A Price To Pay

Standard Disclaimer - These characters belong to © The Walt Disney Company, and whoever else has stake in Kim Possible. Kim Possible was created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. This story is a work of fiction and for fun, so copyright infringement is unintended.

Story Specific Disclaimer – Some liberties have been taken with the general character builds. Kim and Ron are 19 and Shego is 22, eventually I'll post more of the changes that I've made on my profile. Some parts will be non-canon but that is only because I felt that there needed to be some explanation for Kim being as incredible as she is.

Rating- M for possible violence, some harsh language, and intimations of a physical relationship between two consenting adults (eventually). So if any of the above offends you, I apologize, but please don't read past the disclaimer.

Violence – I figured I should toss this in there just in case, you never know when Kim might suddenly get into a fight with a super villain or something; she's only a cheerleader right? Of course there's violence. It's not like I'm putting out a story about Kim and company sitting around knitting (and even then a villain would probably bust through the ceiling) Kim is teen hero so fights are very likely, how detailed they are really depends on how well I can write them.

Subtext – So this is an alternative fan fiction so it's pretty safe to say that Kim and Shego more than likely have feeling for each other that aren't strictly related to their "work" relationship. I mean just take a look at episodes like "Stop Team Go" and the subtext isn't even subtext any more it's main text.

So - having read this lovely disclaimer, if you then read the story and are surprised that Kim and Shego are kissing each other, I warned ya. If you're offended by it, I apologize but maybe you shouldn't have read past the disclaimer.

A.N: I'm probably going to come back and re-do this chapter, I tore apart the original copy so I really apologize if things don't make much sense.

Chapter Seven - A Friendships Significance

KPKPKPKP

Kim turned the coffee cup around in her hands watching the brown liquid slope up the sides. With a sigh she continued to study the drink with interest doing her best to look anywhere but the kitchen entrance, where she could hear Shego moving around. A distinct rolling in her stomach was keeping her from trying to drink the coffee Shego had placed in front of her.

Part of her wanted to jump from the table and run for her room. Hiding under her covers couldn't have been more appealing. A larger part of her brain had shut that idea down in no time flat, insistently pointing out that she didn't have anything to run from. Her biggest secrets had already been laid out. M.A.I, her training and hologram technology, the supplemental injections. She had nothing left for the older woman to discover, except for. . .

Kim shook her head to clear her thoughts immediately dismissing the answers her brain was providing, leaving her to divine the future from her mug. With no other answers forthcoming she was left staring into space. A distinct furrow appearing on her forehead.

She didn't even hear Shego move up to the table or see the worried expression crossing the older woman's face as she watched Kim begin to chip away at her cup. The file landing next to her hand, however, caused her to nearly jump out of the chair in reflex. Halting the motion just as Shego sat next to her.

A faint blush worked its way up her neck at the natural reaction, she could feel Shego's eyes practically boring a hole into her brain. Kim's fingers worked at chipping the paint off of the mug for several seconds before tapering fingers wrapped around it, tugging her victim out of her reach. Forcing her to face the older woman who was watching her with a mixture of apprehension and fear.

There was a slight flicker in Shego's expression when their eyes met; an almost imperceptible tremor tore her focus away from the teen and to the folder in front of her. When you fought someone as often as she and Shego had you learned everything about their body. How it moved, how they reacted, what the shifting of their feet meant. All it took was a single moment of hesitation for Kim to realize Shego was nervous. And her stomach dropped to her feet with the realization.

Her arch foe had always exuded an aura of confidence that you could practically feel when she walked into a room. It was an undeniably exciting quality that both she and Shego had in common, making it easy for them to butt heads over anything. Two naturally powerful personalities like theirs were bound to be at odds with each other.

It was something that made going toe to toe with the pale skinned woman so exhilarating. Even in the barely healthy state Kim was in that electrifying undercurrent was still present. During small talk, training, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But now Shego was sitting in the chair next to her fiddling with a pen looking for all the world like she would rather be doing anything else.

Shego took a deep breath and attempted to school her features, ignoring the lethargy that was slowly sinking into her system. With a sip from the cup in front of her she flipped the file open, pushing it in front of Kim.

"This is the information Wade collected on your condition when you first got here." There was a gesture towards a page filled with familiar terms and red numbers, easily detailing just how far the teen had let her system go. Kim inhaled sharply at the number of vital statistics marked in red, nearly 96% showing dangerous levels. Knowing what she was doing to her body on an incremental level was one thing, having the full picture shoved at her was another.

"And this is the problem we can't seem to solve," Shego said her voice dropping slightly as she pulled up another paper. Kim's eyes immediately took in the total lack of red on the page. An exact duplicate of the chart she had just been looking at the, differences were startling. She reacted habitually placing them side by side and automatically looking for the dates.

Five days.

Her mind froze refusing to acknowledge what she was looking at. Mental calculations were halted totally stalled by four little numbers and a slash. Her vision narrowed, zooming in on the statistics showing a twenty percent increase in everything. No nanobots or out of control adrenaline levels. Her melatonin was still low, just low enough to be explained by her nightmares. The nanobots that had been present in every test she had ever run on herself had apparently vanished completely.

"That isn't possible." The words slipped out on a whisper her eyes widening as she turned to Shego. The older woman was watching her with narrowed eyes that shone with relief as she took in Kim's shocked expression.

"The words anything's possible for a Possible come to mind, Kimmie." A smirk melted the worried expression off Shego's face. Leaving Kim to wonder if they had both suddenly gone crazy. One minute she was facing a clearly agitated and confrontational super powered woman and the next Shego was looking at her with barely veiled happiness. Her cheeks colored slightly as she realized just what Shego had been looking for.

"You thought I was cheating, that I'd found some way to sneak who knows what into this house to keep myself going." Kim pushed away from the table, glaring down at the pale skinned woman. Her chair fell onto the floor sliding several feet away. "That whatever progress I was making was fake!"

The teen's volume rose, moving away from the table she paced towards the living room anxiety showing. Shego jumped after her ignoring the sound her own chair made as it fell to the floor as well. She caught Kim just as she crossed into the living room stopping her with a firm hand around her wrist. With a slight pull she forced Kim to face her ignoring the faint flush covering the teens face.

"What else were we supposed to think Kim? That you were magically recovering, that by some stroke of luck my healing abilities had rubbed off on you." Shego's grip tightened as Kim attempted to pull away. "Unfortunately for you we had to go with what we know and as far as anyone is concerned you were using drugs to keep your body going. Forcing chemicals and nanobots and going days without food or sleep. And if you missed your injections we both know what cou-would happen."

Kim's face paled slightly as Shego's voice cracked slightly, the pale skinned woman's face was a mix of emotions. All of them leaning towards mild hysteria. Shego was doing her best to not throttle the teen; there was a distinct blurring around her vision that meant she hadn't had enough sleep lately. Kim wrenched her hand out of Shego's grip taking a halting step forward that left her nearly toe to toe with the taller woman.

"So you just assume that I'm abusing my body again. That there can't be some other explanation. That me getting better automatically means that I'M doing something to myself." Kim's voice rose again leaving both sets of ears ringing slightly. "I thought something had changed over the past week. That you would have given me the benefit of the doubt before accusing me, like any friend would."

Her face flushed as she watched comprehension dawn on Shego's face. Kim's anger suddenly started to make sense. She took a step towards the red head, a move that was mirrored as Kim stumbled back in an attempt to put some space between them. There was something close to understanding in the look Shego was giving her and it made her stomach turn over.

"If I thought there was any other explanation, Kim I wouldn't have bothered to ask you. I wouldn't be telling you what was going on."

"You're not telling me anything, you're accusing me." She shot back. Anger flared in both women as they stared at each other for several seconds, neither wanting to back down. Kim's control wavered slightly as she stared up at Shego. The expression on the villains face was so familiar that she reacted automatically. This was the expression of the Shego she was used to. An irritated Shego staring at her from close range could only mean one thing, fight.

Her stance shifted, the slightest transfer of weight was all Shego had to warn her before a fist was whipping towards her face at a speed Kim shouldn't have been capable of. Lethargic muscles sprang into action and her half asleep brain sent off signals to respond properly to an outside attack. Forgetting for an instance that it was Kim who was attacking her she lit up catching the smaller fist with negligent ease.

Several shocked seconds went by before either of them realized what had happened. Green flames licked up their hands, entwining around the fist locked in Shego's grip. Kim had the very clear thought that her hand should have be burning, skin blistering under the heat she knew Shego's plasma could exert. But the flames simply licked playfully around joined hands that slowly loosened their grip.

All anger faded away as Shego attempted to pull away her hand still burning green fire. Kim grabbed Shego's wrist just as the flames went out and the older woman's wide eyed gaze met hers.

"Do it again," Kim said her fingers easily slipping between Shego's in a move that seemed completely natural. She could feel the paler woman's muscles shift and her heart rate pick up and then the fire was back. This time Kim was ready for it and the shock of seeing her hand within the flames was gone, an intense feeling of rightness in its place.

Even without being able to feel the heat of the flames the overwhelming sense of power was still there. It was an exhilarating feeling to have her hand inside something so dangerous. She had felt what Shego's plasma could do, had seen her cut through reinforced steel beams and send Drakken hurtling across a lair with a single bolt.

Her fingers slipped from Shego's and she traced a pattern across the green skinned woman's hand. Fingers moving through the flames, fascinated by the way the fire seemed to move with her, like it was welcoming her. Both woman shivered as an overwhelming feeling rippled through them. This time when Shego pulled away Kim didn't stop her, leaving them both staring at each other.

"I guess you have rubbed off on me," Kim said in a small voice eyes narrowing as she watched Shego. The brunette looked like she was ready to start searching the room for hidden cameras to make sure she wasn't being set up. Her intense gaze fell on Kim and the redhead automatically raised her arms, a smirk slipping onto her face. "No battle suit or plasma resistant gloves, Shego."

The villain's expression dropped, eyes widened in shock, her mouth dropped open working silently for several seconds before she clamped it shut with an audible click. Shocked green eyes pinned Kim to her spot as she watched the taller woman fumble for some sort of explanation. A pale arm lifted into a half thought out gesture and Kim lifted her hand in response, catching a flickering ball of plasma.

"Your battle suit wouldn't let you do that and plasma gloves would have just deflected it," Shego explained the awe in her voice catching Kim off guard, "How are you doing that, Kimmie?" Kim jumped slightly when Shego's hand slipped into the flames, half expecting something to explode. Instead she found herself staring at her empty hand when Shego pulled away, taking the plasma with her.

With a negligent flick of her wrist Shego put out the plasma, feeling some of her equilibrium return now that Kim's hand wasn't covered in green flames. Her mind shifted to factor in the new information that could easily explain Kim's rapidly occurring recovery. She considered what would have happened to any nanobots in her own system and realized they would have been eradicated immediately, just like Wade's results had shown.

Her eyebrows pulled together in a frown as she realized just how impossible it was for Kim to suddenly be withstanding her plasma without extraordinary measures. Her mind jumped to the night she had revived Kim, remembering the unexpected feeling that had passed through her with the white burst of plasma. She thought about the tingle she had felt every time they had brushed against each other during training or during their time together in the house. With a click the pieces fell together and she turned to stare at Kim again watching the teens eyes track her movement, green eyes widening slightly.

Her hand shot out faster than Shego could follow and Kim's grip tightened as the thief attempted to pull away.

"What the hell, Kimmie?" She said, startled by the intensity of the teens grip. Her struggling stopped when Kim's fingers moved over the soft skin on her wrist, leaving a trail of goose bumps in her wake.

"I've never noticed this before," Kim whispered following the black ink that marked a familiar pattern into the thief's skin.

"What I can't have a tattoo without your permission?" Shego pulled her arm away from the teen, crossing them over her chest. Kim's hand hung in the air for several seconds before it dropped to her side. She ignored the instinct to snap a retort at Shego instead focusing on the pale skinned woman with starling intensity. The expression on her face nearly made Shego's knees give out.

"I need to show you something," she stepped towards the taller woman hesitantly," and I think it might explain how I've been getting better so fast." The teen's voice was barely more than a whisper and her hands shook slightly as she as she reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head.

Shego recognized the movement and instantly turned her back on the teen, shutting her eyes before realizing just how stupid she probably looked. Light footsteps and a tap on her forehead let her know that Kim was standing in front of her. A groan escaped as she opened her eyes, catching sight of the chesire grin the redhead wore.

The redhead had her hand over her heart just above her sports bra like she was waiting to recite the pledge of allegiance. She stepped closer to Shego, grin fading as she let her hand drop. Shego followed the movement, attempting to look anywhere but the smooth expanse of skin now laid out in front of her. An out of place color on Kim's skin stopped her. She zeroed in on the pale pattern, her world shifted as it resolved into an exact copy of her tattoo in the same shade as her own skin.

She sucked in a shocked breath ignoring Kim's intense gaze she stepped forward reaching out to touch the design, she stopped millimeters from her target flipping her right hand over she inspected her wrist. Looking from her tattoo to the skin above the red heads heart, the exact spot she had somehow pounded the life back into Kim. Silence reigned for several seconds while she slowly made sense of what she was seeing. Green eyes grew distant for several minutes as Shego recalled a conversation she had had years ago.

"How?" Her eyes met Kim's and the teen shook her head slightly.

"I don't know it was there after you left the night I. . . That night." She smiled slightly, "It surprised me too. But MAI couldn't find anything on it and I was coming here in a few days so I pushed it aside." She turned away from Shego her expression dropping, shoulders slumping, as she shuffled towards the couch. "I've done that with a lot of things lately."

There was a hollow quality to her voice, something Shego had never heard from the teen before. Gone was the peppy, perky, slightly endearing attitude that was very Kim. Instead she could almost physically see the teen turning herself inside out, drawing herself inward in an obvious attempt to disappear. The older woman let out a breath in an attempt to regain her equilibrium and attempt to shut out the pounding in her head. The revelations and high flying emotion of the past hour were slowly combing with her lack of sleep.

With her back to Shego Kim had a few moments to study herself in the glass, a transparent reflection that shook her already fragile state of mind. Gone was the lean, cultivated, strong image she was used to seeing. Now she cut a gaunt figure of skin and bones. Workout clothes that would have once fit snugly around a well-defined and shapely body hung loosely in place, barely staying on her thin frame. A roaring sound filled her ears, leaving her in a tunnel of noise as the blood rushed to her head. Her vision narrowed, focusing completely on the likeness in front of her.

A sob left her throat, sounding far off against the pounding in her head. She wouldn't have noticed that she had fallen to her knees if her mirror image hadn't done the same. The sob became a choking wail, control completely slipping from her grasp as she sat shaking, unable to tear her eyes away from the image. A voice called out to her, quiet at first, gaining volume and force each time, shaping her name. And then the shaking wasn't being caused completely by her own body, a figure in black cut into the image on the glass in front of her.

Green eyes appeared in front of her pulling her away from the precipice she was teetering on. She focused on Shego's face, wide eyes shone with worry, pale skin was slightly flushed, her movements were jerky, almost frantic. Lips moved shaping sounds she was familiar with but couldn't quite make out. Somehow she knew that Shego was saying her name, calling out to her, but she could barely make out the sounds, like an annoying buzz it flitted through her consciousness.

With a final shake Shego wrapped her arms around Kim and dragged her off the ground, wrapping another arm under her knees she cradled Kim to her. The older woman's heart dropped when she received a halfhearted mumble as a reaction. She deposited Kim on the couch arranging limp limbs in a reclined position as she knelt near the teens head. Kim's eyes tracked her movement but they were glassy and almost lifeless. The teens face was paler than she had seen it since they had come to the test house and as she watched tears slipped down Kim's face.

Without thinking she reached out to brush them away. The moment their skin connected a static charge popped up between them, sending coursing energy through them. For both of them it was like the night in Kim's bedroom all over again. Their eyes locked and Shego let out a sigh of relief when she realized Kim was actually looking at her, a faint spark alive behind sad green eyes. Kim shifted slightly not bothering to try and stop the tears slipping down her face as she faced Shego.

"I-I destroyed myself." The words were faint, barely above a whisper. If she hadn't been sitting right next to the teen Shego would have missed them. A chill ran down her spine and she moved closer to Kim. A hand lifted the teens chin, forcing her to look up.

"No Kimmie, you didn't destroy yourself. We can fix this," Shego smiled slightly her free hand wrapping around Kim's; "We are fixing this. That's what friends do right?"

"Yeah," Kim drew in a ragged breath letting a smile slip onto her face at the older woman's words. A pleasant warmth moved over her body, chasing away the cold that had, moments before, caused her body to shake uncontrollably. "That's what friends do."

Shego's response was lost on her as her eyes started to grow heavy, the emotional turmoil of the past hour sending her body in a fast spiral towards sleep. With a smirk Shego watched Kim's face relax into sleep, even marred by faint tear tracks Kim's face held a childlike peacefulness that the older woman found herself watching for several minutes. It wasn't until her knees started to go numb that she moved.

Standing up Shego yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. A hand she found captured as she moved away from the edge of the couch, caught in Kim's firm grasp. Half open green eyes looked up at her a sleepy grin spreading. There was a slight pull, the force more than her desperately over taxed body could handle. She found herself tucked against a warm body, Kim's eyes already closing again.

"Friends take care of each other." Was the all the explanation she received before Kim's arm draped itself firmly over her waist. The moments shock passed as her sleep deprived body fell into the red heads clutches. A hand worked its way into her hair smoothing it in a soothing pattern that was half planned half instinct. Shego never noticed the low hum of pleasure that left her throat; her breathing had already evened out, her hearts slowing beat leading the way to a much needed rest.

She never saw the wide green eyes that traced her face, memorizing every relaxed detail. Never felt the hand caress the dark circles under her eyes or the tears that slipped from the red heads eyes. Never felt the red head snuggle closer, the slim arm around her waist tightening slightly, and a hand tucking her head against Kim's shoulder. Never saw Kim's eyes un-focus as she got lost in thoughts about the green skinned enigma wrapped in her arms. Eyes that didn't close until several hours had gone by.

Author's note: Run for the hills the story is finally starting to connect all the bits and pieces and take some turns towards well where it needs to go. On a positive note, stuff actually went down in this chapter. We have teen heroes finally getting serious reality checks, ex-villains sort of getting some TLC, and mysterious tattoos explaining some questions. Next chapter we get some quiet time with the girls, maybe some powers getting tested, and of course Samhain is just around the corner.