Caught in an Abyss – Chapter 9

Fic Info and Update:
As I'm sure I've stated before, none of the characters belong to me. As for the chapter, I am so sorry for all of the waiting. I've been so preoccupied with getting used to my new schedule as well as planning for a very special trip this Christmas that I just have not really had the motivation to write. BUT! I am hoping that inspiration will hit me like a ton of bricks pretty soon. Until then, enjoy what I call word vomit for this chapter. lol I want to apologize in advance for the lack of kigo-y goodness in this one. It will consist of a week's activities as the girls (mostly Kim) try to cope with their new situation, which as I'm sure anyone can guess, won't be easy at all. I do have some planned chapters that are a little more structured, but the hard part for me is working up to that point. lol Anyway, as always, enjoy!

XxXxX

(Back home - Week one, Day one)

And alarm clock perched on the side table to Kim's bed went off, loudly, alerting her to the time. It was nine o'clock in the morning. But Kim was already awake. She had been awake for an hour, but she refused to move. She looked at the ceiling in her bedroom, expecting the lights to turn on at any minute, but that wasn't going to happen. She wasn't in the underwater lair anymore. The lights would no longer magically turn on at eight in the morning.

Looking at the annoyance that sat next to her bed, Kim showed no emotion as she lifted her arm to hit the off button to end the blaring sound. Slowly she sat up in bed and looked out the window that she had looked through the night before. The scenery, though much more pleasant to look at than it had been before as wind was no longer whipping through the trees, didn't appeal to her at all. All she saw was a combination of colors that no longer peaked her interest.

The young woman sighed as she turned and slid out of bed. She looked at her pillow and noticed small stains that coated the fabric. Had she really been crying all night and in her sleep? She didn't really care. She went through the motions of her old morning routine, walking into the bathroom and taking a shower, brushing her teeth, getting a comb through her hair all before heading down to breakfast.

Kim looked at the buttons on her shirt as if questioning their existence. But she raised her hands to them and one by one undid the troublesome devices. She carefully slipped the cloth from her shoulders then removed her pajama bottoms. The readhead knew that she was moving at an incredibly slow pace and it puzzled her. 'No matter...' She thought to herself. 'It's not like its keeping me from moving...' She then realized that ten minutes had passed while she just stared at the shower door. With a sigh, she shook her head and opened the damnable contraption and stepped in. She turned on the water, not caring that it started out freezing, though it forced her to yelp and move to the side of the shower that was not being bombarded by the chilling waters.

Once it warmed though, Kim sighed with a small amount of relief before continuing with the daily ritual of cleaning one's self. She washed her hair, running her fingers through it slowly, she washed her body, not bothering to ring out the washcloth when she was done. She simply turned off the water and left the small towel on the floor of the shower.

Kim wrapped the towel she had picked out around her waist, picking up her pajama shirt and buttoning that back up rather than drying off and getting dressed. She walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, looking around blankly as if asking for the room to do the chores of making food for her. But that didn't happen. Kim reached into a cupboard and grabbed a box of cereal, not caring what the contents of the box were. Mindlessly, she poured it into a bowl, soon followed by some milk. The hero didn't bother to put anything away aside from the milk as she sat down on her couch to eat what was supposed to pass for a meal. She didn't eat it though. She stared at the flakes in her bowl for a while then looked up at the TV in front of her that was silent as it was not turned on.

"I haven't thought a damn thing since I woke up this morning." Then Kim actually thought for a moment. "Did I just swear?" This continued to go over her head for another moment or so as she looked back down at the bowl. "When the hell did I make this?" She was starting to worry herself a little bit, but she passed it off as nothing as she began to dig into the now liquid-like substance that was contained in the bowl.

She didn't even get one bite in before her front door started creating a lot of racket. Kim jumped at the sound of knocking and dropped her bowl on the ground, the carpet quickly soaking up the milk and leaving what little remained of the soggy cereal. The redhead rubbed her temple slightly as though that sound had just roused her from a deep sleep.

She got off the couch and moved towards the door. She looked through the peephole and noticed that it was none other than her good friend Ron. She opened the door and smiled automatically, not really registering in her mind that she was doing the action because she felt that it was necessary.

"Hey Ron." Kim said, trying to sound as positive as possible.

"Hey Ki- ... Kim do you realize that you have a towel around your waist...? That's about to fall off...?" Ron looked away for a moment and tried to pay no attention to the now fumbling Kim who was distraught that she had opened the door while she was "dressed" in such a manor. The girl rushed into her bathroom, leaving the front door open behind her. Ron stepped into the apartment and flopped down on the couch, but not before noticing the turned over cereal bowl and milk-stained carpet.

"So are you just dropping by to lie on my couch or was there a reason this time?" Kim tried to sound as light-hearted as possible, but she realized that it was more difficult than it seemed. She had called from the bathroom and poked her head out of the door to look at Ron as she changed into her day clothes with jeans and a t-shirt, undergarments and all.

"Mostly just stopped by to say hi and check in on you." He smiled cheekily at his best friend. "Yori said that she wanted to meet us for lunch later if that was alright. She was just about as worried about you as Wade and I were."

"Somehow I find that difficult to believe." The hero tried to laugh but she couldn't. She looked at her hands for a moment, almost expecting to see something there, but there was nothing. She looked in the mirror to make sure the she was presentable, but ended up looking behind her instead. She seemed to be searching for something that wasn't there and she sighed. Kimmie attempted to look away, force her legs to move, but she couldn't seem to start any movement. She simply continued to stare into the mirror, over her left shoulder, expecting something to be there that never would be no matter how hard she focused on that one spot.

"Kim, are you okay?" Ron finally came into the bathroom, concerned that his friend had not said anything for ten minutes. When he came in, he saw the young woman sitting on the floor, her palms flat on the ground and her legs bent at the knee. She was staring blankly at the denim that covered her legs. There were tears running down her cheeks for reasons that she could not explain. She knew why she was upset, and she knew that she had every reason to be, but why was she crying? This was something that she could handle, this was something that she could deal with, this was something that-

"KP." Ron said in a stern voice as he knelt next to her and placed an oddly strong hand on Kim's shoulder. Kim looked up at Ron and smiled lightly, not even bothering to try and make it seem real. "What's wrong?" He asked, overwhelmed with concern. Kim just shook her head.

"I'm fine." She said, now ignoring the tears that fell from her eyes. "Let's go to my parents place before we meet up with Yori." With that, the young hero stood from her place on the floor. She held a hand out for Ron, but he stood up on his own. He looked at Kimmie with concern as she strode out of the bathroom as though nothing had happened.

'What can I do but wait until she actually wants to talk...?' He thought to himself.

XxXxX

(Back home - Week one Day one)

"What do you mean you don't want to do the heist!?" Drakken bellowed loudly. He was becoming irate because Shego was lying on her bed, looking at the ceiling. He stood in the door way, waving his arms about, yelling profanities in her direction. She wasn't paying any mind. She could hardly muster the energy to yell back towards him.

"I said I don't want to do it! Now get the hell out of my room!" Using what little energy she had left, Shego lit up her hand and threw a plasma ball at her boss. The blue-skinned man jumped and barely avoided being singed.

"You know, I could dock you pay for THIS!" Through his sentence, Drakken grew louder but he eventually stopped. Shego sat up in her bed and turned to face him, placing her feet on the floor. She growled quietly before somehow finding the strength to stand. Slowly, eerily, she strode towards him. Looking down on her "boss," she sneered. Her hand shot out to grab his throat. The man squeaked and trembled now afraid of what his employee might do. He had never seen her like this before.

"I will do the heist when I damn well feel like it... In fact, I will use what little precious free time I have later to do it... But you need to get out of my room and out of my face!" Forcefully, she threw him backwards, slamming him into a wall. He fell to the ground, sitting there and rubbing his head. Drakken looked up at her and she stared down at him with disgust. "I'm going out for a walk..." She muttered before walking past him.

Once she was out of ear shot, down the hall and then out of the lair, Drakken picked himself up off of the floor and wandered back into the "workshop" of the lair. He looked at the computer and then looked at a picture of himself and Shego, her about to fry him and him smiling with a thumbs up, paying no mind to the scary woman.

"What happened to her in the ocean...?" He wondered to himself.

...

"Ocean madness; that's it." He just felt the compulsion to speak such a foolish thought.

XxXxX

Shego stepped outside of the timeshare lair in her civilian clothes. She put her hands into the pockets of her jeans, ignoring the slight chill from the breeze as it ran over her arms. Her dark green t-shit was thick enough to keep her warm.

'Why did I think that going outside was a good idea...? She thought to herself. She looked around at the bright warming sun and the happy dancing trees. She growled to herself and continued walking. It was such a gorgeous day and all she could feel was sorrow and misery.

She didn't know how long she was walking but eventually she came upon the small park that was at least two miles from the lair. There were a few small groups of people there, either couples enjoying the sun or groups of couples laughing and smiling, kissing and hugging...

The thief looked away unable to control her actions. She wiped away a single tear that threatened to spill and tried to pass it off to any on-looker that it was simply a bright day. There was a large oak tree standing alone in the middle of a grassy outcrop. Shego scoffed. How interesting, she thought, that the only being in the park that even resembled her state-of-mind right now was a tree, green and alone. She internally punched herself for reminding herself of her skin color but tried to keep it locked in the back of her mind. She was hurting enough and didn't need to think about how there were probably number of people in the park who had just stopped their activities in order to be amazed or disgusted by her skin tone.

Carefully, Shego sat down under the tree. She pulled one knee to her chest, keeping the other out-stretched, and rested her arm upon it. The thief looked around the park one more time. It was too sunny. It was nearly autumn; still warm, but not too hot because of the light breeze. It was too peaceful.

She laid her head against the trunk of the tree, searching the leaves for her answers, but found nothing. She closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the odd tranquility of her surroundings.

XxXxX

(Back Home - Week one Day three)

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. P" Ron said rather solemnly as he walked into the kitchen of Kim's parents' home. He was looking out into the den as he walked in, watching as Kim just sat down on the couch, slumping backwards. When he turned around, he noticed that James and Anne were also looking into the den from the kitchen table. Ron sat across from the couple. He wasn't quite sure where to begin. He knew that they were just as worried about Kim as he was.

"Ron, please tell us you know what has out little Kimmie so down." Anne said. She was near tears watching her daughter stare at the blank television screen looking as though she had just been shot through the heart.

"I've been trying to get her to talk to me about it, but she always changes the subject and insists that we do something to just occupy time. I don't know how else to describe it." He looked out into the den and then back at Kim's parents. "She even asked if we could go to the monster truck show that Monique and I wanted to see." This shocked Kim's parents. Never once in her life, aside from what she was trying to fit in with Ron and Felix, had Kim wanted to go see a monster truck show. Anne turned to James with a look that only a concerned mother would have. He held his wife around her shoulders and sighed heavily.

"Maybe we should get her to come back home for a little while." He suggested. "If only to give her some comfort and company. Maybe then we can figure out what's going on." Anne seemed to brighten up a little at the idea of her little girl coming home, if only for a little while. Ron smiled lightly at the idea, knowing deep down, somewhere, that it would help to get to the bottom of things.

All three of them stood from the table and strode quietly into the living room. Kim had finally managed to move enough to find the remote and then sit back down to watch a documentary on oceans. She was making half-hearted commentary, saying that whoever had done their research for ot was wrong. She noticed her parents and Ron come back into the room and she tried to smile happily. All three family members could see right through it.

"What's up guys?" She asked, trying to seem casual. Her mom stepped forward and sat on the couch, volunteering to talk to Kim herself. Ron and James, knowing that they would want some "mother-daughter" time preoccupied themselves with the documentary on the TV.

"Kimmie, we were talking about how you've been feeling lately and-"

"I'm feeling , Mom. It's good to be back." Her words seemed strained and there was nothing Kim could do to keep that from being obvious.

"No, Kimberly. You haven't been feeling great. And you don't have to tell me why just yet, but we would all feel more comfortable if you would you would move back home for a little while." Anne smile and brushed her hand over Kim's hair comfortingly. The hero wanted to shy away from the affection, but she did not want to insult her mother by doing so.

"I'm fine, Mom. Really I am. I don't need to come back home. It's okay." Once more, the young woman attempted to smile. It was paining her mother to see such a fake attempt at happiness.

"Well..." Anne started again, thinking for a moment. "If you won't do it for yourself, will you do it for us?" She gestured her hand towards to two men who were still pretending to be engaged in watching the documentary as they were starting to make commentary on it as well. "We miss you and it terrified us to think that we would never have you in our lives again. Come home if only to reinforce that you're actually okay? Give us some comfort, Kimmie."

Kim looked at her mom for a moment, blankly, thinking nothing. She then looked to Ron and James. What was she going to do? She couldn't deny that her mom and dad missed her greatly. Maybe her mom was right. Maybe it would help her to feel better, get her mind off of things. She could distract herself with old family life. It seemed logical enough.

"Okay." She stated plainly and a great wave of relief washed over her mother.

"That's wonderful, Kim." Anne remained calm even though her heart was singing on the inside. Her little girl would be home and she could make sure that she was alright. "Let's go back to your place and gather up your things. We've been using your room as a guest room so everything is all set up for your stay." Kim was quiet for a moment before smiling genuinely for the first time in days. Small as it was, it was comforting for both the parents and Ron to see.

"Thanks guys." She muttered softly.

XxXxX

(Back Home - Week one Day four late at night)

It was dark outside. Night had fallen at the wind had come back, though not as violently as it had the nights before. A few small stars shone through the clouds that were beginning to cover the sky, indicating that winter was definitely on its way early. Autumn would had been so nice.

Shego cursed silently to herself as the wind threw off her jump from the top of one tall building to the next. She looked around, knowing that no one had seen, but she would castrate anyone who had the nerve to even think she had nearly fallen.

She was in the southern part of Upperton, looking for a building in particular. She had been searching apartment complexes all night, researching and hacking to find the information she wanted. She knew it made her seem like a stalker, but she didn't care anymore. She didn't want to feel this pain anymore.

So she looked up Kim's address and apartment complex.

The thief bounded across the top of another building, sticking the landing this time and smirking to herself. She was starting to feel better, knowing that she would get to see her girl, knowing that all she had to do was open the window to her bedroom and sit next to her bed, smiling at her sleeping Princess before the girl woke up-

Shego shook her head. She was getting ahead of herself. She continued on her way, looking at the sky, at the rest of her surroundings, taking note of each landmark as she continued on her way.

Finally she found the building she had been searching for. The street lights that surrounded the complex gave off a strangely comforting feeling. The faint glow threw shadows off of the complex's various buildings and created an odd sense of beauty. Shego thought it was strange that she was beginning to notice such things, but she remembered that Kim had an interest for art since she entered college. She had describe so thoroughly the beauty in everything around them, but Shego had just passed it off as Kimmie being Kimmie. But the girl was right. Even something like this, on a night where she could be reunited with her girl, was physically beautiful.

The thief came across the building she was looking for. She went up to the second floor and peered through a number of the windows, attempting to find the bedroom. When she did, she could feel her heart begin to beat fasted. She cursed the response, thinking it would blow her cover. She couldn't understand why it was beating so hard. It was just Kim. It was just the girl she loved, the one that she couldn't resist and was still realizing as each day went by how much control over her emotions that girl had.

Quietly, she opened the window and snuck in. She stood from her crouched position and looked at the bed, smiling expecting to see her Kimmie there-

But there was nothing there...

There were clothes scattered on the bed, toiletries littering the floor, nothing in the place it should be. Shego's heart sank. It fell into the pit of her stomach, unwilling to come back up. She could feel her legs getting weak but she had to move, she had to see what else was out of place. Things in the kitchen were a mess, dishes on the counter, turned over and miss placed. She looked in the living room through the kitchen and saw an over-turned bowl and stained carpet. There was a towel laying upon the couch the turned-over bowl was next to. She turned around and entered the bathroom, swinging the door open in a frantic manor and saw that the same mess was covering the bathroom; the door to the shower was nearly out of place and the objects on the counter were in disarray as if thrown around in a disorganized fashion, similar to what would be found if Shego had been fighting with Kim in this room.

The woman didn't know how fast she was moving but she seemed to run back into Kim's bedroom. She couldn't figure out what may have happen here. What had gone wrong? Kim seemed fine when they had parted, not a worry. But where was she? Had she been kidnapped? No that didn't seem likely... But where else could she be? Shego couldn't think clearly, her judgment was being so clouded by her emotions.

Unable to stand anymore, she sat on Kim's bed. She looked at the pillows where the girls head should have been, sleeping peacefully before the thief woke her gently. The young woman was supposed to be here...

The raven-haired woman looked at the ground, seeing a t-shirt lying crumpled on the ground. She picked it up and looked at the fabric as if it was supposed to hold the answers she was looking for.

"Kimmie..." Shego was near the point of crying. She felt as though she couldn't take it. She was about to breakdown. She held the shirt to her taking in what little of Kim's scent she could, thinking the worst and not knowing any better. The thief couldn't stay here though. She stood from the bed and looked around the room once more. She stepped towards the window, slowly, and bit her lip in both anger and sadness. She clutched the garment in her hand before throwing it to the ground and jumping through the window, beginning on her way back to Drakken's lair.

The shirt lay in a pile on the floor angrily tossed aside as if it meant nothing.

XxXxX

(Back Home - Week one Day five in the morning)

"You know, Kimmie, I was thinking about the mess in your apartment." Anne said as she stacked some pancakes onto Kim's brothers' plates. Both Jim and Tim eagerly dug into their meals and spoke in their own childish language. "It was... Well there was a lot of it. I know for a fact that your place was spotless before you came home." Kim was staring at her plate, but she looked up at her mother and gave her a rather sarcastic glare.

"I've been preoccupied and haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet." Kim quipped jokingly.

"Yes, but it looked like someone tried to break in to look for something and then kidnapped you." Her mother laughed at the joke and went back to preparing some food for her and her husband as Kim was already eating. They both shared a light laugh before Kim went back to being silent.

Having Kim back home allowed her to open up somewhat instead of hiding away in her small apartment like she had been doing. She had people to communicate with on a daily basis outside of her own mind and-

Shego...

That thought saddened Kim. She stopped eating and placed her fork down on the table. This didn't go unnoticed by Anne.

"Hey boys, would you mind eating in the den?" The boys looked at each other and shrugged. They figured that if they were being allowed to eat in the den then there must be something there their mother wanted to speak with Kim about. Once they were out of the kitchen, their mother sighed before sitting next to her daughter. "Kimmie-cub, you need to tell me what's wrong." Her tone was almost one of pleading.

"I keep telling you, I'm-"

"No you're not." She cut her daughter off before she had a chance to say her last word and give another paining fake smile. "You've been so upset. And you know that you can't lie to your mother."

"Or at all..." Kim tried to lighten the mood with a sarcastic joke. This did make Anne chuckle.

"Or at all, but that's not the point. Something has been bothering you since you've come home. It's been paining us all to see you this way." Anne placed her hand on the other redhead's shoulder. "You can tell me honey. I'm your mother."

Kim looked at her mom and looked at the concern in her eyes. She was about to cry at the site and it made her look away. She couldn't' cry anymore. She refused. She wouldn't do it. So she stood from her seat and grabbed her plate, taking it to the sink.

"I can't talk about it right now, Mom..." She muttered before walking out of the kitchen and back up to her room.

XxXxX

(Back Home - Week one Day seven at night)

Quietly, Kim closed the door to her parent's home. She stood there for a moment trying to remember what time it was. It was eleven o'clock at night. Kim had stayed at Upperton University in order to get some extra studying done. She had a midterm coming up soon but she could not get herself to absorb the information in the text books. She had just sat in the library staring at the pages as if the letters were characters that she could not understand.

She turned around and started towards the stares, taking careful measures not to wake the family. It was late and they all had to get up early. Once she reached the stair case, however, she looked at it as if it was the most daunting task she had ever laid her eyes on.

One by one she started to take the stairs, but her mind started to wander. They wandered to the wonderful depths of the ocean and the safety and sanctity that she felt there. She thought of Shego and all of the good experiences she had with the woman, as was not her daily routine to think of such wonderful things. It helped her to focus on the better aspects of her life. But the more she thought on what she missed (the feeling or the other woman's lips on her, the touch of her hand on hers or on her body, her scent, her caress, her beauty and the subtle taste of her skin when they kissed) the more she realized she couldn't feel those things anymore; she couldn't even remember what it felt like to have Shego next to her.

Kim could feel her legs becoming weak. She was only three steps from the bottom of the stairs. She could feel the tears well up in her eyes, she could feel herself begin to breakdown. She couldn't hold it in any longer.

She began to cry.

It wasn't loud, but it woke Anne when she heard the crash as Kim fell back down those three steps to the floor where she was lying when her mother came to inspect the noise.

"Kimmie!" She yelled as she ran down the steps. She knelt on the ground and gathered her daughter up in her arms, cradling her and keeping her close, whispering comforting coos, trying to console her hurt little girl. "Kimmie, it's okay. What did you hurt? What's wrong?" She tried to keep her voice as calm as possible. Kim could barely manage her choked up words as she spoke.

"I miss her..." She said. "I miss her so much..." Anne was confused by her daughters words, but she kept Kim close to her. She stroked the young woman's hair and back, hoping to get the girl calm enough to explain.

"What do you mean Kim? Who do you miss?" She asked softly. Kim began to cry harder. She couldn't bring herself to speak the name she had come to treasure so much, less it bring forth more tears and anguish. Her mother began to say, "It's okay..." And "It's alright..." in soothing tones. Twenty minutes passed this way before Kim was quiet enough for Anne to ask her question again.

"Kim..." She said softly. She pulled the girl away from her enough to have the young woman look her in the eyes. "What did you mean? Who do you miss so much?" She continued to stroke Kim's hair, making sure to keep her calm. The hero looked down for a moment and could feel herself begin to whimper.

"I miss Shego..."

XxXxX

To be continued in Ch. 10

Next Time: It's been a month of suffering for Kim. But what happens when she finally gets a hit on the site? What is Shego thinking?