He guessed Sherri found the time to visit her at some point, because she had a new charm on her bracelet, and she pushed herself harder than ever before, even asking if she could be scheduled for extra sessions each week. Also, just after she got her new charm, she attempted to walk across the room to her bed on her own, without any walking aids. He found her sitting on her ass on the floor when he walked in some time later. He expected her to be depressed again, but she just gritted her teeth and insisted that he help her try again.

She now worked herself into sweaty exhaustion six days a week, but her progress was fantastic. He could barely keep up with her. She smiled and laughed more too. Today he'd had to flake on her therapy over a meeting with his lawyer. She'd waved him off with a bright smile and a kiss. It made him feel a lot better about the situation.

Now he was sitting in his lawyer's office. His lawyer, Dr. Jerry Arias, was a tall, thin man of Hispanic descent, with expressive deep brown eyes that had glinted in fury as Ron told the story of his life and the end of his relationship with his parents, but always greeted him with an openness that made Ron feel like his case was in good hands. Salt-and-pepper hair curled all over his head, making his age more obvious than his face gave away. The man was in his mid- to late-forties.

On his desk were pictures of his wife and children: A pretty girl about his age, with hair that was brownish red and wide, brown eyes... she didn't hold a candle to his KP; a boy about the age of the Tweebs, with curly brown hair and piercing eyes like his father's; another boy about six years old. Dr. Arias explained to him that his wife was from Mexico, and her family had run into problems with the gangsters and drug dealers that owned that part of town around the time they were vacationing with her family. His daughter and youngest son never made it home from the market one day, and Kim spent three weeks investigating, dodging the red tape put up by the diplomatic and federal investigators. She found and rescued the children, captured the drug dealers, and secured millions of dollars in illicit substances before the cartel even knew what was happening. It was a major bust that Kim was more than happy to assist with.

Dr. Arias, helpless against Possible charm to begin with, was eternally grateful for the safe return of his family and continually helped her with any legal advice that she needed, also lending Wade private investigators and many other sources that he had for their cases.

It seemed the entire world owed something or other to Kim Possible. She wasn't lying when she said she had more strings to pull than a damn clothing factory.

In any case, Dr. Arias had made Ron's case a priority, citing that he'd lost his children and didn't sleep for weeks, meanwhile these people had two precious children and treated them like dirt. He wanted to make them pay almost as badly as Ron did.

The criminal part of the case was set to go to trial in a few weeks. The civil case was starting after the end of the criminal case. Today Ron, Dr. Arias, and the prosecutor, a lady by the name of Anastasia Lobanov that had angry features and stormy gray eyes, were meeting to prepare him for his testimony.

She entered the office and made herself comfortable. Her dark hair was in a bun so tight he had a headache just looking at her. Her gray suit and black shoes added to the uptight appearance that she had. Dr. Arias obviously thought she was a bitch, but he kept his mouth shut because her sour attitude was put to good use in the court room and he wanted the case to be won.

"Counselor," he greeted, reaching for her hand.

She didn't say anything and didn't shake his hand either.

He put his hand down with an eye roll. Ron suppressed a chuckle.

"Let's get on with this, shall we?"

Ron and Dr. Arias agreed.

For the next three hours, Ron sat there while the bitchy prosecutor asked him questions about his life and the incident with his sister and being locked in the basement. Dr. Arias pretended to be the lawyer that would cross examine him. He played the roll well.

It was intense and at the end of it, he was exhausted both physically and emotionally. When Miss Lobanov left, Dr. Arias took a seat at his desk. "How do you feel about this?"

"It only gets worse in the real courtroom," Ron observed bleakly. "I don't know how well I'm going to handle it."

"Honestly, I don't think the defense is going to cross examine you for an hour and a half. They don't really have anything to contest the evidence with anyway. I mean what are they going to say, that you locked yourself in the basement?"

"You're right I guess."

"Either way it's better safe than sorry. You know what the questions are going to be like and how you're going to answer them, and you know what to expect from the defense more or less, so you should be all set. We'll do this again closer to the actual date of the trial."

"Dr. Arias?"

"Jerry," the older man corrected with a smile.

"Jerry," Ron echoed, smiling back. "Remember I told you I didn't really want to emancipate after all?"

He nodded.

"Will it hurt the civil case?"

"Not at all. One thing has nothing to do with the other."

"Okay," he sighed in relief. "The Possibles have been really good to us. Hana is starting to settle down some, getting comfortable again... she's back to her giggly old self. I figure, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?"

"It's up to you. I mean, it could be better if you could prove that you need the money you're suing for... but I think once they hear what you and little Hana have been through, they won't really care if you need it or not."

"I hope you're right," Ron muttered. He glanced at his watch. Kim would be eating dinner about now. She must be as exhausted as I am right about now, he thought.

"Need to be somewhere?"

Ron shook his head. "Just thinking about KP. She's out of therapy now, probably eating dinner."

"I was happy to hear from her after the accident," Jerry said quietly. "I think my wife cried the whole day when we read in the paper that you both were being presumed dead. She's a hero in this town."

Ron just smiled. "She's a hero everywhere."

"You're right." The older man studied Ron for a moment before he spoke. "She cares very deeply for you. When she called me, she was almost in tears explaining your situation."

"I care very deeply for her," Ron said, studying his hands.

"I know," Jerry responded with a knowing smirk.

Ron rolled his eyes as his cell phone rang. "Sorry, 'scuse me a sec. Hello?"

"Hi Ron," Anne's voice answered. "Where are you, dear?"

"At Dr. Arias's office."

"Are you almost done? I can pick you up, I'm on my way home from the pizza place."

"Oh... sure, we're about to wrap up here."

"Okay. Your meeting went well?"

Ron blew his hair out of his face. "As well as it could have I guess."

Anne sensed his exhaustion. "We're going to unwind with movies tonight. Interested?"

"Very," Ron responded, relieved that it would be a relaxing evening. "See you soon."

"Alright."

He pulled the phone away from his ear with another exhausted sigh. Jerry squeezed his shoulder.


It was Sunday. Lilith, Paige, and Monique came in bright and early to hang out with her and help her with her homework, which she had begun receiving since she could sit longer than ten minutes. She'd caught up on all her back work weeks ago, but these days homework was exhausting for her and she was glad she had help—

"Hi, Sweetheart," a soft voice said from the doorway.

She shoved her homework away immediately. "Oh it's break time. Hi Ronnie," she greeted, arms outstretched.

He chuckled and wrapped her in his arms. "Hi," he whispered into her hair. He pressed his lips to hers lightly before holding her close again.

She melted into him. He smelled extra good today.

Ron pulled back for a moment and was mildly surprised when she moved with him instead of letting him pull back. "KP?"

"You smell good," she mumbled into his hoodie.

He resigned himself to going home without yet another sweatshirt. It was going to be the third one this month. The first time, she'd repossessed his favorite hoodie after Lilith made him buy this stupid body spray named after a lethal weapon. She hadn't let go of him all day and she pouted him into leaving it with her.

The second time it was that she was tired and anxious after her therapy and had fallen asleep on him. She'd latched on to his hoodie and nothing in heaven or on earth could get her to let go of him. He'd slipped out of it and she curled up with it, sleeping peacefully.

Now she had buried her face in his chest, and he could practically hear the contentment coming from her. Not that he minded. He would give her his entire closet if it made her happy. Well, and if it didn't mean he had to walk around in the nude.

He shifted them around so that she could lean on him comfortably before greeting the other girls.

"Hey Ron," Lilith said to him.

Paige, in her typical silent fashion, smiled and waved. He tipped an imaginary hat. "How was that test?"

She shrugged. "Got a B."

Ron laughed out loud. "You were all stressed thinking you were going to fail the damn thing and now you're shrugging because you got a B." He shook his head. "Girls. They're all perfectionists."

"Well boys are all Tweebs," Kim mumbled into his chest.

He laughed again. "What was that, Sweetheart?"

"Nuffin."

"Uh huh," he answered, doubt and amusement in his tone.

He kissed her hair, quietly rubbing her back and occasionally pressing his lips to her cheeks or hair while she struck up a new conversation with her friends. His fingers wound their way through hers over and over. His eyes memorized her every expression, his ears recorded every sound she made... her laughter, the way she hummed thoughtfully when she was considering something, the soft sighs of contentment that escaped her lips every time he kissed her.

He could have stayed like this forever.

Kim looked up at him. "You okay?" she whispered.

"Mmhmm," he said with a nod. "Just thinking."

"Thinking what?"

"That you're so damn pretty. It's hardly fair."

She chuckled and rolled her eyes even as her face flooded with pink.

He grinned and kissed both her cheeks, savoring the heat of her blush against his lips.

"Hey, Lover-Boy, we're asking Kim a question and you're distracting her."

"Well excuuuuuse me," he mumbled, kissing her again.

Kim curled into him again, her hand resting lightly on his chest. She could hear his heart pounding away. When they were in the cold, it was one of the last sounds she heard. She remembered thinking how much she liked the sound, how soothing it was to hear him living on as she was dying.

The thought startled her and she jumped. Her skin broke out in goosebumps and tears sprang to her eyes.

"Sweetheart?" Ron's arms wrapped around her, protecting and comforting her. "KP, you're shaking. What happened?"

She leaned into him, willing her tears away. They fell anyway.

"Sweetheart you're scaring me."

Lilith and Monique watched, their eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Kim? What's upsetting you?"

Paige, who was usually one step ahead of everyone, seemed mildly horrified.

"What'd you see, Paige? What just scared her?" Lilith demanded.

Paige simply stood, shoving Ron's arms out of the way and wrapping her arms around her friend. After a long moment, she spoke. "She's not scared... not really. She just... when she leaned on you just now, she heard your heartbeat, and it reminded her of..." she cleared her throat, her own tears brimming in her eyes. "I could see it in her mind... it was dark, and she thought she was going to die. And you were with her, and she was thinking that it felt good that she was dying hearing the sound of you staying alive."

Within seconds four pairs of arms were around Kim, squeezing her so hard she had to cough a little to get them to let go.

All but one did. His heartbeat pounded on, and this time she thought that it was beautiful, and that this time she wasn't dying... she had the privilege of hearing it forever.

"I'm okay," she breathed after what seemed like an eternity. Monique and Lilith breathed a sigh of relief. Paige smiled, dipping her head slightly in a nod, and Kim knew that she'd experienced with her the small victory of overcoming her memory of that night.

Ron pressed his lips into her hair. "I love you," he murmured.

She smiled up at him and he happily traded the scent of her shampoo for the feeling of her lips on his.

A pillow sailed in their direction and Kim blocked it, never breaking their kiss.

Lilith huffed. "The rest of us need boyfriends too," she grumbled.

Kim wondered about that. Was she really his girlfriend? They had never officially labeled their relationship.

Ron kissed a spot just below her ear and she shivered. What was she wondering about again...?

Later on, after the girls had left them to their devices for the evening, Ron broke away from her lips with a sweet peck. "Can we talk?"

She smiled up at him. She really just wanted to kiss him again but if he wanted to talk, she would listen to whatever he had to say.

He flushed lightly. "It's just... we do all of this..." he motioned to her hand still in his hair, and to his hand which was still caressing the soft skin on her side just above her hip. He was pretty sure it was his favorite spot in the universe...

He digressed in his mind, clearing his throat. "I never even asked you out. I mean, you get all jealous of all the girls or whatever and I always tell you it's no big deal... but as far as they are concerned, I'm still single. I'd like to remedy that."

She bit her lip.

"KP... will you be my girlfriend?"

She just grinned and kissed him again.


When he walked into her room a week and a half later, she was standing with crutches by the door.

"Ready to go? I've had these since yesterday. I like them better than the walkers and stuff."

He tried really hard not to gawk at her... and failed. She was wearing those tight... yoga pants or whatever, and this off-shoulder shirt that ended just below her rib cage, with a tank top under. Her hair was up in a messy bun, with a few strands still laying on her neck. She looked energized and happy. And she was standing. Even with the damn crutches she looked like a model. He didn't understand how she did it but he was suddenly very grateful that he'd made their thing official... he didn't want anyone getting the impression that she was single.

She cautiously stepped forward, using the crutches to maintain her balance. His arms shot out instantly anyway, ready to catch her. She took the opportunity and leaned into him, pressing her lips to his and catching him by surprise.

Oh but just because he was surprised did not mean he minded. He liked the crutches better too. He could hold her much more easily and he could tell it was more comfortable than bending over the walking thing.

And she felt really good today. Really really good. Better than usual.

A throat cleared obnoxiously, and he reluctantly released her lips, internally cursing whoever was interrupting his proper greeting.

Kim grinned up at him and then at her therapist, who he found was the one guilty of greetus interruptus.

He followed them down the hall and admittedly, he was impressed at the handle she had on her crutches in only a day. She was in much higher spirits than usual. It made him happy to see her that way.

When they reached the workout area, she immediately ditched the crutches in favor of a chair. They were still new after all, and she was tired. He sat next to her and kissed her temple. "When you're ready we'll start," he said quietly.

"Actually while you're getting ready," Miss Jill interrupted, "I just want to say, and this is totally unofficial and off the record, so you didn't hear it from me... the doctors are very impressed with your progress. They are thinking we can you know, put you on parole from here to a week or two, depending on how you take to the crutches."

Kim's eyes widened, as did her smile. "Parole?"

Miss Jill grinned. "You'll get to go home soon, but you'll have to check back with us a couple times a week, for check-ups and out-patient therapy, so we can get you off the crutches."

Ron felt his chest inflate with happiness. She could come home! He had to tell Anne... and Josh. And Dr. Arias. Well, Dr. Arias was actually important, because if KP came home before the trial started, Dr. Arias could maybe use her testimony. And because she was Kim Possible, everyone would believe what she had to say.

That said a lot about her character. It was nice to know that he wasn't deluded, blinded by infatuation into thinking that she was perfect. Either that or the entire planet was suffering from Kim-Possible-is-awesome delusions. He preferred to think that it was that she had such a huge personality and impact that everyone was simply helpless against her charm, brilliance, and kindness.

Himself included. Well he had it worse. He was a guy... and on top of being one of the sweetest people he'd ever met, she was drop-dead gorgeous, stunning, sexy, crazy beautiful—and asking him something?

Oh he zoned out. He was too distracted by the way her—

"Ron! Quit zoning out and help me!"

"Sorry, sorry," he mumbled. "I, uh, lost count. Sorry, KP, Sweetheart."

"Eight," she said dryly. "What's up your butt?"

"Um... nothing. Don't worry about it." He flushed bright red.

She smirked at him. "Uh-huh."

"Ready for the next set?" he asked through gritted teeth.

She eyed him speculatively. "Maybe. I think I need a break. Sit with me?"

"Of course," he said immediately, helping her into a seat and sitting cross-legged in front of her. He kissed her bad knee before rubbing it gently. "How do you feel?"

"I'm great," she said happily. "Come sit up here with me."

He did as he was ordered, and she curled into him. Her hand was on his chest again. And her lips were dangerously close to his neck... and maybe it was time for them to continue their exercises—

She totally had him pegged. She was pretty sure he'd been staring at her butt. And he was totally hyperventilating when her public displays of affection seemed like they were going to get racy. He was zoned out because she'd turned him on. Hmm. She must have missed that part. All that happened today was that she walked to therapy with crutches instead of the usual elderly walking aids. Whatever. All she knew was that she was going to have to explore this in more detail... later.

Her knee was starting to cramp. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself through the last four repetitions of the exercise she was doing before Ron lead her to the table where they would finish off the evening. They were going to do this weird thing to her knee today... it involved scratching...? Scraping. That's what it was called. They were going to try this... scraping thing.

Miss Jill applied some shea butter to her knees, massaging it in gently. Then she got this plastic thing and started scraping off the shea butter stuff. It was sort of painful. She said the idea was to break up the scar tissue inside her knee so that it would loosen up a bit. She gritted her teeth and told herself that at the end of this, she would be flexible again.

Ron distracted her with inconsequentials. Josh finally reported his parents yesterday, and was staying with his aunt in Lowerton. His aunt had an extra car that he could use, but it was like thirteen different levels of old and damaged. The Tweebs were helping him fix it up. He was also applying to MAGIC for the fall.

He wanted to meet Ron's friends. She asked him a while back who it was exactly that he hung out with. He had just grinned. "Oh, all people you know. Zita, Paige, Lilith, Moni..."

"All single girls," was her disgruntled response.

He'd just rolled his eyes.

Now he was telling her about the newest addition to the crew, a shy noob named Lexi. He said she was cute, and a lot of the football guys were into her. She did not return their interest. Paige had laughed at something Lexi thought, but refused to share it with the rest of them. Later on, she privately told Ron and Lilith that Lexi thought the football guys smelled really bad. That got her cool points in Lilith's book, and she was easily accepted into the group thereafter. Another guy named Justin, last name Case, which Kim agreed was hilarious, had started hanging out with them too.

"You can't laugh at my name, Ron Stoppable," Justin had said to him with a pout. And I heard your girlfriend has one of those names too!"

"Kim Possible," was Ron's proud answer. She smiled the rest of the week when Ron told her that.

"Apparently there are a bunch of us with the names," Ron was saying when she tuned him back in. "We should make our own club. You, me, Justin, and this kid everyone calls Vince. His real name is Gavin Vincible. How cool would that be?"

"And what would this club be called?" she asked with a smirk as she laid back on the table so that Jill could do her hip.

"I dunno. Oh, and this other guy, his name is Oren and his last name is Gamy."

"Oren Gamy? I think I feel bad for him."

"Me too. He can be the guy who didn't get into the club because his name isn't cool enough."

She just chuckled. "I thought you didn't care about what was cool?"

"You know I'm just kidding, Sweetheart," Ron chuckled. "But think about it: the exclusivity that comes with having a name like this is pretty frickin cool. We should all become hall patrol too! We could be Team Possible's Hallway Patrol. That would be an awesome club name by the way."

She just shook her head. "You're silly."

"You like me silly."

"I really do," she grinned. "So now who is it that sits at our tables?"

"Bonnie, Marcella, Tara, Zita, Moni, Paige, the other cheerleaders Sarah and Piper, Justin and Lexi, and me. And next year, hopefully, Josh. Oh and some of the football guys that are into Lexi sit at the end of the table too," he added with a chuckle.

"Sounds like I've been replaced."

He stared his hands, his eyes tracing their entangled fingers. "No," he said quietly. "Your seat at the table is next to mine, and it's always empty." His eyes filled briefly with anger. "Well... Zita and Lilith made it clear that that seat is off limits after Bonnie tried to sit in it."

Kim rolled her eyes. "It's just a seat."

"Either you're much, much too nice or you're blissfully ignorant of the hierarchy that begins with your seat," he said with a chuckle. "Your seat is in the middle of the table. You can see everyone and talk to everyone from there. The farther out you sit, the more isolated it is. And in the unwritten rules of MAGIC, I guess the farther out you sit, the less cool points you have." He shrugged. "Bonnie has apparently envied your place at the table for ages."

Kim rolled her eyes. "So what, I'm like the queen of the table or something?"

Ron shrugged.

"Tell everyone to sit wherever the hell they want. This is ridiculous."

He smiled. "No, I think I like it the way it is. You rule the school, next year you can switch it up yourself... unless the new seating arrangement puts Bonnie at the end of the table... far, far away from us." He smiled when she laughed, kissing her forehead. "Truth is, as long as I get to sit next to you, I don't care where we sit."

"Of course," she said with a smile. "And Ron?"

"Hmm?"

"You missed," she said, pulling him down for a kiss.