Dreams of blackness, and of a weight pressing down upon her. Alone in the darkness, no light, no hope, no chance of rescue, the black covered her, held her close, violated her…
Kim thrashed in the bed and her voice took flight in a howl that split the air.
Hopelessly entangled in the bed sheets, Kim’s violent motions only made it worse. Struggling against nothing, she fought something in that darkened room that would have quenched the light from anyone’s soul.
Shego was up and moving. Roused from sleep, mind clouded and eyes hunting for whatever had dared to invade their home. Twin green flames sought a target but found none; all was as quiet and as still as the grave. All, that is, except for the raving thing in the bed next to her.
Moving to her partner’s side of the bed, Shego went to shake Kim out of her terrors, then paused. Wasn’t there some myth about waking a person from a nightmare?
Kim arched her neck and screeched again, an agony that gouged the heart. Screw those old wives’ tales!
“Kimmie! Princess! Wake up… you’re having a…”
The arm was slender and delicate and it shot out from a rent in the sheet like a cobra. A smooth hand, easily recognized and known for its tenderness, grabbed Shego in a vise-like grip around her pectoral muscle, fingers anchored in her armpit and thumb just above her breast.
Pulled off of her feet, Shego was hauled over the bed and thrown across the room, landing with a crash on the floor.
The screeching continued. Shego climbed up her side of the bed and pulled herself to her feet, cursing her own vulnerability and this disturbing situation. She had been thrown through the air many times before by Kim Possible, but never across their marriage bed; at least not without foreplay.
Shego hooked a finger around the loose collar of her Mad Dogs jersey and inspected her chest. Damn, that hurt. She’d have one nasty bruise there tomorrow.
Approaching the bed, Shego grabbed the edge of her side of the mattress and lifted. She folded the reinforced foam over her lover and held her securely.
“Kim, damn it, WAKE UP!” The wailing of their daughters reached her ears from the next room. Shego climbed on top of the folded mattress and held on like a rodeo clown, yelling at Kim through the opening along the side.
“Kim, the girls need you! They want their Mommy!” Good Lord, what was wrong here?
The mention of their children caught some vestige of Kim’s blunted awareness. Her struggles lessened and the screaming abated. With one last heave, Kim rolled off the box springs, pulling the entire mattress and Shego with her onto the floor. Shego landed hard, flat on her back, and the breath was driven from her lungs.
“Shego?” A bedraggled head of red hair emerged from the wreckage of the bedclothes.
“… ow…”
Kim crawled from the overturned mattress and found Shego.
“Baby, what happened? We’re on the floor!”
Shego coughed and rolled slowly onto her side, glaring at Kim.
“No shit. You put us here.”
“ME?”
“Yes, YOU.” Shego stood and attempted to stretch the knots from her abused muscles. “You know that I’ll be too sore for our workout today, don’t you?” Shego gimped off in the direction of the girls’ room because the children were still crying. She paused at the door and turned.
“Well, I blame you for this. You might as well help.” She left Kim alone. Still too groggy to argue, Kim padded after.
Little Sheki had pulled herself upright into a standing position, while Kasy was on her side, arms locked around her twin sisters legs. The tiny red head, usually the more assertive of the two, seemed desperate for the protection of the raven haired Sheki. Both infants were screaming long and loud.
The girls reached for Shego when they noticed her; their Mom didn’t immediately lift them into her arms, rather she lay them back down and snuggled them until the tears stopped and breathing slowed to normal. This also gave Shego a chance to calm down. She turned and looked back at her younger spouse still standing at the doorway. Kim looked so frazzled and sleepy and lost. How could Shego stay angry with her, especially over a bad dream?
“Come.” Shego held out her open hand. The stress left Kim’s face and she joined Shego at the crib. Tiny faces lit up when Mommy came into view, so Kim and Shego each performed their ‘working at the car wash’ game with the children. This entailed bending down over the infants and brushing them from head to toe with their dangling tresses. The children always enjoyed this and cheered up quickly; in a few minutes, they were fast sleep once more.
Kim gently pulled Shego towards the door and they switched of the light.
“You,” Shego placed her hand in Kim’s upper back and pushed. “Go start the kettle. I’ll join you in a minute.” The taller woman returned to their bedroom to reassemble the bed. While doing so, Shego noticed that Kim’s pillowcase needed changing; it was much too grimy to wait until the next washing day. In fact, it was filthy. Shego banked it off the wall and into the hamper on her way to the kitchen.
She reached the kitchen to find Kim already setting out the cups and saucers from their good set of china. Kim’s grandmother Nana had given them a nice set of flat ware soon after the children were born. Shego could appreciate such things and knew that Kim liked to use those cups for her tea when she was upset; it reminded her of her family.
“I made that green tea blend you like so much,” Kim sounded subdued, but fully awake now. Shego joined her at the table and hoped that this didn’t dissolve into a tear fest.
“Good. Neither of us needs much caffeine right now and that stuff is pretty light.”
Shego had also become fully awake and was no longer as angry at her reactionary behavior. Such actions would surely be considered acceptable after having been woken from a sound sleep by a wild animal in their bed. She looked at Kim across the table and saw how lovely she was, even in her shapeless robe, huge pink bunny slippers and wild hair. Kim hadn’t met Shego’s eyes since they’d sat down.
“Was it a bad one, Princess?”
Kim sipped her tea, blowing across the surface of the liquid occasionally, her brows furrowed as if in thought or pain.
“I was back at the warehouse. I was fighting… fighting to get out. I really can’t remember; it was more of a series of impressions instead of images.” Kim looked at Shego now and sighed. “I’m sorry for waking you, I really am.”
“And what about throwing me across the room?” Shego couldn’t help herself.
“You were serious about that? I really threw you?” Kim’s eyes began to glisten. Damn, thought Shego, there she goes.
In answer, Shego simply raised her jersey and bared her chest. There was already a livid bruise over and beside Shego’s left breast.
“Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?”
This was not exactly what Shego expected to hear, not right now anyway.
“Maybe later. But I will make you rub some of that smelly unguent on it to take the pain away.” Shego lowered her left arm and winced. “It really hurts when I do that.”
“Then don’t do that.” Kim was grinning at her.
“Possible, are you feeling alright?”
Kim seemed to have gone from sad to goofy in a heartbeat and nodded her head eagerly. Here eyes were no longer wet and she seemed to almost giddy.
“I feel great. I really am sorry about hurting you, though.” Kim sounded so sincere, albeit in a strange sort of way, that Shego was ready to let the matter drop.
“Well, then, why don’t you come over here and sit with me?” The taller woman slid the chair back and patted her lap. Kim grinned again and made to stand, but then returned to her own seat.
“How about you sit over here with me this time?” Definitely not the banshee from a few minutes ago, Shego thought. What’s up with my woman?
Without a word, Shego decided to humor Kim by sitting on her lap for a change. It seemed awkward for the larger woman to balance herself on the more slender legs of her lover, but it certainly wasn’t an unpleasant experience.
“Not too heavy, am I? And be VERY careful how you answer that.” Shego reached back across the table and snared her teacup.
“That’s Ok, I love big women.”
“Ghaa!” Shego would have to make Kim pay for that later.
Kim was watching her lover very carefully. Shego seemed to be moving and speaking as if in a daze, or as if still groggy. No matter, Kim would do all she could to cheer Shego up.
Leaning forward as her partner was settling back, Kim kissed Shego on the jaw and then ran her tongue along the pale cheek. Shego choked a little on the sip of tea she’d taken.
“If that’s your apology for tonight… excuse me, this morning… then I accept.”
“Please and thank you.” Kim gripped Shego tightly in a bear hug.
“Hey, watch it! I’m serious about being sore.” Shego looked to the kitchen clock and noticed that there were still a few hours before either of them had planned to get up.
“You know that I hate to miss our workouts, but after that maneuver in the bedroom, especially without having stretched and warmed up first, I’ll just make things worse by overusing the muscle. If we skip the workout, what would you like to do today?”
“Well, I’d planned to meet Ron for lunch today; yes, at Bueno Nacho, so you can wipe that scowl off your lovely face! But if we can just get a little more sleep, I’d love to take the girls with me to the park.” Kim looked into her wife’s eyes with a gaze so intense and piercing that Shego felt like a mouse cornered by a snake.
“Please spend the day with me, both the park and lunch? I’ll buy breakfast!”
Kim looked just so damned adorable. If only the slender red head knew how much she held Shego’s life in her hands, Kim would see that for all her bravado and confidence, Shego was trapped by her love for Kim.
It was a fine prison to be trapped in.
“Oh, Ok.” Shego set her cup down on the table. “If I must.”
“I love you so much!” The bear hug returned.
“Ow, Kim, please be careful!” Shego jerked in pain from Kim’s grip, her chest muscle cramping up. Her elbow bumped the teacup and the fragile china slipped from the table.
Kim watched the cup fall. Didn’t Shego notice what had happened? Well, it was an accident, but she did dearly love that set. It reminded her of Nana and her folks.
The cup was still falling. The tiny yellow flowers painted on its rim were all done by hand, she knew. This made Kim think of the plates resting in the cabinet and that made her realize that she was hungry. Food and Shego were all she wanted right now.
Oh, well, might as well not let the cup break. That would be a shame, as pretty as it was. Kim reached down and let the cup rest gently in the palm of her hand.
The cup landed in Kim’s hand after having traveled only three inches from the tabletop.
“Sorry, baby, I keep doing that, don’t I?” Kim loosened her other arm from around Shego. “Do you want to hear what my version of Heaven?”
“Sure, what would it be like?” Shego accepted her teacup from Kim, not certain exactly how the younger woman had gotten it.
“Holding you all day and all night… and a ham sandwich.”
“What?” Shego laughed at this. “You’re hungry at this hour? It’s just a few hours ‘til dawn and you’re already thinking of breakfast as well as lunch at Bueno Nacho!”
“Well, a growing girl needs her nourishment!”
Shego stood and kissed Kim on the top of her ruffled head.
“Just don’t get any crumbs in the bed; that’s gross and I’ve just changed the sheets.” Shego took their cups and rinsed them out. “You make your sandwich and I’ll see you in the bedroom.”
Shego left Kim and walked back to where the clean and cool bed waited for them. She took a quick detour to the bathroom. When she was finished, she collected Kim’s washcloth and towel and added them to the hamper with the pillowcase. They were also filthy with dark stains.
Shego was back in bed by the time Kim returned with her plate, a half eaten sandwich the center of her attention.
“Pumpkin, I don’t mean to criticize your homemaking skills, but you really need to do the washing more often. Your stuff in the bathroom was really dirty.” Shego made sure that Kim had finished her sandwich before getting into bed; the younger girl almost inhaled the remains and set the plate on the nightstand.
Kim was immediately beside her, nestled low at Shego’s chest in the familiar curled position that the raven-haired woman preferred to all others. Strong, slender arms held the smaller body tight.
“How’s the home life compared to saving the world, Princess?”
“Right now, I’ve never been happier.” Shego dropped off to sleep. Kim lay there, wide-awake, in the arms of her lover.
For Kim, sleep never did return.
The morning came with no further events; Kim left the bed while Shego was still sleeping to go and rouse and clean and feed their daughters. What finally awoke Shego was the sharp medicinal odor of medicinal ointment.
“Five more minutes?” Long black hair tried to fit beneath a pillow.
“No way, love-muffin, that’s usually my line.” Kim was emptying the wastebasket from the bedroom and the bathroom into a trash bag.
What did she just call me?
“You’re up awful early. The ham sandwich did the trick?” Shego exposed her face and squinted at Kim. The redhead was already dressed, but not as Shego would have expected.
“Mission clothes? I thought we were going to the park?”
“We are, it just felt like a ‘mission’ kind of day! Besides, I’ve always been happiest when I’m wearing these clothes.” Kim was glowing in the rays of the morning sun, clearly parading her trim figure and flat abdomen before her spouse.
“Because I was always happiest when I was with you!”
Shego smiled at the memories of their wilder battles and pulled herself up to a sitting position. It never failed to amaze how quickly Kim regained her girlish figure after the twins were born. The memories were dispelled when Kim sat next to her on the bed and dispensed a dollop of stinking amber goop onto her fingers from a battered tube.
“You’ll love this stuff. Wade brewed it for me; it smells like guano but takes the pain right away.” Kim asked her partner to remove her jersey and then made such a display of ogling the taller woman that Shego chased her out of the bedroom and applied the cream herself.
Minutes later, her hair still very damp from a quick rinse, Shego emerged from the bedroom. Having no reason to mirror Kim’s choice in clothing that morning, she was dressed in a simple black T-shirt and blue denim shorts. Kim was pleased to see her ‘worse half’ showing a lot more skin than normal, even if it was pale green.
“You’re right, Kimmie, that does smell like guano. What’s it made from?”
“Sorry, that would be too easy. Here,” Kim simply handed Shego the tube.
“Hmm. ‘Brewed from 100% bat guano’. You know that I could have lived the rest of my life not knowing that.”
The park was right across the street from the apartment and Kim asked that they not take the stroller. She felt energized in a way that she hadn’t felt in a long time and she was practically juggling her children when they reached the street. Her performance at the ‘GJ’ training and evaluation center could have been a lifetime ago and not just days.
A new world seemed to have opened itself before her; she saw beauty in everything and life was like a breeze against her skin.
Shego watched as Kim held one child, and then the other, and then took both in her arms together. Always feeling like the lesser parent, but careful not to mention it to Kim, Shego repressed the burning under her breast bone at seeing the three loves of her life laugh and play and enjoy themselves in a way that just wasn’t second nature to her. It hurt, but she didn’t want it to show.
“I’ve never seen you so tactile, Pumpkin.” Shego blew on her coffee to cool it, the bitter fluid barely deserving the name ‘coffee’. If only she could sneak away to the ‘Fastbucks’ around the corner. The morning dew still found purchase in a few shaded areas of grass, but the four picked a dry spot near the sandbox to enjoy their sweet rolls and beverages.
“Tack-what?” Kim exposed her face from the mountain of giggling toddlers she had built in the sandbox.
“Judas Priest, did Stoppable’s ‘Drag Factor’ suck all of the education from your head? I said ‘tactile’; it means touching. You haven’t let go of the girls since we walked out the door.”
Shego reached out and plucked a dandelion from a tuft of weeds. She settled down on her side and used the yellow bloom to tickle Sheki under the chin. The raven-haired toddler, a breathing reproduction of the woman, giggled and clapped her tiny hands together in delight.
“I just want to play too.” What was life really like before these two little miracles?
Never taking her eyes off Shego, Kim leapt to her feet and moved away from the little girls; more than that, she did a back flip from a kneeling position and landed about five feet away. Shego’s breath caught in her throat, as did the coffee, at this incredible display of acrobatic skill.
“I didn’t mean to hog them all morning! Come on, join in!” The smile on Kim’s shining face couldn’t have been more eager. It was some moments before Shego could reply.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?” Kim seemed genuinely puzzled as she stood and circled around to Shego.
“Do that! How did you make that jump?”
“Hey, I was a cheerleader you know!” Shego watched in shocked disbelief as Kim raised an imaginary set of pompoms to her chest and began an enthusiastic rendition of the ‘Go Go Mad Dogs’ cheer. Kim moved closer to her daughters, so that she might better lead them in the cheer; they waived their tiny arms in their infantile attempts to imitate their mother.
Shego glanced around the park, mortified, her light green face blushing a darker green as she prayed that no one would see her wife acting crazy. It was at this point that Kim jumped onto the jungle gym and began swinging over and under and between the rungs at lightning speed.
Sheki Go and Kasy Anne Possible screamed in delight. Shego couldn’t bear to look. Kim moved faster and faster, her pattern of movement becoming more and more intricate.
Across the street, a tanned and brown-haired young woman watched the activity carefully, her manner anxious and her observations unusually keen.
Interlude:
The door was constructed of reinforced titanium and featured a Plexiglas window for observing the patient within. Usually patients were housed one to a room in this ward of the Global Justice facility, but there were an unusually high number of people in this particular room at the moment. Anyone passing the door from the outside might have been unable to discern the patient from the interns.
Except for the odd detail that the patient housed in this room was blue and firmly bound by state of the art medical restraints.
Washed and combed and dressed in soft linens, Drew Lipsky hadn’t been so tenderly cared for as when he was an infant. If he had been able to remember back that far, he might have gloated over those unfortunate babies that didn’t rate such treatment as he was receiving now. As it was, he wasn’t disposed to do any gloating. The blue-skinned man sat upright in a padded chair and restricted his field of vision to less than a millimeter from his eyelashes.
“Drew, my name is Dr. Mayers. My friends and I will be looking after you for a while. I hope that’s Ok with you?” Dr. Mayers was a senior advisor of the Psychiatric staff with ‘GJ’, and his team of doctors and interns were in charge of medicating and treating the former world-class villain.
Drakken did not reply. In the short time he had been in the care of ‘GJ’, his entire nervous system had received the medical equivalent of being washed and dry-cleaned; he was being administered medications intended to regulate his emotional and psychological balance. As a result of such intense ministrations, Drakken hadn’t spoken a word since he regained consciousness.
“Well, we’ll be checking in on you from time to time, Drew. I trust that you’ll let us know if you need anything.” The blue man did not react or acknowledge.
Mayers was as gentle a healer as one could hope to fine in this specialized world of murderers and madness; his words were truth and his heart was pure. Even if Drakken would never live as a free man again, Mayers would do all he could to repair his patient’s shattered mind.
“…”
Mayers turned from the doorway, his staff already having moved into the hallway and he about to leave as well.
“Yes, Drew? You have something you want to tell us?”
Drakken slowly turned his head until he faced Mayers. Then, as a separate motion, he raised his face until their eyes met. Drakken’s eyes were clear.
“Such a wasted life.”
End Interlude.
As Kim moved faster and faster on the metal bars, Shego ceased to worry for her wife’s safety and began to wonder how she had ever managed to win a fight against the slender girl when they were bitter enemies, once upon a time.
The dandelions had long since distracted their tiny daughters; the twins were either shredding them or eating them or both. The former villain stood and was about to beg Kim to stop and get down before she hurt herself when the redhead suddenly stopped on her own. Coming to a complete and total stop min-swing, and standing upright atop the jungle gym to gain a better view, Kim looked around urgently.
“Did you hear that?”
“What? Hear what?” A freight train could have driven past her unnoticed; her attention had been riveted on Kim’s impossible gyrations and she was desperate to make sense of her young wife’s behavior. “Hear what, Kim?”
Kim stepped off the metal bars and fell the ground at Shego’s feet, landing on her own with barely an impact.
“Someone’s in trouble!” Then she was gone.
Spinning around and around in a futile attempt to see which direction Kim had run, Shego began to feel an uneasiness that rarely surfaced in her heart; she was beginning to feel fear. While the precise cause was vague, the feeling was definitely there and gaining in strength. After a few seconds, she sat down on the ground and pulled her daughters close to her, holding them tightly in her bare arms.
Oh, Kimmie, what is going on? I never want you to leave me behind.
Traffic was pretty slow at this time of the day. The morning commute was long over and the only folks on the streets were local shoppers and families enjoying the beautiful day.
One elderly man wasn’t having so great a day, at least not any more. His wallet, watch and small bag of prescription medicines had been taken by force when a mugger appeared behind him and strong-armed the senior citizen into a wall. To make matters worse, the mugging had initiated in a sudden attack of angina.
“Sir! Are you Ok?” The young girl, almost a child to his eyes, helped him to sit down on the curb. She was examining him closely, so very closely, almost as if she were smelling rather than seeing him. Then their eyes met.
“Please don’t move. I’ll get you an ambulance.” She held a small blue devise in her hand. Was it a cell phone? “Wade! I need medical assistance at…”
The elderly man was taken aback by the forceful determination of this child. Barely a woman, it was as if she’d been helping folks all her life.
“Help will be here in a minute, sir. You just remain calm.” She beamed down at him like an angel, a fiery halo of hair around her face.
“Thank you, young lady. If… if that man hadn’t grabbed by nitroglycerin just now, I’d be fine.”
“WHERE?” Gone was the angel, a dark and maddened visage replacing it.
Speechless, the old man gestured down the street to mark the path of the thief.
Kim gave the old man a tender kiss on the forehead and ran off in the general direction of the mugger.
“I’ll get your medicine back from that mother-loving, son of a bitch!”
The elderly man wondered how the young girl could move so fast. And the language used by young people these days!
Kim started out by simply running in the direction indicated by the old gentleman. It was easy enough to dodge the shoppers and small clumps of pedestrians by just running around them, but when the obstructions became too thick, it was better to jump.
Leaping from sidewalk to storefront awnings was pretty easy, but from lampposts to fire escapes was a little harder; it took three times before she was able to clear twenty feet in one leap. The people flowed beneath her in slow motion, the wind in her hair and the thrill of the chase spurring her on.
There.
A worn leather billfold in the alleyway caught her attention. Kim dropped to the concrete and entered. As she stepped over the wallet, she matched the scent of the old man… and someone else. The same odor grew stronger as she ran deeper into the alley. The squeak of her running shoes on the dirty pavement didn’t mask the echoes of movement further down the narrow passage.
The flash of black vinyl, a shapeless jacket over a hooded sweatshirt, the slap of sneakers against cobbles; Kim saw the running figure yards ahead and quickly closed the distance.
She leapt forward and to the side, launching herself at the thief from the wall to their right. The impact drove the man into the opposite wall hard enough to stun. It was unfortunate that it didn’t knock any good sense into him.
The man was large, tending to flab but underneath was decent muscle.
“What the… Hey, you little bitch! You picked the wrong… OW!” He lost two front teeth when Kim’s left foot connected with his face. She also let fly with a kick to the man’s throat, taking from him whatever fight remained. Then she proceeded to beat him senseless.
First her left fist and then her right; one after the other Kim struck the man in the chest, jaw and temple, each blow coming faster and harder than the one before.
As the large form collapsed to the ground, Kim stood over him, barely exerted from her attack. Crouching down over him, she grabbed a handful of his greasy, matted hair and raised his head from the alley floor. He was still breathing and Kim made a decision at that moment.
“You get to live, you stupid bastard.”
Kim had just collected the thief’s loose cash, a beautiful gold watch and a small bottle of nitroglycerine tablets when she felt her gorge rise. She turned away from the battered man and regurgitated violently against the brick wall of the alleyway, the burning sensation was overpowering and the mess splattered in all directions.
When the feeling passed, Kim used the man’s jacket to clean herself as best she could. The sensation that something wrong had just occurred was fleeting and she needed to get the medicine back to the old man. She hardly associated the burn in her throat and the sour smell permeating the air as having anything to do with her. She ran back out of the alley and made her way to the mugging victim.
Kim had only been away from the gentleman for a few minutes at most, and she arrived in time to see the ambulance come around the corner at the opposite end of the block. He seemed to be relatively fine, but without his medication the angina could have led to a heart attack. Kim stayed to fill in the paramedics of the man’s condition before they proceeded to make sure he was stable.
Moving back towards the park, she was only halfway across the street when Kim suddenly felt weak. All morning she had felt on top of the world and bursting with energy, but now it was all she could do to stand. Always respectful of other people’s property, she risked leaning against a parked car while she waited for the sensation to pass. She was glad when it did, because her legs hadn’t wanted to support her at all.
As if from nowhere, an arm slipped around her waist and held her up.
“Thanks, I’m not sure what just happened to me.” Kim looked into the face of her Good Samaritan.
“Bonnie!” Her worst enemy from high school had appeared out of nowhere to give her a hand. Would wonders never cease?
Still curvaceous and svelte, Bonnie Rockwaller hadn’t changed much in the months since Kim had last seen her. The hair was longer and fuller and the same world-weary expression hung on her otherwise pretty face. There certainly was one major difference; she was smiling at Kim.
“Hi, Possible. Are you feeling alright?” The voice did sound concerned, but the look on Bonnie’s face was oddly flat. Before long Kim remembered that concern wasn’t an expression that her former rival had much experience with.
Always the walking fashion show while in high school, Bonnie was wearing a simple dress and light sweater; Kim thought it odd that the other woman didn’t remove the outerwear on this warm morning.
“Much better now, thanks to you!” Kim tested her legs and found them suitably recovered. “When did you get back in town?”
“Two days ago. I’ve been staying with Mom, catching up with old classmates, you know…” Kim wondered if there was more to it than that, but had no reasons to pry.
“I, uh, saw you over in the park a few minutes ago, then you ran off. Still saving the world, huh?”
“Well, not lately. I’ve been out of the scene as well, you know?”
“Yes, I’d heard that you, hmm…” Bonnie’s gaze was directed over Kim’s shoulder. Turning slightly, Kim saw what was so interesting: Shego and the girls were playing by the sandbox.
“Bonnie, come with me. There are some folks that I want you to meet.” Kim shook the lethargy from her legs and took Bonnie’s hand. The other girl was hesitant at first, but followed with little resistance.
Shego was already glaring at Kim before they reached the grassy play area. She didn’t show her anger overtly, not because she gave a rat’s ass about Kim’s unexpected guest, but rather so as not to upset the children.
“Kimmie, we are SO going to have a talk about NOT running away like that again.” Shego forced the words between her clenched teeth, smiling a shark’s smile, her emerald eyes flaring.
Kim sighed in exasperation; sometimes she had absolutely no idea what Shego was talking about.
“Bonnie Rockwaller, meet Shego, my ‘worse half’. Shego, this is Bonnie, from Middleton High School.” Neither Bonnie nor Shego made any overtures towards friendship.
“Charmed.”
“Likewise, I’m sure. Haven’t I seen you on the news? Didn’t you and Possible used to fight a lot?”
“Guilty. Wait, I recognize you now, too. You and Kim were on the cheerleading team together. Gave her quite a rough time, I understand.”
Bonnie tensed, not sure where this was going. “I suppose I did. Why?”
“Oh, nothing. I guess we have more in common than I thought.” Shego grinned, more tiger than shark. Kim felt a blush coming on.
“Princess, what the devil did you step in? It’s black as pitch and smells terrible.”
Kim looked down to her shoes; they were indeed covered with something black and vile smelling. She could not recall having encountered anything that would ruin an otherwise perfect pair of running shoes.
“I don’t know, really. Gross!” Kim leaned over and picked up the closest child.
“This is our daughter, Kasy Ann.” The tiny child was offered to Bonnie, who hesitated before accepting. The infant looked back to her mommy for assurance and, having found it, gave the stranger a hug around the neck before snuggling in her arms.
Kim was about to exchange Kasy for Sheki when she noticed the change that had settled over Bonnie. The brown haired woman was holding onto Kasy like the infant was a life preserver. Seeing that Kasy was in no danger or discomfort, Kim let the embrace continue for a while. After a few moments, Bonnie seemed to collect herself and asked to see Sheki next.
“Kasy there,” Bonnie indicated, “looks just like you at that age. I’ve seen your baby pictures, remember? And this little heartbreaker,” she let Sheki run her tiny, inquisitive fingers through Bonnie’s brown hair, “is the spitting image of, uh, your wife.”
Now it was Shego’s turn to blush, a darker green spreading across her cheeks.
“Oh, someone needs tending to!” Kim was giving Kasy a casual once-over and determined that both girls could stand to be changed. “Where’s the bag?”
“Right where you left it when you ran off.” Shego repeated her ‘we are SO going to talk about this later’ look.
While Kim excused herself to move off a short distance with both girls, Bonnie kept her jacket on and sat on the ground a few feet from Shego. She was still attempting to get a vibe from this strange, green woman.
Shego on the other hand was shocked at how well the intervening months had treated Kim’s old rival; this Bonnie person was a knockout. Shego felt guilty as she eyed the other woman’s voluptuousness. Even under that jacket, this woman could put any centerfold model to shame.
“Her children are beautiful.”
“Yes, they are, and they’re our children.”
“I did notice the similar coloration. Kim did carry them, right? My mother told me that Kim had gotten pregnant but she didn’t know the details.”
“Yep, she did the dirty work on that caper.” Shego sounded more flippant than she felt; might she have become a better mom to the girls if she’d given birth to them herself?
“I bet you’re just dying to know the story behind that.” Bonnie nodded and Shego gave her the expurgated version.
“So you two are a couple? Partners, as in married?”
“Well, not legally, but legal was never my thing.”
Kim returned carrying two squirming sacks of potatoes, each looking very much like her daughters. She handed Sheki to Bonnie and Kasy to Shego, flopping back on the grass when she sat down.
“What an morning! I’m beat!”
“So, what made you run off like that?”
Kim raised her head and looked first at Shego, and then Bonnie.
“Run off…?”
“Down the street, like a bat out of Hell? I was worried sick, especially after your little escapade on the monkey bars!”
“I…” Kim drew a complete blank on what her spouse was asking. The confusion on her face was obvious and Shego felt a coldness enter her chest.
“Pumpkin, you’ve been acting strange all morning, acting different, and I don’t know what to make of it. You’re apparently fine one moment and then over-the-top the next.”
“I’m sorry, I really don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.” Kim was starting to get angry and defensive; what had she done wrong?
“Princess, you have to know what I’m talking about!” Shego stood. “You and I are going home to sort this out, and I mean right now!”
Kim felt the stirrings of hunger in her gut.
“But what about lunch? Bonnie can come to Bueno Nacho with us!” The tone was petulant, like a small child being refused a treat.
Bonnie was seriously confused by this exchange and almost wanted to be a thousand miles away… except that would have defeated her purpose for being back in Middleton at all. She let the raven-haired toddler stroke her damp cheeks while she kissed the tiny hand.
Balancing Kasy on her hip, the former villain lifted the infant’s ‘changing’ bag and lobbed it at her younger wife, who snagged it from the air with no difficulty.
“You, me, home, NOW.”
Kim stood rock still. Then she slowly took Sheki from Bonnie and handed the child to Shego; the bag was dropped to the ground.
“No.”
The redhead whirled around and grabbed Bonnie’s arm, pulling the other young woman after her in a rush, practically dragging her former classmate down the street towards the center of town. The tall, raven-haired woman watched in stunned silence as her ‘better half’ stormed away.
Once upon a time they fought their battles with fists, kicks and plasma fields. Now with the children and their new life together they still fought occasionally, but it was nothing like the old days. This new battlefield was not much to Shego’s liking; no force on Earth could make Kim do something she didn’t want to do when she was being bitchy.
The local citizens apparently sensed that it was in their best interest to get out of the way of the tall, pale woman carrying the two wriggling children.
The day was growing warmer and the inside of the Bueno Nacho was cool. They had arrived just a little too early for lunch, Kim’s brief fight with Shego having spread a wet blanket over an otherwise gorgeous morning.
Kim sat across from Bonnie as they each finished a soda; they had agreed that they would wait for Ron to join them before ordering lunch. Bonnie didn’t seem too happy that someone else would be joining them, but since they had quite a bit of time to talk alone before Ron arrived, Bonnie agreed to stay for lunch.
“I hope your little tiff wasn’t because of me.”
Kim slumped down in her seat, chin resting in her palms.
“No, she’s just been acting funny today… asking me weird questions and acting paranoid. You know, like you used too!”
Kim noticed that Bonnie still hadn’t relaxed since they’d arrived. In fact, sitting here in the booth at Bueno Nacho, Kim had her first really good chance to give Bonnie the once over.
Wow! Bonnie had always been well built, but in less than a year she’d filled out even more. Everywhere there were curves and feminine softness, draped perfectly over a firm and healthy frame. Kim felt bad for looking at Bonnie this way; she hoped that Shego never found out!
“You know, you can make a snarky comment if you want.” She grinned to show that it was meant in jest. Bonnie smiled back and her breathing might have relaxed a little.
“So… she calls you ‘Pumpkin’?”
“Yes, and Princess and Kimmie and Little Miss Perfect. Is that some material that you can work with?” Both girls laughed at this. Bonnie sipped her drink and glanced around; it was almost as if she felt like a stranger in this once familiar setting.
“I didn’t really come back here to see old friends, you know.” It wasn’t a question. Kim was wondering what was up and trusted that she would hear the details soon enough.
“This is your home town, no matter what you came back for.” Kim reached out and settled her hand beside Bonnie’s, not quite touching. The tanned girl seemed to be marshalling her courage and Kim wanted her to have all the latitude in the world.
While Bonnie made her choice to speak, brief distractions announced themselves. The sound of money being placed in the till, muffled conversations from across the room, the sharp tang of Diablo sauce, the scent of… the scent of…
“I came back home because…”
“Bonnie! You’ve had a baby!” Just a little too loud in a mostly vacant restaurant, thought Kim. Nuts!
Eyes wide as saucers, the tanned girl sat there, too stunned to speak. Suddenly, it could have been two or three years ago back in school. They could have been sitting in the cafeteria, Bonnie deigning to eat with losers who could barely claim the lowest rung on the food chain, and Possible being her usual goodie-two shoes, ‘everybody look at me’ self. The feeling passed and Bonnie remembered that she had nothing to be afraid of.
“I am really, REALLY sorry for blurting out like that!” Hands lifted to her mouth, Kim wished that she could fall into a hole and pull it in after her.
“That’s Ok.” Bonnie couldn’t believe that her voice could frame those words, but it really was Ok. “How could you tell?”
How can I answer that, thought Kim. How did I know?
“Was it the new curves? I wondered if you had noticed the change, you know, being, um…” Now it was Bonnie’s turn to look ashamed, and Kim didn’t want her to feel that way for even a second.
“Yeah, that was what tipped me off. I know all about how your body can change.” Seeing a chance to boost her renewed acquaintance’s self esteem, Kim pointed out, “You can see that I didn’t walk away with anything extra, for better or worse!”
Bonnie smiled a little, and blushed when she ‘accidentally’ glanced at Kim’s chest to verify that statement.
“We last saw each other, when, just after graduation?”
“Yes, you and Tara and Monique and I met a few of the girls after the ceremony. You didn’t hang around long.”
“No, I didn’t. I didn’t feel well.” A slender arm settled over her stomach. “I was almost two months pregnant at the time.”
Shock at the revealing of a mystery that didn’t even exist until now, Kim moved her hand just enough to cover Bonnie’s; the contact was accepted.
“Brick and I’d been going steady for a long time. He really was nice and patient with me during my… bitch years… and I was as in love as I think was possible for me. We’d slept together a few times. We were careful, you know, most of the time.”
Kim could not believe that Bonnie was actually blushing.
“Then I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t know what to do, but everyone else at my house did.” A mild sniffle, a clearing of the throat. “My sisters just smiled at me in their evil way and my folks made plans to bundle me off to my uncle’s family soon after graduation. It’s as if they’d all expected this of me.”
The tears were moving freely now and the sobs welled up in the young woman’s chest. Kim would have done anything to make Bonnie feel better, have said anything; but somehow she knew that the story wasn’t over yet.
“So, you had a baby?”
There was a hint of a smile, a proud satisfaction, even if bittersweet.
“Yes I did. He was a healthy little boy…”
Waiting.
“He died before he was three months old.” The tanned young woman was looking towards Kim but not seeing her, looking at a face that would never age and never know the fear or pain of growing up.
“SIDS, they said. Wham, bam, and there I was being packed up again. No one wanted to know about it, think about it, or remember that it happened. But he had a name and a face and he was mine.” Bonnie’s voice broke and she sobbed openly in the vinyl booth with its festive colors and plastic utensils.
Moving to the other seat, Kim was beside her and held her close. Bonnie didn’t resist and they stayed like that for several silent minutes. The other patrons wisely minded their own business.
The silence didn’t last forever.
“I’d heard about you and your having twins and I just… wanted to see.” Bonnie forced her eyes upwards to meet Kim’s. “I just wanted to see a happy child again.”
“You are welcome to visit anytime. I’ve been blessed, I know this.” Kim wanted to ask something and hoped that this was the best way.
“Will you have another child?”
Bonnie dried her eyes with a cheap paper napkin and nodded.
“Some day, yes. Brick and I haven’t seen each other since I left town, but I needed a reminder of how it should be… how it could still be for me one day.”
Composure restored, the tanned woman returned the embrace.
“Thanks, Possible, I knew you’d be good for something eventually.” The years of adolescent bickering and animosity where erased as quickly as that. Relaxed conversation was shared for the next several minutes until Ron arrived.
“Hey, KP, who’s your friend? Bon Bon!” Ron made a futile attempt to smooth down his cowlick. Bonnie glanced at Kim and gave the redhead a subtle wink.
“Stoppable… so, is this your day off or are you here to work the lunch rush?” It was all that Kim could to stifle a laugh.
“Say, there, foxy lady! Wow, Bonnie you look totally badical!”
Rufus must have climbed to the table unseen because he suddenly skidded to a stop in front of Bonnie, standing upright, his tiny rear paws sliding across the Formica, doing what appeared to be an imitation of Tom Cruise in ‘Risky Business’. Rufus gave Bonnie a big, two-fisted thumb’s up.
“m’sexay!”
Kim and Bonnie looked at each other and burst out laughing, the tanned woman leaning down to kiss the top of Rufus’s head. A certain naked mole rat turned a few darker shades of pink.
“Hm! The Rufus Factor trumps the Ron Factor when it comes to babe-age. That is SICK and WRONG!” Ron slumped in his seat and hoped that the laughing would stop eventually.
Interlude:
As international agencies go, Global Justice distains loose ends as much as anyone. Within seconds of Kim, Ron and Shego having been escorted to the waiting medical team, ‘GJ’ field agents swarmed over Dr. Drakken’s warehouse lair like ants at a picnic.
Dubbed the ‘Cleaning Crew’ and outfitted in full environmental protection suits, their standing orders were to secure the perimeter, disable any remaining power sources and catalog all hardware and ordinance for collection and salvage. The site was in the latter stages of standard clean up, and little was left to do before the property was cited for demolition.
The final area to be inspected was the pit in the middle of the warehouse floor.
Agent Benson rappelled to the subbasement and shone his lamp in all directions. Less for storage and more for structural support, the area was unfinished except for a deteriorated access ladder and a few square yards of rough concrete floor at the very bottom.
If there had ever been a true hatchway installed at the ground level, it had long since been removed. Several of the rusted and buckled metal plates that had been used in a feeble attempt to cover the aperture had fallen down here when Kim Possible brought the broadcast power generator crashing to it’s destruction.
“Benson, report. What is the condition of the machine?” The electronically reproduced voice of Agent Hedges spoke from the tiny speaker on Benson’s wrist communicator. Benson played the light over the scrambled remains of the machine.
“FUBAR, sir, your basic ‘Humpty’”; as usual with Drakken’s technology, there’s no proof as to how it works, just that it does.”
“Agent Du amended our orders to include documentation of how Kimberly Ann Possible avoided being crushed and escaped injury. Take a look and see what you can see.”
Benson lowered himself to one knee and examined the floor around the base of the shattered mound of nameless components. General deterioration had softened the concrete slab somewhat, but not enough to cushion a fall. The fallen heap of metal, plastic and fiberglass had cracked the slab and fracture lines radiated outward in all directions, having firmly slammed downwards with the force necessary to made a shallow impact crater.
“Sorry, sir, I don’t see how she could have.”
“I’m not going to sign off a report like that! Look for anything that might give an indication of what might have happened. I’m told she can’t remember the fall or the impact so you’d better look again!”
The only two items of interest turned out to be a partially collapsed disturbance at the top of the ruined mound and a ruptured canister that was broken open by one of the several falling metal plates. After first checking the seals and internal readings of his suit, Benson wrenched the canister free and inspected it.
The stenciled label read ‘HVK’ and it meant nothing to the field agent.
“I still don’t see how anyone could have survived this…” signed Benson.
End Interlude.
To be continued…
Author’s Note: the ‘working at the car wash’ bit is real; my sister does it to her two children at bedtime.
I can think of nothing more wonderful that bringing a child into the world; likewise I can think of nothing more tragic than losing one.
I hope no one minds the inclusion of Ms. Bonnie Rockwaller. I hadn’t originally planned a role for her, but these things tend to write themselves. She showed up at my mental door and read for a part. She did so well that I couldn’t refuse.