Boilerplate Disclaimer: The characters from the Kim Possible are owned by Disney. All registered trade names property of their respective owners.

Chapter originally began by quoting the second stanza of W. Gordon Smith's poem Come by the Hills, which has been set to a traditional Irish tune. Wonderful song, urging the listener not to borrow additional worries. Enjoy the pleasures of the day, they may or may not last, but enjoy the moment. Tomorrow's troubles will come soon enough.

The Land Where Life Is a Song

Shego began cutting back on her case load, and eventually stopped taking new cases. When questioned by Kasy she responded, "I'm over eighty, can't I take a break?"

What would have been the celebration of Kim and Shego's wedding anniversaries was muted, with no one certain what to say. Would talking about the anniversaries make Shego feel better, or worse?

Ten months after Kim's death, Shego told Sheki, "I don't want you opening the envelope until after my death, but my funeral directions are in the top left drawer of the oak desk. Promise you won't look until I'm gone?"

"I promise."

Two hours later Sheki reported, "There is no envelope in the drawer."

"I knew I couldn't trust a lawyer to keep a promise. It'll be there when you need it."

One of the daughters tried to stop at the large house each day.

Over the weeks Sheki set off alarms on opening the drawer, had spring snakes pop out, and screamed at the sight of a giant mechanical tarantula.

"Honestly," Shego complained, "the way you keep looking for my funeral directions? I think you want me dead."

"Don't tempt me," Sheki threatened, still trembling from the giant spider. "I think you're going to live forever just to torture me."

The one year anniversary of Kim's death was something of a family memorial service, along with some of Kim and Shego's closest friends.

A few weeks later Shego was surprised to see Jane. It was not the Jane with whom she had shared a cup of tea a few days earlier – and who was now out of the country on a mission. "How far back did you come?"

"Six years."

"You waited six years to say hello to your mother?"

"That's not funny. Tomorrow morning… You'll says thanks for everything. I'll think it was something I did… Was it something I did?"

"Something you did? What are you talking about?"

Jane hesitated, "I won't say… Maybe I gave you the idea."

Shego sighed, "Kasy and Sheki didn't tell you everything, did they?"

"Everything? I'm afraid to talk with them, afraid they'll blame me."

Shego rolled her eyes, "I thought Kim and I didn't have any dumb kids." She hugged her youngest daughter. "My decision came months ago. I'm sorry you felt guilty. Should I say I'm sorry, or remind you of the troubles you caused me?"

"Kasy caused more than me."

"It wasn't a contest to see who could be the biggest pain. Even Sheki had her moments. Every daughter brings her parents grief sometimes."

"Except for mom."

"Yeah, your mom was special. I don't… She probably brought her share of grief to Grandpa James and Grandma Anne. I can't imagine they were happy when she brought me home to meet them."

"They both loved you."

"Eventually. And a little bird gave Grandpa James advance warning. And by 'little bird' we both know exactly who I mean."

Jane changed the subject, "Tomorrow… Tomorrow isn't my fault?"

"No, strictly my decision."

"But–"

"No 'buts'. It's not your fault and don't trying to talk me out of it either. But while we're on the subject of pains, you could have fixed the basement door earlier."

"No, I couldn't. The door turned out to be a wall."

"You may deserve some kind of a child-confusing-a-parent award for that one."

"Well, see, in the early days of temporal physics there was a lot of stuff we didn't understand. We didn't understand walls–"

"Walls?"

"Walls. Limits on ability to go back in time. At first we reacted every time we detected time cooties. Turns out a lot of them we didn't need to react to. Time hiccups."

"Time hiccups?"

"Chrono-anomalies. Recursive, self-destructive time loops. Look, if I went back and shot me at ten–"

"And don't think I haven't considered it. But do it at twelve-thirty, after lunch."

"Eemah! The point is, if I shot myself at age ten I wouldn't be around later to go back and shoot myself. Big time wall - can't do something which would keep your from doing it in the first place."

"And for this you couldn't fix the door to the basement?"

"Well, we jumped on things fast in the early days. So we fixed some things we didn't need to, but some of the fixes ended up being part of the time stream. And that meant we couldn't fix the door earlier because what you did had to happen."

Shego frowned, "I don't think that makes any sense. How far back is this wall?"

"Temporal physics doesn't always make sense. And it isn't like a brick wall, it's kind of porous. Sometimes it's five minutes, sometimes it's five hundred years."

"But you're here now. You weren't afraid of messing up tomorrow?"

"I had to ask if I was responsible."

"You were never responsible. You and Kasy, the two most irresponsible girls I ever knew–"

"Eemah!"

"Don't Eemah me, young lady," Shego smiled. "You know it's true – that's why the two of you never got along. Thank goodness for Sheki… Of course, she had her own stubborn streak. Sometimes I wish I'd pressured you into law school instead of her."

Jane laughed, "You know I wanted to follow mom's footsteps."

"Yes… Tell your sisters when you see them that I'm very proud of all three of you."

Jane suddenly leaned over and hugged her mother tightly. "I love you."

"I know," Shego told her, patting Jane on the back. "I know. I'm sorry for all the times I hurt you. Could I ask a favor?"

"Anything."

"Could we go out for coffee?"

The two women changed clothes before leaving. Jane shivered slightly, wishing she had worn modern fabric under the old coat. "So this's the famous Columbia to Kenya… Shaz but Middleton is run down around here. I saw this place once, and only for a minute."

"It was torn down around the time you were in first grade."

"When you and Mom talked about it, it always sounded special."

"It was special for us. Special doesn't always mean fancy."

"And tonight's the night? You're sure."

"I've never forgotten tonight. Come on, I'll arrive in half an hour – we need to find a place to sit and order."

They found a couch in the back and Tony took their orders. "Over there," Shego nodded toward a booth in the corner. "I'll sit there, on the side where you can't see me. Your mom will be sitting across the table and–"

"And you'll see her from here," Jane finished. "I figured that was the reason you chose this couch."

"The man playing chess with the grad student there," Shego whispered to Jane, "Dr. Kemal."

"Who's he?"

"Teaches Middle-Eastern languages at the U. He's a translator for Global Justice and will ID me… I wonder when he did that… Anyway, he'll be academic advisor for Kim and me in a couple years."

Tony returned with their coffees and a muffin for Jane. As they waited Shego named other people in the cavernous back room. Jane suddenly nudged Shego with her elbow. "You just came in."

"Well, don't be obvious about it," Shego hissed. "I'm scared to death."

"That wasn't much of a disguise," Jane whispered at the pale woman in the coat, apparently thrown over a green-and-black catsuit prowled the room checking for traps.

The younger Shego ruled out the two older women as potential threats. Eventually she accepted Kim had set no traps and slid into the booth, disappearing from view.

"I'll probably be arriving shortly," Jane warned Shego.

"What?"

"We generated time cooties getting here and… There I am now."

The two teens eyed the room suspiciously. Jane+ waved Jane- and Junior over, "Get the heck out of here," she ordered them. "And Junior, where was your head? That fabric hasn't been invented yet."

"You- didn't give me time to change," he answered.

"Why do you blame me?" Jane- protested.

"Out, now," Jane+ ordered again, "before you really mess things up. And don't eat anything on your way out."

Jane- glared at herself, "I don't age well, do I?"

"I'm three hundred years old. And I'm going to have major pimple outbreak before senior prom. Out now!"

The teens left, "I'll order another muffin just to spite me… Was I always that bad at listening?"

"Yes you are. And you get on with yourself as well as you do with Kasy."

"You have to lie to minuses – don't want to mess things up by telling yourself what's going to happen… Of course, sometimes you tell yourself the truth just to really confuse you because you know you don't tell yourself the truth."

"You're making my head hurt. I... There she is!"

Kim looked around the room nervously. Like Shego she expected a trap.

Shego couldn't keep her eyes off Kim, "I can't believe she's so young and stupid."

"Young and stupid?"

"Look at her, she's just a kid."

"You were a lot younger yourself, you know. And what do you mean, 'stupid'?"

"She had no business coming here! I was a criminal! I was here because I was lonely. I needed a friend. I needed someone to talk with. Your mom wasn't afraid of me. Your mom wasn't afraid of anybody. She was so beautiful… I can't believe she fell in love with me."

"I think she needed you as much as you needed her. That was what Grandma Anne said."

"When did she say that?"

"One time when I was talking with her. She said Mom was kind of like Sheki, always wanted to meet or exceed everyone's expectations of her. She worked for good grades, tried out for cheerleader, was on the girls' swim team, saved the world because she felt like that's what other people wanted her to do. She didn't have to make you happy. She didn't have to meet your expectations. You may have been the first person to let her be herself, to decide what she wanted rather than making someone else happy."

"That was what grandma Anne said?"

"Well, I paraphrased a little, but yeah, that was her theory. You made mom happy by letting her find herself."

Shego chuckled, "I don't imagine Anne was happy when your mom decided she was in love with me."

"No, she wasn't."

"Did you ask her when she changed her mind about me… I'm pretty sure she changed her mind eventually."

"She really loved you. I think she said she changed her mind when the twins were born and she saw you in the hospital with them and mom."

"So, about two years from now."

"Um, wait. I think that was when grandma decided mom wasn't crazy for falling in love with you. She may have still thought you were crazy."

"Insanity is hereditary," Shego murmured. "We get it from our children."

"I'm a time cop. I don't do It's a Wonderful Life. But let's imagine you scare her away tonight. What's she going to do? When will she realize she really prefers women - she's only dated guys because it's what society expects? Maybe she'll marry some guy before she finds out. She'd never be happy married to a guy. Maybe it would have been Ron. Mom won't be happy – does she blame him for being unhappy or does she go along because it's what everyone expects of her? He'd probably realize mom wasn't happy. Would he blame himself for failing? Would he blame her for putting impossible demands on him?"

Jane paused. Shego thought for a minute, "I don't know… You really think she was happy with me?"

"Now you're fishing for compliments. You know she was as happy with you as you were with her. You two needed each other. She needed you to remind her to relax and enjoy life. You needed…"

"I needed her to make an honest woman out of me. I'd probably be in some prison cell if it weren't for her."

"I wasn't going to say that."

"Well, you should have. Unless you were trying to think of a lie to make me feel better."

The older Shego continued to look at Kim, sitting in the booth at the side of the room. Kim was too engaged in conversation with the younger Shego, or perhaps too accustomed to people looking at her, to notice how one of the older women stared at her.

"I don't suppose i can talk to her?" Shego asked Jane.

"Better not."

"The wall thing?"

"The wall. You've been in a couple recursive, self-destructive loops and–"

"I have?"

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"I don't remember what you're talking about."

"That's the way time hiccups work. When it's over it didn't happen, but it can get pretty nasty as it collapses."

"Can we stay until closing?"

"Do you remember seeing us tonight?"

"I don't remember… I was pretty much just paying attention to your mom."

"You fell hard, didn't you?"

"I don't know… It didn't feel that way at the time. It was months before we really admitted to ourselves what was happening. Looking back at it now… Maybe.

Tony came to the back of the coffee house and announced he was taking last orders for the night. Deep in conversation Kim and Shego paid no attention. Jane stood up, "We'd better leave. You have a big day tomorrow."

"Yes I do," Shego agreed and rose to her feet. It took an effort not to stop at the booth and say, "I love you," to Kim, and an equally strong effort not to smack her younger self in the head and tell her to stop being an idiot.