Where Did the Time Go? : Part XXX

Ron sat in his car just about a block from Kim's house, letting the engine idle. He was shaken both by his encounter with Bonnie and a very vivid and disturbing dream.

It was just like one he had earlier in the winter, one he had originally forgotten pretty much the moment he woke up. That is, until he had it again, this time stamping it clearly in his memory. How he had managed to wake up without screaming, he had no idea.

The dream was almost the same. The most important detail, the one that was rocking him to his core was that something, some unknown event had wrecked his romance with Kim. She had left him and sought solace in someone else's arms but that was not the worst of it.

He had no idea what that event was but one thing was clear…

…the breakup had been his fault.

The one detail of the dream that was different this time…it was Bonnie Rockwaller helping him with his tie instead of his mother. After the encounter about ten the night before, the very thought made him almost physically ill.

How could he choose Bonnie over Kim? The only reason he had ever considered anything other than friendship with her was that she was a hottie and once he hooked up with Kim it became crystal clear to him that all the other reasons outweighed that to the point of ridiculousness. He spent most of the morning playing the dream over and over in his mind, searching for some clue about what had happened.

The only conclusion he could come to was his mind playing tricks on him. He thought he was past all the fear and paranoia but somehow it was getting into his brain, showing him a future he feared most. He would have to go on, taking it as a warning, doing whatever he had to so that future wouldn't become his reality.

One thing he was certain of. Whether Bonnie deserved it or not, the strife between the two young women was coming between them. That couldn't go on, not since his future with Kim was the most important thing in his life. She hated the other cheerleader, he had to accept that and Bonnie, for whatever reason, hated her back. There was too much emotion invested by both parties and that forced him to choose. It wasn't even really a choice. All he could do now was put a silent hope in the back of his mind they would eventually get past this but for now he would have to get Kim's back. If that meant further destroying the tenuous bond of friendship then he would have to deal with the sadness that brought with it.

He sighed heavily as he put the car in gear. He was seventeen. This was supposed to be a happy time in his life and why shouldn't it be? Where everyone had once called him a loser he had the love of the only woman he had ever truly felt that way about. He had more than a good chance of getting into a prestigious school and even failing that, he would have enough money one day to live comfortably, college diploma or not, if he was careful and wise. He had even cast aside the stigma of being a social outcast and for the first time in his life he could count more than just his girlfriend and Rufus as his friends.

Why then did he feel like he had failed at something?

Nine hours earlier he had felt so grown up, making a choice to do what was right instead of what simply felt good at the moment. Now he wasn't so sure. The fear in his heart cried out for him to run away screaming but this wasn't like some mechanical beast or scary thug he could just flee from. Steeling himself, he opened the door and walked down the sidewalk to the front door as if he were some kind of automaton. Purely on autopilot he let himself in and walked into the kitchen.

Somewhere he had once read that the only way out was through. The right choice was to simply come out and tell Kim everything. At least he was confident that in their love for one another they would find the answers he needed.

Kim's parents looked up from the breakfast nook as if they were actually surprised to see him. "Um, good morning, Ronald." James said after a long look at his wife.

"Kim not down yet? She wanted me to pick her up early so we could go to breakfast."

"No. Kim never came home last night." He put his paper down, a look of concern growing on his face.

"That can't be right. I dropped her off a little after nine last night."

That prompted the two elder Possibles to look at each other meaningfully again. "We got home with the boys about ten and she wasn't here. We thought for sure she was with you. I thought I was going to have to have a long talk with her about staying out all night, even though I don't set a curfew for her any more."

Ron's hand went automatically to his left cargo pocket before he realized he loaned her his Kimmunicator the night before on the ride home from the mission. "Hang on, I'll be right back."

Mounting the stairs two and three at a time, he was up in Kim's room in a flash. The bed hadn't been slept in and apparently Kim's mother hadn't been up there to tidy up yet. One of his jerseys and a pair of gym shorts were lying in a pile beside her changing screen. The mission clothes she had been wearing were nowhere to be seen.

That made him look at the desk. Her royal blue Kimmunicator was sitting in its charging dock, the battery finally reading full. He didn't trust the thing, especially since it had mysteriously failed twice now. Still, he knew a lot better how to work it than the backup in his watch, which he wasn't wearing anyway since he had the one Kim had given him on.

Thinking of a better solution, he stuffed it into his pocket and started her computer terminal. He touched a special key and waited a second. He about jumped out of his chair when the Kimmunicator in his pocket started going off. Cursing himself, he punched up the code for his.

Kim's face appeared immediately on the screen. She had huge circles under her eyes and was still wearing her black sweater. "Hey Wade I…Ron?"

"Kim, where are you?"

"What time…" She looked at her watch. "Oh man, it's seven already? I meant to call you first thing when you got up."

"Where are you?" He repeated.

She yawned slightly. "I'm at GJ headquarters. Better come on down, I'll explain all this when you get here."

"What's going on, KP?"

Kim shook her head. "Just go to the tube way entrance. You can be down here in a couple minutes, okay Baby?"

"Alright. I'm on my way."

"Ronnie?"

"Yeah, Babe?"

"I love you."

"Love you too, KP. See you in a minute."

She cut the link on her end. Glancing around the room as if there were anything else he needed, he headed down the stairs. He took just a second to tell her parents she had been called away on a mission, apparently just after he dropped her off then headed out the door.

He went to the place where they had been sucked into the transport tubes before, trying to spot the hidden seams in the sidewalk. He stood there a couple minutes before his Kimmunicator beeped.

"Mister Stoppable, step about five feet to your left." An unseen voice instructed him. Moments later, the capsule was opening at the main control center. True to Kim's word, it actually took him longer to get to the entrance than it took to go the rest of the way.

Kim was waiting for him at the tubes. Before he could say anything she grabbed him in a fierce hug.

"What's going on, KP?"

She looked around and exchanged a glance with Dr. Director before taking his hand. She led him into a small conference room and closed the door behind them. She silenced him once again grabbing him for a long, fierce kiss.

"Uh, Kim, I'm sure you didn't bring me down here for a bunch of necking."

That forced a slight smile from her as she sat down in one of the plush chairs, guiding him into one right beside her. The chairs were on swivels, so they turned to face each other, Kim taking both of his hands.

"Sorry, Ron, I just needed to do that all night."

"KP?"

She let out a breath. "To quote Dr. Director, the waste matter has hit the oscillating wind generator."

"Huh?"

"It hit the fan, baby. Not long after you dropped me off, I got called away on a mission."

He looked distraught. "You didn't call me?"

Kim shook her head. "It was just a fact finder and I knew you needed to go home and do your homework. Don't worry, Honey, there hasn't been any fighting."

"Then why have you been here all night?"

She turned toward a console built into the table. The surveillance video from the interrupted robbery played, having been even further cleaned up during the night.

"That's the super-suit, isn't it?"

Kim just nodded. "Apparently, somebody is using it either to frame me or they're trying to be like me. Did you notice anything about the person in the video?"

He watched it again, shaking his head as it finished. "I don't see anything. What am I looking for?"

"Watch how the girl moves, how she fights."

Slowly it dawned on him. "She moves like you."

"No, not exactly like me. She's using cheerleading moves but she's not using any particular fighting style. She's relying on the speed and strength enhancements of the suit to beat those guys."

"You don't think that's Bonnie, do you?"

Kim looked away for a moment and drew in a breath. "Ron, GJ arrested Bonnie last night for stealing the suit."

His mouth hung open for a moment. It started working up and down as he tried to speak. Finally he got the words out. "That's not Bonnie."

Kim frowned and looked down. "Honey, I know you've tried to stick up for her but she's the only one who could have stolen the suit. She even tried to say she was coming from your house when they arrested her."

"Kim, this isn't about sticking up for her. That's done. She was coming from my house last night. Bonnie was waiting for me there when I got home."

"She was?" Kim looked up at him, fear showing in her eyes.

"We sat on the porch for a few minutes. She wanted to talk to me after leaving a bad date and she told me a few things." He swallowed. "Then I told her that I broke my promise to her and she blew up at me before storming off."

Kim's frown got even deeper. "She told you some things?"

"Yeah, about how she knew what prescription you're taking and all. She just saw you taking them and recognized them; she never went through your things."

She opened one of the smaller pouches on her belt and pulled out a tiny clear bottle, setting it on the table. Inside was a single peach colored pill. "Ron, you have to be right on top of that pill to see the embossed marking and I took it with two big multivitamin pills, alone in the bathroom. She didn't see me taking it. This is very private for me, that's why I've never even shown you this before. I'm very careful about this and there's no way she saw me take it."

"She lied to me?"

Kim nodded very slowly. "From what I've heard from the GJ agents watching her, she lied about the date too. She somehow gave them the slip with just enough time for her to get to Upperton, then get back here. They didn't pick up her trail again until you-know-who grabbed her."

Ron tried desperately to think. He could feel his anger swelling from the lie but he still wasn't convinced Bonnie was responsible for the theft. There remained another reason he was convinced it was not her he was seeing on the video.

"That's still not her." He pointed to the figure frozen on the small screen.

"How can you tell?" Kim wondered.

"For one thing, I've seen how Bonnie fights. She might not have the mad fu skills you do but she is a black-belt in Karate. That girl doesn't know the first thing about fighting, and I don't think she would hold back going up against three thugs like that. If she were intent on framing you, she would have done a lot better job of it. There's also another thing."

"Oh?"

"KP, have you noticed I can't take my eyes off you when you're wearing one of those things?"

She actually blushed slightly, nodding.

"They fit like a second skin and I know from personal experience they only look tight. That can't be Bonnie cause she's just not, er…" He made a slightly embarrassed face and cupped his hands in front of his chest.

Kim cocked her head to the side, and then touched another control, sending the video to one of the large screens dominating the wall. She watched it twice, slowing it and pausing it twice the second time through.

"Why didn't I see that?" She wondered as the screen finally went blank. She turned toward the table and put her chin down on her arms. "I can't believe I didn't see that."

"It's a guy thing?" He held up his hands in a classic 'I dunno' pose.

She turned her head toward Ron. "This is so not good. I was so sure that was Bonnie and the moment I said so Dr. Director gave the word to have her arrested."

"And I gave the word to have her released." Betty Director said, putting a large mug of coffee in front of both of them. Ron wondered for a moment exactly how she knew he liked milk and sugar in his while Kim took hers black, then mentally chided himself. GJ knew almost everything there was to know about them and he had once even given them his blessing.

"Released? So you've identified who this is." Kim pointed at the blank screen.

"No, but about an hour after we had Miss Rockwaller picked up, the vigilante struck again. We didn't get the word from the Lowerton Police until about an hour and a half ago but once we were convinced it was the same person there was no choice."

Kim put her hands on top of her head as if to hold both halves of it together. "I am so toast."

Dr. Director put a hand on her shoulder. "I am going to take full responsibility for this matter. I just got done speaking to her parents and they understand the national and global security issues at stake. Your involvement in this was never mentioned. They are not planning legal action against you."

Ron put his hand over Kim's and she gripped it tightly. "It doesn't matter. Bonnie's going to blame me."

The older woman shook her head. "I'm afraid I cannot help you there. At least you will each have a day to cool down. I just got off the phone with Wilma. She wasn't the least bit happy about it, but the three of you have been excused from school for the day. I already have people delivering your schoolwork."

Ron piped up. "Uh, mine's in my car, back at Kim's house."

Betty let out a slight laugh. "That's already being taken care of. Don't worry, Ron, you things are being treated with the utmost respect."

He kept holding her hand as they walked back to the bank of travel tubes. He started to speak as they stepped inside but the roar of air shooting them upwards and away drowned him out. It wasn't until they popped out on the sidewalk near her house he could speak again.

"KP, we need to talk."

She let go of his hand and turned to him with a look of utter shock on her face. "Ron?"

"Oh no, please lord no, I can't believe I said that? Sheesh, I'm doing it anyway." He pounded his head with his fist.

Kim gently grabbed his arm to keep him from giving himself a splitting headache. "Okay, I get it, just a slip of the tongue. Let's go inside and talk, alright?" She took his hand again and gently twined her fingers with his.

Both her parents were already gone for the day so they had complete privacy to talk. Kim changed back into her night-clothes, making Ron grin when she came out from behind the screen wearing his jersey and a pair of gym shorts, though the latter wasn't totally necessary since the top was long enough to be considered a short skirt on her.

The sat Indian-style on the foot of her bed, facing each other, holding hands. Beginning hesitantly, Ron told her about the two dreams in as much detail as he could remember. By the time he was done, tears were freely running down his cheeks. Then he told her about his encounter with Bonnie.

"I still can't get it through my head she like-liked me, at least until last night."

Kim put her hands on his knees and gave them a good squeeze. "I think we were both right and both wrong about Bonnie."

"I'm so sorry, KP, you were right, she was playing me to get to me. I just couldn't see that."

"I'm sorry too, Ronnie. It was ferociously uncool for me to blame you for trying to be a friend to her. That's what makes you such a good man." She put her hand on his cheek. "Believe me, I don't think you are capable of doing something so stupid it would wreck what we have. It was just a dream. You took things that make you afraid and things that upset you and mixed them together in your subconscious. We're just plain human beings and it's okay to be afraid sometimes, but we can't really see the future. Not in dreams. If that were true…" She smiled broadly, leaning closer to whisper to him, "…remember the dreams we both had the night after our first date?"

"You mean that's not coming true?" He looked genuinely stricken.

"Eventually, but in that dream you hadn't started growing again. When it does happen, you'll be a full-grown man. Baby, if I could see the future in my dreams, I'd know what my wedding dress is going to look like. I'd know you were going to be wearing glasses full time and you'd be wearing a stupid little goatee." She traced the shape of a small beard on his face with her fingertip. "I'd know we were going to have a son who looks a heck of a lot like you but with Dad's nose and he'd be marrying a tiny little brunette with big blue eyes and really long brown hair. See what I mean? We just take funny little details in our lives and mix them up in our head and they come out in dreams."

Kim held up her left hand and straightened her ring. Except to shower she hadn't taken it off since he had given it to her, even for missions since it was protected inside her glove. "When you gave this to me, you said it was a promise ring. Well here's my promise. When we turn eighteen and you ask me to be your wife, I promise I'm going to say yes. We are going to spend the rest of our lives together and nobody is going to change that."

She reached behind his head and pulled him toward her. The kiss started gently but quickly grew in intensity, in passion until they both found themselves locked in the tightest embrace they could remember. She pushed him down, throwing a leg over his.

A wide grin spread across her face as he kissed her neck. His wrested were crossed around her back and she reveled in the feeling of his body against hers. That is, until a certain twinge started making itself known. Sitting back up, she frowned.

"What's wrong, Kim? I wasn't getting out of control, really."

Chuckling slightly, she got up and pulled him up with her, wrapping her arms around him for another kiss. "Nothing's wrong, I just had five cups of coffee since midnight and guess where I haven't been in all that time?"

"Oh. I'll be right here waiting when you get back." He grinned at her before going back to work on her neck."

"No, how about you're waiting for me in the kitchen. You still owe me breakfast, then we can sit in the den watching movies until all this caffeine in me wears off so I can catch up on some sleep."

They started for the stairs. "So what do you want?"

"Surprise me…but no coffee." She said as she bolted for her bathroom.

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