Surprised By the Reaction

Shego steps out for a smoke, and meets an old acquaintance, and they reminisce. Not Kigo!

Nothing weird, kinky, or wrongsick, unlike the rest of my stories.

Shego still had another 15 minutes before her meeting. She may have been technically pardoned, but there were a lot of legal details to fill in. For one thing, she was supposed to be on her best behavior for a while, which was already getting irritating. She had decided to go outside and have a cigarette and try and calm her nerves. She had just gotten it lit when she realized she wasn't alone. In fact, the big man in the cheap brown sport coat was one of the last people that she wanted to see, at least among the people who didn't want to kill her. It had only been one date, but it reminded her of everything else that had been happening at the time.

Steve Barkin had quit smoking a few years ago, but still had one every once in a while. He wished, now, that this hadn't been one of those times. He really didn't want to have to see that woman again, considering how things had ended. He supposed this was his punishment for the cigarette, her being right here. Well, he could still be a gentleman. "Miss Go. I didn't expect to see you again."

"Don't call me that!" Shego answered fiercely, hands lighting involuntarily. "It's Shego, goddamnit." Okay, that came out a little stronger than she had expected it to, especially considering the way he backed away from her. Ah, crap. Now she was going to have to be nice, or at least not unpleasant, and try to explain things. Damnit.

"Look, Steve. I... I didn't mean to snap like that. It's just that I had gotten zapped by this stupid piece of mad science technology, and it turned my personality into my exact opposite. I had to be stupid and good and coy and giggle a lot. I couldn't do anything about it and I knew exactly what was going on and I hated it."

Well, that's not exactly true, now is it, Shego? You liked some parts of it. Since you're being honest now, you liked a lot of it. Yeah, you liked being friends with Kimmie, even if you couldn't ever admit it for a while, but you really liked living in that house and feeling like you were part of a family again. You even thought those tweebs weren't completely annoying, and when was the last time you ever thought that about your brothers?

Shego thought back to those evenings with the Possible family. They actually had pleasant meals together, with everybody talking about their day and making jokes. Nobody yelled at anyone, nobody hit anyone, nobody emasculated anyone or picked away at their flaws or brought up old grievances. They actually seemed to enjoy each other's company. Shego had heard about families like this, but only on television. She would never tell this to anyone, but those few days were the happiest ones of her life.

Steve considered the woman in front of him. He would have sworn he had mistaken her for someone else, but really, how many women with green skin did he know? The look on her face had gotten less murderous, but the woman's entire posture and attitude radiated intensity and barely restrained fury. Miss Go had been meek and sweet and had batted her eyes a lot. Steve had thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and she had acted like she would be happy to cook and clean for her man. He had wondered what it would be like if he were her man. Blissfully happy, if quiet and sedate, he was sure.

He now found himself thinking about a different kind of life. The way her emerald eyes flashed and her lip curled promised a tempestuous relationship filled with loud arguments, intense physical combat, and incredible sex. At least if that Mossad agent he had known in Cairo was any indication. He was pretty sure that Miss Go - no, Shego, he had to remember that - would break his arm if he suggested she cook for him. That was fine; he was used to cooking for himself. He could probably forget having a squared-away home, though. She did not strike him as a very shipshape individual. He wondered if she would be worth it. He would like to find out.

"No, that's all right, Shego. I understand. I've been genetically joined with a mole rat, and mutated into a fish creature. I had... gills. Then there was an - incident - once, and I had the most annoying student in the school bonded to my shoulder for a few days. I don't like to think about any of that either."

Shego was impressed in spite of herself. The man had gone through hell with DNAmy and Dementor and all he had to show for it was that haunted look in his eyes there for a moment. Unless there were tentacles or something under those clothes. She actually found herself hoping not. He was a square, but he was a big, well-built square. Not as pretty as her usual type, but a lot smarter, and not always looking in the mirror. She wondered if he knew how to give a massage, or mix a drink.

"Okay, that's weird. Then again, anything involving DNAmy is weird. And creepy. I didn't think she did anything with fish, though. I thought she mainly worked with mammals."

Steve shuddered at the geneticist's name. "Ohh, that woman. The sweetest psychopath I've ever met. But the fish thing was someone else."

Shego could not help laughing at that. "Oh, that's a perfect description. And I know a lot of psychopaths."

Steve thought this would be an appropriate time to change the subject, to just about anything else. He decided to just take a chance. "I don't want to know why. Listen, Shego. I had a really good time that evening at dinner, and I was wondering if you would like to go out with me again some time." There, that was out. She did not seem to be too annoyed by his asking. "Just the two of us." he added quickly, just to make it clear. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck with Possible and Stoppable outside of school again.

Shego was not expecting that. Judging from the reaction the man had when he first noticed her, she had figured he had wanted to get away from her as quickly as he could. She was sightly surprised at her response. "Yeah, I'd like that. And definitely without Princess and the buffoon. I gotta warn you, though. My life is kinda complicated."

Steve was also surprised by his reaction. When was the last time he had felt as excited as a teenager after asking a woman out, and when had his stomach last flipped around like that? The last time he asked her, Miss Go, actually, out and she had said yes, his memory supplied.

"Heh, heh, buffoon. That's good. That's very good. I'm going to remember that; that's his new name now." He couldn't help but notice how sexy the smirk on Shego's face was in response to his evil chuckle. "And my life is far from perfect, too."

Yeah, she was going to like this guy. He was kind of evil. "Sounds like we're gonna get along just fine. Call me. I have this weekend off." She wrote down her private number on a scrap of paper from her pocket. He took it a little reverently, it seemed to her. "Anyway, I gotta go meet with my lawyers." She crushed out her cigarette and turned to go back inside.

"I have a doctor's appointment", Steve replied, doing the same and hoping she wouldn't ask questions. He had been seeing the therapist about his PTSD, military and fish-related, for a few months now, and it seemed to be helping, but he was not ready to talk about it with anybody else yet. He held the door as Shego entered, and could not help admiring her self-assured stance and the feline way she moved, like a lioness stalking a gazelle.

And he's a gentleman too, Shego was thinking, as another thought hit her. "Just one more thing. You're not going to sing to me, are you? You're a nice guy, Steve, but your singing is for crap. I swear, I'll turn the dogs on you again."

A/N:

Yes, smoking is bad for you, kids. And nasty. Don't ever start.

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Disclaimer:

I do not own anything Kim Possible related. You should know this.