When I open my eyes, my first thought is, Where am I?

I'm lying in a bed, but it's not my bed. In a bedroom that's not mine, in a house that surely can't be mine either....

In a split second, my memory comes flooding back. That's right. My house, my bedroom, my bed—they don't exist any more. They're all gone. Destroyed.

Then I turn my head to the right and see Ann asleep beside me, and somehow I actually smile. Everything that matters is still here.

A glance at the alarm clock confirms that it's well past midnight. It's then that I remember what woke me up in the first place—a sound I had been listening for even in my sleep. The sound of the Sloth pulling up outside.

Moving as carefully and quietly as I can, I swing my legs over the side of the bed and pad over to the window. If one thing can be said for the Stoppables' guest room, it's that it has an excellent view of their driveway.

Sure enough, as I pull back the curtain, I see the Sloth sitting there with the top down, and Kim and Ronald sitting in it, finally back from their beach party. But they make no move to get out of the car and come inside. They seem content to just sit there quietly, wrapped in each other's arms.

They've been doing a lot of that lately.

They haven't told any of us much yet about exactly what happened out there—how those aliens were finally stopped. The media and the government have given most of the credit to Drew and his plant potion, and though we all suspect there's far more to it than that, Kim and Ronald seem content to let them. So we've been just as content to wait until they're ready to tell us more, just happy to have the both of them—not to mention our world—back safe.

But whatever did happen, I've seen the way that Kimmie looks at Ronald now, and I know she's seen a change in him. The same change I saw when he told me he was determined to follow after her yet again—this time to the stars.

Oh, he's still Ronald, I think, as I watch her giggle at something he's said. She wouldn't love him if he wasn't—funny how easy that thought comes, all of a sudden.

But he's not a boy any more.

"James," Ann mumbles sleepily, "give Kimmie and Ron some privacy."

"Yes dear." I take one last glance out the window before I let the curtain fall closed. I climb back into bed beside her, draping one arm across her middle and gently kissing her cheek before I rest my head back on my borrowed pillow.

If I have to lose my Kimmiecub to another man, I think, as my eyes begin to drift shut, it had better be that one.

The End