June 9, 2005
“How’s that Princess?”
Shego moved her index fingers and thumb first up and down, then from side to side against Kim’s soft skin. The sensations she was generating were nothing short of positively amazing.
“Mmmm…” Kim trailed off, her eyes closed, her mind wandering.
“And this?”
The side to side motions suddenly shifted into circular ones moving ever so higher, sending miniscule muscle spasms through Kim’s body.
“Mmmm.” Kim moaned, apparently unaware of the sounds her throat was emitting.
Shego paused in her ministrations, grinning at Kim.
“Use words Pumpkin. I can’t understand mumblings.”
Kim opened her eyes and lifted her head to meet Shego’s eyes. Kim was lying on her back on the bed with Shego crouched at the end, gingerly holding Kim’s right foot and leg in her arms and gently massaging the unused and ignored muscles in Kim’s lower leg.
“That was great.”
“I’m glad you thought so.”
“Have I told you that you would make an amazing massage therapist?”
Shego chuckled. “Maybe once or twice.”
“Well, you would.”
Shego smiled and crawled up, shifting her weight so that she was straddling Kim. She leaned over the cheerleader and quickly planted a soft kiss on her forehead.
“As I’ve always said to you before, we don’t want your muscles atrophying. Even though you can’t really exercise, we can still take measures to make sure you stay in shape.”
Kim nodded wordlessly, trying not to think about the situation she found herself in – pinned under Shego…on a bed.
“Well, I think its time for breakfast. Hungry?” Shego asked.
A muffled rumbling of Kim’s stomach answered the question before Kim could, making Shego laugh.
“I’ll be downstairs making pancakes and tea.”
Kim rolled her eyes.
“MORE tea?”
“Of course.”
“Why more tea? Haven’t you ever heard of orange juice? Or coffee? Or any other consumable liquid that’s NOT tea?”
Shego looked up at Kim in surprise. “You drink coffee?”
“No. But I’m just saying…”
“Tea. Its good for you.”
“No offense, but its been horrible tasting.”
“Add more honey.”
“You’re impossible.”
“No. You are. Be back in a few Princess.”
And without another word, Shego strode out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen and Kim let herself flop back onto the bed, letting out a contented sigh.
This is perfect…
But something kept nagging at her inside.
This is…almost…perfect.
Maybe she had been drinking too much of that damned tea…
The gentle and soothing sound of hot water being stirred reverberated through the small kitchen downstairs.
“Hmmm…” Shego mused as she realized that she was down to the last two bags of citrus chamomile.
Taking a quick look behind her to make sure Kim hadn’t snuck up behind her, Shego reached into the cabinet on top of the sink and retrieved the two vials. Popping off the tops, she took one white tablet from each container before replacing them back in the cabinet. Walking over to the counter, she took two spoons and crushed the pills between them, pouring the contents into one of the cups and stirring to dissolve. To the cup with the added ingredients, Shego added a generous amount of honey to disguise the bitter taste of the tablets.
Walking back upstairs, Shego handed the altered tea to Kim while keeping the normal cup for herself.
“Drink up Pumpkin.”
Kim took a tentative sip and nodded in approval.
“Ahhh, this is much better. What did you do different?”
“Added honey. A lot.”
“Well, this is MUCH better.” Kim smiled as she took another two gulps.
“I’m glad you like it. Remember to finish the whole thing. Then you can bring the cup downstairs and have some breakfast.”
“Oooooh, you’re letting me walk downstairs on my own?” Kim asked, her tone incredulous.
Shego sighed heavily.
“If you want to Princess.”
Kim nodded earnestly. “Now, THAT, I CAN do.”
“I’ll see you downstairs then.”
And once again, Shego exited the room with a flourish.
Sighing for a second time, Kim hoisted herself upright. Grabbing a spare hair tie from the nightstand, she pulled her long red hair into a loose ponytail and raised her arms above her head in an extremely satisfied stretch. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, Kim gingerly stood up. Her right hand took hold of the crutch that Shego had supplied for her, and with one swift motion, she stood up, balancing most of her weight on her left leg.
“Okay…” She said to herself. “We can do this. Even though I’m terribly unbalanced with unsymmetrical injuries. One step at a time.”
As Kim was about to leave the room, a small something hiding just under the bed caught her eye. She probably wouldn’t have ever spotted it, but the white color was a stark contrast to the darker and cooler green and black color scheme that dominated the room. Squinting, she was able to discern that it was a scrap of something – perhaps a magazine or newspaper clipping. Upon closer inspection, she found it was a small piece of plain old copy paper.
“Hmm, what’s this?” She muttered to the empty room as she hobbled over to pick it up.
On it, there were several black scribbles and violent-looking cross-outs, most of them illegible and nonsense. But, Kim was able to decipher two of the phrases.
Narrowing her eyes as she read the text written rather unceremoniously on the paper, it took a few seconds for Kim to register her shock and surprise.
“…tragic accident, fell to her death…” and “…….memory loss.”
What the hell? What’s going on?
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO KP!” Ron shouted at Dr. Drakken with Rufus perched on his shoulder and frowning as if to provide an extra measure of intimidation.
After rather noisily crashing into Drakken’s not-quite-so-secret lair, Ron and Rufus had stumbled through the pseudo-maze inside to find the blue-skinned scientist crouching over some new world domination invention. The syntho-drones were nowhere to be found, and with Shego’s absence, neither of the dynamic duo had to worry about dodging green plasma balls. Upon finding Drakken, Ron grabbed him and pushed him up against a wall with a loud thud.
“Look, I don’t know, okay?” Drakken exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
“YOU DID SOMETHING TO HER!”
“Did not.”
“Did to!”
“Did not!”
“Did to!”
“Did not, did not, did not!” Drakken countered in a singsong voice.
Frustrated, Ron let Drakken fall to the ground with a muffled thud. Seemingly unfazed, Drakken picked himself up and began to dust himself off and straighten his dark blue coat. Narrowing his eyes at the blonde sidekick whose name he always seemed to forget, he began to wonder where the cheerleader was.
“So…where is dear Kimberly Ann Possible?” Drakken mocked Ron.
In response, Ron spun around and punched the mad scientist squarely in the jaw, his anger flaring up with surprising intensity.
“Don’t you EVER talk about her in front of me! How could you! I knew you were evil and all, but come ON!”
Taken aback by Ron’s outburst, Drakken silenced himself from making any more comments. Ron slumped down, Rufus right beside him.
“I can’t believe what you did, you bastard.” Ron spat out.
His eyes widening in surprise, Drakken gaped at sidekick before him.
“Oh no, I didn’t – “ Drakken got out before Ron interrupted him.
“YES YOU DID!”
What began as a statement borne of anger and fury and rage slowly transformed into one of grief and suffering.
Drakken stood where he was, speechless. It was the first time he had seen Ron not only be able to successfully perform a mission without Kim – that was, breaking into his lair, but it was also the first time he had witnessed Ron express a real emotion, one other than his typical laissez-faire attitude. Normally the bumbling sidekick added a bit of humorous interlude between bouts of intense combat, and sometimes, even his awkwardness proved to have beneficial effects.
But this…
This was something totally different.
This was serious.
“What’s wrong with you, you buffoon?” Drakken inquired.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Ron growled as he slowly stood up again, turning to face the doctor. “I’m here to find out what you did to KP.”
“I told you before – I didn’t do anything.”
Without a word, Ron reached into his pocket to produce the letter he had received in the mail. He practically thrust it in the other man’s face.
“Then explain THIS!”
His eyes narrowed, Dr. Drakken paused a moment to read the contents of the letter so rudely shoved in front of him.
“Oh. OH!” He exclaimed when finished, rubbing his hands together, a burst of laughter escaping his throat.
“Oh, so NOW you remember.” Ron mocked.
“Oh, so many possibilities now that Kim Possible is no longer in the picture. No more will that darned superhero take away my victories! No more Kim Possible! HA!”
Crossing his arms, Rufus frowned.
“Soooo…” Ron started, trying very hard to ignore Drakken’s gleeful gloating. “You didn’t do anything to KP?”
“Not I, not a thing.”
Ron sighed, only to be rewarded with a strange and inquisitive look from Drakken.
“What are you looking at?” Ron challenged the villain.
“Oh, nothing.” Drakken replied airily, as he continued to skip around the room chanting about how the teen cheerleader was out of the picture.
Disappointed, Ron and Rufus quietly slipped away, unnoticed by the singing mad scientist.
Once outside, Ron slumped down, defeated, on the hard ground. He turned his head to take a look at his trusty animal sidekick, his gaze empty and emotionless.
“It was all a waste, Rufus. Drakken didn’t know what happened to Kim. He obviously didn’t do it, because he obviously had no idea she…she was…” Ron cut off suddenly, unable to continue and admit, to himself maybe, what had happened.
Rufus nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah.”
“I guess we’re back at square one, huh?” Ron sighed, as he flipped on the Kimmunicator.
“Hey Ron. How did it go?” Wade inquired, looking slightly dissatisfied with something. “Did you find out what he did to Kim?”
Ron shook his head and Wade sighed.
“Ron, I know you’re upset about Kim – we all are, but you can’t just go around trying to dish out revenge.”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t even know what happened! Its possible that she just got herself in an accident – no villains nor foul play involved. I mean, it is unlikely that Kim would slip up like that, but remember the tough week she was having?”
Narrowing his eyes, Ron reached into his pocket to pull out a dog-eared and waterlogged piece of now-yellow paper. He waved it in front of the Kimmunicator before stretching it out in front of the screen so Wade could read the text.
“Letter! We both have it! Have you read it lately?”
“Yeah, I –“
“Then why are you just sitting there? Why are you not, like, tracing her or something? I know Dr. Lee said that no one could come and visit, but I’m her best friend and sidekick. I’m sure I could get in, you know…just to see her…you know…even though she’s…” Ron couldn’t bring himself to say the last word.
“For all intents and purposes…gone?” Wade finished for Ron.
“Ron, I told you before. I can’t pick up any signal, not even when I hacked into all the government satellites, which, trust me, wasn’t an easy thing to do. Her Kimmunicator must have been completely destroyed or dismantled in some way. I…I think we might just have to wait, and see what happens – you know – if anyone confesses. I mean, with something this big, some villain is going to gloat about it.”
“See what happens? SEE WHAT HAPPENS!” Ron shouted at the tiny screen. “I’m not just going to sit here while Kim’s attacker is running loose. I thought it was Drakken, but he seemed surprised, I mean, really surprised.”
Wade shrugged. “Is it possible that Drakken was faking it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“Then I don’t know what I can tell you Ron. The trace programs can’t turn up anything.” Wade remarked as he stared at the computer screen.
“Well, keep looking. And if you find anything, let me know.”
“Of course.”
“Now, uh, Wade?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you get us a ride home? I’m freezing out here. And I can’t even think about how poor Rufus feels.”
“No more Kim Possible. Hmm…I wonder what happened.” Drakken mused to himself, once the buffoon and his naked mole rat were gone.
Pacing back and forth in his not-so-secret lair, Drakken mentally replayed the events of the last encounter he had with Team Possible. As usual, he had been attempting to use his newest invention, which happened to be a small and portable time travel machine (and energy efficient); however, that interfering teen superhero had to…well…intervene. Damn her.
Drakken frowned and scratched his head. He actually didn’t remember all that much that had happened to Kim that day, probably because the cheerleader had been busy battling Shego.
Shego.
Speaking of the devil…where was she?
“Well, good morning Princess.” Shego smiled as she heard Kim noisily enter the kitchen.
“Ahh, you heard me.”
“Only from about a mile away. You need to practice your stealth.”
“Well, sorry, oh-mighty-ninja for trying to walk with like, ten zillion broken bones.”
“Well, whose fault is that?”
“Mine?”
“Exactly.”
Shego turned around from the stove with a large plate full of pancakes.
“Breakfast time, Princess…what’s wrong?”
Shego paused mid-stride to study Kim, whose head was tilted and was looking at her with an amused expression on her face and half a smirk beginning to form on her lips.
“Oh…you, uh…you wouldn’t happen to have a pink frilly apron, would you?”
Shego narrowed her eyes at Kim.
“No.” Shego replied slowly. “Why do you ask?”
“I just had this image of you in a pink frilly apron, and I look at you and say ‘Nice…apron.’”
Shego stared at Kim, dumbfounded and half mortified. Of all the things to remember, her brain had to pick the time when she happened to be wearing the color pink.
Kim shook her head and said, almost as if to herself, “Never mind. I’m sure it was a weird dream or something.”
“Yeah, probably. Can you really imagine me in pink?”
“Nah. I mean, only if you being mind controlled or something like that and someone MADE you wear pink. But other than that, no, not really.”
Shego cringed inwardly. Recently, Kim was beginning to hit a little too close to home. It was a good thing, because it meant Kim was starting to remember who she was…but Shego wasn’t too sure if she liked that. It was a good sign, because it meant that Kim’s brain was healing, but then again, it also meant that soon Kim would realize the gig was up, and that they were archenemies. Her mind flashed to the secret box upstairs and the vials of white tablets she kept carefully hidden from Kim.
The sudden loud (and rather annoying, as she was noticing) ring of the phone snapped Shego out of her reverie right away. She quickly strode over to the blasted thing and picked up the receiver, still wondering what was going on, a slight feeling of fear and dread beginning to form in her gut. The only person who knew her home number was…
Ignoring Kim’s inquisitive look, Shego turned her back to the girl to have a pseudo-private conversation with the mystery caller.
“Hello?”
There was a momentary pause.
“Oh, Doctor D, hi.” There was another temporary pause as Shego looked over her shoulder to the redhead sitting at her table before continuing her phone conversation with Drakken. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going fine. You know my vacation days, the ones I haven’t taken yet? Yeah, I’m using them now….Its not your business…Bye.”
Shego hung up and returned to the table to have a seat next to Kiim.
“Who was that?” Kim asked, as she reached over the table to grab the syrup, her plate heaped full of pancakes.
“Just my boss.”
“Your boss?”
“Yeah. Doctor D was wondering where I am.”
“Oh. Are you supposed to be at work then?”
“Kind of. But I haven’t taken my vacation days yet, so I’m taking them now.” Shego smiled at Kim, and Kim was overcome by a warm feeling of being cared for and protected.
“Well…thanks for taking time off to help me.” Kim smiled over at Shego, who kindly returned the gaze.
“Anytime Princess.”
As the two began to eat in relative silence, Shego’s mind began to drift. How long could she realistically keep up this charade? Kim was bound to regain her memories soon, and unless Shego stepped up her seduction efforts, when Kim found out the truth, she would be furious. Hell, she might be furious anyway.
“Hey! Everything okay?” Kim looked over at the raven-haired woman, her face showing a hint of concern.
“Nope. Everything’s fine.” Shego smiled back.
You’re lying… Kim thought.
Pushing her plate aside, Shego stood up and walked over to the stove. “I’m getting myself some more tea. You?”
“Aww, geez Shego. Sure, I would absolutely looove ANOTHER cup of tea.” Kim retorted, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
“Fine Pumpkin. I’ll get you a glass of orange juice.”
“That’s better.”
“Only for you Princess…only for you.” Shego muttered.
“What was that, Shego?” Kim demanded from across the room.
“Oh, nothing.” Shego replied in a singsong voice while Kim rolled her eyes in exasperation.
Pacing back and forth in Bueno Nacho, Ron was slowly becoming more irritated than ever. Munching on a Naco, Rufus was giving Ron his most sympathetic look.
“I don’t get it Rufus. I mean, if the last mission Kim went on was against Dr. Drakken, but Drakken doesn’t know what’s going on.”
“Hmmm.” Rufus contributed.
“So, what could have happened? I don’t think Kim would just mess up that badly. I mean she’s a cheerleader, she’s a world famous hero, she just wouldn’t like trip and end up with a traumatic head injury and several broken bones, and whatever else that damn letter said she had. Someone did something to her, and once I find out who, he’s gonna pay.”
Ron sighed heavily and slumped down in the nearest empty booth.
All of a sudden, Rufus’s face lit up and he jumped up, waving his heads at Ron.
“Huh?”
“Eeeego! Eeeego!”
“What?” Ron narrowed his eyes at Rufus. “Its like you’re trying to talk to me…”
Seeing how he obviously wasn’t getting his point across verbally, Rufus began jumping up and down and extending his arms out in front of him, almost as if he was trying to throw something.
“Dude, what’s your malfunction?”
Slapping a paw against his forehead in frustration, Rufus ran over to the plate of food and stuck his front paws into the guacamole, before flinging it in Ron’s direction.
“Rufus, dude, you totally lost…” Eyes growing wide, Ron halted mid-sentence, as he finally realized what Rufus had been trying to tell him.
“Shego!”
“Truth or Dare, Shego?”
After enjoying a leisurely breakfast (which included orange and cranberry juice, much to Kim’s delight and amazement), Kim had requested a rematch game of Truth or Dare. It wasn’t that anyone had “won” or “lost” the first game, but Kim had been thinking about the past few days. It wasn’t that Shego was mistreating her – in fact, Shego had been unbelievably nice, caring, concerned, and a whole array of other complimentary adjectives.
But…the nagging feeling that had been eating at Kim’s gut still wasn’t going away. In fact, it was slowly growing stronger and more insistent. There was something amiss here, and Kim couldn’t quite figure it out on her own; she could see that there was text, but she couldn’t read the words.
She decided to take the hypothetical plunge. It was sink or swim.
“Dare.”
“AGAIN! How many dirty secrets do you have, Shego?” Kim demanded.
“None.” Shego lied.
“Then why are you afraid of answering any Truth questions?”
“Because Dare questions are always more entertaining. You can learn a lot about people from what they ask you to do for a dare.”
“Fine. I dare you to answer this question truthfully, if you have the guts, that is. How did we meet, and how long have we been going out?”
Shego smiled, almost as if she were a proud parent.
“You’re learning Pumpkin.”
“Well, are you going to answer the question, or not?”
“Keep your pants on, I’ll answer it. But…”
“But what?”
“But you’re not being quite fair. You said ‘Answer this question’ which denotes one question. But you’re really asking two.” Shego reasoned, while idly twirling a stray piece of her hair around her pinky finger.
“Am not. I’m asking one multi-part question.”
Shego’s smile grew wider, and she commented, almost as if she were a teacher encouraging a student, “Good girl.”
“So, are you going to answer or not?”
Smiling and letting herself relax, Shego began a story. It was the story she had mentally rehearsed millions of times, the story that she had edited and re-edited to perfection.
But now…now it was time for the performance.
A few hours later found Kim perched on the couch next to Shego. Her knees were brought up to her chest so that she was in the fetal position, and her head was resting on Shego’s shoulder. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and her arms hung limply by her side. One of Shego’s hands was gently holding one of Kim’s, their fingers intertwined. A serious and solemn silence was present in the air.
“I can’t believe it.” Kim whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.
“Believe what?” Shego tilted her head sideways so that her cheek made contact with Kim’s hair.
“That my family…that they are so, you know…” Kim trailed off.
“Conservative? Close-minded?” Shego prompted helpfully.
Kim nodded glumly.
“I know its hard to have to hear it again Princess.” Shego soothed the redhead. “But it was the reason I knew I couldn’t take you to your parents or other family members when you woke up with no memories. I knew they would try and brainwash you into thinking that lesbians were these soulless creatures from hell. I knew they would try and keep us separated.”
Kim leaned in closer to Shego and wrapped her arms around the pale green-skinned girl.
“Thanks I guess. I’m just surprised that everyone got THAT upset at me when I told them I was dating you.” Kim sniffled.
Shego nodded. “When you told your parents and your friends, they just began treating you like dirt – all because you were gay and they didn’t approve. Intolerance can be such a bitch sometimes.”
“But, can’t I see them though? I mean, they may think I’m this horrible immoral excuse for a human because I’m dating a girl…but, they’re still my parents, and I still love them, and on some level, they must still love me…right?”
“I guess so, but don’t you find it odd that you haven’t heard back from them since you woke up? If they loved you, wouldn’t they try to call or write to see if you were okay, and see how you were doing?”
“Well, no, they haven’t, but-“
“Then that means, Kimmie, that they don’t care. I know it hurts you, and you know how I can’t bear to see you in pain, but you have to face the truth. Your parents don’t approve of us dating. They don’t approve of you being a lesbian. They never did. My god Princess…if I had taken you back to your parents, they would have never let us see each other again! I did this for your own good! I did this for us!”
Shego looked at the younger girl currently sitting in her lap and could see the flurry of emotions flitting through her head. Anger, sadness, disbelief, agony, angst, heartbreak.
“Shego…” Kim started, taking a deep breath and gathering her nerves together. When she looked up at Shego, her eyes were hard and determined. “I don’t even know if I’m a lesbian. Its only what you’ve been telling me.”
“Kimmie. I’ve always told you that only you can decide how you feel. If you’re not attracted to me, then you’re not. If you are, then you are. I can’t tell you anything. I -”
“I know that Shego!” Kim interrupted, her voice rising. “What I’m trying to tell you is that there’s something wrong, there’s something off here! Can’t you feel it? Something is not right! This place…you…me!”
“This is normal Kimmie.” Shego attempted to soothe the ranting redhead. “You’re suffering from memory loss, things will seem different for a while, and you’ll be confused for some time, but I’m here to help you work your way through it all.”
Shego moved in to wrap Kim into a tight embrace, but Kim pushed her away. Stunned at this new and unexpected reaction, Shego stared at the girl, fear slowly creeping into her being. Did Kim remember?
“No Shego. No. I think I can trust my gut instinct on this. There is something wrong here.” Kim reiterated sternly.
Shego’s heart dropped.
“And what’s that, Princess?”
“I want the truth Shego. The whole truth.” Kim sighed heavily, as if she had to expend effort to speak. “Why won’t you let me see my friends and family? Why won’t you let me out of the house? Why am I not at a hospital if I’m so messed up? Why haven’t I seen any doctors?”
Kim paused a moment before continuing her tirade. “Shego, I want to trust you, I really do. I just feel that there’s something you’re not telling me, but I also think you really don’t want to hurt me at the same time. I’m so confused, and the only person I know right now is you…and I don’t even really know you.”
Shego closed her eyes, but Kim was continuing, her voice timid.
“Actually…I’m a little afraid of you.” For a brief second, Kim look ashamed as she admitted her true feelings.
“What are you scared of?” Shego asked, her voice emotionless and dead, her eyes closed tightly as if she were trying to shut out the world.
“That you’ll hurt me for what I’ve just said to you.” Kim whispered, staring at the floor.
As Shego slowly turned her head to gaze at the cheerleader, Kim cringed. In a swift motion, Shego reached over to seize Kim by her good wrist. Ignoring Kim’s cries of protest, Shego grabbed the girl into a tight embrace, planting gentle kisses on Kim’s forehead. Whispering in her ear, Shego tried once again to soothe the panicked girl.
“I’m sorry Princess…I’m so sorry. I love you, you know this right? I’m only trying to protect you. Do you understand?”
Shego felt Kim give the slightest of nods.
“What can I do to earn your love?” Shego asked softly, a hint of wistfulness in her voice.
“You already have it.” Kim murmured from within the confines of Shego’s embrace. “But I want to see my family.”
As Shego tilted Kim’s head to look at her, Kim saw infinite sadness in Shego’s dark eyes.
“Please Shego.”
It was a request and a demand at the same time. And as Shego continued to stare into Kim’s silent pleading eyes, Shego knew she had no choice.
“Alright Princess. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to see your family.”
A ghost of a smile appeared on Kim’s face.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
And in silence, they sat there, both of them finally having found a bit of personal peace.
“Harder Kimmie.” Shego yelled through gritted teeth, her gaze fixed on the redhead in front of her.
“I’m trying!” Kim protested, wiping a few droplets of sweat from her brow. “But I can’t-“
“Yes you can! You can do anything! Now try harder!” Shego commanded.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Kim attempted to execute another series of extensions and parries.
After a cathartic afternoon and leisurely dinner, Shego had suggested that they burn off extra energy through basic fencing drills. Of course, Kim still wasn’t able to use her legs, so practicing any footwork was out of the picture. To compensate, Shego had designed several drills that only involved bladework. As Kim did her extension, at last minute, she disengaged to the right, then to the left, and one last time to the right before she was supposed to do a parry six to Shego’s attack and riposte.
Well, that is what was supposed to happen.
Instead, as Kim went to execute her second disengage, a sharp pain in her wrist forced her to drop the practice foil, her face already twisted in a grimace. She looked down at the sword as it clattered to the ground. As she raised her gaze, she noticed that Shego had her own foil aimed directly at Kim’s heart.
“That’s an interesting tactic, Princess.”
Lowering her sword and pulling off her gauntlet, Shego took a few steps towards the pained fencer, taking Kim’s wrist in her hands. Gently and lovingly, she began to examine and lightly massage Kim’s wrist.
“What happened?” she inquired softly.
“I went to disengage, and a flash of pain shot through my arm.”
“Your whole arm?”
“No. Just the wrist.”
Shego nodded as she turned Kim’s hand over to have a look at the opposite side.
“Aha.” She smiled knowingly.
“What? What’s wrong?” Kim asked.
“You’ve been putting too much strain on your one good wrist. You’ve been using it to bear almost all your weight on the crutch, right?”
Kim nodded slowly.
“I thought so.”
“So? What are we going to do about it?”
Shego grinned. “I guess it means you shouldn’t be walking around.”
“But how will I get around?” Kim protested.
“I could always carry you around the house.” Shego suggested, a sparkle in her eyes.
“Shego! Well…” Kim paused, as if she had to double-think her opinion. “I guess that wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Of course not.”
And with half a smile on her face, and in one swift motion, Shego scooped Kim up in her arms as if the cheerleader weighed little more than an empty cardboard box. Her action was rewarded with a yelp of surprise from Kim, who threw her arms around Shego’s neck.
“Shego!” Kim giggled.
“Princess?”
Kim chuckled and grinned in delight, but her laughter quickly died when she took notice that Shego had abruptly stopped walking. As she turned her gaze toward the raven-haired woman, she could see that Shego was definitely not happy with something.
“What’s wrong?” Kim whispered in Shego’s ear, only to be answered with an enraged hiss.
Following Shego’s gaze, Kim saw a blonde-haired boy and a hairless rat standing in the driveway adjacent to the garden they had been practicing in.
“Oh, look. The sidekick.” Shego snarled, her grip on Kim tightening slightly.
“What?” Kim looked back and forth between the two. “Umm, Shego?”
“Don’t mind him Princess.” Shego soothed the confused redhead, planting a quick kiss on the back of Kim’s head.
“Don’t mind him? You bitch!” The boy exclaimed, his hands curling into fists.
Shego arched an eyebrow. “Oooh. What language!”
“Shut up Shego.” Ron turned his gaze to Kim, the anger in his eyes dissipating slightly as he saw her. “KP…”
“Who are you?” Kim demanded, still nestled in Shego’s arms. “And why are you angry at my girlfriend?”
The boy stared back at her, his jaw dropping open. His little hairless rat slapped a paw against its head.
“Girlfriend? KP, you can’t be serious.”
Her eyes trained on Ron, Shego gently placed Kim on the ground before taking a stand in front of Kim to face the irate boy.
“Go home, Sidekick.” Shego said slowly, enunciating each syllable, with a particular element of disdain on the last word.
“Or what?” Ron challenged back.
As Kim could only watch in horror and surprise and confusion, Shego’s hands seemed to spontaneously catch green fire. She took what Kim could only assume was an offensive fighting stance, holding her fire-engulfed hands threateningly towards the intruder.
When she spoke, her voice was dripping with venom.
“Or you’ll wish that you’ve never been born.”
To be continued…