Kim's family had redecorated. She wasn't sure if it were the new fashion or not, but the bright tones were pretty. Then again, anything was pretty after that awful cell. She sat on the couch, mother and father on either side of her, still wrapped in their kisses and hugs.

She really hadn't been close to anyone during the past six years. It was all right. It was very much all right.

"I can't believe this," her mother kept saying. "I can't believe this at all!"

"It's a miracle," her father said. "That's what it is. I don't know what the chances of it happening are, but it happened and…" He planted another kiss on Kim's forehead.

She felt like she were a baby all over again, instead of twenty-four. "Dad, I never stopped thinking about you. I just wanted to get out. I was so scared." She had attempted to explain the story, but somehow the events had failed to come forth completely. It was okay. Right now, they were minor details.

"How could this have happened?" her mother demanded. On occasion one of them had rushed to the phone to call someone. Ron. Her brothers. Relatives. Who knew? Kim hadn't been out of her parents' touch since the police station. Who knew who was on the phone?

But there were people on the other end of that phone! People! It was almost more than she could take. Her brothers, the little guys, would be flying in from Alaska. Ron would be coming down from Upperton. Her stomach did flip-flops.

She only wondered a little when Shego would show. She was a little surprised the woman had not appeared yet.

"I barely understand it," her mother said. "Kimmie, you were dead. We buried you. Or… or the clone."

Her father laughed nervously. "Clones. I can't believe I couldn't recognize my own daughter over a clone." The laugh turned into a fountain of tears.

"But you missed me?" It was rather hard to make conversation. It was easier to just weep and hug.

"Of course we missed you, Kimmie-cub!" he said while wiping his eyes. "We missed you every moment! But you were dead, and… Kimmie, don't you know what this is like? Can you even comprehend just how wonderful it is? You think your precious baby girl is dead. You sort of get used to the idea."

"And then you find out that all your tears and pain were okay because she's not really dead!" Her mom ran her hand over Kim's face. "I'm just hoping I'm not dreaming."

"Same here," Kim said with a smile. She did understand. "It was like I was dead. And now I'm afraid I'll wake up. But I'm not a dream, Mom. I promise."

"I know, sweetheart, I know—"

The door flew open.

Something inside of Kim twitched.

"Where is she?" The voice was fantastically familiar and screaming at no one in particular. "Where is she? I wanna see her!"

"I want to see her, too!" Another voice, also fantastically familiar. "I can't believe this is happening! I've been dreaming about this for years."

"They're here," her mother murmured happily.

Kim didn't have to ask who. She would not have had time to. She didn't even have the time to look. In a flicker of light speed she was yanked to her feet into a rib-crushing embrace. She breathed in fabric smelling like cheap detergent and another wonderful and familiar scent. She hugged back, scarcely aware of what was going on but loving every moment.

And of course she had to start bawling again.

"I can't believe this," the other voice said again. Monique, Kim realized happily. Monique was here! "This is the greatest thing that has ever happened."

Kim and Ron finally eased the embrace. "Kim, I can't believe it's you! I can't believe this is really happening!"

She looked up at him, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "Ron." It was all she could say. It was difficult to speak while crying. She wanted to say that she could hardly believe it was any of them. But it was Ron. An older Ron, but Ron. He had grown. He was now a full head taller than she, and he had definitely filled. No more gawky teenage boy, she thought. He was an adult. What a weird thought. Then again, so was she. His hair was still the same, his eyes as well. To think the last time she had seen him had been four-wheeling through northern Idaho.

But it was Ron.

He was crying, too. "Where have you been, KP?"

KP. Still the old nickname. She tried to laugh. "I don't think you'll believe me."

"I'm believing this, I'll believe anything. Damn it, it's just so good to see you." Before she had a chance to breath, they were hugging again.

"All right, break it up, I need to see her, too!" She had hardly left Ron's arms before Monique was all over her. "You're back! You're alive! This is the greatest day of my life!"

"I missed you so much!" Kim could finally speak. She would have preferred a little more eloquence, but that was something she had been lacking for awhile now. Oh, wow, but did she have some catching up to do, and she was so looking forward to it.

"And you look so great for having been dead!" Same old Monique. "Look at you! You're gorgeous!" She stepped back, hands still on Kim's shoulders. "Kim, I always wondered what you would look like…"

No, she knew well enough she was skin and bones and bad hair. Monique was the beautiful one. She looked the same, only somehow more glamorous. It wasn't make-up, she barely had any on. She looked great. Ron looked great. Everyone great.

"We have so much to talk about," Monique said. At least she could talk while crying. "I need to know everything. This is too wonderful!" She gave a small scream. "I'm just so happy you're alive, girl!"

Then Ron was hugging her again, tight against his chest.. "I'm so happy, too!"

It went on like that for the next ten minutes, one huge, incredible blur before anything else could even be said.

She didn't know it was possible to cram five adults on a couch, but they managed. Kim sat in the middle, Rufus on her lap as if he would never leave, Ron and Monique on either side of her, her parents on either further end.

"What happened?" Ron asked. He had her hand clasped between both of his. He smiled with the question, as if embarrassed to be asking something so vital. "Kim, we all thought you were dead. I mean, I was there! I know what I saw! I can't… This is so mind-boggling!"

One question for such an obvious answer. She shrugged. "I was just captured. That's all. I was being held by Garrison Wiles. I don't know if you remember him…"

Ron frowned, thinking. "Uh… I don't think I do remember him… wait. Rich, old guy? Like Senor Senior only not quite as exciting? We caught him for money laundering, nothing big. Why would he do this?"

She shrugged again. "I spent so much time trying to figure out why. Apparently he thought it was big."

"But you were shot." Monique spoke, softer than her voice had ever before been. "Ron saw you get shot."

Kim had not known that. She gawked up at Ron. "You saw it?"

He nodded. "It was so horrible. It was like I was shot, too."

Monique forced a laugh. "You were shot as well, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

"But I don't want to think about it anymore. I'm sorry I brought it up. This is supposed to be a happy time!" Monique practically leapt up in delight. "I wish we had something to celebrate with. But, wait. If you weren't shot dead, who was?"

And the clone story reared itself again.

It made Ron laugh, a little. "I can't believe I couldn't tell the difference between you and a clone. But I guess that was the idea."

The idea of the dead clone was becoming more terrifying by the second. What if it had been her? "Ron, I'm sorry you had to see it."

He nodded quickly, laugh gone. "Me, too."

"But that's all over with," her mother said. "Like Monique said, this is a happy time."

Kim wanted to fall to her knees and scream gratitude. Suddenly the idea of another word about all this crap was a death blow. "Just tell me what's been going on." Her family had told her a little. Her mother had administered brain surgery to a Norwegian diplomat. Jim and Tim were in college, where they were taking science classes with yet no aim of any specific degree. Her father had designed a new rocket. She liked to know these things. She just wanted to grasp back onto this world.

Monique and Ron stared at each other in near-horror for a moment. They probably could not fathom why anyone would want to hear about the mundane.

"I'm teaching 6th grade at Middleton Elementary," Monique finally said.

Monique? A teacher? Then again, Monique had never said what she had wanted to be, back in high school. Kim smiled. "Really? You're a teacher?"

"Yeah, and I'm actually surviving my first year."

"I can't believe you became a teacher!" The same passion in which they had declared her status as living.

She shrugged and laughed. "Sometimes, neither can I. It just sort of happened in college. But I really do enjoy it. The kids are such pains! But then they do something half-way intelligent, and I get so excited I can't believe it. But 6th graders. Oy. Now that is when the hormones sink in, let me tell you."

Kim sank back into the couch. "I can't believe you have a career."

"Hey, I'm the first one."

"What about you, Ron?" Kim asked. It felt so weird asking such things. She felt like she was supposed to know these things and that she was a horrible person not knowing such things.

"I cook at the Middleton Grill," he replied rather shyly. "Part-time."

"You're a cook?" Ron had always been talented that way. At least he wasn't still at Smarty-Mart. "That's awesome!"

"Yes, Ronald, but tell her what else you're doing." Her father sounded proud.

Ron just looked confused. "I'm going to school. Upperton University. That plan never changed."

It seemed painfully obvious. "Oh."

"He's working on his master's degree in mechanical engineering," Monique put in. "He's really good, actually."

Ron with a master's degree. It was almost like a joke, only wonderful. "Really?" Kim wanted to hug him all over again.

"It's hard!" Ron protested. "I have no life aside from it!"

"It's supposed to be hard," her father said. "That's what makes getting the degree so great!"

"That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Try spending hours each day with crazy children."

For the first time, it felt like she had never been gone. Funny how pointless arguing would cause that.


It was nearly 3 AM when Monique and Ron left the Possible home. It was a clear night, surprisingly warm, and the entire sky was lit like a planetarium ceiling. Monique wanted to throw herself into it all. Boy, but was she going to need caffeine in the morning! This excitement would keep her going strong for maybe another half-hour before the unavoidable crash would set in. Heck, maybe she would just call in a substitute tomorrow.

"Please tell me I did not dream this!" she demanded to Ron as she twirled herself around in a pathetically musical manner—she couldn't resist. Sometimes one just had to do what one felt.

"You didn't dream this," he replied with a huge grin.

"Please tell me I didn't hallucinate it, then!"

"You're completely drug-free, babe!"

"Is it a conspiracy, then? Am I on television? Because if I am on tv and no one bothered to tell this girl I am so gonna… Ron, I gotta go back in there! What if she wasn't real?"

Ron caught her mid-whirl and hugged her tight. "She was real! I'm the other witness! Rufus can be the third! Everything is perfect!"

She happily listened to his heart beat. This day could so not get any better. Then she stepped back from him, hands still clasped to his. "But I want to go back anyway! To see her!"

"Monique, she fell asleep on the couch twenty minutes ago."

But Monique had wanted a sleep-over. A silly, girly sleep-over as a monument to those grand high school days. "I know, but… but aren't you happy?"

He smiled at her. Yes, he certainly looked just as thrilled as she felt. Oh, this was fantastic! "Monique, this is a total miracle! Of course I'm happy!" He hugged her again, this time adding a fervent kiss on her mouth. He was a bon-diggity kisser, there was no denying that. "I guess I'm just still in shock."

"I don't think shock has hit me yet." They had barely made it to Ron's beat-up Chevy Cavalier. "I'm just so stoked about this. Maybe tomorrow. I'm thinking I should call in a substitute."

"I wonder if I dare skip lab time tomorrow."

Monique laughed. "Remember back in high school when you could care less about class?"

"Yeah, but now I'm actually paying money to go to school, and that kind of tends to change perspective, don't you think?"

"One more year, Ron. One more year. I'm just afraid we'll fall in love with our sad little townhouse and never leave even when we can afford more."

He laughed. "I like the townhouse already!"

"I'm just saying…"

"This is exactly why I love you."

This time she didn't wait for him to kiss first. She wasn't a bad kisser herself. "I love you, too."

He finally got around to opening the car door for her. "Monique, I gotta know something though."

She froze. Probably the same question that had just popped into her mind. "You want to know why we didn't tell Kim about us?"

"Yeah." He started the car. "Because I kind of think she should—"

"Know. Totally. Why didn't we think of it in there?"

"Because you were way too excited to think clearly?"

"And you never think clearly?"

He sighed as the car turned the corner. "I was just happy to see Kim. You know, she's back from the dead. All I could think about was her."

She nodded. That had to be it, didn't it? She had felt the same way exactly. "It was Kim's moment, not ours. But she does have to know. Because of you and her…"

"That was in high school, Monique."

She squeezed his hand. "What does that change?"

He squeezed her hand back. "We are really going to need a plan for this."

"Oh, yeah."

Then they returned to talking about how great it was to see Kim. Monique really didn't want to think about anything else.


Kim's eyes snapped open. She was fully awake, though the room was dark, save for the moonlight streaming through the window. There wasn't supposed to be moonlight… she grinned as realization hit her, and hopped from the bed. Her bed, she realized. She jumped back into it face-first. It still smelled just as she remembered it. The fluffy pillows, her blankets, they had kept it all!

Her parents were there, sitting on camping chair they had brought up. She watched them for a moment. Wow, how she loved them.

This had been such a wonderful, wonderful night. To think she had ruined it by falling asleep in the middle of conversation.

Apparently Ron and Monique had already left. Damn. She had intended to ask Monique about that sparkly ring on her finger. Now that had been an important scrap of knowledge not passed along! Just because she had been dead for six years didn't mean she couldn't love a little romance.

She felt ridiculously girly.

And then there was Ron. Ron. Her heart quickened. If she hadn't been so excited to see everyone… she just wanted to talk to everyone, individually.

When were the tweebs supposed to back? Who else in Middleton was there to see? Everyone.

Except Tara. If she could have only returned earlier. Maybe she could have saved poor Tara.

It was like a wrecking ball of emotion. She hadn't even been close friends with the girl. She had known for hours. But the tears were coming anyway. The story Brick had told her…

Brick had given her hot cocoa. That sounded exceptionally good. Drown her tears in chocolate.

She crept down the ladder as her parents slept.

She remembered every light switch, but didn't bother to turn any of them on. Back in her cell, she had been given quite a good amount of control of light. Now it was like defiance to not work anything else. She could see well enough, anyway. Make her way to the kitchen.

Something moved. Kim froze.

"I thought I'd find you here, Kim. Got to be more creative. But hey, I completely understand why you would want to come here. Who wouldn't?"

Shego. Kim leaned against the wall and sighed. There was a light switch near her, maybe it would be a little more logic to hit it. "So you found me."

"Like I just suggested, it was pretty easy. I do like your house, you know that."

"Shego, I just want to stay here."

"Ah, what sort of gratitude for a rescue is that?" Shego flicked on a light herself. "I gave you a few hours to get all caught up. And I promise, I have no intention of landing you back in an underwater prison. Help me, and I will never, ever bother you again."

Working for an enemy. Yuck. "What do you want?" So not the answer she wanted to give.

Shego reached to her neck. From under her shirt she pulled out a gold locket. Heart-shaped. She undid the clasp and handed it over. Kim found herself taking it.

Inside was the same smiling boy she had seen in the photo album.

"That's my son Brexton," Shego said softly. "He's four."

A son! Kim's heart twisted as she gave it back. "I never imagined you with a son. You're hardly mother-of-the-year material."

"Hey, I'm a good mom. You just haven't seen me in action. No junk food, enforced bedtime except on weekends, and I even had him reading. He was kidnapped three months ago."

Kim figured as much. How sad. "Why didn't you call the police or something? I think they'd put a missing child over putting you back in jail. Why did you…?"

"Break you out, princess?" She shrugged. "Sometimes I don't even know. But I have some reasons. I know you. I trust you. I've seen you fight, sneak into places. You're pretty good. And for the level I need, law enforcement can't manage it."

"There could have been other people to hire."

Another shrug. "Sue me for being sentimental. I have a few more reasons. His name is Darren Sharp. Former partner of Garrison Wiles. Back in the day, when you were putting old Wiles in the slammer, you saw something you weren't supposed to see."

She could barely remember any of that. It had been so long ago. So unimportant.

"And you have a friend. Your computer kid from before. Wade Lode, or something like that."

"What does Wade have to do with anything?"

"I'm not even sure. All I know is that I've heard of connections between him and Sharp, and you're connected with him. That's all I know, but I figured it was good enough."

Kim was getting the distinct impression she wasn't being told something. "So you want me to blackmail this guy? Shego, I'm sorry about your son, but I don't understand…"

"It's out in Wyoming. At least that's where I think they're keeping Brexton."

"Why did they take him?"

"Kim, I honestly have no idea. I just want my son back. And you know something that can get us into that building. It's not just any building. Sharp has good ones. I've tried everything I can. And now, as much as it kills me, I need your help. You're Kim Possible. You can do anything or so you said."

"But—"

"You're mostly dead still, Kimmie. And no one is going to pay attention to a little former dead girl. You have the right connections. You can make Wade help me."

Kim had no idea what to think, much less say.

"I brought something else," Shego continued. She pulled an item for her coat pocket. A folded piece of printer paper. "I thought it might interest you."

Kim took the paper and read it. It was a print-out of an internet page. A wanted poster.

For her.

"It's from six years ago," Shego said. "Did you ever wonder how Wiles knew where you were that day?"