{A/N: The last two chapters were hard to write, as necessary as they were. Hope y'all are enjoying the journey so far.}

8.) Family Day

Kim woke up the next morning feeling better than she had ever felt in two years. The sense of comfort and warmth she had right now made her feel lighter, more relaxed. She couldn't figure out why she felt like this after so long, then she became aware of a weight on her. Her first reaction was panic, as memory of the last time someone had been on her flooded through her mind. She felt a pair of arms tighten around her, and immediately felt her body relax. Apparently, she'd been thrashing a bit in her panic and it had woken up Rayne.

"Shhh," the pale woman said soothingly. "It's okay, Kim. It's just me, Cupcake. Just me." Kim started crying a bit, a little upset that she'd freaked out like that. "And don't even think about apologizing," she warned, anticipating the younger woman's next action. "It's okay."

"Rayne, I-"

"That better not be an apology."

"It's just . . . I . . ."

"You remembered that son of a bitch bastard of a fucktard," Rayne finished for her. Kim nodded, and felt the embrace tighten a bit then loosen as she was hugged. She wiggled around in the taller woman's arms until they were facing each other.

"When Steph and I would, you know, have sex, she never stayed around - mostly at my insistence - so I never got used to having someone in my bed," Kim explained. "Even if there was no sex involved last night."

"I'm not worried about that, Princess," the pale woman said, kissing the tip of the redhead's nose and making her giggle a little. "I am impressed, though, that you were able to be physically intimate at all."

"The first few times weren't easy," she admitted. "I had a lot of flashes about what Josh did to me and would have severe anxiety and panic attacks. Stephanie suspected I'd been raped, and just let me go at my own pace. She . . . she helped through the physical issues I had."

"She sounds like a great person," Rayne murmured. "I'm . . . well, I'm honestly surprised I don't have to compete with her for you."

"Only one person has ever had my heart," Kim told her, leaning forward and giving the pale woman a soft kiss on the lips. "No one else ever had a chance to get in there, except for Elizabeth; but she IS our daughter, after all."

"Our?" the raven-haired woman echoed, making Kim blush when she realized what she had said.

"Um, well, I, uh," the redhead stammered, making her girlfriend chuckle. The younger woman chuckled herself, and relaxed. "I don't want you to leave me again, Shego," she said, deliberately using the woman's old alias. The pale woman accepted the reprimand.

"Never again," she promised, "for as long as you'll have me."

The tender moment didn't last much longer after that as Elizabeth woke up. Before Kim could do more than sit up, Rayne was out of bed and over at the crib. The older woman picked the four-month-old up and cradled her tenderly before turning and looking at the redhead.

"You can rest a bit longer," Rayne told her with a caring smile. "I'll tend to her."

"Thank you," the redhead replied, feeling a swell of love surge through her.

"Like I said before, Kim," the pale woman said, "anything for you." She carried Elizabeth out of the bedroom and headed to the kitchen to warm up a bottle of milk as Kim laid back down in the bed. She didn't fall back asleep, though; instead, she began thinking. Things weren't like they had been the last time the two of them had been together like this; but then, it HAD been two years and a lot had happened in that time. Yet the closeness, the love, that had existed between them back then was still there. 'Actually,' she realized, 'it's more intense than it was then. Rayne's soul-searching during that first year really did change her.' Kim came to a decision then. Shego - Rayne - was back in her life and bluntly stated she had no intention of leaving this time. And it was obvious to the redhead that the plasma thrower loved Elizabeth Anne; both women kept slipping and referring to Kim's daughter as 'their' child. 'So let's see what she'll do if I make it official,' Kim thought. 'Well, sort of official.' She got out of bed and made her way to the living room, wearing her usual bed outfit of panties and camisole.

"Hey, Rayne?" she said as she caught sight of the woman on the couch, Elizabeth happily suckling at a warm bottle. 'Plasma powers rock,' the redhead thought.

"You okay, Princess?" the other woman asked, a look of concern on her face. Kim smiled at how loved she felt because of that concern.

"Yeah," she answered. "I was just doing some thinking."

"About what?"

"Us."

"Us?" Rayne asked, hope and anxiety in her voice.

"Yeah. I'm tired of it just being me and Elizabeth. Steph helps a lot, of course, but it isn't the same. She's got her own life, and it's time I started living, too."

"What . . . what are you saying, Kimmie?"

"I'm saying that, if it's okay with you, I'd like Elizabeth and I to . . . to move in with you."

"Nothing would make me happier, Kim," Rayne said as her eyes watered up, "but I don't think there are any colleges for you close enough to the Bahamas." At the redhead's crestfallen expression, the pale woman went on. "So let's find you a college that offers what you want, and I'll get us a place there. Or maybe see if my mom has a vacation home in the area."

"You have a mom?" Kim blurted out, then covered her mouth as she did a full-body blush in embarrassment. Rayne was impressed.

"So that blush CAN go everywhere," she murmured loud enough to be heard and making the younger woman's blush deepen more. "Don't worry, Cupcake. I'm not angry or offended by that. Yeah, I have a mom; got a dad, too. So I can assure you I didn't spring from the ground or anything."

"You never said anything before," the redhead said, coming around and accepting her still-hungry daughter as she sat down. As Elizabeth latched on to a breast, Kim went on. "I know I didn't ask about your past or anything, but I didn't think you'd tell me anything."

"I wouldn't have back then," Rayne admitted, thinking how beautiful and natural breastfeeding looked. "And while I'd be willing to talk about things now, would you mind if we waited until after we get you and our little princess settled wherever we'll be living?"

"Sounds fair to me," Kim agreed with a smile.

/Ron & Yori/

Considering how big Seattle was, Ron didn't think their chances of finding Kim soon were good. The game plan they'd worked out had the not-so-chubby genius using traffic cams, satellite feeds, and facial recognition software (as well as other kinds of recognition scanning programs) to locate Kim, or at least narrow down her location. But he'd been doing that for a full year and hadn't had any luck; however, the postcard Kim's mom had had at least gave them a ballpark to search in that hopefully wasn't a cold trail.

"I still don't understand why KP left," Ron said as he and Yori walked through a park in downtown Seattle. "It doesn't make any sense. Sure, she had a couple of bad relationships, and was still in the dumps about Shego leaving, but I didn't think it was that bad."

"Perhaps it was to her, Ron-kun," the ninja replied, hooking an arm through one of his so they'd look like the couple they were. "Shego-san's disappearance may have been truly harmful to Kim-san's emotional health if she had loved her. There may have been other things to affect her, too. As we are not her, we cannot know until we find her."

"Why is Shego looking for her?" he wondered, his mind moving to a different train of thought. "She abandoned KP, and was never seen for two years. Then she pops up in Middleton, visits Missus Doctor P, and then obviously comes here looking for Kim."

"These are questions we know, Ron," Yori said, using only his name to make sure she would have his attention. "It may have been that Shego needed to find herself before she could give her heart to Kim. It might have instead been that she needed to straighten her life up and make peace with whom she needed to before moving forward. These are things we do not know, and cannot know until we find them."

Ron caught a flash of red hair out of the corner of his eye before he could respond to that, and snapped his head around. He nearly called out due to force of habit, but his eyes caught his mouth before a sound could escape. The young woman he'd seen did indeed have red hair the same shade as Kim's, but it was much, much shorter than Kim's was; more of a punk-style pixie cut now that he had time to look. There WAS something really familiar about the woman, something that nagged at the back of his mind, but he couldn't place it.

"Do you think Kim could've changed her appearance?" he asked as they walked on and kept looking.

"If she had wanted to remain unfound, it is certain that she would have done something to allow her to remain hidden," the kunoichi conceded. "Do you think that the woman you observed was Kim-san?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "She did seem familiar, but I couldn't figure out why."

/KiGo/

"You okay, Pumpkin?" Kim heard Rayne say. Turning back, she saw the raven-haired woman holding a pair of ice cream cones. Taking the one meant for her, the redhead nodded.

"I'm fine," she replied. "It's just that, well, for a couple of moments while you were gone I felt as though someone was watching me. But when I looked I didn't see anyone. Well, anyone who seemed like they were looking."

"Could it have been one of your old foes?" the older woman asked, looking around to see if she could spot anyone even vaguely suspicious.

"No, no, I don't think so," the younger woman answered, her forehead creasing in thought. "I didn't get a feeling of malevolence, or negativity. It felt more like . . . familiarity. Concern."

"Could be one of your friends, then," Rayne commented. "They've all been looking for you longer than I have."

"How DID you find me, by the way?" Kim asked, licking at her scoops in a way that made the pale-skinned woman swallow hard. "I'm sure my mom showed you that postcard, so you would've known I'd be in Seattle. But how did you figure out which part of the city I lived in, and all of the rest?"

"I . . . well, I thought about what I'd do if I wanted to disappear, but didn't have a lot of money to use," was the sheepish reply. "I didn't know about our little princess, of course, but I guessed that you wouldn't want to call in any favors or do anything else that might leave a trail. On the day - or night, rather - that we met again, I'd spent most of the day walking around the low-rent district, casing the hotels and apartments, looking at listings, seeing if anyone new had moved into the area within the last year."

"I didn't even think about anything like that," the redhead said, continuing to eat her frozen dairy treat.

"Don't forget, you really weren't in a good state of mind back then," her girlfriend pointed out. Then a smile cleared the serious expression off of her face. "Let's talk about something better. Like our future."

"I love it when you use pronouns like that," Kim purred, making the green-tinted woman blush. "And, um, I . . . I love you, Rayne."

"I love you, too, Kim," Rayne replied softly, but loud enough to be heard. The two hugged, careful about their ice cream, and kissed. It was fairly chaste, but still expressed their love and passion. Pulling apart, they shared a smile.

"So, what about our future?" the redhead asked.

"Well, do you want to keep living here?" she responded. "You did come here to start a new life, after all. Granted, you already had one started before moving. Ow!" The exclamation of pain came from the fact that Kim had punched her in the arm.

"Smart ass," the younger woman said with a smile. "I don't know. About staying here, that is. Didn't really have a life here; I was only existing at best. I . . . I'd like to see my parents again. Maybe . . . let them finally meet the granddaughter they still don't know about."

"Why don't we move to Go City?" the older woman suggested. "My brothers live exclusively in their Tower, so I imagine no one's in the mansion." At Kim's incredulous look she added, "Both my parents are loaded, Princess. The Go City mansion belongs mainly to my mom, but she only uses it when she's passing through. And Go University has a wide selection of programs so there'd be plenty for you to choose from."

"Could you stand being that close to your brothers, though?" Kim asked.

"We've come to a better understanding than we had before," Rayne confessed. She finished her cone and took over pushing Elizabeth's stroller so Kim could concentrate better on her own. "During the year after I'd . . . left, I eventually ended up back in Go City. I met up with Wego, and allowed myself to get talked into visiting. Ended up having a 'sibling meeting,' and Hego and I worked out the issues we had - mainly the issues that HE had - and at least agreed that he'd made a lot of mistakes back when I'd left the team."

"So you two made up?"

"Hell no. But we're on cordial speaking terms now."

"Rayne, don't swear around our little princess," the redhead admonished.

"Sorry," she said. "And is that her nickname now? Little Princess?"

"Why not?"

/Ron & Yori/

"Ron-kun, we have already been through this area," Yori said as they once again passed through the park.

"I know, I know," Ron replied. "But I keep feeling pulled to this park."

"Perhaps the Mystical Monkey Power is attempting to guide you to Kim-san," she suggested. To her, it was the logical explanation for them going through this park again. Ron's instincts, and guidance from the MMP, said that Kim-san was in this part of the city.

"Maybe," he said doubtfully. He wasn't sure, since his control of the MMP (though much better than in the past) was still a bit iffy. He did spot the short-haired redhead he'd seen on their first pass through the park, only this time she was pushing a stroller with a baby in it. 'There's no way that could be Kim,' he thought. 'Kim's a lesbian, and couldn't have a kid.' He still couldn't explain why that woman seemed familiar, or why his instincts kept drawing her to his attention. "Maybe we should take a break for the rest of the day? Get some dinner, and try again tomorrow."

"Perhaps that is best, Ron-kun," she agreed, studying the same redhead her boyfriend was. The young woman's movement and the way she carried herself seemed exceptionality familiar to her, as did those of the woman walking up to her. She would meditate on things, after they'd had dinner and returned to their hotel.

/KiGo/

"There's something I don't understand," Rayne said as they left the park (leaving a different way than Ron and Yori were, thereby missing them).

"What's that?" Kim asked.

"Why didn't you report the rape?" the pale woman asked, her tone gentle and soft. The memory of that night flooded through her mind in an instant, but couldn't find a hold; Rayne's arm around her filled her with love, warmth, and acceptance.

"I don't really know," she finally said after a few moments. "I . . . I guess because I was scared. I mean, I'm supposed to be THE Kim Possible. Globe-trotting, world-saving hero. I know several different martial arts, beaten down large-muscled henchmen, gone toe-to-toe with you . . . and I get raped by some skinny guy whose but RON could've kicked." She sighed. "I'm sure Josh would've been arrested and jailed and all, but I don't think I could've handled all of the publicity and attention - negative and positive - that would've come from that. And . . . it didn't really occur to me then."

"We can take care of that after we've settled down in Go City," the pale woman said.

"Rayne, we'll REPORT it," the redhead said, emphasizing that one word. "I don't want the woman I love going to jail for murder just after I've gotten her back."

"I'm not going to kill him," she replied. "Just . . . burn off a certain part of his anatomy and leave him with a few broken bones."

"Rayne!"

"Kidding, Pumpkin, kidding," Rayne said, laughing. Then she looked thoughtful. "Still . . ."

"Rayne!" Kim said, punching the taller woman's arm.

"Ow!" she responded, chuckling a little. "Relax, Cupcake. I won't touch him." As she rubbed her arm she thought, 'Physically, anyway. As soon as I can, though, I'll get my mom in his ass.' "So when do you want to move?"

"To Go City?" the redhead asked. "I don't know. Two weeks, I guess? I gotta put my notices in at my jobs, and handle things with my apartment."

"Sounds good," her girlfriend agreed. "That'll give me time to talk to my mom about the mansion, let my dad and brothers know, and get things set up for the two of you. I could even get the ball rolling for your enrollment at Go U."

"Totally spankin'!" Kim exclaimed, hugging the taller woman. As she stepped back, though, a concerned look came over her face. "What your mansion? Your business?"

"No big," Rayne told her, making her smile at the use of that expression. "Since I own the land and all, there's nothing to worry about. And my board of directors can manage things pretty well. Besides, I'm easily reachable if they have to get in touch with me."

"You're amazing," her redhead told her.

"Absolutely and completely," the pale woman agreed, earning herself another punch on the arm.

{E/N: And another successful chapter. Next time we'll see Kim and Shego finally run into Ron and Yori, while the night before something amazing will happen.}