It has been a while, but I've never given up on this story. This was never intended to be a lengthy story, so with this chapter, we're at the halfway point.

This story, starting on Wednesday, April 6th, this story will be updated weekly. We should reach the end of this story near the end of April if all go as planned, with a possible sequel in the works.

I may go over past chapters and re-write some portions once I have more time. If and when I do this, I'll let you all know.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know in whatever way pleases you.

As usual, I do not own Kim Possible.

Hope this finds you all well.


Josh made to leave the bed, but Kim did all she could to keep him there, to no avail, alas.

"I need to start breakfast, babe," Josh whispered in her ear. "Want to eat in bed? No reason for you to get up right now."

A slight smile came upon Kim's face. "Sure, hun, that sounds great."

As Josh was prepping the breakfast, Kim laid with her hands behind her head, and let out a long sigh. Today, as far as she knew, was completely free, unless Wade had some mission for her, which was unlikely. With his research and students at Vanderbilt, he was often as busy as Kim was. How the little boy she grew up with, in many ways, had grown, still surprised her. He was barely 20, and yet had two theoretical physics classes under his belt. And rumors had it that if he played his cards right, he might have combinatorics and nonlinear optimization classes to add to his teaching load. Kim had literally no ideas what those were, but whenever Wade brought it up, he seemed genuinely happy.

Today was free, though - that was the important part.

"The bacon and toast has been started," Josh stated, bringing Kim out of her trance. He leaned over her, kissing her on the forehead. "Want to have a little fun before it's done?"

Kim chuckled at this. Running her right hand slowly down his face, she replied, "You really do have a one-track mind there, mister."

He looked down at Kim's chest, and at how she didn't try to cover herself at all, he smiled. "Well, you make it really easy."

At this, Kim rolled her eyes playfully, but seconds later, the two of them were rolling around on their bed, and both Kim's rushed breath and Josh's grunts filled the room.

Ten minutes later, Kim was in Josh's arms, not wanting to move at all. Her breathing had just about calmed down, though if Josh had his way, she knew that wouldn't last long.

One of his hands moving down her stomach, skimming it, told Kim as much.

"Josh," Kim began, her smile not having left her face, "do you smell something burning?"

"You're delusional," Josh snapped, and pulled her into a kiss that could be described only as carnally passionate, which Kim fully accepted.

"No, really," Kim replied as soon as she could, and sat up, grabbing a shirt off the nightstand, "I think something's burning."

Josh looked toward the bedroom door, his expression blank.

"Oh shit! The toast!"

He jumped off the bed, and after pulling up a pair of boxers, ran to the kitchen.

"Damn it, it's burnt," Josh called out, and Kim giggled. That's like, the twentieth time that's happened, she thought. Stretching out her arms, she stood up and threw her shirt on, searching for a pair of panties on the floor, but after coming up short, just walked out of her room.

"Anything salvageable, honey," Kim asked, coming into view of the kitchen, as Josh was tossing some overly blackened bread into a trash bin. "The bacon, maybe," Kim amended after seeing that, a grin she couldn't stop having formed on her face.

At first, Josh appeared irked, but just chuckled. "No such luck. So much for breakfast in bed, right?"

"It's the thought that counts," Kim replied with a shrug. "I'm going to take a shower, honey. Maybe after I'm done, you'll have non-burnt breakfast done, yeah?"

Shaking his head, Josh said "Har-de-fucking-har."

Chuckling still, Kim left him to his devices.


Their phone rang ten minutes after lunch, which rather bothered Josh, as distractions while he was painting always threw him off. Kim didn't fully understand it, but then again, as he often reminded her, Kim's knowledge of art was most limited.

Without sharing any words, Kim put down her book and stood up quickly to get the phone, trying to send a placating look to her boyfriend with her eyes, and she answered, "Hello, this is the Possible residence."

"Hey there, Kim," came the bright voice of Mr. Atchison's secretary, Kathy. Atchison was one of CEOs of the firm she consulted for, but as to why she was calling on a Sunday, Kim had no idea.

"What's up," Kim asked curiously, ignoring the looks she was receiving from Josh.

"I was asked to call you, see if you could come into the office today. It shouldn't take long," Kathy replied, her tone one of trying to convince Kim.

"Oh, um, sure, yeah, I can do that," Kim stated. "Give me 30, 'kay?"

"No problem, Kim," Kathy said in her usual perky manner. "See you then."

Before she had even managed to put the receiver down, Josh had asked, "You going out, hun? On Sunday?"

"Yeah, I guess," Kim explained, with a shrug. "Southlake Canopy wants to speak to me about something important, I suppose."

Josh shook his head at this, but said no more, and went back to his painting.

"Want me to pick up anything while I'm out," Kim shouted back, as she was trying to pin down the location of her keys.

She heard a long-winded sigh escape from Josh, but upon replying, none of the annoyance was in his voice. "No, I'm good. Thanks."

Kim nodded, though she knew that he couldn't see her from his position. "Love you and see you soon, Josh."

"Forever and always," he replied, his tone airy, and Kim felt that old feeling of butterflies in her stomach as she walked out the door.

She strolled slowly to her car, taking in the mid-day atmosphere, breathing in the air. It wasn't anything amazing, but this house, her job. Well, Kim truly felt that she accomplished something great. And she was still so young.

Kim didn't see the figure watching her, standing halfway behind a tree from across the street. Pulling out of her driveway, Kim didn't notice figure inch behind the tree. And as Kim was driving toward Middleton proper, Kim didn't see the figure start walking up to her house.

It was Josh that was on her mind. And so, this figure went wholly undiscovered as Kim drove away.


The Middleton Southlake Canopy location was rather nondescript, and the building quite bland, something that Kim had always found deeply intriguing. She meant to ask Wade about it (Wade got her this contact to begin with years back), but it never came to mind when talking with him. "Maybe someday," she muttered under her breath.

Pulling into the parking lot, Kim saw few cars around her, which made sense, as it was a Sunday. The fact that she was even called in today made her raise an eyebrow the more she thought about it, as that meant those who she consulted had either really positive or negative news. Truth be told, she had no idea which one to expect.

Mr. Atchison's secretary waved at her as soon as she went through the revolving door, and Kim walked over, smiling at the young woman.

"What up, Kathy?"

"Oh, not too much," she replied, grinning back. "Mr. Atchison isn't in right now, but Mr. Talley will see you shortly."

"Any idea what this is all about," Kim inquired, slightly nervous, eyeing the door to Talley's office.

Kathy shrugged, and pulled some bubblegum out of her purse. "Well, he wasn't yelling, so that's gotta mean something, right? Want some," she asked, holding out a stick of the gum.

"I'm good, thanks," Kim stated, and took a seat near Kathy's desk, and couldn't help but wring her hands.

"Josh doing okay," Kathy conversationally inquired, looking up from a novel she was reading.

Kim waved her hand. "He's fine. Working on getting a new art show 'cause someone pulled out of hosting one yesterday."

"Oh, that sucks," Kathy stated, though Kim felt that her tone lacked the sincerity of her words.

"Yeah, well, no big," she replied. "I'm sure it'll work out."

Kathy nodded, and went back to her book, while Kim sat there in wait. It took only a few more minutes for Kathy to nod her head at Kim. "You can go on in, now."


"Well, Miss Possible - Kim, I'm sorry," Mr. Talley amended, seeing as though Kim was about to cut in, "we got some good news back from our friends over in Chicago."

"It went through," Kim replied, overly amazed. "They bought the whole system?"

"They're going into mass production next week in their Atlanta plant," Talley confirmed, a wide-smile breaking out on his face. "The first check is, well, impressive," Mr. Talley stated simply, handing an envelope out to her. "As always, Miss Possible, Southlake Canopy deeply enjoys your insights into security."

"No problem," Kim replied, taking the envelope, smiling at his already forgotten intention to call her Kim. "Just glad that I can help out in whatever capacity I can."

"Have you given any additional thought as to Mr. Atchison's offer? We'd really be glad to have you be an official employee of our security firm."

Kim gently shook her head. "I'm totally grateful for your offer, but our arrangement suits me just fine. Weekly meetings instead of coming in every day seems a win-win for me. I hope you can understand."

Talley tutted softly, but gave no further indication to his disappointment. "The money would be quite good, Kim."

At this, Kim's grin widened. "Seriously, I think right now, I'm good."

"Well," Mr. Talley replied, "should that ever change, you know where to come." He held out his hand to her. "Welcome to the top 1.5%," Talley cheekily said, winking at her, and nodding to the envelop she had since slipped into her pocket. "We're glad to have you."

Kim politely chuckled, and shook Talley's hand. Once out of his office, she tried her best to calm herself down, hoping Kathy wouldn't take note of her antsy behavior. It was only when she reached her car that she maintained control of her breathing.

Top 1.5%? How much is this check for, she considered, looking at the envelope.

Make no mistake, she and Josh were well-to-do long before today (pulling in generally $141,000 a year, before taxes) - Kim just could barely believe her stroke of luck that her security outlines were bought by a very reliable manufacturing firm. She and Josh were well-to-do before today. Now, they were officially wealthy by the sounds of it.

The drive back to her place, Kim couldn't shake that now-apparent fact from her head. She was now officially wealthy.

Kim chuckled to herself as she pulled her car gently into the driveway. How Josh would take it, she wasn't yet entirely sure - when it came to money, he sometimes seemed jealous that she consistently pulled in more than he did. Honestly, Kim didn't care at all, and never gave it a second thought, but it often rubbed Josh the wrong way. The argument they had about this very thing a few years back came to mind, but Kim shook the memory from her head. Josh was going through a hard time, and while she was shocked back then, she didn't blame him for his behavior.

Something was off, though, Kim noted, as soon as she got out of her car, and it took her only a few seconds to see it. The flag on her mailbox was up. It's Sunday, and I know that Josh got the mail yesterday, so what-

The befuddlement wasn't cleared up upon taking the letter out of the mailbox - in fact, it increased upon seeing who had sent it. Someone who she hasn't seen in years, if she could even place in her mind the last time she saw her. Someone she would never expect to here from, especially since Kim has long been dating her ex.

Tara.