Chapter 2

Christmas came round, the one time of year Kim Possible wished she could sleep through because of all the memories, and she didn't know exactly what to do. Since the dreamscape, she had tried doing what Ron asked of her, to move on with her life, but it was growing difficult with the oncoming holiday, and even the comfort of friends wasn't helping. She wanted to tune it all out, especially when she caught an ad during the local news about the station's annual airing of Snowman Hank, and she almost coughed up her coffee at that, which wouldn't have met well with her laptop as she was putting the finishing touches on a report for her Criminology class. That was when she knew it was time for her to go see a certain person, someone who fit rather well into this particular season, and see if he was still willing to be a comfort to her. Not that she'd admit to finding the ex-villain comforting, far from it. But he was so much like Ron that being around him made her miss him less, it was almost like being with him once again, even if Rufus was missing. that was the real comfort she got from it.

Drew Lipsky was just sitting down with a cup of hot cocoa, ready to watch some new films, when he heard the doorbell ring. His mother had already visited recently, would be coming back on Christmas Day, so the identity of his visitor was a relative mystery; he was not expecting anyone soon. As he came to the door, he could see the person's hair colour, almost identifying his guest before he even opened the door. So when he did find his assumptions correct, he couldn't help a small smile.

"Kimberly, do come in." He stood aside, almost gentlemanly, to allow her entrance. She walked in gingerly, staring at him questioningly as he lead her into the living room once again.

"Aren't you suspicious of why I'm here?" As she sat down across from him, she couldn't help but wonder why he was being so welcoming. It shocked her a bit, since she was doing something so new and so strange. She considered apologising and leaving, but his answer, which he said as he came back with another cup of cocoa and sat himself, made her push those thoughts aside.

"After our discussion the last time you were here, I thought I'd made it clear that I'm willing to be as understanding as possible for you. I kind of know what you're going through, and as surprised as I am by this, I enjoyed your last visit." He almost didn't say how he felt at seeing the raw emotions on her face, he almost let her go. Somehow, he couldn't do that. She looked like she needed a friend right now.

"Feelings of loss, what do you mean?"

"Shego left me, haven't you noticed? She couldn't handle my new lifestyle, and couldn't understand why I didn't want to give up what I had wanted so badly. She always thought my bids for world conquest were honestly just that, not angst over my outcast status in the scientific field. Once I gained notoriety, after helping you save the world, I no longer cared about being 'evil', and I guess it made her realise how little she really knew me." He couldn't tell her the other reason, not just yet.

"But you two seemed to know each other so well."

"Yes, on the outside, but there was so much I was afraid to expose, so much she really didn't know. She was so critical of me so often, especially when I first employed her, that there were many things I left unsaid. And that year she found out about my love of a certain seasonal special, I almost thought she'd have me committed." He couldn't help the chuckle that came from that particular memory.

"Is she still a villain?"

"How should I know? She was a mercenary even when I had her employed. I haven't seen her since she left, calling me a geek and slamming the door on her way out."

"She really called you a geek?"

"Wouldn't be the first time it ever happened, even from her."

"I'm sorry." She looked him in the eye as she spoke. At first, he couldn't answer back, wondering what would make her feel the need to apologise to him. In her eyes, he saw an array of emotions, all of which centred on sympathy. Shego may not be dead, but the loss was just the same. neither were coming back.

"Let's focus on happier topics, shall we?"

"If you insist."

"Oh, i do."

Christmas Eve, and Kim found herself back at the door to Drew's home, holding two bags in hand, both festive, with one much bigger than the other. As she waited for her ex-arch-enemy to answer the door, she started questioning herself for even being there. Granted, this was planned, but she had stalled asking for almost a week before calling him two days ago to arrange this. He wouldn't be having any other visitors until tomorrow, and sounded excited that she wanted to come over. Her real issue was that she felt she was purposely intruding on his life because she had a missing hole she wanted to fill; she felt as if she was using him because of his similarities to her late best friend and fiancé. It was with that puzzle on her mind that he opened the door and welcomed her in. His tree wasn't massive, like the one her parents always got, but it made the living room seem cosy and was covered in a strange array of ornaments, none of which seemed to match, the lights slowly transitioning around a basic set of four colours, and made it look like a rainbow waterfall was showering the pine needles, casting lights over the ornaments. She kept her gaze on it for a long while, admiring how much it seemed disconnected yet fit so well into the setting, just like the blue man who was serving her hot cocoa and a tray of cookies.

"See something you like?"

"Your tree is very interesting. I've never seen lights do that before." He handed her a mug, and took a sip from his own before enlightening her.

"Made the strand myself with some LED strands I found lying about, to pass the time you see. It wasn't as hard as it looks."

"With you, I don't doubt it," and she took a long draught from her own mug.

"Is that a compliment?" His mock-shock wasn't lost on her.

"I believe so," she smirked, knowing that this form of bantering would only increase between them. It seemed, she noted, that her conversations with Drew were, more often than not, intellectual compared to the ones she had had with Ron. He seemed to understand the concept of sarcasm and word-play, something Ron hadn't been proficient at.

"Drew..." This was the first time Kim had said his given name, and it gave her some pause to continue. It also garnered his attention quickly, and he waited silently for her to continue, his eyes not leaving her. "Thanks, for everything." She didn't know what came over her, but suddenly she had to thank him, she had to let him know how helpful he had been through all this.

"As you're infamous for saying, no big."

Suddenly they had nothing left to talk about. He sat down on the couch, his slight discomfort noticeable as he kept sipping his cocoa loudly. Noticing this, she felt confused, not understanding what had happened. Sitting on the other end of the couch, she fiddled a bit with her hair before anything interesting came to mind. Looking through her ginger locks, she noticed he was doing everything to not look at her, and that was what really spurred what she said next.

"After everything we've been through, how is it possible that you're nervous right now?"

He looked at her critically, a little shock in his eyes. He knew he was nervous, but the reason behind that was a mystery. He knew, without a doubt, that since her first visit he was beginning to see his ex-foe in a different light, was beginning to see the young woman behind the teen hero persona. And somehow that bothered him. He felt like he was breaking some taboo, even if he wasn't technically doing anything untoward. In that moment of reflection, he realised why he was nervous, and it stunned him. He was, as the hip kids put it, rebounding from a recent devastating break-up, and the only female to show him any interest was sitting a foot away, young enough to be his own daughter. Not that that mattered to him, it was the idea that he found her attractive, and for all the same reasons he was fallen hard for his ex-assistant. This was quite the dilemma.

"Drew, are you okay?" She sounded worried, and it appeared genuine.

"Yes, Kimberly, I'm fine." He swallowed, hard, willing himself to gain control.

"So, you going to answer my other question?" For a moment, he thought she would ask something else, but hid his disappointment.

"I don't think I should." He hoped she would just drop the subject; he wasn't so lucky.

"Why not?" Suddenly his mouth was dry, his hands sweating, and he started saying what was on the edge of his tongue, not meaning for any of it to come out.

"You want to know why I'm so nervous? It's because I'm stupidly falling for someone vastly out of my league, someone who I should be ashamed for finding attractive and interesting because she's still reeling from the loss of the love of her life and I'm a sick old blue bastard who's finding himself lusting after a girl who is young enough to be my own daughter!" He didn't know if she caught everything he said, as it came out so quickly that it almost was one word. So he shut his eyes and begged for her to be kind and hopefully not hit him, though he deserved it.

"You... you're... is the girl me?"

She knew something like this would happen, that someone would begin to fall in love with her now that she was, unfortunately, available. she didn't expect it to happen this soon, and definitely wasn't expecting it to be the one person she had been paying any attention to since The Accident, with the exception of her family. however, it made sense. they knew things about one another that, no one else did and in the four times they had met up recently, they had conversed for hours on end, finding an easy rapport with one another.

If she had cared to investigate her own feelings, she would have found out sooner that she was finding a wonderful friend in him. Though she didn't want to misappropriate her feelings toward him with anything that she had for Ron, she did know that she wanted to keep this friendship, more as a means of putting their rocky past behind them. When he didn't answer, she finally took a look to see he seemed ready for her to lash out at him, and she couldn't do that. She lightly touched his arm, making him flinch, but bringing him out of his defensive position. Hoping she was conveying to him that she wasn't hurt or bothered by his confession. by his reactions, she knew it worked.

"I'm sorry." Turning slightly toward her, he took one of her hands into his, rubbing his thumbs absent-mindedly, back and forth, on her skin. Both noticed the small electric feelings that action gave off, but neither tried stopping it.

"To quote you quoting me earlier, no big." She smiled, yet couldn't look him in the eyes now.

"But it is big, very big. You're still recovering, and I'm just the same. I don't want to rush you into anything, but I don't know where this is coming from. As confused as I sound, my mind is racing faster than I can articulate, and I just want you to know that I've always admired you in some way. Whether it was because of how easily you stopped my half-baked plans, or if it was for how you dealt with living two vastly different lives, you were definitely 'all that'." He noticed that, as he spoke, she locked gazes with him, and the astonishment in her eyes told him just how much she wasn't expecting that. that kind of pleased him.

"Drakken..." His hand dropped hers and for a moment, his face fell too, before he recovered. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not used to-"

"I understand Kimberly. It's a lot to get over, and I doubt you could. Call me whatever you want, but let's forget this conversation ever happened. How about I give you your present and let you be on your way."

"You got me something?"

"Why wouldn't I? It's just something I whipped up after the last time you were here..."

He got up, as if the seat burned, to retrieve a brown paper wrapped box. Looking up at him, he nodded then quickly turned his head, granting her permission to open it. Inside, she found two plush dolls, one that looked like Ron in his mission outfit, and the other that looked like Rufus. She couldn't help the tears that started as she hugged both plushies, the box falling to the floor. In a moment of weakness, Drew sat back down quickly, and pulled her into a hug, letting her cry on his shoulder. Neither knew how long they sat like that, but soon Kim was calm enough to lean back and tilt her head up.

They looked at each other for some time, no words coming to mind, the plushies still between them. She gently placed a hand on his chest, lightly at first, then with more confidence, as if trying to assess the reality of this embrace. That hand gently moved upward, lightly touching his collarbone before her fingertips brushed lightly on his neck. Soon, her hand was cupping his face, taking in the feel of his soft skin, and suddenly their lips met. Neither knew how it happened, and neither cared. Their surroundings forgotten to the slow, exploratory kiss that was, in essence, chaste at best. When they separated, it wasn't far from the other, his arms still loosely around her waist, her hand having moved back to his chest, above his heart.

"Yup, definitely real." She sighed and rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. This wasn't anything like she expected, the feelings that were numbing her mind and body. Here he was, this strange man she had known for so many years as she fought his attempts at world domination, consoling her in so many ways that she was dumbstruck by the irony. She was the one who was feeling blue, and he was a perfect match to that. somehow she thought she would feel guilty, or at least worried, when something like this would happen. But now that she was facing this, the beginning of a new attraction, she found herself thrilled and it didn't bother her in the least, even as she held a reminder of her late sweetheart to her.

For his part, he still was speechless, just staring down at her and berating himself for the lack of control he just exhibited. It wasn't like him to do so many things on impulses, and yet here he was, confessing to her, then holding and kissing her. He felt like a complete failure, not having enough inner strength to fight what he was feeling. Tragically, he knew deep down that they would never have the stable beginnings of a friendship that they had just started. He knew, without a doubt, that there was no turning back from this. They had stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Suddenly, he gained his voice back and used it.

"Is that a good thing, that this is real?" He almost regretted asking as she moved her head from against his chest to on his shoulder again. It took her a moment to answer.

"For a long time, when Ron was alive, I thought that we would be together until we were old and in rocking chairs, like you see in cartoons. but then The Accident happened, and he went into a coma, and for a while, I thought he would make it through, like he always did for me. But then he just died, and I thought maybe he gave up on me." She paused, and looked up at him. "Until he came to me in a dream and told me what happened. That he would always watch out for me and wanted me to move on. I almost believed that I couldn't." She smiled, the rare one that was real and usually saved for only loved ones, and pecked him on the cheek.

"And then you said the sweetest thing to me, that you were willing to be there for me whenever I needed someone. Granted, Ron was around even when I didn't need anyone, but no one outside my family has told me they would welcome me when I needed to. That means a lot to me. Then you gave me these," she squeezed the plush in her hand, "and I knew that you were more than just reformed, more than just a friend." She broke eye contact before continuing. "Ron said I should move on, and that I would find them soon. He said they were right in front of me. And just look at you Drew," her gaze snapped back onto his, "You've always been around, and now you're centre stage."

Drew didn't know what to say, how to react. He'd never had someone tell him he was sweet or did something sweet. He'd never had someone rest their head above his heart just to listen to it beating, never had someone tell him so much about themselves so unabashedly, and mean every word with no regret. As he processed everything she just confessed, he realised that he'd never had someone hold him like this either. As tenderly as he was holding her, she held him back, almost as if she was letting him take the lead. And he'd never had someone do that with him. He had always been the follower, even when Shego was his assistant, she always seemed to lead him somehow, whether it was toward anger or success. Yet here was a woman who was comfortable being held, not holding. He knew right then that he was, even more than before, falling in love with her.

Kim watched him watching her, wondering what was going through his mind now, wondering if he noticed anything odd about her confession. She had tried explaining it to her parents, which lead them to conclude she was making it up to try and feel better. But she knew that wasn't the case, she knew that Ron had spoken to her in a dreamscape; he'd done it once before, shortly after graduation during a mission that she got trapped in a cave for almost two days. It seemed, however, that the man holding her was thinking about other things, the gentle glimmer in his eyes getting brighter as time passed slowly around them. It was just as his mantle clock struck seven that he began to speak.

"We should take this slow, so we don't get rushed or frightened." He smiled, a view she was strangely hoping would be seen more often.

"I agree, sounds reasonable." She smiled back, the one that he liked so much, and pecked him on the other cheek than before, before extracting herself from his embrace. "I should be going, you know how my family is about tradition on Christmas. Do you think you could come by, say around five tomorrow night?"

"I think I would like that."

To Be Continued...