"Wade." she admitted with a sheepish little smile.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Well you could try naming your place something other than The Diner for starters." testing the waters with a little banter.

"I like it. Simple, to the point. It is a diner after all. Besides why would I call it Ronald's Diner?"

She looked at him for a second as if he'd grown two heads. "Your name is Ronald...and this is your diner...so ergo Ronald's Diner." When he only stared at her she threw up her hands. "Oh come on you used to always put your name on everything. You wanted to open a high class restaurant called Chez Ron and-"

"That wasn't me Kim." his tone flat.

She clamped her mouth shut so hard her teeth clicked. Way to bumble that one Possible she thought angrily to herself.

"I'm sorry." she offered meekly.

Standing he crossed his arms, looking down at her where she sat. After a few seconds he huffed. "Don't worry about it."

Looking anywhere but at him, she took in the little diner for the first time. It had a cozy old fashioned feel and she had to admit that she liked the random collection of things plastered on the walls and shelves near the ceiling. It was like stepping back in time into one of those pictures with hot rods and waitresses on skates.

Watching her absorb the place, Ronald felt a tiny swelling of pride. It wasn't much, but this place was his and his alone. Well, maybe not alone anymore he thought as images of Bonnie filled his mind.

"I like this place Ronald." feeling the need to use his name this time.

"Thanks." checking his watch again. "So now I know how you got here. Want to tell me why?"

She got the distinct impression this might have been a mistake coming here. She'd wanted to talk to him like they had the other day at Bueno Nacho. That had been nice and she wanted her friend back, even if they couldn't be best friends.

"I just wanted to talk." Boy this was a far cry from the days when she felt like she could do anything. Why was it so hard to talk to him?

"Uh huh. About what?" Was she squirming he wondered? She could not be squirming on that stool like a little girl waiting outside the principal's office. Holy cow she was!

"Promise not to get mad?" she asked with the hint of a pout.

Averting his eyes, Ronald turned to check on the coffee. "Not a chance. I reserve the right to get mad in my own diner thank you very much."

Crestfallen, Kim forged ahead any way. "Well I wanted to talk about some things. Things that never really were talked about, not really if you ask me. The kind of things that should have been talked about a long time ago, before things got so messed up and...and...and I'm rambling." sitting up straight she frowned. "I don't ramble."

Ronald turned back around and slid a mug of coffee across the counter towards her. "Here drink this. It helps with the rambling, trust me I know." Taking his own coffee and walking back around the counter to hop onto a stool next to her.

Kim took hold of the mug with both hands, enjoying the warmth of it before taking a swallow of the dark brew. She hummed happily as the coffee did its job and she began to feel less like a human popsicle.

"This is so good!" Cutting her eyes over to him above the rim of her mug. "How can you make coffee this good that fast?"

Wiggling the fingers of one hand in the air. "It's magic." he said, taking a sip from his mug.

"So not fair." she mused as she enjoyed another sip.

"Come on it's not like you don't have Ron to make you coffee whenever you want." twisting on the stool so he could lean back against the counter.

Kim sighed just a little. "Yeah I do and he does. Look can we not talk about Ron right now?"

Warning bells went off in Ronald's head. "You want to have coffee with your husbands clone and not talk about him? Not going to lie KP that sounds a bit dodgy."

Resting her mug on the counter she closed her eyes. Her fingers tapping the sides of the ceramic container. "Ok that sounded bad huh?"

"Lil bit." taking another sip of his coffee before turning his head towards her. "Just come out and say what's on your mind."

She was quiet for a bit, just sitting there, her fingers gripping the mug tightly now. Ronald was beginning to wonder if she'd heard him when he saw the first tear drops hit the counter in front of her. Turning to face her completely he set his own mug aside and reached out to touch her shoulder.

"KP what's wrong?" Her not wanting to talk about Ron and now crying. If that prick had hurt her he'd beat the shit out of him.

"I'm fine. Sorry, just give me a minute." her voice sounded small.

Pulling his hand back he did just that. Resting an arm on the counter while she gathered herself. After a few sniffs and wiping her eyes with a napkin she sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh.

"So not how I wanted this to go down." she admitted with a nervous chuckle.

He tested the waters. "Look I know I'm the last person who should go poking his nose into this, but...is everything ok with you and Ron?"

Her laughter was the last thing he expected. Folding the napkin she dabbed at her eyes, then smiled at him. "Everything is great with Ron. Wonderful in fact."

Frowning, Ronald tapped a finger on the counter. "So you just show up here and say you don't want to talk about Ron and then start crying, but everything is wonderful? You see how I'm confused right?"

Oh god he must have gotten the wrong idea! "I'm sorry Ronald." lowering her head a bit. "I keep saying that don't I?"

Holding up a finger and thumb slightly apart he gave a lopsided grin. "Just a little yeah."

"Sorry about that." not able to stop herself.

"Little bit more now." he teased.

She turned her face towards him, her hair falling over her shoulder to touch the counter. The corners of her mouth turned up in a smile and she began to laugh again. "How can you do that? How can you make me feel better about making a fool of myself?"

Resting his hand on the counter with a shrug, he tilted his head to the side. "Nothing to it. Though it helps that you are making it easy for me to mock you."

Reaching out she playfully slapped his hand. "Shut up."

"I'd say make me, but I don't want you to turn your legendary sixteen styles of Kung Fu on me." grinning all the more as he said it.

Turning serious all of a sudden, Kim swiveled to face him. Their knees touched briefly and a tense silence filled the diner. She broke it with a question.

"Are you happy?"

Talk about shifting gears! Ronald cleared his throat and took a quick sip of his coffee before answering. "I'm getting there." his tone somber.

"I'm happy." Kim offered, though she was staring down at her own hands where they rested on her bent knees, her boots braced on the stool. "I've got a great job. A house. Married the man of my dreams. I've saved the world a few times too, so yeah I'm happy."

Ronald did his best not to get upset as she went on. What was the deal here? He should be home with Bonnie by now, in fact she was most likely wondering where he was. Tara had most likely gone home by now and since his apartment didn't have a phone he had no way of calling to let her know he was going to be late. Why was he sitting her listening to Kim spout off about how happy she was when he could be at home with Bonnie anyway?

He was about to say he had better things to do, but her next statement brought him up short.

"I'm happy with my life, but Ronald my life just doesn't feel right without you in it." her voice barely more than a small mewling sound as fresh tears began falling from her eyes.

He was so taken that all he could manage was to say, "What?"

Kim picked at the nail of one thumb, using it as an excuse not to look up at him. "I can't explain it. I know I sound crazy ok. I know. It's just...I didn't know it till I talked with you the other day. Spending time with you brought something out that I don't know how to deal with."

"KP not going to lie, but this is sounding way worse than that misunderstanding from before. Might want to clear this up, like right now." saying he was on edge was an understatement.

She was screwing up again. God why was this so hard? "Nothing like that. I'm not here to profess my love for you."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Ronald sank back against the counter, letting his head fall back. "Thank god."

She smirked, knowing her next words were going to do a number on him. "I mean I do love you."

He nearly fell off the stool. "What the hell?" glaring at her as he righted himself.

Despite her tears, she smiled. "I'm just not in love with you."

"Damn it KP!" Ronald was just about done with whatever all this was. "Look I'm tired and Bonnie is waiting on me so if you're done playing games I'd really like to go home."

"I'm serious." her voice almost pleading. "I miss you Ronald. I didn't know how much till the other day. I miss my best friend."

He was starting to get angry now. Pointing a finger at her. "I told you I can't be that anymore. That's Ron's job now."

"Listen to yourself Ronald." Kim looked up and the emotions he saw on her face was one of misery and something more he couldn't place. Something between hope and fear. "You say it's his job now, but that implies that at one time it was yours. How can that be?"

"Because at one time we were best friends." he countered.

"No we weren't. Ron and I were, but never you and me. Don't you get it? From the very first day you showed up I never doubted that Ron was the one I'd grown up with. That he was the guy I'd always been friends with."

"Yeah I know KP. I was there. I'm just the clone." standing now he looked down on her with a frown. "Doesn't change the memories in my head though."

Picking up his mug, Ronald moved back around the counter and poured out the remaining coffee before setting the mug in the sink. Taking a moment to gather himself he leaned against the metal basin.

"KP why are you dredging all this shit up again?" a very clear tone of anger in his voice.

She shrank in on herself when he spoke. Just hearing him like that was enough to hurt her. This made no sense. "Because none of us ever really dealt with it."

Gripping the basin till his knuckles turned white, Ronald all but barked his next words. "Well it seemed to get dealt with real quick to me. You guys drug me to your mom's hospital and ran a few tests, drew some blood, took some hair and boom I'm a clone. Neat little package just like all of you wanted."

"We had to know who was the real one, you know that." a sob catching in her throat.

Ronald spun around, his brown eyes livid. "The real Ron is waiting for you at home so why the fuck are you here?" It was all he could do not to scream the words at her.

She flinched and he regretted it instantly. However he held his ground and did not apologize.

"Because everything inside me is screaming that I lost my best friend the day you left and nothing I do or say changes that." Kim declared, looking up at him, her green eyes wet with tears. "Do you have any idea how screwed up that is? I lay down with Ron every night and I know he's the man I love and he's my Ron, the one who has always stood beside me, but then you come back into my life and suddenly something I never knew was missing is tearing me apart. For some reason I can't explain it's you Ronald, it's you. My best friend is standing right in front of me, but he's got my husband's face and I know they aren't the same, but damn it my heart doesn't believe me!" her last words rising in volume as she slammed her hands on the counter.

Slapping a hand to his chest, Ronald approached the counter to stand across from her. "Me huh? The hell does that even mean KP? Do you even hear yourself? You saying you suddenly love me too now? How selfish can you be?"

Shaking her head she stood to face him. "Not like that. Ok I know I'm not making any sense, but...damn it! Ronald all I know is that no matter how much I'm in love with Ron he isn't the one I think about now when I think of my best friend. It's your face, not his."

"We have the same fucking face KP!" shouting now.

Taking a few shuddering breathes she slowly shook her head. "No you don't. You used to, but not any more."

"Oh come off it." he sneered as he all but shoved away from the counter.

"I'm serious." she affirmed with a sniffle. "It's not just the stubble you have or the way your hair is longer than his. It's something else, something I can't put into words. I just feel it. If both of you were standing there wearing the exact same clothes, with the same hair and shaved I'd still know which of you was which. You both feel different to me."

Ronald looked at her, then away, then back again. Was she serious? "Bullshit."

"It's the truth."

He stormed around the counter and came right up to her. "You know what? I don't care. Hear that? I don't care. I'm done with all this and I have better things to be doing. So finish your coffee and get the hell out."

Kim balked. "Ronald I-"

"Damn it!" he snatched her coffee up and threw it into the back of the diner where the mug shattered against something. Kim winced at his sudden outburst, but returned her gaze to him, refusing to back down.

"Ronald I know I hurt you when I chose Ron and I know I have no right to ask you to-"

He shut her up with a clenched fist that he slammed onto the counter to hard it seemed to rattle the entire diner. "No!"

Kim took a reflexive step back, nearly tripping over the stool she'd been sitting on. To his credit Ronald didn't let any tears of his own fall. He was beyond that right now. He was too angry for any of that. Where did she get off coming here and bringing all this up again? Ok she wants to walk down memory lane? Fine, he'd give her a walk to remember.

"Chose Ron...Chose Ron...See that's funny because to me, the way I remember it." closing the distance between them until he was towering over her. "You never chose him over me, you left me for him, and trust me there is a difference."

Shaking her head, Kim explained. "No I was always with Ron. I stayed with him because I'd always been with him."

"Not to me you weren't."

"What are you talking about?"

Ronald looked up at the ceiling and gave a bitter bark of a laugh. "That's what none of you could get through your damn heads. I don't know, maybe you people didn't want to get it. Who the fuck knows."

What was he talking about? "Ronald I don't understand. I want to, but you have to help me."

Closing his eyes Ronald ran a hand through his hair. "Did it never occur to you how things were for me?"

"Of course it did." she declared earnestly. "I know you had memories and feelings that were as real to you as Ron's were. Just because Drakken programmed them into you doesn't mean they aren't real to you."

He glared at her, throwing his arms wide. "Exactly! So can you even imagine how I felt when my fiance wouldn't have anything to do with me? When the woman I loved my entire life and was so close to marrying turns her back on me and runs into the arms of another man. Oh and the best part is he gets to have my fucking life. My fucking family. My fucking friends. To me everything was just gone. No choice. No hope. It was just fucking gone!" He knew he should quit while he was ahead, but his next words tumbled out any way. "For fucks sake KP I still remember what it felt like when we made love, but apparently I've never touched you so how much of a shit storm is that huh?"

The sheer intensity of his words, the bitter anger that his eyes bore into her was more than she could take. Casting her eyes down, Kim finally got it. With understanding came a cruel soul clenching sadness. It wasn't fair. Ronald had gone through so much more than she'd ever thought. Here she was lamenting the loss of her best friend when he'd lost everything that had ever mattered to him. No wonder he hated her, because he had every right to.

Her voice was empty. "There was never a right answer was there?"

Ronald covered his face with a hand, his other clenching into a fist at his side. "Jesus...fuck." Do not cry he ordered himself. Don't you fucking dare.

Kim inched her way to him and with a herculean effort she reached out a hand, her fingers touching his fist. When he didn't shove her away she dared to move even closer and before she could believe it her cheek was resting on his chest. She could hear his heart pounding away inside him. His warmth chased away her fear. His scent drowned her sorrow in a feeling of comforting safety. How could this be happening? How could her best friend be right here? It was insane, but so was the entire situation. Throwing caution to the wind she wrapped her arms around him and cried huge shoulder shaking sobs.

"I'm so sorry." she wailed against him.

The feeling of his arms encircling her, his hand pressing gently against the back of her head was more than she'd dared hope for.

Ronald was so out of his depth now. He wanted to hate her, but he couldn't. He might have moved on, but that didn't mean the scars weren't still there. He knew this woman would always hold a special place in his life. Who was he kidding, she'd hold a place in his heart till the day he died. That's just how first loves worked. You were never truly free of them no matter where you went in life or who you ended up with. Bonnie was quickly taking up all the empty space in the tattered remains of his heart and even though he didn't know what was in store for them he knew he was more than ready to find out. He wanted to be with Bonnie of that there was no doubt in his mind.

They stood there in the diner holding each other. Kim couldn't help but bury her face against him, not caring about her tears or that she was making a mess of his shirt. He was all that was keeping her from falling apart right now. This was what she needed, the missing piece that made her whole. Her best friend in the whole world and she never wanted to let that go again. No matter how insane it may be, this just felt right. Ronald on the other hand was torn right down the middle. Here was the woman he'd thought he'd be with for the rest of his life, but was it truly his life? He still felt that he was the real one, that his life had been stolen from him. Could he really be what Kim claimed she needed from him? Could they even be friends at all? Should they? Something Kim had said before came back to him. There aren't any right answers. No matter what any of them did, somebody was going to get hurt. Things couldn't go back to what they were, they couldn't stay like they are, and moving forward was a dark void that promised even more pain, of that he was sure. He wasn't prepared to tackle any of that right now. What he could do in this moment at the very least was offer the woman who had at one time meant the world to him, some semblance of comfort. So he stroked her hair with care, pressing her to him with his other hand at the small of her back. It felt so familiar holding her like this, but it wasn't meant for him. Not anymore, assuming that is, that it ever had been his. This was only a cruel trick that would melt away the moment either of them spoke. It was a moment held aloft by a spider's thread.

"Thank you." she breathed against him.

Just like that it was gone.

He stepped back from her, hands on her shoulders now. "You'll be ok now right?"

Kim stood dazed, the absence of him already stinging. "Y-Yeah. I'm just...I mean..."

Mustering his trademark lopsided grin, Ronald gave her shoulders a squeeze. "Don't worry about it."

"Sure." Kim wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her coat. "Head in the game." smiling up at him weakly.

"Head in the game." he agreed as a lonely tear made it's way down his face.

Kim wanted to reach out and wipe that sparkling evidence of his sorrow away, but she didn't dare. Things were already too confusing as it was. She had so much to sort out, even more than she did before coming here tonight.

"Wow it's late." Ronald said, glancing at his watch. "Man Ron and Bonnie are going to kill us."

Kim admitted flatly, "Ron doesn't know I'm here. He thinks I'm working late at the hospital." Why hadn't she told him she'd be coming her to talk to Ronald she wondered. It wasn't like she couldn't talk to him if she wanted to. Sure Ron might be a little peeved, but he'd understand. So why hadn't she told him? The question left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Ronald just looked at her much like she was just looking at him.

"Well...then, I guess we...better..." he began, thumbing towards the door.

Nodding, Kim understood. "Get moving. Yep."

She walked around him and to the door. She could feel him behind her, but she didn't look back. She just stood there while he reached past her and unlocked the door, then held it open for her. The cold air was a shock against her wet cheeks. She heard him close and lock the door behind her and then felt him once again as he stood beside her.

They did not look at each other.

"Be safe KP." he said before heading over to his car.

"You too.", but she wasn't sure he even heard her.

Kim stood there on the steps of the diner and it wasn't until Ronald's car had long vanished into the night that she went to her own and slid into the driver's seat. Starting the engine she turned the heat up and sat there staring at nothing.

Without warning she slammed her hands against the steering wheel over and over.

"Damn it! Shit! God damn it!" she screamed.

After getting herself under control she pulled out her phone and dialed home.

Ron picked up on the second ring. "Hey there babe. You heading home?" he cheerfully asked his wife.

Hoping he didn't pick up on anything. "I'll be just a little longer, but then I'm heading home to you."

"Booyah!" Ron cheered.

Kim smiled softly. "See you soon. I love you."

"Love you more babe."

"Bye."

"Only for now, heh." Ron chirped happily.

The call ended, but this was only the beginning.