Story: No Living in the Past (all chapters)

Title: No Living in the Past 1
Author: Allaine
Email: eac2ndyahoo.com
Spoilers: Takes place after "Green, Black, and Blue". Ignores the events of "Go Team Go".
Feedback: Some of you have been extremely helpful, and I hope you'll continue to do so. New reader opinions are encouraged too!
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. All original characters are my invention. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.

Chapter 1

Kim dropped her textbooks on the floor with such force as she entered the apartment that Shego's head should have leapt right out of the magazine it was buried in. But it didn't, of course. Very little surprised Shego, and the black-haired beauty went on with her reading, seemingly indifferent to Kim's arrival.

"High school is hereby closed," Kim said.

"I thought these were college courses," Shego murmured.

"It feels like high school," Kim replied, dropping onto the couch near Shego and pulling her legs under her as she rested her weary head on the cushions. "Class all day, staying up late at my parents' house working, putting up with the tweebs, lunch at Bueno Nacho with Ron . . ."

Shego held up a hand. "Three reasons this is not high school," she said, at last deigning to look at Kim. She lowered one of her fingers. "One, you're old enough to drink."

"Not that I do," Kim pointed out, smiling lazily.

"Goody-goody," Shego scoffed. "Two, your old room is currently occupied by, and I quote, 'a pimple on the Earth's rear end'."

Kim laughed out loud.

"And three," Shego continued dryly, "you weren't dropping by my apartment in between classes and homework for quality time. You were trying desperately not to lose to me in various life or death struggles."

"Oh, really?" Kim asked, smirking.

"It's a good thing I wasn't actually trying to kill you," Shego observed. "Otherwise you never even would have graduated."

Being insulted by a woman who didn't even look up when you came in normally wouldn't be considered "quality time". But it was.

Kim didn't bother to complain about Shego's lack of greeting. The other woman would undoubtedly make some salacious remark about Kim being "pathetically starved for Shego's affection". Besides, she knew that the only reason Shego was renting a crappy Middleton apartment by the week was to be near her. She could have known by the way Shego's eyes had looked into hers during their first date with an intense, embarrassed desire. Shego wasn't big on "positivity", and sometimes she tried to hide her "mushier" feelings for Kim. The fact that Shego, when around the redhead she'd confessed she'd fallen for, was unable to still galled the former thief.

There had been too few of those moments, however. Determined to not only catch up on her junior year studies, but finish them completely, Kim had buckled herself in for twelve straight days of four-hour classes with Dr. Director and Wade, followed by three straight days in front of a computer working on final papers. She always stopped here before going home, however.

Ron and her family were generally clueless about the changing nature of her relationship with Shego, since Kim hadn't wanted to overly complicate matters at this stage. So she'd spent less time with the former evil sidekick than she would have liked. Their few dates had not been very physical, but the small gestures Kim made - the times she'd squeezed Shego's hand at the dinner table, or slipped an arm around her waist - were intended to remind Shego, still wary of rejection, that Kim's feelings were sincere.

Then there had been that one kiss after Kim and Shego had parted ways one night in front of Shego's door. Shego had told her later that it was as electrifying as any of their old battles. While Kim had never exactly enjoyed their fights in the way Shego obviously had, she had to agree that it was a brief emotional closeness which Kim hoped to enjoy again.

So when Shego appeared studiously indifferent to Kim's presence, Kim knew it was a sign that Shego was feeling increasingly secure around her.

"So, about high school over?" Shego prompted her.

"Final papers handed in," Kim explained. "Wade and Dr. Director should get back to me with my grades in a day or two. Which means it's summer vacation at last." She sighed contentedly, and then another pleasant thought occurred to her. "Fourth reason this isn't high school," she added.

"What?"

"No Bonnie Rockwaller," Kim said firmly.

"Who?"

"This girl I went to school with." Kim groaned. "She was always trying to ruin my life. Bonnie was the bane of my high-school existence."

Shego looked offended. "I thought I was the bane of your high-school existence."

"You never wanted to be captain of the cheerleading squad."

"Oh-kay," Shego said, bewildered. "Wait, did you say Rockwaller?"

"Yeah."

"I remember her."

Kim stared at her. "You knew Bonnie?"

"Well, I never met her, but I knew of her. Dr. Drakken - may he rot in jail," Shego said, a scowl briefly crossing her face, "wanted information on your daily routine, so he tried to bribe students at your high school for information."

"Wait a minute," Kim said. "You mean Bonnie sold information on my daily schedule to Drakken?"

"Hell, no. She gave it to him for free."

Kim clenched her fists. "It wasn't enough that she tried to turn me into a social outcast? She had to help my archenemies too?!"

Shego chuckled. "I wish I'd met her. Sounds like she could have given me hints on how to beat you."

"She wished," Kim muttered, but while it was true that Kim had been the straight-A student, the cheerleading captain, and the world-famous heroine, Bonnie had always remained the queen of their high school, the girl who determined who was in and who was not. She could still remember a hundred petty instances where Bonnie had completely screwed her, and Kim had been powerless to respond. Even though Kim could have cared less about imposing her standards on everyone else, Bonnie had always viewed her as a prime threat, and constantly had sought to undermine Kim's standing. Evidently she'd also sought to undermine Team Possible as well. And after Kim had saved her from the Bebes!

Now Bonnie was studying ballet at one of the best arts schools in the country. Oh yes, and she was dating a boy Kim had once majorly crushed on. There truly was no justice in the cosmos.

"Could we not talk about her?" Kim asked.

"Sore spot," Shego murmured. "I'll have to ask Oryx about her."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Nothing," Shego quickly said. Kim's friend Monique had asked her not to tell Kim that Shego was going to give her occasional fighting lessons. Kim was still less than entirely supportive of Monique's nighttime activities. While Shego didn't care if the Oryx wanted to fight crime or not, the African-American woman had the potential to be an excellent fighter. And there were few qualities Shego respected more than a good spin kick. She'd agreed, since her days were basically free. Besides, if she could teach Junior to hold his own in a fight, Shego could certainly succeed with the Oryx. "So now that you have all this free time . . ."

"Well," Kim said, "other than tracking down any leads Wade can find on Monkey Fist and Killagan and all my other old enemies . . ."

"Assuming he does," Shego said. "He hasn't found any yet."

The Kimmunicator went off.

Kim pulled it quickly from her pocket. "Wade, what's the sitch? Um, is there something wrong with my paper?"

"I haven't looked at it yet, Kim. But I do have a hit on Professor Dementor."

"You were saying?" Kim asked Shego, who shrugged. "What is it, Wade?"

"It looks like Dementor stole an experimental prototype from a research lab at Harvard University," Wade explained. "No details on what it was, but apparently the inventor is someone you know."

"Who?"

"Remember Justine?"

"Science genius?" Kim asked.

"Who the hell are you two talking about?" Shego asked.

"Uh, Kim, who was that?"

"It's just Shego, I'm at her place."

"Just Shego?" Shego said, annoyed.

Kim sighed. "Wade, one second." She looked at Shego. "Remember that time Drakken and DNAmy were working together? And they created that dragon-type creature? It was Justine's invention that made it disappear."

"Mm-hmm," Shego muttered. The mention of Drakken's name still bothered her. She wasn't too fond of the deranged female geneticist either, having been attacked once by one of her creations.

"Wade, could you arrange - "

"Already taken care of, Kim," Wade assured her. "It seems there's a ship right here in Middleton that's eager to take you to Massachusetts."

Shego grinned. "If he means what I think he means, I'm flying."

Kim sighed. "Thanks, Wade. Have you contacted Ron yet?"

"He'll meet you there in about an hour."

Shego's smile slipped. "Ron?"

"We'll be there," Kim said before signing off. "Shego, promise me this time you won't fly Sappho like she's a fighter jet. You nearly gave Ron a heart attack the last time."

"Ron?" Shego repeated. "Ron Stoppable?"

"What other Ron is there?" Kim asked, knowing where this was headed.

"Why would Ron be coming?"

"Ron's always been a part of Team Possible," Kim replied. "If you want to come with us, you're going to have to learn to get along with him."

Shego crossed her arms and grumbled to herself.

"Despite what you may think of him," Kim continued, annoyed, "he's helped me in more ways than you can imagine. Not to mention the fact that he's my best friend, so you're going to have to learn to be civil around him anyway."

"Oh, he's your best friend, is he?"

"He is," Kim said. "You're - my girlfriend."

Shego stared at her, surprised by the choice of words. It wasn't a word Kim had used before. "All right," she said grudgingly, undoubtedly influenced by the sudden wave of pleasure she felt.

"Good," Kim replied. Calling Shego her girlfriend had been a big step, but she didn't regret taking it. "We'd better pack."

Shego stood up, went to her bedroom, and came back with a duffel bag. "Let's go," she said.

"That was fast."

"This bag has been packed for two weeks. I've been waiting for the call to come in."

Kim chuckled. "I shouldn't be surprised. Then let's go over to my house."

"You're bringing yours," Shego told her, reaching into her bag and pulling out a sleeve of her striking green-and-black outfit.

"Oh, no I'm not," Kim said.

Shego's grin said Kim was, and Shego's grin turned out to be right.

"KP! Team Possible, reuuu . . . oh, hey, Shego."

Kim sighed. It would be easier if it was just Shego who didn't get along with Ron. But no, Ron had to not get along with her too. "Glad you could make it - on time, Ron."

"No problem, I just had to stop on the way and let Zita know I'd be gone for a day or two. Think we could stop at a Red Sox game while we're there?"

"Baseball," Shego sneered. "Grown men still playing the same games they played when they were seven."

"Nice of you to help with carrying Kim's bags, Shego," Ron retorted. "But do you think you packed a little much, Kim?"

"Those are Shego's things," Kim told him. "She's coming too."

Ron looked at her. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

"It's going to be the three of us, Ron."

"Er, KP, could we talk in private for a second? Excuse us," he said to Shego as he put an arm around Kim's shoulders and ushered her away. "Okay. Are you out of your mind?!"

"Ron, please, so not the drama."

"That's Shego you're bringing along! As in, evil sidekick? Glowing green fists of death? Why don't you bring a monkey along while you're at it?!"

"First, she doesn't have green glowing fists anymore," Kim reminded him.

"You're right - frosty blue fists of death!"

"Second," she growled, "I already explained to Shego that you're my friend, and she's going to have to get used to it, and I begged her to be civil. If she can accept you coming along - "

"Accept me?" Ron asked, amazed. "Hello? I think I have seniority. My coming was a foregone conclusion. Her coming is not."

"Please, Ron?" Kim asked. "Just try to get along with her? For me?"

"You're about to do the sad puppy dog eyes, aren't you?" Ron said helplessly.

She did in fact unleash her secret weapon.

Ron sighed. "At least tell me she's not going to be flying the ship."

"She said she'd be gentle," Kim promised.

"Shego! I've been cooped up too long in that stuffy hangar! Where have you been hiding yourself?"

"Just fooling around," Shego told Sappho. She turned and smiled wickedly at Kim, whose cheeks colored slightly.

"So just how fast can you go, anyway?" Shego then asked the spaceship.

Perhaps the wicked smile had been meant for Ron, who whimpered and clutched at Kim's arm.

Kim put a hand over her eyes. "Please let Boston be easier than this," she thought.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Apparently both Ron and Shego felt that "civility" was the same as "not quite insulting". So they didn't speak to each other. This meant Kim was forced to carry on separate conversations with each person. When she talked to Shego, Ron became silent, and vice versa.

As if this wasn't bizarre enough, apparently Sappho had picked up on the hostility, and since Sappho had obviously decided a long time ago that Shego was her favorite human behind Dr. Freeman (and Kim wasn't entirely sure if Sappho even liked him more), that meant the spaceship wasn't talking to him either.

Kim was trying to be the diplomat, but if this kept up, she was going to lay into them both.

Fortunately their trip to Cambridge was relatively quick, and they landed near the Harvard campus. "If not bickering is the best you two can do," Kim grumbled as the trio made the walk to the laboratory where Justine Flanner's invention had been stolen, "then I trust you can also not bicker in front of the scientists."

They didn't answer. Kim felt like screaming.

Justine was waiting for them at the door. It had only been five years, and she was instantly recognizable by the blonde hair and long face. "Kim Possible," she said neutrally. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."

"Hey, no big. Anything for a Middleton High alumna," Kim said.

Justine looked curiously at Shego. "You look vaguely familiar," she said.

Shego shrugged. "You might have seen me once. I was working for Dr. Drakken when he genetically created that monster in Middleton a few years ago. Kim says you invented some machine to make it go away."

"I think DNAmy created the monster, actually," Ron said.

She rounded on him. "You think I care if that blue-skinned bastard did it or not?" Shego snarled.

Justine blinked.

Kim laughed nervously. "Why don't you tell us what happened, Justine?" She hadn't violated Shego's privacy by telling Ron, or anyone else for that matter, what Dr. Drakken had done to her. Maybe she should have at least conveyed to Ron the depths of Shego's hatred for her ex-employer.

The scientific genius looked at them curiously before gesturing for them to follow her inside. "Whoever did it was very good," Justine said. "It seemed to be a professional job."

"What exactly did they steal, Justine?" Kim asked.

"It was a variation on that device from high school, Kim," she replied. "I've been working on the creation of similar portals and wormholes since graduating from Harvard three years ago."

"Three?" Ron said. "We graduated from high school four years ago."

"College isn't bound to the four-year curriculum like public high school is," Justine explained. "I graduated within a year. They were kind enough to offer me a position with the university almost immediately. I'm currently the assistant director of the university research labs. I could be director, but I prefer not to be swamped with the petty administrative tasks."

"Wow," Kim said.

Shego, unsurprisingly, seemed unimpressed.

"You passed up three years of college parties?" Ron asked, aghast. "Voluntarily?!"

Kim shot him a look. "You were saying about the invention?"

"It's capable of generating portals to any time in the past," Justine said.

"A time machine?" Kim asked.

"A very poor one, I'm afraid," Justine told her, frowning. "The portals it generates are very small, no bigger than my closed fist. And they only remain open for a second or two."

"Then why was it stolen?"

"Well, you see, after one of our experiments with the device, we discovered this in the testing area." Justine took them into a lab and showed them a clear plastic box. Inside was what appeared to be a large insect.

"Gross," Ron said.

"Gross!" Rufus agreed.

"What kind of bug is it?" Kim asked.

"A kind that became extinct millions of years ago," Justine said.

"You mean it somehow flew through the portal when you opened it?"

"Not likely. This specimen is too big to fit through one. We deduced that an ordinary modern-day fly was by chance caught in the target area, and was somehow de-evolved." Justine grew more excited. "Don't you see? It became its own evolutionary ancestor when its DNA became trapped in the portal's radiation."

"So this is the kind of fly that was buzzing around Middleton when dinosaurs walked the earth?" Shego asked.

"Precisely. We know because we tested the device on several other animals. They all showed the same effects. We all feel this will give us a chance to study animals that have been extinct for many years."

"Or you could sell them to zoos for lots of money," Shego said.

They all looked at her.

"What?" she asked. "It's what I'd do. Trade in the elephants and tigers for the mammoths and sabertooths, make a killing."

"Or a different kind of killing altogether," Kim said. "Maybe the thief could figure out a way to turn some lizard into a Tyrannosaurus."

"The thought had occurred to us," Justine agreed. "That is, the thought that the thief would use it for such a purpose," she hastily added. "We wouldn't use it for such a thing."

"Oh, sure," Ron said. He leaned backwards. "Urassic-jay Ark-pay," he murmured to Kim behind his hand.

"Who knew of its existence?" Kim asked.

Justine sighed. "Unfortunately, word of our discovery leaked out to the area academic community. There are a lot of universities in the Boston area, and these scientists and teachers like to mingle a lot."

"So what makes you think it was Professor Dementor?"

"Well, the last time he was here, he had this very strange gleam in his eye, like he was imagining what he could - "

"I'm sorry, wait a minute," Kim interrupted. "The last time he was here?"

"Why, yes," Justine said. "He's visited twice to see the machine."

"Visited? He's a criminal!"

"No, he isn't," Justine replied, shaking her head. "He's a college professor over at Boston University.

Kim, Ron, and Shego all looked at her, stunned. "He's a teacher?" Ron finally asked.

"Of course. That is why they call him Professor, after all."

"Excuse us," Kim said to her, turning away. She immediately whipped out her Kimmunicator. "Wade, we've got a sitch here."

"What's up?" he asked.

"Could you check the personnel records for Boston University and see if Professor Dementor works there?"

Wade blinked. "Works there?"

"Just do it, Wade."

"Okay, hold on." He typed quickly for half a minute. "Huh. What do you know?"

"What?"

"According to their records, they've had a Professor Augustus Dementor teaching engineering and robotics classes for the past two years," Wade said. "Not sure how I missed that," he added sheepishly.

"Maybe it's not him," Ron said. "Maybe he's gone straight."

Shego grabbed him by the shirt. "It didn't seem that way when he was trying to kill me a few weeks ago," she hissed. "With help from the other criminal wackjobs."

"Shego, please!" Kim said, making her let go of Ron. "Get us everything you can find, Wade - personnel records, scientific journals, area newspapers. I need to know what 'Augustus' is up to."

"What a stupid name," Ron said when she turned the Kimmunicator off. "Who would name their kid after a month?"

Shego rolled her eyes in a very obvious manner, and Ron bristled, sensing she was making fun of him without knowing why.

"Justine," Kim said, definitely knowing why she was aggravated right now, "do you have a picture of the machine so I know what it looks like?"

"Right here," she replied, immediately handing over schematics from a nearby worktable.

Kim unrolled the blueprints. "It looks like a laser rifle," she said.

"It functions in a similar manner. The device fires a bolt of energy that emanates from the tip, creating a portal approximately twenty feet away. Or nearer, if a living object is in its path."

"So," Kim said slowly, "if someone were to fire this device at a human being, is it possible that the person would become some sort of prehistoric man?"

"As you have undoubtedly said from time to time, Kim, it is quite possible," Justine replied.

"Well, this is just great," Kim said when the three had returned to Sappho. She put her hands on her hips and glared at them. "Professor Dementor just happens to have been a university professor under our noses all this time. With that device he could turn anybody into a caveman. And best of all, my two partners are butting heads like moose trying to impress a mate!"

Shego and Ron glared at each other, then at her. "It's not my fault that Ron's irrelevant to this little mission," Shego finally said.

"And you can't blame me for remembering that Shego is a thief and a liar who has always been proud of the fact that she's evil," Ron retorted.

Kim clenched her fists until they turned white. "That's it," she said. "I've had it. I have totally had it. If the two of you are going to be this way the entire mission, then I'm having Sappho bring BOTH of you back to Middleton."

That seemed to get through. "WHAT?!" they said simultaneously.

"Shego," she said coldly, "you used to be one of the bad guys. You've earned my trust since then, but you haven't even tried to earn Ron's, so don't act pissy when he gives you a hard time. And don't try to look hurt," she added when she saw the look on Shego's face. Kim wasn't having any of it. "You're my friend, but this is about being professional. I'm the one who's been called in on this case, and I decide who's helping me. Right now, you're not."

"Ron," Kim continued, turning to look at her best friend, "even if Shego had been trying to earn your trust, you haven't given her a chance to. She's got to understand that you're not Drakken's buffoon anymore, but you've got to accept that Shego isn't his hired gun either. I'm not saying you have to trust her right away, but the fact that you can't even cut her some slack makes me wonder if you've lost faith in my judgment."

"Kim!" Ron said, shocked. "You know I could never do that. It's just . . ." He stepped closer. "We're a team, and Shego's trying to come between us."

"She's trying to become one of us, Ron," Kim told him. "Is this you being jealous? You can't share me with someone else?"

She tried to ignore the irony of her remarks, since Shego had already made it quite clear that she didn't like having to share Kim.

Ron looked embarrassed. "No, of course not," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Kim sighed. "I don't want you to go. I want you both with me. But this cannot continue. Either the two of you promise to work with each other, or you can accompany each other home."

As she'd expected, Ron was the first to give in. "We worked together against the Acceptables," he admitted. "I guess we can do it again."

Shego gnashed her teeth, but she accepted the hand she offered, and more importantly, she didn't try to choke the life out of it. "The things I do for you, Kim," she muttered.

"Thank you," Kim said. "Now, how about we head over to Boston University and see what Dementor is up to?"

"I mean, just how stupid can these people be?" Shego asked as the three of them continued to stake out Professor Dementor's apartment - a humble abode for the scientist who'd once resided in a heavily guarded fortress.

"You did say that the Acceptables were extorting money from him," Kim pointed out. "Since he obviously couldn't support himself as a criminal any more, he must have decided to make money the old-fashioned way. He is a genius, after all."

"But he's still wearing his mask!"

"Maybe he told them there was an accident and he was scarred for life," Kim suggested. "What are they supposed to say, 'Before hiring you, Professor Dementor, can we see what's under the hood?'"

"They would if they were buying a used car," Shego muttered.

"These are human beings we're talking about, Shego," Kim said. "You still need to work on the concept of tactfulness, I guess."

"Tact is another word for cowardice," Shego replied.

"Really?" Ron asked. "I thought it meant something else."

Kim leaned against the tree she was hiding behind. So far they'd only managed to discover that Professor Dementor taught a class today at the university, that he drove a slightly pre-owned Mercedes, and that he lived in a neighborhood where many other students and professors lived. There was nowhere in his apartment building that could hide any sort of secret lab. Kim didn't doubt Shego when she said that Dementor had been at her apartment several weeks ago, but she wondered if that had been a feeble attempt on his part to revive his criminal career. "We can't wait out here all night," Kim said. "Let's give him another hour or two, and if he's still inside, we'll go back to Sappho and plan for tomorrow. Maybe his being here is a coincidence. After all, plenty of people knew it was here. It could even be DNAmy," she guessed. "Genetically altering animals is right up her alley."

"Kim, he's leaving!" Ron hissed as he peered through some bushes. "And - whoa, nice duds, Perfessor!"

Shego and Kim looked over his shoulder. Professor Dementor, still wearing his mask like Shego said, was dressed in - "A tuxedo?" Kim asked, surprised.

"Where's Double-Oh Zero going?" Shego asked.

"Let's find out."

Their destination was downtown Boston in the arts district. They parked their rental car in the same lot that Dementor used and surreptitiously followed him down the street. He bought a bouquet of flowers from a street vendor along the way.

"You don't think he's going out on a date, do you?" Ron whispered.

"Eww," Kim and Shego agreed.

"Short, dark, and ugly," Shego added.

Dementor suddenly opened the door to a building up ahead and went inside. Kim and the others peered inside once they caught up.

"The theater?" Kim asked dubiously as Dementor handed his ticket over.

"Swan Lake," Shego said, spotting a poster. "This is turning surreal. Maybe that's why he's wearing a mask. He's playing the Phantom of the Opera."

"Should we wait outside or follow him in?" Ron asked.

"We could always go back and break into his apartment," Shego replied.

"We're not going to break the law," Kim said firmly. "And he must be meeting someone. Maybe it's connected to the theft."

"Yeah, well, we're going to need to buy tickets," Shego pointed out, "and I'm a little strapped for cash."

Kim glanced at Ron.

"Don't look at me," he said.

She grimaced. "I hope Dad won't have a fit when he sees the credit-card bill," she sighed.

Their seats weren't exactly the best in the house. But when they spotted Professor Dementor, thanks to the mask that covered his whole head, they saw he was seated in the front row. There were people seated to either side of him, but he gave no sign of knowing either one.

"Great," Kim said. "It looks like he's just a fan of the arts."

"Oh well," Ron said, getting up to leave.

Kim grabbed him by the wrist. "Where do you think you're going?"

"It's the ballet, Kim," he reminded her. "It lacks the entertainment value of pro wrestling."

"I paid seventy bucks for your ticket," she hissed at him, "and all three of us are going to sit here and enjoy it. So sit down, expand your horizons, and be quiet."

Ron cringed as he sat down.

"I need to use the ladies' room," Shego said.

Kim glared at her, and Shego grumbled before sitting again.

Meanwhile, as the curtain rose and the ballet started, Ron had his nose buried in the playbill. His eyes widened. "Kim."

"Not now, Ron," Kim whispered. At least she could relax and enjoy the show.

"Kim!"

"We are not leaving!" she growled.

He tugged on her arm. "This is important."

"Ron . . . " she began to say when someone who'd appeared on stage caught her attention. Her eyes widened.

Ron grabbed her head and forcibly turned her eyes to look at the pamphlet in his hand.

According to the playbill, the lead role in tonight's production would be performed by Bonnie Rockwaller.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Shego stared at Kim and Ron, bewildered as to their odd behavior. "What the hell has gotten into you two?" she asked.

Shushing noises came from the row in back of them. Shego glared daggers at them, but in the darkened theater the people behind her couldn't really appreciate it.

"It's Bonnie," Kim hissed.

"Bon - " Shego growled as more shushing noises echoed from the back. "Bonnie?" she grudgingly whispered. "Wait, you mean that Bonnie you were telling me about? The one who gave Dr. Drakken your schedule?"

"Bonnie did what?" Ron said, shocked.

"Yes, that's her," Kim muttered. "Monique told me she was studying ballet in Boston, but I never imagined she'd show up here! I thought she was still in school!"

"Guess Justine's not the only girl on the accelerated program," Shego said.

They lapsed into silence because there was nothing more to say on the matter. Kim was forced to watch as her most hated rival from high school pranced about the stage.

The worst part was, she was good. She was really good.

Kim had never seen Bonnie's performance in the Middleton Talent Show, having been somewhat occupied with Drakken and Shego. She knew Bonnie had taken ballet classes for years before her junior year, however, and obviously Bonnie had only gotten better.

As she watched Bonnie effortlessly glide about, she sank miserably into her seat. Why had Bonnie always viewed Kim as a threat? Couldn't she understand how deeply Kim had envied her at times? What was Ms. Possible next to Ms. Popularity? Bonnie's normal life allowed her to have time for things that Kim, thanks to her website, could never commit to.

Now, however, she could almost hate Bonnie. Life could only have gotten easier for her. Bonnie obviously was going to be a star in the world of ballet. And of course, there was Josh. Monique had warned her that Bonnie and Josh were an item now. It was one more reminder of the things Bonnie could have that Kim couldn't.

Kim's life, meanwhile, was in never-ending turmoil. Her questions about her education and career seemed to be unanswerable. The memory of the woman she'd been forced to kill was never far from her mind. And while Bonnie and Josh could have an all-American wedding some day, Kim and Shego . . .

Kim glanced at Shego. The dark-haired beauty lounged in her seat, evidently bored by the whole thing. Ballet would never have the appeal for Shego that, say, professional boxing would.

She couldn't regret her deepening relationship with Shego. She was Kim's opposite in so many ways, and yet her twin in so many others. They had a connection she'd never had with Josh, and Kim suspected she never could have found in Josh what she'd found in Shego.

That didn't mean she couldn't regret the difficulties her same-sex relationship would cause for her, for Shego, and for her family and friends. Why did everything have to be so hard?!

The lights became brighter, and Kim realized they'd already arrived at an intermission. She was prepared to bolt from the theater - Ron and Shego definitely wouldn't mind - but she looked once more for Professor Dementor and saw something.

Dementor was on his feet, applauding as loudly as anyone else. But his eyes were fixated in the direction Bonnie had left.

Was this just sincere appreciation for a talented young dancer, or was it something more?

"Whoa," she breathed.

"Kim, can we go now?" Ron pleaded.

"Not yet," Kim said. "I think maybe Professor Dementor has feelings for Bonnie."

Rufus spoke for them all when he poked his head out of Ron's pocket, squeezed his eyes shut, and held his nose.

"Bravissimo!"

Professor Dementor's cry carried forth before anyone else could speak as the final curtain fell on the performance. It went unnoticed by the rest of the audience, which quickly followed suit with their praise, but not by Kim, Ron, and Shego. Nor did the trio fail to notice how he tossed his bouquet at Bonnie's feet when she came out to take her bow.

"How hard do you think it is to sneak backstage?" Kim asked.

"I'm guessing not as hard as that cookie factory in Texas," Shego said dryly.

"Did she say cookie?" Ron asked as Kim led the way downstairs.

They easily slipped backstage without anyone noticing and hid themselves in the curtains. Eventually they spotted Bonnie walking imperiously past them to a small room. She opened the door and then closed it behind her.

"Bonnie gets her own dressing room?" Kim said.

"Yeah, that's our Bonnie," Ron said.

They were about to head for Bonnie's room when Shego pulled them back. "Try not to bump into the mad scientist," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

Professor Dementor passed their hiding place a moment later. He would have bumped right into them if Shego hadn't pulled Kim and Ron back. "Good eyes," Kim whispered.

"They are among my best features," Shego said casually. Kim caught the gleam in her dark eyes and shivered.

Dementor knocked on Bonnie's door.

"Do you mind?! My feet are killing me!"

"But Fraulein Rockwaller, you were simply magnificent tonight! You were even better than last time. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes."

Bonnie opened the door and glared at Dementor angrily. "Look, Doc, this is the tenth time you've followed me backstage. I don't need you telling me how great I was. I know how great I was. I don't need you here, period."

"But my dear, I am only your devoted fan, and I have been utterly entranced by your skill - and your beauty."

"I already have a boyfriend," Bonnie said, poking his chest. "And even if I didn't, I certainly wouldn't go out with a guy who wears a mask!"

"Especially when he's a convicted felon with a serious megalomania problem."

Professor Dementor whirled around, momentarily blocking Bonnie's view. "You!" he shouted.

"I," Kim replied. She stepped out of the shadows, and Shego and Ron appeared beside her.

Bonnie shoved Dementor aside and stared at the new arrivals. "Kim Possible?!"

Dementor looked at her. "Wait, you know Kim Possible?"

"You know Kim Possible?"

"Hey, there are other people in the room," Shego said irritably.

"Nice show, Bonnie," Kim said.

Bonnie folded her arms and leaned against the doorjamb. She smiled evilly. "Well, well. Kim Possible. I thought this theater had people to keep the riffraff out."

"Look, Bonnie," Kim sighed, "you can't let this guy anywhere near you. His name is Professor Dementor, and he's tried to take over the world a few times."

Professor Dementor waved a hand. "That is ancient history, Miss Possible. I am a respectable college professor now. With tenure, I might add."

"You're also the prime suspect in a robbery that took place recently at a Harvard research lab," Kim told him.

"Me?" he asked, placing a hand on his chest. "I have committed no such robbery. I understand why you would think I did it, but why would I need a device that creates those useless little time portals?"

"I didn't say what was stolen," Kim said quietly.

He paused for a second, his nostrils flaring. "The local scientific community is all abuzz, Kim Possible," he replied. "News travels quickly in a college town."

Shego stepped past Kim. "How about I just beat you senseless for what you pulled in my apartment a few weeks ago?" she asked.

Professor Dementor cringed. "It was a lark," he said. "I had heard the Acceptables were gone, and I contacted some of my former cohorts in crime. It was nostalgia, nothing more! And believe me, considering some of the bruises I had afterwards, it came at a high price."

"You make the oddest friends, Kimmie," Bonnie sneered. "I don't think she's had her rabies shots yet."

Shego snarled at Bonnie, but Kim held her back. She looked distastefully at Bonnie. "You don't know what real friends are, Bonnie," she said.

"Oh, I think Josh Mankey would disagree with that. You do remember Josh, right? You had this hopeless puppy love for him but nothing ever came of it," Bonnie said maliciously. "While he and I have become just the closest friends."

Dementor drooped at the mention of his rival's name, while Kim clenched her fists. Bonnie was awakening in Kim all the ways she'd made her feel in high school - angry, insulted, at times powerless or envious.

Shego, however, grew quite tense at the mention of Kim's old crush. As the former object of Kim's affections, he was someone Shego despised instantly, and her jealous streak flared up. "You heard her," she told Dementor. "Leave her alone, she's taken."

Kim stared at Shego. Why did she care about Bonnie's love life?

Maybe because, it occurred to her a moment later, if Bonnie broke up with Josh, Shego thought Kim would pursue him. As irritated as Kim already was with Bonnie, this only exacerbated her tension.

"I don't really care who you're friends with, Bon-Bon," Kim said, resurrecting the hated nickname Mrs. Rockwaller used to call her daughter. Bonnie resentfully narrowed her eyes. "I'm just trying to be a good Samaritan here. This guy is dangerous. As for you," she added, looking at the professor, "for now I'll believe you. But we'll keep an eye on you, and if I think you're lying about Justine Flanner's invention, then you're going to wish I let Shego pummel you just now."

He paled but said nothing.

"Gee, thanks Kim," Bonnie said sarcastically. "Although if you two don't like each other, he can't be all bad."

"Considering the kind of person you are, Bonnie," Ron said, "maybe the two of you are perfect for each other. He's really top-rate husband material, you know."

Dementor now grew crimson while Bonnie turned her laser-like gaze upon Ron. "Christ, Ron Stoppable, still Kimmie's lapdog? If Kim didn't have you around to kiss her rear, what would she do?"

"Forget it, Ron," Kim said, throwing her hands in the air. "I never should have bothered. You'll spite yourself to spite me, Bonnie. You deserve that dressing room. You've already got the 'demanding prima donna' routine down pat." She ignored Bonnie's indignant squawk as she turned and walked away. Ron followed quickly; he couldn't wait to get away from Bonnie soon enough.

Shego waited behind for a moment. "Kim doesn't like you," she told Bonnie. "So I don't like you."

"Ooh, scary words from the pasty-faced girl in the neon clothing," Bonnie replied, smirking. "What will I do without the friendship of a freak like you?"

"Ask him," Shego said icily as she turned on her heel and left.

"Kim was always a circus sideshow," Bonnie sniffed.

"Do not underestimate Shego," Professor Dementor warned her, patting his brow. "She could tear you to pieces in an instant. And she would have no compunction not to."

Bonnie looked at him. "Are you still here?"

"Damn that Kim Possible," he said suddenly. "Always acting like she tells me what to do. I took orders from that damned Acceptable family for years, and now she dares to do the same?!"

"You really don't like her, do you?" she said slowly.

He shook his head stiffly. "Neither do you, obviously."

She shrugged. "Still, what does that matter? What's a lowly college teacher going to do if the high-and-mighty Kim Possible decides she doesn't like you?"

Dementor turned on Bonnie, outraged. "A lowly teacher?! My dear, I will have you know that I am on the verge of a breakthrough that will give me domination over both Kim Possible, and the entire world!"

Bonnie just smiled.

Professor Dementor realized he'd just exposed himself. "Er . . . that is . . . I meant to say . . ."

"Yeah, I'm seeing why you lost to her all those times."

"You won't tell her?" he asked anxiously.

"Do you really think I'd make Kim's life easier?" Bonnie asked.

"Thank you."

"Show your gratitude by leaving me alone."

"But why do you scorn me so?"

She massaged the bridge of her nose. "You're twice my age, you're short, and again, I already have a boyfriend!"

"But could this 'Josh Mankey' make you the most famous ballet dancer ever?"

Bonnie looked up. "What?"

"When the world is mine, I will erect the world's largest theater, and you will be the star in every show. I will make you immortal!"

She slammed the door in his face, making him jump back.

"Forget it!" she called through the door. "I can become a star on my own, and anyway, you'll never take over the world. Not with Kim Possible around!"

His posture slumped as he sighed and walked away.

"So do we believe him?" Kim asked as they left the theater via the back door.

"No," Shego said instantly.

Ron nodded. "She's right. There's a reason his name is Dementor. He's nuts."

"That makes three of us," Kim said. "We'll have to stay in Boston for a couple more days. If he has the device, sooner or later he's going to use it, and we'll be there when he does."

"Kim? Kim Possible?"

Kim spun around. "Josh?!"

Josh Mankey was standing by a car in the parking lot, evidently waiting for Bonnie to leave. Kim saw that the last five years had made him even more handsome, adding inches to his height and muscles to his lanky frame. He still radiated that aura of serenity that marked him as a man who was fazed by very little. "I can't believe it," he said, smiling. "What's it been, five years?"

"More," Kim said, going over to him and hugging him briefly. "How are you?"

He shrugged. "Can't complain. Been painting mostly. I didn't know you were in Boston. Did you come to see Bonnie's show?"

"Sort of," Kim replied, her excitement ebbing as Josh's words reminded her that he was here as Bonnie's boyfriend. How could he have gotten involved with her? What had he been thinking?

"Hey Josh," Ron said, and Kim realized she'd momentarily forgotten about him and Shego.

"Stoppable? Did someone hold a Middleton High class reunion without telling me?" Josh asked, grinning. He shook Ron's hand.

"And this is Shego. She's a friend of mine." Kim glanced at Shego and felt her smile slipping. Shego had assumed an air of indifference, but by now Kim knew Shego's body language perfectly. She didn't like Josh - not one bit.

Kim was right. Even if Bonnie hadn't brought up Kim's earlier infatuation with Josh Mankey, Shego would have recognized him from the night Drakken had attempted to embarrass Kim into nonexistence. She'd approved of him at the time, but now was different. Now Kim was hers. Josh was a possible threat. And Shego preferred to deal with threats directly and forcefully. Kim's friendship with Josh prevented her from doing so, and she was forced to seethe internally while she waited for this farce to end.

"We're here on a mission," Kim added. "Someone stole an invention from Justine Flanner's lab."

"Flanner - wow, I haven't heard any of these names in years," he said. "Still saving the world, I guess?"

She nodded. "Well, we'd better go. You're obviously waiting for Bonnie, and - "

"Wait," he said, and Kim blinked. "Bonnie and I have plans tonight, but why don't the three of you come by our apartment tomorrow night? We could have dinner, just the five of us. Reminisce, catch up with each other - I meant it as a joke before, but why not have our very own miniature high school reunion?"

Kim felt like her smile was plastered to her face as she thought about what was probably a disastrous idea. An evening with Bonnie? And she could tell Shego wouldn't find dinner with Josh any more enjoyable.

But he'd always been a genuinely sweet guy, and she didn't want to punish him for Shego's jealousy or Bonnie's spite. And she really was interested in hearing what his life had been like since high school.

Still, "no" was probably the best answer.

"Okay, fine," Kim said. She wanted to smack herself. Had she just accepted? She looked again at Shego, whose eyes seemed to smolder.

"Great," Josh replied. "I'll tell Bonnie when I see her. We'll order in." He looked knowingly at Ron. "How does Mexican sound?"

"Boo-yah!" Ron agreed, his concern about dinner with Bonnie evaporating.

Josh patted his pockets for a pen. "Guess you need the address."

"Here," Kim told him, extracting her Kimmunicator. "Just type it in here."

As Kim and Josh leaned over the Kimmunicator while Shego did a slow burn, Dementor watched from the shadows. "So you're Bonnie's boyfriend," he murmured. "I know that if I could defeat Kim Possible, that would impress Bonnie. But you would still be in my way. The only logical conclusion is that I must destroy both of you. Then I can take over the world, and Bonnie Rockwaller will have no reason to spurn my gifts." He smiled evilly. "And this impromptu dinner party sounds like the perfect opportunity."

He backed away and vanished into the darkness.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 4

Author's Note: I hope you all haven't become too impatient. As I've already told some people, the reason Green, Black and Blue was finished so quickly was due to a period at work that lasted for a few weeks where I had very little on my plate. For the past couple weeks, however, I have been busy during the day at work, and extremely busy at night with homework for an evening class. Hence my failure to get any new chapters out for weeks.
I trust you will all try to adjust to this new, slower pace. For more information on this story and my plans for the stories to come, you can check out my LiveJournal at I forget what day it was, but it was one of my most recent posts, and it provides details on what to expect. (Yes, barring obstacles, there will be more sequels.)

Hope you like this one.
Sincerely, Allaine

P.S. Several people have asked me about the identity of the people Shego encountered in Hawaii in GBB. Honestly I thought it was obvious. Little blue creature, little girl, big shark man, Hawaii . . . what other Disney cartoon does this sound like? It's Experiment 626, aka Lilo and Stitch: The Series (based on probably the best two-dimensional animated feature to be produced by Disney since Aladdin).

P.P.S. I always put lines between scenes, as you know, but FFN no longer seems to "see" them, and my chapters get posted without the scene dividers. I'm going to have to use asterisks from now on. I'm going to have to use another method to show emphasis now, as well, since I normally put an underline at the beginning and end of emphasized words. For now hyphens are used to show emphasis.

Chapter 4

The three endured an awkward, frosty silence back to Sappho. They would sleep that night inside the ship, then spend the following day tracking down possible leads - especially Professor Dementor. Then . . . dinner at the Rockwallers.

"Not that they're married - yet," Kim thought. She shuddered at the thought of Josh spending the rest of his life with a personality like Bonnie's.

As they made their way from the car to the ship in single file, Kim was waiting for Shego to lash out, breaking her icy calm with one of her legendary outbursts. She was surprised when the first one to speak was Ron. "Uh, KP?" he asked. "Not to minimize the value of a good Mexican dinner, but is this that time of the month for you? You know, when women go -out of their minds-?"

"Excuse me?" Kim asked.

"We're having dinner with Bonnie. -Bonnie-. And Josh - nothing wrong with that - " He looked puzzled when Shego snorted, but went on. "But we got into fights with Bonnie even when she sat at the table behind us in Bueno Nacho. What are we going to do when we're sitting across from her?"

"Dementor's been camped outside her door apparently. Maybe she can tell us something more about what he's up to?" Kim suggested lamely.

"Yeah, she struck me as a -real- helpful sort," Shego scoffed.

Ron stopped and turned to face Kim. "I know it's been a few years, Kim, but . . . this isn't about your old feelings for Josh, is it?"

Kim gaped at him. "What?! That was five years ago!"

"But he's the only person I've ever seen mess disrupt your concentration," Ron pointed out. "Well, him and Shego, anyway."

Kim glanced at Shego, who had also stopped and now loomed behind Ron. Her dark eyes smoldered with pent-up anger. If Kim didn't start defusing this situation now, Ron was going to find out about her relationship with Shego in the worst possible way - by witnessing a lover's spat. "I don't know," Kim said quickly. "If he'd been almost anyone else from our graduating class, I probably would have said no. But trust me, I have no intentions of rekindling anything with Josh. He is taken, after all."

"As I am," she thought to herself, but she wasn't ready to share that with Ron.

"Besides," she added with a cunning smile, "just imagine how Bonnie is taking the news."

"Oooh, good point," Ron said. "It's her place, so -she'll- have to serve -us-."

Shego, however, did not appear mollified.

"Good evening, everyone," Sappho suddenly said, her one "eye" beaming a bright white light at them that cut through the darkness. The glowing orb glanced at Shego, then looked a second time. "Is everything all right?" the spacecraft asked.

"Kimmie's decided to celebrate our first mission together by accepting a dinner invitation for tomorrow night," Shego said sardonically. Generally she only said "Kimmie" when she was angry or teasing. It didn't take a rocket scientist's daughter to figure out which she was tonight.

"Ron, why don't you give Shego and I a minute?" Kim murmured.

Ron nodded. "Oothing-say the avage-say east-bay?" he whispered.

"I don't think Pig Latin is very effective as a means of speaking in code, Ron," Kim sighed.

As Ron entered the spaceship, Kim stopped Shego from following him in. "Sappho, could you occupy Ron for a few minutes? Make sure he's not listening?" Kim asked.

"Of course, Kim Possible."

Kim suddenly felt her skin crawl. "Sappho, please, don't call me - that. Just Kim is fine."

"Staying on a first-name basis with our transporation?" Shego asked, folding her arms.

"It's not that," Kim said. "It's just that . . . when she said my name like that, it reminded me of how you spoke when Drakken chipped you last month," she explained reluctantly. "Bad memories."

Shego looked away. "Oh," she said. "Yeah, real bad. Of course, it was bad even before Drakken entered the picture," she added, irritated.

"Tomorrow night isn't about us," Kim said softly.

"I thought it was about you and -him-," Shego snapped.

"Josh and I are not an 'us'. We never will be. Not like you and I are an 'us'. I know you're a trifle possessive," Kim said, "but can't I want to talk to an old friend one time? Even if he's an ex? Come on, we can work on your interpersonal skills."

Shego raised an eyebrow. "-My- skills have never been in question."

"Mmm-hmm," Kim murmured as she slipped her arms around Shego's hips. There was a momentary electric charge as their bodies touched, and then Kim was amazed at how she felt the tension seep from Shego's body within moments. Shego rolled her head forward and made noises as if someone were massaging her backside.

"And when this mission is over," Kim went on, "don't forget that I'm done with school for a while. Maybe you and I could slip away for a day, just the two of us? As a reward for being good?"

Kim shivered as Shego trailed a lazy finger up her arm. "Oh, so you're saying you wouldn't want a day like that for your own pleasure?" Shego asked casually, the anger gone from her eyes.

"Yesss," Kim sighed. "-But-, if that's the only incentive I can offer you, then I'll just have to control myself."

"You're such a tease, Kim," Shego said somberly, shaking her head. "Maybe you're the one who needs to be taught how to be good."

Kim felt her cheeks flush. They'd only kissed a few times. Since when had their relationship become so -heated-? Maybe Shego's angry tension hadn't simply disappeared. Maybe it had just been channeled in another direction. "Shego," she began to say, but the raven-haired woman leaned into Kim's informal embrace, and both girls felt the temperature rising.

"Kim, Ron is coming," Sappho informed them quietly.

Breaking away from Shego, Kim tried to collect herself as the door-sized hatch opened and Ron's silhouette appeared in the light. Shego looked hurt for a moment, but she swallowed it.

"If you guys aren't coming back inside any time soon, I'm going to take advantage of the situation and watch pro wrestling," he warned them.

"Coming, Ron," Kim called. "After the mission," she whispered to Shego as she turned away.

"I don't like waiting," Shego muttered unhappily, and she pushed past Kim, going into the ship. But Kim felt a ghost of a hand caress her waist, and she felt the blood return to her cheeks.

"Guess you two got pretty hot with each other, huh?" Ron asked as Kim came in.

"What?" Kim asked nervously.

"Musta been some argument." Ron sounded not only unsurprised, but a little pleased. Obviously the notion of Kim and Shego fighting wasn't entirely unwelcome for Ron. "Your cheeks are red."

"Oh, yeah," Kim said, chuckling weakly. "No big. Just a bit, um, heated."

"Hey, Shego!" Ron suddenly called out. "What did you just change the channel to?"

"Travel Channel."

"Oy," he muttered.

"Vey," Rufus agreed.Kim offered Josh an encouraging smile, but she guessed by the look on his face that he was slowly realizing that this had been a bad idea. Kim, Ron, and Shego had allowed Bonnie to talk uninterrupted for the past twenty minutes about three years of ballet studies and recitals. They were all willing to be bored out of their minds. It was better than awkward silences.

"Does she usually go into this kind of detail?" Kim muttered to Josh.

"Not really, no," Josh said.

She nodded. She suspected Bonnie's conversation topic was an attempt to prove that her life was so much better than Kim's. The fact that half of Kim didn't care how happy Bonnie was, and the other half of Kim envied her high school nemesis her life, wasn't helping.

Bonnie had greeted them at the door with an expression of unrestrained malice that swiftly disappeared behind a mask worthy of a young star of the stage when Josh had joined her. Since then Bonnie had alternated between thinly veiled insults and aloof silence.

Team Possible hadn't fared much better. Ron's solution had been to stuff his face at the table. It saved him from having to speak.

Meanwhile, when Bonnie had approached Shego with a plate of rice and beans and a nasty look in her eye, Shego had whispered into Bonnie's ear.

"If any of that food ends up in my lap, or Kim's lap, instead of on our plates, I'll break your arm."

Bonnie had looked into Shego's eyes and filled their plates with the utmost care. But she'd studiously ignored Shego since then, as if by doing so Bonnie could convince herself that Shego didn't exist. Which was fitting, since Shego appeared to be ignoring Josh.

Kim had tried to engage Josh in a discussion of his life since graduation, but while Shego had behaved, Bonnie had interrupted constantly and tried to divert Josh's attention back to her. Eventually Kim gave up.

Josh was left to look from Bonnie, busy monopolizing the conversation, to Ron, seemingly mesmerized by his food, then to Shego, acting bored, and lastly to Kim, whose attempts to hide her discomfort were increasingly obvious. "Maybe we should just call it a night," he suddenly said, interrupting Bonnie.

More than one person were unable to hide an instinctive look of relief, and Kim groaned silently.

"Bonnie," Kim said before anyone could take Josh's comment as an invitation to leave the table. "Has Professor Dementor given you any indication of what his plans are?"

Bonnie glared at Kim with pure rage, which Josh failed to notice, as he was looking at Kim in puzzlement. "Who's Professor Dementor?" he asked.

"Mad scientist," Shego explained idly. "Would-be conqueror. Not that dangerous, but at least he's smarter and pays more for henchmen than some people I know," she added darkly.

"He's a villain," Kim told Josh, who looked less than enlightened by Shego's remarks. "We think he may have stolen Justine's invention. Since we followed him to Bonnie's dressing room last night, we thought maybe . . ." She stopped, since she'd allowed Josh to think that they'd gone to the ballet to see Bonnie.

He understood what she meant, however, and if anything, it seemed to clear things up for him. "I see," he said. "And why didn't you tell me some criminal was at your dressing room last night?" he asked Bonnie.

"Several times, I heard," Ron mentioned helpfully.

Bonnie shot him a look of death.

"Several times?"

"I didn't know he was a criminal!" Bonnie said defensively. "He said he was a college professor. For God's sake, he -is- a college professor. They said he was!"

"He's a teacher, yes," Kim admitted, "but it's possible he's returned to his criminal roots. And since he's visited Bonnie more than once, we thought maybe he'd dropped a hint about what he was working on."

Bonnie glanced at Josh. "I thought he was just this obsessed fan. The first time he was going on about what a great dancer I am - which I am, naturally - but then it became some kind of claim that he'd make me the most famous dancer in the world, and it creeped me out. He obviously wanted me, and I -told- him I had a boyfriend. But he kept coming back."

"Why didn't you tell me? Or the stage manager?" Josh asked.

"Believe me, I told the manager. It was backstage, he wasn't supposed to be back there. He kept sneaking in."

"Because, you know," Josh pointed out, "you've always said I'm not allowed to be backstage either. Maybe you could have sneaked me in once or twice."

Kim was rapidly regretting her question. She hadn't intended to cause an argument between Josh and Bonnie, and it certainly wasn't helping the atmosphere. Bonnie shot her another look, but this time Josh caught it. He looked back and forth between Bonnie and Kim. "You two really don't like each other any more than you did in high school, do you?" he realized.

The two women shrugged before finally nodding.

"It's been five years. Can't we all just move on?"

"It's not just high school," Kim said.

"It's a personality clash," Bonnie agreed.

Josh sighed and ran his hand through his hair, still one of his best features. "What about this Dementor guy?" he asked. "Have you given him any hint that you might return his affections?"

"God, no, are you kidding?!" Bonnie burst out. "He's -old-, and he's short, and he wears a mask all the time. He must be hideous underneath!"

"Okay," Josh said. "So next time you go on stage, I'll do a little sneaking of my own. And if he shows up, I'll make sure he gets the message. Okay?"

"Yes, Josh, of course," she replied. "You know I only want you."

Shego rolled her eyes.

"What about Kim's question?" Josh asked. "Do you know anything about any plans he has?"

Bonnie hesitated. Of course she knew he was a villain now, but she didn't want to help Kim any more than she had to. "He seems to think he'll have a lot of power some day," she said. "Like he can make me a star, he says. I doubt one college teacher could do that. So I guess it could be something you'd say if you were planning to take over the world."

"Surprise, surprise," Kim said to Shego and Ron. "We'll have to follow him twenty-four . . ."

The doorbell rang before she could finish.

"I'll get it!" Bonnie said with fake brightness, all too eager to leave the table.

"What did he steal exactly?" Josh asked.

"It's kind of a screwy time travel device," Kim said. "It can turn animals into their prehistoric counterparts."

"What are YOU doing here?!"

"I only came to see you, my dear."

"That's Dementor!" Kim said out loud.

"That was Dementor," Josh added angrily as he rose to his feet. "He'll be leaving now."

The others followed closely behind Josh as they moved from the dining room to the front door. Professor Dementor was standing there, Bonnie having taken a few steps back as he approached her. "Ah, you must be the boyfriend," Dementor said, one hand behind his back. "I never imagined a flower like you would be involved with such a -neanderthal-!"

Swiftly he pulled a complicated machine out from behind his back that vaguely resembled a rifle, and pointed it at Josh.

"Get down!" Kim shouted, shoving him out of the way.

Professor Dementor fired.

A bluish-white bolt of energy resembling a lightning bolt emanated from the barrel of the device, hitting Kim where Josh had once stood. She screamed as her body was engulfed.

"No! KP!" Ron screamed, but Shego held him back.

Dementor watched avidly as Kim's body was wracked with convulsions, forcing her to hunch over. Her flesh rippled as waves of energy, possibly fluctuations from the time portal, enveloped her. The others could only look on, appalled.

Then Kim crashed to the floor, the process completed.

"Kim!" Ron yelled, falling to his knees as he gingerly put a hand on her shoulder.

Shego moved toward the mad doctor, but he pointed the device at her. "Ah, ah, my dear Shego," he said. "It looks like that would hurt a little."

"Ron, how is she?" Josh asked.

Kim raised her head and looked at Ron. "Ooo?"

"Uh-oh," Ron said.

Her cranium had become a bit larger. And her face, while still feminine, had a harsher, uglier quality. The lower part of her face jutted out slightly. It was the face of a cavegirl.

Slowly she got to her feet. Her clothes hung at awkward angles on her body, as she'd become over a foot shorter and slightly hunched over. Her hair was a mess. And her body was more heavily muscled than usual. "Ooo?" she repeated.

Bonnie glanced in the opposite direction. If only she could get to the bedroom, she could get her camera.

"Kim?" Ron asked, at a loss for what to do next. "It's really you, right? Not a monkey ninja?"

Kim looked at Ron and her eyes brightened. "Ooo!" She wrapped her arms around him.

"Test subject appears to be attacking her prey," Dementor murmured to himself.

But she wasn't attacking. In her primitive brain there lingered memories of her best friend, and she hugged him with abandon.

"Uh, KP, can't - breathe," he gasped.

"Kim, put him down," Shego said from behind her. Ron's toes were a few inches off the floor.

Kim suddenly dropped Ron and swiveled to look at Shego. "Ooook," she said.

Her eyes darkened with a physical desire that was so intense that Shego nearly took a step back. It occurred to Shego that Kim was no longer 'civilized' enough to have inhibitions. Her fabled self-control had given way to her instincts. Surely that was why Shego saw such -need- in Kim's eyes.

The only other people in the room in a position to see the way Kim looked at Shego were Dementor, who didn't understand what it meant, and Bonnie, who did.

A wicked smile spread across Bonnie's face.

Shego looked at Professor Dementor. He was fascinated by cave-Kim like everyone else, but if she didn't do something, he'd turn them all into Cro-Magnons. "Hey, Dementia!" she jeered at the villain. "Say, does early senility run in the Demented family tree?"

"Impertinent girl!" he snarled. "See how smart your tongue is when you've lost capacity for speech!"

He fired at her, but she'd backed up enough that she had time to leap out of the way. The beam struck a desk lamp, which seemed to retract in on itself before vanishing.

"Somewhere twenty million years ago, there's a caveman praying to that lamp," Shego thought as she dove behind a couch.

Maybe Kim remembered Dementor was an enemy, the way she knew Ron was a friend and Shego something more. Maybe not. What mattered was that Kim saw Dementor attacking Shego, and her lips pulled back in a growl. She began moving toward him.

"Stay back, Ms. Possible," he warned her, aiming the machine in her direction. "Or I'll . . ." He looked at her, then the device. He couldn't exactly threaten to shoot her, since he'd already done so. "Or I'll do - something!"

She leapt through the air and landed not two inches from him. Her hand made a loud whistling noise as it shot through the air toward his face. He just managed to turn his head to the side, and her hand hit the wall, leaving a sizable dent. When she pulled her hand back, it wasn't even bleeding.

"I think I liked you better before," Professor Dementor whimpered. Hastily he made an adjustment to the time machine and fired it again, hitting her point-blank in the chest. She flew backwards through the air and landed with a thump against the opposite wall.

Then he cried out as a burrito hit him in the face with a wet smack.

"You'd better run, Dementor, or I start dishing out the hot sauce!" Ron told him, pelting him with packets of tabasco.

"You haven't heard the last of me!" the mad scientist shrieked. "Soon I will rule the world, while -you- are all trying to learn how to make fire!" Then he ran out the door, hitting his shoulder against the jamb as he tried to wipe melted cheese from his eyes with one arm.

Shego darted out from behind the couch and went over to Kim. "Kim, are you all right?" she asked, but she was afraid of how Kim might answer. Her genetic makeup had been drastically altered not once, but twice, and within a span of five minutes. There was no telling what kind of permanent damage might have been caused. Maybe she should have asked if Kim was all -there-.

Kim raised her head groggily and tried to focus her eyes on Shego's face. "Did we just have a full-day sparring session?" she croaked. "Because I'm sore all over."

"She's okay," Ron said, relieved. "She's going to be okay."

Shego wanted to be relieved too, but they needed to be sure. "We'd better get you out of here, Kim," she told the other girl. "You're going to need to see a doctor."

"What happened?" Kim asked. Her features, lovely again, crinkled in confusion.

"Sort of a bad flashback," Shego replied.

Josh slowly got to his feet as Shego began helping her up. Ron came over to assist them. "What the hell just happened there?" he asked.

"Josh," Kim said weakly, "if the Professor returns, contact us immediately. He's obviously got issues with you in particular. Go to my website, and Wade will get in touch with me." She dropped her head, exhausted.

"All right," Josh said. "Let us know what the doctors say, all right?"

"Sorry about dinner," Kim mumbled.

He shrugged. "Frankly, the way things were going, being attacked by a masked man with a laser was a fitting end."

Shego chuckled as the trio left the apartment without saying goodbye to Bonnie.

The dancer watched them leave. "She owes me for my wall," Bonnie grumbled.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kim opened her eyes. "Ron?"

Her best friend was beside her in an instant. "Kim," he said quietly. "Glad you were only sleeping."

"Was I?" she asked. She looked down and saw she was still in her hospital gown. "Guess I dozed off. How long?"

"A couple hours. The doctors say your preliminary tests are okay, but considering what your night's been like, they thought it was best to let you sleep." Ron looked into her eyes, concerned. "What do you remember? You weren't too communicative."

She wrinkled her brow. "Dementor was shooting the device at Josh," she said. "Then Shego was looking down at me. Shego, where is she?"

"Not sure," Ron said. "She left an hour ago. She said she had some nervous energy to work off. Think maybe she's gone to steal something?" he asked hopefully.

Kim closed her eyes and groaned.

"KP? Do you need a doctor?"

"What I need is for you to lay off Shego for two minutes," Kim said tiredly. "Give an invalid a break, okay? Shego's going to be here tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after that."

"I guess the day after tomorrow really is a disaster movie," he muttered.

Kim opened her eyes and glared at him.

"Sorry," Ron said.

She reached over and squeezed his hand. "Ron, I care about her. Please don't make it difficult for me."

His eyes widened. "You mean it? Like you care about Monique and me?"

Not exactly, she thought. "Yes," she said. "Like that."

Ron ran his fingers through his hair. "Wow," he replied. "Well, yeah, sure, Kim. If it's that important to you, you know I'll try harder."

Kim smiled. "Thanks, Ron."

A beeping noise interrupted them.

"Omigod, Kim, your heart!"

"Ron, that's the Kimmunicator. I'm not hooked up to any machines, remember?"

"I remember! I was just kidding. Heh heh." He searched her pants and pulled the device out. "Here."

"Wade? What's the sitch?"

"No sign of Dementor, Kim," Wade said. "No reports of anybody being turned into cave people. Looks like - ah, looks like he's gone underground again."

"Wade?" Kim asked again, raising an eyebrow. "You seem distracted. The doctors say I'm going to be fine, believe me."

"That's good," he said sincerely, but his voice was strained.

"What aren't you telling me?" Kim asked suspiciously. "It's not Monique, is it?!"

"No, Monique checked in half an hour ago, she's fine," Wade told her. "It's just - I've been getting hits on your name on the Net."

"You mean missions?"

"More like blogs and Live Journals, actually," he replied. "There's this email going around, apparently. Over the last hour or so it seems like nearly everyone in your graduating class got one."

"Alumni donation time already?" Ron asked.

Wade rubbed the back of his neck and said nothing more.

Kim sighed. "Don't tell me, let me guess. This email came from Bonnie, didn't it? Maybe something about how I turned into an ape woman?"

"It could have been from Bonnie, I don't know," he said. "I hacked into a few inboxes. It looks like people are just sending it to their friends. I haven't tracked it to its source yet. But it's not about the caveman incident."

"Then what is it?" she asked blankly.

"Everyone's saying that you're - well, gay."

Kim stared at the viewscreen. Ron's jaw hit the floor. "What?" she asked softly.

"It's total slander," Wade said instantly. "The rumor is that you were seen with a dark-haired girl, and you were giving her these looks, like you wanted to tear her clothes off and get her in bed."

"Dark-haired girl?" Ron asked. "Wait, that must be Shego. Kim!"

Kim was both puzzled and appalled. She certainly didn't remember giving Shego any sort of look like that - at least, not in front of other people! The real problem, however, was the essential truth of the email. Kim was dating another girl. While she was still trying to process her sexuality - she hadn't been attracted to any other women since they'd begun dating, while she was still attracted to the men she saw on the television - she knew that she was in a bind. Deny it, and she'd be lying. Admit the truth - this was NOT how she wanted the truth to come out! "Ron?" she asked hesitantly, worried he'd already figured it out.

"That must be where she went," he said. "Shego's spreading bogus rumors about you! I knew it!"

"Ron!" Kim shouted at him hoarsely. "It was not Shego! Got it?"

He looked confused. "How do you know?"

"Wade, I want to know how this started," Kim told him authoritatively. "I want it five minutes ago." She turned it off before Wade could say anything else, like "Is it true?"

"Ron," she went on, cutting him off, "I need you to find Shego ASAP. Bring her back here. We need to talk about this."

"I'll say!" Ron said. "If it wasn't Shego, it must have been Bonnie. She's trying to get back at you for dinner. Of all the lies she could choose to spread, Kim . . . people will never stop whispering about it."

"And that would be bad?"

"KP, this kind of thing can ruin a girl's reputation," Ron told her. "Especially one like yours." Then he ran out to find Shego.

Kim leaned back and put her hands over her face. After that kind of remark, how could she tell him now?

"Thought he'd never leave."

Kim's hands flew away from her eyes. "Shego?"

The fiery brunette was lounging in a chair. Sweat beads dotted her forehead. "Feeling all right?"

"Where did you come from?"

"Toldja I don't like sharing you," Shego said. "I waited for him to go."

"And before that?"

"I was on the roof."

"Say what?"

"Had some anger to work off. I pretended I was fighting Dementor. Well, actually," she corrected herself, counting one hand, "first I was fighting his henchmen. Then I was fighting Dementor. Kicked their ass, too."

Kim sighed. "You may have to share me with a lot more people now."

Shego frowned. "Why?"

"Because someone started an email rumor tonight," Kim said, "that I'm gay. Apparently I was drooling all over some girl with dark hair, undressing her with my eyes."

Shego stared, shocked. "What?"

"It's silly, because I certainly never looked at you that way in public. Maybe they spotted us together somewhere, and they decided . . ."

"Bonnie," Shego hissed, her dark eyes burning with hatred. "I'll break both her legs for this."

"Shego?" Kim asked uncertainly.

"Um, look, Kimmie," Shego said, suddenly embarrassed. "You gave me that look earlier tonight. Bonnie must have seen it."

"What? What look? I don't remember - oh. Oh, shit. When I was cave Kim?"

Shego nodded. "I think it was something primal. You looked like you suddenly felt the urge to procreate, if you know what I mean."

Kim moaned. "Payback really is a bitch," she said. "It has a name too - Bonnie Rockwaller."

"She'll never do another pirouette when I'm through with her," Shego said murderously.

"Shego, no. Not while there's a chance it was someone else."

"Who's getting the emails?"

"Um, Wade says people from our high school."

Shego looked at her. "Who else but someone from your old school would email them?"

"Okay, so it was Bonnie. But you can't hurt her. That's not a good guy thing."

"Good thing I'm the bad girl, then."

"Shego."

"What?!"

"We have more important things to do than putting the hurt on Bonnie."

"Like what?"

"Uh, hello? Like the fact that I've just been outed in the worst way possible?"

"Actually, I think your parents catching us making out on the couch would be - "

"Shego!"

"What? Where's the drama? So they know. Big deal. They're not a part of your life any more. Who cares who knows? No big."

"And what about Ron? My parents?"

Shego looked at her uncomprehendingly, and Kim realized she just didn't get it. She couldn't see why it was a problem. Shego never had family or friends. She never needed to care what others thought. If anyone would be completely unfazed by being labeled a lesbian, it would be Shego.

"Shego," Kim said slowly, "when this gets out, I don't know what my friends or family will say. I'll have changed in a very real, fundamental way. They thought I was straight. I thought I was straight. And now I have to tell my mother that she's never going to see me walk down the aisle with someone. Shego, do you have any idea how many kids have been disowned by their parents just for being gay? Or bi, or whatever I am?"

The other woman didn't bother to suggest that Kim didn't need her parents, having learned that was a completely foreign concept to Kim. "Yeah, okay, I get it. Your parents will be upset. But you knew you'd have to tell them sooner or later. " Shego paused. "Didn't you?" She meant to sound angry, but it came out sounding oddly nervous.

"I was kind of assuming I would be able to handle this on my own timetable," Kim said. Then she looked into Shego's eyes. "But I wouldn't have started something with you if I thought it would never work."

Shego closed her eyes and nodded.

"Ron's going to be back any minute," Kim added. "What do I tell him?"

"What do . . . you're considering lying," Shego said flatly.

Kim nodded.

"It's about you," Shego continued. "It's not because you're ashamed of us."

"Yes," Kim said firmly.

"It just feels that way."

"Shego - "

"No, damn it, Kim. He'll ask if there's anything going on between us, and you'll say no. You'll have your dirty little secret, and I'll be a part of it. You really think it won't hurt when you say your feelings for me don't exist?"

Kim shrank into herself. "No," she whispered. "Shego, please, if you want me to tell the truth, I will. But we're in the middle of a mission, and I can't - "

"Don't you dare make this about the fucking mission!" Shego snapped. "You're so much braver than that. This is about you."

"I'm not brave at all, Shego," Kim said. "Before he left, Ron made it sound like me being even called gay was a horrible thing. He's my best friend, Shego, but I'm terrified he won't be any more when I tell him."

Not being someone who took being hurt well, Shego wanted to lash out and scream. What stopped her was her realizing what this was doing to Kim as well. Kim's fear was such that she seemed almost a shadow of herself.

She almost choked on her next words. "Like I said, this is about you. If you need to lie . . . then lie. I'll accept it."

"Shego," Kim said pleadingly.

Unfortunately, Ron picked that time to return. "I think she left the hospital, Kim." Then he did a double take. "When the hell did you get here?"

It took an effort for Shego to smirk. "Gee, have you been searching the building for me? And I was right here all along? I feel so bad."

"Right," Ron muttered. "So KP, you tell her about the new scam?"

Kim winced. "Yes, Ron, the big scam."

"What do you think about this?" Ron asked Shego. "The email's about you too, you know."

She shrugged. "I don't mind being the outcast."

Kim didn't know if that had been a subtle jab at her, but it made her wilt all the same. Not as much as Ron's reply, though.

"Kim considers you a friend. As a friend, does it at least bother you that people will call her a freak?"

Kim wrapped her arms around her middle. This wasn't happening.

"If it bothers her, it bothers me," Shego said quietly.

"Well, it should bother her! Anybody who knows how crazy she was about Josh in high school would know this was a lie."

From how still Shego had become, Kim could tell Ron wasn't making this easier for her either.

"Anyway, Kim, I think you need to get Wade back on the horn. Better yet, talk to Monique," Ron told her. "Tell them it's not true, and have them spread the word. Bonnie thinks that you won't be able to defend yourself while you're in Boston, and the rumor will stick. You've got to get in front of this, KP."

Kim sighed heavily. "Right."

"Because of course it's not true."

When she was a teenager, Kim realized, it had been much easier to believe that anything was possible for a Possible. As an adult, she was slowly learning how hard "anything" really was.

"Yes, Ron," she whispered. "It's not true."

The wounded look in Shego's eyes made Kim's heart crack.

"In the meantime," Kim added emotionally, "let's find Dementor and show him our gratitude for the mess he's made."

There was a crackling sound, and then the board at the foot of Kim's bed shattered into icy chunks.

Kim and Ron looked at Shego, who was staring at her hands. Evidently she'd been gripping the board in both hands without realizing her gloves were activated. Then she chuckled bitterly. "Your bed might be a little cold tonight, Kimmie."

Kim shivered.

Bonnie smiled brightly as her instructor continued to critique her performance as if she were a raw amateur. Smile, because this was art, beauty, all light and air and fancy and . . .

"Take five minutes, Miss Rockwaller," the teacher said dismissively.

. . . and shooting pains that ran up her calves as she lowered the soles of her feet to the floor. Not that she showed it, of course. Bonnie could grimace in private. When you had an audience, you smiled and pretended the sweat that soaked your leotard wasn't there. Ballet was fantasy. Sweat was stinky.

She made her way into the corridor.

"Bonnie."

She turned. "Josh?" she asked. This time her smile was real. The envy and backstabbing and manipulation she encountered here made Middleton High look like kindergarten. It was Josh who still treated her like a queen. It made her appreciate it, rather than take it for granted like she had five years ago.

He was leaning against the wall, casual grace and unassuming honesty. As she went over to him, however, she detected an underlying tension. "Josh, you have your painting clothes on," she realized, noticing the old shirt with the dried paint stains. "Why didn't you change first?"

"I got the most interesting e-mail a little while ago," Josh said.

Bonnie stopped. Smile. Nothing is wrong in ballet. "Really?"

"Yeah," he said calmly. "Tara said you weren't big on details in the email you wrote her, and she was hoping I could fill in the blanks."

Her smile wavered. "Josh - "

"Because apparently," Josh continued, "last night over dinner, Kim and that other girl came really close to tearing each other's clothes off and having sex on our kitchen table. At least, that's the impression I got."

"Josh, I can explain."

"And I thought, gee, I must have been really distracted by all the sniping between you and Kim, because I missed that completely," he said coldly. "Although I do remember how you were on the computer for quite a while after everyone left."

Bonnie reached out for his hand. "Why don't we go somewhere and I can - "

He pulled his hand away, shocking her. "And then, I got emails from my friends in the old garage band. Since none of them exactly ran with Tara, I'm thinking they got it from someone else. Just how many people did you tell anyway, Bonnie?"

"Just a few!" Bonnie said quickly. "It's not my fault that they couldn't keep their mouths shut."

"Bullshit," Josh replied.

She stared at him. Generally he didn't feel profanity was necessary.

"It wasn't enough that your stalker shot Kim with that laser?" Josh asked. "A shot she took for ME, by the way. You hate her so much, you had to spread these lies about her to everyone who ever knew her?"

"They're not lies, Josh! I saw the look in her eyes after Dementor changed her! She wanted to jump that Shego's bones right then and there!"

"Love that potty mouth, Bonnie. It's so endearing."

She flinched.

"Look, I don't believe it, but it doesn't matter," Josh told her. "Either it isn't true, and you told lies about her that Kim will never be able to prove wrong for some people. Even if she marries and has ten kids some day, everyone will remember the whispers. Or it IS true, and you just took Kim's most private, personal feelings, and you broadcast them to the world for spite." He glared at her. "I haven't decided which is more offensive."

Bonnie gulped. "Josh, you don't understand. Kim Possible never understood me. She always wanted my life. She wanted everything that was important to me, and she'd take it like it was SO easy. The only thing she didn't get was you. And then she just waltzes back into our life, flutters her eyelashes, and all along she's not even straight?! She never wanted you for you. She just wanted you because I wanted you. And I freaking called her on it!"

Josh just looked at her. "Do you think so little of my feelings for you, Bonnie?" he finally asked.

"Josh," she said, horrified.

"Because if you think I'm just loving you while I'm waiting for someone better to come along, then you don't get me at all," Josh continued.

"Please," she begged. "Can't we just go home and talk about this?"

He looked away, then shook his head. "No, Bonnie, we can't. I don't think I can share a home with someone who harbors such jealousy and hate in her heart." When he raised his eyes, she could see the disappointment quite clearly. "Bye, Bonnie."

Then he just turned and walked away.

Bonnie stared after him, stupefied. "Josh!" she finally called. Her voice broke. "Josh!!"

Another instructor emerged from a classroom. "Miss Rockwaller, this is a school, and you will keep your voice down."

Bonnie turned her head, but this time she didn't smile. She snarled at the teacher, who looked angrily at her as he closed the door again.

Leaning against the wall, tears spilling from her eyes, Bonnie's heart burned with the knowledge that this was all Kim Possible's fault.

What she'd done to Kim last night wasn't nearly, nearly enough.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Kim sat in the pilot's seat before Sappho's controls, bone-weary. Ron and Shego had gone out to search Dementor's apartment and, if possible, college office. They'd left her behind because the doctors had ordered twenty-four hours' rest. Kim worried about how well Ron and Shego could work together, but she despairingly suspected that her presence would have made things worse. Shego had been distant with her that morning, and Kim could only hope it would get better with time.

Sure, right. Eventually she might get used to being the "friend" in the public eye. And Shego's skin might turn a shade of lavender.

"Kim," Sappho alerted her softly. "You're getting a transmission from Monique. I can re-route it to your Kimmunicator if you like, or you can see her on the visual display?"

"I'll take the big screen, Sappho," Kim mumbled. Great, another friend assuring her that the "lie" would go away.

Monique's face replaced Kim's tinted view of the clearing in which Sappho rested. "Hey, Kim . . . whoa, you're taking this pretty badly, aren't you?"

"What?"

"No offense, Kim, but you don't look too good."

"I got zapped by Professor Dementor last night," Kim said as she fished her compact out. "I don't feel too good either." Her drawn face greeted her in the mirror, dark circles under her eyes. "What's the sitch?"

"Wade filled me in last night before I could check my email," Monique replied. "He says Bonnie's behind it?"

Kim nodded. "He hacked into Bonnie's email and found the original message to some of our old teammates on the cheerleading squad," she said. "She really worked me over, didn't she?"

Monique nodded. "Did you smack her around?"

"I doubt Josh would approve."

"You ought to ask Shego. She'd do it. And she wouldn't give a crap what Josh thinks. I wonder if he knows what a spiteful bitch he's living with."

Kim shrugged. After the scene with Shego in her hospital room, Kim found getting on her high horse an impossible task. "I'd rather not talk about Bonnie."

"Well, you know you've got my unconditional support in this, right?"

Both girls were surprised when Kim burst into tears.

"Oh, Kim," Monique said sympathetically, if a bit worried. "It's going to be all right, don't worry. In a few days they'll be talking about the latest celebrity hairdo or - "

"I don't care about them!" Kim interrupted vehemently. "They were never an issue. It was always about my family, and Ron."

"Yeah, I hear that," Monique agreed. "Can't imagine what I'd do if my parents heard a rumor that I was gay over the Internet. Though why anyone would believe what they read on the Internet . . ."

Kim almost choked on her tears. "M-Monique."

Monique stopped, full-blown concern in her eyes. "Kim? Is there something else?"

Her body shuddered as she exhaled slowly. "I lied to Ron," she said. "I don't think I can lie to you too, not about this."

"About what?"

"Not after the look in her eyes," Kim went on heedlessly, her own eyes haunted.

"Kim, you're starting to freak me out," Monique said with growing alarm. "What did you lie about?"

"When - when I said it wasn't true."

"What wasn't true?"

"The rumor," Kim whispered.

Monique stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before her eyes widened. "You mean Bonnie was telling the truth?"

Kim nodded miserably.

"You and . . ."

"Shego."

"Wow," Monique muttered. Then her eyes narrowed. "I asked you about her at the Planetarium! And you said nothing was going on."

"Nothing was going on," Kim said helplessly. "It wasn't until later that I found out Shego had feelings for me. And then . . . I realized I had feelings for her too."

"Wow," Monique repeated. "The two of you - you've, you know?"

"No," Kim answered swiftly. "We've had to go slow. But we've gone out, we've kissed, we've - the connection between us, it's almost electric."

Monique nodded. "I see why you were afraid of what your parents would say. Finding out something like that from an email? It'd be like reading you have cancer in the newspaper."

"Monique!" Kim blurted out, shocked and hurt.

The look on Monique's face showed she realized what she'd said. "Oh, Kim, honey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it sound that way."

"But what if that's how they respond?" Kim asked. "What if they can't accept me? What if - what if they stop loving me?"

"Kim, anything's possible for a Possible - except your family not loving each other."

Kim shook her head anxiously. "I can't assume anything. Ron said some things - I don't think he could handle the truth. And I didn't lie to you, but I lied to him. Right to his face."

"Kim, do you realize how big a part of his life you are? I don't think he could go on not being your best friend."

"What about - "

"What?"

"What about you?" Kim asked softly.

Monique blinked, then smiled. "Kim, I'm the last person who's going to play the bigotry card."

The look of hope and gratitude on Kim's face nearly broke Monique's heart. "You're not freaked out or embarrassed or anything?"

"It was a surprise, Kim, I won't lie to you. But this is the twenty-first century. I think the idea that homosexuality is wrong went out of style sometime in the 1990s."

Kim finally smiled. "I wish I could hug you right now."

"Why don't you hug that fireball you've been spotted with instead?"

Kim's smile vanished. "God, Shego," she groaned.

"Now what?"

"She was there when I told Ron nothing was going on between us. She didn't take it very well."

Monique nodded. "I think maybe you've got some explaining AND some apologizing to do," she suggested.

"I would apologize for the rest of 2004 if it kept them in my lives," Kim said.

"What about Wade? Do you want me to tell him or - "

"No, it's my job to tell him," Kim sighed.

"You want me to soften him up a little first?" Monique asked.

"That would be nice."

Monique smiled. "Anything for my girl. Just don't tell Shego I said that. She strikes me as the jealous type."

"You have no idea," Kim agreed.

"Hey, KP?"

"Yes?"

"A lot of people love you. I'd trust in that," Monique said quietly.

Kim nodded. "I'll try."

When Monique signed off, the cockpit screen remained black, except for a blinking white dot in the center. "Kim."

"Yes, Sappho." Kim could have predicted that Sappho, ever loyal to Shego, would react to her conversation with Monique.

" . . . I can't predict how forgiving Shego will be," Sappho finally told her. "But I'd be willing to put in a good word for you, if you want."

Kim stared. "You mean it?"

"My circuits are convinced that you've suffered as much as Shego has, if not more so. And you do seem to be operating under a high level of systems overload."

"I think I've had a few short circuits lately," Kim said.

The white dot, ominously, turned red. "Do you think I will meet this Bonnie person?"

"I doubt it. I'm hoping we don't see her again while we're here."

"That may be best," the ship replied. "Dr. Freeman would be displeased if I landed on her." It was easy to talk tough about Kim earlier, but you couldn't plan your revenge when you were reduced to pathetically blubbering into her throw pillows, a letter crumpled in your fist.

"Josh," Bonnie wept. "You can't leave me. I don't want to be alone again." He knew she wasn't good at making friends. He was her home, her refuge. And now she suddenly had all this additional closet space. Because he'd packed his things and left by the time she came home.

The letter threw her a sop in the form of the words "I still love you", but mostly it reeked of disappointment. Everybody but Josh thought she was the queen bitch, but Josh had finally seen the light. She couldn't be the one for him if she was capable of such malice toward another human being.

Of course he couldn't see that Kim had deserved it. She was such a goody-two-shoes, she had everyone believing she was the victim, the underdog. When Bonnie tried to defend herself from Kim's smarmy perfection, suddenly she was the bad guy.

She knew she'd dealt a permanent chink to Kim's armor, but Bonnie didn't know what else there was she could do. If mad scientists couldn't hurt Kim Possible, how could a ballet dancer?

The phone rang, and Bonnie nearly fell off the couch. She half-ran, half-crawled to the phone and picked up the receiver. "Josh?" she asked breathlessly.

"Why do you like this boy so much? That's all he is, a boy."

Bonnie slammed the phone down. That stupid, lovesick professor! How dare he break into her apartment, try to turn Josh into a caveman? Bonnie had tons of blame to hand out, and Professor Dementor could have some!

The phone rang again, and she ignored it. For a few rings anyway. "What if it's Josh?" she worried, agonized, as the phone continued to ring. About to scream, she picked it up again.

"Don't hang up, Miss Rockwaller!"

She did scream now. She tried to express her frustration and rage with a cry, and basically succeeded. "Leave me alone, you lazy-eyed fart!"

"My dear, I am the only thing keeping you from being turned into a slack-jawed ape like the rest of the world."

"So now you're threatening me? You're really sticking to the Stalker's Playbook, aren't you?"

"It is not a threat, Miss Rockwaller. I am trying to protect you. Soon everyone on Earth won't even have a working vocabulary because of me. I am offering you a way out."

"Look, you deranged psycho, I am having a really bad day!"

"Oh, I am so very sorry to hear that! Was it Kim Possible?"

She stopped. "Well, sort of."

"How true! You can't imagine all the bad days I've had because of that goody-goody."

"Oh, I can imagine," Bonnie growled. "I went to high school with her."

"Hm, perhaps. Like it or not, it's something we have in common - we're both sick and tired of Kim Possible."

She growled at the phone, but her anger at Kim was greater even than her anger at the Professor. "I guess," she said sullenly.

"How has she hurt you?"

"Because of HER - and you! - I broke up with my boyfriend today. And if you say one word about how happy you are to hear that, I'll reach through that phone and rip your tongue out!"

"Would you like to get some coffee?"

"NO!!!"

"How about Ms. Possible? Would you like to get her?"

Bonnie hesitated. "Get her how?"

"Why, get her back, of course."

"You're not going to turn her into a Cro-Magnon again, are you?"

"No, er, I think I've seen enough of her as a Homo Erectus."

The word "homo" made her think of what Kim must be going through right now as she dealt with the fallout of her exposure, and a gloating laugh bubbled up in her throat. "So what then?" she asked.

"I was thinking - a field trip." "Monique's completely right, Kim," Wade assured her. "Ron's going to be more upset about the lie than about your sexuality."

"He doesn't like Shego," Kim pointed out. "If I tell him we're dating, his head might explode."

"If Ron sees you and Shego happy together, he'll accept it . . . Kim, I'm getting a red alert on your site."

"What's the sitch?" she asked.

"It's from - Josh?"

"Josh? Wait, we asked him to let us know if they heard from Professor Dementor. Maybe Josh knows where he is."

"Well, all he's saying here is that he needs to meet with you ASAP."

"Where does he want to meet?"

Wade glanced away for a second. "It looks like - he says he knows you're working on the Harvard theft, so he's on the campus. He's probably no more than a few minutes from your ship."

"I can't meet him here. With my luck, Shego will come back and see us together. That won't make things any easier. Tell him - there are some benches near the research lab building where Justine works. I can find him there."

"Got it."

Kim was already getting up to leave. Having her secret accepted by both Monique and Wade had reintroduced life into her system. "Sappho, if Shego and Ron come back, tell them I'll be back soon. And Wade?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe you and I can double date some time. I will see you in person."

"How about the three of you pretend you're all with me?"

"Geek."

Kim was in a hurry for some good news, but she was limping a little, and Josh beat her there. Even from a distance she could tell he was troubled. Josh Mankey had always struck her as a very centered person, but from the look of him, his equilibrium was a little off. "Hey, Josh," she said as she approached.

"I never did get to really thank you for taking that shot for me," he said unhappily, taking in her appearance.

She shrugged. "No big. Not like I've never been transformed while fighting the big bad guys. Got turned into a monkey once, you know."

"Really. That must have freaked Stoppable out."

"Not as much as my latest transformation will," Kim thought. "Wade said this was urgent?"

He nodded. "Yeah, uh, I'm not sure how to begin. Have - have you heard any rumors going around recently? About you?"

Kim sighed. "You mean, that I'm a lesbian?"

"Bonnie started it," he replied.

"I already know," she told him. "Wade peeked inside her email. How did you know?"

Josh shrugged. "Does it matter?"

"No. No, I guess it doesn't." She looked at him. "Is that why you came, to tell me Bonnie's behind yet another scheme to embarrass me?"

"I wanted you to know how strongly I disapprove of what she did to you, Kim," Josh said firmly. "It was cruel, especially considering what you did for me last night. That dinner - boy, it was a disaster, but if you hadn't been there, that lunatic would have turned me into a living museum exhibit. In fact . . . Bonnie and I broke up over it."

Kim gasped. "You split up?!"

"Yeah. I told her I couldn't go on living with someone that could be so vicious. I always knew Bonnie had a short temper and a long memory, but I thought she went too far."

"Wow." Kim chuckled. "I never would have pictured you two together until Monique told me about it."

"Don't get me wrong, we've had great times together. We even exchanged the 'L' word a few months back."

"Wait, you're in love with her?"

"I am. Or at least, I was."

"You don't strike me as the kind of man who can turn his feelings off like a light switch, Josh."

Josh scowled. "I don't know, Kim. Bonnie really threw me off my game today. Maybe I've just learned a lesson the hard way."

"Gee, maybe you and I should go on a few dates," Kim joked. "Dispel all those rumors in an instant."

He looked at her thoughtfully. "There was a time when you would have liked that," he said.

She froze. "I was just kidding, Josh. I mean, you just broke up with someone you were in love with."

"Maybe I'd like to forget about her," Josh said almost belligerently.

Oh, shit. He was serious.

It was, of course, true. She had been head over heels for Josh Mankey for the longest time. Even now, she thought he was even more attractive than he had been in high school. And obviously he hadn't changed from the cool and sweet guy she knew back then - except for the bitterness on his face today, that is.

If Kim was ever going to take the easy way out just once in her life, this was it. She could begin a torrid romance with Josh. Her parents and Ron would never know that Kim had once gone out with another woman. Wade and Monique knew, but Kim could trust them not to repeat it to anyone. And boy, would she be sticking it to Bonnie!

And as a sign of her confusion regarding her sexuality, she was still undeniably attracted to the man sitting across from her.

Slowly Kim reached a hand out and squeezed one of his. "Josh," she began carefully.

Then she stopped. Something was missing, and she knew exactly what it was.

A spark. A sign of the connection she shared with Shego. It wasn't there. It wasn't the same. She . . .

Kim pulled her hand away. Dear God, what insanity had she been thinking?! Could she really be that selfish? She couldn't even imagine how much it would hurt Shego if Kim threw away their relationship because being gay was "too hard". It wasn't just that on some level, Kim could never be as happy with Josh as she knew she could be with Shego. It was also that this relationship would only hurt everyone. Josh was obviously on the rebound, perhaps seeking Kim out because it would hurt Bonnie the most. Shego would be utterly devastated, and Kim could only wonder at the cruel irony - so far, it was always the "good girl" who seemed to end up hurting the "bad girl". And Kim? Kim would have to live with knowing that she'd willingly surrendered a chance at something great for something easy. If she could do something like that, then she might as well hang her Kimmunicator right now.

"Kim?" Josh asked, confused.

"Josh," she finally said, "if you and I started dating, we'd be doing it to get back at Bonnie, and then we'd be guilty of the same crime she is."

He gaped at her. "We dated in high school, Kim. It's not like I'm not interested."

"I'm flattered that you are, Josh. But I really think you need to work this out with Bonnie." Strangely enough, in some small way Kim could empathize with her tormentor. Obviously Kim was capable of the same mistakes Bonnie had made. "Maybe she did what she did because she was scared. Because she loves you. When people get scared, sometimes they hurt other people. Believe me, I know."

Josh folded his arms. "You're not the same as Bonnie."

"I certainly hope not," she agreed. "But I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't tell you that you should give your love another chance before you move on. I appreciate your support, I really do. It's nice to see a guy who isn't afraid to be sensitive. But what about you? Before today, had Bonnie ever hurt you?"

His arms dropped as he frowned. "Well, no, not really."

"Then Bonnie's a better person than I am, because I've hurt people I care about. I didn't want to hurt them, but I did. Maybe you should focus on how much Bonnie really feels for you."

"Do - do you think?" he asked uncertainly.

She nodded. "Besides," Kim added, "you should know. I'm seeing someone else."

"What? Oh! Oh hell, Kim, I apologize. Why didn't you say so before?"

"Because . . . you had dinner with her last night."

"Stoppable?!" Then he blinked. "Dinner with her? Shego? You mean the rumor's true?!"

Kim sighed. "I don't think you'd want to be seen in public with a freak like me, Josh."

Josh's astonishment grew. "A freak? Kim, I don't think being gay makes you a freak. Different, sure. But certainly not in a bad way." Then, impossibly, he grinned. "There are millions of red-blooded American males who'd say it's a good kind of different."

"Ugh!" she groaned.

"KP!"

Kim and Josh looked around and spotted Ron jogging over. "Ron, where's Shego?" she asked.

"Shego? She ran off a minute ago. She saw you two together and decided she'd just go on ahead to the ship. Don't take it personally, Josh," he told Mankey. "Shego doesn't seem to do well in groups."

"Wait," Kim said urgently. "She saw us sitting here, and she took off?"

Ron nodded. "Yup."

It was almost like a blackboard and chalk in Kim's brain. Kim Josh holding hands hurt, jealous Shego = total disaster.

Kim's limp vanished as she bolted from her bench and ran in Sappho's direction as fast as she could.

Ron blinked, then turned to Josh. "What did I say?"

To be continued . . .

Author's Note: What did Shego see exactly? How will she react? What will Kim do? I'm afraid you'll have to wait until Chapter Seven.

Also, a couple people have pointed out that Sappho is practically the only speaking part in my story that never appeared on the show. Since you asked, if I had to cast an actress to voice the role, I would choose Jane Krakowski, who played Elaine on Ally McBeal. That's who I hear when I imagine Sappho speaking.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Was all of that really necessary?"

"What?" Shego asked, irritated. Ron Stoppable had never struck her as anything more than a mediocrity trying to be special, but he had rubbed her every last nerve wrong today. Perhaps it was because Kim wasn't here to intercept his foolish rambling . . .

It was because of Kim, but not because she was a buffer between Shego and the sidekick-for-life. It was because Kim had lied to Ron, denied any trace of feeling for Shego that the raven-haired warrior knew to be there, because she was afraid of losing his friendship.

If losing Ron was more important than losing her, Shego thought Kim could frigging have him.

"We searched his apartment, and he wasn't there."

"And?"

"You froze his books."

"I was marking my territory," Shego said, sniffing. "If he ever goes back, he'll know it was me."

"And his bed!"

"He shall know no rest until I hunt him down."

"And then you broke into his college office, and when we couldn't find any sign of where he's hiding there, you froze his office walls!"

"He's a fugitive from justice. I doubt the university will complain."

"Shego, we were still inside when you did it. You had to kick out a window before we could leave," Ron said dryly.

Shego growled. "Are you disputing my methods?"

"Oh, uh, no, of course not," Ron replied, laughing nervously. "Perfectly proper and sane methods." He leaned down and put one hand in front of his lips. "She's nuts," he muttered to Rufus.

"Mmm-hmm," Rufus agreed.

"I can hear you," Shego said angrily.

Ron's cheeks turned red. "Sorry. I guess you have a right to be mad."

"You're goddamn right I have a reason to be mad," she retorted.

"I mean, I guess I didn't think about it before, but thanks to Dementor's little home invasion, Bonnie was spreading lies about you too."

She stiffened. "What?"

"Well, it was obvious that you were the 'other girl' Bonnie was talking about."

"Have you EVER known me to care what other people think of me?" Shego snapped.

"What about your villainous reputation?" he asked.

"Obviously that's no longer a concern of mine," Shego said. "And what is this a concern of yours? Would YOU care if I was a lesbian?"

Ron thought about that for a moment as they continued walking back to where Sappho was. "Not really," he replied. "It's your life. Although you'd break a lot of guys' hearts."

"I'd break a lot more if some guy asked me out," Shego muttered. She looked at him. "What about Kim?"

"What about her?"

"What if she told you she really was involved with another woman?"

"With you? Uh, did you know you can't spell 'Shego' without E-G-O?"

Shego's hand visibly shook as she restrained herself from tearing his face off. "Someone else then," she said tightly. "Like the Oryx. What if Kim told you that she and Oryx - "

"You mean Monique."

"Whoever. What if they told you they were dating?"

"But she likes boys."

"What if she changed her mind?" Shego almost shrieked. Did he have to always be this dense?!

Ron scratched his head. "If this were some sort of freaky alternate world, and Kim told me she was dating another girl? I guess . . ."

"You'd label her a freak and push her away?" Shego said in an accusatory tone of voice.

"No! What, are you kidding? I could never do that to KP! Sure, it'd be a big surprise - I remember all those days in high school that she was crazy about Josh - "

Shego nearly bit through her tongue when his name was mentioned.

"But I'd have to support her decision, if that was what she really wanted," Ron continued. "I think she'd need me more than ever."

"Need you?"

He nodded. "I saw a couple kids who never knew a moment's peace in high school after they came out of the closet. People like Bonnie, or Brick - they'd never let those kids hear the end of it. Kim, she tried to help, but she had so much else on her plate." Ron sighed. "And of course, Mr. Barkin, military man - he thought it was a warped lifestyle. He let those kids fend for themselves."

Shego stopped him. "But she's not in high school any more."

"Shego, do you ever read the papers? When your name isn't in them, anyway? It wouldn't just be that way in high school. It'd follow Kim her whole life." Ron frowned. "And as for her parents . . ."

"What about them?"

"Look, Shego, I realize I don't know anything about you and your parents," Ron began.

Shego was stunned. She assumed Kim had told Ron. They were best friends, after all. All right, so Kim had promised she wouldn't tell anyone, but - why hadn't she believed her? Didn't she trust Kim yet?

Why should you?, a voice in her head said. She betrayed you last night, didn't she?

Her heart hardened, and she almost didn't hear the rest of what Ron had to say. "But by now, you must understand how much her parents mean to her. There's no one in the world she admires more. All right, there was this period for a couple years where they embarrassed her, but what teenager isn't?" he asked rhetorically.

Shego only nodded, having never had parents to be embarrassed by.

"And I knew kids in the English program at college who were disowned by their parents after they told them the truth," Ron said. "They left their homes, and suddenly they weren't their homes any more because they weren't allowed to live there any more. Personally, I think Dr. and Mrs. Dr. P would support her, but Kim can't know that for sure. I know if I had a secret like that, I'd be terrified of losing my parents. Which, as I was trying to say, is why she'd need me to be there for her."

He looked into Shego's eyes. "She'd need you too, Shego. She's told me more than once how she depends on you."

Shego trembled and looked away. "I'm only here to stop Dementor," she mumbled.

Ron shrugged. "Then it's a good thing she's not gay then, huh?"

She lowered her head, hiding her eyes behind her hair. "Yeah."

They walked on silently for a minute. "Hey, I think I see KP," Ron said suddenly as they made their way through the campus, shading his eyes with one hand.

"What?" she asked, looking up. Maybe, just maybe, she was being a little too hard on Kim. She knew how Kim continued to labor under a host of expectations and responsibilities . . .

"So much for doctor's orders," Ron muttered. "Hey, is that Josh with her?"

"Josh?" Shego asked, stopping in her tracks. She squinted in the direction Ron was looking.

And there was Kim, sitting across from her old flame.

Holding his hand.

Obviously sharing a personal moment.

Shego's heart lurched in her chest. "No," she whispered.

"Maybe he's thanking her for last night," Ron said, not bothering to look at Shego behind him. "Or maybe he took one look at Bonnie and Kim and remembered who the real catch was. Way to go, KP," he added quietly. "That would help put an end to the - rumors?"

He had turned around, and Shego was gone. "Shego?"

Rufus tugged on his pants and agitatedly pointed in the direction they'd been headed. Ron looked and saw the familiar blotch of green and black shrinking in the distance. "Shego!"

"I'm going back to the ship!"

Ron looked perplexed. "You know, Rufus, I don't think she likes Josh."

"Uh-huh." Shego stormed up the ramp into Sappho's interior, hot tears running down her cheeks. Life with the "other woman" was obviously just too hard for Kimmie. Why disappoint your parents when you can bring home the hunky guy?

"I can't do this any more," she whispered dully. "Dementor goes down for what he tried, and then I go. And I don't need Drakken. All I need is myself."

"Shego? Where are the others?" Sappho's voice became concerned. "Shego? Is something wrong?"

Shego didn't reply. Why was it this spaceship was the only thing that seemed to care about her any more?

"Is this because of Ron?" Sappho now asked sympathetically.

"What? Ron?" Shego raised an eyebrow. "Well, I guess, sort of, but it's more about Jo - hey, why would you say Ron?"

"Well," Sappho said cautiously, "you know, you, Kim, this secret you're keeping from Ron?"

"We've been keeping it from him for weeks, Sappho. Why would you think it's bothering me now?"

"Because of what Kim said."

"And what did she say?"

"I wouldn't want to say I was eavesdropping," Sappho told her, "but I overheard her conversation earlier with Monique."

"Um, that IS eavesdropping."

"Perhaps, but I wouldn't want to say it was."

Shego blinked. Computers were really strange.

"At any rate, Kim was telling Monique about how she'd lied to Ron, and how she couldn't lie any - "

"Ah-bubuhbuhbuhbuh-uh," Shego said, interrupting her. "Hold on. Kim told the Oryx what exactly?"

"I believe Oryx is only her - "

"I know it's just a code name!" Shego retorted. "I just want to know what they said!"

Sappho didn't answer at first. "Shego?"

"Sappho, please," Shego said. "What - did - Kim - say?"

"Well, she told Monique - Oryx - that you and she were having a relationship, and that she had lied about it to Ron, and that it was tearing her up inside."

Shego stared at the viewscreen of the ship, which was for all intents and purposes the face of Sappho. "She said what?" she croaked.

"Kim told Monique," Sappho said gently, "that you and Kim were involved. With each other."

Inexplicably, Shego's knees buckled and her legs gave out from underneath her. She landed on one hand and didn't even feel it.

"Shego!" Sappho said anxiously.

"She told. She told," Shego whispered.

"Yes, she told her, Shego. And she was considering telling Ron, but she was afraid of how he would react when he learned she had lied to him. Monique was of the opinion that Ron ought to be told."

Shego looked up, her eyes round. "Monique - are they still friends?"

"Well, yes, I believe they are. Why wouldn't they be? Kim also told Wade the truth, and he was also quite supportive. They were surprised, but supp - "

"She told the dweeb too?!"

"I really don't think that's appropriate, Shego. From what I'm told this Wade knows a great deal about computers, and as you might imagine, computers like myself are quite fond of that kind of person," Sappho corrected her.

Shego shook her head. "I don't understand. Why did she tell them?"

Sappho sighed. "She seemed to think that when she lied to Ron, she hurt you very much. If this is true, then it was very wrong of her to treat you so, but it appeared to have hurt her just as much."

"But - but Josh! I saw them together just a minute ago! She was holding his hand, sharing a tender moment!"

"Josh contacted Wade with urgent news. Kim agreed to meet him, hoping he knew the whereabouts of Professor Dementor," Sappho informed her. "As for their holding hands, I may only be a spacecraft, but it is my understanding that people hold hands even if they're just friends. Perhaps you saw romance where there was only affection? Perhaps because she hurt you once before?"

Shego sat there, open-mouthed. Was that it? Was it a friendly gesture, nothing more?

Didn't she trust Kim yet?

Why should you?

Well, if what Sappho said about Oryx and Wade was true, then that was a big fricking reason right there!

"Sappho," Shego said, hating the pleading tone in her voice. "Everything you just told me - it's true, right?"

"I never lie," Sappho replied, sounding slightly offended. "Well, all right, when Dr. Freeman asks if he needs to lose ten pounds, then I lie. But I can't help it, he'd be so sad if I told him it was more like twenty . . ."

Shego didn't hear the rest. She dropped her face into her hands and softly wept.

Sappho waited for a few moments when she observed this. "Shego, is everything all right?"

"Yeah, I just - I think I just finally started to trust Kim," she said, in a tone of near wonder.

"Well, she's going to be here any second."

Her head snapped up. "Kim?"

"She appears to be approaching at a high rate of velocity. I thought she was injured?"

Shego staggered to her feet. "Uh, shit, I need a minute." She raced into another room.

Kim banged on the hull outside fifteen seconds later. "Damn it, Sappho, let me in!"

"You don't need to be rude," Sappho said.

"Sappho!"

"I am having a problem with the door mechanism. I shall have to ask Dr. Freeman to look at it when we return home."

Kim's pressed her palms tightly against the ship. "Is Shego - she's inside? Is she making you keep me out?"

"No, it's just - ah, there we are!" The door slid open, and Kim stumbled through to find Shego sitting calmly, eyeing Kim without emotion.

"Shego, I - " Kim began to say.

Then the adrenaline seemed to leave her body all at once. Suddenly exhausted, she almost fainted.

"Kim!"

Shego caught her before she hit the floor.

"Nothing was going on," Kim mumbled, her eyelids fluttering. "Ron - he said you saw - "

"I believe you," Shego whispered, all plans to put up a pretense of anger vanishing. Damn it, was she always going to turn to mush like this around Kim Possible?

Kim opened her eyes fully and looked up at Shego. "I told Josh about us," she said. "He was trying to be nice, like he always does."

Shego didn't really care. Josh would always be beneath her notice. "Look, Kim - "

"I'm going to tell Ron," Kim said softly. "If he hates me, fine, but - "

"He won't hate you," Shego said.

"If he hates me," Kim went on stubbornly, "I'll still have you. But I never realized I could be as cruel to you as I was last night. I'm - I'm a selfish, horrible person, Shego."

"You were scared," Shego countered. "It even happens to me sometimes - albeit very rarely. And I think you should wait until after we catch Dementor to tell Stoppable. Fewer distractions means faster pummeling."

Kim stared at her. "You want me to wait?!"

Shego nodded.

"Then - can you forgive me?" Kim whispered.

"I think," Shego murmured, "I forgave you before you even crashed through that door."

Kim turned her head and cried into Shego's torso. One arm came over and clutched fiercely at Shego's waist.

Shego didn't say anything at first. It was appalling, really, that they were both turning into such bawling weaklings over this. I mean, hello? Losers!

And yet it seemed to be worth it.

Besides, she was the wronged party here. She could get something out of this.

"Kimmie," Shego said when Kim had calmed down, "you're going to have to do something for me."

Kim looked up. "I'll do anything," she promised.

"Good." She leaned down and whispered something in her ear.

Kim's cheeks had been red, but now the color drained from them. "You're not serious!"

"Deadly serious."

"But what's Ron going to say?"

"Well, if he's like any other guy on the planet, I'm thinking, 'Thank you, God'?"

"Shego!" Kim got a crafty look in her eyes for a second as she sat up, and then her eyes became round and woeful as a sad expression appeared on her face.

Shego just stared at her. "What," she asked, "is that?"

"It's, um, my puppy-dog face. My mother uses it on me all the time when she wants me to do something."

"All right, stop it. You're starting to remind me of Drakken now, and that is a very, very disturbing thought."

Kim groaned. "What do I say when Ron asks why?"

Shego smiled triumphantly. "I gave you a cover story." "So you and Josh aren't getting back together?" Ron asked a half hour later.

"Nope," Kim said. "I might have even talked him into giving Bonnie a chance to explain what she did."

"Ugh, why?" Shego grumbled.

"Hey, that was my line!" Ron said. "Ugh, why?"

Kim smiled. "Because he loves her, that's why."

"His taste in women stinks," Shego muttered. Unlike yours, she thought. A grin played across her face.

"But we're still no closer to finding Dementor now," Ron said.

"Incoming transmission from Wade," Sappho interrupted.

"Put it on the big screen," Kim said. "Wade, what's the sitch?"

Wade looked at the three of them. "You guys all right?" he asked hesitantly.

Ron was the only person there who didn't know what he was talking about, and the blank look showed it. "Why wouldn't we be all right?" Ron asked.

"Wade, have we found the Professor?" Kim's expression suggested quite strongly that he talk about Dementor and nothing else.

"Maybe," he said quickly. "Believe it or not, we got a hit - from Bonnie."

"I'd like to give her a hit," Shego snarled. "Several, in fact."

"Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm," Ruby piped up.

"What does Bonnie want?" Kim asked sardonically, folding her arms. "An apology?"

"Actually, she says that Dementor called her with grandiose promises to save her from the attack he was preparing to unleash on the city," Wade told them.

"By what, shooting a million people with a laser, one person at a time?" Kim asked.

"Beats me. But she heard some loud noises in the background, and Bonnie says they sounded a lot like animals."

"What kind of animals?" Shego asked.

"The big kinds. Lions and tigers and elephants."

"Is the circus in town?" Ron asked.

"I checked. No circus."

"But there IS a zoo," Kim said.

"Does that time ray work on other animals beside humans?" Wade asked.

"Justine told us they've tested it on animals, and it turned them into their evolutionary ancestors," Kim told him.

"Then maybe he's going to turn the zoo into his own personal Jurassic Park," Shego realized. "Let's get him!"

"No, we wait until nightfall," Kim decided. "If we go while the zoo is open, people could get hurt. Lots of people. Better if the only one who gets hurt is Dementor. Thanks, Wade. Get me all the data you can on the zoo in Boston."

"I'll get right on it," he assured her before signing off.

"Well," Shego said calmly, "I guess we'd better suit up."

Kim sighed and headed for the room where they kept their bags.

A few minutes later, they heard an outraged shriek from that room. Shego thought it not entirely convincing, but then she knew the truth. Ron didn't, and he seemed to believe it as he leapt to his feet. "KP!"

Kim stormed back out. "Where are my clothes?" she demanded as she glared at Shego.

Shego looked quizzical.

"I was wearing my mission clothes last night."

"And they got torn during your transformation," Shego reminded her.

"Which is why I always bring a spare."

"So?"

"My spare is missing."

Shego shrugged. "Maybe you should have asked your mother to pack for you."

Kim glared at her. "You hid them, didn't you? Just like you hid my bathing suit on Senior Senior's island!"

Ron gaped at Shego. "You stole her bathing suit? Um, why?"

"She had another one," Shego told him, smirking.

"Yes, and by coincidence, I do happen to have another outfit for tonight," Kim growled. "A different one. Just like that bathing suit was different."

Shego looked doubtful. "Well, I did throw those old mission clothes in the incinerator earlier. Maybe I took the spare by accident?"

"The incinerator?!"

"But what's the problem?" Shego asked. "Like you said, you have a backup."

Kim delivered a smoldering glare at Shego before stomping out.

"What are you trying to pull here?" Ron asked her.

"Just trying to get Kimmie to try a little variety," Shego said.

Kim returned a couple minutes later, and Ron's jaw almost hit the floor.

Shego thought Kim's figure was wasted in those drab cargo pants and boring top. As she looked at Kim dressed in the skin-tight green and black unitard, Shego moved slightly behind Ron so she could openly admire Kim's legs. She was forcibly reminded of that day in Kim's bedroom when she tried on Shego's outfit the last time, and how good it felt to touch Kim. Shego felt her body temperature spike upward as she realized she wanted to touch Kim again.

Kim was blushing furiously when she came out, but she caught the look in Shego's eye. She swallowed. No matter what Shego said, Kim wasn't sure bright green and black were her colors. But just like the last time, it felt good to slip into these clothes, and she remembered how Shego's hands had slid up and down her arms before. Her cheeks turned an even brighter shade of red.

"Where's the mind chip?" Ron asked when his brain started working again.

Shego's head snapped around and delivered a look of death at the back of Ron's head. Her hands clenched into fists.

Kim caught the change in Shego's body language and hurried forward. "No mind chip, Ron," she assured him. "Just me - and Shego's sense of humor. And ixnay on the indmay ipchay, all right?"

Ron nodded. His mouth was strangely dry. "Right, gotcha."

Shego's gloved hand reached up to brush imaginary lint off Kim's shoulder, and as Kim felt a jolt run through her, nothing like she'd felt when she held Josh's hand, she knew she'd made the right decision. Even if it meant being dressed like this.

Shego smiled lazily at her, and Kim couldn't help smiling back.

Oh yes, especially if it meant being dressed like this.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 8

Bonnie shivered as she lay in bed. The room wasn't especially cold, but the bed was empty. She felt Josh's absence keenly. This wasn't him being gone for a day or two. This was what forever felt like.

That wasn't the only thing. Now that she'd had a few hours to think about it, she was beginning to regret doing what Dementor had suggested. She'd wanted to hurt Kim Possible very badly, and Dementor had offered to take care of it for her. And she wanted Kim to hurt! She wanted her to suffer for what had happened to her!

But Bonnie was thinking more along the lines of humiliation and emotional heartache. Now that she'd collected her wits, it had occurred to her that Dementor's idea of hurting Kim very badly was something along the lines of - well, hurting her badly. As in putting her in the hospital, maybe even . . . killing her?

Bonnie didn't mind if people thought she was a bitch. She worked hard to create that impression in high school. "Bitch" and "accomplice to murder" were two very different things, however. And she suspected that if she had any hope of winning Josh back, helping a convicted felon inflict serious bodily harm on another person would, if discovered, skewer whatever chance she had left.

She was paralyzed by inertia, however. She seemingly lacked the energy to breathe through her nostrils, much less pick up the phone and - what? Tell Kim she was walking into a trap?

Proactively helping Kim didn't seem to be a motivational force for her.

Then there was an insistent knock on the front door. Bonnie groaned and shoved her head under her pillow.

But they weren't going away, and they knocked again.

She hissed as she rolled out of bed, wearing her blanket around her shoulders like it was a stole. Probably the police, come to take her to prison. Let them. She'd never see Josh again.

Bonnie opened the door and gasped.

"Hey," Josh said.

"Josh," she whispered. "Why didn't you let yourself in?"

"Left my keys behind, remember?"

Bonnie unwillingly turned her head to look at the little table by the door. She hadn't even realized they were still there. "Does that mean you - want to come in?" she asked hesitantly.

He nodded after a moment. "Mind if we talk?"

"No!" Her vehemence startled them both. "I mean, no, please come in." She sounded needy. She sounded desperate. She sounded pathetic.

She was.

Bonnie sank onto the couch. Josh stood over her. She sensed a lecture.

"Christ, Bonnie," he finally sighed. "Why can't you treat everyone else the same way you treat me?"

"Hey, this is who I am," she surprised herself by arguing. "This was me in high school. This is me now. You knew that when we started dating. What, couldn't take it any more?"

"What I couldn't take," Josh replied, "is how you wear one face outside and another when we're alone. I used to give you the benefit of the doubt, you know. I thought - the snarky elitist bitch who tears people down in dinner party conversations and never tips her waitress, she's just the facade, just some role she learned from her parents. She's not the sweet girl I love coming home to. After this last stunt, though, I'm not sure. Maybe I'm the one you're playing."

"Josh, no," Bonnie said quickly. "I was always real with you."

"And when I'm not around, you're what - fake? I've heard you rip 'friends' apart when their backs were turned. It made me wonder what you said about me when I wasn't there. I've wondered about a lot of things, Bonnie. This last thing, I just decided to stop wondering and start believing. You're not a very nice person, are you?"

Bonnie wanted to defend herself. She'd never talked about him behind his back. Well, okay, little things, but what girl didn't? But he'd asked a question, and he did so value honesty in a relationship. "No," she said. "I'm not. I thought you accepted that."

"Maybe I shouldn't have."

"Josh," she said despairingly, "what is this? Why are you here? If I'm so evil, then why didn't you just keep on walking?"

Josh looked at her. "Because I still love you, Bonnie."

Her head dropped and a tear spilled from her eye. "I love you too, Josh," she said. "But does that make a difference?"

"I don't know," he told her. "Maybe if you could just give me a sign that other people's feelings mean something to you. That you want people to just be your sycophants and your servants. That to you, compassion isn't just a word."

She stared at him. "Do you really think I'm that heartless?"

"You're the one who said you're not a nice person."

"Guess I have to be a do-gooder like Kim Possible," she said, spitting out the words venomously.

"If you still think you have to compete with her, then yeah, I guess you do. I forgot - in your world, everyone else is your enemy, someone who has to be beaten and - "

"Will you please STOP IT?!" she screamed. "You say you love me, and yet you just come here so you can say cruel things to me!"

His cheeks turned red, but he refused to look away. "What do you know? Now you know how you make everyone else feel," he retorted.

"Fine!" she shouted. "You want the good girl? You want Ms. Nice Guy? Then go to the fucking zoo! Because - "

"The zoo?" Josh asked, bewildered. "Bonnie, what are you talking about?"

She stopped. Bonnie looked into his eyes. "You want nice?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Kim Possible is at the city zoo looking for Dementor. But she's walking into an ambush. And she needs you more than I do right now." Bonnie trembled. "Is THAT nice enough for you?"

Josh grew pale as he listened to what she was saying. "Oh God," he said.

Suddenly exhausted, Bonnie stood up. "I hope you find the girl you're looking for," she said as she headed back to their - correction, her bedroom, dragging her blanket behind her. "No matter what else you thought, I always wanted to make you happy."

Then she slammed the door behind her, choking back a sob.

He stared at the door. "Maybe I just did," he muttered.

With that, Josh whirled around and ran for the door."Point in favor of my outfit," Shego muttered as she and Kim helped Ron over the fence. "Less chance of that happening."

"I'll have you know Kim never had her pants ripped off by her grappling gun," Ron said as they pulled him over. "Kim, don't listen to her. Stick with what works!"

"Ron's just afraid I'm going to start making him wear this," Kim said as she adjusted her tights.

"I remember what Junior looked like in green and black," Ron reminded them. "It wasn't flattering."

"Don't worry, Stoppable," Shego said. "I refuse to allow your freckled butt anywhere near my signature look."

"At least it got the mole rats over," Kim said as she offered Ron back his pants. "And I think the old look works best for me."

"Mmm-hmm," Shego said lazily as she looked at Kim.

Kim blushed. She'd felt Shego's eyes avidly taking in every inch of her body since they left. And she'd enjoyed it! Her cheeks turned even redder.

She really didn't want to change her look for future missions, but maybe this outfit had more personal uses - snap out of it, Possible! You're here to stop Dementor!

"Let's find the Professor before he uses that ray gun again," Kim said.

"Should we split up?" Shego asked.

"And risk one of us running smack into a killer ape from twenty million B.C.? I don't think so."

"Apes," Ron said, dread written on his face.

They ran down darkened pathways that ran between empty habitats. Birds flapped their wings nervously as they ran past, then settled back down to sleep.

"Where's the late-night shift?" Kim wondered aloud. "The security?"

"Where are the animals?" Ron asked.

"Dementor's probably got them tied up somewhere," Shego said.

"He tied up all the animals?" Ron gasped. "The fiend!"

"She means the zookeepers, Ron," Kim sighed. "The animals are kept indoors at night, probably."

"Oh. Yeah, that'd make more sense."

"Well, well, if it isn't Team Passable, with guest appearance by the girl who's gone soft."

They all froze as Professor Dementor's mocking voice rolled across the property, amplified by loudspeakers so that it echoed everywhere. "I am NOT soft!" Shego yelled.

"Forget it, Shego," Kim said. "I'd ask you to show your face, Dementor, but I'm thinking there's a really good reason you wear a mask, and frankly I don't want to know why."

"Oh, the great Kim Possible, always so witty, always so in love with the sound of her own voice. Well, let's see you have snappy repartee for THIS!"

The three leapt back as the front bars of one of the empty cages fell forward with a resounding crash, exposing what lay inside.

Which was nothing.

"Gee, Dementor," Kim said, "I'm speechless. Sometimes no snide remark seems enough."

Dementor sounded exasperated. "Where is the button for - a-ha! What about this?!"

The iron door at the rear of the cage slowly opened, and a pair of large yellow eyes looked out of the darkness.

Kim, Shego, and Ron all took a step back.

"What is the matter, Kim Possible? Cat got your tongue?"

"Eep!" Ruby said, ducking into Ron's pocket.

Lazily a huge form emerged from the shadows, padding lightly toward them. Its fangs gleamed in the moonlight - two in particular.

"That's a saber-tooth tiger!" Kim said, amazed. "They've been extinct for millions of years!"

"Obviously Dementor introduced one of the zoo's tigers to the wonders of modern technology," Shego growled.

The tiger roared at them. It had to be twice the size of a regular tiger. Saliva dripped from its jaws.

"Legends say the cat steals your breath. Well, this cat will steal your very last breath!"

"Ron," Kim said, "get out of here now, and find Dementor before he turns any other animals into prehistoric killing machines, okay? Or coins any more bad cat-related puns."

"But KP - "

"Do it, Stoppable!" Shego shouted at him, but she was drowned out by yet another snarl from the tiger.

Ron raised a finger, but it hung in midair. "You know, I'm sensing you gave me an order, and normally I would never take orders from you, but today I'll make an exception." Then he turned and ran in a different direction.

"Try not to order my sidekick around, Shego," Kim said.

"What's mine is mine, and what's yours is yours," Shego replied lightly. "You can definitely wear my clothes ANY time you like."

Kim muttered under her breath. "Don't kill it," she warned Shego.

"Excuse me? Hello? I believe you just referred to it as a prehistoric killing machine?!"

"It's just one of Dementor's victims, an ordinary tiger. If we can get Dementor's ray gun back, we can change it back."

Shego grunted. "Fine. But not if it makes one of us Dementor's NEXT victim."

The tiger roared a third time and leapt at Kim.

"KIM!!!"

Kim quickly drew her grappling-hook gun for the second time that night and fired it at an unlit lamppost. She let it pull her out of the way and swung about, landing on the very cage the tiger had lived in prior to its transformation.

"Thanks, leave it to me," Shego grumbled as the tiger landed on all fours, looked about in annoyance, and focused on her. She snapped her fingers, crystallizing her claws.

The tiger leapt in front of her and batted at her with massive paws. Shego ducked and dodged easily, but her claws had no affect on its thick, shaggy hide when she tried to scratch it. "Damn," she muttered.

Then Kim leapt onto its back.

The tiger arched its back and hissed, outraged at her temerity. It rolled over with a cat's grace and tried to slash at her as she was thrown off. Having already anticipated that it would attempt to buck her, however, Kim had already leapt directly upward. She evaded the claws, landed on one foot in the tiger's soft underbelly, and sprang away as the animal flinched from the pain and scrambled after her.

"This could take a long time," Kim thought as she rolled out of the tiger's way."Come on, come on, Stoppable," Ron said to himself as he ran past rows of cages and simulated natural habitats. "If you were Dementor, where would you go? Someplace you know nobody would look for you?"

He skidded to a halt. In front of him was a large sign pointing to his left with the words "Monkey House".

Ron shuddered. "I wouldn't look there, but it's not me he's afraid of," he whispered. Then he turned and ran to his right.Kim pulled back with all her might as she stood on the back of the tiger's neck and pulled back on its whiskers. Shego was underneath its bulk, trying to push its mighty jaws away from her face. The tiger slavered over Shego's body even as it tried to shed the nuisance tugging so painfully at its whiskers.

"Shego," Kim said, panicking. "Get out of there!"

"Sure, easy for you to say," Shego grunted. "You don't have a two-thousand pound cave cat on your chest. With its hot, stinky breath in your face, either!"

"Can't hold - him back - much longer!" Kim grunted.

"Just give me a few seconds' more," Shego said as she transferred one hand, then the other, so that she was now keeping the monster at bay by grasping the two "teeth" that gave the tiger its name.

Slowly the giant cat forced her to give way, until it suddenly stopped, a peculiar expression on its face.

"Sorry, kitty," Shego told it, "but you have two cavities. I'm afraid you're going to need a root canal."

Then instead of pushing, she pulled at the fangs with all her might.

Having completely frozen its tusks down to the root, they snapped off, then shattered in her hands.

The tiger reared back on its two hind legs, completely throwing a surprised Kim off. It rolled on its back over and over again, futilely pawing at its mouth in apparent agony. Turning tail, it finally fled into the cave from which it had emerged.

Panting, Kim came over and offered Shego a hand. "What the hell did you just do to it?" she asked.

Shego turned off her gloves so she could accept the gesture without freezing Kim's fingers. "I froze the sabers and broke them. Hey, when we change it back, it would have lost those tusks anyway, right?"

"No need to defend yourself from me, Shego," Kim said. "At that point, you were in grave danger. I would have killed it if I could have."

"But you said - "

"I said, your life was in danger," Kim interrupted. "If I could only save one of you, there'd be no question."

Shego nodded. "Thanks. How about we go find him now?"

"Dementor?"

"Actually, I was thinking Stoppable. He's probably lost by now. But yeah, Dementor works for me too," Shego said wickedly, flashing a smile.

"You really do think you're all that, don't you?" Kim asked.

"Don't you?"

"Come on, let's go," Kim said, avoiding the question. But she gave Shego a smile that was sufficient answer.

They hadn't run more than twenty yards, however, when Kim stopped. "Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?"

"It sounded like thunder."

"Afraid of a little lightning?" Shego asked.

They both heard the trumpeting sound, though.

"Uh-oh," Kim said.

Turning wildly around a corner, the gigantic enraged animal stampeded toward them.

"A woolly mammoth?" Shego asked, incredulous.

Seeing them, it lowered its head, pointing razor-sharp tusks at them.

"I say we run," Kim said.

Shego growled. "I hate running, but okay, Fearless Leader."

As they ran back the way they came, the Ice Age beast chasing after them, Kim looked at Shego. "Are you as sick of prehistoric animals with tusks as I am?"

"Totally. These supervillains can be so predictable.""So, you managed to dispose of my saber-toothed tiger, did you, Possible?" Dementor muttered to himself as he checked the little device he'd brought that allowed him to hack into the zoo's system of security cameras. He spotted Kim and Shego fleeing from the berserk mammoth. "Let's see how long he keeps you distracted."

"But," he added regretfully, "you may get away from him. I think one more trap may be in order."

The mad doctor looked down into the pit where the crocodiles lived. They floated lazily in the water. Their eyes, however, suggested there was nothing lazy about them. It was more like they were lying in wait.

"Oh yes," Dementor said, lifting the time ray. "Let's see how Kim Possible fares against your evolutionary ancestors."

"I was sure you'd feel right at home in the reptile house."

Dementor whirled around and got a fistful of fish food in his eyes. "Aaaah!" he shouted. "Who dares fling pellets in Professor Dementor's face?"

Ron faced him bravely. "Me."

Dementor saw him, and he chuckled. "Oh, so it's the third wheel, is it? Enjoying playing second fiddle to Shego now?"

Rufus and Ruby peeked out from their pockets to quickly stick their tongues out at Dementor, then disappeared again. They'd gone into hiding when they spotted all those big snakes. Or rather, when the snakes spotted them. And started drooling.

"You could have killed Kim with that thing," Ron said coldly. "I don't think you can be trusted with it any more."

Dementor pointed it at Ron. "And I could kill you too, eh?"

Ron raised one hand over his head, and waggled his palm in Dementor's direction. "Waaaaugh!" Ron said, showing yet again that even if he wasn't a martial-arts master, he could act like the ones on the television.

"Interesting," Dementor said. "Test subject shows a loss of ability to form coherent words, perhaps anticipating effects of time ray."

"You really want to take on Cave Ron?" Ron challenged him.

"Actually, I've changed the settings on the ray. It will set you back about, oh, two billion years?" Dementor guessed. "When it's through, you'll be a few gallons of primordial ooze."

"Eh heh, heh heh," Ron said nervously, backing away.

"Goodbye, Mr. Stoppable."

"If I gotta go out, at least I go out with one villain remembering my name," Ron replied.

"I'm not a complete idiot like that Drakken fellow," Dementor said, irritated.

"Are you sure?"

Ron and Dementor both looked around, confused. Neither had spoken.

Then the lights went out.

"KP?" Ron called. "Shego? Wade? Anybody?"

"Nobody turns the lights out on Professor Dementor," Dementor shouted. "This is MY show, and I am the one in control!"

Ron felt someone brush past him. "What the - ?"

Dementor took one hand off of the time ray so he could take his other device out. If he could access the zoo's security systems, then he could also reactivate the lighting anywhere. "A-ha!" he crowed when the lights came back on.

"Thanks," Josh Mankey said as he grabbed the time ray from Dementor's hand.

"You!" Dementor screamed, infuriated. "You, who keeps Bonnie Rockwaller from me! Must you spoil my dreams of world domination as well?!"

"Guess so," Josh said as he raised the aerosol can in his other hand and sprayed white paint into Dementor's face.

The scientist screamed and backed away, trying to clear the paint from his eyes.

"Dementor, look out!" Ron shouted.

Dementor hit the railing behind him forcefully and flipped over it. He screamed as he fell face-first into the crocodile pit.

Or rather, he fell only a few feet before Josh and Ron caught him by the ankles. "Aaah, pull me up, pull me up!" he pleaded as the crocodiles cast off their pretense and circled hungrily below him.

"Why, so you can hurt more people?!" Josh yelled.

"Maybe we should let him drop," Ron suggested.

"I don't know, the paint might make the crocodiles sick."

"After tasting HIM, the paint might be an improvement."

Dementor dropped slightly, and he shrieked."I think we lost him," Kim whispered.

"I certainly hope so," Shego said. "I remember when Commodore Puddles became a giant and sat on me. I didn't want to relive the experience."

"I hope Ron's okay," Kim sighed. "Maybe he's having better luck with us. At this rate, we'll be fighting killer flamingos next."

"Anything's better than killer monkeys."

Kim and Shego spun around. "Ron!" Kim gasped. "You're all right! And - you found Dementor? And the ray gun? Josh???"

"Oh, joy," Shego said sourly. "Abbott and Costello save the day."

Ron hoisted up the time gun. "We already changed the mammoth back. Although we decided we'd let the zookeepers find a way to get that elephant back in its cage."

Josh shoved Dementor in Shego's direction. She grabbed him by the arm with a savage look, and he whimpered in fear. "Bonnie told me I could find you guys here," he told them.

"Run that by me again?" Kim asked.

"Bonnie told you might be falling into a trap," Josh said.

"Gee," Shego said. "Wonder how she got that idea." She shook Dementor vigorously. "Any ideas?"

"Just forget it, Shego," Kim told her, sounding tired. "We're just glad you were able to help, Josh."

Shego didn't appear to share her sentiments.

"Well, Ron had it all under control. I just helped a little."

Ron grinned.

A tiny laugh escaped Dementor's lips.

"Well, maybe more than a little," Ron added sheepishly.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 10

Chapter 9

"I'm glad this night is over," Shego mumbled as she stretched out on the bed. Despite being primarily intended for unmanned space travel, Dr. Freeman had outfitted Sappho with four small rooms for astronauts to sleep in. Shego was currently lounging in the room Kim had claimed.

"At least now I can take this off," Kim said, tugging at the collar of her green-and-black outfit.

Shego opened one eye and smiled at her. "Methinks Kimmie doth protest too much," she taunted. "You really want me to think you don't like wearing that, don't you?"

"It's confining," Kim said halfheartedly.

"So I can have it for a spare then?" Shego asked.

Kim hesitated.

"Never mind," Shego said, her eyes open and alight with laughter. "I'll retract the question. It can remain your guilty pleasure."

Kim blushed. Instinctively she looked at her chest.

"What are you doing?" Shego asked curiously.

"Oh, sorry. It's a habit from the time that, you know, I almost vanished because I blushed too much," Kim answered quietly.

"Oh," Shego said. Bringing up the past sometimes meant bringing up Drakken, something that typically ground conversation to a halt. "Sorry about that," she added. "I didn't really want you to disappear, it was just about - "

"Seeing me humiliated?" Kim asked wryly.

Shego looked down. "You did it to me often enough. Though I guess you had good reason to." She glanced at Kim. "If wearing that really embarrasses you, you don't have to wear it again. I didn't mean - "

"It was never about you, Shego," Kim said. "Okay, yes, you really pissed me off on a monthly basis, but I didn't actively pursue your mortification. I'm not, you know, Bonnie."

Shego growled. "Bonnie. You know she had something to do with Dementor's trap. She's lucky she's not in police custody with him!"

"Probably," Kim agreed. "But she also sent Josh after us - "

"We would have stopped Dementor anyway," Shego said with conviction.

"Of course," Kim said, humoring her antipathy towards Josh Mankey. "But considering how things worked out, I'm willing to let it slide, rather than having to look at her spiteful, shrewish face again."

Shego grinned. "Nice to see there's some anger there."

Kim smiled in return. "If you want, we can put Bonnie's face on a piñata when we get home."

"Ooh! I get first whack!"

"Oh, and in answer to your earlier question? It was a little embarrassing being seen by Ron in this outfit, but there were benefits." Kim's smile died, and she looked away.

Shego looked oddly at her. "Kim?"

"Sorry, I was just - thinking about how Ron will react when I tell him the truth about us tomorrow," Kim said quietly.

"You don't know how he'll react."

"Which is part of the problem."

"How are you going to do it?"

"Well," Kim said, "tomorrow morning we'll bring the time machine back to Justine at her laboratory. Then we'll fly back to Middleton, where I'll sit Ron down with you and I, and I tell him the real story."

Shego stared at her. "I have a better idea," she said.

"What?"

"How about tomorrow morning, I bring Justine the machine by myself. While I'm gone, you tell Ron." Shego chuckled. "You know I shouldn't be in the room when you tell him."

Kim blinked. "I'd like you to be there with me."

"I'll only make matters worse, Kim. Without even trying to. You do realize that on some level, we both resent each other for being a part of your life, right? Well, when he finds out we're dating, that's not about to change."

"Ron doesn't resent you. He just doesn't like you." Kim looked at the ceiling. "All right, I guess there's no point dragging this out. Although the flight home won't be pretty if he - "

"He won't," Shego sighed. "He looks up to you so much, it's sickening."

"What about you?"

Shego raised her head. "I don't look up. Our eyes are level."

Kim cocked her head. "After all those times I kicked your butt? Only if you used to be taller."

"I can freeze your sheets, you know."Bonnie slowly walked up the stairs. She was half an hour late for her class, and the halls were empty, but that was all right. Josh was back.

And since Kim Possible and her loser friends were okay, she didn't need to feel guilty about anything. She could go back to hating them, worry-free. Because Josh was back.

And so maybe she had to make a real effort to be nicer to other people, even complete strangers, both in public and private. It was a small price to pay, and anyway, wasn't she blessing these anonymous people with her generosity? Not just anybody got a smile from Bonnie in high school!

The fact that her filthy old stalker was in jail was just a bonus. Because . . .

"Remember me?"

Startled, Bonnie spun ninety degrees to her right and nearly toppled down the stairs she'd just ascended. Only the strong hand that grabbed her forearm prevented that.

"Careful, princess," Shego said coldly. "Wouldn't want to fall down the stairs, break a leg, would we?"

"You!" Bonnie hissed. "What are you trying to do, get me killed?!"

"If I wanted you dead, I'd take a more hands-on approach," Shego replied.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Bonnie retorted. "The scary weirdo with the skin disorder, making threats?"

Shego hadn't let go of her arm, and now her grip tightened.

"Let go!"

"Funny how your boy-toy was a lot more concerned about our safety than we were," Shego said. "Kinda like he knew something we didn't. But that can't be, right? Because he got his information from the same person we did - you."

"I don't know what you're trying to suggest - "

"Because Kim's all right, I've decided not to kill you," Shego said idly.

Bonnie froze.

"And because you DID warn Mankey - not that his help was required, but still a point in your favor - I'm not going to break your leg, either."

"You're so kind," Bonnie said, but her mouth was strangely dry.

Shego smiled. "I am. That's why I'm just going to break your arm."

Bonnie tried to scream, but Shego slapped her other hand over the dancer's mouth. "After all, you dance with your legs, not your arms, right? But when they ask you what happened," Shego said, "you're going to say you slipped, you fell, and you landed down there."

Shego pushed Bonnie to look down the stairs at the landing halfway down. Then she made Bonnie slowly descend the steps with her.

"Because if you breathe a word to anyone about what really happened, I'll come back," Shego warned her as they approached the landing. "And when I'm through with you, the only dancing you'll be doing for the rest of your life is from a wheelchair. Got it?"

The murderous look in Shego's eyes, combined with the edge in her voice, left Bonnie completely convinced that she was dealing with a lunatic. She nodded pitifully.

"Who knows?" Shego added jauntily. "Your precious Josh can even nurse you back to health, and then you can get married and have lots of babies, for all I care. What you need to realize is that you may think you were some kind of bitch on wheels in your day, but you've never met a bitch like me."

Bonnie shrank away from her.

Shego lowered her hand from Bonnie's mouth. Then, with ruthless expertise, she used both hands to break Bonnie's left arm.

The dancer's high-pitched shriek reverberated through the entire school building, but Shego outran the noise as she catapulted through the air and landed flawlessly on the floor below. She darted out of sight before anyone even left their classrooms.

A few minutes later, as they were taking Bonnie to the hospital to have her arm looked at, one of the teachers knelt beside her. "Miss Rockwaller, what happened?"

Bonnie's lip trembled as new tears glimmered in her eyes. "I fell," she whispered."Hi, Ron," Kim said quietly as she entered his quarters. "Think we could talk for a few minutes?"

"Is that really you, Kim?" Ron asked dryly. "Because those clothes don't look like Shego's."

She sighed. "That's sort of, kind of, indirectly why we need to talk, Ron. Maybe without the rats?"

He looked at her, surprised. "Uh, yeah, sure. Rufus, Ruby, give me and KP a few minutes, all right?"

Rufus turned to Ruby. "Cheese?"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh," Ruby agreed. They scampered from the room, and Kim closed the door behind them.

"So what's the big secret?" Ron asked.

"No big," Kim said casually. Then she let her shoulders drop as she sat next to him on the bed. "Okay, so it's a pretty big 'big'."

"And it sorta, kinda has to do with Shego?"

"Yeah. Look, it's about what they're saying about us on the Internet."

"Rumor hasn't died down yet? Geez, you'd think Monique and Wade could have helped stem the tide by now."

Kim looked uncomfortable. "They haven't really been trying very hard, actually."

"Huh?"

"Because I asked them not to."

Ron was perplexed. "Why not?"

Kim inhaled deeply. "You know how even I get scared occasionally? And how that makes me not very good at dealing with it?"

"Yeah, I find running away works wonders."

"Well, that's what I did. I ran away."

"From what?"

"The truth."

Ron gave no sign that he had any idea where she was going with this.

"Ron," she said softly, "this isn't how I wanted you to find out. But the rumors are true. Bonnie saw me looking 'that way' at Shego."

"Say what?"

"After I was zapped by the time ray, it made me less inhibited, and so I was briefly unleashing my needs," she said, dancing around the truth.

Ron nodded slowly. "Okay, so you weren't yourself. You really weren't yourself. But if people find that out - "

"There's more, Ron," Kim interrupted. "See, Shego and I . . . we're dating. For real."

He stared at her. "Huh?"

Kim looked at her lap and squeezed her hands into fists. "We always had a connection, Ron, but it's become something more. We're attracted to each other, so we started going out. Just her and me. Doing, you know, boyfriend-girlfriend things."

After a moment or two, Ron's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You slept with SHEGO?!"

"NO, no!" Kim said hurriedly. "Not those kind of boyfriend-girlfriend things! The kind of things you do before the sex part, actually. You know, dating, holding hands, the occasional, um, kiss?"

Ron was utterly dumbfounded. "For how long?" he asked.

"A few weeks. Right after Drakken was captured."

"So when you told me nothing was going on between the two of you . . ."

She closed her eyes. "I lied."

He stood up and took two steps forward, all the room would allow. "Why?" he asked as he turned to face her, his face turning red.

"I told you, I was scared!" Kim said. "I was in the hospital, and you were going on about how people would look at me like I was a freak!"

"People, I said! Okay, so I'm people, but I didn't mean 'me people', I meant 'other people'! All right, that doesn't make much sense, but c'mon, KP! Do you really think I'd change my feelings for you like that?"

"I know you don't like her," Kim replied.

Ron put his hands on his hips. "You're right, I don't like her, and I don't like the idea of you being with her, and I really don't like her being with you. And hey, I'm still dealing with you being with a girl anyway! What happened to Josh?"

"I don't know," she pleaded. "I still like boys, I guess. Maybe I'm not gay. Maybe it's a Shego thing. Maybe if she was a guy, I'd still want to be with her, or him."

"And I'm still dealing with the fact that you lied to me!" Ron yelled at her.

Kim looked away, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Ron," she whispered. "I didn't want to lose you."

"Lose what, Kim? My friendship? My trust? You obviously didn't think much of them if you thought I'd give them up so easily!"

"Ron - "

"No!" he shouted. Then he paused. "You said you asked Monique and Wade not to do anything about the rumors. Why would they agree to that?"

Kim flinched. "Because - I may have told them."

"Oh, I see! You just weren't scared of losing their friendship! Because you can trust them, but not me?!"

"That's not it!" she shouted back. "I'd already lied to you! I couldn't go on lying! The first lie was already tearing me up inside!"

"Right. Because Kim Possible isn't a liar. That's more of a Shego thing."

"Don't you dare talk about her that way," Kim warned him as the tears ran down her cheeks. "She wanted me to tell you the truth from the beginning."

"You know, maybe you belong in her clothes. I guess after a month or two on that island with her, you're becoming just like her," Ron shot back.

"I always was just like her," Kim said, "except for having a better moral compass. She's the one who's changed, not me."

"Really?" Ron asked. "Because I don't recall you being a lesbian last year."

Kim slammed her palms down on the bed. "Damn it, Ron! Now you're just being angry!"

"You're damn right I am!" he yelled at her. "You lied to me! Since when do we keep secrets from each other? Actually, you know, I was right before. You and Shego are just perfect for each other. So you don't need me any longer."

"Ron, wait!" Kim begged, reaching out a hand.

"God knows, you certainly don't trust me any longer," he spat at her before he stormed out and shut the door behind him violently.

Kim stumbled off the bed and put her hands on the door. "RON!!!" she wailed. She slid onto her knees and began sobbing in earnest.

Meanwhile, Ron stormed into the cockpit, only to find his mood worsened by the sight of Shego, leaning against the wall with her arms folded and a serious look on her face. "You'd better not have made her cry," Shego said calmly. "She's cried enough tears for one mission."

"Congratulations," Ron said icily.

"For what?"

"For winning. You've gotten what you always wanted, right? Kim's your friend now, not mine."

Shego rolled her eyes. "Doy," she muttered. "I get you being angry, but I didn't expect you to throw a temper tantrum."

"Sappho!" he called out. "Open the hatch! I'm going outside!"

"Sappho, ignore that order," Shego retorted. "Don't open that hatch until I say so."

Ron stared at her, shocked. "Say what?"

"Dementor's in custody. The time ray is back where it belongs. Bonnie and Josh are out of our lives forever. There's absolutely no reason for us to be here any longer. So we're leaving now, and I don't feel like waiting six hours for you to go meandering around Boston right now," Shego told him. "So you're staying, whether you like it or not."

"Sappho!" Ron called out again.

"Sorry, Stoppable," Shego said. "But Sappho likes me more."

"Excuse me?"

"Sappho?" Shego asked.

"Shego is right, Ron Stoppable," Sappho finally answered. "As my pilot, I consider Shego to be the commander of my vessel, and if she doesn't want me to open the hatch, then I won't open the hatch."

"It always pays to make nice with the CPU," Shego added.

Ron glared at her, enraged. "Can I return to my room, at least? I'd rather not go on looking at you."

Shego shrugged. "Go ahead."

He turned and walked away, swinging his arms angrily.

"Sappho," Shego said quietly, "prepare for liftoff. I think you may need to handle the flying yourself today. I don't think Kim wants to be alone right now."

"Of course, Shego," Sappho replied.

Ron went towards his room, but remembering Kim was still inside, he glared at the door as if seeing her face there. Then he took the fourth unoccupied room and closed the door.

Shego went to Ron's former room and knocked.

"Ron?" Kim's voice asked hopefully.

"It's me," Shego said.

"Oh."

Shego entered and found Kim on her hands and knees, her face a tear-streaked mess. "Kim?"

Kim hiccoughed as she looked up at Shego. "Could you hold me please?" she asked pathetically.

Shego hated Ron for reducing Kim to this, and was even angry at Kim for needing her to console her. Shego never considered herself to be a sympathetic person.

Then why was it so easy for her to lift Kim up and lie her on the bed, before slipping next to her and wrapping her arms around Kim's waist?

It was very strange, but Shego didn't think much about it. She just squeezed Kim closer and allowed the other girl to turn in her embrace and bury her face in Shego's body.

Shego considered saying that it would be all right. That was what other people did, like Kim. But she didn't. Because from Kim's point of view, Shego didn't know if it would.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 11

Chapter 10

"So how's O-business?" Ron asked as Rufus attempted to inhale a naco.

"O-business is fine," Monique replied. "O-business" was of course a coded reference to her late-night activities, fighting local criminals dressed in black and calling herself "Oryx". Thankfully, the newspapers seemed to finally understand that she wasn't "Onyx". All right, so no one knew she was African-American, but still, it was like being called "Ebony".

"Kim still seems to think it's too danger . . . uh, Ron, I know you said you didn't want to talk about her, but if you're going to make that face every time her name comes up, I don't think it's a subject we can really avoid," Monique said as a spasm seemed to cross Ron's face at the mention of Kim Possible.

And if he was still that mad at Kim, then it probably was a good idea she hadn't mentioned that O-business had included a fighting lesson from Shego yesterday.

"I can avoid it just fine. Isn't that right, Rufus?"

The mole rat looked up at Ron doubtfully. "Huh?" he asked. The expression on the rodent's face suggested he thought Ron was joking.

Ron sighed. "I just can't believe she had so little faith in me," he said.

"Come on, Ron," Monique said. "It's not like telling you she's changing her major or something. This is as big as big gets."

"Are you honestly trying to tell me that she was justified in not telling me?" Ron asked angrily.

Monique looked at him. "No," she said. "She was wrong."

"Thank you."

"But you know, Ron, I realize that you're nowhere near as dumb as some people think you are, but lately your head has really been full of rocks, hasn't it?" Monique said, exasperated.

"Oh sure, you're not mad. She told you," Ron muttered.

Monique put her hand over her eyes. "You know what, Ron? If she'd spoken to me first, she would have lied to me, too. It was lying to you that did it. That's what broke the camel's back. Keeping this from you just about tore her up inside."

Ron shrugged. "Good."

She resisted the urge to bang her head on the table. "Hello? Is anybody home? This is not about YOU, Ron! This is about her! This is about her life getting turned completely upside-down over the past month, and she has no idea what she's going to do next, and she doubts herself every minute of the day!"

For the first time, Ron looked hesitant. "You think?"

"Do I think? Snap out of it, Ron! A couple months ago she was a normal college student. Since then she was a fugitive for a month from a family of 'heroes' who turned out to be wackjobs that tried to kill her and then kidnapped her mother. Then she realizes she's got feelings for another woman who was her sworn enemy for years. And then she's outed in the worst way possible - on the Internet, no less! Add to that she has no idea what she's going to do with college, her career, her life - and her parents!" Monique jabbed a finger close to his face. "Do you realize that Kim is telling her parents TODAY about Shego? Can you possibly imagine how terrified she is of what they'll say to her?"

"Monique - "

"No, don't you Monique me! I may complain about how she feels about me and what I do after midnight, but that doesn't change how much I love her. And no, not THAT kind of love. I mean the kind of love that I thought you felt for her. Kim's internal compass must be fried by now, she's been spun around so many times, and she still manages to fly across the country and save the world yet again. I admire her so much, Ron," Monique said, her voice dropping. "Yeah, I was angry for a minute or two, but I got over it. Now how about you get over it too? How about you do what you do best - you support her. Because Kim has the world on her shoulders, and it must feel heavier than ever. She's got me, she's got Wade - I know you hate it, but she's got Shego. But it's not enough. I spoke to her yesterday, and she'd devastated without her best friend. Not to mention that she's twice as scared as before that her parents will cut her off the way you - "

"All right!" Ron shouted at her, standing up.

The entire Bueno Nacho restaurant quieted as everyone looked at him.

"Uh, sorry," he said, waving a hand as he slipped back into his seat. "I can't forget this, Monique. What she did."

She put her hand on his. "I think she'd settle for forgiving right now."

Ron closed his eyes and sighed.Kim's parents looked at her, then at Shego, who sat next to Kim. She was beginning to lose feeling in her wrist, because Kim had it in a death grip. "Uh, Kimmie? My blood needs to circulate?"

"Oh," Kim said, letting go. The look she gave Shego said, quite clearly, "Don't Go Anywhere". Kim had insisted that Shego be with her when she told her parents the truth. Shego would have preferred to lurk in the corner, knowing she was completely out of her depth here. Family drama? Emotional turmoil? Hello? Not her.

That hadn't mattered to Kim. She'd practically dragged Shego to the couch and hadn't let go throughout the entire speech to her parents.

Seeing how the past few days had turned this fierce young woman into a frightened, blubbering mess, an appalled Shego was glad she didn't have a family. Of course, if she was with Kim long enough, then the Possibles would become her family too, wouldn't they? Maybe one day she'd care about them almost as much as Kim did.

The idea worried her.

"Well," Dr. Possible finally said as his eyes settled once again on Kim. Her eyes didn't even blink in response. "You're dating Shego here."

"Yes."

"A girl. Not a boy."

She nodded.

"And you don't plan on dating any boys in the near future."

"Mm-hm."

Dr. Possible glanced at his wife, who still appeared a little stunned. "Well, if this means I don't have to worry about you chasing any boys, that's good enough for me."

Kim stared at him, open-mouthed. Shego resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Mrs. Dr. Possible had no reaction.

Kim's father smiled at her. "Was there anything else, Kim?"

She flew off the couch and wrapped her arms around her father. "Thanks, Dad," she mumbled into his shirt.

"Don't mention it, sweetie," he assured her as he patted her hair. "Honey? You have anything you'd like to add?"

Kim's mother finally looked up. "Er, yes, could you give us a minute, dear?" she asked quietly.

Kim turned to look fearfully at her mother.

"Sure thing," he said jovially. He moved out of Kim's embrace and casually headed upstairs.

"Your father," Mrs. Dr. Possible sighed. "Sometimes he's so unaware of the world outside his lab."

"Sorry about this," Kim said.

"It's a bit of a shock," her mother said, laughing weakly.

"You always said - "

"I know, Kim, I know. But this . . . isn't exactly what I had in mind." She looked down. "We're both modern women, you and I, but I still looked forward to the day I'd help plan your wedding. And then there'd be your first child, of course." She sighed. "You risk your life all the time, Kim, but the promise of those days never seemed so faint as it does now."

Kim held her breath for a moment. "Mom? Am I still - your daughter?" she whispered.

Her mother seemed to look through her for a few seconds before she shook her head. The movement suggested a negative response to Kim, and she felt a stab of ice in her heart.

Then Mrs. Dr. Possible really looked into her eyes. "Oh, Kim, you know you'll never stop being my daughter. I love you no matter who you are."

Kim's head dropped and a tear landed on the sofa cushion.

"Come here, Kim," her mother said, opening her arms.

Slowly Kim sank into her mother's arms and held her tightly. There were no more words for a minute, as Shego watched them rock.

She'd never had anything in her life, Shego realized, that she'd been so afraid of losing.

Except maybe Kim.

For the first time, she considered the notion that Kim's family wasn't just a liability.

"It's just going to take some - adjusting," Kim's mother finally said.

"Yeah, lot of that going around," Kim said as she sat up and rubbed her arm across her eyes.

Mrs. Dr. Possible seemed to remember Shego was sitting quietly nearby. "Do you want to contribute anything to the discussion, Shego?" she asked.

"Um . . ."

"I assume you have only the best of intentions for my daughter?"

Shego detected the edge to the older woman's voice. "I'm not here to hurt her," she said. "Seems like she's the only person who knows me for who I am."

"Very well," Mrs. Dr. Possible replied. "You're both adults, and your father and I have no right to give your orders any more, Kim, but I would appreciate a candid response. Have you and Shego, well - has this become an intimate relationship?"

Shego's eyes widened, and Kim coughed. "Um, no, Mom. We haven't done anything like that yet. But - it certainly could happen in the future."

"I see."

"There's one other thing, Mom," Kim added. "The reason I'm telling you all this now? Remember Bonnie Rockwaller?"

"She was in your graduating class," Mrs. Dr. Possible recalled.

"Well, she got wind of our relationship, and she basically emailed our whole class about it."

"Why that - that's horrible, Kim," her mother said, outraged.

"Yeah, I know. But that means it's just going to get more and more public over time," Kim pointed out. "And you might be hearing it from other people. I just want you to be prepared for, you know, embarrassment."

Her mother sighed. "I've never been ashamed of you, Kim, and I'm not going to start now."

Kim turned red. "Thanks."

"Well, if there's nothing else, I have to make a phone call or two," Mrs. Dr. Possible said as she stood up slowly.

"Oh, right. Thanks, Mom."

Kim's mother looked at Shego. "My husband and I expect you to treat our daughter - "

"I'll be good," Shego said, crossing her fingers.

"Yeah, you really meant that," Kim said, grinning.

Mrs. Dr. Possible went into her study and closed the door. She picked up the phone and hit the speed-dial. "Hello, Betty?" she asked when the connection was made. "Think I could come over and talk? I've had quite a day today."

Meanwhile, Kim and Shego had made their way out the front door. "That could have been a lot worse," Shego observed.

"It could," Kim agreed. She looked at her hands and realized they were trembling. She shoved them into her pockets. "I could be moving in with you right now."

"Not sure why I should see that as worse, but I get your meaning," Shego said.

Kim didn't respond when she saw Ron's car pull in front of the house.

Shego saw the car a moment later. "If he's here to start another fight," she said angrily.

"Shh," Kim said.

"KP," Ron said as he came over. He glanced at Shego. "Shego," he mumbled.

"Hey, Ron," Kim answered.

"Monique told me you were going to tell your parents," Ron said. "How'd that go?"

Kim smiled tentatively. "Better than I expected. Dad's just happy I'm not interested in boys now. Mom's still dealing with it - she's probably talking to Dr. Director as we speak - but I think we're going to be okay."

Ron nodded. "Good to hear. Look, Kim, what happened between us, I'm not sure I can forget that any time soon."

"I understand, Ron," she said softly.

"But . . . I'm willing to try and forgive," he added gently. "If you promise not to do something like that again."

Kim stared at him. "I promise," she managed to say.

"Good. And don't expect me and Shego to be shiny happy people with each other, either."

"I expected nothing of the kind," Shego said, snorting.

Kim came forward and carefully put her arms around Ron's neck. "Thanks," she said in his ear.

"You're welcome," he answered, patting her on the back.

"I'm not going to cry this time," Kim said, laughing quietly. "Because today is a good day.""Scene of the crime," Shego said.

"When I was assaulted by a mystery dancer," Kim replied, smiling.

"You certainly seemed like a consenting adult when you put your arms around my neck."

"It was instinctive. I was trying to strangle you."

"Uh-huh."

It was a Saturday night, three days after the drama at Kim's house, and Kim and Shego were on a date, just the two of them. They sat within the dark shadows that seemed to hug the walls of the Planetarium. Shego's arm was around Kim's back, and Kim's hand was on Shego's knee.

"You do realize," Kim said, "that this is an establishment frequented by crime-fighters. They say the Oryx was spotted here."

"I thought it was spelled with an 'n'," Shego said.

"Oh, don't ever say that in front of her," Kim chuckled.

"So what, you're saying I should be somehow frightened?" Shego asked. "A career criminal like me?"

Kim smiled. "I think you should be terrified. Because there's all sorts of things I could do to you."

"You wish."

"You'd probably even let me," Kim said as she breathed into Shego's ear.

The other woman squirmed. "I think pleasure is sweeter when you have to fight for it," she said.

"Well, we could fight our way onto the dance floor," Kim suggested.

"Through that throng? I'd rather fight Killagan and Monkey Fist together."

"We'll find them," Kim said seriously.

"Of course," Shego said, surprised. "And we'll kick their rears. Why worry about it?"

Kim nodded. "Why indeed? Want a drink?"

"No, I think I want you right here. At least until our song begins."

"I don't think I want to fight you on that one," Kim said.

"Well, in that case, maybe I won't fight so hard if you want to come inside when we go back to my apartment later," Shego purred. "I might even invite you in."

Kim shivered, and she turned her head to look at Shego. Words failed her as she took in the tight leather pants and the revealing green top. So she kissed her instead.

Summer vacation had arrived way too late, but it was still going to be great."Aaaaaugghhh!!!! Ooof!"

There was a flash of light and a crackle of energy in the air as the dark form hit the pavement with a thud. She rolled over onto her back. "Ooooo," she moaned in pain.

A few minutes later, she staggered to her feet. She looked up into the sky but saw only darkness.

"When I get back up there, she is so dead!" she growled as she staggered through the alley.

But when she got to the main street, she stopped and stared. She looked at the restaurants and the shops and the happy people in every direction.

Shego leaned against the wall and ran her fingers through her white-streaked hair. "This doesn't look anything like Shegoton," she hissed.

The End. (To be continued in But For the Grace of Ron!)