Thanks again to all the readers! We're getting closer to concluding this story, though I'm still mulling over how to release the last few chapters and epilogue, in particular whether the latter should be a separate story. I'm inclined to paper over the tonal shift of the epilogue and just publish it as another chapter to avoid having a completely disjointed story that's intrinsically linked to this one.

Chapter 20 - Give Me a Reason

Much to their relief, the rest area hotel was perfectly adequate, if simple. With their car parked as inconspicuously as possible, the two teens dragged their luggage with them to the front desk. Ron was charged with checking in, while Kim discreetly looked out for any potential pursuers.

"Hi, good evening," Ron said, "we're looking to stay the night, one room please." Though much of their cover seemed to have imploded, and the motivation for it muddier than ever, the practical reality was that Kim and Ron needed to stick together, in case someone did show up. And that meant trading the convenience of separate rooms for the comfort and safety of sleeping in the same room.

Kim was not paying attention to the simple business transaction. She had her eyes glued to the lobby window, looking for any signs of trouble. A truck parking at the end of a row of other trucks. One of those European hatchbacks that were everywhere driving by, on the way back to the highway. A cat lazily watching the same events on the other side of the window… There was nothing going on that she could see – the problem was that she would have said the same just before almost being kidnapped. If it had not been for Ron watching their backs more attentively, who knows where they might have ended up.

"KP," Ron gently announced so as to not scare her, "we're done here, our room is 205. Anything interesting?"

"Short answer, no."

"What about the long answer?"

"Nope. Let's head to our room."

They took the elevator and quickly spotted their room off to their right. As they stepped into it, they were both relieved to find that it looked like a perfectly reasonable hotel room. Ron, however, quickly spotted a flaw.

"Aww, man, I forgot to ask for separate beds. Sorry about that, KP, I totally spaced on that detail…"

"Ron."

"…and obviously the guy figured we'd…"

"Ron…"

"…sleep in the same bed. I won't be long, I hope, just –"

Finally, she managed to interrupt him by throwing her arms around him in an embrace. "It's perfect, Ron, don't worry about it."

Perfect? He thought, Odd choice of words… In any case, it was clear that Kim didn't want the additional hassle. "If you say so, KP, but let's, uh, sit down for a bit…"

"Thanks," Kim said after they had sat down on the bed.

"Thanks? For what?"

"For saving me. For stepping up," she added.

Ron did his best to be nonchalant about it, echoing Kim in more ways than one, "I believe the correct expression is 'no big'."

"On the contrary," Kim insisted. "You spotted the goons just in time, you took the risk of luring them into the alley… And it wasn't just dumb luck, it was quick thinking and focus."

"Not bad for a loser and a buffoon, huh?"

Ron's self-deprecating comment made Kim cringe. "Don't," she said.

"The bad guys have a point, KP, I just create chaos."

"So not!"

"So what else have I created?"

Kim paused briefly, then answered, "The Naco."

"Ok, I'll give you that one…"

"You helped create our cover story for this mission."

"Hmm, look where that got us," Ron mused.

"Naked Mole Rap?"

Finally Kim had broken through and Ron took her words of motivation seriously. "Right, I heard it on the radio the other day." He paused for a few seconds, then added, "Shouldn't I be getting royalties?"

Kim chuckled, that was definitely her Ron.

"It'd be nice if that one actually got me a date for the prom," Ron added.

His words took Kim by surprise. Despite the prom issue taking up a substantial part of her waking thoughts a week earlier, she had practically forgotten about it. And when the thought did come up, showing up with Ron felt a lot more like something she wanted to do.

"Prom…?" She asked hesitantly.

"Sha!" He answered. "I'm not going to drag you along as a 'just a friend' to the prom! Not gonna give Bonnie that satisfaction, you deserve a proper date date. I'm sure you have some ideas already."

Kim was reminded of her recent conversation with Bonnie. Though she rationally knew she should not, the truth was that she had let Bonnie get under her skin. And in her own twisted way, she did have a point. Someway, somehow, Kim was less than Bonnie, less than the rest of the cheer squad.

"Don't worry," Ron said, interrupting her thoughts. "And don't let Bonnie get to you, I'm sure you'll find a guy out there."

"Out there…" She mused. Unknowingly, Ron had twisted the metaphorical knife. So Ron's definitely not interested. That's not really a surprise, he did break up with you first chance he got.

Still, Ron caught on that Kim was not enjoying the topic of their conversation. He took the opportunity to raise an important matter. "Hey, let's get some dinner. The restaurant on the other end of the rest area looks badical. By rest area standards anyway… Point is, it looks fine."

Kim nodded in agreement. It was getting late and a change of subject was definitely in order.

As they walked out of their room, Ron shuddered.

"Thinking back on that quote-unquote 'Fresh' Egg Salad Sandwich?" She asked him.

"Phew, that thing looked disgusting, absolutely, revoltingly rotten. I should've taken your advice and saved myself a quarter," he answered. "The price should have been a red flag, too."

"You'd think that being sold alongside condoms in a run-down gas station restroom would have been enough of a red flag…"

"Yeah, well, hindsight and all that," Ron conceded. "Come to think of it, l guess the sandwich didn't bode well for the quality of the condoms either. I'm glad I manned up and just went to the pharmacy," he added absentmindedly as they stepped out of the hotel lobby.

Kim gave him a puzzled look, and Ron quickly picked up on what he'd just said out loud.

"Uh, I mean hypothetically, if I wanted to buy…" It didn't take Kim's raised eyebrow for Ron to realize his half-baked cover-up was completely ineffective. He took a deep breath, before confessing, "Fine. I wanted to practice so that I wouldn't act like a fumbling idiot when the time came."

Kim restrained a giggle, "That was very mature of you, Ron. Nothing to be embarrassed about." She grabbed his arm and leaned into him, taking a deep breath. Keep those green eyes in check and be supportive. "So, who's the lucky date for prom?" She asked, putting additional emphasis on 'lucky'.

"Well, I'd thought of asking…" He said before catching on, "Wait, not like that, don't phrase it like that!"

This time, Kim did not feel the need to hold back a giggle.

Well, two can play at this game. "You won't be giggling when I show up with Shego as my date," he said. "She's not entirely without merit, you know?"

The thought of Ron on a date with Shego was just too ridiculous for Kim not to break down in laughter. "Oh, tell me she's going to show up wearing a motley." Imitating her father, she added, "Ronald, I'm going to have to ask you to stay out of my house if you're going to be hanging out with circus folk."

Ron joined in on the laughter. "Oh yeah, it's going to be a total mummer's farce," he said as the two teens slowly recomposed themselves as they approached the restaurant. Stepping inside, they found a pleasant enough space, with a dining area and a self-service sort of place, selling sandwiches and perhaps some simple meals.

Ron took Rufus on an inspection of everything on offer, so that the naked mole rat could pick his own meal. Meanwhile, Kim picked out the soup of the day, some unassuming vegetable soup, along with a salad. She was not the least bit surprised to find Ron's tray loaded with three sandwiches, a slice of nondescript chocolate cake, a cup-shaped pastry of some sort with a burnt yellow filling, two packs of assorted nuts, a pack of chewing gum, a slice of bread, some sort of fish pâté, and two diet sodas.

"Wait, how come you have two sodas?" She asked as they sat down.

"One's for you," Ron answered. He took one of the bottles and placed it on Kim's tray. "Gotta work on getting that debt down a bit, you know…"

"Thanks. So, of all that, what's yours?"

Ron placed the soda, the pack of gum, one of the sandwiches and the cake off to one side. He then gestured at the rest of the items, "This… Is all for Rufus. Though, wait a second, these two are for the road," he said as he picked up the nuts and put them off to the other side, leading to some slightly disappointed sounds from the naked mole rat. "Alright, Rufus. Dig in… "

Rufus immediately left behind his momentary disappointment and enthusiastically chomped down large bites of his food at a rate that would ensure he would be done well before Kim or even Ron.

"I don't know," Ron said after taking a few bites of his sandwich.

"Not good?" Kim asked. "The tuna sandwiches did look better…"

"No, the food's fine… It's just, well, I might skip prom."

"What? Why?"

"Well, let me put it this way: Last time I went around asking girls to be my date, things didn't go very well. The rejection stung, especially after spending those hours stuck in the janitor's closet, thinking about it." Kim seemed to be struggling for words, so Ron continued. "I actually thought I might have a chance with Tara after she came to her senses and ended the Mankey-thing. Sidenote, I haven't seen him around, like, at all for weeks, someone should go make sure he's alive."

That seemed to finally draw a chuckle out of Kim, "Or not, can't say we're missing him."

"Ooh, harsh, but fair," Ron said. "Anyway, I figured I should ask her out, but before I could work up the courage, I heard she had a date lined up."

Kim raised an eyebrow, and Ron answered the unspoken question, "Hey, the Ronman keeps up with all school gossip!"

"So that's it?"

"I guess so. The Naked Mole Rap thing is nice, but I don't think it really moved the needle on the whole prom date thing," Ron mused. "What about you?"

Kim opened her mouth but was interrupted by the Kimmunicator before saying a word. "Go Wade," she said answering the call.

"Guys, what's going on?"

"Is TI with you?" Kim inquired.

"No, and they're going to ask questions when you don't show up in the morning, which I guess you won't. And they're not the only ones…"

"Long story short, we were almost kidnapped shortly after our talk after we left GJ's office. We don't know whom to trust."

Ron joined Kim's side of the table and found an incredulous boy on the other end of the call.

"You think TI has been working against us? And what about the GJ flight?"

"I don't know, Wade," Kim replied. "There's just way too much wrong with all this."

Wade paused for a moment, then continued, "So what's the plan now?"

"We're on our way back to Frankfurt, to fly back to Middleton. Can you update our reservation?"

Wade typed away, then announced, "Done."

"Thanks, Wade. Once we're back home, we can start sorting out all of this mess."

"Alright guys, stay safe and let me know the minute there's any news."

"Sure thing," Ron said as Kim nodded in agreement.

The two teens finished what was left of their dinners and headed back to their room, but something felt different. Like Kim's walking on eggshells. Of course, Ron wasn't going to rock the boat, especially because it was only natural to feel uneasy, with everything going on. Still, he felt compelled to make sure everything was okay.

"Hey, KP, how're you doing?"

"I'm okay," she responded without enthusiasm. "Why do you ask?"

"You just looked a bit, you know, down. I get it, I'll feel a lot better once we're back home, too."

"Yeah, that'll help…" she answered with a weak smile.

While we wait for the action to resume next week, check back on Tuesday for the 20th anniversary of So The Drama.

In the meantime, if you liked Tunnel Vision, there's also an interesting take on how things could have gone from lxk, titled Bridging the Gap. Expect a few curveballs.