IV.

Bonnie was feeling rather pleased with herself as she placed the last of the paperwork that had constituted the mess on Ronald's desk in its proper pile. After a few hours of work, she had finished the task of sorting the paperwork in to like piles, and now she could begin the work of trying to straighten out his books. But if the state of his desk was any indication of his record keeping skills, she very well might find herself working for Ronald past the end of the week. Not that that would be the worst thing in the world, she thought. Ronald was a nice guy after all and had gone out of his way to help her out, even if she didn't feel as though she fully deserved it. Plus, as long as he kept cooking those delicious meals that he had always been known for, then Bonnie really couldn't see a downside to things. True, Ronald still wasn't a snappy dresser and probably never would be, but at least that meant that he would never outshine Bonnie.

"Gah! Where did that thought come from?" Bonnie muttered to herself as she banished the thought of the two of them together. "I must be working too hard."

Leaning back in her chair as she rubbed her eyes, Bonnie did sort of wonder how and why life had turned out the way it had. When she was in high school, she never would have figured that she would be living on the streets, abandoned and alone. Nor did she think that she would be working for the person that at the time she considered the biggest loser on the planet. The news that Kim had dumped said former loser was quite surprise, but not completely. Bonnie had always thought her biggest rival could do better than Ronald. After all, she was quite attractive and smart. But then again, Kim was, even though she would never admit it, also a bit shallow and insecure when it came to things like relationships, plus Kim was known for her temper and being hard-headed.

Bonnie's musings and trip down memory lane were soon cut short by someone calling out her name.

"Bonnie," Ronald called, "I need your help, please. Can you run the register for a bit while I get caught up on things in the kitchen."

"Sure thing." Bonnie answered. Her abdomen was still a bit sore from her fall earlier in the morning, and maybe running the cash register for a while would help to take her mind off of it. Walking up to the front of the diner, Bonnie placed herself behind the cash register and gently gave the cash drawer a test tug to see if it would open. To her surprise, the cash drawer slid open easily, revealing its contents inside. However, before Bonnie could ponder this event any further, her attention was pulled back to the here and present by an approaching customer

"Excuse me, but the person who was here before you didn't give me the correct change." A young looking teenage girl with strawberry blonde hair said, "I guess he thought I had only given him a twenty when I really gave him a fifty."

Bonnie looked at the girl skeptically. While Bonnie had never hurt for money through most of high school, she could still count on one hand the number of times that she had actually carried a fifty dollar bill with her. "I'll have to check with Ronald since he was the one you spoke to."

"Are you saying you don't believe me?" The girl accused.

"Yes." Was Bonnie's simple reply.

"I can't believe this. Do you know who I am?"

"No. Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah, you're a nobody."

"I'm the nobody who's going to see if you get the change you claim that you're owed."

"Oh wait, I was wrong, you're not a nobody, I know who you are now. You're a loser. Somebody lets you run a cash register, and suddenly, you think you're all high and powerful. Well, you're not. You're just a loser wearing last year's clothes. You wouldn't know style if it hit you in the face."

Bonnie took a slow, deep breath to help calm herself before answering. As much as she would have loved to have ripped in to the girl and put her in her place, this was Ronald's restaurant, and that meant treating even stuck up annoying customers nicely. Plus, Bonnie was determined to live up to her commitment about being a better person. "I may be a loser, but at least I'm not a thief."

"What?! How dare you call me a thief. I'm just trying to get what's mine."

"Sure you are sister, but I'm not buying it." Bonnie declared as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Hmmph, don't call me sister. What would a popular cheerleader like me have in common with a mere wage slave like you?"

"Sadly more than I care to admit." Bonnie sighed as she came to realize just how much of a mirror reflection of herself the strawberry blonde woman represented.

"Is there a problem here?" Ronald asked, his question breaking the verbal sparring between the two women.

"Yes, this girl here claims she gave you a fifty dollar bill to pay for her meal, but you only gave her change on a twenty. So unless you happened to pocket a fifty dollar bill, there isn't one in this cash register." Bonnie stated while slightly emphasizing the word girl.

"Well I don't have any pockets on me," Ronald said as he lifted his cooking apron above his pants, "And if there isn't a fifty in the cash drawer then you must be mistaken miss."

"Um, well, if you don't have it and she doesn't have it, then maybe I did make a mistake." The young woman said as she attempted to back pedal from her earlier accusation.

"Just make sure you have your facts straight next time." Ronald suggested diplomatically before returning to the kitchen.

Seeing that she had lost the battle, the strawberry blonde cheerleader decided to direct her anger at the only remaining target by glaring at Bonnie. However, the brunette was more than willing to return the favor as the two began a new battle of wills.

"I doubt you can stay here all day glaring at me, but I can stay here. This is my job." Bonnie finally said, breaking the stalemate between the two.

"You act as though you're proud of that."

"Compared to a couple of jobs I've had in the past, I am."

"Hmmph, it suits you. I wouldn't want to waste my time in a dump like this anyway." The girl said as she turned to leave.

"Good, then we don't have to worry about ever seeing you again." Bonnie stated to the cheerleaders retreating backside.

Thirty minutes later as Bonnie stepped in to the kitchen to let Ronald know that she had finished with the last of the lunch time customers she stood there for a minute and watched as Ronald moved about the kitchen preparing several meals at once. Bonnie considered whether or not she wanted to confront him about his, at best, rather weak support of her against the cheerleader. But Ronald looked way too busy right now. Besides, she figured she could talk to him later that night. Going back to the office, Bonnie decided to do some more paperwork to take her mind off of the whole matter. Sitting down at her desk, Bonnie gently massaged the temple of her head in an attempt to rid herself of a headache. Spying the small bottle of aspirin from earlier in the day, Bonnie quickly swallowed a pill before diving into the paperwork before her.

V.

"Bonnie?"

"Eeeekk!" Bonnie screamed as she felt a hand gently touch her shoulder.

"He he, sorry about that Bonnie, didn't mean to scare you like that." Ronald apologized sheepishly.

"Damn straight, that wasn't funny." Bonnie fumed as she stood up to glare at Ronald, "What's with sneaking up on me like that? Do you think you're a ninja or something?"

"Sorry, I called your name, but you didn't seem to hear me. I guess you were pretty focused on whatever you're working on. As for being a ninja, I've been accused of that before."

Bonnie took a deep, claiming breath to remove some of the annoyance from her voice before speaking again, "Yes, I was. I wasn't able to focus all of my efforts on sorting out your paperwork here since you had me doing other tasks today. And don't think you can fool me about being a ninja, I've seen how many times you either lost your pants or generally managed to clutz things up in the past."

"Sorry about that, but I did need your help this morning and this afternoon."

"And stop apologizing. It makes you sound so weak, like you're running from a problem."

"What? What are you talking about, Bonnie?" Ronald asked, perplexed.

"You apologized to me three times tonight. You all but apologized to that girl today instead of throwing her out."

"Hey, I apologized to you because I really did feel sorry for scaring you. But who are you to tell me how to run my business?" Ronald protested.

"Well, maybe somebody should." Bonnie said as she grabbed a piece of paper off of the desk that she had been working on before her fright. "See this number here?" Bonnie asked as she pointed to a large number in red. "That's how much you were going to be in the hole at the end of the month. See this number here. it's smaller. That's the new number from me straightening out some of your mess."

Ronald took a look at the two numbers, and he was impressed, quite impressed. The smaller number was almost half of the first number. "You were able to save me that much money today?"

"Yes! And what do I get for my efforts?" Bonnie asked snidely.

"Well, if you drop the attitude, I maybe I'll make us some dinner." Ronald replied equally snidely.

At the mention of the word dinner, Bonnie's stomach growled in agreement.

"See, your attitude says no, but your stomach says yes." Ronald said with a grin, "Besides, it's after eight pm, and I've kicked out the last of the customers, so now it's our turn to eat."

"It's really eight at night?" Bonnie asked in surprise, "I didn't know it was that late. No wonder I'm cranky."

"I hope that explains it, even this 'kinder gentler.' Bonnie can be a bear to deal with when she's cranky. Now come on, our dinners are getting cold."

"Hmmph, I may just pass up dinner if you're going to keep making subtle insults about a woman's time of the month." Bonnie both teased and threatened.

"Who said I was referring to a woman's time of the month? I was simply talking about you."

"Touche."

Exiting the "office," the former school mates made their way to a table in the dining room that Ronald had set their food on.

"Hmm, it smells great." Bonnie enthused.

"Well, hunger is the best spice." Ronald counted as he pulled out a chair for Bonnie.

"Thank you, but I can seat myself." Bonnie said even as she took the offered seat, "But I'm not just saying that because I'm hungry. It really does smell great."

"You've had a long day you're probably tired. But dinner is just some leftovers from today. You should see what I can do with fresh stuff from scratch."

"Yes, I am tired, and yes, I will hold you to that."

"To what?"

"Someday, I'd like to see what you can do when cooking from scratch."

Ronald smiled for a moment before his expression turned more serious as he began to serve Bonnie.

"Bonnie, I don't mean to pry in to your life too much…"

"But you're going to do it anyway." Bonnie interrupted.

"He he, yeah, I guess I am." Ronald answered as he scratched the back of his head, "That is unless you don't want to. Because I would totally understand. I don't want you to think you have to, but if you want to, that's cool too."

Bonnie couldn't help but slightly giggle at the sputtering tongue tripped man before her. Still the same old Ronald. But then Bonnie's face creased in contemplation as she debated how to answer his request.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." Ronald reiterated.

"No!" Bonnie almost shouted, "I mean, you're right that I don't want to talk about it. But, it's just that so much has happened to me it's hard to believe it's only been four years since high school."

"Five actually, but why quibble." Ronald was about to say more, but a dirty look from Bonnie quickly shut him up.

"Whatever. But I guess what bothers me the most is that no one knows what all has happened to me. Not my family, my friends, even my best friend."

"That's easy to fix. We can just give Tara a call. I think I have her number here somewhere, maybe in my office." Ronald said as he tried to remember just here he had put the particular scrap of paper. "Or if I can't find it there, then we can look at my apartment, or maybe you can just call your parents."

"No, it's not in your office, Ronald. I would have found it if it could be found by now." Bonnie snickered, "But I'm not talking about Tara, and I sure as hell don't want to talk to my family."

This statement caused Ronald to sit up and stare face to face with Bonnie. "You don't want to talk to your family, and Tara's not your best friend? Don't tell her that, the last time I saw here, she was still depressed over your disappearance."

"Tara's a sweet girl and I know she put up with a lot of crap from me during high school, especially when my parents got divorced, but I can't say she's my best friend". Bonnie answered as she finished the last of her dinner.

"Why not? She was always there for you in high school. Even after you quite the cheerleader squad, she would insist that we invite you to "cheerleader" get togethers. Or did you drop her off once you two stopped going to the same school?" Ronald asked coldly as he collected both his and Bonnie's dinner plates to take them to the kitchen, "And I still can't believe that you don't want to talk to your family. What about your mom or your sisters?"

"No, it's not." Bonnie replied harshly as she followed Ronald into the kitchen. "Is that the way you think of me, as being so shallow that I would dump someone as soon as I didn't need them?"

"The Bonnie I knew in high school, yes." Ronald stated as she began to wash the dishes.

"And that's what I'm having to fight against Ronald, the old Bonnie that everyone knows and has preconceptions about." Bonnie sighed before continuing. "Look, Tara's a good friend, but she and I just don't have the bond that I do with Molly."

"Who?"

Bonnie grabbed a towel and began to dry the dishes that Ronald handed her before speaking again. "Look, it's a long story, so let me start in the beginning, and do you promise not to interrupt?" Seeing Ronald nod his head, Bonnie continued, "During our junior year, my parents decided to get a divorce. It was pretty ugly. They would fight over everything, money, assets, my sisters, and me. But the worst part came when my dad moved out and made my sisters and I decide who we wanted to side with, him or my mom. My sisters chose to support my father, and I chose to support my mom."

"That's rough having to choose which parent to live with." Ronald conceded before asking Bonnie how long she planned on re-drying the same dish she had in her hands for the past several minutes.

"No interrupting." Bonnie announced as she sat down the plate before continuing. "No, not live with, but to support and back up the person you weren't blaming for the divorce. I guess in essence my dad wanted a yes man or men, and he got that in my sisters. He felt that I had betrayed him because I decided to stay with my mom. Almost as if my choice was my way of saying that I was blaming him for the divorce."

"Does he still feel that way?"

"I don't know, and I really couldn't care less about that cad or those twin witches that are my sisters." Bonnie spat venomously. "I hate them all."

"Don't you think that's kind of harsh? I mean, no one should hate their family."

Bonnie glared at Ronald as much for this continuing interruptions as for his questioning of her anger against her sisters. "You're right. No one should hate their family, but in the case of my family, they deserve it. My father was a total ass about things, my mom nearly had a nervous break down and blamed me for it before throwing me out of the house, and my sisters, well they were enablers of all this."

"Wow, sounds like a lot of drama." Ronald replied, dumbfounded. Both he and Kim knew that Bonnie had gone through a rough spot during their last year of high school, but they had no idea it was that bad.

"No kidding." Bonnie sighed in defeat at Ronald's continuing interruptions.

"Is that why you quite the cheerleading team? Because of your parents' divorce?"

"No, at least not solely because of that," Bonnie answered before taking a yawn, "After I decided to live with my mom that's when I learned that I had inherited my mean streak from my dad. And don't try to say I didn't have a mean streak in high school, ok? I admit it that back then, I had one a mile wide."

"I'll be generous. It was only three quarters of a mile wide." Ronald said with a small grin, "So how did you find out you inherited a mean streak from your dad?"

"When I was born, my dad set up a college fund for me to help pay for college. It wasn't a huge amount; just under fifteen thousand dollars, but it was enough that I wouldn't need to work to pay for college. Any ways I guess he had kept the account solely in his name the whole time because a week after my decision to stay with my mom, he went and emptied every penny out of it."

"That's rather umm, what's the word I'm looking for, big school word here, starts with a V…" Ronald rambled.

"Vindictive, and yes, it is."

"That still doesn't explain how you ended up on the street."

"No, it doesn't." Bonnie answered through a yawn, "But that's something I would rather not talk about right now."

"Don't tell me you're getting all secretive and mysterious again."

Bonnie simply rolled her eyes before answering, "No, I'm not getting all 'secretive and mysterious'", Bonnie answered while adding air quotes. "I'm just tired after a long day like today."

"I can't argue with you there." Ronald replied through his own yawn.

"See, I told you." Bonnie responded as she too fought through a yawn.

"Yes, you did. But this is still all your fault." Ronald yawned back.

"Stop that!" Bonnie snapped after yet another yawn.

"I can't help it." Ronald responded after another yawn from him.

"That does it! Ronald Stoppable, I demand that you take me home this instant so that I can get some sleep." Bonnie stated mock sternly as she rose and walked towards the diner's front door that led to Ronald's parked car.

"Home? Is that what you're calling my apartment now?" Ronald asked in a teasing manner.

Suddenly, she realized her verbal faux pax Bonnie stopped dead in her tracks. "Well, they say that home is where you lay your head at night."

"Really? I always hear that home is where the heart is."

"Ronald, can we please stop with the verbal bantering tonight? I'm really tired and would just like to get some sleep." Bonnie pleaded.

"Fine, don't worry about me sleeping here on the couch." Ronald retorted mockingly as he walked past Bonnie and through the front door of the diner before stopping. "The sooner you come outside, the sooner I can lock up the place."

Taking Ronald's suggestion, Bonnie quickly exited the diner and made her way towards Ronald's car, and waited for him to lock up the diner.

VI.

After a quiet ride home, other than the occasional yawn from the riders, the two young adults arrived back at Ronald's apartment and quickly went their separate ways. Or rather Bonnie attempted to go her separate way without a thought towards Ronald.

"When I said 'Fine, don't worry about me sleeping on the couch.' I didn't think you would take me literally."

Stopping at the entrance to the bedroom, Bonnie turned and faced her accuser. "Fine, you can use the bathroom to brush your teeth first."

"Thank you." Ronald said as he began to brush his teeth.

However, Bonnie, determined to get in the last word, stood at the bathroom and spoke. "Ronald, just two things. One, I expect you to repay my openness tonight by telling me about your past." As the blond man laid down his toothbrush, he asked what the other thing was.

"I want you to know that I enjoyed working at your diner today. It was kind of fun, and I felt like I really did an honest day's work for the first time in a long time."

"Glad to hear that." Ronald said as she exited the bathroom and made his way towards the living room and the coach that had been made up as his bed.

"Oh and Ronald, one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Good night and pleasant dreams. See you in the morning." With that, Bonnie closed the door behind her as she retreated into the bedroom.

"Pleasant dreams to you too, Bonnie. Whether you know it or not, I've got your back.