Sorry about being a little late on the update this time. Last week I was ahead and had a little extra time to sneak in. With the beginning of the month come a lot of new assignments in the real world, so I'm trying to hit a more equitable balance of work versus… whatever this is. I also apologize for not answering e-mails in a prompt fashion. I'm truly grateful for all the wonderful comments, but to be honest… I'd rather be writing ATCOTS than e-responses. I WILL catch up on that as well. In the meantime: Ye Old Legal stuff: Kim Possible, Shego, Monique, Mego and all other characters borrowed from the wonderful KP Universe are the creations of Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley, and those names are all trademarks of the Disney media organizations. Although use in this context may be considered fair under parody law, just in case: this work was not created for profit, no money changed hands etc. Also, this story takes place at a time at which all characters shown should be considered to be over the legal age of 18… except, obviously Wade and the Tweebs.

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AT THE CENTERFOLD OF THE STORM

Chapter 11

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For one brief minute, Kim allowed herself to surrender to the wonder of the moment; relief and exhilaration overwhelming her as she realized that not only had she not scared Shego away, but that, in fact, the green woman's thoughts DID seem to be flowing in a direction parallel to Kim's own. The knowledge that she… and they… would have time to venture into this new relationship carefully, was reassuring but...

But even so, there was one question that was still dancing through her mind unresolved. But even as she began to entertain the idea of lifting her face towards Shego's entrancing black lips in an oh- so tentative probe, the venture was cut off by the suddenly worried… almost agonized… look that appeared on Shego's face.

There's… just a few problems," Shego sighed.

And Kim's heart went into free-fall.

####

Shego looked down at Kim's face, separated by bare inches from her own, and felt a stab of pain as she saw the shield of wariness come up. She hated herself for doing what she was doing, but it wouldn't be fair otherwise. She had messed up her own life so badly and she wouldn't… couldn't… drag the ex-cheerleader down with her.

"Problems?" The beautiful green eyes looking up at Shego blinked nervously. Looking unusually moist. What was going on in there? What had Kim had been about to say…? Or do…?

"Um... yeah," Shego flushed, cursing herself for not letting that glorious moment hold just a little longer… "I… told you I had problems Kim. I wasn't lying when I said I was fucked up. I bring a lot of baggage… really bad baggage…"

"That's not…"

"Yes, it IS an issue Kim. But it's not something we have time to go into right now. " Shego took a deep breath and slowly pushed the other girl a few inches back… it wasn't meant as a rejection, merely as a way of removing the temptation to lie. How could holding the redhead feel so good? How could it clear all the darkness that hovered around her so easily? "And I promise you we WILL talk about them. There's nothing… nothing … that I want more than to… figure this out… But you have to understand I'm damaged goods. I'm that car on the lot no one wants to touch for a good reason. And I want to make sure you really understand that so…

"Understood," Kim answered quickly… almost too quickly, Shego feared. "No, really Shego, I DO understand. And… I don't disagree entirely that we need to be careful…"

"But," the redhead looked at her earnestly.

Shego saw the look in Kim's eyes, nodded for the younger girl to continue.

"This is about both of us, which makes it a WE decision. That works both ways and I can promise you I'm not the easiest person in the world to get along with either." At Shego's expression of disbelief, the angel's face creased into a rather familiar smirk. "Oh no, if you don't believe me, ask my brothers about my brief career as a soccer coach… Hell, ask RON how many days of the month he thought I was on the rag." A gentler smile now, "The thing is, if I'm the cause of a problem, I want you to tell me. Honestly. And discuss anything that's bothering you with me before you decide it's impossible. You know my family philosophy on that subject and if you can only bend so far, I swear to God that I'll do my damnedest to bend more to make up the difference."

And she wasn't just saying that, Shego realized in astonishment. She really wasn't. That kind of a promise from Kim Possible left her feeling all weak in the knees again.

"And another thing," Kim continued, "I don't like you calling yourself fucked up and damaged goods; although if ever there was proof that you were not evil, that would be it. You'd be a lousy used car salesperson. You're telling me that the ride is going to be rough? Fine. That there are flaws under that beautiful paint job? Okay. But I want a test drive to see for myself first. Let me kick the tires, slam the doors and see how fast I can make you go."

Kim's tight grin was by now nearly feral. "Which means, that as long as this shoot is going on, I'm going to have to insist that either you continue to stay at my place, or we find a location of your choosing where there's room for both of us."

"Or else…?" Shego automatically rose to the implied challenge, as her Princess no doubt anticipated she would, but inside her heart was rising even more rapidly at the complete and total commitment the Kitten seemed to be making.

"Or else, I'll spend as much time as it takes hunting you down… and crawling into your arms… until you DO give in," Kim promised, her eyes filled with guile and sparkle.

"Ookay," Shego nodded slowly, but if it wasn't for the one last thing she needed to bring up she'd have a big shit-eating grin on her face. Unfortunately, this last one WAS a major downer.

"So that brings us to the OTHER thing…"

#####

Kim saw it immediately. How Shego went from concern for Kim to something suspiciously like fear.

"Just tell me Shego. What's wrong?"

The green woman's countenance twitched slightly. "I'm sorry Kimmie. I thought I was ready for this but... I..."

"Tell me..." Kim tried to keep her voice smooth and comforting, but inside her stomach was getting another workout. "Am I pushing too fast?"

Shego must have realized her stumble instantly. "Oh! No! It's... not THIS," She shook her head to encompass the two of them, then motioned with the costume she still held in one hand. "It's this. The photoshoot."

"Kim... I wasn't kidding when I said I have a lot of issues. One of those is body image. I thought I was ready to... you know... but when Anna just dropped it on me..."

"What could you possibly have to worry about? You have the most incredible…"

"It's green Kim. Not just the skin but all the... bits. Where other people are pink, I look like… fucking Mego got a glimpse once and called me Gumby Tits. And this... " Shego indicated the costume again.

Yeah, Kim thought. Monique had taken the image of Greek Goddess to heart. And as anyone who'd seen a classical Hellenic sculpture would know... they didn't wear a lot. Especially around the upper torso… To be far, Monique's design did cover about 50% of the breasts. But it did it by covering one almost completely and leaving the other...

Hey, wasn't there something about which breast being bare indicating marital status?

Not important right now.

"It's okay Shego. I felt the same way… no, to be honest, I still do. But the thing is, when you're shooting with Anna, she makes you feel like you're the most special being in the entire universe. And the contract we have gives us the right to make sure no one sees any images we're not comfortable with. We're in control. We'll always be in control."

That seemed to get through to Shego, so Kim gave her arm a light hug and continued.

"So look at it this way. It's just going to be you and me, Anna, Cyn and Monique… and we can ask Monique and Cyn to leave if it really makes you uncomfortable but… " Okay, time for a BIG admission here, Kim, "I'm going to let you in on a little secret I've been keeping… the truth is that I LIKED Cyn being there, watching me, even though I knew she was gay. Because to Anna, I was an object of art. But to Cyn, even though she tried to hide it, there was a sexuality involved… and the thought that I looked good, to another woman, one who was attracted to other women, did incredible things to my ego. I may have little pointy tits, but the whole package put together… it's not so bad."

It wasn't hard to sell the next part at all. It came straight from the heart. "And you, you big goofy green goddess, are so fucking sexy that someone supposedly straight like me can't keep her eyes off you."

Shego was nodding slowly, taking everything that Kim had said in, so she fortunately missed the sudden flicker in Kim's own eyes, as the words "supposedly straight," bounced back through her mind. 'Supposedly straight?'

OMG! as Monique would say!

####

"OMG, what do you think is taking them so long?" Monique wondered out loud, looking at the door to the bedroom for about the 20th time. She'd been alternating between staring at that and her watch for the last 15 minutes.

Anna and Cyn exchanged a brief look and continued sorting filters out of Anna's huge kit into ready to use combinations. It was Cyn's turn to play the reassuring professional.

Cyn made a wry smirk. "Oh, triple checking their makeup, and I imagine they've got a little talking to do."

"Yeah," Anna agreed. "Definitely."

"What are you talking about?" Monique asked. "They didn't have anything to say at breakfast."

"You had breakfast with them?" Cyn's eyebrows arched at that unexpected tidbit.

"Well, no. They offered, but I'd eaten before I came by Kim's apartment."

"Oh hun," Cyn sighed and exchanged another look with Anna, who was obviously struggling to hold back her own giggles. Were all Middleton girls this clueless? So Shego HAD spent the night at Kim's apartment. Cyn had suspected that was how it was going to go down, but even so… "Please tell me you didn't show up unannounced."

"Well, uh…" Monique began. "Am I missing something here?"

Fortunately, Cyn was spared the decision of how to answer THAT as the door to the bedroom finally opened and Kim and Shego stepped out.

Both women were wearing the long white robes over the costumes. No doubt that irked Monique just a tad, but Cyn could see the nerves showing on both their faces, especially Shego's. Not that Cyn could blame her. She'd done a few sessions on the other side of the camera herself in the past, and with some photographers it could be incredibly intimidating. That's one of the main reason's she'd hitched her star to Anna's… the woman treated everyone as if they were her best friend and that kind of warmth and kindness inevitably produced phenomenal results.

And, true to form, Anna was already meeting Kim and Shego with a huge encouraging smile.

"You both look wonderful! With features like yours this is going to be a dream of a shoot." To Shego : "So was Kim properly scaring you with tales of what a slave-driver I was?" At the green woman's embarrassed flush, Anna grinned. "Well, don't worry, I won't be pulling out the whip today. Cyn had it washed and now I can't do a thing with it."

The photographer's eyes did a quick back and forth and quickly figured out what part of the delay must have been.

"So Kim… since you've been through this before, would you mind standing in front of the backdrop while we get the first setup finished? That way Shego can relax a few more minutes and get a feel for how we work."

####

"Sounds good to me," Kim smiled with a brief wink at the older woman. Thank God Anna was so sharp. "So, right there?"

"Yessss…" Anna began, but then stopped thoughtfully. "But give us just a moment. Cyn? Pull down the black backdrop and we'll see how the costumes kick against it. And Monique, could you turn on the stereo? There's already a CD in it and I've already pre-set the volume. Just be ready to hit play when I ask."

"Right," Cyn was already moving, pulling the black velvet drape down over the grey speckled canvas that had already been laid out in a huge curve running from ceiling to floor. At the same time Anna had produced a device that looked like a tiny bundt cake pan… a "ringlight"... and was attaching it around the lens on her dSLR…

"Okay," Cyn called out, placing a small "x" of black tape on a spot on the floor. "You ready for Kim now, Anna?"

"Yes," The photographer nodded, stepping back about a dozen feet so that her back was only a few inches away from the wall on the opposite side of the room as the backdrop. Kim recalled from the last time that this was so she could use a "long" lens… a telephoto… instead of a normal or wide angle. The main reason for this was that it minimized distortion due to "foreshortening," but it also had the advantage of not being so "in your face."

"Kim," She instructed. "I want you to try to relax and feel comfortable with this, so I'm going to start with some shots from behind and focus on trying to get the right effect from the costume. Feel free to do whatever you want, but don't go back further than the x mark on the floor… any further back and you could take the background down, okay?"

"Right…" Kim replied carefully, steeling herself internally, but taking the time to shoot a reassuring smile at Shego. She'd done this before. Hell, she'd done this completely naked before… now all that was REALLY exposed was one small breast. "So not the drama."

She dropped the white robe she'd been wearing and stepped onto the seeming infinite expanse of black, and somehow, looking into what was essentially nothingness, motivated her to do something in response.

Music began softly in the background. A perfect choice.

Closing her eyes, Kim shut out the outside world and began a series of kata, martial arts exercises, but intentionally slowed everything down to one fifth time. Almost unconsciously, her feet and hands took on a strange, rhythmic sense of grace as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata began.

####

Shego felt the breath go out of her as Kim was suddenly there in front of her, practically nude except for the semi-transparent strips of fabric that were as much draped around her body as actually worn. The glimpses she'd caught in gym shower the day before had been impressive, but the carefully composed lights that Anna and Cyn had set up were specifically designed to bring out the natural definition of Kim's muscles, to make her skin glow with a pearl-like sheen… combined with Kim's perfect balance and incredibly slow, elegant movements… Shego had already recognized it as the Gojushiho Shiho, or 54 steps, one of the most well known Katas… she really did look like a living sculpture…

And then there was a bright flash as Anna snapped the first test shot.

"Amazing!" Anna chortled, looking through her viewfinder. "That's amazing Kim, keep it up. Cyn, can you take down the rim light a little?" Another flash. "Perfect. Monique! Do you want to take a look at this?"

"Um, sure… " The designer answered. Until this second, Shego realized, she'd been sitting there with her jaw hanging open just as wide as Shego's. Now the girl ran over to where the photographer was and looked at the LCD display. "Wow. WOW!"

Shego wasn't sure how long it was before Anna motioned the green woman to come over to where she was and take a look. As mesmerizing as watching the slow rise and swell of Kim's motions was, the photos that Anna was taking pushed it up another notch again. In the resultant images, Kim seemed to float against an endless void, while the costume that Monique had created seemed to consist more of light than fabric.

"Ready to make some magic?" The photographer asked softly.

And, Shego realized, she was.

####

"Mind if I cut in, Princess?"

Kim turned and smiled as Shego was suddenly next to her. The other woman's body was a magnificent as she'd remembered, and Monique's costume was the perfect frame for her incredible beauty. How could the green woman ever have doubts about her own exquisiteness? Even though all that was exposed was a single perfect breast, the vision still rocked Kim to her core and she almost… almost… faltered for a second as she drank in the nectar of Shego's presence. Fortunately, the other woman had obviously had no trouble figuring out which Kata Kim had sequed into and they fell seamlessly into partnership, still using the slow relaxing, stretching motions instead of the rapid strikes that would normally be used. In a perfect ballet of weaving hands, arms and legs, they began to circle each other, coming closer and closer as their eyes lit with the joy of yet another new discovery.

Their bodies were indeed suited to do more than just fight against each other.

On the rare occasions they had fought on the same side, they had found that their ability to fall into perfect synch was unmatched. Now they segued from one Kata to the next, never breaking form, never taking their gazes from each other as the mutual admiration flowed back and forth, their "strikes" growing ever closer, their movements ever more intertwined. It was a dance, but it was also something much, much more…

Kim heard a feminine sound of awe, but she had no idea who it was. Monique? Cyn? She didn't care. All that mattered was Shego, the next step in their constantly flowing interplay… their game of give and take…

And with that thought, she realized what the next step had to be. She stepped in, so that Shego's planned miss instead made contact as it grazed past her arm in a long, slow caress . Yes! Touch. That was what had been missing.

The look of pleasure on Shego's face told Kim that she saw it too, and Kim's next attempt at Shego's torso was allowed to "hit" home. Her fingers lingered but a second, but it was amazing, feeling the rippling muscles as they worked in perfect interaction. Was that what Shego felt as her next "strike" connected with Kim's neck? Kim didn't know, but the touch set her own body ablaze, tendons and sinews acting like fiery channels, directing her building excitement to the furthest portions of her anatomy. Nerves she'd never even known she had came alive, her fingers tingled, her feet felt every wrinkle in the cloth between her and the floor, and every follicle of hair on her head was standing on end. The pounding of her heart drowned out the music, the sound of her own lungs pumping, as all of her attention focused on one thing… on one person… only.

And still Shego matched her. Move for move. Touch for touch.

Now the "blows" were coming quicker, as both she and Shego dutifully accepted their "punishment" for straying from the perfect executions they were capable of. But what was truly so incredible was that even when they were intentionally missing, intentionally making a "misstep," they were STILL in perfect synchronization. It wasn't mind reading, it was a body language so perfectly attuned to each other that it was as clear as spoken words. And with each new contact, each new weave, they learned even more about each other. Shared new feelings, emotions and…

"Ladies?"

Anna's soft cough brought them back to reality and Kim realized that she and Shego were once again merely inches from each other. She could feel the green woman's breath coming hard, rippling through her own hair, and she knew that her own face must be… 'Oh my God,' she thought as focused thought returned from the distant corner of her mind where it had been banished. 'I hope I'm not as visibly aroused as I'm feeling but…'

At least everyone else in the room seemed to be looking the same way. Cyn's reactions were the most obvious… she was sweating visibly, her nipples prominently erect. Anna was more conservative, but there was a definite blush across her cheeks. Shego… well, Kim KNEW how Shego was feeling on an almost intimate level. And Monique…

Monique appeared to be in a profound state of shock. Leaning weakly back against the couch, her hands were once again in front of her mouth, her eyes wide; but it was clear that her befuddlement as to what had been going on that morning had been cleared up in rather explicit fashion. Oh yeah, Monique. Looks like your best friend may be…

Oh what the hell, SOMEONE was bound to figure it out eventually.

So Kim did what she'd been dying to do all morning and leaned into Shego for a kiss.