Shit.
Kim came home after taking Leonardo back to Doctor Director; she reported that the “great doggy façade” was a huge success, which made Betty breathe a sigh of relief. Apparently, the money meant a lot to Betty. Kim was glad to not be so needy and in charge of a whole department of police officers. She could imagine how nerve wrecking the one-eyed woman’s job was with some many people depending on her decisions and her ability to get them what they require.
The redhead entered the apartment and scanned the perimeter for evidence indicting if Drakken was still there or not. Her sharp eyes did not catch sight of anything that proclaimed his presence or his absence. She did not want to go to her mistress’ door and listen for some sign, so she decided to sleep in her bed for once; it was there for that reason, after all.
When the girl woke up the next morning, she found out that she had made a very sound decision. She heard Drakken complaining about something, but she did not bother to try and comprehend his incoherent babbling; it was too early in the morning for his crap. She just lay in bed and waited for the couple to leave for work. Part of her did wonder what the inventor was bitching about; he got to sleep with and wake up next to her mistress. He should be ecstatic whenever that happened, in her opinion anyway.
Shego watched Drakken walk out of the door and then she told him that she would be out in a moment. He did not argue, thankfully. She was not a morning person, so she would have just snapped at him if he had any words for her; all of his complaining that morning had been directed toward the air and wisely not to her. She knocked on the wall below the loft to get her pet’s attention.
“Yeah?” Kim asked.
“Breakfast is on the counter,” Shego informed the girl.
“Okay.”
“Do you have classes today?”
“Yeah.”
“Then get your ass up,” the pale woman commanded.
“Yes,” Kim groaned. Her master made sure that she went to all of her classes, not that she needed to do that.
“Now,” Shego ordered. She could hear her pet throwing a tantrum in the loft.
Shego was pleased with how the day was going. Why was that? Well, she was currently tracking a thief with the talent to stretch; she had an assignment for once and she was thankful for that. He had tried to punch her from about fifty yards away when she first came across him and informed him that she was law. She dodged that attack easily because while he could stretch, he could not do it very rapidly; it did give him a chance to run, though.
For some reason, the thief did not want to stop and play with her, much to Shego’s dismay. She actually did not care that he did not want to mix it up; after all, eventually, she was going to catch him and they were going to have to dance whether he liked it or not. He did not seem to know that, though.
The green-skinned woman made sure to stay on the guy’s tail while he was attempting to make a getaway. She panicked him every now and then by “disappearing” from behind him and then “appearing” in front of him. It was amusing, but she was really just waiting for him to get frustrated enough to throw his arms out a long distance again. She did not have to wait very long.
The thief huffed and flung his arm out at Shego while she was ahead of him. She was prepared for the situation thanks to the chief briefing her on the guy. She smirked and moved in front of a car. He followed her, putting out a hand on each side of the car, so that she could not get away. Shego took hold of his arm and put one ring of some handcuffs around his wrist. She then quickly grabbed his other limb and attached the second ring to that arm. She was not done yet.
While his arms where stretched out beyond her, apparently he was not the best judge of distances, she began lifting the car up since she knew that he was going to have to bring his arms back. It did take a lot of her strength to lift that car; hey, she got plasma energy, not super-strength when the meteor was dishing out powers. He snapped his limbs back to hopefully get a hold of her, but she ducked just in time and he ended up bringing the car that was in between both of them to him. He screamed in terror before the automobile even impacted him.
“Ouch,” Shego grimaced as he smacked himself with the small car. “That’ll leave a mark,” she commented. She had work; she felt good.
(New Day)
Shego felt like crap. She had not gotten any sleep for the past few days. She sat up just dreading the day that she had for one simple reason. It was the same reason why she had not gotten any sleep and why she felt like crap.
She was sitting up in her bed at the moment. She was waiting for her pet to come in because she knew that the girl would; well, she hoped that the girl would. Kim had actually slept in her own bed for the past week or so, so Shego believed that her imp was due. Although she did feel that way yesterday too and the day before that, not to mention the day before that, and she was only disappointed those days.
Shego glanced at her clock; it was well after midnight. Maybe her munchkin was going to stay in her bed again. Shego did not understand it; why was her monster not being, well, a monster? Why was Kim suddenly obeying the rules? Shego wondered if the girl knew that something was wrong. With her pet, it was quite possible. After all, the redhead seemed to sense when she came home before she even made it to the door and she smelled that she used different soap and shampoo when she stayed at Drakken’s place or even when she was just there for a few hours. Maybe her girl knew.
Just as she was thinking that her twerp was going to stay where she was, the door creaked open. The redhead staggered in; it seemed that she was half-asleep. She closed the door silently and quietly marched over to her mistress’ bed, seemingly not noticing Shego was sitting up, wide awake and alert. The pale woman guessed that her brat sneaked into her bed so often that she would do it with her brain running on automatic now. She went straight for her usual spot too, which Shego thought was amusing and rather darling.
The emerald-eyed female happened to be sitting where Kim tended to park herself in the bed. She crawled into bed right onto Shego. The officer laughed a bit while grabbing up her surprised girl.
“Come here you,” Shego said and she cradled the redhead in arms, which woke Kim all the way up.
“What’s going on?” Kim asked with a yawn.
“You tell me. You’re the one creeping in here at damn near one in the morning.”
“How come you’re not asleep?” the olive-eyed girl inquired while resting her head on Shego’s shoulder and wrapping her arms around her warm owner’s waist. She decided to enjoy being with her keeper as they were, even though she could sense that something was amiss just for the fact that her owner was still awake and currently cradling her. She could not guess what that might be because everything seemed to be going on as usual, aside at the moment anyway. She figured that once her brain was completely on in the morning then she could deduce what was going on.
“No reason,” Shego answered as to why she was still awake. She rested her cheek in her pet’s soft orange-red mane.
“Are you sure? You can tell me, you know.”
“I know, Princess. I know.”
The super-powered female continued to embrace her pet, even when the girl fell back to sleep. She stared down at her cute, little imp. What was she going to do, Shego wondered. What if it was true? Would she have to give her pet up? To be perfectly honest with herself for the first time in a long time, she did not to give the little monster up. She wanted to keep her pet.
“Would you stay with me forever like you said if it’s true?” Shego wondered.
For a few seconds, the pale woman doubted that even her very devoted pet would stay with her if she knew. She would not be able to pamper the girl as much as Kim was now accustomed to. But, she knew, deep down, Kim did not stick around with her to be spoiled. The little pest might actually try to stick around, she considered.
She would probably have to give the girl up for her own good once again. Her pet might try to stay, even if things got hard. She bet that the girl would try to sacrifice for her to be there for her and she just could not have that because that was not her brat’s job.
Shego sat at her desk, considering going to talk to Betty about her possible predicament. She really did not desire to have the conversation with her friend because she would prefer the one-eyed woman did not know about the problem that she might have. Well, she supposed that she should not think of it as a problem, but that was what she believed it to be; well, that was if it was even there. It might not be anything at all.
The emerald-eyed female noted that she had gotten off-track; she was supposed to be pondering chatting with Betty. She was leaning toward not doing it; things would more than likely be better for her that way. She doubted that her friend would be much help; she was willing to bet that the one-eyed female would just lecture her about things that she already knew. It was not like she was some silly, scatter-brained, careless teenager, but that was how Betty would make it seem more than likely.
The bad thing was that Shego did not have anyone else to go to, which she supposed was why most people had at least two or three good friends; it was like having a spare. She really did not want to put up with Betty’s cynicism at the moment. She had too much on her mind already to think about how condescending the chocolate-haired woman would be if she discussed the matter with her. She was not sure who else to speak with, though.
Well, there was always one other person that she could discuss the issue with. There was one person that she could speak with and probably get some good advice without any smugness attached to it. Unfortunately, that one person’s opinion of her would probably drop very low. She should not care about that, but deep in a part of her being that she hated and wished that she could cut out with a steak knife, she did care. She did not want to have the conversation at all, but she needed to talk with someone and Betty was out.
She considered that instead of talking with someone, she could just pour her troubles out to her pet, which was what she typically did. She generally just told her pet things while the girl was curled up next to her for whatever reason or while she was grooming her brat instead of yakking about things with other people. Her imp was a good listener and she always felt better after telling the redhead things.
The raven-haired woman could not tell her little monster about her current problem, though. She would have to tell her munchkin that she might have to leave or at least get a job or something along those lines. She would have to inform her pet that she could not be a pet anymore. She did not want that; she desired that her pet stay just the way that she was.
Shego sighed; it was going to come down to waiting, which she had been doing for a while, too long in her opinion. She might as well talk with someone, she conceded. She pulled out her cell phone and searched her mother’s number. She dialed and her mother’s voicemail picked up. She sighed again, but left a three word message anyway.
“Mommy, it’s me,” was the brief message.
Shego had to wait until she was on her way to her car after an extremely boring day at work for her mother to get back to her. She wondered what sort of business her mother was conducting for her to have been tied up for so long. It was not her business, but she figured that she would ask if she got the chance.
“Hey, firefly. You called me?” Isabel asked the obvious question.
“Yeah,” Shego replied with a sigh.
“I would’ve gotten back to you sooner, but I’m helping do fight choreography on a television show or something and these people are far from martial artists. They should just give it up and call in some doubles to do the work. What’s wrong? You sound stressed. Is your pet giving you hell?” Isabel teased.
“No, Pumpkin’s fine. It’s just that I think I might have to give her up.”
“Why is that? She’s being a good girl, right?”
“Oh, yeah, she’s being really good,” Shego assured her mother.
“Then what’s the problem? You know she wants to stay with you, so she’ll be hard to get rid of. Well, unless she wants to leave anyway. Does she want to leave?” Isabel asked curiously.
Isabel was very aware that Kim cared passionately about her daughter, so she doubted that it was Kim’s idea for her to leave. She wondered what her daughter had gotten into where she might have to make her beloved pet leave. She would prefer that her daughter not do anything and let Kim decide if she wanted to stay or not. She believed that Kim would stay no matter what and she also believed that her closed-off daughter needed her little pet to stick around.
“She doesn’t want to leave. But, she might have to go,” Shego answered her mother’s question.
“Why would she have to go?” the older woman inquired.
“Because… I’m late,” the officer informed her mother.
“You’re late?”
“Yeah, Mommy, I’m late late.”
“You mean….?” Isabel asked, getting what her daughter was implying. She could hardly believe that. She was glad that they were speaking over the phone and not face to face or she would have offended her daughter because of the expression that she was wearing at the moment.
“Yes,” Shego confirmed.
“Well, don’t panic,” Isabel said while making sure to take her own advice.
“I’m trying my best not to.”
“It might be nothing. Have you bought one of those tests?” her mother asked.
“No.”
“Well, maybe you should buy one of those,” Isabel suggested.
“I….”
“I know it’s a bit of a scary thought, but it’s better to know than to worry. If you are, you don’t really need to get rid of your pet. I mean, I kept my parrot when I had your brother,” Isabel remarked.
“Yeah, you had that parrot until Hego… Well, let’s not even relive what he did to that bird. Besides, Princess isn’t a parrot.”
“I know,” Isabel replied. She decided against asking why the pet would have to go because she could guess the reasoning behind that since it took two people to get into the situation that Shego was in. “Look, firefly, just take it one step at a time. Don’t worry about questions that depend on an answer you haven’t gotten yet. Get the answer and then figure out what to do with Princess. Try not to worry.”
“I’m not worrying,” Shego argued.
“All right, all right, you’re not worrying. Well, just get one of those tests and take it from there. Feel free to call me and tell me the news.”
“All right,” Shego replied.
“And if it is nothing, do be careful from now on.”
“Mommy,” she huffed.
“I’m just saying,” Isabel stated.
Shego sighed as she disconnected the call because she did not even want to hear anything else from her mother. She was careful, but sometimes, unfortunate things happened that were out of her control. Now, she was going to have to go to the store now and probably get the worst news of her life. She did not even want to think about it.
When Shego got into the house, she suffered through her usual greeting. Kim noted that her mistress had a plastic bag in her hand and she was sparked by her usual curiosity; not to mention her usual hope that the bag contained something for her. She watched as her apparently wary owner disregarded the bag by hanging it on the bathroom doorknob. Kim was a bit bemused as Shego left the bag and went into her bedroom.
“No ‘don’t touch it’ standing order?” the redhead wondered out loud. It was like her master barely noticed her to not leave such a command.
Kim considered that she might be heading into a trap. She had to chance it, though; her curiosity demanded satisfaction. She crept up on the bag and looked around in every direction just in case her keeper was around. The coast was very clear; a little too clear in her suspicious opinion. She tested the waters by poking the bag once and then stepping away very quickly, just in case her mistress started yelling as she normally did. But, no noise followed her actions for once.
The redhead grinned and grabbed the bag. She silently did a victory dance; she was about to get away with something! She opened the bag and saw that there were three small boxes inside. She picked up one to see what it was and gasped while dropping the bag.
Kim then did something so unlike her and it made very little sense; she ran. She did not even leave the house, which was why it did not make any sense and she knew that it was stupid. She retreated up to her space and hid under her cover as if she was frightened toddler. She was not sure why she did that, but she did it and she stayed up there for the whole evening.
“Princess, are you coming down for dinner?” Shego inquired. She had not bothered the girl, thinking that she might be doing school work or something. She did not get an answer to her question. “Princess, are you even still up there?” she called.
“Yeah,” Kim replied in a mumble.
“Come on, I made the cutlets that you like.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“What?” Shego asked. She was not sure that she had ever heard such words from her brat before. She was not sure what made her petite monster think that dinner was an option anyway.
“Not hungry,” the girl huffed.
“Come down here right now!” the pale woman commanded. There was no way that her girl was skipping a meal after she had taken the time out of her life to cook for the little twerp.
“No!” Kim replied, which shocked her master. Shocked and angered to be more precise.
“Get your little ungrateful ass down here right now!” the green-skinned woman ordered in a very forceful tone.
“Why don’t you come up here and make me!” the redhead retorted.
“Don’t think I won’t!” Shego proclaimed. If her shrimp truly believed that she would not come up there and yank her bony butt out of that loft, then the girl did not know her as well as she thought she did.
“You won’t!” Kim shot back.
Shego scoffed and climbed the ladder to the loft; her little brat would learn not to call her bluff and she would stop acting out while going to eat her dinner. She crawled onto the loft and scanned the area for her munchkin. She spotted her girl hiding underneath her blanket.
The raven-haired female sighed in sheer frustration the second that she saw where her pet was; she just did not need all the crap that was in her life at the moment, especially the sulking, spoiled monster that she had. She yanked the cover off of the lump that was her girl and found her elfish brat curled up into a tight ball with a distraught look on her face. She wondered what was wrong with her pet.
“Pumpkin,” Shego said in a stern voice that was meant to get the slender adventurer moving toward the table to eat her dinner.
“Go away,” Kim muttered as she turned her face away from her mistress.
“Stop moping and come eat,” the emerald-eyed woman ordered.
“I don’t want to,” the redhead mumbled.
Shego sighed once again in aggravation; the little bug was actually going to make her ask apparently. “Why not?” she inquired through gritted teeth.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Pumpkin, just what in the hell is your problem?” Shego demanded to know.
The emerald-eyed officer did not need a trying pet in her life at the moment. Kim was not helping her mood at all after the day that she had; not to mention, the past few days that she had. She was frustrated and ready to lash out at anything, so she did not need her imp acting like a maniac at the moment.
“You!” Kim answered in a harsh shout and her owner was actually taken back by that response.
The pale woman snarled and ignited her hands. She was not about to be ripped into by her pet, by someone that she clothed, fed, occasionally bathed, groomed, and a million other small things, especially not after the week she had. She raised her hand and was seriously prepared to strike the girl with all of her might. Kim did not seem to care.
“You’re not even going to move, are you?” Shego asked in disbelief.
“I don’t care,” the redhead pouted. Nothing mattered anymore. Shego could go ahead and pummel her; it might make things easier on her.
The green-skinned officer sighed and powered down. “What’s wrong?” she practically begged to know.
“Nothing.”
“Pumpkin, what is wrong?” Shego asked again because she was worried about her pet. The girl had never acted as she was at the moment.
Kim looked up at her beloved owner with the most pathetic and sorrowful expression that the older woman had ever witnessed. Shego did not understand why her elfish pest was looking at her in such a way. What had she done to the girl? What had she done to her little monster?
“You’re going to make me leave, aren’t you?” Kim asked in a whisper and it sounded as she was about to burst into tears.
“What’re you going on about?” Shego inquired.
The adventurer’s olive eyes began to well up with salty water; she was obviously about to cry. The pale female could not figure out what her girl’s problem was. She was at an absolute loss. She had not done anything to her brat all day and yesterday the girl seemed completely fine. So, she did not see why the girl was about to cry.
Shego sat down next to her girl’s bed and tried to grab Kim. The redhead resisted her mistress for the first time since they had met. Shego growled and pulled harder, but the younger woman continued to struggle.
“What the hell is your problem?” Shego demanded to know as she finally managed to collect her brat into her arms. The girl was being a real monster.
“I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to leave,” the eccentric adventurer replied in a mumble while shaking her head. A few tears rolled down her cheek, which Shego wiped away with her thumb.
“Why would you leave if you don’t want to?” the older woman inquired while trying to not think about the fact that the girl was seriously crying in her arms. Sure, she was not outright weeping, but the light tears were hurting her.
“You’re going to throw me out.” Kim was certain that she was going to be evicted from her home for the second time.
“Why would I do that?” the pale woman inquired. She had kept the girl that long, so what was going on in her pet’s head to think that she was going to throw her out? If she was going to get rid of her imp, she would have done it a long time ago, she reasoned mentally.
“Because…because…because you’re…you’re…you’re…” the redhead could not even manage the last word to make her phrase a sentence.
Shego picked up on the message that her monster was trying to convey. She glanced away for a moment. Her pet seemed to think on the same lines as she did, assuming automatically that she was going to have to go.
“You went in the bag, didn’t you?” Shego asked, even though she knew the answer to that.
“Uh-huh,” Kim replied. She had known that something was wrong with her master, but she had not thought that it was something so big, so life changing.
“Why?” Shego asked in a low, sympathetic tone. It sounded like she was pleading to know why her pet would do such a thing.
“I thought…I thought it was something for me. You didn’t tell me not to go into it,” the redhead answered in a small voice.
“So, I need to tell you not to go in a bag all of the time?”
“Well, it helps,” the girl said with a meek shrug.
“You’re such a pathetic creature,” Shego sighed. No matter what, her little monster would always be a pitiful thing in her eyes, she guessed. The girl just did such foolish and odd things.
“So, I’m going to have to leave, aren’t I?” Kim asked in a low voice, loathing the answer that she knew was going to come. Shego glanced away and sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that half hour alone.
Next time: the answer to Kim’s question. Isn’t that enough?