Here's chapter 4. And I'm a little nervous about how the twist towards the end will be received. So, let me know. Of course, even if you hate, I probably won't do anything about it. I still want to know though. And if you do hate it, it reading, there are more plans coming.
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Thanks as always to Laura.
*****
Anne finally woke Ron up and decided not to tease the blonde young man about fainting. He seemed embarrassed about it enough without her mentioning it. After much deliberating, the two humans agreed to let the cats stay with the Possibles, at least until Pumpkin was better. Ron had to stop himself from begging Anne to just keep the two cats forever. He would never beg in front of Kim's mother.
It was after midnight when Ron finally left, feeling better than he had in a long time but still conscious of the gaping hole in his heart where his best friend used to reside. And as he backed out of the Possible's driveway, he vowed to visit more often. He felt closer to Kim in that house.
After Anne watched Ron drive off, she turned back to the cats still sleeping on her sofa.
"It's a good thing James and the boys are off at a convention." She sat on the sofa close to the cats, causing Night to open her eyes and look up at the human. "The boys would probably bother you two a little too much." She smiled and softly rubbed Night's head. "You and Pumpkin are just too cute," she said. "You love her very much, don't you?" She asked Night, who in turn just stared up at her. "It's very obvious."
Night gave a large yawn and blinked at the older woman. Her green eyes seemed to sparkle with some secret joke and Anne's smile grew.
"If I didn't know any better, Night, I'd say you and Pumpkin were Shego and my daughter. I can just imagine how you would act if my Kimmie had ever been injured like this." She sighed and let her head fall back to rest on the back of the sofa. "I miss her so much," she said with a small hitch in her voice. "It's so quiet around here, even if she didn't live here when she died." A tear fell down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away. "When she moved out to go to college I thought that I would never be so heartbroken. But I was wrong. It's one thing to have your daughter living across town; it's another to not have your daughter living at all."
Shego listened to the human, confused but also very sad for her. She had obviously lost someone dear to her. In a strange act of kindness toward a stranger, the toughened alley cat gave a soft lick to the human's hand.
Anne looked down. "Thank you, Night." She took a deep breath and then stood up. "Well, I'm going to bed. Watch over her, okay? I'll come check on her in a few hours."
Shego watched the human leave the room and then she turned her head back to the resting Kim.
"I do love you, Princess," she said softly in Kim's ear.
"Love you, too," Kim muttered without waking up.
Shego smiled and settled down around Kim once again, quickly falling asleep and leaving Kim to her dreams.
*****
"Kim."
Her nose twitched.
"Kim."
A soft questioning purr came from her throat.
"Kim. Wake up."
Her eyelids finally fluttered open.
"Good, you are awake, so to speak."
Her green eyes looked around for the warm gentle voice. It was the kind of voice that all animals loved, the kind that soothed hurt and battered souls.
And the form that met her gaze matched the voice very well. It was a human, but not a frightening or intimidating human in any way. It was female and surrounded by a soft white light.
Kim blinked then just stared at the beautiful form.
"Who-who are you?" the small cat asked.
The human smiled. "You can call me Lana, Kim. I am someone who has watched over you all your life."
Kim frowned. "But I've never seen you before."
Lana just continued smiling and then knelt down beside the still cat. "No, you haven't. But I never expected you to." She rubbed Kim's head with a gentle hand and then scratched under her chin. Kim closed her eyes in contentment and purred, loving the attention. But something brought her out of her haze.
"Where's Shego?" She suddenly asked, just realizing that her companion wasn't curled up beside her.
The human stopped scratching her. "She's fine."
"Where am I?" Kim asked, starting to get frantic. She suddenly noticed that she didn't recognize where she was. She was alone with a human. And the human was talking to her.
"You are…" the human paused, as if thinking. "In an in-between place."
"A…what?"
"You're dreaming, my dear."
"Oh," Kim muttered, sitting up on her haunches. "But it feels real."
"It is in a way," Lana said before holding up a hand to halt Kim's next question. "Just go with it. I don't have much time. I am actually here to give you a message."
Kim swallowed her question and nodded. "Okay. A message from who?"
A smile from the human and then, "From the Powers that Be."
"Um, okay."
"Kim," the human sat down and put her hands in her lap. "When you wake up, things will be different."
Silence reigned over the in-between place for several seconds before Kim broke it.
"Different? Why?"
Lana sighed. "Kim, your life isn't supposed to be the way it is."
"Huh?" Kim would have raised an eyebrow if she could.
Another sigh. "Something happened, my dear, which messed up everything. Something happened that wasn't supposed to."
"What?"
"You died."
There was a large uncomfortable silence where the cat tried to grasp what the human just said.
"What?" was the garbled question after a few minutes.
Lana looked down at her lap and bit her lip. "Through no fault of your own, or anyone around you, you were killed just a little over a year ago."
"But, I'm alive now."
"Yes, yes you are. But you are in the wrong body."
"Uh…"
"Don't try to understand, my dear. It even gives me a headache. And I haven't had a headache in a few thousand years." Lana reached out and rubbed Kim's head again, trying to calm the very confused cat. "Right as you died, we were able to grab your body from the flames. And all this time we have been healing it, getting it ready for you again."
"Flames?" Kim jerked her head away from Lana's hand. "What happened to me?"
The human sighed, for once cursing her job. "Kim, for me to tell you that, there is one final detail I have to give you."
"Okay," came the quiet response.
"When you died, Kim, you were human."
"WHAT?" Kim jumped up, her eyes wide and her heart beating frantically. "I was what?"
"Human; a human female to be exact."
"No," Kim muttered, backing away from the human before her. "No, I wasn't. I was never human. I've been a cat all my life."
Lana nodded. "Yes, all *this* life."
"All this life? What does that mean?"
"When your human body died, your soul had nowhere to go. It couldn't move on, it wasn't it's time. And it couldn't stay with the body because, well, the body didn't exist anymore. So, we had to put your soul somewhere. And it ended up in this cat body. You were born as a cat and have lived as a cat for the past year."
"And now?"
"And now, when you wake up, you will be human."
"No! No! NO! I don't want to be human! Humans are mean! They yell and throw stuff and beat me and kick me! I don't want to be human!"
Lana's blue eyes became sad and she reached a hand out toward the frantic cat. "Kim, you weren't meant to be a cat."
"I can't be human!" She continued backing away, not really knowing where she could go. "What about Shego? I want to stay with Shego."
Lana gave a small smile. "You will. Shego's soul and your soul are connected. She was human before as well."
Kim shook her head. "No." Her breath was coming in pants now. "Why don't I remember this?"
"You will. Once you are in your human body, your human memories will start coming back."
"But I like being a cat!"
Lana's smile became sad. "I know, Kim. But think about it. As a human you will have a home, food, warmth, and family."
"But-"
"There are people who need you as a human, sweetheart."
"Who?"
"Ron, you know, blonde human Ron?" Kim nodded. "He was your best friend."
Kim's eyes widened.
"And the doctor that Ron took you to just now."
"To help me with my dog bite?"
Lana nodded. "She was your mother."
"My…mother?" Kim inched closer to Lana. "I had a mother? I knew her?"
"You were very close. And she misses you very much."
Kim was finally close enough for Lana to pet her again, so the human did, making sure to keep the strokes light and comforting.
"And Shego."
The cat's eyes jerked up to look into Lana's. "Shego?"
"She will need you as well, Kim. She died in the same accident you did. Both of your bodies were taken to repair. They are both ready. So, you are both going back."
Kim sighed and looked down. "I don't have a choice, do I?"
"No, my dear. But I did want to give you a warning. Shego is getting a warning as well."
Kim looked up at the human with pleading eyes. "Will I remember everything?"
Lana knew what Kim was asking. "Yes, my dear. You will remember your life as a cat as well as a human. No worries."
"What will happen to me and Shego? Can we stay together?"
"Kim, your souls are connected with such a strong bond, it is almost impossible to separate you two. But yes, you will stay together. I will personally make sure of that."
"Will I remember this?"
Lana sighed. "Not all of it. You will know what is happening but not why. Not until your human memories start coming back."
"I'll never be a cat again, will I?" Kim asked looking down.
"I don't know, my dear. That isn't up to me."
"Okay," the cat said with a heavy heart. "Make me human."
*****
**"You stupid cat! Why don't you just tear up my brand new sofa while you're at it?"
Kim dodged the heavy boot aimed for her stomach but wasn't able to avoid the hand that hit her head. She cried out in pain as she flew through the air and landed with a thud.
She hadn't really meant to claw the chair. She had just seen a mouse running on it and was frantically trying to catch it, hoping beyond hope that her humans would praise her for it. But it didn't turn out as well as she imagined.
"Bill, stop beating the cat," a new voice said, this time the human female that was only slightly nicer to her than the big human man.
Bill gave a snort of disgust and kicked Kim once for good measure before walking out of the room. "Why do we even have a cat?" he asked the female in a loud voice. "It's just a stupid animal that we have to take care of."He sneered at Kim as she struggled to stand up. "I'd rather we had a dog."
"Then go get one. I could care less," the female said with a wave of her hand. "Just get rid of the cat. I don't want to take care of two animals."
Bill nodded and smirked at Kim. "Get me a box. We're going for a drive."**
*****
Kim's eyes shot open, her dream of her humans causing her heart to beat frantically and her breath to come in soft pants. Those humans had treated her horribly and she knew, without a doubt, that if it hadn't been for Shego she would have died those first few days on the street.
A car driving by outside snapped her out of her trance and she yawned, looking around. She vaguely remembered being brought into this house and seeing a red-headed human before she lost consciousness again. And it seemed that the human had helped her, if her sore side was any indication. And while thinking about her side, she noticed that she was a little cold.
Knowing that Shego was curled around her, she snuggled closer to the warmth that surrounded her. And that's when she noticed that something was off.
Shego had fur. And was small, compared to the humans at least. Then why was Kim almost on the edge of the sofa? It seemed that whoever was behind her was much larger than Shego. And didn't have the soft fur the Kim loved about Shego.
Kim slowly turned around, curious as to what was causing her to be perched precariously on the edge of the sofa. And when she saw what was behind her, she screamed and fell off the sofa, landing on the floor and taking the blanket that had been draped over them with her.
Her scream woke up the human that had been cuddled up behind her. Familiar green eyes blinked open and confusion filled the gaze directed at Kim. And then shock overcame that quickly followed by anger.
Kim watched in fear as the human with pale green skin and long dark hair sat up. "What the hell?"
Kim curled up on the floor at the anger in the human's voice. The blanket, which she tried to hide under, didn't seem to cover her some for reason but she tried anyway.
And while she was curled up, she caught sight of a human leg, which seemed to be attached to her. A pale human leg that was attached to a pale human body that responded to her commands.
She blinked and slowly brought an arm up in front of her face, the other human forgotten. A human hand waved itself at her and she gasped.
"Oh, shit," she said, her voice sounding strange to her ears. "That wasn't a dream."
She sat up, the blanket falling around her waist, exposing her to the chilly air, making her very aware of the fact that she didn't have any fur. But her head was warm…
She ran a hand through the hair on top of her head, guessing that said hair was long enough to touch her shoulders. It felt good; kind of silky.
An angry mumble caught her attention and she looked toward the human on the sofa, who was still muttering angrily to herself.
"Shego?" Kim asked, her voice still catching her by surprise.
The human looked up and studied Kim, the anger quickly being replaced with amazement. "Kimmie?"
Kim didn't waste any time. She launched herself at the Human Shego, leaving the blanket on the floor in a heap. Shego caught her without hesitation and felt Kim bury her face in her black hair.
"What's going on, Princess?" Shego asked, her mind still trying to grasp the fact that she was human and so was Kim.
"I'm not quite sure," Kim said into Shego's hair. "But we're human now." She wrapped her legs around Shego's waist, trying to get as close as possible to her companion.
"Yeah, I think I've figured that much out," Shego muttered while strengthening her hold on Kim.
****
Anne sat up in bed, the short scream startling her awake. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was only 5 am, too early for her to be up on a Saturday. But by the scrambling that she heard going on downstairs, she figured something had happened to the cats.
She threw on a robe and hurried down the stairs, worried that Pumpkin had hurt herself in her sleep. But the sight that greeted her wasn't what she expected.
There, on the sofa where she had left the cats just five hours before, were Kim and Shego, very much alive and very naked, wrapped in each other's arms like lovers in the middle of making love.
And Anne Possible, neurosurgeon and mother of three, became the second person to faint in her house in less than twelve hours.
To be continued…
Well, there it is; the new twist. How did everyone like it? I certainly hope no one hated it, because I have great plans for Kim and Shego now. Now…review and let me know!