Disclaimer: Kim Possible belongs to Disney not me.

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews. They are appreciated.

A Father Worries

It was a difficult thing--trying to deceive the world. They had to carefully measure every word they spoke and every action they took. Once the novelty of having Kim Possible and Shego back from the dead had worn off, everyone was looking for the lies. People were ransacking through everything they did and said looking for the inconsistencies to pop out like a jack hidden within its box.

Kim and Shego welcomed the doubt. They covered themselves in it, letting it build a wall between them and the truth. They asked no one to take them for their words. They challenged the unbelievers to step forward and to prove that they were somehow false. Let the doubters step forward and bury themselves in their own uncertainties while Kim and Shego reaped the benefits from it.

They understood a fundamental rule of science, taught to school children in elementary school science classes: a hypothesis must be proven to become a fact. Newton's apple might have fallen from the tree, but that didn't make gravity real. If people wanted to prove that Kim and Shego were fake, then they'd need a lot more than an apple falling from a tree. They'd have to find solid proof, proof that could not be denied by science.

"We're not asking you to believe us," Shego had challenged. "If we hadn't seen it, we wouldn't have believed it either, but still..." Her eyes had met with Kim's intentionally showing their solidarity in her statement. "If you can make what happened to us unreal, then do it. Tell us we are wrong. Tell us our nightmares really were all in our heads. Prove that we are lying. Give us all some peace of mind. Tell us that our Bogeyman is fake."

Neither of them spoke another word in a public forum about their experiences. It was unnecessary. People had seen what they had wanted, and more than just a few took Shego up on her challenge. So far, no one could make their theories about Kim's and Shego's lies fact. Too many had been naïve enough to take on the burden of proof, when the burden should have stayed with Kim and Shego. They went out to disprove something that Kim and Shego had never even bothered to prove in the first place. They went out to debunk an unestablished fact, giving more weight to Kim's and Shego's claims than they could have conjured alone.

The rest, those that did easily believe, all they wanted was for Kim Possible to make their world safe again. They wanted their hero back. They wanted everything to return to the normal they knew before Kim Possible proved that even heroes die.

Kim and Shego had learned many hard lessons from Animatus, one being to never pass up an opportunity to attack your enemy. Always take the openings when they are offered, because they may never be offered again. That was the only reason Kim had called upon her old friend Wade Load. She needed him to bring her website back up. She needed him to act as her dispatcher once more so that she could show the world how much like the old Kim Possible she really was.

"What about Shego?" Wade hesitantly asked as he sat across from Kim and Shego in his own dorm room. As soon as Kim had called him, he was more than eager to see her again. He invited her over to his place so that they could reunite. He had not expected Kim to bring Shego and Athena with her.

"What about me?" Shego leaned forward, effortlessly intimidating the young man.

"I mean...it's just," Wade stuttered as his eyes fell down to Shego's legs then quickly back up to her face. He had been taught that it wasn't polite to stare at those who were physically challenged.

"It's just going to be me, Wade," Kim put her hand onto Shego's thigh. "It wouldn't be safe for Shego."

Wade nodded solemnly. He was unsure how to respond. Before Shego had been taken away, Wade knew that she was a very proud woman. He couldn't at all comprehend how Shego now felt to be limited by a broken body.

"Don't get any wrong ideas, Chubby," Shego lit up her hands with plasma. Forcing the green burn to look weaker than Wade had ever seen it before. "I can still fight if I have to."

"Of course," Wade did his best to sound encouraging and supportive, but his best fell short even to his own ears.

"So," Kim's voice interrupted Wade's uncomfortable silence, "when do you think you'll have everything back up?"

"Well, I could have it up in just a few minutes but," Wade's eyes fell to his clasped hands. "Are you sure you really want to do this, Kim? I mean, the last time..." He forced his eyes up, hoping that Kim couldn't see the tears forming. "You died, Kim. Wouldn't it be better if you just retired and spent some time with your family?"

"I didn't die," Kim gently replied. "I was taken, and what are the odds of that happening again, really?"

"This isn't a game, Kim."

Kim allowed herself to be somewhat surprised by the force behind Wade's words. The last time she had seen Wade he was a recluse boy, bright eyed and eager to please. The Wade in front of her now, was not that same boy. He was still overweight, but not nearly as much as he had been. He was growing into his manhood and becoming someone very different than the boy she had left behind. Like many others, Kim's death had changed him.

"We're all different than who we were before," Kim's eyes bore into Wades. "Things have changed so much, more than I can even realize. But saving people, helping them, Wade, that's who I am. That's always been who I am and will always be who I am. I'm not going to let anyone change that, not my family, not Shego, and not you."

Wade turned to Shego, waiting for her to speak out and say something that refuted what Kim had just told him, but Shego kept her silence. She had no problem with Kim going out to save the world. She knew there was no one around that could defeat Kim, because Kim had become too powerful for this world. Animatus had evolved Kim from just an athletic human female into a superhuman. He had taken away Kim's human weaknesses and added in their place his own ideas of strength.

"When will you have the site up, Wade?" Kim forced Wade's attention back to her.

Wade sighed and gave a small shake of his head. In his heart, he knew that the world needed Kim Possible. He had always believed that; he would always believe that. "You'll probably have your first mission by tomorrow morning."

Kim smiled. "Good."

"Have you talked to Ron?" Wade forced himself to ask. He needed to know if he needed to put Ron's information back up on the website as well.

Kim's smile fell. "We haven't had a chance to talk yet." She hadn't bothered to return any of his phone calls. "I'm not sure what to say to him. I'm still trying to deal with my family."

The turmoil Wade heard in Kim's voice when she spoke about her personal life, in a odd sense made Wade feel calmer. It offered him the comfort simply seeing her in person couldn't. It reminded him of the old Kim who had always been confident in her missions but insecure about her personal relationships. It reminded him of the fallible side of Kim she had shown to her friends. "You could tell him you're okay," Wade suggested. "He was really broken up when you died, Kim. He probably just wants to hear your voice."

"Everyone seems to have been broken up when Kim disappeared, Chubby." Shego snapped. "She can't make phone calls to them all."

"I'm not saying she should," Wade defended himself. "But it's Ron."

"Is that supposed mean something to me?" Shego asked, understanding full well the connection Kim had had with Ron before they had both died was significant. Ron had meant something to Kim. If Kim had been given the chance to stay with Ron they probably would have been married by now with children, but that's not how things had happened. Her Kim would never give Ron the same attention he had garnered from the hero before.

Shego cared very little whether Kim ever talked to Ron again, much like she had cared very little whether or not Kim reconnected with her family. The connecftions that they made now were for strategic reasons. They needed Kim's family. They needed Betty Director. They needed Wade. Ron? Ron was a liability. If he wanted to take back up the task of being Kim's sidekick he might be dangerous. He might stumble onto something that they didn't want anyone to know. He had always had an odd uncanny way of becoming unerringly competent at the most inopportune times.

"Shego, don't," Kim warned her partner. "Wade's right. I should call Ron."

"Whatever," Shego rolled her eyes and then reached down to pick Athena up off of the ground where the toddler had been mindlessly playing with a small action figure Wade had unwittingly left within her reach. "Athena and I will be waiting outside for when you're ready to leave."

Kim and Wade both silently watched as Shego walked out of Wade's dorm room with Athena in her arms. She was acting like a jealous lover, acting like someone who was afraid they couldn't hold onto someone they loved. Wade wasn't surprised by the jealousy he saw, part of him had expected it. It fit into the preconceptions he had of the Shego he remembered.

"She hasn't really changed all that much has she?" Wade's question didn't sound very much like a question at all. Wade had understood the kind of person Shego had been, and he understood that people like her didn't really change. He believed that they could alter their appearance and alter who they associated with, but they'd always be a villain underneath the surface. He believed this just as strongly as he believed that Kim would always be a hero. It was his own shortsightedness that made him forget that Shego was a hero before she became a villain.

"Please," Kim softly pleaded, "don't talk badly about her in front of me. I don't like when people do that."

"I'm sorry," Wade immediately apologized. "I didn't mean..."

"Yes you did," Kim interrupted. "Everyone always means to."

Wade bowed his head, unfamiliar with the shame he was currently feeling because he had somehow caused Kim pain. "I'm sorry," he apologized again. "It'll just take some time for me to get used to her being around."

"I know," Kim stood up, preparing herself to leave. She didn't really want to spend any more of her time hanging out with Wade. She had accomplished what she needed to; and while a sense of nostalgia had taken over her as she sat across from him, it wasn't enough to make her want to stay.

Wade stood along with Kim. He was trying to be polite. "I'll get everything ready and will call you when the site's back up." He offered in hopes to get back on Kim's good side.

Kim nodded but said nothing. She walked to the door and put her hand on the knob, but before she opened the door she turned back to Wade, her green eyes full of pain. "I know you don't understand why I'm with Shego. No one does." She laughed humorlessly. "I don't think anyone ever will. But I do love her, Wade, and it's hard for me to watch everyone treat her so badly like somehow the pain and torture she went through wasn't as real as mine. I don't know how to make people understand."

It was like he had been hit with a poisonous dart. Wade's body collapsed back down to his chair as if he had become paralyzed. He had never seen Kim look at him with such raw emotion before. "I'm--"

"Sorry?" Kim finished for the shocked man. "I know. Everyone is always sorry." She turned back to the door, and this time her hand twisted the knob. She stepped out of the dorm room before Wade had gathered himself enough to formulate some kind of response to the woman he had considered to be one of his best friends.

Shego was waiting outside of the dormitory for Kim. Athena was holding onto Shego's legs, her attention focused on all the students walking around her. A few of them had stopped to pay Athena attention, asking Shego idle questions about the toddler's age. Only a few of them had even realized they were casually approaching the woman who had been all over the news lately.

Kim went up to Shego and then wrapped her arms around the taller woman's waist. "Everything okay, Kimmie?" Shego asked.

"Fine." Kim pulled Shego more tightly to her. "Why do you ask?"

"I felt something," Shego answered, knowing that Kim would understand that she had felt a strong emotion coming from Kim through the physical bond Animatus had formed between them.

Kim sighed. "It was nothing." She didn't want to admit that she had lost the tight control she had over her emotions for just a split second. She didn't want Shego to know that the things that people said about her lover were really beginning to bother her.

"They're not going to stop, Kim." Shego reached down and ran her hand through Athena's thick dark hair. "But they'll eventually wise up."

"Okay." Kim leaned over and placed a gentle kiss against the back of Shego's neck, not at all caring who was watching them.

They stood, wrapped up in each other for another few minutes taking the opportunity to enjoy their freedom. They knew how important it was for them to enjoy the peaceful moments that were given to them. It was another hard lesson Animatus had taught them.

Eventually, Kim reached down and pick up their daughter. They walked through Middleton University until they reached the vehicle that had been donated to them through the courtesy of Global Justice. Doctor Director hadn't wanted them to be without transportation. It wasn't safe for them to walk everywhere with the big evil brewing up a nefarious plot.

They drove back to their apartment, knowing they had little time to prepare themselves for the dinner Kim's parents had invited them to. It was the first time they had bothered to contact Kim since her father had thrown them out. It had taken them time for Kim's parents to put aside their doubts and their fear of being hurt, but they were now willing to take a chance, and Kim was very thankful that they had finally contacted her.

Kim was hurriedly bathing Athena while Shego was reapplying the makeup that helped her look weaker than she actually was. It was hard for her to keep up her appearance since her skin would at times become so warm that it melted away the makeup. It wasn't something she could control, and wasn't anything she had tried to control in Animatus's realm. Her heated skin had long since stopped burning Kim. Animatus knew that it wasn't logical for Kim to continually be damaged by Shego's ability to generate extreme heat, so he fixed the problem. Kim recalled that that particular enhancement had been particularly painful.

Animatus had his robots strap her down to one of the metal beds in his lab, while they continually injected her with a serum he had developed from Shego's DNA. Kim had felt like her skin was burning off from within. She had passed out from the pain more than once, and had in a fevered haze had begged one of Animatus's robots to kill her.

When her treatments had been over with, Animatus had heartlessly confessed that he had made a mistake in his calculations and had given the serum to her before it had been ready. He had not foreseen her success in surviving his miscalculations. Her survival meant that he could intensify her trials. She had reached a new level in his research and he could start testing her in ways he had not yet prepared for.

"I have not yet managed to understand why you wished to return to your human world."

Shego dropped the brush she was using to apply her makeup. It clinked against the edges of the porcelain sink and then dropped to the ground. Athena stopped her playful splashing and the laugh building inside of Kim's throat from being hit again with Athena's bath water died. All of their attention went to the small battery operated radio they kept in the bathroom to keep Athena entertained while the toddler bathed. In their rush to get ready for dinner, they hadn't bothered to turn it on.

"I have deduced that you were much more content under my care."

"Well Animatus," Shego casually turned her body so that she was facing the radio, "we don't expect an emotionless empty shell like you to understand very much."

"I understand more than you give me credit for, Shego." Animatus's monotoned words bounced off the tiled space, giving his words the strength and validity he emotionlessly aimed for.

"What is it you want, Animatus?" Kim gathered Athena in her arms, readying herself for a fight.

"I want what I have always wanted, Kim Possible."

"Research," Kim spit out the word like the curse it had become to her.

"Correct." Animatus's voice carried through the static trying to interfere with his conversation. "You have spent enough time away from your home. It is now time you returned."

"We're not going back, Ani," Shego took a step towards the radio, looking for something that would give her an understanding of how exactly Animatus had managed to broadcast to and receive transmission from the device.

"You do not belong there." Animatus's voice sounded dangerously like there was an emotion lurking under his words. "You belong with me. You are mine."

"We don't belong to anyone." Shego cautiously reached out and placed her hand onto the radio.

"They will figure out your secrets and they will destroy you."

"You almost sound like you're concerned for us, Ani." Shego picked up the radio after suffering no ill effects from touching it.

"I simply do not think it would be logical for my work to be destroyed." Animatus explained himself. It wasn't something he often did, but he wanted them to understand how much risk they were taking. He could not duplicate them.

"A father worries, you mean," Shego flippantly replied as she opened up the bathroom window.

"I will have you back." Animatus's voice filtered through the radio as Shego threw it out of the window.

Kim watched as the radio landed onto the ground and broke into various shaped pieces. She shook her head and gave a soft sigh. "We should finish getting ready." She turned away from the window. "My parents are expecting us."

"It won't take me long," Shego turned back to the mirror. "I'm almost done. Go ahead and get Athena dressed."

They both returned to what they had been doing before Animatus had interrupted them. They couldn't waste any more time. Animatus had found them. Their time had run out.