A/N: My first kim possible fanfiction, and most likely my last. Unless I get another good idea for a story. But anyway, this is what I think happened after the prom in the movie. The ending with the whole picture thing was something I really wished they had shown in the movie, since it's so sweet . I'll definitely end up doing a piece of fanart for it. Oh and yes, I did get the title from the Christy Carlson Romano song, "Could it Be."

Okies then, I'm probably boring you XD. Onto the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own kim possible. The show belongs to Disney. Nor do I own the song, "Could it Be," and I'm pretty sure that belongs to Christy Carlson Romano.

"The Start of the Rest of Our Lives"

by: Marie Mikolay

----

So far, the walk home was quiet. Not an awkward kind of quiet though, and I was definitely thankful for that. But I still couldn't help but wonder… was what happened bothering her, and that's why she wasn't saying anything? Was she regretting it? Was she upset at all that it was me she shared the last dance with instead of Erik? Even if he wasn't real… I just couldn't help but doubt… couldn't help but think that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I mean, the one thing that came to mind first whenever I thought about Kim and mine's relationship going a bit further, was it ruining our friendship. And during the whole moodulator incident, I dumped her because I was so scared about breaking our friendship.

Her fingers that were laced with mine became tighter around my hand, almost carefully. I turned to look at her, and her eyes were tilted down towards the sidewalk. I wanted to ask what's on her mind, but I was afraid I'd be intruding. Though as always, my curiosity got the better of me.

"… KP?" I quietly called her by the nickname I gave her so long ago.

At first, she didn't respond. But after a few seconds, her head lifted and green eyes met mine. We both stopped walking, looking on at one another under one of the street lamps. I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Ron, I…" She looked at the ground for a moment, then back at me. And suddenly, she looked like she was about to cry, her eyes glistening over with moisture. Then, in one quick movement, she had her arms around me, and her face buried in my chest. It shocked me for a quick moment, causing me to jump, but I immediately calmed and wrapped my arms around her waist. She wasn't really crying, but just silently letting out tears, dampening my jacket. I didn't mind, though.

"KP… what's wrong?" I asked softly, smoothing her thick red hair. She was quiet for what seemed to be the longest time, but I didn't push her.

"I… Ron, I'm sorry," she said, her voice almost cracking. Okay, at first I was just worried, but now I'm confused and worried. What was there for her to apologize for? I definitely couldn't think of anything. It's usually me who's apologizing, anyway. So I asked what she meant, and she went quiet for a little while more.

At long last, Kim pulled away and looked at me. She smiled, but it wasn't one of her real ones – the ones that I came to love so much. Right now though, she had on an 'I'll say I'm alright but I'm really not' smile. It didn't suit her.

She kept her arms linked with mine, as if afraid to completely break away from me. "Ron… how long were you…" She stopped for a moment, obviously not knowing how to put it. But I knew what she was trying to say. I smiled.

"Oh, don't worry about that." I waved my hand in a 'don't worry about it' gesture. "It wasn't that long." Somehow I don't think that helped her much. It was a bit of a lie, after all. After finally coming to terms with the fact that I thought of my best friend as more than a friend, it made me realize that my feelings had been there for quite some time. Who knows how long, really.

But I felt better once more of her real smile came back to her.

"Okay," she spoke, the sadness from her voice disappearing. "I wouldn't know how to deal with knowing that you've felt this way for years, and I had been completely oblivious to it." She then looked down, her smile fading again. "But I'm still sorry for realizing it sooner, Ron."

My smiled faded also, and I was worried again. So I placed a finger under her chin, and tilted her head up. I leaned closer to her and told her in an uncharacteristically serious tone, "Believe me… anything that happened before – anything besides our friendship of course – doesn't matter to me. All that I care about is what's happening now."

At my words, Kim looked like she was about to cry again, but not in the miserable way like before. Now, I could tell that the tears in her eyes were happy ones. She smiled a genuine smile, leaned her head upward, and gently placed her lips atop mine. My hand fell down from her chin, onto her shoulder, and I lifted my other to do the same. It was almost identical to the first kiss we shared, but a lot less intense. That kiss had been something of a release of the desires that had been eating away at us for god knows how long. But this kiss was just like a reassurance, letting each other know that this wasn't a phase, or a one-time thing. As long as we both felt the same way for one another, we were going to give it our all to keep it going. Somehow though, it all felt nearly too good to be true.

We slowly broke apart, but I kept my eyes closed for a few seconds longer, letting the feelings of the moment linger. It's such a perfect feeling; it didn't seem fair that it had to go away due to the end of a kiss. But I guess that's what makes it so perfect, huh?

I opened my eyes to see Kim smiling at me. "Thanks Ron," she said happily. Then, she took my hand and began walking again, leading the way. We were still continuing in the direction of her house, and now that I think about it, she was probably past her curfew. But I think Doctor P. will understand that the whole saving the world thing had cut into her prom time. Oh boy… and then there's the fact that her parents might be a bit confused on why she left for the prom with Erik, then came back home with me.

The rest of the walk didn't take much longer, since Kim was nearly dragging me down the sidewalk. What was she so hurried about all of a sudden, anyway? For some reason, I really doubt it was the curfew.

In only a matter of minutes, her house was right in front of us. Kim stopped, looking at the house for a few moments, and then she turned around to look at me. She was still smiling, but now in a more excited way. And with a comforting squeeze from her hand, she said, "Come on. We've yet to get our prom pictures taken."

By the time my mind comprehended what she had said, she was already walking down the cement path to her front door. My eyes widened momentarily, and then I smiled. Yeah, this night was definitely turning out to be the best I've ever had.

When Kim opened the door, I had to blink to get my eyes used to the sudden light. After all, we had just been walking around in the semi-darkness for the past half hour or so.

The two of us walked in the doorway, hand in hand, just as we had coming into the prom. Kim called out to both of her parents, who both answered from somewhere on the other side of the house with, "Just a second!"

I was able to hear their footsteps approaching closer to the front hallway where we both stood, and to be honest… I was a bit nervous. I know something similar to the situation happened before, but that wasn't anything like how it was now.

Her dad's voice began lecturing as he came into proper hearing range, but I still couldn't see him. "Now, Kimmie-cub," he stated in his usual disapproving-but-not-angry tone. "I know that the whole thing with the cybertronic robots distracted you a bit, but it's already eleven twenty –."

As expected, upon seeing Kim and I standing in front of the door (holding hands, no less), he stopped in the middle of his sentence. He had his pointer finger stuck in the air, and he raised an eyebrow at us. But then a smile came upon his face, and he leaned back into the room calling out, "Hey Honey? You might wanna grab the camera on your way out here."

Kim and I glanced at each other, smiling, both as happy as could be. I really hope I wasn't going to wake up in my bed tomorrow morning and find out this was all a dream.

I could hear Kim's mom's voice now. "Okay, but what for? We already got Kimmie's prom pictu –." And in a perfect replay of her dad's reaction, Kim's mom was unable to finish what she had been saying upon entering the doorway, the camera in both of her hands. I'm almost surprised she didn't drop it. And also in a mirror reaction, her shocked expression quickly turned into a smile.

"Long story," I heard Kim say from beside me. Yeah, tell me about it. I know I wouldn't wanna be the one to tell about everything that had happened. But I really didn't think that her parents cared much for the whole story right now. I knew they had been supporting Kim and me ever since they had become all ecstatic about us "dating" before (again with the moodulator incident). Now though, I'm pretty sure they knew it was for real this time.

Both parents reacted at the same time. Her mom went to Kim and hugged her, squealing about how happy and proud she was, while her dad punched me playfully on the shoulder with a, "Good goin', tiger." At this point, I didn't think the smile on my face could get any wider. It was all so… great.

"Okay, enough with the fussing," her dad said after a few minutes of the commotion. You know, I was wondering where her little brothers were, especially since all this noise was going on. They must have been put to bed already.

Kim's mom nodded in agreement, and gestured us to stand together in front of the door. She backed up a few steps, and held the camera up. I put one arm around Kim's waist, and used the other to hold one of her hands. She used her extra hand and placed it against my back. I would say that we smiled, but we had been smiling nonstop for the past twenty minutes.

As the flash from the camera went off, and that moment was captured in time forever, I knew that years and years from now, the two of us would be able to look at that photo taken on the night that Kim and mine's lives together began. And we'd smile as much as we had that night.