"So enjoy your night off," Shego sighed, taking the seat behind her desk, anticipating the bell. "Because tomorrow, we begin the real work."
…RRRRIIIIIINNNNNGGGG…
"That's all folks."
The final class of the day filed out of the classroom, leaving the seasoned teacher alone in the classroom. And so began another school year, full of optimism and promise. Shego's English classes were practically second nature by now and she was confident in her preparations for her history classes…at least enough that she wouldn't SERIOUSLY screw up. Still, a teacher's work was never done. It wasn't just the students that would be getting to work. Yearbook prep, department schedules; the students' day was over but Shego still had a mound of documents to be copied, a department meeting in ten minutes…and believe it or not, she felt great being back in school! Apart from being married to a redheaded bombshell and having the four best children in the world, Shego's greatest exploits would always be in the classroom.
"Hey Momma," Speaking of children, Gracie popped her head into the classroom.
"Hey Muffin; good first day?"
"Spankin," Gracie cheered, setting her book bag onto an empty desk. So much like her Mother, Gracie had quite a workload and despite classes, choir and band practice, and church activities, Shego's daughter was still looking to add another activity to her repertoire. Thank God Gracie didn't appear to be interested in cheerleading though! That would've just been too much for Shego's maternal heart to take. "You ready to go?"
"Ah, sorry Gracie," Shego sighed. "I've got a department meeting in five minutes."
"So not the drama," Gracie assured. "It okay if Mary and I go shoot some hoops?"
"Go ahead," Shego smiled. "I'll call your communicator when I'm ready."
Maybe that would be worth pursuing, Shego thought to herself as Gracie disappeared to hunt up her best friend. Billy and Jimmy played on the JV team and had gotten Gracie and Mary into the sport as well. Shego was definitely no expert on the sport, not being one for really ANY sports or after school activities at Gracie's age, but Gracie sure seemed to take to the sport like a duck to water. Maybe Gracie would go out for the ladies' JV team. Colleges always like applicants to be well rounded. Gracie WAS Shego's daughter after all. And Shego was supremely confident that her daughter would succeed at whatever she put her mind to.
Quickly the English department faculty filed in and Shego's mind turned to other things.
KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP
"Possible gets the ball. She jumps back," The ball sailed out of Gracie's hands towards the basket. "AND SHE SCORES!"
Another school year was upon them and Gracie still had energy reserves to burn. It almost made the bouts of cabin fever over the summer worth it…ALMOST. It did help that Gracie was finally able to train again. And as weird as it sounded, she'd even kind of missed classes. She had a fair and challenging work load this year. Her injuries the previous semester however had forced her to push team sports to this year. But at least she had Mary to do it with her.
"This is going to be a dramatic come back," Mary shot back as she grabbed the ball from under the hoop.
"I'd say she still stands a chance," a voice behind them mentioned.
Both girls jumped, turning around to spot the intruder. Both relaxed when it proved to be only Coach Schwartz, the PE teacher and varsity boys basketball coach. Wow…Gracie hadn't even heard him approach. Good thing the 'rents hadn't seen it; otherwise, Momma would've never let her live it down. She must've been REALLY in the zone.
"Oh, hey Coach Schwartz," Gracie breathed, kneeling down to catch her breath.
"Please don't let me stop you," He replied, clapping at their performance. "You two have quite a set of skills between the two of you. You know, my wife coaches the girls JV team. You two ever thought about trying out?"
Trying out for JV? Indeed, Gracie hadn't considered it. Basketball was kind of a new passion, only a few months ago, really for fun as much as anything else. Their respective boyfriends were on the boys team and they'd often commented on Gracie and Mary's increasing skill but both ladies had thought it sweet talk, something neither Billy nor Jimmy were without a record of.
Coach Schwartz must've seen the two having a wordless conversation and spoke up again. "Well, I hope you'll consider it. You both work hard, I don't see any reason why you both couldn't make varsity next year."
"Varsity?" Gracie gasped.
"Us?" Mary mimicked.
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"THIS IS SO UNFAIR!"
Well…that could've gone far better. Shego kept her mouth shut while the two redheads had it out. Shego was pleased to find out she wasn't the only one to notice Gracie's rising interest in basketball as Mary and Gracie had informed her in the car that Tom Schwartz was convinced that the girls were a shoe-in to make the JV team…and both girls were only too enthusiastic to try out at the end of October. And Shego had readily offered her blessing on Gracie's endeavor…provided that she got Kim's too. And that was where the trouble started. Gracie burst into the house, brimming with enthusiasm and virtually dragged the two older women into the living room to make her sales pitch…and Kim was against it? Gracie had made it through her argument and Shego could see the look in her wife's eyes. This was about to turn sour.
"Gracie, you've got enough on your plate as it is," Kim replied to Gracie's departing back.
…SLAM…
Kim whirled around and Shego was trapped in her wife's gaze, the gaze that had made many a misbehaving child wither in defeat. But Shego wasn't about to be budged. She'd actually said very little in the conversation, especially when tempers flared. Kim and Shego, for better or worse, always tried to present a united front and Shego wasn't about to undercut Kim in front of Gracie…but Kim was just wrong in this instance. Something more was going on here and Shego WAS going to find out what it was.
"Apparently a little support is too much to ask for," Kim barked, storming past her wife, back to the kitchen. "I mean, our daughter has only JUST gotten cleared after…after surviving a crash!" She paused over the sink and Shego saw Kim's hand snake up to the Cross she wore around her neck, a match to the one Shego wore, a mutual present on their 11th anniversary. "She's got a work load that some adults would find tough…and you support adding to it?!" Over the years, both women had long since gotten to the point where they could read the tone in each other's voice…and that little catch in Kim's breathing made Shego shoot off the sofa and face her wife's now tear streamed face. "I…we…we nearly lost our…"
Shego readily wrapped her arms around her wife and held her close. Kim WAS having problems with Auckland. It was still clear as day in Shego's memory how Kim had nearly collapsed when she heard the extent of Gracie's injuries…and Shego had THOUGHT that Kim had come to terms with it but…clearly that wasn't the case. "In her own time" be damned; this was…Kim needed help!
"Shhhhh," Shego rubbed her wife's back soothingly. "But she WAS cleared, Princess. Our daughter thought fast, remembering what you and I taught her, and she survived. NONE of this was your fault. I swear to you that I would've ordered Gracie out of there just the same…and she'd have gone back to check on me too. We can't shut her off from the world every time she's injured. Mom and Dad sure didn't do that for you and I am supremely thankful. As much as I want to sometimes, we can't lock our daughter in an ivory tower…and frankly I don't think she'd let us. She IS our daughter after all." Shego could hear the sobs lessening and squeezed her wife tighter. "And if this proves too much for Gracie, well…that's a lesson she has to learn for herself," Shego lifted her wife's head up and snagged a tissue from the counter, dabbing and Kim's tears and running mascara. "I promise you that everything…every ONE in our family is going to be okay."
"I…sniff…I'm sorry Shego. I…"
"It's okay," Shego assured, planting a tender kiss on Kim's ruby lips. "Although admittedly, the overprotective Momma Bear shtick is my territory…" Shego ooffed as Kim poked her in the ribs, eliciting a small giggle from the redhead.
"Very funny," Kim shot back, regaining her composure for the most part. Well…her wife really was adorable after a cry. After almost sixteen years together, it was almost like she was still just a little embarrassed to display that level of emotion in front of the older woman. "I guess I…was a little over-protective. I better go talk to Gracie…"
"You better let me handle the teenager," Shego caressed Kim like she had all those times Kim had needed it over the years and turned towards the stairs. "I'll smooth things over and send her down."
KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP
Sometimes it was just hard to be a parent. Just how hard was a lesson that Kim always seemed to be still learning. She'd…she'd THOUGHT that she'd made peace with Gracie's accident. She'd been the one to take Gracie to all her appointments. She'd thought that would…maybe it would help her get over it? The first few weeks, just watching her daughter sleep, content that Gracie was somewhere safe and warm…but…but maybe she should book some time with the GJ therapist. She'd met with Dr. Archibald on a few occasions and the old Welshman had indeed been a help with some of the…less than conventional missions. He was just that kindly old man that was always ready to listen.
Kim was quickly pulled out of her musings by the chirping of the Kimmunicator. Kim snaked the little device, loaded it into the kitchen docking station, and accepted the call, revealing Minnie Load on the screen. "Hey Minnie; what's up?"
"Oh…is…is this a bad time, Kim? I…I could call back."
It took Kim a minute to recognize what Minnie was talking about. She HAD been crying and her eyes were likely still bloodshot. Why hadn't Kim thought of that? "No, it's okay. Gracie and I had a little disagreement and…things got a little emotional. Not really the drama; she's trying to talk us into letting her try out for the basketball team and…I kind of went Momma Bear on her. But like I said, everything's good now. What's up?"
"Oh snap; basketball too? Girl, that kid is your daughter to a T," Minnie let out a small chuckle. "Anyway, I've got an update on the Seniors. You interested?"
"You know it, girlfriend. What do you have?"
"The seniors are on the West coast," Minnie reported, bringing up a series of photos on the screen. "Whatever they've got going on, it's got something to do with racing. Over the last four months, Raul's been able to get his hands on several promising auto-shops that specialize in high-performance vehicles. And some of the stuff these garages were working on at the time was quite impressive. We're talking 'Steve Jobs in his garage' potential here."
"Which means those shops weren't likely obtained very honestly," Kim guessed. That would be just like Raul to swoop in on an up-and-comer and steal their work right out from under them with a contract or some other corporate dodge. It reminded her of the days when she and Ron were just starting out…and had their bacon saved by her mentor Nate Ford and Leverage Inc. It was exactly the kind of thing they fought to stop.
"Well…that's the strange thing. The projects that were being worked on…they were stolen before Raul or Junior ever made a claim on them."
But…what was Raul doing getting into street racing though? Junior went through plenty of phases and fads and Daddy was certainly prone to provide it but…no…no, the Seniors weren't acting alone in this. Of that, Kim was fairly certain. But if they weren't working alone…anything associated with high-performance ANYTHING would have to have Motor Ed's motor oil streaked fingerprints all over it.
"Send me the details on each of the shops and exactly how Raul got his hands on them. I'll head out to San Diego and take a look tomorrow. Also, see if you can track down Motor Ed's whereabouts while you're at it."
"You think the grease monkey's involved?"
"My gut says so," Kim smiled. Man, this was her first mission in months! Kim could never quite regret being quiet…but part of her was kind of hoping for some action and SOON! "I'll call you back tomorrow once I land."
The screen winked out and a loud "AHEM" jolted Kim around. Shego and Gracie stood just outside the kitchen, Gracie looking supremely hopeful that Shego hadn't been messing with her. Damn it; Shego WAS right. Gracie had always whined about all the times Kim had told her to know her limitations and…that was something she DID need to learn on her own. Gracie was an excellent student and seemed to manage her time well. Kim could at least give her daughter the benefit of the doubt and let Gracie give it a shot.
"Okay," Kim heaved a sigh and took a seat at the kitchen table, motioning for Gracie to take the seat next to her. "I…Gracie, I…I guess I'm…look; so long as your grades don't slip and you're not overwhelmed, I guess it's okay if you try out."
The young teenager took off like a monkey from a box, wrapping her arms around Kim, showering the elder Possible with "thank yous". You'd have thought that Kim had just given Gracie her blessing to get married…ARGH; new thought, new thought!
"So was that the Kimmunicator?" Shego asked, helping the two redheads apart and kissing her daughter on the cheek.
"More on the Seniors," Kim replied, getting up and moving to the fridge to get a drink. "Raul's gotten his hands on a series of high-performance auto-shops on the west coast and some of the projects being worked on were stolen within days of the transaction. I've got a hunch Motor Ed is involved too but I'm not sure exactly what their play is yet."
"Ooooh, that mean we have a mission tomorrow?"
"Well it means I do," Kim smirked, pouring herself some orange juice. "You've got school tomorrow, young lady."
"Yeah Mom," Kim nearly snorted orange juice out the nose. They'd only made up a matter of minutes ago and her little scamp of a daughter was already trying to suck up?
"YOU can just shush, young lady," Shego barked. "That is unless you'd like to cook dinner for yourself tonight? While the rest of us dine on chorizo frittatas?"
Leave it to Shego to try to bribe the girl with Mexican food.
KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP
The warm salty air was a welcome feeling as Nate ford emerged onto the porch to greet the day. And what a day it was. It was a stellar sunrise over the pacific; the weather as was usual for Hawaii, was near perfect. He'd been skeptical in the beginning of his wife, Sophie's, choice of places to establish a home but after a few years, it truly felt like home. And you just couldn't beat waking up to such surroundings every day.
But it had become even more like a home eight years ago when nature had decided to really throw the newlyweds a curve ball…and little Eliza. Neither of them had expected or planned on children, Nate had been fast approaching fifty at the time and Sophie quickly approaching her "time". But like the proverbial engine that could, the stars had aligned to give the couple Eliza Patricia Ford. And from that moment the couple laid hands on her, they'd been a trio and proud of it.
"Morning Daddy," Nate's ears picked up a small voice behind him and turned to see his daughter, clad in her favorite Kim Possible pajamas, step to his side.
"Hey there Lady Bug," He cheerfully hefted the eight year old into his arms and planted a kiss on her rosy cheek. "You're up kind of early. What gives?"
"I'm hungry," She stated very matter-of-factly.
"Oh, you're hungry, are you?" Nate chuckled as he twirled her around. If only his bones weren't telling him this wasn't to last. "Well, let's see what we can dig up for my growing girl."
Father and daughter retreated to the kitchen. Polishing off his first cup of coffee, Nate set Eliza in her special chair at the counter and got to work. Since retirement, Nate had become fairly adept at cooking and soon had a pan of scrambled eggs done and was spooning a helping onto Eliza's plate when Sophie emerged from the bedroom, heading straight for the coffee pot.
"Morning all," She sighed, filling a cup and taking several swallows.
Even fresh out of bed, Nate couldn't help but stare. At 48 years of age, Sophie Ford (nee Devereaux) was a breathtaking beauty and knew it. Nate knew only too well that despite being to outward appearances a suburbanized Mom, Sophie was still every inch the skilled grafter that Nade had spent many of his early years squaring off against and later seeking justice alongside. Creeping up behind her, Nate couldn't help but give her still oh so shapely rear a little pinch, eliciting a squeak from his wife.
"Why Nathan Henry Ford," She put on a look of mock shock. "What on Earth would make you think I'm that kind of girl?"
"Oh…Barcelona, Chicago, Istanbul," Nate teased. "St. Petersburg was VERY educational."
"NOT," Sophie leaned in and planted a kiss on her husband's lips "In front of our daughter, you scoundrel." Both smiled and leaned in to share a hug. "My meeting at the theater might run long. Can you take Eliza to Pixie Scouts? Sandra said she'd cover for me as troop leader."
Sophie leading a Pixie Scout troop; Nate still had trouble believing it sometimes. Those kids would be the first troop to employ the White Van Speakers to sell their muffins. But…Sophie had taken to motherhood like a duck to water and NEVER missed a chance to spend time with their daughter, neither of them did.
The trio had breakfast together and Eliza scampered off to get ready for school with Sophie not far behind. As per his routine when it wasn't his turn to get Eliza ready, Nate loaded the dishes into the sink, poured himself another cup of coffee, and settled into the living room to watch the morning news. He had just powered on the set when instead of Sandra Cho on Channel 7, a video call from San Diego was plastered across the screen. San Diego? If memory served, wasn't that where Elliot, Hardison, and Parker had set up Leverage Inc.? The team seldom ever spent longer than three years in any particular city, sometimes out of choice and sometimes not. But either way, it had been too long since both sides had visited the other and Nate was only too glad to answer the call.
"Elliot," Nate cheerfully greeted as his old subordinate's image appeared on screen. "We were beginning to think you'd forgotten about us."
As usual when the name was spoken in the house, Eliza quickly darted out of her room, a flustered Sophie following behind with a hair brush, everyone only too glad to see old friends again.
"UNCLE ELLIOT!" Eliza cried in excitement, leaping over the sofa and landing next to Nate.
"Hey, there's my favorite munchkin," Elliot smiled and waved to the admirer. Ever since she could walk, Eliza followed Elliot around like a puppy and of course, Elliot absolutely doted on his surrogate niece. "You stayin out of trouble?"
"Yes I am," she stated proudly, oblivious to the fact that both parents were rolling their eyes. The not at all troublesome Eliza Ford had conveniently left out the fact that both Nate and Sophie having to come into school last week after Eliza had managed to give two other children bloody noses on the playground, both without even laying a finger on them. Both of the children had something of a reputation as bullies and at least half a dozen other children AND some of the recess attendants claimed that Eliza had been sticking up for a smaller child. Eliza hadn't been punished but the whole event had led to a very interesting talk with the school principal.
"Elliot, I wish we could talk more but I have to get this one's hair even slightly presentable and then we need to get going. Give Parker and Hardison my best."
"So how's San Diego treating 'the business'?" Nate asked, half joking. Nate had every confidence that the "Three Musketeers" would keep Leverage flourishing no matter where they were.
"That's…kind of why I called," Elliot's voice took on a serious tone. "We caught a mark that…well…the target kind of goes back a long way, someone you've been dealing with since before you started Leverage."
A repeat mark? That was intriguing, and one that Nate had apparently been dealing with since his days at IYS? That boiled down to maybe a half dozen people, nearly all of them going past corrupt white-collar criminals to flat out supervillains. One of them had been Shelia Gordon, better known to the rest of the world as Shego. But she'd long since gone straight…well, in most ways but one and had made an honest woman out of a very good friend of his, was raising four kids, and was working as a high school English teacher no less.
"Okay Elliot; you've officially got my curiosity. Who are you going after?"
There was a long paus before Elliot finally breathed the name. "Raul Senior…and on top of that, Hardisan thinks Senior's got Ed Lipsky doing his dirty work."
Nate nearly choked on his coffee! It was enough of a surprise to come across Raul again but…Raul and Ed Lipsky working TOGETHER? Were there two more polar opposite people than the Brazilian sophisticate and the down and dirty grease monkey with nitrous oxide in his veins?
"Wow…uh…" Nick swallowed hard, finally getting his coffee down.
"I know. Now, we can handle Lipsky easily but…Raul Senior...he's…well, he's like nothing the three of us have ever gone after. As far as I can see, the only ones that have the skills necessary to get close to Senior and to land a serious blow are you and Sophie. Nate…man, I know you're retired…and you know that I wouldn't ask this of you two unless I had to but…we need you back."
KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP
Thank the maker Eliza had gone right to sleep. Sophie frequently spent the better part of an hour trying to get her daughter to bed. But now…something was up. She knew Nate well enough to know when something was on his mind. Something had happened after the lady folk had left and Nate seemed desperate to get it off his chest. Taking a seat in their spacious kitchen, a bottle of non-alcoholic wine between them, Sophie was ready.
"Elliot needs us back."
So that was it. You didn't spend as much time together, endure as much heartache and triumph, as Leverage Inc. had and not keep in touch. It was always a joy to hear from Elliot, Hardison and Parker. But by now, they'd readily accepted that she and Nate were out for good. So…for Elliot to call them back? That could only mean a job of the utmost importance…or the team was in serious danger.
"What…what's the job?"
"Raul Senior Senior."
It would've HAD to be one of them to make her husband this tense. The Seniors were utterly ruthless when it came to business, making some of their past marks look downright charitable. She'd crossed paths with Raul on several occasions, largely in her earlier days when trying to fence a big score. Him, Monty Fiske, Drew Lipsky, they were all an entirely different class of criminal, one that Nate and Leverage had groomed their youngest member for, and seen her succeed against time and again.
"Are you…considering taking it?" She asked, taking a sip of her wine.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted. To even get close to him would take the absolute best grifter in the business."
"Flattery will only get you so far in life, Mr. Ford. We're retired and have an eight year old girl in our care. If this were summer vacation, I'd consider it but we can't just pull Eliza out of school for a month or more so we can take down a mark…no matter how badly I want to strike a blow against that man!"
"I know," Nate heaved a sigh and leaned over the counter. "I know that. We've got a life here that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Eliza's got school and you've got the theater group and acting school...but…I don't have anything going on right now. What if…I give Elliot and the others two weeks? I fly up to San Diego, provide what help I can, and then come rain, snow, or shine, I'm back here," Sophie could feel him creeping up behind her and nestling his head on her shoulder…as if that weren't the oldest trick in the book. Should she be charmed…or downright insulted? "And you and I are dining on lobster at The Sapphire."
Nate…Nate never had been able to rest while men like Raul went free. And if she was honest…that was one of the things that she loved most about him. Even as a thief, she'd admired Nate's faith in what was right and fair. And…there really wasn't any way but for Nate to go.
"Okay Nate; give them two weeks. But I want you to promise me something. Bring him down! Whatever it takes, whatever you have to do, bring him down…and please God, bring yourself home to us."
Author's Notes:
I've always found it interesting how Kim managed to cope with all of the life or death missions, especially now that family is involved. My grandfather served in WWII in the Pacific and I know through him how dark those experiences can be.
While I found the ending to the series plausible, I always imagined that Nate and Sophie would be two who wouldn't be able to entirely leave the game behind, especially when their daughter is selling muffins. lol