Author's note:

Hey, guys, welcome back. I don't know about everyone else, but it's been a long two weeks for me. As promised, here is the second update of season two. This week I'm bringing you another set of four chapters for you all to sink your teeth into. So, I hope you all enjoy.

Before I start (yeah you know the drill by now, lol) thank you all for your support and all the favourites/follows and reviews. I always enjoy reading them. It really means a lot to hear from you all and it gives me that extra boost to keep writing And You And I.

First up is chapter five: The echo of a distant time. The chapter title is taken from the lyrics to Pink Floyd's twenty-three-minute epic Echoes, from their Meddle album, a track which is all about connecting with other human beings and showing them empathy rather than antipathy. A concept which is quite fitting for this chapter. So, without further delay, let's get started. Enjoy.

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Chapter Five: The echo of a distant time

Kim's mouth fell open when she saw the blonde-haired boy that stood on her doormat and her brain ground to a halt halfway through uttering, "what are you…"

Ron, dressed in baggy, khaki-green cargo pants and a black raincoat, which was soaking wet and dripping water all over the place, looked just as shocked to see her, even though he'd been the one to ring her doorbell. However, he managed to raise his left hand, squint at it for a few seconds and read, "Rim, I bink wee shoooo," he then exclaimed in exasperation, "oh come on, I spent ages writing that! The packet said that pen was waterproof!"

A cocktail of emotions, with more ingredients in it than a Long Island iced tea and including joy, sorrow, anger, fear and love, flooded through Kim at the sight of her former best friend trying to read something he'd written on his hand, which had clearly smudged. However, the moment he started yelling at his misfortune, one thing cut through all the rest and she could not help herself. She began to laugh. Everything about the situation was just so… well, so Ron.

"It's not funny, Kim! Do you know how hard it is to write a whole pile of stuff on your hand? Do you?" Ron exclaimed.

Without even thinking, Kim quickly replied, "no, because I never had to cheat on a test."

"Well, it's not easy. And those pens were supposed to be waterproof, Kim. Waterproof!"

"That'll teach you to buy Smarty Mart own brand then, won't it."

"This is serious, KP. A guy could lose complete faith in an entire brand when they make such false claims about a single product."

Just like that, for those few brief moments, it felt like the clock had been dialled back and they were in high school again. That none of the anger, bitterness or hate had touched their relationship. In this instance, it had been a classic case of Ron becoming overly indignant about something and her poking fun at him, serving only to ratchet up his irritation. And Kim dearly wished she could simply forget all the bad blood between them. Except there was just too much of it for that to happen. And like any echo, this one from their past quickly faded.

She looked pointedly at her former best friend, the moment having passed. "Ron, what are you doing here?" she asked. While she kept her tone level, she could not stop herself phrasing the question in her own head as, what the fuck is he doing here?

Ron too seemed to have remembered himself as his expression turned properly serious. A strange sight to be sure. For Ron was almost your classic Oscar Wilde character. Someone who handled the serious things in life with great triviality and the trivial things with great seriousness. Yet here he was, treating a serious thing seriously. Maybe if he had done that during our relationship, we… Kim almost laughed at the thought, as her mind quickly countered, what, stayed together? Plodded on as you were, while you became ever more awkward in the bedroom, yet blissfully unaware that you're gay? Geeze, I wonder how that would have worked out?

The sound of Ron's voice drew her out of her thought process. "I think we should talk," he said. His tone was flat and she suspected that he too was trying to suppress the negative feelings that seeing each other had started to drag to the surface.

On hearing his words, Kim immediately recalled the last time they had 'talked' and felt an echo of the anger his final words and ignited inside her. And she could not help hearing them all over again, in that callous and cruel voice that had been so un-Ron, "you've spent so much time fighting Shego, yet you're just like her. I'd tell you to go and hook up with her, but I doubt even she'd be able to heat up someone so frigid."

Kim stared at Ron, a fire having just lit up in her olive-green eyes and her voice had a clear edge to it when she semi-spat, "I thought we already did that? Or have you deluded yourself into thinking that it didn't happen?"

The moment of awkward silence that followed her question gave her a brief chance to take stock. It seems that no matter how much I might miss him as a friend, there's no way I can just ignore what happened that night in the nightclub… or when we broke up. She sighed internally, knowing that she really did want to forgive him, but that the only route to that would be via a very long and narrow road. One that typically had pitfall traps and tripwires littered around every tight twist and turn.

However, much to her surprise, Ron then lowered his head. "No, it happened and I was a complete and utter jerk. Just seeing you that night dug up all the anger I'd felt when we broke up and in the weeks that followed." He then raised his gaze and met her olive-greens with those light browns and she could see the sincerity in them when he said, "I'm sorry for what I said that night, Kim. It was cruel and uncalled for and…" he paused as his gaze found his shoes once more, "…and I said it because I wanted to hurt you. I was just so angry with you…" another pause, "…anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry."

How much time passed, with the pair of them stood in silence in her doorway, Kim did not know. She simply looked at her former best friend; completely stunned. While he may only have been apologising for his part in the nightclub fiasco, it was something that she would not have imagined possible. Well, you got your apology for that incident and you didn't even need to force it out of him. Now what? It was at that moment she realised that this was it. If there was going to be any possibility that some part of their friendship could ever be salvaged, it started here or never. Ron was brave enough to face up to one of his mistakes, I have to do the same.

In front of her, Ron had turned to walk towards the elevator. Kim hesitated for a brief moment, as her brain reminded herself of all the bad blood that still existed between them and how trap-laden the long road would be. It would be less painful just to let him walk away… the thought slithered into her mind and while unquestionably true, she quickly overrode it. No, this is something I've got to do.

"Ron, wait," Kim called out, her voice betraying no hint of how shot her nerves felt that this was even happening.

Her former best friend hesitated a moment before he turned around to look at her. His expression sullen, somewhat downtrodden. "Yeah?" he asked with clear trepidation. A not unwise thing to do, given that their last conversation had ended with her slapping him.

"Would you like to come in for a coffee? You look absolutely freezing." Internally, Kim let out a small breath. That had been a lot harder than she would care to admit. Although, in comparison with what she had done over the past two days, perhaps not that difficult. A mirthless laugh floated through her mind. I think I'm going to need that vacation after all this is over. Why couldn't I just have suffered through a series of gruelling missions, ended up badly injured and whacked out on painkillers instead?

Ron studied her for a moment, before replying, "sure, why not." She recognised the tone as being his, 'try to act casual when I'm actually terrified', one.

Kim stepped back to allow him to enter her apartment, which he did, albeit hesitantly. "Here, let me take your jacket," she said and held out a hand. Ron stripped off his soaking jacket, water dripping all over the wooden floor. She took it from him and hung it on the coat stand. "Have a seat and I'll go make us some coffee."

She had only taken a few steps towards the kitchen when she heard her former best friend say, in a voice that started almost as a whisper but then quickly rose to become a yell, "holy cow, this place is incredible!"

Kim shook her head and couldn't help but smile to herself, classic Ron. She'd almost made it to the kitchen when he spoke again.

"Rufus, look at the size of that TV…. Wait a second…" Ron's voice then instantly transitioned into a yell, "RUFUS, WHY ARE YOU ALREADY ON KIM'S SOFA, EATING A TOASTER TART?"

Kim froze on hearing her old friend's words. Oh, crap! She had completely forgotten about Ru-Ru. Spinning around, she saw Ron staring incredulously at the sofa, as the confused face of Rufus appeared from inside the pocket of his cargo pants. "Um, Ron… I think there's something you need to know," she said as she quickly crossed over to the sofa. The naked-mole-shark was sat; holding what looked like a fresh toaster tart, with a smile on his mischievous face and waving one paw. "That's not Rufus."

"Of course you're going to say that, Kim," Ron began and she knew he was about to spout one of his crazy theories that only ever made sense inside his head. "You're probably about to claim that this is some sort of weird, twisted clone, created by some mad geneticist and all to try and hide the fact that the two of you have been hanging out behind my back… Probably for eighteen months!"

Kim didn't even get the chance to say that, for once, his theory got some of the facts right, before Ron continued, "well, I've got one question for you, Miss Possible. If that's some weird, twisted clone, where's the real Rufus?"

She watched as the real Rufus looked up at Ron and said, "present," before his small black eyes turned to the sofa and he exclaimed, "yikes!"

Her former best friend's eyes travelled down to his pocket and his jaw fell open. "Th…th…there's t…t…two Rufus'!"

"Yeah, about that," Kim began, not quite sure how to go about explaining the existence of Ru-Ru. You know your day is weird when one of Ron's crazy theories sounds more plausible than the truth. "This is Ru-Ru."

As though this had been rehearsed, Ru-Ru scarfed down the last of his toaster tart and stood up; his pink belly bulging slightly. He gave Ron a sweet smile that looked a little too innocent for Kim's liking.

Her former best friend simply stared at the naked-mole-shark, as Rufus scampered out of his pocket and up onto the sofa. "He… He… He's a…"

"A naked-mole-shark," Kim finished for him, like this was something one would find in any apartment. "He's one of DNAmy's genetically spliced Cuddle Buddies. I think she used some Rufus DNA to make a clone and then merged it with a shark of some variety."

Ru-Ru stood as Rufus circled him, the latter taking in the shark fin on the formers back and the small gills at the side of his neck. However, when the naked-mole-rat reached the front again and stared at his shark-spliced clone's face, Ru-Ru suddenly yelled, "BAWWW!"

"YIKES!" Rufus squeaked and practically leapt off of the sofa and back into his owner's trouser pocket.

Ru-Ru began rolling around on the sofa in a fit of evil laughter.

Either the yell or the sight of the naked-mole-shark's razor-sharp teeth had caused Ron to take a step away from the sofa. "Kim," he began, his voice level, however, it quickly increased in pitch as he finished, "that thing's feral and evil!" He then knelt to ensure Rufus had recovered from the shock.

Kim stood with her hands on her hips as a stern expression covered her face. "Ru-Ru," she said in a no-nonsense voice."

The naked-mole-shark stopped laughing, looked up at her and squeaked, "uh-oh."

Now that she had his attention, Kim was not actually sure how to chastise him. Given that the first hit she'd ever had on her 'babysitting' website had inadvertently kick-started her hero career, she never had gotten around to properly developing a way to handle naughty children. In fact, babysitting the Tweebs was virtually all she'd done in that department and that was like looking after a pair of wild monkeys… monkeys that liked to build rockets and portable silicon phase disruptors. She laughed internally, guess Tweeb-sitting isn't that much different. She stared the naked-mole-shark straight in his beady black eyes. "You are in so much trouble!"

Ru-Ru gulped, perhaps realizing that his moment of fun might not have been worth it.

Kim turned to Ron. "He's not feral, however, I'll admit, he does have an evil streak about him." She then glared at the naked-mole-shark. "He's only been here since Saturday night and he's already bitten me twice, attacked my shopping and stolen one of my toaster tarts."

Ron straightened up, having coaxed Rufus back out of his pocket and onto his shoulder. "Ok, I'm calm," he said, probably more for his benefit. "Now, do you mind explaining where he," he jabbed a finger in the direction of Ru-Ru, "came from and how you ended up with him."

"It's a long story," she replied. "Have a seat and I'll make some coffee." She then turned to Ru-Ru, "you behave or it's back to mommy in a cardboard box for you, literally."

Kim left Ron to make himself comfortable as she finally made it to the kitchen. Ok, so this is not how I imagined any first conversation with him might go if we ever managed to sit down and talk. However, like when she had first opened the door, there had again been echoes of their younger selves. The entire exchange having felt so familiar, like if she were to find and wear a set of her original mission gear. And it gave her hope that maybe, just maybe, she and Ron might be able to salvage something of their old friendship from the ashes of their failed relationship. She brewed a pot of coffee and poured two mugs; still knowing how her former best friend liked his. All the while, her brain trying to process the completely bizarre situation that she found herself in and how exactly she planned to explain how she had ended up with Ru-Ru. By the time she was setting both mugs and a packet of Oreo's on the coffee table; her mug from earlier still somewhere on the floor, she'd decided to keep things simple. She sat down on the sofa beside the naked-mole-shark; Ron having taken up residence in the armchair.

"Ok, so he doesn't belong to me and everything I know is simply what he told me on Saturday night," Kim began. She watched as both Rufus and Ru-Ru's gazes zeroed in on the packet of Oreo's; both oblivious to the other's intentions. Simultaneously, the two naked-mole-creatures leapt onto the coffee table and bounded towards the cookies. Deftly, she reached over and plucked the packet off the table and the two creatures collided with one another at a ninety-degree angle.

On impact, she cringed, as did Ron. She then watched Rufus and Ru-Ru stagger about for a few moments before they managed to shake off the effects of the impact. The former shook his head, looked up at her and uttered, "awww," in a disappointed manner. The latter was a lot less dignified as he began madly hopping up and down, before shooting her a glare as he shook his little paw and uttered a string of unintelligible curses.

Kim looked between them, "you get one each," she said firmly, as she withdrew two Oreos from the packet and handed one to each of them. Her stern gaze then fell on Ru-Ru, "and you can count yourself lucky you're getting one at all."

Rufus smiled at her as he took his cookie and scuttled off. Ru-Ru, on the other hand, snatched his from her grasp and stalked back to his perch on the sofa, still muttering grumpily to himself.

Her gaze returned to Ron, who had simply stared at the whole exchange. "As I was saying," she began, her tone almost daring another interruption from either naked-mole-rat or shark, "Ru-Ru arrived here on Saturday night, in the belt pouch of my battle suit. He stowed away inside it while Shego and Drakken were being arrested by Global Justice."

"Wait a minute, back up a second," Ron said, sounding somewhat confused. "What do Shego and Drakken have to do with this? You said he was one of DNAmy's creations."

"He is. However, he was in Drakken's lair at Mount St Helens," Kim continued. "According to Ru-Ru, as Amy's latest creation, he got all her attention but soon realised that he would one day just end up as part of her collection. He didn't like that idea, so while at some sort of boardgame day Drakken was having with some of the other villains…"

"Whoa, slow down!" Ron exclaimed. "Drakken has boardgame days with some of the other villains! What part of that sounds remotely plausible to you, Kim? They're villains. They spend all their time holed up inside their lairs, planning their evil schemes and only come out when it's time to take over the world, or whatever else they might be up to."

While it sounded so uninformed, Kim knew that she had believed the exact same thing prior to her social interactions with Shego. "Yeah, about that, it turns out that supervillains are a lot more like normal people than you'd think. They hate working weekends, have friends and social lives."

"What and I suppose they sometimes just wander into bars to have a drink?" Ron replied, not sounding at all convinced. "Can you imagine what would happen if Shego walked into a bar? Panic, Kim. The people would panic."

It had always amazed Kim how sometimes, without even realising it, Ron came up with completely the wrong answer, but still managed to include some scarily relevant point in his working. However, despite this, she decided not to enlighten him about her social encounters with Shego and the fact that, aside from when her rival had deliberately caused trouble, no one had batted an eyelid at her presence. Given that she did not know how she currently felt about the green-skinned woman, the time they had spent together or the volcano make-out session, she had no desire to share anything like that with anyone and especially not with Ron. This was the first time they had spoken without an argument in over eighteen months and even that wasn't assured yet. And knowing Ron, telling him that I socialised with Shego will probably cause him to spontaneously combust… I don't even want to imagine how he'd react if he found out that I willingly kissed her and liked it.

"Just trust me that the whole villain's socialising together is true," Kim finally said, hoping that Ron would just accept that fact and let her move on.

Her former best friend let out an exaggerated sigh and picked up his coffee mug. "Just when you think you've got a handle on these weird supervillain types they go and get even weirder."

As Ron sipped his beverage, Kim used it as an opportunity to move on. "Anyway, Amy took Ru-Ru along to Drakken's board game day, where he met Shego. Apparently, he liked her nature far more than Amy's and so stowed away with her. And for some reason, possibly because he likes to terrorize Drakken, she let him stay with her."

"Woah, woah, woah, time out, KP!" Ron exclaimed, almost spilling his coffee. "You're telling me that a clone of Rufus, that was genetically spliced with a shark, lives with Shego of all people!"

She watched as Ron stared down at Ru-Ru, who gave him a wide grin, nodded his head emphatically and uttered, "uh-hu, uh-hu."

After a moment or two, in which it seemed he was pondering the notion, Ron then said, "yeah, ok, I can see that." It seemed he was taking this more readily than she had. "His evil and her evil probably align quite nicely. And she does like laughing at Drakken's expense."

Kim opened her mouth to say that Shego was not evil but quickly closed it again. Probably best if I don't tell him my thoughts on that, as it'll just lead to questions that I'm already trying to avoid answering. Instead, she chose to finish the story, "that aside, he was in Drakken's lair when it started to blow up on Saturday and Shego risked her life to save him. However, they got separated when she got blasted down the side of the volcano, at which point she was arrested by GJ. As a result, I became his only viable escape route." When she finished, she saw that Ron had started stuffing his face with Oreo's. Some things never change. "Anyway, for the moment, I'm stuck with him until Shego next gets out of jail and I can return him."

"Sheems toh meah, youh've goht youh're workh cuht ouht forh youh."

Kim translated Ron's cookie impaired speech to mean that she had her work cut out for her. She glanced down at Ru-Ru and said somewhat forlornly, "I guess so," but knew her tone had little to do with the creature and everything to do with the fact Shego was in jail. "So…" she then ventured tentatively and unsure of how exactly to proceed, now that they'd dealt with the naked-mole-shark in the room, she led with the obvious, "how have you been?"

Ron fixed her with what she suspected may have been a fake smile. "Me and Rufus are great. Just two bro's kicking back, taking it easy for a bit, you know."

Kim did know and couldn't help have the thought, so, just like you were when we broke up and one of the reasons why I left. However, while she still felt a good deal of resentment towards him because of such actions, she chose not to voice it. If I make any commentary that starts digging up our breakup, we'll just end up fighting again. And if we devolve into an argument today, it'll probably be the permanent end to our friendship. With that in mind, she simply replied, "I'm glad you're doing well."

"Yeah, it's cool," Ron said and took a drink of his coffee. An attempt to prevent his face from betraying his words to be a lie? She couldn't tell. "So, how about you? I saw you on at least one front page almost every day last week. Business as usual in Kim Possible world?"

While it may have been a coincidence, on hearing the phrase, 'Kim Possible world', her grip tightened around the handle of her mug and she forced herself to take a drink in order to mask her displeasure. Monique had used that exact same phrase, much to her chagrin, and, now that she thought about it, there was no way Ron had found out where she lived on his own. He's been in touch with at least one of mom, Monique or Wade. And if his use of that particular phrase isn't just coincidence, he's done more than simply ask for my address. While the theory had only just come to her, Kim was already starting to smell her mother's hand. Did mom put him up to this? Perhaps something to keep in mind.

She then ran into the issue of what to say. So much had happened to her since that first night with Shego and she'd been unable to talk about it with anyone. And prior to their breakup, Ron would have been her first port of call. For a brief moment, part of her considered spilling her guts and telling him everything. About her social encounters with Shego, her fights with her mom and Monique, all her anger in regards to her internalised homophobia, how she'd then taken that out on everyone she'd come into contact with and then her kiss(es) with Shego. All in the name of explaining her eventual discovery about being a lesbian and so she could apologise for the part it, unbeknownst to her at the time, had played in the eventual failure of their relationship. Except she couldn't. While she desperately wanted to clear that chunk of red from her ledger, there were two insurmountable roadblocks in her path. Her fear of how he would react, made worse by the memory of what happened after she told him about her kiss with Lisa all those years ago, and the swathes of bad blood that still tainted their relationship. She could not trust Ron the way she once had. In the end, she did the exact same thing she suspected he had done; lied. "Never better. Lots of cool missions to do, interesting places to visit and supervillain butts to kick." Well, that's a great start to the dialogue between us; we've both lied.

"Sounds like you're having a blast," Ron replied. His eyes then glanced around the room, lingering on her TV and what she assumed was her Bang and Olufsen CD player. "Looks like you're having one too. I'd kill for a TV that big, but dad says it's not in the next three years financial budget, at least."

So, he's back living with his parents. While she had not known, nor cared for that matter, what had happened to Ron after she had left him, she'd suspected that sooner or later, he would have either dropped out or been kicked out of college and ended up back with his parents. "So, how did you find me? I don't exactly keep my address accessible to the public, for obvious reasons." Kim kept her eyes locked onto her old friend as she asked the question, looking for any sign that his reply was either a lie or not the whole story.

"Hey, I still have a line to the guru too," Ron said and quickly shoved an Oreo into his mouth.

His actions told her more than his words. While she did not doubt that he could still get in touch with Wade, they were friends after all, his 'make your own assumptions' sort of answer undoubtedly said he wanted her to do just that. However, it was the manner in which he had just filled his mouth that informed her that he was trying to buy himself some time, should she choose to press him on the matter. So, naturally, she pushed, "you mean you asked Wade where to find me?"

Ron chewed for what Kim could tell was far longer than necessary. He's stalling because he has something to hide. This no longer smells like mom's hand, it reeks of it. She then recalled the thought she'd had on route to answering the door, the one about Wade having possibly alerted her mom to the fact that she was home. Did I deduce the action, but get the individual wrong, or did Ron just so happen to ride over here in the pouring rain on the off chance I might be home? After all, it is Monday. He would have known that I'd likely be out on a mission. Before Ron finally swallowed and answered her question, the pieces had already started to slot into place inside Kim's head and she disliked the picture they made. However, unlike last week, she was not about to immediately crucify everyone involved. And regardless of any manipulation that might be going on behind the scenes, she'd admitted to herself yesterday that she did miss Ron and so she could not pass up the opportunity to start turning the earth, in the hopes that it may one day allow their friendship to flourish anew.

"Wade knows all, Kim. Who else would I consult when I seeketh wisdom?"

Who else indeed? Wade might be the tech guru, but mom would definitely consider herself the Kim Possible guru. At that thought, she heard her mother's voice say softly in her ear, "I know my daughter, Kimmie." And if she was desperate enough, she might have considered trying to get us to reconnect a worthwhile gamble. Kim let out an audible sigh, knowing that she needed some answers. "Why did you come here, Ron? Even if you felt guilty about what happened at the nightclub, the arguments between us are far bigger than that one incident. Who or what convinced you to come?"

Ron stared into his coffee mug. "Don't laugh, but it was Mr Barkin."

Of all the answers that she might have expected to hear, the name of their old school teacher and someone with whom her former best friend had years' worth of grumblings and complaints, would not have made her list. As a result, Kim couldn't help but laugh. "Seriously, Mr Barkin?" she asked, not sure whether or not she believed him.

"Hey, I said don't laugh!" Ron exclaimed, however, this only caused her to laugh harder. When she eventually stopped, he continued, "he was working as a bouncer at that nightclub, saw there was a commotion and automatically fingered me as the one responsible."

"Ok…" Kim began, not surprised to learn that their old teacher had yet another job or had immediately assumed Ron had been the cause of the incident, "…what happened?"

"He dragged me out back, sat me down, did the whole teacher thing and somehow got me to spill my guts about everything that had happened between us," Ron replied. "I missed my Friday night Bueno Nacho because of him."

She sighed, something else that hasn't changed. "Ron, can you keep to the point. What did Mr Barkin say that was so convincing?"

"He told me that there are two sides to every coin and that I should try and see yours… or something like that. And then he said that I should call you."

Kim suspected that Mr Barkin had made the metaphor and, like always, had to explain it, much to his bemusement.

"Anyway," Ron continued, "I was already feeling bad about what I said to you that night and Barkin got me thinking. I did a lot of soul searching, which involved a lot of late nights at Bueno Nacho and drinking an entire cup of Diablo sauce in order to bring about an epiphany…"

"What!" Kim asked incredulity. She then shook her head, as an image of Ron rolling around the floor of Bueno Nacho, in a Diablo sauce induced fever, filled her mind.

A glance at Rufus, who shook his head and mouthed, "ut-uh, ut-uh!" convinced her that she did not want to know the details of that story.

"On second thoughts, let's just skip over that part."

"After a couple of weeks, I eventually decided that Barkin was right," Ron rolled his eyes, "urgh, admitting that sounds so wrong." He shook his head, perhaps trying to rid himself of the memory, before continuing, "and so I tried calling you, but found out that a) my cell phone number is still blocked on yours and b) you never answer your cell phone anyway."

"Yeah," Kim said with the slightest hint of a cringe, "I sometimes leave it at home when I go off on a Mission or…" she trailed off as she recalled the fact that she'd purposefully allowed it to die during her incarceration within the Possible residence and not bothered to charge it up. In fact, it was probably still in the bag she had brought home with her last Monday; definitely dead. "…I tend to use the Kimmunicator exclusively these days. No sense having two devices that can do the same job, right?" That and I can set the Kimmunicator so that calls, messages and emails don't even appear if I don't want them to.

"So, when I realised that I wasn't likely going to get you to answer the phone to me, I went back to the drawing board, spent more nights at Bueno Nacho and finally decided to talk to you face to face." Ron looked her in the eyes and she could once more see the sincerity in his gaze. "I think we need to clear the air, Kim. I'm not sure if we can be friends again, but I think we could both use some closure on what happened between us."

For a moment, Kim simply stared into her former best friend's brown eyes, unsure of how to respond. Truth be told, she felt the same cocktail of emotions from when she had first seen him throughout the entire encounter thus far. And while she had kept a lid on her metaphorical keg of gunpowder, she knew that at any point, the wrong words would have caused it to explode. Indeed, the 'Kim Possible world' comment had almost done so and that hadn't even been about their relationship. Despite the fact she might have wanted to salvage something of their friendship, she was still too volatile for this. Everything else that she was trying to process had pushed her too close to the edge and adding this on top might just tip her over; ruining things between her and Ron permanently and reverting her back to the angry Kim of last few weeks. I can't go back to being that angry. Not after the messes I left in my wake.

"Ron, I…" she began as the seconds ticked by and the silence between them started to become awkward. However, she stopped before she managed to say anything else. He's gone to all this effort. How do I explain that I want us to be friend's again, but for that to happen, I can't deal with this right now? She wracked her brain, desperately searching for a way to say it, that would not sound like she was shoving his olive branch back in his face, but came up with nothing. "Ron, I think you're right," she eventually continued, hoping that agreeing with him in the first instance might help sell her hesitation. "We do need to clear the air and I think closure would help both of us move on." She sighed and the truth spilt out of her, "I miss your friendship and if possible, I'd like for us to find some way to be friends again. But…" she saw his face start to fall at her use of the word and she recalled a saying about everything that is said before the word but being a load of bullshit. Is that how he feels right now? She had no time to ponder the matter as every second she wasted would drive them further apart. "I have a lot of issues that I need to deal with at the moment and I know if we start digging up old ground right now, I won't be able to handle it and it will ruin any chance we might have of salvaging our friendship."

Kim gazed into Ron's eyes, her olive-greens imploring him to believe her on this one thing. "I need time, Ron. So, please, if you have any desire for something other than just finding some closure, give me some time to deal with my issues. Then we can talk about everything that happened between us." And maybe then I'll be able to tell you the truth... tell you that I'm actually a lesbian. That was still a difficult thought for her to have, let alone say out loud to someone.

For a moment, Ron looked more than a little dejected, like it had taken all his courage to come this far and he was not sure if he could do it again. When he averted his gaze, Kim feared the worst. Only for him to say, "I understand. I think that's one of the problems we had; we stopped putting in the effort to understand where each of us was at."

Ron's words practically proved her suspicion to be true, as she felt a flash of anger and an immediate urge to go on the defensive and say that it was he who had failed to understand her and that she had understood him perfectly well. Fortunately, she saw the danger signs and managed to suppress the thought.

Ron then continued, "if you need time, I understand completely and you should take as long as you need. I'll wait for you to get in touch."

"Thanks," Kim said softly, feeling both elated, relieved and glad that someone had finally accepted how she felt, all at the same time. It almost brought tears to her eyes, but she forced them back.

"I'd better go," Ron then said and stood up.

She watched as he held open the pocket on the leg of his trousers for Rufus to jump into. The naked-mole-rat quickly complied. And she gave no objection to his desire to leave, now that they had come to some sort of understanding. "Let me see you out," she replied and got to her own feet.

Ron said nothing as she escorted him to the door and handed him his still damp raincoat. She opened the door and her former best friend walked through it. "I'm glad you came to see me and that we talked," Kim then said.

"Yeah, me to," Ron agreed, although she could still detect a hint of dejection about his tone and figured that he'd hoped they could have opened a proper dialogue about their relationship, rather than her simply promising that they would at some unknown point in the future. He crossed the narrow hallway and pushed the button for the elevator.

"I'll give you a call when I'm ready," Kim said, by way of a parting remark.

"I'll be waiting," Ron replied, just as the elevator doors opened. He stepped inside. From his pocket, she saw Rufus poke his head out, smile and give her a small wave.

Just before the doors closed, she quickly added, "it was nice seeing you again."

"Yeah, likewise," he replied.

When the doors closed and both Ron and Rufus were gone from her sight, Kim closed the apartment door, pressed her back against it and slid to the floor. That was… she didn't know how to finish that thought, as too many descriptors came to mind, ranging from difficult to weird. She didn't really know how she felt at that moment or about what had just happened in general. However, like after her conversation with Wade, she felt the looming mass of problems that threatened to overwhelm her mind shrink ever so slightly. If nothing else, she now had a clearer understanding of where she stood with Ron and at least that was something. Remaining on the floor, for now, Kim closed her eyes and focused on taking calming breaths. Even though the looming mass had lost a little weight, it had been from problems on the periphery of her thought processes. She still had the major issues to deal with. And she had a bad feeling that they would not be so easy on her.