And You And I

by K1G0

Two years after graduation, Kim is working as a fulltime hero; living on the adrenaline from her missions. Unfortunately, her high-octane lifestyle has led to boredom and loneliness in her personal life. Meanwhile, Shego too is finding life to be rather dull. When a chance social encounter brings the pair face to face, sparks, as well as fists, are liable to fly. KiGo.

82. S302(U1): Open your eyes

Author's note:

Right, so one chapter down, one to go and this time we get to find out what horrible fate has befallen poor Kim. This time, the chapter title: Open your eyes, you'll get a surprise, is the opening lyric to the Hawkwind track Reefer Madness, which if memory serves, is also a film.

Enjoy.

##

Chapter Two: Open your eyes, you'll get a surprise

"Oh, my god, what have you done!" a voice said in sheer astonishment. There was a pause, before the individual then semi-yelled, "and why are you dressed like that!"

"Umm, given you exactly what you've been moaning about for the past three weeks," a second replied sarcastically. "You should be thanking me. And I wanted to look the part."

Kim groaned internally, her head aching. While she'd heard the voices, her brain had not yet awoken enough for her to have understood any of what they had said.

"Oh god… this is kidnap…" the first groaned in a long-suffering manner, "…kidnap!"

"Hardly," the second scoffed. "More like unaware transportation."

She tried to move her hands, so that she might rub her temples but found she couldn't. However, the little movement she could manage with her arms informed her that her limbs ached and she could feel the echo of some sort of shock… an electric shock. The memory of the pain she had experienced after the stun-stick had hit her in the back flashed through Kim's mind, shit!

"If this isn't kidnap," the first individual said. While their voice had started out calm and slow, it suddenly rocketed up in both pitch and tempo, "why is she hogtied and gagged!"

On hearing those words, Kim was sure she recognised the voice, but the content of them had made her aware of the ropes around her wrists and ankles and the thick wad of material that had been stuffed in her mouth. As she furiously tried to move; her eyes snapped open, or at least they would have done had all her movements not been exceptionally sluggish, but they were immediately flooded with light, causing her to try and promptly close them.

"Well, duh, I had to like ensure she was secure for transport," the second replied, as though this should have been obvious. "It's no big."

"Quinn," the first voice said, desperately sounding as though they were trying to stop themselves from losing their cool again, "you just kidnapped Kim Possible." There was a slight pause and then the penny seemed to drop in respect to how big of a deal this was, "YOU JUST KIDNAPPED KIM POSSIBLE! Oh man, we are so dead!"

"Prft, it wasn't hard," the second replied in a derisive tone. "She always has to play the hero and save the helpless hostage. Besides, unlike those moronic supervillains, I actually bothered to confiscate all her toys, so she won't be escaping on us."

Kim cursed into her gag, "mmph!" on hearing this, her fingers having been trying to locate the pouch on her belt that contained her laser lipstick. That's what you think! Tentatively, she opened her eyes again.

"Oh god, now she's awake!"

This time Kim did recognise the voice of the first speaker, just as her eyes managed to adjust and the blonde-haired; lanky figure came into focus. Ron? she thought incredulously, even though she could now properly see and hear him, what the hell? "Mmmph!" she then said indignantly. Ok, he is right, he is so dead!

"Uhhh, Kim…" Ron said in a placating voice, "…please don't get mad at me…"

A thunderous expression formed on Kim's face, mad! I am waaay past mad and into murderous! "MMMPH!"

"AHHHH, THAT'S THE LOOK SHE GAVE ME ON THE TWO OCCASIONS SHE WANTED TO KILL ME!" Ron yelled, voice panic-ridden and body language suggesting that he was one step away from bolting from the room and getting on the first plane to Norway.

If you don't untie me in the next two seconds, I will! "MMMPH!"

"Like chillax, Ron, she's not going to kill you..."

Kim's eyes darted to her right, where they met with a pair of legs wearing blue capris. Her gaze travelled up past an exposed midriff and over a green vest until she met with a slender face, which housed a pair of bright; olive-green eyes, framed by long flaming-red tresses. She did a double-take, what the hell! While the girl was unquestionably Quinn Phy-Knight, she had styled herself after one of Kim's favourite looks from when she had been fourteen. Why the fuck does she look like me! "MMMPH!" Last time I checked, Kim-style hadn't come back into fashion.

"...although, by the looks of her, she might bite," Quinn finished. As she spoke, the girl gave her a curious look, one akin to that of someone staring at a shark and who knew they shouldn't put their hand into the water but desperately wanted to do it anyway.

I'll do more than bite! "MMMPH!" You're both dead!

Quinn knelt and their gazes met; inches apart, olive-greens locking with frighteningly similar olive-greens. And with just that one simple gesture, Kim felt as though a new rivalry had just formed. Over what, she did not yet know, just over something.

"I'm going to ungag you now, but if you try to bite me, I'll put it straight back in, ok?" Quinn warned in an airy tone that one might associate with a stereotypical high school cheerleader.

"MMMPH!" Kim said in response and it was probably for the best that the freelancer could not understand what she had just tried to say.

The girl reached out behind her head and Kim quickly felt the knot being undone and the tension in the cloth lessen. Wisely taking hold of the material by both ends, Quinn pulled the gag out of her mouth; it gave a slight popping sound and caused a line of drool to run down Kim's chin. She flexed her jaw muscles slightly and took in a deep breath to try and calm herself. "RON, YOU'D BETTER UNTIE ME THIS SECOND, OR I'LL MURDER YOU!" Needless to say, it did not work.

"K…K…Kim…" Ron said placatingly, "…this wasn't my idea… this was all her… I didn't even know she was planning it."

"RON!" Kim bellowed, her gaze able to find his, as Quinn had vacated her line of sight. "UNTIE ME NOW, OR YOU'RE DEAD!"

Her former best friend looked completely flustered. "Ummm, ok, I can do this." Hastily, he stepped forwards and bent over her. She could feel his fingers fumble with the knots. After a few moments, he exclaimed loudly, "aww, man! I can never undo your knots!" He then quickly added, "that's not my fault, Kim, so please don't kill me."

"Uh, Ron, she's tied up and so can't kill you," Quinn said, her tone slightly sarcastic. "So not the drama."

Kim felt her temper flare on hearing Quinn uttering her old catchphrase and in a voice that she suspected had been a somewhat mocking impersonation of her own. And she quickly deduced that had been the reason for the stereotypical high school cheerleaders tone she had adopted thus far. I do not sound like that! "Ron, get me out of this!" she reiterated forcefully.

"How am I supposed to get you out if I can't undo the knots!" Ron exclaimed. His brain then must have had one of its special lightbulb moments, for he said excitedly, "I know, laser lipstick!"

Kim watched as Ron made to dart across the room to where she assumed her gadgets had been stashed, only for Quinn's hand to shoot out and catch him by the shoulder.

"Maybe not the best idea, Ron," Quinn said lightly, "as you're just as likely to slice through her wrists as the ropes." The girl moved to stand in front of her again. "If I untie you, you have to promise not to kill my boyfriend, k?"

Eyes widening in horror, Kim exclaimed, "wait… boyfriend!"

Quinn shot back to Ron's side and hung off his arm. "Yep, it's our one-month anniversary today, so I thought I'd get him something special."

Kim's gaze darted between the pair, unable to believe what the freelancer had just said. "Wait, Ron, you're dating her?"

A goofy smile formed on Ron's face. "Yep, me and QP have been going solid for a whole month now."

An unexpected cocktail of emotions filled Kim upon hearing that reply. Naturally, part of her was still astonished that Ron was dating the freelancer, given she should have been well out of his league, but that slowly gave way to a mixture of annoyance and hurt, which somehow felt understandable. The annoyance came from the fact Ron had been her best friend and then boyfriend; they had shared so much together. Yet, while she was trying to move on, he had simply replaced her with a cheap knockoff, who even chose to dress and talk like her. Did he ask her to do that…? I don't know what's crazier, that she'd do it because he'd asked her to, or that she'd do it off her own back and he'd be ok with it?

The hurt had then come from him calling Quinn QP, something that had surprising felt like he had just cut her deep with a scalpel. He called me KP for the longest time; the nickname that only he ever used. Yet he seems perfectly happy to recycle it for his new girlfriend! A dash of anger was added to that mix and like when they had been in Japan with Yori, she suddenly felt jealous that someone else was attracted to him.

For fucks sake, Kim, get a grip of yourself. A) you broke up with him because a relationship between the two of you just didn't work and, more importantly, B) you're a lesbian! So, there is zero chance of you ever getting back together with him. She sighed internally, knowing she was right. Sooner or later, Ron had been bound to find a new girlfriend, assuming he hadn't already had one in the eighteen months since their breakup. But why did it have to be a faux me?

She took a deep breath and turned her attention to Quinn. "Fine, I won't murder him, if you untie me right now and explain what the hell is going on."

"Spankin," Quinn replied cheerfully and practically bounced towards her. "See, I told you she wouldn't kill you, Sweetie."

Kim had to swallow a growl at the use of another one of her teenage catchphrases and then stop herself from vomiting at how sickly sweet the freelancer's tone had sounded when she had called Ron 'Sweetie'. I never sounded that chirpy… did I? She knew immediately that if she were to ask Shego, that her new friend would say she had. Kim shuddered. Thank god Shego isn't here, or she would be killing herself laughing at me… SHIT, SHEGO! I've no idea what time it is and so she could be waiting on me and I haven't even sent her a text to say I'll be late. I need to get in touch with her as soon as I can.

Quinn reached over the top of her and after a few moments, she felt the ropes that bound her slacken. Slightly sluggishly, she shook them off and freed her aching limbs. Fuck, I still hurt after she shocked me. I can't believe I got fooled by that entire set-up and allowed myself to be taken down so easily. Slowly she sat up and realised where she was; Ron's attic bedroom at his parents' house. It had barely changed since she had last been inside it, same wooden walls and flooring; same mess of boxes. "Ok, what the hell is this about, you two?" Kim asked, trying to keep her voice level, but a bite still hanging around her tone. She then stared darkly at the freelancer. "And what was with that fake supervillain act?"

"I already told you," Quinn replied in a bubbly voice. "It's our one-month anniversary and I wanted to get Ron something special."

A look of incredulity formed on her face. "Wait, I'm your anniversary present to Ron? Me… his ex? In what way shape or form does that make any logical sense and is not completely screwed up?"

Ron too seemed to share her disbelief, for he turned to stare at his new girlfriend with his eyes wide and jaw open. "Wait, back up a moment…" his voice then shot up in pitch and volume, "YOU'RE GIVING ME KIM AS MY ANNIVERSARY PRESENT!"

"I am most definitely not a present for you," Kim said firmly. However, I'd bet if Quinn had just deposited me in front of Shego like this, she'd be all over me.

Quinn rolled her eyes, "will the two of you just chillax and let me explain."

Both Kim and Ron turned to stare at her but did not say anything.

"You," Quinn pointed at Ron, "have been moaning for the past three weeks that she," her finger shifted to Kim, "doesn't want to talk to you, even if it's not about your breakup. And," the finger moved back to Ron, "you have been catastrophising at every opportunity, the reasons why she hasn't called you back like she promised."

Oh shit! Kim thought internally, finally realising what she had forgotten about over the past few weeks. I promised I'd call him and think about meeting him for lunch at Bueno Nacho. She slapped her forehead and shook her head. I was so busy focusing on Shego when I was not working, it completely slipped my mind. "Ron, I am so sorry. I've been so busy lately that I forgot about you."

Ron shrugged his shoulders. "It wouldn't be the first time, Kim," he said, bitterness lacing his tone.

This immediately got Kim's dander up, but before she could respond, Quinn cut in, "you," she said, still pointing at Ron, "don't get shirty. She's not the only one who tends to forget such things in our line of work. Besides, you called her while she was working, so it's no wonder she forgot."

Ron opened his mouth to argue, but Quinn silenced him with a click of her fingers and an, "ath," sound. The freelancer's finger then found Kim again. "And you, don't get all defensive."

"Hey, he…" Kim began but was quickly cut off.

"I didn't go to all the trouble of getting the two of you together so you could start arguing again," Quinn said firmly. "Now, the two of you are going to go to Bueno Nacho, you're going to order some food, sit down to have a nice little chat and figure out where you stand with one another. Understood?" the freelancer finished; a wide smile plastered over her face.

Ron's stomach quickly grumbled in response. "I guess that would be ok," he said tentatively. "I am kinda hungry."

However, Kim did not feel quite so aggregable. "You set up a phoney supervillain attack, had me sweating as I tried to disarm a fake bomb, tied yourself up so as to appear like a hostage, hit me twice with a stun stick, which hurt like hell I might add, and then tied me up and dragged me here for the sake of going to lunch with Ron!" she exclaimed hotly.

"It worked didn't it," Quinn replied airily, seemingly unphased by how livid Kim looked.

What little she knew about the freelancer told Kim that this sort of stunt was probably par for the course with her. She's definitely the cut the tree down rather than fetch a ladder for the stuck cat problem. "He could have just phoned me!"

"Uhh, hello, he tried that already and you forgot about him!" the freelancer retorted sharply, her tone daring her to deny something she'd already admitted to.

I don't have time for this, I'm supposed to be meeting Shego, Kim thought. However, her gaze met with Ron's face and while he had been conservative with his agreement to go along with Quinn's suggestion, she could tell that he really wanted to and not because he was hungry. Ron's been making an effort to try and patch things up between us and I've just been fobbing him off. If I say no now, how much longer will he keep trying? …but I really want to go and meet Shego… Her eyes found the clock on Ron's nightstand; 14:30. Crap, I'm half an hour late, still in Middleton and missed my flight, FUCK! She stretched off her limbs, not to mention still stiff as hell. She didn't need to do the math to know that her race day with Shego would not be happening today. Ok, so I need to get in touch with her and tell her that I'm not going to be able to make it. However, maybe I can get her to meet me here tonight for drinks, which will allow me to go to lunch with Ron.

Kim met Quinn's gaze, "fine, I'll go to lunch with you guys, but I need to make a call first, so I want my gear back."

"You can make a call now and I'll let you have your gear back after lunch," Quinn replied, as though it were a negotiation.

"I want my gear back, Quinn, or no dice," Kim countered firmly.

"You'll get your gear back," the freelancer replied, "after lunch."

Their eyes locked and metaphorical sparks were in danger of beginning to fly, only for Ron to bravely poke his nose in. "Ladies, please don't trash my bedroom," he said somewhat sheepishly. He then held Kim's belt and the Kimmunicator out to her.

"Hey!" Quinn exclaimed in annoyance.

"Now that she's here, I trust Kim if she says she'll come to lunch with us," Ron said confidently.

Kim wasted no time in reaching out and taking her stuff from her former best friend and gave Quinn a sly smirk, looks like fourteen years of friendship is still thicker than one month of dating. Putting the Kimmunicator on her wrist and buckling her belt around her waist, she did a quick check of the pouches to make sure everything was there.

"Fine," Quinn pouted, "it's not like you'd be able to run off somewhere anyway. Your limbs will still be too stiff at the moment to beat me."

"Don't count on it," Kim replied testily, although, for the moment, she knew the freelancer was probably right. She'd neither be able to outrun nor outfight her at present.

Ron's stomach promptly rumbled again, perhaps sensing it needed to do something to help break the tension, but more likely because it was hungry. "Can we go to Bueno Nacho already? I'm starving."

"Of course, Sweetie," Quinn replied sweetly and reached out to take his arm. She then shot Kim a smirk that was a match for the one she had received moments prior.

Screw you, Kim spat internally, however, she managed to put a lid on her temper. Everything she's doing is to try and mess with you, don't fall for it. While Ron was my best friend for forever, I'm definitely not still in love with him. She thought about this for a brief moment, as she followed the couple out of Ron's old bedroom and down the stairs. Maybe I'm not jealous, rather simply protective of him. And something about her stinks.

Kim stepped outside the Stoppable residence to find that the rain from earlier had eased off slightly. Being the last one out, she closed the door behind her and hung back under the protection of the canopy, watching as Ron and Quinn headed for an old car she assumed must belong to the freelancer. "I'll just be a sec," she called out, as they climbed in, as I don't want either of them to know who I'm about to call.

Flicking through her list of contacts, she found Shego's name and dialled, it went straight to voicemail. She waited for a moment or two and tried again, come on, come… dammit; it had gone to voicemail again. Shit, guess I'll just have to text her and hope she's not pissed off at me. She quickly composed a text, "Hey, I'm so, so sorry, but I…" she paused for a moment, trying to think of how best to explain the morning's events. Eventually, she settled on, "had to deal with some idiot who tried to blow up Middleton and I ended up getting KO'd in the process, but I'm alright. Can I explain it properly over drinks tonight in…" she paused again, weighing up where she might want to go that evening, before finishing, "Heartbeats?" She hit send and hoped her proposal would be enough to appease Shego after having accidentally stood her up.

While it had eased slightly, the rain was still heavy enough to soak her if she lingered in it too long, so Kim darted across to the car and climbed into the backseats. Guess it's time to see if Ron and I have any chance at salvaging our friendship. While she'd not planned on this, it had been on her to-do list ever since her former best friend had plucked up the courage to visit her all those weeks ago.

The architect of the day's events so far, Quinn shot off from the curb and in the direction of Bueno Nacho.

##

By the time they arrived at Ron's restaurant of choice, the rain had eased back to the drizzle it had been several hours ago; when Kim had been flying her jetpack to the sight of the new Middleton mall. When Quinn pulled into a parking space, Kim could see that Ron looked grateful to get out. It seemed that like herself, albeit after having had several years of practice now in her case, the freelancer considered the highway code to be more of a guideline than actual rules; darting through spaces she ought not to have been able to fit, sliding around corners and shooting away from traffic lights with breakneck acceleration.

"QT, can you please, please, slow down next time," Ron said somewhat shakily, as they left the car and headed into the restaurant. "I want to eat my lunch and not immediately lose it again when I get back in the car with you."

Quinn laughed, "oh sweetie, you're just out of practice when it comes to the high-speed stuff." The freelancer took hold of her boyfriend's arm, reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek. "You'll get used to it again, now you're back in the hero game."

Kim stopped dead. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"I said he'll get used to it again, now that he's back in the hero game," Quinn replied and gave Kim a sweet smile that told her the comment had been deliberately dropped for her to react to and that she'd already lost the point. "He's my sidekick now, didn't you know?"

A flash of anger caused her temper to boil again, he's her sidekick too! He has literally gone out and replaced me with some two-bit knockoff! At that moment, she almost stormed out of the restaurant. What sort of fucked up relationship does he have going on with her?

"Heh, heh," Ron laughed awkwardly, clearly having figured out that she had not already known that detail. "It wasn't something I planned on, Kim," he said in a placating voice. "It just sort of happened."

"How did the two of you meet?" Kim then elected to ask, deciding she wanted to know the details from the beginning.

"How about we get some lunch first and then we'll tell you," Quinn said with a grin; as she deliberately squeezed her boyfriend's arm.

"Fine," Kim huffed and strode past them to the counter. Why did finding that out bother me so much? Her eyes scanned the menu, although she needn't have bothered, given she knew it by heart. Behind the counter, Ned stepped forward to take her order. Salad and an iced tea… screw it, "Chimiritto meal with a Coke, Ned," she said and reached into her pocket to withdraw her purse, before adding a cursory, "please and thank you."

Ned took one look at her expression and elected not to say anything other than the perfectly neutral, "no problem, Kim."

She handed him the money and then walked off to the side to allow Quinn and Ron to step forward. Her gaze then met Ned's as it travelled between the couple and herself and her expression silently communicated to him, "not one word!"

"Good afternoon, Ned, my man," Ron said in an upbeat manner. "One grande sized Naco meal with a Coke for me and one grade sized Naco meal with a Coke for my girlfriend."

"And one grande sized portion of nachos for us to share with Rufus," Quinn added, "oh and lots of Diablo sauce."

As if on cue, the naked-mole-rat appeared from the pocket of Ron's trousers, climbed up his leg and onto the counter, letting out a loud, relatively speaking, yawn.

"Hi, Rufus," Quinn said brightly and reached out a finger to tickle the creature's belly.

The naked-mole-rat laughed uncontrollably for a moment, before giving the freelancer a wide smile, "heh-heh, hi."

Kim stood and watched the exchange, great, she gets on well with Rufus too. He has replaced me. She felt more than a little put out as she watched Quinn play with the naked-mole-rat; while they waited for their food. It really looks like he's moved on… it doesn't even look like he needs me as a friend anymore, as she's got that covered too. A sadness slowly began to fill her, as she continued to watch the trio. Like this was confirmation that such a major part of her life had finally come to an end. However, she managed to stiffen her resolve. Ron's moved on… but so have I. I've got a new friend that I love spending time with and I'm slowly learning more about myself and what I like. Maybe this is for the best. I mean it was never likely we were ever going to return to our friendship of old; where we did everything together, that ship had sailed before we even broke up, we just didn't realise it at the time.

At that moment, while watching Quinn and Rufus laugh at some joke she herself did not find funny, Kim made a decision. I'm going to try and be happy for him. If this is what he needs to move on, then so be it. Her mind then found itself immediately wandering to Shego. Heh, given what it's taken for me to do the same, I have no right to judge him. She laughed internally, I'm probably still going to tell him it's weird that Quinn is acting and dressing like me, as I want to get to the bottom of that. For there's only one Kim Possible.

Ned then reappeared behind the counter and slid a tray towards her. "Enjoy, Kim," he said in a tone and with an expression that suggested he found the idea of her having lunch with her ex and his new girlfriend highly amusing.

Kim picked up the tray; shot the store manager a glare that told him to go fuck himself and headed for a booth. Ok, so this might not be as easy as I'd hoped. She took a calming breath, just don't let Quinn antagonise you and you should be fine. Ron is still very much the Ron you knew for the longest time… and you know him better than she does!

Sliding into the booth, she waited for Ron and Quinn to sit down opposite her, before unwrapping her Chimirito and taking a bite. Her stomach growled slightly, an indication that she'd unknowingly been hungry. "So, how did the two of you meet?" she asked, reiterating her question from earlier.

"Fuhny stohry," Ron said, around a mouthful of Naco.

Quinn laughed, "I don't recall you finding it very funny at the time. In fact, you screamed like a little girl."

"I dihd noht!" Ron exclaimed hotly; mouth still full of Naco. From his pocket, Rufus emerged and scuttled onto the table, diving into the grande sized portion of nachos like it were a swimming pool.

Kim looked at her former best friend pointedly, memories of innumerable times he had done just that flashing through her mind. "Sorry, Ron, but I think I'm gonna take Quinn's word on that fact, given how much prior you've got of screaming like a little girl." She glanced at the freelancer, "continue."

"Well, I was passing through Middleton on my bike; headed back home after a mission and I stopped off for a bite to eat," Quinn replied and then took a Ron sized bite out of her Naco.

Ron, who had just finished guzzling a mouthful of soda, then chipped in with, "meanwhile, I was minding my own business, chilling out with a relaxing stroll on my way to get my daily dose of Bueno Nacho." Her former best friend's voice then did the sudden increase in volume and pitch thing, "only for the Bueno Nacho sign to try and kill me!"

Over at the counter, Ned, who had overheard her former best friend's yell, called out, "that was deemed a freak accident and you signed a legal waiver saying you wouldn't sue in exchange for free meals for a year."

Kim did not know which party had gotten the better of such a deal, Bueno Nacho, who had avoided having to pay proper compensation, or Ron, who could probably eat more Bueno Nacho in a year than any compensation would have been worth. One for the accountants to figure out. She looked at Quinn suspiciously, although she did not know why. "And you just happened to be on hand to save his sorry ass."

"Something like that," the freelancer replied airily. "I actually thought it was a Buenisimo Tortilla when I stopped, given they look so much alike. We've got one of those back home."

"I know what you're going to say, Kim…"

What, that it seems rather coincidental that she was on hand to save you? Kim thought but did not vocalise it.

"…but when I found this out and realised she'd been eating a substandard product all her life, I had no choice but to introduce her to the real thing," Ron continued. "After all, she had just saved my life, it was the least I could do."

"We ate soooo much that afternoon and hit it off straight away," Quinn added. "We have so much in common."

Kim had been about to say, "like what," still feeling somewhat sceptical about this chance encounter, but Ron answered before she even had the chance. "We both love good Mexican food, video games, wrestling and action films."

"Not to mention that we both did the whole teen hero gig while in high school," Quinn said in agreement, before laughing. "Although in Ron's case it was more of the sidekick gig and I guess I'm still doing the teen hero gig now that I'm outta high school."

"Sounds like the two of you are made for one another," Kim replied in a less than enthusiastic tone. Dammit, Kim, get a grip of yourself and stop acting so suspicious. Just because there was only so many of those 'Ron' things you could take, doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of people out there who enjoy them. She sighed internally and glanced at Quinn, struggling to see past the outward image that looked too much like her younger self. But Quinn Phy-Knight liking that sort of stuff? From what I've seen of her in the news, I would have thought anything that involved sitting down for more than thirty seconds would have bored her. However, her own thought quickly brought her to the crux of the matter, however, I don't know too much about the real her, so I guess I can't judge.

"Yeah, me and QP have been getting on great these past seven weeks…" Ron began, however, Kim couldn't help but cut him off in surprise.

"Wait, you guys only met seven weeks ago and have been dating for a whole month now?" she said abruptly, the alarm bells ringing in her ears again. They started dating after only knowing one another for three weeks? That's definitely off.

Quinn laughed and put an arm around Ron's shoulders. "Seriously, are you like still in high school, Kim?"

A scowl formed on Kim's face.

However, the freelancer was not done, "or have you just not had a boyfriend since you broke up with Ron?"

It was a dig and Kim knew it. Granted, it had been an opportunistic one, given the freelancer likely did not know the answer to that question, but a dig nonetheless. She felt her temper start to bubble again, Quinn once more effortlessly getting under her skin. Her expression darkened.

Ron, who apparently could still sense the danger signs, quickly tried to diffuse the situation… but made the mistake of siding with his girlfriend, "she is right about us not being in high school anymore, Kim. The real world is a crazy place where people can just go up to one another in a bar or restaurant or even in Smarty Mart and ask someone they've never met before out on a date."

As irked as she was by Quinn's dual comments, Kim knew she had to concede the point on that one. Hell, she had ended up snogging some random guy in a bar after having only known him for a couple of hours. Yeah, the real world is poles apart from high school when it comes to relationships.

Quinn, who seemed to have zoned out of the conversation for a moment, suddenly said, "or girlfriend."

Both Kim and Ron turned to look at her. "Wait, what?" they both said in unison.

The freelancer rolled her eyes. "It's the aughts you two. It's not ok to simply assume that boys kiss girls and that's it. And given I don't know Kim, I realised it wasn't ok for me to assume she is straight."

Kim had barely been able to get over the shock that a question regarding her sexuality had arisen, when Ron replied, "Quinn, Kim likes boys and only boys," he then turned to look at her for reassurance, "right, Kim."

Oh shit! Kim did not know what to say. Her mind had still been in the middle of processing the fact Quinn had just casually floated the idea that she could be gay, that she had in no way been prepared for Ron to directly ask her to confirm that she was still straight. She froze. Oh fuck, what the hell do I say? Her automatic reaction was to simply agree, purely because it would be the easy thing to do, but the idea of doing so felt completely abhorrent, especially after last week's talk with Lisa. The words Ron had used also reminded her far too much of what he had said to her that day five years ago; the day after she had kissed Lisa and the day she had inadvertently outed her former best girl. I can't say that lie… her fist clenched below the table, I won't say that lie… but how on earth do I go about telling Ron, of all people, the truth? She hadn't even thought about this once. Yes, she'd accepted that someday, she would need to sit down and explain to him that she was a lesbian, that a large part of the reason why their relationship had failed had been because she had been oblivious to that fact. But she had nothing prepared. And even though this entire meeting had been unplanned on her part, she hadn't even considered that this could even come up. Damn you for being so progressive, Quinn.

Fortunately, for Kim, the girl whom she had internally just cursed, happened to divert Ron's attention away from the fact she had not responded. "Seriously, Ron, don't be so homophobic, in fact, don't be homophobic at all. Kim could have discovered that she's bisexual in the time since your breakup, or that she's a lesbian, or that she would prefer to be known as Frank and is planning on going through gender reasignment."

"Quinn, I had to sit through two hours of Mr Barkin drilling the fact that boys kiss girls, boys date girls and boys mate with girls, into me," Ron replied defensively. "Two hours! Am I just supposed to toss that out the window?"

"Yes, that's exactly what you need to do!" Quinn retorted hotly; her expression thunderous. "Because it's a bunch of archaic bullshit preached by a big man for whom a small coat fits."

"Hey, maybe up in Hillton, you guys have some crazy ideas, but here in Middleton, we fly straight as the arrow," Ron countered, although his face had noticeably paled under the intensity of Quinn's gaze.

"Hillton is just as conservative as Middleton and we had the whole straight until proven gay rubbish shovelled down our throats too. However, you shouldn't listen to everything you're taught at school or by anyone," Quinn fired back. "I rejected that bullshit and I'm straight."

"Then will someone please tell me what the point of school was if I wasn't supposed to listen to it?" Ron said, his voice rising.

"Urgh, it's called having independent thought, Ron," Quinn snapped. "However, if you want to remain so close-minded, then fine, go ahead. But there'll be no mating with this girl for you if you do."

"That is so unfair!" Ron yelled. "And completely beside the original point!" He then turned to look at Kim. "Kim, please tell my girlfriend that you like boys and only boys and that it's ok for me not to get on the hippie train."

Kim, who had tuned back in to catch the end of the argument, felt her very being turn to ice. With a sub-zero glare, she met Ron's gaze and uttered in a voice devoid of any warmth, "I don't like boys, Ron."

"There you see…" Ron began, however, stopped mid-sentence and his mouth fell open.

Not releasing his gaze and before he could start to babble, Kim said again, "I don't like boy's, Ron. I'm a lesbian." She then added, "and it's not ok for you to simply cling to something that Mr Barkin shoved down your throat."

What colour had remained in Ron's cheeks had drained and he sat statue still, mouth agape. And in the time that she knew it would take him to recover from the bombshell she had just dropped, Kim turned to Quinn, "however, I don't think it's fair for you to be so cut and dry with him. Yes, people should be tolerant of others, but you can't expect someone to suddenly change their views because you think they should, especially when they've only ever known one point of view. You need to give him time to adjust." Saying this somewhat surprised Kim, given she had not thought about it beforehand. I guess I agree more with Miss Go than with Shego on this one, however, maybe that's because of how difficult it was for me to change my own views on homosexuality.

Slowly, Ron's mouth began to move. "K…K…Kim… did… you… just say that…"

Having learned her lesson from five years ago, Kim was ready for the outburst that would have inadvertently outed her to everyone inside Bueno Nacho and shot a hand across the table and clamped it over Ron's mouth. It transpired that Quinn too had been prepared for this, as her hand shot out atop Kim's own. The muffled yell that followed could have been anything. Both girls held their hands in place for several moments longer, just in case there was an aftershock and only let go when they heard Ron struggle to inhale a breath.

As her former best friend gasped for air, Kim said, "Ron, please don't yell."

At the same moment, Quinn uttered, "take a deep breath and don't shout."

Ron took several deep breaths, before finally uttering, in a low and shaky voice, "Kim… you're a lesbian? Since when?"

The ice had melted and her tone had returned to its normal; warm nature when Kim replied, "since always, I just didn't know I was until a couple of months ago."

"Wait, but how can you have always have been a…" Ron choked on the word, but eventually managed to say in a hushed voice, "…a lesbian? You crushed on boys, Kim. Dated boys… dated me!"

Before Kim could respond, Quinn stood up. "Ok, so this is the part where I become a third wheel, so I'm gonna fly off out of here and leave the two of ya to talk over all the stuff I'm sure you gotta talk about." The freelancer slid out of the booth and slipped on her backpack.

"Wait, Quinn," Ron yelled after her, sounding almost panicked. "You're coming back, right!"

Quinn who now had her back to them and was already heading towards the door turned her head and winked at them. "Of course, Sweetie. Just have a little think about what I said to ya."

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Kim found herself asking, not that it mattered to her.

"I just told ya, I'm away to fly."

It was only at that moment, when her eyes drifted over the freelancer's backpack, that Kim realised something very important; she'd got her belt and Kimmunicator back, but she'd completely forgotten about her jet-backpack. Her eyes widened in horror. "QUINN!" she yelled and shot to her feet. Darting to the exit, she chased the freelancer out into the drizzle, however, the girl had only been a few feet from the door and so by the time she herself had made it outside, it was too late; the girl had already taken to the air. "QUINN, GET BACK HERE WITH MY JETPACK!"

"Sorry, Kimmie P, but I've been itching to do this ever since I saw you arrive at the mall," Quinn yelled back. "Catch you guys later!" And with that, the freelancer disappeared above the clouds.

"QUINN!" Kim yelled in frustration at having twice been caught cold by the girl on the same day. "URGH! She is so infuriating!"

"Yeah, she can be, but she's also a lot of fun to hang out with," Ron conceded from beside her, having followed them outside.

"And could she have picked a more inopportune moment to decide to do that?" Kim ranted.

"I know!" Ron agreed, effortlessly changing tact. "You just dropped the mother of all bombs in there and before I even manage to deal with the blast, she decides to do that! I need genuine moral support over this!"

Now starting to get properly wet, Kim headed back inside and beckoned for Ron to follow. "Come on, we might as well sit and talk, given that the only thing I've got to trade in order get my jetpack back is her boyfriend, so I'm stuck here until she returns," a thought quickly came to her, "…unless I jacked her car."

"That won't work," Ron replied; as they sat down. "It's her mom's car, who she probably borrowed it from without asking permission and so won't care too much about you holding to ransom." There was a brief pause before he added, "she doesn't get on too well with her mom."

"Then I guess it's going to have to be you then." Kim grinned wickedly. "Maybe I should tie you up and threaten to hit you with a stun-stick a couple of times."

"K…K…Kim," Ron stammered, "you promised not to kill me!"

"That would be the beauty of it; that wouldn't kill you," she replied, heh, I think Shego's starting to rub off on me a little. She held Ron's gaze for a moment, watched him start to sweat and then burst out laughing.

"KIM THAT WASN'T FUNNY!" Ron yelled indignantly.

"Pretty funny from where I'm sitting." It was only then that Kim realised the sheer madcap genius of what Quinn had just done. Damn, things were about to get exceptionally awkward between us before she flew off with my jetpack. And by doing so, she completely took our attention away from it and allowed us to settle down. Surely, she did not do that on purpose? She shook her head and decided that she did not want to try and figure out the enigma that was her fellow hero. "I owe you an apology, Ron," she finally said, "a big one."

"What for?" Ron asked, before hurriedly adding, "wait a sec… you are going to tie me up and shock me with that stun-stick!"

"Ron, I'm not going to tie you up or shock you with a stun-stick," Kim replied firmly. "And for the record, that thing really hurt. She must have jacked up the voltage on it or something." She paused to take a breath, realising that she was going off track. "I owe you an apology because a large part of why our relationship failed was because I wasn't one-hundred percent into it; I couldn't possibly have been…" Kim reached out and started to rub at her upper left arm with her right hand and lowered her gaze. "Our relationship took me a while to adjust to and I initially blamed the awkwardness I felt on the natural weirdness that came with us all of a sudden being a couple, rather than just friends. Then I deluded myself into thinking that I felt something that I didn't because I wanted our relationship to work… and I really did want it to work… I just didn't know that it couldn't and that at least is on me."

"I know you wanted it to work, Kim. I might have said otherwise when I was angry, but for the majority of it, I know you tried your hardest… I did too." Ron then let out a long sigh, "I guess that's why things never really worked for us… you know, in the bedroom."

"For the most part, yeah," she agreed. "It never felt good for me, as I always felt awkward and because I had no idea why I didn't know where to start trying to fix it." She then met his gaze, "however, despite that, there were other reasons why things didn't work out between us."

"Yeah…" Ron said tentatively and then paused, "…I've thought about it a lot since we last spoke and…" her former best friend looked somewhat sheepish, "I kinda ranted a bit at Quinn about us; maybe listed some of the things you claimed I did and, well… she gave me both barrels over how I acted."

Kim looked at him incredulously, not sure whether or not she should be angry that he had discussed their relationship with his new girlfriend or happy that she might have gotten through to him.

"I shouldn't have goofed off while at College, quit my job and then expected you to simply bankroll my fun," Ron continued, his gaze lowering to his half-eaten Naco. "I'm sorry, Kim."

And now she had her answer. Wow, I never thought I'd ever hear him admit that. What on earth did Quinn say to him for him to make that admission? While she was curious about how exactly the freelancer had done something she had utterly failed to, she decided not to pry into their private conversations. And having now heard an apology for something she never thought she would, Kim knew she had to face up to the other things she had been to blame for. "I'm sorry I was never around for us to try and make things work, Ron. I didn't realise it then, but I'd slowly started to change as an individual after graduation and what we had just wasn't right for me anymore. But instead of dealing with it one way or the other, I just ran away from our problems and kept on doing mission after mission instead."

Kim reached out over the table and took hold of Ron's hand and she waited until he had brought his gaze up to meet her own before finishing, "but I think we both now know that anything we did would only have delayed the inevitable and ultimately just prolonged our unhappiness."

Ron nodded slowly, "yeah, you're right. We were never supposed to be a couple. You've recently discovered your reasons and the past month with Quinn has shown me mine."

Kim tilted her head, "Ron, that sounds… quite deep."

"It's been known to happen… occasionally," Ron replied.

They both laughed, a genuine; hearty laugh that sounded as though it had come from days sat in this same booth a long time ago. Yet after a few moments, Kim felt a wave of sadness wash over her. It doesn't matter if we decide to be friends again, it'll never be like the old days… they're gone for good. Ron's moved on; has someone else who'll sit in this seat and laugh and joke with him on a regular basis… someone who'll fill that Kim shaped void in his life; a square peg for a square hole. The sadness then began to dissipate, as memories of her thoughts from earlier that day filled her mind. Those days are gone and while I loved them, I'm not that Kim anymore. I don't want them back. I don't need a square peg anymore, because my hole's been round for a long time now. I need a round peg… a Shego shaped peg.

At that moment, Kim knew that she could be Ron's friend again; just not his best friend, that position had already been filled in both of their lives. They could talk to one another over the phone from time to time, maybe send a text to each other when something amusing happened and meet up for lunch or a drink on occasion, where they could share stories from their lives and reminisce on the old days.

"Ron," she then ventured, hoping he felt the same way, "we said and did a lot of things to one another that neither of us is proud of; hurt each other both intentionally and unintentionally…" Kim's mind then bolstered her feelings on the matter by offering up a memory from last week in the coffee house with Lisa, "…and we can't undo all those things. But I learned recently that you can still forgive someone, even if they did something horrible to you." She took a deep breath, no doubt in her mind that this was the right thing to do. "I forgive you, Ron, and I hope you can forgive me too."

To her surprise, her former best friend looked quite taken aback. "You… forgive me?" he then uttered, sounding slightly stunned. "But what about all the stuff I said and did?"

"That's in the past," Kim replied and smiled at him. "We can't undo it, but we don't have to keep carrying the anger we held from it. We can choose to do the harder thing; let it go and forgive each other." She reached out across the table, took hold of his hand again and met his gaze. "I forgive you, Ron."

And, in typical Ron fashion, he found a way to ruin the serious moment. Looking at her suspiciously, he replied, "this isn't some trick so that you can lure me somewhere, tie me up and start shocking me with that stun-stick?"

"Ron!" Kim exclaimed, in much the same way as she had done so many times in the past when he had found a way to ruin a moment. "I'm not going to tie you up and start shocking you!"

"It was a genuine concern, Kim," Ron proclaimed in his defence.

She gave him a death glare, which promptly shut him up before he began one of his infamous rants. "If you keep being a moron, I might change my mind."

"Ok, ok, I believe you," Ron exclaimed, "just stop looking at me like you wanna kill me."

Kim did not release his gaze. "Then be serious for once in your life."

Ron took a moment to compose himself and then said, sincerely, "I forgive you too, Kim." He then lowered his gaze and sighed. "In fact, I sort of forgave you eighteen months ago."

"Wait, what?" Kim exclaimed incredulously. "How could you have forgiven me eighteen months ago? We wanted to kill one another back then and when we met in that bar a few months ago, you were still super angry with me."

"That's because you don't know the whole story," Ron replied, somewhat apprehensively.

"Well, my jetpacks got about two hours' worth of fuel in it, so fill me in," Kim said, quite curious to hear what had transpired that had resulted in Ron's anger levels shifting down then up again after their breakup.

Ron looked somewhat hesitant, but nevertheless, began to talk, "after you'd left and we'd subsequently had that screaming match over the phone, I was still really angry with you. However, after a couple of weeks, I started to settle down, thought that maybe you might have had a point about me quitting my job and not studying and the like and I started to miss you. And I think I got to the point where I was ready to forgive you if we could have talked."

Kim suddenly felt slightly guilty. "I blocked your number from the Kimmunicator because I was still so angry with you and I didn't want to talk to you. And instead of dealing with my problems, I kept pushing them to the side to be dealt with never."

"I understood why you'd blocked me and to be fair, I'd done the same to you," Ron said in a tone that suggested he no longer blamed her for that. "I'd planned to talk to you next time I was in Middleton, however, that turned out to be sooner than I expected."

"What happened?"

"I screwed up in a big way and blamed you for it," Ron replied, his gaze lowering once more to his half-eaten Naco. "After you left, I kept dossing about; didn't bother to look for a job and ignored the fact that because you had left, you were no longer paying the rent… I don't know, I guess I figured that, sooner or later, you'd come back."

"Ah…" Kim said, finally realising what had happened next. I never thought about how he ended up back in Middleton, just assumed that it would happen eventually because he'd flunked his college exams.

"Anyway, I came home one afternoon to find that the landlord had dumped all my stuff out on the curb and changed the locks." Ron's face then turned pale, possibly at the memory of what had happened next. "It had started to snow that day and I was stuck outside with boxes of stuff that I couldn't shift. I called my parents, but both of them were at work and I couldn't get hold of them. The longer I sat there, the more the snow began to fall and the temperature plummeted. That's when I decided to try and call you and realised you had blocked me completely. I then called Wade to try and get him to get in touch with you, but you told him to tell me to fuck off."

Kim could remember getting the call while driving to the store. Shit, he'd plucked up the courage to call me for help and I had someone else tell him to fuck off for me. "I just did not want to talk to you," she conceded. "If I'd bothered to listen for a minute and realised how much of a bind you were in, I…" she paused, not knowing if she would have been able to let go of her anger enough to help him out.

"You would have helped me," Ron finished for her, sounding far more convinced of this fact than she did. "I would have asked Wade to help me out, but my cell phone died just after he told me that you didn't want to talk to me. I was stuck all alone in the cold and snow and couldn't do anything but wait until my dad finished work and could drive through to pick me up. I had to wait for eight hours and was freezing by the time he arrived…"

"Ron, I'm so sorry," Kim said, feeling somewhat shocked and guilty that she had allowed something like that to happen to her former best friend.

"That wasn't the worst part," Ron replied, visibly shivering now at the memory of the cold. "Rufus got sick because of the cold."

The naked-mole-rat, who had been quietly eating his way through the large portion of nachos Quinn had ordered for him, stopped and wrapped his arms around his small pink body, shivered and said, "uh-hu, brrrr, too cold."

Kim looked between the pair in horror, oh my god! And I told him to fuck off second hand!

Ron seemed to read her mind, for he then said, "it wasn't your fault, Kim. You didn't know what was going on and after the arguments we'd had, you were well within your rights to not want to talk to me. However, that didn't stop me from blaming you for everything. All I could see was that I'd reached out to you when I needed help the most and you'd told me to fuck off. I failed to accept that you had damn good reasons for not even talking to me in the first place. And so that was me; angry at you for absolutely everything and not willing to accept that I had been equally responsible for our breakup."

It made sense and Kim knew it. However, that did not erase the guilt she now felt in regards to what had happened to Ron and Rufus. "I'm so sorry, Ron," she said again. Her gaze found the naked-mole-rat, "and I apologise to you too, Rufus."

"Uh-hu, ok," Rufus said, smiled at her and then went back to his nachos.

"It wasn't your fault, Kim," Ron said reassuringly. "If I'd bothered to take even a shred of responsibility, I either would have tried to get a job, so I could keep paying the rent, or moved back home before I got kicked out. Anyway," he then met her gaze and said sincerely, "I forgive you, Kim."

Kim held out a hand, "friends?" she asked.

"Friends," Ron agreed and took her hand.

They shook hands for a moment before Kim reached over the table and hugged him. Like with her parents, she knew that their relationship would not be the same as it had been before the Lorwardian invasion and it seemed that Ron knew that too. But that did not stop them from forging a new relationship. Not as best friends, those days were in the past, but friends nonetheless.

After a few moments, Kim returned to her seat and said, "so, Quinn, what's she like?"

"Oh my god, she is totally insane, Kim!" Ron exclaimed, sounding half in awe; half in terror. "Every other time that I see her she looks like a completely different person and if we meet in public, I can never find her. In this past month alone she's done goth, punk, biker chick…"

"Me," Kim cut in, wanting to know what the deal had been with that.

"Yeah, not gonna lie, her looking and talking like you from high school today was weird…"

Well, at least he found it weird too, which means he didn't ask her to do that. I guess she is just a bit mental.

"…but she is totally awesome, Kim. We have so much in common and she actually finds me funny! It's unbelievable," Ron continued, his tone full of genuine surprise and shock when he uttered those final words.

"That is unbelievable," Kim said, knowing from personal experience just how bad Ron's jokes could be. "So, when and why did she ask you out?"

"She didn't," Ron replied, a broad grin plastering itself across his face, "I asked her out."

"Wait, slow down a second," Kim exclaimed, her mouth falling open, "you asked her out?" Where on earth did he find the confidence to ask someone like her out?

"I know, I was as shocked as you are," Ron replied. "But when I thought about it, I managed to date Kim Possible; the ultimate female badass, for eighteen months. After you, asking a girl I genuinely liked out didn't seem that scary."

Kim couldn't help but laugh and a memory of something Monique had said to her in Heartbeats sprung to mind, "to any guy with half a brain cell, your reputation alone is enough to intimidate, probably even emasculate them." Heh, Ron managed to survive eighteen months without really feeling like that. And despite the fact she might be a hero, Quinn isn't me. I guess after me, it's no surprise asking a girl out had lost its fear factor. "Good for you," she finally replied encouragingly.

"I had a feeling she'd say yes," Ron said, in that cocky manner that had often irritated her.

"How about you becoming her sidekick, how'd that happen?" Kim then asked, still feeling a hint of bitterness about that.

"Totally by accident," Ron said and then launched into the story. "We'd hung out a couple of times and had just met up at her place to go play minigolf when she got a call about a mission. She didn't want to bail on me, so asked me to come with her."

Kim looked at him pointedly, sensing that asking someone nicely to do something was not something Quinn understood the concept of.

"Ok, ok, so she practically pulled me onto the back of her motorbike with her and zoomed off before I could even so much as protest, you happy?"

She laughed, "now that sounds far more plausible."

"We did the mission, caught the bad guy and then Quinn handed her over to the authorities in exchange for the bounty on her head," Ron continued. "Afterwards, we were sitting in the Buenisimo Tortilla in Hillton; her home town and she hands me a stack of bills that had 50's on them, 50's, Kim!"

She knew all too well about that, given the ridiculous sums of money she herself raked in anytime she sent one of the big names in her rogues' gallery to jail. I don't even want to think about how much GJ paid me that last time I turned over Shego and Drakken to them. "I take it she asked you to work with her again?"

"Yeah, she did," Ron confirmed.

She looked at him quizzically. "I know the reason I stopped you coming on most of my missions after you started college was so you could study, but I genuinely got the impression that you'd had your fill of hero work after we spent the entire summer after graduation doing nothing but missions."

Ron sighed, "she offered me a job, Kim," his tone sounding somewhat apologetic. "I've been trying to get a job for the past sixteen months now and haven't had any luck. And what she offered to pay me per mission was more than I could make in a day in Smarty Mart."

Despite how she felt, it made sense, Kim realised. And she could hardly begrudge Ron making a living, especially if he'd been trying and failing to get a job for the past sixteen months. However, the spark of jealousy she had felt earlier reared its ugly head again and an idea quickly formed in her mind. If we're friends again and he's willing to do hero work as a paying job, I could hire him myself. Given how much I make per mission, I bet I could pay him far more than Quinn does. Internally, she shook her head and quashed that idea. No, not only is it way too soon to do something like that, but I'd be doing it purely because of a stupid sense of jealousy, which doesn't represent how I truly feel and I'm not going to be that petty.

"I understand," Kim finally replied. "You're not a kid anymore and need to make your own money and if someone is offering to pay you a decent wage to be their sidekick, then go for it." She laughed lightly, "you have my blessing to serve as Quinn's distraction while she does her hero thing."

"Why do I always have to be the distraction!" Ron exclaimed, just like he used to every time she had made him do it on one of her missions.

"Well, for a start, Quinn is paying you for it, so you don't get to complain," Kim answered, her laughter having intensified.

"That's not fair!"

"The workplace isn't fair. You gotta do what the boss tells you to," Kim poked. "And since she's paying you, that makes Quinn your boss."

Ron folded his arms and huffed, "I'm starting to think unemployment wasn't so bad." However, his tone then returned to being upbeat, "I'm thinking of moving in with her."

"So soon," Kim said in slight alarm. "You've only been dating for a month."

"I know, but the distance between Middleton and Hillton is a bit of a pain in the ass when it comes to work," Ron conceded. "She either has to go out of her way to pick me up, wait for me to get to Hillton or she has to arrange separate transport to get us to the mission site. Not to mention that it's been a real drag living with my parents these past eighteen months, especially after having been living away from home for six."

"If you guys think it'll work, then go for it," Kim said in an upbeat tone. "I hope it all works out for you."

"Thanks, Kim," Ron said and his expression told her that she had just lifted a weight from off his shoulders.

They sat in silence for a bit, as Ron ate the remains of his now cold Naco. Once he had finished, he asked, "so you're a…"

When the word got stuck in her friend's throat, Kim said cheerfully and slightly louder than she had intended, "a lesbian, yep."

"…what's it like… you know… with other girls?" Ron stammered and his cheeks turned bright red.

Memories of her two make-out sessions with Shego and the desire to do it again filled Kim's mind, before she answered, "it feels right. I could never shake the slight awkwardness that I always felt when kissing boys, but I don't feel like that at all when kissing a girl."

She could see from the expression on his face, that Ron was having trouble processing this; breaking free from the shackles of the 'boys kiss girls' doctrine they had been fed while in school. Kim reached out and took the boys hand again. "Homosexuality is perfectly natural, Ron. Some people are born gay and despite what we were taught at school, there is nothing wrong with it. It's not evil, sinful, deviant or anything else like that. Just two people who happen to be of the same sex. And if you need any more proof that gay people are perfectly normal," she pointed to herself, "here I am."

Ron looked at her pointedly. "And what about you is normal, Kim?"

She laughed, "ok, so I'm not the best example of a normal human being, but you get the idea. You still know me better than anyone, Ron," while she said this outwardly, internally, Kim could not stop herself from saying, except for Shego, "sure I might not be the exact same Kim you knew back in high school, but I'm still Kim. I just happen to be a lesbian."

"I guess so…" Ron said tentatively, the acceptance clearly still hard for him. "…it's just…"

"It's just hard to accept that things are not the way we were taught," she finished for him. "Trust me, I know. While I never quite bought into the 'homosexuality is wrong' mantra; I was happy for other people to be gay, but when it came to myself, I had to rid myself of a lot of internalised homophobia before I was able to admit to myself that I'm a lesbian."

"I'm happy that you're happy, Kim," Ron replied, "really, I am. It's just gonna take a little bit of getting used to, especially given the fact that we dated for eighteen months."

"I understand," Kim said, knowing that she needed to be patient with him. "I'll put in a good word with Quinn for you if she ever returns with my damn jetpack."

"Thanks a bunch, KP," Ron said, sounding rather relieved. "I really don't wanna face getting both barrels from her on the trip to Hillton tonight, assuming she's not pissed off enough that she decides to leave me behind."

"I'll see what I can do. I guess this is something none of us planned on happening today…" Kim stopped abruptly, oh shit! "Ron, you have to promise me something," she then said, almost frantically.

"What's wrong, Kim?" Ron asked.

"You and Quinn are only the third and fourth people I've told; I've not even told my parents yet. You have to promise me that you won't tell anyone else, especially not my mom and dad."

"You've not told your parents?" Ron asked incredulously.

"No, I…" Kim began and stopped. While she had explained the details of her coming out to Lisa, that had only been an altered version of the truth and even that was something she could not risk telling Ron. "…only two other people know and I'm not ready to tell my mom and dad yet." That wasn't true; she was ready to tell her parents, especially after the reassurance she'd got from Shego on the subject. However, her mom's detective work when it came to her early social interactions with the villainess had been far too good and Kim knew that if she did not wait for a while, her mom might connect her anger phase with when she had been under house arrest and thus to Shego and even eventually join the dots that led to the jailbreak. "So, please, keep this to yourself and ask Quinn to do the same."

"Of course, Kim," Ron said reassuringly. "I'll keep it a secret and I'll talk to Quinn… it's just… well… she can be a bit unpredictable."

Shit, I don't like the idea of such a loose cannon knowing that I'm a lesbian, especially when I've not told my parents yet, but I didn't have much choice in that matter. I guess I might have to tell them sooner rather than later… just how long is long enough that mom won't eventually link it back to my anger towards Shego? She'd asked herself this question more than once, but still had no answer to it, just hoped that she would know the right moment when it came around. "Thanks, Ron. So, tell me about your missions with Quinn. What was up with that fake Shego?"

"Oh man, wait till I tell you all about that…"

And so, now that they had dealt with the heard of elephants in the room, Kim and Ron finally got around to doing something they had not done in a long time; they sat and talked as friends.

##

Approximately two hours had passed since the whirlwind of chaos that was Quinn Phy-Knight had jetted off. However, by the time the teen hero came careening back through the doors of Bueno Nacho, Kim could not help but feel a sense of gratitude towards her. The girl's ploy to force her and Ron together for the afternoon, inadvertent questioning of her sexuality that had led to her telling her former best friend that she was a lesbian and then the madcap genius timing and manner of her departure, had done more for her relationship with Ron than either of them had managed in nearly two years. Yes, the intention had almost certainly been to benefit Quinn's relationship with the boy, however, she did not care. We'll never have a relationship like we did, but I can talk to him again when I want without it feeling weird or either of us getting angry and we can even hang out occasionally; we're friends again.

Kim could not help but smile. Somehow, in the space of a week and thanks to the interventions of Shego and Quinn, she had made peace with both Lisa and Ron and salvaged at least one friendship. Last Saturday, she had sent the former a quick text; thanking her again for meeting her and so the girl had her cell phone number. She had not heard anything back other than a simple, "you're welcome." However, if Lisa thought it too difficult for them to try and be friends again, she would accept that. Regardless, the swirling black mass of problems that had plagued her for months had now shrunk so much that she barely noticed it. Indeed, only two things remained; her relationship with Monique, which at present she had no mind to do anything about, given she did not see any reason why she needed to apologise to the girl, and the ever-present issue with her body image, which she was slowly trying to work on.

"OMG! You guys have totally got to try a five-hundred-foot freefall dive into a five barrel-roll spin then into a triple loop!" Quinn exclaimed as she skidded to a stop beside their table. The freelancer having not bothered to put her feet back on the ground to enter the restaurant.

Kim, who had stood up and slid out of the booth upon hearing the freelancer crash through the doors, stared at the girl and she did a double-take, how the hell? Instead of the blue capris and green vest she had been wearing when she left, Quinn now donned a pair of white denim shorts, royal blue stockings, mismatched green and red converse and a black t-shirt with the work 'Riot!' scrawled all over it in white. However, the most startling change was her hair. Instead of being a mimic of Kim's own in terms of style and colour, it was now half green; half red, just like her shoes and had been put into un-braided pigtails.

"How on earth did you manage to do that?" Kim asked, mouth slightly agape. I see what Ron meant when he said he struggles to recognise her when meeting her in public.

"Well, I almost crashed into the side of a building, but other than that it's easy," Quinn replied with a grin.

"Not your crazy stunt, your hair and outfit," she cut in quickly.

The freelancer's grin broadened. "I waited until you guys had gone back inside and doubled back to the car for my backpack. I then found somewhere to change on the fly."

"And your hair? That would have taken hours to get done at a salon."

Quinn laughed. "Hair dye is so old fashioned and way too much of a pain in the ass to use." The freelancer pointed to the hair tie she had used for her left pigtail. "I had Jade; my tech gal, cook this up for me last year, cos I got fed up not being able to afford to get my hair done and I get bored with having it one colour for weeks on end, which only ends up washing out. It cost me a bundle of favour credit, but this little gizmo can do any single or dual colours I like."

"Sounds like something Wade would make," Kim said offhandedly. However, that remark served as a prompt reminder and she held out her hand. "Jetpack."

Quinn looked her up and down, grinned and replied, "I'll duel you for it."

Oh, you did not just say that. Her body having now recovered from the twin electric shocks she had received, Kim's expression immediately formed into her mission face. While she still felt grateful for the girl forcing her to sort things out with Ron, the trap she'd fallen for had bruised her ego, and those electric shocks were damn painful. Thus, the opportunity to put the freelancer on her ass was too tempting. Not to mention her constant desire to test herself against strong opponents. "You want to take me on, then let's go. Middleton High is just around the corner and the playing fields have ample space for a match."

"Bring it, Kimmie P."

However, before she could so much as fire back a sassy remark, Ron had shot to his feet and stepped in between them; arms raised and palms held out towards them in a stop gesture. "Ladies, ladies," he began, his tone placating but with the air of someone who had just realised that they'd stepped between a lion and a tiger. Nevertheless, he bravely continued, "there's no need for you gals to fight." He turned to face his girlfriend, "Quinn, give Kim back her jet-backpack," and then to her, "Kim, take your jet-backpack and we're all good," he finished with a worried laugh.

"Umm, Ron, you are aware that this has nothing to do with my jetpack, right?" Kim asked, already suspecting that he did not.

"Yeah, it is totally just an excuse," Quinn added, now grinning from ear to ear.

"What are you talking about? Of course it's about the jetpack," Ron exclaimed. His hands then motioned between them as he said, "Quinn, you stole it for Kim, who wants it back."

Both girls did a face-palm and Quinn took off the object of attention and tossed it past Ron to Kim, who caught it and slipped it over her right shoulder.

However, Ron still did not seem to grasp the situation. "Good, you guys have sorted it out. Now we can all go and enjoy the rest of our days without the need for violence."

"Ummm, Ron, we're still going to go and fight one another," Kim said.

"Hell yeah!" Quinn chipped in. "This is gonna rock!"

"Wait, what!" Ron exclaimed in alarm. "No, no, no, you guys just settled the jet-backpack thing, we're all good, so there is no need for you guys to fight each other."

Raising her hand to her forehead, Kim shook her head. "Ron, this has nothing to do with my jetpack. I want to fight Quinn because I enjoy testing my martial arts abilities out against skilful opponents."

"And I wanna fight Kimmie P for the same reason," Quinn added. "She's the top pro hero and I wanna see how I measure up."

Suddenly and much to the surprise of both girls, Ron yelled in an exasperated manner, "you think I don't know that!"

"Then why were you so hung up on the jetpack?" Kim asked, now more than a little confused.

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THE TWO OF YOU TO FIGHT ONE ANOTHER!" Ron yelled at the top of his voice. He then took a few breaths, before setting off on one of his infamous rants. "What's going to happen is that the two of you are going to fight and enjoy it." He turned to stare at her, "Kim, you're probably gonna win cos well, you're you."

A dark scowl formed on Quinn's face. "Hey.." she exclaimed, but it was not enough to derail Ron.

The blonde-haired boy then turned to address his girlfriend. "Quinn, you're then going to get annoyed that you got beat, spend more of your free time training and demand a rematch," he turned back to face her, "and, Kim, you'll happily give it to her because you're obsessed with fighting people who can keep up with you. Then the two of you will keep on meeting to fight one another..." Ron's voice then increased in pitch and tempo; as he yelled, "...AND ALL I'LL HEAR ABOUT FOR THE REST OF FOREVER IS HOW THE TWO OF YOU DID THIS TECHNIQUE OR THAT JUMP OR DID SOME CRAZY-ASS THING DURING YOUR FIGHTS!"

"Ummm, ok," Kim ventured tentatively.

"Geeze, Ron, chillax a little," Quinn said with a roll of her eyes. "You think I'm going to obsess over fighting Kimmie P?"

"Yes," Ron answered. While he had managed to start off nice and calm, he quickly lost control of himself and his voice rocketed back up in pitch and tempo; as he pointed a finger directly at Kim "BECAUSE THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT SHE DID WITH SHEGO!"

Kim sighed, "he is right. I did get obsessed with fighting Shego, to the point that all I would talk about was things that we had done while fighting one another." I'm still obsessed with fighting Shego… along with other things. However, that's something neither of them can find out about.

"Come on, Sweetie, I'm not gonna get obsessed with fighting Kimmie P," Quinn said, trying to laugh off her boyfriend's concern. "Besides, I'm gonna kick her little butt!"

"Prft, in your dreams," Kim scoffed.

"No, no, no, no!" Ron exclaimed. "This is exactly how it started between her and Shego. You start dissing one another, then you end up fighting while trading sassy remarks and then you get obsessed with her, to the point that all you do is talk about her and look forward to the next time the two of you duke it out!"

"Wow, I never knew you felt so strongly about me fighting Shego," Kim replied, her attention having been drawn away from Quinn by her former best friend's latest outburst.

Ron let out a deep sigh. "It wasn't fun, Kim. But I guess you get something from Shego that you can't get anywhere else. So, I can't really blame you for that."

Kim felt her cheeks burn slightly and she had to will those fires not to erupt. You got that right, however, I get far more from her now that I can't get anywhere else than you can possibly imagine. There was something in that thought that she had a vague idea should have set the alarm bells ringing inside her head, but she did not have time to focus on that right now. "Shego's the only one who is a proper match for me and martial arts is a big part of my life," she finally replied.

This seemed to have been exactly what Ron had been looking for, as he said, "that's my point," before turning to address his girlfriend. "The whole martial arts; hero thing is a big part of your life too, QP…" he paused and looked down at his shuffling feet, "…and I don't want you to get obsessed with fighting someone in the same way Kim is obsessed with Shego."

It felt slightly cutting; to hear Ron say that he did not want his new girlfriend to become like her, as though her becoming obsessed with fighting Shego had driven a large wedge between them when they had been a couple. However, after their long talk that afternoon, Kim decided to let it slide. Our relationship is long over and we've both taken equal blame for why it failed and apologised to each other. It's only natural that Ron doesn't want the same things to plague his new one… heh, I had a similar moment with Shego, where I pretty much said I don't want any more crummy dates and we're not even in a relationship.

"I'm not going to get obsessed with fighting her, Sweetie," Quinn reiterated.

"But you're a lot like her, Quinn, even ignoring that weird cosplay thing you did this afternoon, which was still a bit freaky!" Ron replied. "You both do the whole hero gig. So, can you please not fight her," the boy paused for a moment and perhaps realised how big a demand he was making and so elected to scale it back a bit. "At least not today. Not when we've got plans for tonight…" he paused again, before hurriedly saying, "…you do still wanna be with me, right? You're not gonna blow up at me cos of the whole gay thing from earlier… right?"

Kim decided that this was probably as good a time as any to put in that good word for him. Stepping towards Quinn, she lowered her voice so that it would not reach the ears of anyone else in the restaurant. "We talked about me being a lesbian and Ron's not really homophobic, he's just struggling to shake a bad viewpoint that he got shovelled down his throat when we were younger. Give him a little bit of time and he'll become comfortable with the idea of homosexuality. So, don't put him in the doghouse or toss him to the curb for being a little intolerant." She elected not to mention what had happened in regards to him accidentally outing Lisa.

Quinn reached out and draped her arms over Ron's shoulders. "You are a bit of a slow learner, aren't you, Sweetie," she said kindly. "I guess since Kimmie P didn't slap you around a bit that you're not a homophobe." A wide grin then formed on the freelancers face again and she whispered in her boyfriend's ear, however, Kim could just make out her words, "I guess I'll just have to take you to a gay bar somewhere."

Kim watched Ron gulp. "Umm can we maybe hold off on that one for a little bit," he replied nervously.

"We'll see," Quinn said with a wolfish grin. "But yes, our plans are still on for the evening, as I'm not tossing you to the curb. However, I wanna fight Kimmie P first."

Ron sighed, "ok, but please don't get pissed off when she beats you and then become obsessed with fighting her again."

"Hey, I'm gonna kick her sweet little butt," Quinn retorted.

"You wish," Kim cut in. She then turned to Ron. "However, once I kick her butt, if she gets obsessed with having another crack at me, let me know and I'll refuse her, promise."

"Oh, you are so going down, Girl," Quinn declared.

"Bring it on."

The heroes' gazes locked and metaphorical sparks began to fly.

"Then what are we waiting for, let's go to Middleton High and get this on," Kim then said and then promptly headed for the exit. Oh, I am so going to make her regret jabbing me with that damn stun-stick.

The group of three left the restaurant and began to make their way to Kim and Ron's old high school. It was on like Donkey Kong.

##

Author's note:

So, how did you all enjoy the season premiere? Lol, don't all look at me like that. Yes, I had you all worried for three weeks about what was going to happen to Kim, but it was so much fun… well, it was for me at least, but as you all know, I'm an evil little sod ;p

It has been so good sharing this update with you, as I've been sitting on Quinn deciding to pull her little stunt and take Kim to Ron for a good few weeks now. And I have also been sitting on the bit of backstory about what happened to Ron after he and Kim broke up since chapter nine of season one! However, something that caught me completely by surprise was Kim telling Ron that she was a lesbian. That was not in my plans for this chapter at all and came about purely because Quinn felt like it would not be correct for her to assume that Kim was straight, given she doesn't know her.

Ok, so my aim is to post the next update in two weeks' time. The bulk of it is written, but I would like to get the next one written too, before I post it. So, fingers crossed that I'll manage it.

Right, moving swiftly on. Again, my thanks for everyone who voted for me in round one of the KP Fannie awards. For round two, And You And I and myself are in all the same categories as before, along with another two categories. I'll post the list below (I'm listed under my FF username K1G0). If you think I deserve it, I would fully appreciate your vote, as it would be amazing to make it through to the final round in as many categories as possible. And, if it's not too much trouble, would you kindly lend your vote to Celioxa in the best reviewer category.

The details for the Fannie awards is as follows:

Best KP style name: Quinn Phy-Knight

Best KP OC: Captain Brooks

Best minor character: Ann Possible

Best Villain: Captain Brooks

Best KiGo story: And You And I

Best romance: And You And I

Best M-rated novel-sized story: And You And I

Best new writer: K1G0

Best single line: And You And I

Best reviewer: Celioxa

Best story of 2020: And You And I

Best writer 2020: K1G0

The link for voting is as follows:

www*dot*deviantart*dot*com/sharper-the-writer/journal/The-16th-Annual-KP-Fannies-Voting-Round-2-892222965

Finally, thank you so much to everyone who has already joined the And You And I Discord server, affectionately named Spritzers. I know there was a bit of an issue with the link last time, so I'll post it again and invite all you to join us. It has been a lot of fun and we have had such a good laugh over the past week and a half.

The link to the discord server is as follows: discord*dot*gg/9J7gFWMXJj

Thank you all once again and I hope you enjoy season three of And You And I

Warmest regards

K1G0