was niave and he also knew that he was really just starting to come into his own as a hero and a man.

There comes a point on a long road trip when the sounds of travel become common and their absence becomes instantly noticable. And that is why when Ron decided to stop for a stretch a little after noon it felt so eerily quiet.

' Kinda dead around here' Ron thought.

" Kinda dead around here." Ron narrated to himself nervously. Rufus peeked up out of the window to look at their surroundings. They had pulled over at a rest stop on the side of the free way and like most rest stops they were sparsley crowded. This one in particular had a dead feeling about it. To make matters worse, the clouds had rolled in and were blocking out the sun. Besides the occassional vehicle zooming by all was quiet. Still.

"Well little buddy I'm stretched, lets get out of here." In response to Ron saying this Rufus ,the little nudist, nodded fiercely in agreement. Without trying to look too eager, Ron shuffled over to his truck but was soon taken in by the overwhelming urgency to shut the door and press the lock button. As soon as Ron got settled in the truck however, a wave of embarrassment swept over him.

" What am I doing Rufus? I shouldn't be terrified of the outside world the outside world should be terrified of me!" Again Rufus shook his head in agreement. The truth of the matter was Ron was more than equipped to handle any *BANG* " AW FUCK!" THESUDDEN KnOCkINg of A PaTRol Officer starTled the OccUpants of the Truck. Taking more effort than it should have Ron rolled down his window.

" Hey! Yo.. th..surprised. Hey!" It made much more sense in Ron's head than when it came out of his mouth. A goofy grin split across his face, he was often recognized but only when he was wearing that grin, or was with Kp of course.

"Sir ..." The officer paused while looking hard at Ron's face. " Hey I know you! You're Ron Stoppable! I watched you on T.V. and let me tell you it was something else!" The prior strict demeanor of the lawman had taken a one hundreded and eighty degree turn. And as he rambled on Ron couldn't help but reflect on all the previous times the similiar situation happened. Saving the world and getting caught on camera had its benefits. Ron snapped back to notice that he was expected to give the ol John Hancock. After another thirty minutes of the usual compliments and the usual questions the cop was interupted by his radio.

"Excuse me Mr. Stoppable, it was a pleasure meeting you. " Ron nodded and rolled his window up eager to hit the road.

"It can't be helped Rufus, the reputation of the RonMan preceeds him." . Ron put the truck in drive and *BANG* "AW FUCK!"AgAin It wAs the Cop. Wide Eyed Ron looked at the officer who had a panic stricken look on his face. With his prior shock all but forgotten Ron rolled down his window.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Shego! Please!My family and I live there." Ron heard this but just stared at the officer, it took a second before it sunk in.

"Whoa whoa, Uh Shego went good? And what do you mean you live...where?" Ron tried to ask.

"Please Mr. Stoppable I'll escort you!"

It was twenty minutes later and thirty miles off course when Ron and his 'escort' drove into town in their own respective vehicles.

"So you have no clue what's going on?" Ron asked the small screen. Shaking his head Wade ,the teen genuis, replied " Drakken is at a U.N. Conference, I don't know why Shego would be anywhere around there. Let alone neither of them have any warrants since their amnesty. "

" Thanks Wade, I don't have time but let Kim know I'm possibly involving myself in a dangerous situation I guess? I don't know , just , well you know where I am, so if I dissapear you know, well the cops know. I gotta go." With an exasperated sigh and a chuckle from Wade the screen went black. ' You know that's why you have to keep up in the journal. An expanded vocabulary wouldn't hurt.' Those were actually Kim Possible's words, but Ron understood the wisdom behind them. Which is why he went along instead of complaining when she gave him the journal a little while after graduation. A familiar tugging pulled Ron out of his day dreaming, Rufus was pointing at the Highway Patrol vehicle which had indeed pulled over.

Looking around cautiously Ron slammed his squeeky truck door. The officer didn't seem in as much a fright as he approached this time.

"Well it seems she was last seen in that grocery store over there." The officer pointed at a building that in Ron's opinion was too small to be a grocery store. The entire area looked like a ghost town. He looked over and noticed an old beaten up truck like his with the exception of the large sticker on the side that read 'sherriff'. Inside the vehicle the driver was holding a gun trained at the doors of the grocery store. Next to that truck was a red car with a nasty looking hole in the door, still smoking. ' Well so much for the normal life.' Ron thought as he took his shirt off and after some digging around put his thin plated armored shirt on. He put his normal shirt on over that, told Rufus to stay put, and started for the market. Like the rest stop it was eerily quiet. The sound of his own feet making contact with the worn down graveled lot invaded his ears adding to his anxiety. ' Settle down monkey master, settle down.' It seemed to take forever but arriving at the doors happened all too soon. With a steady grip and a firm shove Ron opened the door and entered the grocery store.

Had it not been so quiet the inside of the store would have been comical. The check out stands were tables with thin pieces of wood tacked on the front, the registers looking like something out of the eighties. The floors were in serious disrepair, little tears all throughout the linoleum with the occasional twelve by twelve inch tile patch. The lighting was unusually dim, you could still see clearly but it really was the final piece to turn this into the world's most depressing place. A sound roused Ron out of his thoughts and he turned his attentions to the animal care aisle. ' Settle down Ron, Shego probably isn't even here and she doesn't want to kill you anyway, right?' Slowly, steadily, quietly, he rounded the corner and peered into the aisle.

There she was. Adorned in a dark green shirt and short denim shorts. Her hair hid most of her face but from what Ron could make out she wasn't paying him any attention. Something deep down prevented Ron from saying anything, instead he just watched. Watched her body language, as she browsed the shelf. 'Oh my god she's just shopping.' As fun as it was to spy on her Ron decided to get a grasp of the situation, but as he started walking forward her voice interupted him.

"Somebody has always got to be the hero." Her voice breaking the still brought a minuet wave of uncertainty on Ron; he doubled back and retorted. " Shego what are you doing to these people? Why are you doing this?" Shego jolted up with a surprise look on her face. She glared at Ron but quickly turned the gaze into scanning the store. After a minute of looking around she settled back down and focused on Ron.

"So what's the deal? Where's Kimmie and why are you here?" The look on her face was as half as saracastic as it usually was in Ron's opinion. But he didn't say anything right away, he was still trying to grasp the oddity that was this situation. "What's wrong monkey boy? You gonna stop big bad Shego?" A mocking smile spread across her lips.

"The RonMan is gonna take you down!" And with that Ron took up a defensive stance. Ron admitted it was an unusual feeling. Rushing into battle, instead of bumbling around it. But since his true potential had surfaced he had taken on another role. Oddly it was more about reserving himself than anything else. In a way his abilities were limitless. But his physical body was not. Not only could he destroy the ones he loved, he could very easily destroy himself. It was after this revelation and some guidance from Sensei that Ron decided to tone it down quite a bit.

This is what she needed. In fact Shego was a firm believer that a good fight could be better than sex. Not to mention the thrill of having an opponent who could scare her. Of course she had no delusions that Ron would seriously hurt her, but she had witnessed his awakening so to speak, and knew what he was capable of. Her instincts told her to run away. She ran at Ron, igniting her fists as she did so. Ron's stance held firm as his attacker charged.

As Shego charged she dragged her hand along the shelf exploding cans of dog food and bags of kitty litter leaving a mess in her wake. However about ten feet away instead of exploding a can she grabbed it and whipped it at Ron with incredible speed. He kicked it away but stayed on one leg, his foot still in the air caught Shego's chest as she charged into it. A look of shock spread across her face as her legs continued forward while her upper torse stopped short at Stoppable's foot. A second kick turned her into a tumbled mess, trying to recover but to no avail, slipping and flipping into the shelves at the end of the aisle. Crashing into them and being buried by various loaves of bread.

With a smug smile Ron slowly walked towards the pile of bread. " Dare I say a- Boo- let it arrive-yah." However his celebration was short lived as an explosion of bread and what appeared to be toast reigned out and upon the store. Shego jumped out and over landing into the aisle next to Ron. Shego took two steps and with a husky grunt chest kicked the shelf. Immediatly the aisle Ron was in collapsed around him. A small wave of panic came over him at the thought of being buried. Shaking it off he focused his energy in his hands and dove through the shelves, piercing them as he did so. After about twenty feet of air Ron landed on top of a shelf and steadied himself. 'This is way too messy. I should have wrapped this up with much less damage.' As he thought this he pushed outwards for Shego's presence. The latest lesson had been awareness, feeling out for someone was only limited by the users range. Unfortunately, he couldn't 'feel' the cash register until it was imbeded into the back of his skull. Ron flipped forward and downward from the top of the shelf. Dazed and confused he plummeted face first into the ground. Darkness ensued.

From outside the lawmen could hear crashing and the sounds of various objects breaking. It didn't take too long for the noise to settle down.

"You think he got " The sherrif was interupted by a concussion wave that emanated from the store, blowing the lawmen and their vehicles back . The windows of course had all blown out but with them came a green skinned lady in short shorts. As she made impact she let out a rough moan and bounced off the ground, skidding another six feet. After the back pain subsided a bit she felt the ground with her hands all too happy to be on it. After the blast or whatever it was Shego had flown into a shelf, through a canned food display, through a window and it's glass shards, and another forty feet of air. Doing a quick mental evaluation Shego was confident that nothing was broken but also that there wasn't an inch of her body that wouldn't be sore. If not already was. Reflexively she put her hand to her face and felt blood coming out of her nose and her lip. 'No broken nose, please no broken nose.' A small wave of relief came over her when her nose passed the test. "Well I guess I got what I wanted. Where is the sidekick?"

Ron woke in a standing position with the familiar feeling of just being used as a conduit to channel his mystic power. Taking a slow inventory of the store the first thing he noticed was that he was ground zero. Everything in the store was bowing away from him even the walls themselves.

"This is not what I wanted to happen." ' Wait, where's Shego?' Panic took over as he frantically looked around. 'Don't be dumb, feel for her!' It took a little time before he could settle down and feel for her. It wasn't good.

"Fuck! She's gone! I Can't I...I can't.." Ron's head started spinning. He ran out of the wrecked store, opening the front door which fell off it's hinges as he did so. 'I killed her!'

"That was a bit much but thank you Mr. Stoppable, on beha.." Again the sherrif was interupted, this time by Ron falling to his knees and projectile vomiting. When he looked up both officers looked a little uncomfortable. As if they weren't supposed to be witness to this vulnerable moment. After all heroes don't lose it. And yet here Ron was, sobbing and puking. Trembling violently as he kept shaking his head. After a minute or two the highway patrol men approached him. " Mr. St st stoppable? Can I get you something? Perhaps a glass of water?" He said glass of water slowly as if Ron didn't know english. The reply he got was more unbridaled teenage angst. The sherrif came over, an upset expression across his face. " Jesus Al you just had to drag Ron Stoppable here! Now everyone will know Bumble Springs as the town that drove Stoppable insane! Christ! Call an EMT for the lady and let them know what's up with the hero!" The sherrif turned towards Ron and also spoke slowly. " Thank you Mr. Stoppable, Para... Doctors will be here soon to make you feel better." And with that he walked twenty feet or so in the distance and started making phone calls.

It was the gentle but incessant patter of Rufus who brought Ron out of his ruined state. With red brimmed eyes, a runny nose, and the veins popping out of the side of his head, Ron looked up to meet the gaze of his little buddy. The look that was across Ron's face though was filled with self loathing and pity. " I'm sorry little buddy, it...I just lost it." Confusion swept over Rufus' face until everything fell into place. He ran over twenty feet by Shego and started jumping up and down waving his arms around. Suddenly noticing the green and black heap, Ron pulled himself up and slowly walked over towards her. He was too anxious and yet couldn't look. He felt her before he visually confirmed her in good health, in fact she felt strong. Ron must have had her mixed up with the officers in his panic. Suddenly, Ron felt light, lighter than he thought possible. He bent over and checked her one more time, just to make sure. 'Mama didn't raise no fool,' Ron thought, ' I got lucky.' Straightening himself to be as erect as possible, Ron clenched his fist in front of his chest and exclaimed " Justice!"

After the chaos that had preceded it was decided by all responsible parties ,and Ron, that he would accompany Shego to the hospital while she was checked out. This was for two reasons; the officers backed out of it and because Ron knew Shego would be capable when she woke up. Ron also needed to repair his street cred, flipping out and all after the incident.

After about twenty minutes of riding in the back of the ambulance Ron heard his communicator beeping. Pulling it out Ron was a little surprised to see Kim's face appear on the screen. She looked worried. Putting on his 'it's okay grin' Ron chimed in " Hey KP! I take it Wade talked to you?"

" He said something about Shego terrorizing some guy and his family. Whats the sitch Ron?" Kim's demeanor visibly relaxed a bit.

" No big, nothing I couldn't handle. " Ron quipped.

" I'm glad to see your safe, not that I didn't think you could handle yourself. Where is Shego?" Ron turned the camera so Kim could see her still form on the ambulance stretcher, than back to his face.

" They sorta asked if I could escort her to the hospital until Global Justice came."

" Ron are you holding her hand?" Ron pulled his shoulders up and gave one of those embarrassed expressions.

"Well KP it's sorta one of those chi things. It's keeping her asleep." Ron hadn't really thought anything by it until Kim mentioned it. His training had involved practicing with Yori and that was one he was glad Kim was not there to bare witness.

With an annoyed look on her face Kim said " Maybe this is a sign Ron, I mean with the trip and everything. " These words did not surprise Ron. In fact the only protester he had to his little self exploring voyage was Kim. And like he dodged her a hundred times before he did so again.

" Kim, if anything this proves I'll be fine. " The trick was to use her name and sound confident. He read that in a book. " So what about you? How is the conference going?" It had been decided by a committee consisting of the Possibles and numerous colleage personnel that Kim Possible would attend several different schools. The colleages got to house the almighty teen hero and Kim got to experience the best of every school. Now it was just down to several long conferences to create the most expansive school schedule ever made.

With a nervous smile Kim replied " It's not so bad. I'm lucky to get to do this."

Ron chuckled at her response. " Well good luck KP, and no more breaking the rules, I'll call you tonight."

"Right the rules. " She didn't look happy " Bye Ron, and be careful."

" Bye KP." Ron held a sweet looking expression till the screen went out. A powerful silence descended upon the back of the ambulance. Ron looked down at his hand holding Shego's. Her hands were softer than you would think. His training had involved connecting energy, matching your targets and than slowly directing theirs to match yours. But there was more to it. Once when training with Yori, Ron had pushed his chi until it actual surrounded her's. He wasn't sure what it was he had done but for a moment he felt a powerful connection. Apparently Yori did too because she broke contact and with a dark blush excused herself. So in the back of an ambulance with no one else around Ron decided to experiment. It was hard to describe, but Ron looked at it like mixing oil and water. Even in the same container they kept their own respective body mass. So with his blue water Ron slowly engulfed Shego's green oil. It was weird as he slowly but surely forced his chi upon hers. After a while he got to the same point he had with Yori. He had to admit he blushed though he did not know why. A few minutes passed and an estranged part of Ron felt angry. To say it was a foreign part would have been close but not exactly. Another couple minutes passed and pain had been thrown in. Five more minutes and the intensity of the pain had gone threefold dwarfing the anger. It was about than that Ron noticed the oil and water had started to mix and a cyan or aqua color started to emerge. Ron jerked his hand back, afraid not sure what he was doing. No matter how strong someone is, the unknown will always be scary as hell.

The ride lasted another twenty minutes, with five minute intervals of Ron checking his hand. The physical contact was gone and yet he could swear there was still a connection. ' Maybe I figured out a way to keep her calm without contact.' Ron shrugged.

Night had settled in over the remote city of wherever the hell they were. Ron was oblivious. It was in the hospital waiting room he met up with the highway patrol man.

" Hey just the man I was looking for!" Ron said as he approached the officer. Al, as he was named, struggled not to make eye contact. " Mr. Stoppable, what can I do for you?"

'Still weirded out by the crying thing, damn.' "I was just wondering Global Justice's ETA. I hear the open road calling for me." Ron and Rufus needed to bathe, badly.

"I thought that you would, well you know, we don't have their number." Al looked at the floor abashed. " Oh right, well , yeah I know some people " Wade " and if not them I have another number " Kim " just tell me the charges. " A stone cold expression developed quickly on Al's face.

" Well what...charges sir?" An impending thought came rushing towards Ron.

" Al, she broke the law right? I mean she was terrorizing your family or...any of this ring a bell." An akward silence rang throughout the waiting room. Al and his sweat glands went into overdrive. " Al, did I just mercilessly beat down a civilian for shopping?" Again with the sweating and silence.

Al straightened up and with a firm nod said "It was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Stoppable, please give Ms.. Go? our condolences." And with that he turned around and walked out the double doors. Al left behind a shaken Ron. ' Oh good lord I'm the bad guy, but wait she had attacked first! But only after I told her the Ronman was gonna take her down...' Suddenly the foulness of the situation dawned upon Ron Stoppable. Maybe it was the years going through the motions or maybe it was the fact that Shego had intimidated him for years. No matter the cause the fact remained that in this situation Ron was the bad guy. ' Yeah she attacked me, but it was my intent that she reacted to. At least no one called Global Justice.'

As Ron sat in the waiting room ,beating himself up, he wondered what to do. He was interrupted by a prickling sensation in the back of his head. For some reason or another he knew Shego was up, and admittedly Ron wouldn't forgive himself if he at least didn't try to set things straight. The walk to the ER was noisy, the nurses and janitors having a rather uproarious conversation. They quieted a bit when Ron walked by but as soon as he passed snickers and laughter ensued. What they were laughing about Ron didn't know or care for that matter. He finally made it to the sheet like divider and took a deep breath before entering.

Shego looked up and made eye contact with Ron. Her first thought, from habit, was to defend herself. But as soon as she reflectively put up her hand across her chest a pathetic look crossed the side kick's face. It was than that everything came back to her, and having already noticed where she was, she relaxed. " Come to finish the job Russ?" After the look Ron gave her she felt it necessary to tease him. The attempt at his name was out of a respect she wouldn't admit.

" Shego, look I'm ... " She couldn't figure out his angle but oddly she felt sorry for him. Granted Shego did have feelings and all, she just wasn't used to them being so sensitive. "I'm sorry." If feeling badly didn't surprise her that definitely did. 'What is he sorry for?' As if she said it aloud Ron responded " I'm sorry, I talked to Al, or the cop and he explained to me. I understand you were just shopping.. I mean I guess ...I'm sorry." Wide eyed Shego stayed silent. The events played back in her head the best she could remember them. It was the familiar motions of the last four years or so that made her take so long to reach the conclusion that Ron had instigated the fight. ' He thinks he was responsible? What a clown! I attacked him.' But something else came upon her, a deep deep sadness. Shego felt herself unexplainably teering up. 'What the fuck!' .

Desperately trying to get out of the situation she turned her head away and said " It's no big deal, I mean a girl has a reputation and all." Her voice cracked at the end of her sentance.

Tears welled up in Ron's eyes when he heard Shego start to lose it. He must have hurt her pretty bad. ' She goes straight and all she gets is more of the same. ' Ron tried to speak but knew it would come out in sobs, his pride reigned his tounge in. It still came and with in minutes Ron was quietly crying. More surprising was that Shego started to as well. Upon hearing her cry Ron started to cry in full, and when he started so did she.

Shego couldn't understand why she was crying, let alone like this. It had been over five years that she had fallen apart like this. What the hell was doing this? She didn't feel directly sad either. But there was vague feeling tugging at her conscious, molesting and twisting her brain into behaving like this. ' Enough, tell this little prick off cause you were fine when he wasn't here!' Sadly it came out " Ru huh ssh get out!" Another large wave came over her. This was terrible. It could not be wor...

" Mr. Possible we..." The nurse stopped midsentence when she took in the scene before her. The great Ron Stoppable bawling like a child, and that green girl too. ' What is?' Slowly putting one foot behind the other she backed out.

After a few minutes Ron had calmed himself, in doing so it seemed Shego did the same. After wiping his nose on his already filthy sleeve Ron spoke. "Look I'm really sorry it was a big miss understanding and if you want to press charges I'll be here and all." He looked down at his feet not wanting to see her expression.

This situation provided a lot of oppotunities for Shego, and although she was trying to go straight she couldn't understand why she didn't feel like capitolizing on this at least a little. Instead she was overcome with regret. ' At least I'm not crying anymore. ' " I don't care Russ, just please get me back to my car." It was the best she could do.

It dawned on Ron that the damaged car out front must have been Shego's. ' I can't even claim destruction of property. But at least she is letting it go, that's a relief.'

A wave of relief swept over Shego, again another emotion she couldn't explain.

Ron had many awkward times in his life. For example the countless times he dropped his pants. But the whole experience was too much. First it was beating up a civilian, than it was sharing a crying fit with Shego. Pile on his lack of awareness and had to be told when Shego was going to change out of her gown. Which he could have sworn made her as embarrassed as him. Than having to admit he didn't have his truck. And the ever so quiet cab ride all the way back to the store. It was sometime in the early morning before the sun had risen when they got there. The dark lot with the comically exploded grocery store and their vehicles was all that was left on the scene. Without a word Shego left Ron to pay the cabbie and went towards her car.

' Well day one did not go too well.' Ron thought to himself after watching the cabbie take off. He looked over at Shego and watched her get into her mangled car which had also skidded back ten or so feet from his earlier theatrics. He kept his eyes trained on the car as he walked towards his truck. After getting in and pulling Rufus out of his pocket and putting on his seatbelt he turned the engine over. Thankfully the truck had been parked at the end of the lot so it took no damage. Ron put the truck in gear and turned to exit the lot but as he did so he noticed the damaged little car with no signs of life. Rolling up slowly he leaned over and rolled down the passenger window. " Shego? Hey Sheg... "

"What!" Shego exclaimed as she kicked the door open knocking it off it's hinges.

With a sudden surprising surge of anger Ron shouted back " Hey I'm just trying to help!" His voice scared him. Ron did not get mad.

Getting angrier Shego retorted " Well fuck head let's see! You can help by leaving me alone, you have done nothing but ruin me!" Anger anger anger, Ron should or would have driven away. He didn't, he saw red, just red.

" Listen bitch! I should just leave you but...but.." Ron was too angry to think straight. A wide eyed Shego blew up. Igniting her hands she started pacing heavily towards Ron's truck. It could have been the unnatural anger or poor choice of language towards a lady. Most likely it was Shego's flames being cyan in color, but it all came crashing down on Ron. His anger begrudgingly swept away he jumped out of his truck and ran over to Shego with his hands up. " Wait, please stop! " Ron pleaded, she hesitated. " Look I'm sorry and I didn't mean to say those things to you, and by the way it's not Russ it's Ron." He didn't know why that last part was so important but it was. With Ron's new sense of composure Shego followed suit. Still slightly annoyed she spoke.

" What's your game Ru, er Ross? First you come crashing in on me, than give me a pity party. "

" Ron, It's Ron. And secondly it was all a mix up and oh man I screwed up look you...aren't...yourself right now. Something happened between us and we are fueling each other's feelings I think, just bare with me?"

" What are you talking about?" 'What did he do to me?' " Spill."

" I don't know, just trust me...please." With that he indicated towards her enflamed hands.

Shego looked down and became mesmerized. Her familiar color had changed now laced with blue it seemed. But it wasn't just that, there was more there. Power. She shot a beam of cyan flame out into the lot and it exploded with three times the impact it normally did. Stunned silence ensued between the both of them. " What did you do to me?" Looking guilty Ron pushed the dirt around with his foot while his shoulders were slouched over.

" I'm not sure, but it's happening to me too! I mean, have you ever seen me that angry? I mean even when you dissed Bueno Nacho I didn't get that angry. " A thousand emotions ran through Shego at once, half of them were hers. She extinguished her hands and with it felt a wave of exhaustion. Suddenly Shego didn't care about much else besides a hot shower and a warm bed.

" Can I give you a ride, while I you know try to figure this out?" Ron was getting cold and he was sure that explosion would draw attention even in a desolate town like this. To his surprise she didn't argue, she just grabbed her bag out of the back seat, threw it into the back of Ron's truck and jumped into the passenger seat. ' Okay, that worked out I think.'

Ron woke up completely unaware of the time or where he was. After going the bathroom and about mid way through brushing his teeth it had all come back. The drive, the motel, the shower and the beautiful sleep. Rufus was next to him also brushing his teeth. Ron became lost in his memories of yesterday, the bond he had stupidly made with Shego. The worst part about it was the fact that she had been unconscious when he did it. Ron felt dirty, like he violated her. Ron continued daydreaming until he was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of a female moan. He shut his eyes hard and said "Shego?" Thats right he brought her with.

Shego tried to move but her body resisted. It was stiff, sore, and still tired. But things were not clicking for her. The need to get up was too great. With a soft moan she swung her legs around and sat up on the edge of the bed. "Shego?" She whipped her head around a little too fast for comfort and when she saw Ron it all came back. They held eye contact for a while until Shego turned back around and slowly buried her face in her hands. Through her hands she said " Monkey boy you have some explainin to do."

They were stopped at a coffee house about a mile from the hotel, the stop had been at Shego's insistence. Ron just sat in the truck with Rufus, questions racing through his head. The obvious one of course was what was stopping him from ditching Shego. The next was what the hell he had done to them and how long it would last. " What should I do Rufus? " The mole rat just shrugged at him. " Of course take the easy way out. " Ron's thoughts were interrupted by his communicator.

" Ron! You're okay, what happened? What has been going on?" Ron looked down at Kim and her worried expression.

" Oh KP! It was, well it's been a crazy twenty four hours." Ron nervously smiled.

" I saw the news, what did you do to that store? " Kim asked.

" Well it got a little rough..."

"Ron, you need to be honest with me. You said it was no big deal, that store was a big deal. "

" Come on KP it was a a battlefield."

" And what about the hospital?" Her tone had changed from worried to accusatory. Unfortunately for Ron he had no clue what she knew.

" I don't know Kim, it all just happened so fast." Ron said while waving his free hand around.

" Well according to the Global Press you and Shego had a tearful reunion when she got up. " ' Didn't think of the tabloids...' Ron became nervous as he started putting himself in a bad situation. It was all too wierd to explain. As he stammered with a response Kim continued.

" It goes on to say you left together in the same cab.."

" Well we did but it's, well , it's the cops fault! Shego didn't do anything wrong and I was wrong to attack her and I had to do something!" Kim looked taken back by his response.

" And now you are defending her? What's the sitch Ron? " Kim crossed her arms and stared at him. Fighting his better judgement Ron came clean with everything. After the two minute version silence settled on the young couple.

" You are pretty good at turning mole hills into mountains. " Kim smiled at him and relief swept over Ron's face.

" I'm really sorry KP, I didn't mean to screw all this up. "

" That's fine, just hurry up and finish your trip, I miss you." A blush swept across her face. And then Shego got in the truck.

" She's still with you!"

" Did I forget to mention that?"

" Oh hey Kimmie! Thanks for letting me borrow your bf!"

" Kim wait! " The screen died.

Author's note*

I've been a fan of fanfiction for many years now, but I've never submitted any work before. I had no idea how taxing it could be. The first thing I have to get off my chest is how great every one who has ever written anything and published it on here is. I've heard the cheese before but it's true what they say about baring your soul with your work. So a great thanks to all those who posted before me and a good luck to those who plan to do so. Please feel free to comment, I tend to get off track with my writing so any and all criticism is welcome. Thanks again.