Well yes I know I haven't published anything in a while but I just had to put this out there. Lots of things going on in life; read my profile for more info if you're concerned. I did let somebody adopt my Harry Potter tale a while back but it doesn't look like he's done anything yet. I do plan to finish it one of these days, but inspiration and time are lacking.

Please read, review and enjoy.

I don't own any of this (Kim Possible stuff that is...yes I do own the story premise).

A Helping Hand

Chapter One - Everything Unplanned

"Men...stupid, stupid, men." Shego growled and huffed as she stormed from the upper scale restaurant on the west side of downtown Go City.

Dressed in a form fitting knee length black dress she turned several heads as she exited. As her breathing calmed she looked around the street wondering what to do now.

This was her third date in a row that had ended with her storming from a restaurant. What was it about the men she had been dating that led them to believe asking her if she ever found her green skin 'erotic in a star trek kind of way' was a good idea over desert on a first date?!

She was only six blocks from home so she decided that it would be a good idea to blow off her steam by walking home; taking the path trough the park. If any muggers or other types happened upon her...well all the better. She smirked at that thought. How...fitting...it would be if she could blast a would-be criminal 100ft and slam her fists into his face for trying to lay a hand on her. It was something she wished to have done to the jerk back in the restaurant who had the gall to put his hand on her knee while asking her stupid questions. But she supposed that her recently taken status as a legit security expert would be called into question if she were to blast a man through a wall causing damage to a building and endangering other patrons lives.

It was a pleasant early October evening as she passed through the park which served to dull her temper some and as always she found herself comforted by the green surroundings the park offered. Soon the park would be dull and brown with the occasional patch of snow or ice but for a week or two more it was still mostly green.

About half way along, through the large stand of pines that bordered the north end of the park Shego came to a small clearing and a wide place in the path that had several benches. One one of them sat a lone homeless man...or at least she assumed he was homeless. He looked slightly tattered and had a large brown paper bag between his feet while he stared blankly towards the ground.

Normally she wouldn't take much notice of a homeless man but there was something that draw her attention to him. A familiarity that she felt more than saw as she approached him while walking along the footpath.

She stayed alert and studied the man as she approached; as she had always done when evaluating a potential threat. He did not seem to be as bad off as many of the other homeless she had seen; the ones who chose to live like they did rather than having been forced to. His clothes looked to be in decent shape, as if he's tried to keep them that way; and he seemed to have showered recently judging by the fact she couldn't smell him from her position 10 feet away.

The man was younger than most she was used to seeing, he had striking straw blond hair, a wiry build, and when she passed she caught a glimpse of brown eyes...and an oddly familiar face. His stare was directed at the ground and he did not ask for change like most of the homeless would. In fact he made no indication that he had seen Shego at all.

Having passed she continued towards the other side of the park thinking on why she had been so interested in that one homeless man. It was not as if she did not see them daily around the city. Eventually she let it go and continued towards her place...humming now; her mood significantly improved by the short walk.

Shego again found herself walking that same little path through the park nearly a month later. This time the tress had started to change; the grass was only holding on to the last remnants of green and there was a bite to the air that said the cold snap would soon turn to snow.

In the past month she had been busy and in response to her last bad date had delved into her fledgling business full bore. In the first year she had had to work very hard to get clients and her reputation put many off of trusting her. But all things change and in last two years her reputation had garnered her nearly more jobs than she had time to do. In fact she had the curious position of having to turn down good work on occasion because she was busy enough for two people.

As she walked the path again she reminisced about the past decade of her life. She would have never guessed she would again become a hard working 'productive member of society' that she had been in her youth while earning her degree at Go City University. She had sworn off anything but 'easy and fun' money years ago and had held fast to that for the many years she served as mercenary on into her time as Drakken's 'sidekick'.

That thought made her face curl into a sneer of disgust. She had often though of herself as a 'partner'; it was she who usually got all the equipment and resources together for Drakken. Even after they had started dating he would often 'slip' into villain mode and refer to her as 'the sidekick'...something that really 'ground her beans'. It was one of the reasons she decided dating the man was not the right way to go. And that tangent now brought her to another...just what had happened to 'the Princess' in the past few years.

She had followed the gossip rag articles on the girl as it was one of her own guilty pleasures; though she would kill anyone who ever dared suggest such a thing in public. If they were to be believed Kim had caught her own 'sidekick' stalking her while spending a romantic evening with her new boyfriend following a heated breakup. She had since been linked to several celebrities after graduating from some school in Paris a few years ago and becoming a high profile investigator for some alphabet organization. Most of it stunk of Kim Possible in every way but she would bet a small mint that Kim and Ron's 'breakup' was only a half-truth our an outright lie.

Now that she was on the topic, she sometimes wondered what had happened to the buffoon...if only out of professional sidekick-to-sidekick courtesy. Without his link to Kim he dropped out of the news faster than balloon-boy had been inflated. Not that she cared any about either the princess or buffoon...they were just former pains-in-the-ass from her life anyway.

It was about this point in her thoughts that she happened to again enter the small clearing near the center of the park that she had been in about a month ago. And there again sat the same homeless man as before.

Again Shego was struck by the same familiarity she had experienced before upon her approach. He looked slightly worse than before: a little dirtier, his clothes a little more ragged and his unshaven stubble proved that he had not gotten a to shave or shower for a few days. Despite that, his gaze was not as vacant and he seemed to be watching two birds fighting over something in the grass a few feet away. Walking past she saw that, despite the fact that he didn't speak, he clearly saw at least her feet and legs and was following their progress out of his vision with his eyes; much like she would do if sitting where he was evaluating a threat.

She glanced back again to make sure he wasn't going to follow her from the clearing but was surprised to find him not just sitting but his head was up and he was openly staring at her with a look of confusion on his face. This made her pause and she turned slightly to look at him and again a wave a recognition washed over her as a she more clearly saw his face. This was certainly someone she knew...but who? Just as the tendrils of an idea stared to emerge in her mind he looked back to the birds again, breaking her concentration.

Again she stared to walk out of the clearing but then her mind snapped the pieces into place and her eyes widened suddenly. She knew the man! She knew him well, in fact.

Snapping her body around she quickly walked back towards him stopping just out of arms length crossing her arms across her front while looking down at him and waiting for him to look up. He did a moment later, not just confusion on his features but fear as well. He knew her and he was afraid of what she might do to him.

"I'm not here to hurt you Stoppable."