Monique found herself once again at the doorstep of Ron's mansion. Picking up yet another old newspaper on his front doorstep, she unlocked the front door and let herself in. Hefting the little package under her arm, she again left the newspaper on the small side table in the landing. Calling out to her boss, she headed towards the workshop where, no doubt, he'd be... Working on whatever secret project that had gotten him too occupied to even care about his friends.

"Ron? You here?" Monique called out, as she stepped into his workshop. The place looked like it had not been cleaned in a long time. His pile of scrap electronics lay untouched by the door, and his table was strewn with blueprints. "Ron?"

"Over here!" a breathless voice wheezed out from behind his workbench.

"Ron?" Monique was startled. She immediately placed the package on the table and ran over to the sound of his voice. The sight of her boss slumped against his workbench caused her to pause for a moment, as her blood ran cold. "Oh my god, Ron... What the hell... Are those bullet holes?"

"Oh those?" Ron smiled weakly as he winced to sit up a little. "Yeah... Those F-37s are no joke... Sure beats having a missile smacking me over the head."

"Ron!" Monique screeched. "Stop joking! What the hell happened to you? And what is this? What are you wearing? Oh god, I should call an ambulance."

"Wait up, Monique," Ron grabbed her arm, taking care not to crush her with the suit's strength. "I'm fine, just bruised a little. I'm not Swiss cheese yet. Here, lend me a hand and help me get this thing off..." Ron gestured at the suit of armor encasing his entire body.

"Wait... How..." Monique gaped. "Do I need to cut you out with an electric saw?"

"Just reach to the side here, find the little hidden button and press it," Ron gestured tiredly. "Yeah... Just like that."

Monique lifted off the forearm guard, and breathed a sigh of relief when the rest of Ron's left gauntlet slipped off. "God, Ron, what is this? What... Never mind, I have so many questions that I don't know where to start. You better just start explaining, starting with the suit..." she ordered him.

"I had this idea for this suit when I was in Afghanistan," Ron began as he flexed his hands, relieved to feel the cool air wash over his skin. "This was how I escaped. I built a suit, not as advanced as this, but the principles are the same. By polarizing the external hull, I made it resistant to bullets and other conventional weapons..."

"Doesn't look like it works," Monique remarked sarcastically, as she glance at the three inch wide dents in the chest-piece.

"Heh," Ron grinned wryly. "It was a really big gun. But eh, I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Right," Monique remarked as she slid off the upper armguard and started working on his right arm. "Are you crazy? What the hell did you just do?"

"You know how I said I was going to destroy all of my weapons that have fallen into the wrong hands?" Ron asked. "Yeah, I just came back from Afghanistan, found a whole cache of my stuff and blew them up."

"You were just in Afghanistan?" Monique's eyes opened wide. "How... Wait... How did you get there and back so fast?"

"The suit flies," Ron grinned in pride. "I flew there, took out a few terrorists and a tank and flew back..."

"It flies?" Monique repeated in awe. "Wow... Wait a minute, you took out a tank?"

"Yeah, except that on the way back, I ran into Global Justice, and they thought I was a hostile and attacked me..." Ron grunted as he helped Monique lift off the heavy chest piece, showing his bare chest and the arc reactor embedded in it. Ron sat up, free of his personal confines and stretched his limbs.

"Oh god, Ron! You could have been killed!" Monique exclaimed.

"The thought never occurred to me," Ron shrugged, as he reached down and unlocked the lower parts of his armor.

"My god, Ron," Monique glared at him. "What are you trying to do? What are you trying to prove? Ron, are you... Don't tell me you took my words too seriously and are trying to get back into the world saving business?"

"I'm just trying to make up for my past mistakes," Ron shrugged nonchalantly. "I still don't know how my weapons got into those hands. I'm suspecting that someone at Stoppable Enterprises must be involved. But at least those weapons won't be used to kill anyone anymore."

"God... Ron... I..." Monique clenched and unclenched her fingers angrily. "I could just so hit you..."

"What? I thought you'd approve of what I'm doing," Ron looked at her mystified. "I thought you hated the fact that I'm making weapons."

"Yes! No!" Monique growled in frustration. "But what I meant was you should just stop making weapons! Not become some foolhardy hero trying to get himself shot up!"

"It's too late for that!" Ron raised his voice. "I realized not only must I stop making new weapons, but I must also destroy the ones out there already!"

"Why you?!" Monique asked as she threw her hands up. "From the looks of it, you almost got yourself killed out there today. And you want to go and do it again? And how on Earth do you plan to do it exactly? Upturn every single rock and stone out there in the world looking for your weapons?"

"Oh, that's where you're going to help me," Ron sported an annoying grin, as he struggled to get out of his leg-guards and boots. "Just get me all the shipping manifestos from my computer in my office. Plus anything else you can dig up, secret files, encrypted documents..."

"Hold it, Ron!" Monique yelled at him. "There's no way that I'm going to help you kill yourself! Sure, if you want to do this to annoy Kim or just mess with her head, it's completely fine with me. But if you just want to get yourself killed, I'm not going to help you."

"Please, Monique?" Ron replied earnestly. "This is important to me!"

"Why?" Monique asked. "Why is this so important to you?"

"Because... I made a mistake before with Stoppable Enterprises," Ron hung his head low. "I'm just trying to fix it now..."

"Why?" Monique asked. "Why you?"

"Because I can," Ron replied with a sigh. "And because I must."

Monique eyed him carefully as she helped him to his feet and over to his chair by the computer table. Glancing over his lean torso, she noted that he was sporting more than a few sizable bruises that were starting to darken from blue to purple. "Ron..." Monique asked him. "Tell me one thing honestly first. Does any of this have something to do with Kim? Are you doing this to prove something or repair some frail male ego?"

Glancing back at Monique, he looked at her for a moment, before he replied seriously. "No, it's just something I want to do. For myself. Kim has nothing to do with this."

Searching his face for any sign of dishonesty or deceit, Monique could only find his face looking back at hers in earnest. With a loud sigh, she said grudgingly, "There's no point arguing with you, is there? You're going to do this anyway, whether I help you or not. But Ron, I want you to promise me one thing. If you ever involve yourself in something crazy like this ever again, I want to know before you act, okay? You know I'm your voice of reason, and if you ever considered me a friend, you'll talk to me before you do it, 'kay?"

Looking at her with a genuine smile, unlike the ones he flashed for all the tabloids, he nodded his head. "Yeah, I promise." Glancing over at the package on the table, he asked her, "So what'd you bring me this morning?"

"It's a gift," Monique replied coldly. "I thought you could use cheering up, but after giving me a heart attack like that, I don't think you deserve it."

"Aww... C'mon," Ron pleaded jokingly.

"I guess since this is the first time you actually cared for someone else other than yourself..." Monique narrowed her eyes at her boss. "This might be more than appropriate..."

"What is it?" Ron asked, as Monique placed the package in his hands. Shaking it slightly, he started tear off the brown packaging. "Woah..."

"Yeah," Monique glanced at the small glass case that held Ron's old arc reactor. It was set inside a ring with the words printed in large bold letters on the rim, 'Proof That Ron Stoppable Has a Heart'. "Yeah, it's a private joke among your employees... You are the typical cold industrialist without a heart."

"Ah..." Ron broke out in a wide smile. "I guess it fits."

"Yeah," Monique nodded as she gave Ron one final look-over. "So, everything's alright, right?"

Just as Ron was about to reassure her for the last time, a loud thundering voice echoed down the steps to the workshop. "Ronald Francis Stoppable! You better be there!"

"Oh god," Ron looked aghast at Monique. "Kim's here."

"Kim?" Monique raised a curious eyebrow.

"Yeah, remember those F-37s that tried to shoot me down?" At his words, Monique nodded her head. Ron continued sheepishly, "Yup, those are GJs... And I... Ah... Well, one of them collided into me. I think she's here to collect the bill..."

"Oh..." Monique nodded as she bit her lower lip. "Ron, whatever punishment she dishes out on you, you do know that I'm on her side, and that you totally deserve it."

"Thanks Monique," Ron made a face at her as he sarcastically quipped. "I knew I could count on you."

"Anytime, Mr. Stoppable," Monique smiled sweetly, before turning towards the stairs. She called out, "Down here Kim!"

There was a thundering of footsteps before Kim raced down the steps and came to face a cringing Ron and a smirking Monique. "Monique..." Kim gritted her teeth the moment she saw her best friend.

"Hey, woah, chill, Kim..." Monique replied quickly, as she noticed the dark look on her best friend's face. "Just so you know, I only found out about a minute ago... Ron's been keeping secrets from me too."

"Sellout," Ron mumbled underneath his breath, as he gave Monique a dirty glare.

"I think I'll go do that thing you just asked me to do now," Monique grinned, as she backed away from her boss. "I think you two need some alone time..." As she walked by Kim, she placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke, "Hey... Be gentle on the guy okay? Yell at him all you want, but he did get peppered by one of your planes recently..."

Kim only nodded mutely, continuing her furious glare at Ron.

Ron's heart seized in panic, as he realized that his 'faithful' personal assistant was making her way towards the door, and leaving him all alone to bear the full brunt of the red-head's wrath. "Monique! Come back!" he called out after her in desperation. But the clicking of her heels as she walked on upstairs showed that she paid him no attention. With a defeated sigh, he finally turned to face Kim, trying to look as remorseful as possible.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Kim exploded at him. It was more of a statement than a question. She was clearly trying her best not to give him a good slap across his face.

"Saving the world?" Ron joked meekly, as he sported a smile.

"How is that saving the world?" Kim continued yelling at him. "You just throw yourself into a hot zone, blow things up and then you destroyed one of my jets!"

"If it's about the jet, I can write you a check..." Ron offered submissively. "It's no big deal, right? The pilot survived, I made sure of that."

"What are you talking about?" Kim asked suspiciously.

"He barely had time to eject, and was unconscious..." Ron explained slowly. "His chute didn't auto-deploy, so I pulled parachute's emergency handle for him..."

"You?" Kim's jaw opened in surprise.

"Heh, yeah... I wasn't going to let that guy die because of me..." Ron replied sheepishly.

"That still doesn't excuse you," Kim grumbled. "What about the village? There are civilian lives down there! You just can't go down there and blow things up!"

"Kim, Kim, Kim..." Ron shook his head with a smirk gracing his features. "I'm not new to this, you know? I made sure the people were safe, knocked out all the terrorists that I could, and destroyed their weapons..." His brow furrowed for a moment before he continued more somberly, his tone honestly remorseful, "Though a few, unfortunately, I had to kill..."

Kim's eyes narrowed at the remark. She barely bit back a harsh remark when she saw the remorse in his eyes, the same remorse he had during their high school graduation... "Show me this suit of yours," she ordered coldly instead.

"Right over there," Ron gestured lazily with his hand. "Sorry if I don't get up... I'm just a little tired..."

Walking around the workbench to see the suit of armor that Ron had worn, a small gasp escaped her lips. She bent down cautiously and studied the chest-piece that was riddled with bullet holes. Reality struck her as she traced a particularly large dent made by a bullet that almost penetrated the armor. "Ron... You were shot..." those words escaped her lips in a whisper.

"Heh, courtesy of your guys," Ron grinned wryly.

"I thought that the pilot was seeing things when he said he shot you..." Kim replied weakly, as she set the dented piece of armor on the workbench. Looking up at her blond friend, she spoke, "Ron, you could have died ..."

"I try not to let that bother me," Ron remarked lightly.

Cautiously, Kim walked over to his side and got on one knee as she touched his arm lightly. Peering at the colorful bruises on his body, she asked, "Are those..."

"Yeah," Ron shrugged. "Suit doesn't stop those kind of bullets that easily..."

Tracing a finger over an ugly purplish one, she looked up at him to ascertain that he was fine. When she saw him smirking at her, a sense of outrage swept over her, and she jabbed her finger roughly into a large purplish bruise. To her satisfaction, Ron's face instantly screwed up in pain as he howled and flinched away from her.

"Kim!" Ron yelled at her, as he rubbed his irritated bruise. "What was that for?"

"That was for making me worried," Kim spoke quietly. Almost pleadingly, she asked of him, "Don't ever, ever do that again."

"Do what?" Ron asked.

"Put on that suit and play hero ever again," Kim ordered sternly.

"Kim... You don't have to worry about me," Ron placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "We've done stuff like this before. Remember you and Wade's power suit? This is just a far more awesome upgrade..."

"Dammit Ron, don't you ever listen to me?" Kim raised her voice angrily. "Do you realize that you almost got yourself killed out there? If you didn't tell me that it was you out there, I would have scrambled more fighters after you to shoot you down at all cost..."

"But you didn't," Ron pointed out dismissively. "I'm alright, so everything's chauncy."

"Ron, you can't live by the skin of your teeth!" Kim protested. "We got out of the hero business a long time ago... Now leave it to the professionals."

"One, Kim, I got out of the hero business... Now you administer other people in it." Ron said in a slightly heated tone. He clamed himself with a deep breath and continued in a more controlled tone, "And two... I can't do that, Kim," Ron shook his head. "This is my problem, and I'm not letting someone else clean up my mess."

"What are you talking about, Ron?" Kim asked.

"I'm talking about my weapons..." Ron replied tiredly. "My weapons that have fallen into the wrong hands. Something went wrong with Stoppable Enterprises, and we're also selling weapons to the wrong guys!"

"Let Global Justice handle it!" Kim cried. "That's what we're for!"

"But how effective have you been in dealing with this?" Ron riposted hotly, "I'm fairly certain you've known about our guys finding our weapons in their hands! Like you said, that village has been marked as a weapons depot for the terrorists for months! What has Global Justice done about it? Nothing!"

"Global Justice has many other pressing issues to handle!" Kim replied angrily. "Our resources are already spread too thin! We can't simply send in a team in whenever we feel like!"

"You can't! But I can!" Ron shot back. "Don't you remember why you created Team Possible in the first place? You did it to help people! Even though there were always other people who could do the job, you stood up to do it because you could! And without the bureaucratic red tape too!"

"But that's different!" Kim argued back. "That was a long time ago! Things weren't so dangerous back then!"

"C'mon Kim! I know I can do this!" Ron replied. "I know times have changed and the bad guys have stepped up a lot in a really bad way! But I've stepped up too! I have that!" He pointed at the chest-piece on the workbench.

"Stepped up, huh?" Kim closed her eyes as she uttered those words. She couldn't shake the dry feeling in her mouth. "Ron, if this is about us breaking up a long time ago..."

"No it's not!" Ron shouted. "Why do you have to think that everything is about you? Kim, that was such a long time ago..."

"But are you over it?"

Ron shook his head as he allowed himself a mirthless laugh. "See Kim? That's your problem... You are so conceited that you have to think that everything is about you. It's not... I swear I'm completely over you..."

Kim bit her lower lip hard, as she tried to stop herself from shouting back at him. "Ron. Stop it, no more games this time, okay? This is serious."

"What? I'm not playing any..." a cross look from Kim ended any possible protest on his lips. Ron let out a soft sigh.

"So is this part of your grand scheme of things to impress me and win me back?" Kim asked. "You know, just like the double PhDs, the multibillion dollar company and women like Bonnie?"

"Heh, just so you know about Bonnie..." Ron looked away guiltily. "Just so you know, she hit on me first. And it was a one-time thing."

"What about all the other women?" Kim narrowed her eyes.

"They... Ah... I got nothing," Ron admitted. "Kim, to be honest, I don't get you. I don't get why we broke up. For some reason you're not happy with me... And I don't know why... And after I got my company, you still wouldn't take me back..."

Kim bit her lip in silence. "So this is just something you're doing just to get my attention..." Kim stated as a matter-of-fact. "Then I better suggest you give it up, because there's no way in hell I'd take you back just because you want to wage your own personal war. I just don't want to see you die."

"Not this, Kim," Ron replied slowly. "This isn't about you... Kim... I've never told anyone this, but do you know who I met down there in those caves that I was held in?"

Kim shook her head, her eyes never leaving his face.

"Hans Demenz, also known as Professor Dementor," Ron whispered his name. "He's the reason I got out alive..."

"But... He disappeared a long time ago," Kim gasped in surprise.

"Yeah, I know," Ron nodded his head. "He was down there, creating weapons for the bad guys, for seven straight years... As a prisoner... He's also the one who fixed this..." Ron indicated at the annular glowing device sticking out of his chest. "Maybe it's hard to explain... But I don't want to be like him... Constantly being forced to develop newer and better weapons... It turns out that all these people ever want is a bigger gun, or a smarter missile... It never ends... Seven years, Kim... Can you imagine being in a cave that long?"

"No..." Kim whispered as she started to realize what Ron went through.

"Kim, I started out Stoppable Enterprises with a noble goal... I thought if we built better weapons, then someday we will be able to stop all conflict..." Ron shook his head as he let out a hollow laugh. "How naïve... Especially since I'm building weapons for both sides..." Turning to look at Kim squarely in the eye, he asked, "That's the nature of the business, you know. Sell weapons to both sides. It keeps the army happy, it keeps the shareholders happy, but you know what? It doesn't keep the peace."

"But Global Justice needs your technology..." Kim replied unconvincingly.

"No it doesn't..." Ron shook his head. "Global Justice doesn't need high-explosive bullets or multiple-target tracking missiles. Hans got me to see what my weapons are actually doing; its impact on people. You know, Kim, I actually got hit by one of my own anti-personnel RPG... You think I want to build something like that again?"

"I guess not..."

"Kim, I'm afraid of waking up one day, and finding myself in Hans' position," Ron replied with a shiver in his voice. "One day, I'm going to find that Stoppable Enterprises is my cave, and all I've been doing is making weapons and killing people... And I'm a prisoner in my own company, unable to break free just because people expect me to keep on doing what I've been doing... Do you know Hans has been keeping score for me? The number of people killed by my weapons has far outnumbered the lives we've saved during our Team Possible years, not counting the Lorwardians... I don't want it to end like that..."

"But why do you need to go out there and put yourself in harm's way?" Kim asked. "Why do you need to put on that suit and... And..."

"Like I told Monique," Ron replied with conviction. "This is my mess and I'm going to clean it up. I can't let someone else do it. I can't sit back and let other people risk their lives because of what I've done. I can't trust anyone else with my technology, and I want to get it right this time."

With a sigh, Kim spoke, "If this is what you really want to do for yourself... I guess I can't stop you. But don't get yourself killed, okay? It's a dangerous world out there."

"I know, Kim," Ron replied softly. "And thanks for your concern."

"Right, I better go then," Kim nodded. "I still got paperwork to fill out. My superiors are going to want to know about the plane that we lost..."

"Hey Kim," Ron called to her, his hand shot out to grab her wrist as she turned away. "While we're being open and honest to each other, I want to hear it from you. Why did you break up with me?"

"Ron, we've already been through this..." Kim jerked her hand away, not turning to look at him.

"Kim, like you said, no more games," Ron replied evenly as he tried to discern some sort of reaction from her turned back.

"I..." Kim stiffly shrugged his hand off as she tonelessly replied. "Look, as I recalled, it wasn't me who broke up with you. I wasn't the one who took advantage of Tara just after she broke up with Josh."

"Ha, ha, ha, Kim..." Ron casually replied, drawing his hand back to his side. "We can both cut the crap, you know I didn't do anything other than talk to her for over two weeks... Besides, I know all about Dan."

"Who?"

"That guy you slept with, six months after you told me we were on a break. It was on your first date together. Palm Springs Discotheque? Ring any bells, Kim?" Ron raised his voice, even though he tried to restrained himself.

"I..." Kim glanced puzzledly at Ron. "Dan?"

"Whoo boy, this is rich," Ron snorted with a mock laugh. "You don't even remember who you slept with!"

Kim whirled on Ron, delivering a withering glare straight to his face. "No, in fact, I clearly remember who I slept with. I have only slept with one man in my entire life, and he was the kindest, sweetest and most caring person in the whole world..."

"Oh, and who was that?" Ron asked with what seemed to be honest confusion on his face, "Unless you include actual sleeping in that, since you turned your nose up at the idea of sex with me, waiting 'til some hottie from GJ swept you off your fee-..."

Kim gritted her teeth, interrupting him with venom in her voice. "I don't care that you've fucked half the women in Go City, I don't care that you've fucked everyone on the Middleton High cheer team, and I don't care that you fucked my own cousin Joss! But if you think for a moment that I'm half as shallow as you..."

"Can the innocent act, Kim," Ron cut her off with a tired yawn. "We both know..."

"Oh yeah, Ron?" Kim drew up to her full height, as she stared at him straight in the eyes. "What do you know? I remember this Dan, alright, now that you brought it up! Dan Kenneths, he became a rookie the same year as me, and he's currently the regional head over in Europe. We went out once, and I insisted on a double date, because I didn't feel that I would betray you if I had Monique with me and made it a friendly date instead of an actual date..."

"Betray?" Ron's voice, despite his wishes otherwise, rose to an angry shout. "So Monique was a way to justify the way you fucked him on the dance floor?"

"I don't know who put those ideas into your head, Ron," Kim shook her head tiredly. "But I'm not even asking you to believe me. There was a time my word was good enough for you. You know what, Ron? I didn't believe it when people told me that you were sleeping around. I didn't believe it even when Tara said that she'd slept with you. I kept thinking to myself, not my Ron. All you had to do was deny all of it, and I would have accepted your word. But when I confronted you, your eyes said it all."

"Oh please, Kim," Ron half-shouted as he ridiculed her. "You can take the moral high ground all you want, but you and I are alike; we sleep with whoever we please, and face it, you're a slut as much as..."

Before he could finish the sentence, a jarring blow struck his left cheek, and left him a little dazed. Raising his hand to nurse his injured cheek, Ron let a mirthless smirk curl on his lips. "What? Too close to the truth for you?" he taunted Kim who was standing there, clenching her fists, trying to quell the furious tempest within her.

When she didn't respond, he straightened himself up, gingerly walking over to his workshop computer. Tapping a few keys and accessing his encrypted files, he opened up a clip that he'd wished he'd never seen in his entire life. Swiveling the monitor around to show Kim, he raised an eyebrow as he announced quietly, "I honestly don't like doing this, but... Face it, Kim: we can never hide from who we truly are..."

"That's not me." Kim said, her eyes wide and her voice shocked.

"Wha-?" Ron turned his head to glance at the screen in mock-surprise. "I think I'd know my own ex-girlfriend since pre-K... And now... That's her hiking her skirt up... Yup, there's the scars that sit just below your beltline, y'know, the ones only I'd seen before this night, since you got them in the invasion during our high school graduation? And... Yup! There's Dan... Right behind her, uh huh..."

"No, that's not me," Kim shook her head defiantly, bile and anger rising at what she saw on the screen.

"But..." Ron looked again, "Looks fine to me? Your hair's even the same way it is now, just a bit shorter..."

"I was wearing a wire on that date."

"Yeah, and that expression on your face… I have seen it so man-…" Ron stopped in mid-sentence and stared at her for a moment. "Whu-… What? You wore a what?"

"A wire, Ron," Kim sighed tersely. "A recording device… Right underneath my blouse. Where Dan would have found it almost immediately if we were…" Kim bit her lip as she spoke those words. "Engaging in sexual activity."

"Oh please!" Ron threw up his hands incredulously. "You'd just say anything to save your face, wouldn't you, Kim? You? A wire? Why on earth would you wear a wire to a date?"

"Because it wasn't a date. I… I'm not suppose to tell you this… I could lose my job and go to prison for telling you this… But Dr. Director wanted to make sure he was clean, because of something we dug up on his past. Found an entry visa to Pakistan years ago, but could be nothing," Kim shook her head. "So I simply had to get him drunk a bit, see how he loosens up and if anything spills, we got it on tape…"

"Hang on a god damned minute there!" Ron raised his voice angrily. "You expect me to believe that? C'mon, even Monique was there, you expect me to believe that that wasn't a real date?"

"Monique didn't know, she is a civilian after all," Kim shook her head. "Besides, it was a low risk mission. And I wanted Monique to come along because then it wouldn't feel like I was betraying you…"

"Betray me?" Ron hooted sarcastically. "I'm nobody's fool Kim! You can't just come here and make up some bullshit story about how going on a date was your mission. If that's the case, then I had a mission too. My mission was to make Tara forget about Josh, and I sure damn well did a good job with that…"

The pained look in Kim's face said it all. As much as he wanted to hurt her, Ron found his words twisting around and wrenching his own heart out of his chest. He gritted his teeth and averted his eyes, as he somehow felt ashamed of his words.

"Sorry, Ron," Kim shook her head with conviction. "This is one thing you can't blame me for..." She turned around to walk away, trying not to let him see the tears building in her eyes.

"Hang on a minute," Ron jerked his head up and raised his voice in outrage. "You think you're completely blameless in this? Maybe you're right, and maybe that isn't you!" He stabbed his finger furiously at the computer screen. Taking a deep breath, he continued his tirade, "But like I said, you're the one who walked away from our relationship in the first place! You're the one who turned your back on us, so that you can go and pursue your dream of joining Global Justice! You threw me aside the moment you figured that I wasn't a part of your plans for the future!"

"Ron..." her tone spoke volumes as she hadn't the strength left to turn around and face him. "I have always wanted you to be a part of my life. To stand by my side and be strong for me. But you were... Addicted to me."

"What are you talking about?" Ron strained a fake laugh as he stared at her. "Addicted to you? You have got to be joking, you're even more full of yourself than I thought... Addicted to you..."

"No, you're wrong, Ron," Kim sighed as she tried to mask the emotion swelling in her voice. "When I'm with you, you always inspire the best in me. But you... You never seemed to want anything more than to be with me. Don't you get it, Ron? That's what the break from our relationship was supposed to be. To give you time to find something else to fill your life other than me."

"I don't get you, Kim," Ron began hesitantly. "I love you... Isn't that enough for you?"

"It's not enough for me..." Kim whispered. "Because I believe the man I love can be a lot more than he wants to be... You have no drive in life... Ron, I do appreciate you doing everything you can think of, short of sleeping with Bonnie, to prove that you are worthy... But that's not it... I never wanted a successful Ron, or a golden Ron, or a romantic Ron... I just wanted a Ron who cared for more than just himself..."

"But I do care for more than myself..." Ron caught a hitch in his throat. "I care for you..."

"There's that..." Kim remarked sadly. "But is that enough? Without me, who would you be Ron? If I died someday, what would happen to you? Would you also stop living?"

"I..." Ron felt his heart turn cold at her words. "Kim, why would you even ask something like that?"

"Ron, you don't know how happy I am to see you finally pick up a cause that you feel so strongly about," Kim spoke softly. "But it's too late, Ron. You broke my heart one too many times."

"And you didn't? Every time I tried to reconcile, you threw my so-called lack of drive in my face, and then that..." He pointed at the screen, then held up a finger to forestall any objections she may have come up with. "I know, it may not have been you, but... I was scared you'd accuse me of spying when I had nothing to do with it..."

He paused, realizing that bringing the video would be a weak challenge to her. He changed tactics, bearing himself to her, like he had only done once before, in a nameless storeroom at the Bueno Nacho headquarters. "Just one more chance, Kim," Ron asked tonelessly. He paused for a moment, before another word escaped his lips in a soft whisper. "That's all I've ever wanted... Please?"

"I'm sorry... I'm just... I can't take the pain anymore..." Kim closed her eyes as she clenched her jaw.

Stepping up behind her, Ron wrapped his arms around her waist, and pressed his face against the back of her head, remembering once again her scent. To his surprise, she did not flinch away. "Kim..." he murmured softly. "I... I won't hurt you anymore..."

"You said that before." Kim objected, feeling his body stiffen behind her.

"Kim, I said that before..." He nodded his head backwards, knowing it was a weak defense. "That... Please... We've both wasted our lives... We've danced and danced around each other about this for too long. I don't want to spend another day without you, not anymore..." Ron's voice hitched a little, as he blinked back the tears, his face still buried in her silky red mane. "Kim... I love you..."

"I... I..." the words got caught in her throat, as she suddenly pulled away out of his warm embrace "I'm sorry, Ron," she whispered, as she half-walked, ran towards the lab door, leaving a Ron standing helplessly in his place.

She fled up the stairs, two steps at a time, the clack of her booted feet snapping him from his trance. His dazed mind not quite comprehending how he'd just let the most important thing in his life slip out of his grasp ordered his ineffective limbs into motion. His body lurched forward, dashing up the stairs and 

finding Kim leaning against the jamb of his front door. As she noticed him, she quickly fumbled for the knob to let herself out.

His whisper carried easily to her, stopping her in her tracks. "So, you'll walk out on me again, just like that..."

"Ron, I..." She began, but Ron's insistent whisper cut her off.

"Kim, what the Hell?" he asked, "Dammit, Kim, we both screwed up, okay? I should have come to you when I got the video, but I didn't…" he shook his head sadly, tears sliding down his cheeks. "But let's stop wasting time. Let's stop making any more decisions that we would regret. I don't think I can live another day without you. Please, Kim…"

"No…" a haunted whisper escaped her lips. Her voice quivered as she turned around, hiding her face from his gaze. "It's too late… I don't know you anymore…"

"What do you mean? I'm still me…"

"No… I just…" Kim shook her head slowly. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped the front door handle firmly, trying to tear herself away from everything that reminded her of him. "I just don't belong in your world of fast money, fast cars and fast women…" She twisted the cold metal object in her hands and pushed the front door open, not bothering to look back. It was just too painful…

"Kim!" Ron yelled out, his cry a gargled choke as he leaned against the door frame for support as he watched her fiery red mane bob out of his life again for the second time. "Kim!" He closed his eyes to try and stem the flowing tears, before sliding down onto the front porch, and listening to the screeching sound of tires, as they tore through his heart like a knife, and knowing that she was gone again.

Author's Notes

Yeah, finally, I think we have a clear picture of what had transpired between Kim and Ron. I kinda figured that's why she'd break up with him. Maybe it's her action speaking louder than words type of personality that made her take the drastic route. But I kinda empathize with Kim here. How does she tell Ron to do something like not listen to everything she says? I mean, she wants him to be his own person, but she can't exactly tell him that, can she? It's one huge catch-22. I think that's one of Ron's flaws. He's too eager to please her, and I guess that kinda bothered Kim a little?

And so this has been one angst filled drama chapter. Kinda what the whole story's been building up to. Okay, I confess a self-addition to angst. But then there's two kinds of angst. The good angst, and the angst-for-the-sake-of-angst bit. Maybe this is a bit of the latter, but hey, it was necessary to push Ron along this path, no? So yeah, the angst monster has attacked…

Anyway, still very busy with work life and all that. Writing has been sparse. I hope you'll bear with me, and I will see this story to the finish. As well as a few others. Plus a couple of oneshots in my head. Yeah… That's why replies to reviews have been painfully slow. I'm really sorry about that, but rest assured that I take each review seriously and I hope you'll put up with my schedule for a bit longer.