Sorry I haven't updated in a while – I was out of state on vacation. Hope you enjoy this chap!
Disclaimer: This chapter is much more Kim-centric than the others. Sorry, know there are lot of Shego fans out there. Don't worry, she'll get her turn!
CHAPTER SIX
Kim's dressing room felt strangely empty. She had gotten used to the alternating periods of stony silence and biting sarcasm that had inhabited the room for the last couple of weeks. Kim suddenly realized that she was sticking close to one corner of her room, as having grown accustomed to allowing Shego a wide berth.
Shego. Kim shuddered involuntarily. That woman's absence troubled Kim nearly as much as her presence. She had better grow used to that absence, though. In two weeks Shego would be returning from her filming hiatus, and by then her dressing room would be reinstated. Kim told herself firmly that this fact did not trouble her in the least. Shego was so not an issue, and she certainly had nothing to do with the conversation that she was planning to have with Ron that morning.
No, the convo with Ron was completed unrelated to how she felt – or rather, how she did not feel towards Shego. She had simply come to a mature conclusion, and by sheer coincidence the conclusion had reached her at around the same time Shego left for filming hiatus. No big.
Kim finished dressing and strode towards the film set with a confidence that she certainly did not feel. They were filming a scene that was supposed to take place in the Amazon rainforest, and a few brightly colored birds were chasing Rufus – was it Prime or II? – across the leafy floor.
"Lighting looks off," David's voice called. "Too much of a green cast."
An unseen hand made a slight adjustment, and the set was suddenly entirely bathed with a ghostly yellow light. A few of the grips snickered. The unseen hand made several more frantic attempts, and the set was alternately red, purple, and blue. A disco ball suddenly descended, and small circles of light whirled around the room.
David groaned. "Who the heck is supposed to be in charge of lighting?" he bellowed.
"Steve Atkins," Mark muttered. "I believe he's on hiatus."
Kim fought a smile and found her collapsible cloth-and-wood chair just off the set. It would be a while. Ron was sitting in his own chair next to her, but he was too preoccupied with cheering Rufus along to notice Kim's presence.
"Come on, buddy, fake them out!" he called. He groaned as Rufus attempted to outrun a bird and failed dismally.
"Maybe he should lay off the nachos," Kim said.
Ron suddenly turned to face Kim. "Oh, hey!" he smiled. The makeup team had not quite finished with him yet – his freckles had not yet been painted on, and he had one normal-looking ear and one protruding ear.
"Like the new look," Kim said.
"Yeah, well Glenn's taking over for Barkin, so they called him away while he was in middle of doing me."
"Glenn?" Kim laughed. "So that explains the disco ball."
"Ah, the disco ball," Ron said fondly. "Good times."
"The prom," Kim said softly.
"The prom," Ron agreed. He looked at Kim intently and slowly took her hand.
Kim's heart fell. "Ron – I – we need to talk," she faltered.
Ron nodded understandingly. "Yes," he said. "I think we do."
"This may sound strange, since lately I've acting kind of – um, kind of –"
"Affectionate?" Ron teased.
"Horny," Kim corrected with a smile.
"True that," Ron nodded. He instinctively reached to pat his cargo pocket, as though to be certain that they were quite alone, but suddenly seemed to remember that the pocket's usual occupant was running with the birds.
"Anyway," Kim said, "I think what I'm trying to say is that – I miss you."
Ron nodded. "I miss you too," he said seriously.
"I guess I haven't been that great of a girlfriend," Kim said ruefully.
"No, not at all!" Ron protested. "You've been a great girlfriend! You've even been – "
"Too much of a girlfriend?" Kim suggested. "Emphasis on 'girl' as opposed to 'friend'?"
"Something along those lines," Ron murmured. "Not that I minded exactly," he said hurriedly.
Kim placed her hand on Ron's arm. "Maybe not yet," she said. "But you would have, eventually. And probably sooner rather than later."
"Maybe," Ron said. "Maybe – we should take it easy for a while."
"I think that would be a good idea," Kim agreed. "Lay low, for some time." Seeing Ron's eyebrow lift, she laughed and said, "Not literally, of course."
Ron laughed back, and then leaned over and gave Kim a quick kiss on the cheek. She reciprocated by squeezing Ron's shoulder briefly. They turned to look at each other, and in that look were sadness and understanding and relief and regret and happiness and all things human.
"I'll always love you, Kim," he said.
"So will I," Kim answered, and she immediately knew this to be true, regardless of how she felt – or did not feel – towards Shego. That knowledge lifted her spirits a bit.
Kim and Ron sat in companionable silence for several minutes, still holding each other's hands, as the crew finished their rainforest. When the crew finished, they shot their scene, and the crewmembers couldn't help but notice that the dialogue between them was fresher and wittier than it had been all season.
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"Last time we met," Kim said, "You were trying to tell me about the Barkin sitch."
"Oh, that!" Ron turned to Monique and Wade, and the three erupted into paroxysms of laughter. Kim felt annoyed. "Feel ready to clue me in whenever you're ready," she said slightly irritably.
Kim listened as her friends interrupted each other in regaling Ron's latest altercation with Steve Atkins. The four of them were sitting at their usual table in the break room, eating their lunches. Several cameramen and camerawomen – camerapersons, Ron liked to call them – were sitting at the table next to them, and Kim was particularly pleased to notice that Joe was pointedly ignoring her. She was slightly surprised at how little her conscience bothered her about Joe's butt-kicking. It had been two-against-one, which wasn't exactly the most honorable way to go, but he was such an ass that it was hard to feel guilty. Kim tried mightily for a bit of remorse, but couldn't quite come up with enough.
After the four finished analyzing the Ron-Atkins sitch to the last drop, David suddenly burst into the breakroom. The room's occupants looked up in surprise. David usually ate his lunch in the executive dining room or at some nearby fancy restaurant.
David ignored the questioning glances. His eyes hunted for Kim, and they shortly found her. "Reilly, my office," he said abruptly, then stalked out the door.
Kim felt a stab of nervousness, and her friend glanced at her worriedly. David hardly ever used their real last names – he liked the actors to remain in character as much as possible, pun intended – and would only do so in moments of supreme irritation.
Kim extricated herself from the table as nonchalantly as possible, trying to ignore her friends' expressions of doom.
"Good luck, girlfriend," Monique told her.
Kim shrugged. "No big," she said.
"If you don't come out in twenty minutes, we'll come in after you," Ron said seriously, although Kim suspected he was in jest. At least partially.
She rolled her eyes. "So not the drama, Ron!" she said, and strode out of the breakroom after David.
Kim's heart fluttered nervously as she ambled through the corridors. David was already far ahead of her, and she made no attempt to catch up to him. Kim had only agreed to this whole thing with Joe once Shego had convinced her that they couldn't possibly get into any trouble. David couldn't get them in trouble with the studio, could he? He had no control over what happened at Shego's house. And Shego swore up and down that he couldn't get the police involved as long as they didn't cause Joe to bruise or bleed, and as long they didn't use any objects other than their own bodies. They hadn't actually hurt Joe, had they?
Kim suddenly felt herself grow angry. No wonder Shego had insisted that they whup Joe right away! With Shego on hiatus, Kim would have to face the rap alone. Shego couldn't wait till she was back, could she? How typical! And just when Kim thought that they might become something like friends – or more –
Kim quickly banished the thought. She had reached David's office, which he left open for her, and strode purposefully into the chair opposite his desk. He sat behind the desk glaring at her, looking as intimidating as he knew how. Kim glared back at him defiantly, as though daring him to say something, anything. Just so that he remembers who around here knows all that Kung Fu.
After several seconds worth of a staring contest, David finally cleared his throat. "So, Kim," he said evenly, apparently trying to sound warm and fatherly. He didn't. "How are things?"
"Fine," she responded shortly.
"I heard about you and Ron breaking up," he said.
Kim shot up in surprise. "Howe the heck did you hear about – "
"I didn't," David said brusquely. "Lucky guess, which you just confirmed. Remind me that we have to work on your press statement later."
Kim felt blood rushing to her face. The vein in her right temple throbbed furiously. The nerve! This was a new low, even for David.
"I fail to see how any of this is your business," she said icily, her teeth clenched. She started to rise.
"Sit down," David ordered. "I'll show you why it's very much my business." He pulled a manila envelope from a drawer and tossed it towards Kim.
With a deep sense of foreboding, Kim slit the envelope open with a fingernail and shook some of the contents into her lap. She took a brief look at the first photo that landed and instinctively jumped up with a yelp.
"My GOD!" she shouted. Her eyes grew wide, and she stared at David. She felt too shocked to even feel angry. "Where the heck did this come from?"
"A little present someone left on my desk, anonymously," David said, his lips pursed.
Kim felt her heart land with a thud. Joe.
"Don't tell me you're taking these seriously!" she cried, slightly panicking.
"They tell me that Photoshop is capable of wonders," David said dryly.
"That's one way of putting it!" Kim exclaimed.
"So you're denying the authenticity of these photos?"
"Of course I am!" Kim said hotly. "How can you even think that they could be real?" How dare he! How could David even entertain the notion, much less suggest it aloud, that she, Kim Reilly or Kim Possible or whoever she was, would ever have anything to do with something so sleazy?
"And what about the message of these photos?"
Kim felt her cheeks warm. "What is that supposed to mean?" she asked quietly, clenching her fists tightly. She had to restrain herself. She had to!
"I'll be blunt with you," David said.
"Because you've been everything but till now," Kim said bitterly.
"Are you and Shego having an affair?"
Even though Kim suspected that David was about to ask this question, she nevertheless felt shocked when he actually asked it. Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes grew wide enough to see the whites all the way around. Her face grew white, and her heart pounded heavily. She couldn't bring herself to speak. After only a few seconds, however, her shock and panic gave way to anger. How dare he ask her such a question? Even if it WAS true – which it wasn't – even if they HAD been having an affair – which they weren't – it was certainly no business of David's, and he had no right to ask her such a personal question. Her life was her life, for goodness sake. If she wanted to have an affair with Shego – which she didn't – she would go right ahead and have one – which she wouldn't.
"You haven't answered the question," David prompted.
Kim found her voice. "You have a lot of nerve," she said coldly, surprise by how calm and quiet she sounded. "Instead of throwing these pictures into the garbade where they belong, you think you have the right to not only make assumptions but the ascertain their vailidity. You have absolutely no right to pry into my personal affairs, and I have no intention whatsoever in satisfying your curiosity one way or another."
"I have every right to pry into your personal affairs," David said loudly, "and this has nothing to do with satisfying my curiosity. But I will not have you be the cause of scandal! I will not have the show cancelled because of you!"
"The show already HAS been cancelled!" Kim burst out.
David rolled his eyes. "For the second time," he said. "If it has been cancelled for the second time, it can be cancelled for the third and the fourth and the fifth."
Kim started to get up again. "My personal life has nothing to do with whether or not the network cancels the cancellation," she said firmly. "And this conversation is over." She rose.
"Sit down!" barked David.
Kim ignored him and strode towards the door.
"I said, SIT DOWN!" David shouted.
Kim hesitated for a moment, then placed her hand on the doorknob and turned.
"I said, sit your ass DOWN or I'll BUST IT OFF for you!"
Kim paused, her blood frothing. She turned back to David and glared at him. "Not bloody likely," she told him frostily. She was not exactly afraid of David – if he would lay a hand on her she would bust his ass off – but instinct told her not to leave the room. David had never quite shouted at her that way before. She had heard him shout at Shego that way – Shego would shout right back at him, of course – but Kim usually did not need to be shouted at more than once.
Kim and David continued to glare at each. Kim no longer was leaving, but she was not sitting, either. "Sit down," David repeated, a bit more calmly. Kim slowly sauntered to her seat, her eyes still fixed defiantly on David's, determined not to let on that she felt unnerved.
"Do you have any idea what would happen to the reputation of this show, of this company, of you, if the public would find out that you and Shego are having an affair?"
"You're just speculating that we're having an affair," Kim retorted.
"Well, are you?"
"I choose not to answer that."
David slammed his fist against the desk, and Kim jumped involuntarily. "Don't you feel any sense of responsibility?" he demanded. "Do you feel no sense of gratitude towards Kim Possible?"
"Of course I'm grateful to Kim Possible, but I don't owe her my life!" Kim burst out.
"Of course you do!" David spat. "You owe Kim Possible everything you have, everything you know! There is not a single thought in your head that does not belong to Kim Possible!"
"Kim Possible does not own my body or my mind!" Kim shouted.
David laughed bitterly again. "You fool!" he spat. "Of course Kim Possible does not own your body or your mind. I do!"
"How – how – how DARE YOU!" Kim sputtered. She was trembling with rage. Never – NEVER! – did she know that she was capable of feeling such anger and hatred towards any living being. Never! The only person she might – just might – hate as much as David was Kim Possible herself.
"Every thought in your head is mine," David repeated. "All these years you and Shego hated each other – because I decided that Kim Possible and Shego would hate each other! Then you fell in love with Ron – you think that was your decision? It was because I had written it into the script! You and Kim Possible have become so intertwined that you have no way of knowing where one ends and the other begins!"
"So you've been playing with me, like one of your characters!"
"Don't you get it? You ARE one of my characters! You think that you can start thinking for yourself now, after all those years I've made all the decisions for you? I OWN you, for crying out loud! I own you the way I own Kim Possible."
"Kim Possible is a fictional character!" Kim thundered. "You can't own me the way you do her!"
"That's what you think!" David retorted. "Kim Possible used to be a fictional character. Until I created her! I gave her life! I gave her your life! She is real now, just as real as you are, if not more so!"
"You're SICK!" Kim shouted. In reality she felt as though she was the one who would be sick. Her stomach felt queasy, and her throat felt dry and scratchy from all the screaming. Her head was spinning, and tears threatened to burst forth from her eyes. "You're a sick man, a sick, sick megalomaniac – "
David interrupted Kim by slapping her fiercely across her face. Kim teetered over before grabbing the arms of her chair and righting herself.
"Now you listen to me, you little bi – "
Kim roared and pounced on David without thinking. She was not fueled by thought but by fury, sheer fury and hatred, and she flung her fists towards that evil face –
In a shocking move, David grabbed her wrists and wrenched her down towards the desk. Kim cried out as her nose slammed against the desk, and struggled mightily to loosen her wrists. To her great surprise, she found herself unable to free herself from David's gasp.
David pulled Kim's wrists up in order to lift her head high enough to face him. "You'll find that you and Shego are not the only Kung Fu champions," he sneered icily.
"Let – me – go!" Kim gasped, mightily twisting her shoulders in effort to wrangle her wrists out of David's hands. It was hopeless – he was shockingly strong, perhaps even stronger than Shego. Blood was pounding in her ears, and static seemed to crackle in her jaw where David's hand had made contact. He had shocked her by slapping her like that, and that momentary shock cost her precious seconds of reaction time. This would have never happened to Shego, Kim thought bitterly, trying to ignore the throbbing on her lower right cheek. Shego was ready for everything and everyone. She would have not allowed David to surprise her like that, and she would never have found herself trapped in this ridiculous position on his desk. David may have been surprisingly strong, but he didn't move nearly as smoothly or as gracefully as Shego. Good technique could always beat brute strength.
"I'll let you go as soon as you hear me out, you spoiled brat," David growled. His eyes were devoid of all compassion and humanity, and Kim stopped struggling. "You obviously couldn't care less about the show, but do you have any idea of what would happen to you if you started canoodling with Shego?"
"My Kim Possible contract wouldn't get renewed," Kim growled. "And we might never see each other again. How tragic."
"Forget your Kim Possible contract," David leered. "No one at Disney will ever hire you again."
"Shame."
"You fool!" David spat. "Do you think you have any chance of a career without Disney?"
"Plenty of people have a career after Disney!" Kim exclaimed.
"Not former child stars!" David laughed nastily. "No one in the industry will take you seriously. Think of Cheryl Toggle and Gene Smyrnoff - they never graduated Disney, did they?."
"Hannah Liszter did," Kim retorted.
David laughed again. "Hannah's ten times prettier than you are," he said ruthlessly. "Face it, Kim. Without Disney, you're history. Trust me: you lose Disney, and you'll be a has-been. The former child star who everyone said would have great potential but then vanished into the dusk. No one will ever remember your name."
Kim twitched angrily in David's arms. "It may come as a surprise to you," she said coldly, "but some of us have dreams other than becoming rich and famous."
"Easy for you to say – you've been both since you were fifteen," David barked.
"Right, I'm just a spoiled brat and a diva who doesn't know how good she has it," Kim said coldly. "Heard it all before. Will you let me go now?"
David thought for a few moments. He finally threw Kim's fists down towards the table, and she scrambled off of it. She smoothed her clothes as best as she could, gave him the haughtiest and most dignified look she could muster, and then leaned over and slapped David hard across his face. Before he had a chance to react, she had darted out the door, flew down the corridor, and headed for the parking lot.
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Shego lay morosely on her living room couch. Her packed suitcase sat near her, ready for travel, although she and Steve were not set to fly for another six hours or so. She had packed and repacked that suitcase – most uncharacteristically, for her – but it had not provided enough distraction. She had not succeeded in banishing the thoughts of Stevie and Kim from her head.
She heard a car screeching towards the pavement near her house. Probably Stevie coming to take her for a surprise lunch date. She started to slide off the couch to let him in when she heard the door slam and feet pounding on the pavement.
Those feet were far too light to be Steve's.
Shego groaned. Not her! Not now!
The light feet pounded on the pavement and up her steps, and a pair of light fists banged against her door with surprising ferocity.
"Shego!"
Shego growled and headed for her bedroom. The nerve! The brat knew that she was going with Steve to Boca today! What the hell was she trying to do – confuse her even more? Not that there was anything to really be confused over.
"Shego, open this door! I know you're in there!"
"Go away!" Shego shouted.
"I won't!" the voice cried stubbornly. "Open this door and let me in!"
"Get the hell out of here!" Shego shouted bitterly. "Haven't you messed up my life enough as it is?"
"Don't give me that crap, Shego! Open this freakin' door! NOW!"
"Beat it, Princess! I'm not interested!"
"I'm going to break down this door!"
Shego laughed again. "Go ahead and try it."
"You know I could do it," the voice warned behind the door.
Shego hesitated. "You probably could," she mused.
"Here goes!" Kim barked. She shoved her shoulder into the door like a battering ram, and Shego actually saw the door vibrating.
"Do you have any idea how much I PAID for that new varnish?" Shego shouted, rushing towards the door. She twisted the door open just as Kim was beginning her second attempt at ramming the door open. Kim lost her balance and rammed her shoulder into Shego's chest instead.
Cursing under her breath, Shego held Kim up and straightened her up. Kim regained her composure as best as she could as Shego crossed her arms across her chest. "Now, what the hell was so important that it couldn't wait till I got ba-"
Kim fiercely pulled Shego towards her by the hips and kissed her forcefully on the mouth. Shego, aghast, tried mightily to wrench herself away, but Kim held on to her unyieldingly. After a brief moment Shego held herself limp and ceased struggling, and after another moment she flung her arms around Kim's neck. They remained locked in a fierce lip-clench for several minutes, neither of them aware of the world around them, of the living room with the suitcases, of the open door and the passing cars, of the studio or ratings or flights or condos or anything else. Shego felt her fingers slowly rise into Kim's hair and onto her temples, and kissed Kim fully and passionately and furiously. Shego's heart pounded heavily in her chest again, but this time the sensation was not at all that bad. The mountain of doubt and insecurity began to slowly melt away.
After several long minutes, the two women slowly pulled apart. Kim glared fiercely into Shego's eyes, as though daring her to say something. Shego glared back more playfully, a small smirk playing at her lips.
Kim's gaze remained firm and hard for a few more minutes, and then slowly began fizzling in their resolve. Shego watched Kim's blazing eyes suddenly grow wide and panicky, while feeling her own eyes grow more steely and determined. Shego continued to watch Kim's eyes as it became apparent that those eyes were slowly grasping the full meaning of what had just happened.
"Oh my God," Kim gasped, staring at Shego in sudden panic. "What did we just do?"
"Who the hell cares?" Shego asks casually. Without thinking, she pulled Kim roughly her by the shirt thtough the door, kicked the door behind her close, and the two women slowly melted back into each others' arms and lips.