The Stoppables had arrived by the time Kim and the children returned to the maternity ward with the elder Possibles. They had apparently just missed each other while passing through the central lobby because Ron was still giving Shego a hug and Bonnie was wearing a scowl and whispering harshly to her teenaged daughter. The girl’s own scowl aped that of her mother.
“Shego, a pleasure as always!” Only after so many years did Ron feel as comfortable around her as he still did with Kim. “And may I be the first to congratulate you on your fiftieth birthday?”
“Oh, you’re a funny, funny man.” She snarled at him, the sparkle in her eyes and the fact that her own arms were holding him belying the threat. “You know full well that I turned fifty-one and thanks ever so much for the reminder. The cake was delicious, by the way.”
“Uh, you, um… usually don’t eat that kind of cake.” No one else but Ron Stoppable could blush like a teenager while in middle age. He had agreed to dust off his lauded culinary skills for that special occasion, even if it had been a little awkweird at the time.
“I know.” She turned her smirk to a higher intensity. “Kimmie never made it out of the cake before I pulled the top off and joined her inside.”
“Wrongsick!” His shudder was only momentary and he was quick to grin right back at her. He never saw the petite woman walk up to him and cross her arms in frustration, the rosy blush suffusing her entire face as she glared past him at her wife.
“A-hem.”
“Hey, Princess, look who’s here.” Shego smiled innocently. “Did you get my water?”
“KP! Uh… hi!” Ron’s blush only served to enhance his freckles. “Whatever you heard, well, I never heard it!” Kim stifled the desire to throw the bottle at Shego’s head, choosing rather to hand it over silently while interposing herself between the former villain and Kim’s best friend in the whole world.
“Hey, you!” She kissed him, lingering slightly so as to annoy Shego, who did notice.
“Are you both trying to get me killed?” Ron was only half joking.
“Ron, who are these strange women?”
“Bonnie, I swear, I’ve never seen them before in my life!”
“Yeah, Bon-Bon… why should your son be the only man who gets fondled by two les… OW! Kimmie, again with the elbow!” Shego wiped a few stray water droplets from her lip, bending to the side to sooth the ache in her ribs. “You do that again and you’ll pull back a bloody stump!” Shego observed the three friends closely; the adults had known each other since high school and each had changed in their own way over the intervening years.
Kim looked mostly the same, for which Shego was eternally grateful. Ron was taller and had filled out a little, his blond hair a little thinner but his face still free of worry. Ron had been with Smarty-Mart almost twenty years now and had been working at their Middleton headquarters as Procurement Director for both the toy and pet departments; he was in charge of overseeing the individual managers for those departments for every store in the mid-west. He had indeed grown into the handsome man that Shego had once predicted that he one day would.
Bonnie was the most changed. To say that Bonnie Stoppable had grown fat over the years would have been rude and incorrect; her health was great and a youth spent in rigorous training and exercise had kept her toned and firm well into her Forties. She had softened, however, in more ways than one.
The first life-changing event had been an unexpected pregnancy right out of high school. A few years of pain had followed when that child, a little boy, had gone to sleep one night and had never woken. Instead of wallowing in self-pity and despair, Bonnie had returned from an obscure corner of the country to visit Middleton once again, ostensibly to find Kim and her new family but also to begin to rebuild her broken soul.
The weeks that followed were the most harrowing of her life, as they were for all who considered themselves part of the extended Possible family. With a newfound resolve to reclaim her interrupted life, Bonnie found reasons to go on living. One of those reasons was a young man named Ron Stoppable. Their son Alexander was born within the year and Kimberly came several years later after she and Ron became married, with the embarrassing side effect of her youthful curves growing ever more voluptuous over time until now when her exaggerated figure would make almost any woman jealous and every man take a second look.
Kim was already embracing the brunette when Shego shoved her aside to face the newcomer herself.
“Geez, Shego! Rude much?”
“Now THIS is a woman.” The former thief made a show of leering at Ron’s wife. “Kimmie, you should be taking notes.”
“Kim, keep her away!” The tanned face could still carry a blush.
“Mmmm… world’s third hottest grandmother… after Kimmie and myself, of course.”
“Kim, make her stop!” Her words sounded sincere but Bonnie didn’t move when Shego put her long arms around the brunette. They had been through far too much not to share this embrace. Oblivious as to what the adults were talking about, little Sheila grabbed her Grandmother Rockwaller’s leg and held on tight. Ronnie let his tiny friend crawl up onto his head and make a nest.
“I’d second the motion, actually.” Kim looked down at herself and wondered if double portions of dessert would improve her sitch any; she doubted it.
“Ron, help me!”
“Sorry, babe, the ‘ayes’ have it.” He managed to pry his wife out of the taller woman’s arms, that woman noticing a strength that she had often thought about, and wondered if it still existed. “But you’ll always be numero uno nacho in my libre.” He held her and she melted in his arms.
“So, where’s the vile temptress that ruined our boy?” Ron looked to his former partners with bemused curiosity.
“Resting in her room with that horrible cad that crushed her heart and broke her spirit.” Kim’s emerald eyes went wide and she looked down at the children standing beside them. “Oh, Shego, would you please take these two down to the room and ask Alexander if they can see their mother? I totally forgot.”
“Sure thing, Princess.” Sheila got to ride on Shego’s shoulders and Ronnie held her long pale hand tightly as they walked down the hallway. Kim waited until she saw the trio disappear into the room before she recalled that there had been another member of the Stoppable family that she very much wanted to speak to.
“Where’s my favorite niece?” In this extended family of Possibles and Stoppables, there was little distinction between bloodlines. “I know that I saw her a moment ago!”
“Kimberly?” Bonnie glanced around, as did the inquiring Kim, eventually locating the teenager where she hid behind her mother. “What are you doing back there?”
“… nothing…” Kim recognized the sulk on the girls face, as did Bonnie.
“Well, you just come around here and do ‘nothing’ where your Aunt Kim can see you!” Bonnie rolled her eyes in exasperation at how much the teen was like she had been at that age, arrogant and sullen. Bonnie knew well the angle of the girl’s slouch and the bored sulk on the tender face, too young to look so jaded.
“Oh, isn’t she pretty! You’re getting so tall!” Kim was shocked. “How old are you now?”
“Thir… thirteen.” The sulk was replaced with something else; the look might have been awe.
“Thirteen going on twenty and running her mother ragged, aren’t you?” Bonnie bent down to give her daughter a hug and the girl shifted away, not wanting her mother’s head to block the view of her Aunt Kim. Bonnie was used to this avoidance and did not react. “I’ve become like my mother to her and she’s become like me.”
“Then she’s as amazingly wonderful as her Mom!” Kim moved in to finish that clinch that had been interrupted by Shego. No words were spoken as a lifetime of gratitude was exchanged silently between them. Kimberly watched her namesake in blatant admiration.
“Get a room, why don’t you. Be careful, Bon-Bon, she charges by the minute.”
“Ghaa!”
Shego was back from room 302; her daughter and son-in-law had eagerly welcomed their children and were even now reminding them of what was happening and why their mommy was giving them a cousin instead of a brother. Shego had dragged Kasy and Anna out of the room when she left so that they could great and talk with the other members of the extended family… hopefully giving Shego a break from having to socialize.
By the time she had returned the two old classmates were finishing their moment together, she of all people being able to appreciate what had passed between them once upon a time. The redhead and brunette were already laughing over something more contemporary and cheerful, the young Kimberly caught between them and looking as if she’d rather be elsewhere. Shego took the opportunity to ask Ron a private question.
“So… you still have the Spanking Monkey Magic?”
“Ooh, that biting wit. Yeah, haven’t missed that in, say… ever.” Ron grinned. “And the answer is yes, I still have the Mystical Monkey Power. I don’t have much use for it any more and it’s not like I’ve gone on any missions lately.” He drooped, his normally upbeat and positive attitude weakening slightly. “I do miss those days, saving the world with KP, and later with the both of you.” He never looked so aged in her eyes before. “I don’t know if I made any real difference, though…”
“Look, buffoon, if my gorgeous hide retained scars I’d have a few to show you how much of a difference you made.” She regarded the man standing before her. “You love the video games so here’s an analogy that you’ll appreciate… ‘game over’. You won so be happy about it.”
“I know, and thanks. I have no regrets.” He obviously liked the sound of that because he perked up right away. “Nope, no regrets at all.”
“It’s just good to know that you still have those ‘dumb skills’ when it comes to your woman.” They both saw the glow on Bonnie’s face as she laughed with Kim, how she lovingly stroked the hair of her daughter and made conversation with other friends and family. “I can’t say that I’ve ever seen her happier.”
“That’s another thing that I can thank the Mystical Monkey Power for.”
“Excuse me?” Shego took a sip of her water.
“Well, I don’t like to brag… but there’s this routine that she likes where I’m sort of this ‘Monkey King’ and she’s the ‘Jungle Goddess’ and…” Ron never did get to finish his anecdote.
“… sorry…” Shego hurriedly wiped water from both his face and hers. “That was… unexpected.”
“I can’t say that I get water spit in my face too often, no.”
“Not that, I meant your whole ‘Mighty Joe Young’ thing. You caught me off guard.” She had to admit that she was highly impressed with the man. She noticed a welcome distraction a few yards down the hallway. “Hey, it seems that you’re not the only one with some moves left in them.”
“Go Mad Dogs! Go-Go Mad Dogs!”
The two ex-cheerleaders were revisiting their glory days in the middle of the waiting lounge, much to the delight of everyone, with little Sheila doing her best to emulate them. Kimberly looked thoroughly disgusted and appalled at every move her mother made, but both Ron and Shego watched with something else in their eyes.
“Go Mad Dogs! Go-Go Mad Dogs!”
Kim still had the form and shape to masquerade as a cheerleader if she’d felt the need, giving Shego cause to file away a mental note for a later discussion with the petite redhead. Bonnie was years away from the slim figure of her youth but those same years had continued to exaggerate her build into something that boggled the mind and fired the imagination, especially when she moved like that.
The look Shego noticed on Ron’s face certainly lent credence to that observation.
“You just make sure that you’re ogling the right cheerleader, Stoppable.”
“Don’t you worry, I am.” Ron looked at her askance. “She’s got another version of the old ‘Mad Dog Cheer’ that she does for me now and then.”
“Excuse me?” Shego lifted the bottle of water to her lips and drank.
“Yeah. It’s rated ‘B’… for Booyah.”
Even after her ribs had ceased to hurt from Ron’s Heimlich maneuver, Shego remained silent with an odd look on her face for almost an hour.
“I…”
The voice had been so soft that Shego had barely heard it. Careful so as not to disturb her sleeping wife, she craned her neck around and saw young Kimberly Stoppable standing beside her seat.
“Hey.” Shego couldn’t believe how much the girl looked like her mother, so beautiful when she wasn’t walking around with a scowl plastered on her mug. “What’s up?”
“Is Aunt Kim Ok?” The girl pointed to Kim nestled in Shego’s lap; the redhead was snoring raggedly and her mouth hung open.
“Her? Shi… Sure. She’s just crashed because she’s had three cups of coffee and nothing substantial to eat all day.” The afternoon had become evening and the lounge had become much quieter; friends and family alternated between chatting, dozing or visiting a very tired and grumpy Sheki who less than five minutes ago had threatened to open herself up with a plasma blast. No one knew what Alexander had promised her in order to calm her down, and maybe it was for the best.
“I’ve read her books.” Kimberly nodded at the sleeping Kim.
“The novels or the field manuals?”
“Huh?”
“You know that she’s a real hero, right?”
“Well, doy.” There was the scowl.
“Did you know that she completely revised the entire procedural manuals and field guides for the Independent Operative network of Global Justice field agents?”
“…”
“Didn’t think so.” Shego had not changed so much that she could resist knocking this little queen down a peg or two. “You’re talking about the adventure novels for young readers, aren’t you?”
“Yeah!” Kimberly’s voice rose briefly in volume for a moment before she remembered the sleeping woman. “Yeah. They’re my favorite.” The girl gingerly reached inside her designer purse and withdrew a well-read paperback, the cover of which Shego immediately recognized, as she did the pseudonym of the author beneath the title. “I’ve read all of them.”
“What character do you like the best?” Shego recalled the period shortly after their daughters had finally left home for good, and how Kim had bounced around the empty house looking for something to occupy her mind and heart between missions. What followed was months of hacking away at a computer keyboard and letters back and forth with a publisher.
“’Lex Citable.’”
Shego grunted at the girl’s answer. That was the stereotypical male lead character of the series, definitely fitting the description of the ‘top of the food chain’ that Bonnie used to be so enamored of. Shego knew better than to let slip that the virile young man in the stories was loosely based on Kimberly’s own brother; she saw no need to give the child a complex.
“Yeah, I can see why you would.” Shego decided to let the girl off the hook. Kimberly wasn’t a bad kid, she just had too much of her mother’s old ways about her, making her the cock of the walk. One day, and with the right friends and support, she’d probably shine. “Later, when sleeping beauty here wakes up, I’d bet my next paycheck that she’d autograph that book for you if you asked her.”
“Um, she already did.” The cover was gently pulled back to reveal the familiar scrawl. “I was wondering…”
“What?”
“Do you think that she would… read something of mine?” She sighed heavily. “That I wrote?”
“No way!” Her mouth hung open in surprise.
“… oh…”
“No! That’s not what I meant!” Great, Shego thought, this might be the chink in her armor. “I was just surprised when you asked that. Sure. Sure, she’ll read it!”
“OH… that would be so the drama!” Scowl down in flames, smile stretching from ear to ear. The girl relaxed in her seat and Shego shook her head at how much of a sap she’s become in her ‘old age’. Feeling the weight and the heat against her chest, she looked down at the sleeping woman nestled against her; she noticed something and pulled a tissue from her pocket and gently dabbed it at the corner of Kim’s mouth.
The redhead stirred slightly.
“…mmm?”
“It’s Ok, Princess… you’ve been hit with a drool ray.” Shego whispered. “Go back to sleep.”
“…mmm…”
“I wish…”
“What’s that?” Shego crumpled the tissue and put it away.
“I wish that you two were my parents.”
“Why in the He… heck would you say a thing like that?”
“Well…” Teal eyes looked at the knot of people further down the lounge. “Dad’s pretty cool sometimes but he’s so… boring.”
“Maybe to you he is.” Shego shrugged it off. “Is that all?”
“My Mom hates me.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
“She does!”
“Has she ever locked you out of the house?”
“Huh? No!”
“Ever threatened to send you away for running with the wrong crowd?”
“… no.”
“Has she ever told you that you don’t measure up to your brothers? That you’re a disappointment or that you’ve brought shame to your family?”
“Brothers? There’s just Alexander, and she never…”
“Never mind!” The heat in her voice almost rivaled the heat of one of her plasma fields. “I wasn’t talking about… I didn’t mean… damn.” No one else had noticed her flare of anger and this child beside her had no idea what was happening, just that she was suddenly confused and a little scared. Shego allowed herself a few deep breaths before continuing. “What I meant to say is that I know what it’s like to have parents who don’t love you. Trust me on this. Your parents love you as much as any parent can love a child.”
“But… Mom…”
“Your mother looks at you and sees… someone else. Someone that wasn’t always the way they are now but changed over time, and…” Words failed.
“… tell her…” Both adult and teen jumped as the words reached their ears, hardly more than a sigh.
“What’s that, Princess?”
“… tell her… ‘bout Bonnie and me in school and… later…” Kim snuggled against Shego’s chest like an infant.
“Only if you promise to cut back on the coffee, Pumpkin. I mean waaaay back.”
“… ok…” Kim immediately fell back to sleep.
“Ok.” The pale green woman cleared her throat and gave her full attention to the teenager sitting next to her. “Once upon a time, there was this cheerleader who was a b… Wait, how old are you?”
“Thirteen.”
“Oh. Hm. Well, once upon a time, there was this cheerleader who was a ‘B-I-T-C-H’” The former villain winked and pointed down at the sleeping Kim. “And she was your mother’s biggest rival at Middleton High School…”
Kimberly looked puzzled, but at least she was listening.
The Kimmunicator chirped to life and Kim had the device out of her pocket and was holding the blue plastic casing to her ear before Shego could bat an eye; Kim’s own eyes were still closed and she might have still been napping except for the clarity of her voice.
“What’s the sitch, Wade?”
“Visual surveillance has two unknowns in freefall and converging on Middleton General.”
Kim kicked out her legs and used the momentum to swivel free from Shego’s lap, the older woman standing just as quickly; their fatigue from a long day’s wait was gone in a heartbeat. They strode pointedly but not too quickly through the knot of family and friends so as to avoid any questions and not to cause any anxiety or panic. If the more active members of Team Possible had not been so preoccupied they would have noticed the determination in their expression.
“Going somewhere, Kimmie-cub?” Dr. Mr. P had noticed.
“Just going topside, Dad.” Kim slowed and let Shego pass her. “No big.”
“Sure?” The man was no less perceptive for being a great-grandfather.
“I’m sure.” She watched him nod and settle back into the conversation he’d been having with Anna. Shego held open the elevator doors until Kim slipped inside and they closed with their expected ‘ding’.
“What do you think?”
“I have a suspicion.”
“Going to tell me?”
“Got any talcum powder?” They reached the topmost floor and the doors opened.
“It’s a hospital.” Shego smirked as she ran after her princess. “How hard can it be to find some?” They navigated through mostly air-conditioning machinery and storage before locating the door to the roof. One very short flight of stairs brought them out into the clear sky of Middleton and one of the prettiest sunsets they had taken the time to notice in weeks.
The clouds were at the horizon and the low sun shone over them, illuminating the taller buildings of the city at their backs and making the world glow as the rays struck everything horizontally. Kim scanned the evening sky and looked for any sign of the foretold arrival, turning slowly so that she could search the panorama better. A flash of green to her right made her focus on Shego.
Hands glowing with green death, the tall woman had adopted the stance that she had used a thousand times in preparation for battle, her height drawn down so as to present a smaller target and her weight shifted forward as she leaned onto the balls of her feet. Shego was intent on searching another corner of the sky so she had not noticed Kim gazing at her, looking at the woman she had chosen to share her life with so many years ago under the most unusual of circumstances. The long black coat had been left behind in the waiting lounge so her mass of long black hair flowed down her back and covered most of the dark green sweater. What little bits of errant white were visible in her raven tresses sparkled silver in the fading light and her emerald eyes, identical to Kim’s, were intent on piercing the skies for whatever might descend on them from above. Kim drank the tableau in.
“Shego, would you da…”
“Pumpkin, we’ve got bogies coming in at ten o’clock!” A long arm shot out and singled out two barely distinct shapes in the air. They were of standard human size and falling fast. Kim regarded the tiny figures and withdrew the Kimmunicator from her pocket. She thumbed the activation switch and a familiar face filled the screen once again.
“Wade? I need confirmation, please.”
“Sure thing. I think that… hold on a second.” The black man frowned at something he read from his displays, his expressing becoming more concerned with each moment. “Kim, there’s a…” There was a flash of disruptive static and two new faces filled the screen.
They were grinning from ear to ear.
“Tweebs!”
“Hey, Sis!
“Bring Wade back, will you? I need to know who’s…”
“Chill, big sister! That’s why we…”
“… were calling. It’s just Doc Betty…”
“… and Motor Ed. They were deep in…”
“… reconnaissance and just got back. Something’s…”
“… brewing and they’ll need to talk a little business with…”
“… you, but there’s no way that they’d miss…”
“… this. We’d been tracking the plane that dropped them…”
“… from low Earth orbit for awhile. Are they there yet?” The two men that shared a face and spoke with one voice waited for Kim to appraise her spouse.
“Shego, you can stand down. The Tweebs say that it’s our missing set of grandparents.”
“It’s about time!” Shego relaxed her posture and watched two chutes open and billow with the cooling air, their rectangular shapes cupping to control the fall and bring the newcomers down quickly. “They might have missed everything.”
“Thanks, guys.” Kim smiled at her younger brothers; it was awkweird how much they resembled their father these days. “Will we see you two in a few days?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for…”
“… the world. We’ll just…”
“… let everyone get settled…”
“… in and then we’ll stop by.”
“Spank’n. And thanks for keeping a lookout. I mean it.” The siblings nodded solemnly and Kim was about to break the connection when the Tweebs beat her to it, their split-screen images suddenly replaced by a very angry and swearing black man.
“Wade Load, do you kiss you wife and daughter with that mouth?” Kim forced herself to look aghast. “I am so telling Monique that you make obscene Kimmunicator calls!”
“Well… you know what it’s like when you’re in love with an older woman, Kim. They’ll ruin a virtuous young man.”
“You ain’t kidding, brother.”
“Ooo, Wade! Call me, please!” Shego had moved to Kim’s side and pouted down at the tiny screen. “I’ve been naughty and you need to tell me over the Shegophone what a bad girl I’ve been!” This caused Kim to loose her composure completely and both women broke into laughter as the large man glowered up at them.
“Sorry for the language. I just HATE when they do that!”
“Sorry, Wade. I’ll do my best to tell them that when I see them, but you know the Tweebs.”
“Yeah… yeah, I know.” He sighed. “Alright, as long as everything’s still copasetic there, I’ll sign off. You’ll have a hard time keeping Monique and Lila away from the baby, so you might need the ‘GJ’ shock troops on standby.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Wade! Goodnight.”
“Remember, Wade… ” Shego held her hand to the side of her head and mimicking the general shape of a telephone receiver. “Call me!”
“Goodnight, ladies, and a happy doodly-dee!” The screen went blank and the device deactivated. There was a sound behind them, a loud flutter and the rustling of fabric against the wind; the two ladies turned to watch the new arrivals glide down the last few yards and land with varied degrees of skill on the hospital roof. Kim and Shego waited as the two collected themselves.
“aaaAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY! The Motorman is alive! Seriously!” The larger figure had wrenched off his helmet to reveal a weathered face with a full, white drooping mustache and long white hair that only grew down from a fringe around his baldpate. Ripping the parachute harness from his mission coverall, Edward Lipsky proceeded to drop to his knees and continued to give thanks to his maker with a little air-guitar.
“Oh, Edward, really.” The second figure, obviously a woman, had similarly removed her harness and helmet and was securing both her gear and that of her partner’s against a low wall near the stairwell door. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“Wrong! Seriously wrong!” He looked to her with panicked eyes. “Blasting down with ten-thousand pounds of high-octane fuel and a booster rocket between your legs is the way to travel! Seriously! Not… I repeat NOT… jumping out of a perfectly good airplane!” He resumed playing the imaginary instrument. “aaYAAAAAYYYAAAAA!”
“Boys will be boys.” Doc Betty, once known by her subordinates as Dr. Director, chief executive administrator for Global Justice, was speaking to Kim and Shego as she smiled lightly and walked over to them. Both were ready with open arms.
“Hey, Doc.”
“It’s good to see you again, Betty!” Kim held the woman a little longer then her spouse had, their former relationship as mentor and student making for a deeper feeling.
“Kim, Shego.” The woman greeted them warmly, her once auburn hair now a steel gray and her face more care-worn than it used to be. Her monocular gaze was as clear and powerful as it had ever been and the felt patch across her eye did absolutely nothing to keep her from being a handsome woman.
“Is this what you get your kicks from these days, Betty?” Shego gave the older woman a smirk. “Jumping out of planes? Isn’t that a little much for a woman of your advanced years?”
“Maybe.” Betty turned to regard Kim, the brow above the patch furrowing slightly in what Kim had long learned to read as a wink. “And maybe I’ve just finally turned into what I always wanted to be when I grew up.” She looked back to Shego, confusion registering on the pale green face. “Oh, and while I think of it, I sincerely hope that you had an excellent fifty-first birthday.”
“Oh, you are definitely on my shit list.”
“Aren’t I something?” She ignored Shego’s glare and grinned at Kim before turning to locate her husband. “Edward?”
“… alive… I’m alive… seriously…”
“Edward, our girl is probably starting to think that we don’t love her any more so we had best get ourselves down there.” She watched him jump to his feet and hurry toward them.
“Unfair! Seriously! My girl knows that her ‘rents wouldn’t miss this for nothing!” He reached out and grabbed Kim, lifting her up from the roof with a mild squawk. “Hey, Red! Good to see ya!”
“She can’t breathe, Eddie.” Shego cocked an eyebrow. “Would you mind putting her down?”
“Can do, green babe!” Motor Ed gave Shego a satisfied look as Kim sucked in a breath, her face almost as blue as Anna’s. “You still look hot, Shego, seriously. You working out?”
“… air… Shego, don’t… hurt him…”
“Rest easy and breathe, Pumpkin. And don’t worry, I don’t hurt crazy.”
“Edward, did you just call Shego a babe?” Doc Betty kept her expression neutral.
“Well, yeah. You’re my primary babe, seriously.” He nodded eagerly. “She’s the babe with the green magic.” He looked down and saw Kim trying to regain her feet; he bent down and lifted her up. “And Red here’s a babe, too.”
“Nope… I don’t hurt crazy.” Shego sounded as if she were reminding herself more than assuring Kim; the redhead had no choice but to be amused.
“Never change, Eddie!”
“Right back at’cha, Red!” The man gave Kim a wink. Betty just rolled her single eye.
“Ladies, if you will excuse us, I think that it is high time that we joined Anna downstairs.” Together, the latest arrivals excused themselves and walked to the stairwell door. Kim was still a little unsteady on her feet from the bear hug she had received and her wife gave her support until Kim fully regained her faculties. This brought something to mind.
“Kimmie, what did Doc Betty mean about ‘turning into what she wanted to be’? I mean she’s older than I am. How much more grown up can she get?” Shego waited for the answer. “Well?”
“It’s an old joke.” Kim blushed a little.
“Tell me.”
“It’s a little embarrassing.”
“I wasn’t asking. Tell me.”
“A few years ago, when ‘GJ’ really started to put the pressure on for me to join them in an administrative capacity, I went to her and we talked about it. You know… what the positions I was being offered really entailed and how well I might really be suited for some of them. The girls were grown and I was already picking and choosing my missions more selectively then I used too…”
“You were taking it easier and enjoying your life. Stop making it sound as if you were slacking.”
“Right, right. Anyway, I had the time to consider a new career with ‘GJ’ other than being an ‘Indie’ so I asked her for advice…”
“And?”
“And she suddenly stopped listening to me talk and began telling me about all of the things she had been doing since she’d retired from ‘GJ’.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It was weird at first. She mentioned the traveling with Eddie and the missions that took her out into the field like she could never have done as head of ‘GJ’. And then she mentioned all of the extra time that she had to be with Daniel and Anna and watching them grow and doing things when them.” Kim looked up. “And that’s when she said it.”
“Said… what?”
“That she had finally become what she’d always wanted to be when she grew up.”
“And that was what?”
“… me…”
Shego was silent for several moments, Kim equally quiet beside her, then…
“Kimmie… tell me that I’m beautiful.”
“You’re the most gorgeous thing that I’ve ever…” Kim hadn’t hesitated but she was quickly interrupted.
“No, Princess, I mean… tell me something shallow, something superficial. Nothing deep and thoughtful, just something steamy and …” The pale green woman seemed desperate for the words. “Tell me that I’m not old, that I still have ‘it’… whatever ‘it’ is… and that I haven’t changed so much from what I used to be that…”
“Shego.”
“… that you don’t recognize me anymore. Tell me that I’m still hot, that you worship me, that you…”
“Shego, stop it.” Kim waited until the tall woman had quieted and had gathered herself together. She seemed so vulnerable all of a sudden, something that the old Shego would have fought tooth and nail to hide once upon a time; feelings of weakness were anathema to her and akin to being dead. Kim kept her distance for the moment, even though she knew that Shego wanted… needed… the contact.
“Just before Doc and Eddie landed, there was this thought that went through my head. It was how beautiful you looked in the sunlight.”
“…”
“The reason why I never decided to join ‘GJ’ as a bonded agent was because I didn’t really want it. Not really. For years I believed that I did, and I felt that it gave my life meaning, gave it value. It was you that taught me that it didn’t.”
“Kim… I…”
“What you taught me was self-respect. Independence. It was you that taught me to find value in myself beyond what I do or how I feel about myself… or what others think about me. It took a long time but I was listening. When the time came to make the choice, everything that you’d ever said to me made me realize that I didn’t need ‘GJ’ to give me value, and what Doc Betty told me that day reaffirmed something else that you’d always driven into me.”
“… what?”
“My freedom. She was warning me about letting myself become trapped by perceived obligations. She never made it sound like a warning, but she didn’t need to.” Kim looked up into the golden face, shining with a color not its own in the setting sun. “And here you are wanting me to tell you that you’re beautiful.”
“…”
“Nothing could be easier… but maybe what you’re asking is for that young girl to return and tell you what she thinks, how she feels. She can’t because she’s changed.” Kim moved closer. “She’s me, now. Older? Yes. Wiser? Not for me to say. Better? Hell, yes. I could whup her scrawny keister each day in a month of Sundays and what I think and feel is that you are the hottest, sexiest, most vile, evil, deceitful, grandstanding, psychotic witch that has ever done me the honor of stealing my heart.”
“I love you, too, Princess.” Shego didn’t embrace her mate; she closed the small distance between them and leaned against the smaller woman to gain strength from the touch. “Thank you.”
“Shego, will you dance with me?”
With only the music in their heads, they found a compatible rhythm and danced together beneath the pale sky as the first of the evening stars began to shine.
To Be Concluded…