Making friends is kind of hard, especially at the shelter. She's so much smaller than all of the other kids, both like, physically, and in age. She might actually be the youngest one there.

She's lucky enough to have her room mate, Luke, who is ten. Most of the kids are big and go to high school. They tower over Kimmie, and the most she can get from them is a friendly pat on the head because everyone agrees: Kimmie is very cute.

(Which gets annoying after a while. Obviously she's cute.)

In the few moments she does get to talk to people, she always messes it up. Kimmie thinks most things are boring, and just wants to talk about Kim Possible. But hardly anyone ever wants to talk about her . It kinda sounds like… people don't actually like Kim Possible that much? That's so silly though. Why would they not like her?

Jonah won't tell Kimmie anything. She keeps asking him if he can let her use the computer but it's always a hard no.

It's so frustrating! Especially because when she talks to Luke, she realizes pretty quickly that she doesn't actually know anything about Kim Possible.

Which is why Kimmie's first video call with Ron goes like this:

"Daddy, can you tell me more about Kim Possible?"

"Uh, honestly, sweetheart, I… miss her too much to really get into this. I'm sorry."

"Ooooooh… did you still love her?"

"Ah! Kimmie! No, no, no, noooooohkay maaaaaaaybe I still liked Kim when… why am I talking about this with you? "

" S'okay Daddy, I'm gonna find her for you and you can get married again and maybe she'll be my Mommy. But okay, I gotta go learn more about Kim Possible, bye."

"Kimmie, wait —"

But still, Jonah won't budge. No computer. No videos. He says for now she should focus on catching up with the other kids. She's supposed to be in fourth grade right now and the hope is to get her into some kind of accelerated learning program . It sounds really stressful. How is she going to find Kim if she's so busy studying?

She's proud of herself for being so strong. She thought she'd be a weepy mess, being back in a shelter again, and away from her Daddy… but she feels okay! The people at the shelter, Marcia especially, are really nice to her and there's a bunch of activities to keep her busy. They do finger painting and drawing and some games in the playground.

The playground stuff is what really gets Kimmie excited.

Kimmie stinks at sports though. She tries her best to have fun, Marcia keeps reminding her it's okay if her team loses. She can't hit the baseball very hard, she can't throw it very far, and even when they stick her in the outfield, she can never tell where the ball is going to land. So she doesn't really do anything but get out before going to first base.

Yet somehow she ends up covered in dirt anyways, but she kinda likes that. Dirt is fun. It's not fair that she's losing just 'cause she's smaller than everybody. It gets so bad they give her a tee ball thing to hit her ball off of so she can play.

Things pick up during the final inning of this particular game. Two outs and her team needs a home run or they lose. One more strike and they also lose. No one from her team is on a base.

Score a run and they go to the next inning for a tiebreaker, unless they score another run. Then they win.

But Kimmie's up to bat and everyone on her team is mumblin' about how it's over because Kimmie stinks so bad.

Kimmie wishes they wouldn't be so loud. She slings the bat over her shoulder and walks up to the mound. Jonah comes out and puts the tee in front of her. She feels really nervous, and the pitcher laughs at her while she lines up her shot.

She wants to smack that dumb smirk off his face.

Kimmie compulsively winds the bat back and swings.

At the very last second, fireworks go off in her mind.

Kim stumbles back. She runs her gauntlet across her jaw and knocks away the blood so it doesn't dry.

She stares at Shego who approaches her with such confidence, her muscles flaring with green plasma; she's never fought like this before.

Kim is alone and she is human. She doesn't stand a chance, not like this.

Shego tilts her head to the side. "Aw… Kimmie upset she's losing when I'm actually trying for once?"

Shego gets closer. A few more steps and Kim is done for. She has to do something.

So she feints. She throws so much gusto into an upper hook that dies halfway through, but it's fast enough to trick Shego into swinging her wrists up to block the hit, opening her up to a gut punch that'll give Kim the opening she needs to survive.

The second fist sneaks in and —

Kimmie's brain tingles. It's muscle memory. It's strategy. Her mind wills her into repeating the same move to win the game. Kimmie doesn't know where this sudden insight is coming from but… well…

Kim Possible always trusts her instincts.

Kimmie's bat swings in a full circle just before hitting the ball, masking its direction, and knocks it lightly from below. The ball flies up in a hook-like motion. Up, forward, and curves down, landing halfway between home plate and the pitcher. The pitcher dives forward as Kimmie sprints through the dirt, moving as fast as she possibly can.

Running's hard, her legs are short and—

Bomb goes off in one minute, Kim is the only agent nearby. Bomb is also one quarter mile away. Fastest quarter mile is forty four seconds, and Kim is, uh, not an Olympian.

Doesn't really matter at this point, she has to at least try .

"Just give it your best shot," Will, her partner, tells her through the radio. "You miss it, well fuck us in the ass, just run. Focus. Fast. Good posture, and —"

" Can't listen. Running. "

"There she is. Don't think about the bomb, just think about doing your best run ever. Do all the things you know you're supposed to —"

She kills the walkie feed to get some silence so she can do that. So she can run perfectly. She tries not to think about the thousands who will die, including herself, if she botches it. She thinks about breaking a world record instead. And she does it. She makes it.

(She cuts it a little close though.)

—Kimmie runs like she never has before and she feels so serene as she slides through the dirt into first base, a fraction of a second before the ball hits the waiting glove above her. She grins to herself, doing a little dance to celebrate running her first base ever.

Her team cheers and she laughs as the bad guy team gets all flustered, losing to a nine year old.

Kimmie pants, watching the next batter come up. He's fifteen and has generally ignored Kimmie whenever she's said hi. That's okay. They're teammates now!

"You got this Greg!" she screams, leaning back to face second base. The moment the ball leaves the pitcher's glove, Kimmie's runnin'. And she ain't stoppin'. Even if he doesn't hit the ball, she's stealin' second.

Kimmie wants to win and prove to everyone that she's still good even though she's little.

Clap! The bat hits the ball hard and it flies off into the air. Kimmie runs so hard she accidentally trips immediately, running her knees through the dirt. Tears spring to her eyes, because aaaaaaaaaaaaagh NO! She needs to run! Run Kimmie run! No pain no gain.

So she sprints as fast as she can, blood dripping from one of her knees, face screwed up in pain, and she lands on second base.

Kimmie checks over her shoulder and she sees the outfielder scrambling, just about to scoop up the ball.

Really, Kimmie should stay on second. Play it safe.

But…

Kim is fifteen years old and terrified . But she's not leaving Ron behind, no matter how many times the Global Justice people have demanded she go home. Ron is trapped. Fire. Lab. Burning. Scary. Explosions all around, one hits Kim's arm and singes her shoulder. She bites her lip, draws blood from herself, and keeps going.

It's not a mission accomplished if she comes home without her best friend. Never.

" Kimberly Ann Possible, this is Doctor Betty Director, you still have an out. Leave the facility NOW. You stopped the bomb, you saved the world, it's over. I'm sorry about your friend —"

Her Kimmunicator falls into the blaze and Kim keeps going. She blinks back tears as the smoke overwhelms her. This isn't the kind of shit she thought she'd be doing when she started these missions. She kind of hates the missions, she realizes as she runs.

Ron's not dying for something so stupid. Kim runs and finally finds Ron, crouched low on the ground in his gas mask, just like she taught him. She scares the shit out of him when she jumps down and touches his shoulder.

He really didn't think anyone would come for him. She can already see through his goggles that he's confused, and upset she'd risk her life like this.

Body heaving, Kim picks him up. She doesn't know why, or how she can even manage it, but she takes Ron's body and books it .

She smashes a window open with her shoulder and falls slack against the frame, body going limp fast. Ron drops off her and with her last bit of her energy, she hands him her grappling hook.

"See that?" she jerks her head towards a building in the distance. "Hook to that, carry me, we'll be okay. You got it?"

"Kim, I—" Ron stammers. "I don't know how to—"

"Can't. Weak," Kim whispers as she deflates. "I know you can do it. I love you. C'mon."

Ron pulls her in, says nothing, and BAM both of their bodies fly out of the building, cross the precipice, and slam against the brick wall of Ron's target within seconds.

Hurts like Hell, but it's cold here. No smoke. They both laugh together, just dangling, and he looks to her. "Kim…"

"Sh," she pets his cheek. "It's fine, this is what I do, right? High risk, high reward. Let's keep —"

Kimmie keeps going and everyone on her team screams for her to stop and go back. Go back Kimmie! So silly. No wonder they're losin'.

The third baseman laughs in her face. Well she'll be the one laughing soon enough.

Kimmie doesn't really get why she's doing this, why she's playing so hard to win, her body is just… asking her to do it. Like she feels uncomfortable staying in one place for too long.

She slides into the third base, and does a quick check. Ball is halfway between second and third. Within moments third will have it.

So she runs again. Kimmie runs so fast, blazing towards home base, kicking up dirt along the way. Her limbs flap like noodles and she has to remind herself to use good running posture even though she doesn't actually know what that means. But she does it, draws fire from the stunned third baseman who slackjaws at the stupid thing she's doing. He shakes it off and throws the ball.

"GO!" Kimmie screams to her teammate still chilling on first base. She waves her hand towards second and looks back to home. The ball is in the air, so she runs and runs and runs and runs and runs and—

—dives—

—and slams into the base.

"SAFE!" the umpire calls and everyone starts SCREAMING.

Kimmie just lies there, stunned, covered in dirt, with blood trickling from her knee. She gets up slowly, and walks back to the dugout while her teammates in line to bat rush over to her, singing her praises. It's kinda hard for her to focus on them though, she's really confused.

Kimmie knows she did it but she's not… happy about it? Her heart is still racing. Her legs want to keep running.

She doesn't get it. Doesn't get what is happening. She kinda wants to ask Marcia if she can see a nurse or somethin' but…

CLAP! the ball flies high into the air and hits the grass far off. The bad guy team blitzes to get someone out, but they're too late. The boy Kimmie told to steal second crosses home plate and that's the game.

And they all thank Kimmie. One of the older girls lifts Kimmie up into a piggy back so she can see everyone cheering for her. She just kinda blushes, heart still racing.

Later, when she gets to go back to her bed, she immediately reaches for Pandaroo. He always helps when she's anxious.

Marcia slips into her room and looks at her hard. "Hi, I just wanted to check in with you. I figured you would be really excited about winning, but you didn't seem like yourself."

Kimmie frowns. It sounds like she's in trouble because her body's acting all funny.

"Are you okay?" Marcia asks.

Kimmie lifts her head.

Kim just saved the world. This caper was pretty well-run, from start to finish, it all went as expected.

Doesn't change the fact that they could have so easily died at least five times during that one. She's positive Ron doesn't know. He's the one with superpowers after all, it's no big for him anymore.

Ever since Lowardia, the villains have just been so… horrible. They really want her and Ron dead. But she did it. She disarmed the bomb, made sure no one died, captured all of the villains, and yet…

...her heart is still pounding. It makes her mind race.

There must be something she's forgetting to do. That has to be it. But didn't she complete the mission? It's over, right?

Ron's thumb glides across Kim's wrist and she flinches out of fear. She draws away from him and immediately apologizes for her mistake. "Sorry! I'm just—uh—a little jumpy, heh. Um… wh-what's up, Ron?"

"I wanted to check in, um," Ron looks like he had some funny one-liner to tell her, but now concern is settling into his eyes and Kim just feels so bad. She hates making him worry over her. "Yo, KP, uh… are… um, are you okay?"

Are you okay.

The three words echo through her mind. She's not, clearly. Something's wrong, her body won't exit mission mode. This has never happened before.

But what is Ron going to do about it? What good does it do him for him to know about her personal bullshit?

A few months later when it starts to infect even her day offs, she sees a doctor. PTSD they tell her. Kim snorts. PTSD. Yeah right. But nope. Kim has PTSD.

Kim frowns, opens her mouth and says—

"Yes," Kimmie lies, so anxious behind her fake smile.

Marcia just pats on the back and leaves her room, shutting the door behind her.

Kimmie falls sideways into her pillow and hugs Pandaroo close. It makes her sad…

...how easy it was to lie like that.