Author's Note: I'm super sorry for yet another long delay, but I can promise you it's not going to happen again. Because this is the last chapter! Yes, it's true: the story is finally done. And it only took… Wow, almost ten years. Although I never thought about abandoning the story, there were times when I thought this day might never come.

In anycase, I hope I've been able to end the story in a way that's satisfying and, however unlikely, worth the wait.

I'd like to thank everyone who helped me with the story through all these years: cpneb (RIP - I miss you, buddy), Absentialuci, Neo the Saiyan Angel, and kgs-wy. Especially towards the end I was running low on ideas and motivation and had to turn to Neo and Kgs for them... I owe you guys a gigantic extra Thank You!

Chapter 17: Heroes

Everyone's a hero in their own way
Everyone can blaze a hero's trail
Don't worry if it's hard

Captain Hammer,
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

≈O≈

The series of explosions rocked the earth so much that it wouldn't have been a surprise if the small island had shaken loose and floated away.

Agent Will Du observed the destruction. "Miss Possible, Mr. Stoppable: I suggest that we de-ass the area, post-haste."

Kim saw the debris flying through the air, headed their way. "Or we could just RUN!"

The trio ran for their lives, dodging palm trees and falling junk, several times narrowly avoiding getting brained by a jagged piece of death ray. The rain of lair bits gradually stopped, but the running didn't. They didn't stop until they reached the beach.

Ron dropped on his butt, trying to catch his breath. "That self-destruct meant business. Dementor really wanted to level the place."

"Actually," Agent Du spoke up, "I believe it was the super-high explosives I planted that amplified the explosion to such a degree."

"Wait, you put more explosives in there?" Kim said. "Were you trying to kill us all?"

"I was not aware of the self-destruct mechanism."

"Dude, there's always a self-destruct mechanism," Ron stated what should have been obvious to an agent as experienced as Du claimed to be. Even Rufus was out and chattering angrily at the agent, his tiny finger doing circles in the air next to his head.

"Interesting. I shall make a note of it for next time."

Kim checked the time on her Kimmunicator. "Hey! We gotta go."

"I assure you Miss Possible, we are no longer in any danger."

"I'm late for an appointment. Get that jet here, now!"

"Very well," Agent Du said and pressed a button on his super secret agent watch.

≈O≈

The sleek jet cut through the air at a supersonic Mach 1.5. A quiet hum in the cockpit was the only trace of sound from the powerful jet engines. Kim sat in the passenger seat next to Will Du who was piloting the aircraft.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Kim asked impatiently as she stared out the window.

"We are at optimal airspeed. If we push the engines any harder we'll run out of fuel before we reach Middleton."

Kim let out an exasperated exhale.

Will glanced at his harried passenger. "If I may ask: what exactly is the nature of your appointment? It seems important."

"None of your business."

"Fair enough."

After a few moments of silence, Kim spoke up: "It's for therapy." She sighed. "I've been seeing a therapist."

"That's surprisingly-"

"Crazy?"

"-professional, of you. Quite a few GJ field agents attend therapy."

"Yeah, well. I might just stop going. I've been doing it for a couple months, and I'm not sure it's doing anything. I mean, what does an office rat know about the battle field?"

"Who's your therapist, if I may ask?"

"Casey Head."

"Trust me, Doctor Head is quite qualified to help you."

"So she says. I'm not convinced."

Agent Du was conflicted. He was never one to break or even stretch the rules, but he couldn't ignore a fellow operative in need of help. "What I'm about to tell you is classified. I really should not be divulging this to a civilian." Intrigued, Kim turned to him as he still struggled with his decision. "Dr. Head was one of Global Justice's most decorated field agents. She has, if you'll pardon the crude vernacular, been in the shit."

"Really? She didn't really look like the type."

"You should have seen her in her uniform all geared up. She was danger," Du said with voice full of admiration and… something else.

Kim noticed the dreamy look in his eyes. "Agent Du," she said in a teasing tone, "did you have a crush on Dr. Head?"

Du's face reddened. "I most certainly did not. It's unprofessional."

Kim smiled with self-satisfaction for having gotten a rise out of the always so proper agent.

≈O≈

Breakthrough.

That was the word: breakthrough. After having learned that Dr. Head had actual experience with field work, Kim was able to open up in a way she had not done before. Perhaps because of this she felt that for the first time the session had actually felt therapeutic. It had also been more intense than ever before, leaving her feeling mentally drained.

She didn't feel like she could take on anything too stressful at the moment so she asked Wade to direct all help requests to GJ for the next couple days.

There was still the Bonnie situation.

≈O≈

The brunette's crossed arms and the demanding tapping of her foot made Kim sigh.

"What is it now?" she asked.

"This routine is like totally lame," Bonnie said.

"Yeah. It totally lacks pizzazz," Jessica agreed.

"They can't all be championship material. Sometimes you gotta stick to the basics," Kim defended her routine. "Besides, weren't you the one complaining about my 'fussy' routines, Bonnie?"

"At least those had some effort. What, are you suddenly afraid of getting the cheer team hurt, too?" Bonnie aimed the barb at Kim. "The only thing you're hurting is our reputation."

"Bonnie," Kim said, unable to hide the hurt. The biggest reason for toning down the routine was that Kim didn't want to risk Bonnie hurting her arm again. Sure it was healed now, but Kim was uncomfortable with putting too much strain on it this soon.

"No, unless you're gonna give it your all, I'm not gonna bother."

Bonnie walked away. Acting before thinking, Kim grabbed Bonnie by the hand.

"Don't," she said before realizing she was holding Bonnie's hand, "go…"

There was a moment. The two girls shared a wistful look, relishing the touch not felt in a long time.

Bonnie took back her hand. "Get it together, K," she said in a softer tone and walked off.

Kim wasn't sure if she meant their relationship or the cheerleading. It didn't really matter - at the moment nothing in her life felt very 'together'.

The Kimmunicator beeped.

"Wade, I thought I told you I'm not taking on missions right now."

"I know, but this one's different. It's a search and rescue. There's been a tornado outbreak that did some serious damage to several towns."

"Uh, that's a little out of my wheelhouse."

"You've helped with natural disasters before."

"Yeah, before they hit. And not in the US. Don't we have FEMA for that?"

"They're spread pretty thin and could use the help. And this was a personal request from the mayor of Minorburg, one of the towns hit by a tornado."

Kim sighed. She wasn't sure if she was ready to take on a mission yet, but there was no way she was going to not help people in need.

"Okay, I'll do it."

≈O≈

The devastation took the teens by surprise. The town, or what was left of it, looked like a warzone. Everywhere they looked there were wrecked cars, destroyed houses, and broken off trees. Buildings and trees left standing had debris embedded in them, such as chairs, light poles, and even kitchen utensils.

Emergency services were already on-site, clearing away wreckage, helping the wounded, and - not surprisingly, but more disturbingly to the teens - carrying off the dead.

The realization made Kim and Ron look at each other. The mutual understanding was written on their faces: they were about to step up and sit at the grown-up table.

"We can do this, right?" Kim sought assurance.

"Together, we can do anything," Ron smiled. Kim smiled back.

The helicopter touched down and Team Possible jumped out ready for action. Or they thought they were. They were overwhelmed by the destruction and just stared at it, trying grasp the situation enough to start formulating a plan.

"Miss Possible?"

Kim turned to the voice and saw a rescue worker wearing a bright yellow vest with reflective stripes. The woman trotted towards the teens. Her medium length hair was tied back in a short ponytail.

They shook hands briefly.

"How can we help?" Kim asked.

"We're pretty much short on everything, but what we really need help with right now is locating survivors. There are still people unaccounted for." She handed Kim a walkie-talkie. "Here. Call in anything and anyone you find."

"We're on it. You can count on us." Kim glanced at Ron. "Come on, Ron."

As the two walked off, Kim picked up the Kimmunicator. "Wade?"

"Hi, Kim. How does it look over there?"

"Bad. Can you make the Kimmunicator scan for life signs?"'

"It's not a Tricorder," Wade said. Seeing a very familiar look on Kim's face he continued quickly. "I've actually been experimenting with a 'bloodhound' patch. I guess this would be a perfect time for a beta test."

"Bloodhound patch?"

"Yeah, it basically imitates how a bloodhound tracks people. Plus I've added some parameters, like ammonia, CO2, and infrared."

"Parameters like? What more are there?" Ron asked.

"Patent pending," Wade replied, a bit snappish.

"Okay, Wade, patch me up," Kim said.

"It's gonna take a few moments to upload, and the Kimmunicator is going to shut down for a bit to apply the patch."

Kim put down the Kimmunicator and cast a sweeping glance at the scene around her.

"You wanna talk about it?" Ron asked.

"About what?"

"You and Bonnie."

"What's to talk about? We're broken up. It's over"

"All you need to do for it to not be over is call her."

"I'm not getting into this again. It's-"

The Kimmunicator beeped and the screen came alive.

"We're done," Kim said and grabbed the Kimmunicator, effectively shutting down the topic. "Wade, how does this work?"

"Okay, so first you need to choose the app with the Function key."

Kim clicked the button and scrolled through the various applications until she found it: 'Bloodhound BETA v0.09'. The screen changed into grayscale image of the camera feed with a bunch of colored wisps and an arrow thing in the middle of the screen.

"This is different," Kim commented.

"So, I've tried to make it as user friendly as I can. As a default it's showing everything. You can cycle the display options with the arrow keys. The colored patches or lines show the traces of the various things the sensors detect. Using those the program tries to determine what if anything it's detecting. The arrow on your screen shows the direction the detected target most likely is, and the color of the arrow indicates what it is it believes to be detecting. It should also be showing a percentage number. That tells you the accuracy, or 'confidence', of the detection."

"What if it's detecting more than one, uh, thing?"

"I've set up a priority list. First, of course, is a living person. Then a dead person, and then live animal, and so on. You can change it in the settings if you want."

"Okay, let's get to-," Kim said and stopped when she saw the screen. "Uh, Wade? The arrow's spinning."

"Oh, yeah. It needs to be calibrated to ignore you guys," Wade said, tapping furiously at the keyboard. "I need you to point the Kimmunicator at all of you, one at a time."

"Okay," Kim said and turned the device on herself. After two seconds it beeped. She repeated the process for Ron and Rufus.

"Now it should be working," Wade said.

Kim saw the arrow, now a light green color, pointing away from them, The accuracy was 17%.

"Looks like it works. Let's move."

All in all Kim found that Wade's program worked pretty well, though she did have to tweak the settings a few times to get it to look and work the way she felt comfortable and confident using. Still, all the technology in the world didn't make dealing with the reality any easier. Kim was used to adversaries she could outmanoeuvre, outthink, and outpunch. Mother Nature was in another league entirely. Cleaning up after her was an arduous task that chipped away at their resolve. By pure dedication to Kim, Ron managed to keep his wits about him and Kim's along with him.

It wasn't always easy.

Their first find came only about fifteen minutes in: they found an elderly man caught under a fallen fence and miscellaneous debris. Thankfully he was in relatively good condition and they could start following another trace after calling in. Using Wade's program they were able to find a handful of survivors in varying conditions.

But then…

...the arrow turned black.

Kim's blood froze. She looked at Ron who noticed her worried expression.

"What is it, Kim?"

"The tracker… It's detecting a," Kim swallowed, "a body."

"You mean like, a dead body?"

Kim just nodded.

"We could skip it," Ron suggested hopefully. He had no desire to see a corpse. "We can come back later. It's not like they can get any deader."

For a moment Kim actually considered Ron's suggestion. The moment went and Kim had to accept that a dead person was as valuable a find as a living one. "I'm afraid we have to. Dead or alive, we can't leave anyone behind. Besides, I'm not willing to blindly trust a program that hasn't been field tested - even if it is written by a super genius like Wade. "

With considerable trepidation the two followed the trace, all the way to its regrettable final destination. It turned out that Wade's program was accurate. They found a young woman, dead, horribly mangled after being tossed around like a rag doll by savage winds. Kim recoiled in horror and turned away. As she fumbled for support and sat down on a felled tree, Ron was leaning on his knees, dry heaving. Trembling, Kim picked up the walkie. She was shaking so bad she was barely able to keep the talk button down. It took her a couple tries to communicate the find.

Ron sat down next to Kim. They sat in silence for almost a minute.

"It's not what I expected," Kim said in a shaky voice. "I mean, I don't know what I expected."

"I know what you mean."

They fell silent again, contemplating the brutal reality they had been so callously subjected to.

Ron turned to Kim. "You still good to continue?"

Kim sighed. "I don't know. But I can't just quit."

"No one would blame you if you did."

"I would," Kim said and got up. She was ready to continue on, but there was one thing she still needed to do. She went to the body. The clothes of the woman had been torn apart, leaving her chest exposed. Kim pulled at the remains of her shirt and covered her up as best she could.

Shaken, but recovering, the teens continued.

A good while went without any findings and the teens were getting ready to pack it up. They had reached the end of their search area and came upon a school. Kim waved the Kimmunicator around without any signs until-

"Wait!" Kim suddenly stilled, pointing her handheld at a particular direction. The device was indicating a modest probability of a living person being buried under a pile of rubble. The debris looked too heavy to lift by hand, but she didn't want to call in a false alarm.

Only a worried look was all Ron needed. "Rufus," he called. "Can you check out what's under there?" he asked.

Rufus scurried off after giving a proper salute. He found an opening and disappeared into the darkness. After a nerve-wracking five minutes the mole rat emerged chattering excitedly.

Ron turned to Kim. "There's a girl trapped under there. She's still alive."

Kim called the leader of the rescue. She was told it would take twenty minutes to get a unit at their location, and not to disturb the rubble so it wouldn't cave in.

"I guess we just have to wait," Ron said. Before he had finished his sentence Kim was poking around the rubble, particularly the opening Rufus had used. "KP, they said not to poke around."

"Ron, I can't just stand around," Kim said in a tone Ron knew all too well. "I need to do something. I need to help."

This was Kim at her Kimmest. She would not be swayed. Ron couldn't do anything to stop her, but he'd do everything in his power to help her. He walked to Kim and grabbed her Kimmunicator.

"Hey!"

Ron ignored the outburst as he contacted Wade. "Can you track Kim under a fallen building?"

"I think so."

"What about vitals?"

"Should work too, I just need to amplify the signal. Why?"

"Because she's about to crawl into a pile of tornadic destruction."

Wade raised an eyebrow at Ron's use of such a big word, but the gravity of the situation suppressed his urge to comment on it. He worked fast setting up all his screens to monitor every single sensor his device had. He felt satisfaction for having, ignoring Kim and Ron's gripes, sacrificed sleekness for ultimate versatility.

Ron handed the device back to Kim. "Just be careful," he said, and put on a forced smile. "Team Possible just wouldn't be anything without the Possible."

Kim smiled. "I'll be fine, Ron. As long as you're looking out for me I'll be fine."

Ron offered the bravest smile he could and stared helplessly as Kim wormed her way under the debris.

The Kimmunicator came alive as the powerful LEDs began illuminating the cramped space. Kim had to dim the light so it wouldn't blind her. She aimed the light around until she saw a way through between the broken jumble of concrete elements and wooden beams. Working her way through was hard and as more time passed the more she started to question her decision to do this.

Then she heard labored breathing.

"Hello?" Kim called out.

A voice called out, not much louder than a whisper: "Help."

The response strengthened Kim's resolve and she started crawling in the tight space with increased vigor. It wasn't long before she reached the source of the call. There was a small pocket that fit Kim and - a girl about her age. The girl's legs were pinned under what looked like a light pole. Crawling into the chamber Kim saw a pool of mostly dried blood under the girl's legs. She had lost a lot of blood, and by the fresh seepage it seemed she was still bleeding. She needed help, fast.

Kim crawled as close to the girl as she could. "Relax and breathe. You're gonna be okay. I'm here to rescue you."

"I can't feel my legs," the girl whimpered.

Kim keyed the Kimmunicator. "Ron? Ron, can you hear me?"

"I -ar you Kim, -st barely," Ron replied through hiss and static.

"I found a girl. She's alive."

"-at's great Ki-. Can y-u get her ou-?"

"I don't think so. She's pinned and there's not much space. Just lock onto my signal and get a rescue team here. And hurry! She's lost a lot of blood."

"O-y. Just hang on."

Kim ended the call and turned her attention to the trapped girl.

"Just stay calm, we're getting out soon."

"Are they okay?"

"Who?"

"Kids… in the shelter…" The girl's speaking became more laborious. "I was just doing what she would have done."

"Who is that?"

"My hero, she…"

"Who's," Kim began before she noticed the girl starting to pass out. "Hey! Stay with me here," she tried to jostle the girl. "Who is it? Who's your hero?"

The girl strained to open her eyes. "It's," she said and squinted as she looked at Kim. Her eyes opened wide. "You. It's you." She tried to sit up.

"Hey, hey, take it easy," Kim said.

"I've always- I never thought I'd meet you."

"It's a good thing, trust me. Most people only meet me when they're in trouble."

"Am I in trouble?" the girl said and smiled feebly.

"Only if you don't lie down and take it easy."

She lay back down.

"What's your name?" Kim asked.

"Amber," the girl answered groggily. Her eyes closed.

Worried about the Amber's extreme paleness, Kim jostled her again to try to keep her awake. Kim wasn't sure if keeping Amber awake in her condition was the right or best thing to do, but she felt she could better monitor her patient's condition if she could talk to her.

Amber didn't wake up. She was still breathing, though. Barely. Kim called Ron. "Ron, I need you to hurry. I don't think she'll last for much longer."

"Won't be mu- longer. -ey're bringing in excavators. H- strong is that hole, does it look -ike it could collapse?"

Kim waved the Kimmunicator around to get a good look at her surroundings. "Looks pretty stable. It seems like we're under a wall element supported on both sides."

"-od. Just wait a -tle bit longer. We'll get you out soon."

Seconds turned to minutes each lasting an eternity as Kim lay waiting for rescue. Amplifying the signal was draining the battery, shortening the run-time of the Kimmunicator drastically. It went into power-saving mode, dimming the already dim light. Visibility was minimal. The oppressive darkness threatened to swallow them whole.

Just as she started to feel panic setting in, Kim felt tremors and heard the rubble starting to shift. Dirt and small rocks rained on them as the piece of wall over them started to shake. Slowly it was lifted off the girls' nook, bathing their previously dark little hole in a blindingly bright light. The commotion caused the unconscious girl to stir. Squinting, she turned to Kim. "You saved me," Kim read from her smiling lips as her voice was too quiet to hear.

The last thing Kim saw before being ousted from the hole was the girl collapse as she finally gave up the ghost. Rescue workers and medics rushed to the girl's side.

Another girl pushed through the crowd. "Amber!" she cried as she jumped in the hole.

As she landed next to the girl the rescue worker closest to her shook his head. He looked sadly at the distraught girl next to him. "She's gone."

"No," the girl shook her head. She began crying. "Amber…"

Kim had never felt so helpless.

As she walked away, she overheard a few words of a conversation between two rescue workers. She wasn't sure she had heard right, but what it had sounded like was so outrageous she refused to believe it. It was quickly pushed to the back of her mind as there was some commotion over by the school. People were shouting excitedly as they were clearing away debris, revealing the entrance to an old tornado shelter. It looked to be in some serious disrepair; even the doors looked bent (though that might have been from the force of the storm). After some effort the doors finally budged, allowing a group of children of different ages pour out into helping hands. Transportation was called in.

Seeing they had nothing more to do there, Kim and Ron returned to base camp. The camp was teeming with rescue workers, volunteers, and worried townspeople looking for their loved ones. They saw two pickups driving in, the cargo beds holding shivering children wrapped in blankets. The trucks were swarmed as soon as they came to a stop. Children that weren't being smothered by their relieved parents were led away by rescue workers trying to keep them calm.

Another pickup drove into the camp. Its cargo was a body. It was the girl they had failed to save, Amber.

Ron felt Kim grab his hand and squeeze hard as the body was carried out accompanied by a crying girl.

"It's my fault," Kim said quietly. "I didn't get to her in time. If I had just-"

"Stop it, KP," Ron said sternly. "We did everything we could. You did everything you could."

Kim dropped her head. She wasn't sure she agreed with Ron.

"Ms. Possible?" a man called out. "My name's Father Michaels, and on behalf of all people of Minorburg, I'd like to express my deepest gratitude for your help."

"Thanks. But I'm not sure how much help I really was. I-"

"I can see why she idolized you," the priest murmured with a sad, if honest, smile.

"Who?"

The priest swung his head toward the dead girl. Her friend was still holding her hand.

"Her name was Amber. You were something of a hero of hers. There aren't many people in this town she didn't help one way or another." The priest turned his head. "See those kids?" he said, referring to the group rescued from the tornado shelter. "They told us Amber gathered them up there. And because the lock was rusted and worthless, she barred the door from the outside with a piece of rebar she'd found. Those kids are alive because of her."

Kim struggled with herself, to keep her disappointment in herself from spilling over, to find something to say. Her attention kept getting drawn to the crying girl. "That girl… she's taking this pretty hard. Is she a friend? Sister?"

"Girlfriend," the priest said.

The bluntness and lack of hesitation in the priest's answer caught Kim off guard. He noticed her surprise.

"You seem surprised, Miss Possible. Is it that Megan and Amber were in a relationship? Or that I'm not telling them to burn in Hell?"

"Both, I guess?" Kim said.

"Yeah, aren't you churchy types supposed to be all judgy and stuff?" Ron asked.

"Jesus teaches us to love and accept everyone. To judge is to play God, and is not what I preach."

He frowned as a couple rescue workers laughed among themselves while gesturing at Megan.

"But still, it's not easy being gay in a small town. Not everyone lives by The Word."

Kim saw the workers and suddenly what she had heard earlier clicked. She had heard them right.

'Damn dykes.'

Her blood boiled. Only Ron placing his hand calmingly on her shoulder kept her from launching at the insensitive jerks.

"But Amber," Father Michaels continued, "she… She never let anyone stop her from being who she was. She always asked herself 'what would Kim Possible do?' That gave her the strength and conviction to push through the prejudice and bigotry and stick with her aspiration to be what you are: a hero."

The regret Kim felt for not being able to save Amber grew to almost unbearable levels. But maybe, just maybe, there was something she could still do about it. A gesture, however small, to help alleviate some of the pain ...and guilt. She let go of Ron's hand and walked over to Megan.

She was alone, now. Amber's body had been taken away. Kim's heart dropped looking at Megan sitting on the ground, hugging her knees, sobbing.

"Are you Megan?" Kim asked softly.

"Go away," the girl said.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about Amber. I wish I could have done more."

She looked up. Recognition lit up her face.

"It's you!"

Kim rubbed her neck, adopting one of Ron's traits. "Yeah, I… I heard Amber kinda looked up to me."

"She more than looked up to you. She wanted to be you," Megan said through streaming tears.

"I'm sure that's not-"

"Don't-," Megan interrupted angrily. She took a breath. "The only thing she ever wanted to do was to make a difference, to be a hero like you. Sure, she never fought colorful supervillains, but she did make a difference - here."

"She sounds like a strong person." Kim forced a smile.

"She was. But even she needed a little support sometimes."

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes she felt like giving up. But all she needed was for me to tell her how much I loved her. And did. I loved her with all my heart, and now she's gone," the words poured from Megan, her tears flowing more freely with each passing word until she broke down into a wail.

Every attempt at a response dried up in Kim's throat. There was nothing she could come up with that wasn't completely hypocritical or just an outright lie. Her whole world view seemed to crumble. She got up, her head abuzz, and stumbled back towards Ron and Father Michaels.

With a glance Ron could tell Kim was nearing her breaking point. Contrary to what people thought and she would have them believe, she did have one. He excused them and walked Kim to their aircraft. Without a word Kim entered and took a seat in the passenger cabin. Ron followed and sat opposite her, keeping watchful eye on her.

"You okay?" Ron asked, worried.

Kim was far from okay. She was desperately trying to keep herself together. Suddenly she felt like the walls were closing in and she couldn't breathe. Kim leaned forward, putting her head between her legs, gasping for air. Ron crossed over and sat next to her. He took her hand. Kim began to shake, almost like convulsions taking over her body. Then the dam broke, and her anguish broke free in heaving sobs that came one after another, like waves crashing on a rock face.

All Ron could do was wrap his arm around his friend and let her purge. Kim clutched Ron, burying her face in his shirt. Little by little, the crying subsided and gave way to sniffling.

"I'm such a coward," came a muffled voice.

"Don't say that," Ron said soothingly.

"That girl gave her life to save those kids. She helped people because she wanted to be like me. The only difference is that she didn't dump her girlfriend to do it. She was the real hero. I'm just a poser."

"KP, you got scared. You cared for someone and they got hurt. You're the only one blaming you for it."

Kim sighed and stayed silent for a while.

"I need to call Bonnie."

Rufus chittered at Ron.

"You said it," Ron agreed.

"What did he say?" Kim asked.

"Oh, nothing important," Ron replied coyly.

≈O≈

"This is Bonnie. Leave a message."

Oh, great: voicemail, Kim thought. But after the effort of psyching herself up she wouldn't let the call go to waste.

"Hi, Bonnie. It's me: Kim. I just went through something today and… Well, I just wanted to let you know that I finally realized you were right, about everything. I was being a coward and a quitter, and… just a damn idiot."

"I know you said you'd wait for me, but I won't hold you to that, I have no right. I just needed to know if there was still the slightest chance for us, to know if I'd screwed things up beyond repair. You didn't pick up, so… I guess I got my answer."

"I'm gonna go now, but for whatever it's worth: I still love you, Bonnie."

≈O≈

The school gym looked exceptionally elegant and festive. The dance committee had outdone themselves (and the budget) this year. They had pulled off the thought to be impossible feat of picking out a music list that both the students and teachers approved. This was a Soph Hop for the ages.

"You really should join us on the dance floor, KP," Ron said, munching on a dip-covered chip.

"I don't want to be a third wheel."

"Hey, tricycles are cool."

Kim snorted. "Yeah, when you're five."

"Well, I am full of childlike wonder."

"You're full of something, all right," Tara said bitterly as she passed the two of them.

Kim watched the blonde walk off. "She's still mad at you?"

"Yeah," Ron said sadly.

Kim felt somewhat responsible for the breakup. Ron and Tara had had a fight about Bonnie and herself, during which Ron had apparently defended his friend a little too zealously. A silver lining, one that Ron had to point out, was that at least Bonnie had a true close friend by her side.

"Hi, guys!"

"Hey, Zita," Ron greeted his date. "Ready to head back to the dance floor?"

"Let's boogie!" Zita affirmed and grabbed Ron by the hand. Kim just watched her friend being dragged away by the cute latina.

Ron looked back at Kim and gestured for her to join them. Kim just waved her hand. Ron didn't have too much time to look disappointed as Zita spun him into position.

After finishing her cup of punch Kim found a row of seats and sat down. She just watched the happy couples on the dance floor, focusing mostly on Ron and Zita. She loved seeing her friend having fun. Then she saw Tara, who was currently not on the dance floor, glowering at her ex and his new girlfriend. Kim wondered if she had yet gotten over him.

Kim stared at her hands, trying not to wallow on the fact that she hadn't exactly gotten over her ex. She looked back at Tara, who was now talking to Bonnie. Just seeing her made Kim's heart skip a beat. But when Bonnie glanced at Kim and just looked away as soon as their eyes met, she just couldn't take it. She had to get away. She got up and made a beeline to the door. Once outside she stopped and breathed hard.

"Kim!"

Kim stiffened.

"Don't go," Bonnie said without discernable inflection.

"Why?" Kim asked, still facing away from Bonnie.

"Because I don't want you to," Bonnie said.

Kim turned around. "What are you saying?"

"I don't know. I just don't want you to go," Bonnie said, her voice still even.

The two stared at each other for a moment. Inside the gym a new song started playing. Bonnie took it as her cue and stepped up and grabbed Kim by the hand.

I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me
I still feel your touch in my dreams

"Just come in for one dance."

"Are you sure?" Kim asked as she was pulled toward the door.

Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why
Without you it's hard to survive

"It's just one dance. We can talk later, about everything."

Kim stopped resisting and followed Bonnie inside.

'Cause everytime we touch I get this feeling,
And everytime we kiss I swear I could fly.

Making their way onto the dance floor, Kim felt the anxiety building. After having found a spot they locked eyes.

And all the uncertainty and anxiety went away.

Can't you feel my heart beat fast,
I want this to last
Need you by my side

They easily fell into a comfortable embrace and began to sway to their own rhythm even as the song had already switched gears into a more upbeat tempo.

'Cause everytime we touch, I feel the static
And everytime we kiss I reach for the sky

Even as the world began to melt away around their little bubble, Kim knew that if she wanted it to last she'd have to pull the trigger and start the conversation.

And she wanted it to last.

Can't you hear my heart beat so
I can't let you go
Want you in my life

"Bonnie, I-"

"Stop. I know you're sorry. I forgive you."

Even though the words lifted a huge weight off her shoulders, Kim knew she had a lot to make up for, and she was not going to weasel out of it. "Still, I want you to know how much you mean to me. I know I broke your trust, and I'll do whatever it takes to get it back. I don't expect it to happen overnight."

"True. Everything you said is true, but," Bonnie said, her tone growing more anxious with every word.

Your arms are my castle
Your heart is my sky
They wipe away tears that I cry

"Can we just skip all that?" Bonnie said as she cupped Kim's cheek. "Can you just be kissing me now?"

The good and the bad times
We've been through them all

Kim was all too happy to oblige. The two joined in a kiss that was tender yet replete with pent-up passion. In the back of Kim's mind she recognized that they'd have to address the issues she had mentioned eventually. And even if they did the relationship was never going to be all sunshine and rainbows; there was always going to be some sparks. Kim accepted that. With all her experience with supervillains, she could handle a relationship that was just a little bit… explosive.

You make me rise when I fall

The End