"Ron..." Kim said, beaming. "This has been the most incredible night of my life!" They were standing on her parents step. Ron, in his father's old blue tuxedo, and her in her plasma burned prom dress. "I'm so glad we finally decided to... y'know." she smiled shyly.

"Get together?" Ron asked with the same wry smile he wore just before they had kissed for the first time that night.

"Yeah." Kim's breathing was shallow. She was embarrassed, enlightened, uncertain, excited, in over her head... in love, she supposed. She stood there, biting her bottom lip and smiling like a fool. She was holding Ron's hands in hers, swaying them back and forth between them.

"Ki..." Ron began.

"Ro..." Kim began, then smiled awkwardly. "You first." she continued. She looked around suddenly, noticing that the front door of the house was still blown out and the ceiling over much of it was still missing as well from the Diablo bots earlier that night. Ron took a deep breath, bringing her attention back to him.

"Kim..." he began again, leading her by the hand to the couch that had been toppled over in the attack. Kim helped him tip it onto its legs and he took her hand again, sitting down beside her. "Kim, you know you have to let me go, right?"

Kim's smile faded slightly in confusion, and she shook her head. "What do you mean?" she asked, gripping his hand more tightly. Rufus crawled up, and curled into her lap, heaving a mournful sigh.

Ron stared into her wide, emerald green eyes as tears began to shine in his. "Kim... this holding on. It's not healthy." Kim was staring at his mouth, trying to decide exactly what he was saying. Ron sighed. "Ever since I found Monkey Fist in his mansion and..."

"Whoa, Ron!" Kim said, turning away. "We just get together and you're breaking up with me? This is the moodulator all over again!"

"Kim, come on! You know I'm always going to be your best friend and I'm always going to love you. But you've got to get on with your life!" Ron exclaimed. I tear dripped into his hand as he was reaching up to touch her cheek.

Kim reached up as well to take his hand, but for once, all she felt were the tears on her own cheek. "You're not really here, are you?"

Ron shook his head and smiled, his brown eyes filling with a glimmering wetness that matched Kim's. "Don't you remember?" Ron asked. "I died in Montgomery Fiske's mansion."

"Because I wasn't there to save you..." Kim said in self blame, hanging her head.

"You know better than that, Kim." he replied.

Kim nodded slightly and sniffed. "But you gained the monkey powers then..."

Ron chuckled. "I think we both know that there's no such thing as Mystical Monkey Powers, Kim. Monty was a fruitcake. A ninja fruitcake, trained in a hundred ways to take someone's life before they hit the ground, but a fruitcake nonetheless."

Kim laughed, releasing a sob as she did. "I... I can't save the world without you, Ron."

"Sure you can, Kim. You've been doing it now for Two and half years or so. You just need to stop pretending you can't do it. Think about it, did I really ever help that much?"

"What about..."

"The wind."

"Or that time..."

"Rufus." Ron smiled, looking down at the naked mole rat that remained curled up in Kim's lap.

"Zorpox?"

"You know full well that was Shego that got Drakken's evil. You just didn't want to admit that she was the best villain out there." Ron grinned.

"You're right..." Kim conceded. "What about all the times you..."

"Got captured? Kim, you don't need an excuse to save the world. You just do it." Ron stated.

Kim wrapped her arms around Ron, tears streaming down both of their faces. She held him as close as she could, and she ached. But this time, he had no warmth. No substance.

Mrs. Possible quietly crept into her house, hearing a soft warble of a cry emanating from the destroyed living room. "Kimmie?"

A long sob came from her daughter, who was in a fetal position on the couch with Rufus tenderly patting her shoulder. Kim's arms were wrapped around her knees and she rocked back and forth, heaving in hard breaths. "Don't go..." she whispered, echoing the mantra again and again.

"Kimmie, what's wrong?! Did Eric..." Anne asked, a thousand scenarios involving her daughter crying, spinning through her mind.

Kim shook her head, trying to bite out words that were making no sense. She shook her head again and took a staggered breath as Anne put an arm around her daughter's shoulders and clasped her in a motherly hug.

"Eric... Eric was working... working for Drak... Drakken." Kim blubbered.

"I knew that boy was trouble." Anne whispered, resting Kim's head on her chest as Kim finally broke and returned the hug.

But she shook her head again. "Programmed... synthodrone..." Kim stammered again.

Anne wasn't sure exactly what had happened earlier that night, or how Kim had managed to stop the Diablo attack by herself, but at that moment, as her shirt became wet with her daughter's tears, it didn't matter. "It's okay, honey... shhh..." Anne whispered, brushing Kim's hair back with her hand.

"I miss Ron..." Kim bit out in a gasp before shuddering.

Anne looked up at the picture of her daughter and her best friend that had managed to remain hanging on the wall despite the twin, rampaging robots. "I know, dear. We miss him, too. We all do." Anne whispered. She knew the Stoppables would be waiting for her to return, as would James and the twins, but for now, she held her daughter in her arms and looked up at the night sky.

Kim was staring up at the sky as well now, but the flicker of a brown star is what caught her eye. The twinkle of a boy's brown eyes whenever he would smile, and Kim was certain she heard the phrase 'Boo-Yah!' one last time.