Disclaimer: I own nothing of Kim Possible.

A Cherry Too Sweet

By: Imyoshi

He personally thought having eight years experience of stopping deranged bad guys and saving the world from distress on several random occasions would allow him to witness enough to never be surprised anymore.

Ron Stoppable thought wrong.

The cool autumn air lightly warmed his charcoal suit having caused him to fidget his collar a few times on the walk to where his feet had taken him. Reaching his destination, he stood there beside the worn out planks of woods nailed to the tree, observing the opened hatch above, his ears picking up the subtle sound of feet shuffling inside.

Without really thinking about it, Ron climbed those steps up his tree house, ignoring the sudden panic of gasp from inside as the woods creaked beneath his shoes.

The climb up is slow and dreading. Suffocating almost—unwanted. Probably by both parties.

Still, he slowly peers over the ledge to find her sitting on the old couch. Exactly as he'd known he would. Waiting.

Those green eyes stared right back at him with the innocence of a child and longing for guidance with one as well.

How did he know he'll find her sitting uncomfortably in their old tree house? Thanks—blame, his essential Ronness? It didn't matter anymore anyways. He'd found her still dressed in her white elegant dress with the folds crumpled together from the awkward closeness. She looked perfect and for a moment Ron wondered the possibilities. Multiple futures and outcomes stringing along his scattered thoughts. All weighed downed on his shoulders discretely and planted a bitter taste in his mouth.

However he refused to acknowledge the beginning ties of a knot in his body, instead focusing on the task at hand.

Pulling himself over the edge and dusting off his cuffs, he is not really sure how to start... this.

"Kim?"

Now came the awkweird part.

"Surprise," she says, weakly smiling at him. "You found me Ron." Kim slowly rubs her arm and Ron just notices her veil across the wooden floor.

"Yea," he starts slowly, taking a seat beside her, "surprise."

He rests an arm on the armrest allowing the other to fall behind the couch while she avoids his calm gaze, staring intently at anywhere, but him. Even he wasn't that dense not to notice but overall refused to call her out on it. They just simply sat there for a long minute, neither saying anything. Just trying to enjoy the moment of peace.

"So why'd you do it?"

Maybe it was the abrupt yet inevitable question that snapped her to look at him or simply that she had been so lost in thought that for a moment she forgot he was sitting beside right her that caused her to jump, but he remained, waiting for an answer nevertheless.

Thinking back about her past dreams, Kim stood up and walked over to the old tattered wall across her, resting her palm against the peeling wood. She rubbed the aged wood, massaging some dust between her fingers.

"I had always dreamt that everything would be perfect." Ron couldn't see over her shoulder to see her emotions, but figured it was strangely optimistic with the ways her shoulders refused to fall, never mind the small shaking. "The music would play on time, people would turn and stare at me with happy faces, there would be my dad waiting to walk me down, and the man I wanted for the rest of my life would be there standing looking beyond perfect."

Ron stares at her incredulously, "And that wasn't what was happening a few hours ago?"

Kim holds her hands close to her chest, turning to reply. "No," she says hastily, a little too hastily. "Everything was going smoothly. Perfect, just perfect. Well... everything down to the vows was pretty perfect."

"Pretty perfect," Ron mumbles, ignoring the small knot in his chest. "So then why did you suddenly run like that time Shego stole your Pandaroo?"

She stares at him slowly, tightening her hands together between her breasts, before she finally kicks her foot, allowing her white dress to brush against the dust covered floor.

"There isn't panic is there?" she ask timidly, ignoring the question.

Purposely he allows it.

"What? No! They're just freaking out because they don't want the cake to go bad." Ron grinned sarcastically. "Running out on your own wedding happens a lot more often than you think KP. But making wedding cakes is a delicate process that takes many pain staking hours to do. I should know."

"Oh? I guess you would then huh?" she teased and the room grew quiet fast, but her small lingering smile remained. "I didn't mean to. Really I didn't. It just..."

Ron frowns at the sound of soft voice going lower.

Standing up, he walks over the few steps towards her, locking eyes. "KP," his voice is tired but firm. "I thought everything was perfect?"

She shakes her head frantically, "It was! Everything was perfect! The people, the place, the food—everything! Just like in my dreams! I couldn't have asked for anything better!"

Ron takes all the information in from the flustered girl, looking for the tell-tale signs he knows to see if Kim is lying. But he doesn't find any. Not one single one.

Confused, the knot tightens in his chest. "So everything was just like your dream?"

"Yes," she looks down, not wanting to meet his stare anymore. "Pretty much."

Slowly he is finding to keep his calm composure a losing battle. Instead he finds solace staring at her white dress. "And you left why KP? What was the major problem? The sitch?"

Losing, Kim pauses, biting her lower lip, muttering beneath her breath. "Because it was getting... getting too quiet."

"Too quiet?" Ron repeats absently. "What are you talking about too quiet? When was it too quiet?"

"When he was talking. It suddenly got too quiet."

He is floored by her reason, losing most of his self-control. "You mean when the guy wearing the white robes was talking? The priest!" Ron runs a hand threw his hair. "Why would you run during that?"

Kim doesn't answer him. She only shakes her head with tears in her eyes, refusing to still look at him. She can hear the confusion in his voice and doesn't know if she has the strength to speak, very less give him a direct truthful answer.

"KP... I gotta know why and not just me, but everyone has to know why! I mean if everything was perfect what caused you to run?!" he grabs her by the shoulders. "Kim? Why'd you run?"

Her head remains down, "Don't make me say it Ron."

He stops, humoring the tense moment, wondering whether or not if he could get anything out of her. But the tenseness quickly passes as her shoulders suddenly fall and she leans onto his chest and then suddenly the knot in his stomach tightens again at her labored breathing.

Grabbing him by the arm, Kim squeezes down on his muscles, pulling down on the expensive black threads. Slowly she finally looks up, completely lost.

"Why... why didn't you speak up?"

He wants to pretend he didn't hear that. He wants to look anywhere but at her tear stricken face. And he wants to pretend to be a dense teenage boy he had once been. But he cannot. They are all impossible tasks.

And Kim clearly knows this.

"Because, you looked happy KP," he lamely smiles, the expression faltering already.

Kim lightly grips Ron's hand, rubbing her finger solely between his, never quite coming to a stop.

"I didn't feel happy."


Author Notes: I'm not dead.

I have a feeling some of you won't get this. So make sure to re-read at least once. Maybe twice. And perhaps a third time if that's your thing.