Chapter 2: Indulgence

"I repeat, for the last time, the plane has come to a stop. Please leave the plane in an orderly fashion."

At least everyone who worked on the plane surrounded the last person on the plane, who simply would not wake up.

"I think he's dead."

"A kid like him? He looks in pretty good condition to me."

"If you ask me, it looks like he came out of hell."

"Well, he's got a pulse. Coma?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. We've used everything to wake him up, but he just won't move."

Ron just didn't want to wake up. He had slept the entire way, but the trip was over and he needed to get off. He had already been sleeping in the plane an hour after it landed.

"I can't take anymore of this. Just toss him off the plane."

Later that afternoon, Ron started to come to, but woke up confused. Lucky, a naked mole rat sat near him, also waking up. Getting out of the garbage dumpster, Ron realized that he was just in the back of the airport in Bay City. He had arrived at his destination, but not in the manner he had hoped.

"Aw man, this is the third time this month this has happened to me!"

Indeed. Sometimes Kim and Ron were so exhausted from their missions that they fell asleep on their plane ride, and it would be impossible to wake them up. Speakers, blow horn, drums, crying baby, anything; they would not wake up and be tossed out of the plane after it landed. Every time this happened to Ron, Kim also suffered the same fate, and she would force him to help clean her up, taking at least two hours. Kim was not a good friend of the dumpster, but neither was Ron.

Ron cleaned off whatever he could from the dumpster, but at least he had been tossed on a lot of garbage bags instead of just plain garbage. Oddly enough, he found a can of air freshener near him, which he used to make his scent presentable. He located an entrance nearby and headed straight in.

Huge.

Both Ron and Rufus were in awe. They couldn't tell where they were anymore. It was a huge open building that was crowded, but the architecture was nothing but glass and metal, obviously done by creative artists. People were running around on cell phones, the stores that the girls would come in and out of and of course loiter looked like those huge Club Banana stores in those huge malls you read about, there was the sound of an arcade nearby, and half of these people didn't look like they were coming in or out of flights. Did they run into a mall?

"Welcome to Bay City. We hope you enjoy your stay. In the meantime, please consult any of our employees for any help you may require and they will be glad to assist you. Flight 701 to Go City will be leaving in seventeen minutes."

It was the airport. Ron was surprised, but then again, the messages on the listing of arrivals and departures had the city's slogan on it: "Welcome to the Future." Ron was convinced, but he hadn't seen anything yet. However, he needed directions, and located a girl nearby who was moving some luggage.

"Hey, um, excuse me?"

"Yes?"

The girl turned around, appearing to be Japanese with short black hair. She almost looked familiar to Ron.

"Yori? That's not you, is it?"

"I beg your pardon? Have we met?"

No deal. This girl was wearing purple contacts and had a bit of makeup and earrings, and most noticeable was the lack of an accent. Not Yori's style.

"Sorry, you reminded me of someone. Anyway, can you tell me where Bueno Nacho HQ and the Emerald Glow Hotel are from here?"

The girl turned her head as if she were looking for something, then noticed a brochure nearby on a desk, took it out and opened it. She also pulled out a red marker from her pocket.

"Here's a map. Okay, right now you're here."

The girl pointed to the airport on the map, circling it with the marker.

"Five blocks west is the hotel. All entrances face west, so leave and just head straight, but you'll want to leave on Entrance B."

The girl circled the location of the hotel on the map.

"Okay," Ron acknowledged, "Entrance B, head straight for five blocks."

"Correct," the girl confirmed, "And Bueno Nacho HQ is seven blocks north from the hotel. Exit the hotel and look north, and you should be able to see it."

The girl also circled Bueno Nacho HQ on the map. Ron was thankful that the directions were simple.

"Got it," Ron smiled as he took the map, "Thanks a bunch. Really appreciate it."

The girl smiled and bowed, "You're welcome. Hey… You're Ron Stoppable, aren't you?"

"You've… heard of me?"

"Who hasn't? You're the guy that saves the world with that one girl."

This surprised Ron, as he thought everyone had heard of Kim Possible and not him. This girl just proved him wrong.

"That's one way of putting it," he unenthusiastically answered.

The girl instantly became ecstatic, "Wow. It's kind of strange to be standing right in front of someone who saves the world regularly. Please, if there's anything else you need, be sure to ask. By the way, my name's Yuri."

Ron observed the girl's nametag, "Yuri?"

The girl let out her hand, "Yuri Yamazaki. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Stoppable."

Ron calmly shook it, "Just call me Ron. If I need to know anything, I'll let you know. Thanks."

With that, Ron slowly trailed off and walked into the crowd. Yuri just waved from behind him.

"Come back again!"

Within seconds, Ron disappeared into the crowd.

"Well, that's awkward. It's always Kim Possible and the sidekick, and now it's Ron Stoppable and that one girl."

Rufus nodded, "No kidding."

"I kinda like it."

Ron had no idea however, that he was being followed. Not by Yuri, but someone wearing a hat and a trenchcoat. The girl pulled out some kind of communicator.

"I have a visual. Stoppable's here."

It was weird having all the attention at once, but Ron actually felt a bit of discomfort in it. He knew that if he continued to talk to Yuri, eventually he would have to talk about Kim. Inside he still felt bitter about her, much less than before, but still bitter nonetheless.

Knock on wood.

Some teenager approached him from behind. He carried a gruff voice.

"Hey, you're Stoppable, aren't you?"

Ron really didn't bother to turn around, "Which one?"

The husky teen just laughed, "Ron! Wow, it's really you. How awesome is that? I get to meet Ron Stoppable! Isn't that one girl always with you? The redhead? What's her name…?"

"Kim. Kim Possible?"

"Kim! That's her name. You sure have something there, buddy."

"Meaning?"

"She's on fire, dude."

"That's not why we're dating."

"You sure? I wouldn't mind someone like her in my life. Not that I'm trying to talk smack about your girlfriend, but she's a rare one."

"Can we not talk about her like that?"

Suddenly, the teen's voice changed, "You sure can be touchy when it comes to Kim, huh?"

Ron instantly recognized the voice, one he hadn't heard in months. He quickly turned around.

"Nev?"

Nevren Aloces Killbourne, former ally to Team Possible.

"How long's it been, buddy?"

Before Ron could answer, Nev gave his old friend a huge bear hug, squeezing the life out of Ron and giving him a noogie. Ron almost lost his balance when he was released.

"Two-three months?"

"That… sounds about right," Ron coughed and hacked, getting his breath back. "What are you doing here?"

Nev just tilted his head. "Socializing." Enthusiastic he was not.

"No, Bay City, man."

"Wade didn't tell you? I moved here. Big city, lots of businesses…"

Ron noticed his Hispanic spiky-haired techno fiend friend had a strange tone in his voice, one he detected with Kim often.

"Uh huh, right. What's your real reason?"

Nev just rolled his eyes, disappointed, "Okay, you've got me. This place is like freaking Corusant. That's the main reason at least, but what do you expect? I watch too many movies for my own good and I'm like king of the good-looking geeks. Anyway, when it comes to leeching off of everyone's electricity to power my lab, whew, perfect, man. Perfect. So what's up with you? I figured if I pretended to be an airhead about Kim you'd be a bit defensive, but-"

Ron just quietly whispered, "We… got into a fight."

Nev nodded, not looking surprised.

Ron noticed the look in his eyes, "Physical fight."

"I know."

"Huh?"

Nev started to walk off, motioning for Ron to follow him, "Wade told me about it last night. Funny, since he hasn't really called me ever since the sociopath episode."

"Sociopath episode?"

"Your fight with Val. Surely you remember him, right?"

Ron couldn't keep his eyes straight, "Yeah. Couldn't if I tried."

"I kinda give specific situations names like that. Anyway, I figured that if Wade was going to call me out of nowhere, it must've been pretty important. What surprised me was that he actually looked confused and was in quite a dilemma. He wanted to help you both out, but he was afraid he was going to make things worse. I'm not sure why he came to me about it, I guess he thinks I have some good advice on relationships or something, but I've already told you that I really, really don't. So I told him not to get involved."

"So that's why he hasn't been responding to our calls," Ron realized.

"Quite."

"I understand," Ron confirmed for him. "Don't get in the affairs of someone's relationship if it can mess up your friendship, too. Best not to drag someone else into this to take sides."

Nev was surprised to hear such words from Ron, "That sounds about right."

"Did Wade tell you anything else?"

"Me? Not really."

"How did you know I was coming here? I didn't even tell Wade I was coming here."

Nev laughed, "I didn't. I come here everyday because these guys serve the best ice smoothies you can imagine. I just noticed a familiar friendly face, that's all. This place is a lot more like a mall than an airport."

"I can see that," Ron agreed, looking around. The two already passed by a few clothes and beauty stores, even a movie theater.

"So what brings you to this not-so-humble city?"

Ron pulled out the envelope and handed it to Nev, "This."

By now Ron and Nev were near the luggage pickup area. Ron found his suitcase as Nev carefully inspected the envelope's contents.

"Sounds like these guys knew exactly who to talk to," Nev observed, and then handed the envelope and letter back to Ron.

"Hey Nev, can you do me a favor?"

Nev looked toward the conveyor belt that was carrying the suitcases, "As long as it doesn't involve me laying down on that conveyor belt and seeing where it goes, sure."

"Don't tell Wade about me being here. I kinda need a break from everything."

"I perfectly understand. I'll be in the shadows myself. Here."

Nev handed Ron a small device, almost looking like Kim's Kimmunicator but with a shiny purple and green appearance.

"All right, video game!"

Nev slapped his forehead, "Exactly, but for the record, let's try again. No, it's a communicator. If you need anything, you can contact me. Feel lonely or if something big comes up, you've got a friend in the city."

"Thanks, man."

"You should drop by my place later. Got a few new toys you could probably use on your missions if, well, you know…" Nev realized he probably dropped a rock on Ron's foot on that one, almost about to finish with 'if you and Kim fix up your situation.' Best not to bring it up now.

"Sure," Ron quickly replied, "Right now I just need to get away from it all, but I'll keep my eyes open." Ron wouldn't have been surprised that with his luck that Drakken and Shego would crash through the ceiling. They were still in jail, but Ron knew they wouldn't be there for long.

Nev nodded, "I understand perfectly." He also turned his head in multiple directions, narrowing his eyes, "I suggest we get out of here. There seems to be a few girls eyeing both of us, and they don't take the excuse of 'having a girlfriend' well."

As Nev increased his walking speed, Ron realized what this meant, but something else came to mind, "Wait a minute, since when did you have a girlfriend?"

"Me? Never. I just use that as an excuse after trying to say I wasn't interested. And the girls around here that are only like fourteen or fifteen, forget it, they're lethal. They think it's okay to hit on guys five years older than they are, and they're psycho to boot."

Ron turned around and made eye contact with the girls Nev was talking about, and indeed they were underage and appeared to be anything but mature.

"Just keep walking, Ron. Just keep walking."

Shortly afterward, the two had come out of the entrance, and Ron almost dropped to his knees at the sight before him.

"Ron, welcome to Bay City."

The city before them was huge, with several shiny and creatively designed buildings everywhere. Several subway trains made their way through the city on the street and between several of the buildings. All kinds of advertisements flashed on several buildings, there appeared to be gatherings on the balconies of buildings, and the sun shone through the windows, engulfing the city in an orange glow.

Nev just laughed as saliva was starting to make its way down Ron's mouth, "You haven't seen anything yet. Just wait until it's nighttime."

"Hey Nev, what time is it?"

"It's close to seven."

"Might as well head to the hotel. I can't believe I'm still tired."

"Need a lift?"

Nev quickly pulled out a small device, pressing a button before putting it back in his pocket. Two beeps could be heard nearby, as Nev slowly walked towards a motorcycle in the small parking area.

Something about this motorcycle looked too familiar to Ron, "No, it can't be."

"It is."

It was a red motorcycle with white linings, and an irritating flashback came to mind. He was driving his scooter back home, and someone was driving it at full speed with Kim holding onto him tightly. It was a miserable memory, remembering that Ron had to watch Kim fall for the new guy as he started to realize his feelings for her.

Erik.

"That's Erik's motorcycle?"

"Stolen goods. Not really, though. It was auctioned off in Lowerton after you guys took out RGB."

"RGB? Oh…"

It quickly came to Ron's head. Red, Green and Blue. Erik, Shego and Drakken. He wondered how he never realized it at all.

Nev just smirked at the sight of the bike, "Yup. And I paid only twenty dollars for it. It belongs to a villain and nobody wants it except for the geek in the back."

Ron was in envy, "Gee."

"Want to know something even better?"

"Hmm?"

"She's all yours."

"Well, that's nice and all, but…what?"Ron couldn't believe what he just heard.

"I don't drive this thing around anymore, so I figured you might want it."

Ron liked the idea, and the bike was in mint condition."I'm sorry, dude. I can't accept it. Riding it would be like a constant reminder of who drove it originally and what I had to go through at the time."

Nev almost kicked himself in the head as he pretty much imagined the situation. Sure, it's nice to have a former enemy's motorcycle, but Erik's bike would remind Ron of everything he had to endure when Kim fell for the syntho-drone. Not something you'd want to remember often.

"Totally understand. Sorry about reminding you of the past."

"It's cool," Ron assured him, "Then again, it's because of him that me and KP got together that night."

Nev burst out laughing, shaking his head the whole time, "Iiiiiiincorrect! You got together that night because you rattled the cage of Drakken's plan. You were the one that found out about the Diablos and went to warn Kim about it. If you didn't do that, everything would've gone to hell. Erik was just a tool to seduce Kim."

"I guess you're right."

"It's in the past, buddy. Kim just needed to realize that love wasn't about the food chain and you needed to realize your true feelings for her instead of hiding it with the 'best friends-only' thing. Even Wade knew you two were going to hit it off before the year was over."

"He did?"

"Absolutely. Sometimes you need painful circumstances to occur before two people realize their feelings for each other. Now how about we enjoy a ride to the hotel, anyway?"

The two had been in the parking lot at the hotel, poor Ron having to spit out a few bugs from his teeth. When he was done, Nev pointed north and revealed the Bueno Nacho HQ. Yuri was correct; you could see it perfectly from the hotel, and just the giant glowing Taco logo almost made Ron feel like he was enlightened.

Nev revved up the bike a bit more, "I think you can manage things from here. Remember, if you need me, just whistle. I'll be around."

"Um, Nev? Before you leave, I just gotta know…"

Nev fogged up his helmet; already knowing the question Ron was about to ask.

"Did I really mess up everything?"

Nev just shook his head, removing his helmet, "Ron, listen. When you get into a fight with someone and can't win, you'd be wise to look at all sides of the situation. You want to start off with yourself. Look at what you did right, and look at what you did wrong. Once you figure that out, look for the same things in Kim. In the end, you may realize that you're at fault, you may still think Kim is, you may realize that neither of you were at fault, or perhaps the both of you were at equal fault. I won't tell you which side I'm on, but when you analyze things long after the event, the perspective is much more clear. If you feel that you're at fault, you'll go to her, and if she's at fault, she'll come to you… Gee, I can't remember a time where I said the word 'fault' so many times..."

It took a few seconds for Ron to take it in, but he got it, "Thanks. I'll think about it tonight."

"Listen, man. This is probably the first fight you had in your relationship with her. Nobody is perfect, Ron, and it's not going to end because of some mistake on a mission. I bet you anything if she saw you walking around with someone else or vice versa, someone would be going to the hospital, and not just the cheater. Everybody makes mistakes, even the girl who says she can do anything or even her loyal partner. It's not going to end just now, not like this."

Ron thought about it for a second, "I hope you're right."

"It'll be okay, man. Keep it real for now."

Nev gave Ron a thumbs-up as he drove away, almost taking the sunset with him as the city was starting to grow dark. It felt awkward to Ron that the sun set so early. It only felt like a few hours ago that he left Middleton. Regardless, he decided to head inside.

A cute brunette girl greeted him at the front desk. Ron was about to open his mouth, but the girl interrupted him.

"Ron Stoppable, Room 418, Cable Television, Room Service, Free Old School Video Games. Here's your key."

She was holding nothing in her hand. Ron did little more than make a gesture to tell her that her hand was empty.

She quickly turned around as she noticed this, looking for the right key to Ron's room, as they were stacked near each other. When she found it, she tossed it behind her back. Ron caught it flawlessly, but having no idea what was going on. The girl appeared to be looking for something more, though.

"You're much cuter in person, you know that?"

"Uh, thanks?"

"I hope Kim didn't hear me say that."

"She's not with me."

The girl quickly rose up and looked around, surprised, "I thought she was always following you or something."

Ron almost laughed at the thought; "No…!" then realized again he got the attention and not Kim, "Solo thing."

The girl nodded, "I see. Well, the elevators are located to the left, we have a gym and swimming pool to the right, and just dial 461 on the phone if you need us. Enjoy your stay."

"Thanks."

Ron located the elevators to his right (the girl was unintentionally referring to her left) and quickly made his way towards it. She was pretty and had a really innocent look to her,

'But man, she's more of a klutz than I am,' Ron thought to himself.

Ron arrived in his room shortly.

The room itself was rather small, probably because of the extras it had. It had two beds, a big-screen TV with cable and an old controller hanging off of it, a fridge, Ethernet, the usual shower and bathroom, and a small sofa with a table near it.

At this point, Ron was too tired to watch TV, despite that he had been dead asleep earlier that day, and just laid on the bed. The window was huge, and now Ron could see what Nev was talking about.

The city at night was just plain unbelievable. Spotlights lit the sky, the lights on the bottom of the streets were glowing all kinds of neon colors, which lit buildings all around the city, the traffic animated all of the lights, and helicopters were bringing life to the skies. It was like something pulled out of an anime.

Still, he couldn't help but feel alone.

He missed Kim. A lot.

But he wasn't going to mope about it on the bed the whole time. He missed her, but he wasn't going to allow it to interfere with the reason he came. He was going to Bueno Nacho HQ in a little more than 24 hours and help the new board try to revive its former name. He was going to prove that he wasn't there to screw everything up.

He only hoped he could. Often, the big names would get all bigheaded about their position and not listen to the person who knew exactly what he or she was talking about. The letter was convincing, but he hoped it wasn't just some kind of persuasive method of making him come.

And even if it did take a turn for the worse, Ferno covered his entire trip. He could stay for weeks and leech off of his money. Ron could even do that right now, but he chose not to.

He was anything but excited. His thoughts were still dragging away at his girlfriend.

He then remembered something; He had his cell phone on him. It was off, but maybe Kim left a message. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket to see if-

It wasn't off. It was on low battery, but he wondered if she ever called.

No received messages.

Then he checked his voicemail.

"You have no new calls."

Nothing. Maybe Kim was still angry. She probably thought that he still screwed everything up. What if her dad found out about her injuries? It would be a black hole for him, unless they couldn't find him. If Wade didn't know Ron was in Bay City, would Kim?

Maybe it was best to go into hiding. He wouldn't trust Nev with his life, but he hoped he would stay silent.

Kim was still at home, trying for the fifth time to contact Wade on her bed. She was bored out of her mind.

"Why won't he answer?"

Kim could hear her mom holler from nearby, "Kimmie, you're not going out tonight?"

"Huh?"

Her mom's head popped out from the doorway, "It's Friday, your official Ron Night."

"I…um…a…"

Kim had tried to keep the whole situation between her and Ron a secret, but there wasn't an excuse in the world that would protect her now. Actually, if Kim got a few seconds in, she could think of something, but time wasn't on her side, and if her mom didn't get an answer immediately, it meant trouble.

Realizing that her daughter was stuttering, Dr. Possible sat on Kim's bed next to her, "Something you want to talk about?"

Kim sighed, "We got into a fight."

Her mom sighed with a bit of grief, but knew even her daughter and the boy she hoped would become her son-in-law would have their problems. She also knew that Kim probably hadn't vented to anybody, as Monique was somewhere in Europe and didn't keep in contact with anybody in high school other than her and Ron.

"C'mon. Talk to me," Kim's mom openly offered.

"Okay, you know how last night I came in with a bloody nose and the back of my head was bleeding? That was him."

Kim's mom suddenly became shocked, almost unable to breath when hearing this. All of her fears suddenly seemed real, and the thought of her daughter in an abusive relationship sent some kind of shockwave to her mind. She sat still and silent for a few minutes before getting up and about to leave the room with sweat all over her face.

"I'm… calling the police..." She was having a panic attack.

Kim immediately realized the impression that her mom got and stopped her, grabbing her hand before she could reach the door, "Mom, wait, it's not like that! Not at all! It happened on the mission, trust me! Let me finish!"

Her mom was a bit nervous and suspicious, but decided to take Kim's word for it. Kim quickly pulled her mom back onto her bed.

Kim continued, "It's just that, well, okay, first off, we were after some guy in Thailand and Ron and I took separate ways. I took the inside of the temple and Ron took the outside, but I went in disguise and didn't tell him an-"

Her mom cut her off, "Because?"

Kim didn't answer immediately, "I forgot?"

Her mom nodded, her eyes telling Kim to continue.

"So I got into the bad guy's lair, disguised as one of his bodyguards, and Ron decided to attack every guard, including me."

"And that's how you got your injuries," her mom guessed.

Kim nodded, "Yeah. I just realized that I didn't tell him I was in disguise when he slammed my head into a stone wall, not that he was more lenient on the other guards."

Not showing it, Kim's mom felt like she was carrying an anvil on her back and just let it go. She trusted Ron with her life, but the thought of him making her daughter bleed was pretty unbelievable. 'Thank goodness,' she thought. Seeing Kim injured was one thing since it happened every now and then, but the thought of Ron hitting Kim hard enough to bleed scared the daylights out of her.

"So… what happened then?"

Kim began to appear frustrated at herself, "I guess I attacked him back. To be honest, I don't know what I was thinking, but I was just so angry that he hit me that I hit him back."

"How bad?" Her mom feared the answer.

"Slapped him hard enough to send him through a large wooden crate."

Her mom almost gasped at the thought of this, "Kim!"

"Well, he did crush my head between his elbows and a stone wall."

"It definitely doesn't sound like something he'd do on purpose!"

"Mom, how can you mess up something like that, I mean-"

"Kim, listen. If you dropped a bunch of henchmen and then one of them suddenly turned out to be Ron-"

"He'd probably think it was an accident," Kim responded.

Her mom then glared at her, and Kim finally came to realize everything. It was an accident. If she was in the same situation Ron was in, he wouldn't have instantly attacked, but she did.

"Oh…"

Now before her was a phone receiver, held by her mom, "Care to give him a ring?"

Kim slowly pushed it away, "I don't know, mom. We kind of said harsh things to each other and, well, maybe he's still mad."

"It's not going to get any better if you don't apologize to him."

"I don't know."

Kim buried her head in her arms, for once scared to handle the situation between her and Ron. But then he started hearing beeps. Seven of them.

"Hi, Linda, how are you? I wanted to know if Ron was in."

Kim's eyes blasted wide open. She immediately got up on her knees and tried to grab the phone from her mom, who kept one hand on Kim's head, the other holding the phone. She wouldn't let Kim reach it despite her desperate efforts.

"Oh really? Wow... No, he didn't... I'll tell Kim… Why? The two got into a fight… So was Kim… It was on their mission… Yes, I'm sure. I almost had the same thoughts… Okay then, thanks."

Finally, her mom put down the receiver, still pushing against Kim who was still wildly moving her arms.

"MOM!"

"Oh, Kimmie, if you're not going to handle the situation now then you never will!"

Kim was almost turning red, "But mom, this is between Ron an-"

"Ron's not in Middleton."

"I know that, mom a-…" Kim suddenly stopped, "What did you say?"

"Ron's mom told me that he's not in Middleton. He went to the airport and took off on a plane."

Kim growled and buried her head in her bed again, "It's all my fault."

Her mom patted her back in an attempt to comfort her more. "She said it was about something that arrived in the mail for him this morning. She couldn't remember who it was from, though."

Kim groaned again. She had no idea where he was.

Seeing her daughter's grief, Dr. Possible got an idea, "Kim, when Ron comes, you can surprise him at his house and apologize."

Upon hearing this, Kim instantly rose her head with a look of confidence on her face, "No, I have a better idea."

She instantly pulled out her Kimmunicator, and her mom left her daughter in privacy.

Call Wade and see if he has Ron chipped.

"Wade?"

No answer. She forgot; he wasn't answering any of her calls.

Kim groaned loudly again before falling flat on her bed. Then she realized exactly why Wade wasn't responding. He wasn't going to get involved in any of her fights with Ron. She didn't blame him, but how would she tell him she needed help if he wasn't going to answer her calls?

It was getting late.

She got an idea. She turned on her computer, the one with an active internet connection, waited a few minutes for it to load, waited a few more minutes for everything to come on the desktop, and more until her mouse finally responded. Then she got on the Internet. It had been a long time since she last visited her own site, since Wade kept it going and it evolved from her own site to Wade's. He used it much more than she did.

She stopped updating her online diary about a year ago mid-junior year, shortly after her date from hell with Josh Mankey. She decided to read some old entries, but that one took her back. She mentioned that Ron saved the day, acknowledging that without him she'd be a goner, but at the time it didn't really kick in.

Reading her old thoughts on the situation, she almost pounded her head on the keyboard… repeatedly. She had her head so far up on Mankey that she didn't concern herself of Ron's actions. At the time, she just thought he saved her on a date. In fact, he saved her life. They saved each other's lives often, so it wasn't that big of a deal at the time.

But would any of her boyfriends save her life if she were in any danger? Unless their name was Ron Stoppable, no. Being reminded of her blind crush on Mankey made her head hurt. She couldn't believe she was such an airhead to be crushing on someone so much that they didn't care about their own life being at stake.

One thing she didn't write down, though, was the scolding she got when she closed the door.

"Kimberly Anne Possible! We need to talk!"

The sound of her dad's voice after a date with her crush scared her to the point that her skeleton almost leapt out of her skin. She quickly turned around, her parents both standing with their arms crossed, her brothers making faces, and noticeably, Ron sitting on the stairs.

"I… uh… hi!" she nervously chuckled.

She was so screwed.

"Kimmie, did you not understand the condition you were in a few hours ago?" her mom asked.

"We were told that you were to stay in your room until Ron came back, and I see that you went on a date with some boy?" her dad fumed.

Kim just sighed, "You know, you're right, I'm sorry."

"We're not the ones you should be apologizing to," her mom retorted. "Kim, you could have been killed!"

"It's not any different than any of my missions, mom," she quickly came back with.

"That's not what I'm talking about, Kimberly Anne. Ron goes out into the wild for you, pretty much sacrificing himself, and you repay him by going on some date with Josh? He came here looking for you with the plant and everything, and you're off fooling around on a date! Is Josh really that much more important than your best friend trying to save your life?"

Kim eyes slowly made their way to see Ron, but her father blocked her view, "You look at us when we talk to you."

"They're right, you know," Tim spoke, "Your date with Josh could've just waited. He would've understood that something's wrong with you and couldn't go out."

"But a date with the hot art guy is so much more important than your best friend racing against the clock to save you," Jim finished sarcastically. "Maybe when Ron's in life-death situation we'll send him on a date."

Kim couldn't believe the nerve of her brothers, seeing that minutes ago they were also trying to ruin her date.

"You disappoint me, Kimberly Anne," her father spoke, "I thought we raised you better than that."

Kim just stood in the doorway guiltily, not having anything to defend herself with. "I'm so sorry."

Her father turned around and went back into the kitchen, the tweebs back into the living room. Only her mom stood before Kim.

"Before this night is over," her mom whispered, "I want you to apologize to Ron and explain yourself."

After that, she walked into the kitchen with her husband, and then Kim's eyes turned to Ron, who was still sitting on the ladder to her room. Kim slowly went up the stairs, but Ron was still holding the plant in his hand, staring at it. Even though that's where his attention was at, he heard everything.

"Hey…" she quietly spoke.

Before him stood Kim in her dress with a guilty expression written all over her face.

"Hey yourself."

"Ron, I'm sorry, I jus-"

He cut her off, "It's okay. I understand. Josh was finally going to ask you on a date and it was too much to refuse."

"No, Ron, it was stupid of me to leave my room."

He was expressionless, "It's like a plot twist, KP, it happens every time."

"That's no excuse. I really am sorry, Ron. I should've listened to you. Really, I should've listened."

There was a bit of disgust in Kim's voice that Ron recognized rarely. "The date went bad?"

"I don't want to talk about it, but sort of. Other than Drakken, Shego, Embarrassment Ninjas and the tweebs, he really wanted to rush things."

Not what she said when she closed the door.

"I saw that."

Kim almost forgot that Ron was there at the park. Josh didn't see him, but she did.

He sighed, "I'm glad you didn't let him."

"Huh?"

Ron got up, walking past Kim then stopping.

"There's actually a lot of guys in the school who like you, KP, but… let's just say they don't have pure intentions."

"I'm aware of that. You don't think…?"

"That Mankey's one of them? It's probable, and I'm not saying that because of his last name, but out there, I dunno…" he trailed off, scoffing at himself. "Then again, what do I know about dating? Acting like that might be natural or something."

"No, you're right. Listen, Ron…"

Ron just turned around and tossed the plant to Kim, who caught it off guard.

"Wade says to keep that in close range. Sometimes the wormhole has a tendency to come back, so if you've got this nearby, you know what to do."

Kim just put the plant down on one of the steps, then started to slowly approach Ron. She had an odd look in her eyes, and some emotion was starting to come out from Ron, who was emotionless the entire time. No anger, no sadness, no happiness obviously, but something about Kim walking up to him with that dress was bringing back an old emotion.

Its name was fear.

But instead, Kim wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"I'm really sorry for not listening. Everyone was right; you went to the ends of the earth to save me and I should've just stayed in my room and waited for you. It's the least I could've done to show you how much I appreciate it. Thanks."

"KP, it's cool," he calmly replied.

"So, still best friends?"

Ron scoffed, "Kim, I just came back from the Amazon to save you. What do you think? Doy."

Kim just smiled, "You're the best, Ron."

With that, Kim turned around and picked up the plant and started to climb her ladder, but turned around, "Hey Ron, care for lunch at Bueno Nacho tomorrow?"

Ron just nodded, "Sure!"

"Good night, Ron!"

"Good night, KP!"

With that, Ron made his way to the stairs to the main door, walking casually and calmly as he always did. He would've waved to the Possible clan but none of them were downstairs anymore. After all, it was late in the evening, but it didn't feel like the talk with Kim was that long.

After leaving, he quickly had a disgusted look on his face. Rufus popped out of his pocket and onto his shoulder as he always did when Ron walked home, but also noticed. He also took note of an unfamiliar scent coming from Ron's shoulder.

"You smell that cologne, Rufus? It's the same kind that Mankey wears to school."

"You mean…?"

"Yup. I smelled it only when she hugged me. He went straight for the kiss."

Rufus covered his face, but noticed his owner looked a bit more calm than a second ago.

"She'll realize it when she wakes up tomorrow."

Ron was unusually confident in his thoughts. He knew Mankey wasn't the one for Kim, and he knew Kim would be smart enough to realize it in the morning… he hoped.

Kim was one to become a completely different person when she crushed on somebody. Ron knew this well. In fact, she became the exact opposite of what she was when it came to boys. She would be strong and independent on her missions. When it came to crushes, she was incredibly weak and often concerned with how others think.

But also, Kim could drop her crushes almost instantly.

Meanwhile, in Kim's room, she was in her pajamas and typing on the computer – the one she took from the tweebs' room earlier so they wouldn't immediately be able to read her online diary. She had planned ahead.

"Wow, I can't believe Josh actually kissed me."

Oh, if there was a way for Kim to delete that entry. Well, at least she didn't have some kind of comment box, or else she'd probably be willing to read the thoughts of everybody who stumbled onto the site. Knowing how well the people at Middleton roared when she got together with Ron, she probably would have seen comments like "Die Josh, die! Ron all the way!" and probably a thousand more saying the same thing, but it was a private journal after all, not some kind of public blog.

But Josh was on the other side of the country now, so that didn't matter. She was with Ron, and for the most part it was a happy relationship, just until lately, and did she miss him. A lot.

Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to update the online diary right now. Why would she want to read back on an entry that said something among the lines of, "Ron and I got into a fight, he slammed my head through a wall, I threw him into a crate, we're mad at each other but I messed it up"?

So away with the online diary and on with the real reason she came on. If she delivered a hit on the site, Wade would have to read it. So in the text area, she started typing.

"Wade. Ron's not in Middleton. Need help locating him. Thanks, Kim."

He'd probably respond either overnight or early in the morning, but she'd do it for Ron.

However, a dialog box came up on the screen just as she clicked on "Send." Without reading the message, she knew it wasn't good.

ERROR: A request for help or babysitting cannot be sent from this computer. Sorry Kim, but I can't have Ron sending me hits from your computer saying "I'm on KP's computer!" again. Sorry. – Wade

This was a really really old message that Wade put up when he first joined the team, just before the two attended high school. Ron was obsessed with the Internet at the time, playing games and going to every website he could think of. And it was all on Kim's computer since it was more recent and had a much better Internet connection speed. Sometimes he would just send Wade a message from Kim's computer just to tell him all the cool things he found out on the Internet that day.

Two days later, a small blue handheld device came in the mail. On the back of it was a piece of paper.

"This is the Kimmunicator. Use this to contact me from now on."

Reading the message word for word on her screen, Kim let out a frustrated growl and slammed her head on the keyboard. Anything's possible for a Possible, which includes becoming amazingly frustrated at your computer.

"Kim, go to bed!" her entire family practically hollered at her.

Kim looked at her alarm clock. It was two in the morning. Reminiscing sure sucks the life out of time.