A Glitch in Time

by Gary D. Snyder

Epilogue:

It was very early in the morning when Drakken and Shego had fled, but it took some time for the law enforcement authorities Wade had contacted to arrive. As it turned out, the timing proved to be impeccable. Drakken's henchmen were just waking up when the official agents stormed the lair, catching them completely unawares and in the midst of preparing breakfast. The mop-up operation was uneventful and went quickly, and the base was secured in short order, which sat well with Kim, Jimmy, and Cindy. Ron, however, was upset at the realization that there had been provisions within reach had they only been able to search the lair more thoroughly.

"Chill, Ron," Kim told him. "It's not the end of the world. Well, not any more," she added. "We'll just score some breakfast when we get home."

"I know," Ron sulked. "But Belgian waffles with blueberries! And they're all being taken as evidence. That is so unfair." Rufus sighed sadly in commiseration.

"Frozen Belgian waffles," pointed out Cindy in an attempt to comfort them.

"Frozen or not, I haven't had any in, like, forever. You save the world, and what do you get?" He slumped dismally to the floor. "Cold cereal. Without fruit, I might add."

Jimmy consulted his wrist-comp and thought about it. "Retroville is on the way back to Middleton," he said. "By the time we get there the Candy Bar will be open. We could always stop off and get something to eat there before you head home. I'm sure that Sam could whip up some waffles. I mean, he has to make those waffle cones somehow."

Rufus perked up and Ron looked less miserable. "Really?"

"My treat," Jimmy offered.

"Okay, then," Ron brightly called out as he jumped to his feat. "Who's up for some waffles?"

"That's the spirit," Kim said, but her expression was subdued and faintly troubled.

The Strato XL was where Cindy and Ron had left it but there was no room for all four to fit into the rocket. Fortunately Shego and Drakken had, in their hurry to escape, left a carefully disguised panel to a hidden hanger ajar so that they found several additional craft available to them. Jimmy and Cindy boarded Jimmy's rocket for the trip back, and Kim and Ron selected a hovercraft that would get them back to Middleton. The Strato easily took the lead, but Jimmy kept the airspeed low enough to allow the hovercraft to keep up with them without any trouble.

In the hovercraft Ron remarked, "You're being awfully quiet, K.P. Make some noise. We just saved the world…and then some."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh," Rufus agreed.

"Yeah, that's good. It's just that I've been thinking about some things."

"Well, that's good, too. Right?" Kim didn't answer and Ron looked worried. "Right?" he repeated.

Kim fidgeted, not really sure how to answer the question. "Well, I guess…maybe. It sort of depends on how you look at it."

Rufus made a worried noise and Ron frowned to himself. I don't like where this is going, he thought. But all he said was, "Look at what?"

"Well, us." Kim took her eyes of the rocket in front them to look at him. It wasn't a smart thing to do, she knew, but at this altitude at this time of day it was unlikely they'd hit anything. "Before we were us, we were pretty tight. And now, it seems like we've lost something. You know what I mean?"

"You mean, how I've been acting lately?"

Kim nodded. "Exactly. Ron, I know how you feel about me, and I feel the same, but we can't lose focus when we go mission mode. I guess I hurt you pretty badly when Wade and I grounded you, but it's only because I care about what happens to you. I need to know that you're going to be all right."

"Is that all?" Ron felt a great sense of relief sweep over him. "Hey, it's no big anymore. I have the suit now, right?" Kim looked startled but Ron kept talking. "With that to help me, the Ron-man will always be there to play. You won't have to worry about me anymore. I'll be right in there with you now, every punch and kick of the way."

Kim nodded. "That's what I mean. I don't think you should use the suit anymore. Except for emergencies, I mean."

Ron was stunned. "What?"

"Ron," Kim told him, her voice suddenly all business, "the suit is just a suit. What happens if it fails? One of the syntha-drones figured out what was going on and nearly took you out by disabling the suit. You were lucky this time. But what about the next time? Or the next? Or…" She broke off and shook her head. "I don't want you to risk it."

Ron's expression changed from incomprehension to indignation. "Oh. I see. I understand. No competition in Kim Possible's life. Is that it?"

"We aren't competitors, Ron," Kim protested. "We're partners. Or we're supposed to be. We're supposed to look out for each other, remember? If you used the suit you'd be taking risks that you just aren't up to! I mean, I couldn't save the world without you…but the way things are I can't save it with you, either. I need things to be the way they used to be, or my career is over."

"I never thought I'd see the day," Ron complained bitterly. "All these years I thought you'd want only good things for me. But this…" He stared coldly at Kim, who was looking distressed. "I finally have the chance to measure up to the great Kim Possible and the first thing she does is try to knock me down again to the sidekick buffoon role." His voice became more hostile. "Why didn't you just go with Drakken and Shego when they took off? At least they don't object to my trying to be more than just a distraction when I tangle with them. At least with enemies you know where you…" Ron's voice trailed off as the whisper of a memory crossed his mind.

The virtue of the arrow is not in the strength of the bow. It finds the mark in being true to itself. So must it be with you. Embrace the essence of Ron Stoppable.

He looked over quickly at Kim, whose head was bowed and eyes were closed. He hadn't been trying to be hero when he had fought the syntha-drone. And he hadn't had the suit when he had defeated it. He had been Kim's best friend and partner who had promised to watch her back, and doing whatever he needed to do to keep that promise. "Kim?" he asked in a much quieter and gentler tone.

Kim looked up, wondering at the strange change in his voice. "What?"

Ron sucked in air, knowing that what he was going to say would come out in a rush and not allow him to take another breath. "Since you and I got together, all I really wanted was to be someone that you'd never regret having with you. I know that you can do anything, and I wanted you to know that you'd have someone who could do it alongside you. Well, suit or no suit, I can't promise that I can do that. But I can promise you this." He took a second to steady his voice. "I promise you that, whatever happens, you can always count on me to be there for you. Even if it means being left behind to watch your back." He added, almost too softly to hear, "That's all I've ever been able to promise."

Kim was speechless for a long moment, and Ron wondered if he had convinced Kim that he wasn't the person who should be with her on her missions. Then Kim threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "That's all I ever wanted, Ron," she whispered. "I'm sorry I took so long to let you figure that out."

Kim's abrupt move had tilted the hovercraft and Ron and Kim found themselves sliding backwards towards the edge of the craft Kim disentangled herself and grabbed the controls, flipping the hovercraft level again, but the maneuver pitched Ron over the opposite side of the vehicle with a wail of surprise. As he disappeared over the side there was a tearing sound, and pants portion of Ron's suit hung empty from a projecting hook. "Oh, man!" Ron cried in disgust. "Not again!"

"Ron!" Kim cried. She wheeled the hovercraft around in a desperate attempt to recover Ron. As she did so, a small projectile emerged from the sleeve of Ron's flailing arm, trailing a thin but incredibly strong line behind it, and wrapped around a projection of the hovercraft. The next instant Ron was being carried back towards to the vehicle as powerful servos retracted the line. Kim stared in amazement as Ron re-appeared over the side of the craft.

"I had one of those?" Ron asked rhetorically as he climbed back aboard and disengaged the grappling dart. "Why didn't someone tell me I had one of those?"

"You didn't ask," he heard Wade's scratchy voice reply.

Ron wondered if Wade had been monitoring the whole time. "Do I have to ask for everything?" he grumbled.

His remark had been directed to Wade, but it was Kim who answered. "Not everything," she smiled.

In the Strato XL Cindy had had heard Ron's yelp and looked back. "Are those two kissing back there?" she asked in surprise.

Jimmy snuck a look back and nodded. "Yup."

"And did he take off his pants?" she gasped in shock.

Jimmy took a longer look this time. "Looks like. Although, since it was a one-piece cybersuit, I'd say it was more likely they were ripped off."

Cindy couldn't believe that Jimmy was taking it so calmly. "Do you realize what you're saying?"

"Hey, he still has his other pants on. It was just an outer suit. You should know that."

"Even so…" Cindy grumbled.

"Hey, what's the big?" Jimmy asked. "You were there when he first put them on. Why should you be so shocked at seeing them come off? And I seem to recall," he went on, "that there was one time when we had some problems keeping our pants on."

Cindy glared at him. "Yeah. Thanks to a certain big-brained boob's nanobots."

Jimmy was used to personal insults but objected strenuously to Cindy's misuse of technical terms. "Those were nanochips. There's a difference."

"Oh, that's right," Cindy answered sweetly. "One tried to take over the world, and the other tried to delete it." Her voice hardened as she growled, "Big difference."

"You'd better believe it," Jimmy said. "Nanochips are -"

"Oh, save it," Cindy grumped. "Just do me a favor and don't try any of that kissy stuff with me, Neutron."

"Trust me, Vortex," Jimmy assured her, "there is no way I would."

Cindy settled back for the rest of the flight home with a grunt, and as she did so she could almost swear that she heard Jimmy mutter one last thing under his breath. She wasn't quite able to catch it, but although she couldn't be absolutely certain, it sounded suspiciously to her as though his parting shot had been, "But time will tell."

THE END

Author's Notes:

As I mentioned very early on this was a parting salute to the Disney show Kim Possible, so this epilogue concentrated mainly on Kim and Ron. As I understand it there is only one more unaired episode of Kim Possible left, so I wanted to give my views of what direction Kim and Ron's relationship will take after the events of "So the Drama". With new episodes of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron being released there will be plenty of time and opportunities to figure out what will actually be happening with Jimmy and Cindy in future fanfic stories.

One reader raised a good point in saying that Ron never did give his remark on time travel being a cornucopia of disturbing concepts as the time travel events of A Sitch in Time (as I have pointed out) never actually happened. That's absolutely true and it was a definite lapse on my part. All I can suggest is that 1) in traveling through time some parallel events come across as déjà vu, or 2) he actually used it before on another occasion, but that was during an incident that wasn't shown in an episodes (like the events Kim refers to when she calls in favors). It was just too interesting a quote about time travel for me to resist putting in.