Shocked

Disclaimer: I'm a poor college student, you think I own a multi-million dollar franchise like Kim Possible? Well thanks for the thoughts, but I don't.

Chapter Five: The Others

Ron's POV

Ron made it through the rest of the day in good shape, he had never quite realized just how not normal missions were till now, Tara and Monique were perfectly smart people, but they, like most people, just couldn't quite get their minds around the events of his and Kim well now his and Bonnie's missions.

Throwing open the doors, Ron thanked whatever gods might be listening that there was no cheer practice for him to have to be the Mad Dog at today, that left him with the afternoon free which he intended to spend walking home from school and trying to digest the latest changes in his far too chaotic life, a stop at Bueno Nacho might also be in order of course.

He set off at a leisurely pace towards Bueno Nacho, it would take him about 20 minutes to get there like this, and that would let him get everything that needed figuring out at least somewhat organized, as well as he ever organized anything, oh alright he'd just think it through as it came to him.

About halfway there, he heard a car horn honk and a familiar car pulled up next to him.

"Hey Mrs. Dr. P." Ron said as Kim's mom rolled down her car window.

"Hey Ron," she said with a note of mild concern in her voice, "all off on your lonesome today?"

"Nah," he replied, "just off to Bueno Nacho for some snackage, I might have to bring something back for Rufus, the little guy's been down with something."

"Well," Mrs. Dr. P said, "if you're not too hungry later on you should stop by for dinner tonight, we haven't seen you in forever, and Kim is always out with Josh, we should at least be able to have one of the two of you there and Jim and Tim miss you."

Ron was about to politely refuse, but the look of sincerity on Kim's mom's face made him change his mind.

"Sure thing Mrs. Dr. P, dinner at the usual time?" he said.

"Of course Ron," she said then a look crossed her face and she turned back to him, "why don't you hop in Ron, hospital food isn't very good and I could do with some Bueno Nacho, plus it'll give me a chance to catch up with you before the boys have a chance to wrangle all sorts of stuff out."

Kim's mom was like a second mom to Ron, and she was plenty smart, so maybe she could help him figure some of what was on his mind out, plus when Kim did get back from Monkey land, however long that took, having her mom on his side might prevent Kim from inflicting serious bodily harm on Ron. So thanking her, Ron hopped into the car and off they went to Bueno Nacho.

Ron slid into the booth across from Mrs. Dr. P with his usual Naco and Chimerito combo, he'd also gotten a Naco to go for Rufus back home, grande sized of course.

"So Ron," Mrs. Dr. P said taking a bite of her own Naco, "you looked like you had a lot of stuff on your mind walking over here, anything you'd like to talk about?"

Ron marveled once again at the ability Kim's mom had to get at what someone was thinking, putting down his own half eaten Naco, Ron tried to get the last month from the mess in his head to something that he could speak and have Mrs. Dr. P know what he was saying.

Taking a breath he started, "Well… you know how Kim and Monkey," Mrs. Dr. P covered a laugh, "started dating at the beginning of school."

"I've been wondering about that," Mrs. Dr. P interrupted, "I never expected Kim to just drop everything like that to date Josh, and she never told us anything other than she was doing great, you wouldn't happen to know anything more about that would you?"

Ron sighed, "I really didn't even see it coming either, I mostly just had to watch. Right before school started, Monkey asked her out and Kim of course said yes. That very night we had a mission, but it was just Frugal Lucre, so it was nothing I couldn't handle on my own to let Kim go on her date."

"Ron," Mrs. Dr. P interrupted again, "I don't think Kim would get to where she is from skipping a mission with Frugal Lucre of all your villains."

Drinking some of his soda Ron said, "She didn't, it was just that the whole time we had like nothing to do, all the chair selections aren't done till the 3rd week of school, it seemed like every villain was in jail at the same time, and Kim had nothing to keep her dating Monkey. So she did, they went out every night, were together all the time at school. Nothing too big ever came up, so she could just keep pushing that to date Josh, and it just kind of became her norm by the time school really kicked in."

"And has that just thrown everything for a loop?" Mrs. Dr. P asked.

"No," Ron answered, "I mean I've been hanging out with Felix and Monique more so it's not like I've been lonely, and Bonnie has actually done surprisingly well as captain and chair of everything, it's just that Kim's stopped going on missions, which are a whole heck of a lot tougher when you're on your own. Anyways, I managed to get them done till about a week ago, but even though it's been pretty light for awhile it's still pretty tiring, and it just started showing that I was plain getting run down having to do all the work."

"So you're telling me you've been stretched too thin and you need someone to help with missions, is that right?" Kim's mom asked.

"It was," Ron replied, "but then just yesterday Wade calls me and tells me that Drakken and Shego are trying to take over the world again, I couldn't let them get away with that, so even though I was pretty sure it was gonna hurt, I told him to line up a ride. Well when I get out to where it was, I found Bonnie of all people waiting there to go on the mission. I mean missions with Bonnie, it went well and all, but when Kim gets back to her normal self, she's gonna flip."

"Not really," Mrs. Dr. P said, "if you needed someone other than Kim to go, as much as I want to side with Kimmie as her mother, Bonnie is the logical choice. She's got the most experience with this kind of stuff behind only you two, and she's the only other one who has actually been on one of your missions. It might take some getting used to for her, but when Kim gets going again she'll have to realize that your team has grown."

"That's not the worst of it," Ron sighed, "This is Bonnie we're talking about, and there is no way she doesn't have some plan behind this whole thing, she and Kim have been butting heads too long for Bonnie to let an opportunity like this go by without doing something, and I'm just worried that Kim's gonna… you know, get mad at me for somehow letting Bonnie do whatever it is she'll end up doing."

"Well," Kim's mom said slowly, "since you know what Bonnie is apt to do, you can be ready for it when she does spring whatever plan she has, and Ron let me ask you a question, are you Kim's friend?"

Ron stayed silent for several long moments, trying to figure out if Mrs. Dr. P had meant anything other than what she said, finally deciding that she had actually asked what he thought she had Ron replied,

"Yeah, only since Pre-K."

"Then you and Kim will be fine," Mrs. Dr. P smiled, "you two have gotten through worse than this, and in the meantime you're right that you do need Bonnie's help with missions, so just keep your eyes open for whatever it is she's planning. Now, since we're a ways from your house would you like a ride home?"

"Sure thing Mrs. Dr. P." Ron said, he had been right after all in hoping that Kim's mom could help him through his own problems.

Bonnie's POV

Bonnie got up off her bed as the doorbell rang, looking at her clock she saw that Tara was right on time for their weekly girls night, oh thank God for Friday, Bonnie thought as she walked down the stairs in pajama pants and an old soccer jersey.

Opening up the door, she saw Tara standing there in her own pajama pants and a hooded sweatshirt, the early October night was warm by Colorado standards, but still cool enough to need layers.

"Bonnie!" Tara shouted as she grabbed Bonnie in a rib cracking hug, "are you sure you're alright? I mean from that mission and everything, because you said you were alright, but that was in front of Ron, and I know you wouldn't want him to think you couldn't take it, but it must have been so scary and you can tell me Bonnie."

Bonnie shook her head and let a sigh escape her lips, she knew Tara was trying to talk her out of the plan by making her feel bad about the missions because they would worry Tara too much, unfortunately for the blonde, Bonnie was too calculating a personality to fall for such a trick.

"Tara," she said, "the mission was fine, I was never that scared, Ron did all the hard work, I just had to avoid tweedle dee and tweedle dum to push a big red button and then get out of there. Besides, that was Tuesday and this is Friday, if Ron or I were going to drop dead I think we would have by now."

Tara pouted as she flung her sweatshirt onto a chair before flopping down on Bonnie's couch.

"Look," the blonde said, "I think you should drop this whole 'plan' of yours. Kim and you compete over stuff, and there's nothing I can do about that, but you shouldn't drag Ron into the middle of your fight, he's too good a person for that."

Bonnie let another sigh out, Tara was a great best friend, except she could let her concern about things being 'right' overwhelm her drive to win far too often. Bonnie though was not without her few moral scruples, and before embarking on her little journey she had managed to justify it within those bounds.

"I'm not getting Ron caught up in anything," Bonnie said, "little Ms. Perfect dropped him at the first sign of Mankey liking her back, so the way I see this is that Ron Stoppable is now on the market for a new best friend and if I happen to pick him up and along the way I get to finally put Kim Possible in her place, well that's just better for me."

Bonnie had only seen Tara become truly angry a handful of times in her life, and on the rare occasions she had, it had fairly well proved that the more cheerful a person was most of the time, the scarier they were when well and truly pissed off.

Tara's eyes lit up in anger and her entire demeanor changed into a very threatening one as the no longer cheerful blonde growled, "Bonnie, you became cheer captain when Kim quit the squad to date Josh, you're chair of every committee she was on when she left them, you're the most popular person in the school, and now you're saving the world, why are you so obsessed with beating Kim. You don't have to anymore, she's quit the whole competition thing, now you should do the same before this whole 'plan' of yours blows up in your face and everything comes crashing down on you."

Bonnie was taken aback, having never been on the receiving end of one of Tara's rare outbursts of anger she found it an experience she could do without repeating, but Bonnie's own motivations for the plan made her dare another outburst as she venomously spat back, "Because I can't just quit on this, Kim did the one thing I can't forgive her for."

Now it was Tara's turn to be taken aback by the malicious tone of Bonnie's voice, "But what was it?" Tara asked, "I mean she's off cheer, every committee, all the clubs, she's bolted from the food chain to be with Josh, you should be dancing around in joy right now."

The instant Tara finished speaking Bonnie knew what this was all about, because the one thing she hadn't brought up was the thing that scared Tara most about this whole thing.

"You're scared," Bonnie said, "you're scared that I'm going to drop you like Kim dropped Ron because of all this new stuff I'm doing. Tara, we've been friends almost as long as they have, and that's why I'm so determined to shove her down now more than ever, because no matter how into Mankey she is, she shouldn't have dropped Ron like that. I don't care that I'm cheer captain, chair of yearbook, dance, student council, and however many other clubs, I don't care if I met the most gorgeous dreamy guy ever, you're my best friend and nothing's going to make me drop you like that."

"Sooo… you're not mad at her anymore for getting everything so easy or that she's going out with Josh?" Tara asked in a much more normal voice.

Bonnie had to suppress a laugh, apparently her outburst had shocked Tara out of her own anger and back to her normal self.

"Of course I'm still angry at her for getting everything so easily," Bonnie said, "her brothers don't make a sport of putting her down, her parents don't ignore her for them, the only thing I've ever gotten so easily is my best friend, and Kim just threw that aside, so I'm putting all that other anger on the back burner right now. And how many times do I have to say that I don't care who Kim Possible goes out with, whoop de do she's going out with Josh, if she went out with Ron Stoppable I wouldn't care anymore since she clearly doesn't care about the food chain. I mean heck, if she went out with… with… well heck if she went out with you I wouldn't care, I'd be surprised and all. If she went out with that Drakken guy I'd be a bit concerned, mostly because he's evil. But the point is I… Don't… Care… Who… Kim… Goes… Out… With."

"Right," Tara squeaked out, "Um, wanna get some pizza?"

Bonnie noticed that sometime during her rant she had stood up to loom over Tara who was now huddling on the other side of the couch. She stared at Tara who looked right back, first it was Bonnie who started to giggle, then it was Tara, and before long the two girls were wracked with peals of laughter.

Finally Bonnie calmed down enough to say, "Yeah, I went a bit overboard there, let's get that pizza and we can work on some cheer routines for next time."

Tara stretched over to her sweatshirt to grab her cell phone to call the pizza place while Bonnie ran up to her room to grab paper to write down their ideas, girls night had gotten over its bumps and was back on track.

AN: Hopefully this chapter clears up any lingering doubts about how Kim got to where she is now, I never finished fully forming the idea in my head so if there are a few holes left I beg your indulgence. About this chapter, I know some of you might not think Middleton should be in Colorado, but if you've ever been to Ft. Collins, Colorado. Trust me when I say it channels Middleton. That being said, Ch. 6 should be up on Friday, so I'm hoping that gives all of you something to get you through your week. Till then enjoy!