Disclaimer: I don't own.
Choosing Life
Kim's heart beat irregularly in her chest. Was he the one? Was she ready for this? Her stomach twisted sharply and she shook her head. No. She had to stop thinking about it. It was pre-wedding jitters. Yeah. She loved Ron. He was her soul-mate.
The woman hissed in pain as she caught her arm on a steel door. She grimaced and turned it. Blood dripped down to her elbow and fell to the floor in rapid drops.
"Shit," she muttered and quickly reached into her mission pouch. A roll of gauze emerged a moment later and she swiftly bandaged her wound. The hero was replacing the remaining bandage in her pocket when a soft, barely audible click echoed down the darkened hall.
She promptly fell back into mission-mode and stalked down the corridor toward a door with Dr. Michael Firmer written in bold, black letters. The entry was opened ajar and the redhead gently pushed it all the way open. It silently swung forward to reveal her beautifully clad adversary.
Shego's curves stood out vibrantly against the light glow of a desk lamp. She was leaning over a file cabinet, picking the lock. A soft growl filtered from her lips as she failed again. The thief's fingers were shaking violently, hindering her lock-picking swiftness.
"Shego," Kim said softly. The older woman stiffened at the hero's voice. "What are you doing?"
It was the night before her wedding. She was supposed to be celebrating her last night of freedom with her friends. She was supposed to be pretending she wasn't going to throw up at any moment. But a call from Wade had come in. Her family insisted she let it go. But when the super genius mentioned it was Shego, Kim knew it was exactly what she needed to take her mind of the looming day in front of her.
"I am doing my job," the pale woman said through clenched teeth. "What are you doing?"
Kim almost smiled. "My job."
Shego scoffed and stood straight up, still not looking back at the younger woman. "Shouldn't you be out shoving dollar bills down a male stripper's banana hammock with your girlfriends?"
At that the hero's mouth curled into a half smile. "Yes. But a certain green woman decided to steal the blue prints for a genetically enhanced defensive drone."
"Sorry to ruin you're last hurrah," the villain snapped and finally turned around.
Kim shrugged. "You were just an excuse to leave. If I hadn't gotten that call, I would've eventually come up with some bullshit story about wanting to turn in early."
Shego smirked. It was an obviously forced, superficial, unfelt smirk. "Awe, is Princess afraid of the long walk down the aisle?"
"No," the hero shot back indignantly. And just like that, all the fears and worries came flooding back. Could she really marry Ron? Did she see herself with the man years from now? Did she love him like she should love a spouse? Was this love? This static and trite? Where was the passion? She'd never had passion with Ron. They transitioned from best friends to a couple almost seamlessly. Was that love? Was he…
"Is he who you want, Kimmie?" Shego asked with her head cocked to the side a bit. "I mean, really, the boy's an idiot. He can't even keep his pants on and he's twenty-two-fucking-years-old. What's he doing now? He's a pastry chef? Right? He just bought you a house? Did he not?"
Kim gulped down the lump forming in her throat and gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Yeah. So?"
The pale villain smiled and took a step toward her younger adversary. "What are you doing, Princess? You're still out saving the world. Alone. He couldn't keep up with you anymore."
"He had to go to school. And he's got to keep up his business," the hero defended her fiancée.
The thief nodded. "Yes. He does. And pretty soon, he'll be wanting you to stay home with him. You'll have to settle down. Are you ready for that?" Any traces of the smile Shego had were gone. "Are you really gonna settle down?"
"Not with people like you still out here," the anxious bride-to-be snapped angrily.
Shego took another step. "You're going to have to choose, Kimmie," the villain said softly, staring intently at the conflicted redhead. "Essentially, it's him or me."
Kim gulped. "What about when you settle down, huh? Someone's gonna come along and sweep you off your feet," shot the hero heatedly.
Shego closed her eyes and tensed her jaw for a moment before staring intensely into the younger woman's eyes. "That can't happen. At least not in the current situation." She stepped forward once more so she was less then three feet from the redhead. "Do you love him enough to give this all up? Do you?"
'Yes,' her mind screamed. 'Yes!'
The hero gulped and felt her heart sink. Suddenly, she was seventeen again. She was fighting the very woman that stood before her. Kim sent a hook Shego's way and the villain easily dodged it and retaliated by sweeping the teen's feet out from under her. The girl fell hard on the concrete floor and Shego crawled on top.
The pale thief smirked. She smirked that irritatingly sexy smirk. "Kimmie," the woman purred and leaned in close. "Haven't you learned by now? I always win."
"Yeah, we'll see," replied the young hero, readying herself to throw the older woman off her. But her eyes locked with those beautiful dark lips. God, they were perfect. Silky smooth and flawlessly soft. Exotically green and just calling for companionship. So Kim, loosing her control, shot up and crushed her peach lips to the villains. And they sparked. Not in the sense that a jolt of electricity sprung from one pair of lips to the other. No, but it shattered the world. It sent her spiraling. It was…it was…like nothing you could describe. It was…l…no. The teen abruptly pulled back, muttering her sincere apologizes and explaining she was just curious. It had meant nothing to her. Nothing at all.
"Shego," Kim whispered, coming back to the present. "I can't…I can't do this."
"Can't do what, Princess?" Shego asked leaning in slowly. "Nothing's happening. And nothing will happen unless you answer."
"Please," the hero breathed, desperately trying to pull back. But her body wouldn't listen. "Stop."
"I won't let you do this until know for sure it's what you want," the villain whispered deeply.
"Why do you care what I want?" asked Kim weakly.
"Just tell me, damn it!" the woman pleaded, getting closer still. Tears, actual tears, gathered in the pale thief's eyes. "I need to know. Me or him?"
The question suddenly changed. And both women knew it. "Shego, it was just a kiss," the redhead tried to say. Neither one truly believed her.
"That's bullshit," the criminal whimpered and slid her gloved hands up to cup the girl's face. "And you know it. You…you can't kiss someone like that and tell me it meant nothing to you. You just can't." The most dangerous woman in the world was about two words from all out sobbing.
"Shego," Kim said desperately, her own eyes stinging from unshed tears. "I'm getting married tomorrow." 'Why did you wait until now?' she wanted to ask.
The villain gulped and let out a short breath. "Him or me, Princess?"
The younger woman shook her head lightly and let a tear fall down her cheek. "I can't…you can't make me…I…don't want…" She took a deep shuddering breath and closed her eyes. "This is only pre-wedding jitters," she said with conviction. "I choose…him." Then she opened her eyes and felt her heart crack violently.
The hardened criminal's face broke and her lips trembled before tears started streaming down her cheeks. She gulped and let go of her adversary's face. Slowly, she stepped away. "Okay," she said in a shattered voice. "Fair enough." With that, she side-stepped the hero and sprinted down the hall.
"Shego!" the younger woman yelled after her. "Shego! Please!" But the woman ignored her and kept on running. Kim sighed. She'd just made, what should have been, the easiest choice in the world. Between her most hated enemy or her beloved husband-to-be. Then why did she feel like she made the wrong one?
It wasn't like she loved the pale woman. She hated her. She despised her, even. Pay no mind to the dreams she frequently had about the villain. But that was just because she fought her so often. And the times she'd caught herself about to call out the woman's name when she was making love to Ron! That was…that could have been…lust. Nothing more. Curiosity. Just like the kiss all those years ago. It was nothing. Daydreams about the thief were nothing more then…then…um…they were just nothing. She wasn't in love with Shego. She couldn't be. She had Ron.
Shego was an enigma to her. She wanted to know about the villain. She wanted to know what the fearless woman was afraid of. She wanted to know what she wanted to grow up to be when she was a kid. What were her dreams? What are her dreams? You know…just stuff like that. She was just intrigued by Shego. Nothing more.
But she wanted to know everything. Kim wanted to know what Shego looked like the very moment she woke up in the morning. She wanted to know how it felt to lean over her at night to turn of a lamp. She wanted to be able to come up behind her adversary when ever it pleased her and just hold her. God, more then anything in the world, Kim wanted to look deep in that woman's eyes and know there was no one else Shego was looking at. She wanted Shego to be the one to kiss her good night for no apparent reason other then she just wanted to.
Fuck, what had she done?
"Wade," Kim said in a stony business-like tone as she slid into her car.
"Oh, hey, Kim," the super genius replied, turning away from his latest project. The teenager refused to leave the computer. Even when Ron mentioned what the bachelor party would have for entertainment. "What do you need? Get Shego?"
"No, I lost her," the woman muttered with a double meaning. "Get me a trace. I bugged her jet before I got in here."
"On it." The boy typed furiously and sent the data to the Kimmunicator. "Good luck."
"Thanks," the hero said shortly and switched to fly-mode. A small green dot beeped on the computer screen followed by an equally blinking red dot. Shit, she was loosing ground. Kim grunted as she threw the stick shift forward and her car picked up speed, thrusting her head back a bit.
The longest hour of the hero's life finally passed and she got visual of Shego's Learjet. Relief fell over her and she almost smiled. The jet touched down in a valley not ten miles from where Kim was supposed to be getting married tomorrow. The redhead set her car down half a football field away and trekked the rest of the way on foot.
"Kimmie," she heard Shego moan as she neared the site. The woman was lying beside her jet staring up at the sky. There was too much cloud cover to see anything but she stared nonetheless. "Why, Kimmie? I could have given you everything. Anything you wanted. And you don't love him. You don't. I know you don't. You can't. Please, oh god, let this be a dream! It didn't happen! She didn't choose that…that…that asswipe over me!" The woman paused and sniffled. Kim silently crept up on the hysterical villain. "Damn it," Shego whispered and reached down beside her hip. She picked up a black object. Kim couldn't make it out from the distance. But then she heard the indisputable ka-chunk of a handgun being cocked. The woman slowly lifted it to her temple and clicked the safety off. "Good bye, Princess."
Terror spiked the redhead's heart. "Shego, don't!" she screamed and sprinted the last ten yards.
The older woman's head shot up at the sound of her name. Her eyes got wide when she saw who was running at her. "Princess?" She sat up and the gun slid from her hand. The pale woman shook her head and blinked. It couldn't be.
The hero skidded to a halt on her knees and looked the woman over desperately. "What the fuck are you doing?" she demanded, grabbing the gun. With deft hands, she switched on the safety and un-cocked it. Then she threw the weapon out of Shego's reach and took the villain's face in her hands. "What are you doing?" the redhead repeated weakly, tears reforming in her eyes.
"You're not supposed to be here," whispered Shego.
"Why would you even consider it, huh?"
The pale woman shook her head. "You don't get it. You don't understand what I feel for you. I can't live without you." She took a breath. "I wasn't working tonight. Drakken's at his mother's for the week. But I had to see you. Just one more time."
"Shego, I'm sorry," the hero said looking deep into the older woman's eyes. "I chose wrong. Okay? You. I choose you. Please."
The pale villain shook her head. "You're only saying that because you know I'll end it all if you don't. You're so fucking selfless, Possible."
"No," Kim said with conviction and forced the thief to look her in the eye. "I should have told you this a long time ago. I've been in love with you since my senior year of high school. But I wasn't suppose to. I was scared. And I'm sorry. I'm over it now. I'm not scared anymore. Please, Shego. Don't make me marry Ron. Because if you kill yourself, I'll have no reason not to."
"Kimmie," the older woman whimpered. "You don't-"
"I love you, Shego," Kim whispered sincerely. "I love you."
Shego took a shuddering breath. "Then run away with me. Leave you're dumb ass fiancée and come with me." She paused and stared, hard, into the redhead's emerald eyes. "We can go anywhere. Live anywhere. Do anything. With just one word. Him or me? And it's that last time I'm asking."
Kim smiled and leaned forward, tenderly kissing the villain. "You, Shego," she whispered into the kiss. "It'll always be you."
-Fin-
Tell me what you think. I'd really like to know. I'm not sure how confident I feel about it though.