I.

An hour after her little disagreement with Ronald, Bonnie felt that she had finally managed to pull herself together enough to face him. With the slightest of chucks, Bonnie realized that the "old" Bonnie never would have taken this long to pull herself together after an argument with some guy. But Ronald wasn't just some guy. He was caring, kind, sensitive, and most importantly, he was Bonnie's friend. Nor would the "old" Bonnie be willing to offer the apology that she knew she owed him. Emerging from her office and towards the diner's small seating area, Bonnie found the young man who was her boss, her friend, and confidant. Ronald appeared to be so caught up in his thoughts as he was cleaning the diners few tables that he didn't even notice Bonnie standing there for several minutes watching him. I'm not sure if he was ignoring her or if he had simply not seen her, Bonnie decided to speak first.

"Ronald, I'm sorry about freaking out on you earlier." Bonnie said softly as she announced her presence.

Ronald simply ignored her as he continued to push the rag in his hand around and around over and over again as if trying to remove some sort of imaginary stain.

"Ronald, I don't hold anything against you. I just had a panic attack, ok?" Seeing that her apology so far wasn't having the desired effect Bonnie decided to press on, "I've sort of been through a lot, and I guess it all caught up with me." Bonnie continued.

Ronald still said nothing.

"Ronald, please talk to me. Tell me what's bothering you." Bonnie pleaded.

"I'm sorry too." Ronald said as he finally stopped cleaning and looked up at his friend. "I just wanted to help you, and I ended up hurting you, and that hurt me too."

Bonnie frowned slightly at this. She figured Ronald might be feeling a little hurt by her apparent mistrust of him, but it still stung when he confirmed it.

"It's ok, I know you didn't mean it." Then pausing for a second, Bonnie took a deep breath before continuing, "I trust you. You're the first man I've even considered liking or even caring about since high school. But I got scared back there for a moment. I, I just want you to know how I feel about you."

Ronald, while listening to Bonnie's explanation, had kept his head down for most of it. Finally, looking up at the young woman who was both his friend and roommate, Ronald was concerned with what he saw in her face. "Bonnie, are you okay? You're looking kind of pale."

"I am feeling a bit tired." Bonnie confessed as she placed her hand on the back of a chair to prop herself up. "Like I said, it's been a hectic past couple of days for me. I guess I'm just drained both physically and mentally."

"Why don't you sit down then," Ronald suggested, "I hope you're not coming down with my cold." Although Ronald would be the first to admit that he wasn't the smartest guy in the world, but somehow when it came to some one he cared about he found the ability to tap in to the other ninety five percent of his brain that he wasn't using. With that enhanced ability to focus came awareness of just how bad Bonnie really looked. Her face was very pale looking, and her forehead was covered in perspiration, add in her shallow breathing, and it all indicated something worse. He feared that Bonnie was suffering from something worse than coming down with a mere cold.

"Me too." Bonnie said as she began to turn the chair around to sit in it. About half way through the motion, Bonnie stopped and fell to her knees.

"Bonnie!" Ronald shouted as he quickly rushed to her side and caught Bonnie before her head hit the floor.

"Ronald." Was all Bonnie could say as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Ronald didn't know what was wrong with Bonnie, but he had two fears. The first was that she might be suffering from appendicitis. The second was that it had something to do when she fell off of the step stool several days ago. Gently holding her in his arms, Ronald spent several minutes attempting to revive the unconscious girl. At first, Bonnie slowly opened her eyes, but then, after giving Ronald a soft smile, she closed them again.

"Bonnie, can you hear me? Are you alright?"

"So tired." Bonnie said in a whisper.

Laying the brunette down on to the floor Ronald lifted up her shirt to examine her abdominal area when he saw what looked like a large bruise area near where she had landed on the cardboard box from her fall. Turning his attention back towards Bonnie's face, Ronald called her name but was only met by the fluttering of her eyes. Knowing that Bonnie was seriously not right and that she needed to be taken to a hospital, Ronald gingerly picked Bonnie up off the floor and carried her out to his car. Placing Bonnie in the passenger seat, Ronald, without even bothering to lock up the diner, quickly assumed the drivers seat and headed for the first hospital he could think of, Middleton General Hospital.

II.

Out in the waiting room Ronald Stoppable looked at a nearby clock and saw it was almost two in the morning as he continued the pacing that he had been doing for the past several hours after he had brought Bonnie to the hospital. While the constant pacing didn't do anything to hurry things along or make Bonnie better, it at least helped Ronald to momentarily take his mind off of things. Although he was worried about Bonnie, Ronald knew that there really wasn't anything he could do, and it was best to just let the doctors handle things for now. However, he had been waiting for quite some time now, and the more he paced, the more nervous, annoyed, and worried he was becoming. If the doctors didn't return soon, Ronald was ready to simply go and find out about Bonnie himself. Ronald decided that he would wait ten more minutes before taking off on his own search. Turning back around to pace away those final ten minutes, Ronald was lost in his own thoughts and suddenly came up short when he almost ran into a doctor.

"Are you Ronald Stoppable?" A middle-aged doctor asked, "I'm Doctor Anthony Antonuci, I operated on Ms. Rockwaller when you brought her in."

"Yes. How is Bonnie? Is she OK? What was wrong with her?" Ronald shot off a series of rapid-fire questions.

"Easy there, young man. I'm not at liberty to say much as you are not an immediate family. However, since you are the one who brought her in, I will tell you that she is much better now and is resting comfortably."

Ronald let out a sigh of relief at this news before a thought struck him. "Am I allowed to see her since I'm not immediate family?"

"We will have to ask Bonnie when she wakes up when the anesthesia wear off, which," The doctor paused for few seconds as he looked at his watch, "Should be in maybe thirty minutes, give or take."

"Thank you, Doc." Ronald said with a smile.

"You're welcome." Dr. Antonuci replied. "Oh and young man, can you do me a favor? I know the Rockwallers personally, so I contacted Bonnie's mother, and she should be on her way right now to see her daughter. I would appreciate it if you could relay Bonnie's condition to her just in case I'm not able to be here when she arrives."

"I'll do that, Doc, but Bonnie doesn't get along too well with her mother."

"Yes, unfortunately, I know that. But as a friend of the family, she has a right to know about her daughter. Whether or not Bonnie wants to see her mother is up to Bonnie."

III.

Bonnie slowly opened her eyes to a sight she had not expecting to see. Instead of either the diner or Ronald's apartment, Bonnie found herself laying in a hospital room with various wires and IVs attached to her. As Bonnie attempted to sit up, she noticed a soft beeping noise emanating from one of the machines. Eventually, the beeping was turned off when a nurse arrived to check on the now conscious patient.

"Good to see that you're awake. You have visitors outside if you would like to see them." The young nurse informed as she helped to prop up Bonnie by placing a couple of pillows behind her back.

Visitors? She must mean Ronald, Bonnie thought. "Can I see them now?"

"Sure if you feel up to it."

"Yes, I feel well enough for a visitor."

"I'll send them in then. But first, the doctor that operated on you wants to look at you for a moment." With one final look at the readout on the electronic chart next to Bonnie's bed, the nurse exited the room and was replaced a few moments later by Dr. Antonuci.

"Hi there Bonnie, glad to see that you're doing better already." The middle-aged doctor said as he gently patted Bonnie's shoulder.

"Anthony? What are you doing in Lowerton?" Bonnie asked, "I thought you worked in Middleton." It had been years since she had seen the old family friend since he visited Bonnie to congratulate her on graduating from high school.

"I do. You're at Middleton General Hospital right now."

"But why would Ronald bring me all the way to here?"

"I don't know, but maybe you can ask him yourself. He's still waiting here to see you if you're feeling up to seeing him."

As if on cue, Bonnie caught sight of the subject of their conversation, smiling at her through the window in the hospital room door.

"Yes, I want to see him." Bonnie said as she waved for Ronald to come in.

"Hey, you're awake." Ronald said enthusiastically as he approached Bonnie and gave her a gentle hug.

"Yes, I am Captain Obvious." Bonnie teased gently as she returned the embrace before lying back against the pillows that propped her up. "And thanks for helping me out again."

"Hey, no problem. Remember, I've got your back."

"Excuse me, Ronald, was it? Do you happen to know if Elizibeth has arrived yet?"

"Who?" Ronald asked.

"My mother." Bonnie answered glumly before glaring at her old friend. "Why did you do that? I don't want to talk to my mother." Bonnie asked harshly as she began to sit up in bed.

"Easy Bonnie, you don't want to hurt yourself." Ronald insisted as he came to Bonnie's side and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"The young man is right. And whether or not you want to talk to your mother I did invite her here to see you."

"What gave you that, right?" Bonnie demanded.

"I'm her friend, and when I saw you here and I knew she would want to see you again."

Bonnie was about to protest further when the door opened and walked Mrs. Elizibeth Wineglass, formerly Mrs. Elizibeth Rockwaller.

"Bonnie, is it really you?" Bonnie's mother asked as she cautiously approached her daughter as if afraid that she might disappear.

"Yes, it's really me."

"Oh, Bonnie, I was so worried about. You left and then I didn't hear from you for all those years." Elizibeth said as she embraced her daughter.

"Maybe I should leave." Ronald suggested.

"Ronald, stay." Bonnie said over her mother's shoulder before adding more softly, "Please."

"Bonnie dear, I really would like to talk to you alone. Your friend can wait outside." Elizibeth said after finally releasing her daughter.

"No, mother, I don't want to talk to you, especially alone. As for Ronald, he's more than just a friend. He's been more like family. In fact, he's been more family to me than you or dad or my sisters have been for years."

"But he's not family," Elizibeth countered.

"No, but he is my boyfriend."

It took Ronald a couple of seconds to mentally recover from Bonnie's surprise announcement. He had hoped to hear her say those words someday. He just never expected to be like this. Recovering his senses, Ronald knew that his newly acknowledged girlfriend was going to need some emotional support right now. Stepping closer to Bonnie, he soothingly placed a hand on top of hers.

"Doctor, whatever you have to tell me, you can say in front of Ronald." Bonnie stated flatly.

"I see." Dr. Antonuci said, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with being caught in a test of wills between Bonnie and Elizibeth. However, Bonnie was his patient, and she had to right to decide who was allowed to hear her medical information and who didn't. "Well, in a nutshell, you were suffering from internal bleeding caused by an internal injury, the site of which was in your uterine area. We were able to close the wound with surgery, but " Here, Dr. Antonuci paused for a moment as he considered his words, "I'm afraid that there was a fair amount of damage and scarring to the uterine wall. Right now, we don't know how extensive the damage is, but there is the very real possibility that it will make it difficult for you to bear children."

"Oh my poor baby! What has this monster done to you?" Elizibeth demanded as she glared at Ronald.

"Mother, leave him out of this! He didn't do anything to me but showed me kindness and unconditional love. That's more than you, dad, or my sisters ever did." Bonnie shouted back.

"Bonnie, I'm your mother. I won't have you talk to me this way." Elizibeth snapped back.

"I don't want you as my mother!" Bonnie shouted as she sat up fully in bed and screamed at her mother.

"Please, everyone, please calm down. Bonnie doesn't need this sort of stress right now." Dr. Antonuci pleaded.

Taken aback by her daughter's out burst Mrs. Wineglass could only stand there and stare at her daughter. Then, as her mind attempted to make sense of what was happening, it latched on to the first target it could.

"This is entirely your fault!" She yelled at Ronald while pointing an accusing finger at him, "You turned my daughter against me.

"I did no such thing." Ronald defended himself coolly as he remained next to Bonnie.

"Then why is she acting this way?"

"Because I do not want to have anything to do with you." Bonnie said tersely, "And don't you dare say one more negative thing about Ronald."

"Why? How do I know we can trust him? He's not family. I want him out of this room. Anthony, please call security and have this riff raff removed before he does anything else to…."

The rest of Elizibeth's sentence was replaced by the sound of the slap across her face that had been delivered by a now standing and rather irate Bonnie. Elizibeth just stood there in shock as her daughter continued to yell at her, "I warned you. I won't have you talking like that about Ronald," Bonnie paused to catch her breath before continuing, "Now I want you out of my room. I want you…I want you…out…now." Bonnie managed to finish before her eyes rolled up into her head, and she collapsed to the floor.

Ronald, Elizibeth, and Dr. Antonuci arrived at Bonnie's side at the same time.

"Her pulse is weak, minimal response from her pupils, skin is pale. She must still be bleeding on the inside." Doctor Antonuci stated as he examined his patient. "Young man, I need to know everything that she has ingested over the past week, everything."

"Oh god, please don't tell me its drugs. Have you been supplying her with drugs?" Mrs. Wineglass demanded of Ronald.

Ignoring Elizibeth, Ronald explained that Bonnie had been taking a number of aspirin over the past week to deal with headaches and for pain she had after a fall she took.

"Aspirin, that's a blood thinning agent." Dr. Antonuci said, "There must still be enough in here system that she isn't clotting properly. Here, help me get her back into the bed. We're going to have to open her up again."

IV.

A couple of hours later.

"How is she? Can I see her now?" Elizibeth asked Anthony as the tired doctor walked into the waiting room.

"She's asleep Elizibeth and will probably remain that way for the next few hours. When she wakes up, you can see her if she permits it."

"Permit it? But I'm her mother."

"Elizibeth, I know I'm your friend, but your daughter is also my patient, and based on the way she reacted earlier it would, in my medical opinion, not be conducive to her health if you made another scene like you did earlier."

"I didn't cause a scene. She did when she slapped me. I, I still can't believe she slapped me. It has to be because of that guy who was in there with her."

Anthony sighed before answering again. Yes, he was Elizibeth's friend, but he also had to admit that as far as being a mother went, she was far from being mother of the year material.

"Liz, that young man brought your daughter in here tonight and most likely saved her life. Bonnie was suffering from internal bleeding, and eventually, she probably would have bled to death. Also, you heard her yourself, she says she considers him to be her boyfriend. I think it's pretty obvious that he is not a harmful effect on her."

"I, I can't believe you're saying that. I thought we were friends, Anthony, and now you're telling me that my own daughter has tossed me aside for some boy."

"Your words, not mine. But maybe you should try to talk to that young man, what was his name, Ronald." But before Elizibeth could argue, Anthony continued, "If you do want to reconcile with your daughter Liz, he may be the bridge to doing that." Then taking his friend's hands in to his own, he continued, "Liz, I know that things were really rough between you and Bonnie, especially coming on the heels of your divorce. But I also know that it hurt you more than you ever admitted when you threw her out of your house."

"I had to. I, I couldn't control her or put up with her. My life was crazy then Tony, you know that. I had to work so hard to keep everything together. But Bonnie could be so stubborn at times."

Anthony smiled slightly at this, "I know Liz, she was that way when I knew here as a precocious five year old girl. But she has always been stubborn and a fighter, and I hate to say it, but you almost shouldn't have been surprised when she slapped you. That's just Bonnie being Bonnie."

"That's not the answer I wanted to hear."

"It might not be, but it's the truth, and that's all I can tell you right now."

"Well, I can tell you something then. Goodbye, I'm leaving. I need time to think Tony, and I don't know if I can do that here." As Mrs. Wineglass slid her hands out from her friend's she added, "If Bonnie wants to contact me, she knows where I live." Then as she left the waiting room, Elizibeth walked past a fitfully sleeping Ronald Stoppable and shot a dirty look at the young man who now apparently was closer to Bonnie than she was

As Anthony watched Elizibeth leave, he reflected on the fact that he had been friends with Elizibeth for a number of years and that he had also been friends with Bonnie ever since she was a small child Over the years Anthony had disagreed with Elizibeth on any number of things, from the trivial to the major, but of all the things he had ever disagreed with her about, he had always felt that throwing Bonnie out of her home had been the one worst decision she had ever made. At the time, he hadn't been able to help Bonnie through that rough patch in her life, although he was willing to. But now he did have a chance to help the young woman out. After he was sure that Elizibeth had left, Dr. Antonuci woke the exhausted Ronald.

"Wha, where am I?" Ronald asked as he came around.

"You're still in Middleton General's waiting room, young man."

"Bonnie? Is she ok?"

"Yes, we were able to stop the bleeding completely this time. In fact, she should already be in her ICU room. The chairs in there are more comfortable, I can let you sleep in there if you would like."

V.

Bonnie slowly opened her eyes and, this time, found that the room she was in was dark and empty of people. Opening her eyes fully, Bonnie saw that she was once again laying on a bed with various wires and inter venous tubes attached to her and hooked up to various machines beside her. In the corner of the room closest to her bed was a chair, and in that chair sat a person currently slumbering. After a moment, Bonnie finally recognized that Ronald was who was occupying the chair. As she began to sit up in bed, some of the medical devices that were attached to her began to beep, not loudly, but it was enough to wake Ronald.

"Hey, you're awake." He said groggily.

"So are you, barely." She bantered back.

"You gave me quite a fright there when you passed out again." Ronald said as he pulled his chair closer to Bonnie's bed.

"What happened? I remember I was arguing with my mom, and then it got hard for me to stand up, and then things were going dark. And now it's just you in my room. Where did my mother go?"

"The doc says that you may have still bleeding internally and must have lost too much blood to let you stand up. They had to operate on you again to finally fix your injuries; either that or all of this is just the first step into turning you into the Bionic Bonnie."

Bonnie grinned at his lame joke.

"As for your mother, I guess she left." Ronald explained.

"Yeah, I guess my anger at my mom sort of over rode my common sense." Bonnie said a bid dejectedly. She had been angry with her mother, but it still saddened her that she had left.

"I'll say, at first, I was pretty surprised that you were not only screaming at her that you got out of bed slapped her."

Bonnie nodded her head. "I guess I shouldn't have done that. But I just had so much hatred and bitterness about her and my family bottled up inside of me for so long that I couldn't help myself. I couldn't help it. It just burst out from inside of me."

Ronald, thinking about how he had felt towards the person that had stolen Kim from him, could sympathize with Bonnie losing her head. As a comforting gesture, he placed his hand on top of Bonnie's. "Guess that mean's your out of the will then?" He joked.

Despite how badly she felt about how good it had felt to slap her mother, Bonnie couldn't help but chuckle a little at Ronald's joke.

"That's what I like about you, Ronald. You're never too serious about things and can bring a smile to my face no matter how miserable I feel."

"Glad I could help." Ronald said with a smile before turning serious, "Bonnie, did you mean what you said earlier?"

"Earlier? What do you mean earlier? Are you talking about what I said at the diner? Then yes." Bonnie asked. She knew that she had told Ronald that she trusted him and that she cared about him. But beyond that, her memory got a bit fuzzy.

"I know that." Ronald said softly. "But I'm worried about something else you said later on."

Bonnie racked her brain to try and remember what it was that she had said to Ronald. She dimly recalled talking to him after she had woken up in the hospital, but she wasn't entirely sure what she had said. Closing her eyes in concentration, Bonnie recalled a doctor had come into the room, then her mother, then they started arguing, and she had said that Ronald was her boyfriend. Bonnie's eyes suddenly flew open at that last thought. Was that what Ronald was worried about? Was she moving too fast? Had she scared him by saying he was her boyfriend? Bonnie began to panic at the thought that she might be driving Ronald away from her. She wanted Ronald as a boyfriend, but even more than that, she wanted Ronald in her life, even if that meant that she could only have him as a friend and not a lover. Out of fear, she unconsciously tightened her grasp on Ronald's hand.

"Bonnie, are you ok?" Ronald asked worriedly when he saw the look of fear on Bonnie's face. It was the same scared look that she had had back at the diner when he tried to check her injury. "Bonnie?" Ronald asked again as he attempted to remove his hand from her grip.

"Ronald no. Don't leave me, " Bonnie pleaded, "Please, please don't leave me. I can't stand the thought of losing you. Please tell me you won't leave." Tears were streaming down her face as she pleaded with the most important man in her life.

"Bonnie, I'm not going to leave you." Ronald said soothingly as he gently stroked her cheek. But the speed with which she had gone from ok to almost hysterical worried him greatly. "But something's wrong. Talk to me, tell me why you are so scared?"

"I'm afraid that now that I have found someone I care about, someone who cares about me, that I will lose them, again."

"Lose me? Bonnie, I told you I won't leave you."

"But you said you were worried about something I said earlier. I remember that I told my mother that I consider you my boyfriend. If that scares you, if you don't want to be my boyfriend, I understand." Bonnie said dejectedly. As Bonnie said this, she stared straight into Ronald's eyes, trying to find any hint of his true feelings about her. "Please, Ronald, let me know. I'll take back calling you my boyfriend, but please, please say that we're still friends. Please let me know if you still have my back."

Ronald's continued silence was really beginning to worry Bonnie now, but before she could say something, Ronald beat her to it.

"Bonnie. I had no idea that was what was bothering you."

"But you said that what I said worried you."

Leaning closer to Bonnie, Ronald explained what he was referring to was Bonnie's assertion that she didn't want Elizibeth as her mother.

"You mean you're not scared about being my boyfriend?" Bonnie asked with a hint of desperation in her voice.

"No, Bonnie, I'm happy to be your boyfriend."

"You're not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?"

The gentle lingering kiss that Ronald gave her was all the answer Bonnie would need.

VI.

Dr. Anne Possible was glad that her word day at the hospital was nearly over. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy her job as a doctor, on the contrary she loved it, but sometimes the little things like having to do endless amounts of paperwork were enough to make her consider giving up medicine. At least she had finished all of her pending paperwork for the week, and tomorrow, she would get to take a new crop of resident students around the hospital. Shutting off the computer in her office, Anne locked the door behind her and began to make her way to the first floor and the parking lot. Deciding to take the stairs in order to get a little exercise and try to fight off those few extra pounds that had snuck up on her other wise, mostly thin body over the past few years. While Mr. Dr. Possible didn't seem to mind them. She wanted to keep the number that joined her to as low a level as possible. Making her way down the stairs, she exited through the doors that led to the hospitals cafeteria and the rather questionable food that it served. Glancing inside, Anne saw that while it was mostly empty, one person in particular stood out among the patrons. Sitting in one of the numerous chairs, his head dipping down over a cup of coffee as if he was fighting to stay awake, was someone that she had not seen in some time, and had begun to wonder if she ever would see him again. For all of his goofiness, and despite his falling out with Kim; Anne Possible would always consider him like a son.

"Ronald? What are you doing here?"

Looking up at the friendly voice, Ronald smiled as his mind was finally able to recognize the speaker through the fog of exhaustion that was clouding his mind.

"Oh hi, Mrs. Dr. P. Yeah, it's me, Ronald."

"Are you okay, Ronald? You do look a little pale and like you're about to fall asleep sitting here, but not like you need to be at the hospital or eat its food for that matter."

Ronald slowly shook his head. "I'm not here for me. I was visiting my girlfriend in the ICU today, and I decided to get some coffee before heading home." Ronald said through a yawn.

The last time Anne had spoken to Ronald, he had been a sad, confused, broken-hearted man. So the fact that he now had a girlfriend was very welcome news. She just wished that she could have found out about it in a friendlier setting. "I'm happy to hear that you have a girlfriend, and if you don't mind me asking, what's her name? I can abuse my power as a doctor and try to find out when they will release her."

"You would really do that? Even after what happened between me and Kim?" he asked.

"Yes, Ronald, I would. It's not your fault what happened between the two of you, and besides, I still think of you as a son." Anne answered with a smile.

"That's badical." Ronald enthused. "Her name is Bonnie, Bonnie Rockwaller."

Now Anne Possible had not owned a Long Play vinyl record for almost two decades, but that night she could have sworn she heard a needle scratch across the vinyl when Ronald mentioned his girl friend's name.

VII.

Anne Possible did in deed abuse her authority as a doctor, and after leaving Ronald in the hospital's main waiting area, she began making a few inquirers. After calling in a couple of favors, Anne learned that Bonnie would probably be moved from the ICU by the next day and possibly even released from the hospital a couple of days after that. With this information in hand, Anne returned to the waiting room to tell Ronald of the good news. However, as she sat down next to the young man, Anne realized that he had fallen asleep, a somewhat difficult task considering the uncomfortably hard plastic chairs that the hospital used. Gently shaking Ronald until he was awake, Anne could see just how exhausted he was by the incoherent questions he began to ask.

"Ronald Stoppable, you are in no condition to be driving right now. I'll give you a ride home tonight." Anne finally declared.

"But live in Lowerton." Ronald mumbled.

"I know dear, I'll give you a ride to your parents' place. I'm sure both they and Hana would be more than willing to put you up for the night."

"Yeah, home good."

"Then it's settled, call you folks and let them know you're coming to spend the night." Anne said as she pulled out her cell phone.

"Thanks, Mrs. Dr. P." Ronald said as she dialed the landline number for his parent's home. Mr. Stoppable had resisted getting a cell phone over the years as he thought it was just a fad. "Hmm, that's odd. No one is answering." Ronald announced after listening to the phone ring a dozen times.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Anne made up her mind. "Well, either way, you're still in no condition to be driving all the way to Lowerton. You can crash at my place tonight."

"You would let me do that? You wouldn't feel akweird about that?"

"Ronald, like I said earlier, I consider you like a son, and it wasn't your fault what happened, so no, I wouldn't consider it akweird to have you spend the night tonight."

"You rock mom." Ronald said as he gave Anne a big hug.

Thirty and a few moments later, Anne and Ronald pulled into the driveway in front of the Possible's house.

"Why don't you go on in Ronald and freshen up a bit while I start dinner?"

"Yeah, that does sound like a good idea." Ronald said as he walked to the front door, opened it, and found himself staring face to face with Kim's husband.