Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

Cpneb made a few dialog suggestions for this chapter. I took some of them.

Chapter 10 - Ronshine on My Shoulder, Makes Me Happy

Before Shego left for her 'date' with Carl Kim gave her strict instructions. The green woman must call home when they were on their way, and she could not - under any circumstances - invite Carl into the apartment. Shego enjoyed the concert with Mr. Kim. But while she enjoyed the concert she suspected Kim had an even nicer surprise waiting for her back at the apartment. She was tempted to ask the Korean to come up to the apartment - it was certain to be entertaining. On the other hand, it would absolutely destroy any chance of domestic bliss and fringe benefits for a considerable period of time.

"Going to ask me up?" the martial arts instructor asked hopefully as he parked in front of the entrance to the apartment building.

"Sorry, Kim wanted me home early and alone. She stressed the alone."

"Would it do me any good to ask you out again?"

"By good do you mean I might accept, or that you might get lucky?"

"Don't want to put any pressure on you, first date and all, but my hope had been to get lucky at some point."

"Sorry, Sport, but your suspicions are right. I'm into women."

"So am I! Another thing we have in common."

Shego chuckled.

"Hey, I've got a therapy to help you get over it," Carl suggested. "It will take a lot of sessions, but I think I can cure you."

"And if you fail to cure me?"

"I sure as hell had fun trying."

The pale woman smiled and patted him on the cheek. "I'll put your name on the list of guys to call if I ever leave the First Church of Sappho. Thanks for the concert."

"No problem. Put me high on the list." His voice took a serious tone, "Thanks for helping with the classes. It means a lot to me. You are saving lives."

Shego wasn't sure what to expect as she opened the door to the apartment. Kim had prepared dessert. And this evening the chocolate syrup (as well as whipped topping and cherries) was on the other foot… and stomach… and both breasts.

It was three in the afternoon on Saturday when Kim and Shego finally woke up.

--

"Maybe you should give me this first thing in the morning time slot on Monday on a regular basis," Shego suggested.

Betty rolled her eyes heavenward. "I should have left you working for Drakken, I don't need this aggravation."

"I could drop out of the program, if that would help."

"And do what? Idle hands are the devil's playground."

"Oh, I'd find something to do with my time," Shego smirked.

"Which is why I want you here to keep an eye on you. Although you manage to get into trouble even while you're here."

"What's the problem now?"

"Ms. Feinkelder has circulated a petition among the instructors and trainers asking that you be removed as a teaching assistant and recommending you be dropped from the recruit class."

Shego's temper flared, but she managed to keep it in check - barely. She was trying to cooperate in the woman's class… Okay, perhaps cooperate was not precisely the correct term. But she had stopped being as disruptive as she had been. It took her a minute to issue a non-committal, "Oh?"

"Almost half of the faculty signed it…" Betty made a point to look down the list for Shego's benefit - she already knew the names on the petition. "You may be interested in knowing, however, that she was the only person to have you in a class who signed."

"What? Mr. Addams didn't sign?"

"No, he didn't. He reports you are seriously behind in your work - but didn't sign the petition."

Betty flipped to a second sheet of paper in the folder.

"Also have a progress report on you from Agent Du--"

"That prig hates me."

Betty raised one eyebrow, "Really? I can't imagine why. Your sparkling personality wins friends for you wherever you go."

"You can't trust anything he says about me."

Betty shrugged, "A pity… He says you are doing very well."

"See he… He said what?"

The director studied the report, "Greatly exceeds expectations…" She looked up, and reminded Shego, "Of course his expectations of you were shockingly low. He says you're marginal in Mr. Addams' class, but average to superior work in other work with the exception of Criminal Justice… Tremendous job as trainer in the martial arts class - of course he may have just been taking the word of Mr. Kim.

Shego protested, "Look, I'm doing my best in Criminal Justice… Okay, maybe not my best. But I'm not doing my worst."

Betty sighed and closed the folder. "You are taking too much of my time. Mr. Kim wants you to continue as a training assistant. But I can't have this level of dissension among faculty."

"Well, what are you going to do?"

"I haven't decided yet. But I want you helping prepare agents just now, and I will not give up the Criminal Justice instructor. You're dismissed. I'll get back to you when I have some sort of plan."

As Shego left she noticed Ms. Feinkelder sitting outside Betty's office. The two women avoided eye contact and said nothing to each other.

--

Shego considered sitting with the other recruits at lunch. She enjoyed the status and perks of the faculty lunchroom, but wasn't sure it was worth the tension. On the other hand, she would be damned before she would let the other woman drive her out. After she was seated Constance Feinkelder stood up, picked up her tray, and moved over to sit opposite the green woman.

"I will be eating lunch with you every day this week," the Criminal Justice instructor informed Shego.

"Great," the pale woman muttered. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"Orders from Dr. Director. I am also ordered to apologize for circulating the petition calling for you dismissal."

"I accept your apology in the same spirit in which it was offered."

Ms. Feinkelder almost smiled. "I am also passing on two orders to you. The first is that you will apologize to me for your behavior in my class."

"The hell I will!"

"Look, I don't care. This is a test. I followed orders - I apologized. Do you want to pass the test, or fail?"

"I don't fail at anything! I've already changed my behavior in there. I'm not talking in class anymore."

"Sitting there, reading a novel, is just as bad."

"Okay, okay. I apologize for how I've behaved… I will try and do better. Now, can I eat in peace?"

"And I told you, I've been ordered to each lunch with you every day this week. And I'm to invite you to eat with my family this Friday evening."

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. And the second order I'm to pass on is that you will say 'yes' and ask what you can bring."

"Please, tell me you're kidding."

"I wish I was."

Shego glanced around, no one was paying too much attention to the two women, "You made the offer," she said softly, "How about I say 'yes', but don't come. We're both off the hook."

"First, I play by the rules. Second, Dr. Director will probably call us into her office individually next Monday and quiz us about the meal. It will be easier to just eat and be done with it than to concoct a story we can agree on."

Shego put a wooden smile on her face, "What a delightful invitation. I would be happy to come. Is there anything I can bring? Bottle of wine? Cheesecake?"

"Cheesecake would be wonderful. My kids love cherry cheesecake."

"I'll buy one. Probably buy a bottle of wine too, white or red?"

"Red. Oh, ask a guest if you want - means we have to do less talking with each other."

Shego nodded her head in agreement. That was the evening Ron arrived. Shego wasn't sure if she wanted to witness the reunion or not. Kim and Ron together held the sick fascination of watching a terrible disaster for her. Maybe it was just as well she'd be out of the apartment. She turned to Mr. Kim, sitting a little way over on her right, "Carl, want to go to dinner with me on Friday?"

"Sorry, hot date. I'm hoping my luck is gonna change."

"Can I get back with you on an escort?" Shego asked Constance.

"Certainly. Look, I'll set places for six. If you bring someone, fine. If you come alone, fine."

Shego said thanks almost sincerely.

--

Langston picked Shego up at her apartment for dinner on Friday.

"Thanks," she told him as she got in the car. "I don't have my own car yet and my apartment mate is picking up an old friend at the airport."

"No problem, I'm a little… Why did you ask me to take you?"

"'Cause you're the teacher's pet. She and I are trying to make peace with each other and I figure to get brownie points by bringing along someone she likes."

The tall, black man shrugged. "I don't think I'm teacher's pet--"

"Trust me, Langston, you are."

"I just take the work seriously and make sure it's done neatly and on time."

"God, no wonder she thinks you're God's gift to teachers. You brown nose like that in all your classes?"

"It's not brown nosing. I take this stuff seriously."

--

One of the Feinkelder teens ignored the dinner guests out of boredom and the other asked them a thousand questions. Apparently the younger daughter, and perhaps the teacher's husband, were under the impression that the two were a couple and Constance asked them to dinner to help further their romantic relationship.

After dinner Kurt cleared the table and did the dishes, "When I have guests we talk law and Constance wants to get out of the dining room. I'll let her talk Global Justice with you."

"Do we ever get your real name, Ms. Ghose?"

"No, but call me Shelly, it's the fake name I'm using this year."

"All right, Shelly. What's the problem you have in my class? I assume you have as little interest in taking it over as I have in dealing with you again."

Shego was thoughtful before answering. "Maybe it's the fact I hate to fail."

"Well, you're failing the class."

"No, I'm not."

"I've got no work from you, no participation, nothing. You are going to fail."

"You can't fail if you don't try."

"Huh?"

"If I'm not trying to do something I can't fail at it. I haven't failed to be the first woman on the moon - 'cause I never tried. I'm not failing your class because I'm not trying."

Constance looked exasperated, but after a minute a light went on. "I finally figured out what Betty meant."

"Huh?"

"I asked her why in the world you were in the program. She told me you were a huge potential threat - could be the worst criminal Global Justice ever faced--"

"Really," Shego smiled.

"It wasn't a compliment," Constance snapped.

Shego shrugged, "I take them where I can get them."

"She said you were lazy, but if you ever got motivated you could do incredible things."

Shego beamed.

"She over-estimated you. You're too lazy to ever accomplish anything. You just look for the easy way out - skip the challenge because you're afraid you can't cut it."

"That's not true!" Shego shouted.

"It's what you just told me," Constance reminded her. "You're afraid of failure so you don't even try. But you are a failure if you sit on your rear and do nothing."

"I could have passed your class! I did great in my other classes. Firearms, martial arts… I started a week late and I was testing out of other… You didn't offer any help in your class!"

"You didn't ask for any, you just started making fun of Mr. Robeson for coming prepared to class the first day you came to class, and you never looked back."

"Hey, I wasn't that bad… Was I?"

Shego turned to Langston - who nodded in agreement with the instructor. "You were."

The green woman sighed, "Is there anyway I can pass at this point? I don't want to take that class again and you don't want to see me again."

Constance thought, "Try and catch up on work. You aren't going to do great, but I'll pass you if you can finish all the assignments."

"Is that even possible?"

"Get somebody to help you - somebody who knows the material…"

There was a brief silence before the two women simultaneously turned and looked at Langston.

"No," he insisted. "No way."

"I'll count it as extra credit," the instructor promised.

"I don't need any."

"Please, Langston," Shego asked, "I promise not to give you any more wedgies."

"You haven't given me any wedgies."

Shego's voice dropped in tone, "Accidents happen in self-defense class. Bad accidents. Leave a man singing soprano. Be terrible if anything like that happened to you, wouldn't it?"

The black man looked to the Criminal Justice instructor for support. "Sorry, Mr. Robeson. I just want her to finish my class so I can wash my hands of her. And you are the best student in there. Global Justice agents need to rely on each other and give each other help. It will be an additional lesson for both of you."

"Great," the black man sighed. He turned to Shego, "You got yourself a tutor."

They didn't stay long after that. Shego and Constance were not going to be friends, but they had at least signed an armistice.

--

As they left the Feinkelder home Shego asked, "What kind of a name is Langston anyway?"

"It's a good, old-school name. Langston Hughes."

"Langston whose?" Shego commented as she closed the car door.

The black man started the engine and put the car in gear, "Langston Hughes - great writer. Didn't you pay attention during Black History month in school?"

"You mean Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela Month?"

"Yeah," he said glumly, "that one."

"Look, I need a drink, and I'm in no hurry to get home."

"I've got a girlfriend back in Dallas - at SMU."

"I'm not hitting on you. But I really need a drink. I've got trouble waiting for me back at my place and I don't want to go home."

"Drinking never solved anything."

"I'm not looking for solutions right now. I'm looking for something to dull the pain."

"The problem will still be there tomorrow. You need--"

"I need a drink. C'mon, Langston, you can moralize all you want at me while I'm getting shit-faced."

"I really don't think--"

Shego's hand flared with green fire and her voice took on a threatening tone, "I need a bar - and a designated driver. We can do this the hard way - or the easy way."

"Easy way… That what you're doing? Is this another of your fears of failure? Afraid you might not win so you get drunk instead?"

"Shut up! Just shut up!"

There was a note of almost desperation in her voice and the black man shut up. Langston sighed, not sure if he was having a bonding moment of some sort with a former enemy or was getting suckered into a nightmare. One thing he was certain of, there were bars where a large black man going in with a pretty white woman could get him lynched. He would have to reveal a secret to Shego he didn't want known.

"You ought to try negotiations instead of threats," he suggested as he turned the car. "Talking sometimes works."

When they entered the bar green woman looked around suspiciously.

"Looks like there are a lot of church organists here, if you know what I mean," she whispered to him.

"Yeah," he replied, "there are."

"I thought you were straight."

"I am."

"Then what are we doing in a gay bar?"

"First, I like the music selection they have here. Second, they are a tolerant crowd and won't give us any trouble."

Shego downed two shots quickly before she even noticed the musical selections. "Hey, is this all classical shit?"

"No, they also have Baroque and Romantic music as well."

"Romantic… I'm not in the mood for love songs tonight."

"Romantic music - it was the period in music following the Classical era. Beethoven was a transition figure, beginning in the Classical period and maturing into a Romantic composer."

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

"Music periods. The Romantic era is not about love songs its… Look, the answer to your question is that, as far as you're concerned, all the music is Classical, okay?"

"Why didn't you say so the first time?" the green woman grumbled.

After another drink or two Shego asked how he knew so much about music.

"I play the violin."

She stared, "Really?"

"Cross my heart."

"You don't look like a person who plays the violin."

"Why? We's black folk only gets to play da banjo?" Langston gave her a totally stereotypical accent from the movies, complete with a toothy grin, and Shego winced.

"Sorry. I meant you look more like a jock or something."

"I was that too."

"So what are you doing in Global Justice? Why aren't you in a band or something?"

"Orchestra. I said I played the violin. I might be able to fool you into thinking I was great, but I'm not good enough for the orchestra. I want to do some good in the world."

Shego shook her head sadly, "Too many of you damn do-gooders."

Another double or two and Shego began to lose focus. "Ever knew you was gonna be dumped - but you hasn't been dumped yet?" She giggled, "Happened to either of you?"

The two Langstons nodded their heads in perfect synchronization.

"Hurts…" she mumbled.

"Yeah," he agreed softly.

"Feels like someone tearing heart right outa your chest."

--

Kim and Ron sat on the couch, catching up on news from old friends and what the other had been doing. While they had started out on opposite ends Kim noticed Ron inching towards her over the course of the evening. She didn't want to say anything about that, but it was making her a little nervous. She had still said nothing about Shego to Ron, and the thief's absence also worried her. Shego should have been back hours earlier. Where was she? And what was Kim going to tell Ron?

Ron didn't know who the woman was who had answered Kim's phone two weeks earlier. Kim had said nothing about a roommate, and as far as Ron could tell it was a one bedroom apartment. Ron glanced at his watch, it was getting late. In about ten more minutes he would yawn loudly and announce he needed to get some sleep. He wondered what Kim might have in mind as a place for him to sleep.

Before Ron made his move, however, there was a loud knock on the apartment door.

Kim frowned, "I wonder who that is?" and went to the door. When she peered out through the peephole she noticed a slightly familiar black man - it took her a second to place him as a new recruit at Global Justice she had seen once. He seemed to be supporting something or someone… Kim threw the door open. "What happened?"

Langston guided the semi-conscious Shego from his arm to Kim's. "She insisted we stop at a bar… Let her tell you about it."

"Do you want to stay for a minute or--"

"Need to go. She asked me to be designated driver for her - more of a threat really. Hey, my job is done. Good luck with her."

Langston beat a hasty retreat. Ron had gotten up from the couch and came over to see what was happening. He rubbed his eyes and wondered if he were dreaming. "Kim, isn't that… That's Shego."

"Yeah, and I need to put her to bed. She's drunk."

"This is a one bed room apartment."