Gravity

"You're falling out of reach

Defying gravity,

I know you're out there

Somewhere out there"

Our Lady Peace-"Somewhere Out There"

Ron wandered through the mall on autopilot. The Zombie Mayhem Collection came out today, but his heart wasn't in it. The slip of paper in his pocket seemed to weigh him down.

"Okay Rufus… we… we can do this," he said entering the game store. He stepped up to the counter and pulled the pre-order slip from his pocket. "I.. uh… have this…" he started awkwardly.

"I see. Well, you're lucky. We only have the pre-ordered copies in," the clerk said cheerily as he checked behind the counter. "It's all paid for, Mr. Renton!"

"T-Thanks," Ron mumbled as he took the thick box in his hands. He shoved the receipt in his pocket before he lost it and headed out of the store. As Felix's best friend, he felt the need to pick up all of the pre-orders and to return all of the rentals. But this… well… the Zombie Mayhem 15 Year Anniversary Box was something that they had both longed for.

"Ron?" He turned. He hadn't realized he was standing in front of Club Banana.

"H-hey," he squeaked out, clutching the game to his chest.

Monique gave him a small smile. They hadn't spoken since the small memorial service. "New game?"

"No uh… yes… sort of," Ron fidgeted and the box slipped out of his hands and on the floor.

"Wow… the whole collection remastered, repackaged and jammed packed with brand new stuff," Monique said picking up the box.

"Yeah. Felix ordered it… I… I couldn't let it sit at the store," Ron said.

"We should play it," Monique said suddenly.

"What?" Ron looked startled.

"He wouldn't want this to sit on a shelf and collect dust… we need to tournament… you and Kim and I," she said with a smile.

"Sounds good. How about Friday?"

"Friday sounds good. I have to go back to work," Monique waved and headed back into the clothes shop.

OOO

"Shego!" The shout echoed throughout the house.

Now that was a change. House, not lair. Dr. D was finishing out the remainder of his sentence doing consulting work for the FBI and the NSA. Shego and Felix… Francis… were now laying low in the middle of nowhere in Arizona.

There were only two people who knew where they were: Dr. Drakken and David Renton, the NSA agent who originally put Felix and his mother in witness protection all those years ago.

"What is it?" Shego asked, stepping into the makeshift lab in the back of their house.

"I thought that we were laying low," Felix said with a frown. He braced his hands on the table and stood up.

"Why? What happened?" She asked.

"Well, we just got a call from the Colorado Counsel of Science. They need a last-minute guest speaker at their annual convention. Now. How did they get the name of Francis King?"

"Hey, don't look at me! I'm just your average fitness trainer, Shelly King, newlywed…. Which, by the way, really sucks."

"It wasn't my idea! I'm not used to acting my own age," he said, picking up his crutches. "David figured it'd be easier to blend in."

"Well, are you going to do it?" She asked as Felix slowly made his way into the kitchen. When they had first met, she couldn't fathom why a person who could walk would want to confine himself to a wheelchair, but now that the two of them have been living together for a few months, she understood.

"I don't know. It would be a good way to flush out Monkey Fist. 'Francis King speaks about the possibility of bridging damaged nerves with new technology.' Oh yeah, that's a fine way to get captured," he said, dropping into the kitchen chair.

"You still have the prototype. Dr. Possible will be there. I'll be there. We drop hints, so many hints that even grandma wouldn't be able to ignore this," she said taking out a can of soda for each of them.

"Find a way to get my mother, Dr. Possible and Kim and Ron there and I'll do it."

"Great, I'll get Dr. D!" she said happily. "You know, you should pay more attention to your wife or she'll start going after other men."

"You're not my wife. Besides, you're into older men anyway."

OOO

Drew Lipsky scratched his head and smiled slowly. His former assistant looked good as a blonde.

"Stop staring, it's creepy," Shego said, crossing her arms.

"It is a good look for you. You almost look like a nice person," he grinned.

"That's not why I'm here," she frowned.

"You want me to make sure Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable are there at the Middleton Convention Center when you and Felix attend the conference," Drew said as he paced the small room. He was now a consultant for several security agencies, but that didn't mean that he had as much freedom as he used to enjoy.

"All you have to do is delay Dr. Possible… He'll make Kimmie pick us up from the airport," she said simply. "Don't give him whatever you're working on until the last minute."

"That, I can still do," He paused and smiled, "Mrs. Shelly King. So have you and your husband had enough alone time?"

Shego smacked her former boss upside his head. "Just get the princess and the dork at the convention. Fisk is going to show up there."

OOO

"Are you almost ready?" Shego sighed as she waited outside of the bedroom door. And she was accused of taking forever to get ready.

"Almost…" came the muffled voice. She had offered to help him get ready, but he had refused. Probably a male ego thing… or he was embarrassed. Either way, if he didn't hurry, they were going to miss their flight.

Felix emerged a few minutes later. He was wearing a simple brown suit, fit for a college professor. As she looked him up and down, she noted the changes in his appearance since the day she had kidnapped him. She was hard pressed to say they were the same man.

First off, he almost exclusively walked with crutches and braces. Though it was harder and more tiring, it was a startling change from the cybernetic wheelchair his mother made for him. The glasses he wore were more for show, though they were a light prescription. Felix wore his hair a bit messier than he used to and now he affected a slight Irish accent.

"I'm ready," he said, holding out the aluminum case to her as he hobbled to the door.

"Perfect," she said, taking the prototype from him and picking up their suitcase. "Now, let's get this over with."

The flight was thankfully short, though traveling commercial air, wasn't the most calming ordeal. The attendants kept bothering them. And at the airport, people kept asking the couple if they needed help. Felix always replied with a polite, "No, thank you," or a, "I can make it." The worst part of their journey was the metal detectors. The case with the prototype had to be thoroughly x-rayed and examined.

Felix had to be subjected to several runs through the metal detector, though it was explained that his crutches and braces were made of metal and thus would set off the detector. Luckily for them, they got out of their without their cover being blown. A series of burned airport staff being treated for burns would indeed draw police attention.

"Shit," Felix swore beside her. Waiting for them at the gate was Kim and Ron holding a sign with their alias on it. "You didn't tell me that they were going to pick us up."

"You're going to have to do some acting," she said giving him a smile and a quick kiss. "Come on Francis, our ride is waiting."

OOO

Ron was bored. Bored bored bored. Of all the things to do on a Saturday morning, waiting for some scientist and his wife and then driving them around town.

"Ron! I think I see them!" Kim nudged Ron sharply in the ribs as she held her cardboard sign higher.

Ron saw an attractive blonde woman heading towards them. A man on crutches followed her slightly. Kim walked towards them. "Mr. and Mrs. King? Hi, I'm Kim Possible and this is Ron Stoppable."

"Possible? As in James Possible?" the man smiled. "I see that someone doesn't believe in rental cars," he said with a light accent.

"Daddy didn't think that sending the guest lecturer and his wife off in a rental car with a map was a good idea," Kim said with a smile.

"Francis King, a pleasure," the young scientist said, extending his hand. "And this is my lovely wife, Shelly."

They made small talk all the way to the car. Ron couldn't stifle the feeling that he had met the couple before. Shelly and Francis weren't too much older than they were… maybe…

"So how did the two of you meet?" Kim asked, getting in behind the wheel.

"Well, it's a rather silly story…" Francis started. "Shelly kidnapped me."

"I did not," she rolled her eyes and playfully slapped her husband's shoulder.

"I was driving a university van and the 'genius' here mistook my van for the one his club was taking to a competition. He then fell asleep in the back. Of course it was an hour before I realized that he was back there."

"And I missed the competition and my team lost and it was your fault," he said.

"You're the one that got mixed up," she said.

"Wow, that's something," Ron said. "Have you been to Middleton before?"

"Oh yes, I've been to the convention center for a few events," Francis said.

"Sciency things?" Ron asked.

"Well, not really," Francis blushed, "I'm quite a fan of Zombie Mayhem… there was a convention there last year."

"Boo Ya! I love Zombie Mayhem! My friend and I would…" Ron trailed off.

Kim placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. "It's okay Ron. Our friend died a month ago," she said quietly.

From the side mirror, Ron saw Francis look down.

"Do you think you could just drop us off at our hotel? Unfortunately, we booked late so we couldn't get one near the convention hall." Shelly said, changing the subject.

"Of course," Kim said merging onto the road to take them to the mid-priced hotel across town.

Kim waited nervously as she watched Francis and Shelly cross the busy street to their hotel.

"Something really bugging me about that guy," Ron said suddenly.

"What makes you think so?" Kim asked as Shelly opened the front door for her husband.

"I don't know… it's just… he's so… familiar."

"I know what you mean Ron; I just… can't put my finger on it. Same thing with Shelly," she said, driving off. It was a few hours before she had to take the couple to the convention center. "I mean, he's not even a doctor and yet he's the head lector at the biggest science event of the year."

"I know Kim… I… wait. He's not a doctor? Then who is he?" Ron asked. "I mean, he's not much older than we are… but still… what does the pamphlet say?" Ron asked, fumbling for the little booklet Dr. Possible gave them with the itinerary for the weekend.

OOO

Alicia Renton hated conventions. Especially when they took her time away from her son. Unfortunately, she didn't have that problem anymore. Great, she was crying again. Holed up in the bathroom of the convention center, bawling her eyes out, she sat on the toilet and blew her nose for the twelfth time in ten minutes.

"Is somebody in here?" a voice called out.

"I… sorry…" Alicia choked out, trying to make herself look presentable again before opening the stall door.

"Dr. Renton?"

"Oh! Kim… what are you doing in here?" she asked the young redhead before she turned to the mirror.

"My dad got held up at the lab, so I'm playing chauffer to one of the out of town guests," Kim said, looking at her with concern.

"I'm sorry Kim, I just… I always hated going to these things," she said, applying some blue eyeliner around her eyes to make them seem less red.

"Why don't you come and meet Francis, he works with robots," Kim said, trying to help.

"Francis?" Alicia asked as she finished her makeup.

"Francis King, why? Do you know him?" Kim asked.

"K-King? Where is he?" Alicia asked, resisting the urge to grab Kim and shake her.

"Yeah… come on," Kim said and led the frazzled scientist to where her friends were waiting.

Alicia focused on the young man balancing on a pair of crutches. She held her breath until he turned towards her.

His words died on his lips as he drew in a shaky breath. His companion lay a hand on his shoulder for fear he was about to fall over. His blue eyes were locked on hers.

Alicia didn't stop the tears from creeping down her face as she ran to the stunned man.

"FELIX! Oh Felix…" She wrapped her arms around her baby.

"Dr. Renton…" Kim started.

"Don't," Shelly stopped her from interfering. "There's a lot to talk about Kimmie."

"Mom… I'm sorry… I missed you so much," Francis… Felix said back as he embraced his mother.