STANDARD DISCLAIMER:The characters of Kim Possible, Dr. James Timothy Possible, Dr. Anne Possible, Jim and Tim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Wade Load, Steve Barkin, Bonnie Rockwaller, Monique, Tara, Felix Renton, Rufus the Naked Mole Rat, Drew "Dr. Drakken" Lipsky, Shego, Dr. Dementor, Lord Montgomery "Monkey Fist" Fiske, Señor Senior Senior, Señor Senior Junior, Dr. Betty Director, Special Agent Will Du, Global Justice and any and all other minor characters/locations from the television series Kim Possible are the sole property of the Walt Disney Corporation, and are used herein without permission or contest to their ownership for the sole purpose of personal, non-profit entertainment. Any and all minor characters that have not appeared in the television series, and this storyline, are the sole creation and property of the author and may not be reproduced without prior consent (if you want to post it, just ask).

CHAPTER ONE

Kim pulled into the parking lot of the Middleton High gymnasium at about five minutes before seven, noticing right away that Bonnie's white convertible was already there, with the owner nowhere to be seen. Assuming the bronze-skinned woman was already inside, she parked her car in the space beside Bonnie's and climbed out with her gym bag slung over her shoulder, locking the car with the key fob as she headed for the main entrance to the gym.

She saw no sign of her high school nemesis until she entered the change room, where the lithe brunette was sitting on a bench and tying her sneakers, dressed in a pair of black workout shorts and a pink sports bra. "Hey Bonnie," she said, announcing her presence.

"Oh, hey Kim," the tanned woman replied, glancing up only briefly before returning to the task of lacing up the pristine-white Reeboks on her feet. "Did Tara tell you this is what time I'm normally here?"

"She said you usually got here around seven, so I thought I'd come and get up to speed on what you've taught the girls so far," the teen heroine replied as she extracted her workout clothes and sneakers from her bag.

"Trust me, it's real basic stuff; I just figured it would be nice if the girls trying out for the varsity squad had a little knowledge of the basics instead of coming in greener than the grass," Bonnie said, rising from the bench and picking up her towel and water bottle. "If the class was only ten or twelve girls, I could probably handle it on my own, but where it's so big, I need to have somebody else here to help answer questions and demonstrate some of the moves."

"How many girls do you have?"

"Twenty-five regulars and a couple that show up when they feel like it… needless to say, I don't exactly spend a whole lot of time on them; if they were serious they'd be here every session."

"Fair enough," Kim nodded as she slipped a pair of ankle socks and her sneakers on her feet. Standing, she looked at Bonnie and grinned as she tied her hair into a ponytail. "Ready whenever you are," she said, motioning for the other woman to lead the way.

Both had slipped into silence as they entered the gym from the locker room, neither speaking to the other as they started stretching. About halfway through their warm-up, Bonnie finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry, Kim," she said, almost too softly for her to hear.

Stopping mid-stretch, the redhead stood up straight and looked at the darker woman. "Sorry for what, Bonnie?" she asked with a befuddled expression on her face.

Bonnie stopped her own stretching and turned to face Kim with downcast eyes. "I've been doing a lot of thinking ever since what happened to Ron when you were in Denver…" she began, but trailed off when the first of their students started entering the gym. "Are you busy after class?"

"Anytime you need to talk, Bonnie, I have the time to listen," Kim replied sincerely. "Why don't we go to that little coffee shop downtown and talk there?"

"Works for me," she nodded before resuming her warm-up and pushing the curiosity of what Bonnie would have to say to the back of her mind.

Fifteen minutes later, Bonnie and Kim stood side-by-side, facing the twenty-five members of the class. "Okay, girls," the brunette started, "as you've probably noticed by now, Tara couldn't be here tonight—she hurt herself last week, but she should be okay for next week—so we asked one of our old teammates if she'd be able to join us for tonight and help us out."

"You never told us you were on the same cheer squad as Kim Possible!" one of the girls towards the back of the group interjected, sounding slightly scandalized.

"We didn't really think it was worth mentioning," Bonnie shrugged, "but it is true; Kim here was our captain and one of the main reasons we took the State championship this spring."

"Don't let that change how the class is going to go, though," Kim added. "While I was Bonnie and Tara's captain on the cheer squad, tonight I'm the assistant and Bonnie's the boss; I'm just here to help out."

"And we're glad you could make it," the tanned brunette said with a grin directed at Kim before returning her attention to the class before them. "So, to break Kim in to our routine, let's start with a review of what we worked on last week…"

Wade Load was, as usual, sitting in front of the bank of computer monitors in his room. Ever since the culmination of the Phoenix case, things had been quiet, allowing the teen tech guru the chance to catch up on some of the more important things in life—namely conquering the next level in the newest Everlot expansion.

He was just finally figuring out the level boss' weakness and started making headway when an alert on a different screen notified him of an incoming video call. Sighing, he paused the game and turned to face the monitor as he accepted the call; not overly surprised when it was the visage of one Dr. Betty Director that appeared on the screen. "Good afternoon, Dr. Load; I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" she said with a friendly smile.

"Not really, no," he replied with a shake of his head. "What can I do for you today?"

"I just thought you, Kim and Ron would like an update on the latest with the Phoenix case," the eyepatch-clad woman said as her eye flicked briefly away from the screen, as if she were glancing at a sheet of paper in front of her.

"I didn't really think there was anything left of the Phoenix case that concerned us, but if you think it's something they might want to hear, I'm all ears," the teen tech guru said with a hint of surprise.

"There really isn't all that much to report, but a couple of points of interest did come up. First of all, we've managed to confirm the complete seizure of all Phoenix assets; the land and other physical assets—minus weapons—will be put up for public auction, while weapons are being sent to a refinery to be melted down."

"What about Phoenix personnel?"

Director couldn't help but chuckle wryly as she answered Wade's question. "That right there is the biggest logistical nightmare I've seen in my twenty-two years with Global Justice," she said with a sigh. "We have to interrogate each and every single employee of Phoenix and figure out in what capacity they operated within the organization, and then we have to figure out whether or not charges are worth pursuing—if they can even be charged—based on the results of the interrogation. Of course, we do have a few key members that we're going to focus on, but there are still over four hundred and fifty people that worked there that either didn't know or didn't care what they were involved in."

Wade let out a low whistle as he considered the scope of what Global Justice had undertaken by shutting the Phoenix Corporation down once and for all. "Man, I don't envy you for that job," he said.

"Comes with the territory," she stated with a shrug. "Once all the sexy ground work is done, the paper pushing starts; it's normally not so bad, but this is an exceptional case with a scope well beyond what we normally deal with."

"No kidding," Wade replied. "Do you even have the resources you need to slog through all that?"

Director's face broke into a sadistic grin as she chuckled. "Oh yeah," she said, "my 'Number One Agent' is sitting in one of the secondary boardrooms right now with a laptop and stacks of folders four feet tall covering the entire surface of the table as part of disciplinary action following the events of the night Ron was shot."

"Disciplinary action?" he parroted.

The Global Justice administrator nodded, her expression darkening slightly. "I am a patient and fair woman, Wade, but even I can only take that pompous ass putting you, Kim and Ron down for so long before I get just a little angry," she explained. "After he tried to reason that it was Ron's own fault for getting shot and that maybe it would serve as a message to the 'amateurs', he then proceeded to question my judgment about letting Kate help Kim while Ron was hurt."

"He just couldn't let go of the fact Kate was Shego, could he?"

"Not in the least," she confirmed with a sigh. "It took me explaining the difference between dereliction of duty and thinking outside the box that made him start seeing the light; I'm hoping that—combined with administration duties while we sort through this Phoenix fiasco—will help him withdraw his head from his backside."

"One can hope," Wade replied with a grin. "Is there anything else we should know?"

"Actually… yes," Director said; her tone of voice suggesting she'd been fighting an internal battle whether or not to include the tidbit she was about to divulge. Taking a deep breath, she licked her lips as she finally continued. "We've been informed by reliable sources that somebody—we don't know who—is apparently showing a suspiciously high interest in what Kate's been doing the last month or so."

"Makes sense when you think about it," the teen phenom commented with a shrug. "Shego was always a highly-respected member of the villain community; now that they know Drakken's out of business—permanently, I hope—they might be trying to track her down to extend a job offer to her."

"That was my original thought, too," Director replied, "but they weren't just interested in Shego; they also gleaned everything they could on Kathryn Gogh, too… including her involvement with Team Possible during the Drakken incident."

Wade rubbed his chin as he digested the information. "So what you're thinking is somebody is either interested in bringing Shego back to the dark side like I said, or else…"

"Somebody's not happy about Kate's decisions and wants to do something about it," the eyepatch-clad woman finished with a nod. "That's exactly what I'm worried about."

"If they managed to get that kind of information, they should also be aware of the fact Kate's currently staying with Global Justice and the chances of getting to her are slim to none," Wade interjected.

"If they can get that kind of information, they'll also have no trouble finding out if and when Kate gets her own accommodations," Director replied. "Somebody's really keen on finding her and probably won't stop until they do."

"Either way, somebody's way too interested in Kate for us to ignore, right?"

"Right," the GJ administrator confirmed with a nod. "I wish I had more for you, but that's all I have right now. Whoever's looking for her is exceptionally good at covering their tracks well enough to conceal their identity."

"Which could be doubly dangerous," he added. "A good spy will cover his tracks completely; a great one will only cover enough to hide himself… he doesn't care that you know what he's done, he only cares that you don't know he's the one that did it."

"Precisely," she nodded again, "and that right there worries me worse than anything else we've discussed so far."

"Agreed; so what do we do?"

Again, Director sighed deeply. "For now… nothing," she finally said. "We've got nothing to go on aside from the fact somebody is sniffing for information about somebody. We have no idea who they are or why they want said information, so we can't pursue anybody or have any inkling of what they're going to do. Rather than give Kate something else to stress out about, I figure it's best to just keep this to ourselves for now; Kate's a big girl, she can handle herself if somebody tries to pull something."

Wade didn't like the thought of keeping what Director had just told him from their newest ally, but he deferred to the GJ administrator's years of experience and accepted her decision. "I suppose we should probably keep this between us for now, huh?" he said. "If I tell Kim, she's gonna want to go all-out and try to find who's so curious about Kate and why."

"My thoughts exactly," Director replied with a nod. "Once we have something a little more concrete, then we can decide how best to proceed, and you'll be the first to know."

"I never doubted it," Wade grinned as they signed off.

Across town, Kim and Bonnie were just sitting at a table at the sidewalk café they'd agreed to meet at earlier in the evening. Ever since their conversation had been pushed aside by the cheer students' arrivals, the teen heroine had been curious as to what exactly her one-time nemesis had been trying to address and was eager to resume the discussion; hopefully uninterrupted.

After the two teens had sampled their beverages (a latté for Bonnie and a dark roast for Kim), the brunette put her cup down and looked at her companion with a hint of—was it shyness?—in her eyes. "Listen, Kim; thanks for helping me out, filling in for Tara tonight," she said softly, almost as if she were speaking unfamiliar words, "I really appreciate it."

"No big," Kim replied with a smile. "It was nice to see what you guys are doing with that class and, from what I saw today, you're giving those girls a chance to put together a squad better than what we had."

"That's the idea, anyway; if we do this camp—even only for a couple of summers—we can make sure the next class of Mad Dog cheerleaders will be able to uphold the legacy we started."

"Why only a couple of summers?"

"After we do the first two or three summers, the girls we're working with now will be juniors or seniors and they can take over teaching the next batch of twelve-year-olds."

"Good idea," Kim nodded. "Lord only knows we won't be able to do this forever."

"Exactly," Bonnie nodded, "this way the knowledge keeps flowing down and doesn't get lost."

Putting her mug down, the teen heroine looked across the table at her one-time nemesis. "Well, I think you're off to a good start," she said with a grin.

"Thanks," the tanned woman said with a sincere smile of gratitude. She hesitated for a moment, merely staring at the slowly-dissolving foam on top of her latté, before she finally spoke again, her fingers toying silently with the sides of the mug she held. "Listen, Kim… remember I said I'd been doing a lot of thinking ever since what happened to Ron?"

"Yeah, that was the whole reason we decided to come here; so we could talk in private," Kim replied, leaning closer.

"Right," Bonnie nodded, taking a deep breath before continuing. "You know I've been seeing Junior for awhile now, right?"

"Yeah; how's that going, anyway?"

"It's not," the tanned teen replied with a scowl of disgust.

"I don't get it," Kim said, quirking an eyebrow inquisitively. "I thought Junior was exactly what you wanted in a man?"

"So did I, but lately it seems like something's… missing."

"He's a good-looking guy, but there's no substance to the relationship, right?" she ventured.

"Exactly!" Bonnie replied emphatically. "All he ever talks about is his non-existent music career—if God's merciful it'll stay that way—and how beautiful he is and how great his hair is. I mean, is it too much to ask for him to tell me when an outfit looks good on me or to ask how my day's gone or anything like that?"

"If he's so hung up on himself, why is he even with you?"

"So he doesn't have to run it by hand all the time."

"Whoa!" Kim exclaimed, waving her hands in front of herself in a cease-and-desist motion. "That's way too far down TMI Lane, Bonnie!"

"That's what it feels like, though!" Bonnie retorted in frustration. "He spends more time looking at his reflection in the mirror than he does looking at me; hell, I think the only time he even bothers to look at me is when I'm only wearing what God gave me! At least I don't have to wonder whether or not I'm just his beard," she added with a shudder, "'cause he sure seems to like what he sees."

"So you're feeling like a piece of meat more and more all the time, huh?"

"Yeah," the brunette sighed, looking at her latté again. "Like I said, I thought he was what I wanted in a guy, but I'm seeing more and more that I want something like what you and Ron have; I'm tired of being with guys that are all looks and no substance."

"But what about the so-called 'food chain' you always talked about in school?"

"Fuck the food chain, Kim!" she spat, making Kim jump in surprise. "It doesn't mean shit if you're not happy because of it!" Noting that she'd caught the attention of some nearby patrons, she took a deep breath before continuing in a much more subdued tone. "Do you know why I was such a bitch to you in school over the years?"

"I don't know if I'd go that far…"

"Oh, come on, Kim; let's call a spade a spade here," Bonnie interjected acidly. "I was the 'Queen B' of Middleton High and we both know the 'B' didn't stand for 'Bonnie'. I was a bitch, plain and simple; especially to you and Ron.

"Anyway, the reason I was always so horrible to you was because, well… I was jealous."

"Jealous?" Kim parroted, again quirking an eyebrow. "Of me and Ron?"

"Not so much Ron; mostly you," Bonnie replied. "I only picked on Ron because he was your friend and it pissed you off, which made me feel better. Immature, I know, but there it is."

"Okay… so why were you jealous of me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she countered. "As long as I've known you, I worked my ass off—both in cheerleading and in schoolwork—and you were always better than me. I studied four hours a night to pull a three-point-eight GPA and you could nail a four-point-oh without breaking a sweat; I joined a dojo thinking that martial arts would help me the way it helps you in cheerleading and spent an hour every day after practice at the gym weight training to build muscle tone. I even started getting up at four-thirty every morning so I could go to the aquatic center and swim fifty laps before school… but no matter how hard I tried, you were always better."

Kim could barely believe what she'd just heard. "You mean… you were competing with me?" she asked.

Bonnie bowed her head again, this time to hide the tear that rolled down her cheek. "You were always the athletic one, the talented one; just once I wanted to be better than you at something. No matter how hard I tried, though, you were always better," she muttered, fighting to keep her voice steady. "Between my sisters at home and you at school, I was getting tired of always being second-best; just once I wanted to be the one getting recognized and, well, I guess I got kind of petty and hateful in the process… and I think I might've blown a chance at having a pretty good friend at the same time."

Both sat silent as the tanned beauty finished speaking. Needless to say, Kim was slightly taken aback by the sudden revelation that Bonnie seemed to have experienced, but at the same time it was a welcome change from her high school nemesis' usual attitude of superiority. Sipping her coffee, the redhead put her cup back down before looking across the table again, this time with an encouraging smile on her face. "That may be true, Bonnie… but it's never too late to try."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean we've already sat here and had a civil conversation—hell, you just poured your heart out to me—and we didn't have any arguments or power struggles earlier this evening. At the risk of sounding harsh, tonight is the most sincerely pleasant I think I've ever seen you as long as I've known you," Kim replied, her green eyes locked on Bonnie's blue ones, "and I think I'd like to get to know this Bonnie better."

"I'd like that, too, K," Bonnie said with a sincere smile on her face.

"If you don't mind me asking, though… why the sudden change of heart? I mean, I'm not complaining, but at prom and graduation you seemed to still have the same opinion of me and Ron; losers with a capital 'L'."

"Not exactly," Bonnie replied with a shake of her head. "I didn't go out of my way to find you and try to make nice, but at the same time I had already started thinking about that stupid food chain and where it got me. I just wasn't quite ready to approach you yet… watching what happened to Ron on live TV and wondering whether or not he was going to make it made me realize life's too short for pointless high school feuds.

"Speaking of Ron, how's he doing since then, anyway? I heard he had some sort of a miracle recovery and was back on his feet in no time; something to do with that green chick you used to fight all the time?"

"Yeah, when he found out I'd been kidnapped, he tried to get out of the hospital to go find me," Kim replied with a nod. "He talked Kate into using her comet powers to speed up the healing process and joined the rescue mission."

"You must've been glad to see him back on his feet," the brunette said with a grin, which quickly faded. "I remember when it happened, all I could think was after all you two have been through together, it would've really sucked if that was how it was all gonna end."

"Bonnie, you don't know fear until you look at the man you love more than life itself and realize he could very well be dying right before your eyes," the redhead said quietly, the details and memories of that fateful night still vivid in her mind. "I honestly don't know what I would do if I ever lost him… and I hope I never have to find out."

"I can only imagine," Bonnie commented somberly. Bringing her gaze back up to meet Kim's, she smiled warmly. "I can honestly tell you, though, that I'm glad he's okay; not just for his sake, but yours, too."

"Thanks," Kim replied, returning the smile. Looking at her watch, she sighed and drained her coffee cup. "Listen, it's getting late and I'm supposed to meet Ron when he gets off work; mind if we pick this up another time?"

"No problem; I should probably get going, too," the tanned woman replied, finishing her own beverage and rising from her seat. "And… Kim?"

"Yeah, B?"

"Thanks again… I'm glad we could clear the air between us."

Kim smiled and nodded. "You said it yourself; life's too short for pointless high school feuds, and if you're ready to bury the hatchet, then so am I."

"Beyond ready," she agreed as they headed for their cars. "Tara should be okay for next week, but if you want to come back, we'd love to have you."

"I'll be there," Kim replied as she unlocked her car and opened the door. Waving at her former high-school nemesis, she watched the white convertible pull onto the road before she finally climbed into her magenta hatchback and closed the door. First Kate, now Bonnie's making nice… I wonder if I shouldn't start watching for the Four Horsemen, she mused as she inserted the key into the ignition with a wry chuckle.

Barely two blocks away from the coffee shop, Kate had just wandered into a pub; the sign advertising live entertainment having caught her eye. It was a typical pub and eatery type establishment: several various-sized tables scattered about, a bar directly across from the door and a stage at one end of the room with a vacant space in front of it as a dance floor. Several groups of patrons were already seated at some of the tables; however none of the stools along the bar were occupied.

"What'll ya have?" the thirty-something bartender/waitress asked as the mint-skinned woman slid onto a stool near the end of the bar.

"Bud," she replied simply, withdrawing a small wad of cash from her pocket.

"Four bucks," the waitress said, placing a frosted bottle of Budweiser on the bar.

Kate removed a five from the wad and handed it to the bartender. "Keep the change."

"Thanks," she said as she inserted the bill into her cash float. "Come to see the band?"

"I guess so," the former villainess replied, taking a sip of her beer. "I'm new in town and was looking for somewhere to just relax for a bit; saw the sign when I was driving by and thought I'd stop in."

"Oh, you're new in town? I thought you looked familiar for some reason; like I met you somewhere before."

Please, God, no. "Yeah; just moved here last week," she replied nonchalantly as she turned her gaze to the stage. "You heard these guys before?" she asked, hoping to change the subject before anything caused the bartender to recognize her as Shego. Thank God it's dark enough she can't see the green in my skin.

The bartender nodded. "Yeah, they played here about a month ago; pretty good group of local boys that play for fun and a little bit of pocket dough when they get a gig."

"What kind of stuff do they do?"

"Mostly country and classic rock with a little rockabilly mixed in; popular with the crowd we get in here."

"Please tell me when you say country you don't mean 'tear in my beer' kinda stuff," Kate said, chancing a quick glance back at the bartender.

"Oh, hell no," the blonde woman said with a shake of her head, "they play the stuff you can get up and dance to; Kentucky Headhunters and Travis Tritt kinda stuff."

"Good," the ebony-haired vixen said with a hint of relief. "I don't think I could handle listening to that all night; I'm in a good mood and I'd like to keep it that way."

The bartender chuckled as she wiped down a section of the bar not far from where Kate sat. "I hear that; I'm not big on that super-sad stuff, either."

"Well, you know what they say happens if you play a country song backwards, right?"

"What?"

"You get your wife back, your truck back, your dog back…"

"Amen, sister," the bartender laughed as she moved to serve another customer that had just approached the bar. "Enjoy the show; just wave if you need another one."

"Thanks," Kate said, a bare hint of a grin still crossing her features as the server walked away. Taking another sip of her beer, she turned to scan the crowd again, idly noting that the band members had arrived and were in the process of setting up their gear on the stage. Hopefully they're as good as the bartender claims they are, she thought as she turned back to face the bar again, I'd hate to think she's just trying to keep me around for the tips.

She'd just turned around and was taking another sip of her beer when a familiar face appeared beside her, wearing her usual chipper smile. "Well, hello Kate," Anne Possible said as she slid onto the stool beside the former villainess. "I think you're about the last person I expected to run into here."

"The feeling's mutual," Kate replied with a good-natured grin. "You here alone tonight, or is the other Dr. Possible with you?"

"No, I'm supposed to be meeting a couple of the nurses from the hospital for a girls' night; you're welcome to join us when they get here."

"Thanks, but I wouldn't want to impose," the mint-skinned woman said with a wan smile.

"Kate; it's a girls' night with some friends from work, not a first date," the neurosurgeon retorted. "Just because you don't work at the hospital doesn't mean you can't join us for a couple of drinks. Besides, wouldn't sitting with us beat sitting here at the bar all by yourself and having to fend off a bunch of drunken old men hitting on you?"

The younger woman couldn't help but laugh at Anne's statement. "I think I can manage a drunken old man or two," she replied dryly.

"Oh, I know you can; I'm just saying it would probably make your evening that much more enjoyable to not have to deal with it in the first place."

"Well, when you put it that way…" Kate said as the bartender took Anne's order. "Okay, why not?"

"Great; let's go get a table before they're all gone," Anne said as she paid for her drink and picked it up. The two women proceeded to find a table not far from the edge of the dance floor and sat across from each other, where conversation picked up again. "So what brought you here tonight, anyway?" the redhead asked as she sipped her Corona.

"Night was young; I didn't feel like going back to GJ just yet and was driving around when I saw the sign out front of this place advertising a live band for tonight, so I decided to stop in and check them out," Kate replied. "It's been so long since I've been able to sit in a bar and listen to a live band without wondering who's going to figure out who I am and turn me in; this'll be a nice change of pace."

"I bet," Anne nodded.

"So what about you?" the jade-hued woman countered, sipping on her beer before continuing. "I never pictured you for the downtown bar type; I figured you doctor-types were more into the lounge scene."

"Oh, not at all; this kind of place is more my speed than one of those snobby lounges… not to mention the music's usually better here."

"Guess that's what I get for judging a book by its cover," Kate mused as she let her eyes wander back to the stage, where she let them linger on one of the band members, who was in the process of setting up his guitar's amplifier, facing away from the stage. "Then again," she added, "sometimes you can hope the cover is an indication of the contents."

Following the younger woman's gaze, the world-renowned physician couldn't help but chuckle. "Wipe your chin, Kate; you're starting to drool," she quipped as she turned back to her companion. "I realize your interactions with men over the past few years have been mostly professional and far from pleasant, but don't just fall for the first pretty face you see."

"Who said anything about his face?" Kate countered as she met Anne's eyes. "Besides, just because I'm wandering the lot doesn't mean I'm gonna test drive every model; you of all people should understand that."

"Come again?"

"Oh, come on, Anne; you're married and I saw you check that guy's ass out, too."

"So I'm a sucker for a guy in Levi's."

"He's wearing Wrangler's."

"Dammit."

Kate laughed heartily as she watched the neurosurgeon's cheeks flush in embarrassment. "Oh, come on; don't tell me this is the first time you've ever looked at another man since you and Dr. Possible got together," she exclaimed between laughs. "After all, there's nothing wrong with appreciating a good-looking guy; you're not dead and you're certainly not blind."

Despite her embarrassment, the redhead soon joined in the laughter. "I know, Kate; it's just embarrassing to get called out on it," she replied, raking her fingers through her lengthening hair—she'd begun growing it out at her daughter's suggestion—and sighing as she looked down at the table and her half-empty bottle of Corona before returning her eyes to look at the other woman again. "And you're a horrible influence on me, y'know that?"

"I know," Kate replied with a Cheshire-cat smirk as she tipped her bottle to her lips and drained it. "You ready for another round?" she asked, wiggling her now-empty bottle in her hand for emphasis.

"Only if you let me get the next one."

"Deal," she chuckled as she rose and headed to the bar.

Since the two women had taken the table in favor of sitting at the bar, the establishment had filled up quite substantially; Kate was having a hard time navigating the sea of people and tables that had further congested the floor space. Doing her level best to not lose her temper and introduce somebody's nose to her right fist every time she was jostled or unwittingly tripped, she finally managed to make her way to the bar and order the drinks.

While she waited for the bartender to return, she happened to look to her left and noticed the long stare the Wrangler-clad band member was giving her from not ten feet away. With her temper already having been soured fighting her way through the crowd and her only desire to listen to a decent band, she really wasn't in the mood for a cheesy pickup line from some guitar picker with an overly-inflated sense of self-entitlement. Sorry, pal; you ain't no Kenny Chesney, much as you might think you are, she thought before she addressed him. "See something you like, cowboy?" she snapped, taking out some of her frustrations on him.

Rather than deter him, however, her outburst merely served to trigger a glimmer of recognition in his eye. Making his way along the bar, he stopped just outside of arm's reach; close enough to be heard without invading her personal space. "Katie? Katie Gogh?" he said tentatively after a moment's hesitation.

At first, she was both surprised and offended; surprised that the man recognized her by her real name and offended that he'd addressed her as "Katie." She was about ready to light into him for using the diminutive form of her name when a sudden realization hit her. "There's only one person on the face of this planet I ever let call me Katie," she began, her memory and imagination working overtime as she looked at the man's goateed face, "and I haven't seen him in almost ten years."

A broad grin replaced the unsure look on the man's face as she'd inadvertently confirmed her identity to him. "It's been an awful long ten years without my best friend," he said warmly, taking a half-step in her direction.

Kate instinctively shrunk back a little in response to his advance. She was a long way from being convinced that the man before her was who he said he was, however the way he addressed her—not to mention the fact he initially recognized her as "Katie" instead of "Shego"—did build a decent case in his favor. "Okay," she finally said, albeit cautiously, "other than being the only person I let call me Katie, tell me something else that only you and I would know."

"Okay," he nodded, taking another step closer. Kate didn't step away this time, assuming he was getting closer to minimize the risk of being overheard. "One thing you've always hated is letting anybody see you get emotional; every time you would get upset at just about anything—at home, at school, it didn't matter—you would always disappear somewhere and let it out where you knew you wouldn't be found."

"You're gonna have to do better than that," the malachite vixen scoffed. It was well-known that Shego would never show any emotions aside from anger and cynicism; he could've figured that out without having ever met her before.

"I'm not finished," he replied, slipping onto a barstool and adjusting the Stetson on his head. "I was the only person you ever even dared let your guard down in front of, and even that didn't happen all the time… but one time in particular—when we were fifteen—stands out in my mind."

"Oh, my God…" she gasped, a vivid memory suddenly awakening from the darkest recesses of her mind.

"We were in your treehouse and I had just told you my parents and I were moving," he continued, either ignorant or oblivious to her quiet outburst. "You got all quiet and just sat down on the old love seat your brother had put up there, trying your damndest to not start crying in front of me. It almost worked, too… until I gave you the gold chain you happen to be wearing around your neck right now."

"You used to wear this thing all the time," she reminisced as her fingers gently toyed with the simple chain. "Your dad gave it to you for your thirteenth birthday and you never took it off until you gave it to me."

He nodded as he spoke again. "Yeah, but I wanted you to have it, Katie… it was my way of saying I'd never forget you; even after all these years, you've still been the best friend I've ever had."

"Dammit, Jake; you're gonna make me do it again!" she spat, bowing her head to hide the tears that had started forming in the corners of her eyes.

"Sorry," he said, shrugging sheepishly, "but it's the truth."

Kate couldn't help but laugh derisively as she looked up at him once she had her emotions in check. "Surely you haven't been living under a rock for the last ten years, Jake; you know what I've done with my life," she said, her black-painted lips curled in a self-loathing scowl.

"I don't care how many weird and crazy powers you have, Katie; you're still human and can make mistakes," he replied. "Yes, I know you've done some awful things, but I also know that now you're trying to make up for it. I saw you on the news with Kim Possible the other day; if she can forgive what you've done to her, I think I can forgive what you've done, too."

This time she didn't bother trying to hide the tear that trickled down her left cheek as her scowl was slowly replaced by a broad smile. "Shut up and give me a hug before I embarrass myself," she laughed as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He reciprocated by enveloping her waist in his arms, both of them laughing like a couple of school kids at recess.

"Kate? Is everything okay?" Anne asked as she approached with a bemused expression on her face.

"Oh, hey Anne," the younger woman replied as the two friends disengaged from each other. "Yeah, everything's more than okay; I just realized that this guy happens to be one of my best friends from when I was a kid… before everything went to shit for me, anyway," she added with a hint of shame.

"Jake Redmond," he said, extending his hand to the neurosurgeon.

"Doctor Anne Possible," she replied as she shook his hand, "nice to meet you."

"Possible; as in Kim Possible?" he asked as they released.

"My daughter," she confirmed with a grin as Kate passed her the beer she'd purchased but failed to deliver, "which is how I met Kate in the first place."

Jake nodded, but made no comment; he saw no need to bring up what they all knew was part of Kate's less-than-proud past. Instead, he turned to his old friend and grinned—much the same way Ron would grin at Kim, Anne noticed—as he spoke. "Let me guess: Kim's too young to go to the bar, you decided you wanted to have a few and didn't want to go alone, so you get your friend's mom to go with you, right?"

"Actually, I did come here by myself; Anne showed up about ten minutes after I got here," the jade-skinned woman replied. "She's meeting some of her friends from work for a girls' night and invited me to join them."

"Speaking of which," the redhead interjected, "one of them just called and said they weren't going to make it, so I guess it's just us. If you're not here with anybody, Jake, you're welcome to join us."

"Thanks for the invitation, but I'm actually with the band," he replied, touching the brim of his hat for emphasis. Looking at his watch, he suddenly stood from his stool. "Speaking of which, I gotta get moving; it's almost showtime."

"Well don't let us hold you up; we'll catch up more after your show's over," Kate said as she picked up her beer.

"I'm holding you to that," he said as he pulled her into another hug; one she readily returned. "God, it's good to see you again," he whispered in her ear.

"I missed you, too, Jake," she replied, watching him return to the stage with a fond smile on her face. Turning back to face Anne, she noticed the bemused smirk the other woman wore and quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

"Small world, huh?" she asked as they made their way back to their table.

"No kidding; I think Jake was about the last person I ever expected to see here," she replied as they took their seats. "After I started down the wrong road, I'd pretty much resigned myself to the fact I'd never see him again."

"What happened to make you two drop out of touch, if I'm not prying too much?"

"Not at all," Kate replied with a quick shake of her head, casting a brief glance at where Jake was double-checking the amplifier for his guitar onstage before continuing. "His dad got a new job the spring of our junior year in a different town and they ended up moving just after final exams. Not long after that was when the comet hit and, well… with everything that happened in my life from that point, we just ended up drifting apart."

Anne suspected there was more to it than that, but decided to let it slide for the time being. "So how close were you two before that happened?"

"He was my Ron," she replied simply. "I really think my life would've turned out differently if he'd never moved away and disappeared from my life for so long… if nothing else, he probably would've talked me out of making a lot of the dumb decisions I've made over the years."

"Like quitting Team Go?"

"God, no; he couldn't stand my brothers any more than I can," Kate chuckled as she took a sip of her beer. "No, he wouldn't have stopped me from quitting Team Go—if anything, he probably would've been helping me move out of there—but he probably would've talked me into doing something more productive with my abilities than I did."

"So Jake was your voice of reason, so to speak?"

"In a way, yeah," Kate nodded. "At the risk of sounding egotistical, I'm not a stupid girl; I just make some pretty boneheaded decisions on the spur of the moment—like working for Drakken—that Jake would've talked me out of if he'd been there."

Anne nodded, but said nothing else as she directed her eyes to the stage, where Jake had just taken his place behind the lead microphone with a Fender Telecaster slung over his shoulder. Kate noticed as well, so rather than try to carry on a conversation over the music, the two women merely settled in to enjoy the show as the drummer counted off the beat to the opening number.

On a private Gulfstream 550V over the Atlantic Ocean, the man known as Gray sat in a comfortable leather recliner and sipped on a tumbler of scotch as he pondered the day's events. He'd heard from sources in his field that the mercenary bodyguard and cat burglar known as Shego had recently foregone her life of crime, but had taken the information with a grain of salt. Having read and re-read the data provided to him by "Big Daddy" Brotherson, however, he had finally resigned himself to accepting the rumors as fact rather than fiction.

"You look troubled, Mr. Gray," a woman's voice said from behind.

Gray turned in his seat to face the speaker and sighed. "Indeed I am, Miss Sloan; I've learned in my conversation with Mr. Brotherson and through the acquisition of data from him that the rumors regarding Shego are true," he said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"So your latest grand scheme's gone out the window?" Sloan asked as she smoothed her skirt and settled into a matching leather recliner across from Gray and crossed her legs, all while glaring condescendingly at her traveling companion.

"Hardly; it just means I have to do some re-thinking," the distinguished-looking man replied with a scowl, "after all; Shego left the hero business once already… what's to say she wouldn't do it again, given the proper persuasion?"

"Perhaps…" she mused simply, trailing off and looking away.

"Is there something that makes you believe she won't?"

"I honestly can't say for sure," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest, "but I've read the information and seen the pictures you acquired from Brotherson and all I see is a woman that, for the first time in her life, is genuinely happy with the way her life's going."

"What's to say my proposal won't make her happier than she already is?"

"She's already been down this road before and didn't like it," Sloan replied, "and has no reason to believe that this time would be any different."

"We both know from her psychological profile that Shego's an adrenaline junkie; always has been. The life she's chosen now won't offer her the same thrills she experienced before and I'm willing to bet that she'll get bored."

Sloan raked her fingers through her shoulder-length blonde hair and sighed. "I don't know if I would call that a safe wager," she replied. "Considering she's recently teamed up with Kim Possible—on a full-time basis, if her choice of attire is any indication—I think she's found herself the best of both worlds."

Pausing for effect, the attractive businesswoman turned and stared directly into Gray's eyes, removing her rimless glasses as she spoke again. "I think you may have finally bitten off more than you can chew this time."

"Oh ye of little faith," Gray chuckled, gazing into his tumbler of scotch and swirling it lightly before downing the amber liquid in one motion. Placing the empty glass on the table beside his chair, he turned his eyes to his traveling companion again. "Shego will rise from the ashes and work for us."

"And if she won't…?"

A humorless grin crossed the man's face as he leaned forward and locked eyes with her. "If she won't work for us, she'll work against us and we can't have that," he said with a sinister voice, "so it only stands to reason that if she refuses my offer, she will have to be eliminated."

"You're crazy," Sloan muttered in disbelief. "You really believe you'll be able to get to Shego without somebody getting in the way? You would do well to remember she's recently made some pretty powerful friends in some pretty high places; Betty Director comes to mind."

Gray scowled; he was well aware of the fact his associate had just mentioned and really didn't need to be reminded. He kept his calm, however, and merely poured himself another two fingers of Glenfiddich. "That just means we'll have to be more creative in our methods," he said as he replaced the cap on the bottle and placed it on the table.

Sloan shifted in her seat and re-crossed her legs as she continued to glare at the man before her. "This infatuation will be your undoing; you do realize that, don't you?" she said. "Shego's not the only game in town."

"Perhaps not, but convincing Shego—excuse me, Kathryn Gogh—to work for us would be the crown jewel of my career," he replied, sipping his beverage. "Barring that… serving her head on a platter would suffice as the next best thing; there are many that still haven't forgiven either she or Dr. Drakken for the Bueno Nacho fiasco last spring and would be more than happy to see either one of them—if not both—swinging from the gallows."

"Either way, you come out looking like a hero; either for swinging Shego back to good—in the public's eye, at least—or you finally punish her for all the evil she's wrought on the world," Sloan surmised with a hint of a smirk on her lips. "A noble plan, Mr. Gray, but you still haven't explained how you're going to get that by Global Justice; Kathryn Gogh has been fully exonerated of any affiliation with either Dr. Drakken or Shego. Anything you have—including the documentation you bought from Brotherson earlier—is useless. None of it conclusively ties the two of them together… at least, nothing that would be admissible in court."

"All true, Miss Sloan; I will have to try and find a way to tie the two together and make the world see they're one and the same… only, of course, if we can't convince her to join our little organization."

"Or you could just knock on her door, pitch the idea like you're selling a vacuum cleaner and shoot her in the face if she says no," Sloan quipped.

"While your idea does have its own unique merits, I don't really believe it would be suitable in this particular situation," he retorted dryly. Taking another sip of his drink, he continued. "However, if she proves disagreeable enough, it may be an option worth revisiting."

"Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't just keep my mouth shut," the woman sighed, lightly pinching the bridge of her nose. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and looked at Gray again. "So what's the next step… or do I want to know?"

"I can't say for sure; I will have to discuss this turn of events with my superiors before an action plan can be devised," he replied with a hint of disappointment. "We'll be meeting first thing in the morning; hopefully by the end of the day we'll know how to proceed."

"I can hardly wait," Sloan drawled, her tone of voice indicating anything but.

A/N: Well, it's been a bloody long time coming, but there it is; Chapter One for your reading and reviewing pleasure. I'm going to be brutally honest and come right out and say I'm not overly sure about this one, but after taking as long as I have, this was the best one I could come up with. Some elements of this chapter got written and re-written numerous times before I finally was at least partially satisfied with the final product (I'm still not totally satisfied, but from past experience with TAY, I decided to post this one anyway and let the masses speak).

As always; leave a review and get a response!

Cheers,

Deuce