Much later:

Kim reached into her backpack and pulled out a spiral bound notebook and a mechanical pencil. Opening the book, she leaned back in one of the hard plastic troop seats that lined the sides of the Global Justice transport plane and tried to make herself comfortable. They were four hours out of Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, heading southeast towards Africa and Team Possible's next mission. The thought of 'Team Possible' made Kim look up. Ron was nearby, fussing over their equipment. She smiled at him, even though his back was to her. Good old Ron. In eight hours or so they'd be parachuting into the middle of a five way civil war, not to try and end the fighting, but rather to thwart Dr. Drakken's latest scheme, and Kim would be glad to have Ron with her.

'Some things never change,' Kim thought, shaking her head. Drakken sure hadn't. Not much, anyway. He and Shego had turned up again, still bent on taking over the world. No, Drakken hadn't changed much. But he had changed some. His latest plan was...different, somehow. He'd actually managed to get control of a fairly large swathe of territory, a territory that contained major diamond mines. Drakken's troops, led by Shego, had driven the armies of the other factions far enough away that a semblance of order had actually returned to the region under Drakken's rule.

More than a semblance, in fact, if the reports coming out of the region were true. Apparently Drakken was using the revenue from the mines to fund a concerted effort to repair the local infrastructure and revitalize the economy. More troubling, the people living under his rule actually seemed to appreciate what Drakken was doing. Given the chaos that had reigned in the area for years, Kim could see how someone who delivered on a promise of restoring order might be well thought of, but still...

Kim sighed. 'I remember when things were cut and dried,' she thought. 'Drakken was bad, period. Nothing he did was for the benefit of others. Now I'm on my way to plunge an entire region back into chaos, just so I can arrest a guy whose only 'crime' this time is being a better administrator than the four warlords who started the civil war in the first place.' None of those four men were paragons of virtue. Far from it. In their own ways they were as bad as Drakken ever had been, maybe even worse, since Drakken rarely tried to kill anyone. 'Except me and Ron of course,' Kim thought, smiling despite herself. Two of Drakken's rival warlords were butchers of the first order, one of whom openly practiced and boasted of 'ethnic cleansing'. Uncomfortably, that man was currently bearing the full wrath of Drakken's armies, who had driven him so close to the brink of ruin that he was actively trying to ally himself with one or more of his rivals in a bid to save his skin.

Kim sighed again and looked at the notebook. She flipped through the pages. It was a thick thing, nearly two hundred pages, and almost used up. It wasn't a diary, per se, though the things she scribbled in it often led to proper entries in the diary she kept on her computer. Kim turned to the very first page. The date at the top was nearly a year in the past. A glance at the page revealed words that had been written, erased and rewritten so many times that the paper was worn almost through in places. Kim smiled as memories of the day she had written the words bubbled to the surface of her mind. Her eyes went to the first word of the first sentence, and she began to read.

"It's hard to believe how much my relationship with Ron, and by extension my life, has changed in the last month and a half. Ron and I had been friends almost since the first time we met, in pre-K, and best friends for years. We knew each other as well as it was possible to know another person, I think. And of course, I loved him. I wouldn't admit it, not even to myself, but I did love him. I sometimes wonder if I would ever have admitted it if not for Dr. Bortel's Moodulator. The device set me to crushing on Ron, hard, which both excited and frightened him: excited, because he'd contemplated taking or relationship to the 'next level' and frightened, because he had no idea why I was acting the way I was, only that I wasn't in my right mind. Other guys might have taken advantage of the situation, but not Ron. He actually tried to break up with me! Anyway, the Moodulator eventually burned out, and I became myself again. All of which led to the most awkward week of my entire life. I remembered exactly how I'd felt under the Moodulator's influence, as well as what I had done. Very embarrassing. Then Ron worked up the nerve to ask me out, and we went on what became our first 'official' date."

Kim paused in her reading and smiled to herself. That first 'official' date had been the first of many. In fact, at times the past year seemed like one great, continuous date. She wondered briefly if it was that way for her parents, or Ron's folks. Not that it had been all sweetness and light. Being so close to another person, letting them so far inside your emotional defenses, gave them enormous power to hurt with words, and she and Ron had been no exception. They'd had a couple of frightful arguments, and said some terrible things to each other. Thankfully they'd found the courage to apologize for their words before it was too late, and even more importantly, the courage to accept those apologies and still allow the other to stay close to them. In effect, they forgave for the injury, while leaving themselves open to identical harm in the future.

"It isn't easy," Mrs. Stoppable had said, surprising Ron with wisdom he hadn't known she possessed. "The lightest reproof from the person you love can cut deeper and hurt more than the most deliberately cruel ridicule a stranger could throw at you. After all, you don't care what the stranger thinks. So you have to learn to bite your tongue, have to learn to soften any criticism as much as you can while still getting your point across." She'd smiled sadly, glancing at Ron's father as she did so. "It doesn't always work," she'd admitted, "So most importantly of all, you have to learn to forgive."

Ron's father had chimed in. "And don't try to change each other. Just accept the other person for who they are, faults and all, and love them anyway."

Kim went back to her reading, skipping down the page a bit.

"Looking back, I hardly recognize myself. I was a girl in a grown-up's body. Now I'm a woman in every sense of the word (Oh sweet night, when I gave Ron my virginity! He called it a priceless gift, and took it with gentle reverence.). Only motherhood remains, and though that is some years off, I find myself looking forward to it as I never have before. Ron has changed too, though more subtly (at least it seems so to me) but just as deeply. We've talked a great deal about our future, and he seems comfortable with the path that's been laid before him.

I have only a handful of friends in my own age range that are, or have been, married, and none of them has experienced anything like what Ron and I have. In fact, they seem a little envious, if not jealous, of the emotional intimacy we have. Apparently that was or is lacking (for those that are still married), though one of my friends says her own marriage is starting to show signs of such closeness.

Monique says it's because Ron and I were meant to be together. I'm not sure I believe in fate, but if we are 'meant to be' then I accept my destiny happily."

Below the last line was a signature: The future Kimberly Anne Stoppable. Kim read that and smiled. There was a ring hanging on a chain around her neck, the ring Ron had slipped onto her finger three weeks earlier, when Kimberly Anne Stoppable ceased to be a possibility and became reality.

Kim looked up. Ron had finished his work and was crossing the cargo bay toward her. The smile she offered him was dazzling, as bright, perhaps as the one he was sending her. A happy sigh escaped her lips as he sat down beside her and slipped an arm around her waist. Cuddling on airplanes had long been a favorite pass time of theirs, and seemed destined to remain so.

"Everything check out?" she asked, even as she nuzzled at Ron's neck, brushing his skin with gentle kisses.

"Yep," he confirmed. "Team Possible is ready for anything." Kim smiled again. Ron had insisted on keeping the old name, partly out of nostalgia, partly for name recognition, but mostly (and surprisingly) out of pride. "I was, am, and always will be proud to be part of Team Possible," he'd asserted, and Kim hadn't argued. Much. 'He's part of Team Possible, and I'm part of Team Stoppable. Works for me,' Kim thought. "Ready for anything, eh?" she said aloud.

"Ready for anything," Ron repeated, turning his head and finding her lips with his.

As she melted into his arms Kim had to agree. Whatever the future held they would face it, as friends, as lovers, as husband and wife. They would face it...together.

So ends 'Moods 2'. In many ways it was far more challenging to write than 'Moods' was, partly because of the more adult tone, and partly because it was much less a work of pure inspiration. 'Moods' just flowed out of me. I had to work a lot harder at this one, especially this last chapter, but I think it turned out ok.