In my saga for the Master of Monkey Kung Fu and Dr. Drakken's fierce sidekick, their relationship is becoming more and more complicated due to time and distance, but they never end what they have established. Attempts by DNAmy to come between them, numerous beats by Kim Possible - but will love triumph over all? Let's see what happens in the events of "Big Bother" and "Oh, No! Yono!"

Nothing is mine. And the title as well as the story itself are named and inspired by a song by Enya.

Chapter One

Distance

Just how much longer would this have to go on?

To make a long story short: she and Drakken would often be taken down by Kim, sent to prison, and then it would be time before they had a new scheme of his - which gave her time to fly across the ocean to her lover who had problems of his own. Always a new mystical artifact or weapon, but he was always taken down by the cheer squad like her. Just...everything was getting down to Shego's frazzled nerves.

Why was all of this coming as a surprise to her? She used to be collected about her relationship with Monkey Fist, loved the routine they went about: sparring sessions with the monkey ninjas for both recreational reasons and for the sake of it, then getting into bed at the end of the day. However, she would please him with her excellent cooking like any woman would for the man she loved.

Shego closed her eyes as she lay in bed beside the handsome man, a master of Monkey Kung Fu which she'd taken up against Kimmy herself combined with her fiery powers, yet everyone always knew how that ended. Women tended to take everything around them more emotionally than rationally. If anyone called her that to her face, they would face her wrath.

Despite their worldwide notorious careers, they lived like two normal people when given the chance. Monty was the one to forget about himself so much of the time that it was Selena who would do much of the "taking care of the house" for him and the monkeys. She would go into the nearest town, small as it was, and gather the groceries and such to make sure he didn't end up dying from lack of nutrition.

A year - had a year really passed since they had gotten together? It felt like longer than that especially with their lifestyles.

She had to try and assure herself that she was only stressed lately, that it always went away, and it did. Yet there was a tiny part of her that wanted more to their relationship. The fact that the common goal of world domination only did so much that she didn't want it to tear them apart in the end. Numerous times to have him come and work with Drakken, and Monty would snort at the "idiotic schemes", thereby marking it as a simple remainder of mutual friendship on their parts.

DNAmy had not bothered them in a while, making her smile. Maybe the bitch got it through her thick head - or maybe she was biding her time until she had the right trigger to pull. That woman was nothing like the rest of them. To say what she did to them both in Africa months ago was an understatement. Shego found herself gritting her teeth whenever her own mind would drift back to Monty telling her that Amy genetically mutated her arms and legs - and her body even - to that of a gorilla! As if Monty would finally give in to her demands that way!

She leaned over and kissed his forehead before getting out of the bed and getting dressed into the clothes she'd bought in town after arrival. The green blouse fluttered about like petals, and the black jeans were bejeweled with a paisley pattern along the upper right side and down the left leg. Her body ached; she felt like relaxing today, just chilling, maybe get him through the head that they should make way for a spa for the day. He could be so rigid at times; meditation wasn't something she'd mastered with his help, so sometimes she wondered how on earth it would do so for him.

She had to keep reminding herself he had more ninja training while she thrived on easy action.

Now, what to do today? She pondered this as she boiled the breakfast tea over the stove and cooked up her specialty. The scent attracted the attention of the monkey ninjas who ooked for the banana pancakes that she could not refuse them. Their master was still out like a log; he had been working late in his study again before passing out beside her. Maybe later while he was supervising the training of the monkeys, she could sneak a peek and see what he was up to on the latest...

"Now, would a handful of you be interested in...assisting me today?" she asked slyly, giving them all a devious wink at what she had in mind. "We could go shopping today, look at the latest known designers in town, or maybe go to London for all of that..." The ooks she got were excited, like they wanted to catch a break and have some fun with her, but the lot of them could not risk a wrathful call from their master. Tempting as it was, she didn't want to get any of them into trouble, but this would all be on her.

~o~

"Selena?"

He called for her numerous times when he awoke, finding the bed empty. This wasn't the first time he awoke the next morning and found his lover missing. Either she'd be in the lounge relaxing over her latest fashion issue, or in the dojo with the monkey ninjas - or making breakfast, which he found enough for himself when he arrived at the kitchen. Sometimes it frustrated Monty when he needed her in the study afterwards. He had been up all night the last few days pouring over every ancient text and having just realized that another trip back to Japan was in order.

Another trip, and he intended to bring her with him this time around. They could make this work.

But today, he had other plans, though at the moment was a mixed miracle. She wasn't around, which gave him an opportunity. There were important matters of bringing the monkeys back into the dojo for more sessions, but he'd been planning this one for weeks that even though it had been difficult, it was going to be worth it. His skin broke out into sweat just dwelling on what the results would be. He would make the trip to London now and no later, then return before the day was over. That is, if she came back before he did, and if another sumptuous dinner was prepared...

Or better yet...

"Kika, Svan, Yuku and Frizzy!" he commanded, and all four monkeys were at his call. "You four know how to handle the kitchen better than any of your comrades. By the time the day is over, before I return - and if Selena, Chippy, Nala and Didi return -" It wasn't a surprise that she would bring along the little rebel along with the other two females, just to set him off when he was their master. "- then everything has to be perfect. Here is the list of what should be present..."

~o~

The last heist she pulled off was nothing shabby, but enough to not attract Kimmy's attention or even her genius tech friend. She'd had the monkeys sneak into a bank from the back, disabled the security cameras and everything needed. Leaving the rest to herself, enough to gather more than enough cash for herself and then Monty, given his loads were limited now that he was no longer a legal nobleman or a member of the British museum. He was a criminal as she, and he wasn't always going to count on funds continually coming into his old accounts.

Just leave everything to the lady.

This new dress was for her next time she made dinner, and she thought about tonight as the night, with something new and fresh for her man. She was in the taxi with the monkeys, and the driver was very uneasy about having animals in the car - but the exception had to be made if the poor man didn't wish to face the wrath of the green-skinned woman who raised a plasma-blazing hand to his face to drop them off at the nearest corner so they would make the journey to Fiske Castle the rest of the way.

Thankfully, the driver didn't need to ask where she was going, nor did he need to.

"Finally, I thought he'd never shut up," she told the monkeys when she carried the bags - and one of them having nothing to do with her new dress and jewelry. Monty must have been waiting for her all day at the castle, which peeked over the trees. He hadn't heard from her since the note she left him in the kitchen. If he was going to get mad at her, she would handle it as she handled Drakken's yells. "Okay, Didi, you carry this." Shego knelt down and strapped the wrapped package on the monkey's back; it wasn't a heavy weight, so the little guy trained in the ninja art could carry it without trouble.

Monty was going to love tonight, which was a rare romantic time for them both in the traditional sense.

She loved those stories as a little girl, when her parents were still alive, but as she grew older, they became no more than stories for the youthful imagination. Monty wasn't exactly that type of romantic, either, but he would see it as a refreshing form of getting together, and he always enjoyed her company...but something inside Selena was expecting more between them.

Since she was far from trouble for the present, and so was her lover whom she loved more than anything she could remember, she and the trio got into the castle without trouble. "Monty?" she called, receiving no reply. The sun was setting by the time they returned. Was Monty in his study again, or the dojo? Or was he waiting for her in the bedroom...?

She searched high and low with Chippy and the ladies, frowning when she did not find Monty - but an exquisite smell caught her senses as she neared the kitchen. She couldn't help but grin. Monty wasn't a cook, but a handful of the other monkeys knew how to, and did he plan this for them? He must have.

Was he being the knight in shining armor today?

Shego decided to avoid the kitchen altogether, instead choosing to make way for the stairs and finding the room she shared with Monty. He wasn't there, either, but she was in no hurry to find him because of her surprise to show him for dinner. First, she cleaned herself up and then applied a brand new perfume to her hair and skin; this one was lively with woods, greenery and icy pear which took her to a far-off place and would do the same to him. And now she found herself standing before the mirror and twirling around to admire herself. The dress was emerald green with side panels of black, a rounded neckline as well as a slimming form. Her legs were flaunted by tights of edgy black lace, finished with sexy black heeled sandals. Around her neck and left wrist was a treasure from the Middle Ages, the teal gemstones surrounded with lustrous, jagged gold frames. There was no way Monty would avoid skipping dinner and moving onto dessert.

By the time she was leaving the room did she nearly run into Chippy and another monkey named Yuku. She could hardly withhold her laughter. "You guys scared me half to death!" They chattered together and pointed behind them, telling her they would lead her to their master who had returned. About time! "Well, isn't he all about perfect timing..."

As it turned out, the grand dining room table had been set and sprawled over with red rose petals, lit with the best candelabra, and the rich aroma of Italian spaghetti reached her senses. Oh, the best ever! Sven was doing the honors of popping open the vintage wine that had belonged to Monty's great-grandfather, from what he told her once, and was reserved only for special occasions. And the master himself sat at the head, dressed all in black - not his ninja uniform - and just the sight of him radiated the class of the English lord. He smiled and stood, his sharp eyes shining.

"Selena," he breathed, reaching out and accepting her hand into his, guiding her over to the chair on his right hand side and seating her in like the gentleman he was.

"Your Lordship," she returned with a slight teasing edge, returning the kiss he gave her before he released her, for what the monkeys prepared for them at his command could not be allowed to go to waste.

~o~

"Monty, I have to go tomorrow morning."

He blinked at her in shock later in the afternoon the next day. Yesterday had been nothing but wonderful for them both. Dinner, making love, and tomorrow they would go to Japan together. Yet now she stood in the doorway to his study, and giving him the word that she was leaving AGAIN. When they were supposed to do this together this time! He was going back to Yamanouchi to seek out an ancient scroll supposed to have been hidden under the protection of Master Sensei!

He wanted to roar to the heavens - even Drakken - and demand why this always happened between him and Shego.

"I see," was all he could get out.

She blinked and gawked. "Is that all you have to say?"

"What else is there to say?" Monty asked, the waves ebbing. "Your employer is far more important than our quest together, obviously." He couldn't fight the bitterness on his tongue that it made her eyes widen before her entire face changed immediately to full-fledged irritation.

"Dr. D isn't as important as you are, but he's still -"

He cut her off, turning his back to her altogether. "Your employer and the man who is the father you haven't had for years, I know. But the fact that every time we are close to achieving our destiny together, he has to come in between us." Unspoken was DNAmy coming in between them, but to even voice it aloud would add to the ire brewing between them, and they were both powerless to stop it. Yesterday had been blissful, but he never found the chance to ask her the important question which had been kept locked away long enough...and it seemed now that it would have to wait painstakingly longer than he wanted it to. His beloved furious with him now for his lack of "enthusiasm" was the cause.

"Dr. Drakken - coming between us?! This is the first I have heard of it!" He didn't need to look at her and see her hands on her hips. "Monty Fiske, look at me when I am talking to you!"

By the time he turned around, he screamed and barely dodged a plasma blast that shot through the window in front of his desk, shattering glass everywhere. They hadn't had any severe disagreements since their relationship had begun to reach new peaks, so this was an unnerving setback on his part. "Selena, please -" he started, rising and bringing both hands in front of himself. He cursed himself for not thinking about how enraged she would be because of his choice of words.

"He wants me now because his next scheme is going to be...bigger compared to previous ideas." Her attitude had not changed at all, only softened so she could tell him what the blue-skinned scientist wanted to do now that he had to drag his sidekick away from the man she loved - the man she'd made great plans with that should never have been broken as it happened numerous times before. She knew he'd been looking forward to this, and despite the fire in her irises, she had been feeling the exact same way.

Monty had to sigh. If this was the way it was going to keep going, so be it. What was the sense in continuing to hope for something that wasn't going to happen?

Perhaps they never should have begun this partnership. They tried that one time with Drakken and Killigan with the Tempus Simian Idol, but all in vain. After that was a cancellation of any trips around the globe for his next search in monkey artifacts; she would always go back to Dr. Drakken. While fate brought them together as lovers, partners in crime did not seem to be the path for them.

Shego went on. "He plans to bring the entire continents together as one, like they used to be from the Carboniferous period to Jurassic - Monty?" She stopped upon seeing the faraway look in his eyes and instantly crossed over to him. He only looked at her sadly, the emotion building up within himself.

"Selena...I believe the time has come for us to put an end to the status of partners in crime that we have not been able to bring to fruition," he said softly.

A long moment of silence passed before she gasped softly, her hardened shell becoming that of an innocent young woman who had no idea what she'd done wrong. His heart wrenched.

"Are you...breaking up with me?"

Her choking voice made him stiffen. "Of course not! No, but I feel we must resolve this before it tears us apart forever...my love." He leaned in to try and kiss her forehead, but she pulled back, not wanting him to touch her in any way, and he respected that. "Selena, you are the fiercest warrior of a woman I have ever encountered in my lifetimes, and I will never regret our times we have had. I will continue to accept you as my mate for life - but it seems our journeys to take the world under our thumbs lie elsewhere. I walk my path alone to become the Ultimate Monkey Master, and you have your role to play as the underestimated sidekick of one foolhardy scientist whose genius is more limited than it appears." He shook his head. "I cannot force you to choose between that and me, so I must do the rare selfless deed in letting you return once more to him, and it will be a very long while again before we have our time together."

He paused to draw in a sharp breath. "I know I have said this countless times, but now is befitting because this may be the last step in my journey. The scroll at Yamanouchi will detail the prophecy of a mystic weapon, and when I have it, I will be unstoppable. And by then, I shall seek you out on my own this time," he promised her, reaching to take both her hands into his. "On my blood and bones, if I could spill any now, you will hold me to this vow, Selena."

She was no longer crying, but she was also incapable of speaking, losing her big girl shell and throwing herself at him, keeping her hold that he had to return as fervently. He didn't want to let her go, either, but duty always called before love.

~o~

A temporary trip to jail after Kimmy bested them once more. Shego had to admit she liked how the little lady upgraded her new getup, which was by far more slicker than her old one that the green-skinned vixen enjoyed tearing up for her amusement. Too bad Mommy couldn't fix it, and too bad Club Banana ran out of the line.

The plan involving turning the world into the modern Pangaea? Bummed out again. It would have been fun to see, because now that she thought about it, it would have been refreshing instead of flying over the ocean to her beloved, make the trip faster...but the memory of their last day together before she went back to Drakken for the preparations came to light.

How could she not say anything to him? He had blatantly told her that being evil partners would never work out no matter how hard they tried. Damn it, she could have gone with him, but why couldn't she say no to Drakken this time?! Why did it always have to be like this?!

Her heart sank down to her stomach. Why were relationships so complicated?

Naïvely, she would have asked herself once why it couldn't be simple, before mature rationale returned with the reminder it was never meant to be simple. She despised how the heart was a weak thing to live with.

Shego spent four nights in jail - before a surprise appeared outside her window and shot the bars and stone away from her cell. She gawked when she saw who was there, and outside the shattered hole that revealed her cell - and herself alone. It was her private jet; how did -?!

"Oh, you little guys came!" she exclaimed when she saw who piloted it. The monkey ninjas had come for her. Laughing, she wasted no time in jumping in after them, after the pilot moved over to let her take control. She hurried to get them out of here before anyone saw her missing. This would most likely get the attention of Kimmy's friend and then get back to her, so she had to hurry.

"Where's Monty?" Shego asked after some time passed, and they were over the ocean in the event of time. She half-expected him to be here with her if his minions had come to get her. They all ooked and looked at each other; there was no mistaking the worry in their eyes. Then Chippy took something from inside his garb and handed her the newspaper article which detailed her and Drakken's latest foiled plot: KIM POSSIBLE PREVENTS NEXT PANGAEA

"Oh, right. He thought to surprise me by having you guys come after me while he chill-axed at home," she stated, but the glittering anxiety they shared did not change, which told her something must have happened...and her heart just about leaped into her throat. "Oh, man, what happened?!"

He was supposed to go to Japan for some ancient scroll detailing a great weapon beyond recognition, beyond anything else in his field, but now she had the terrible cold in her guts that he might have been...

No, she wouldn't let herself go that far now. Monty couldn't be dead, but if he was hurt, then he needed her more than ever, and that was a good enough excuse to hurry and get them to Fiske Castle.

For the rest of the ride, she pondered back to the day she made the decision that the opportunity to work with Monkey Fist might prove more beneficial than it had been with Dr. Drakken. That hadn't worked out because the force that attached her to the man who was her employer and somewhat father always pulled her away from this man who waited for her not many miles away now - but while she didn't completely abandon Drakken, she got Monkey Fist as a wonderful lover and someone she never thought she would share her life with.

And as for Monty Fiske, the man behind the ape, he was vulnerable and craving to be better than he was in another life, just like she used to be a long time ago - and that was why they belonged together.

His words still haunted her, however, since last time.

I will continue to accept you as my mate for life - but it seems our journeys to take the world under our thumbs lie elsewhere.

He had been the one to make that decision for them both...a decision for the best. Thank God it hadn't been her to lose control of herself and shatter what they had.

"Hang on, Hairy Hands," she said when the sight of Castle Fiske finally came on the radar. "Your green lady is coming."

When they landed safely in the moors, she jumped out and ran like her life depended on it. She was still in her prison uniform, so there had been no time for a change of clothes or heading back to her and Drakken's lair. She just wanted to see her man. The monkeys screeched and tailed after her.

There had been no time to look around and see if anything about the castle changed in her absence, only one thing on her mind. She let a couple of the monkeys lead the way while the rest flanked her like they were her little army, because they accepted her as their mistress. The grand staircase was no match for their speed and quick wits as they pounced about like a pack of wild apes in any jungle around the world. They looked out for each other and protected each other; they were her family.

"Monty!" she yelled, hoping he would hear her, getting no call back and stopping by the time they reached the master bedroom...and there he was, laying there, fast asleep but with a pained expression on his face. "Oh, my monkey man..." Shego moaned and hurried over, collapsing to her side and taking one of his hands into hers. He wasn't dead, thank God, but to see him like this...

It was then that when she took that hand into hers, she allowed her fingers to slide in and intertwine with his...and felt something hard within the calloused palm. Frowning, Shego opened his hand and gasped at what she saw.

It was a ring.

Her heart stopped. Could this mean...?

"Selena..."

She looked up to see him looking at her through heavy-lidded eyes. A tired smile graced his rugged features. "Thank the gods you are here," he murmured. "So many days, hearing what became of you and Drakken..." The smile was gone then, replaced with a disapproving frown. "The world becoming the next Pangaea? That's foolish, if you ask me. What's next?"

Snorting, Shego shrugged. "Who knows?" Still holding his hand - and the ring - she brought it up and kissed the back, the fur caressing her cheek affectionately. "What happened to you? Your monkeys broke me out of jail."

His chuckle was ended with a few strangled coughs. Clearing his throat, he looked at her and answered. "In Japan, like I promised, I found the scroll, then set out for each of the keys..." Intrigued yet tired of kneeling, Shego hoisted up and sat down on the side of the bed, turning to face him. He went on, his smile changing drastically, to explain how he found each of the three keys that would have unlocked the mysterious mystic weapon: the first key had been yellow and guarded by a pit of sinking sand, the next being blue and protected by stoned dragon guardians - but the third and final was barred by a ferocious pit of lava, and it was that one which he'd used a captured Kim Possible and a young ninja girl from the local school to spring the trap and grab the key for him.

Before the stupid buffoon as well as his naked mole rat - and a baby - had beat him, left him to suffer under a pile of rubble before the knocked down monkey ninjas recovered and pulled him free. While Shego wanted to actually spit in that idiot's face, she almost bowled over and laughed that an infant had beaten Monty - but seeing the look on his face made her hold it in. Right now, he was resting in bed because his spine had been seriously injured, but he wasn't paralyzed. Soon he would be back on his feet in no time.

"I was so close," he said bitterly. "Defeated by a baby - oh, what have I become now, Selena?" He had turned his face in the opposite direction, in the worst mood she'd ever seen him in. "I never even uncovered what the weapon's name and nature were, nor do I know where to look now, thanks to the blasted cheer squad and the little addition..."

He went on to talk on and on about how there were other mysterious powers connected to Yamanouchi that he would get to work to as soon as he was well again, but her attention shifted back to the ring that she found, examining it in her fingers more closely now. This thing carried two gemstones of unstoppable energy - the violet-blue tanzanite of Mt. Kilimanjaro paired with the fiery green helenite of Mt. St. Helens. Together, lightning and lava formed beautiful strength. Monty stopped speaking upon realizing she was only half-listening to him, but instead of getting angry, he reached and gently took it from her.

"I had wanted to ask you before our last night together, but it was deprived from me," he said. "And after what nearly became of me in Japan, as I lay beneath the rubble before the volcano, there was a part of me that feared dying and never seeing you again. I never imagined asking you this, but..." He reached and took her left hand, thankful there was no glove to obstruct. "...Selena Gough, will you do the honors of one day becoming my wife?"

~o~

Even though he was confined to bed rest for the sake of avoiding paralysis for the rest of his life and depriving him of his destiny, he strongly believed it was now or never, as she came to mind when he lay with broken bones, fearful he would never return to her. She was his world, and he could not imagine her living without him if she ever discovered what happened to him.

Swallowing, ignoring the stiffness in his vertebra, Monty waited for her answer.

"Yes, of course I will, Hairy Hands."

She almost threw herself at him before remembering she would end up increasing the difficulty of his recovery. Instead, she settled on laughing and kissing him as gently as she could, accepting the ring on her finger which glowed with the two forces combined. Lava and lightning - they were two as one. He whimpered at the feel of her body against his even though it hadn't been that many days to pass for them. "Oh, my little green vixen," he said huskily when she drew back. "How I have missed you."

She grinned deviously. "Want me to show you how much I have missed you, too, Monkey Man?" Which could mean only one thing, reflected in her glittering emerald eyes.

"Do carry on."

He had not bothered to dress into sleeping clothes, clad only in his ninja-fashioned underwear which matched his gi uniform; when Shego glimpsed this as she drew back the covers, her giggles were deep-throated as she leaned over that part of his body and pulled the covers back over herself. He uttered a strangled exclamation followed by a laugh, thinking about how this was one way to reunite after a tense parting and a near-death experience. He closed his eyes and exhaled, laying back and relaxing.

He had been so lost in his bliss that he failed to notice his monkey minions had been standing in the doorway watching as his lover's rear end stuck out in the direction of the doorway while she pleased him with her mouth, his facial features in response beyond his self-control...and by the time he reached his peak and she was downing him, the blinding flash of a camera caused him to roar in outrage and her to jolt, nearly scraping him with her teeth, and forcing him to bite back a scream.

"NALA!"

Said monkey screeched and turned to flee, her companions jumping after him for their lives. Monty watched them go, snarling through his teeth. He would get them for this, punishing them tomorrow with more hours of training. Shego, however, was unable to hide her grin as she wiped her chin of what little of his essence she hadn't swallowed.

This chapter was especially challenging to do, because I realized they have not had a real argument since "The Goddess and the Monkey". I also had difficulty bringing them together all this time as real partners in crime like in "A Sitch in Time", but eventually if that could not happen, then they were destined to remain as lovers from then on if not the way Shego originally intended when she first approached him. Again, credit goes to Coin of Light and Darkness for when Monty leaves her for what he does best, temporarily - and in the second story of the Monkey Adventures series, "To Kiss A Monkey Statue", this happened before he was doomed to walk the Yono's path, and she went with Drakken to retrieve him...only to succumb to heartbreak when she learned what became of him.

To have him ask Shego to marry him in this part of the arc was what I intended since the beginning - and what better than with the Stauer Elemental Ring combining lightning and lava? ;D Oh, and I could not resist one of the monkeys taking a picture of the "reunion" while the others watched. XD