Scars of Love
Drakken's mind switch plan is defeated. Afterwards Kim confronts Ron about the scars on his body.

"Boy I'm glad to be back in my body." Said Ron as he sat down at his desk chair.

Kim moved over to Ron's bedroom window and looked out from it. Ron looked at the pile of homework and grimaced.

"Tell me about the scars, Ron." Kim said in a quiet voice without turning around.

"Scars? What scars, KP?" asked Ron in one of his better innocent voices as he turned the chair to face Kim.

Kim spun around and took the three steps to Ron's desk, grabbed Ron's shirt and pulled it over his head.

"THESE SCARS RON!" Kim stated in a loud voice as she poked Ron in the left shoulder on the five-inch scar. Ron winced at the loud voice and sharp prod. Kim instantly pulled her arm back.

"Hehe." Ron let out a dry chuckle "Oh, those scars."

Ron looked up into Kim's eyes and knew she wanted the story and wouldn't leave until he told her everything.

"Ok Kim. Let's talk, I'll tell you everything." Ron told her in a completely serious voice.

"How did you get them, then?"

"The missions." Ron said looking down at Kim's feet.

"The missions? When do you get hurt on the missions?"

"Well you know infiltrating the lair, fighting the henchmen, dodging lasers, taking out the giant robot, battling ninja monkeys, escaping the explosions and all the other things we do. I got a little banged up."

"A LITTLE! This is NOT a little, Ron!" Kim exclaimed waving at the number of scars on Ron's chest and arms.

"Why didn't you tell me you were getting hurt?"
"I didn't want you to know."
"But we could have stopped."
"That's WHY I didn't want you to know."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Ron looked back up to Kim's eyes.
"Kim you can't stop, this is your life." Ron explained.
"I have a life Ron! School, friends, cheerleading these mission are just a small part of my life."

Ron let out a small sigh with a shake of his head and returned to looking at the floor.
"No, Kim. You go to school because you have to. You have friends to do fun things with and relax. Cheerleading is more of a warm-up and a way to stay in shape. What you really live for are the missions, that adrenaline rush with the challenge of pushing your limits. Doing the impossible." Ron looked up and gave Kim one of his goofy grins.

Before Kim could say anything Ron continued.
"I know it didn't start out this way, we were just helping people. You could have stopped back then but now you are hooked. You can't stop even if you wanted to. I've seen you after cheer practice when we haven't had a mission for a bit. The other girls are tired and changing but you are just getting started, you step it up, doing tricks that only world class athletes could do."

It suddenly hit Kim what Ron was talking about. She stepped back and sat on the bed looking down at her feet.

"No, I can stop if I want to." Thought Kim "Can't I?"

Ron watched Kim thinking. A few minutes passed as Ron waited for the next round of questions.

"Ok, I see your point." Kim final stated. "It really is a big part of who I am."

Kim looked back into Ron's face.
"How could you hide this from me?" Kim pointed back to Ron's scars.

"It got really easy with practice. You never wondered why I only wore red and black long sleeve shirts did you?"

"No, why would I…. " Kim gasped as she realized the answer. "Blood."
"Yep, doesn't show up as well on my shirts."
"But I've never seen you go to the hospital!"
"I didn't need to, at first your mom could bandage me up maybe do a quick stitch or two. After your mom gave me a quick course in first aid I got in touch with an EMT from the hospital for some training. After that I got some more training in some classes whenever I can fit them in. Now Rufus and I can do just about anything needed."

"Like what?" Kim asked not believing what Ron was telling her.
"Putting in stitches, wrapping cracked ribs, putting a splint on bone fracture, dressing bites, covering burns, removing shrapnel…" Ron stopped as Kim's eyes started filling with tears.

"How could you do that to yourself? What about the pain?"

"When you weren't looking I'd take a pain pill. After it kicked in I just make an excuse to step away. You are always doing homework, getting some sleep or something on the trip home so you never saw me go and fix myself up."

Ron was so calm about it Kim wondered how many times he did this type of thing right under her nose.

"Do you remember when you got the scar on your left leg, Kim?" asked Ron still watching Kim as she thought about his words.

"Um, of course that was one of our early missions. I've haven't been cut that bad since. No big." Kim stated touching the spot on her leg. The small scar had long ago faded and you could only find it if you knew where to look.

"Well after you got stitched up. Your mom and dad cornered me and I had to tell them what really happened that time."

"RON!"
"Well you know me. I still can't lie very well and they wanted answers. I told them everything. They were ready to stop you from the missions before you could get hurt worse."

Those words stopped Kim in mid thought. Her parents never tried to stop her before. They made sure she was fully prepared for anything that could happen, but never a word about quitting.

"I knew back then how the missions were what you needed. I told your parents about how you needed to push your limits and reach out. I pointed out the good changes that helping others had done to you. They still worried about the danger but when I made my promise it was enough to convince them to let you go on."

"What promise?" Asked Kim looking back into Ron's face.

Ron looked deep into Kim's green eyes. "I promised to do everything in my power to make sure you never got hurt, even if it meant my life."

Kim was speechless at the bombshell Ron just told her.

Ron stood up from his chair and walked over to the window.

Ron looking out the window softly tells Kim "I love you."

Kim still in shock by all the information replies "I care for you too, you're my best friend and … " Kim stops as Ron quickly spins to face her.

Ron again looked deep into Kim's eyes and bared his soul "I love you Kimberly Ann Possible with all my heart and soul." Now Kim looks back into Ron's eyes and understands his full and complete devotion to her.

"I… I…" Kim stood and ran from the room.

Author's Note: This is the first part of an idea I had a few months ago. The second part is mostly done but I'm going to work it a bit more. Please leave a review, good, bad or other.

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