•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•

Kim moved through the cafe, stopping along the way to listen to a random stranger thank her for something she had done back in her mission days, or perhaps to ask for an autograph. The latter of which always made her cringe inwardly. She didn't feel like some sort of celebrity and she certainly hadn't gotten into the hero business to become one. She has truly enjoyed helping people. Somewhere along the way saving the world and fighting villains had just sort of become the norm if such a thing were possible.

Anything's possible for a Possible she thought with a wry smile.

Out of the corner of her eye Kim spotted the person she'd come to spend some time with on her day off. One of her dearest friends and somebody she knew she could confide in.

Heading towards the booth tucked away towards the back of the cafe, Kim shrugged out of her long coat and folded it over an arm. "Monique!" getting the dark skinned beauty's attention as she approached.

"Girl there you are!" Monique beamed with a smile as she looked up.

Sliding into the booth, Kim tucked her coat in beside her and enjoyed the warmth of the cafe. It was freezing outside, promising a Winter to remember even by Colorado standards. Then again they all did that.

"Oh I love the new look!" Kim gushed as she took in her friend's new short hair.

Monique struck a pose right where she sat. "I know I look good." fluffing her hair with both hands. "I call this the Lopez wish she could look."

"Well it suits you."

The dark skinned beauty waved the server over, then turned her attention back to Kim. "I thought you'd be spending some time with your man on your day off."

Offering a little huff, Kim almost pouted. "I wish. Ron had to go in for some meeting with the other coaches. Honestly it's Saturday, you'd think they could do it during the school week."

"It is so cute how you get without your Ronshine." Monique teased.

Both women broke into laughter that only abated when the server approached to take their order. Once they were alone again Monique leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table.

"So word is that Ronald and a certain former cheerleader are cohabiting these days." wrinkling her nose mischievously.

Kim gasped, leaning on the table herself. "How did you know that?"

"Do you or do you not know who I am." Monique rolled her eyes. "Obviously you don't if you think gossip like that is gonna slip past me."

Kim's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow...Ok then." She knew Monique had always been the top source for gossip, but this was bordering on scary. If she wasn't working for the government then her talents were sorely going to waste.

"Girl spill." the dark haired woman ordered with a serious face. It had been ages since she'd heard anything as juicy as this and she was going to have every last detail.

Leaning on one arm, a hand cradling her cheek, Kim began to fill Monique in on what she knew. By the end of her story they were sipping coffees and Monique was rubbing her lower lip with a finger deep in thought.

"So Ronald and Bonnie? Well can't say I ever saw that coming." Monique admitted. "I mean back in school she never missed a chance to shoot our boy down so how she ended up with his clone is beyond me."

Wincing at the mention of the word clone, Kim set her coffee down and sighed.

Monique zoomed in on that sound like a sniper who's target had just held up a big red sign that said shoot here. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh?" Kim repeated with a curious blink.

"Uh huh." Monique quipped. "Uh oh. As in something is on your mind other than who Ronald is hooking up with."

Reaching out Kim snatched up a packet of sugar and began twisting it in her fingers. "Who Ronald does or does not hook up with isn't my concern Monique."

"Oh I know that. Wasn't talking about that. I'm talking about whatever is zipping around in that head of yours right now." resting one arm on the back of the booth, Monique pointed a finger Kim's way. "So why did you really want to meet up today?"

Kim folded the sugar packet in half, not looking up. "Can't I enjoy my friend's company?"

The air between them was quiet for exactly two seconds.

"Kim you might have mad saving the world skills, but girl you can not lie to save your life." she pointed out with a victorious smirk.

Dropping her head to the table in defeat Kim groaned. "That bad huh?"

"That bad."

"Fine!" Lifting her head, Kim took a deep breath and launched into her second story, this one about her visit to Ronald's diner a few nights ago. For the entirety of the story Monique sat quietly listening, taking a sip of her coffee every now and then

After the red head finished and sat there waiting for her take on things, Monique set her coffee down gently. Entwining her fingers she rested her chin on them, elbows propped on the table. "Wow. Next time you have juicier gossip, lead with that."

Kim didn't follow. "What are you talking about?"

"Nobody is that dense sweetie." the dark haired beauty cut to the quick of it.

"Excuse me?" Kim almost glared. "Should I take offense at that?"

With a little half grin and shrug, Monique sighed. "Sorry girl, but I gotta be real with you. Sounds like you might be letting that never back down attitude of yours get you in trouble again."

"Again?"

"Yes again. Wouldn't be the first time you charged into something expecting it to work out because you wanted it to." Monique saw the frown pulling Kim's features down and reached out to pat her hand. "Hey I'm not attacking you here. Just stating facts."

Kim grimaced. "Well I feel attacked to be honest." pushing her now cold coffee aside.

"Well what were you thinking going to Ronald with all that?" she asked Kim evenly. "He's got enough on his plate without you dumping your problems on him."

Kim touched a hand to her own chest. "My problems? I'm trying to figure out what to do about my best friend here. Don't you think that Ronald is part of that?"

"Nope." came the quick and flat answer to her question.

Kim was taken aback. She just sat there staring, lips parted as if she wanted to speak.

Monique lifted a finger towards her. "See that right there is what I'm talking about. It never even occurred to you that this has nothing to do with Ronald did it?"

"It...It has everything to do with him!" her voice rising.

"Amp it down girl." waving her pointing finger up and down. "Look I feel you ok, I do. It can not be easy having a clone of your man running around out there and hooking up with Bonnie. I can not even pretend that I wouldn't be mad just knowing she's getting what I'm getting at home."

Kim was perplexed to say the least. "She's not...wait what does that even mean?"

Blowing out a long sigh, Monique shook her head slowly. "You are too pure for this world. I mean Bonnie has her own copy of Ron to play with and I'm sure she's gonna play with him good and plenty if her reputation back in school is any indication."

That idea slapped Kim across the face like a city bus. Oh she did not like that at all. The images that sprang unbidden into her head were enough to make her quickly down the remains of her cold coffee in a desperate attempt to be rid of them.

"I did NOT need that in my brain thank you very much!" she snapped before almost slamming the cup down.

Monique nodded in agreement. "No doubt."

Kim sat back in the booth and tried to shake off the last of the images. She knew it was Ronald and not her Ron that would be doing the deed with Bonnie, but still it left her feeling icky in all the wrong ways. In fact she shuddered for real.

"So what did Ron say about it?" Monique asked, taking a sip of her coffee and deciding she could do without the rest of it and pushed it to the side as well.

"I didn't tell him remember." Kim replied, toying with the sugar packet again.

"Hold up!" Monique looked out at the rest of the cafe to be sure her outburst hadn't attracted any attention. Then she swiveled her gaze back onto her best friend and glared daggers. "What do you mean you didn't tell him?"

"Like I told Ronald...which I just told you about...like just now." Kim replied. "You know the part where I specifically said I didn't tell Ron?"

Putting a hand to her forehead, Monique leaned over the table shaking her head. "Girl tell me you did not go behind your husband's back to see his clone just so you could gush on about some be my best friend bull."

"First of all it is not bull!" Kim defended herself. "And I didn't tell Ron because I know he'd get upset."

"That is the very reason why you either tell him first or you don't do the thing that would upset him!" Monique declared. "Why am I having to tell you this?"

Kim shrank down in the booth dejectedly. "I just wanted to talk to Ronald."

"Talk to Ron!" Monique hissed. "You know him right? The man you married. The man who is actually your best friend since forever girl!"

Kim looked down and to the side, her eyes wet. "I thought you'd understand." her voice cracking just the slightest bit. "That I could talk to you about it. About what I'm going through."

Leveling an accusing finger towards her, Monique shot back. "No what you thought was I'd give you a pass on this and make you feel less like you're running around behind Ron's back, but lemme tell you that is so not happening."

Kim shot up where she sat, eyes blazing. "I am not running around behind Ron's back! Nothing is going on between me and Ronald! Nothing at all!"

"Last time I checked telling a man you love him behind your husband's back counted as just that." she shoot back.

Kim made an effort to keep her voice down. "Yes I love him, but I'm not in love with him." throwing her hands up in frustration. "Why is that so hard to understand? I'm in love with Ron!"

Monique tapped the table with one manicured nail. "Because you are acting like talking to Ronald is something to hide and from where I'm sitting that just doesn't sound good Kim. Not good at all."

"I'm not hiding anything." the former heroine muttered weakly, but even she admitted she sounded pretty unbelievable. Was she really screwing up so badly she wondered? All she wanted was her best friend back, was that so bad?

Monique grabbed her purse and counted out her side of the bill, laying the cash on the table. "Well if you have nothing to hide then I suggest you go have a good long talk with the real man in your life and see what Ron thinks of all this."

That stung, Kim thought sadly.

Standing, Monique paused to look down on Kim in more ways than one. This time her friend had really dug herself into a hole. "For what it's worth I'm sure Ron won't be mad for long if at all. He's a great guy and you are really lucky to have him in your life Kim." sighing she ran a hand down her shirt to smooth it out. "Not all of us can say we have something that good to go home to. Don't screw it up ok?"

Looking up, Kim nodded meekly. "I know I'm lucky."

"Then stop being greedy girl." Monique teased, letting her warm smile break through the tension between them. "Just because there are two Stoppables out there doesn't mean they both belong to you."

Kim sat in the cafe long after Monique had departed. The server came and went, but she didn't order anything else. Instead she let her mind wander over everything the dark beauty had said and after a lot of thinking she made a decision.

She would talk to Ron tonight.

•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•←←←→→→•

Ron dropped the half eaten fry onto the plate in front of him. "Well I'm pretty sure because, you know, I'm me."

"That's not good enough. Hell if that's all it took then I'm the original Ron Stoppable because I still feel like it even now." Ronald pointed out.

"Hey I thought you said you didn't want to get into all this who is real and who isn't stuff?" Ron asked calmly. On the way here he promised himself he was going to keep his cool and he intended to give it his best shot.

"It's not like before." Ronald tried to find the right words, then he stepped back up to the counter and leaned his hands on it. "The thing is, I was talking with Bonnie not too long ago, you know filling her in on everything and she asked me some questions about how I felt and it turns out I still feel like I'm the real one, not the clone."

"Still sounds like you want to dredge all that up again to me." not seeing where this was going, Ron thought they were about to get into it all over again.

"No, I mean yeah, but not like you think." Ronald sighed in frustration. "Just listen...Ok let's say one of us is a clone."

"One of us is." Ron stated while looking pointedly at him.

Ronald glared. "Any way...not just a clone, but a Drakken made clone."

Not catching on, Ron scratched his head. "Well yeah. You woke up after Kim and I blew up his lair."

"Whatever, look you're not getting the point. Since when has Drakken ever done anything right? Every time he tried cloning he screwed it up. Like that time he cloned Bonnie by accident instead of Kim, then he cloned Kim and me...er, you...us. Gah! Ok just...Drakken can't do anything right is what I'm saying. He always screws something up."

"Well yeah it's Drakken." Ron blinked in confusion, still not following.

"Ok so you're telling me that it doesn't seem odd to you that Drakken can make a clone so good that it not only looks, acts, thinks, and feels just like the original does, but it doesn't have any flaws either? I mean the last clones got dissolved by soda remember."

"Oh man was that gross!" Ron gagged.

"Exactly!" Ronald slapped the counter with a hand. "So ok let's say I'm the clone."

"Which you are." Ron was quick to point out, again.

Not taking the bait, Ronald continued. "So like I said I'm the clone, but look at me. I'm living a full life and it's been over a year and there's been nothing wrong with me. I haven't melted or gone all evil or anything. No take over the world signal, nothing like that either. Does that fit with everything we know about Drakken?"

Ron's head was starting to spin. "So what you're saying is that there's no way Drakken could have made a clone without something going wrong?"

"Drakken can't make toast without something blowing up." he confirmed with a nod.

"So then that means...what?" Ron felt like he was close to understanding, but it was eluding him.

"What it means is we need to get some real answers. A perfect clone just isn't something Drakken can do. I'm sure of it." leaning down so he was face to face with his mirror image, Ronald tapped the counter with a finger. "Look one of us could be a clone, or both of us."

"Both!?" Ron's eyes went wide. "What do you mean both?"

"Wouldn't be the first time Drakken was able to sneak something past us or Kim. Remember that synthodrone Eric?"

"Oh I hated that guy...I mean thing." smacking his fist on the counter Ron's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah me too." Ronald admitted. "So if he can fool everybody with a synthodrone for all that time is it really so hard to think he couldn't have pulled a fast one and switched out the real Ron for a clone or even clones?"

Things were starting to click inside Ron's head and he wasn't liking any of it. "Wait so why would Drakken make more than on clone? Wouldn't that give the whole thing away?" rubbing his chin he snapped his fingers. "Also I can use the Mystical Monkey Powers! I can't be a clone!"

Crossing his arms, Ronald looked to be giving some serious thought to that. He'd been wondering about that ever since he first found out he couldn't use MMP at all. He remembered some of the moves from Tai Shing Pek Kwar, but he didn't have Ron's innate understanding of that particular style of Kung Fu, which was very apparent in their last fight. Ron had throttled him pretty good.

"Ok so what if a clone can use MMP then?" posing the question, Ronald held up a hand to forestall Ron from interrupting. "Hear me out. I mean if a clone is a copy, then there's nothing to say a clone can't use MMP. Rufus can and he's not even human."

Ron's brows furrowed in thought now as well. "Yeah you're right. Rufus is pretty badical with MMP."

"Exactly." though he was loathe to bring up this next part, Ronald felt he had to. They needed to start thinking about getting some real answers so this was no time to hold back. "The fact that I can't use MMP could be why I was in that tube thing to begin with. Maybe there was a flaw in me and I wasn't even meant to wake up." looking down at the floor after he said those words.

Picking up on what Ronald was feeling, Ron winced. "So in other words there might not have ever been a plan to have more than one clone huh?"

Not able to keep the bitterness from his voice, Ronald spoke softly. "Look Ron...as much as I hate the idea that I'm not the person I feel like I should be, it really sucks to even consider that I may be nothing more than some failed experiment of Drakken's"

"But that doesn't mean I'm a clone." expressing his own thoughts on the matter, Ron shook his head. "Look I'm sorry that you got dealt a bad hand, really. I just don't see any other way of looking at it. I'm the real Ron Stoppable." standing from the stool, Ron stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. "I just came here tonight to clear the air between us...for Kim."

Ronald drew in a heavy breath. "I know it sounds crazy, but you need to be one hundred percent sure. I know I need to be and I'm going to find out."

"After all this time why now?" Ron asked a little louder than he intended. "Why start all this crap over?"

"Because I need to know so I can have any chance at a life with Bonnie." Ronald said through clenched teeth. "I want to know if I can give her kids one day." he refused to believe what the doctors said about Bonnie's chances at conceiving. The person he was really worried about was himself. Because if he was some twisted science experiment he didn't want to risk hurting her. "I want to know that we have a shot together and I can't do that if I don't know the truth." he looked up, locking eyes with Ron. "What if I don't even have a normal life span? What if some random thing is my undoing huh? Like soda was for those other clones Drakken made, what if one day I use the wrong soap or lotion and I...just...I'm gone?"

Ron stood with his mouth agape. He'd never considered any of this and it was some really heavy stuff that Ronald was talking about. It scared him to even consider it.

Ronald went on. "So yeah Ron are you absolutely sure you are the real deal? Because if you aren't then that means everything I just said could be about you too. Is that something you want to put Kim through?"

Suddenly Ron's mouth went dry. "No." the single word coming out as little more than a squeak.

"I didn't think so." Ronald let out a breath and seemed to deflate a little.

Ron turned away and sagged back against the counter. "Oh man this is totally messed up. I mean...I...aw crap."

"Too much bad road man." Ronald added.

"Way too much." Ron agreed.

The two of them stood in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Ronald had made his case and now it was up to Ron to decide if he wanted to join him or be stubborn about things. It could go either way really.

Ron broke the silence. "Ok so let's say I agree with you. How do we find out?" turning to face Ronald he shrugged. "I mean they already tested us before."

"Yeah but none of them were experts on cloning." Ronald pointed out with a lifted finger. "Remember how pissed Kim got when Global Justice wanted to take me in for study?"

Despite the serious topic Ron couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh yeah she went ballistic. Threatened to expose Global Justice if they even looked at you side ways. Dr Director had to do some serious damage control and in the end you never had to worry about it."

Ronald scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah well I think it's about time we had a little talk with Dr Director."

"Seriously?" Ron couldn't believe he heard that right.

"Yep. I'm guessing they have the tools to dig a little deeper than Mrs Dr P and her hospital pals did." giving a little chuckle of his own, Ronald sighed. "Any way I think that should be our first move. We can play it by ear after that."

Ron rocked back and forth on his heels a few times, letting things settle in his mind. "Ok, I'm in."

Blowing out a long breath, Ronald braced himself against the counter with both arms. "Glad to hear it."

"I'll get in touch with Dr Director and set something up. I'll let you know when and where." Ron said before turning towards the door of the diner. "I better go. Kim will be wondering where I am."

Picking up on that last part, Ronald arched his brows. "She doesn't know you're here?"

Halting mid step, Ron winced and gave a sheepish little smile, but didn't turn around. "Yeah about that...see I didn't want tell her because I figured she'd want to come with me to make sure we didn't fight. I sorta wanted to do this myself, cause you know...she can be kinda headstrong."

Ronald facepalmed with a groan. "Ron...man. Look I know I'm the last person you want to hear this from, but I think you and Kim need to have a long talk."

"I'll explain everything to her when I get home." Ron promised.

"Yeah well...good luck with that." Ronald said flatly. He knew when those two got down to talking things might not go as smoothly as Ron thought they would. To think that both of them would stop by his diner and keep it a secret from the other, so not a good idea.

"See ya around man." Ron called over his shoulder before stepping out of the diner.

Ronald stood at the counter mulling things over. He didn't really think they were both clones and he didn't really think he was an accident. Though they were fears none the less. He just wanted to impress upon Ron just how serious things could be for the both of them. That this whole mess had been handled poorly in the past and they needed to fix that. Bonnie had been right about that part and now he felt foolish for letting it go this long without looking for the answers himself.

"So how did it go?" Bonnie appeared beside him, leaning against his arm. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah we didn't fight." giving her a lopsided grin before pulling her even closer.

"Color me impressed." snuggling against him she couldn't help but smile.

"He agrees with me that we need to get some real answers."

His words caused Bonnie to look up at him. "Really?" her surprise written all over her face.

"Yeah." Ronald chuckled at the thought that sprang into his mind. "Assuming he survives his talk with Kim."