And You And I

by Niaxi

Two years after graduation, Kim is working as a fulltime hero; living on the adrenaline from her missions. Unfortunately, her high-octane lifestyle has led to boredom and loneliness in her personal life. Meanwhile, Shego too is finding life to be rather dull. When a chance social encounter brings the pair face to face, sparks, as well as fists, are liable to fly. KiGo.

1. Owner of a lonely heart

Author's note:

Hey, guys, welcome to And You And I; my first attempt at a KiGo story. Having recently watched Kim Possible, I became quite fascinated by the relationship between Kim and Shego and started pondering how much further it could have been taken had the show been made both today and for an older audience. After reading a few different ficts and mulling over some ideas, I decided to write one myself. While I initially intended this story to be a simple, albeit fairly lengthy one-shot, I got so engrossed in setting out a backstory for Kim, that it's probably going to span a few chapters now. So sit back, grab a naco or a chimirito, add a soda (don't forget to grande size your meal) and enjoy.

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Chapter One: Owner of a Lonely Heart

It all started in a bar. Not in an evil villain's lair, or atop a high-speed train, or in any other sort of crazy death-defying situation you may care to think of. No, it all started in a common, everyday public bar. A nice, trendy, semi-upmarket establishment. The kind with chrome and black leather bar stools, comfortable booths along the walls and an assortment of well-spaced tables and chairs dotted around the centre of the room.

Kim Possible, hero, world saviour and much more sat on the padded stool at the end of the bar; elbows resting on its clean black surface. She would have preferred one of the booths, away from prying eyes, but was far too polite to hog one all by herself. Clad in loose-fitting blue jeans, a fitted green t-shirt and ankle-high brown suede boots with a three-inch heel, she gave off an air of someone desperately trying to blend into the décor. To avoid attention at all costs. In fact, that was exactly why she had chosen this particular location in which to drink and mope. A) The average patron had enough tact and perception to notice if you wanted to be left alone or not and B) none of her friends would be willing to pay the mark-up on the drinks; if they even got served at all.

The perks of being me. It was a bittersweet voice that piped up inside Kim's head, as she stared morosely at the dregs of a faint green liquid inside her glass. Picking it up, she downed the last of her apple sours and lemonade. She had done favours for so many people in her mid-teenage years that there existed an entire clutch of bars, clubs and restaurants that were willing to look the other way for her; and that was just in Middleton. Yeah, those olive-green eyes, pretty smile and fiery red hair opened doors and opportunities that your average underage college-age student could only dream of. Indeed, she had a sneaking suspicion that it was the only reason her friends still kept inviting her to go out with them. I've not exactly been Miss fun and outgoing when I've been home of late. She snorted at her own thought of, 'at late'. Try the past few months… at least.

Raising her head, Kim signalled the barman for another drink and delved into the pocket of her baggy jeans to fish out her purse so she could pay for it. While most of her usual haunts would happily give her free drinks without her even needing to turn on the charm, she always insisted on paying. They were already doing her a favour and risking trouble with the law by serving her in the first place, so she would not see them out of pocket too. She handed over the correct change to the man when he set the glass down in front of her. The night was still relatively young, even though she had made the decision to come out late. Thus, this was only her second drink. Giving it a quick swirl, Kim plucked the black stirrer from the glass and gently sucked the fizzy sweet and sour droplets from its length before neatly placing it down on the bar. She huffed when a few strands of her long red hair drooped down over her face. Even her own hair was choosing to mock her! Irately, she raised a hand and flicked it behind her ear.

How on earth had it come to this? Sitting alone in a bar on a Friday night, feeling sorry for herself, while her friends were probably only a few streets away and having a blast. Hell, Monique had even invited her to come with them the second she found out that her best girl was home. However, like most occasions recently, Kim had declined on the grounds of being stiff, sore and worn out from her latest string of missions. While sometimes true, tonight it had been a downright lie. She'd just had a shit week. Raising the glass in a mock toast to herself and all her crap, she took a sip and allowed the bubbles to fizzle out on her tongue; an apt metaphor for her own happiness after graduating high school. The beverage lit up both the sweet and sour centres of her taste buds before she swallowed.

Involuntarily, Kim's mind travelled back to that time before the Lorwardian invasion. To a time when happy was a default state, not a collection of scattered moments that she grasped whenever she could and struggled in vain to hold on to. Screw those alien motherfuckers for showing up and ruining the world… ruining my life. A hollow laugh escaped from behind her lips. The Lorwardians might have fucked up the world, but you fucked up your own life quite nicely all by yourself; those aliens simply served as the catalyst. She took a long drink and willed the effects of the alcohol to hurry up. Drunk Kim had the advantage of being unable to point out the harsh truths about her life. Unfortunately, until such time… Do you honestly think things would have worked out any differently had the earth not been brought to its knees?

She sighed and took another drink. She'd been down this particular road many times before, knew all the stops and knew exactly where it ended. And stop number one was always the same place… Bueno Nacho. She'd been sitting there with Ron and Rufus, as they had done on countless occasions before. Only this particular instance would probably forever be etched into her memory. There, on that day before graduation, she had sat and knowingly or not, downright lied to her best friend come boyfriend; she'd told him that nothing would change after the big day. How wrong she had been.

In the wake of the overnight carnage that had been wrought by the invasion, people all over the world had been in dire need of aid and virtually every villain on the planet had been prepared to take advantage of the situation. Once their families had been made safe, thanks in no small part to Global Justice's swift response to the crisis, she and Ron had dotted all over the world to help prevent it being taken over by a whole host of super villains and their various schemes. However, that had simply been an increase in their normal weekly activities. No, the real issue had arisen not as a result of alien invasion or nefarious plot to take over the world, but from something that would have occurred regardless; college acceptance.

After weeks of waiting, Ron had finally received an acceptance letter from Western Colorado University; the only institute to offer him a place. She, on the other hand, had her pick of the country's top universities, plus many from overseas. Leaving her with an impossible choice to make. Go to Western Colorado with Ron and maintain the status quo, or go out on her own and try and manage a long-distance relationship. A look of contempt flashed across her face and she took another drink. Anything is possible for a Possible, right? A snort of derision accompanied that thought. Wrong. She had put off on making the choice, on even devoting brain power to it and justified it to herself on the grounds that she was so busy with missions that she just did not have the time nor headspace to spare.

You know that wasn't the only reason you deferred on making that particular decision… "Shut up!" Kim snapped internally. Although she knew full well that silencing her brain without the aid of alcohol or adrenaline was a futile endeavour. She quickly downed half of her remaining beverage, resigning herself to being dragged down memory lane. Oh, come on! You know fine well how much you loved the continual high you road from doing missions back to back to back. How drab and dull life became when you spent more than a few days at home. Kim ground her teeth. It was pointless trying to argue with herself while sober, as she was always right. She had, no scratch that, did enjoy the continual high that came with a constant stream of missions. Maybe she had been too scared to admit it at the time, always saying that it was only a hobby, but the reality was she loved her missions; loved saving the world. In the end, when deadline day for selecting her college had come around, she had made the unprecedented choice and let it pass her by. It had stunned everyone. Her parents, normally so laid back and unfazed by her actions, had been gobsmacked. It had led to one of the rare arguments between them. Long, drawn-out over days and reaching a new high for raised voices, yelling and slammed doors, it had boiled down to this: she'd had every academic door she could ever want opened in front of her, with the red carpet rolled out no less and she'd passed them by in favour of her hobby. Much like the straight-A student who fantasised about becoming a popstar and missed her college interview for an audition.

Monique too had been lost for words, eventually concluding that she had either taken one too many blows to the head, was under the influence of mind control or had just gone completely insane. Then there had been Ron, whose response had been, "OH YEAH! My girlfriend KP, the fulltime superhero!" She'd received a nod of approval and a short burst of applause from Rufus too. At least someone had been happy for her and the major life choice she had made. A shame it wasn't to last…

Absentmindedly, Kim swirled her drink as she allowed the next few stops on her memory trip to pass by without objection. After the initial atomic bomb drop of her decision and the resultant fallout, things had settled back down into a hectic schedule of missions and she had returned to enjoying life. Eventually, it came time for Ron to start University and with nothing tying her down, she had agreed to move in with him. However, unbeknownst to either of them at the time, a mating pair of elephants had moved into the small apartment with them and quickly started to rear their trunks.

The first had been one her parents had brought up on numerous occasions, which she had chosen to ignore; how was she going to support herself? She had little money of her own, bar the scant contents of her savings account and could not justify asking her parents to bankroll her lifestyle. And with the number missions she was taking on; a normal job of any variety had been out of the question. Ultimately, there had only been one solution. She'd been forced to start charging for her services. A dark irony, given how vehemently opposed she had been to doing so a few years prior. It had pained her to do it, but she could not live off of favours. Naturally, she had received a bit of backlash for doing so, but it had quickly settled down. In fact, while she had seen a drop in requests, the ones she did get still numbered more than she could fulfil and the paywall ensured that only the most dangerous and exciting made it onto the shortlist. Yeah, the Lorwardian invasion had been good for the hero business. Almost too good…

Kim sipped her drink, her eyes rising up to scan the multitude of coloured bottles that lined the shelves of the bar. She was still a relative novice when it came to alcohol and so had only sampled some of the more common spirits. And without someone to guide her, she would be shooting in the dark should she take the urge to try one of them… perhaps not yet. Returning her gaze to the apple sours and lemonade in her hand, her moping mind set off once more down the memory motorway and to the second of her and Ron's breading pair of elephants; workloads.

With the increased demands of college when compared to high school, she had been forced to bar Ron from going with her on every mission. To her surprise, he had actually taken it quite well. In fact, she'd have gone as far to say that he had been relived. It seemed that a summer of continuous missions had quelled his appetite for hero work quite significantly. She could hardly have blamed him. Ron liked a lot of the normal things in life, such as videogames, comic books and Friday nights at Bueno Nacho. Whereas she liked the excitement, the thrill of not knowing what lurked around the next corner.

If they had been the only issues we had faced, maybe things would have been ok. "Ha," Kim laughed mirthlessly under her breath, yeah right. You know fine well that those two elephants were always going to breed. She downed the rest of her drink and quickly felt the light buzz that signalled she was just about to cross into the state of tipsy. A good thing too, as she was not sure whose side she was on anymore. It didn't matter. The cold hard facts of the matter were that their elephants had fucked and produced two bastard offspring called 'I'm the one making the money' and 'you're never around'.

After it had become apparent that charging for her missions provided a not-insignificant amount of income, Ron had quit his job at Smarty Mart. While he had neglected to tell her about it beforehand, his justification of, "doing it for my studies, KP," had abated her irritation. And which one of you was more foolish, him for doing it or you for swallowing that bullshit reason? Even now, Kim felt a slight flash of anger over the whole issue; directed mostly at herself. Ron had done exactly what he did best, acted on impulse and pooh-poohed any possible consequences. She couldn't really blame him for being himself. However, on the other hand, she had utterly failed in her role to either convince him he had made a mistake or ensure that he actually did spend the extra time studying. And that was all because of baby elephant number two; she had never been around.

Mission after mission had come her way and so she had continued to jet around the world, visiting places such as Paris, Millan, Tokyo and many more besides, but each one alone. It had been exhilarating. A HALO jump onto a battleship in the middle of the Atlantic, zipping across the New York skyline using the new grapple system Wade had integrated into the latest incarnation of the battle suit and jumping across the grand canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle, to name but a few. Meanwhile, Ron had spent his time goofing off. Video game marathons, D&D weekends, naco eating contests… the list went on. Her money bankrolling his fun, while his college grades slumped. Naturally, when she tactfully asked him if his college work was ok, he had assured her that he had everything under control. Given that she was never around long enough to properly say otherwise, she had foolishly believed him. It had all come to a head when she discovered the results to his first semester exams; Ron had flunked the bulk of his classes.

Lorwardian invasion or not, you know that outcome had been inevitable. Kim let out a deflated sigh, as the offending strands of hair from earlier drooped over her face again. Yeah, it probably was. Sooner or later, I'd have realised I wanted to do the hero thing fulltime, make a living out of it and Ron would have been Ron about it… She could hear the words her boyfriend had uttered as justification ring inside her head as though he had just uttered them from the seat beside her, "where's the problem, KP? I'm doing my thing; you're doing your thing and everything else takes care of itself." Had she been in the wrong for wanting him to pull his weight when it came to the household bills? It had been fine when she had believed that he had been studying but in the face of such damming exam results and his insistence that, "it's no biggie if I flunk out, KP. I've got you there to keep me stocked up on nacos," it had been a step too far.

Kim felt her knuckles turn white as she gripped her empty glass with almost enough force to cause a fracture. Even now the memory of that moment still burned her. She had yelled at Ron that it was not ok for her to be out earning money while he dossed around, indulging his every whim at her expense. Which is when he brought out the, "what do you care, you're never around," argument. And that had been it. They'd argued like they had never argued before. What had been said changed slightly every time she recalled the incident, but it mattered not; the end result was always the same. She'd gone to her room, shoved some clothes, her battle suit, gadgets and pandaroo into a bag, picked up her purse, Kimunicator and car keys and left.

"Do you want another drink?"

The question cut through Kim's thought process like one of Shego's plasma infused hands through metal and she jumped slightly. Lifting her gaze up from the bottom of her empty glass, she made eye contact with the barman. "Please and thank you," she replied, relaxing her vice-like grip on the glass and allowing him to take it away.

"Same again?"

Kim nodded and delved into her pocket to get the money to pay him. Exchanging coins for cocktail, she stirred it quickly before taking a drink. The taste of sweet and sour on her tongue helped act as a balm for her jagged mood and slowly she felt her anger dissipate. Yeah, fair enough, breaking up with Ron was probably an inevitability, alien invasion or not. On the plus side, it at least gave you the chance to patch things up with mom and dad. That certainly was true. She had arrived on the doorstep of her parents rebuilt home at one o'clock in the morning; puffy-eyed and red-cheeked. Her mom had swiftly ushered her inside, pulled her into a hug, then shepherded her into the kitchen for a hot cup of tea. She'd then proceeded to tell her mom everything that had happened between herself and Ron. A hot shower had followed before she settled down amidst fresh sheets in a rather surreal rebuild of her old attic bedroom.

Bar her brothers and their usual tweebish antics, her stay with her parents had proved to be rather restful. After they had learned just how lucrative her missions had become, both her mom and dad had eased off on the whole 'you're wasting your life' spiel; now safe and content in the knowledge that their daughter had a strong financial future while also doing something that she loved. She had stayed for a few weeks before finding a place of her own. A thin smile tugged at the corner of Kim's lips when she thought about home. With the amount she was making each month, she had been able to afford a modern penthouse apartment that had spacious rooms and killer views of the mountains. She loved that apartment. In fact, she was pondering buying it outright from the owner once she had accumulated the funds; a mortgage was unfeasible due to her income source being considered non-quantifiable.

Unfortunately, despite her love for her apartment, she'd grown to hate being stuck at home for any length of time. For instance, a few months ago, she had badly bruised her lower back after an explosion blew her out a building window and she'd landed awkwardly. Once the adrenaline had ebbed upon completion of the mission, she had been in agony and struggled to walk or bend. She'd been forced to see a doctor by her mom and been told that she was out of commission for two weeks. Day one had passed by with her mostly in pain and day two had seen her content to sit on the sofa and watch TV. But come the end of day three, she had been bored stiff and by day four, she had figuratively been clawing at the walls to get back out on a mission. Against medical advice, she'd gone back into the field after only one week.

Reaching a hand around, Kim absentmindedly rubbed her lower back as the memory of the pain surfaced in her mind. It was not the worst injury she had ever suffered on a mission, simply the most recent one to force her out of action. The latest member of a rather exclusive club. She paused for a moment when the thought of what someone might think if they were to see her naked floated through her mind; a mussing that had a tendency to gnaw at her while she was moping. Narcissistic as it may be, she considered herself quite good looking on the surface, however, underneath was a different story. Her clothing hiding a multitude of scars collected from her years of hero work. Kim's eyes glanced around the room at the other patrons. How many of these people would be able to see past my marred skin if I were to bear all to them? Kim grunted and took a long drink, trying to force the thought from her mind. Unfortunately, her brain managed to serve up a rather sobering parting shot on the subject, setting her attempts at becoming inebriated back a few steps. My body is an ugly tapestry of scars. Each one a damming testament to a time I wasn't fast enough or just plain screwed up.

This was achieving nothing bar filling her bladder, Kim realised as the contents of glass three slowly drained. I need some sort of high to lift my mood and alcohol just isn't cutting it tonight. Maybe she could go home, slip on her battle suit and grapple around some of the taller buildings. Or use her jetpack to soar through the sky, cut the engine and then freefall back to earth; pulling the chute at the last possible moment. Yeah, that should lift her mood... Wait, no, scratch that, she had a better idea. How about… Kim never managed to finish formulating the plan, as from behind her, a voice called out to her and she instantaneously froze.

"Hey there, Princess, how'z it hanging?"