Chapter 1 – Unfriendly Skies

After what had seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few blissful seconds, Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible broke apart breathlessly from their first real kiss as a couple. Sure, they'd shared a similar kiss before when Kim was under the influence of Professor Bortel's Moodulator chip, but this time it was the real thing.

Kim didn't say anything, she just looking into Ron's eyes for a moment before burying herself in his shoulder, clinging tightly to him and wishing that this moment would never end. It felt so indescribably wonderful to have Ron's arms wrapped gently around her as they swayed together to the slow music filtering out of the gym's speakers where the Prom was being held.

Kim was dimly aware that the music had ceased when she felt Ron direct their movements back toward one of the tables that lined the walls. She lifted her head off of Ron's shoulder, but maintained her hold on his thin torso as they walked back. Monique, Kim's best girlfriend and Rufus, Ron's naked mole rat, were standing next to a small tape player.

"Ron, why don't you get us something to drink," Monique said as soon as they were within earshot.

"Sure, ok, I'll just be getting a, uh," Ron sputtered. His brain was still scrambled from everything that had happened.

"That way," Monique said as she interposed herself between him and Kim to give him a little shove in the right direction. As soon as he was on his way Monique made a little sighing noise and wheeled on Kim.

"Tell all." Monique commanded. "That was so beautiful, I'm still trying not to cry or melt into a little puddle on the floor."

"Uh-huh," Rufus nodded, mimicking Monique's emotional gushing.

"Oh, well," Kim began nervously, flushing as red as her hair. "Rufus was there…"

"I don't speak mole thingie girl," Monique chastened. Rufus just shook his head emphatically.

"Monique," Kim said warningly. She wasn't really too anxious to talk about it. "Short version, Eric was a synthodrone, Ron confessed his feelings for me and I realized that I've been having the same feelings too."

"Well duh," Monique said with false exasperation. "I remember you jellin' when that Yori girl showed up."

"Yeah, I was wasn't I?" Kim said distantly.

"I'm back ladies," Ron said with his usual goofy grin as he walked back up, "and I got drinkage for everyone."

Ron set three glasses of punch down on the table, one for Monique, Kim, and Rufus. Kim noticed that he didn't get any for himself though.

"I wasn't thirsty," Ron said when Kim raised an inquisitive eyebrow toward him.

"Afraid you'd spill it on that ancient suit," Kim asked wryly, indicating the suit Ron was wearing which had belonged to his father.

"Yeah," Ron replied sheepishly. He was still a little embarrassed by his painfully out of date clothes.

"Come on then," Kim said, putting down her drink. "Let's dance some more."

"You got it KP," Ron grinned. "I gotta use my bon-diggity dance moves or else they might get rusty."

Kim giggled as they walked back onto the floor while Monique sighed again as she watched them twist and turn their way through a more rapidly paced tune. She looked down at Rufus, who had his head stuck in his glass of punch, and let out a little laugh of her own.

Ron wasn't entirely lying about his dancing skills, though in many respects his moves on the dance floor were like his moves in combat. They came and they went, but they always appeared to be accidental. He didn't really concentrate much on what he was doing though because he was too busy watching the carefree, joyous look on Kim's face. He knew that a similar expression was probably plastered onto his own too. Ron definitely felt happier than he had in a long time, especially since that fake Eric had showed up.

"KP, it's getting kind of late," Ron said after a while, even though he hated doing it. The clock was nearing ten and he knew better than anyone about Mr. Dr. Possible's rigid curfew rules. "Your parents will be majorly tweaked if you're not back on time, world saving or not."

"Walk me home?" Kim asked shyly.

"You'd better believe it," Ron replied. "Walk being the key word, since the bike, well, it's not looking so hot."

Ron's blue motorized scooter had gotten a hasty upgrade with the tweeb's rockets so that they would be able to make it to the Bueno Nacho headquarters where Dr. Drakken was implementing his latest and greatest world conquest plot. The rockets had seen fit to get them back to Middleton on time, but after going at speeds it was never intended to Ron's trusty old ride was ready for retirement.

The streets of Middleton were brightly lit as the two best friends walked slowly away from the school hand in hand. The spring air was still warm despite the late hour, but Kim found herself wrapped tightly under Ron's arm anyway. There was little traffic out on the streets, a side effect of armies of giant robots terrorizing the world Kim supposed. She looked up at Ron and sighed wistfully.

"This is so perfect," Kim cooed, nuzzling closer to him. "I wish we had done this sooner now."

"I know KP," Ron said, with an unusual air of seriousness around him. "I do too."

"I mean, I was totally in denial about the whole jealously thing over Yori, and even Felix, and then there was the whole mood thing craziness, and…" Kim rambled suddenly.

"I know," Ron sighed. "I wanted to tell you how I felt ever since the Moodulator thing, but I was afraid that I'd lose you entirely or something. Pretty silly huh?"

"What do you mean?" Kim asked.

"Well, I should have trusted our friendship KP. What we've got is too strong to be broken that easily. We've got to co-mun-i-cate what we're feeling. Know what I mean?" Ron asked, ending it with a lopsided smile.

"I think I do," Kim replied, giving a smile of her own. She leaned her head on Ron's shoulder as they continued to walk. Rufus, who had been perched there, chattered at her for a second before scampering down Ron's suit and into one of his pockets. Kim shivered slightly, out of joy, not cold, when Ron draped an arm around her shoulders again.

Mrs. Dr. Anne Possible sighed as she used a broom to sweep some of their roof and a bit of coffee table into a pile in the center of the floor. She had watched the outcome of Dr. Drakken's latest bid for world conquest on the news with her husband Dr. James Possible and knew that her Kimmie had thwarted Drakken again. All the anxiety for her oldest child's safety had given way to the melancholy she had been feeling before the Diablo crisis had struck.

Since Kim wasn't home yet Anne was certain she had returned to the Prom with her "perfect" date. More depressing was James' apparent enthusiasm toward the kid even though he had just moved in a short while ago. Not that Anne had anything against new arrivals to their close knit Colorado existence, but honestly, none of them, even Kimmie, really knew the first thing about the boy. Anne remembered poor Ronald freaking out on TV. She suspected the true meaning of his words when he had declared sorrowfully that he was losing everything he had ever cared about.

"Where are they?" James Possible asked from his vantage point at the living room windows. He kept scanning the area illuminated by the streetlight as if willing his daughter to materialize within his view. Anne came over and joined him, clutching his arm softly with her hands.

"Well, she did have to go save the world hon," Anne replied quietly. "And its still five minutes until ten."

"True, and Eric was certainly a well mannered, respectful young man," James added thoughtfully.

"Uh, sure dear, he was very nice," Anne replied.

James peered into the dark and saw two dark shapes moving along the side of the road. "Look over there, I think that's them, but they're walking."

"Oh," Anne gasped as her grip on James' arm tightened slightly. Her heart started pounding uncontrollably when she saw the way her daughter was walking with her best friend.

"Ronald?" James asked, not noticing the python like grip his wife now had on his arm. "I wonder what happened to Eric?"

The couple made their way slowly up the walk until they were at the front of the porch. Anne could see them standing opposite each other, saying their good-byes, and then it happened. Anne barely suppressed a delighted squeal as Kim stood unnecessarily on her tiptoes and kissed Ron deeply on the lips, her arms wrapping around his head.

"Wha…" James tried to say, but was cut off by an equally passionate kiss from his wife. He looked down with surprise at her elated reaction and suddenly things started to click in place. Anne had been depressed ever since Kim had left, but James had just attributed it to anxiety over Kimmie growing up. He was feeling that rather acutely himself these days. Now he realized that the real cause was her secret desire to see Kim with Ron. Kim with Ron? "Arg, I'm a rocket scientist, but who can understand this?" He finally mumbled when his wife released him and headed for the door.

"What was that darling?" Anne asked in a sing song voice.

"Nothing dear," James intoned evenly. Too confusing indeed.

Anne opened the door, which caused Kim to jump visibly. She had been watching Ron's retreating form disappear into the night. Anne noticed that her daughter looked a little abashed, but very happy when she turned to come inside.

"Kimberly Ann," James began sternly. "What's going on with you and Ronald. Where's Eric?"

"Sit down Kimmie," Anne said, her voice bubbling over with excitement. "Spill, spill, I have to know everything."

Green eyes darted back and forth from concerned father to schoolgirlishly giggling mother. This was definitely not going to be easy, but at least there were no tweebs up running around yelling about cooties.

"Well, its sort of a long story," Kim said slowly after they had all sat down in what remained of the living room. "It turns out Eric was a synthodrone created by Dr. Drakken to play my emotions so I wouldn't be able to stop him from taking over the world."

Jaws dropped. Clearly neither of her parents had been expecting anything as drastic as that.

"I can't believe it," James fumed. "Drew has crossed a line this time. Why I ought to, uh, I don't know what I ought to do, but it will be horrible, beyond imagination, worse than black hole terror…"

"Oh honey I'm so sorry," Anne said empathetically.

"It's really no big," Kim said smoothly. "In fact, I'm glad it happened. We arrived at Bueno Nacho headquarters and fought our way inside; Ron even took care of the sumo ninja by himself. I had just beaten Shego when Eric arrived and revealed that he was a synthodrone an instant before he knocked me out. When I woke up again I was tied up next to Ron in a storage room."

"Eric knocked you out?" Anne asked dubiously. She knew her daughter could rip through synthodrones easily.

"Well, I kind of ran up and hugged him. He hit me with some kind of electrical stun thing." Kim admitted with a quavering voice before continuing. "I was so depressed when I woke up that I just wanted to quit. I even told Ron that Drakken had won and that I wished I had stuck to babysitting."

Anne regarded her daughter sadly. She knew how much saving the world meant to Kim. For her to feel like giving up, well, she must have really been hurting.

"What happened then?" James asked gently.

"Then Ron talked some sense into me," Kim replied in a stronger voice. "He told me Drakken hadn't won and then he…he tried to tell me how he felt, you know, about us. It must have been so hard for him after the way I'd been treating him with Eric around."

Kim sniffed slightly at the memory and Anne moved quickly to embrace her daughter. Through his discomfort of enduring all things emotional James looked sympathetic too.

"Something snapped inside me," Kim said thickly. "He's always been there for me, ever since we were little kids, encouraging me, trying to make me happy even at his own expense. I've been denying my feelings for him for a long time now."

Anne nodded sagely. "You didn't want to ruin your friendship with him and then there was the whole food chain thing."

Kim remembered the dreaded phone conversation where she insisted to her mother that Ron wasn't "boyfriend material." The only statement she had made by ditching her best friend was that she was shallow and stupid.

"Yeah, Ron said the same thing, about the whole not wanting to ruin our friendship that is," Kim replied. "We promised each other that we'd never keep our feelings inside like that ever again."

"You did?" James asked, sounding incredulous.

"Ron suggested it," Kim replied cheerfully. She imitated his drawn out pronunciation. "Co-mun-i-cation! Well, after all that beating Dr. Drakken and Shego was easy. I just hope they stay in jail for good this time."

"Drew had better if he knows what's good for him," James muttered darkly.

"All right, that's enough for now, its getting late Kimmie," Anne said sweetly. "But I'm going to be expecting lots of details from now on…"

"Mom!" Kim groaned. Since when did her mother turn into a Monique clone?

Kim breathed a sigh of relief when she was at last away from her odd parents and in the relative safety of her loft room. She delicately removed her silvery prom dress, bits of the charred hem flaking off anyway, and put it up in her closet. Even if she never wore it again Kim wanted to preserve it for all time because of the memories it now contained.

Though Kim had a feeling it would be pointless she at last slipped beneath the covers to try and get some sleep. Her thoughts drifted to the many experiences that she and Ron had shared throughout the years. It was a very long time before the racing of her heart and the constant barrage of happy thoughts about her new relationship with Ron settled down enough for her to finally drift off.


Anne Possible awoke slowly, disturbed by James' movements as he got up too. James had always been an earlier riser than she had for some reason, probably a rocket scientist thing. Anne donned her robe and made her way toward the kitchen. She smiled when she saw Kim was already up and hovering near the window just like James had been last night when he was waiting for her to get home. Kim was acting just like she always did when she was expecting a boyfriend over except she wasn't at all dressed up. Usually when Kim was expecting a date she would spend what seemed like hours in front of the mirror putting on makeup and trying out different outfits. With Ron though she seemed content to be herself and she certainly wasn't displaying any of the nervousness like she did a couple years ago when she was trying to ask that one boy out to some dance.

"Come on Kimmie," Anne said. "You know Ronald wouldn't miss breakfast, especially not when I'm just getting it started this late in the morning. I do hope you got some sleep."

"I just got up, I didn't fall asleep very quick," Kim replied with a slight blush. Anne laughed softly and gave her a warm hug.

"Mom," Kim admonished slightly, but returned the embrace.

"You seem awfully happy," James said when he came into the kitchen a few moments later. Anne was humming to herself as she cooked up some bacon and eggs for their breakfast.

"Isn't it so romantic James?" she asked, sighing happily. "I feel like a teenager again just thinking about it. They've been in love for so long and now they're finally realizing it."

"L-love?" James stuttered.

"Oh James, you're so naïve, it's sweet," Anne cooed. "They've had this intensely close relationship for so long that they've fallen in love with each other at an age before they really knew what it meant. Now they're finally starting to realize the full potential of what they have."

"But aren't they a little young for love," James insisted.

"Remember how we met darling?" Anne asked.

"Well, sure, we were in some history class together in college and you sat next to me…" James replied.

"Actually, you sat next to me," Anne reminded him, teasingly, "because you thought I was pretty."

James opened his mouth like a fish out of water, then slumped. "Yeah ok, I guess so."

"Don't worry, I thought you were cute too," Anne replied, giggling, as she gave him a light kiss. "But the point is that we were attracted to each other first, then we became friends, and finally we fell in love. Ron and Kim started out as friends, fell in love, and now they're starting to see each other as…more than friends."

"Well, since you put it that way," James agreed, "I just don't think I'm ready for my Kimmie-cub to be throwing around the L word."

"You're not ready for a lot of things when it comes to Kimmie," Anne said, flashing him a little smile. "But can you honestly think of anyone you'd rather see her with than Ronald?"

James sighed, but realized his wife was correct. Ron had become like a son to the family a long time ago. He couldn't bring himself to vocalize all of those thoughts though so he settled for a quite reply of, "I suppose not."

There was an electronic squeal from the living room followed by a loud yell from Kim. A second later two pajama clad twin boys came running into the dining room with an angry red head close on their tails.

"It was an accident Kim," Tim Possible said.

"Yeah," Jim Possible echoed, "you're fine anyway."

"You nearly set my hair on fire you tweebs," Kim yelled, pointing angrily to a few scorched ends.

"Hey, we're more upset than you," Jim said. Kim had finally ended her chase now that they were in the presence of their parents.

"Now we've got to find a new relay to replace the one that blew up," Tim continued.

"Our rocket launch will be set back by days," Jim groaned.

"Boys, what have I told you about rockets in the house," Anne said sternly.

"Rocket remote controls too," James added before the boys could pounce on the technicality.

"Awww, man," the twins said together.

"Hicka-bicka-boo," Tim said dejectedly.

"Hoosha," Jim replied in the same morose tone.

A thud sounded from the living room and Kim perked up immediately. "The door, it must be Ron."

"Hey everybody," Ron said, even more cheerfully than usual. "Hi Drs. P squared. Hi Kim"

"Ron, you're just in time for breakfast," Anne said, giving him a broad smile as he sat down at the dining room table. Kim quickly slipped into a seat next to him.

The twins clamored into their chairs and then froze when they saw Kim kiss Ron on the cheek as he wrapped his arm around her. Kim was tempted to show them a real kiss, but had settled on Ron's cheek to save her father from having heart failure.

"Ewww," they finally said together.

"No cooties at the table," Jim added.

"We were trying to eat," Tim continued.

"Save it for the tree house," Jim finished.

"Tweebs," Kim said sternly, then realized that they weren't complaining about her and Ron. "Wait, why aren't you teasing Ron and pelting him with water balloons or something by now."

"They know not to mess with the Monkey Master," Ron said, throwing up a few goofy hand poses. Then he turned and pretended to whisper to Kim, even though it was loud enough for everyone to hear. "Don't give them ideas KP."

"As if," Tim said, rolling his eyes.

"Ron's cool," Jim said.

"We don't mind him," Tim confirmed.

"Wow, who'd have thought I'd ever get tweeb approval for anything," Kim said, slightly stunned.

"So what do you want to do today KP?" Ron asked as he started to eat. "We could go hang out at the mall, do some shopping, have some Bueno Nacho maybe."

"I thought you hated shopping," Kim asked between mouthfuls.

"That's never stopped me before," Ron replied. He had often spent many hours wondering the mall or the isles at Club Banana as Kim shopped. "I might not be too fond of shopping, but I like spending time with you."

Kim sighed as leaned on a grinning Ron, the twins gagged, Anne tried to hide her huge smile, and James just concentrated on his morning paper.


"KP, did you ever notice that you shop more than you buy," Ron asked after they had taken their favorite seats at Bueno Nacho.

"It isn't about the buying Ron," Kim tried to explain. "Well, sometimes it's about the buying. I suppose you have to do the shopping to know if you want to do the buying, but sometimes you shop and there's nothing to buy, but the shopping is still fun."

"Ouch, confusing much?" Ron said finally.

"Come on Kim, you know you can't explain it to a guy," Monique said. They had browsed though the mall and saved Club Banana for last so that Monique could join them for lunch.

"Unk, confused," Rufus squeaked. The little rodent jumped into Ron's nachos and started stuffing them down rapidly.

"I'm just glad Bueno Nacho is still open after the whole Diablo thing," Ron said. Of course the restaurant was almost completely empty with most customers too scared to come back.

"Well, they may have public relations problems for a while, but I think the fact that they were unwittingly used in Drakken's plans will shield them from legal problems or long term reputation issues. They were victims too after all," Kim said.

"I'm just glad Middleton escaped most of the destruction. Other cities were hit pretty hard," Monique said.

"Not to mention other Bueno Nacho locations," Ron said ruefully. "Most of the others still had their stockpiles of Diablo toys so when the signal went out they were demolished."

"Right, but the toys stored here were all chasing after you," Kim said brightly.

"Ok, that's it, I've had it," Monique burst out.

"Huh?" Ron asked. Rufus poked his head up from his pile of nachos also looking confused.

"You two, you're acting so, so, normal," Monique said exasperatedly.

"Yeah, isn't it great," Kim said, wrapping her arms around Ron in a big hug. "Normal at last…well, for us anyway."

"Well, that's a little better, but still, I expected you two to be all over each other," Monique explained. "I seen you when you were crushing on other guys Kim and I've definitely seen Ron when he's trying to impress the ladies."

"I'm not "crushing" on Ron," Kim said firmly. "We are so way past crushing."

"The Ron-man digs KP as is," Ron added.

Monique went slightly slack jawed. "You guys are that serious already?"

Kim blushed, "It's not like we need to get to know each other. We're just skipping all the awkward uncomfortable part and going right to the steady dating part."

"Yeah, we did all of that stuff in pre-k," Ron said jokingly.

"The more I think about it, its like we're just consciously recognizing something that's been between us for a long time now," Kim said thoughtfully. "Ron and I have been going to movies, eating together, just spending time together for fun, just like a regular couple might, but we never called it dating."

Monique studied them for a moment. They were sitting next to each other instead of across the table like they often used to. Ron's doe like gaze seemed to be transfixed on Kim's piercing green eyes more than usual, and Kim seemed to be a little dreamier when she regarded Ron. "Ya'll know what, I take it back, you two have changed, its just way subtle."

"I like subtle," Kim purred and scooted closer to him. Now it was Ron's turn to blush.

Monique rolled her eyes, but she was grinning. "I'm due back at Club Banana. I'll see you two on Monday, but I expect you to call me Kim."

"Right Monique," Kim said distractedly.

"I mean it girl, I'm living through you until I can get a date," Monique said.

"So, what do we want to do with the rest of our day?" Ron asked after Monique had left. Rufus was sitting at the bottom of an empty nacho tray looking stuffed.

"We should probably go do some homework," Kim said. Ron looked a little disappointed so she sweetened the deal. "If we hurry up and get done we can watch TV Trash Heap."

"I thought you hated the Trash Heap?" Ron asked slyly.

"Well, maybe a little, but I like spending time with you," Kim said, turning Ron's own earlier reply in regards to shopping back around on him.

"Sounds bon-diggity good, let's get to it," Ron agreed.

Ron stared at the equations in front of him and tried to ignore Kim's lighthearted humming as she finished her word. He tried, he really did, but all those squiggles continued to mock him. Ron concluded again for the thousandth time that he was definitely not going to pursue a math intensive career.

"Of course you're not, silly," Kim said when he voiced his problems. "You're going to keep saving the world with me. Besides, you'll get it, I know you can Ron."

"I'm really trying here, but I just can't see into it," Ron said dejectedly. "I always wind up failing."

Kim heard the unspoken recrimination in his voice that he felt he always wound up failing her. Kim scooted over and embraced Ron in a strong hug. "That's not true Ron and you know it."

"I just want to make you proud Kim," Ron said sadly, but he tried to smile for Kim's sake. "I usually just wind up causing trouble, even Rufus is more helpful than I am. I really don't deserve you, you know?"

Kim had helped cheer Ron up in the past when he had occasionally get his inner doubts get the better of him, but for the first time she felt like her heart had been stabbed through. Realizing her feelings for Ron had caused her to subconsciously analyze all the things they had been through in the past and it had left her with an uncomfortable conclusion.

"Oh Ron," she said, her voice trembling, "I'm the one who doesn't deserve you, not the other way around. You've always been there for me, all these years, encouraging me, sticking by me. After all the things I've done over the years I'm so incredibly lucky that you never got fed up with me."

"Kim, thanks," Ron said softly.

"No, I mean it Ron, you've always been there for me. You're the one who gave me the confidence to even start going on missions and then you followed me around letting me take all the credit." Kim said.

"Well, you do most of the work after all," Ron said.

"You stuck with me all through school, even when I tried to distance myself from you just to climb the ridiculous food chain," Kim continued.

"I know I've got the loser reputation among some of the less informed social circles," Ron said evenly.

"You gave me confidence to ask other guys on dates and then helped make it possible for me to go on them. You spent a whole weekend in a closet and went to the Amazon for me," Kim said unhappily.

"KP, enough, please," Ron said sternly. "You shouldn't be sad or blame yourself for all those things. You didn't make me do any of that, I did it because I wanted my best friend to be happy. I was glad to do anything I thought could help you. So no more blame ok?"

Kim sniffed and threw her arms around Ron, kissing him affectionately. "That's what I'm talking about. You've done so much to make me happy, even at your own expense. I can't tell you how much that means, how much you mean to me Ron."

"I'm just glad that we're together, you mean everything to me too KP," Ron said, returning her embrace.

"I love you Ron Stoppable," Kim whispered into his neck.

Ron felt his heart soar. "I love you too Kimberly Anne Possible."

A few hours later the Drs. Possible looked in on the living room and saw that the two teens were sleeping in front of a silent TV; books piled up in the floor. With much difficulty Ron had sloppily finished his work, which actually constituted an improvement for him. It was a good thing too, since their previous late night after the Prom had left them quite tired. Anne let them sleep for a while longer before getting Ron out the door toward his home and taking Kim up to her loft.


"Hey KP, bon-diggity top of the morning to ya," Ron said cheerfully when he saw Kim come bounding down the stairs. She was wearing her usual Club Banana pants and the green shirt with a pink heart in the middle.

"Ron?" She asked surprised. "Aren't you here a little early?"

"I sorta forgot my books," Ron said sheepishly, gesturing to the floor. He was hastily gathering everything up in preparation for school. "On the bonus side I packed your backpack. You might want to check it though, I make no guarantees, cause, well, I just don't."

Kim laughed at his expression. "I'm sure you got everything, let's get something to eat. Mom said we'd have to walk to school this morning so we'd better hurry."

"I hope you kids can settle for corn flakes," James said when they came into the kitchen.

"No problem Mr. Dr. P, I'll just be good and ready for nachos after school," Ron replied.

"All right nacho boy," Kim said, "but I want to stop by the mall too. Monique said something about new stock at Club Banana and Wade text messaged me this morning and said that he has to repair his systems from the damage they took during the Diablo attack. As long as no major freak problem happens we should have a nice relaxing break for a while."

"No freaks, just you and me hanging out, sounds badical KP," Ron said. The two teens wolfed down the rest of their cereal with enough gusto to cause even the twins to look at them oddly.

"That was weird," Jim and Tim harmonized after Kim had drug Ron out the front door.

"They do seem to be having more fun than ever," James said thoughtfully. Anne had been right about those two being comfortable around each other as just themselves. He decided it must be mother's instinct.

The sign outside the school said "Synthetic Human Pamphlets In Main Lobby." Ron didn't say anything, glancing edgily at Kim.

"I suppose the school would have had to find out since "Eric" was enrolled here," she said with a shrug. At least Global Justice or someone was working over time to clean up all the loose ends left behind by Drakken's scheme.

Kim was aware of all the looks and whispers they were attracting as they walked hand in hand down the halls of Middleton High, but she wouldn't have stopped for anything or anyone in the world…except the assistant principal Steve Barkin.

"Wow, that was close," Ron said, squeezing her hand again as the burley man disappeared out of sight after scrutinizing them.

"Yeah, PDA in the halls, instant detention," Kim agreed wryly. "I am not wanting to do that again. Last time I nearly got my face blown off."

"I suppose to be fair detention had nothing to do with the robotic tick," Ron mused. Kim scrunched her nose up at him so he hastily continued. "But detention is a definite no. We've got snackage and mall crusin' scheduled, no time for Barkin babysitting."

"Nuh-uh," Rufus piped up, shaking his head. "Detention yuk."

"Bathroom, be right back," Kim said.

"Sure, I got to check my locker," Ron replied as they disentangled their hands. No sooner had Kim disappeared than their Middleton High nemesis Bonnie Rockwaller slid up next to him.

"I suppose congratulations are in order Ron," she said slyly. "You finally managed to get a date with Kim Possible."

"Right, which is why you were laughing and calling me a loser at prom?" Ron replied dryly.

"Don't be silly," Bonnie said. "Anyway, I just wanted to warn you. Kim just broke up with Eric right…"

"Something like that," Ron interrupted. Bonnie's eyes flashed with annoyance.

"So of course she latches onto something safe and familiar, you know, a rebound…" Bonnie said evilly.

"All right, stop it Bonnie, I know you're trying to play me and its not going to work," Ron said sternly.

"I'm not…" Bonnie said innocently, but Ron cut her off.

"You know, isn't there some kind of grace period or something lined out in the Evil Diva's Guide to Tormenting Others? Can't you lay off for even one day?" Ron said with exasperation evident in his voice.

"I'm just trying to provide a service," Bonnie said, still acting innocently.

"Look Bonnie, no sale, so leave me alone ok? I trust KP, one hundred percent, no questions asked," Ron said, his tone carrying with it a definite sense of finality.

"Fine, loser, we'll see," Bonnie said. She flounced off in a huff while Ron merely shrugged and closed his locker door. He had long since stopped paying much attention to what other people thought, especially Bonnie.

"Oh, uh, there you are KP," Ron stammered. He had turned around to find himself face to face with his red haired girlfriend. "Ninja much?"

"That was sweet," Kim said, smiling broadly. Apparently she had heard at least the last part of the conversation. "We need to get to class though."

The rest of the day went by with relative ease. Bonnie left them alone and everyone else didn't do anything directly, except maybe watch them a bit closer than usual. By the time the final bell had run Kim was already giddy with excitement to hit the mall with Ron.

"Monique, Felix, I didn't see you there," Kim said as she shut her locker door.

"Where's Ron?" Felix asked.

"Where's my update girl?" Monique interrupted.

"Barkin gave him extra homework, but he's coming, and there's nothing to update, sorry Monique. We're going to the mall right now though, you two want to come with?" Kim asked.

"You're inviting us on your date?" Monique asked incredulously.

"It's not a date," Kim said, rolling her eyes.

"Not a date-date anyway," Ron said as he walked up on the tail end of the conversation. He was holding two extra pages of homework and his book bag. "Kim and I decided that we're way past dating."

"Whoa, whatever you say man," Felix replied, casting a sideways glance at Monique, who simply shrugged. "Any chance that we'll get to the arcades then?"

"Probably not, now that I've got this," Ron said, waving the homework. Special homework assigned by Barkin had to be completed, unlike the regular homework Ron was always neglecting.

"We'll see how much time we have after we hit Bueno Nacho," Kim said. "Ron and I didn't have time for much breakfast this morning since Mom had to go into the hospital early."

"Uh-huh, cheese!" Rufus squeaked. The little pink mole rat scampered out of Ron's pants and onto his shoulder.

BEEP-BEEP-BE-BEEP

"Go Wade," Kim said, quickly whipping out the Kimmunicator.

"My systems are back online," Wade said cheerfully, "and I just got a message from Dr. Director. It seems that the U.S. government is exceptionally happy about how you handled the Diablo incident and they contacted Global Justice about how they could repay you. Dr. Director suggested some kind of permanent transportation."

"That would be nice," Kim said thoughtfully. "We barely managed to get to Drakken in time to stop him as it was."

"Right, so the government donated one of its newest covert operations insertion vehicles to Team Possible," Wade concluded.

"We're getting our own ride?" Ron asked excitedly. "Booh-Yah!"

"Booh-Yah!" Rufus echoed.

"It should be at the school any second now," Wade added.

"Sorry guys," Kim said, turning to Felix and Monique, "We're gonna have to take a rain check on hanging out."

"That's ok," Felix said. Am unmistakable whooshing noise was coming from the front lawn area of the schoolyard. "You'd better make time for zombies in the near future though, Ron."

"And I want details," Monique called after them. Kim and Ron waved slightly over their shoulders as they ran out the main exit.

"Wow, that's totally BADICAL," Ron said, voice clearly lined with awe. Sitting out on the grass was a sleek black jet aircraft already sporting the team's insignia on its wings and side. Standing in the side entrance of the craft was none other than Dr. Director herself.

"Hello Dr. Director," Kim said politely while Ron openly gawked at the craft. "I'm surprised and glad to see you."

"After what you two did for us in thwarting the Diablo attack the least I could do was give you a personal demonstration of your new transportation," Dr. Director said crisply.

"Come on Ron," Kim said. She grabbed his hand and tugged him inside after Dr. Director started outlining all the craft's features.

"In collaboration with Wade we've already equipped most of your standard gear and spares," Dr. Director said. "Grapnel guns, jet packs, motorized skates, laser lipstick, and whatnot."

"Hey guys, what do you think?" Wade asked as his picture suddenly appeared on one of the several monitors that were set into the walls of the craft.

"Spankin' Wade," Kim said cheerfully, giving Ron's hand a squeeze.

"This plane has everything, remote control so I can fly it when needed, stealth, and it runs on a fusion power plant that won't need refueling for over a year," Wade said excitedly. He paused when he noticed that Kim had twisted so that Ron's arm was now semi-draped around her waist.

"When did this happen?" Dr. Director asked. She had noticed Team Possible's new closeness at the same time. Ron and Kim both blushed as if on cue.

"About three days ago, officially," Kim said.

"Of course," Dr. Director said. She gave them an uncharacteristic smirk. "Global Justice usually finds that fraternization between team members interferes with team cohesion, but somehow I doubt you two need to worry about that."

"Uh, let's pretend I don't know what you're talking about," Ron said uneasily.

Kim jabbed him lightly in the ribs. "So, back to the plane?"

"Right, test flight time," Wade said, shaking himself back to the task at hand without commenting further on his two friend's new relationship.

"Booh-yah," Ron said. Kim and Dr. Director followed him to the main controls in the front of the plane. They didn't have to touch anything though since Wade was already using his remote access to make the plane lift off. Of course the craft was equipped with VTOL capability so the ascent was smooth and rapid. A few seconds later they were winging their way through the sky far above commercial air traffic and invisible to mundane radar so they weren't even required to file flight plans or keep in communication with air towers.

"Unfortunately, there are no offensive weapons on board," Dr. Director said once they had leveled off into stable flight at a much lower altitude. They were going through the entire range of the plane's capabilities. "Since technically this is a civilian airship the government wasn't comfortable with arming it. You do have a full range of counter measures to protect you from getting shot down though."

"I'm sure that will be more than adequate," Kim said diplomatically. "This is so ferociously cool. Is there anyone specific I should thank for this?"

"No thanks are needed. If it weren't for you Dr. Drakken would have won. Global Justice was hit hard by the first wave of robots. We were caught completely off guard," Dr. Director said ruefully.

"You shoulda seen KP," Ron said. He was practically glowing with pride. "She ripped Shego apart like you wouldn't believe, it was totally badical. Then she evaded all of Drakken's synthodrone goons to knock out the transmitter tower and beat Shego again!"

"Yeah," Kim said, her face burning with a mixture of embarrassment from Ron's glowing recount of the battle and guilt that he seemed to subconsciously award her all the credit. She gave him a quick hug and looked Dr. Director in the eye. "I couldn't have done it without Ron though, he saved me. Drakken would have won if he hadn't been there."

Dr. Director looked surprised and now it was Ron's turn to flush. He started to open his mouth to say something when the aircraft rocked and slowed down considerably.

"Guys, we've got trouble," Wade's anxious voice informed them. "External cameras show another aircraft has just locked onto us with magnetic grapnels."

"Who could it be?" Dr. Director asked. "Dr. Drakken and Shego are still in jail, I'm sure of it."

"This whole flight was supposed to be top secret anyway," Wade added.

"We've got henchmen," Ron yelled, pointing at the screen. Four burly men in red uniforms with Greek letters on the chest were rappelling down the lines. A second later the two side doors were forced open and the invaders streamed inside.

Kim and Dr. Director sprang into action, cutting through the henchmen with relative ease. Ron meanwhile consulted with Wade on a more permanent solution since another wave of henchmen was inbound.

"Can't we pull free or something?" Ron asked frantically. Rufus chattered incoherently on his shoulder.

"No way," Wade said insistently. "We'd risk damaging the plane if we tried to wrench free of magnetic anchors at this speed. The only way they're coming off is if they're shut down manually."

"Then we'd better get over to that other plane," Kim shouted over the roar of the open doors. "Wade, will these jet packs work at this speed?"

"Yeah Kim, you're good to go," Wade replied.

"Come on Ron, no one jacks our ride," Kim said determinedly. She shoved a jetpack into Ron's arms as she slid into another one.

"Good luck, I'll hold them off on this end," Dr. Director said as the two teens crouched at opposite doors. As one they extended their wings and ignited the packs. Kim jetted off straight toward the open doors of the other craft and Ron went twisting off in a sloppy spiral.

Kim rolled over twice before coming to a rest inside the plane. She looked outside and saw Ron still looping around. Two more henchmen soon occupied her attention though, but they didn't last long against her superior combat abilities.

"It would appear that I will have to lend my henchmen a hand," a sinister voice said gleefully. Miniature rockets burst from mechanical fingers. Kim did a series of back flips to avoid the dangerous projectiles.

"Gemini!" Kim said. "What on Earth are you doing here and why are you still making those ridiculous hand puns?"

"I've come for what should have been mine," Gemini said in a petulant voice. "I'm sick of Betty getting all the newest toys. I was planning to steal that plane before she even got clearance to know about its existence."

"Jealous much?" Kim asked sarcastically.

"Not this time, because soon that plane will be mine, and you, along with my dear sister, will be fallen stars," Gemini said. He snapped his fingers and more henchmen materialized from the cabin to assist in the fight. Kim leapt and kicked Gemini squarely in the chest sending him reeling back into the cabin. She twisted and swept the feet out from under the first henchmen. There was a loud crash followed by a high pitched yell. Kim turned around just in time to see Ron careen into the second henchman an instant before he would have grabbed her.

"I got your back KP," Ron said, standing up too quickly and causing his pants to fall down.

Kim heard him moan about the unfairness as it all as she whipped past him and dealt a recovered Gemini a one-two roundhouse punch. She ran over to the controls and plugged her Kimmunicator into the console.

"Got it Kim," Wade said a few seconds later. The magnetic clamps had released themselves.

"KP watch out," Ron yelled. Gemini had thrown him to the rear of the plane and was preparing to launch more finger rockets at her. Kim fired her grapnel into the roof of the plane and used it to give her the force she needed to spring over Gemini's head and his missile attack. The rockets slammed into the controls behind the position where Kim had just been standing and immediately the plane began to lose control.

"Time to go Ron," Kim said. She grabbed him and leapt out the side of the door, activating her jetpack to get them safely away from Gemini's doomed plane. Several shoots opened up as Gemini and his henchmen drifted to safety.

"I've already called in an alert," Dr. Director said once they were back on board. "My dear brother will have a hard time evading Agent Du's task force."

"I'm pleased to report your new ride escaped without a scratch," Wade said once they were settled back in and headed toward Middleton.

"I'm sorry we didn't make Bueno Nacho," Kim said. She gave Ron a crushing hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Mom's making brainloaf though."

"Sounds good to me KP, I've had more than enough excitement for today," Ron agreed. Rufus jabbered incoherently as the two teens cuddled for the rest of the flight.