Foreword –

"Hey, Kim!"

Kim Possible pulled her head out of her locker and looked around. Running down the hall towards her was Eric Raymond. He skidded to a stop in front of her, slightly out of breath from jogging across half the school.

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Well…" Kim scrunched up her brow in thought. "…discounting some crisis, I'm free."

Eric grinned. "Great. How would you like to have dinner tonight? Around 7?"

Kim gasped. "You mean like a date?" Eric nodded.

"I was thinking I could pick you up at 6?"

Kim bobbed her head up and down, too excited to speak. Eric gave her a "here's looking at you, kid" hand gesture, turned, and jogged off. No sooner had he turned a corner in the hall then Kim found herself again being hailed. She turned in time to see her best friend, Ron Stoppable, making his way toward her through the crowded halls.

"Are we still on for tonight, KP?" he asked when he reached her. Kim's smile shrunk by a couple of molars.

"Well, you see…Ron…" But Kim's heart sank when she saw the look on Ron's face. Obviously his reaction to a response that wasn't an immediate 'yes', Ron's lips were tilted downward and the flame had gone out of his eyes. Kim found herself feeling guiltier and guiltier with each passing second.

"I know that Friday nights are 'Kim and Ron' nights, but I have this thing that I have to…" Kim let out a sigh, then her gaze rose to meet Ron's, and she smiled. "You know what, I'll meet you at Bueno Nacho. Is 6 good?"

"Sounds good, KP. I'll see you then." With a quick smile of his own, Ron turned and promptly skipped off, leaving a conflicted Kim to lean back in to her locker and slide down until she was sitting on the floor, her head in her hands. She hadn't meant to give Ron false hope, but she had just reacted out of instinct. After a moment, she decided that she would just call him later in the day and tell him that she couldn't meet up.

-----

Ron was walking home through Middleton Park. He was entertaining himself by kicking a discarded beer car down the dirt path. All around him were the sounds of nature. Birds were chirping, the breeze was whistling through the trees, and the distant laughter of the park's other visitors reached his ears. All of this was lost on Ron, however, as he was in mid-sulk. Kim had never shown up to Bueno Nacho.

"Stupid Kim, blowing me off to do something else. Fine, who needs her? I can have all the fun in the world here by myself."

"Oh come on, Stoppable, we both know that's a lie."

Shego stepped out from behind a tree; she advanced on Ron, her hands and forearms glowing green; a devilish grin plastered on her face. Ron slowly backed away from her, his hands held up, ready to repel danger. Shego halted a few feet from Ron.

"You know, I only came here to get away from Dr. D and the lab for a while. I didn't think I'd actually run into anyone; especially not you."

Ron reached into his pocket and withdrew a certain object. He brandished it towards Shego, whose face fell into a look of confusion.

"Lord of the Flies? Sorry, but I don't think Piggy is gonna be much help."

Ron opened his mouth, but promptly shut it and stuffed said book back in his pocket before ("Sorry, wrong pocket.") pulling out a cell phone. He flipped it open, then punched a number and called Wade on speed dial. After two rings, he picked up. Ron turned his back on Shego and spoke in a hushed voice.

"Wade, I need Kim." He heard Wade furiously typing in the background. A second later and the genius answered him.

"Not good, Ron. She's not answering her communicator." Ron groaned.

"Not answering her communicator! What else does she have to do?" On screen, Wade shrugged.

"Sounds like you're on your own, Ronnie Boy." Shego called from where she was standing, her hands on her hips. Ron spun to face her.

"Just give her a second, she'll pick up." With that, Ron pressed END and then proceeded to speed dial another number – Kim's communicator. As it rang, he whispered "You hear that, KP? Pick up."

After several seconds, Shego began to advance towards Ron again. "Maybe she found something better to do."

Her words took a minute to sink in. Ron's eyes bugged out a little. "Hey! KP's a busy person. I'm sure she has a good reason."

Shego threw back her head and laughed. She halted a few feet from Ron, her eyes on him, one eyebrow cocked. "Sounds to me like someone's in de-ny-el."

And now Ron raised an eyebrow, but in puzzlement. "No I'm not!"

Shego palmed herself in the face. "Oh come on, all the signs are there…" her voice trailed off and her hand made little circular motions, both urging Ron to at least meet her half way on this.

Several seconds passed, until… "Well, aren't you guys, like, inseparable? Maybe someone got tired of having to save your sorry butt all the time."

Ron held up his hands. "Nope, not the case at all! Kim's just busy with stuff, that's all."

Shego gave another shout of laughter. "Face it, Stoppable. She ditched you. She ditched you, and you're feeling sorry for yourself. Too bad she'll have to live with that mistake."

Ron managed to raise the other eyebrow. "Mistake?"

Shego broke into an insane grin. "Well, since Kimmie decided to leave you out here on your own, it means that there is no one between myself and you. In other words, there is no one to stop me from hurting you." And with a snarl, she leapt towards him, covering the short distance and knocking Ron to the ground in less than a second.

-----

The tires of Eric's motorcycle crunched on the gravel patch abutting the driveway at the Possible house. He parked the vehicle and set the kickstand. Kim Possible gracefully hopped off and slowly pulled off her helmet. Eric, also removing his helmet, swung his leg over the cycle and turned, so that he was leaning against it. He reached out and, tentatively, took Kim's hand. This caused her to giggle slightly, but otherwise she gave no further resistance as he pulled her into an embrace. After a moment, they broke off the hug. Kim's gaze fell to the ground; her left hand snaking up to twist a few stands of red hair around her fingers. Eric gave a genuine smile.

"Kim, tonight was perfect." Kim nodded, her arms reaching up to hang around his neck, pulling him close.

"Yes. It was." She said, smiling. She ran her tongue over her dazzling white teeth before pulling him the rest of the way in and pressing her lips to his. The kiss lasted several seconds, seconds that seemed like whole glorious days to Kim, before the moment was ruined by her communicator going off. Breaking away from Eric, she pulled it out of her bag. One glance at the screen was all that she needed.

"I'm sorry, Eric. I'd better see what he wants." She made to answer Ron's call, but Eric grabbed her hand.

"Kim, let it ring. He can look after himself for one night."

"But he never calls my communicator. Not unless something major is going on."

"So what? He probably just misses you."

Kim pulled her hand, and communicator, out of Eric's grasp; she continued on to fold her arms across her chest and adopted what she believed was an annoyed facial expression. "'So what?' He could be in trouble, Eric!"

Eric shook his head. "Well then let him deal with it!" His voice, and temper, was rising. "Aren't you allowed to have some time to yourself?"

"Eric, he's my best friend! I can't just leave him to deal with it alone!"

Eric opened his mouth, but was interrupted by his cell phone ringtone: Blood Brothers by Iron Maiden. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen. He flipped it open and put it to his ear.

"Hey Dad…I'm dropping Kim off…you know, my girlfriend…you're getting off soon?...want me to pick up a pizza?...ok, see you at 10." He hung up the phone and reached for his helmet. "Listen, Kim, I need to go pick up some food for my dad, he's usually pretty tired after work. We can finish this tomorrow, ok?" With that, he started his motorcycle and began to walk it backwards out of Kim's driveway. When he reached the street, he raised the visor on his helmet and shouted "You should call Ron!" before lowering it and speeding off. Kim stood in the driveway, her arms folded and an ugly grimace plastered to her face.

-----

Shego was digging through Ron's backpack, hoping to find something that could be used either to help further Dr. Drakken's cause or give them some edge over Kim herself. A few feet away lay Ron, his unmoving form face up, his bloody and bruised skin illuminated in the full moon. Shego threw the backpack away in disgust, having found nothing remotely interesting. She was about to leave Ron lying on the ground and return to the lab and Dr. Drakken when Ron's cell phone caught her eye. She picked it up and flipped it open. There was a new voicemail. Shego smiled; perhaps this would prove useful to her.

She pressed 1 and then "send". The message began.

Hey Ron, this is Kim. I can't make it tonight because my parents decided last minute to go out and left me with the Tweebs. I know this is our night, but I can't get out of this. We're do something tomorrow, ok? Good night, Ron.

Shego flipped the phone closed. Glancing over at Ron's motionless body, she began to gloat.

"Somebody should check their voicemail." She said in a singsong voice. Before she could toss the phone away, it began to vibrate. She glanced at the caller ID and grinned.

"You're never guess whose call-ing." She said in the same singsong voice. And with that, she flipped the phone open.

Hey Ron, it's Kim. Did you get my message?"

"Well hey there, Kimmie. Sorry, but Ron is feeling a little under the weather."

A/N: SO I had this Idea for a Kim Possible story a few days ago. I wanted to address the fact that Kim saves Ron frequently, and what might happen if she isn't around. I also thought it would make for a good read if she had blown him off to be with someone else. Well, technically she did call and tell him she couldn't hang out, but she lied about what she was doing, and he never got the message because he, in my story at least, doesn't check his phone often, so it seems like she blew him off. And yes, I am using Eric from So The Drama. But that's it. Drakken is not trying not take over the world, Eric is not a synth drone, and it is not the prom.