Just Between Us: Proposition

Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible. All characters from the show are the property of the Disney Corporation.

A/N: Look who's still alive, and ironically feeling a little bit inspired. Nostalgia has a funny way of creeping up on you sometimes, so I decided to run with it and let come what may. That said, there's no telling where this story is going to go, or if its going to end up being anything more than something that I write for my own amusement. Hopefully you readers out there find some sort of enjoyment out of this here mess of mine, but I won't keep rambling on. On with the show!

- 20:00

"No!" a shrill, blood-curdling scream pierced through the cacophony of sound all around them. Horror filled eyes watched as their helpless owner stood powerless to prevent the events that unfurled in seeming slow motion. Though she willed her body to move, it felt that her limbs were heavy as steel. The fact that she simply wasn't quick enough to grab hold of the outreached hand of her lover was a reality that haunted Shego as Kim Possible tumbled over a cliff that would undoubtedly see her demise. Then there was silence. Eerie, unsettling silence.

- 21:40

Shego woke up gasping for breath, her body shooting upright like an arrow. Sweat coated her skin which caused her sheets to cling to her uncomfortably, and her heart struggled to settle from its hammering pace. "Fuck..." she panted softly, slightly shaky fingers pressing against her forehead before pushing through the mess of her raven hair. "Dr. D needs to be more careful with his stupid ray guns," the emerald eyed villainess found herself muttering under her breath not for the first time. It was true that this nightmares of hers had suspiciously started after she'd gotten caught in the crossfire of one of Drakken's infamous ray gun experiments, but the woman knew that there was something more to it than merely that. Still, she had kicked the good doctor's ass for "being an idiot" even though she hadn't been exactly listening when he'd been droning on about what the latest addition to his collection of toys did. Shego was content to blame her current affliction on a device gone wrong than anything else. Because... she was Shego. It was impossible that she would develop some sort of phobia about her fiercest rival losing her life, right?

It was true that there was a certain attraction that Shego felt for the red head, but love and lust weren't the same thing. When it came to her more primal whims, Shego had never been coy about what she craved and had never experienced a true intermingling of lust and something more genuine. For her, it was an inconvenience better off being avoided, and that meant some people were off limits. Kim Possible was at the very top of that list. And yet, the villain could feel herself losing the battle she'd been silently waging with herself for a period of time that was unknown even to her. When exactly had the occasional wet dream about the heroine transformed into nightmares that dug under her skin in ways that she was uncomfortable to admit even to herself? Maybe it was just an itch that desperately needed scratching, and Drakken's latest toy had screwed with her head...

A frown overtook the woman's features as her thoughts continued down a similar track until she ultimately threw her bed sheets off of her and climbed out of bed. Within a few minutes the woman was clad in her signature black and green catsuit, and running a brush through her tangled hair. Emerald eyes stared back at her through her reflection in the mirror, an intensity to them that she'd seen many times over; her frustrations over her predicament had her itching for a fight, and she knew just how to find herself one. "Hope you don't need your beauty sleep, Princess," the villainess remarked to herself, heated gaze approvingly roving her mirror image before she departed Drakken's latest lair with her signature smirk painted over her lips.

- 22:52

Sometimes the government just made it too easy. Scratch that, most times it was too easy. Then again, Shego was a cut above even the elite villians that sought to have their fun. Were it not for her aloof attitude and her lack of a true desire to rule the world, she'd have been a criminal mastermind herself. Why waste her talents slaving away as Drakken's henchwoman? Were she asked, Shego would make mention of the money and the job benefits - ironic considering they were criminals - but the truth was a just a little bit more terrifying for the emerald eyed thief. Not that it mattered then, not when the telltale clatter of a ventalation cover signaled the arrival of none other than Kim Possible. "What took you so long, Princess? I was starting to think you lost your nerve," the elder woman quipped when the red head came into her view, her perch against the wall near her escape route conceded in favor of a fighting stance.

"Is that your way of admitting you're slowing down, Shego? That's pretty disappointing," the hero volleyed in return, flashing a challenging smile when the older woman scowled at her. It was typically the beginning of their dance. One that they both looked forward to, and one that Kim was not going to be responsible for delaying. The brief exchange of banter was quick to dissolve into the familiar trading of blows. Punch. Kick. Dodge. Both women moved with practiced grace, movements fluid and certainly indicative of many long hours spent sweating blood and tears to keep themselves at peak fitness. As per usual, it appeared that the women were evenly matched. That is, until the resounding thud of Shego's body impacting the dry wall behind her broke the tempo. "What's wrong, Shego? Can't keep up with little 'ol me anymore?" Kim couldn't resist goading her rival, and frankly wasn't surprised to be forced to dodge a fast ball of plasma.

"Don't get cocky, Kimmie," the older woman snarled, lauching herself from the wall so with such momentum that Kim didn't have the catch to fully roll out of the way. Tackled around the waist, she was slammed into the floor. The red head was, understandably, dazed for a few moments. Those decisive few moments could have had the potential for a lot of outcomes, but ultimately the arrival of local security forces had Shego flashing her rival a smirk. "Looks like you're saved by the fuzz yet again," the emerald eyed thief threw at her younger rival in the same moment that she was fluidly rising to her feet. Seconds later the villan was gone with little more than a plume of thick smoke left in her wake.

Not to be outdone so pathetically, Kim tapped her Kimmunicator which Wade had turned into a state of the art smart watch so that the screen came to life. Another tap and the device completed a quick scan of the lingering smokescreen, and turned into something of a compass that was following the trace elements of the powder that would likely still be clinging to Shego. "Hey, Wade, can you track Shego from this data? She and Drakken have been more quiet than usual lately, and its bothering me a little bit," the hero quickly explained to the brain behind Team Possible, and was given the confirmation she was looking for. "Sure thing, Kim! I should be able to get that location, but I need you to stay on the trail. And make sure she doesn't figure out she's got unwanted company," Wade chirped through the device, grinning because he knew that Kim could pull it off. "Consider those coordinates ours," the red head grinned in return, already on the move after a quick bout of small talk with one of the building's security talk.

- 0:00

Midnight. The soft vibration from her watch alerted Kim to the fact that it was starting to be in her best interests to give up the chase for the night and get back home. Sure, it was true that she'd since graduated from high school, and had gone on to graduate from college with honors shortly after her twenty-first birthday, so her education was no longer a pressing concern, but it was also true that she had officially found herself on the roster of Global Justice's reserve agents. It was little more than a fancy way of saying she worked for them part time while she pursued her own goals of leading a somewhat normal life which, for now, meant she even had a job helping manage a small collection of non-profit organizations. Having been fighting with Shego since her early high school years, Kim was able to tell when she and Drakken were really ramping up for something major, and while the red head was prone to be safe rather than sorry, she had other things to think about. If the world wasn't in immediate peril, why should she chase Shego to the ends of the city?

It was a question that Kim had been asking herself a lot recently, and yet she'd continued to pursue the older woman. "Could it really just be habit...?" she wondered. Or maybe it was something else entirely. Maybe it was some inexplicable draw the pair had to one another. More than one late night had found the former teen hero wondering if her unwillingness to hand over the reigns of crime fighting to GJ - who was a more than capable group - had to do with the adrenaline rush she got from going toe to toe with her oldest rival. "I'd feel too guilty if I was just a regular girl anyway," the young woman silently decided, not for the first time.

Lost in her thoughts, Kim didn't even realize she was in the middle of a park. It was where the navigator on her watch had led her, and briefly she blinked to get a better picture of her surroundings. "Do you always zone out like that when you're following me, Kimmie?" the only too familiar voice seemed to come from behind her, prompting the hero to turn around. Unsurprisingly, she came face to face with Shego. But it didn't appear that the older woman intended to be hostile, exactly. Even though she had been clearly taken off guard, Kim was quick to recover, and her own voice cut through the night air, "did you finally develop a conscious and realize you should turn yourself in?"

Shego's laugh wasn't quite expected, but Kim found that it was fitting considering the sentiment. "Of course not. I'm more interested in striking a little deal with you," the criminal began, flashing a smirk when she caught the curiosity in the hero's expression. Partly, the older woman was mildly amused by not being met with an immediate refusal from her little miss goody two shoes rival. "Looks like you're interested," the woman teased, taking a few steps forward to close the distance between the pair. "I need myself a nice little get away from your favorite blue idiot, so I'll let you come keeps tabs on me to make sure I 'play nice' while I'm on vacation and in return you'll keep your mouth shut to GJ about where I am."

"...What exactly is in it for me? If I turn you in you'll have your little vacation in a cozy GJ cell," the hero returned, a stubborn frown taking the place of her former curiosity. What reason did she really have to go along with this little proposition? It wasn't as though she benefited more from letting a criminal like Shego roam freely. Or so she continued to tell herself, and continued to ignore how bored she'd always been on missions where the emerald eyed beauty didn't make an appearance. "I don't see anythin-" olive green eyes grew into a size comparable to saucers when the press of Shego's lips against her own silenced her. As entirely out of left field as the gesture was, Kim didn't react. Or... at least she didn't mean to. It was only moments after the older woman pulled away with that damned smirk on her face that the hero realized she'd returned the kiss.