Epilogue

Kim and Ron stepped into their apartment, bleary eyed and dragging their feet. Though they had only been under the Immersion caps for less than a half hour, it had been nearly a day to them of constant running and battles. Ron unconsciously fished the already sleeping Rufus out of his pants packet and set him in his bed beside the couch before Ron toppled over the side of the sofa himself. Kim yawned and stretched, dropping her pack on the floor beside the front door. She stared longingly at Ron for a moment, hearing his muffled, tired groans from the couch cushions.

Their adventure into Malcolm's computer system had left them both drained, and tomorrow waited with both college, and work. Kim frowned as Ron picked himself up to a sitting position, lazily grabbing his Z-Boy controller off of the floor and turning the console on. After all they had just been through, he still didn't seem to want to talk about anything. "I'm going to bed..." she said softly, pausing for his reply.

"Okay, KP." he said absently, waiting for his Mako 3 game to start. "I'll see ya in the morning, then."

Kim's shoulders slumped, but she took a breath that sent an imperceptible shudder through her chest. Instead of saying anything more, she made her way to the bathroom to get ready for bed. She showered, smeared moisturizer over her face in a thick green paste, and brushed her teeth with a complete lack of enthusiasm.

She was washing her face clean while thinking of how her and Ron's worries were differing in their relationship. She had been burying herself in a guilt over all the things she had said and done to Ron while she was evil, and he had come to believe so much in this dream he'd had about their future. A future that ends when he dies this year.

Kim didn't want to believe it could happen, but there was something about Ron's enthusiasm that had always been contagious and the moment that he had been frozen by Captain Capacitor's crew, she was ready to do anything to make them bring him back.

The memory of holding the binome at sword point sent a shiver through her, and she wiped her cheeks and sniffed, taking a deep breath before opening the bathroom door. The lights were off now, and there was no sound coming from the living room where she had left Ron to play his game. Deciding that he must have gone to sleep, Kim let out a quiet sigh and opened the door to the bedroom to find Ron sitting on the end of the bed, looking down at the floor. "KP, can we talk?" he asked, looking up and into her eyes.

Suddenly; college, work, and saving the world were the furthest things from Kim's mind and she sat down beside Ron, a new smile spreading across her face. "Absolutely."

It was the next evening and Ron found himself stocking shelves once again at the Smarty Mart where he'd been working since starting college. Despite the soreness in his limbs and the complete lack of sleep from the night before, Ron was doing his job with renewed vigor. He and Kim had gotten a lot out last night and wound up drifting off to sleep just as the alarm rang on the Kimmunicator.

He finally understood where Kim's undying confidence in herself came from and why she struggled with the concept that she would, or even could fail to protect him in the future. She had also convinced him that putting distance between them now would be just as bad as losing each other later.

"Come whatever, Ron; I wouldn't give up the time we have now for anything. Future or no future." Kim had said with one of the most sincerest smiles that he had ever seen.

While he had caught even less of his classes, and slipped up several times in football practice due to daydreaming, there had been a much missed goofy grin on his face throughout the day.

He had just finished setting the last bag of pet food on the shelf and pulled out a 'Jimmy Ding the Bling Bling King' catalogue when Rufus caught his attention with a series of chirps and a smack on his cheek."What?" he asked with a tired whine. Ron turned to see Francis Lurman, his new supervisor that had taken his position when Ron had gone to save Kim in Miami. He hid the catalogue back in his pocket and folded his arms over his chest, grumbling. "Well, it was a good day..." he whispered to Rufus.

"Ron! Ya gotta help me!" Francis shouted, placing his hands on Ron's shoulders and pushing him toward the cashiers stations at the front of the store.

"Lurman, you already took my job. What else do you want from me?" Ron asked in irritation.

"You remember that virus I had imbedded in the bar code of that can of Vienna Sausages?" Francis asked hesitantly.

Ron put up a hand. "Dude, don't even talk to me about computers."

Francis spun Ron around and grabbed him by his Smarty smock, shouting into his face. "You don't understand! If Daemon gets onto the Net, it'll infect everything! Shut down the whole enchilada!"

"Daemon? Who's Daemon?" Ron asked. "And don't worry. Kim and I got rid of that expired can of sausages years ago!" he assured the older man, batting away his hands and straightening his smock.

Francis was sweating heavily now, and he leaned in close. Slowly, he painted to the set of cash registers and directed Ron's gaze to a crowd of irate customers and disheveled cashiers. "See?!"

"What?" Ron asked, looking where Francis was pointing. "I'm not seeing..."

"The readout!" Francis whispered.

Ron squinted, but without his glasses, the numbers only seemed fuzzy. "Okay, I've really got to get Wade to make another set of specs cuz I'm not seein' nothin'."

"It's counting down!" Francis shouted, attracting the attention of the various employees and customers. "Daemon is programmed to infect every system, then crash them all at once!"

"Every system?" Ron asked, squinting at the readout above the register again. Though blurry, the readout was an unmistakable zero. The cash registers turned back on, several terminals around the store rebooted and ultimately...

Nothing happened.

"She did it." Ron said, a grin forming on his face. He slapped Francis on the back. "She really did it!" he laughed.

Francis Lurman squinted at the register, then back at Ron as the blond man walked away. "Whu? What... who did what?"

Ron smiled back at him. "Hexadecimal just saved the world. Crisis averted." he said, pulling the jewelry catalogue out of his pocket again.

"Crisis?" Francis asked in confusion. "And who's Hex..." He looked back at the crowd at the front of the store that was finally beginning to move through the cashier stations, all the registers working perfectly again. "Wow! You are good, Ron Stoppable!" he shouted, chasing after Ron down the aisle. Immediately, he spied Jimmy Ding's catalogue. "Oh, getting a rock for the lady friend? Two words, Stoppable! Cubic Zirconia!"