A/N: Okay guys, the next (and last) chapter will be the fun one!

I want to thank those who took the time to review: Jimmy1201, CgC, and the infamous "Guest." You guys rock!

I'm glad people find Kim and Ron in-character. That's my biggest pet peeve when reading fics, so it's my biggest goal when I write them. Despite taking the characters to a very not PG place, I hope they still feel like themselves. Let me know how I do!

The more reviews I get, the quicker I'll release chapter 3! (Does that sound like a threat? It's not a threat. More like a beg. A vaguely coercive-y beg)

Chapter Two: No Big Deal

The snowmobile lurched forward awkwardly for a moment before Ron seemed to get the hang of it again and started driving forward at a steady pace. The wind whipped around them painfully, the approaching nightfall making the temperature drop further. She marveled that Ron had managed to make it all the way to the lair without freezing to death in the first place, though perhaps it had been warmer earlier.

"S… S… So, how l-long did it t-take to drive here?" Kim asked, pressing her face close to his ear so he could hear above the roar of the engine. She was proud she had managed to speak without biting off her tongue, it was so cold. Her whole face felt numb, and she wished she had at least chosen a jacket with a hood.

Ron answered her, but she couldn't make out what he said.

"What?" she called.

"I said, about two hours!"

"Two HOURS!?"

They were going to freeze to death. It was now completely dark, and though they had only been plowing along for maybe twenty minutes, Kim already could barely feel her fingers through her black gloves. At the very least, they were in danger of frostbite if they kept this up much longer. This wasn't going to work.

"Ron, we n… need to stop!" she called forward, but at the same time Ron spoke, and Kim couldn't make out a word of his sentence. "What?" she tried, opting to let him go first.

"I said, I don't think we're on the m-main road anymore!"

"You mean… we're lost!?"

"Well, "lost" is such a b… b… bleak word. I prefer "t-t-temporarily snowblind.""

Kim sighed, and repeated her original sentence. Ron slowed to stop in the now shin-high snow, killing the engine so they could talk without yelling. "If we s-s-stop, won't we, you know… freeze?"

"I have some survival equipment in my bag." She had a small tent, some fire starters, and a lighter. She probably had a few dehydrated meals, too, but she couldn't remember if she had packed anything else. She rarely needed the emergency survival gear, but she always brought it with her. Safety first. "We'll never make it to town, especially if we're lost."

"We could head back to the lair and wait for Wade, maybe?"

Kim shook her head. "And risk getting even further from the road? I c….can't tell up from down in this s-s-snow." Kim peered around. She thought she could make out some thin shadows in the distance, and pointed. "There. Looks like a few trees, maybe even a small f-forest. We can set up the tent and hold out until the weather clears."

Ron nodded in agreement, started the snowmobile again, and made for the formless shadows of the trees. When they got close enough to see through the blanket of snowfall, it became obvious that this was no forest- five lone fir trees stood in the relatively flat landscape. It was Greenland, so chances were good there were mountains and maybe even caves nearby… but Kim didn't want to waste the time looking. Her tent would work just fine, and the trees at least provided some semblance of cover.

The micro-pop-up tent was easy to set up… as easy as pulling a tab, actually. However, Kim's fingers were so numb she fumbled for several painful moments before actually managing to accomplish the simple task.

Ron quickly unzipped the tent, and held the flap open for Kim. He had just as much trouble doing it with his clumsy gloved hands, but Kim certainly appreciated it. Her fingers were starting to hurt, now. Once they were both securely in the tent, with the flap zipped behind them, Kim breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing her hands together furiously for warmth. Rufus poked a shivering whiskered nose out from Ron's pocket, sniffing around before finally letting his face emerge. He chittered at little, probably mumbling something about cold and a lack of tiny jackets.

Kim tried to maintain a serious, steady tone when she next spoke. "Ron, take off your clothes."

"I… what!?"

Kim inwardly cringed at the awkwardness. Maybe the fact that they were dating would have made this less weird if they had actually… ever, well, done the "no-clothes" thing around each other before. But they hadn't. Unless you counted all the times Ron lost his pants. Which she did not.

Still, Kim knew a thing or two about hypothermia, and she did not feel like trying to sleep in freezing, soaking-wet clothes, anyways. The jacket she had chosen was far from water proof, and even though the inside of the tent was still pretty cold she could feel the snow melting and soaking right through her. She quickly peeled it off, trying to ignore the bugged-out eyes of her boyfriend.

"Uh, I mean, Kim, not that I'm complaining-"

"Ron, hurry up! It is way too cold to argue with you!" Despite the confidence she tried to pour into her voice, she still turned her back to Ron as she peeled off the next layer- her purple mission shirt.

She and Ron had had their fair share of romantic moments- dates, kisses, the occasional snuggling while watching a movie on the sofa in her dorm room. But in reality, they hadn't actually gone that… far. Kim was perfectly comfortable with the way their relationship was progressing, even if some people might consider it too "slow."

Once she was down to her underthings, she began digging through her pack. She thought she had a space blanket somewhere in there…

"Hey, KP, I got this." Kim chanced a glance back over her shoulder, and sure enough Ron was holding a small rolled package about the size of his hand. A condensed sleeping bag. It would be thin, but better than nothing.

He was also wearing nothing but his very familiar red polka-dot boxers.

'It's really no different from going to the beach,' Kim told herself, not entirely convinced. There was no reason for this to be awkward. Still, for some reason, her heart was pounding like she was free-falling from a helicopter. Which she did often.

"Right. Good call. Did you bring any other useful gear?"

"Let's see…" Ron mumbled, digging through his pack as he sat down crossed-legged on the floor of the tent. He was diligently keeping his eyes down on his bag, and it obviously was quite an effort. Ron was ever the gentleman… why did that make her feel oddly disappointed?

She shook her head as if to clear it. So not the time for the introspection.

"... I have a Nacko, a pair of sunglasses, a "Fearless Ferret #72"- the first appearance of the Rabbit Ninja. Very cool- and, uh… yeah, that's about it."

Kim sighed. At least he had brought the sleeping bag.

She lowered herself to the floor of the tent, her shivering quickly making her forget all about any shyness she might have felt at grabbing the sleeping bag from Ron, unrolling it, and quickly zipping it open and flipping it open over both of them like a regular blanket. She was so exhausted she could have fallen asleep riding a charging rhino- this was no big.

Right?

She laid down with a huff, as if admonishing herself for over-thinking things. She was tempted to use her clothing as a pillow, but then her hair- and the clothes- would never dry out. Waking with a stiff neck was better than being wet in the cold. Though, it was definitely starting to warm up a bit, especially after Ron got with the program and lied down, too.

Kim turned her face to the side, glancing over at her boyfriend. "Hey, Ron. Er…" Crap. There she went, slipping into awkward again. "Do you mind…?"

"Hm?" Ron asked, still keeping his eyes trained away from her.

"You know, I have the blanket on. You can look now."

"I, uh… right. Because, I didn't look before. I swear! Okay, maybe just a little, but-"

"Ron. Focus."

"Right. Uh, do I mind if what?"

Instead of answering, Kim just rolled over onto her side, pressing herself firmly against Ron and sighing happily at how instantly this warmed her. Body heat, plus blanket, plus two people, equals warmth. Survival basics. Common sense.

Ron seemed to freeze up, his hands lifting up from his elbows and wavering in the air.

"Ron?"

"Yeah Kim!?" he asked, his voice just a few octaves too high.

"What are you doing?"

"Just… not sure what to do with my hands."

Kim couldn't help it- a small burst of giggling slipped past her lips, and she adjusted herself a little so her head rested against Ron's chest. "You can put your arm around me, you know. I'm not going to bite you or anything."

That seemed to have the opposite effect from her intention of calming him down, but he followed her advice anyways, wrapping one arm carefully around her bare midriff while the other sank back under the warmth of the covers. Rufus, for his part, did not seem to understand his human companions' discomfort. Then again, Rufus was always naked, so the situation probably didn't translate well for him. In any case, the little pink animal curled up in a ball next to Ron's ear, just above Kim's head.

"Hey, Ron?" Kim asked. She was starting to have real trouble keeping her eyes open at this point. Consciousness was a struggle.

"I can move my hand if you want me to!"

"Ron, your hand's fine. Would you chill out?"

Ron gulped, but he finally seemed to take her advice to heart. She felt him relax marginally against her as he let out a deep breath. "Sorry KP. Just… we're apart so much lately, and I'm worried that if I do something stupid to mess things up…"

"You're not going to "mess things up" by holding your girlfriend, Ron."

"I know that! I just have a million little voices going through my head right now, and some of them are like "whoa, your girlfriend is smokin!" and some of them are like, "any minute now you're going to screw this all up," and some of them are like, "man, your hand is on her stomach and she's so soft," and some are like, "if you so much as move that hand an inch this is all going to blow up in your face and she'll never forgive you…"

Wow. And Kim thought she was the one over-thinking things.

But something about Ron's words made her stomach flutter- in a good way. She wracked her brain for a good answer, a way to reassure him and maybe even encourage some of the nicer little voices, but her grogginess was really fogging up her thought-process. Instead, she just leaned up and kissed his cheek, tighten the arm she had slung across his chest.

"Bleh," came a disgusted little voice from above her head. She hadn't even noticed that she had bumped Rufus when she leaned up to kiss her boyfriend, and the little guy was not amused. "...kissy-face...blah, blah…" the creature mumbled in between a series of small noises, stomping off a whole foot away to Ron's bag and making himself at home inside. No doubt Ron's Nacko would be eaten as penance for Rufus' discontent.

"Sorry buddy!" Ron called, and to Kim he added, "He really has his limits on the PDA, KP."

Kim smirked. Once again, she wished she could think of a snappy comeback, but instead she just yawned. "I'm gonna… get some sleep."

"Yeah, oh sure. The weather should clear by morning, right? I mean, how long can it possibly snow for? Kim?"

"Hmm?" She made a noncommittal noise, nuzzling a little closer to the spot where Ron's neck met his shoulder. It was a rather comfortable way to sleep, actually.

"Nothing. Night." He paused a minute, then added a softly spoken, "Love you."

….

Kim woke up in a very different position than she had fallen asleep in. Instead of using Ron as a pillow, it seemed the tables had turned almost completely around. She was currently lying on her side facing away from her boyfriend. Ron was spooning her from behind, his arm flung clunkily across her shoulders and his breath hot on the back of her neck. One leg was also draped across her thigh, the other tangle up in her own limbs, effectively trapping her.

She couldn't get up without waking him, but she definitely, definitely needed to get up. Now.

She tried shifting a little, but it was no good. She was caught tight, and when she tried to move Ron's arm pulled her in closer, grumbling a little in his sleep and burying his face in her hair.

Great. Dilemma. If she woke him up in this position, he would probably get all uncomfortable and confusing again. Probably embarrassed. Though honestly, Kim really liked being enveloped in his arms like this- it was more than just comfortable. It felt right. Maybe if she just told him, he wouldn't be so worried anymore about how she'd react if he-

Yikes! She needed to get up, stat. Nature called, and Kim was 100% sure the situation would get a hell of a lot more embarrassing if she didn't go find a bush soon.

She grabbed Ron's arm and pushed it back off her gently, trying to extricate herself next from the tangle of limbs below the sleeping bag's cover. She wiggled a bit, trying to pull her leg out from between Ron's knees.

Suddenly, the body behind her move very quickly, shuffling away and freeing her.

"Sorry," Kim whispered. She wasn't sure why she whispered. Probably because it was still very early in the morning, and it just seemed like a "whispering" time of day.

"No problem! Er, what's up?" Ron asked, suddenly sitting up. He was acting stranger than she had expected… but then again it was Ron.

"Oh, I just have to… I have to go outside for a bit." Kim rushed to pick up her things. Now that she was out from under the covers, rested, and warm, she felt a little strange standing around in her underwear. She frowned when she felt that her jacket and pants were still damp- they would have to use the fire-starter block in her bag and dry out their things before heading out.

Ron didn't seem to require further explanation, but she felt his eyes following her curiously as she moved about the tent. She was certainly not going to spell it out for him- there were some things you just didn't talk to your boyfriend about. Having to pee in the woods was one of those things. "I'll be back" she said, zipping the tent back up behind her as she went.

…

Ron breathed a giant sigh of relief.

He loved Kim, but he was pretty sure she was completely clueless about what she did to him. All that… wiggling.

Gah! Bad boyfriend!

Torture. That's the word that would best describe his night. The most awesome kind of torture he could imagine, but still…. it had not been an easy time for the Ron-Man.

Currently, he was trying to solve a very delicate problem. This particular problem was one reason it took him hours to fall asleep after Kim had, and the reason for his more recent panic.

When he had woken up next to his girlfriend it had felt… nice. He had just started to think that he could get used to waking up with the beautiful redhead in his arms when his… predicament occurred to him.

Her wiggling hadn't helped, and nothing terrified him more than her feeling, well… it and being disgusted with him. He was pretty sure she hadn't noticed, and he had backed away in time. Pretty sure.

"Stupid body. I am the boss of you, you hear me?" he said to absolutely no one, and immediately set about the task of thinking of the least sexy, most horrible turn-offs he could imagine.

Millions of tiny spiders.

Mr. Barken in the Smarty Mart dress.

Dr. Drakken making out with DNAmy.

Okay, that did it. Ron breathed a sigh of relief as he finally got things under control. It was going to be fine. He and Kim had been friends since Pre-K, and they had been dating for about a year and a half, now, but that didn't mean she was comfortable with… well, with half the things flying around in Ron's mind since last night.

Seriously, when did his thoughts become so perverse? If Kim wanted more from him, she'd be the first to let him know- he would never want to make her uncomfortable.

But then, her tone when she said, "Ron, take off your clothes," flashed through his mind and he was back to square one. After another horrible session of imagining all the pet names Drakken and DNAmy would have for each-other if they dated, he was once again under control.

Kim had been gone awhile… maybe he should look for her? Why had she left, anyways? Maybe she had noticed!?

Just as he was starting to panic a little, he was given the perfect distraction; Rufus finally emerged from his backpack, stretching and yawning and looking much more chipper than the previous night. "I see someone slept well," Ron commented, earning a little "thumbs up" of agreement from his small hairless pet. "And are we less grumpy this morning?"

Rufus cocked his head to the side, clearly thinking about his human's words. All of a sudden, the small mammal remembered why he had been so annoyed the night before and started admonishing Ron and shaking his tiny paws.

"Okay, right, I know…. the kissy-face."

"Mwa, huh."

"Look, buddy, how about if we come up with a, a signal! Yeah!"

"Sig-wal?" Rufus asked, his tone skeptical.

"Sure, like, if I anticipate a kissy-face moment with Kim, I could let you know so you're not subjected to all the sappy-ness." Ron lifted one hand in the air, closing his fist except for his index finger and thumb.

"Wassa L?" Rufus asked.

"L! You know, for "love!" It's perfect, right?"

"...loser?" Rufus asked innocently, causing Ron to immediately misunderstand and pout.

"...words hurt, buddy."

At that opportune moment, the tent unzipped and the flap was thrown open, filling the tent once more with chilling wind as Kim came back inside. She hurriedly zipped the tent again, then glanced over at Ron and Rufus.

"...loser?" Kim asked, noticing the L formed by Ron's hand.

Ron opened his mouth to say something, then looked at his hand, then back at Rufus. "Ohhhh, I get it now."