Disclaimer: This story is based upon characters created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle for Disney. Since this story is set twenty three years later, all the characters under twenty-five years of age are mine.

A crowd of agents led by her family met Anne in the Global Justice hangar. As soon as the canopy opened, Dad was there hugging her.

He helped her down and moved aside so Mom and Don could welcome her in turn as the crowd cheered.

Mom held a bag up. "Let's get you into some decent clothes."

"Yes, Ma'am," Anne knew even with all this celebration, she was in huge trouble.

As Mom led her to the locker room, more agents cheered. Anne also got a few 'high fives' as she passed. She didn't feel she deserved them, though. Flo was still back there.

Flo was sitting in a chair that might have been comfortable, if she weren't covered in hardened goo. Drakken turned on some strange, pulsing, iridescent colored lighting over the chair, which was inside a box made of iron bars.

"You can dissolve it now, Bopper," said Drakken. "Flo's not going anywhere."

Bopper sprayed some sort of chemical into the cage. The goo evaporated almost immediately.

"So, how are you doing?" Drakken actually sounded cordial as he approached the cage. "Ready to catch up with Dad?"

Flo kicked the bars near him. "You are not my 'Dad'!"

"So you're going to blame me for Shego never telling me that you were born?"

"I can blame you for attacking my family."

"Flo, dear. We are family."

"Only genetically."

Drakken poured a few glasses of what appeared to be fruit punch. "Tsk. Well, I suppose with time you'll come around." He handed Bopper a glass.

Bopper accepted it and held it up toward Flo as though toasting her health, a mocking smile on her face.

Drakken then brought the third glass over and passed it through the bars. "I want to be there for you, if things ever get too tough. Like I couldn't before I knew about you."

"Like you do for her?"

"Bopper's not my daughter."

"No, she's too young to be me."

"That was low," Bopper said testily.

"Like you could judge," Flo huffed.

"Ladies, please," Drakken said soothingly. He finally set the offered glass on a table.

"You want to be such a good parent?" Flo asked. "Let me go."

"But we know so little about each other."

"I can read all I want to know in your file."

"I can't say I was happy that Anne left. I so wanted to examine that suit."

"Glad to inconvenience you." Flo crossed her legs and got comfortable in the chair. "I do consider Anne to be family. I won't let you hurt any of them."

"Yes, I heard about your new boyfriend." He sipped his drink, "A rather delicious bit of irony, I must admit."

Bopper said, "The punch at the dance wasn't quite as good as this stuff. Drakky has such good taste."

"You were spying on me?" gasped Flo.

"Actually, she was spying on Kim," said Drakken. "Don't sound surprised. I caught your boyfriend doing just that here a few days ago."

"That was me, Dear," interrupted Bopper.

"In any case," Drakken continued after a side-glance at his girlfriend. "If ever he and the rest of that clan of do-gooders were to desert you, I want you to know that I will welcome you." He switched off the strange lights overhead. "That being said; now you may go."

"What was all that?" asked Flo. She was a little surprised and confused. She also had just realized that the lights had been causing a slightly odd feeling inside her.

"Something I developed to neutralize the 'Go glow'," Drakken smiled. "Don't tell your mother. I might get a chance to surprise her with it some time."

"Speaking of Shego, is she the one who's been 'on vacation' all these years?"

Bopper perked up at the question.

"You have some sort of shrine in there maybe?" Flo continued, smiling as the questions served to rile Bopper.

"What?" yelled Bopper as she slammed her punch cup on a table and stood up. "That's her room?"

"Shrine? Of course not," Drakken said defensively. "Bopper, you know how much I care about you."

"Enough to let me redo that room?"

"Well..."

"You stinking -"

That was when Flo teleported to the roof.

"I'm really sorry, Mom," said Anne as she removed the troublesome suit.

"I'm going to burn this thing myself later," Mom snapped. She then softened, "What made you take this thing in the first place?"

Anne shrugged. "I ... guess I wanted to ... I don't know ... be more like you."

Kim looked at her daughter a moment. "I only wore this cursed thing a few times myself. I've done just fine without it." She looked into her daughter's eyes, "Being the best Anne Marie Stoppable you can be is more important than trying to be my clone."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Put these on," Mom pulled out a pair of red jeans with pink piping from the bag and handed it to her.

Anne did a double take and then looked in the bag. A white blouse with pink hearts on it and a red corduroy jacket were inside. "These are new!"

"Fresh from Club Banana."

"How did you know I wanted these?"

"Actually, Don picked those out." Mom smiled, "Get dressed. We still need to talk about discipline."

"Right," said Anne. She had been dreading that talk for the entire plane ride. "There's something else, Mom."

"What?"

"I heard Drakken talking about Flo."

"What did he say?"

Once the pants were fastened, Anne put on the blouse. "He first mentioned something about your weakness being teenage boys."

Mom frowned, "Maybe once."

"That's what he thought was funny. He thinks that Don is your weak spot."

"And Don is dating Flo."

Anne nodded as she slipped on the jacket and pushed her blonde hair out from under the collar, "Drakken was happy about that. He said Flo was now close enough to bring us all down."

The two women exchanged a deep doubtful frown.

"Did he say this to you directly?" asked Mom.

"I had just woke up. He probably thought I was still asleep."

"Let's go to my office," Mom stood up. "We file this as a debrief and move on to the other matter."

"Okay."

Once on the roof of Drakken's lair, Flo surveyed the sky and figured the direction to Florida. At top flight speed, she should get there just before exhausting herself.

As she glowed and lifted off, there was no sign of pursuit. Either Drakken was serious about letting her go, or the argument she had incited was a big enough distraction.

She waited until she was clear of the island before calling base.

"Good work, Flamingo," came the familiar voice of Dora Barnes, a base dispatcher. "Anne's home safe. Cann will rendezvous with you soon."

"Thank you, base. Boy, my arms are starting to get tired."

"Acknowledged, " Dora laughed. "Base out." That old joke always did get Dora, regardless of how often Flo used it.

Dad and Don met the ladies as they exited the locker room.

"Thanks for the clothes, Cherryhead."

"No problem." Don smiled. "Dad paid."

"Let's finish that talk, Anne," Mom cut in.

"You in big trouble?" whispered Don.

"Yeah," agreed Anne, though she was thinking that maybe they were all in trouble.

-

Merry Christmas to all my spiritual brothers.

Happy Holidays to all my human brethren.

No presents. Just review!