As with every chapter before and every 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.

The McHenry Laser Grid system appeared to have done its job overnight. Aside from some grumbling by the Overnight ICU Nurse that the glow of the laser beams made the unit seem rather eerie, all was quiet.

James had awakened before Kim. After disabling and re-enabling the grid to hunt down some coffee, he sat studying his beloved "Kimmie Cub" as she lay sleeping in her hospital bed.

Two years ago, when Kim and Frederick, the monkey astronaut, had rescued Ron from the space station, he at last began to accept that she was no longer "Daddy's Little Girl". Now she was a senior, about to turn eighteen, and soon would be going away to college. On top of all that, what everyone had hoped for (even himself, deep down, although he tried to put up a good front) had finally happened: Kim and Ron were now dating.

Yes, he was very happy Kim and Ron were now officially a couple. As goofy and childish as Ron could be at times, after close to twelve years, nearly five of them as Kim's "sidekick", James genuinely felt he knew Ron and could trust him. His comments at home and in the car about the attack perhaps being Ron's fault were out of line. Thankfully, he at least had the sense not to repeat them in Ron's presence.

After the near catastrophe last spring with Dr. Drakken and Eric, James at last plainly saw that Ron is good for Kim. As difficult was it was to admit, he had "fallen" almost as hard for Eric as Kim's boyfriend as she had herself. Eric was everything James wanted for Kim: bright, good-looking, athletic, and socially graceful; everything that Ron was not. While Kathleen had expressed some doubts, James was quite convinced that Eric was "the one".

What Eric lacked --- aside from being human, of course --- that Ron does have were the two things that in the end led to Eric's and Drakken's downfall: a heart of gold and a knowledge of and love for Kim that compels him to do anything he can for her, even to the point of giving his life to save hers.

Just as Kim was making the transition from teenage girl to young woman, James had seen encouraging signs the past three months that Ron was himself rapidly maturing and would hopefully soon be prepared to take the leap from boyhood to manhood.

James was getting ready to disable the laser grid system and make another coffee run when Kim began to stir.

"Good morning, sleepy head", James teasingly greeted his daughter.

"'morning, Dad", Kim replied with a yawn. "How long have you been up?"

"Oh, about an hour or so. I've been relaxing with my coffee, enjoying some quiet time with my sleeping beauty of a daughter. How are you feeling?"

"Groggy… and sore."

"Well, a little more time to wake up and a good breakfast should take care of the grogginess. The soreness may take a bit longer to go away. I was just about to go get some more coffee. I can find a breakfast menu for you if you'd like."

"That'd be great, Dad. Could you also look for some hot tea for me? I'll take some Green Tea if they have it."

"Will do, Kimmie. Be back in a jiffy."

Dried "100 daily nutrition" cereal, skim milk, low-fat strawberry fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt and a glass of orange juice were not exactly James Possible's idea of a Saturday morning breakfast. However, when Kim ordered hers and he said "I'll have the same", his intentions were good. He wanted this extremely rare father/daughter breakfast to be extra special. If that meant making a small sacrifice or two, fine. Besides, his wife had been lovingly reminding him that cutting back on fat to lower his high cholesterol would sooner or later have to include Saturday mornings.

Once breakfast was finished, Kim was taken in a wheelchair out of ICU to have additional tests performed --- some new, some repeats --- to determine what if any damage had resulted from the taser attack.

While she was gone, James called home to both deliver a status report and get one.

"Possible residence."

"Rachel?"

"Oh, hi, Jim. Kate and the twins left for Jim and Tim's J-V soccer tryouts. They're expecting to be back in a couple of hours. How's Kim doing?"

"So far as I can tell, Kim's doing fantastic. She woke up feeling rather sore, but that's to be expected. Otherwise, she had a good appetite and downed what was for her a normal-sized breakfast. The hospital staff just took her to do some more tests. I'm hoping that her doctor will stop in later and update us on the results. How are things at the house?"

"Well, the twins slept straight through the night. The news about Kim clearly shook them and Rufus up but they were obviously relieved to hear how quickly she is recovering. All three are anxious to come down later to pay her a visit. Jim, did Ron stay there with you and Kim or did he head home?"

"Ron took Wade home and planned to go to your house to shower and sleep."

"That's what Kate and I figured, but I thought I'd ask, just in case. Rufus and I will be headed home as soon as I finish cleaning up the kitchen."

"Rachel, that's really not necessary."

"It's like I said last night, Jim: You and Kate need to concentrate on getting Kim back on her feet. If there's anything I can do to help, don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

"Okay. And, yet again, thank you. When you see Ron, tell him that Kim's r-e-a-l-l-y looking forward to his taking over watch duties."

"I'll be sure to pass along the message. No doubt the feeling is mutual."

"Dah-Dah-Daah-Dah!"

The familiar beep sequence of the Ronnunicator woke Ron out of a deep, deep sleep.

One eyelid partially opened.

"Dah-Dah-Daah-Dah!"

The other eyelid partially opened.

"Real Life calling, Ron", he groaned to himself. "Better see who it is."

Stretching his arm over to his nightstand, Ron could barely reach the corner of the Ronnunicator with his right index finger.

"Dah-Dah-Daah-Dah!"

"Alright already! I'm coming!"

Using his index finger, he dragged the Ronnunicator across the top of the nightstand until there was enough in reach to grab with all his fingers, then dragged it further until he could grab it with his entire hand.

"Dah-Dah-Daah-Dah!"

"What's the sitch, Wade?"

"You okay, Ron? I beeped you four times before you answered."

"I'm fine. Woke up out of a deep sleep, that's all, and Rufus wasn't here to shake me awake. What's up?"

"Thought I should call and give you the latest on that "Wanted" e-mail."

"So, is it real or fake?"

"I'm afraid I'm still not sure about that. However, it was a direct e-mail message, not a message to a bunch of e-mail addresses at all one time. I'm working traces from here while a couple of pals of mine are working different angles to see if they can trace it. Thus far, beyond agreeing it originated from somewhere in Asia, none of us has found the source, so I guess it remains a mystery."

"What about the three thugs? Did the police get anything out of them?"

"The ringleader and the one I zapped are not cooperating. The police are trying to get the other one to turn over against the other two others in exchange for a reduced sentence."

"Where'd they get the taser and the stun gun?"

"The stun gun is off-the-shelf. You can buy those on the Internet for less than a hundred bucks. The taser appears to be a standard model that someone modified. The police let me scan it for specs. Whoever did the modifications did a good job; too good, in fact. Had the ringleader kept pressing the trigger for three more seconds, we might all be preparing for Kim's funeral."

"Thank God he didn't."

"Amen to that, bro'."

"Since we still don't know whether or not that e-mail was genuine or a fake, I think we'd better keep the grid system active while Kim's in the hospital and maybe even for a few days at home until she's on her feet."

"Agreed. I've been drawing up some design changes to be made when we move the system to the Possible home. The main one is taking into account that the entry to Kim's bedroom is through the floor."

"Way ahead of things as usual, Wade."

The sound of the door to the garage could be heard opening.

"Sounds like Mom's home from the Possibles. I guess I'll go say "Hi". Again, beep me if you have any more news."

"Will do."

Even before Ron could get one leg out from underneath the bedcovers, Rufus had made a beeline from the car to the bedroom and with a "Yeea-aaah!" flung himself up on top of Ron.

"Rufus! How's my good buddy doing? You miss me?"

"Oh, he definitely missed you, Ron", spoke Rachel Stoppable, standing in the bedroom doorway. "Ever since I told him you would still be here when we came back home, he's been bouncing up and down and jabbering non-stop. I barely had the garage door to the kitchen open a crack when he took off like a shot."

"Well, I missed you too, buddy. How much did you tell him about last night, Mom?"

"The same we told Jim and Tim: the basic facts without getting into a lot of frightening details", answered Mrs. Stoppable. "We talked about it over breakfast. Speaking of which, Kim's mother and I put together a plate for you, if you're hungry. There are pancakes, a couple of eggs and some sausage. All you'll need to do is microwave it."

"Yum! Sounds great! Thanks, Mom! I think I'll jump in the shower first, then have breakfast."

Ron glanced at his alarm clock.

"Oh, man! I better get moving. I promised Mr. Dr. P. I'd relieve him at eleven and I need to make a couple of stops on the way there."

"Dad, how many more tests do they have to do on me?" complained Kim. "I'm feeling fine. In fact, if they'd let me, I'd go home today rather than stay here another night or two "under observation"."

"Kim, they only want to make sure you actually are okay, that's all. The shock from that taser might have done some damage that either can't be easily detected or might not show up for a day or two after the attack."

Kim sighed. "I know it's all for my own good. I just hate lying around here in the hospital when I could be up doing something; anything."

"Even chores?" asked her father.

"Yeah, even chores."

"You must really be desperate if you'd even be willing to do chores to get out of here, Kim", chuckled Mr. Possible.

"So you'll ask the doctor if I can leave today?"

"Kim, if the doctor says you need to stay another night or two, I'm not going to argue with him."

"But Dad….?"

"H-o-w-e-v-e-r, if he says it's up to us whether you stay or go home, then you have my vote for you to come home… "

"Hurray!" yelled Kim.

"… b-u-t you'll still need to take it easy the rest of the weekend and slowly ease back into things at school next week. Deal?"

"Deal! Thanks, Dad."

"Oh, and one more thing, Kim. About those chores you said you'd be willing to do…"

"D-a-a-a-d."

Anxious as he was to get down to the hospital to see Kim and relieve Mr. Possible from watch duties, Ron knew better than to go there empty-handed. There would need to be two stops along the way. One stop was quick, as he knew exactly what he wanted to get there. The same could not be said for the second stop.

Entering the shop, a bell chimed overhead. Ron walked up to the counter.

"Good morning! Is there something I could help you with today?" asked the lady behind the counter with a very friendly smile.

"Uh, yeah. Actually, there is", Ron answered, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm looking for something that would be appropriate to give to someone in the hospital."

"Oh, is that someone a member of your family, perhaps your father or mother?"

"No."

"A brother or sister, maybe?"

"No."

"Some other relative, then. Could it be a grandparent, uncle, aunt or cousin?"

"No, she's not a relative; at least not just yet, anyway."

"Ahhh! So this someone is a close friend of yours, maybe a girlfriend?"

"Yeah. She was badly hurt Friday night but is in the hospital recovering. I'm going to visit her today and would like to bring along something that's says more than just "Get Well". I want it to say just how much I care for her and how grateful I am that she's getting better."

"Well, I believe I have something that would be just perfect. It'll take a few minutes put together, so go ahead and make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Ron sat down in a chair at the front of the shop, picked up the Saturday edition of the Middleton newspaper and scanned the front page. He and Kim had dealt enough with the paper's staff to know that there was only one daily edition, and it would have been "put to bed" before the attack Friday night. That was why there was no mention of it in Saturday's paper.

Middleton didn't have its own Sunday edition, as it could not compete with the nearby metropolitan Sunday paper, so the earliest any news of the attack would be in the local paper would be Monday. By then, Kim should be home and Wade would hopefully have a firm answer to the "is the "Wanted" e-mail real or fake" question.

The lady returned to the counter and called Ron up.

"Is this more or less what you had in mind?" she asked.

"W-h-o-o-o-a…!" responded Ron in astonishment. "Uh, yeah, I'd say that was what I had in mind. That is, if money wasn't a question. Maybe I should have told you how much I had to spend before you did all this."

"What were you planning to spend?" the lady asked, with just a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Um, to be honest, ma'am, I only have ten bucks, and that I had to borrow from my mom."

"Tell you what, Ron. You go ahead and keep the ten. Consider this "on the house"."

Now Ron was completely speechless. "But… ma'am…"

"Ron, just consider it a small token of appreciation from me for all that you and Kim do. I know what happened last night. My sister works in ER at the hospital and was on duty when they wheeled Kim in. She called me after her shift and asked that I pray for both of you. Don't worry, I didn't tell anyone else nor will I."

"Ma'am, I don't know what to say?"

"Just say "Thank you", Ron."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"It's my pleasure, Ron. One thing that you could use that ten for would be a nice bottle of sparkling white grape juice. It's non-alcoholic, so the ICU nurse won't object. The store down the street sells it already chilled."

"Oh, and by the way, while I don't recognize the smell of whatever it is you're carrying, all that cologne isn't masking it."

"Thank you, ma'am. For everything."

"You're welcome, Ron. Just know you and Kim are always in my prayers."

Walking sideways out the door, Ron again heard the bell jingle overhead.

Once out on the sidewalk, he looked down at his pants pocket and spoke. "Rufus, I told you Dad's cologne wouldn't hide naked mole rat smell."

Popping out, Rufus apologized. "S-o-r-r-y."

"Let's hope the hospital staff's sense of smell isn't as good. Otherwise, good buddy, I'm afraid you'll be hitching a ride back home with Mr. Dr. P. Let's go get that grape juice."