I.

Ronald stood looking longingly across the street towards the church on the other side and considered whether or not he should go in there. Yes, he had received a wedding invitation, a personal one at that, but it would still be a bit akweird for him to be there. And that assumed that he could even be able to behave himself in front of Kim and her husband to be. The last time the three of them had gotten together had not ended well, not when you are asked to leave and never come to Chez restaurant again.

Ronald stood there for several minutes, thinking about whether or not he should stay or go when the decision was made for him. His ears perked up as the first few notes of the wedding march entered his ears from across the street. As the march continued to play, Ronald knew that he was losing Kim, losing her to the love of her life. Ronald didn't hold that against her. He just wished that he had been that man that she had fallen in love with.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Ronald began to walk away from the church before stopping and turned to face the church one last time, "Congratulations, KP, have a good life." As Ronald walked away, he didn't really care that much where he was going. Neither Hana nor his parents were home and wouldn't be for several hours, and since Rufus was with Hana today, he couldn't turn to his closest friend. Even Felix and Monique were also both out of the question since they were at Kim's wedding. No, right now, Ronald had no one he could turn to.

After a while, Ronald found himself standing in front of a local bar. Normally, he wasn't much of a drinker, but right now, he felt that he could use one. Several hours later, an inebriated Ron left the bar and began to make his way towards his apartment in Lowerton.

II.

After a few moments, the insistent knocking on the apartment door stopped for the second time. Thinking that whoever was at the door had finally left, Ronald began to pour himself another drink only to be interrupted when the knocking began again. Sighing in annoyance, Ronald staggered to the door and opened it to see who it was that wouldn't leave him alone. "Well hi Tara, how you doing?" Ronald said with an alcohol assisted goofy grin.

"Ronald Stoppable. I'm glad to see that you even bothered to answer the door this time." Tara said sternly as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"What do you want?"

"I came to check on you." She answered, her voice softening a little.

"You came all the way down from Middleton to Lowerton just to see me?" Ronald said sarcastically as he leaned against the door frame to support himself.

"Might as well since you can't seem to make the trip from Lowerton to Middleton." Tara retorted just as sarcastically

"What makes you think I want to come and see you?"

If Ronald had been sober, he might have noticed the look of anger that crossed Tara's face just before she slapped him.

"Damn it, Ronald, stop being an ass!" Tara yelled. "I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about your family. You're folks haven't seen or heard from you in over a week now, and their worried about you. And what about Hana? She keeps asking how come you won't come to see her."

"I just feel like being alone." Ronald said dejectedly.

"Maybe that's what you want, but it's not what you need," Tara said before gently turning Ronald's head till he was face to face with her. She then continued in a softer voice. "Look at yourself, Ronald, you're a mess. I've never seen you like this before. You look nothing like the person I used to know. Ronald, you were always a nice guy, a real friend, a friend who I'm worried about." Tara stopped as she choked up a bit. "Please, please clean yourself up and go see your family, let them know that you're ok." At this point, Tara couldn't hold back her tears anymore. "Please, Ronald, I, I couldn't stand the thought of losing another friend like how, how I lost Bonnie."

As Tara finished, she turned and ran away, leaving a forlorn Ronald. He knew exactly what Tara meant about losing Bonnie. One day, the former high school cheerleader just up and disappeared from the face of the earth. Now, months later, no one, even her family, knew where she was or if she was even still alive.

III.

One year later.

She was tired, cold, dirty, and mostly hunger. She was weak from lack of food, and the few scraps that she had been able to dig up over the past few days were far less than she needed so that she could recover from her recent surgical procedure. Surgical procedure, ha, that was a joke, she thought. What she had endured was as close to being a genuine medical procedure as Smartymart was to being at the forefront of fashion. For just a fleeting moment, the thought of trying to go back home to her parents and sisters crossed her mind, but she quickly and soundly rejected that idea. She would rather stay out here on the streets than go home again. Not after what they had said to her, and certainly not after what they had done to her.

After a while, having long ago lost any sense of how much time had gone by, she found herself standing in front of a local diner. She had heard about the place before, it had a rep for having good food at a decent price and it catered towards the teenage crowd, that and the owner was a nice guy. She really didn't want to go to him for help, but she had pretty much run out of options. Besides, with a little luck, he wouldn't even remember her or recognize her in her current state.

IV.

Ronald sighed as he flicked the light switch off in the small building, which constituted his lively hood. It had been another long, hard week at the diner. But then again, they all were, and they were catching up to him. With his Naco royalties nearly gone, the bills were starting to pile up, and it seemed like no matter what he did, he just couldn't seem to make ends meet. Plus, Ronald couldn't remember the last time that he had taken a day off, be it the weekend or otherwise. Quite frankly, all the long, hard weeks were beginning to catch up to him, badly. Even in the poor light outside of the diner, Ronald could see the dark circles under his eyes in his reflection from the window. Well, in a few more days, all of that won't matter much, he thought to himself, since I'll be closing down the diner for the last time. Locking the door for the night, Ronald turned around and was about to head for home when he was surprised to see that someone had walked up behind him. She; or at least Ronald, assumed it was a woman, was dirty looking, and seemed to have a bit of an offending odor about her. She was also a bit thin looking, as though it had been weeks since she had had enough to eat. However, it was when she spoke that was when Ronald was the most surprised.

"Excuse me, sir, could you spare something to eat? I don't need much, just any leftovers you were going to throw out."

Ronald looked at the woman for a moment as he contemplated what to do. She looked as though she was very much in need of a good meal and a bath. The former he could do something about if not the latter. Besides, the Torah said that charity begins at home, and Ronald did sort of consider his diner a sort of home for him. "Sure, I can give you a decent meal." Ronald said with a soft smile.

"Thank you. I promise I won't bother you long, I just need something to eat for tonight."

"Hey, no problem. But I warn you that I don't believe in letting any one leave until they are satisfied with their meal," Ronald said as he slid his key back in to the lock and gave it a twist. As the mechanism engaged, he wasn't sure which was louder, the click of the lock as it slid open or the sound of things clicking in his mind. Removing the key from the lock, he slowly turned around to take a closer look at the young beggar before him. Never in a hundred years would he have thought to see her here and in this state. Still, just to make sure, he asked the question that was on his mind. "Bonnie? Is that you, Bonnie?"

Bonnie hesitated for a moment as she considered how to answer. Finally, she opted to go with the truth. "Yes, it's me, Bonnie." She answered dejectedly. So much for a little bit of luck, she thought. "I'm sorry, I should go."

As Bonnie turned to leave, she felt a hand gently grab her by her rather thin arm and stop her from leaving. "Don't leave."

"Why? So you can hold this over me? That the "Queen Bee" Bonnie Rockwaller had to come begging for a hand out? Just so you can get back at me for how I treated you in the past." Bonnie accused as she fought back tears. Over the past couple of years, she had lost a lot of things, but her pride had not been one of them.

"No, Bonnie, I'm not going to hold that over you or try to get back at you." Ronald said as he slowly shook his head. "I don't see "Queen Bee" Bonnie from high school, I just see another human being who's down on her luck, and it looks like she really needs a decent meal."

Bonnie stood there and hesitated for a moment as her pride conflicted with her need for food and warmth. After a moment, Bonnie finally agreed and followed Ronald into the diner. "Thank you, Ron."

"Think nothing of it, and please, call me Ronald."

As Bonnie followed Ronald into the small diner where he worked, she got her first real look at the place. It was small, maybe forty feet across, and while she couldn't see all the way to the back, it couldn't have been more than one hundred feet long. The walls were covered in an eclectic collection of items that ranged from street signs to pictures to clothing and even a stuffed moose head. At best, one could call it an odd art collection. At worst, one could go so far as to call it all junk. Finishing up her visual tour of the place, Bonnie became aware of Ronald pulling out a chair from one of the small wooden tables and offering it to her.

"Here, why don't you take a seat while I go and heat us up some food."

"Thank you." Bonnie said as she accepted the seat. At least Ronald still knew his place in the food chain and offered her a seat. But she also had to admit that it was the nicest thing that anyone had done for her in quite a while. While Ronald was in what passed for a kitchen of his small diner, he continued to make a try and make conversation with Bonnie.

"Hope you don't mind having a dining partner tonight, I haven't had dinner yet myself."

"Fine, whatever." Bonnie said unenthusiastically. While she was happy to be receiving a hot meal and was grateful to Ron for giving her one, she wasn't all that excited about having to eat with him. Bonnie's thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of a pair of glasses being placed on the table.

"Figured you might want something to drink while the food cooks," Ronald explained as he placed a glass of water and a glass of ice tea on the table.

"Is that unsweet tea? I don't like to drink sweet tea."

Ronald sighed in annoyance before answering, "Bonnie, I wouldn't worry about whether or not there's sugar in the tea, it's not going to affect your figure, and to be honest you could probably use the extra calories." As much as he appreciated the fact that Kim and Tara and many of the other former cheerleaders he knew from high school worked hard at maintaining their figures, there were times when their efforts almost seemed obsessive compulsive.

Bonnie stared at Ron for a moment as disbelief, "No, it's not that. I'm not worried about getting fat, I just don't like the way sweet tea tastes."

"Oh. He he, sorry about that Bonnie," Ronald said sheepishly. "It's just that I sometimes worried about you cheerleaders back in high school. Some of you were as thin as rails and still insisted on counting every calorie."

"I was never anorexic," Bonnie said defensively

"Didn't say you were."

"But you implied it."

"Ok, sorry if I did. You're not anorexic." Ronald apologized.

"And don't you forget it." Bonnie said before softening her tone, "But thanks for caring, Ron."

"Hey, no big, and please, I would rather be called Ronald."

"That's the second time you've told me that. Do you mind if I ask why?" Bonnie asked towards Ronald's back as he reentered the kitchen.

"Yes, I do mind. I'd just rather not talk about it. Unless you want to talk about how you wound up begging on the streets." Ronald replied.

Bonnie simply shook her head no.

The lull in the conversation that followed lasted until Ronald brought dinner out. As she waited for her food, Bonnie again wondered why the blond haired man in the kitchen had insisted that she call him Ronald. Had he had a falling out with Kim? If that was the case, then it was the perfect payback for both little miss perfect and Ron since she had been forced to be seen with him as the senior homecoming king and queen. However, as the smell of cooking food began to drift in to the dinner room from the kitchen, Bonnie's stomach loudly put an end to her train of thought as it announced it's opinion on the matter.

V.

An hour later, as Ronald watched Bonnie finish off her third helping of her mashed potatoes and gravy, he finally asked her the question that had been on his mind for the past forty minutes. "Bonnie, do you have anywhere to go, I mean like a friends house, or shelter or somewhere you can stay the night?" Ronald asked.

Bonnie simply shook her head no as she finished chewing the last of her food. In the past, she would never have eaten three helping of food, or yet alone let someone or some guy see her do that, but she was hungry. Plus, Ronald had insisted that she start with small portions so as not to make herself sick from eating too much to fast. As the last bit of food disappeared from her plate Bonnie's mind suddenly raised a large red flag to what Ronald had just said, something that the tasty hot food and his generosity had almost made her over look, something that she had learned as a survival skill over the past couple of years.

"Oh no, you don't!" Bonnie suddenly shouted.

"Don't do what?" Ronald asked in confusion.

"I know what you're doing. You think because you helped me out that I owe you now. Next you're going to offer that I come back to your place and spend the night. Well, forget it." Bonnie said as she stood up and glared harshly at Ronald.

Ronald sat there in disbelief at what Bonnie had thought he was trying to do. Yes, he was going to suggest that she come back to his place, but that was only to get cleaned up. "Bonnie, I wouldn't do that to you." Ronald protested. "Yes, I was going to suggest that maybe you could come back to my place to get cleaned up." Then returning Bonnie's glare, Ronald continued. "You don't have to accept my offer, and maybe I should retract it at this point, but I want you to think about something. In all the years that you've known me, have you ever known me to be a cad, or anything less than a gentleman?" Ronald stood, picked up the empty plates on the table and made his way to the kitchen, added over his shoulder, "You can finish eating before you answer that."

VI.

"This is the living room and kitchen, the bathroom is in the bedroom," Ronald explained as he gave the nickel tour of his apartment to Bonnie, "And both the bedroom and bathroom door lock from the inside."

"Thank you." Bonnie said softly as she reflected on her earlier mistrust of the man. Yes, she had always thought of him as being a loser all through high school, but he had always been a kind and good person. Obviously, those things hadn't changed over the years.

"Here, you'll need this too."

Bonnie blinked in confusion as she looked at the bathrobe and two towels that were being handed to her. "What's this for?"

"I figured you would want an extra towel for your hair, Kim always used to want one. As for the bathrobe, I don't know how long you plan on being in the shower, but I doubt your clothes will be done in the washer and dryer before you're done in there. Call it hunch, but I doubt that you want to run around here naked while waiting for your clothes," Ronald explained as he added a disarming lop sided grin at the end.

For the perhaps fifth time that night, Bonnie had lost count of how many exactly, she had to consider the fact that maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about Ron and that she hadn't treated him fairly in high school. "Thanks for the thought. But please don't try to steal my panties. They're the only pair I have right now." As Ronald watched the small smile cross Bonnie's face as she made her joke, part of him wondered just how much of her statement was meant in jest.

Taking the offered towel and bathrobe, Bonnie stepped into the bathroom and shed her dirty clothes. Opening the door just a crack, she tossed them into the bedroom for Ron, err Ronald to retrieve them as she locked the bathroom door. Turning on the water faucets, soon hot water was pouring from the spout, and the feel of the rising steam was like a siren's song to Bonnie as she stepped into the shower The hot water felt heavenly as it poured over Bonnie's hair and down her skin. It felt so good that she didn't even care that the soap and shampoo were some generic guy smelling types and not the usual fruity herbal scented girlie types that she used in the past. But then again, it had been so long that she couldn't remember the last time that she had a chance to do so. Finishing her shower, Bonnie stepped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her body, and one around her hair, she put on the bathrobe and made her way to the living room.

"Feel better now?"

Bonnie nodded her head as she sat down on the couch. "Yes, much better."

"I thought you would. Your clothes should be about done in the washer, I'll go and put them in the dryer in a few minutes."

"Thank you."

"No problem." Ronald said nonchalantly.

"No, but you made me your problem tonight." Bonnie answered soberly. "I won't pretend that I didn't treat you badly in high school. In fact, you have no reason that you should be helping me now, other than your doing it out of the kindness of your heart."

"Well, you know me, Bonnie, I'm just a nice guy."

"I know, and tonight you've shown me more kindness than I've seen in a long time. But I won't impose on you for much longer tonight."

"Huh?

"If you don't mind, I'll just wait until my clothes are dry, and then I'll be out of your hair."

"You're not in my hair." Ronald protested.

"Look, Ronald, I do appreciate what you've done for me tonight, but I don't want to stay here, ok?"

Seeing the confused look on Ronald's face, Bonnie explained further. "I just wouldn't feel comfortable with it, ok? You're a guy, I'm a girl…"

"I wouldn't take advantage of you." Ronald said incensed.

"I wouldn't take advantage of a good-looking girl like you. Ha, I've heard that one before." Bonnie retorted. "Or I'll still call you after we sleep together."

"Fine, think what you want, Ms. Queenbee."

"Don't call me that."

"Why? Can't take a little name calling? You were pretty good at dishing it out in high school."

"I just don't like to be called queen bee, ok?" Bonnie said, sounding a little deflated.

Sensing Bonnie's change of attitude, Ronald, like wise, amped down a bit. "Sorry. I promise not to call you queen bee if you promise not to call me Ron. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Good. But Bonnie, you really aren't in my hair." Ronald said as he stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me madam I need to put your clothes in the dryer."

Two minutes later, Ronald returned from the laundry room. Opening the door to his apartment, he found Bonnie lying down on his couch, fast asleep. "Figured she would spend the night." Ronald chuckled to himself as he lifted Bonnie's legs up onto the couch before placing a pillow under her head and draping a blanket over her.