Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible; that's all Disney.

Author's Note: It seems to be the thing to do, so I'm creating my own little KP universe covering the college years, beginning here with the summer after high school graduation. I'm assuming the events of my stories Alien Consequences and What Now? have occurred. I'm not sure it's necessary to read those first, but you'll probably get more out of this series if you have.

Company

"That is so not fair!" Ron Stoppable complained while watching the eleven o-clock news a few days after the rescheduled graduation ceremony had taken place.

"What's not fair?" Kim Possible asked her boyfriend as she came to join him on the couch, bringing a large bowl of microwave popcorn from the kitchen. She and the Tweebs were staying with the Stoppables while the Possible house got rebuilt from the ground up. The two Drs. Possible had been invited as well but had decided to stay in a hotel instead. The insurance would pay for their stay, it was a nice business-class place you could rent by the month, and they thought the Stoppable house was crowded enough with the addition of their three children. Besides, both Possibles were working a lot of hours in the aftermath of the alien invasion. Mr. Dr. Possible was working with other rocket scientists on national and global defense options in case a similar situation arose and studying the remains of the alien technology for possible breakthroughs, and Mrs. Dr. Possible was assisting at the hospital to deal with injuries that had occurred during the invasion. It was nice for them to be closer to work for the time being, and they were so exhausted by the time they were free that they did little in the hotel room besides eat and crash.

The Tweebs, Ron's parents, and Hanna were asleep, but Kim and Ron had just finished up with work and were now ready to have a little relaxation together. They had picked up extra shifts at their respective jobs now that school was done, but they still expected to have plenty of couple time over the summer. The Tweebs seemed intent on coming up with upgrades to their house (after they made a new car for Mr. Barkin, of course), and Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable had their jobs to go to most days. That left Kim and Ron babysitting Hanna a lot, but that was more a pleasure than a burden.

"Drakken!" Ron gestured at the screen with the remote as he answered Kim's question. "We save the world about once a week—"

"So not the drama, Ron," Kim chided gently. "It's once a month, tops." Yes, they went on missions more often than that, but not all of them were on a global domination or destruction scale.

"Week, month, whatever. The point is, do we ever get medals from the UN? So there Drakken is, getting recognized for doing one good deed after a lifetime of crime."

Kim wasn't sure what to say to that. Ron did have a point, but Kim found herself much more interested in the image of Drakken's flowers wrapping around Shego and pulling her close. The pair looked unexpectedly cute together, and Kim couldn't help feeling a little bit smug at having seen this coming.

"Well, look at it this way," she said, giving her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. "He had to wait over 40 years to get a girl." Ron did a double take at the screen, as though he hadn't noticed the botanical embrace until she'd mentioned it.

"There is that," he admitted, grinning lopsidedly. "You know, they make a better couple than I thought they would." He turned his head and moved in for a more serious kiss. When it ended, Kim placed the popcorn bowl on Ron's lap so that she could curl up beside him, leaning her head on the hollow of his shoulder. Almost automatically, he put his arm around her, using the other hand to set up the home entertainment system to play the movie they'd selected for the evening. They had both agreed that there would be nothing involving alien invasions or the world in danger. They needed an escape from all of that, so they'd picked a safe, romantic comedy.

"Anyway, we've never been about the glory. You know that," Kim added. They got favors from people in very strategic positions when they needed them, and that was more useful than public recognition or even money. At this point, Kim estimated that she and Ron could trade off of those favors for the rest of their lives if they wanted to, not that she was planning on disbanding Team Possible anytime soon.

"Couldn't I have just a little glory?" said Ron plaintively, giving a small suggestion of a pout. Kim couldn't help thinking about Castle Anthrax and burst into giggles. "What?"

"I'm sorry," Kim choked, trying to catch her breath. She spoke between fits of laughter. "I just – was reminded of - you know, 'Couldn't I have a little peril?'" She gave the quote in an approximation of an English accent.

"I…oh. Um." Lost for words, Ron turned beet red as he remembered the scene preceding that particular line, which only made Kim laugh harder. Eventually, she settled down and cuddled up to him again.

"I wonder what they're going to do now," Kim mused as the obligatory FBI warning came up on the screen. "Drakken and Shego, I mean."

"I don't know," Ron replied seriously. "The best plan Dr. D ever had was for saving the world, and it actually worked."

"With a little help from my favorite Monkey Master," added Kim, poking him gently in the side.

"You kicked some serious alien robot tail, too. But do you think he might actually make a career change based on that?"

"It's hard to say," Kim admitted. "They did get a blanket pardon for all of their past crimes, though. I'd think they'd at least want to use the opportunity to take a break."

"That would be a relief," Ron sighed, squeezing her shoulders. "The Ron-man could use some time off to hang with his lady." Kim sighed, finding herself comfortable position from which she got a good view of the screen. A few minutes in, she spoke up again.

"You know you'll always be my hero, right Ron?" she asked softly. She would never forget waking up to find that he'd somehow defeated Warmonga and Warhok by himself or the new confidence in his bearing when he'd helped her up from the ground.

For his part, Ron did not want to remember the horror and fear he'd felt at seeing her knocked unconscious during the battle. At that moment, he'd fully realized that he would do anything to protect her, and he knew that meant stepping up to protect her. He'd simply done what needed to be done, and he thought he was beginning to understand why Kim had made a habit of saying "No big" about all of her accomplishments.

"You've always been my hero, KP," he responded, and he meant that in so many ways that he would have found it impossible to come up with words for all of them.


The next morning found Dr. Drakken and Shego facing their own issues, in a very literal sense.

"Just look at that!" Shego complained as she came in the door, tossing several magazines onto the coffee table. They were the typical tabloid stock, with cheap paper and ink that came off on your fingers. The one notable thing about them was that they all featured cover pictures of Drakken and Shego, wrapped tightly by vines. Drakken dutifully scanned the covers.

"Hmmm. The one time they actually would have been right about reporting alien abduction, and they completely missed it," he commented distastefully. "Typical. Please tell me you didn't actually pay for these."

"Of course not!" she snapped. "I swiped them from the beauty shop after my manicure. Can you believe that they actually had new issues for a change, and they just had to be those? Don't you have anything else to say?"

She was clearly irritated, but Drakken couldn't fathom why. She looked incredible in the pictures – almost as good as she had in real life that day.

"What do you want me to say? They're good pictures."

"What about the headlines?" she prompted through gritted teeth. Drakken read them over again, still not finding anything particularly objectionable. The puns about his new mutation were expected, such as "Romance 'Blossoming' for the Infamous Dr. Drakken." Perhaps the tackiest version was the simple "Vegetable Love." It made him sound like an eggplant or something. Then there was the more generic "Will There Be a Blue and Green Wedding?"

"I'm sorry," he said finally. "I still don't see the problem."

"All of these perfect strangers making plans for our lives and plastering it on the front page? That doesn't bother you? It's none of their business!"

Drakken blinked at her in perplexity. So the supermarket tabloids were talking about them like some popular soap opera couple. What was wrong with that? He'd always craved attention, and this was probably the best kind he could ever have hoped for. It was far better than a mug shot at the post office.

"It's the price of celebrity, I suppose," he said, fumbling for a way to calm her down. "I've already apologized for my flowers; you know I still have trouble controlling them when I'm not concentrating."

"Oh, I know," she sighed, throwing herself down on the couch. "I'm not blaming you."

"Did you really think the press wouldn't speculate?"

"I – I guess I didn't think much about it." She was beginning to let go of her irritation. After all of the wacky press coverage Kimmie had seen over the years, Shego knew she shouldn't be surprised about this development. It was just very different to be on the receiving end of it.

"I love you, Shego, and I don't really care who knows it," Drakken declared. He eyed her, suddenly worried. "Do you?" He would not blame her for being embarrassed about him, or even for changing her mind about their relationship. He half expected to be sent packing at any given moment.

"What? No! It's not that," she assured him, recognizing his fragility and emphasizing her point with a quick hug. She struggled to find the words to explain herself. "It's just…I'm still getting used to feeling like this, and I'd prefer to work these things out in private."

"As would most people, I assume," Drakken agreed. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure something else will grab the headlines next week, and we can go on with our lives. Nobody believes these rags anyway."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I can think of at least one person we know who reads these kinds of things almost religiously."

"Who would – Mother!" Drakken stared wide-eyed, wondering if his mother had indeed seen these and would want to grill him about what was going on. The fact that tabloids were her primary source of news was the main thing that had prevented her from finding out about his career in villainy. Now, however, that might be backfiring on him.

"You haven't told her we're here, have you?"

"Not yet. I was going to call her later today." The pair had rented a furnished apartment in Middleton while they got things organized for their removal to the Bahamas. It had two bedrooms, since they were not ready to plunge quite that deeply into their relationship yet. It had only been a few days since they'd admitted to being in love with each other, and there was still a fair amount of stretching necessary from both sides in order to adjust to that in their minds and behavior.

The buzzer on the intercom intruded into the conversation, and Shego glared accusingly at Drakken.

"I didn't call her! I swear!" He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender while the sudden stress made large, yellow petals pop out around his neck. He was able to keep them away for longer periods now, but they still sometimes surprised him. Shego, watching the display, just shook her head and grinned. When the intercom buzzed insistently again, she pressed the button.

"Who is it?" she demanded gruffly.

"Hey, sis!" came Mego's voice. "It's us!" Shego smacked her hand against her face and groaned before pressing the button again.

"All of you?" she asked wearily. She was greeted by a male chorus in response.

"Is that who I think it is?" asked Drakken as he tore off petals. Realizing that he couldn't just leave them on the floor if company was coming, he began scooping them up.

"Team Go, yes. My brothers." Shego stood there and drummed her fingers on the wall. "Should I invite them up?"

"You might as well. They probably won't leave otherwise."

Certain that she was going to regret this but knowing that Drakken was right, Shego buzzed them in. The living room seemed awfully crowded with the addition of four Technicolor superheroes, but Drakken was exceedingly gracious.

"We've never been formally introduced," he said. "I am Dr. Drakken." He hadn't yet decided whether to go back to his birth name, and he was comfortable with the moniker he'd worn for nearly two decades. He then apologized that they weren't really equipped for company but offered to make tea or chocolate milk for those who wanted it. (For some reason, the obsession he'd had with "cocoa moo" during his brief conversion to goodness had never completely left him.)

"I hope you don't mind, but Shego and I haven't had lunch yet," Drakken added on his way to the kitchen, which was fairly large and well equipped for an apartment. Dr. D had insisted on that feature, in fact. "I'll just make up a plate of sandwiches."

"Um, nice place," said Mego, glancing around.

"It's only temporary," Shego explained. "We're getting our affairs in order before leaving the country."

"Why are you leaving?" asked Wego 1.

"You're not a wanted criminal anymore," added Wego 2.

"Two bedrooms," Hego remarked after investigating the short hallway. "That's good."

"The place came furnished that way, and it's none of your business who sleeps where!" Shego snapped, suddenly irrationally angry. "I outgrew the need for a protective big brother a long time ago."

"Well, you know, old habits," Hego said, looking away and shifting his feet uncomfortably. Shego turned her attention away from him and decided to answer the twins' question.

"I happen to like subtropical islands, all right?" she told them. "How did you guys find me, and why are you here?" At that point, Drakken returned with the beverages, then went back to the kitchen to make the sandwiches.

"I'm not coming back to the team," Shego stated flatly, finally surmising the reason for the family visit.

"But we saw—" began Wego 1.

"—you save the world," Wego 2 finished.

"Technically, Dr. Drakken and Ron Stoppable saved the world," she corrected. "With maybe a little help from me and the princess. That doesn't change the fact that I'm done with the hero thing. I was a victim of circumstance, that's all."

"Yeah, well, we had to ask," said Hego. "It would be nice to have the family back together again."

"Sorry, not interested," she answered firmly. "Even if I was, I wouldn't leave Dr. D." Not again, she added internally. She was done with that, too.

"We weren't asking you to," Mego interjected earnestly.

"We hoped he might join us, too," added Wego 1.

"Those new plant powers of his are totally awesome," agreed Wego 2. Shego was starting to get a familiar headache. Although she was touched that they would include Drakken in the invitation, she had to make her position on the matter abundantly clear.

"Look, Dr. D and I have decided to give up taking over the world, but that doesn't mean that we're looking to become superheroes," she said. "We have our own plans, thank you, and they don't include zipping around the world righting wrongs. We'll leave that to you and the princess, or whoever else gets off on that kind of thing."

"If you don't mind us asking, what are your plans?" asked Mego, in a tone that suggested he didn't really care. Of course, that attitude guaranteed that Shego would answer, so she explained about setting up a new business in the Bahamas where Drakken could plan the mass production of some of his inventions. When she was done, Hego took her firmly but gently by the shoulders.

"I just want you to be happy," he told her softly. "That's what all of us want." The others nodded their agreement.

Under most circumstances, Shego would have thrown someone through a wall for touching her without permission, but Hego's words made her pause. She thought back through her life. She hadn't really been happy as a hero; she'd just been going along and doing what she thought was expected of her. Being a villain had been fun at times, but she wouldn't say there was an underlying happiness to it.

"Hego, I think I'm happier right now than I ever have been in my life," she told her older brother honestly.

"Good," he replied, releasing her. "I'm happy for you."

At that point, Drakken returned with the sandwiches, cut neatly into diagonal halves for easy sampling. Shego was grateful for the distraction and took one half in each hand and began eating. She suddenly realized how hungry she was, and she once again appreciated that fact that the laboratory wasn't the only place where Dr. D could make something incredible out of almost nothing. She often wondered how he did it.

Drakken was a fantastic host, making small talk with Team Go as though he'd known them for years. Shego was reminded of that Christmas at the North Pole, when she'd gone to rescue her employer only to find that he and Ron Stoppable had called a truce and set up an impromptu holiday party. She was suddenly struck by the knowledge that living as a recluse in a mountaintop lair didn't really come naturally to Dr. D. He was an innately social person who loved to entertain. He must have suffered some intense bouts of loneliness over the years since he'd left college. Maybe that was really why he'd hired her and the henchmen – not because he had that much work to do but because he needed the company. She felt the sudden urge to put her arms around him, which she obviously had to suppress due to the presence of her brothers.

The Go brothers stayed about half an hour before wishing Shego and Drakken well and taking their leave. Shego dropped exhaustedly onto the sofa, rubbing her head.

"I really wish spending time with them didn't make me feel like I'd just spent an hour with my head in a vise," she complained. Concerned, Drakken sat beside her and began massaging her temples. She leaned her head back and sighed appreciatively. It was strange how they'd fallen so easily into the little relationship gestures like this. Maybe these feelings really had been bubbling under the surface for a long time. Their long association was definitely an advantage. Instead of having to dance around nervously and get to know each other on awkward dates, they were able to skip ahead to the part where they were comfortable together.

"You were great with my brothers," she complimented him. "I can barely be civil to them for five minutes."

"Oh, they're not so bad. Anyway, they're your family, and family sticks together, right?" he responded. He really wanted her to think of his family as hers, and vice versa. He wasn't sure about her, but Drakken was in this for the long haul. There was a pause before he spoke again. "You know, I still need to call Mother."

Shego sat up and looked right into Drakken's eyes. They shared a conspiratorial smile.

"Tomorrow," they agreed simultaneously.


Author's Note: The "couldn't I have a little peril" line is from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (just in case there's actually someone out there who hasn't seen it). One of my reviewers for What Now? wanted to see how Drakken and Shego's families reacted to their relationship, so I'm going to devote quite a bit of time to that in the next few chapters. After that, I should be focusing more on Kim and Ron, as well as their friends and families.