Bright morning sunlight streamed through a gap in the pale green curtains, the light falling across a sleeping face. The eyelids flickered, squeezing tighter together against the glaring intrusion, before slowly opening, accompanied by a groan. Emerald green eyes glanced about the room blearily, taking in the sight of several empty beds with crisp, unused white sheets. Arms stretched above a head of luxurious red hair, a little worse for ware after a night of uncomfortable sleep, stretching out unused muscles that were stiff and sore.

Kim yawned, absently wondering what time it was. She reached out for her boyfriend's hand. When she grabbed thin air, Kim looked up at the figure that was in the bed.

Should have been in the bed.

Kim leapt to her feet, looking around the room frantically, fear creeping into her consciousness. Where could Ron have gone? He should have been tucked up safely in the bed. Movement caught Kim's eye. She looked to the far side of the room, noticing the green curtains fluttering in a breeze created by the wide open window.

She panicked. Oh no, Monkey Fist must have come back in the night and kidnapped Ron! Oh, how could I have been so careless and stupid! Fist took Ron, right from under my sleeping nose! OH God, what if Ron's already... no, that can't have happened! No!

Kim's eyes brimmed with tears as she paced frantically. She nearly screamed when arms encircled her from behind. She turned awkwardly in the grasp, her arm drawn back and ready to strike as her left leg swept around, kicking her assailant's feet out from under him. Ron hit the ground with a loud thump, and winced in pain.

"Ron!" Kim yelled, diving on top of him and squeezing him tightly. "I thought you were…"

"Getting food?" Ron finished, smiling at her from his position flat on the tiled floor. "I got hungry and didn't want to disturb you, so I went to get some snackage." He help up a hand, allowing her to inspect a half eaten apple.

Kim helped Ron to his feet. "Fruit? Since when have you eaten fruit?" she asked

"Hey, it was either this or that gruel they call breakfast!" Ron answered tersely. He took a bit from the red piece of food in his hand. "S'not bad, actually," he muttered around a mouthful of the succulent nourishment.

Kim laughed as she led Ron back to his bed. Ron clambered in, but simply sat with his back propped against the pillows rather than lie back down. He continued munching away at his apple, his eyes never leaving Kim for a second. Kim noticed this.

"Something wrong?" she enquired.

Ron swallowed the food in his mouth. "Nothing, KP, I was just thinking about how beautiful you look with the sun shining in your hair like that."

Kim smiled. "Thank you," she mumbled as Ron took her hand in his own.

"So, any news from Wade?" Ron asked.

"I'll call him now." Kim pulled the Kimmunicator from her pocket, and pressed a small button just below the screen. Static flickered for a second, before the genius' dark face appeared on the screen. Kim was surprised to see dark rings under the young boy's eyes. "Whoa, Wade, you ok?"

"Hey, Kim. I'm fine, just a little tired. I've been up all night trying to track Monkey Fist. It's not been easy."

Ron leaned forward so that Wade could see him. "Not easy? What's the trouble?"

"Hey Ron, glad to see you're up. Nice war wound. I was tracking Monkey Fist easily enough, he took a plane across to England, and he landed in Heathrow at seven this morning. He used his real name, Montgomery Fiske, to book the tickets. But I lost him at Heathrow; I have no idea where he's going."

Kim arched an eyebrow. "Surely you can trace his name through travel records? I'm assuming you hacked the Heathrow airport terminal files?"

"Natch. But when he arrived in England, I just…lost him. I found scattered hints to his whereabouts, but nothing specific. It's like he's covering his trail electronically."

Ron glanced to Kim. "Since when did Fist learn to use a computer?"

"England isn't totally backwards, Ron," Kim chided.

"I know, but Fist is."

"Good point. You think he might have someone more computer savvy working for him?" Kim addressed Wade.

"Could be. I've been trying to track the blocks. Pretty tough stuff, the guy who's doing this isn't as skilled as me or many other hackers I could name, but he knows enough to set up false trails and email blocks. I've broken through most of them, but he's setting them up almost as quickly as I can knock them down!"

Kim was about to ask him to keep working at it, but she saw the exhaustion in Wade's eyes. "Get some rest," Kim advised, "and you can keep working on it later. We know he's in England somewhere, and Ron's in no condition to chase after him just yet."

Wade visibly sagged with relief. "Later, guys," he said, switching off the communication from his end.

Kim turned to look at Ron, who had a scowl on his face. "Ron?"

"I should be going after him!" Ron said coldly. "He took my family and tried to kill me. I can't let him get away!"

Kim squeezed his hand gently. "Ron, don't worry, we'll get him, but we're going to need Wade at his best to assist us. And you need to let that injury heal."

"It feels fine," Ron muttered angrily. Kim arched an eyebrow. As Ron tried to get up, she placed a restraining hand against his chest. Ron grimaced and bit off a groan, sinking back into the bed. "Ok KP, point made."

Kim smiled at him, and placed a soft kiss against his lips. "I knew you'd see things my way," she said. "I doubt Fist will do anything to your parents, he needs them right now. Now get some rest, I'm going to get some breakfast."

As Kim got up, Ron looked down at his hands. He clenched them into fists, then unclenched them, sighing. Just as Kim got to the door, he called out to her. "Kim?"

"Yeah, Ron?"

"Could you bring me another apple, please? Three just aren't enough for a decent breakfast."

Kim smiled. "Sure. I'll bring you an orange, too."

Ron feigned confusion, his eyebrows knitted together as if deep in thought. "Or…ange? What is this 'orange' you speak of? What does it taste like?"

Kim laughed as she left, the door swinging shut quietly behind her. Ron sank into thought as conflicting emotions roiled within him. Since he woke up, there had been a dull ache in his chest from the bruise. He had, in all honesty, told Kim a small lie: he had actually been woken up for an x-ray early that morning. The doctors highly doubted any broken or fractured ribs, but they insisted on this as a precautionary measure. The x-ray had shown nothing out of the ordinary, and so Ron had gone for breakfast. Ron knew that he needed to not only heal physically before going after Monkey Fist, but he had to sort out his emotions and psyche.

The fear of monkeys was definitely a problem when it came to fighting Fist. Being, essentially, a humanoid simian, Ron always had the feeling of phobia when they fought. It was always heightened by the presence of the actually monkey ninjas: Fist knew that Ron was scared of them, and Ron knew Fist would use this to his advantage. Ron shuddered: he never liked to think of monkeys.

Ron's brown eyes stared off into empty space, unfocussed, as he pondered upon this problem. Perhaps Kim could distract the ninjas while Ron dealt with Fist? Ron mentally shook his head; it would be unfair to ask Kim to take on all those ninjas by herself, and what if he ended up needing her help fighting with Fist? Let's face it; I normally turn to KP for help in fights, not the other way around. Who am I kidding when I say that I took out Shego? I was just lucky: Kim's fought her countless times and always beats her, I just leant her extra arms last time. Ron's mind filled with self doubt. And if I was really any good at fighting, I'd have been able to stop Fist last night! His eyes filled with hot tears, and he angrily wiped them away. He resumed staring into space. I shouldn't think like that. I'm competent; Kim's even told me as much on our latest missions. I help more now: I can face henchmen! I couldn't do that eight months ago, but now look at me! No longer just the distraction. Kim now considers me her equal, not just the sidekick!

Kim re-entered the room during Ron's internal monologue, but his unfocussed gaze completely failed to register he entrance. She placed an apple and an orange on the table next to him, before sitting in the chair next to the bed. She noticed he was staring at something in her direction; something on her. She glanced down: perhaps there was something on her shirt? Her eyes widened as she thought she knew what he was staring at: her chest. She grinned, her eyes narrowing slightly as she thought up a plan.

Ron was roused from his thoughts by a cough. He suddenly registered what he was looking at.

"Enjoying the view?" Kim's voice said tensely.

Ron looked up, his face flushing a deep red. "Kim, I, er, was…staring…"

"Yeah, at my 'assets.' Ron Stoppable, you dirty perv!"

"I didn't mean to, honest, I didn't even realise!"

Kim leant forward, her hands pushing down on the mattress. Her arms pressed either side of her chest. She noticed with smug satisfaction that Ron was fighting to keep from staring. "I'm going to have to punish you."

Ron was more scared than he had ever been in his life. What was Kim going to do to him? He was more than surprised when she clambered on top of him and pressed her lips firmly against his own. He was even more surprised when a low purr rose in Kim's throat and she brought her tongue into play.

After a few minutes, Kim broke away from the kiss, her hair more dishevelled than it had been when she first woke up. "Had enough?" she asked, a husky note in her voice. Ron opened and closed his mouth repeatedly in a fair impression of a goldfish, unable to find the words. Kim laughed, and then gave him a gentle peck on the lips. Satisfied, she rolled off him and settled on her back next to him, squeezed close to him on the single size mattress.

There were a few moments of silence before Ron finally found his voice.

"Seriously, what does an orange taste like?"