Bonnie woke up alone in the bed, still fully dressed save for her shoes and socks. Reaching out she touched the other side of the bed and found it held no warmth. Ronald must have been up for some time. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand told her it was 2:33am. Sitting up she favored her midsection, a hand covering the spot where the bandage hid under her dress. The nurse had warned her she'd be sore and she was right. Not to mention all the excitement from before couldn't have been good for her. Taking a bottle of pills she'd been prescribed for pain, she shook out two and downed them dry. After putting the bottle back on the nightstand she pushed off the bed and padded on bare feet to the bedroom door. Opening it she entered the only other room of the apartment aside from the small bathroom.

Ronald was sitting on what passed for a couch, bottle of half empty beer in hand, his head resting back, eyes closed. At first Bonnie thought he might have fallen asleep like that, but then he spoke without opening his eyes.

"Hey there beautiful." his voice sounded as tired as she felt.

Moving to the couch she gingerly lowered herself down so she could cuddle up close to him. Ronald welcomed her to him by laying an arm over her shoulders. She let her head rest against him and sighed contentedly. This felt so right.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked the obvious question.

"Well..." he began, then took a swig of his beer. "...you'd think laying next to a hot woman in your own bed would make it so easy to fall asleep, but it so does not." his lips spreading into a big grin.

"Aww poor baby." she teased. "Patience is a virtue you know."

"Patience smatience." he snorted. "You're not the one who's dying to lose his virginity with his woman." taking another swig of the beer.

Bonnie almost came right off the couch in shock. "Virginity!"

Opening his eyes, Ronald rolled his head to the side and gave her a goofy smile. "Yup." he said, making the p sound pop.

"Wait a minute there mister." brows furrowed deep. "What are you talking about? There's no way. I mean you and Kim were..." she faltered as understanding dawned on her. "...oh...OH!"

Tipping the beer bottle her way, Ronald chuckled. "We have a winner."

Bonnie still couldn't believe what he was saying. "You're serious?"

"What, you think guys like to brag about being virgins?" he said with that lopsided grin she was starting to adore so much. "I never got to be with Kim, despite any memories up here." he said, tapping the side of his head with the tip of the bottle. "And I never even looked at another woman until now so..."

"Ok hold up there buddy." Now Bonnie had something to talk about for sure. "Just what memories of Kim do you have?"

Making sure to take an extra long swig of the beer this time, Ronald let out a long breath before explaining. "Well I do have all Ron's memories so..."

Holding up a hand to stop him, Bonnie shook her head. "Never mind. I don't want to know."

"They're just memories. They never happened to me. Which just makes my life all the more complicated." his tone exasperated.

"I'll bet." she conceded, but she still didn't like the idea of it on principle.

"Of course it can't be easy for you either." Ronald said with a hint of mischief in his dark brown eyes. "I mean how will you show your face in public considering our age difference?"

She looked at him, confusion written all over her face. "What does that have to do with anything. There might be a few months difference, but I don't see how that's a big deal."

He leaned down and whispered in her ear. "I'm only a little over a year old technically."

When she gasped in shock he couldn't help but laugh long and loud. Bonnie on the other hand just started jabbing him in the side with her fist.

"Not funny pal!" but soon she was laughing too.

"How does it feel to be a cougar?" he teased between peals of laughter.

"Well don't you dare expect me to change your diapers." she retorted, trying to catch her breath. She winced when a bolt of pain raced across her midsection.

Ronald caught her flinch and quickly set the beer down on the coffee table, his hand moving to cover the spot where he knew the bandage was.

"I'm sorry!" he said in a panic.

She sucked in a breath, then seemed to relax. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing they didn't warn me about. I mean I'm very lucky the incision was so small. They had to open me twice, but I'll barely have a scar to show for it."

With his hand hovering over the spot, not daring to really touch her, Ronald looked at her with worried eyes. "We have to be more careful till you're all better."

Bonnie put her hand over his and pressed it down until she felt the warmth from his touch spreading through her. "Yes, but after that..." she left it unsaid, but her teal eyes promised so much with just a glance.

Ronald beheld the woman next to him with all the awe of a man facing the reality of his fortune. "I am one lucky dude." he exhaled a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding.

She tapped the end of his nose with a finger lightly. "Don't you forget it buster."

Relaxing beside her he nuzzled her neck. "I'm sure you won't let me."

"Not a chance." she affirmed.

"Good." his breath giving her goosebumps where it passed over her skin. "I want you to remind me every hour of every day for the rest of my life."

Even as the last words left his lips, Ronald tensed.

"What's wrong?" she asked, picking up on his sudden shift.

"It's nothing." he lied.

Turning to face him on the couch, she took hold of his chin with one hand and locked eyes with him. "Ronald don't lie to me. Not ever again. I won't stand for that. We tried the whole keeping secrets thing and it didn't work. We shouldn't do that anymore. What we have is too important to me to risk it, so I'd rather just be honest with each other ok?" her teal eyes shown bright even in the dim light from the lamp behind him. "Please."

How could he refuse her? "Alright." he said earnestly.

"Good. Now what's wrong?"

"Something just occurred to me and it sorta freaks me out." his admission came with a heavy sigh. "When I said for the rest of my life it suddenly dawned on me that I don't know how long that will be."

She patted his cheek softly. "None of us do, that's sorta how life works."

"No I mean...Bonnie I'm a clone and what if that means I don't have a normal life span? What if I'll only live a few years or something?"

She could see her own sudden fear reflected in his brown eyes. This was a terrifying concept. "Um, ok...wow." she fumbled with words. "But before at your parent's they said you and Ron had been tested, that you were basically identical."

He nodded. "Yeah, but so what? It's not like there is a special clone test that says...Oh hey you're going to live a normal life."

This wasn't something she wanted to even consider. "But there's nothing wrong with you. You and Ron are the same and that means you'll live a normal life just like him."

A rueful smile on his lips, Ronald shook his head once. "We aren't exactly the same actually."

"What do you mean?" the fear in her voice warring with the denial.

"Well for one I can't use any MMP."

"MM-what?" she asked in complete ignorance.

"Sorry, I forget not everybody knows about that." he said before explaining. "MMP stands for Mystical Monkey Power. It's a...well a mystical power based around monkeys that Ron was given from these old idols during a mission and it allows him to use the Lotus Blade. It's part of a prophecy about being the Chosen One that will one day save the world yadda yadda yadda." he finished with a little wave of his hand.

Sitting up straighter, Bonnie braced a hand to her temple, feeling a headache coming on. "That sounds completely insane."

"Sure does." he agreed.

Taking a few moments to process things before speaking, Bonnie tried to put things into perspective. "Ok so Ron has this power that lets him use something called a Locust Blade-"

"Lotus Blade."

"Whatever...and he's meant to be this Chosen One and save the world some day? That makes him what, Neo from the Matrix?"

"Just without all the geeky computer stuff, but in a nutshell yep."

Bonnie gave him the stink eye. "Any other secrets I should know about today?"

Making a big show of thinking about it, Ronald shrugged. "I'm Jewish, but I love bacon."

"Not funny Ronald." she deadpanned.

"But I do love bacon!" he proclaimed.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. I mean it was bad enough I had to find out the whole clone story the way I did and now you're telling me that there's super powers involved and a save the world prophecy to worry about? Can't a girl catch a break?"

Ronald could see her point, but he did his best to console her. "Hey you don't have to worry about any of that. Like I said, I can't use MMP and that means I'm not the Chosen One and so I don't have to save the world."

That did make her feel a little better, but not much. "So what else is different between you and Ron?"

"Hmm, well like I told you before I've always gone by Ronald as far as my memories are concerned. Those are the big things. Other than that we have a few personality quirks that don't match up. Like for instance I learned recently that Ron doesn't call Kim KP, but I do."

"That's odd." she said, then something clicked for her. "You know what I just thought about?"

"What?"

"At your parent's Ron called me Bonbon."

"So? He's always called you that?" he shrugged.

"Yeah but you haven't, not even once." pointing a finger at him. "Don't you think that's a little weird considering the two of you are supposed to have the same memories and all that? Ron doesn't call her KP and you don't call me Bonbon, but you call her KP and he calls me Bonbon?"

Ok he admitted to himself that was a little odd. "It's sorta like we're mixed up huh?"

"This whole situation is mixed up if you ask me." Bonnie felt like Alice in Wonderland at this point.

"So you want me to start calling you Bonbon?"

She gave it a moment's thought, but shook her head. "No, it just doesn't feel right when you say it."

"Ouch! Harsh." putting a hand over his heart in mock pain.

She shoved him a little. "Get over yourself."

"Trust me, I've been trying to do that for more than a year now, but that prick just keeps annoying me even now." he said grinning.

Bonnie turned things back to the more serious topic. "You know a lot of smart people, isn't there anyone you can talk to about things if you're worried? You know, about having a normal life and all that?"

"Honestly I've never given it much thought till right now." In truth he'd never had a reason to feel like his life was his own till just now. It wasn't until Bonnie came into it and gave him something to live for, to truly live for, that he'd begun worrying about anything but the past. It was the reason he couldn't sleep. He'd been sitting here nursing a beer and pondering some things. Mainly an idea that he'd claimed to have given up on, but really hadn't. Was he the real Ronald Dean Stoppable or not?

"Ronald I can tell you're thinking about something."

"Hey no mind reading until our third anniversary." he joked.

"Ronald." the tone of her voice made it very clear she wanted and expected to know.

"Amp down, I surrender." waving an imaginary white flag around in one hand.

"Spill." Bonnie commanded, the old Queen B making an appearance.

"Remember when I said I was just fine being Ronald and him being Ron?" he began.

"But you aren't are you, not really?" she finished for him.

"No I'm not." With a growl he sat back hard against the couch. "I keep telling myself that, but deep down I know I'm not ok with it. No matter what anybody says I feel like I'm the real one. It's not just me wanting to be the real one, it's more than that. I honestly think, even after everything, that I'm Ron Stoppable. I'm the real deal...and it's driving me crazy little by little that I can't prove it. I mean I've stuffed it down and ignored that nagging part of me that demands to be acknowledged. I've done that for so long that it's like some twisted habit I can't turn off, but I just...gah!" throwing an arm over his face in frustration.

Bonnie curled up against him, her head on his chest, tucking her legs under her. She understood far better than he knew. The years spent on the streets had stripped away almost everything she thought she knew of herself. It had almost killed her in fact. The person she was now, sitting here with him, was not the girl she'd been all those years ago. In a way she was a whole different person, but she still had the memories of her past, but to her it had all happened to somebody else. Being on the cheer squad. Top of the food chain. The best clothes, a car, a big house. All that was another life, another her, another world even. She understood what it was like to be somebody and have the life of another person stuffed inside your head.

"Ronald I get it, I do. You want to know the truth no matter what. You say you can be happy with me and I believe you, but I don't think you're happy with yourself, not as things stand now." Placing a hand on his stomach she spread her fingers wide, feeling him tense beneath his shirt. "Listen...I left things undone with my friend Molly. There were things I should have said and things I shouldn't have, but I never did right by her...or me. I kept putting it off because I was too scared and ashamed to face her and now I'll never get that chance. She's gone and I won't ever be able to tell her all the things I wanted to. I hate that and I hate myself for causing it, but I'll have to get past that. I have to accept what I've done and forgive myself in time. Only you can't do that can you?"

She didn't have to look up to know he was shaking his head.

"I thought so. This isn't something as simple as my problem. This is the core of who you are. It's a question that might be impossible to answer, but you have to try anyway."

Ronald covered her hand with his. "How do you know me so well already?"

"I'm just good like that." a little smile on her lips.

"So what do I do about it?"

Bonnie twisted so that she was looking up at him. "Whatever you have to, but get this through that hard head of yours right now. No matter what, I'm going to be right there with you every step of the way."

"That means the world to me." and he meant it through and through.