Chapter 49: Overdue Conversation

Ron didn't know how long he slept. He looked around and realized that he was still in ICU, but most of the wires were no longer running under his blankets. He also realized that Kim was sitting by his bed.

Weren't you supposed to get some sleep?" He asked. He was still strangely calm about everything.

"I did," she smiled at him. "I had a good eight hours. It's now Sunday evening and you've been down a good ten hours, sleepyhead."

"Have you heard from any of our friends, or my 'rents?"

"Yeah, Oscar and Cindy have both been grounded for a week." Kim replied with a slightly worried expression. "Apparently their 'rents didn't consider dodging killer robots and brawling with hired thugs to be normal prom activity." Kim shook her head at the danger their friends had placed themselves in.

"Not for most teens, I guess, how about Monique and Felix?"

"Monique says to tell you that you owe her dinner, a movie, and dancing when you get on your feet. She said something about 'date activity compounded with interest.' Felix is fine; he pirated a TV reporter's signal of the fight. He recorded it and he'll show it to you once you recover. Barkin saw it and says you showed some pretty good moves."

Ron smiled. "Anything new on my 'rents?"

"They managed to rent a car and they should be in sometime tomorrow afternoon. My mom talked to them, 'rent to 'rent, so they're a lot calmer than they were before." She grew more serious. "Mom's had a full account of your injuries but she won't discuss them with me until your 'rents get here. She'll only say that you'll make a full recovery but it will take some time and effort."

Ron matched her serious expression. "That's all anybody will tell me, as well. What's the sitch with Drakken and Shego?"

Kim grew more businesslike. "Both of them are in some secret holding facility. I don't know for sure, but some of the so called experts on the morning shows have said that Drakken could be facing war crimes trials and the death penalty."

"I take it security's tight on everyone involved?"

"Oh, yeah. That includes you. Only your 'rents, selected medical staff, and I are allowed in this room right now. There's a couple of very large guards outside."

Ron shook his head. "Well, I guess you had a Junior Prom to remember."

Kim couldn't hold in a snort. "That's an understatement, but what do you mean by you, why not we?"

"I didn't really attend, did I? Showing up for a few minutes in mission gear doesn't qualify as attendance in my book."

Kim chuckled again. "Yeah, but at least you had a real date lined up." Her smile vanished. "Not like me. I fell for a fake, when you figured out your fake." She hesitated a moment or two and said "Ron, if you had Wade scope Dessie, why didn't you have him scope Eric when you became suspicious?"

Ron set himself for what was coming. He supposed that he must be under the influence of some strong painkillers and that these were making him calm. It was about time to air it out.

"Kim, I'm really surprised that I have to tell you. It goes back to the Spirit Dance."

"The Spirit Dance?" Kim was confused. "I was really crushing on Josh at the time. What happened?"

"Don't you remember? The supply closet?"

Kim shook her head.

"Before the dance?" Ron prompted.

"Oh, we were talking and Josh showed up and I…" Kim's face dropped. "I kicked the door shut in your face. That was a ferociously wrong move on my part." Kim thought for a minute or two. "I don't recall seeing you at the dance that night…In fact, I don't recall seeing you that weekend. OH! Did what I did bother you so much that you didn't show? I'm so sorry!"

"Kim, I didn't show at the dance because my feelings were hurt," Ron explained. In his calm state he found that he wasn't capable of being angry, just a little irritated at the memory. "I didn't show because I was locked in the supply closet."

Kim's hand came up to her mouth. "Locked in? Oh, Ron! When did you get out?"

"The weekend janitorial staff showed up the next morning to clean up the gym. One of them walked down the hall and heard me at about ten the next morning. You weren't exactly my favorite person for the rest of that weekend, so I kept away from you."

Kim looked mortified. "Ron! Why didn't you say something? "

"What was I going to say? 'Kim, locking me in the closet overnight wasn't nice?' No, Kim, I figured that you were telling me something without saying it, so I spent a couple hours in the closet working it out in my mind. I realized just what part I played in your life."

"But Ron!" Kim interjected, "it was an accident! I didn't know that the door had locked!"

"I realized," Ron continued as if Kim hadn't even spoken. His voice grew firmer as he continued. "That you would never, ever let me get between you and your boyfriend. I realized that you were willing to keep me as a friend, even when you had a boyfriend but that the boyfriend would have the priority for your time. You taught me that when the boyfriend showed up, you would always go to him. It didn't really matter how long I was locked in the closet, or even if the door didn't lock. The important thing was that when the boyfriend showed up, you pushed me out of the picture." Ron looked at her with a very serious expression. "That's why I didn't check into Eric's background until it was too late. If he had been what he appeared to be, a new hottie, you would have been mad at me for interfering."

Kim's eyes were very wide and her face was pale as Ron went on. "The Monday after you locked me in the closet, Barkin announced that I was going to go to Japan the next week. I was still upset about being locked in the closet overnight, so I was avoiding you as much as I could that week. Then Drakken hit you with that weird spray and tried to embarrass you out of existence."

"And I did an incredibly stupid thing and went out on a date anyway." Kim added.

"So I tracked down the flower that would save you." Ron picked the story back up. "And I did my best to sneak into your date without Josh even knowing I was there. I got the flower to you and everything was good again." Ron's expression dropped. "I was actually hoping for an elaborate thank you the next day, but all you could talk about was how great Josh was."

Kim flinched again, how could I have just taken him for granted like that? "I take it you and Wade had to look into a lot of greenhouses before you finally found the right flower?"

Ron looked at her for a long moment. "There weren't any to be found in any greenhouse. The botanists don't know why they can't keep them alive more than a week, but they suspect that they can only survive where certain other plants and animals are present. I went to the Amazon Jungle to find one."

Kim was stunned; he went to that length? " Ron, I'm sorry, I-I didn't know." How could I have been so blind?

"The day after that, I left for Japan." Ron continued, "and I can remember how I kept thinking about two things on that long flight over there. The first was that I was going to have to quit expecting you to do everything for me. When you shut me in the closet, I realized that I wasn't the center of your life and that I was probably going to become less and less important to you as time went on. I realized that if I was going to be anything at all, I was going to have to do it for myself."

Ron took a small sip of water, not noticing Kim's sad face and continued. "The second thing I thought about was how nice it would be if you were willing to take a risk just to be with me. I mean sure, we've risked our lives for each other when we were on missions but you risked your life just to go on a date with Josh! I kept thinking how wonderful it must be to be that special; so special that someone as amazing as Kim Possible would risk her life just to be with you. All things considered, I was feeling pretty low when the plane landed."

Ron couldn't help but smile when he continued. "Then Yori met me at the airport and took me to Yamanouchi." Ron's expression turned to one of painful humor. "I can't tell you what went on at that school but I will say that it was intense."

Kim rallied a little and managed a quivering smile. "I can just about imagine."

Ron smiled a little more, and then his expression grew serious again. "Yamanouchi was the second half of a real life-changing experience for me. When you locked me in the closet, I realized that I was going to have to stand on my own. Yamanouchi taught me that I could stand on my own. The Ron factor must have really come through for me, because in two weeks I wound up with both motive and opportunity to make something out of myself. Then came the trip back."

Ron looked at her again. "On the way back, I realized that what made me feel good about myself was helping you help people and I knew that I could do a better job of it. That's why I was determined to hone my Tai Sheng Pek Kwar, I wanted to be better at helping you. Sensei told you why I took up wrestling."

Kim nodded.

Ron dropped his eyes to his lap, not able to meet Kim's gaze for the next part. "After I got back, I realized that I had a crush on you. I had also realized that you're way out of my league in that way. I came to accept that we could never be more than friends and that if you would be my friend I could accept the fact that you were more interested dating other guys than hanging with me. I even managed to wind up with a girlfriend, so I didn't feel like a loser in that department anymore."

Ron's expression became very content and he continued. "After I healed up from the fight with Monty, I had the best couple of months of my life. I didn't have a girlfriend and you didn't have a boyfriend, so we could spend our time with each other. We were doing things that we both enjoyed, practicing kung fu and helping people. The missions were going well and I knew, I really knew, that I was stepping up and being a real help."

Ron's expression fell to sadness again. "Then you started to flirt with me. At first I didn't believe it but it became more and more obvious. That's when I did the stupidest thing that I could have done; I forgot everything I had learned and flirted right back. But I got lucky, you blew me off before we became a couple."

"Why was that lucky?" Kim interrupted.

Ron looked at her, his sad expression chilling her. "If we had become a couple and then you had dumped me, I-I don't think I could have gone back to being friends." Ron's face became anguished. "That's what you taught me with the closet, that's what I was able to tell Yori but I couldn't tell you. I love you, Kim, but you're a special person and I'm not! When a special boy shows up, I'm out of the loop. It was that way with Josh and it was the same way with Eric. You brushed me aside both times and I was able to go back to being your friend…barely." Kim flinched. "But if we had taken that step, if we had started dating and then you had dropped me for the special guy, I would have hated you." Ron's chin dropped to his chest and he refused to meet Kim's eyes. "I never want to hate you, Kim. I told you that no girlfriend is worth losing you. So I promise you, I'll never, ever let us take that step and go beyond friends."

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A/N

This will be the last update for about a week. I need to write a few more chapters, and review them, before posting again. I hope you've been enjoying the story and I hope that the new chapters will be worth the wait. I will update.

Thank-you all for reading my story. A special thank-you for those of you who have taken the time to review and/or email me with comments and suggestions.

And of course, I can't forget Joe Stoppinghem, who has taken the time and put in the effort to Beta read and point out my errors. Thanks Joe.

Catch everyone at the next update.

daccu65.