Naughty and Nice, by DoofusPrime

Notes - This is a Christmas themed one-shot for whitem's "Snow Daze" contest on the Kim Possible forum. At this rate, like a quarter of my stories are going to be holiday stories, yeesh. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. This work was not created for profit. No copyright infringement is intended.

XX

A menagerie of colors, shapes, and forms swirled and eddied around Frugal Lucre's head as he flipped the switch on his VR helmet. The beautiful mess around him began to take shape as it organized itself into a virtual world: the World Wide Neural Network. He felt a faint pulsing sensation while the VR gloves he wore began to take readings from his hands and fingers as he moved them in his virtual world. He was online. Connected to millions. And soon, those millions would bow down to him.

Figuratively speaking.

There were many things to do in the World Wide Neural Web, and most of those things were highly inappropriate and not deserving of Frugal's attention, but some of those things could be a lot of fun. Virtual bowling, dancing, socializing; flying around aimlessly; swimming down into the depths of a virtual ocean, floating through virtual space. All without needing a single breath. Frugal Lucre's avatar stood on a balcony at the top of a massive tower, overlooking a landscape that was part familiar, part alien, filled with strange plants, creatures, and characters who were logged into his little corner of the Neural Network. Lucre liked to start out in this particular black marble tower when he logged in, as he thought it had pizzazz.

Unfortunately, Frugal Lucre needed to connect to the soft underbelly of the WWNN in order to enact his latest villainous scheme, which meant a little hacking was in order. And even in the brave new virtual world, that did not mean fighting monsters or doing anything particularly epic. It meant bringing up visual interfaces and sense-typing monotonous code. Not everything in the future could be shiny and new.

"Sorry, Francis, but I gotta pull the plug!"

The virtual world around him suddenly began to swirl again, dissembling itself in a rushing onslaught, faster, faster, like water going down a drain. Frugal blinked as the World Wide Neural Network went offline, replaced by the familiar surroundings of the basement of his mother's house. He still lived there with his mother, although Frugal was in his 50's and his mother was too old to leave the house. He still set up his schemes in the basement, and over the years, he had been foiled by Kim Possible and her sidekick – then boyfriend – then husband – more times than he could count.

Frugal looked around the basement as he removed his helmet, noticing that his VR equipment had been unplugged from its clunky battery. A girl stood a few feet away from him, holding the plug with an impudent grin. She was familiar. Very familiar. Blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Freckles, braces. Frugal took off his VR gloves and placed them on his work desk as he looked over the girl, already taking bets on who she was.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Annabelle Possible. But you can call me Annie."

Oh, wonderful, thought Frugal. Another Possible to deal with. The fact that his guess as to the girl's identity had been right on the mark did nothing to help the now-familiar annoyance he felt anytime one of his schemes got interrupted.

"How did you get in here?" he asked.

"Your mom let me in when I rang the doorbell upstairs. She's a very nice lady!"

Frugal cursed silently at his bad luck. No matter how many times he told her, his mother never seemed to understand the concept of a supervillain needing a little personal privacy when he was working on a new plot.

"How did you like my opening jab?" asked Annie.

"You mean the line about pulling the plug on me? It was pretty good, I gotta admit. Pretty good. So you're Kim and Ron's little kid, right?"

"I'm not so little anymore, but yes. This is my first mission, actually."

"Why'd they send you here, anyways?" asked Lucre. "I know your mom likes meddling in the affairs of others, but I didn't know you were into this kind of thing too."

"Freak fighting? I've been meaning to try it out."

"Well, today vill be an unlucky day for you, little girl, because you've just stumbled on ze lair of Frugal Lucre, who vill make short work of-"

"Come on, I know your name is Francis Lurman. What's with the lame accent?"

"It's part of my persona," said Frugal impatiently. "Supervillain protocol!"

Annie flashed her foe a smile before clenching her fists and spreading her feet apart in a fighting stance, bobbing up and down like she was barely restraining herself from rocketing through the ceiling. "Ready to fight now?" she asked excitedly.

"Sure, why not."

Annie Possible came at Francis like a cartwheeling juggernaut of teen destruction, fists flying and feet kicking in a horrific blur. Francis barely had time to dodge and weave as he tried to escape from Annie's attacks, but it was not long before he took several painful hits. He threw a few punches and kicks back – he had taken some martial arts classes over the years, especially on the occasions that he found coupons to the local dojo in the newspaper – but his moves weren't what they used to be. Not that they were ever much to begin with. He was getting too old for physical combat, and this new Possible was just as much of a dynamo as the old one. Francis almost wished he was fighting Kim and Ron instead of this terrifying teen tornado.

"Had enough?" said Annie as she paused for a moment, giving Lurman a moment to collect his breath.

"I've... just... gotten..."

Francis gasped for a moment as Annie waited patiently. Finally, he managed to get in a deeper breath of air.

"Started!" he finished.

Trying to take advantage of Annie's break, Francis attacked unexpectedly with a sweeping kick, but Annie was too fast, leaping out of the way with ease. He threw a left hook, then a right hook, and hooked nothing but air. Annie managed to catch his arm in mid-swipe during a third punch, and Francis went flying as she threw him on his own momentum, sending him crashing into his workstation. A computer monitor, keyboard, and mouse crashed to the floor; archaic machines in the age of virtual reality, but despite his immense mastery of all things computerized, Frugal Lucre had a fondness for antiques. He frowned as he looked at the mess they were making.

"Mother is not going to be happy about this," he said, just before he felt another kick from Annie send him to the floor. Francis was just about to get up when a voice rang through the basement.

"Now what are you two doing down here?"

Annie stopped in mid punch, straightening herself up and staring at Francis' mother, who stood at the door of a service lift with a tray of Christmas cookies and milk.

"Just fighting, ma'am. Sorry!"

"Quite alright, I'm used to it by now. Would either of you like some snacks?"

Mrs. Lurman stepped out of the service lift, which Frugal had installed for her ever since it began to be hard for her to take the stairs easily. She had a walker, and the tray of snacks was balanced on one of its edges. Francis got up from the floor where he still lay, dusted himself off, and walked over to his mother to take the tray and place it on the work table.

"Help yourself," he told Annie as he sat down on a stool. "We'll get back to fighting in a moment."

Mrs. Lurman turned her walker towards Annie. "Maybe you can convince him to get a normal hobby," she said.

"Mom!"

"Alright already! I'll leave you two alone for a while. Enjoy your snacks – I would have made some toaster toasties but I don't think that's very seasonal, do you young lady?" Mrs. Lurman as she peered at her young guest. "by the way, you look a bit familiar to me, sweetie. I could swear I've seen you before, but you're too young!"

"Kim Possible's daughter," explained Annie.

"Ah yes. That explains that, then."

Annie took a Christmas cookie as she watched Mrs. Lurman slowly return to the service lift connecting the basement to the ground floor. The door closed, and she zipped up with a faint whoosh. Her gaze returned to Francis, who was also enjoying a cookie dipped in milk. Annie wondered if all of her mother's missions were this strange.

"So you wanna hear about my latest plan?" asked Francis.

"Um, should I?"

"It's the normal protocol for this kinda situation."

"Oh. Well, go right ahead then."

"I'm going to bend the world to my demands by hacking into the World Wide Neural Network!" yelled Francis Lurman in a burst of excitement, standing up from his seat and spilling his milk on the ground as he banged a fist on the table for emphasis. "Once I hack into the core systems, I will install a virus that reorganizes a certain portion of the neural topography in the brains of every person connected to the Neutral Network. This virus will instill a deep, irresistible urge in every user – an urge to send me cash donations!"

"How much cash?" asked Annie.

"Ten dollars each!" exclaimed Lurman before letting out a gleeful cackle.

Annie nodded politely. Her mother and father had mentioned that Frugal Lucre was not the type of supervillain to try anything very new, and from the sound of it, this scheme was about the same as most of the other ones her parents had foiled in the past. And ten dollars couldn't even buy you a Neo-Naco at Bueno Nacho. What was this guy thinking?

"Ready to get back to the fight?" asked Francis.

Annie was not looking at her foe, as she was busy finishing her Christmas cookie – she had picked a large one, shaped like a snowman - and drinking the last of her glass of milk. Annie was surprised at how much hospitality she was receiving on her first mission, even if most of it was coming from her enemy's mother. Maybe all supervillains were coddled by overly nice mothers the way Francis Lurman seemed to be. It could be an interesting pyschological trend to research, she thought.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said as she got up from her seat, ready to fight again. "It's time to wrap up this-"

Annie turned around to find a very bulky looking weapon pointed at her from across the room. She felt a flash of embarrassment as she realized she hadn't been paying enough attention, and Lucre had snuck off to grab the weapon while Annie wasn't looking. Whatever that weapon did, it was big. Too big. Annie began to think she was in trouble.

"I'm afraid I'll be wrapping you up, young lady," laughed Francis as the weapon began to charge with an ominous metallic whining sound. Just as the weapon's metal tip began to pulse with a blinding white energy, a low rumbling sound came from above them. Francis looked up at the ceiling and frowned.

"What the heck is-"

The rumbling rose into a deafening crash as Annie and Francis whirled around to look at a small window set near the top of a back wall of the basement. Glass shattered and concrete crumbled as the wall buckled and caved in, taking the window and part of the ceiling down with it as a large object hurtled into the basement and hit the floor with a metallic clang. A rain of debris and concrete dust spread through the room, and Annie took several steps back as she saw a Christmas tree from the ground floor above them fall down through the collapsed section of the ceiling. As the dust cleared, she began to make out the object that had broken into the basement.

It was her mother's beloved car, the Sloth, in its brand new armored torpedo mode.

"Gaaah! My baseme-"

Francis' cry was broken off by a loud cough as he and Annie waved dust away from their faces. Annie watched through the haze as some of the armor plating on the Sloth retracted and the tires returned to their normal state. A sliding door on the side opened up, and Ron Possible stepped out into the basement. He looked at the Christmas tree, which had fallen partially on top of the car along with wood and rubble from the damaged section of the floor above them.

"Well, that worked alright," said Ron. "I think the twins did a good job with the torpedo upgrade, don't you, Annie?"

"Dad, why are you here?"

"Oh yeah," said Ron. He looked over at Frugal Lucre, who was still standing in shock and holding the massive weapon he had been aiming at his daughter a moment earlier. Ron gritted his teeth and leaped towards Lucre, pulling the weapon away from him and knocking him to the ground.

"What do you think you're doing, huh?" he yelled as he shook the gun at his foe. "What is this thing?"

"It's an immobilization spray!" said Francis. "It shoots out a heated goo that dries instantly and freezes someone in place for a while! Totally non-lethal, I swear!"

Ron stared suspiciously at Frugal Lucre for a moment, and then decided to test the gun by shooting it against a wall. Sure enough, it ejected some kind of goo that splattered against a cork board wall fixture where Lucre had been outlining some of his schemes. The goo ran down the wall for just a moment before hardening in place.

"Alright, that's good then," said Ron, "because I if you had done anything to hurt my daughter, you know what would have happened to you, Lucre?"

Francis gulped apprehensively. "What?"

"First class ticket to a black hole in one of my father-in-law's space probes. That's what!"

Annie groaned as she noticed that her mother had also stepped out of the car and into the battered basement. Kim looked worried for a moment, but when she caught her daughter looking at her, she gave Annie a wink before joining her husband as he stood over Frugal Lucre, who was still cowering on the ground.

"Hello, Frugal."

"Hello, Kim Possible. I see you've won the day, yet again."

Kim nodded at her foe and lent a hand to help him up.

"We'll be taking all your plans and VR equipment," she said, "and the rest of Global Justice will be arriving here in a moment to give you an ankle-tracking collar. They wanted to take you in as soon as we stopped your plan, but I thought missing Christmas was a little cruel, even for a supervillain. So I convinced them to let you stay here with your mother for the next day or two while G.J. keeps a close eye on you. But don't get any bright ideas, Lucre – you'll be going to jail soon enough."

"You know my mom will just bail me out," said Francis.

"We'll see."

Several other Global Justice agents entered the basement through the newly-formed hole in the building as Kim and Ron began to collect materials. Annie realized that there must have been an entire squad outside the house, watching as she carried out the mission. Her lower lip jutted out petulantly as she thought about the fact that she had just completed her first mission with babysitters. It was a little demeaning, to be honest. She had everything under control before her mom and dad barged in.

Kim walked by and sensed her daughter's dissatisfaction with the situation. "Sorry about that," she whispered to her daughter, "but we were monitoring the situation, and your father got nervous when he saw Frugal with that big immobilization weapon, and insisted on driving right through the wall. I couldn't stop him – you know how he is. Hope it's no big?"

Annie rolled her eyes and nodded in acquiescence.

"Alright, Lucre," said Kim as she finished gathering up the evidence with her husband and fellow silent Global Justice operatives. She walked over to her defeated foe and pulled an ankle bracelet from her pocket, which she affixed to his ankle. "We'll be keeping an eye on you, and we've blocked all Neural Network access to your house, wireless or otherwise. I'm letting you stay here for Christmas out of the kindness of my heart, so don't try any funny business, okay?"

Francis Lurman nodded meekly as he sat on a stool, covered in dust and looking thoroughly defeated.

"We'll be leaving now," said Kim. "Happy holidays!"

Annie followed her parents as they got into the Sloth, the Global Justice operatives walking back out of the hole in the wall and back to the G.J. vehicles parked along the road behind the house. Just before she closed the car door, Annie poked her head out, feeling a little sorry to see Frugal's downcast expression.

"It was nice to meet you," she said.

"Sure."

Frugal's mother appeared above the Sloth and the collapsed Christmas tree, first looking out at the tiny back yard that was exposed through the hole in the wall, and then down through the collapsed floor section into the basement. "Frugal," she said, "are you down there? Where did this hole come from?"

Annie waved as Frugal's mother noticed her head sticking out of the car.

"Oh, hello there sweetie. Leaving already?"

"Yes ma'am. Thanks for the cookies and milk, and sorry about the mess!"

"Quite alright. I'm used to it. Merry Christmas, dear!"

Her parents were waiting for her, so Annie pulled her head back into the car and closed the door the rest of the way as they backed out, driving awkwardly over broken debris and back out onto the Lucre's back yard. They pulled out into the street. Once they got some clearance, they would switch the car into its flying mode and zip back to Global Justice headquarters in Middleton.

Annie was excited to have finished her first mission, but she couldn't help but wonder if her enemy was in big trouble with his mom.

XX

Kim, her husband and daughter, and the Global Justice squad she had taken to Frugal Lucre's house had just reentered the Global Justice underground Middleton headquarters. It was standard protocol to return to G.J. headquarters after a mission for debriefing, despite the fact that it was Christmas Eve and Kim was looking forward to going home to her family. Not to mention that Monique would be visiting sometime between Christmas and New Years, which was always a lot of fun. But first things first – it was time to see how Annie's mission went.

Kim led her daughter over to the floating holographic readout screen displayed over a table in the center of the mission control room. Holographic images and data poured through the air as the floating screen scrolled left and right, up and down. Dr. Director stood in front of the holograph, controlling it by tracing her fingers through the air. Her hair was beginning to gray, but her figure was still as lithe as it was years ago, her movement just as confident and authoritative.

"So how did I do?" asked Annie as she looked at the mission data spilling out in a fountain over the holograph emitter set into the table.

"Very well," said Dr. Director. "You did let Lucre get the drop on you at the end of the mission, but that's not surprising for your first time in the field. And I was impressed by many of your moves, Annabelle. Taking a lot of martial arts lessons, I assume?"

"Mostly from my mom," said Annie, "but I take a few classes too. It's hard to find anybody who can teach me better than a Global Justice field director," she said, referring to her mother. Kim squeezed her daughter's shoulder, happy to hear a little flattery now and then.

Dr. Director peered at Kim with her one good eye. "That's true," she said. "I'm surprised Kim hasn't taken my job already. But I guess she prefers being field subdirector instead of overall director. More independence, right Kim?"

"That's right," said Kim. "But now that you mention it, how much does your job pay again?"

Dr. Director rolled an eye as she returned to the readouts.

"I still can't believe you busted in there and interrupted my mission right when I was about to subdue the bad guy," said Annie to her father, who had just joined them in the center of the control room after a brief conversation with Will Du about the Global Justice operative's recent zen for baking. "I so had it covered!"

"You think so?" asked Ron.

"I know so, dad. What'd it look like?"

"I don't know," said Ron. "I must have just been imagining that big gun pointed at you."

Annie folded her arms together stubbornly. She knew her dad had a point, and she did think it was very sweet of him to come in and save her, but she was a little insecure about Frugal Lucre almost getting the drop on her during her first mission, so she couldn't flat out admit that her dad was right. That would be, like, embarrassing.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you," said Ron. "I was just a bit worried about my daughter, that's all. And hey, think of me as your first sidekick. I helped you out, just like I help out Kim on her missions."

"I guess that makes sense," admitted Annie. "Thanks for the backup, dad."

Annie gave her father a warm hug, which Ron happily returned.

"I still can't believe you convinced me to let Frugal Lucre stay at his house after what he was trying to do," said Dr. Director. "You know the man is a threat, Kim."

"I must agree," said Will Du as he joined the group. "Frugal Lucre has some dangerous abilities if he came close to hacking the Neural Network."

"Yeah, but we've got that whole house bugged now," said Kim, "and we have the operatives on stakeout, the ankle monitor... there's no way he's trying anything. And you guys both know Frugal Lucre is not the type for grandiose escapes. It's the holidays – even someone like him deserves to enjoy it with his family, don't you think?"

"I must take your word for it," said Will Du.

Dr. Director closed down the holographic readout, having seen enough. "Speaking of which, we're not keeping you from any Christmas Eve plans, are we?" she asked Kim. "We should be just about wrapped up here."

"You're not keeping us, but we do have to go in a moment. We like to open our presents on Christmas Eve, and we've got family waiting for us. Actually," said Kim as she looked at her wrist Kimmunicator, "it is about time to go. You don't mind?"

"Not at all. I expect you back in six days on the dot – until then, enjoy the holidays break!"

"Sure, sure. You too!"

Kim said goodbye to her coworkers and joined her husband and daughter as they entered the transport tubes that led up from the Global Justice underground base into the sidewalks of downtown Middleton. Kim felt herself rising up rapidly as the rocky underground scenery outside the tube rushed by in a blur. She enjoyed working at Global Justice, and being a field agent meant that she didn't have to be cooped up underground and could spend more time doing the hands-on mission work she loved most. Not to mention that she had a little more freedom from the bureaucracy of the organization.

It had been hard to convince Dr. Director to let Frugal Lucre spend the holidays with his mother, but Kim had felt it was the right thing to do. Ron had freaked out a little more quickly than she did when they watched the spy screen in the Sloth and saw Frugal Lucre aiming that weapon at their daughter, but Kim had to admit, the sight had scared her as well. It had made her wonder if extending some sympathy towards Frugal Lucre had been a mistake.

She felt a little sorry for the man, as he was almost past middle aged and still living in the same house with his mother, still failing in his schemes. She felt like sending him to jail on Christmas was harsh, somehow. Even for someone who was trying to manipulate people's brainwaves using the Neural Network and steal somewhat large amounts of money. Not only that, but Kim was guilty about the unplanned catastrophic structural damage they had caused to his house. She had a feeling that Frugal would be cheering up a little when he opened his Christmas presents, but he was a bit of a sad sack sometimes.

And yet, he was a supervillain as well. One of the least dangerous ones they faced, despite his technical talents, which was why she had chosen him for Annie's first mission as a sort of test subject. A way to get her daughter's foot in the door. But he was still a threat. Seeing her daughter fighting him had reminded her of that. Kim hoped she hadn't lost perspective on how dangerous her line of work was.

XX

The Sloth sputtered up to the Possible home after a much longer drive than Kim, Ron, or Annie had been anticipating. Their home was in Middleton, only a few blocks away from Kim's parents' house as a matter of fact, but clearly there were still some kinks in the torpedo design the twins had recently added to the car, and which Ron had so thoughtfully put to use on Annie's mission that afternoon. Kim managed to get the car to park and, satisfied it wasn't going to blow up, went into her house to find their Christmas guests waiting for them.

"Hey sis!" said Jim as he met Kim in the entryway. "It's about time! Meet my girlfriend, Tracey!"

"Hey Tracey," said Kim as she shook a woman's hand whom she did not recognize.

"Nice to meet you!" bubbled Tracey. "I've heard so much about you. You look shorter than you did when I saw you on television."

"Yeah, people say that to me sometimes," said Kim, although no one had ever said that to her before.

Tracey seemed friendly enough, although Kim still had some trouble getting used to the fact that Jim had grown into quite a ladies man over the years. He seemed to be with a different girl every time Kim saw him. Tim, on the other hand, had grown much more reserved than he had ever been in his childhood, although he still had a passion for the rocket science and gadgetry that their father loved so much. The two of them worked together in the Middleton Space Center, and Kim got to see Tim more often than she did Jim.

"What took you so long?" asked Tim. "Dad was grumbling about opening the presents without you."

"That armored torpedo design you guys added? It still needs some work. We were driving over here from downtown and the car kept trying to turn the armor mode on and off and pull the wheels in. I swear I thought we were going to drive straight through a building."

"Should have let me take the wheel," said Ron.

All three Possible siblings gave Ron a look which told him he would have blown up the Sloth just by touching the steering wheel. "Hey, come on," he said. "I'm not that bad!"

"Where's everybody else?" asked Kim.

"In the living room."

Jim and Tim took them into the living room, where Kim's parents were sitting on the couch and watching an old Christmas movie on television with Uncle Barkin and Uncle Wade. Even though Steve could be a bit of a pain sometimes, Kim knew that he got lonely on the holidays, and once she and Ron had extended an invitation for him to join them in their Christmas celebrations, Barkin had been eager to stop by every year. Ron's invitation had been a little more grudging, of course, but Kim had elbowed him into it. And Barkin had actually given Kim and Global Justice a lot of help over the years, once Kim found out just how much experience he had in his past when it came to fighting supervillains and foiling evil schemes.

"Where have you guys been?" asked Anne Possible as she saw her daughter and son-in-law enter the room.

"Hey mom. The usual. How have you been?"

Anne hugged her daughter from over the back of the couch. "We're doing well, Kimmie. We got here a few hours ago, but we've had Mr. Barkin for company until you arrived. The twins just got here about half an hour ago."

James noticed his granddaughter standing behind his daughter. "Well hello there!" he said. "That must have been one long mission, Annabelle!"

"Hey Grandpa," said Annie as she gave her grandparents a hug and plopped down beside them on the couch. "It wasn't that long, we just had some car trouble. You should have seen me taking out Frugal Lucre though, it was totally badical!"

"I can imagine," said James. "So that means you're still interested in the missions?"

Annie nodded enthusiastically as she stretched an arm over each side of the back of the couch and made herself comfortable. "Definitely. I can see why mom was so into them!"

"Was?" asked Kim. "You say that like I'm a retiree."

"Well, you know what I mean," said Annie. "It's not like you do them all the time anymore."

"Hmmm. Nice spin."

"Thanks mom. You should have seen dad though, he was totally embarrassing – he drove the car right through Frugal Lucre's basement wall. It was ridiculous!"

Annie had gotten over some of her insecurity about the way the mission ended since they left Global Justice headquarters, and now she was mostly giving her father a hard time. She stuck her tongue out at Ron, who sputtered indignantly for a moment.

"Talk about ungrateful!" he said with a smile.

Kim sat in a chair, her husband pulling up a seat beside her, as they listened to Annie talking about the details of the mission. Wade seemed particularly interested in Annie's exploits – or, more specifically, Frugal Lucre's exploits - since his genius had gotten him involved in countless things over the course of his life that inevitably drew his attention away from missions.

"Did Lucre say anything about how he was going to hack into the World Wide Neural Network?" asked Wade. Lucre didn't hold a candle to his own technical abilities, but Wade did have a grudging respect for the man even if he never did anything particularly useful with his knowledge.

"I don't know," said Annie. "I was just there for the punching and the kicking."

Kim smiled at her old tech genius friend. "You can ask Dr. Director for information," she said, "but I'm guessing at least some of it is probably classified."

"What's the use of having a friend inside of G.J. when you can't even get her to tell you classified information," said Wade. "Sheesh."

"Like you haven't hacked into their systems before," Kim pointed out. "And like you aren't going to as soon as you get home."

Wade gave Kim a surreptitious wink, at which Annie couldn't help but laugh.

Kim was glad to be home from overseeing her daughter's first mission. She and Annie had joined Ron in visiting his parents during Hannukah celebrations earlier that month already, and now it was time for Kim to celebrate Christmas with her own parents. Although Ron did like to make latkes in the kitchen after presents were opened. The Possibles took a fairly eclectic approach to the holidays.

"Sounds like you're following in your mother's footsteps," said Steve Barkin as he listened to the Possibles' daughter talk about her excitement over upcoming missions that were already unfolding themselves in her head, involving the enemies Kim and Ron had faced over the years.

"Don't get me wrong," said Annie, "I like other stuff too – debate team is pretty fun, and I like to cook thanks to dad, so I'm keeping my options open. But I definitely think I'll be doing more missions in the future, as long as mom doesn't stall anymore on letting me go on them. Man - once I can talk about those at school, I can really wipe the smile off Belinda's face when she talks about being better than me at debate all the time."

"Ah yes," said Steve Barkin as he reminisced about his teaching days. "The vicious, untamed jungle of high school social life."

"It's kind of a drag," Annie admitted, "but you have to play the game sometimes. And maybe Josh will notice me."

"Josh?" asked Ron, his hackles rising. "What's this kid's last name?"

"I don't remember," said Annie, realizing she had just accidentally let out secret crush information to her family, which was maybe the most embarrassing faux pas she could have made on the holidays.

"Does he have frosted blond hair?"

Annie thought for a moment. He was beyond hot as far as guys went, but it wasn't like she had taken the time to notice every detail of his appearance. "Sort of blonde-ish?" she said.

"Hmm. I'm going to need to meet this Josh character. Make sure he's not up to any monkey business."

Ron looked at James, who nodded in confirmation that Ron's idea was a solid one. Anne Possible and Annie both rolled their eyes at the sight of the silent exchange.

Kim had been listening to the conversation between her family, but as her daughter had talked about the mission with Frugal Lucre and her desire to go on more missions in the future, Kim couldn't help but think about what she had seen earlier from the spy monitor watching Frugal Lucre's basement. Ron's reaction had been immediate, and while Kim was trained to react more rationally in situations, it had turned out that barreling the Sloth through the wall had been a good move after all. Another point for the Ron Factor. Still, even if Kim hadn't freaked out as quickly, she found herself fixated on the image of what had happened.

Her family chatted amiably as Kim got up and went to the kitchen, wanting a few moments to herself. Annie had wanted to do missions for a long time – years now, in fact – and Kim knew it was because of all the stories she and her husband had told their daughter ever since she was a child. She knew that Annie's newfound passion for fighting villainy was because of her and Ron.

She had held off on letting Annie try missions out, but she remembered her own childhood and recognized how closely Annie was following the path she had taken. Sooner or later, Annie would do what she wanted – there was no stopping her, and when it came down to it, Kim didn't really want to stop her. She couldn't hold back such a passion. Kim knew that from experience.

Ron wanted to make latkes later that evening, and Kim began to gather ingredients for him and place them on the counter. She tried to stay composed, but after a moment she felt herself begin to shake a little. A tear ran down from her eye. She didn't want to cry – today had been nothing she wasn't expecting – but she couldn't help it. She knew exactly what Ron had been thinking when he drove that Sloth straight through Frugal's wall.

"Hey, hey! What's the sitch, Kim?"

Kim wiped a hand across her cheek as she felt Ron's hands slide around her. He had followed her into the kitchen, sensing that something was wrong; Ron had a tendency to pick up on things like that. She sniffed, holding his hand in her own as she looked out of the kitchen window over the counter.

"Ron, I – I just – seeing Frugal Lucre point that thing that Annie, even if it wasn't that dangerous – it caught me off guard. I thought I was ready to let Annie go on these missions, and I know we've been planning this, but I don't know Ron, I-"

Ron pulled her closer as she began to cry, just for a moment, before forcing herself to be composed again. Ron didn't care if she cried. He had certainly done it around her, and about far more ridiculous things - but he knew Kim had to be strong all the time, especially if she thought anyone else could see her. And he knew that she had been reluctant to let Annie follow in her footsteps, even more than Ron had been.

"It's okay Kim," he said, whispering into her ear as he held her. "I feel the same way."

"Do you think we're making a mistake, Ron?"

"No," her husband said. "I think Annie can handle herself. But it's not our choice to make. Annie's growing up, and she's got the same fire in her that you have, KP. At some point we have to let her go, you know."

"I never want to let her go, Ron."

"Well, okay. We have to give her a little more slack on her leash, at least."

Kim burst into laughter, although it was still a little jagged from her brief crying. She gave Ron a kiss and held him closely for a moment as they stood alone. Ron was right, and in the past, Kim had often told herself the same thing he had just told her. But after today, she needed the reassurance. She needed to hear it from someone else. Kim was thankful that Ron always had her back.

"Ready to go open some presents?" asked Ron.

Kim finished collecting herself and nodded. She and Ron did not have the irrepressible excitement over Christmas gifts that they had in the past – the days of burgeoning romance and unique gifts were gone, and neither of them could think of a better gift-for-two than spending time with each other at the mall or at Bueno Nacho while Annie was at school. But she still enjoyed opening a present or two, and she knew some other people were probably itching to open theirs. Her daughter, her brothers, and probably Uncle Barkin, for instance.

Despite Kim's last-second doubts about Annie's desire to be a world-saving superhero, she knew that it was Annie's future. Which was why Kim needed to finish what she had started that morning, and watch her daughter open her most important Christmas present.

XX

Annie was growing a little bit bored of watching a Christmas special with Uncle Barkin, Uncle Wade, and her family. It was getting to be about time to open the presents. Annie wasn't young enough that she act childish and get away with it anymore, so she had to remain quiet and pretend she was in no hurry, but she was definitely wishing somebody was around to speed things up a little.

"Hey," she said as she looked over the back of the couch at the sound of her parents returning from the kitchen, "where did you two get off to?"

"Just getting some food ready for later," said Ron. "Ready to open the presents?"

"You know it. Are you?"

"Booyah!"

Annie jumped down from the couch and knelt beneath the tree as she began to sift through the presents. Jim and Tim may have been in their late twenties, but they were just as excited at the prospect of getting goodies on their visit to their sister's house, so they joined Annie on the floor. Jim's girlfriend Tracey also joined in, who just seemed to be excited about anything and everything. Annie picked out a box with her name on the card - her first present was from her mother.

"What is it?" she asked before opening the box.

"I don't think you get how presents work," joked Ron.

"Just wondering, dad."

"It's just some math textbooks for your next semester," said Kim. "Your present was the mission earlier today, didn't I tell you? That should be enough for two or three years, really."

"You're hilarious."

Annie tore open the present. Nestled in tissue paper within the box, she found a strange item. For a moment she thought she had accidentally grabbed one of Wade's presents – he liked gadgetry – but she quickly realized what she was looking at. A grappling gun, like the one her mother often talked about using on her missions. Annie wanted to shoot the gun at something before she had even wrapped her hand around the grip.

The grappling gun was exciting, but more than the gun itself, she knew what the present really was. Kim had not been joking about her mission with Frugal Lucre being her Christmas present. This was an extension of it. It was her mother, giving Annie her approval. It was the final go-ahead on what Annie had been begging to try for years, the final step in what she had begun in earnest earlier that day. Soon, Annie would be freak fighting with the best of them.

"I love it, mom."

Kim smiled as she watched her daughter aim the grappling gun, although she flinched as the gun traveled by an expensive table lamp on the far side of the room. Annie put down the grappling gun and grabbed a gift from under the tree.

"Here's one for you, mom."

Kim took the present from her daughter as she sat on the couch between her parents. It was a very small gift, almost the size of an envelope – sure enough, when she unwrapped it, she stared at a note card. Kim raised an eyebrow at her daughter, wondering if she was about to get money for Christmas, which seemed a little lame on Annie's part. Not that Kim was complaining, since a gift was a gift. She opened the note card and found a piece of paper inside, but it was not a bill.

"Get out of mission free card," read Kim as she picked up the piece of paper and read the printed message on its front. "You're going to have to explain this one to me, Annie."

"I knew you were going to let me go on the mission today," said Annie, "so when I was getting gifts, I thought you might like that one. And if I hadn't fought Frugal Lucre today, I thought it might be an incentive for you to let me try. It's a card you can use to get me out of a mission."

"Get you out? What do you mean?"

"If I'm about to go on a mission," said Annie, "and you have a bad feeling about it, you think it's too dangerous, or you just don't want me to go for some reason, you can use that card – just once – and I won't go. No matter what the mission is, I promise. Unless it's some bad guy that kidnapped you I guess, in which case you couldn't use the card in the first place because you'd be kidnapped. But anyway, I thought you'd like something like that, because I know you'll be worrying about me sometimes."

Kim smiled. She never would have guessed what was inside the note card, even if she had all year to try, but it was the perfect gift. Her whole family had an uncanny knack for telling her exactly what she needed to hear, whether in words or in writing.

"Come here, Annie."

Annie got up from beside the tree as Kim got up from the couch and embraced her daughter. It was embarrassing, but Annie humored her mother for as long as she needed.

"Thanks, honey. I love you."

"I love you too, mom."

Uncle Barkin, who was feeling a tear threaten to escape from his eye, coughed gruffly and got up from the couch. "Stoppable," he said, "I mean, Ron – why don't you and I go make those Jewish pancakes of yours?"

"Latkes, Mr. Barkin."

"Whatever. I feel like burning something. Teach me how!"

Ron shrugged and got up as he followed his elderly former teacher into the kitchen. "By the way," he said before he left the family room, "remember we have that Snowman Hank marathon later tonight!"

"That show is so old," said Annie mockingly. "It's not even holographic."

"You're gonna watch it and enjoy it, young lady! And later I might make some Cocoa-Moo."

Annie rolled her eyes at the mention of Cocoa-Moo. Ron was a huge fan of it, even though Annie thought there was nothing that spectacular about hot chocolate, but her father claimed it was a super-secret recipe he had learned from Uncle Drakken years ago. It was a holiday staple in the Possible family. She squeezed into the couch beside her mother and commandeered the remote from her grandfather, who looked at her in shock, and began to flip channels in order to find something a little more contemporary on television.

Judging by the smile on Kim's face, Annie knew she had gotten her mother just what she wanted. She eyed the grappling gun, still in its box, begging to be shot at something breakable. Annie knew she had gotten just what she wanted as well.

XX

The fire crackling and roaring in the fireplace was not quite enough to really warm Francis and his mother, but it made things a little more tolerable. There had been just enough blue tarp stuffed in a box in the closet to cover the gaping hole in the side of the family room where the wall had collapsed, but cold air still seeped through the thin layer of covering from outside and permeated the room. A couch was pushed up close to the fireplace, and the Lurmans gathered as close as they could without actually burning themselves as they enjoyed some Christmas eggnog.

"I don't know why you always gotta fool around with those silly plans of yours, Francis," said his mother as she pulled a blanket tighter around her. "That young lady seemed very nice, too – why do you always have to have nice young ladies coming to our house and breaking things and beating you up?"

"It's just a hobby, ma."

"Why couldn't ya take up knitting instead, sweetie? I always said you had nimble fingers."

Francis sighed as his mother berated him. He supposed it was deserved, seeing as his latest plan had ended up caving in about a quarter of the house, but it was still adding insult to injury. Francis was not getting any younger, and his mom sure wasn't, either. All those years of trying to conquer the world, and he still had nothing to show for it. No successes, no trophies for his bedroom bookshelf.

His mother wanted to know why Francis kept bothering with his silly plans, and after so many failures, Francis had to wonder the same thing. His main goal had always been to make money – not to move somewhere else or go traveling around the world, because Frugal was happy to live with his mother in the same house where he had been born, but to provide for the two of them, and to carefully invest it.

But he had to admit there was something thrilling about the idea of his schemes actually succeeding as well. He could understand why supervillains were so keen on world domination, even if Francis himself didn't aim that high. It meant not being walked on. Not living as a nobody. It was something to be proud of – but Francis had never experienced that. He was turning into an old man, and he was still being beaten by teenage girls. Compared to the other supervillains, Francis knew he was nothing to write home about, even if he didn't like to think about it very often. All his life, he had been mediocre. A cheap knock-off.

"Are you done with your presents, sweetie?"

Francis looked at the torn wrapping paper that littered the small space between the couch and the fireplace. He and his mother had been opening the presents they had pulled from the rubble around the Christmas tree in the collapsed basement, which the tarp was now covering. His mother wore the cubic zirconia necklace he had gotten for her, and he had been enjoying the bargain bin Jack Hench laser pistol that his mother knew he had been pining for all year. However, there was one present remaining, nestled in the discarded wrapping paper like an egg waiting to be hatched by the heat of the fire.

"Nope!" he said. "Looks like there's one more present to go."

Francis picked up the present. The card on the top was addressed to him. He shook it, unable to restrain his curiosity despite the fact that he was about to open it in just a moment. Unable to guess at what might be inside, Francis opened the note and read it.

Dear Frugal Lucre -

Sorry to inconvenience you on Christmas by sending our daughter Annie to stop your schemes. Annie is a very skilled and talented young lady who wants to get into the world saving business like her mother, and for her first mission, we wanted to make sure she was up against a serious supervillain who could give her a real challenge. We didn't want her to fight a second-rate villain and coddle her, so we chose you. By way of thanks, we thought we'd give you a little something for Christmas. Hope you like it!

- The Possibles

Despite the rampant materialism of the holiday, Francis Lurman was a big believer in the Christmas spirit. And yet he had not been expecting to get a present from Kim and Ron Possible. He put aside the note and eagerly opened the present itself, and after a flurry of green and red wrapping paper, he reached a glossy black plaque affixed to the front of a polished wooden award with an attached stand.

There was an engraving on the plague, which read 'Frugal Lucre: World's Best Supervillain'.

"What'd you get there, dear?"

Francis wiped a tear from his eye as he carefully put the plaque in its nest of tissues within the box.

"It's nothing, ma."

It was more than nothing, of course, but he didn't want his mother to feel like she had been out-gifted. Not that anyone could out-gift his mother. The very thought was ludicrous. Later that night, Francis knew he would put his trophy on top of the case in his bedroom before he went to sleep. Just as soon as he went outside through the hole in the wall and played with the laser gun his mother had given him.

XX

Notes - That's it, hope you liked it. Reviews are appreciated. :)

While this story is a stand-alone, it could technically also work as part of the same universe as "Back to School" if you have read that. Unless there's some contradiction I haven't thought of, since I wasn't writing this specifically to be a continuation. If you haven't read that story and want something with a similar tone to this one, check it out.