Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to post a new chapter! All your feedback has been amazing. Thanks guys! Keep it up, that's what keeps me going:)

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"What are you doing here?" Ron repeated, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I …" Kim suddenly couldn't get her mouth to do anything but hang open on that one word, her brain too busy drinking in the sight of him to formulate a proper response. He looked so different. He wore a light blue button-down with pressed slacks. He was taller and his hair had darkened slightly over time. He had slowly filled out, no longer the scrawny cheer team mascot. But, it was his eyes that had changed the most—the eyes that Kim had once found comfort in were now so vacant and lifeless. They were now the eyes of a man who had suffered a great deal.

He slowly moved down the last of the stairs and took a few steps toward her. "Kim?"

"Wade," she blurted. "He called me."

"Wade?" Ron whispered, more to himself. "How did he …?"

Kim tried a little smile. "How does he ever?"

Ron nodded, his mouth in a firm, straight line. There was an awkward silence that followed, one that sucked up all the air in the room, until finally Joan cut through it.

"Honey, do you want me to make you something to eat? Everyone is going to get here soon and –"

"No," Ron answered. "I'm fine."

"But, you haven't eaten –"

"I'm fine, mom. It's okay."

"Alright," she sighed. She looked between the two, before adding, "I'll be in the other room if you need me. It was nice seeing you again, Kimberly."

Kim gave her a small smile. "You too, Mrs. Stoppable."

With one last look, the woman turned and bustled out of the room, leaving the pair to stare at each other as if they had to rememorize the other's face.

For the longest of moments, neither one said a word. They stared at each other, too aware of the fact that they both had changed, that it no longer felt like it once had. There was an awkwardness that had never been there, a tension too dense to ignore. Time had changed them into strangers.

"You have a daughter?" Kim asked softly, biting through the silence.

"Yeah."

"She's beautiful. She looks just like you."

Ron's eyes never left her face. "She looks a lot like her mother."

Kim swallowed hard. "I'm sorry about … everything. And now. I'm sorry about your loss." She took a breath, desperate for anything to say. "Who … who was she?"

He looked away and moved passed her into the living room, and Kim turned, staring at his back. For a moment, he didn't move, staring across the room as if he were waiting for the walls to open up. Finally, he turned back to her. "She was my best friend."

Kim flinched as if she were struck. She dropped her eyes and felt a wave of shame wash over her, the pain of old wounds reopening. "I'm sorry, Ron," she whispered. "I'm sorry for everything. It's been hard for me ever since--"

"Did you come here to make this about you?" he said abruptly and she looked up in surprise. "Because if you have, you can leave right now."

She stared at him wide-eyed. The Ron she knew would never have talked to her like that, would never have pushed the right buttons so cruelly.

"I just … I just want to be there for you," she whispered.

"Why?" Ron barked. "Why now?"

"I--"

"Where were you when my dad died? Where were you when Rufus died?" he asked, moving toward her. "When I was married? When my daughter was born? Where were you, Kim?" He stopped close to her, his eyes penetrating and unforgiving, and Kim stared back, for the first time scared of him.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, her eyes burning.

"Just words, Kim."

Before she could say anything, the doorbell chimed, the cheerful tone mocking and spiteful. Immediately, Ron stepped back, but never took his eyes off her.

Joan bustled into the room. "They are arriving," she said, unnecessarily. Neither one answered her.

Ron's mom went to the door and opened it, and people came flooding in, surrounded by clouds of false cheer. It wasn't until they moved toward Ron did he peel his eyes away from Kim. As they gave him hugs and their condolences, she simply faded into the background, relieved and hurt at the same time.

There were pictures on a table toward the back of the room and Kim moved toward them. They were black and white, memories caught and framed of a small family; a mother, a father and a little girl with freckled cheeks and a pudgy smile. Kim's eyes fell upon the woman, on her smile, on her eyes. She was dark haired and was just dazzling, with a face that glowed with warmth and personality. Instantly, Kim was jealous of her, of her life she had with her best friend, of the life she brought into this world. She had her arms wrapped around her husband, holding him tight, his smile as large as hers. They looked happy.

Kim sighed. She was envious of a dead woman.

"Gwen was beautiful, wasn't she?"

Kim looked over her shoulder, finding a woman standing there. She recognized her as one of Ron's cousins, but she couldn't remember which.

"Yes, she was," Kim answered.

"It's horrible how she died. So sad."

Kim turned back to the picture, staring at the smiling married couple. "How did she die?"

"You don't know? She was shot."

Kim spun to face her. "What?"

"There was a robbery. Gwen wouldn't cooperate. The goons killed her, and all for three-hundred bucks in the till."

Kim stared at the woman, shocked by it. But, before she could say anything, the woman moved away, falling into the small crowd that was heading into the other room. Kim slowly turned her eyes, finding Ron standing alone in the middle of the room, staring at her.

"You gave up the hero business a little too early," he said.

Kim gaped at him, unable to get any words passed her lips. What could she say? What could she possibly say?

"Ron, honey," Joan said from the room's threshold. "We are going to get started in a little bit." Ron's mom turned to look at Kim. "Kim, there's a seat for you with us."

Kim gave Ron a quick look. "I don't think …"

"You can sit with us," Ron replied. As his mother turned back into the room, he approached, saying as he passed, "It's the front row. Wouldn't want to miss this."

Kim watched his back as he disappeared out of the room, feeling as if she had thorns in every inch of her skin.

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