Disclaimer: I don't own Kim Possible.
Drakken and Shego walked through the streets of a quite large city. They really didn't know where they were, but it wasn't that big of a deal to them. Wandering was what they did best ever since the Lorwardian invasion. All of their accounts went dry because since they decided to go straight and get out of the evil business and take over the world schemes, Global Justice and the government took all of their money away, claiming that it was all stolen when in reality, not all of it was. Well, Drakken knew most of his was stolen, okay, all of his, but Shego's wasn't. She had earned that money working for him, that small amount of time at the high school in Middleton, and some jobs that she did here and there. Sure, not all of it was legal, but some of it was. Wade Load wasn't much of a help either. He gave all of the information about the various bank accounts and such to all of these organizations. He had promised to save some money along with Kim Possible but in the end, the duo still ended up with close to nothing.
So, here they were, walking through some city that had built itself back up. Nobody would hire them either. Dr. Drakken knew he had a great mind; he was a genius after all. He knew he really was. He even saved the world, but no one would even consider hiring him. Shego tried to get some various jobs too but no one would hire her either. Even with her college degree in child development and lack of teachers, she still couldn't get a decent job.
Drakken didn't want to bother his mother with his troubles. Besides, he couldn't really stand her either. Even though he gave up villainy recently, his mother had just found out and she was holding a grudge. Drakken knew she was probably crying herself to sleep at night because her only son had lied and did horrible things for a number of years.
Shego stooped as low as going to her own brothers for a place to stay. Drakken remembered that her youngest brothers, Wego, were very thrilled that she wanted to come back and even Mego didn't make the situation all about him. However, Hego wasn't so welcoming. He was angry at her because she switched sides of the law yet again and he told her he was sick and tired of it. He had yelled at her, claiming she would just go back to being a cold hearted thief within a couple of months. Well, it had been a couple of months and she wasn't stealing anything as far as Drakken knew. Besides, she wouldn't go back there after that fight.
Drakken had considered asking Kim Possible for help despite Shego's protests. However, Kim couldn't do a thing, or so she said, to even help one of them get jobs so they could get a roof over their head. When Shego found out that he had gone against her back, she didn't talk to him for two days straight. Two days wouldn't have been a big deal unless she wasn't the only one with him practically every hour of every week. His thoughts were interrupted when Shego spoke up, "Even when you're good, or just normal," She said as they walked by some homeless people, "the government is always against you." And she was right. They had saved the world and had gotten nothing in return. "Being a hero gets you nowhere. You'd think Possible and her sidekick would have been rich or at least getting full scholarships to any college of their choice, but no one will give it to them." She chuckled a little and said, "I wonder how many times we have to save the world from ten foot tall aliens with their advanced technology to be treated maybe a little better than the average person." He watched her kick a can into a gutter. The sound of the can hitting the pavement made an interesting sound as it bounced up and down until it fell in a large hole that led to the sewer system under the city. "Fuck it." Shego said out of nowhere. "In the last city I tried getting a job at Hooters, you know. But they wouldn't hire me because they were afraid I'd steal from them or something. I mean, if I can't even get a job as low as that, how low am I going to have to go?" She laughed a bit, then became silent again. Drakken wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut. He didn't have anything intelligent to add or anything good enough to say. He found it was easier that way.
Ten minutes later, they came across a motel. Drakken hated motels, especially whenever he went in them they'd think Shego was some kind of hooker and he was some sleazy middle aged man who was cheating on his wife or something. Even though they had odd skin colors, saved the world, and were once big time villains, nobody recognized them as Drakken and Shego which bothered him. He never got a thank you, or a thanks for saving my life. He wondered how Kim Possible and that sidekick of hers actually liked doing deeds such as this. He knew why Shego had left the saving the world business. It didn't give back. People could only give so much and get nothing in return for a limited amount of time. Shego had even said she was Kim Possible's age when she quit and she said she could tell Kim was on the verge of quitting too because she hadn't been saving the world as frequently. Drakken hoped Kim was only going for a normal life now instead of risking her life for a corrupted world.
"Wait here." Shego said, breaking him out of his thoughts yet again. He nodded. It was standard procedure. Shego would go in without him and somehow get a free room for a night or two. He wondered how she did it, but never thought about it for too long. He didn't want his mind to wander to something that he wouldn't approve of. So, he just wouldn't think about it.
Within ten minutes, Shego came back out and told him to come in. He stepped into the rundown motel out of the cold. As he passed the front desk and followed Shego to their room, the fifty year old man behind the counter gestured for him to come over to him. Without thinking, he went up to the front desk. He observed the man's gray hair and his receding hair line. He was slightly tanned and smelled of cigarette smoke. "She's real good. A looker too." The man said. Confused, Drakken just walked away and caught up to Shego.
"What did he say?" She asked him as she swiped the keycard.
"Oh, umm, nothing important. That guy's just weird." Drakken said. Shrugging, Shego opened the door and the two walked in. He noticed there was only one bed this time.
"Sorry I could only get us a room with one bed." She said. Drakken nodded, not caring. At least they'd be sleeping under a roof unlike the night before where they camped out in the woods. Drakken tossed his backpack in one of the chairs on the side. He plopped down and the bed creaked a bit. Luckily, it wasn't too uncomfortable but then again, he couldn't be too picky about it. "I call first shower." She always did, so he let her. He'd go after her. She went into the bathroom and heard the door lock. Did she really think he'd walk in on her? Whatever. It didn't really matter to him just as long as she saved him some hot water.
Drakken looked around the room. It was dull; the walls were gray and looked unpainted. Some old wallpaper was still stuck to it in various places. He wondered what happened to it. He looked ahead of him and saw there was a television set. The remote rested on the nightstand next to him, which he took. He turned it on and noticed there were only seven channels to choose from. He went to the news. The Lorwardian invasion wasn't on there anymore. It was off within a month, really. The world had moved on from that event and now they were focusing on some kind of survey. Of course, it had to do with sex. Disgusted, he changed the channel and found a simple sitcom he didn't really pay attention to.
When he heard the shower turn off, he looked at the time on the digital clock next to him. He was glad that she had only taken a twenty minute shower this time. That meant he'd have enough water for himself. However, she didn't emerge from the bathroom for another ten or fifteen minutes. "It's about time." He said.
"Relax," She started, "I got out like ten minutes ago." He watched her roll her perfect shade of green eyes. He noticed that she had a towel wrapped around her hair and another one wrapped around her body.
"You didn't use all the towels again did you?" He asked her, remembering an incident from about a month or two ago when he had gotten out of the shower and had to dry himself off with a washcloth.
"No I didn't. There's another one. Besides, even if I did, I'm the one who got us the free room, not you." She said as she rummaged through her own backpack. The fact that she wasn't too body conscious in front of him and she wore only a towel around her baffled him.
He grabbed his own backpack and brought it in the bathroom with him. He locked the door. He could never be too sure with Shego. About a couple of weeks ago, she had walked in when he was in the shower. He had shouted, saying he was in the shower but she only said that she knew and she just had to get something from the bathroom that she had left in there earlier. So he vowed to himself that he'd always lock the door.
Drakken stripped off his dirty clothes and turned on the shower. While the shower warmed up, he looked at his face in the mirror. He saw that the bags under his eyes were getting larger and his skin wasn't as smooth as it had once been. He then stepped into the shower and let the warm water hit his body. As he washed himself, he began to think again. He was too old for a life such as the one he was living currently. He didn't think he could last much longer going from city to city, motel to motel, and from camp out to camp out. It was taking a toll on him. He noticed Shego had become slightly depressing and in turn making himself more depressed. He had always been optimistic, but he was seeing that he was changing too. He had become a more go with the flow kind of guy. He had never been like that. Shego wasn't sarcastic anymore and even though she always doubted his take over the world plans, she had never been depressing about it. She had even become kind of morbid about it. He remembered earlier that month, they had gotten into a fight and she had burst out saying, "At least I have my own body to get me things that I might need, unlike you. You're lucky I'm here." It was true. She had been using her body to get them things. Like the time in the supermarket when they couldn't afford some bread, she had pulled her shirt down a bit and used some kind of sexual innocence, if that was even possible, to get them what they needed.
Drakken turned the shower water off and dried himself and his hair with the one towel Shego had left him. He put on his pajamas and brushed his teeth. He shoved his dirty laundry in his backpack. He shut off the light to the bathroom and emerged. He saw that Shego had made herself comfortable on the bed. She was under the blankets and reading a book. Drakken remembered how she used to read books at night. He would always catch her reading one. She would choose an author and read all their books and then go to another one. She had said her favorite author was Margaret Atwood. He never read a book by her, but realized he should have when he had the chance. He had said reading was a waste of time because with that reading time he could have come up with so many take over the world schemes that would be foolproof.
He got into the bed next to her. To his surprise, she put down the book, the only one she had left called Cat's Eye, on the nightstand beside the bed. "Not reading tonight?" He asked. He watched her rub her eyes with her thumb and pointer on her right hand. He heard her sigh heavily.
"You can only read a book so many times. I swear I have parts of it memorized." She said. She leaned back into the pillows. "What are we going to do?"
"I'm not sure." Drakken said. "It's impossible to find any jobs." He had stated the obvious, but she didn't mention that he did like she usually would have. Instead, she just said,
"Fuck." She closed her eyes for a bit. At first, he thought she was going to go to sleep, but she started to speak again. "Life sucks, doesn't it?"
"Well," Drakken started, "This might sound a bit cliché, but sometimes I wish I was a bird, you know? So I could just fly away. You know, like in that Emily Dickenson's poem."
"But then you'd only be flying away from your problems. You can't do that." Shego said simply. "Your problems will just follow you anyway. You have to figure out how to solve them yourself."
"Well, I can't solve this problem, all right, Shego?" Drakken snapped at her. She actually flinched a bit.
"What if I told you I had an answer?" She whispered. "And what if I told you I had the answer for months now?" She said even quieter.
"Well, why didn't you tell me?" Drakken asked her, calming down a bit. He didn't want to scare her or cause her to be uncomfortable.
"I mean, since I can't get a job at a place like Hooters of all places, maybe I could get one dancing." Drakken wasn't naive. He knew what she meant. She meant she'd be stripping and dancing around a pole, maybe giving lap dances. "That makes good money."
"Shego, I won't allow you to do it." Drakken said. "You won't be doing it."
"Well it's better than what I have been doing to get us food and places to stay." Drakken was surprised when she began to cry.
"Look, I already don't like what I see you doing at the grocery store, but it isn't as degrading as taking off your clothes with a bunch of horny men around." Drakken argued.
"You don't know what you're talking about." She yelled at him. "You don't even know how I get these rooms for nothing!"
"You told me you negotiate with the owner or something and you told me that I'd just ruin it because I'm an idiot and I'd say the wrong thing, according to you!" Drakken hated yelling at her, but if she was going to yell at him then he was going to yell at her. And if she was going to cry, he figured it didn't matter. Half the time he felt like crying, anyway.
"And you're so dense you believed me!" She cried. "Yes, part of it is negotiating, but the other part is…something else." She said and looked down; the blanket had suddenly looked interesting to her.
"And what is this something else?" His voice became calm again. "Shego, look at me. I need to know." She looked up at him with tears falling down her cheeks.
"I've been sleeping with them. Or giving them blow jobs and hand jobs. Are you happy now that you know I'm a slut?" He knew she had tried to snap at him, but it didn't work. Instead, it came out as a cry.
"Why would you do it?" Drakken asked her.
"Because it was necessary. I know that you aren't as young as you used to be and sleeping outside in the cold isn't really good for you. Honestly, if it was just me, I wouldn't have done any of it. I'd figure something else out later."
"Shego, don't do it again, you hear me? I'd rather sleep in five feet of snow instead of you doing that with people, okay?" Drakken said and pulled her close to him and hugged her.
"Then we'll starve and probably die."
"We won't. I'm going to phone my mother again and see if she'd let us stay with her or something until we get on our feet." Drakken said. "I'm going to have to tell her what you've been doing though, okay?" Shego hesitated for a bit, but then nodded in understandment. She silently cried into his chest. Drakken felt like a fool. All of the signs that she had been doing this were there but he chose to ignore them. Deep down, he probably knew what was going on but he just ignored it. "If my mother doesn't work out, we'll just go back to your brothers anyway. Mego can probably talk Hego into letting at least you stay with him."
When Shego calmed down, he went to go call his mother. He had found a few quarters to use a payphone. He had called her, but with no results. He couldn't believe she was acting like this. His mother said she'd always help him out in a pinch, and this was definitely what one would call a pinch. She didn't forgive him for lying to her for so long still.
He walked back into the room, telling Shego that his mother rejected them. Shego decided she'd go call her brothers and see if they'd take her in. Drakken said if he didn't want him there, then it was fine with him. He just wanted her to be safe and have a place to stay and everything. She was young. There was still hope for her. He felt as if there was no hope for himself. Shego came back, shaking her head no. "So much for Hego wanting me to come back. Figures. It was probably only an act." She said and slumped onto the bed. Drakken could only give her a look of sympathy. He couldn't believe that their own families were rejecting them. "Did you tell him?" He asked, referring to the things that she had done.
"I did. But that just made it worse. It's a long story, so I won't go into it." Shego said and ran a hand through her black hair, which she only did when she was very stressed out. "Just let me do that stupid job. Please."
"Well, we are desperate. But not that desperate."
"Yes we are. If we don't get money soon, then…I just don't know anymore." Shego cried. "This is not how I pictured my life, Drakken."
"Me either." He admitted. "I always thought I'd have that perfect family by now." Shego gave him a sad smile.
"I hope I will someday. Normal and average are starting to sound like good things now."
"You still have a chance." Drakken said. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"It's the guy at the counter." Shego said, knowingly. "I'll be back." Drakken quickly grabbed her arm to stop her. "Let me go." She said. "This will be the last time, okay? I've got to or we'll be kicked out and it's pouring outside." Drakken let her arm go reluctantly and let her go. "I'll be okay, I promise." He could only nod at her retreating form. She left the room and shut the door. It was Drakken's turn to cry. He didn't have to be strong. He fell asleep, hearing the sound of the rain hitting the window.
Drakken woke up the next morning and Shego wasn't there. Worried about her, he bolted up and then noticed she was outside on the motel's small porch off of their room. It was still raining, so he remained inside. "Shego," He whispered. "Please, come in here." She gave him a sad smile and did as she was told which was, again, very unlike her. "I didn't hear you come in last night." He said and the two sat on the bed.
"I did come back last night but I couldn't sleep." Shego said. "There's something you should know."
"I'm listening." Drakken said. He watched her crawl up the bed and under the blankets.
"I slept with him to get money to go to the doctor's. Funny, the free clinic didn't accept me, said I was too pretty to even need the free clinic, said I was too put together and not homeless."
"When did you ever go to the free clinic?"
"A few nights ago. You can seriously sleep through a fire alarm if it went off. Anyway, I needed money to go to the doctor's." Shego said and began playing with the blanket in her hands. "So, I had to sleep with him to get money. I'm not proud of it, but I did anyway."
"What's wrong, are you sick?" Drakken asked. He knew she wasn't sick. She looked perfectly fine, just a bit thinner than she had been.
"Worse. I'm pregnant. And I obviously don't know who the father is."
"How long?"
"Eight weeks."
"Are you getting an abortion?"
"I don't think so. I heard its heart beat. I'm sorry, but I…I…" She began to cry.
"What can I do?" Drakken asked.
"Just come here and hold me." She said, practically begged with her eyes. Drakken did as she said. He went under the covers next to her. They laid down and he wrapped his left arm around her, holding her close to him. "You won't leave me, will you?"
"Of course not." Drakken assured her. He kissed the top of her head and pulled her tighter. He hated that this had become of them; homeless with a baby on the way that wasn't even his. He had to figure out something, anything. Maybe if he begged and begged James T. Possible again, maybe he'd let him have a job at the space center or something. Hell, even if he had to mop floors he wouldn't care as long as he'd get some money. Minimum wage was looking pretty good about now. Maybe he and Shego could mop floors at the space center and make a bit of money, just enough for an apartment or something. He would never leave Shego. Never.
"Hey Dr. D?" She said, pulling him out of his thoughts yet again. She had been doing that a lot. She either spoke a lot, or he thought a lot and he had a feeling it was the latter.
"Mmhmm?" He acknowledged her.
"You know, being that bird and flying away from all those problems doesn't seem like a bad idea right about now. I know it'd be only temporary, but I'd take it." Shego said and closed her eyes, falling asleep.
"I'll help you fly away," Drakken whispered, knowing she couldn't hear him. "We'll fly away together, but we won't fly away from our problems, but we'll fly with our problems and towards a solution."