Chapter 2 – The Morning After
Ron Stoppable fiddled with his car stereo and for probably about the hundredth time he said he was going to absolutely, positively, first thing in the morning, going to get a satellite tuner for the Ron-mobile. Eventually he just lamented the downfall of commercial radio and gave up in disgust. His destination was just ahead, so he slipped his car into neutral and coasted into the driveway.
He was here. It'd taken him about five hours and a lot of soul searching, but eventually he had arrived where he knew he needed to be. Before him stood the one place he always went to whenever he was feeling lost and confused - his parents house. He had no idea how his Mom and Dad would take the news of his and Kim's break-up, but he was sure of one thing – he could never, ever tell them how it happened. The Stoppables were great friends with the Possibiles; any news of Kim's infidelity would strain their relationship and sooner or later reach the ears of Mr. & Mrs. Dr. P. What Kim had said at their parting was right, her parents thought of him as their own son. He didn't want what had happened between him and Kim to break their hearts.
He certainly wasn't doing it for Kim. He told himself this over and over again, but deep down inside he knew it wasn't true. Try as he might, he still loved her and part of him was wishing that he was simply trapped in a nightmare – maybe a device of Dr. Dementors, any sort of excuse to escape the hell he was in would have been welcome.
Dawn was still a couple of hours off and the lights were all off in the house. Turning off his Mustang and retrieving his suitcase from the back seat he walked up to the front door and looked for his house key. Even though he hadn't lived here for three years, he kept it. It had actually never occurred to him to give it back to his parents, after all above all things this was their house, the family's house. The Stoppables may never have been as wildly successful as their neighbors the Possibles, but when it came to being a family they were right up there with Middletons most famous clan.
As Ron entered the foyer of his parents house a wave of nostalgia swept over him. It had been eight months since he had last visited his parents; five months before he had left for Japan he had celebrated Passover with his parents and Kim. It had made his mother extremely happy. She loved Kim, like her own daughter, but she still wasn't happy about the prospect of her only child marrying a gentile.
Kim herself had actually been baptized in the Protestant Church, which sort of made sense to Ron – after all, how could the worlds most successful teenage super hero be anything other than a W.A.S.P.? Ron joked about this a lot to Kim, but she took it in stride – the Possibles were actually not very religious which made sense too with her parents being a neurosurgeon and a rocket scientist. Ron's parents on the other hand were a salesman and a secretary. In fact, Ron's mother had the most education out of the last two generations of Stoppables; she had completed an English B.A. at Middleton U. It had seemed kind of sad to Ron that "smart people" like the Possibles didn't have much religion; it was almost like they were missing out. He never talked about it much, but Ron was pretty sure that God had been watching over him ever since he was a small child, not very much could explain how he had managed to live as long as he had.
It was during this same Passover dinner that Kim had dropped a bombshell that finally won over Meryl Stoppable. Kim was helping Ron's Mom clear away the dishes from the dinner when she started to talk to no one in particular.
"That was a great dinner, you know I was thinking… I'd like to go with Ron to Temple again…" Kim's normally strong voice sounded kind of meek as she was trying hard to not sound a little bit too pleasing to her prospective mother-in-law.
"Oh really Kimberley? You know you're always welcome to join us any time." Meryl Stoppable smiled at the young lady.
"Well I guess it's nice that she's taking an interest in our family like this."
Rabbi Katz, who had been sharing dinner with them, had just entered the room in time to hear Kim's attempt at breaking the news. He smiled a little bit and then did an obviously fake clearing of his throat while he looked at Kim.
Kim caught the look and then blushed a little.
"Actually I was thinking about something a bit more… permanent."
The last word was said so softly it was almost a whisper. Meryl Stoppable placed the dishes she was carrying down in the sink and turned to face Kim, not quite sure if she had heard what she thought. Then she turned her face to Rabbi Katz and arched an eyebrow in question.
Rabbi Katz placed down the serving dish he had been carrying and broke out into a broad grin.
"It's true – Kimberley and I have been having quite a few talks recently and she's been thinking about making the plunge."
Meryl Stoppable blinked, attempting to digest what she had just heard.
"Is that true Kim?" she asked.
"Wow… Kim and not Kimberley, I must be making some progress here."
"Yeah… well, I've been thinking about it for a while now. I'm still not 100 percent sure, but I've talked to my parents about it and they don't seem to have a problem. I guess I'm just waiting to make up my mind…"
Kim stared hard at the kitchen door. From behind it everyone could hear the strains of laughter of Ron and his Dad telling jokes to each other. That look wasn't lost on Meryl Stoppable; smiling at Kim she wrapped her arms around the younger woman and gave her a fierce hug. It wasn't the first time that Kim had been hugged by Ron's mom, but she felt sure that it was more of a "I'm on your side" sort of hug than a "You're a good friend to Ronald" kind of hug.
"Don't worry", Ron's mom had whispered to her, "His father was kind of slow too."
It was so sweet that Kim had wanted to cry, instead she just giggled and returned the hug.
As Ron flopped down on the couch in the living room he thought grimly too himself that there would be no more Passover dinners in the Stoppable house with Kim Possible. He used the remote control to turn on the TV and started to channel-surf. A voice called out softly in the darkness.
"Ronald… is that you?"
Turning off the TV, Ron looked at his Mom. She was clad in a worn pink house robe that she was clutching over her night gown.
"Hi Mom. I just got back from Japan." He said softly.
Meryl Stoppable walked across the living room and sat down besides her son, an obvious look of worry on her face. She didn't say anything yet, instead she just draped her arms around her only child and gave him a hug.
"I'm glad to see you home Ronald, but… why are you home?"
Ron paused for a moment. He really wanted to tell his mother everything, but he didn't want to watch the fallout from that conversation. So instead he decided to go with the truth, simplified.
"Ah Mom, me and Kim had a fight."
His Mom stared at him for a little bit and then she hugged him again.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.
"That's ok Mom, I think I'm just going to go to sleep. I haven't really gotten a wink since I left Tokyo International."
"Alright sweetheart. You know your father and I haven't touched your room at all, and you're welcome to stay here as long as it takes…"
Ron smiled at his mom and patted her on the arm. He silently said to himself that he had definitely made the right choice in coming home. A good nights sleep, maybe a tray of Naco's for him and Rufus…
"Crap, I left Rufus at the apartment. Oh well I'll have to go back there to get my stuff anyway, just wasn't planning on it this soon."
"Goodnight Mom, sorry for waking you up." Ron said as he walked up the stairs to his room.
"Goodnight baby, talk to you tomorrow… er, this morning… later."
His mom giggled a little bit. She was definitely Ron's mother.
Leaving behind the short lived family reunion, Ron entered the room that he had called his own for most of his life, and for the time being would mostly likely do so again. He softly closed the door behind him so he wouldn't wake his Dad who was probably still sleeping, and placed his luggage on the floor. Sitting on the edge of the bed he looked around at the artifacts and memories of his life in Middleton – he didn't like what he saw. Every item, every picture, every poster, they all reminded him of Kim. It was probably to be expected; they had spent most of their lives as best friends before they became lovers. Still, he didn't really want to see it right now. He wanted to rip down everything from the walls, throw the pictures in his closet and destroy every memory of the beautiful red headed girl that had stolen his heart, but he was tired. Closing his eyes seemed like the best way for him to block out the memories and the pain so that was what he decided to do. For once in his life Ron Stoppable was grateful for the fact that he slept without dreaming about the woman he loved.
-
Kim Possible toweled off the last bit of dampness from her body and fetched the robe that was sitting on her vanity. Her room was a mess, clothes were flung everywhere – causalities of her abortive affair with Josh Mankey. Even her bed was a mess, the sheets were sodden and stained with wine. Gingerly she crept over the entryway of her room, trying to avoid the broken glass that she still hadn't cleaned up. She thought to herself it would be a long time before she wanted to sleep in that room again after what she had done.
She looked at her Kimmunicator for what must have been the fiftieth time since Ron had left. He hadn't tried to contact her. She had been hoping that he would have returned at least one of her messages, but still deep down she knew that it would probably be days before Ron was even able to look at her again.
"Not after what I did… I don't even deserve to be in the same room as him."
The sadness that overwhelmed her heart threatened to break free in the form of body rending sobs, but she valiantly held them at bay. She had cried for hours already and she knew that even if she felt like it, no more tears would come to her call. Shortly after Ron had stormed out of their apartment she had thrown Josh Mankey out as well. Now that her "revenge" was complete she didn't need him around any more. The way she had manipulated and treated Josh was yet another thing for her to feel ashamed of. She didn't love Mankey, she knew that, knew it with all her soul. She had just wanted to hurt the man that she did love as much as he had hurt her.
It shredded her soul to pieces to realize that she might have been wrong.
Walking over to her kitchen, Kim sat down at the table and looked at the box that Ron had thrown at her feet. She reached out a hand towards it and removed the engagement ring, twisting it between her fingers.
"He bought this for me, not for her. Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't he tell me where he was going, or what he was doing? How come every time I asked him why, he couldn't tell me? He just told me couldn't say anything more…"
With a gentle, almost reverent motion, Kim slid the engagement ring onto the correct finger. She held her hand up at an awkward angle, letting the light from the kitchen fixture catch the multi-faceted diamonds that adorned the slender gold band.
"It's beautiful…"
For a moment Kim let herself slip into fantasy. She imagined, Ron on one knee, holding her hand and presenting her with this same ring. It was a dream that she felt would never happen now.
"I need to find out if he is ok at least."
Kim gathered herself and rubbed her eyes. They were probably red from crying but there wasn't anything she could do about that now. She picked up her Kimmunicator and pressed the button to call up Wade. She felt bad about waking the high school student up so late in the night, but she didn't have much of a choice.
The Kimmunicator beeped for several long seconds and then the background was replaced by the visage of a slightly chubby man rubbing the sleep out of his own eyes.
"Kim?" Wade Load inquired.
"Kim it's like… three o'clock in the morning. What's going on?"
Kim sighed. She didn't want to tell Wade the whole story, even though he was sure to find out at least some of it later.
"Wade, I need to find Ron." She stated.
Wade was now a lot more awake than he was previously and his mind was starting to function properly.
"Shouldn't he still be in Japan? I can fire up the satellite if you want but I think his tracking chip is probably still off."
"No Wade, he's back in the States. He got back today, I just don't know where he is."
Wade stroked his chin thoughtfully, a small goatee that he had started to grow out was bristling between his fingers. Puberty was agreeing with the young man and even his baby fat was starting to go away.
"This is a tough one. The eye in the sky is on the wrong side of the planet, the tracking chip is off and he wouldn't let me tag his Mustang. Hold on let me check something."
Kim blew out a sigh of relief. Wade was onboard and hadn't asked too many questions. She knew that the boy genius could find anyone given enough time and surprisingly it didn't take him very long at all.
"Ah, got it." Wade beamed. He took a great deal of pride in being exceptionally clever.
"Where Wade?" Kim said in a tone that betrayed her anxiety. Thankfully Wade didn't pick up on it.
"Well, he used his credit card about an hour ago to pay for gas. Middleton Gas N' Go. He also bought a microwave burrito, a 24 oz Slurge and last months…" Wade blushed a little bit when he got to the last item on the list.
"Well, anyway – he's in Middleton, or at least he was an hour ago."
"Thanks Wade." Kim went to turn off the Kimmunicator.
"Wait… is that it Kim? Is he in any kind of danger?" Wade asked nervously.
Kim didn't really know how to respond to that. Wade was just as much Ron's friend as he was hers.
"He's probably going to his parent's house, I just didn't know for sure. Thanks again Wade, and sorry for waking you up."
"No problem Kim. Catch ya later." Wade pressed a button on his computer terminal and his picture on the Kimmunicator blinked out.
"At least he didn't go out to a bar or do something stupid. I feel guilty enough as it is… how did things get so messed up?"
Kim heard the refrigerator door open behind her and it made her jump a little in her seat. Turning around she spotted the light pink body of one very hungry naked mole rat.
"Rufus…" Kim didn't know what to say. Rufus was more than a pet to Ron; he was like Ron's other best friend. To top it all off, Rufus was smart. There could be no way that he didn't know what was going on.
The mole rat looked at Kim for a second and then returned to his foraging in the refrigerator.
"Even Rufus is ignoring me… not that I can blame him. He probably knew before Ron did anyway."
For the first time since she had moved into this apartment with Ron, Kim felt like a stranger in her own home. She wanted to flee, but where? If Kim ran home to her own parents, and Ron had done the same, then they would literally be just hundreds of yards from each other. Then there was the whole part about explaining to her parents why her and Ron were renting a place in Upperton while they were both staying at their parent's houses.
"I need to go some place, but where? I need to find out if Ron was telling me the truth…"
Once Kim Possible had an idea in her head of a way to solve a problem it latched onto her like a demon. Quickly she flipped on her Kimmunicator and silently apologized to Wade for waking him up for the second time.
"K-Kim?" the boy asked, incredulity slipping into his voice.
"Sorry Wade. I need a ride." She stated.
"Huh? What? Uh… right, right. Where to Kim?" Wade was still fuddled.
Kim paused for a moment, making sure she really wanted to do what she was about to. It was the only way, the only way that she could prove to herself that she was right. If she could just look in that woman's eyes and ask her the truth… then she would know if she was lying or not.
"Japan. I need to go to Japan Wade."
-
The mid-morning sun warmed Ron's face as he started to stir from his dreamless sleep. For long moments he sat there, not quite motivated to get up, but not quite tired enough to go back to sleep.
"Alright Stoppable, time to get up and face the music."
Ron pushed himself off his bed and rubbed his eyes. He hadn't bothered to change his clothes last night so they were still the same ones that he had put on before he left from Japan. He knew that they, and him, both stunk – but he wasn't feeling up to taking care of it right now, he was just too depressed. Stumbling across the room he made his way downstairs to his parents kitchen. On the table was a plate of food, covered with plastic wrap and a note.
Ron,
Welcome home honey, your father and I went to temple but you looked so tired we didn't want to wake you up. I left some breakfast for you and some money under the plate. Your father says he's sorry he missed you last night.
We're having lunch with the Possibles, but please honey – you don't have to show up if you don't want to. I wont say anything unless they do.
Love,
Mom and Dad
Ron moved the plate to the side, revealing a crisp twenty-dollar bill. He smiled to himself. He was a millionaire and his mom still tried to give him money and food every time he came home.
"Typical Jewish mother."
Ron reheated the breakfast his mother had left for him and sat down to think for a bit. There didn't seem to be an easy way for him to fix his relationship with Kim, and part of him was wondering if he even wanted to. Did he love her? Yes, undoubtedly. Could he ever trust her again?
He didn't have an answer for that.
Ron knew that Kim was a jealous girl, but never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined her jealously would have led her to do something like this. The jealousy came from a secret aspect of Kim's personality that very few people knew. Under that ultra-confident and competent demeanor beat the heart of a woman who was still very insecure with herself. When Kim was feeling sweet and a little shy, sometimes she would kiss Ron and thank him for being there for her. She had told him that even if he wasn't the best fighter or the smartest person in the world, he helped her more than anyone else ever had. She had said that Kim Possible wouldn't be possible without Ron Stoppable being there to believe in her.
That was probably over now too.
It was a hard situation for Ron to wrap his head around. He hadn't just lost his girlfriend, he had also lost his best friend and on top of that they were a team as well. Team Possible. Could any of those relationships ever be recovered?
Again, He didn't have an answer for that.
Ron tossed his dishes in the sink and walked upstairs to take a shower and put on some clothes that didn't smell like they had been dragged over a camels ass. As he turned on the running water in the bathroom he started to contemplate how he was going to spend the first day of his exile.
"Bueno Nacho? I'd like to see Ned but I just ate… maybe around dinner time."
He idly started to scrub some shampoo into his sandy blonde hair.
"I could go drop in on Club Banana and say hi to Mo' – she'll probably flip when she finds out I don't wear clothes from Smarty Mart anymore."
Out of all their friends Monique had been the one to grow up first. She had done a two year associates degree and then became the manager of the Club Banana that she had worked at all through high school. The last thing Ron had heard was that she was taking corporate training classes to become a regional manager. Ron considered the situation and decided that he would have to wait to visit Monique. She was, after all, more Kim's friend than his and he didn't want to make it seem like he was going behind Kim's back to badmouth her. Kim could be overly protective of her social status at times and Ron didn't want to make things any worse than they already were.
"I could go see how Felix is doing, he should still be in town… doesn't he work at the Space Science Center?"
As Ron rinsed the shampoo out of his hair he smiled. This was an idea that he could go with – Felix Renton had always been more of his friend than Kim's. They had known each other as boys and rekindled their relationship later on in high school.
"Sound's like a plan. I'll go grab Felix, we'll hit the arcade, then hop down to Bueno Nacho for some grub… It'll be like old times."
Ron stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around himself and walked to his room. At first he started to flip through his drawers for clean clothes but then realized that he had taken pretty much everything that had fit with him when he moved to Upperton. Everything that was left behind was more or less relics from his middle school and early high school days. Sighing to himself a little bit he opened his suitcase and looked for something that wasn't too rumpled. He settled on a pair of black cargo pants and a slightly creased Chinese style silk shirt. The pants were his standard fair, but the shirt had been a present from a certain female ninja.
"Yori…"
For a moment Ron considered contacting Yori and telling her what had happened. He wasn't stupid, he knew how the slender martial artist felt for him and he knew that she would be more than eager to comfort him in his loss. The idea was some what attractive – Kim had thought he was cheating on her with Yori and he knew that it wouldn't take very much to make that accusation a reality.
"Do I like Yori? Yes. Do I love her? As a friend. Could I love her more? Maybe…"
Ron had to admit that there was a pretty short list of near-perfect women in the world and Yori Mutsamaru was probably on it. She was beautiful, smart, sensitive and above all extremely supportive of Ron. She believed in Ron so totally that often he wondered if she wasn't perhaps a little insane. After all, despite a magical sword, mystical monkey powers and years of secret ninja training, he was still just Ron Stoppable.
Ron just shook his head. Even though he was in a lot of pain he knew that he couldn't quite give up on Kim yet. A huge part of his heart belonged only to her and that was why her infidelity had wounded him so much. He also knew that if he ran into the arms of the beautiful lotus flower there would be no returning; and despite how he felt right now he wasn't ready to completely banish Kimberly Anne Possible from his life.
"I'll hang out here today, catch up with Felix and then head back to Upperton tomorrow to pick up Rufus. Maybe Kim will be there and I can apologi-"
No. No, he wouldn't apologize. He had spent the great majority of his life apologizing to the beautiful Ms. Possible for him simply being himself, but this was one time that he was going to stand firm. He felt that if he caved in this one time then it would color his entire future relationship with Kim and above all if they were ever going to get back together then she was going to have to learn both how to be humble and how to trust him.
"Kim Possible, the girl who can do anything. Except trust her boyfriend."
Ron sighed. He didn't want to let his thoughts carry him down this path. There was nothing he could do right now so no amount of obsessing over the state of his relationship with Kim was going to change that. Fully clothed now, he picked up his cell phone from the bed. Then he hesitated for a moment and picked up his Ronnunicator, it was still off. It took him a moment but eventually he turned it back on and shoved both devices in the large pockets of his cargo pants. He saw that there were messages from Kim waiting for him, but he ignored it for the time being. First he was going to soothe his soul with a little bit of Zombie Mayhem with an old buddy.
Running down the stairs and out the house, he hopped into his Mustang and took off. He could see the cars in front of the Possible house and noted that Kim's wasn't there. He had thought that maybe she would have chased after him last night, but evidently this wasn't the case.
"No big. I have stuff to do today."
Two miles down the road with the top down and a near-busted radio dial, Ron Stoppable was once again prowling down the streets of Middleton Colorado, except this time he was doing it in style.
-
Drew Lipsky, AKA Dr. Drakken, cursed furiously at the schematics before him.
"Damn it! That nit-wit Possible stole my design! Why are they always such a thorn in my side?"
"This better be good Dr. D, I canceled my vacation because of this", wise cracked a caustic voice behind him.
"Ah, Shego! No it's not good, it's actually quite bad – but in a good way, if you follow my meaning. Here let me show you", replied Drakken.
He pushed a button on the computer console in front of him and the blue prints that he had been looking at were displayed on a large viewing screen. Shego just stared for a moment, her mouth not moving and her eyes somewhat impassive.
"I'm not a mad scientist, what is this junk?" she eventually said.
"A quantum phase disrupter, based on my own design I must add." Dr. Drakken looked inordinately pleased with himself as he added the last bit.
Shego plopped down in a chair and started to concentrate on the nails of her glove, making small flicking gestures as if she was trying to remove some unseen contaminate. She was ignoring Drakken – again.
Drakken was slightly deflated at his henchwomans antics but he didn't miss a beat as he continued.
"It's a device that is capable of producing prodigious amounts of energy, so much so that it rivals the sun in output. And best of all, it runs on common elements found here on Earth. Why if we had this device we could create the most powerful weapon on the planet…"
This was the point in Drakken's rants that Shego always tuned him out and today was no exception. She knew the drill already; the doctor would go on for a half hour about whatever stupid plan he had this week and eventually her part would boil down to either "Shego steal that thing" or "Shego kidnap that person". This was looking like it would be a case of the former, so Shego blocked out Drakken's spiel until he got to the pertinent part.
"… and so I need you to go to the Middleton Space Science Center and steal the prototype."
Shego rolled her eyes. She had guessed correctly – again.
"Alright, but this is overtime Drew", she deadpanned as she went to leave the room.
Drakken was about to retort something when Shego flipped her head over her shoulder and gave him a "I'll rip off your head if you try to argue with me" look.
It worked.
It wasn't that Shego had actually been planning on going anywhere for her vacation, but still it was the principle of the matter. She knew that if you gave these mad super villain types an inch they'd try to take a mile. It was something she had learned in her previous occupation.
As Shego climbed into the cockpit of her hover plane she wondered if Kim Possible would show up on this job. It was highly likely anyway, being that Middleton was her old stomping grounds. Shego didn't like to admit it but the chance of running into the "Princess" was one of the few reasons why she continued to work for Drakken.
"I wonder if she'll be alone this time, in fact I haven't seen that buffoon for a couple of months now. I wonder if they split up?"
It had actually been a nice change of pace for Shego, having Kim Possible all to herself. As much as Shego derided Kim's sidekick as a buffoon, he had the uncanny knack of inadvertently ruining things at the worst possible moment. Shego secretly had decided a long time ago that Ron Stoppable was far more dangerous than he wanted people to know.
It had happened about a year ago on yet another failed take over the world scheme of Drakkens'. Shego had mostly been preoccupied with fighting Possible for the duration of the battle so she wasn't able to actually watch what the sidekick was doing, but somehow he had managed to single handedly take out a dozen of her best henchman as well as destroying Drakken's latest doomsday device. However unlike every single previous time they had fought, he had made a mistake.
He didn't set off the self-destruct button.
It was hours later, long after the Global Justice reconnaissance teams had left the scene, when Shego had crept back into the base. Her curiosity always had a tendency to drive her actions when she was left to her own devices and this time was no exception. Sneaking down the hallways of the now abandoned lair she looked for a machine that might help her figure out what had happened earlier – providing Global Justice hadn't confiscated the contents.
It was with a bit of surprise and a great deal of satisfaction that Shego noticed that no one had yet removed the surveillance tapes from the lair's security system. After fiddling with the controls and different camera views for a few minutes she finally found the information she was looking for, and she was shocked. There in black in white on the computer screen was something that she had never would have expected. It was Ron Stoppable amidst a dozen highly trained henchmen.
And he was kicking their asses.
At first Shego had laughed, not just at the absurdity of what she was seeing, but at the young mans comical actions. He was tripping on his own feet, falling down, rolling away, springing back to his feet, falling on top of his assailants and pretty much making a fool out of himself. Except for one thing of course - he was winning.
Shego rewound the tape and watched it again. Then she did it again. And again. There was something here that she wasn't catching on to, something almost familiar about Stoppable's actions that she was trying to place. Slowly the realization began to dawn on her.
"Monkey Fist!"
It was a little bit of a leap of logic, but Shego was sure of it. The seemingly random movements of Stoppable on the screen were not random at all. In fact, they were part of a highly effective martial arts style that only a few people in the world had ever mastered. She noted that she had seen it before, Monty Fiske AKA Monkey Fist, was one of those self-proclaimed masters.
"It's called the Drunken Monkey… and he's good at it."
Shego let a small smile creep over her face. The sidekick had a secret that he was hiding from everyone, including the Princess. A small, grudging, respect for the young man started to form in her mind. After all, Shego knew very intimately what it was like to hide your real self behind an act. She had been doing it herself ever since she was a pre-teen, ever since that blasted meteor had hit the tree house belonging to her and her brothers. Ever since she had become the freak she was today.
Secrets had been a big part of her life since that fateful day and it was one of the main reasons why she had become a mercenary in the employ of Drakken. She didn't have to hide herself, she didn't have to hide her bizarre appearance, and she didn't have to pretend to be some simpering normal girl always bossed around by her older brother.
As Shego punched the throttle on her hover plane and took to the sky it never occurred to her that in her attempt to escape the life that had been thrust upon her that she had willingly let herself be trapped in another lie.
Shego was her name. It was how the world knew her. Her visage was familiar across the globe and accepted for what it was - but still it was just another persona that she had constructed for herself. She had a secret and it was the worst kind, the type that you kept from yourself.
-
A/N: Hope people like this so far. I banged out this chapter in two consecutive meals at Dennys! So I suppose mucho thanks are in order for the kind waitresses who ply me with caffeinated beverages for hours on end.
I was wondering if I put the Ron/Kim angst on a little bit too thick, but after rereading the last chapter I think it came off ok. Besides, the break up is still fresh in the story so I don't think it's going to abate any time soon. I really don't like writing angst too much, I prefer humor and saccharine sweet love scenes a lot more, but I'm afraid I am discovering a little talent for drama and angst as well :P
I'd like a little feed back about the pacing of the story if possible. I read a review (sorry name escapes me as I write this) where I was cautioned against making Ron run right into the arms of another woman – and I agree with that. I had not actually intended to make things so surreal by doing something like that. As far as I'm concerned the problems between Ron and Kim aren't really a love thing, I hope I've gotten that across in my story by their inner dialogues. Both of them really do still love each other, but alas there is a huge chasm of trust that lays in between their feelings.
Also how did the Shego vignette go down? I always had this idea in my head that the major similarity between Ron and Shego is that they are two characters that have both outer and inner personalities. After all we know that Shego used to be a super hero, not a villain – so the duality in her personality exists from the start. Ron on the other hand often betrays his inner Ron-ness inadvertently, usually when he's not around Kim. Just something to think about.
Anyway, thanks for reading and please review I like to hear comments from people about any aspect of my stories, it keeps me writing.
QC