First story, so please be kind. Comments and reviews appreciated. Oh, and I do not own the rights to Kim Possible or any of the other characters; Kim is all (c) Disney.

HIDDEN AGENDA

"You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters and yet others go ever flowing on."

Heracleitos, 540 - 475 B.C.

Chapter one, in which things change and moods swing.

Kim Possible was happy.

There were several different reasons for her good mood, the most obvious being that it was a very nice day in that brief transition between late summer and early autumn.

The sun shone brightly from a pale blue sky. The air was so clear that it seemed that you could distinguish details in the landscape all the way to the horizon. The trees still had most of their leaves, displaying a whole spectrum of vibrant colours from pale green to brilliant orange and deep red. It was a day to make your heart soar.

Another reason for her happiness was that she was speeding along the highway in her favourite car. And that was so not the Sloth. That tweeb-tweaked marvel was for missions and high-tech tricks. This was a proper car; a vintage sports car that she had found in a barn during a mission and had bought cheap. The real cost came from restoring it, but she had had a number of friends to help her, and a few favours to call in.

Wade had done the navigation system and the stereo, but most of the work had in fact been done by Motor Ed as part of a prison scheme, allowing him to earn points towards an early release.

Ron, Monique and her parents had not been too happy to know that she trusted her life to a vehicle that Motor Ed had rebuilt, expecting some sabotage to become evident any minute. Kim, however, was not worried. She trusted Ed to have sufficient pride in his work, and love enough for beautiful cars, not to mess with her ride. And so far, she had not been proven wrong.

The car ran sweetly, with excellent road grip and a spinning engine. This allowed her the slightly guilty pleasure of speeding along without exactly keeping to the speed limits. She had convinced Wade to make the Kimmunicator able to scan the police radio and other electronic signals to warn her of any police controls, so she wasn't really worried about getting caught. Instead, she enjoyed passing staid family sedans with a burst of mellow speed, imagining the kids going "Wow! Dad, did you see that cool car?"

A final boost to her high spirits was the fact that the sleek, bronze metallic sports car was taking her home to Middleton for a short mid-term break in her second year of college studies.

She liked attending the Wannagoo University, and she enjoyed campus life, but this didn't change the fact that she sometimes longed for home and looked forward to seeing her family and her high school friends again.

Yes, all in all, plenty of reasons for feeling happy. She recognized, though, that the main reason probably was that she was able to forget her studies for more than a week. Sure, she was still confident that she could do anything, just not everything at the same time. University meant that she really had to attend lectures and study groups, and hand in her various papers and assignments on time. Other activities, like going on missions, really screwed up her academic life.

Granted, already in the beginning there had been less call for saving the world than before. After their amnesty, Drakken had entirely stopped his wacky attempts to take over the world, and Shego had vanished along with him. Kim thought they were probably living quietly on their ill-gotten gains, taking it easy for once. Professor Dementor was also mostly invisible. A piece of inspired hacking from Wade had let them freeze all his bank accounts, and the mad scientist suddenly found himself totally without funds. This limited the scale of his operations so that the local village constabulary was usually up to the task of stopping him. Señor Senior, Sr., concentrated more and more on barely legal corporate take-overs, making more money than ever before, and Jr. concentrated more and more on his own brand of airheaded narcissism, spending more money than ever.

It really was kind of boring, but it made enough space in her agenda that the first term at Wannagoo wasn't a total failure. With the start of her second term, she asked Wade to take down the website. She got more time for her studies, but the bad start was more than enough to make her academic endeavour a real struggle. At least she started getting passable grades.

Holidays and vacations were much needed periods for rest and recuperation, but this mid-term break her schedule allowed her was an unexpected bonus, and therefore even more appreciated.

Yes, all in all, Kim felt happy as a toddler at Christmas!

==##0##==

The P1800ES allowed her to make good time, and it was early afternoon when she pulled up in front of her parents' house. She grabbed her purse and ran up to the front door.

To her disappointment, however, nobody answered the door when she rang the bell, and when she let herself in with her own keys, she found a note on the kitchen table.

"Hi, Kimmie! Welcome home!

"Sorry we are not there to greet you. I have emergency surgery at the hospital, and your dad is working round the clock on some impossible deadline at the space centre. Your brothers are at soccer practice, and plan to go on to a movie later.

"There is some food in the fridge if you are hungry! See you later!

"Love, Mum".

Kim's spirits did sink a little at the lack of the expected welcome, but she was still glad to be home and enjoying a break. The cold meal in the fridge was brain loaf; she checked. It could wait, she decided. Perhaps she would feel like a late night snack.

After getting her stuff in from the car, she flopped down on the bed in her old room, and started making some phone calls. After only a couple of minutes, she had arranged to meet Ron and Monique at the Bueno Nacho later, and was feeling great again.

==##0##==

The Bueno Nacho down by her old high school looked exactly like she remembered it, and the moment she passed the doors she spotted Ron and Monique at the usual table. Monique waved at her as she bounced up to the booth. Monique was looking great, decked out in the latest fashion.

"Hi, Ron! Hi, Monique! Great to see you both!"

"Likewise, girlfriend! Looking good!

Ron and Monique had already gotten their orders, so Kim went to the counter to get her own food.

Joining her friends again, she picked up the conversation and started them catching up on the events since they had last met.

It was still early in the evening, and the fast food restaurant was full with families taking their kids out for a treat. The familiar smells of cheese, Diablo Sauce and spilled sodas triggered contented memories in Kim's mind. The menu was the same, the chairs and tables unchanged, and even the guests looked familiar. In particular Ron and Monique, of course. Ron still had his Cargos and football sweater, and Monique was, as usual, dressed in the latest Club Banana fashion line. Kim forgot university and let the familiar surroundings spin her back to a more care-free life.

"So, Kim", Ron said after a while, "it's really good to back all together at the Bueno Nacho, don't you think? Been a while, actually!"

"Yes, it sure has. But hey, talking about being all together, where's Rufus?"

"Oh!" Ron's face fell a little. "Well, you know, naked mole rats are rather small and delicate animals. Their life is not really ... like a human's..."

"Oh, Ron! I'm so sorry. When did ... er ...you know?

Ron's eyes widened. "No, Kim! Don't worry! He's not dead. It's just that he doesn't move so easily anymore, and he spends most of his time asleep, nowadays. He's just home at the apartment, sleeping in his little den!"

Kim gave a sigh of relief, but the clear indication of the passage of time still stabbed her happy mood in the back. "Well, I'm glad he's still with us! So, anyway, as you said, it's been a while and I'm actually glad to be tasting the fake Mexican again. You know, poor college student? Eats mostly pot noodles and the occasional TV dinner. And all the other students I know are health freaks and only want to go out for salads or quorn. So this is a welcome break! You, on the other hand, are probably here at B.N. twice a day, anyway!"

"Not really, KP, more like once a month."

"OMG!" Kim said in an overly dramatic voice, trying to inject some levity into the conversation after her fright about the naked mole rat. "Who are you, and what have you done to young master Stoppable?"

"Not kidding you, Kim! Hey? One and a half years of college level Nutrition and Food preparation? With the major focus on haute cuisine? I can't keep eating junk food all the time, I've got to develop my palate!

"Develop your palate?" Kim looked sceptical. "So what DO you eat?"

"Well, mostly whatever is going at school. There's often some dinner or senior student project that need kind customers to try it. Also, I have my own assignments. Currently, I have to research and put together a balanced, original three course menu every week, cook it and have it tested by the class. I usually try it out on Monique, here, also."

Monique looked at Ron with quite contentment, almost with pride.

"What, Mon comes to your school to eat?"

"Not really. I usually invite her over for dinner as a sort of dress rehearsal."

"And mighty tasty it usually is, too, even if I'm no more than an incredibly beautiful guinea pig for his gastronomic inventions!"

Kim looked at her friends, somewhat bewildered. "What, you have Monique over at your flat for a romantic dinner once a week? Something you guys need to be telling me, here?"

Ron and Monique exchanged a glance and hesitated.

And at that moment, all the lights went out.

==##0##==

The darkness fell quickly, but a lot of different sounds and noises died away more gradually. The beeping and pinging of cooking timers and cash registers were the first to go, along with the background music. The slot machines made a few dispirited clunks and gave in to silence a bit more reluctantly. The hum of the different refrigeration units died with a few final gurgles of CFC-free coolants, and the extraction fans and the ventilation faded unwillingly away.

The silence would have been deafening if the fast food customers hadn't started to babble. A steady hum rose to replace the mechanical soundscape, punctuated by the occasional shriek of a frightened kid or the coarse interjections from the man who spilled his soda.

Kim used the unexpected break in their conversation to gather her thoughts.

"Uh oh! Darkness!" Ron always did have penchant for stating the obvious. "Someone blew a fuse!"

"Looks like a pretty major power failure to me", Kim said.

The light from the emergency exit signs and the occasional headlamps of a passing car just made it possible to see that Ron shook his head.

"No big, KP, just one bird too many on the power line."

"Birds, eh? I wouldn't know about that. I think I'll just slip outside to take a look!"

"Oh, come on, Kim! Leave it be! You don't have to save us from everything all the time, you know. The power company will fix it in no time. Or perhaps you think it's Electronique absorbing all the electricity as part of some villainous scheme? Just take it easy for once!"

Kim blinked. Had Ron just made fun of her and all the missions they had undertaken together for so many years? A small, cold lump took up residence in her guts, next to her worry over Rufus, but she couldn't think of anything to say. She just stood up and walked outside.

==##0##==

It really did look like a major power failure. There were no lights at all as far as she could see, except for passing vehicles and the pale light of the almost full moon.

She leaned her back against the wall and let the cool air sooth her. Did Ron think she was being childish or something? And if so, when had he started feeling like that?

To reassure herself, she grabbed her Kimmunicator and pressed the button for Wade. He, at least, would take her seriously.

It took a few seconds longer than usual for Wade to answer, and when he did there was no picture, just sound.

"Hi, Wade! Kim, here. How're you doing?"

"Oh, hi Kim! Long time, no see! And I bet you're not seeing me now, either. I'm afraid you caught me in the middle of Australia."

Kim started thinking furiously. Could it be the middle of the night in Australia when it was dark also here in Middleton?

"Sorry Wade, I didn't know you were out of the country! Did I wake you up?"

"Not Australia, the commonwealth nation, but Australia, the blockbuster movie! I'm at the movie theatre at the Middleton mall!"

"Oh! So, I guess the power cut already interrupted the show, huh?"

"Yeah, and it's a slow job getting out of the theatre, I can tell you! It's really dark in here!"

"Well, anyway, I'm glad to hear that you are out and about, and not skulking in your room anymore."

Wade sighed. "Yeah, it has taken a lot of effort, therapy and medication, but I can finally live a more normal life. Even going to the movies with... er... friends."

"Medication, Wade? Pills? Is that really ... good for you? What if you develop an addiction?"

Kim could clearly hear the sharp intake of breathe over the Kimmunicator, and realised she had probably said something stupid.

"So what, Kim, so what? That's easy for you to say; you aren't scared of anything! Have you any idea what I have been going through to get this far? Did you think I spent all my life in my bedroom just 'cause I felt like it? Convenient for you, with me always at your beck and call, but do you really have any idea at all of how my life has been? So, let me tell you – the pills are totally worth it!"

Kim was speechless. She knew she had been sort of insensitive just now, but had Wade really felt like that all the time? She had sort of assumed that he was fairly happy with his computers and geek stuff.

"Sorry, Kim", Wade said after a while. " I didn't mean to shout at you like that. What can I do for you?"

"Ah...just checking, really, if you could say something about the cause of the blackout?" Kim said, relieved to come back to the familiar sitch of asking Wade for information.

Wade sighed. "Not here and now, actually. I need to get home and power up my stand-by generators, and I can't really just dump my date and split!"

More unexpected revelations, but by now Kim was starting to feel numb. "Sorry, Wade! It seems I really do expect you to drop everything and just tell me whatever I need. Wade, I'm really, really sorry!"

"Well, as you would say, Kim, no big. It was kind of nice to hear your voice again. Let me see what I can find out later, and I'll get back to you in a couple of hours?"

"Well, only if you're sure I'm not interrupting ..."

"Kim, please just shut up! You're embarrassing me! I'll get back to you later. All right?"

"Sure; that's fine, Wade! Thank you!"

"You're welcome, Kim. Really!. I'm sorry I said what I said just now..."

"It's all right, Wade. I'm sorry, too. Later?"

"Yeah, later!"

==##0##==

Kim disconnected and sank down on her haunches. That did not go as she had expected, either. Perhaps she should have done as Ron said, and just let it be? Why did everything suddenly seem so complicated? Things she had never really questioned before suddenly changed. It was like the characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, suddenly growing fangs, turning from good-looking guys into evil vampires. Not the Ron was a blood-sucker, but he had just sort of changed in some subtle manner and she wasn't sure she knew him all that well, anymore. And if he did suck some of her good mood away from her, Wade just got the rest.

She glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of Ron and Monique. They had been given candles by the Bueno staff, and now looked like they were enjoying a romantic dinner.

What a mess! She had been so happy, and now this! Ron and Mon, together? Rufus fading away? Ron growing up and making something serious of his life? And she was still playing at being the hero. She had been struggling with her classes, getting disappointing grades, just because she took such a lot of time off to fight these really pathetic villains. For what? If she just left them alone, most of them would probably blow themselves up with their own doomsday devices out of sheer stupidity. And then the sitch with Wade... Yeah, what a mess!

She glanced at Ron and Monique once more, and decided she didn't really want to go back in. Instead, she started walking towards her parents' house. Perhaps someone would be home by now. Or at least she could console herself with the brain loaf.

Kim Possible was suddenly not happy. No, not happy at all.