A/N Beta Checked by Eddy13

Not quite as chipper as my other stories, but one that I think is very important in seeing why Ron supports Kim like he does.

When She Falls

All of nine years old, little Kim Possible had been going through a common phase in little girl's lives-she wanted a pony. Instead of giving her one, her parents had signed her up to get riding lessons, giving Kim her own horse for the summer. She went to the stable every day, brushing the horse, talking to it, riding it-she'd practically lived there. And, of course, anywhere Kim went, Ron wasn't far behind.

After following Kim to visit 'her' horse so many time, Ron decided that he needed one too. His parents had agreed, figuring it would be good for their son to experience as many different things as possible, and soon Ron and Kim were riding all around the stable and park together-with a chaperon, of course, to keep an eye on them and the horses.

Near the midpoint of the summer, their riding instructor had decided to go on a vacation for a week, so Kim and Ron would be unable to ride their horses. They could still visit them, and did so, nearly every day, just brushing them and talking to them. The horses seemed to like the attention, but as the week went on, they got more and more restless, wanting to be out and ridden.

As happened most times when Kim Possible was involved, the red head decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Ron?" He was tending his horse, over in the next stall, so he leaned his head out.

"What, KP?"

Kim rubbed the horse's head. "She looks so sad, stuck in here all day." She frowned, but then brightened. "We need to take her out for a ride."

"A ride?" He shook his head. "I don't think we should do that, Kim, we're supposed to have an adult with us when we ride."

Kim made a face, then hopped up onto the edge of the stable and reached for the saddle. She barely snagged it, and it dropped to the floor. "An adult." Kim echoed. "I'm nine, so are you-we're practically adults already. Put our ages together and we'd be almost my parents age." She looked at her horse again. "Besides, we ride the horses all the time-what'll happen?"

She motioned Ron over, and with a sigh, he grabbed the edge of the saddle and helped her to lift it in place. They quickly got it on the horse, and after checking everything over, Kim declared it ready to go. She then grabbed Ron's hand and led him over to the next stall, and they managed to get his horse ready, too.

Kim opened the stall to her horse, then led it outside. Ron followed, still unsure. He didn't like this, but knew that once Kim had something on her mind, there really wasn't a way to talk her out of it. She finally stopped the horse just out in the grass, then turned to Ron. She put one foot in the stirrup, and tried to pull herself up, but she didn't have the leverage she needed. "Ron," she said, looking over her shoulder, "give me a boost."

He walked up behind her, then tried to push her up. She was too high for that, so he reached for her other leg and pushed on that, finally getting her up there on the horse. She sat on top, proudly looking down at Ron. He gave a weak smile back, then turned and looked back toward the stable. As he considered how he would get up on the horse, Kim decided to ride hers around, running around in small circles, then larger ones as her horse got stretched out.

She took her horse off in a slow gallop, out past a nearby tree, then back. She finally stopped the horse next to her friend. "Come on, Ron, get your horse and let's go!"

"Um, okay, KP...but how am I going to get up there?"

The red head frowned as she realized that since she was up on the horse, she couldn't help him up. Then she got another brilliant idea. She looked over to the edge of the property. "The fence, Ron-you take your horse over there, then climb up it."

Ron gulped. The fence wasn't very large, but Ron wasn't the best of climbers, and the fence planks were faced far apart. He looked back at Kim. "I-I don't think I can, KP. I-I'll just watch you ride around for a while."

Kim didn't like that idea. She wanted to ride around with her friend, go back in the woods and have fun-not stay around the stable and ride in circles. She grinned as another idea hit her. "I can climb it, Ron-I'll help you up on the horse, then get up by the fence-then we can ride around." She had her horse trot over near the fence, then she reached for one of the posts. Kim wasn't quite close enough, so she let go of the reigns, and tried reaching with both hands.

After letting go of the reigns, Kim's horse took a couple of slow steps forward, before missing her footing on a low patch of ground. The horse staggered sideways, and Kim started to slip, so she grabbed onto the only thing in reach-the horses mane. The sharp tug made the horse's eyes widen, and she started bucking, and with such a loose grip, Kim was thrown from the horse. She tried to twist and control her fall, but she was angled wrong, and instead came down on her arm. There was a sickening snap, and Kim blacked out at the intense pain.

X X X X

When she came too, she was in a hospital room, her arm in a cast, and both her parents sitting near the foot of her bed. She moaned, then sat up slowly. "What happened?"

Her mom moved up beside her. "You've broken your arm, Kimmie-you fell off the horse, do you remember?"

She nodded. Her arm looked funny in the cast, and she couldn't feel anything from her shoulder down. Kim tried wiggling her fingers, but they didn't move-the medicine hadn't worn off yet. She slumped back against the bed. About this time, Ron came running in.

"Kim?" He rushed over to the chair on the opposite side of Kim's bed, then climbed up, before leaning over and looking at her. "KP, are you all right?" His eyes were filled with worry. "You wouldn't wake up, so I got your parents, and your mom said that the fall might have broken your arm, and then they brought you here, and I was so scared-and-and..." He leaned down and hugged her tight, being careful of her arm. Kim did her best to hug him back.

After Ron had settled down, Kim's mom pulled the x-rays down and brought them over to Kim's bed, showing her how her arm had been broken, and explained that it would mean she couldn't ride for the rest of the summer, and that other activities would be off limits until her arm healed. A few hours later, Kim was released from the hospital and taken home. After she woke up, Ron never left her side.

Once she got home, she finally got the full impact of her little adventure. She was being punished for riding the horse without an adult, something she should have known not to do. She would be stuck inside her room for the first week of her punishment, and the next weeks she would be helping her mother around the house doing all sorts of odd chores-despite having a broken arm, there were plenty of things that would keep Kim busy.

Originally part of the punishment was to receive no visitors, Ron included, but after seeing how hard he was taking Kim's injury, they nixed that idea, figuring it would be good for them to be together. That first night, they had a sleep over, Ron being the perfect nurse, bringing Kim everything she needed, and helping her. Ron was over every day, keeping her company, cheering her up, keeping her mind off of her broken arm. When Kim's punishment began, he was there the whole time, helping, encouraging, doing everything he could to make her laugh.

Despite this, Kim got more and more depressed-she couldn't do certain things that she'd done all the time. Eating was a chore, getting dressed was difficult, and she couldn't do any sort of physical activity because she might injure her arm again. Topping it all off was the punishment she'd gotten for riding without supervision. Ron was with her all that time, of course, and he became the target of her anger.

It was getting late in the afternoon when she finally snapped. Kim was just sitting in her room, shaking her arm up and down, when he came in. He'd brought her up a glass of lemonade, and seeing her discomfort, knew that her arm was itching again. He set the cup down on her nightstand, then grabbed a coat hanger nearby to use to scratch the itch. He tried to get it down the cast, but accidentally poked her instead.

She grimaced and reached over, snatching it out of his hand. She growled at him. "Watch what you're doing, Ron."

"I-I'm sorry, KP." He looked downward. "I was just trying to help."

She grabbed the hanger and twisted it, but in her haste snapped it. Now it was too short to reach down her cast. Kim let loose an angry yell and threw the hanger across the room. She whirled on Ron, her anger rising. "I wouldn't be stuck in here if you hadn't tried to help. If you hadn't told my parents we were out riding without an adult! It's your fault I'm in trouble!"

He couldn't have been more shocked if she'd slapped him across the face. It wasn't long before Ron was crying.

"Kimberly Ann Possible! You have no right accusing Ron like that!" Kim's mother had come up the stairs after hearing her initial angry yell, so she'd been at the door the whole time and heard what Kim said. Ron, seeing a safe harbor, dashed over to Ann Possible and wrapped his arms around her. She hugged him back and led him out of the room, then downstairs. She gave him some warm cookies and milk, then sent him home for the afternoon. Ann made her way back up to her daughter's room.

After the initial anger, it hadn't taken Kim long to realize what she'd done. Kim had calmed down, and was now feeling guilty. She'd yelled at Ron, her best friend, and made him cry! What kind of friend was she? As soon as her mother came in, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I'm sorry."

"I hope so." Her mother said darkly, then sat at the end of the bed. "I sent Ron home for the day."

Kim fidgeted, she hadn't meant to yell at Ron like that, but it had just sorta come out. If her mom had told Ron to go home, then she was probably in for a long discussion.

She was right.

Ann took a deep breath to calm herself, then began speaking. "Kimmie, you shouldn't blame Ron for the things you did. You went out on your horse when you knew you weren't supposed to, and you're being punished." Kim nodded, knowing it was true. "And as for accusing him of tattling on you-he never said anything-just that you had fallen and wouldn't wake up. We rushed over, saw the horse out, and figured out what had happened. We asked Ron about it, if you'd ridden your horse, but he wouldn't say anything except that you'd fallen. He didn't tell."

Kim winced. He'd done everything he could to keep her from getting in trouble, and she'd blamed him. Not only that, he'd been over every day to lift her spirits, and she'd been ignoring him. He'd even helped with her chores, her punishment, even though he'd done nothing wrong. In fact, he'd done everything right. Gotten her parents, tried to talk her out of riding the horse, even tried to keep her out of trouble, and she'd been rotten to him the whole time.

Her mom watched as the expressions passed across her daughters face, from anger to realization, then shame, and finally fear. Kim's face became pensive. "Mom, I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at him, I didn't want him to cry." Now her tears started to come. "Mom, do...do you think he'll still be my friend?"

Ann's face softened as she moved beside her daughter. She gave Kim a hug. "I'm sure he will, dear, if you apologize." She looked down at Kim. "But you need to think before you say things, Kimmie-that's why we think so much faster than we can talk-so we can think twice." Coming from a brain surgeon, it was sound advice.

"Now, first thing tomorrow morning, I want you to call over there and apologize to Ron, then if he wants to, he can come back over."

Kim spent the rest of the night in turmoil, wondering if she'd lost her best friend.

X X X X

Ron's night wasn't much better. As soon as he'd gotten home, he went straight to his room and closed himself in. His parents were surprised to see him home so early-usually it wasn't until seven or eight at night that he got home; and he'd blown by so fast that they figured something was wrong. Mr Stoppable looked over at his wife, both of them frowning. Reading her face, he got up, then followed Ron upstairs.

"Son, is everything okay?" He heard a mumbled phrase from inside, then slowly opened the door. His son was laying in the middle of the bed, his head down against his pillow. The adult walked in, then sat on the edge of the bed. "Ronald?"

After feeling the bed dip, Ron sat up, looking at his father with bleary eyes. He mumbled a few words, hesitated, then told his father all about what happened. "I-I tried to help, it's all my fault, just...she must hate me!" The tears began again.

The adult gave a small sigh. "Son, she doesn't hate you. She may be a little upset and angry with you, but I can guess that she's a lot angrier at herself. I'm sure she already regrets yelling at you."

Ron nodded and sniffled, then said, hesitantly, "But...but it's still my fault. I shouldn't have let her ride on the horse."

Mr Stoppable nodded, and spoke truthfully. "No, you shouldn't have let her ride the horse, and this is the exact reason why. But son, did you try and stop her from riding?" His son nodded, and Mr Stoppable continued. "You tried, and she didn't listen. You know how Kim is, she always wants to do things her way-it's not your fault that you couldn't convince her not to get on her horse. You know Kim's very independent, she hardly every lets anyone talk her out of doing something she wants to do."

Ron was listening intently now. "Sometimes, though, she does listen to you-remember how upset she was when the twins were born? She thought she was getting a baby sister, and instead she had two brothers-but you convinced her that she would have a chance to be a big sister, and she felt so much better. I guess what I'm saying, Ronald, is that you need to keep doing what you do, just listen, help her, and support her when she tries to do things, when things don't always go her way."

"That's something you've always been so good at. A lot of times, you distract her from the things that are really bothering her, but sometimes that means she pays attention to you, and gets upset with you, when she is really upset with herself. Don't let it bother you, just be strong for her."

Mr Stoppable put an arm around his son, pulling him close by his side. "What I'm saying, Ron, is that need to keep doing that you're doing, protect her, be there for her...but, son, you're not always going to be able to protect her, to keep her from doing dangerous things like that. But, you can be there when she falls, and sometimes, that's enough."

"When...she falls?" Ron seemed to mull this over with an uncharacteristic seriousness. It wasn't something that he had every really thought about; he held Kim in much the same what that he viewed his parents, and other adults-infallible people, those who knew everything, and always did everything right. He understood what his father was saying-his best friend may be nearly perfect at almost everything she did, but the key word was almost. Even with all her skills, her knowledge, her athletic ability, there would still, occasionally be things that she would do wrong, or things that would go wrong for her.

He also knew that every time something like this happened, Kim took it hard; harder than she had any right to take something of so little consequence. She was Kim Possible, and she took that to mean she was Kim Perfect-and anything less than that was unacceptable. He thought back to what had happened on the horse, how she had gotten hurt, and realized that in his trying to help her, he'd been doing nothing but showing her she was wrong, that she needed someone else's help-but that wasn't what she needed-she needed to be out helping others herself, doing her best, even with her injury. He looked at his father.

"I-I think I understand."

Ron's dad patted him on the back. "Good." He stood, started to the door, then stopped with one last piece of advice. "Being best friends with someone, seeing them through the good time and bad, can be the most difficult thing in life you'll ever have to do. But it can be the most rewarding, too."

X X X X

As Mr Stoppable came down the stairs, he could hear his wife talking adamantly to someone. He was rather surprised because she was usually very soft spoken, but he realized as he got closer that she was talking on the phone. When he heard what was being discussed, however, he smiled, knowing that if there was one thing she was passionate about, it was her son's relationship with Kim.

"Ann, stop apologizing." Mrs Stoppable ordered over the phone. "Now, they had a fight-all kids have fights, it's nothing to worry about-I'm just surprised it didn't happen earlier. Now, you said you had a talk with Kim, and Ron's talking with his dad, so hopefully we'll get things settled down." A brief pause. "I don't see any reason not to let Ron go back over, as long as Kim apologizes." Another pause. "How about this-I'll drive Ron over tomorrow, and while Kim and Ron play we can talk a little bit more. Good, it's settled." She clicked the phone down, just as her husband came into the kitchen.

"Ann said that Kim yelled at Ron, she called over to do a little damage control, and make sure that this little fight didn't upset either of them too much."

He nodded, taking a seat next to his wife. "You know Kimberly-a little firebrand when things aren't going her way. Still a great friend for Ronald, though-she's usually pretty good at getting him to want to try new things-like riding the horses." He gave a small sigh. "I just wish they didn't have to fight like this."

Mrs Stoppable nodded. "Yes, but better now than when they're engaged or something. Besides, any two people as close as they are will fight-it's how they deal with those fights that matter." She smiled, and ran a hand down his arm. "Right, hon?"

He clasped her hand, remembering their own fights. They had never been anything major, but learning to deal with the fights had been an important step in the growth of their friendship, and eventual marriage. While it was looking ahead quite a ways, he couldn't help but wonder if Kim and Ron would go through the same steps...in his heart, he hoped so.

His wife, perhaps reading his thoughts, smiled at her husband. "They do make a cute couple, don't they."

Ron's dad smirked back. "Not a couple, 'just friends.'"

Mrs Stoppable just nodded to herself, still deep in thought.

...And maybe, someday, something more.

A/N A little more serious tale this time. Part of what I wanted to do with this story was write a little more about Ron's parents. They're usually given a bad rap in a lot of stories I've read, but I always figured that they were just as important role models as Kim and her parents.