There was a knock at the door and Dr. Astrid Mackenzie got up from her station to open the door. She had greatly been looking forward to this appointment. Word of Shego and Gracie Possible's experiences in Northern Ontario had been the subject of nearly every news station in the country. But frankly, after surviving a plane crash, three days in the wilderness, Kim Possible traipsing through the forest to find them, and what Astrid had heard was an attack by a rabid black bear, they were probably entitled to a little bit of notice. Surprisingly, there had been no appearances by the family, despite numerous requests. So it came as quite a surprise when Astrid had been told that the Possible family would be paying her a visit today, HER; a simple scientist at the Ministry of Environment. What could they want with her?

She'd seen their pictures but it was another experience seeing two bona fide world savers standing before her. Kim Possible, world famous novelist and one of the founding members of Team Possible; Shego Possible, a former villain turned world-saver and wife. Boy had THAT been a doozy for the world. And the teenager sandwiched between them had to be their daughter, Gracie Possible. Astrid truly no idea where to begin or what she was supposed to say.

"Dr. Astrid Mackenzie?" Kim Possible offered her hand.

"Uh…yes. Sorry; just a little bit star struck just then," Could this be going any WORSE? Just accept the handshake. Don't make a complete arse out of yourself. "Forgive me Mrs. Possible but…I was a little surprise when you requested a meeting with me. I mean…I guessed that it would likely have something to do with your wife and daughters experiences but there are a lot of people I would think you'd go to before me."

"Well, this is something very specific and we were told by the Minister of Environment that you were exactly the person to see." The handshake was firm but very friendly. "Oh…forgive me. You probably already know but this is my beautiful wife Shego and our eldest daughter Gracie."

Astrid shook hands with each of them and ushered them into her office. "Well…uh…why beat around the bush? What can I do for you three?"

"To put it simply Ms. Mackenzie, we were told by your superiors that my daughter and I may have come into contact with some animals you've been experimenting with," Shego took a seat on the small sofa in the lab, Gracie plopping down next to her Momma. "Your department has been tracking and studying a pack of gray wolves in the area?"

Was that what this was about? Yes, her department had been monitoring a small pack of gray wolves in the area. Had these two come into contact with them? "We have indeed. My group attempted to introduce a new member into the pack and we've been monitoring them for years afterwards. Each pack member is tagged with a chip that monitors their vitals, accurate to within ten feet anywhere. Did you come into contact with them?"

"One of them saved my life." Gracie replied. "A rabid bear attacked me and the wolf drew it away."

So the story about the bear was true! And one of the pack members saved this young girl's life? Astrid had been studying wildlife since she was sixteen, wolves in particular, and she had never heard of anything like that. "Are…is she…?"

"We witnessed it," Kim Possible nodded a confirmation. "We had a request. You said that your trackers are accurate within ten feet on the planet? If it's not too much trouble, could you activate it and bring it up on screen?"

"Uh…can you describe the wolf?"

"He had two patches of cream colored fur over his eyes."

"I don't believe it," What were the odds? All the years, all the time spent looking at him on a screen. The very wolf that her team had successfully reintroduced into the wild was the one that had come to this young woman's aid! "Miss Possible, it would be a pleasure." Astrid slid her office chair back to her computer and brought up their tracking system. A few keystrokes later, and the red dots signifying the pack were lighting up her monitor. By the looks of it, all wolves seemed to be at the den. "Gracie, I think I can do one better. All wolves are currently at the den…where we have cameras stationed."

The plasma screen lit up and several camera angles appeared on screen. And there he was! The younger Possible crept up to the screen and spotted her hero.

"You saved my life," The whisper was barely audible. "Thank you Patches. I'll never forget you."

KPKPKPKPKPKPKP

"MOMMA!"

Two little green blurs collided with Shego as she exited the Traverse and surveyed the Palace once again. It had been a whirlwind of events in the past few days. Shego had caught the tail end of Gracie's attempt to heal Patches, an incident that had thankfully ended well. Gracie had never attempted to heal animals; Shego had never even thought to TEST her on that. But Thank God it had worked. Gracie would've never forgiven herself if she had failed. And no one that young should have to carry the weight of the dead.

After radioing their position, the trio were quickly airlifted out and back to CFB Borden where they were greeted by an extraordinarily relieved Colonel Harris. Though there was no rational reason why, Shego could tell that the woman felt slightly responsible for what had happened. But after bandaging a few wounds and a round of poutine, the women were laughing and having a jolly old time hearing about Shego and Gracie's adventure…minus the wolf pack. Shego still wasn't sure if this was something linked to the meta-human half of Gracie and until she was sure, it would remain a secret between mothers and daughters.

And that was what brought the trio back to Middleton and the other trio waiting for them. The impact of the twins had forced Shego off her feet and onto the lawn but she was more than willing to take it. Zoe and Emily clasped their Momma in a bear hug and planted sloppy kisses all over Shego's face. Gracie meanwhile had been engulfed in a bear hug of her own as Abby bee line for the teenager.

Abby couldn't remember feeling so happy since the twins were born. This girl was darn near indestructible! She had overcome bumbling villains, religious zealots, more than anyone should have to in a lifetime let alone a childhood. And now the teenager could add overcoming Mother Nature to the list.

"I was so worried about you!" Abby had a hard time letting go but was eventually pried away as the Twins wanted to welcome back their big sister.

"Ho, welcome back," George the Naked Mole Rat squeaked to his partner as he perched on Emily's back.

Shego marched over and pulled her old friend into a hug of her own.

"Did you miss us?" Shego asked, releasing the woman, spying a few tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks.

"Put it this way. Empire Strikes back is in the DVD player and I won't say a word through the whole movie."

"Wow…Gracie and I should crash a plane in the wilderness more often." Shego oofed as the bodyguard thumped her in the shoulder.

It was amazing how things worked out. Shego was already beginning to feel like nothing had happened. She and her daughter had survived a plane crash and stint in absolute wilderness and the teacher in her was already beginning to think about her upcoming lesson plans, the faculty meeting she had missed, and a stack of book reports on her desk that still hadn't been graded. Maybe it was just being back here, at the Palace. Throughout the years, Shego had often had to develop a "happy place", mostly to grapple with the hellish childhood she had to endure. But the moment she set foot on these grounds, the moment she looked at her beautiful redhead of a wife, at their three trouble-making youngsters…this truly WAS happiness. As long as she was here, at the Palace or even just in Middleton, the outside world didn't really seem relevant.

"Mom, Momma, is it okay if I go into town for a while?" Gracie asked as she was hauled to her feet by her younger sisters. "Mary and the gang want to have a welcome back party at Pizza Charlies."

"Sure Munchkin," Shego smiled, pulled out of her revere. "Do you want one of us to drive you?"

"No arguments. I'll drive the munchkin." Abby stepped up and clamped a hand on Gracie's shoulder. "Every time I take my eyes off this one, she manages to get into trouble."

Author's Notes:

And so ends Gracie's adventure into the Wild. This really brought back a lot of fun memories of watching Far from Home for me so I hope you all enjoyed the story as I had a lot of fun writing it. I really like the kind of person that Gracie is becoming and I hope my readers do too.