Title: Finding a Life Unknown

Story summary: The sequel to Slipgate's 'Losses.' What can Kim and Bonnie tell Ron? What will they? And can the Ronster roll with the life he is presented?

Disclaimer: This story uses characters owned by Disney Corporation but does not profit from doing so.

~*~*KP*~*~

Finding a Life Unknown

by Slipgate

Kim and Bonnie were rather childishly hiding around the corner from Ron's hospital room, because it had no closed door in the doorway and they were trying to mentally prepare for talking to him again without making it obvious that's what they were doing.

"Miss, can I help you?" a befuddled nurse eventually asked Bonnie, then turned to Kim. "Can I help either of you?"

"No, no, we're fine," Kim quickly replied. "We've already talked to the doctor, we're just…"

Kim looked to Bonnie for rescue.

"Ma'am, please pardon us. We're just dealing with some very private news, and may act strangely for a time. It should be no concern of yours."

The nurse nodded and walked off, a little nonplussed.

"Was…" Kim begin, "was that your attempt at a leave us alone froob diss?" Bonnie's face took a downturn as she looked at Kim. "Wow, that bite has really been weakened by being… with…"

"Well, Kim, I don't know. I find it interesting that you were the one to have the words froob and diss come so quickly to mind. I wonder who's really matured here?" she bit out nastily and stalked around the corner.

Kim's face crumpled but she grabbed Bonnie's arm and suddenly got a dose of the furious teal eyes she remembered from when she'd rather unashamedly told Ron right in earshot of Bonnie that she didn't expect Bonnie to last as cheer captain for more than two weeks.

"Look, I'm… I'm sorry. It's… it's interesting to remind myself of the way you've changed, but that doesn't give me an excuse to sink to our old levels. And… I'm sorry about mentioning…"

Bonnie looked like she wanted to say something, but then the blazing eyes settled. Bonnie closed her eyes and counted to ten. Then she re-opened them and it only looked like a Bonnie version of Ron's serious face. "I needed to find my Bon-ness again. I'm worried, Kim… I'm already lashing out the way I used to, and this only happened today! I'm glad that the doctor okayed us telling Ron everything, but that doesn't mean things will be simple for him to accept, or for us to deal with. I… I don't want to be who I used to be. I don't want to treat either of you the way I used to."

"I'm sorry too, Bonnie. I seem to be going to old habits too, and it sucks. Unfortunately, I can't turn to my Kimness to remind myself, because it's… not a very positive ness."

"Hey, you've just had a troubling run. I mean, Jake was a first-rate asshole, and Perry was more narcissistic than Connie and Lonnie in a house of mirrors. Of course that would get to you."

"Thanks, Bonnie. That reminds me, Jake tried to serenade me with 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' yesterday night… I really need a vent session with you when we can get it. Actually I was going to call you about that when I saw my voicemail light blinking this morning."

"Funny how life does that. So, um, about Ron…"

"We're telling him. He's my friend, your friend, and your…"

"I know all that, but, um, you know he's going to have memories related to when it wasn't that way. Are you as prepared for that as I am… meaning not at all… or?"

"We explain what we can, and do what we can, Bonnie."

Both took deep breaths, and finally headed for Ron's hospital room.

"Hey Ron," both offered as they came in.

"Hey ladies, you're back!" Ron's grin was infectious to both girls, even as they were slightly grimacing.

As was obviously necessary given the subject matter, Bonnie let Kim start.

Kim sat in the chair near Ron's bed and Ron instinctively took her hand. Bonnie tried not to let her face crumple at this. Kim didn't look happy for Bonnie but knew it would be awkward to make it seem like the hand was unwelcome.

"So, Ron, listen," Kim began, "you remember how I had that incident with the MRM wiping my memories of us being a couple?"

Ron looked at Kim with an eyebrow raised. "Remember it? It only ended just the other day, KP!"

"Yes, well, about that…" Kim took a deep breath. This was harder than the tracking chip conversation had been. "The truth is, you've gone through a memory loss episode too, since then."

Ron's eyes widened. "For reals?"

"For reals." Kim found herself needing to adapt her high school speech patterns, and it wasn't a very clean fit. It felt awkward, like her parents trying to talk hip when she was on the school ski trip. She seemed to be doing a better job of it though since Ron – who hadn't said 'for reals' in quite that way for years – seemed to not catch anything amiss yet.

"To be honest, Ron, you're still in the memory loss episode."

"What, really? But I remember last night…"

"Yeah, that makeup date for the halfaversary wasn't last night, Ron. That was years ago. Bonnie and I were so surprised since you said it was last night…"

"Years? Years?" Ron's voice was raising. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"We didn't know until you mentioned it being last night, and our first impulse was 'must talk to doctor, must talk to doctor,'" Bonnie offered.

"Ah, so that's what that whole 'ladies going to the bathroom together' routine was?"

Bonnie and Kim groaned slightly. The Ron they were used to pulled this sort of guy thing less often.

"We weren't going to the bathroom, Ron." they chorused, almost in unison.

"Well, ah, no, I mean, the fact that you seemed to be in sync… like you are now… is what I was getting at… so… uhh, it's been years, you say? How… how long?"

"I don't know…" Kim began.

Ron got a serious look on his face. "Kim… don't become part of all those cheesy movies you hated growing up. Just talk to me straight. How long?"

"It's… been two and a half years, Ron."

"… T-t-… no."

"Ron…" Bonnie couldn't help but come over. "Please don't make this a cheesy movie either. Please don't pretend Kim would lie or exaggerate to you, not about this."

"O-okay. T-two, close to three years. Wow, I couldn't pick up on that. You both look really good if I couldn't pick up on the age difference."

"Ron," Kim said testily, "it's not like we said ten years."

"Look, cut me some slack, you're dropping bombshells on me here. Now, uh, we're talking two and a half years since high school, right?"

Both women nodded.

"So… graduation… some college?"

"You've completed a two-year culinary school program… you've been understudying at Chez Couteaux… and…" Bonnie hesitated, "you were recently admitted to an MBA program," Bonnie finally ticked off, having Kim's head whip around to her at what Bonnie knew was news to her. Ron couldn't help but notice she was giving him a smile of pride. He looked steadily at her, and her smile slowly faded as she knew what was coming.

"Bon-Bon… I was surprised at you being here, before. That's because in my head two days ago I was telling KP not to listen to you, and the one time you said something that could help me, she decided to follow my advice. I… I… roll with…"

"… the punches," Bonnie finished, "but it does hurt you on the inside." Ron looked at her steadily again and he knew that she… knew him, well enough to know that.

He'd had a conversation like this after his secret borrowing of the battle suit, when he and Kim had finally talked out old hurts and told each other things they'd never said to each other before – like about Kim's embarrassment date with Josh Mankey. Even Kim hadn't quite known this layer of Ron Stoppable, despite over a decade of friendship with him, until that conversation. And Bonnie knew. Bonnie knew.

"Bonnie, you have a reason for being here, don't you?"

"Duh, Stoppable!" she tried to bite back, but she trailed off, unable to speak to him the way she must once have, in another time and place.

"You… you look like you've slept in your clothes, Bonnie. Kim doesn't look that way."

A beat as Ron Stoppable's eyes took on a sharper focus. "Bonnie, are we…"

"together, yes." Bonnie admitted. Kim sucked in a sharp breath.

"Kim, I'm going to assume I'm not that much of a cad and figure that we just kissed in front of my girl when we've…"

"… been friends forever," Kim finished.

"Uh, just so I know, I'm not totally imagining parts of my life up to what I remembered, right? We once dated?"

"Yeah. You were a great boyfriend, Ron. But you're Bonnie's…"

"Boyfriend?" Noticing Bonnie wince slightly, his eyes widened. Unseen to either of them, so did Kim's. "Um, fiancé? Because I'll feel like a real loser if I'm her husband and I forgot that."

At the word 'loser' Bonnie took the steps separating them forward and buried her head into his chest. Ron's eyes, alarmed, looked to Kim. Kim was recovering from the 'fiancé' revelation on top of the MBA admission and realizing that last night's dinner had been a twofold celebration. But she had enough presence of mind, and knew him enough, to know what he was about to ask. "No, you're not her husband yet." she said quickly.

"Then…"

"Hearing you use the word 'loser' on yourself… it's not something Bonnie suffers from anyone, and it's been a while since we've heard you use it on yourself."

"Okay, okay, um… look, I totally understand how whack this is… believe me, I'm dealing with this too… but I hope you both understand that it's very hard for me not because I have anything against Bonnie but because I was literally daydreaming about Kim the other day… from my perspective, I mean.

"And… as painful as I know this is for both of you… believe me, Bonnie, I know how hard it is to deal with someone not remembering your time together… I really… really need to understand this myself. Can you two ladies please fill me in? I don't even need to remember the movies Kim and I used to hate to know that if I have retrograde amnesia I may or may not get my memories back naturally, and I'd at least like to be able to function if I don't."

"But… if you don't…" Bonnie said, and Ron was moved by the tears shimmering in the teals.

"Bonnie. Bon-Bon… I'm sorry I don't know what my cute name is for you. Pretend that's what I said because that's what I would've said if I could've. I think I'm safe to assume that Kim won't mind me saying you're a beautiful woman. And I know you two wouldn't be telling me all this, and you wouldn't look like you'd stayed here overnight, unless we really had something going on. And I know that wouldn't have happened unless all of us had gone through some major life changes…

"… Never mind all that professional stuff that doesn't sound like something someone with my grades could pull off without major changes." Ron tried to deprecate, "I may only remember my relationship with Kim and you hurting my feelings, but I can tell that's not the Bonnie I'm talking to right now. I'm going to have to get used to all that, but I definitely don't doubt the fact of it all. Even if I don't remember… it's pretty obvious Kim and my relationship has changed. And it's pretty obvious that you and I wouldn't be together, and you two wouldn't be so chummy like you guys seem to be, unless that ship really had sailed on us."

Kim's mind was racing. Was this the Ron she'd once dated? It sounded more like the Ron he was now… had been yesterday. Was he getting anything back? Or was this just what her Ron would've done back then if presented with as significant a sitch to get used to as this one?

Bonnie, however, was trapped by his eyes and his words. To her, it sounded so much like her Ron that the last little reminder that he was still remembering the relationship with Kim as present was still a bit of a sucker punch to hear out of her Ron's voice.

"Even if I don't get the memories back, I'll still be dealing with a situation where life with Kim has moved past me recapturing it." He teared up a bit. "Admittedly, that tanks for me since I feel like I just got her back, but I'd have to deal since that is what it is. If Kim had never gotten her memories back of us as a couple… that might've been harder for me to deal with than this. But I can tell you that I'd at least be willing to give this a try. I may not have my memories, but we can try another first date… er, emphasis on first you understand… if you don't mind.

"Just don't tell me," Ron said, laughing nervously as he tugged the collar of his johnny, "that I had the wedding planned for tomorrow or something."

Bonnie grinned slightly, happy tears in her eyes. "Actually…"

"Bonnie!"

Ron's eyes had widened but Kim's warning prevented total cardiac arrest.

remaneo?

~*~*KP*~*~

Author's Notes: Readers, do I seem to have whiffled on the tragic possibilities of the original story, Losses? Or do you perhaps see what I might be thinking about here? I see challenging struggles still ahead for all three. What do you think those are? Hit the 'review' button and share your theories and ideas!