The Hitchhiker

Based on characters and situations from Disney's Kim Possible.

Written by Adam Leigh.

Day 371

I don't remember what happened after that. I don't think anything big happened, Shego certainly hasn't told me if anything did. All I remember is waking up this morning and already being on the road, driving through Missouri. I didn't say much because of my headache and because... of what she said.

I still can't believe I told her everything. I don't know what it is that alcohol does to me but I'd like to avoid it in the future, especially if I'm trying to keep secrets. I never gave her the gritty details, about Drakken's machine, the black holes, the fact that I woke up on top of a building in Philadelphia way, way far away from the Zurich bank where I fell into the anomaly. But the general idea, the problem I'm in, I told her in a way she'd understand.

Her response though... it makes me question what I've written in here over the last couple of days.

Am I lonely? I hadn't considered it before. I went on at length about how I thought Shego had to be the lonely one in her rig driving alone across the country day in and day out, but... was I just projecting? Am I seeing my own loneliness in her?

Or are we both lonely?

I still don't have a good answer as to why she picked me up, and why she's been so amazingly friendly to some strange girl who talks about being from another world. I'm beyond gratified that she is being nice, though, so maybe I shouldn't question it.

For as much as I think Shego might have been right about the loneliness though, ever since I climbed into this rig I've felt connected to another person in way I haven't felt in a long time.

*** KP – KP – KP ***

Kim jumped down out of the cab again and waited for Shego to mosey on around the front. They were stuck in a long line of inspections at the border to Oklahoma. Shego had said it was normal around this time of day to get stopped, weighed, and have her papers checked, but it still bothered her because it was time she wasn't driving.

"Doesn't this count towards your time not driving?" asked Kim once Shego neared.

"Yeah, but it's not typically more than a few minutes."

Kim looked down the row of trucks. "Might be more this time."

"Eh, it goes quick," Shego shrugged. She leaned against the splash guard behind the front wheel of her rig and closed her eyes. Her clipboard of papers was hanging out of her folded arms, gripped by two of her fingers. Kim stared at the clipboard with curiosity.

"I've been meaning to ask you," said Kim. "What are you shipping?"

"Computer parts, I think," said Shego. She cocked her head to look at the clipboard. "I don't necessarily get to know what I'm shipping half the time, just the name of the company who loaded up the crates unless they ask for branding on the side of the trailer." She nodded after a second. "Yeah, looks like computers."

"Oh," said Kim, deflating.

"Hmm? Something wrong, Princess?"

"I was hoping for something more exciting," said Kim.

"Like what? Nuclear waste?" said Shego, laughing. "Things are not nearly as dangerous here as in your dream world."

Kim got quiet and said nothing more for several minutes. The inspection station cleared up after a while and the row of trucks moved up a few spots. Kim walked along side the rig as Shego rolled it forward, piquing the curiosity of the latter.

"What's wrong now?" Shego asked as she climbed back down.

Kim shrugged. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

Kim sighed dramatically. "About my 'Dream World' as you put it."

"Ah, man, did that annoy you?" said Shego, sounding a little annoyed herself.

"I'm not annoyed," said Kim. "Well, maybe a little. It's not a dream world to me."

"That's not how you described it last night," said Shego.

"I compared it to a dream," said Kim. "I'm ... I'm not sure what's what, but I know what I remember and it's not a dream. To me, it's real. The question is, whether it's real beyond my memories." Kim kicked a patch of dirt on the sidewalk. "I don't want to talk about it again."

"Suit yourself," said Shego."Though it seems to me, that if you want it be more than just in your head, you're going to have to let it out at some point."

Kim contemplated that sentiment. "Why do you want to know? I mean, are you just humoring me or-"

"Look, I have no vested interest in your sanity," Shego said dismissively. "So, I'm not going to rat you out to Arkham or anything. I mean, you seem stable enough to me. But you apparently have a problem, and so far it's been interesting to hear about. Thus if you need someone to talk to, why not me?"

Kim rocked on her heels for a moment. "You don't find it weird?"

"Hey, I don't feature in the stories, so I don't see what there is to be unsettled about." Shego shrugged. "Unless you're referring to the fact that you could be delusional or schizophrenic, which doesn't seem likely, but even if you are, I could easily take you down if you got suddenly violent."

Kim blinked in shock. "Oh really?" she said. "You could easily take me down?"

Shego chuckled. "Uh, yes. Have you looked in the mirror? You're a rail with frock of red hair."

"I do know martial arts," said Kim. "Many different styles, in fact."

"Yeah, you and every nerd I ran into at university," said Shego. "Listen Princess, even a blackbelt at your local kiddie karate club doesn't compare to real world experience. Of which, I have plenty."

Kim looked at Shego strangely for a second before going back to looking smug. "I have experience too, you know. And I didn't learn from a kiddie karate club. I've trained with some truly great martial artists."

"Recently or in your memories?" asked Shego.

Kim looked angry for a moment and then took a step backwards into a defensive stance. "There is a way to find out."

Shego laughed, then her smile slowly faded as she noticed Kim was staying on guard.

"You're serious?"

"Were you serious about being able to easily take me?" asked Kim with an arched brow. She taunted Shego with her hand.

Shego narrowed her eyes at the redhead and then tossed her clipboard onto the footstep of her rig. "Fine," she said, and began cracking her knuckles. "I have a few minutes to humor you." She stretched her arms out and then held them before her in fists. "I'll try not to knock you too silly. Don't need blood in the cab."

Kim didn't waste a second and launched herself at top speed towards Shego, startling the latter enough to get the early upper hand. Kim swung a low jab that only barely connected thanks to a late dodge by Shego. In response, Shego rolled along the outstretched arm and tried to punch Kim's side.

Kim twisted her hips to slip out of the path of Shego's fist, and then went to sweep at Shego's knees. The latter jumped to avoid the kick but didn't judge the height correctly and toppled onto the ground.

"Ugh!" Shego groaned as she landed on her back. She looked up at Kim who was grinning down at her.

"That hardly took a minute," said Kim.

Shego grit her teeth and then flipped back up onto her feet, landing smoothly and transitioning into a karate stance. Kim recognized it as one of Shego's – her world's Shego – favorite disciplines. Kim moved into a judo position.

"All right, so you're not as much of a kiddie as I thought," said Shego.

"I don't like to talk up my abilities," said Kim. She lunged forward for a grab only to find Shego ready for the attempt and redirected her momentum to the side.

Taking advantage of the opening she created, Shego lowered her shoulder to try and use Kim's energy to send her over her back. While she managed to grab Kim's arm and pull it up above her shoulder, the latter twisted suddenly and planted a foot against Shego's hip. With a yank, Kim flipped over Shego to land on her feet a few steps away.

Both combatants sized each other up again; slowly walking in a circle around an invisible ring.

"How many years of training did you say you had?" asked Shego.

"Probably around ten," said Kim. "Off and on, as it goes. How about you?"

"About the same," said Shego. "Though nothing after I started trucking. I'm a little out of practice."

Shego sped forward an launched a series of straight attacks at Kim's abdomen and head, each of which were deftly deflected or dodged, and then countered with a series of skillful grabs that couldn't keep a grip on Shego long enough for a throw. Their arms and hands slapped against one another in a fast, staccato rhythm, neither giving much ground in the furious fight.

In a strangely synchronized move, both girls leapt backwards and stood in defensive posture again.

"Doesn't..." Kim took a breath. "Feel like you're out of practice."

"I get my opportunities to use it every now and then," said Shego. She was, noticeably, not nearly as winded as Kim, but was rubbing her forearms gently. "You're damn good, though."

"Thank you," breathed Kim. "It's nice to cut lose again against someone who can take it."

"That's funny," said Shego sarcastically. "I would have thought more martial artists would pick up hitchhikers."

"Ha, ha," said Kim, drolly. She made the first move again and ran forward at Shego. A step before she reached her, however, Kim launched herself up and over to land behind Shego and go for a double armed grapple.

Shego deflected the one arm but was caught on the left and ended up being abruptly jerked around by Kim. She threw up her free arm to grab Kim's extended hand that appeared to be heading for her neck. Shego then dropped to her knees with a twist, using Kim's own grapple against her. The two fell to the ground with Shego on top, using her body to pin Kim's legs while her hands held Kim's arms as best as she could.

The two girls stared face to face as they struggled. Kim was trying to push back Shego enough to roll away while the latter was hoping to force Kim's arms to the ground to complete the pin. The test of strength was brief and Shego eventually pinned Kim fully down.

Kim let out a breath and finally stopped struggling. She looked exhilarated and annoyed at the same time. Shego was staring down at her proudly.

"A lucky grab," said Kim.

"Uh, huh, tell yourself that, Princess," said Shego with a smirk.

"I'll get you back eventually," said Kim. "But tell me this, did that fall under your definition of 'easy?'"

"Absolutely," Shego said slowly and with relish. She licked her lips afterwards.

Kim raised her head to just slightly narrow the distance between their faces. "Liar," she said simply, then smiled and rested her head back again.

Shego looked very pleased with herself and rolled off Kim to get onto her knees. Kim sat up and stretched again before moving to stand.

"Oh, I'm going to be sore," said Kim as she rolled her shoulders.

Shego got to her feet and pulled up her sleeves to look at her arms. "I'm probably going to end up black and blue." She sighed. "Never had that problem in college."

A sudden and loud horn sounded, startling the two girls. They turned to look back at the row of trucks and noticed that the semi-trailers ahead of Shego's rig had moved on and the line behind them had gotten longer.

"Oops," said Shego, and started running back to her rig. She had a wide smile on her face as she climbed back in.

*** KP – KP – KP ***

Day 371 – continued

She's so similar to what I remember and yet so different. I'm constantly baffled. What am I supposed to think about her? How am I supposed to act? Every time I think I've gone too far and been too familiar with her, she just turns around and does something just as friendly back.

I'm being distracted by my memories of Shego from my world. I keep looking for some scheme or hidden intent as if she's still working on a plan of Drakken's. I need to remember she's just a trucker in this world. An amazingly talented trucker, mind you, who rides motorcycles like a wild woman and who can put away alcohol like it's nobody's business, but a trucker none the less.

Hopefully she'll never figure out how much I know about her from my world. She's easily been the greatest person I've dealt with since coming here and I don't want to creep her out by revealing I knew her from my 'dream world' as she calls it. She's already implied that part of the reason she's okay with what I've told her is that she's not in it. I can't risk her finding out now.

That shouldn't be hard to do, honestly. I just need to stay away from the alcohol. After my headache this morning that should NOT be a problem.

Honestly, I don't even care anymore why she picked me up. I'm just glad she did.

*** KP – KP – KP ***

Kim yawned and relaxed a little deeper into her seat as she stared out at the dark highway at night. "I think I can actually see those little white dashes in my head now when I close my eyes."

Shego laughed. "They do become a little insistent after a while. They don't call it highway hypnosis for nothing."

"Ugh, that's the last thing I want to think about," said Kim. "A mindless highway hypnotizing me for nefarious purposes."

"How does something mindless have nefarious purposes?" asked Shego.

"You gotta ask the highway that," said Kim. She laughed as she reached for her bag, pulling out the slim black, weathered notebook and jotting something down.

"What's the deal with you and that book?" asked Shego, glancing over at her passenger.

"It's my diary," said Kim, absently.

"A diary? Really?" asked Shego, incredulous. "Does it go back until you were twelve?"

Kim shook her head as she wrote. "No, just back to when I woke up."

"Woke up?" asked Shego.

"Yeah. When I woke up and realized that nobody knew who I was."

Shego stopped smiling and slowly nodded. "Oh." She studied the road. "I could see why you'd want to keep track of that."

"I considered the idea that I was delusional a long time ago," said Kim as she closed the book again. "I figured this was the best way to make sure I stayed grounded. If I wrote down everything that was happening to me, and I was remembering everything back to the day I woke up correctly, well, odds were the stuff I remembered before then is correct too."

"Because you wouldn't have suddenly gotten better," said Shego.

"Right. Certainly not without any treatment or medication anyway." Kim shrugged. "It doesn't help me figure out how it happened, but it at least adds to the proof that it did, in fact happen."

"Apart from knowing things about people you've never met before," said Shego.

"Well, everything is not one-to-one here," said Kim. "The biggest example being that I haven't been able to find Middleton on a map. So the whole greater city area that I lived in doesn't seem to exist here, or at least has a different name. So, as it turns out, much of what I know about people from my world doesn't seem to apply."

"Well, at least there's the martial arts thing," said Shego.

"Yes, which I definitely was trained in," said Kim. "But that's nothing extraordinary. You yourself are just as good."

"Better, remember?"

"We'll rematch, I'll get you next time," said Kim.

"Keep dreaming, Princess."

Kim smiled and then yawned again.

"You know, if you want to sleep, you're welcome to," said Shego. She pointed behind her. "You can use the bed again if you want, it's much better than a reclined seat or the floor."

"I don't want to kick you out of your bed," said Kim as she reclined her chair just a little bit. "You've already been so nice to me."

"I'm probably not going to use it tonight," said Shego with a wave of her hand.

"Aren't you coming up to the end of your active cycle?" asked Kim. "You didn't sleep last night, and you drove the whole day before."

"It'll be all right," said Shego. "It's not a strict deadline."

"But you might need to," said Kim. "I don't want to deprive you of comfort on your one rest every two days. I'll be fine here."

"Princess—"

"Look, you won the match this afternoon," interrupted Kim. "You deserve a prize, and that should be it. I've decided."

"You've decided?" Shego scoffed. "Shouldn't the winner choose the prize?"

"Not in this case." Kim reclined the chair a bit further back and rested her hands on her lap. "Maybe next time."

"You mean on the time you expect to win," added Shego.

"Yup."

Shego smiled again. She reached out to adjust the thermostat a little, making it a little less cold, though still comfortable. Holding her hand over the vent, she nodded when the air became noticeably warmer.

"Is that comfortable? I don't want you to freeze," said Shego.

There was silence for a minute and Shego looked over. "Princess?"

Kim was asleep already. She was still poised perfectly on the seat, as if just resting momentarily. Her hands were folded neatly on her lap, her posture just slightly reclined back, and her face peaceful and calm.

Shego frowned briefly but then went back to smiling. She glanced back over her shoulder and then reached with one hand to pull up a blanket. Keeping one eye on the road, she tossed the blanket over Kim's form, then tried her best to adjust it so it covered her.

With a satisfied sigh, Shego then settled back into her drive. The road stretched on to what seemed like infinity in the arid planes of New Mexico. She hadn't even seen another driver in over an hour, definitely not since the sun had set.

She fiddled with the radio looking for something to fill the dull thrum of the road but could only find country music stations and she was definitely not in the mood to listen to pathetic white men whine about their love lives, whether it was with women or mechanical equipment.

Her eyes kept being drawn towards Kim's sleeping form the more she drove in the silence. She wondered if Kim was really comfortable sitting like that and if the temperature was right. Shego fiddled more with the thermostat to try and get it perfect. Then she turned off one of the dim dome lights to make it darker in the cab so she could sleep.

After a few minutes of watching the road, Shego looked over again and wondered if Kim knew that the chair reclined further than that. There was no way she could adjust it though without being disruptive, Shego concluded, and reluctantly decided not to mess with it.

A few more minutes passed.

"Ah, crap," Shego muttered as she rubbed the back of her head. She had begun to fell the tingling feeling at the back of her skull that usually meant she was starting to get tired. It was a feeling as if part of her brain had fallen asleep similar to how a person's arm or leg falls asleep when the blood flow is reduced. It wasn't exactly the same as a normal person getting tired, but it was insistent, and wouldn't stop tingling until she got some shut-eye. Shego had gotten used to ignoring it for a short while, but she wasn't going to make it through the night.

Keeping an eye open she found an area of the highway with an extended shoulder and slowly coasted onto it, bringing the truck to a stop. She pulled on the brake and let the truck gear down to its lowest idle.

Unbuckling her seat belt, Shego stood and grabbed the shades to put up on the windows, blocking out what little light was out there now and the dawn that would come later. Finally, she made sure all the doors were locked. It was not common for random people to try and gain entry to an idling rig, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

Shego moved to the back of the extended cab and pulled down the covers on her bed. It was a very nice and comfortable bed for a truck. Nothing compared to a stand alone bed one might find in a house, of course, but still about as big as a double, with a pillow top. She could fold it up against the back of the cab if she needed but she rarely did, preferring to simply keep the bed made and available whenever she needed it.

Shego sat down on the bed and pulled off her socks and shoes and changed into some flannel pants and a t-shirt to wear. Resting her head back on the pillow she sighed with her arms folded and stared at the ceiling... for about thirty seconds before turning her head and seeing Kim again.

"She can't possibly be comfortable there," Shego said, in a frustrated tone. She got up again and pulled out a spare pillow and blanket to throw on the floor beside the bed. She decided to put Kim on the mattress and sleep on the floor.

Shego moved over to the front of the cab again and reach down to scoop up Kim gently from her seat. The redhead stirred slightly and wrapped her arms around Shego's neck but appeared to stay asleep. She must have been exhausted, Shego concluded.

Gently and quietly, Shego brought her over to the bed and kneeled to lay her down. She rested Kim's legs and head on the mattress and then moved to stand up again.

She stopped when she found herself held in place.

Shego looked down at the sleeping figure. She appeared to still be unconscious, but her arms were wrapped tightly over Shego's neck. Gently pulling at Kim's arms, Shego tried to untangle herself to get free but the younger girl simply pulled tighter.

Shego eyed Kim suspiciously.

"Are you just messing with me?" Shego said, quietly. Kim was motionless in response.

Shego sighed quietly and tried again to slip Kim's arms over her head and again found herself being pulled tighter against Kim's chest. It seemed almost comical to Shego. This girl was like a cartoon most of the time.

Resigning herself to her fate, Shego again scooped up Kim and this time sat down on the bed herself and resting Kim on her lap. The sleeping form didn't seem to take any offense to that and Shego was able to free her arms and relax back into her pillows. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but she could sleep this way. Kim seemed to agree because she turned and curled up more on Shego's lap and made pleasant sounds as she slept.

Shego just had to smile. It was silly, and with other people she might have found it obnoxious, but this girl somehow existed beyond all that. Strange stories about other worlds and surprisingly experienced fighting skills just made the girl that much more exciting to her.

There was one question, though, that leaned on Shego's mind. It was a silly question, given the circumstances, and she would never actually ask it. There was no way it mattered one way or another how she answered.

And, yet, Shego wanted to know. As if there could be an answer that was preferable. As if there was something she wanted to hear from the girl.

Shego banished the thought from her mind, lest she go crazy with what-ifs. Instead she looked down at the girl's sleeping face, dimly lit by the glow of the instrument cluster, and gently ran her fingertips across Kim's cheek and jaw. She carefully brushed a few locks of red hair out of the way and then finally rested her hand on the girl's shoulder.

Closing her eyes, Shego leaned back and finally fell asleep herself.

*** End Four

A/N: And there's my pre-requisite KiGo tension added to this tale. I'm sure most of you were expecting it, given the setup and my history, but don't go drawing any conclusions yet. We're only halfway done! I may be an admitted fan of KiGo, but I'm also a fairly vocal advocate of 'nothing being easy' in a story.

So what comes next? Does Kim's display support her story or is it just as plausible for a normal person to have those skills?

My big question this week though is: If YOU were Shego, would you believe what Kim was saying?