Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible or have any claim to it.

Author's Note: This idea occurred to me a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't want to post it before Chapter 4 of The College Years: Summer Break, for reasons that should become obvious to anyone reading that story. I'm not sure which year this would be, but assume that Kim knows Drakken's real name at this point.

Memorial Day

"I can't believe Drakken's pulling something on a holiday!" Ron Stoppable groused as he and Kim Possible rode another borrowed jet to Washington, D.C. "It's the last one of the school year, too."

"Yeah, but in a couple of weeks, school will be over, and we'll have vacation all the time," Kim pointed out.

"I know, but still."

Truthfully, Kim was a little upset as well. She did not appreciate being awakened early in the morning because Drakken's hovercar had been seen approaching the nation's capital. In addition, the Stoppables were holding a barbecue that afternoon and had invited the Possibles. She really hoped they'd make it back in time. The Kimmunicator beeped, interrupting their conversation, and Kim answered it.

"I've got an update, Kim," said Wade Load right after he appeared on the screen. "It looks like Drakken is landing at Arlington National Cemetery."

"What would he want with a cemetery?" Ron asked. "What's there? You know, besides dead people." He and Kim exchanged glances, sharing the same macabre thought.

"No way," Kim decided after a moment's reflection. "Drakken is a lot of things, but Dr. Frankenstein he's not. Wade, won't the President be there in a couple of hours?"

"Yeah, he's scheduled to speak at the traditional Memorial Day ceremony," Wade confirmed.

"That can't be good," Ron remarked.

"We're on it," Kim signed off while Ron instructed the pilot on their revised destination. They parachuted in, since the roads were going to be closed off soon for the Presidential motorcade.

The hovercar wasn't hard to find, parked amid one section of the identical white markers. Drakken was standing in front of a stone decorated with flowers. A small American flag was set into the ground beside it. The mad scientist didn't move as Team Possible approached, appearing completely unaware of them until Kim spoke.

"Okay, Drakken; what are you up to?" she demanded, falling into a defensive stance and scanning the area for anything that looked dangerous.

"Kim Possible?" he said, clearly startled as he turned toward her. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what I'd like to know," replied Kim, but something felt wrong. There was nothing hi-tech in sight, aside from the hovercar, and there was no sign of Shego.

"Where's Shego?" Ron echoed Kim's thought, looking around warily. Rufus popped his head out of Ron's pocket to do his own visual scan.

"On vacation, of course," Drakken snapped. "It's a holiday."

"Yeah, we know," Kim began, but her eyes were suddenly drawn to the headstone. She took a few steps closer to read the inscription underneath the cross.

Theodore P.

Lipsky

Captain

US Marine Corps

Oct 21 1938

Apr 12 1967

"Was that your…father?" she asked hesitantly, doing some quick calculations in her head. She knew that Dr. Drakken – or Drew Lipsky, as he had once been known – was near the same age as her father. That meant he would have been born by 1967 but not very old. Kim was having a hard time reconciling the fact that her archenemy, who had a seemingly endless reserve of take-over-the-world plans, had also had a father who was an American soldier, apparently killed in battle. It didn't make sense.

"Is it so hard to believe that I'm from a military family?" he retorted.

"Um, yeah, actually," said Ron.

"Uh-huh," added Rufus, nodding vigorously.

"Yes, well, I didn't really know him, but I try to come here each year on Memorial Day to pay my respects," Drakken answered. "When I'm…available."

Translation: when he's not in prison, Kim thought. She was seeing a new side of her nemesis, and she wasn't sure she liked it. It made him seem somehow more…human. Losing a father at such a young age couldn't have been easy. She tried to imagine how it would have felt to be without her father all these years and what kind of person she might be today if that had happened. It wasn't a pretty picture. On the positive side, there wouldn't have been any Tweebs in her life. Nah, it still wasn't worth it.

"Uh, you do know that this place is going to be swarming with police, military, secret service, and stuff pretty soon, right?" Ron put in.

"Yes, I know that," responded Drakken irritably. "Why do you think I came here so early? I won't be much longer." He pointedly returned to his scrutiny of the plain marker.

"Let's go, Ron," Kim said, feeling even less like fighting than she had when they'd first arrived. "There's nothing going down here."

"Are you sure, KP? I mean, he's still a wanted criminal, escaped prisoner, etc."

"I'm sure. We're going to let it go this time." There were some advantages to not being official law enforcement. They weren't duty-bound to follow up on everything or apprehend every criminal they ran into.

Team Possible left without another word, collected their parachutes, and requested a ride home. It looked like they would easily be home in time for the barbecue, but Kim had just been forcibly reminded of the real reason for this holiday, and she wanted to take a detour.

"Before we go to your house, Ron, I want to stop by the Middleton Community Cemetery," she said thoughtfully. "Maybe we can still catch the memorial ceremony."

Author's Note: I just picked some dates that popped into my head, and I figured that Ted Lipsky had finished college before joining the Marine Corps so that he entered the service as an officer. At 28, he should have had time to be promoted to captain.