"I really need some sleep," Ron says as he and Kim walk down a sidewalk toward her house. "I'm becoming delirious. I'm starting to smell lemons!"
"That's me, Ron," Kim says. "GJ's lab cleaned my clothes after they analyzed them for... whatever."
"Did they find anything?"
"They didn't say," Kim replies as her tone hardens, "which seems to be the current policy over there."
"Yeah, Wade and I share in your tweakness about that," says Ron with half closed eyes. He feels like the walking dead.
"Ron, you don't have to walk me home," Kim says with concern at Ron. "You should go home. You can barely stand let alone walk. I can manage getting home by myself."
"KP, I made a promise to your parents that I would bring you back to them and I intend to keep that promise," Ron says in a serious tone before softening again. "Then I will collapse onto your living room floor moments later."
Kim smiles and gently slips her left hand into his right as they continue walking down the sidewalk. They walk for a few minutes in silence before Kim breaks it. "Ron?"
"Yeah, KP," answers Ron.
"What did Dr. Director tell you about this guy? Why does he want with me?"
Ron remains silent for a moment before speaking. He has an uncomfortable look on his face. "Ah… do you really want to…" Kim stops walking while still holding on to Ron's hand compelling him to speak. She looks him directly in his eyes with an intensity that instantly answers his question. He takes a deep, collecting breath.
"Okay. They don't know why he does his… oh what's a good way to say this… seriously disturbing and wrong sick hobby. On a scale of one to ten on the positively insane meter… they think he's about an eleven."
"I don't know about an eleven but the insanity part I'll agree with. So why do they call him the Artist?"
"When they found the missing agents, they each had a note on them that referred to their messed up conditions as his art. The last agent had a note that said his next would be his greatest."
Ron and the world around him suddenly stop. It almost happened tonight. He stares at her in a worried daze. She would have been his greatest piece. He would have done who knows what to her.
As if she could read his thoughts, Kim reassures and comforts him. "Ron, it's okay." She pulls him into a hug which slowly brings him back to her. He reciprocates her gesture. "You saved me, Ron." They stay like this for a few moments before pulling apart. She smiles at him. "You don't have to say the rest. I can fill in the blanks but it still doesn't explain why he would choose me."
"You're Kim Possible, famous teen hero. You've help lots of people and put away as many, if not more, bad guys. Maybe this guy was one of those guys you put away?"
"It could be possible but I doubt it. I didn't get the whole revenge vibe from him. He didn't even gloat about his brilliant plan, capturing me, or give the dramatic 'it was I' moment by revealing himself and telling me how I ruined his life and that he will finally, after years of carefully planning, have his revenge."
"So, what then? Why? It can't be just I had nothing better to do. Cause if it is, then this guy is seriously whacked."
Kim ponders a minute before realizing she and Ron are standing in the middle of the sidewalk at close to four in the morning. "Maybe this isn't the time or the place to have this conversation."
Ron comes to the same realization. "Oh yeah. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow when it's not morning and we have sleep. My brain should be working by then."
"Should be?" Kim asks playfully as a small smile forms on his face.
Ron delivers to Kim a slightly annoyed but other wise good natured glare. "Funny."
"I try," she says with a shoulder shrug. Kim takes Ron's hand and leads him to her house. "Come on, we better hurry before you fall asleep on the sidewalk."
Ron groans reluctant to continue walking. "More walking? Couldn't you just carry me? I mean you are freakishly strong for a girl your size."
Kim turns around and raises an eyebrow at him. "I don't think so. You can make it. I have no doubts."
Ron sighs submitting to Kim's gentle tugging and begins to walk, with a little dragging on her part, behind her. "All right but if I collapse; you're still going to have to carry me."
Kim tosses him a playful smile. "We'll see."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean we'll see."
"If I collapse because of sleep depravation on this sidewalk right now, you're telling me you'll just leave me here!"
"No, I said we'll see."
"And I know what that means."
"Ron."
You would leave me here alone on this dark..."
"Ron."
"… lonely…"
"Ron."
"…uncomfortable…"
"Ron!" Kim shouts. "We're here."
Ron stops his littlemelodrama and stands slightly surprise as the Possibles' front door looms over him. "Oh. So we are."
Kim lets go of his hand and climbs up the step. She reaches for the door knob when it suddenly bursts open and two sets of arms wrap themselves around her.
"Kim, thank goodness you're all right!" Mrs. Possible exclaims.
"Young lady, we were so worried," Mr. Possible says as he kisses the top of Kim's head.
They tighten their grip on their daughter, fearful that she would be taken from them if they let go of her.
"Mom, Dad," Kim manages to say through their tighten grip, "air please."
"Oh sorry Kimmie cub," Mr. Possible says quickly letting go of his daughter. Mrs. Possible follows suit.
"It just that we…"
"I know mom,"
"Well Ronald, looks like you kept your…" Mr. Possible says to Ron before noticing Ron's head lowered, chin almost touching his chest, and eyes closed. It becomes clear that, while still standing, Ron has fallen asleep.
"Poor Ron," says Mrs. Possible. "I'll call his parents and tell them that maybeit's better that he sleepsin the den until he's well rested." She looks at Kim. "You look like you need some sleep as well."
"Definitely," says Kim.
"Honey, could you bring Ron inside and bring him into the den. I'll get it ready for him while you, Kim, head straight to bed."
"Can do, dear," says Mr. Possible. He steps out of the house while Kim, with her mother's arm around her, walks into the house. "All right Ron," says Mr. Possible as he lifts Ron off the ground, "time to go to bed." He looks at the young man's face. "And thank you for bringing our daughter back home."
With that he carries Ron into the house, and heads for the den. He places him onto the couch while Mrs. Possible walks into the den carrying ared blanket.
"Mom, I can do that," Kim says behind Mrs. Possible. She walks toward her mother.
Turning around, Mrs. Possible smiles and hands her the blanket. "All right Kim, but I want you to go straight to bed. I'll call Ron's parents."
Kim watches her leave before she turns to Ron sleeping soundly on the couch and walks over. She places the blankets onto the couch's armrest and kneels down next to the couch. She reaches into Ron's pocket and gently pulls out a sleeping Rufus and gently lays him on the armrest. Moving at a deliberate pace of slowness, she unfolds the blanket and lays it softly on top of Ron. She stares at his face, gently leans over, and kisses him softly on his lips.
"Goodnight, Ron." She gets up and quietly begins to exit the den. She stops and turns around as she reaches for the light switch. "I love you," she whispers before the den lights go out.
"Love you," Ron says softly in his sleep as he turns on his side in the darkness.
"Agent Reed, report," orders Dr. Director.
"Miss Possible and Mr. Stoppable have reached the Possible residence without incident," reports Agent Reed's voice through the speakers in the GJ command center. "She did not seem to be aware of our presence."
"Most likely she was, Agent Reed," responds Dr. Director. "That's why she allowed you to follow her. Now, keep your eyes and ears open."
"Understood," says Agent Reed's voice before ending his transmission.
The young fair skinned, red hair man sits at the counter of Big Al's gas station reading The Truth Seeker, a tabloid magazine that reports on the fantastic, the unbelievable, and the outrageous.
Monkey man runs in horror from horrid gorilla female type creature. What can scare a monkey man? This can. He looks at the picture ofa mutated woman with a gorilla body. "Whoa," he says, "sick and wrong." Reports from various witnesses in the Congo describe the monkey man, who apparently has an English accent, screaming for help while the gorilla creature chases him in a manner that can only be described as strange and bizarre. It seems that the creature, who also speaks English, has a romantic interest in the monkey man calling him "Monty," "Sweetpea," "Cuddle puppy," and "Honey bunny."
The young man shakes his head. "Who makes this stuff up?" He continues to read on as a white ordinary van possessing freckles of rust and a small, but noticeable dent on its hood pulls into the gas station and stops along side the gas pumps. A dark haired man wearing a black duster gets out and begins to pump gas into the van. After five minutes, the man stops pumping, screws the van's gas cap back in, places the nozzle back in its gas pump slot, and walks into the store. He stops just past the doors and scans the store before quietly heading for the counter and the young man.
Turn page for an artist rendition of what the offspring of these creatures, which break the laws of nature and man, would look like. He turns the page. "Ahhh!" screams the young clerk, which in turn startles the man in a duster.
"Ahhhh!" the man in a duster screams grabbing his chest. He takes a few breaths.
"Oh, sorry man," apologizes the clerk. "I didn't know you…"
"It's all right," the man says calming down. What a morning! "Did I scare you or…"
"What? Oh no. It wasn't you. It's this drawing in this magazine." The clerk shows the rendition to the man.
"Whoa!" exclaims the man. He turns his head while the clerk closes the magazine and lays it on the counter. The man, after composing himself, picks up the tabloid and reads another headline from the cover out loud.
"'Mutant fish boy captured by secret law enforcement organization; exclaims revenge on squid'" He looks quizzically at the young man. "You don't actually believe in this stuff do you?" The man places it back on the counter.
"No. I just read it to past the time and for laughs… or in the monkey man case… to scare the heck out of me a little." The man in the duster smiles back. "Just paying for gas?"
"Yeah," says the man. He hands the clerk a wad of bills.
"That's a lot of gas for a van like that," says the clerk as he takes the wad of bills and places it in the cash register. "Do you have some extra gas tanks in the back or something?"
"Ah yeah… extra tanks… in the back. Thanks. Have a good day." The man turns toward the doors and exits the store.
The clerk picks up the tabloid. "You too, man." He continues his reading.
The man climbs back into his van. By now little Kimmie's tuck in bed. I'll let her sleep. She'll need her rest. He buckles his seatbelt and starts the van. After all, it will be her last opportunity to have a good rest for a long time.