As with every chapter before and to follow, Kim Possible and all related characters (other than those of my own creation for the purpose of this story) are the property of The Walt Disney Company. Everything else is all mine.

Rachel Stoppable turned her late model sedan off the main thoroughfare and down the neighborhood street that led to her family's home. It was the end of a long busy week at the office. Her branch had been chosen to be one of the first to convert from the client software-based banking system to the new web browser-based system, and things weren't going smoothly.

As Assistant Branch Manager, she naturally was chosen to oversee the conversion. So, in addition to her regular responsibilities, she was coordinating this project, and, not surprisingly, brought home with her each night a major stress headache.

Unfortunately, her husband Jonathan was away all week at the Society of Actuaries Annual Meeting down in Orlando. He always knew how to relieve the tension with a long, relaxing neck and back rub. In lieu of that, she tried using the electric massage wand. It helped a little but was no substitute. Her son Ron offered to have his naked mole rat Rufus give her a back scratch, but she politely declined.

Approaching the house, she saw Ron's car parked on the right side of the driveway. She activated the garage door opener, eased her car up the drive, into the garage and shut off the ignition. Exiting the car, she pressed the control button on the wall, and as the garage door slowly closed, she opened the house door and entered.

"Ron? Rufus? Anybody home?" Getting no response, she spotted the package on the kitchen table. "Well, someone has been home. Wonder where those two disappeared to?" She proceeded to her home office just down the hall from the kitchen and stowed her briefcase beside her desk.

Figuring that, if they were home, they'd be in one of two places, Mrs. Stoppable first checked Ron's bedroom. She saw his backpack laying on his bed but no sign of either him or Rufus.

So she walked back down the hallway and descended the stairs leading to the family room. By the time she reached the landing, she could hear the unmistakable sounds of Ron and Rufus snoring.

Quietly crossing the carpeted floor, she paused to turn off the television, continued on and stood gazing down at the two couch occupants. "Those two are quite the pair," she thought. "It's hard to believe it has been seven years since Ron brought Rufus home from Smarty Mart. Rufus was such an ugly little pink thing back then. Just looking at him made my skin crawl. I wanted to tell Ron to take him back, but Ron so much wanted a pet, and a naked mole rat seemed to be the only animal that wouldn't trigger Jonathan's pet hair allergy."

"Looking back, I'm thankful we did get Rufus. He's been a faithful companion --- Ron's "good buddy" --- day and night. Plus, according to Kim and Ron, it was Rufus who saved the day last spring when that terrible Dr. Drakken almost succeeded in taking over Middleton and the world."

"Still, with Ron and Kim's relationship becoming "more than friends", as they put it, I can't help but wonder where Rufus fits into the picture. I know it was Kim who put her foot down about Rufus not going along on their dates, but Ron doesn't seem to be putting up much of a fight. He even hinted a few weeks before school started that he wouldn't mind it if Rufus stayed home sometimes on school days. Rufus clearly wasn't wild about the idea."

"Jonathan and I both like Rufus in our own ways, but we both work during the day, so he would be home all alone. Not that I don't trust Rufus. Once he was house-trained, he's been fairly well behaved. He does have a habit of overeating and getting the newspaper sections out of sequence, but he knows where the bathroom is and Jonathan has learned to tolerate his paper being "pre-read"."

"It's just I think Rufus would get lonely being here all day by himself. Even he eventually gets tired of watching television. Maybe it's time he had a companion. But what would it be?"

Just then, Rufus rolled over, fell off the couch back and smack onto Ron's nose. "Ouch!" Ron yelled, "Rufus, what was that all about?"

Mrs. Stoppable couldn't help but laugh. "Ron, it wasn't really his fault. He just rolled over in his sleep and ran out of room."

"Oh. Hi, Mom. When did you get home?"

"Just a few minutes ago."

"Oh, man! What time is it?"

"Quarter to six, according to my watch. Why?"

"Kim and I are planning to go to a movie and then later maybe take a stroll around City Park Lake. Uh, is that okay with you?"

"Sure, as long as you make absolutely certain you are home by midnight. I don't want to have to drive down to the City Police Station again to pick you two up because you violated curfew."

"Mom, that time we would have been home, but my car had a flat on the way here and I had left the temporary spare in the garage."

"Is the temp back where it belongs?"

"Yes, and, thanks to Dad, there are now four new tires on the car. I also checked the oil and topped the tank before school. So our odds of making curfew tonight look pretty good."

"Oh, yeah, and I think it's Mr. Possible's turn to come get us if we do break curfew," Ron said with a grin.

"So, are you two hungry?" Mrs. Stoppable asked.

"Are we ever not hungry?" asked Ron in reply.

"Come to think of it," said Mrs. Stoppable,"not that I can remember. Let's do pizza tonight. Go ahead and order your usual. I'd like a small cheese and mushrooms."

Mrs. Stoppable, Ron and Rufus climbed up the stairs to the main floor. Ron immediately grabbed the cordless phone and called in an order to their favorite local pizzeria: two extra-large thin crust pizzas with "the works" (one for Ron; the other for Rufus) and one small thin crust cheese with mushrooms.

Since delivery would take around thirty minutes, Ron knew he had time for a quick shower and shave. True, so far there wasn't much to shave, but what there was he didn't want to come between him and Kim later that night.