Author's note: Well, I'm back after a break. I'm not going back to "Commencement" just yet though (seem to be a little stuck on that story). Instead, I bring you this story, and I hope you'll like it. It's going to have more chapters, don't worry.

As always, comments on language and grammar are most welcome, since... Say it with me... English is not my first language.

And now... In medias res!

The Mistletoe Promise

The cheerleading practice had come to an early end this Wednesday. Marcella had sprained her ankle when she did a cartwheel, and rather than having one of the other girls take her place in the rest of the routines, Kim had decided to call it a day.

Kim stood in the showers alone, letting the warm water calm her down. Bonnie had questioned her decision to end the training, and had been pretty vocal about it. Kim was almost at the point where it would have come to blows, and she knew she was overreacting. If only Ron had...

She bit her lip. Don't go there, she thought. Don't go from anger to sorrow this fast. You'll get emotional whiplash.

She stepped out of the showers and wrapped a towel around herself. As she stepped into the locker room, she could hear the other girls talking, rather muted for a change. Kim decided not to step into their discussion. Her mood lately had been noticed by practically the entire school, and everywhere she went people stopped their conversations as soon as the saw her coming. Afraid that she would be... angry? Sad?

"Jason Morgan...the dance" Kim could make out Tara's voice. Ah, Kim thought. The Junior Prom. She knew she had made the right decision to stay out of this.

"...good choice. At least...jock, like Brick", Bonnie spoke. Typical. Bragging about Brick again, Bonnie?

"...on again?...-venteenth time's the charm", Hope exclaimed. The other cheerleaders chuckled. Kim could practically hear Bonnie's face redden. There was a silence for a moment.

"Think Kim's... a date?" Tara said. Kim's eyes darted. They... they were talking about her and... getting a date for the prom? At a time like this? What the hell where they thinking?

"Not that I've heard...you know she'd.go with" Jessica said. Another silence. They... they weren't... They weren't talking about him, were they? Kim's anger started to flare up again.

"Ron! That loser would..." Bonnie said, a bit louder. Last... damned... straw. Kim got up and turned the corner she'd been hiding behind.

"What... did you say about Ron, Bonnie?" Kim said, staring angrily at the team, who turned their heads in her direction, almost shocked to learn that she had been listening.

"Uh... I didn't... I didn't say anything about him, K", Bonnie responded. Kim's angry eyes on her made her choose her wording carefully. No talking about losers now.

"I heard you, Bonnie!" Kim yelled, punctuating her statement by punching the locker next to her. The other girls jumped. "You called him a loser", she concluded.

Tara looked over to Jessica, who had finished changing into her normal clothes. She nodded at her, and Jessica slowly backed up towards the exit.

"Kim, she didn't say anything, she said-" Tara began as soon as Jessica had exited. As she spoke, she walked towards Kim, who still had her eyes fixed on Bonnie.

"I said I heard her, Tara! Why are you defending her?!" Tara wasn't exactly happy that Kim's anger had somewhat shifted towards her, but it was better than having all of it directed at Bonnie if it came to that.

"Ma...Maybe you misinterpreted", Tara tried. She'd made her way to Kim now. She looked back. Damn it, Bonnie, get out of here, she wanted to scream as she saw that Bonnie was almost petrified.

"Get real! She's had it out for him for years! You know that!" Kim yelled at Tara, then looked back at Bonnie and spoke again, this time with a an eerily calm voice."But to talk about him like that now... I never thought you had it in you, B."

"I... I really wasn't... " Bonnie stammered. Kim took a step forward. Then another.

Not good, Tara though. She took a deep breath, trying to figure out what to do.. The only thing she could come up with was to play for time. This was probably not a smart move, she thought as she stepped out in front of Kim. As she saw the anger in Kim's eyes, she swallowed audibly.

"Get... Away." Kim said, with a voice filled of seething rage.

"Kim, you need to calm down, " Tara tried, but was interrupted when Kim edged in closer to her.

"I said..."

Suddenly Kim felt several hands grabbing her from behind. Without her realizing it, the rest of the squad had somehow gotten behind her and was now restraining her quite firmly. She screamed as she lunged towards Tara, the closest of her current antagonists, but the girls held her back.

If Kim hadn't been as angry as she was, she would have known to try to get out of their hold, but right now, the only thing she could think of was to get to Bonnie and Tara. Bitches! Sluts! Whores! She wasn't sure if she'd actually yelled those insults or just thought them. Tara quickly moved away towards the door, grabbing Bonnie along on the way. They left in a hurry while Kim was still trying to get free.

Suddenly Kim heard a new voice beside her.

"Shhhh... Come on, Kim, they're gone now, calm down." Kim looked to her right and saw Monique's face. Of course. That's why Jessica had left, to go get Monique.

"Mon, they... She said that..." Kim sputtered out, still angry.

"I know, I know, but they left. They ran so fast I don't even think you could catch them, girlfriend. And you need to calm down BSGH." The abbreviation stumped Kim. "Before someone gets hurt", Monique explained.

With Monique's words, Kim suddenly realized what she was doing. She was going to... She had almost attacked them! She looked behind her and saw Hope and Marcella holding on to her arms, while Crystal and Liz were holding on to her legs. Kim took a deep breath.

"I... I just... They were talking about him and I..." As she spoke, tears formed in her eyes. Monique glanced at the cheerleaders, who slowly released their grip and backed away.

"I know, girl."

"I mean... he's gone and they can't even speak about him without insulting him", Kim continued as the tears started to fall down her cheeks. Monique wrapped her up in a big hug as Kim's words were replaced by sobbing. For a couple of minutes, they just stood there, while Kim cried out on Monique's shoulder and Monique ran her hand up and down Kim's back, holding back her own tears. Finally, Monique spoke again.

"I think we need to get you home now. Get you some sleep and some Rufushine." Kim nodded, and they exited the locker room. They walked home in morose silence. Monique looked at Kim, who stared blankly in front of her. Monique knew the look. She wasn't out of it, she was listening. Hoping to hear the whirring sound of Ron's pathetically slow scooter, or a faint 'Booyah' in the wind. None came.

They reached the Possible residence and made their way up to Kim's room. As they entered, Kim was practically assaulted by a flying naked mole rat, who landed on her shoulder and caught her neck in a big embrace.

"Hnh hnh! Hi Kim!" Rufus exclaimed Kim couldn't help but smile as she gave him a pat on the head. The three of them sat down on Kim's bed.

"Kim... Jessica explained what happened. Bonnie wasn't talking about Ron", Monique said after a few minutes. Kim's face got a sour look.

"I heard them, Monique. Sure, I didn't hear everything but I heard her calling him a loser", she responded. Rufus, now resting in her lap, patted her hands. "There, there", he said with a sad look.

"Well, she said that..."

"You're on again? You're thinking seventeenth time's the charm?", Hope exclaimed. The other cheerleaders chuckled. Bonnie's eyes narrowed. She knew that she and Brick were reaching the point where they were becoming cliché, but she couldn't help it. For all Brick's stupidity, she couldn't resist him when she saw him glisten. Damn it, now she was blushing too.

The room fell silent for a minute. As Bonnie looked at the girls, she knew what they were thinking. The whole school couldn't help but thinking about Kim right now that Ron was gone. She wasn't yet back to any semblance of normality, even though four weeks had gone by. The bullies in D-hall had learned that just last Friday when they had made a remark and Kim had walked away only after one of the bullies of them sported a black eye and the other a brand new gap in his teeth.

"Think Kim's gonna get a date?" Tara said. They weren't exactly hoping for it, but if it could provide a distraction for her... it might be good.

"Not that I've heard. But I've been thinking, you know she'd go with Josh Mankey if he asked", Jessica said. Another silence. Bonnie stared at Jessica and shook her head. At best, Kim would be reminded of why they didn't work out in the first place, at worst she'd feel like she was somehow betraying Ron.

"Think that's a good idea?" Bonnie said softly "Wrong! That loser would..." Bonnie said, a bit louder. She didn't get any further.

Kim sighed as she heard Monique's retelling. She leaned back and covered her face in shame. She had almost attacked them over that? She'd almost attacked them period? After that fight she had with the bullies she was already walking a thin line! If it hadn't been for the witnesses saying they'd heard them joking about Ron's disappearance, she would probably be facing suspension at the least. As it were, she'd gotten away with a stern look from Mr. Barkin and a serious conversation with her parents about therapy.

Her thoughts were derailed as the kimmunicator chirped. Monique grabbed it out of Kim's bag before Kim could get to it.

"I'll get that", she said. "I asked Wade to stream the Clique Report. I'll just tell him to record it." She stepped out of the room.

"Go, Wade" she said. Wade seemed surprised at seeing Monique instead of Kim, but quickly coped.

"Oh... Hey Mon. I... I was just checking in", he responded.

"Just checking in? You know I can see your eyes darting, right?" Monique said as she smirked.

"Ok, ok", Wade caved. "There's been a break in at-"

"A break in?" Monique interrupted him. "You know what we said, Wade, if it isn't an emergency or a super villain, they can call someone else." Wade avoided her stern gaze.

"Yeah, well, Mr. Nakasumi's an old friend and... I... I was thinking she could go back to Yamanouchi if she was in Japan anyway... and she'd get something to focus on."

Monique sighed. Ever since Ron had vanished, she, along with Kim's parents and Wade, had decided to lessen her mission time without Kim's knowledge. In the four weeks that had gone by, she had only gone out on three missions that couldn't be turned down. On the first one Wade had sent his Wadebot along, but after it had accidentally gotten destroyed, Felix had tagged along instead. Even though he wasn't as good as Ron, he was a better support than Monique or Wade would be with all the gadgets his wheelchair provided.

"Alright, I see your point, but she almost beat up Bonnie and Tara today. She needs to rest."

"Gotcha", Wade replied. Somehow the thought of Kim getting into a fight with Bonnie wasn't all that surprising to him. "Call me if you need anything." With that, the kimmunicator turned back to sleep mode.

Monique walked back into Kim's room. Kim had lain down on the bed and promptly fallen asleep. Rufus lay next to her on the pillow. Monique sighed as she pulled the cover over Kim and sat down next to her. She stroked a few stray hairs out of the sleeping redhead's face.

"Damn it, Ron. Where are you?"

Four weeks ago

The ride back from DNAmy's jungle lair was filled with a conversation that Ron had longed to have with Kim.

He had blushed when she had chuckled as he talked about his... fair to moderate success at the ninja training at Yamanouchi. He had been very happy when she saw her face light up with glee and pride as he explained how he had defeated Monkey Fist and Fukushima. He avoided looking at her when he talked about his... friendship with Yori.

As he ran out of topics and she ran out of questions... At least questions she could ask him without blushing, they had fallen silent for a few minutes before Ron looked at her.

"KP... I was just wondering... How were you able to find me and Yori in Arizona?" Kim squirmed. This was a topic she wasn't really willing to talk about.

"Well... You know Wade... He's good at tracking stuff. He caught you on the flight record on the way down and... yeah." Ron frowned at her words.

"But we catched a secret ninja helicopter to Arizona, he couldn't have tracked that?" The cogs started turning in Ron's head. "You... you didn't... have me chipped or something, did you?"

Kim winced. Yeah, this was going to be embarrassing. But it would be better if she just came clean about it, she thought.

"Ron... I'm sorry we didn't tell you this before, but..."

"You DID have me chipped? Kim, that is seriously not chauncey!" Ron looked at her with a look of disappointment and slight anger.

"I know, I know", Kim responded. "I mean, we weren't spying on you or anything."

"I know you didn't do that, KP, but why didn't you tell me?" Ron asked, still with that look on his face. Kim looked away.

"I didn't know that Wade had you chipped at first. He only told me when Drakken kidnapped you that time you were disguised as my dad. He... he said that it was better if you didn't know. If you had been kidnapped and they had somehow gotten you to talk about the chip... Well, they might decide to hurt you... or worse." Ron caught up with the reasoning. He sat silent for a while.

"How often have you used it?" He asked after gathering his thoughts.

"Only when we really couldn't find you and didn't have any other ways. I mean... sometimes I even forgot it was there."

That was true. She remembered how she had almost broken down that Christmas when Ron went missing after going to confront Drakken. If either her and Wade had thought of the chip... well, honestly, it wouldn't have been so gut-wrenching. On the other hand, if they had, it probably wouldn't have ended up one of the best Christmases ever. She tried not to blush when she remembered that moment under the mistletoe... Well, parsley, really.

"Are you chipped?" Ron asked, bringing her out of her reverie.

"No, Wade can usually track me with through the kimmunicator", Kim replied. She knew it was true too, she had undergone a full body scan to make sure of that.

"Why didn't you just get me a kimmunicator, then? Come to think of it, why don't I have a kimmunicator?" Ron remarked.

"Wade didn't think you needed one. I mean, you hang with me all the time anyway, and when you're not he can reach you through the phone or... the TV or something. And, honestly, giving you a direct , easily concealed contact with a super genius at all times would probably not help that temptation to cheat that you seem to have trouble fighting sometimes." Ron smirked ad his best friend's words. Yeah, it was probably true, he thought.

"Ok, KP, but this chip has to go. Seriously."

"Yeah, I'll get mom to remove it. And I'm sure Wade can get you something else. Something voluntary." Kim responded.

She was right. Two days later, Wade had manufactured a rather stylish wrist watch that had a tracker chip built in. He hadn't included any other gadgets, knowing Ron's predilection for destruction. Kim's mom had removed the chip from his neck the same day.

Two days after that, Ron was gone. He had disappeared in the middle of the night, bringing only his mission clothes. No sign of a struggle or a break in. The watch still on his nightstand, Rufus sleeping in his tiny bed. No one had seen when or how he had left. No one knew why. And no one had heard from him since.