Disclaimer: I've written over a hundred disclaimers. Pick one, Please and Thank You.

A/N: Time to let the cat out of the bag and face the music. (Yes, I'm a mixed metaphor man too.) But first a little war on drugs, Intergalactic Justice style.

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The Chapter 12 The Truth Will Out

Ron Stoppable wasn't dressed to the nines, but he did look very dapper and professional in the cobalt blue blazer over a white turtleneck sweater, lighter hued blue slacks and his regular white sneakers. Even his cowlick was somewhat under control. "It's so nice of you to see us on such short notice," he pleasantly said as he shook the Maracaibo based Drug Lord's hand. "We only came down here for the day. Then we're off to Cabo for the weekend." He turned to his two companions. "This is Bonnie Rockwaller and Tara Monroe. They are two of my partners."

"De Nada," Juan Villarreal smiled and offered them a seat on the sofa in front of his desk. "It is a special pleasure to meet such lovely young partners." His smile gleamed at the girls before he turned to Ron and said in a serious manner, "You're phone call intrigued me. Not many would be so intelligent or bold to first discover my personal, private, unlisted phone number and then to call it and make such statements as you did." He chuckled and wagged a finger at Ron.

Ron slyly grinned. "I can't take credit for finding your number, that was one of our other partners, Wade Load. He's back in Middleton. Our organization is small but highly effective and capable."

"Of that I have little doubt," Villarreal conceded, "but my people could find little on your organization. Only that you are a group of high school students and you," he pointed at Ron, "are the inventor of the Naco. You receive a hefty multi-million dollar royalty check each year. No doubt the source of your pending investment in my business."

Ron was just about to say something when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked who was calling. "Oh, sorry, but I need to take this. Do you mind?" The Drug lord shrugged and motioned Ron to proceed. Ron flipped open the phone. "Hey Felix, what'cha got?"" He listened for three seconds and smiled. "Thanks," Ron chimed, closed the cell phone and turned to Bonnie and Tara. "Felix is ready to blow this place when we're done here." Tara giggled and Bonnie's barracuda smile rose to grace her face.

Ron leaned back into the cushy couch, his goofy grin plastered all over his face. "Thank you for letting me take the phone call. That was the fifth member of our group telling me the plane is refueled and ready to go. He was also checking up on us to make sure we are okay."

"Understandable," the Drug Lord said as he steepled his fingers in front of his chin.

Ron stood. "Would you mind if I stand and pace while I talk? I think better on my feet." With minimal effort Villarreal shrugged. "Thank You," Ron chimed with a smile. He started to pace back and forth before the huge oak desk. "I think you either misunderstood our phone conversation or I might have misrepresented our intentions. We're not interested in investing in your organization, or in buying your product. Our research, which we've proven to be quite effective, indicates you are the largest drug dealer in the Caribbean. But your operation down here is somewhat inefficient and haphazard. Your distribution system in America is something we're interested in rearranging too."

Ron stopped pacing and faced his host. "Quite frankly, it all stinks." He continued his walk and talk before Villarreal could say a word. "After the drugs leave your shores, the distributors cut it until it's unrecognizable, or sometimes they lace part of a shipment with arsenic." Ron waved his hand to stop any protest. "I know, I know. They're under your orders to do whatever they want as long as their books are in order at the end of the month. What we propose to do is dispose of your current distribution network. Hey, as it is, most of them are behind bars as we speak." Ron stopped and smiled broadly at the man. "When our business is done here, we'll take care of the shipments that are headed to Corpus Christi, New Orleans and Tampa."

"I know of the massive raids on the American side of my operation," Juan Villarreal said with a nervous laugh. "What it sounds like is, you want to take over that area and revamp my system here."

"Not revamp," Bonnie said from the sofa, "we want to more or less take it apart and get rid of it all permanently."

"You see," Tara spoke up, "we're from Intergalactic Justice and don't approve of recreational drugs of any kind." The two ladies got up and flanked Ron. "Your only options are to get out of the business altogether or die." Tara's eye's flashed a glowing robin's egg blue as she smiled.

"It's your choice," Bonnie reiterated as her eye's flashed and glowed a beautifully soft teal color and began to pulse with light.

"I warn you," cautioned Ron as his eye's flamed into their familiar blue hue, "if you call in your muscle, we'll take that as a no go and we'll defend ourselves."

Drug King Pin Juan Villarreal stood and leaned on his desk with his fingers curled back, hidden under the edge. All three teens saw the Dorsal Interosseus Muscle and Extensor Digitorum Tendon on the back of his right hand move slightly. "Who are you?"

Bonnie chuckled as a glowing aura flamed around her body. Tara powered up too. Her long lustrous blond hair started to flow upward and out behind her head in the encasing sphere. Ron was the last to engage his powers as the door behind the teens burst open and five extremely burly men piled into the room, beckoned by the push of the concealed button. When the five took up station between the three visitors and their host it reminded Ron of the Denver Broncos front offensive line.

"I have no idea what Intergalactic Justice is, or why you are putting on this light show," the villain said to the three I.J. agents as he flanked the now designated intruders. "And quite frankly, I don't care." He turned to his henchmen who were maneuvering into a half circle around Ron Tara and Bonnie and spat, "No one threatens my operation. Kill them now." The wall of goons drew their weapons and cautiously aimed at our heroes. Villarreal fumed and screamed, "I Said KILL THEM!"

The bodyguards opened fire as one on the teen trio. The noise in the room was deafening. When the shooting stopped and the gun induced, smoky haze dissipated, the three aura engulfed teens were still standing. Tara looked over to Ron and Bonnie and asked, "Who's turn is it to take out the hired help?"

Ron thought for a moment and said, "I think it's your turn Tara."

"Yeah it is," Bonnie sighed. "I got to do it last time."

Tara squealed with joy and, still encased in her sphere, levitated a foot off the floor and turned completely around. She slowly raised her arms to the heavens as she stared at her victims with flashing, flaming light blue eyes. "If you were thinking of getting out of the business, now would be a good time." She paused to smile wickedly at them. "Otherwise, today is a good day to die!" Tara let out a cackling laugh like an old fashioned, stereotypical witch.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Geez Tara! Aren't you being a little theatrical today?"

Tara shrugged and giggled over her shoulder at Bonnie, "I like to have fun with my job every once in a while." Tara returned her attention to the five huge men. She leveled her arms at them, fingers outstretched. Lightning came from the tips electrifying the metal weapons which started to glow red hot. The goons quickly dropped the melting metal and tried to tend to their burned flesh as best they could. Tara's eye's flashed and glowed again as she lowered herself to the floor. Her aura and sphere dissipated. "Shall we try hand-to-hand?" she begged with a one finger taunt and crouched into a defensive pose.

Tara doubled over the first man to charge her with a blow to his solar plexus. She ducked low to leg sweep the second and continued spinning as she leapt high to smash the third in the face with a heel. Tara landed on the second man's neck with a very audible crack. She snapped a back kick into the kidney of the first without looking, sending the henchman crashing to the floor. The remaining two goons flanked her and charged as one. Tara preformed the splits with perfect timing, letting the two smash into one another. She spun again, kicking their legs out from under them. Tara popped up, arms raised in victory.

Bonnie half-hearted clapped. "I give that routine a 6.2. You would have scored higher but you didn't finish them off." The three teens from Middleton watched as four of the goons stirred on the floor and tried to get up.

Ron noticed their boss sidling towards a side door and his hand blazed with plasma power. He fired a blast that struck the door dead center, leaving a gaping one foot hole that was charred around the edge. "Senor Villarreal, Tsk Tsk! Please don't leave the meeting yet," Ron sang. "Our business isn't concluded." Villarreal stopped in his tracks and fell to the floor. A dark stain appeared in the crotch of his white linen pants.

Tara let the quartet rise to their feet before igniting the plasma power around her fists. "This is your last chance to retire from the drug trade and take up another profession. I suggest you might want to open a flower shop since you guys are so interested in growing and selling plants. Two of the four limped and/or crawled out the door. The remaining two looked at each other and shrugged. Snarls curled their lips as they charged the petite platinum blond. Tara simply crossed her arms and fired a plasma bolt from her left hand, hitting the man on her right. Of course her right hand fired and struck the man to her left.

"Fancy shootin' Tex," Ron chimed in an accent straight out of an old western movie.

Tara screw a finger to her dimpled chin, curtsied and giggled, "Why Thank You kind Sir. I do what I can with what I got."

"Will you two get a better scriptwriter!" Bonnie snipped. "You had the same exact banter back in 1876 when we took out that gang of train robbers." Bonnie thought for a second. "And you first used something similar to it back in 1757 on our first mission."

Ron cocked his head to one side and goofily grinned from ear to ear. "You're right. A real classic exchange that still sounds good today. Now if you'd be so kind, could you signal Felix, please?"

Bonnie opened her mouth to sass back but changed her mind and shrugged it off. She brought her hands together and plasma flared around them. The teal colored energy quickly formed a ball that grew to a foot in diameter. With a two hand, underhanded toss, she flung the orb through the ceiling. "Whee!" she yelled with excitement..

"Why so big," Tara queried.

Bonnie smiled. "It had to go through two floors and the roof and I wanted to make sure it made it."

Ron laughed. "Just as long as you don't put another crater in the moon."

The three turned their attention to the man visibly shaking on the floor from what he had just witnessed. Tara squealed, "Is it my turn to wreck the place and dispose of the villain?"

"No it's Ron's turn," Bonnie said to her close friend. "I did the last job in South Africa and the time before you got to destroy that Russian apartment house where they were counterfeiting." Tara frowned.

Ron got down on his haunches in front of Villarreal and gently asked, "Do you believe in a Supreme Being?" The man weakly nodded and crossed himself. "Then why, in Her Precious Name, would you get into a profession that brings such misery and death to your customers?"

Juan Villarreal licked his dry lips before he spoke. "I- I did it for the money. My family was very poor when I was young. Helping out in the fields brought money home so we could eat. I rose up the ranks and," he crossed himself again, "Blessed Father forgive me, I never thought of the consequences."

"I hope you have a better story when you meet your Creator," Ron sadly said, shaking his head as he rose and went to the center of the room.

They all heard an explosion in the distance. "Just so you know," Bonnie said to the man who was deep in prayer on his knees, "that was your two warehouses in the city blowing sky high. But don't worry, we gave fair warning to your workers. Your crop fields have already been destroyed." She turned to Ron. "Let's do it."

Ron took off his blazer and tossed it on the sofa where they had been seated earlier. The teenage trio engaged their auras and crossed their legs into the lotus position as they began to hover three feet off the floor. Ron's countenance grew grim as he closed his glowing blue eyes and his blond hair waved wildly around his head. His powerful sphere grew and grew until it engulf the entire room with furniture dissolving as the blue hue touched it. Ron's eyes shot open and blazed wickedly bright as the explosion of released energy ripped the house apart, leaving the three teens hovering over a huge pile of ash. Three glowing spheres drifted over the ruins until they were clear of the mess.

Ron collapsed in the driveway as his power ebbed to zero and the chocolate brown color returned to his half-closed eyes.

Tara and Bonnie each grabbed an arm and carried Ron over to a tree. They sat him on the ground against the foliage before sitting down themselves.

"Talk about theatrics," Tara giggled. "Ron went a little overboard there. I mean, a few good plasma blasts in the right places would have leveled the house. He brought it down to the ground and then some."

Bonnie shrugged and sighed. "You know Ron and his crusade against drugs. It's never all or nothing. It's give it his all."

A big black wedge materialized in front of them and the alien ship's hatch lowered to the ground. Felix came down the ramp and looked around. "Whoa! It was Ron's turn to clean up the joint." He walked over to the threesome under the tree. "Your chariot awaits," he sang and bowed.

The two blond girls stood and walked to the ship. Felix got his Rentonunicator out of a pocket, aimed it at Ron and pressed a button. An invisible beam picked Ron up and lifted him into the ship's interior and his seat.

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Ron looked like death warmed over as he trudged in the back door. "Ronald Dean Stoppable, you've been gone six hours! You said you were just going out in the back yard! Where have you been? I've been so worried about you!" Kim came stomping, naked, into the kitchen yelling.

"Kim Dear, I'm home," Ron said weakly and collapsed to the floor.

"RON!" Kim screamed and raced to his side. She saw he was sweating profusely and felt clammy to the touch. "Phone for help," Kim said aloud to herself. She went to the telephone but, when she didn't get a dial tone, she remembered they hadn't had it connected yet. She tossed the receiver to the side. "Kimmunicator!" she said triumphantly. "Where did I leave the Kimmunicator?" She glanced around the kitchen and couldn't see it. "Think Kim," she muttered. "When did you last use it?" It only took a second. "Shego's call! Shoot, I took it up stairs after we talked to Shego." She started for the stairs but stopped dead in her tracks. "RONNUNICATOR!" She dashed back to Ron's side and dug through his pockets.

She found the black device and keyed it on. Wade Load appeared on the screen, "Hey Ron... KIM?"

"Wade, listen close," Kim clipped, "Ron just came in the door and collapsed. I need an ambulance right away at our new house."

"I'm on it," Wade said and typed something into his computer. "While you're waiting, let me scan him and maybe we can help before the ambulance arrives. Just hold it out like you'd do with your own Kimmunicator." Kim held the device out and a white light scanned Ron's body. "Hmmm!" Wade intoned as he looked at the readings. "Just like I thought. Ron will be okay if you do two things."

"What do you want me to do?" Kim asked as tears started to streaking down her cheeks. "I gotta save Ron no matter what!"

"First, strip him naked."

"Strip?" Kim asked. "Why would that help him?"

"Kim!" Wade said firmly. "I know what I'm talking about. You've always trusted me. You just have to trust me again this one last time. Someone's on the way to help, but you don't have much time."

Kim went to work with quivering hands. "You'd think I was disarming a nuclear bomb, the way my hands are shaking," she half giggled, half sobbed.

Wade laughed a bit. "No, you wouldn't be so shaken up if it was only a nuke."

Kim removed Ron's boxers and collapsed on his chest. "You're right Wade, this is much more stressful. Now what?"

Wade's serious face peered from the tiny view screen. "You won't believe me but, Ron NEEDS at least a half bottle of white wine in him."

"White..." Kim said and got up off the floor. She looked around the kitchen for a few seconds before she raced down the cellar stepped and came up a moment later with three bottles in hand. "What kind of white wine? I don't remember what Monique said about which of them was which." She held the bottles, one by one in front of the screen.

"The first one will do," Wade chimed. "Just open it and pour it down his throat."

"Open..." Kim muttered as she searched a drawer for something to open the bottle with. Her search became more panicked when she could find what she sought. "I don't think we own a damned corkscrew yet!" she screamed and tossed half the contents of the drawer on the floor.

Tara burst through the front door and ran into the kitchen. "Here," she reached out to Kim, "give it to me." She pulled a corkscrew out of a pocket of her black, rip-stop nylon pants and opened the bottle in a flash. Tara knelt beside Ron and held his head as she poured the liquid into his mouth. "Drink Ron, my Love. I won't let you die," she cooed. "We've been married too many years to lose you now." She kissed his forehead and administered some more wine to her husband.

"Tara?" Kim said in shock. "Love? Married?"

"Yes, married," Bonnie said as she walked into the kitchen. "I knew he wasn't quite right when we got back from the Caribbean. But he insisted he could get into the house and get his fix of wine."

"Caribbean!?!" Kim screamed in disbelief. "Fix???"

Bonnie grabbed Kim's shoulders and ushered her out of the kitchen. "Let me tell you a little story," she said softly as she lead Kim to the living room couch and sat her down. "Ron could have told you this, but he was under orders not to." She sat down next to the rattled teen and took a deep breath. "Now I'm going to be in it deep for spilling the beans."

Kim rose suddenly, "But Ron need me!"

Bonnie grabbed Kim's arm and slung her to the floor. "Ron will be fine. He's getting the medical attention he needs and will be alright in an hour. He might need a trip to the home world for therapy, but he'll be okay."

"Home world?" Kim squeaked.

"Kim," Bonnie sighed, "you remember when Ron came back from Tokyo and you jokingly asked if I was an alien? You remember my answer?"

Kim thought for a moment. "Yes, you said I caught you. That you, Tara and maybe even Ron were aliens." Bonnie stared knowingly at Kim. "Noooo!" Kim exhaled in disbelief.

"And do you remember one of the rumors Monique told us at the lunch table?" Bonnie queried.

Kim fought through the fog that was quickly forming from the sitch. "Zombie? Cyborg? Android?" Then it hit her. "Noooo!" she hissed again. "Alien to observe me?" she weakly begged as tears returned to her eyes.

Bonnie grabbed the Afghan quilt off the end of the couch and wrapped it around the naked Kim. "Yep," she intoned as she let her hand flame up with teal blue plasma power. She watched the flames dance as she said, "We're with an organization called Intergalactic Justice and we came here two hundred fifty years ago to help you Earthlings along and observe you." Bonnie let her hand extinguish and yelled into the kitchen, "Hey Tara, you might want to bring out a bottle for K here. I think she's going into information overload."

Tara strolled out of the kitchen, the dress shirt she wore was unbuttoned, pants partially unzipped and open at the top. She was carrying a bottle of wine and three glasses. "Here you go," she sang as she poured a glass and handed it to Bonnie. She leaned over and said to Kim, "By the way, our husband is resting comfortably and will recover in a while."

Bonnie held the glass to Kim's lips. Kim leaned forward to drink but kept leaning and fell to the floor in a faint.

"Oops!" Tara giggled.

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"Kim, Kim Honey," Ron said softly as he knelt beside the couch and brushed the hair off of her face.

Kim's eyes fluttered a moment before they half opened. "Ron," she said groggily. "RON!" she yelled as her eyes shot open. She dove off the couch and into his arms. "I had the craziest dream," she sighed into his shoulder. Her face remained buried there as she spoke. "You came back from the Caribbean and almost died, but Tara, Bonnie and Wade saved you by having me strip you naked and Tara gave you wine. Then Bonnie was telling me you all were aliens and she had Shego's plasma power and Tara was married to you and..." Kim lifted her head and saw Bonnie and Tara standing behind Ron, naked and drinking white wine. "...aaaaand it wasn't a dream, was it."

"I'm afraid not, Sweetheart," Ron cooed as he rubbed her back while holding her tight. "You weren't suppose to know for a couple of years. That was the one big secret I had to keep from you because of a promise."

Kim pushed Ron away and leaned back against the couch. She curled up in a ball, pulling her legs in tight against her chest with her arms. She rested her chin on her knees. Kim rocked slowly as she peered at the floor between her and Ron. "So, what's the sitch. Give me the whole story," she said firmly.

"First of all Kim," Ron said lovingly, "and I say this with all my heart, I love you and want to be with you the rest of our lives."

"And how long is that?" Kim huffed. "How long do your people live on your planet?"

Ron scratched the back of his head as he looked back at Tara and Bonnie. "This isn't going to be easy, is it?" The two girls shook their heads slowly. Ron turned back to Kim. "Well, nobody has died on our planet for over six thousand years. And before you ask, I'm only four hundred ten years old."

"Wow," Kim marveled sarcastically "You're just a youngster."

"We belong to a group called Intergalactic Justice. We visit worlds like Earth, to observe and help the population wherever we can so they don't blow up the planet. I've been stationed here for two hundred fifty years."

"Funny," Kim giggled, "you still look like your my age."

"Actually," Ron said with a little lightness in his voice, "this body is just what you think it is. I am, for all intents and purposes, Ron Stoppable. It's just that..."

"What," Kim queried and put her head between her knees, "don't tell me you're really energy beings and you cloned the real Ron, took his memories and now you live out his life as my friend while he's somewhere else."

"Okay, I won't say it, but will you watch?" Ron picked the Ronunicator up off the floor next to him and thumbed it on. "Wade, could you run photo show Ron 13F for me?" He handed the device to her. Pictures of a very buff, handsome Ron Stoppable started to flow across the screen. "I took over Ron's life when he went off to Camp Wannaweep. We knew you were very special even back then. I was sent to be your friend and observe and give you little nudges here and there. The real Ron was sent to a village where we send all of our real hosts. He's the quarterback and Captain of his high school football team. In the winter he's on the swim team and does very well there. In the spring he's the Captain of the baseball squad and plays first base. He's a straight A student, a model citizen and..." Ron paused for a second, "he and the real Bonnie are engaged to be married."

Kim sniffled a bit and said, "Wow, potential boy made it."

Ron frowned. "Yes, he did. I wasn't allowed to. My job, as your friend and observer was to hold myself back and see if you'd push me to get better or accept me as I was. It was a test to see how domineering and meddling you could be."

Kim dropped the Ronunicator, buried her head again and weakly asked, "Did I pass?"

"I'd say with flying colors," Tara boldly stated as she stepped forward. "You pushed Ron to be better when you saw you could, but you still love and accept him for what he is. A very nice balance."

Kim looked up at the platinum blond. "And what's your roll in this... affair?"

Bonnie stepped forward. "Why not get me out of the way first."

Tara pushed Bonnie back a bit and firmly said, "Because Kim needs a little calm before the storm." She turned back to Kim. "Half my job was just what you saw. I was Bonnie's friend and confidentē. The other part was I helped out on missions we carried out as a team. As an example, we just got back from the Caribbean where we took down a Drug Lord and his whole operation."

"In SIX hour!?" Kim said in total confusion.

Ron shrugged and laughed, "We're aliens and fly around in UFOs. We can go around the world in an hour. If we want to bend a few rules, twenty minutes."

"Yeah, and blow the top off Mount Everest and a few other things," Bonnie chortled.

Kim folded her legs into the lotus position and held her head in her hands."Okay Bonnie, give me your deal."

Bonnie and Tara came over and sat beside Ron. "You might not like it but," Bonnie took a deep breath, "my job was to be Queen Bonnie. To push and prod you. To see how much abuse you would take. I was suppose to see how far you'd go competing against me in cheer too." She laughed a little. "I think you enjoyed the competition more than I did and I think you passed. See, I was also ordered to see how you'd handle someone pushing around your... our best friend." She put her hand on Ron's shoulder. "I was married to Ron over a hundred years ago."

Kim's eye's bulged as he stared at the three.

"Let me explain," Ron quickly interjected. "Marriage where we come from is different. It's not family oriented like it is here. It's a commitment to love and honor your spouse and help them in whatever job they pursue. Here, it would be considered just a really really close friendship, with benefits."

"Sex on our planet doesn't exist, actually," Tara added. "When we came to Earth, we adopted your ideas of marriage."

"When in Rome?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, something like that," Bonnie giggled. "Ron and I were already committed to each other when we arrived on Earth. We married shortly after and remained so until about a hundred years ago."

"So you two divorced?" Kim queried.

"Ehhhh!" all three intoned and shrugged. "It wasn't really a divorce," Bonnie tried to explain. "It was just that we both had female bodies at the time and in the early twentieth century, Lesbianism was frowned upon. So we officially separated."

"Then," Tara said, "at the beginning of World War II, Ron and I were assigned to observe the Japanese regime and their part in the war. We grew close so we became partners in our jobs and our lives. We worked that lifetime with Sensei, Yori and Hirotaka."

"Yori and Sensei?" Kim weakly said. "Just how many aliens are there here on Earth?"

"More than you'd think," Ron said with a little laugh. He turned to Bonnie. "Which reminds me. Duff left for home and wants us to send him Scotch and haggis and he'll send us some Altunian wine."

"Sweet!" Bonnie chimed with a huge greedy smile.

"Duff?" Kim said in amazement. "He's an alien?"

"And Shego and Drakken," Ron ticked off with his fingers, "and DNAmy and..."

Kim cut him off. "All the villains are aliens?"

"No," Bonnie said, shaking her head. "There are a few Earthlings who want to take over the World. The Juniors, Frugal Lucre and Motor Ed."

"But Ed is Drakken's cousin," Kim said crossing her hands and pointing each in the other direction.

"Yeah," Ron said, scratching the back of his head. "Go figure. Ed Lipski found out his cousin was evil and decided to quit his job and follow in his cousin's footsteps."

"But Drakken..." Kim pondered.

"Was your Dad's college friend until he dropped out and was taken over by us," Ron said gleefully. "The real Drew is very happy in our village as a fix-it man. He can repair just about any appliance or gizmo."

Rufus came scampering in to the room and hopped up on Tara's shoulder. "Kim okay?" he asked.

"I don't know Rufus," Kim said absentmindedly. She got up and paced around the room for a minute then stopped. She pointed at the pink naked mole rat. "Rufus too?"

"Yep," Bonnie nodded, "and Felix is the sixth member of our group."

Kim half giggled, half said, "Rufus I can believe. I mean, how many naked mole rats can talk?"

"His whole planet," Tara giggled. "His body isn't a clone like ours. That's why he doesn't need to drink wine. See, when we fuse with these Earth bodies, we need some of the chemicals that are in the wine to sustain the connection. For some very complicated reasons, we also can't wear clothing for any long periods of time or we'd die."

Kim slapped her forehead. "That's why Wade had me strip Ron and feed him wine when he collapsed earlier." She frowned a bit and turned to Ron. "But didn't I hear Bonnie say you need to go home for therapy? What about us?"

"Kim, Dearest," Ron said as he took her in his arms, "I'll only be gone a few days, a week at the most. I'll come back. I'm gonna quit Intergalactic Justice and stay with you as long as you live." He kissed her forehead.

Kim pushed him away. "No Ron. You don't abandon your team, no matter what." Tears filled her eyes as she said, "You'll just have to go on without me." Kim bolted from the room and up the steps. They all heard an upstairs door slam.

"KIM!" Ron yelled as he started for the staircase.

Tara grabbed his arm. "No Ron, I'll go talk to her." Tara walked up the stairs and knocked gently on the only closed door in the hall. "Kim?" she said meekly. "Kim I'd like to talk to you."

Thirty seconds went by before the door opened a bit. Tara hesitantly push through and saw Kim sitting on the huge bed in a white terry robe. Tara closed the door behind her and found what she thought to be Ron's matching robe and put it on.

Kim sniffled and tried to laugh. "You gonna try to convince me your husband loves me enough to leave his job and world behind?"

"And me too," Tara said weakly. "Now that you know about our group, our job is done here in Middleton. Each of us will be reassigned and Ron and I probably wouldn't be together on the next assignment so..." She shrugged. "I've also realized Ron loves you so much that we would never be together anyway."

Tara went over and sat at the foot of the bed, a few feet away from Kim. "He really does love you a lot. As much as you think. See, it was already in him when he became Ron Stoppable. The little guy you knew before Wannaweep loved you first. When he took over, the love just intensified along with the friendship you knew."

"Looking back," Kim sighed, "I think I could always feel the love he gave me. I just didn't understand it until recently."

"And if you push him away now, you'll crush his heart and soul." Saline filled the platinum blonds eyes. "You are his greatest passion now, and probably for the rest of his life. He's even told me and Bonnie his love for you is far deeper that it was for either of us." She sniffled a little. "And that's saying a whole lot."

"But he's been unfaithful to me, with you!" Kim shouted and spun onto the bed to sob into the covers.

Tara crawled onto the bed up to Kim's side. She laid a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. "Kim, I don't know if this will mean anything to you but, yes. We had sex. That was all it was and it stopped when you realized your true feelings.. With you, he makes love. Think of it this way. If you made out with a boyfriend before you got together with Ron, do you think he'd love you any less?" Tara got off the bed, took off the robe and hung it back where she found it. As she got to the door, she turned and said, "Don't let Ron die over something so trivial. Something that happen before you really found him. And it will kill him if you leave. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to face the music and phone home." She left the room and found all her coworkers out by the pool.