Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible.
Kim Possible hated research papers. She loathed them. She didn't know whether it was the research itself that bothered her, or the fact that it had to be more than ten pages long. Kim's criminal studies class was not what she hoped it to be. She couldn't remember it saying in the course description that she'd have to write papers, very long papers.
Kim's topic of choice was about what happened to a missing child or a teenager. But the thing was, she had to choose a person who was never found or seen again. Basically, a child who just disappeared. But Kim had used search engine after search engine, even books and encyclopedias to find a child or teen that has never really been discussed. She didn't want to write about the typical ones that everyone heard about.
But then, in her searches in the Go City Online Archives, Kim found a girl with the name of Noelle Gordon. She searched and searched, but couldn't find anything else on her accept that one article that barely said anything. The only information she got from it was that she was blonde, blue eyes, short, was about fifteen when she disappeared, and she had been sexually abused by her father. "What are you up to, Kimmie?" Kim jumped at the familiar voice. She looked over to her window, and saw her sitting on the ledge.
"Close the window, will you, Shego? It's snowing outside, and I am not going to be heating the outdoors," Kim said. Shego got off the ledge and shut the window, taking a seat on Kim's desk; not directly in front of her, but off to the side.
"You're talking as if you pay for the heat," Shego scoffed. "We both know your mommy and daddy pay for it, even if you are living on your own."
"Whatever. What are you doing here?" Kim asked her new friend.
"Can't I just pop in to see how pumpkin is doing?" Shego asked innocently, batting her eyelashes. Kim only rolled her eyes.
"I told you to stop it with the pet names! It's creepy," Kim said. She put her head in her hands, sighing loudly.
"What's got you all worked up, cupcake?" Shego asked her, ignoring Kim's request to stop using nicknames. Even if she wasn't particularly bad anymore, she still enjoyed making people feel a tad uncomfortable, especially Dr. Drakken because he'd yell at her. Kim would never understand why she enjoyed being yelled at. There were things Kim would never know about her, and she was just okay with that. Shego's past never really seemed all that interesting to the red head, believe it or not. She just always assumed Shego had a normal childhood, considering four out of five of them never broke the law and fought for justice, although they were quite odd to say the least, especially Hego.
"It's this research paper," Kim said, handing Shego the notebook she had written her topic on.
"Noelle Gordon," Shego mumbled, reading the name after a moment. "Why on Earth would you choose a kid nobody has heard of?"
"That's the point, Shego," Kim sighed. "I don't want to write about famous kidnappings and whatnot. I want to be-"
"Different," she interrupted.
"Don't interrupt me, Shego," Kim scolded.
"I was right, though, wasn't I?" Kim remained silent as Shego laughed at her.
"Shouldn't you be at home right now?" the red head snapped at her. She snatched the notebook from Shego's grip and tossed it on the floor. The large thump on the ground silenced the black haired beauty. She didn't jump, though, because Shego never did, which made Kim question why she was never startled. Kim wasn't easily frightened, but things did make her jump, such as horror movies. But Shego never did. It was as if she could predict what was going to happen and anticipated it. That woman was extremely confusing, and Kim doubted even her brothers or Dr. Drakken even understood her.
Kim began to wonder what it would be like to be misunderstood until Shego broke the silence. "Probably. But I like it when he worries," the pale woman got off the desk and sat on the edge of Kim's bed, staring at the notes Kim had taken on her research paper. "I knew her, Noelle Gordon. Odd girl, I must say."
"How do you know her?" Kim inquired, picking up her notebook and pen.
"We went to school together," Shego shrugged nonchalantly.
"Could I interview you, you know, for my paper?" Kim asked, her face lighting up.
"I guess so," Shego said. "Shoot."
"Just tell me everything you know," Kim said.
"Well this is quite the terrible interview. No questions for me to answer. How does this work? Honestly, if you're going to question people, like a criminal let's say, are you just going to say, 'hey! Tell me everything about the crime you just did!' Let me tell you now, Kimmie, it doesn't work that way. You won't know whether or not to trust what they say, would you?" Shego smirked at her.
"Well, somehow, I trust you to tell me the truth about Noelle Gordon. No need to ask specific questions if I trust you'll tell me everything."
"So quick to trust are we, princess? I wouldn't trust that easily if I were you; especially someone like me who doesn't even fully trust you."
"But you're my friend. Of course I can trust you. I'm just going to have to assume you'll tell me everything," Kim smiled.
"Fine," Shego sighed. "Noelle Gordon was born in France, then moved to Go City when she was five or six. She had four brothers, two older, and two younger. But I highly doubt they have anything to do with her disappearance."
"What was she like?" Kim asked.
"Finally, a question; a broad one, but that's better than none," Shego paused, probably trying to remember what she could about this girl. "She was a nervous kid, but I don't know much about her to be completely honest."
"I thought you knew her," Kim pouted. "Now I'm never going to get this done."
"Cheer up; I can give you a name of a girl she was kind of friends with. Her name's Samantha Brown, of course, unless she got married. But I highly doubt she has."
"Why's that?" Kim asked.
"She's kind of, well, weird. I wouldn't go to her personally if I were you. I think she's all the way in the Go City streets, anyway. You could call her if you want. But I've got to get going."
"Oh, so now you have to go?"
"I don't need Dr. D sending out a search squad for me. See you later, Kimmie." And with that, Shego left. Sighing, Kim jotted down the name Samantha Brown. Maybe she could help her, or something of the sort. Kim turned towards her computer and typed the name into white pages, hoping something would come up. Of course, there were about fifty pages of Samantha Browns. Kim decided to limit her search and put in Go City. Perfect, only three pages now. Kim scrolled through, trying to match up the ages, and came across a Samantha Brown, age twenty four. And her address was in an apartment building. From what Shego told her, this woman wasn't too successful, so it made sense she'd be in an apartment.
The next day, Kim made her way to Samantha Brown's place via plane, courtesy of Wade and Mr. Flannigan, whom she had saved once when his plane was hijacked by Dementor. Kim thanked him, and made her way from the Go City airport to the sketchy side of Go City. As she walked through the slums, she began to wish that she had listened to Shego and just called the person, but no, Kim had to make this personal.
She walked up the ratty stairs, ignoring the smell of urine and the occasional drug addict asking her for money. Finding apartment five hundred two was quite easy, and she knocked on the door politely. A little girl of about five answered the door in nothing but an oversized sweater and underwear. "Who are you?" the little brunette girl asked. "You're Kim Possible!" she exclaimed, her eyes going wide with excitement.
"Yes I am. Is your mother home? I'd like to speak with her."
"Did my mommy do something bad?" the girl asked.
"No, not at all," Kim said honestly, although she suspected otherwise. "I have to write a paper, and I simply just need to interview her." The girl nodded and ran off to fetch her mother. Samantha Brown was a sight for sore eyes. She wore a baggy tee shirt along with skinny jeans that were two sized too big, and she held a cigarette in her left hand, and a bottle of wine in the other.
"Hannah just explained to me what you're here for. I'm not up for an interview, even if you are Kim Possible," Samantha scoffed.
"Just hear me out; I'm in college and I have to write a research paper about a missing child and write what I believe happened to said child. I chose Noelle Gordon. My friend says you knew her when you were younger."
"Ahh, Noelle Gordon," the woman said. "Sure brings back memories. Who's this friend of yours?"
"Shego," Kim said. The green hued woman never said not to mention her name, so she figured it was safe to do so.
"Shego. What a mess she was. I read in the paper she's quite the hero now. I bet she stopped the drugs and the sex too, huh?"
"I'm not here to talk about Shego. And I know nothing about that. I'm just here to get your info about Noelle Gordon."
"Of course, Kim. Of course." Samantha led her to the dirty sofa that smelled of smoke. Politely, Kim took a seat and took out her pen and notebook. "Shego wouldn't want me to tell you anything about her past, anyway. I barely remember that part of my life anyway."
"I was just wondering what you know about Noelle Gordon," Kim urged.
"Where do I start? We were either in the same first or second grade class. Honestly, I can't remember. But what I do know is she was a nervous kid, really nervous. She'd always pick at her skin behind her nails. It was gross, and me being me told her it was repulsive. She was a very skinny girl, rarely ate. I found out from her boyfriend years later when she went missing. He said it was because her mother didn't allow her to eat sometimes, saying that she had to keep her figure."
"That's awful!" Kim exclaimed.
"It gets even worse. Turns out, when she was like ten, her dad fucked her."
"As in rape?" Kim knew the answer, but she asked anyway. "And at only ten?"
"Yeah. She had a horrible life. I remember she was a nice girl, though. She was repulsed by me. Back then, I was a fat fucker and she was brainwashed into thinking she was fat. I can't imagine what I looked like in her eyes. Anyway, nobody hated her. Everyone was either indifferent or liked her, but she never befriended anyone except this kid Tyler. Other than that, she kept to herself.
She was a slut, too. She slept with Tyler when she was twelve, thirteen maybe, or so the rumors went in school. Of course, they had to be true because she had his baby. Never saw the kid myself, but I know for sure she did. She was pregnant. She got pregnant with his baby again before she disappeared, was abducted, I don't even know. All I know is another baby showed up with Tyler. And then a few years later, she apparently had another baby, his, too. But she had two babies and gave them to Tyler after she supposedly was abducted or whatever."
"That's really strange," Kim said, taking notes. "She just disappeared from the face of the Earth, then has kids?"
"Pretty much sums that shit up," Samantha said, extinguishing her cigarette. "I bet she ran away. I would put all my money on it. Her life was a sad one. I sure wouldn't want to live that one. It was bound to happen that she'd go into hiding. If I were you, I'd go to the Go City library. I bet you they have old newspapers there from that time." Kim thanked the woman, said goodbye to the little girl after signing a piece of paper, and was off to the Go City library.
She went into the archives and was surprised at all the articles. Apparently, her four brothers went missing, too. Noelle Gordon's brothers were Henry, Michael, Aaron, and Aidan. Apparently, the last two were twins. But all of them had gone missing. It was odd how there weren't any searches that took place during the time. It was simply a stated fact that after a few months, the Gordon children were declared missing. The sad part of the story was, nobody cared to even look for them.
Kim read about the parents, how the mother was a drug addict, and the father was a successful businessman, and years older than his wife. The mother had apparently run away. Had the Gordon children simply followed the act of their mother to get away from a society that had no need for them?
But then, something clicked in Kim's mind. She reread the articles, the names of the children, and finally came across an article about a meteor hitting Go City, a rainbow one. Apparently, the children's tree house was destroyed by it. When people went to see if they had survived, no bodies were found, no charred remains of children, just, well, nothing.
However, the article said that the children must be dead. But months later, a baby appeared and Noelle Gordon's name was on the birth certificate, and then another.
The Gordon family was Team Go, plus Shego. Noelle Gordon was Shego. Kim's eyes went wide with her realization. Jotting down the last few notes, Kim ran out of the building and hurried to Middleton so she could write up her paper. The mystery no one was looking to solve, was finally solved.
The next night, Kim Possible successfully finished her research paper, piecing all of the information together. Twelve pages of goodness was printed. "Hey Kimmie. How'd your paper go?" Shego said. Kim jumped. She must have came through the window again. Curse her stealthiness!
"Shego! I just finished actually."
"Oh, and did you figure out what happened to Noelle Gordon?"
"Yes, I did," Kim stated. "She's standing right in front of me."
"So, you did figure it out. I'm impressed, Kimmie."
"Samantha Brown was a valuable source. She was messed up, but helped a lot," Kim said.
"You actually went to Go City in the slums, didn't you?"
"I did," Kim said sheepishly.
"Princess, never do that again. You might think you're all mighty and powerful, but you're still vulnerable."
"See? You do care."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know. But why didn't you tell me you are Noelle Gordon from the start?"
"I didn't want to do your homework for you."
"But why did you allow me to know? Why did you lead me to the right places?"
"Because this mystery had to be solved. No one ever tried to solve it. And I think it's time the public knows who I am."
"You don't want to be Shego anymore, do you?"
"There are some things that I can't answer, Kimmie. You have to figure that out."
"Noelle. I like that." Kim said after a moment of complete silence. "It'll take some major getting used to, but I think I can manage to remember your name. And three kids, huh? And you were so young." Shego remained quiet, and just waited for Kim to begin speaking again. "Will you be going back to them?"
"This Saturday I'm going to Global Justice for them to take away my powers. Then, I'll be going back home once the procedure is done," Shego admitted. Now that was why she wanted everyone to know who she was! Kim was glad she was able to reunite a family after so many years. She had needed someone credible to find out the mystery for her so that she could go home. Kim was about to say something else, but within the next second, Shego was out the window and was gone. She knew this was the last time she'd see Shego. But it wasn't goodbye, because she knew within a few weeks or even months, she'd say hello to Noelle Gordon.