Kim Possible and all associated characters are property of Disney. Dan is my own character, but feel free to use him or this storyline in your own works, as long as you credit me with it (and contact me, so I know to read it)
Chapter Two: Memories by Magic Light
He didn't meet her at school the next day; he met her before, waiting for her at the side of road, looking apprehensive.
"Hey."
"Hey."
She carried on walking, and he wheeled into position next to her. "So, I wanted to say sorry." She stayed quiet, letting him talk. "I shouldn't have been mean to you; you were just trying to help. I guess I'm not used to people standing up for me is all. Forgive me?"
She could feel a goofy smile on her lips, but didn't much care, "Natch," She giggled and hugged him quickly, "Race you to the gate wheels." She took off like greased lightning.
"Oh you're not winning this one," He sped after her at full pelt, not aiming to overtake, but deliberately crashing into her and ending up with her splayed on his lap as they both careened into the gate.
They ended up lying in a heap, tangled in each other and the turned over wheelchair, laughing and trying to extricate themselves.
***
He was so warm, Shego remembered, watching in annoyance as Kim evaded her, again, and she ended up having to skip away quickly while the cops were arresting Drakken and 'Eddie'. She did get a little chuckle at Mama Lipsky though. Drakken not a bad boy indeed, and Eddie being the problem.
Seriously.
She'd free them in a bit, once they had had a ride to prison in order to cool off all the testosterone. And she was making it clear to Drakken, no more working with relatives. Honestly, there was a reason she didn't work with hers.
Oh crap, more doughnuts down memory lane.
***
She was starting to wonder if she was seeing something else in Dan. He wasn't just a friend, she knew that. They spent all day together, starting before school and ending it late in the evenings, talking on the phone usually. Once he even came over while she was in her room, and they had a whispered conversation while he hid out in the front lawn.
So maybe he's not normal boyfriend material, I'm not exactly normal girlfriend material after all. She was having dreamy thoughts about his arms, which had gotten muscular with the amount of work he had to put into moving his chair around the place. She let her thoughts drift a little lower than his arms.
Bad girl, She heard her mother's voice, Naughty thoughts, not fit for a girl your age.
She dragged her mind upwards. She didn't even know if he...worked down there, and besides, she was still a bit young, alright a lot young, to be thinking anything like that.
His hands are nice though, I like when he does something silly and grabs me, or when we ended up all tangled together.
Dreamy thoughts aside, she had work to do, Dan could wait until tomorrow.
***
Her older brothers cornered her after school the next day. More specifically He cornered her, while Jerry hung around and looked like he didn't want to be there.
"Can we have a talk sis?"
"Sure," She didn't even expect a trap, "What about?"
"In the tree-house," He led them outside and up into the house, where they knew their parents wouldn't disturb them.
"So what's up?"
"It's this Dan boy you've been hanging around with."
"What about him? He's great."
"I'm sure he's a great guy, but he's, different, from the other boys in the school."
"Well yeah he's in the wheelchair, but that doesn't mean anything..." She suddenly got it. Her brother, big football linebacker and resident jock, wouldn't approve of Dan. He might not engage in the bullying, but she knew what was coming next.
"I just think you could try and make some more normal friends."
"Dan is normal." She growled.
"Yeah, but he does things differently, the school has to accommodate him..."
"You make it sound like it's his fault." She glared at Jerry, "You think this too?"
"Don't look at me, I like the boy."
"So, what do you think I should do? Stop being his friend, stop talking to him, stop seeing him? I like him, we're buds, and I'm not going to abandon him because he doesn't fit into your idea of what's normal."
She stormed to the entrance, and behind her He yelled, "Sis, wait!"
Before she could leave the twins stuck their heads through, "Yo guys, what are you doing up here?"
"Nothing," She softened her expression, no need to worry the boys, "We're done talking now."
She thought she could hear a low rumble as she stood to one side to let the boys up, then put one foot on the ladder.
"Think about what I said sis," He tried one last time.
"Oh, I already have."
That was when the world exploded.
***
She woke up in a hospital bed, staring at a blank white ceiling, a sticking pain in her arm and a mouth dry as sandpaper.
"Urgh," She managed.
"Ah, you're awake," And aggressively cheerful voice that quickly attached itself to the rosy cheeked doctor who leaned over her, "You suffered quite a trauma, you've been out for nearly a week."
"Ugh."
"I imagine you're quite confused." He offered her a glass of water which she accepted gratefully, "Well, I can say with some confidence that you're going to be fine. Do you remember anything that happened?"
She struggled, and got some images and a memory of the argument she had with Him. "There was a rumbling, and something exploded."
He looked impressed for some reason, "Very good. It appears from eyewitness reports that your tree-house was struck by a meteorite of some kind, totally destroying it and the tree..."
"My brothers!" She sat bolt upright, but he waved her down.
"Your brothers are all fine. You must have the luck of the Irish or something, with an explosion that size. As it is none of you even seem to have contusions or broken bones, you got off very lucky."
She didn't exactly feel lucky, but she guessed surviving a comet was pretty cool.
"I still have some tests to run, but all the preliminary scans indicate that you're absolutely fine. A few days of bed rest and you'll be back to school and your normal lives."
He headed for the door, then turned back, "Oh, and some boy kept turning up, said he was from your school. Dan something? Do you want to see him?"
She nodded frantically, "Yes please doc."
"I'll tell him to come and visit."
***
She was upright and able to talk properly when Dan showed up, a bouquet of flowers and a big bottle of pop with him.
"What's up? Heard you got hit by a space rock."
"So they tell me," She smiled and accepted the flowers, "This was sweet of you, though grapes have more tradition."
"I could take the flowers back?" He reached for them but she whisked them away.
"My flowers, you stick with your soda, I'm not supposed to drink anything but water until these tests are finished."
"Suit yourself," He popped the bottle and took a long drink, "But I'll owe you a soda for when you get out of here."
She watched him drink with a goofy little smile on her face. Sure he was a bit buffoonish and childish when he got an idea into his head, but there was something underneath it all which she was really starting to like.
"Say Dan?"
"Yuh huh?" He wheeled in closer.
"I just wanted to say that it's been great having you as a friend the last few months."
He smiled just as goofily as her, "It's been great just having a friend!" He grabbed her hand and pulled himself in close to the bed, "I never did have someone I could just talk to. It kind of rocks, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," She nervously reached out a hand and touched his cheek, "It kinda does rock, doesn't it?"
His smile was making her whole body feel warm, and she could feel a flush rising in her cheeks.
"Are you okay? You look kinda green."
"I'm fine, don't be silly, it's just these lights, they make everyone look green." Her hand was resting against his cheek, and it felt super hot, like his body heat and her body heat were combining somehow. "Even you look a little green."
"Hey, I am working the green, favourite colour and all!" He wasn't pulling back from her touch, and instead was coming closer.
"Green's your favourite colour? You have good taste."
"Well I like you don't I?"
"You like me?"
He suddenly went nervous, "Yeah, I kinda do. I like you, like you."
"Oh! You, like me? Like me?"
"Yeah."
Well that's just, ow."
"Ow?"
"Ow!"
Her hand was uncomfortably hot, and apparently he had noticed as well, because he pulled his head back, though their other hands were still clasped. She watched in horror as her skin became noticeably greener.
"Dan?"
He mouthed her name, but there was a roaring in her ears as her hands suddenly exploded with green fire. Dan was picked up and flung into a wall, his clothing burning away and angry red splotches appearing everywhere on his skin. She screamed as the green fire filled the room and roasted everything it touched.
***
She came to in a different room, with different doctors and a woman in uniform standing over her.
***
I guess they were actually letting us off quite lightly, letting us carry on with all that superhero nonsense.
Back in the lair, with Motor Ed off somewhere else, she didn't care where; she was looking at an old photograph. It was one of the only personal items she owned, and it normally lived inside a safe box in a safe under the floor of her room.
It showed a girl in the uniform of Go City Secondary School, standing next to a boy in a wheelchair. She was prim and proper, back straight, book bag neatly at her side, uniform pressed and correct. He was finger-gunning the camera, a cocky grin on his face and his uniform a mess.
I wonder how he's doing? She thought to herself for the first time in ages. GJ always said I shouldn't call him, and I guess I forgot about him. But I don't follow their rules anymore, so why shouldn't I call him?
She was frozen with indecision.
That would be a fun call wouldn't it? Hey Dan, I'm the girl who fried you to a crisp back in secondary school. I'm a super-villain now; want to grab a coffee sometime?
She was sitting with her hand over the phone for nearly a half hour, trying to decide, when she heard a voice from deeper inside the lair.
"SHEGO! I need you!"
Guess that settles it, She opened up the floor safe. Sorry Dan, I guess I should have said it years ago. I'll call you later.
She headed out the door.
I'll call you much later.
AN:- And that concludes this little episode. I'm working on a bigger project that might bring Dan back again, because I quite like the idea of his character, but then again i might not. Sorry to make it so depressing, but I didn't want to focus too much on her motivations past this one incident, that's a story for another time.
The idea of Shego being a very proper girl when she was younger comes largely from the character of Sheki Go, created by No Drogs. I saw a picture of Sheki Go dressed in a school uniform that I thought fit my idea of Shego pretty nciely, so I just expanded from there. The general idea for Dan is as a variation on the Ron type of character. He's got a pretty huge drive to be all that he an be etc, but it's tempered by this very Ron Stoppable-ish goofiness.