Valentine's surprise

chapter 8

Ron leaned in again, nodding thoughtfully. "We will buddy, don't worry about that. We just... have to find the right way to do it without it involving a whole lot of pain and a demonstration of all sixteen styles of martial arts."

Wade winced in sympathy. "Yeah, I understand that." Wade paused for a moment, glancing at the screens in front of him. "Uh oh, small problem Ron. Looks like you won't be able to return this to the lab tonight. You'll have to store it somewhere until tomorrow."

Ron paused for a moment, glancing over at Bonnie, before an idea came to him. "I can take it to Kim's place, she'll have room for it. And that way, I've got an excuse to go over and apologize, show her what we did."

Wade nodded, and hit the keyboard for a moment. "Good idea Ron, I've got a truck lined up at the airport to help you load and deliver the Ray-X. They'll take you and the device over to Kim's."

Ron smiled brightly, and gave Bonnie a squeeze. "Thanks buddy, I knew I could count on you."

The screen went dark, and Bonnie smiled over at her boyfriend. "Well, we still have a couple hours until we land, and I think I have the perfect idea of how to pass the time, don't you."

Ron's eyes lit up and his smile broadened. "Booyah!"

Kim reluctantly rose to her feet from where she was sitting, at the kitchen table, to answer the door. She wondered who would be bothering her at this time of day, when most people were in school. Her parents were at work, and they had keys anyways, so that left her curious. She hoped it was Ron, she needed to apologize for the way she had treated him. Sure, he may be hiding something, but she could see he was torn about it. But with this bug she was fighting, it made it very hard not to snap at him. So when she opened the door and saw a very large ray pointing directly at her face, she did the only thing she could do in her condition.

She fell to the floor.

Ron poked his head around the device, smiling brightly. "Hey KP, what do you think?"

Kim lay still on the floor, trying to get over the wave of dizziness. "Ron, iz that..."

"The Ray-X thingee? You betcha. Came up with a plan, broke into Drakken's, and stole it right back from them."

Kim smiled brightly at that, surprised and with just a touch of admiration. "Ron, that's great!"

Ron moved around the ray, helping her to her feet, before pulling the device into the room. "Like you always say KP, no big, though we will have to keep it here until the lab opens tomorrow. I just wanted to try and make it up to you about the fight we had earlier."

Kim winced at that, and worked her way back to the kitchen and her bowl of soup. "Ron, about that... I'm sorry. This bug has been making me irritable, and I didn't mean to take it out on you." Kim watched as he wheeled it into the kitchen, pausing to open the pantry door. "So you had no problem getting that out of Drakken's? What about Shego?"

Ron moved back to the ray, trying to find a way to angle it into the small space. "Oh, we ran into Shego, but it looks like she caught what you have. She was in no shape to fight. Though she did sneeze her germy illin all over me. Thank goodness for the Stoppable fortress of immunity." Ron thumped his hand against his chest, smiling proudly, until he felt a little twitch in his nose. The itch got worse, and he raised his hands to his face in time to catch the very loud sneeze that issued forth.

Kim just grinned, holding tight to the spoon in her hand. "Stoppable fortress of immunity, eh?"

Ron sat sullenly in the living room, wrapped tight in a blanket. Kim had refused to let him go home, preferring that he stay there with her rather than risk spreading what they had to his family. Of course, that left him no chance to talk to Bonnie, and see if she was sick as well. Considering what they had been doing the last couple hours before landing, that was probably a good bet. He wasn't even paying attention to the television as he wondered how she was doing.