It's comfortable here... Kim thought listlessly as she looked to the dance floor of the club she'd been at for the last two hours. The DJ was quite good, as they always were at this club, even if the DJ in the booth was new to her. She was playing a slower chill style trance tune at the moment, the minor key music and lower than normal volume surprisingly soothing to her jangled nerves.

"Maybe I should see him… Just to say goodbye…" She muttered uncertainly to herself, but just as quickly, she quashed the stray reflection. She couldn't do that… Seeing him lying there… Stretchered away in the ambulance… She'd never felt so scared in her entire life, and knew she would back out of she did see him again.

"Found you," the speaker's somber tone chilled her thoughts, before a cross-looking African-American woman slid into the seat opposite her. With an upturned nose, Monique vaguely counted the number of empty glasses on the table before looking back at her detached friend who hadn't bother to look at her in acknowledgement. "I saw your beat-up Murano outside…"

The red-head continued to stare off into the far distance as she sat in the overly comfortable chair, fingering her drink absently. She tried to keep her mind off things as stole glances across the table at her long time friend. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Aren't you the least bit concerned about how Ron's doing?" Monique pressed on as she slid down onto the bench next to her. "Normally, you'd be grilling me about how he's doing within five seconds."

"Monique…" Kim sighed as she tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling.

"C'mon girl, what's bugging you?" Monique asked, her voice hardening slightly, "After all, this doesn't look like 'work'..." Kim looked sharply at her dark skinned friend, and Monique sighed. "I found out when Ron woke up... The nurse said you got called in... Which is obviously BS..."

"I… I don't think I can see him anymore…" Kim muttered softly, her voice barely carrying over the low key music.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Monique's eyes narrowed. "Did something happen between the two of you before he went into a coma?"

"After you left, before the Wade sitch…" Kim shut her eyes as she spoke. "Ron told me that he wanted me back."

"That's great, isn't it?" Monique exclaimed, barely concealing the sudden happiness in her voice.

"No it's not…" Kim negated lethargically, her voice hollow and cold.

"And why not?" Monique's voice took a dangerously low tone. "Girl, do I have to smack some sense into you too?"

"Things have… Changed between us."

"Yeah, of course! You're both older!" Monique replied sarcastically. And as an afterthought, she added under her breath, "But not in any way wiser…"

Ignoring Monique's remark, Kim sighed as she continued, "I mean… He's not Ron anymore… He's…"

"He's a superstar billionaire playboy? Or a crime-fighting superhero with an invincible suit?"

"Among other things… He's just not Ron anymore…"

"And for your information, you're not Kim anymore either," Monique bit back, barely concealing the venom in her voice. "Have you looked at yourself recently, Kim? As much as it pains me to say, you aren't that Kim Possible that Ron fell in love with a long time ago, either. You're no longer that headstrong, sweet and kind-hearted girl who knew how to follow her dreams and never let anyone stop her from what she wants. You're nothing but an over-glorified paper-pusher right now!"

"Monique…"

"Nuh 'uh girl! You don't get to 'Monique…' me anymore… I'm not going to sit down here and listen to whatever scatterbrained ideas you got into your head! Listen to yourself, Kim," Monique snapped back tersely. "Hell, Kim, just try to remember the very first mission you went on. Mr. Paisley needed help and you gave it straight away because you knew it was the right thing to do! That's the thing about you, Kim. You've always lived life trusting in yourself to do the right thing! And now, look at you, you're constantly second-guessing yourself over every decision! You keep telling yourself, what if things could have been different, what if you or Ron hadn't done certain things. But face it, Kim… Just face it… This mess is just as much your fault as it is Ron's."

"No it's…"

A sharp look from Monique cut her off in midsentence. "Kim, it's your fault, too. Really. When you broke up with Ron, you literally broke him as a person. He was down so low that even I wasn't sure that he could get back up. But he did… Like he always has… For you, Kim, for you. And let me ask you honestly, Kim, is it that bad to have someone love you that way?"

"He should be doing things for himself, Monique!" Kim snapped after several seconds of silence, "Not for me!"

"He is! He's living his life for you!" Monique began, but a sharp, almost hateful glare from Kim cut her off.

"Oh, so him screwing any woman that opens her legs for him is for me?" Kim accused sharply. "Flaunting all his riches in his face is just for me? He shows me how happy he is with me out of his life for me, Monique?"

"That's not what he's doing and you know it!" Monique snapped back. While she was happy to finally see a little of Kim's old spark in her jade eyes, she had a few things to tell her friend that had been building up for some time. "He's been hurting since you thought it best to break up with him!"

"Yeah, that's why he jumped at the first chance to fully break up with me by sleeping with Tara?" Kim asked, "That video Wade mentioned, Mo? He said that's why he thought David and I were dating, he thought we were having sex in a club, for Christ's sake! From a goddamn video!"

"I know about the video, Kim, Ron told me about it and how to access it..." Monique said softly, earning a snort from Kim.

"Then you know what I'm talking abou-..."

"And if I hadn't been here?" Monique continued, her considering, confused tone stopping Kim's tirade. "Hell, Kim, I was there and I've honestly doubted what I remember after that... The video is that good, Kim..."

"Oh, so you think he had every reason to go out that night and screw Tara..." Kim muttered.

"Don't you dare..." Monique said softly, her dangerous tone taking Kim aback slightly. "I may not like the fact that he was in a relationship within a week of you 'officially' breaking up, but give them both a little respect... He actually did just talk to her that night, from his home, on the phone... They didn't even see each other for two days, and then waited almost two weeks to screw!"

"Oh, and I'm supposed to feel better about that?" Kim said sharply, blinking back at tears in her eyes, "He dumps me when we're taking a break over a video, he doesn't even bother trying to talk to me, and..."

"In Ron's defense, Kim," Monique interrupted again, "He did try to call you. I know you were pissed that he walked out of the restaurant so visibly when we were all there eating, but he tried to call you about it..."

Kim opened her mouth to protest Monique's words, but then remembered seeing Ron's number on her phone several times in the next few days after that night. She sighed heavily, continuing in an almost defeated sounding voice. "Fine, maybe he did, but... It wasn't until after he was with Tara... And I..." Kim shook her head as a few tears ran down her cheeks. "I was hurt, Monique... The first message he left on my phone... He said things... About how he felt and it... It hurts, Mo... How could I confront him…" She wiped at her eyes, futilely trying to stop the tears. "He sounded like I'd killed him..."

"Well, I can't say anything about that, Kim." Monique said softly, then strengthened her voice. "But I still say it was a stupid idea to 'take a break' in the first place. What were you thinking?" Kim opened her mouth to speak, shocked that Monique sounded so cold after Kim had just opened her heart in such a way, but her friend held up a finger, "Ah, ah, ah, no, Kim... Don't tell me what you've said before, tell me what you were thinking..."

Kim paused for a moment, then shook her head slightly. "I... I dunno anymore, Mo..." Kim said softly. "I thought he'd find something else than just me to have in his life... Like I've always said, he can't just live for me..."

"We're back to arguing semantics here, Kim." Kim looked at her sharply, and Monique nodded. "He loves you, still, and other than screwing around with the ladies, he's done everything to show you that he has more than just you in his life." Monique sighed, then continued softly. "But he doesn't just want that, he wants you... Kim, you have a guy who actually means it when he says that he'll die for you!"

"I don't want him to do something stupid like that! It's just so like Ron to throw himself into the most dangerous situation without giving it a second thought!" Kim cried, "And if he saw me in trouble, he was even more reckless…"

"Girl… That's true love. If you don't understand it yet, you never will…" Monique sighed as she shook her head. "And you're one to talk yourself…"

"What did I do?"

"Didn't I just see you get into my car and drive it against a five-ton mechanical armor with enough weapons to wipe out a Global Justice squad?"

"But that's different… I… That's… Your car has airbags, and I had a seatbelt-..."

"Kim, that's suicidal… No, no…" Monique quickly hushed the protesting red-head. "It's suicidal… Really… You honestly thought that you could come out alive from that? If Wade had seen you just a half second earlier, he'd have had his guns on you…" Kim stared at her askance, and Monique growled slightly, "What I'm trying to say is that you'd do the same for Ron too. You would dive recklessly into the face of danger just to rescue him…"

"But I knew what I was doing! I've done things like that before and it was no big!"

"So has Ron!" Monique almost exploded at her stubborn friend. "Don't you think that Ron has risked life and limb often times enough for you to actually know what he was doing? Stop being hypocritical!" Kim folded her arms and turned back to the dance floor, a petulant scowl coming over her face. Monique slapped the tabletop to get the red-head's attention back, her voice hot with frustration. "So it's alright for you to risk your life to save Ron's, but it's not alright for Ron to risk his life to save you? Girl, as much as I hate to say it, that's insulting, selfish and childish as Hell!"

Kim's jaw felt open as she struggled to move her tongue. "But… I'm not…"

"Girl, it's double standards..." Monique said with a bark of derisive laughter, "Ron may have been a klutz once, but he's a klutz who's done as much as you in the hero business, and has every bit the ability you do, and you know it… Denial ain't just a river in Egypt…"

With a loud sigh, she slumped her shoulders as she leaned back against the park bench and tilted her eyes to the ceiling. Speaking softly, she began, "Maybe you're right, Monique…"

"Damn straight girl, you know I'm always right…"

A wry smile crept to her lips. "Fine, you're right… But it doesn't change anything here… I think it's too late already."

"Kim," Monique held her hand firmly as she spoke. "Stop thinking for a moment. Just stop. Forget everything Ron has ever done to you, and forget everything that you've ever done for Ron. Now just listen to me and answer me truthfully, can you ever imagine your life without Ron?"

"I… I can't…" Kim bit her lip as she slipped into deep thought. And just before Monique can launch into her triumphant speech, she added in a soft voice, "Which is why I'm leaving for Paris…"

"What?" Monique almost shrieked out. "Girl, you're seriously holding back on me, and you're just lucky you didn't tell me sooner, because I would have smacked so much sense back into you that you'd find yourself back into last week."

"I… I just… I mentioned the offer I was given last week to Ron when I saw him... I... He said maybe I should go..." Kim offered weakly as she strained a smile.

"Kim, listen to me," Monique spoke, as she shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "As your best friend, and yes, I've been your best friend since high school, even after you dumped Ron, I am about to do what I regretted not doing all those years ago. I am going to stop you from making the second biggest and dumbest mistake in your entire life."

"It's not a mistake, Monique," Kim replied sounding unconvinced. "I have to go…"

"And why's that?" Monique snapped.

"Because… It hurts too much to be around him…"

Monique stared at the red-haired woman for a long second. Her head was tilted down as her chin touched her chest in remorse. Shaking her head slowly, she placed a hand on Kim's shoulder and spoke, "I'm sorry, Kim, sometimes I forget how emotional you get when we're talking about Ron." With a loud sigh, she continued, "But I don't think that's your solution. You're over-analyzing things like you always have ever since you broke up with Ron. Let me just ask you this, Kim: Does it hurt because you are around Ron? Or does it hurt because you are not with Ron?"

Kim raised her head as she looked at her friend in confusion. "I don't…"

"Shh… Kim… Just listen to your heart…" Monique coaxed her gently. "Listen to it… It has never led you wrong before… Kim, you always shine the best and the brightest when you listen to your heart. It has brought you this far."

"I… Monique... I can't..."

"So just listen to your heart, maybe even for this one last time, even if you disagree with me," Monique interrupted her, reaching a hand across the table to lay on Kim's shoulder. "What is it that your heart wants you to do?"

"I can't… It's … I can't do it…" Kim cried out as she struggled to pull away.

"No, wait, listen to me… It's not easy, I know, and you're afraid of being hurt," Monique began, as she tried to quell Kim's fears. "It's the same with Ron too…"

"No… Ron… Ron? Really?" Kim looked at Monique with a fragile, shaken hope for several long seconds. Monique smiled encouragingly, but Kim squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head in disbelief. "Monique... It's not that easy to believe, after everythi..."

"Yes, Ron, he's afraid of being hurt too…" Monique continued slowly, gently interrupting her friend of well over a decade. "But I think he's willing to risk it all for you… He laid his heart out on the line for you again, didn't he? And to put it frankly, you both have been dancing around each other for so long that it's time to put a stop to it. It's not fair to Ron, it's not fair to you, and it's also not fair to others too…"

Kim raised an eyebrow at that last remark. "You mean…"

"Whatever the case," Monique ignored her question. "You already know you can't live without him. So you know what you have to do…"

"It's not that easy, Monique, what if…"

"There you go again, second guessing yourself."

"I just don't know, Monique! I just can't rush headlong into another relationship!" Kim cried out. "I want to but… It might all be the same again! We'll end up breaking up again and things will become worse this time around. It's just… I don't know if I can take it this time around if we break up!"

"And if you went back to him, are you planning to break up with him again?" Monique's tone was deathly serious.

"No… But…"

"So you're planning to get back together and crush his heart all over again?"

"Monique… You know that's not what I mean…"

"Then what do you mean? Do you mean to continue hurting Ron at your own expense?"

"No, no, no…" Kim swallowed hard as she tried to rearrange her own thoughts. With her head hung low, she muttered. "It's just that…" Looking around the club, she let out a long drawn-out sigh. "I'm sorry, Monique… I've already decided. I'm going to Paris, and nothing you say can change my mind."

"Kim…"

"Please, Monique? I just want to get out of here…" Kim tried to stand up, only to slam her leg harshly against the table, sloshing her drink around. Guiltily, she murmured, "Sorry, 'Nique… Think I need a lift home…"

The mocha-skinned girl glared at her best friend for life for a long moment, before snatching the keys out of her hand. Wordlessly, she slid out of her own chair and stomp off, not even caring whether Kim could find her own way out of the club. She'd already known where Kim parked her car; just a block away down the street. She'd seen it trying to find the recalcitrant red-head.

Even before Kim could properly put on her seatbelt, Monique stomped down on the accelerator and Kim's old Nissan Murano, the first car she had bought with Ron when they were still together leaped forward. Had Monique been any less competent a driver, they'd have slammed headlong into the oncoming traffic. The red-head could only squeak in fright, before buckling in. She glanced over at her friend's face which seemed so hard and cold as she focused on weaving through the traffic ahead.

"Monique…" Kim called to her softly, knowing that her friend was more than angry with her. "Monique…"

She only responded by speeding up faster, swerving dangerously though traffic.

"Monique… Could you slow down?" Kim sighed softly, as she glanced nervously at the traffic surrounding them. "Look… You're probably mad at me… But I know I'm doing the right thing for both of us…" She squeezed her eyes shut as Monique narrowly avoided clipping the car in front of them as she suddenly cut back onto the right lane. "I'm doing the right thing, aren't I?" Kim mumbled almost in a whisper.

"I mean…" Kim choked back a little, as she went on. "It's best for both of us… I mean, Ron and me… I get to visit Paris, see the world and live in Europe like I'd always wanted since college… And Ron will have me out of his life… And he can do whatever else he likes without worrying about what I would think… He can keep on fighting crime as Iron Man… And he can… He can keep on dating all those beautiful women and…" Kim's voice fell silent as she glanced over at her stoic friend. "It'll all be fine, right?"

Suddenly she was thrown forth, and the only thing stopping her face from hitting the dashboard was the seatbelt that dug painfully into her flesh. Startled, she looked up to see Monique slamming her fist angrily on the horn and yelling a long string of expletives out the car window at the crawling red Chevy who had suddenly jammed its brakes in front of them. And even though she'd heard some of the more colorful language during her training sessions at GJ, the things that Monique manage to creatively conjure up made her blush even more.

Finally, slumping back into her seat, Monique growled angrily as she gripped her steering wheel tightly, "What the hell are you asking me that for?"

"I… I wanted to know what you think…"

"Was this before or after you decided to go to Paris?"

"I…" Kim hung her head in shame. "Look… I'm sorry about th-…"

"Dammit Kim! Quit saying you're sorry," Monique took her eyes off the road just for a moment to give Kim a very pissed-off look. "It's the same thing all over again, you know. Just like how you decided to break up with Ron all on your own, and you didn't even stop to ask your friends, the people around you who cared, what do they think? So maybe for a moment that I'm just not important enough to include in your own god-damn delusions, but dammit, Kim… What about Ron? Isn't he important enough for you to talk to about this? Or maybe you just think that you're always right and that no one else matters… You know what, Kim? You make me sick…"

"I did it for us, okay?" Kim retorted, raising her voice. "And I'm still doing it for us!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Kim!" Monique yelled back just as loudly. "Where is that 'us' right now, Kim? Where is that 'us' that you did it for? You just got up and walked away because you grew tired of Ron, you didn't know how to handle his immaturity, you didn't like his lazy ways, and most importantly, you had enough of him. That's why you got up and left him! It's not because you loved him and tried to motivate him, you just got sick and tired of Ron, and you threw him aside like a used tampon and you're just throwing him aside again!"

"That's not true…"

"Oh yeah? That's what it looks like... The way you're acting, Kim, you just as well face it: you don't love him at all! I honestly wonder if you loved him in the first place, or if you've ever even given half a shit about him! All you do is hurt him and blame him for all your own pain and suffering. You're glad, I think... Deep down inside you're glad that you get to walk away and dump all this blame on Ron… At the end of the day, Kim, you're nothing but a quitter… In fact, I think Ron would be better off not know how much you didn't love him…"

"You're wrong!" Kim screamed back, as she clutched her ears, unbelieving what her friend was saying. "You're wrong, you're wrong! It's not like that; it's nothing like that… I love him! I love him more than anything else in this whole god damned world, and I wanted him to succeed more than anything else, and I wanted him to be the best he could be because I love him and I don't ever want him to regret being with me… I love him, okay… Monique… I've always loved him…"

A silence draped over the car, except occasionally punctuated by soft sobs. Neither one said a word for the next five miles.

"So…" Monique declared suddenly in a calm, but firm tone. "Now that we've got that established, then when are you going to tell him?"

"No!" Kim shouted frantically, before letting her voice fall to a soft whimper. "No… I can't ever… No… I can't tell him… Not after everything… Not after… This…"

"Well, you better figure something out then…" Monique pursed her lips thinly. "Because we're here…"

"What?" Kim's eyes opened wide as she glanced out the window and realized that they were parked just outside the hospital where Ron stayed at. "No, Monique! Why'd you bring me here?"

"Because you're going to tell Ron everything you've told me tonight."

"No…" Kim paled at the thought of facing Ron. "I can't…"

"Kim," Monique spoke her name sternly. "You are going to get out of this car, go upstairs and tell Ron everything that you've just told me. And maybe you think he's not important enough to help you decide whether you should go to Paris and maybe you think he's not important enough to know that you love him, then at least go up there and tell him goodbye."

Kim looked ashamedly at her best friend before reaching for her seatbelt buckle and pressing the release button. Wordlessly, she pulled the door handle and unsteadily stepped out of the car. Taking a few steps towards the brightly lit lobby of the hospital, she suddenly whirled around and tapped the window. "Look, Monique…" Kim stammered. "Maybe if I just call him…"

"Go!"

Kim took a few cautious steps towards the lobby before turning around with a pained expression on her face which Monique only duly ignored. Finally, with a heaving sigh and drooping shoulders, she walked gingerly towards the automatic doors that slid apart silently, before she stepped in.

Monique sat back and waited, before she reached over and fiddled with the radio. She tilted her head back and just... Waited… Waited for something to happen. She peeked out through the windshield and spied Ron's VIP room on the eighth floor. The lights were still on, Monique noted.

At least nothing's flying out the window.

She had done as much as she could for the both of them and they were still this stupid around each other. Maybe love really brings out the worst in them. They were so dumb at times that it seemed that at least they'd deserve each other.

Monique patiently drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. As the dashboard clock ticked past 11:11P.M., the light in Ron's room went out. A small, hopeful smile crept to her face, but she still waited. Visiting hours were long over, and Kim could come walking out any moment.

"Still no Kim..." She muttered to herself as the clock hit 11:30 P.M. Her smile widened slightly, then turned into a full blown grin. Whipping out her pocket organizer, Monique tore out a page and crumpled it with a look of satisfaction on her face. If she was right, her boss would definitely be taking the rest of the week off.

At least.

Author's Notes

A Noobfish/kgs-wy Production

Directed by
NoobFish

Co-directed by
Kgs-wy

Screenplay by
NoobFish and kgs-wy

Starring

Ron Stoppable

as
Tony St...

Okay, enough crap with the fake credits. Now you have to read about me making excuses about why this was late. This went through a major rewrite. Okay, semi-major rewrite. So that took up excess time, especially by the time we got to this chapter. So yeah… I'd beg off with a lot of other excuses, but you probably wouldn't believe me, thinking that I got stoned somewhere in some apartment or drinking myself into a stupor being a homeless bum for the past two months.

Anyway, that aside, I decided this would be a nice ending, as it sort of looks at Kim and Ron's relationship through Monique's eyes, instead of the typical Kim/Ron drama. But it's still drama nonetheless, so it's a bit mushy too, and I apologize for that.

I seem to be apologizing for a lot.

And thus, the story's finished, and onwards ho! Honest...! Finished... Anyway, to the next story! Suggestions much appreciated.