AUTHOR'S NOTE – Thanks again to the people who read and reviewed Chapter Nine! This time, I'll save all my special thanks for afterwards, so you can enjoy the Epilogue right away! ;)

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Epilogue: The Monday After

After a mission that only came to an end late on a Sunday night, Monday morning naturally arrived much faster than usually. But for some reason, that Monday morning, Ron did not mind getting up early as much as he usually did. He could hardly wait to get out of the house. Not that he was looking forward to school – he would rather swear off Bueno Nacho than use the words "look forward" and "school" in one and the same sentence! Like every morning before school, he was on his way to the Possibles' house to go to school together with Kim in her car. And even though – or maybe even because – they had last seen each other only the night before, when they had returned from their mission, Ron could not wait to see his girlfriend again.

A few minutes earlier than usually, he had arrived at the Possibles' house and rang the doorbell. A few moments later, the door was opened, but not by Kim. "Oh, good morning, Ron," Kim's mother greeted him with a smile.

"'Mornin', Mrs. Dr. P.," Ron replied. "Uh, is Kim ready?"

"Huh, Kimmie just finished her breakfast and went upstairs one more time. Seems like you're a little early today," Mrs. Possible said and then made an inviting gesture. "I'm sure she'll be ready any minute. Why don't you come in for a few?"

"Uh, yeah, thanks." With a brief slightly embarrassed grin, Ron entered the house and waited for Mrs. Possible to close the door and motion him to go into the kitchen. Ron stopped to stand in the doorway to the kitchen once more, hesitating as he saw Kim's father sitting at the end of the table, who was just taking a sip from his cup of coffee while holding a pen in his other hand, focussing his gaze on a blueprint that was lying in front of him on the table.

"Do sit down, Ron," Mrs. Possible said in a friendly voice, while she went past him into the kitchen to one of the cupboards.

Now, Mr. Possible looked up from his work in a slightly surprised way and greeted Ron with a quite expressionless: "Good morning, Ronald."

"Uh, 'mornin', Mr. Dr. P.," Ron answered a little hesitantly and carefully moved towards the nearest chair to sit down.

"Would you like a little snack, Ron?" Mrs. Possible asked over her shoulder, while she put some plates in the cupboard above her. "Or maybe some orange juice?"

"Oh, uh, no… thanks, Mrs. Dr. P. I… uh… had, uh …my breakfast, you know…" Ron stuttered while he put down his backpack on the floor and sat down at the table. Actually, he was just trying to cast a quick glance at the blueprint, but Kim's father would not stop looking at him with this inscrutable expression. It was almost like a test, who would look away first…

Finally, when Ron gradually started getting nervous, Mr. Possible put away the blueprint and the pen, folded his hands in front of him on the table and said: "Well, Ronald… Looks like the two of you experienced a lot this weekend…"

Ron felt beads of sweat on his forehead, and his facial muscles started twitching slightly. "Uh, …he, he, guess so…" he chuckled in an embarrassed tone, trying to cover up his nervousness, while his gaze fluttered around.

"Well… I must say, I was pretty worried when the two of you were away overnight and I hadn't heard from my Kimmie cub at all…" While saying that, he leaned a bit forward and pierced Ron with his gaze. Ron gulped and clung to the bottom of his chair in a reflex action. But then, Kim's father leaned back, folded his arms behind his head and continued in a considerably less threatening tone: "But there you can see just how the two of you overexert yourselves for the fight against evil. Chasing that Drakken across the continent all night long… Now, that really is commitment!"

Ron looked totally confused for a moment, then a heavy load was taken off his mind, and he said hesitantly: "Uh, …yeah, right! What a mission…!"

Mr. Possible was silent for few more seconds, but in the next moment he was sitting upright again and spoke wagging his finger at Ron: "But – about last Friday night…"

"More coffee, hun?" his wife interrupted him, now suddenly standing beside him at the table with a pot of coffee.

While Mr. Possible now had to consider whether he should finish his sentence or answer his wife's question first, and Ron had twitched nervously again, steps could be heard, nimbly running down the stairs and heading for the kitchen. And soon, Ron already felt how he was hugged from behind and heard Kim's light-hearted voice close to his ear: "'Mornin', Ron. Why, you're already here… Ready to go?"

Pleasantly surprised, Ron turned his head to look at her and replied: "Hey, KP. Sure, uh …let's go."

Kim let go of him, and while Ron stood up and picked up his backpack again, Kim said to her parents: "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!" And gave each of them a kiss on their cheek. Then, she took Ron's hand and while she almost dragged him out of the kitchen, Ron called over his shoulder: "See you, Mr. and Mrs. Dr. P.!"

"Bye, Kimmie! See you, Ron! Have fun at school!" Mrs. Possible called after the two of them happily, while her husband stared into space in a slightly bewildered way, still wagging his finger.

As soon as they had left the house, Kim gave her boyfriend a long overdue welcome kiss on the cheek. While they were marching towards Kim's car, Ron put his arm around her and said with a grin: "Chasing Drakken all night long…? KP…! I never thought you could be so… cunning…"

"Well… I wonder where I got that from…" Kim replied with a smile and put her arm around him as well.

Ron's smile disappeared, and he asked hesitantly: "And… you didn't have any problem with …lying to your parents?"

"Well… actually, I did…" At that moment, they came to a stop in front of the car, and Kim gently lay her other hand on Ron's chest, while she continued in a whisper: "But I'd have a much bigger problem with my boyfriend being put into a rocket to a black hole…"

With a smile, Ron drew her a little closer.

THE END

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AUTHOR'S NOTE – And thus concludes our tale… I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I even enjoyed translating it, though that sure gave me fits at times…!
As you might have noticed, I did change the story's genre from "General/Romance" to "Romance/Adventure" now, just because I don't want people to think there's nothing but Romance in it (though it's an essential part of it).

But now, I want to thank you, my faithful readers & reviewers for all the comments you left – for your encouraging words of praise, as well as your constructive criticism. Thank you so much: CajunBear73, Kwebs, Flame Swordsman, screaming phoenix, Michael Howard, Donteatacowman, MrDrP, CaptProd, DrakkenFanboy, xyzisme, The defenastrator, bthecatslayer, Katsumara, ZoeyChase08, diana, DiaryofPain, freivolk (and all my other readers from the German KP forums) and everyone who just read the story without reviewing, as well as the people who might read it sometime in the future.

And another very special thanks to my wonderful proof-reader Michael Howard! Thank you big time for helping me improve my translation – without you, my friend, this story (or at least Chapters Six to Nine and the Epilogue) wouldn't have turned out the way it did. It has been an honor and a real pleasure to have such an amazing and talented writer as my proof-reader! Thanks again, from the bottom of my heart, for all your help and support! :)

Well now, my first Kim Possible fanfiction has come to an end. I hope it wasn't my last one, though, because I had a badical time with you guys! Booya! Thank you once more for your warm welcome to the world of KP fanfiction! 'til we meet again (whenever that might be)! Take care & see you around! :)