A/N: So, this chapter is a bit shorter than the previous two, I couldn't think of a smooth way to transition between the more introspective tone that dominates this chapter and the more action-oriented events of the 'job' that will be in the following chapter. That's not to say that nothing important happens in this chapter, though... Let's just say that everyone is busy figuring themselves out. And one of my favorite ineffectual villains from the show makes his appearance.

Once again, much thanks goes out to Joe Stoppinghem, who gets the chapters back to me almost as soon as I send them out. He is some kind of machine. And dedicated, as always, to my amazing readers.

Disclaimer: Kim Possible and affiliated licenses are the property of Disney. They do not, nor will they ever, (most likely) belong to me.

The Strange Life After

Chapter 12: Awk-weird

Kim's first instinct, despite what she had said to Ron about having, 'friends in this town', was to ignore Alex and make her own hotel arrangements for the night. She did want to talk to someone about her'discussion' with Ron earlier, and her initial idea had been to call her parents, or Wade, or even Veronica. Hell, the situation was so miserable she would even have been willing to fall back on the tweebs, or perhaps old high school friends like Felix or Monique. But she had reluctantly decided, after a bit of soul-searching, that she would rather her shrink-stand-in be physically present, some basic instinct in her head craving a firsthand smile, or a hug.

Which meant, unless she was willing to take the day's drive to Middleton and another day's drive back, separating her from Ron in this crucial time of 'decision-making', that she would have to unload on Alex.

It wasn't a perfect solution. Alex was hardly what you would call a neutral party in the whole affair. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that he was interested in Kim in 'that way', but some more pride-driven part of her conceded that maybe it was a good way to privately get revenge on Ron by running into the arms of another man, and venting her frustrations about her now-estranged boyfriend on him. Besides, she would see to it that nothing actually happened between the two of them, she considered Alex a friendly contact, with the potential to be a good friend, but nothing more. 'Despite his hotness' the more carnal part of her mind added.

Just a few hours after leaving the now-hated NSG building, Kim found herself digging around her pockets for the paper Alex had given her with his contact information, and making a beeline for his hotel on foot. After some awkwardness with the concierge, who had kindly pointed out to her that her makeup had run in the hours since her fateful confrontation, she took the elevator up to one of the more affluent floors and now stood outside Alex's door, kicking herself for not calling first.

'He's probably not even in there,' she thought ruefully. 'It's only been a few hours since I saw him last, and he was running late to his story then.'

She idly wondered what kind of written-reporting would require the reporter to be physically present in a certain place at a certain time, but was interrupted from her musings by the door opening in front of her.

Once again, Alex stood shirtless, and once again, Kim blushed slightly at the sight before cursing herself inwardly.

'Traitor!'

She thought instinctively.

'But it's not like Ron doesn't deserve it,' that same carnal part of her brain helpfully supplied.

*AHEM*

Realizing she was expected to say something, Kim quickly searched her mind for a reason for being here that wouldn't make her sound too vulnerable. After another uncomfortable moment rocking back-and-forth on her heels, she found nothing, and decided to simply ask the obvious question:

"Can I come in?"

Alex moved to the side to allow her passage, saying nothing, seemingly unprepared for her arrival. As she moved to the bed to sit, he seemed to find his voice.

"We've got to stop meeting like this," he said, chuckling as he gestured to his bare chest. "I was just getting ready to head out for my story, so I can't really stay…" he explained, before noticing the disappointed expression she had tried not to show on her face.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know why I came here," Kim said, getting up to leave.

Alex stopped her with a hand on her shoulder as she passed.

"Hey," he offered; his voice softer now. "It's really no trouble. I'm rich, remember?" He laughed jovially before guiding her back to her sitting position on the bed. "I can always bug off and make time for a friend."

Feeling a strange combination of guilt and relief, Kim decided to focus only on the latter and proceed as she had originally intended. Only, now it seemed the words that would explain her situation wouldn't come.

"I really don't know where to begin…" Kim said, suddenly feeling very foolish.

"I find the beginning is a good place to start," Alex offered, gesturing with his hand in a less rude, more accommodating version of the 'get-on-with-it' motion. "It's called that for a reason, you know." He chuckled almost imperceptibly at his own lame joke, before quieting so Kim could begin her tale.

"First of all, let me just say: Thanks." Kim said, noting how Alex rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment as she did so, a rather Ron-like gesture. "I know we still hardly know each other from Adam, but—"

"I think it would be 'Eve' in your case." Alex interjected with a grin, holding up a hand to stall further praise. "And please, you don't have to keep thanking me. In the last day you've been a better friend to me than most people, so the way I see it, it's my turn to repay the favor."

"Okay, wow…" Kim struggled, still trying to find her voice now that her default 'warm-up' preluding the meat of the conversation had been bypassed. After another agonizing minute or so, she stopped fidgeting and found the words she had been looking for.

"So, right after you left, I went to walk downstairs…"

Elsewhere, a certain lesser-known villain was pacing his 'nest' and squawking, if you will pardon the pun, about the loss of something he deemed quite important.

"That scepter took me YEARS to make!" Aviarius wailed, throwing his hands up in frustration. "They broke it, and I rebuilt it, then they broke it again, so I rebuilt it again…NOBODY ELSE HAS THAT KIND OF DEDICATION!" He continued to stalk around the nest, working himself into a fury.

"I don't understand! How can I, the great and powerful Aviarius, future Ruler of the greater Go City area, MIGHTIEST of flying foes, be duped so easily!" He collapsed onto his red throne in frustration, before immediately standing up again. In his years of opposing Team Go, only the worthiest of foes (if he did say so himself), he had learned many things about being a villain. But among the most important was this: Once your rant is on a roll, don't break it for anything, even if no one is around to see it. This rule in mind, he stood up again, continuing to pace and rant:

"Who would dare to steal from ME? I am Aviarius, great controller of winged beasts, great and small, mundane and fantastic! I have SINGLE-HANDEDLY opposed Team Go for years! I am so great you can see it, hear it, smell it, TASTE IT!" He turned to the small owl caged on his right. "Can you TASTE it, Hooter? Can you TASTE my GREATNESS!?"

By now the aviary-themed villain had worked himself into a frenzy, his face beet-red from frustration.

"NOBODY makes a fool out of the mighty Aviarius! No one has, and no one shall! I must do whatever it takes to reclaim my power-stealing scepter, and make an example out of the FOOL who would DARE defy me, his future city-Lord!" He paused thoughtfully, seemingly struck by a brilliant idea, but picked up again quickly, fearing that his well-crafted rant would lose steam.

"Do you know what this means, Hooter?" He cried, still addressing his oblivious avian companion. "I shall have to do the one thing that I swore I would NEVER do!" He was positively screeching by this point, attracting the ire of his myriad feathered friends as his yells echoed excessively in the confined space. He panted a moment, realizing that despite his best efforts, he had run out of oxygen, and with it, volume. He made the motion of dusting himself off, before wiping his brow of sweat, trying to make the act look dignified. Slowly walking up to his throne, he carefully deposited his cape on the back of it, before sinking down into the throne once again. Finally, he deigned to speak again, albeit lower this time, with as much menace as the small, long-faced man could muster.

"I must join forces with my most hated of enemies, so that I may make the perpetrator of this insolence pay…" Aviarius stopped, milking this final dramatic pause for all that it was worth. He then prepared himself for one final burst of volume, to punctuate the last two words of what he now considered a Top Three rant:

"I must join forces…with TEAM GO!"

Ron paced the top floor of the NSG building, lost in thought, every part of his body language suggesting abject defeat. He had been doing this for so many hours now that he feared he would wear grooves into the floor. His mind was awash with conflict, and he now wondered if he was even welcome in this building anymore, after his (surprisingly civil) discussion with its owner that morning.

He was startled from his thoughts by a beeping from his mobile, denoting a received text message. He was shocked to see that the message came from 'Boss', and he paused before opening it, wondering if he dared.

"'New job in 30, don't screw up'" he read aloud. "Well, I guess I still have a job, at least…"

He couldn't decide whether this was a good thing or not, all things considered. 'Will we even be able to focus if we're working together?' Ron wondered. This so situation was just…how would he have put it in high school?

'Awk-weird.'

Even so, he supposed, a good old-fashioned mission might be just the ticket to take his mind off of things, perhaps distract him enough to get his thoughts in order. He quickly sent off a text message replying in the affirmative, receiving a response not more than a minute later.

"'Don't let your feelings get in the way. See you soon. (Don't worry, not angry)'" he read aloud again, then, in disbelief, he began repeating the last four words to himself over and over.

She was almost certainly lying to him, he figured. Putting up a front to conceal her true feelings on the matter, and maybe to avoid the same problem he feared he would have, namely a lack of focus due to these new issues.

'Thank God for small favors,' he thought, before moving to gear up for the mission ahead.

Despite her better judgment on the matter, she had lied to him. Shego was more frustrated with Princess for showing up and causing Ron's self-doubt than she was with Ron himself, but despite her lie, she was angry with him. For believing Kimmie, for listening to Kimmie at all in fact.

It was not the first time that morning she wished she had gone with him. Had she been there to whisper sweet temptations in his ear during the confrontation, she may have been able to persuade Ron to tell Princess to just 'fuck off' without hearing her side, however unlikely that possibility may have been.

She wanted to believe, no, needed to believe that Ron would choose her in the end, but she knew it was a long shot, he and Kim had been together too long… Still, she thought it best that he believe her to be completely calm about the situation, in the hopes that her lack of outward aggression would 'sweeten the deal', as it were. On some level, Shego hated herself for letting the situation affect her to this extent.

"'After all, he's just some kid, and he's Princess' little pet', to boot", she said out loud with more insincerity than she would care to admit. Whether she would openly acknowledge it or not, she knew that she was jealous, and it bothered her. She'd never been the jealous type before, taking a strictly 'hands-off' approach to her past 'relationships,' if you could call them that. She chuckled mirthlessly at that thought. It was a loose and inaccurate term, where her love life was concerned. With precisely one exception, all of her past romantic entanglements had been glorified friends-with-benefits, or 'fuck-buddies' as was her preferred nomenclature. She had never really 'liked' anyone in that special way before, and had long ago written it off as not in the cards for someone like her, given her appearance, her lifestyle, and her past.

Ron was different. Somewhere along the way, probably when he had stood up to her that first day, she had begun to respect him. From there…well, when he'd admitted his attraction to her, she'd been surprised to find that she wasn't repulsed by the idea, quite the opposite in fact.

When he had initially asked her out, Shego's first instinct had been to reject him outright. She had prepared a litany of reasons: He was too young; he wasn't her type; they used to be enemies; she was his boss…

But the very fact that she had felt the need to prepare such a list, something she had never done before, was cause enough for pause. That, as well as her grudging acknowledgement of her own intense worry when he had stalked off after their first kiss, had spurred her to accept his request of a date quickly, almost without realizing she'd done it.

And she had had a legitimately great time. They had gotten to know each other quite well that night. In fact, if she was honest with herself, at this moment Ron Stoppable knew her better than any other person, save herself.

There were still a few things, mostly Drew-related things, as well as her first name, that she hadn't elected to share, but that was more out of principle than out of fear; she hadn't wanted to spoil the best date she'd ever been on with talk of a former lover, and as for the name thing…well, not even Drew knew that.

She had used her full initials for the name of her security firm, an out-of-character, perhaps overly-sentimental nod to her past self, but she wasn't really that person anymore. In the legal sense, sure, but in her own mind she would always be Shego. And that was apparently enough for Ron, not once on their date had he pressed her for information she didn't offer, which probably only lead to her offering more information in turn.

She couldn't pin down exactly when it had happened with any greater degree of accuracy than 'at some point last night', but the end result was the same: Shego now had it bad for Ron Stoppable.

"The Ronster… I swear the next time I hear him calling himself in the third person, I'm going to smack him upside of his head." She said with a surprised smile.

And now it seemed she would be paying dearly for this newfound vulnerability. Sure, she wouldn't turn him away from working with her, she hadn't been lying when she said she needed the extra hands, or when she had praised his ability, but no matter how well things went on that front, she was certain that the cheerleader would always be first in Ron's heart.

Sighing, Shego locked her apartment door behind her and dragged herself down to the firm, where her gear ('And Ron' her subconscious oh-so-helpfully reminded her) would be waiting.

The job was an odd one; she had gotten the call only an hour ago, in violation of her '48-hours notice', policy, but she had been grateful for the distraction, and the hefty sum of money on offer was also a factor too sweet to ignore. Their task would be simple: Another 're-possession,' job, this time of a stolen piece of modern art. Not something you would normally call a private-sector security firm for, but the promised sum of two hundred thousand dollars had quickly rebuffed any questions she may have had.

So it was, with some trepidation, that Shego opened the door to her firm, and traipsed upstairs to meet Ron, jump in the chopper, and brief him on the way.

After Kim had finished her story, Alex had offered the expected comfort, with plenty of warm smiles, a couple of short hugs, and the promise of 'a night out, to take your mind off it'. So saying, he had departed, now more than an hour late to his destination, not that he seemed to mind.

Kim had at first felt awkward; remaining in the room after its occupant had taken his leave, but had eventually decided that it would be ruder to leave, when he had so clearly expected her to stay. After unloading all of her worries onto the poor man, the least she felt she could do was stick around and accompany him to whatever plans he had made for the two of them later, despite her own better judgment.

A ringing from her mobile snapped her from her thoughts, and she was only mildly surprised to see that the call was from 'Dad.' After all, she had borrowed one of her parent's vehicles to make her trip to Go City (she noted at this point, with no small measure of guilt, that the Taurus had probably been towed away, seeing as how she had left it abandoned on the side of the road post-accident in favor of a Wade-ride). And they would no doubt be curious as to how things had gone with Ron, since they knew what her reasons for the trip had been. Unsure if she was willing to open up that can of worms for the second time that day when the conflict was still so fresh, she nonetheless answered like the dutiful daughter she tried her best to be.

"Hello?"

"Kimmie-cub," came the voice of James Possible from the other end of the line. "I know you probably have a lot on your mind right now with this Ronald business, but there's something about him that has just been brought to my attention, and I think you should hear it."

"Ooookay?" Kim replied, expectantly.

"I just got a call from Dr. Lipsky—"

"Drakken?" Kim cut him off, immediately on edge. Well, more than she was before, anyway.

On the other end of the line, she heard a sigh.

"Yes Kim, 'Drakken.' But really, it's 'Dr. Lipsky', please. Now that he's been pardoned, I think it's only right that you treat him with the respect he deserves… He's proven himself to be a valuable member of the scientific community in the years since the Lorwardian Crisis…"

"While I can…appreciate that, Dad" Kim said slowly, rubbing her temples in frustration, "I'm wondering what any of this has to do with Ron?"

"Well, apparently, he's been cavorting with that Green-woman that used to work for Dr. Lipsky."

"Kinda knew that already, Dad…" Kim said, suddenly feeling a little sick at the thought of just what sort of 'cavorting' she knew the two to have been doing.

"Well, did you also know that they worked together to steal a valuable microchip a few days ago?"

James now had his daughter's rapt attention.

"Wha—what?"

"I had trouble believing it at first," James said, his disappointment in his surrogate-son palpable. "But it would seem to be true. It's all over the news as we speak. You should turn it on when we're done talking, and you'll see for yourself."

"Already on!" Kim said anxiously, grabbing the remote and flipping the channel to the local news faster than she thought possible.

And indeed, it was true. 'Former Possible Sidekick: Criminal?' read the banner on the bottom of the screen.

Kim's blood boiled as she seemed to deduce what had happened.

'That bitch!' Kim thought, her face getting hotter with rage every passing second. It wasn't until she heard a throat clear on the other end of the line that she realized she had also made her proclamation out loud, and her father remained on the line.

"Oops, sorry Dad…" Kim said, trying her hardest to keep her anger at a manageable level.

"I don't know exactly what's going on, Kimmie-cub" James said, choosing to ignore his daughter's foible. "But whatever it is, Ronald is almost certainly in a great deal of trouble."

"Ron wouldn't do something like that, Dad. Shego's obviously manipulating him for her own gain." Despite her anger, Kim took great comfort in the thought then when this was brought to Ron's attention, there would be no doubt as to who he would choose.

"Yes, that would seem to be the case" her father agreed. "Well, in light of this new information, I'll let you go, Kimmie-cub. No doubt you've got a boyfriend to save!"

He finished, chuckling heartily at his final sentence, despite the situation. James wasn't as worried as perhaps he should have been, given the circumstances. Ronald had been in worse situations before, and of course there was the fact that his daughter, for all his protectiveness, truly had proved herself capable of doing anything, at least in his eyes.

"Thanks, Dad. Love you!" Kim said, not waiting to hear his reply before ending the call.

She had her work cut out for her, it would seem.

'Don't worry, Ron. She won't be using you for much longer. I'm coming!'

A/N: And so concludes another chapter! I wanted to get most of the 'inner workings' of the character's minds out of the way in this chapter so that I can move the action forward more quickly from this point forward. Once I've uploaded Chapter 13, this story will be on the fast-track to a conclusion, I've already decided on 16 chapters, and all of the major plot goings-on are mapped out in my notes. The devil is in the details, as they say.

Also, something REALLY cool: Just met Jason Packham, the husband of Nicole Sullivan (the voice of Shego) a few days ago, and we got on pretty well, so that's awesome! I had ironically chosen Shego's first name as Nicole in this story during a period where I 'forgot' the identities of some of the voice actors, so I'll just chalk it up to my subconscious remembering when I didn't.

How was my Aviarius? I always thought he was hilarious, and since I am including Team Go in this story starting next chapter I thought it wouldn't be right to leave him out. Let me know if you think anybody is straying too far off the in-character mark as we hit this last quarter of the story.

Read and Review, please and thank you!