It was cold. It was so very cold up here. Kim shivered slightly as her red hair whipped around her face. But then what did you expect when you climb the Eiffel tower after a pitch battle, power suit depleted of so much energy it can barely light the panel in your forearm, without some sort of coat.
She watched the lights around the city flicker into life, the sun setting so quickly thanks to it being December, Christmas Eve as well. All those lights, so many, and all of them surrounding, lighting, warming people doing last minute shopping, visiting the restaurants with friends, groups of loved ones, people everywhere… and they have no idea how close they came to utter destruction.
The redhead shivered once more, this time out of memory more than the cold.
She knew. She had to, considering it had been her dangling on the end of Dementor’s latest weapon, hand clutching desperately to the cold and slippery metal of it, struggling to slide the device Wade had promised would cancel out the energy beam that she knew would cause untold devastation, onto its emitter. Yes she knew.
Had swung, her power suits emitter bands flickering as its energy reserves slowly died, while it tried to maintain the energy shield it could generate. Once designed to deflect green plasma, now serving to try and protect her from the radiation, peaking at the tip of the machine.
Had tried, oh so very hard, to keep the vision, the memory of her lover, her special and unique soul that she had found, fighting so many people… so, so, many henchmen! The sound of the combat as she had fought just as hard, just as violently as her soul-mate.
Tried to forget the terrible realisation that they would never make it in time if they continued to be waylaid as they were. The way bright emerald eyes had met her own. The bursts of green plasma around them forgotten, along with the weapons, the screaming, and the attacking forms of men and women. The way those eyes had just stared and then black lips had smirked and said one word.
“Go.”
And she had, darn her! Because the world needed Kim Possible, then and there, to be a hero once more… and Shego knew it too.
She found herself nibbling her lip, after all those months of being with her, of having her standing by her side, Shego managed to surprise her still. Always had done after that one special night, and now constantly with their relationship. For all the years of fighting, Kim had never realised how much energy Shego had actually put into fighting her. Not until the fighting had turned to need, then love, and then life together. Now Kim knew. For she had never felt so wanted, not even as a hero, when she was with her green thief. Her Shego.
Another sigh escaped Kim’s lips.
Oh, she’d managed to destroy the device that Dementor had almost activated. Not, to her own relief, by her own fingertips just managing to eke the disabler across it, no. Though she had done so, another figure had arrived in time to provide aid as well. And for that she was thankful, if just as confused as she had been with Shego at first.
The figure had never said anything; words weren’t needed at the time. Kim had caught a glimpse of red hair, similar to her own, a black outfit hiding an impressive body, and then the eyes had flashed over hers and winked, before the figure was leaping down to where she was so precariously purchased, trying to swing up onto the lip and force the disabler. Hands had gripped hers, pulled her up, and stabilised her while Kim had stretched as far as her young, athletic form could manage, and clipped Wade’s technology in place.
This had sent the German into screams of outrage and then in horror as his humming machine fired a bolt of pure blue energy along the small refracting tube which was aimed at the heart of Paris. It should have hit the Arc De Triomph, but instead it had shot into the gleaming device now strapped to the front of, it thanks to Kim.
Kim could only remember running for her life, the red headed shape of The Fox next to her, making their way towards the exit of the building Dementor had placed his device. She remembered flying through it, tearing down the stairs and listening to the massive explosion that echoed down the stairwell the door had lead into.
She remembered watching the flaming debris spattering and tumbling down the well, the smell of acrid smoke. She even recalled the way that Dementor’s high powered escape capsule had sounded as the powerful turbine engine at its core had shot the diminutive German madman to safety.
The wind grew stronger for a moment and Kim bit her lip against the cold, against the way her skin under the tight fabric began to goose bump. She sighed, wondering if anyone else felt like she did.
Sad, and tired… and lonely.
By the time The Fox, now simply Marie Renard thanks to a costume change, and herself had jogged down the fifteen floors to where Kim had left Shego fighting alone, the burning odour pouring from the roof had begun to make the two women choke and gag. And then Kim had forced the fire door leading to Shego slowly open, and had screamed in utter horror.
It wasn’t due to the crumpled bodies of Dementor’s henchmen and hired help. Nor was it due to the way a smoking hole had been punched neatly through the room, down into the corridor setting it alight with birhgt yellow flame, and then had smshed away the floor leaving a deadly drop into the darker floors below. No, it had been none of that.
It had been the sight of the one green glove, smeared with blood, barely gripping the splintered remains of the drops edge. It had been the smears of even more blood on the polished lino flooring that lead to where the glove gripped tightly. It had been the spent shell casings of a weapon, and the smell of discharge
All of this had bundled itself into Kim’s heart, her stomach, and formed a ball of sheer terror that had felt like solid ice. She remembered the scream even more than the feeling of ice. She remembered screaming Shego’s name, lunging for the green glove, only for Marie to leap with her, her French face just as terrified and fearful for the woman she called daughter, both of them scrambling to grip the failing hand.
And the sight of her lover, of her green goddess below, swinging over certain death, her breath coming in shallow gasps as her black gloved hand had clamped across her middle, the streaks of bright red blood obscenely trickling down the curves of her catsuit, would stay with Kim forever. And, she knew, would most likely wake her in a cold sweat for months to come.
They had worked together then, Marie and Kim, pulling Shego ever so gently out of the hole, the green woman falling unconscious into her lovers arms as soon as her legs were free. There hadn’t even been time for a smile, a word, even a knowing wink or sparkle of her eyes. No,
Shego had just fallen, like dead weight, into her embrace.
She had watched the ambulance come, along with the police, had whispered a quiet and torn thanks to Marie, and then watched numbly as the thief had effortlessly vanished into the night. She had watched the trauma team and medics patch Shego up, gently place her pale lovers form into the ambulance, and then shake their head at her request to join them. The ambulance had been too small for all of them to fit, and Kim had watched it scream and wail into the distance.
She had been left alone, clutching the name of the hospital, as everyone had busied themselves around her. Nobody cared about her, nobody wanted to know. Until the press arrived, knowing she had saved the day, and swarmed her. Her name would be in the papers once more, and the world would be warmed by the knowledge that she had been what they needed her to be.
A hero… not a lover.
And then and there, as the press had turned away to report the story, Kim Possible had felt warm tears trickle down her face.
It had taken a call to Marie a few hours later, once the screaming hoards of the press had died down, to get anyone to care, to realise that the hero was close to shattering. The redheaded thief had arrived in a cab, picked
Kim up, and rode with her while murmuring quiet reassurances, to the hospital that held Shego. Barely an hour’s travel later, the cool afternoon winter sun playing across the hospital bed, Kim had gazed on her lovers still form.
Shego had lain there, unconscious still, the bright white patch of a medical bandage shining obscenely as it sat on her pale green skin, covering the bullet wound Kim had been told was there.
“Another few inches and it would have hit her kidney” She had been told by a cheerful Doctor and Marie had translated. “As it is, she’s very lucky indeed. Just a little tissue damage, but it passed clean through and left a neat, easily stitched up wound. Though I doubt the young lady in question will be mobile today. Not unless she’s a miracle worker.”
Kim had only nodded, her gaze fixed on the still form, watching her chest slowly rise and fall with a horrible, almost frail gentleness. Had stared at the soft face and still lips. And that was when she felt something break inside her.
Even as Marie had called out, Kim had been running for the exit, running from the sight of Shego wounded like that, realising how terribly close she had come to losing her through nothing more than not being there by Shego’s side.
As the dusk had set in, as Paris had slowly began to slide into its twilight existence, Kim had dodged past the guards at the feet of the Eiffel tower, and had flipped, jumped and climbed her way to the very top, sitting just a few inches from where, barely six months ago, she and Shego had shared a very special kiss. One that had lead to that special night in the hotel… the night where Kim had given everything to Shego, and found more tenderly given back.
I almost lost her. Kim thought, a hand gently brushing a lock of her red hair aside as the wind whipped it into her face. I should have been there; I should have fought with her. Together. That’s what people who love each other do!
Closing her eyes, Kim let her head bow slightly, and pulled one leg into an angle, gently resting her arm onto the knee. Her right slid out behind her and the heroic young woman fought back tears as guilt tore into her.
It’s not the same as Kara, as the Jade… as that battle all those months back. Nothing like that! It’s… it’s not! And our promise doesn’t come into it! Kim bit her lip as Shego’s qiet answer to a question she had posed long ago, came swimming back.
“No matter what happens, even if one of us is injured… I want both of us to promise we’ll never regret doing what we love. You hear me, Princess?”
“I did, Shego… but I never realised how hard it would be.” Kim sighed and shook her head. God, she was cold up here, and it suited her mood to be punished right now.
My… my life, who I am… a hero! It… it ruined everything! She brought me back here for romance, for a special celebration of Christmas. I know she always hated it, and now I know why… because she was alone. But this Christmas she wanted it to be perfect. And it was!
Or had been until Dementor had shown up. Until he had, Shego had shown Kim how much she wanted the redhead to enjoy this Christmas above all others. The hotel, rich and extravagant. The shopping and sightseeing, fun and carefree. The food, exotic, enticing and wonderful. Everything had been perfect! Perfect! And then a quick flight back in Shego’s wonderful jet plane to the USA for Christmas itself, even if Shego herself had been uncomfortable with the idea of spending it with Kim’s family.
“You would have done it for me, like you did all this… And now you’re in hospital, wounded and in pain… and I’m alone for Christmas Eve. All because I couldn’t refuse a damn mission! I hate myself!” The redhead felt her lips tremble at the injustice of Shego’s gift being ruined by her other career, by her alone, and she let out a choked sob. “Shego… God, I wish you were here!”
The sudden chink of glass on glass had Kim’s head shooting up, eyes wide, and she turned to take in whoever was behind her. She almost slipped on the rusty, rapidly cooling metal as she gasped at the sight of the person who carefully stepped towards the edge of the very top floor of the Eiffel tower with her.
“I knew you’d come here.” Black lips curved. “This was where I promised it was more, oh so much more, than an infatuation.”
Kim’s lips soundlessly matched the words while the ice and guilt in her belly trickled away to be replaced with relief, love and warmth. The cold forgotten, the redhead rose slowly, her eyes never leaving the smooth strong body in front of her.
“Do you remember, Kimmie?”
Shego cocked her head, green eyes warm and tender, as her Kim nodded gently. She knew Kim had been tearing into herself, had realised that she would do as soon as she had woken up in hospital and found Marie nervously worrying over her. It had been the work of moments to check herself over, find her wound already starting to heal nicely around the stitches, thanks to her powers.
Of course, she had worried over where Kim had gone when Marie had told her that the redhead, her lover, had run frantically from the hospital… her eyes like a wounded animal. But then as the drugs had worn off and she had felt herself begin to think clearly again through the haze of painkillers that she didn’t really need, Shego had known where Kim would go.
“Yeah… and…” Kim suddenly began to cry, warm drops streaking down her face. “Oh god, I almost lost you! I almost lost you and I wasn’t there! I should have been there!”
“Woah, Kimmie… woah.” Shego hobbled forwards, wincing slightly as her healing wound complained. Reaching forwards with the hand that clutched a bottle, she pulled the redhead away from the edge, just in case, and kissed her forehead. The sobs subsided a little and Shego sighed.
“Oh Kim, I thought we promised to never do this. Eh? And now when I get a little, itty bitty wound, you blame yourself for not being there for me? I told you to go! Doy!”
“I should have stayed with you! If I had, that guy would never have got his shot off and hurt you!” Kim shook, trembled with pent up guilt and relief. “I know you told me to go, but-“
“But nothing, Possible.” Shego shook her head. “What we do, you and I… it’s dangerous. We both know that, but we have reasons for doing this. You believe in doing it for the good of others. I do it to be with you, thanks to Betty. But we both know that it could end up with one of us, or both of us, never coming back. And I thought we’d come to terms with that?”
Kim nodded. “I… I know, but I never realised how much I have to lose. How precious you are to me.” Shego smiled, feeling her heart skip. “I… I don’t want to lose you. Ever!”
“I’m not going anywhere yet, Pumpkin. And if they wanna try to separate me from you that way, then they’ll have to prise my cold fingers from your body. And even then it’ll only be a maybe that they’ll succeed. But what I don’t wanna see… no, I won’t see, is you being guilty over what happened! I’m fine apart from a small wound, we stopped the bad guys from ruining Paris, and I want you to stop crying and feeling guilty! Clear?”
Kim looked up into her lovers deep green eyes and nodded slowly, her guilt and anxiety burning away in the intense fire of Shego’s love for her. “Yeah… I… yeah.”
“Good, we can talk about this again later… much later. After the holidays I think.” Shego sniffed, smiling slowly. “Now, here’s how I see the rest of Christmas Eve, Pumpkin.”
Kim chuckled and felt the arm that had draped around her slide back. The chink of glass on her flickering power suit had her glancing across at the bottle, and her eyes widened.
“Champagne?”
“Courtesy of Marie.” Shego murmured, her other hand rising to show two very slim glasses. “And we have a little picnic too, not too austere, thanks to the very nice delicatessen I know of, about three streets away. So, I suggest that we spend the evening up here, drink a little bubbly, eat a very nice meal and enjoy the memories of the last time we were in this spot, and how about making some new ones, mmmn?”
“You’ve been busy.” Kim murmured, staring at the woman she loved with awe.
“Yeah, I have been since yesterday. So maybe the little… nap I had was good for me.” Shego chuckled and Kim was forced to smile. She couldn’t help it. “I had the picnic laid out at my request and all I had to do was pick it up.”
“And climb the Eiffel tower?” Kim asked, realising that wounded and carrying a picnic basket, it had to have been painful and slow going. But she refused to acknowledge what her green lover must have gone through to get up here in case she offended her.
“Hell no.” The reply made Kim blink and Shego smirked. “You do know that Marie is on the board to keep the Eiffel in tip top condition, right? And that means she can do things like open the gates for me, stand down the guards… let me use the lift.”
This time, Kim’s laughter was soft, smooth and easy on the ear, the final traces of guilt vanishing from her body. “You’re such a slacker!”
“I prefer clever. After all, we both know I could do it if I wanted, and thrash you too if we ever had a little competition to climb this big ol` lump of metal.” Inwardly, Shego nodded as he redheaded lover laughed, she could see the fear burning away and it pleased her. “And besides, I claim incapacity bennies for my wound, so suck on that, Possible!”
“Okay, okay… you were clever. You were clever!” Kim gently hugged Shego and sighed. “But then you always were.”
“Damn right… I fell in love with you, didn’t I?”
As Kim stepped back, Shego felt the heat of a blush trickle onto her face as her body revved violently at the touch of her lover. She knew, and loved the fact, that it had to do with the catsuit that the redhead was wearing. Because Kim had wonderful curves, Shego knew very well, and now that she wore something a little, just a tad, more body forming that cargo pants, the feel of the redhead’s thighs as they slid over her waist, coupled with the soft foxy sweep of her breasts pressing against Shego’s own catsuit, had stirred her libido into quick, growling, action.
Kim blinked as Shego growled slightly, and her eyes widened as her green lover stared hungrily at her. “What… oh. Shego, come on! It’s just my supersuit for crying out loud! You’ve seen me in it before.”
“Yeah… and you remember what happened the last time, princess?” Shego watched as Kim blushed bright red. “I prefer you in the one Drakken gave you, the one that matches my colours and design… your dirty little secret in the wardrobe. Still, I love this blue one too, because it looks good on your Pumpkin. The whole innocent angel look, until you realise it's a catsuit and how… tight it is. In fact, it makes me hungry… and I have quite the appetite tonight, wound or not.”
“Um, wow… er…” A few minutes ago, Kim had been depressed, and now she flushed deep as her own libido stirred at the way Shego prowled slowly around her. “jeez, Shego. Open the champagne will you?”
“Just a second,” Shego limped back into the dark of the lift area and then limped back, a jacket underneath one arm, which she offered to her lover. “Here, before you freeze to death, or my libido makes a break for it.”
“God, do you never stop?” Kim managed, shrugging on the jacket and quietly thanking the warmth. “Oh, I forget… you're Shego a go go. Open the darn bottle!”
Chuckling, and knowing very well that she would get Kim in bed and they would make passionate love, wound or not again, Shego handed her lover the glasses and then turned her attention to the bottle. With a flare of plasma, the cork shot into the night and he poured rich, lavish and expensive champagne into the glasses with care.
Taking one and handing the other to Shego, Kim sipped cautiously. She was only twenty, about to turn twenty one soon, but she had barely touched alcohol thanks to her own morals on the subject. That had changed when Shego had got her to Paris the first time, and she was happy to drink again now they were back here and it was legal for her to do so. Still, she took it easy and savoured the gentle sips as the wonderful fizzy liquid danced down her throat.
“Mmmmn, this is lovely.” She managed, sighing.
“Yeah, you are.” Shego murmured, drinking her own glass a little less carefully.
Kim flushed again and turned to gaze out at the night sky, underneath which Paris glimmered and shone in the inky dark.
“And look at that view. It’s like seeing diamonds and stuff on black velvet. Really pretty. And then there’s Paris down there, Shego. Look at it. So full of life and people… I wonder how many of them are in love, and are looking at the Eiffel tower right now, holding hands, and kissing?”
“Yeah… it’s something alright. You know, I once came up here with marie when I started out. She set me a challenge to climb the Eiffel the first week. Promised me a rare gift when I got to the top.” Shego glanced across at Kim and as the redhead noticed, smirked. “I got this view and a bottle of wine. But I think I prefer you. Cause you’re much more fun to drink.”
Shego!” Kim whispered, her hand trembling on the glass and she tried to decide if it was out of cold or arousal at the green woman’s words. “Stop it!”
“Who on earth is going to hear us, Princess? Now, how about that picnic?”
Shego pointed back to where the lifts lay in the gathering dark. Kim could make out a tiny glow of candlelight now, and she smiled.
“Sure.”
“Oh, by the way… before we do, I’ve got one other thing to do to you before we can eat.”
Shego gently placed her glass onto a steel girder next to her, and then tapped the redhead on her nose. “Close your eyes, Pumpkin, and don’t open them until I say. Kay?”
“Um, Shego… I.”
“Princess…”
“Okay, okay… fine. Just don’t overdo it. I don’t want to have to rush you back to hospital.”
With Kim’s eyes closed, Shego slowly kneeled on one leg, the movement joined with some inventive cursing as her wound complained once more, and then she gently flipped open her ankle pouch and fumbled around inside. After a few moments, Kim heard a gentle clicking sound, and Shego’s voice.
“Okay, Kim.” The green woman’s voice was soft, almost nervous. “Time to pop em` open again.”
The redhead’s eyes flicked open, her soft green meeting Shego’s, and she blinked in utter shock as she realised Shego was kneeling on one leg. “Shego?”
“Kim Possible…. I ah… well.”
Her green hands gently held out the ring, a twist of white gold and platinum, in the middle of which sat an emerald and a ruby, both high lustre and high caret, surrounded by the smoky twinkle of small black diamonds.
Shego licked her lips. This was even harder than she imagined it would be. It seemed Kim’s parents had been right when they’d chuckled and warned her she’d become a little tongue tied. The bastards… especially Kim’s mother who’d had an amused gleam in her eye when Shego had asked how hard it could be.
“Shego? Oh my god!!” Kim stuttered and her own glass dropped to the metal floor, saved from shattering as it bounced off the soft boot of Kim’s super suit. “You’re… you’re… oh! Oh!”
“Yeah, don’t rub it in!” Shego managed, flushing bright green. “This is hard enough! Right… Doy!” She tried again. “Kim, I… we’ve been together for over a year and a half now. I love you a hell of a lot, I hope I’ve made you realise that…” At Kim’s silent nod, her hands clasped over her mouth, Shego continued, bolstered. “Well, I want to go one step further with you by my side. I… well Kim, I love you, I wanna be with you, and as you told me back at the club, I wanna grow old with you. Will you marry me, Kim Possible?”
Kim stared and a choked gasp slid from her mouth as fresh tears poured down her face. Despite all the pain and fear of the morning, everything now was perfect, just perfect!
“Kimmie?” Shego whispered, anxious and terrified. She hadn’t felt this way since she had sat in the courthouse of Go city, waiting to see if she was going to be sent to jail. Kim’s answer was just as frightening. What… what if she said no?
“You want to marry me?” Kim whispered back, trembling. “You… why?”
“Because I love you, Doy! I want to live my life with you!” Shego paused, her heart racing with worry. Was it too soon? Was the ring horrible to Kim? Was she doing this wrong? She prayed to god she wasn’t. “Isn’t that enough?”
“I… yes.” Kim managed, stepping forwards suddenly and gently pulling a shocked and delighted Shego to her feet. “Oh, god. Yes! Yes I’ll marry you, Shego! I… yes! Yes!”
“I take it this is yes then?” Shego managed, only to have her lips claimed by the redhead as she launched herself into shego’s open arms and kissed her deeply.
And in the cool evening air of a city claimed to be the most romantic place on earth, and as the first snow of Christmas began to fall, Marie Renard smiled quietly to herself as she watched the two tiny figures, through her binoculars, entwine slowly, before gently stepping back and giving them privacy.
“Bonne Chance, Ma Chere… Bonne chance.”
The end…