In the Middle

by StarvingLunatic

KiBo. KiGo. BoKiGo. Shego wants Kim. Bonnie wants Kim. Kim wants them both. Who's going to have her way? Probably Kim because she can do anything.

14. Donut hole

I don't own these characters. I don't own fig newtons either.

Sorry that this took so long. Thanks to Nuki Mouse of the ideas that appear in this chapter.

A/N: Just to refresh yourself of the Rockwaller family, you might wanna see chapter 3. If not, carry on.

14: Donut Hole

"Where's Kimmie?" Bonnie asked Shego in a worried tone with an expression to match.

Shego was laid out on the sofa, one hand dangling off like she did not have a care in the world. Bonnie was still in her work clothes because she just got in from another long day at the firm. It was too quiet in her opinion for both of her lovers to be home and when she got to the living room, she figured she found out which one was missing.

"She went back to the museum," Shego answered as she picked herself up off of the sofa. She wore house-clothes, which consisted of a well-worn green tank top and black shorts. She took powerful strides over to Bonnie and greeted the lawyer properly with a deep kiss, which Bonnie eagerly returned.

Bonnie was breathless for a moment when she and Shego pulled apart. Shego held Bonnie close while the tanned beauty caught her breath. Bonnie did not object to the contact, having to fight the urge to sigh contently. She did not want to give Shego the ego boast of knowing that such innocent touching had a deep affect on her. Little did she know, but the former thief was well aware of what her touch did to both of her girlfriends.

"What was that for? You miss me?" Bonnie teased, her chest heaving some.

Shego scoffed. "Just bored. Kimmie ran out of here like her ass was on fire after we were done with classes and there's nothing on TV."

"She's looking for that cat again?" the lawyer asked in a low tone brought on by being short of breath.

Shego sighed, sounding quite annoyed, and waved her hand a bit as her answer. She turned away, heading back to the sofa. She did not verbally reply because Kim was not doing what she predicted the redhead would do in regards to that cat. She figured Kim would forget about the cat, but Kim had been going up to the museum for almost two weeks now to feed a stray cat. The thing was that the cat was not showing up anymore and Kim was not giving up in looking for the creature.

"Sweetie, I think we should've just let her have the cat," Bonnie said, still standing in the living room entrance. She was going to go take a shower before curling up on the sofa to watch her stories. She hoped Kim was back by then.

"We shouldn't give into her all the time! That's how we got stuck together, after all," Shego remarked with an amused smirk on her face as she flopped down onto the couch.

"Oh, but I like we're all together and I like spoiling her," Bonnie countered in a cutesy voice, which earned her a disturbed look from the older woman.

"Don't do that again," Shego commanded with a scowl. Her duchess was not supposed to be so completely and utterly girly and she never wanted to see or hear Bonnie do something like that again.

"What, this? But, I like spoiling our little princess!" Bonnie added clasping her hands together and a wide-eyed expression to go along with the cutesy, childish voice.

"Damn it, Duchess, cut it out!" Shego growled while making a tight fist, even though she did not look menacing. She was more pleading with the shorter female to stop.

"But, I do!" And to top things off, Bonnie dipped into her ballet training, standing on her toes and twirling around. She then had to dodge a throw pillow.

"Knock it off. That shit is scary," Shego said, holding another pillow just in case Bonnie wanted to continue to test her.

Bonnie chuckled a bit, walking away with a pleased smirk on her face as she went to take her shower. She was serious about spoiling Kim and wishing they just let Kim keep the cat when she was hinting toward it over two weeks ago. It was not that she changed her mind really on them being ready for pets, but she just did not like Kim out at night, traveling all the way to the museum just to feed a cat. She never liked Kim out at night on her own, but now it was worse.

"Well, it seems worse anyway," Bonnie muttered to herself. Kim's life had always been a muddle of weirdness and danger, but it seemed so close now.

There was so much going on in their lives that Bonnie just wanted Kim in her sights at all times when the sun went down. She wanted to keep the redhead out of the clutches of the journalists out there that were looking to ruin Kim for profit. She wanted to keep Kim away from any people out there that might attack her, physically or verbally, over issues that were not the people's business anyway. And lastly, Bonnie wanted to make sure that Kim was safe from Shego's nutty ex-girlfriend.

Shego's former lover, Medea, had attacked them two weeks. The witch woman had spied on them and then tried to kill Kim all in the hopes of winning Shego back. Now, the witch's logic did not make much sense to any of them, even Bonnie and she thought she would understand many odd reactions to love considering how she reacted to loving Kim at first. Shego had actually taken the whole attack the worst, so if anything Medea shot herself in the foot, so to speak, with her actions.

Still, the attack left Bonnie more shaken about Kim being out at night. At least if the redhead was in the house, they could keep an eye on her and she would be safe. Shego had made sure to go out and find someway to protect against Medea's magic. She had actually gotten a little crept out because she talked to her parents about it and both of them seemed to know a lot of ways to protect against magic. Kim was equally weirded out when Wade and her brothers found all sorts of things on the Internet. Bonnie was not sure how to take things.

Bonnie did not doubt her lovers or their contacts, but she was not too sure if she believed the guards against magic. Of course, she had not believed in magic at all until Medea and then Kim shared some stories about her experiences with magic as well. So, apparently, magic was a legitimate threat… who knew? She supposed she would only be assured the wards worked when Medea came around, as they knew she would, and it was clear that she could not get in or use her powers against them.

-8-8-8-8-

Shego glanced at Bonnie as she marched off for her shower. As soon as she heard the door close, her demeanor dropped a little. Glancing out of the window, taking in the dark night, she wished Kim stayed home as well.

"Uh, why is everything so goddamn complicated all the time?" she groaned.

Secretly, Shego was worried about Medea, just like Bonnie did. She did not really want to talk about it, though. Kim and Bonnie tried to do so, but she brushed them off and just went to find something to protect them against magic, just like how they built security to protect them from physical danger.

She worried about her lovers' safety, of course, but she was more worried about Bonnie than Kim. She was more than aware that Kim could take care of herself, even against Medea and her witch powers. Kim always found a way.

Bonnie was another story, though. While Bonnie was capable of fighting her own battles, she was not a fighter. If Kim or Shego was not there, she did not even want to think about what could happen.

"What if Bonnie had been here alone while that bitch was stalking the house?" The very idea made her frown more.

Shego was not sure what would happen to Bonnie if she ran into Medea. Something inside of her tried to assure her that Bonnie would take care of that demented witch, but there was still anxiety swimming through her. She hid it for a few reasons.

One, she did not want to seem nervous because to her it implied she could not take care of her younger lovers. Two, she thought her feelings showed a lack of faith in Bonnie and she liked to believe she had all sorts of faith in the attorney. Three, Kim did not seem worried about Bonnie, so she did not want to make it seem like Medea a big deal or she would cause Kim to worry. And there were many more, so Shego just tried to play it off that she was not a little nervous for Bonnie.

Now, there was a tiny bit of anxiety in the former thief toward Kim, too, but not enough to bother her. Kimmie'll be fine like always. After all, Kim could keep up with her and she knew she could take Medea, so the witch was more than likely no threat to Kim, she concluded, which was why she did not think any of Kim being out at night.

"I just don't like her wasting time looking for a damn stray cat. I mean, come on! What about me?" Shego huffed.

-8-8-8-8-

"Come on, Cali. Come out, little kitty," Kim called as she wandered around the Middleton Museum of Natural History. She had an open can of tuna in one hand and a little carton of milk in the other. She hoped they would help lure out her missing feline.

The redhead had become rather attached to the cat over the week they had been together, so much so that she had spent the last two weeks trying to find the cat again. She was not sure how she got such a soft spot for the feline in such a short amount of time, but there was something so cute about the way Cali was there for her when she showed up, how the cat curled up to her, how the feline seemed to listen in on her phone conversations with her lovers to know what was going on between them, how the cat slept so soundly against her, and how she sometimes meowed like she was trying to add to whatever Kim was rambling on about or purring as if she wanted in on the phone conversations when they occurred. She wanted the cat back in someway, shape, or form.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," Kim beckoned, sounding close to tears as she turned a corner. She sniffled a little.

She had to seem pathetic, begging for a stray cat to come back. She knew Shego thought she was being silly for her actions, but she missed Cali and she did not care how pitiful she had to look as long as the feline returned.

"Cali, where are you?" Kim begged the air in a sorrowful tone while continuing to move about the outside of the museum.

Her expression dropped more, eyebrows curled up, mouth in a gaping moue, eyes watering. What if something happened to the stray? What if she was hurt? Worse yet, what if she was dead? Kim would be crushed. The not-knowing hurt enough, but to know that the worst had happened would break her big heart.

"Cali!" Kim hollered desperately at the top of her lungs. She was then pulled from her search as her Kimmunicator went off. She sighed, put down the carton of milk, and dug in her pocket for the currently irksome device. She answered with a surprising attitude. "What?" she huffed.

"Wow, no 'what's the sitch?' This might be a first," Wade remarked, trying his best not to laugh. Knowing Kim for as long as he had, he knew when she was stressed about something and that he needed to restrain himself or he would not help the situation.

"Sorry, Wade. I'm just…" Kim trailed off and looked away, hiding her shame for having snapped at her friend for no reason. She also wanted to hide her sorrow over a cat that was not even really hers. She's just a stray. Shego reminded her of that every time she went out to look, but she could not stop looking.

"It's okay, Kim. It's quite all right. If you're going through something, I can just call… someone else," Wade sounded quite unsure of that last part. Really the only "someone else" that he could call was Ron. Ron and Yori were just as good as Kim, kind of. They took missions and all, as it was part of both of their lives that they could not give up, just like Kim. They did not go out as often as she did and they were not as efficient as she was because they were not perfectionists, well at least Ron was not.

Sighing, Kim shook her head. "No, no, no. Tell me the mission. I can go," she insisted. She needed something to take her mind off of the heart-crushing fact that Cali might actually be gone for good.

Wade filled Kim in on the mission and got her a ride. She had to get rid of the milk and tuna before she left, but she was on her way within minutes. She was dropped off at another museum, where she was told a break-in was occurring. According to Wade, someone was trying to steal a priceless diamond.

Kim sneaked into where she needed to be and found out Wade was on point as usual. She took in the scene before charging in, seeing one body on the diamond case, apparently cutting through the display case. Then there was a short body standing not too far from the case and even in the dark, Kim knew just who that was.

"Doing some late night shopping, Professor Dementor?" Kim inquired with her usual smart-aleck smirk as she stepped in on the scene.

Both Dementor and his accomplice turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. They had two totally different reactions to the newcomer. Dementor gasped in shock and anger while his cohort grinned widely, happily.

"Kim Possible!" Dementor hollered in disbelief.

"Oh, come on. You act like you're surprised to see me," Kim remarked, still smiling, standing strong with a hand on her hip.

"Get her, you mangy flea-bag!" Dementor screamed, pointing at Kim. He was ordering around his subordinate.

The person on the case, who Kim was already familiar with, grinned even wider thanks to that command. She did not even bother to yell back at Dementor about insulting her. She merely sprang into action, getting Kim.

Kim hardly had time to move because she was tackled around the waist by a certain cat-girl. They crashed to the hard, cold floor with a yelp from the redhead and happy meow from the feline. Before Kim knew it, a furry, but soft cheek was rubbing up against her neck.

"Hi!" a merry and chipper voice greeted Kim and that was followed by a lick to her cheek.

"Cut that out!" Kim ordered, trying to pry the insane cat-girl off of her. She tried her best to sound menacing and angry, but her command came out more disturbed than anything else.

"I missed you so much!" Cali declared sincerely and she went back to rubbing her face in Kim's neck. She purred contently against the hero, who just did not know what to make of the cat-girl's behavior, just like the first time they met two weeks ago.

"You don't even know me! And you're a freaking bad guy!" Kim pointed out in a bit of a panic. Bad guys were not supposed to miss the hero! Bad guys were not supposed to rub up against the hero either, she thought… at least not during the commission of a crime anyway. It was just plain inappropriate.

"And you smell yummy," Cali said, purring. "You feel really nice and smell good."

"Cut it out!" Kim commanded, now trying to wiggle out of the cat-girl's tight grip.

Cali did not seem to be paying her mind much. She was just happy snuggling up against Kim, who was not as pleased with the situation. She tried to gain some leverage, looking to flip the feline off of her. Cali smiled, knowing what the hero was trying.

"Not gonna catch me with that twice," Cali hummed proudly. There was no way she was going to let Kim fling her away now that she was in what she believed was the most comfortable place on the planet.

Kim growled. In their first meeting Kim had been able to flip Cali off of her when the cat-girl tackled her. Now, with the way Cali pressed down on her, angling her weight in a different manner than before, it was hard to do much aside from lie there. It was all the cat-girl wanted Kim to do.

"I still like this spot," the cat-girl muttered with a content smile, continuing to rub her cheek into Kim's collarbone.

Kim huffed in anger, even though in the back of her mind she noted there was something familiar with the way her foe was acting. It went beyond the fact that Cali had done the same thing the first time they met a couple of weeks ago. There was something deeper than that, to the point where her lying on Kim seemed almost loving. It was not the same love as being touched by Bonnie or Shego, but it was a fond-type of caressing nonetheless.

Kim turned her attention to Dementor to see what he was doing. He was close to getting the diamond, so she knew she had to do something. The cat-girl was pressed against her arms with her own large paws, so it was a bit difficult to move. Still, Kim could do anything, so she managed to wiggle just enough to free one of her weapons from her pocket.

Cali was not paying much attention to what Kim was doing, or so it would seem. In actuality, Cali did not care what was going on around her now that she was cuddling with Kim again. So, Kim was really free to do whatever she wanted, as long as she did not move thus ruining Cali's moment of paradise.

Kim tried to catch Dementor in the same trap as last time, looking to hit him with a sphere that would change into a sort of binding vest. She was not sure if she would be able to make a decent throw. She let it fly anyway.

Dementor was not paying too much attention to Kim since Cali had hit her, but he turned around just in time to see the sphere coming toward him. He recalled what happened to him last time, so he moved out of the way. The sphere went right by him.

"Damn it," Kim growled and frowned.

"What in the world are you doing, you flea-bitten, trashing-eating, waste-of-scientific-mastery!" Dementor screamed at his cat-girl when he caught sight of her. He could not believe his eyes with the way that Cali was rubbing up against Kim, especially while the hero was trying to prevent him from doing what he came to do.

Cali had just about the happiest looking smile on her face while resting on the hero. She had her yellow eyes shut as she merrily brushed her cheek against Kim. Dementor scowled deeply.

"What the hell does it take to get good help nowadays? You sick, good-for-nothing pest! Get up, we're leaving!" the short scientist screamed, even more so than usual. His face was turning bright red because of his fury toward the troublesome cat.

"Aw!" Cali pouted, but she did not move. She wanted to stay where she was for as long as possible.

"I don't think so, Dementor!" Kim declared and she started reaching for another weapon.

"Stop her!" Dementor commended Cali.

The cat-girl pouted deeper and pinned Kim's arms to her side to prevent her from grabbing another weapon. Kim frowned and snarled in anger that came from being stopped. Cali then whispered something that sounded suspiciously like sorry and goodbye before leaping off of Kim within the blink of an eye.

By the time Kim realized the pressure was off of her, Cali had grabbed Dementor, who had the diamond. The villainous pair tried to escape through a high window, which was open. It was probably how they entered the place. Kim quickly grabbed for her grappling hook and aimed it at the two. She let the hook fly and hit her prize, knocking the jewel right out of Dementor's hand.

Dementor gasped in pain and surprise as the diamond fell from his grip. "Noooooo!"

Kim was on the move before she even hit her target, so she easily got there in time to catch the gem. Cali continued on through the window and only stopped when Dementor started yelling, much too close to her sensitive ears. She screeched in pain and dropped the small man on the ledge outside.

"Ouch, you clumsy fool!" Dementor huffed, rubbing his now sore rear-end with his good hand. The other felt like it had been slammed in a car door.

"You're hurting my ears," Cali countered, flicking both of her ears with each paw. She also shook her head, hoping to cease the ringing in her brain.

"And what was that all about in there?" Dementor demanded to know as he took the short climb to his feet. He glared at her as if she was the foulest creature he had ever encountered. And, if not the foulest, definitely the dumbest.

"You two know that if you're going to argue while running away, you really should keep running and do it a bit more quietly," Kim remarked as she made her way up through the open window.

"Get rid of her!" Dementor ordered, pointing at Kim.

Cali grinned and just leaped at Kim. The redhead was now expecting the tackle and smoothly moved out of the way. Cali almost fell through the window back into the museum, but she caught the edge of the window with one hand. Kim was about to proceed over to Dementor when Cali flipped back up, catching Kim around the waist. Unfortunately, she had not totally worked out her momentum for the move.

"Crap," Kim hissed as her body moved out of her control.

The cat-girl pushed Kim forward and the hero hit Dementor. They all went plummeting off the side of the museum, but they were luckily not high up. They landed in some well-pruned, very lush bushes. Kim noted it did not feel like any other landing that she had ever had in shrubby and then she figured out why.

"This is almost as good as lying on you," Cali purred as she wrapped her arms around Kim's chest and rubbed her cheek into Kim's shoulder blade. Cali was underneath Kim; the redhead had landed on her during the fall.

"This is ridiculous," Kim muttered with an exasperated expression on her face. Why the hell was the cat-girl so interested in her, anyway?!

"You stupid alley cat! How dare you catch Kim Possible instead of me!" Dementor complained loudly. His legs were sticking out the top of a nearby bush, kicking back and forth.

Cali chuckled a bit when she saw how Dementor was stuck. She rolled out from underneath Kim, landing on all fours. She stretched out like the cat that she was, claws coming out of her front paws. She rolled her shoulders and yawned before turning her attention to Kim.

"Hope to see you again soon," Cali said in a chipper tone with a bright smile.

"Hey, I'm not just letting you get away," Kim pointed out as she pulled herself out of the plant.

"Then chase us, please," Cali requested, still smiling, as she grabbed her boss and took off.

Kim took her up on that offer and went after the fleeing pair. She found out she was no match for the cat's speed and she was not wearing a jetpack to go after Cali once the feline decided to take to the rooftops. This was one of the problems with taking a mission out of the blue. The bad guys got away that night, much to Kim's annoyance.

"Damn it," Kim grumbled as she watched the tiny orange/black dot that was Cali disappear into the night. To make matters worse, she was going to be home late and she knew her girlfriends were going to chew her out for that. She threw her hands up. "It's not my night."

-8-8-8-8-

"What in the world was that!" Dementor demanded from Cali while he was still recovering from his fall. He plucked branches and leaves off of his small form as they stopped on a rooftop.

Cali did not respond. She settled down on all fours again and stretched out. She yawned, tongue coming out for a moment between her inch-long, pearl white canine teeth. She then laid on the cold roof almost as if she was going to take a nap, folding her arms and resting her head on her paws.

"Well?" Dementor screamed, not enjoying her silence by a long shot.

"It was cuddling," Cali answered with a dreamy smile as she closed her eyes. She liked cuddling Kim and she wished she could have done it all night along. It would have been nice if Kim petted her while she was doing. "Kim has such soft, nice fingers," she mumbled to herself as the thought of being petted washed over her body. She purred as she imagined that delightful feeling.

"You do not cuddle with the enemy and Kim Possible is the enemy!" he informed her, as if she did not know. But, from her behavior, he would be surprised if she did know who their enemy was.

"Cuddling is nice," Cali purred, still wearing her dreamy smile. She wished she was still snuggled up close to the hero.

Dementor frowned. "What the hell do you even know about this cuddling crap? Who taught you that?"

Cali shrugged. She did not feel like telling him, but Kim taught her. A low purr escaped her as she remembered the first time she felt those arms around her and how safe she felt. It had been such a long time. She wanted that all the time now.

"Well?" he shouted again, but she still did not answer. Maybe she had fallen asleep, which would not do. They needed to really get away before Kim Possible caught up to them.

He wished he had something to hit her with right now from the way that she was acting. She always got on his nerves, but now she was going beyond that by snuggling with the enemy. I'll have to do something about her soon, he thought. There was only so much he could take from a stupid cat, after all.

"Come on, get up, you mouse-breathed, good-for-nothing," Dementor snapped once he was done getting all of the twigs off of his body.

"How many times do I have to tell you? My name is Cali!" she hissed in anger. She was quite tempted to slash him with her thick, sharp, inch-and-a-half long claws until he figured out how to use her proper name.

"Since when!" he shouted back in a furious tone, a vein popping out of his neck from frustration with her. He was sick of her telling him about her. "No one's ever given you a name before, you worthless wretch! I know because I've been here with you since the beginning! No one cares what to call you! So, stop telling me you've got anything when you don't! You have nothing and you are nothing! Be grateful I haven't euthanized you, yet."

"I do have a name! I got one and you're going to use it or I'm going to fucking claw your goddamn eyes out!" Cali replied as her eyes shot open to show her fury. She stood up, still on all fours and eyed him like a tiger looking at a deer. Part of her wanted to tear him apart, having learned there were better places to be in the world, but another part of her stopped her. Instincts forced her back.

Dementor gasped and stepped back for a moment. He had never heard such abusive language from her. His eyes then flashed with fury.

"Where did you pick up such words?" he demanded, sounding almost like an outraged father.

"None of your fucking business," she replied. The swears were recent additions to her vocabulary. She picked them up about three weeks ago through a few long phone conversations that went on between her current favorite person in the world and two other women. She figured out the words were used more for emphasis than anything else. Most of the time she heard them, they did not sound nearly as harsh as they did coming from her. She believed the woman using them most often was named Shego.

Dementor sucked his teeth in anger. "Well, your little acting out tonight cost us that diamond. I needed that diamond for my latest invention. You ruined it!"

Cali rolled her eyes. According to him, she ruined everything. She did not care anymore, not that she ever cared. It was all part of the beauty of being a cat.

"Let's go back to the lair and try to find another diamond that'll work," Dementor stated with an attitude. He frowned deeply.

Cali could not care less than a damn about his expression or his diamond. She followed him over to the next rooftop as he went to his escape vehicle, which was a small hovercraft that only one person could fit in. He hopped in and waited for her.

Cali rolled her shoulders and remained down on all fours. She was momentarily still and then she was covered in a bright orange flame. When the flames vanished, where Cali had been was a regular, rather small calico cat.

"Will you come on before I leave you?" Dementor ordered in a harsh tone, glaring at the irksome feline.

The cat leaped up to the craft's open cockpit and settled into the small space that was left. Dementor took off before she was even probably seated. She curled up into a tight ball and decided to fall asleep before he started hollering some more.

"I swear, sometimes she's not worth the trouble, even if she is pretty much the ultimate sidekick," Dementor grumbled under his breath.

-8-8-8-8-

"Thank goodness you're home!" Bonnie practically cried as she flung herself onto Kim, who had barely stepped through the front door before she was hit.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Shego demanded with a tense face and her eyebrows bent in. She glared at Kim from less than a foot away while Bonnie just pressed herself closer to the redhead.

"I'm sorry, guys. I got a mission," Kim explained lamely. She had the decency to look ashamed of herself at least. She should have called while she was on her way to the museum, but it had been such a short ride, she did not think she had the time.

"And why the fuck didn't you call?" Shego added, folding her arms across her chest and pointing her hip out a bit. She tried her best to ignore the faint blush that accompanied Kim's thoroughly guilty expression.

"I'm sorry. I just wasn't thinking, loves. I'm so sorry," Kim apologized from the bottom of her heart as she threw her arms around Bonnie and held her tightly, urgently. "I'm so sorry," she repeated and she motioned for Shego to come over with one hand.

"It's okay," Bonnie whispered, sounding close to tearful. She had been so worried for the redhead, but now she was just relieved to be holding Kim and to be held in return. Kim was all right, so everything was fine.

"It damn well isn't okay," Shego said as she went over to them and embraced them both. Her hug betrayed her tone, bearing her heart to them. She was obviously just as worried as Bonnie considering her hold on her girlfriends.

"I'm so sorry," Kim said again. Her expression begged the eldest of them to believe she was being truthful. Her eyes were wide while her eyebrows were curled up and she looked almost like she would burst into tears if she continued to be scolded.

"We know, Princess. We know," Shego replied, reaching up one hand to caress the redhead's rounded cheek. Kim made it so damn hard to stay mad at her when she was being all pitiful and sincere like she was now.

Kim sighed, relieved to know she was not in too much trouble. "I'm sorry again. I wasn't thinking at the time. I mean, I was so worked up over Cali and how she's just gone…"

"So, you're worried more about a cat than us?" Bonnie inquired, sounding hurt, upset, and incredulous. She had to pull away a little bit to look Kim directly in the face for that one. The look in her aqua eyes told Kim that she better explain that one and fast or she might be the first one out of them to actually have to sleep on the couch.

"Of course not! I just know where you guys are and I know you're all right, but I don't know what's going on with Cali. She's just gone. What if she's hurt or something? She could be starving or dead and I can't do anything about it," Kim replied, trying her best not to sound as useless as she felt. She pulled it off for the most part.

"Gee, so you do know how we feel then," Bonnie remarked.

Kim did not get that for a second, but when she did, she had the decency to appear ashamed. She blushed slightly and looked away, toeing the floor. She was reassured that everything was all right through her girlfriends' embraces.

"I'm such a total jerk," Kim muttered. She was the one with the dangerous hobbies out of them and Medea had targeted her when she attacked. Of course her lovers would worry when they did not hear from her.

"Yeah, ya are," Shego concurred, which earned her a slap from Bonnie. "Ow! Why the hell are you always hitting me, demon child?" she demanded, even though the hit did not really hurt. She hated that Bonnie could hit her, yet the very thought of her returning the favor made her sick to her stomach. She could not even hit Bonnie in jest and she still had nightmares about the time she accidentally punched Bonnie.

"Because you always say hurtful things," Bonnie pointed out in a slightly heated tone.

"What? It's Kimmie!" Shego said, motioning to the hero with one hand.

"That means you shouldn't say hurtful things to her," Bonnie pointed out what she figured should be obvious.

Shego rolled her eyes, but she supposed Bonnie made sense. She had no plans on saying that out loud, though. She made a mental note to not say such openly wrong things to Kim, unless they were sparring anyway.

"All right, Pumpkin, go shower. I need to see what the hell happens next in the damn show," Shego huffed, purposely changing the subject.

Kim chuckled a bit and her girls released her. She went to go take a shower to avoid being the hold up on Shego and Bonnie's soaps. While she was gone, Bonnie turned to glare at Shego.

"What?" Shego asked with her hands up in a questioning manner.

"Babe, you've got to cut it out with Kimmie," Bonnie replied.

"What? This is how we get along. You know that," Shego pointed out with a bit of an attitude and she folded her arms across her chest.

"I know, but sometimes you have to rein it in. I'm not saying change or anything. I'm just saying that paying her pain some mind instead of ignoring it sometimes would help. It doesn't make you soft and it doesn't make her soft. Be more like you were when her parents were upset with her than you are all the time when something goes wrong in her day."

"Okay, Duchess, it was a fucking cat. She's got us worried out of our freaking minds over a fucking cat that wasn't even hers. It was a stray fucking cat," Shego stated, making a chopping motion with her hand as she spoke.

"I know it's a damn cat, babe. The point is, the cat seems to mean a lot to Kimmie and you really have to recognize that, like she would do with you if this was the other way. Now, what do you have against Kim having the cat, anyway? I thought you wanted to spoil us. What happened to that Shego?" Bonnie asked in a quiet tone as she took Shego's hand in hers.

"Let's just let it go," Shego grumbled as she turned her head away from the smaller female.

"No, love, we're not letting it go. I think this is something that bothers you and you can talk to us about stuff that bothers you. What do you have against letting Kim have this cat?"

"I just don't want a nasty ass stray cat in the house. You agreed with that," Shego pointed out.

"Yeah, I know I did, but that was before I knew Kim was going to make such a thing out of it and before I knew your crazed ex-girlfriend was out there with a murderous rage directed toward me and Kim. I'm not trying to get on your case, but try to be a little more supportive toward Kimmie right now," Bonnie requested in a tender tone.

Shego sighed and her shoulders slumped, which was all the answer Bonnie was going to get. The attorney was aware she was not going to get a verbal response. She still held Shego's hand, so she gently caressed the palm with her thumb. She leaned forward and gave Shego a quick peck on the mouth to show that she approved of Shego's decision.

"You two are so high maintenance," Shego grumbled.

Bonnie smiled. "And you love us for it."

The two of them retreated to the couch where Kim met them about twenty minutes later. They settled into their usual positions and watched the soaps. Kim wished she knew what Shego and Bonnie saw in the things, but whatever kept them settled down was good for her.

"So, Princess, what happened with the mission?" Shego asked after the shows were over.

"Dementor tried to steal a diamond," Kim replied as if it was nothing. She shrugged a bit, which Bonnie felt rather than saw considering their positions on the sofa.

"He's always going after money. At least he's got the whole 'mad science' thing under control," Shego remarked, a half-smile gracing her features from amusement.

"Yeah, he's got a weird sidekick or something now. I meant to tell you guys about her before," Kim said as if she just remembered that.

"Her?" both women echoed. Bonnie was intrigued enough to change her position. She turned around so she faced Kim.

"He's got this cat-girl for a sidekick," Kim replied. She was not too sure why she felt the need to tell them about it, but she did. It seemed amusing to her in retrospect, but she knew they would not take it quite the same way.

"A cat-girl? Like the stuff your brothers and creepy cousin are into?" Bonnie inquired to make sure that she understood just what Kim was talking about. She was not too interested in anything where she might even accidentally see a "cat-girl," but thanks to being around the Possible family for years now, she happened to see one every now and then.

"Yeah, just like that. It's weird," Kim answered.

Shego gave her a deadpanned look. "It's weird? Really? Out of everything in your life Dementor with a cat-girl is weird?"

"Well, she tackled me twice. She hit me hard, too, and then she just acts like a cat after that," Kim continued on.

"What do you mean acts like a cat?" Shego asked, pulling Kim down a bit, so that she could completely see the redhead's rounded face.

"She cuddled me twice," Kim answered as if it was nothing, even though she knew it would not be taken as nothing.

"Cuddled you!" Bonnie and Shego reacted in the same way, clutching Kim in a possessive manner. Their expressions twisted in the same manner, too, incredulous and furious at the same time.

"You let some strange cat-girl cuddle you?" Bonnie shrieked, frowning deeply.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Shego chimed in right after. She scowled just the same as the lawyer and stared Kim down with hard emerald eyes.

"She tackled me! I couldn't do anything about it. Well, the second time anyway. The first time I flipped her off, but the second time she kind of crushed me with her weight and I couldn't move," Kim explained with a sheepish laugh.

"What the hell kinda excuse is that?" Bonnie and Shego hollered at the same time.

Kim chuckled. "I knew you guys would react like that. Calm down, nothing happened. Plus, I kept Dementor from taking the diamond. Unfortunately, he and the cat-girl got away."

"Okay, that's all well and good," Shego started the speech out, knowing her duchess would take it right where she wanted it to be.

"But, what the hell is this about the cat-girl cuddling you?" Bonnie finished with a huff.

"I told you, nothing happened," Kim tried to assure them.

"That's beside the point!" they screamed.

"Loves, loves, loves, calm down. Nothing happened. She didn't even do anything aside for snuggle my neck, like a cat would. She was seriously like a cat. It was nothing bad," Kim promised them.

"You don't let it get bad. We've already got to worry about Bonnie and her damn client/girlfriend," Shego remarked, a teasing smile aimed at the lawyer.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Bonnie shrieked in horror. Her aqua eyes flashed with fiery indignity.

"She better not be," Kim said and Shego nodded in agreement.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, not really thinking to point out that Kim should be the last one among them talking about other girlfriends. "Please, like I would be caught dead with her outside of work," she decided to argue.

"You see her for dinner like three nights out of the week," Shego commented.

"Don't get bitchy with me. Who the hell knows what you do with your class full of adoring fan-girls, after all," Bonnie countered.

Shego rolled her eyes that time. "Whatever." She did not really have anything better than that since she did have a little fan club.

The conversation faded after that with all of them silently conceding they were just going to have to trust each other. They knew for that to work, they were probably going to have to think as little as possible on the situation. If they started overanalyzing things then they would all become nervous wrecks considering the fact they were already in a trio and quite able to wholeheartedly love each other. They would start thinking maybe they were also capable of romantically loving someone else and then they would have to think of the impact of that on their relationship. It was all just too much.

"You two ready to go to bed?" Shego asked, mostly because her younger lovers were falling asleep on her.

"Yeah," Kim and Bonnie mumbled in tired tones. It was a long day for both of them, which tended to be the case. Kim typically handled her days better than Bonnie since she was used to what she did, but the emotional impact of not being able to find Cali was wiping her out lately.

Bonnie got off the sofa first, followed by Kim, and Shego just sat up. The pale woman watched her two lovers stagger off, which brought a small smile to her face. She followed after them when they were halfway to the bedroom. She figured they were going to sleep good tonight, which just meant she would sleep well, too.

They eased into the bed, snuggling up against each other as usual. They settled into warm bodies and comfortable pillows, whispered their goodnights and loves to each other, and then they fell asleep within minutes. Seeing them now, peacefully pressed against each other, it would be hard to believe they had almost gotten into a fight about possible love-interests.

-*-(Next day)-*-

The trio all shot up as the house phone rang out loudly. The sudden noise put them all in a panic because they did not know what was going on for more seconds than they liked. Kim and Shego were ready to fight before they realized it was a phone call that woke them up. They all looked around, hoping to spot the annoying device if only to shut it up. They all looked quite a mess with their hair going in every direction, mouths gapped open from shock, and eyes going from wide to half-mast as a couple of seconds passed.

"Hello?" Shego answered the phone in a groggy, scratchy tone. As it turned out, the thing was on the floor on her side of the bed. She tried to remember how it got there, but her mind could not focus on much, aside from the fact that she desired to go back to sleep. She had to glance at the time because she felt like she had just gone to sleep. The clock was on the nightstand by Bonnie's side of the bed. Her eyes nearly fell out of her head when she saw the numbers.

"Is Bonnie there?" a female voice asked, as if everything was normal. A voice that Shego was familiar with, but still quite pissed at.

"Lady, who the fuck are you calling my house at fucking five in the fucking morning?" Shego demanded, close to yelling, which bothered her lovers as they tried to go back to sleep.

"Excuse me?" the voice shrieked angrily. The noise came through so loud that Kim and Bonnie turned back to Shego, wondering if that was who they thought it was on the phone.

"I said, who the fuck are you calling my fucking house at five in the fucking morning?" Shego demanded once again in a snarl of a tone. Her face was twisted with a frown at the sheer audacity the woman had the nerve to call their home so early in the morning as if it was not rude and inconsiderate.

The woman sputtered for a few seconds, seemingly shocked that Shego would repeat such crass words. "Put Bonnie on the phone!" she practically ordered once her mouth remembered how to form real words again.

"No, don't put Bonnie on the phone," the lawyer pled as she knew who that was, but Shego was already handing her the phone.

"I'm not dealing with this shit. We don't have to be up for three more fucking hours. This is bullshit," the former sidekick huffed, shoving the phone at Bonnie.

"Fuck you," Bonnie mouthed to the pale beauty while putting the phone properly to her ear. "Hi, Mom," she greeted the caller through clinched teeth. She did not see the need in pretending to be happy with hearing from her mother.

"Was that that Shego girl who answered the phone?" her mother inquired, sounding quite upset.

"Tell that her I'm grown fucking woman," Shego insisted since she heard Mrs. Rockwaller's question.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Mom, why are you calling here so damn early in the morning?" she asked in a frustrated, annoyed tone of her own. Her face was tight with irritation and the moment that she stopped speaking, she clinched her teeth together from fury. It was a surprise that her teeth did not crack and shatter from the pressure. She was not for being woken up three hours before she needed to be, especially when she had to look forward to an undoubtedly sorry, horrible day at work.

"I wanted to make sure I caught you before work, Bon-bon," her mother explained, sounding so chipper for five in the morning. Of course, her mother had always been a morning person.

"Well, mission a-fucking-accomplished," Bonnie remarked in a bitter tone. Her mood was not being helped as she watched Shego pull Kim toward her and force them both back down onto their pillows. She pouted at the sight; she wanted to cuddle and sleep, too!

Mrs. Rockwaller gasped, not used to hearing such harsh language from her little Bon-bon. Sure, Bonnie was flighty and bratty, as far as her mother knew anyway, but she was hardly ever so openly rude. Her mother glanced over it, though, much like she did with everything involving Bonnie. The lawyer would say that it was a family trait. Plus, her mother had so many years of ignoring her children's bad behavior that it was probably just second nature to her now.

"There's going to be a family dinner tomorrow. You should come," her mother said, sounding normal despite the rash words being used by her youngest child.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said, sounding very much like she did in high school.

"Baby," Kim scolded her, showing that she was not quite asleep yet.

Bonnie groaned. "Fine, Mom. I'll think about it. Bye."

"Love you," her mother said.

Bonnie snorted and it would not have been surprising if fire shot from her nose because of the sound. She knew why her mother said that to her. She was not going to say what her mother wanted to hear from her.

"I know," Bonnie replied and she hung up the phone.

Shego wasted no time starting up. "Why didn't you just tell your mom you loved her?"

"Oh, just shut up! It's too early for this bullshit," Bonnie huffed as she flopped back down, settling her body into Kim's form.

"Whatever you say, Bon-bon," the pale woman continued on, making sure to cover Bonnie properly with the sheet.

"Shego, cut it out," Kim reprimanded the eldest as she put her arms around Bonnie. She pulled Bonnie close and Bonnie sighed against her.

"Aw, but I was having so much fun." Shego pretended to pout, even though Kim was not facing her. In fact, she was curled into Kim's shoulder blade, so there was no way for the hero to see her face.

"Can we just go back to sleep? It's five in the fucking morning!" Bonnie pointed out with a furious huff.

"I had no idea," Shego said sarcastically.

"Keep it up," Bonnie dared her.

"Both of you, go to sleep! It's five in the damn morning!" Kim stated in a no-nonsense tone. Some times it worked and some times it did not. She was about to find out this time it was going to be a miss.

"Actually, it's five in the fucking morning," Shego and Bonnie commented like the smart-asses they were.

Kim groaned. "You two are just going to make this worse, huh? We can't just go back to sleep?"

Shego and Bonnie did not argue that since it was exactly what they wanted to do. They all settled back into the bed and in their usual positions. Bonnie threw her arms around Kim, but one rested on Shego. Shego did the same.

"Kimmie sandwich," Shego muttered in Kim's ear before drifting back to sleep. The former thief noted that she was going to have to remember that one and say it again when they were more in the mood for such antics. She planned to follow the line up with something more physical at a later date as well.

-8-8-8-8-

"So, we're going to this stupid Rockwaller family thing, aren't we?" Shego inquired as the trio moved about their kitchen. Everyone was gathering what they wanted for breakfast before they had to get to work, not that Kim and Shego had far to go.

"Of course," Kim answered, searching through one of the cabinets.

"Why? The duchess doesn't like her family and they don't like her, or us for that matter. What the hell?" Shego stated as she started peeling an orange. She did not see why they needed to go some place where no one liked them and they did not like anyone. It seemed downright stupid to her.

"Bonnie?" Kim said, turning to look at the lawyer, who was in a different cabinet.

"I'd rather not deal with them, but I know you won't let it go. You don't throw away family and all that crap," Bonnie grumbled.

"You never know when your family will be there for you. You also never know when they'll change their minds. I mean, look at my dad. He's doing better, right?" Kim pointed out. Yeah, she had a point, but there was also the fact that her father had people around him that tried to change his mind. Bonnie's family did not seem to be like that.

"Let's just go and hope they finally flip out enough to ban me from any further family contact," Bonnie replied with a sigh. That way, she would not be invited to anything else and Kim could stop having all of this faith in families. "And here, baby, I think this is what you want." Bonnie passed Kim a granola bar.

Kim smiled brightly, maybe too bright for the morning, as she accepted just what she was searching for. "Thanks and you shouldn't talk like that. You shouldn't be looking to lose your family."

Shego groaned from the unwavering, cheery optimism. Bonnie was right there with her, even though she thought it was funny for Shego to be the one acting like family was so awful. Shego had an amazing family, after all.

"Baby, these are the people who seriously screwed me up in the head and you know that. They're mean to me, to us, on purpose. I can't help wanting to put as much distance between them and me as possible. I keep telling you, they're not like your family and I know you want to believe everybody has some good in them, but they don't. They're demons," Bonnie declared quite seriously. She hated telling Kim this or even having Kim witness it with her family.

"Well, I used to think you were evil. Hell, I thought you were a bigger evil than Shego and she went around proclaiming her evil," Kim quipped.

"Hey, I was evil," Shego argued, turning around to get deeper in on the conversation now that her name and reputation were brought up.

"In retrospect, not so much. Sure, you were bad, but I don't think I'd go with evil so much. I mean, you had your moments and all, but then again, you had other moments," Kim said.

"Don't even say I had good moments," Shego ordered with a frown. Kim was about to take her up on that one.

"Okay, you know what, this isn't about Shego. It's about me and my screwed up family and the fact that you thought I was eviler than her?" Bonnie shouted incredulously, motioning to Kim's former arch-foe. "What the hell? She worked with a guy that wants to take over the freaking world and she even tried to kill you. We were rivals at best. I never tried to kill you," Bonnie said.

"Yeah, but it was more like just a job for her from what I could tell while for you it was personal in trying to tear me down," Kim pointed out.

"I was confused! Geez, cut me a break. You know my sense of love was warped back then," Bonnie argued with a huff.

Kim laughed a bit, showing there were no hard feelings. She then went over to the attorney and put an arm around her. Bonnie, loving the attention, smiled and rested her head on Kim's shoulder.

"Don't make me go, baby," the brunette pled in a quiet tone, speaking next to Kim's ear. She nipped at the earlobe while she was there.

"I'll make you a deal. We'll go this one last time and if things are the same as always, I won't make a fuss about it anymore. I just don't want you to lose your family," Kim explained and then she placed a gentle kiss to the side of Bonnie's head.

"Promise?" Bonnie muttered, purposely sounding pathetic.

"Promise," the hero said and that was enough for Bonnie because Kim never lied to her.

Bonnie smiled warmly and embraced Kim tightly, which made the redhead smile. Bonnie then hurried off to work, feeling quite good. Kim and Shego walked her down to her car and watched her drive off.

"Wow, Kimmie, that was different of you," Shego commented as they turned around to go back into the building and prepare for their students.

"What do you mean?" Kim asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Well, usually, you're pushy and want to get your way all the time," Shego replied.

Kim nodded a little. "Oh, you mean the whole 'Kim-ness' thing?"

"Yup."

"I've gotten it under control to an extent if you hadn't noticed, at least for our relationship. I mean, three demanding women in a relationship wouldn't work unless we learn to let go every now and then, right?" Kim argued.

Shego chuckled a bit and put an arm around Kim's slender shoulders. "Sometimes, I hate how you two make me feel like I have a lot to learn about being with you."

Kim smiled a bit and put her arm around Shego's waist. "You're doing fine," she assured Shego and kissed her cheek. They stayed like that for a while, just openly hugging in the street.

They could care less than nothing about showing affection in public now. No one would dare take a picture of them now since it was working its way around the media as to what happened to Tina, the reporter that broke the story on the trio. Last most people heard, she was a hobo or worse. It was quite the fall from grace, going from a top reporter to a homeless vagabond. Added to that was the rumor that it was Shego and her mother causing the woman unimaginable grief and suffering that had no signs of ending. No one wanted a piece of that madness.

"Love, you're fine with us. Give yourself sometime and you'll end up being just like we are with each other," Kim assured the older woman. For once, Shego did not argue and just accepted the encouraging words.

-8-8-8-8-

Bonnie had two kinds of headaches when she came home and she could only hope things got better once she was in the supposed safety of her own home. If Kim was gone again, it just meant she would have two other headaches, the one that came from Kim being gone and the one that came from her and Shego arguing over Kim and letting her keep the cat. Thankfully, she did not have to worry about the latter two.

"Hey, baby," Kim said as she practically bounced over to the brunette. She placed a kiss to Bonnie's mouth while taking her coat from her. Shego walked over in her usual manner, something like a laidback lion, and also greeted Bonnie with a kiss while taking the lawyer's briefcase from her.

"You had a rough day," Shego commented as she pulled away.

"Don't I always?" Bonnie countered with a tired sigh. She shook her head a little bit, as if that would rid her of the headache.

"This one was obviously rougher than usual," Kim quipped. Bonnie looked downright exhausted.

"My damn mother wouldn't leave me the hell alone and then goddamn Heather," Bonnie huffed as her shoulders slumped just thinking about the day that she had. Her phone never stopped ringing thanks to her mother and Heather had come up to the office to see her because she was having trouble getting through to Bonnie over the phone, which was thanks to her mother tying up her lines.

"Youse want me to break her legs, boss?" Shego joked… well, unless Bonnie took her up on the offer anyway. If it was what Bonnie wanted, Shego figured she was going to have a busy night doing a lot of illegal goodness.

"That's all right, sweetheart. If you want, you can break both of their jaws to save me the trouble of having to listen to them," Bonnie remarked.

"Babe, don't tell her that!" Kim reprimanded the attorney. "You know she'll go do it."

"And I will, too," Shego agreed with a nod. "Happily, actually."

"I halfway mean it. Although with Heather, I might actually mean it. But, don't do anything yet. She is the only client I have, after all," Bonnie commented, trying her best to force out a smile. She could not make it to that point, though.

"She's also trying to get into your pants and those pants belong to us," Shego declared quite seriously and possessively while taking Bonnie around the waist. Her free hand did start working toward Bonnie's belt.

"Hey! None of that! I'm way too tired," Bonnie objected, swatting at the hand at her buckle.

"You're no fun at all. Go take your shower, you crab," Shego teased, releasing the attorney. Bonnie took a weak swat at the pale woman. It was so light Shego did not even bother to retaliate.

Bonnie walked off to go take her shower while Kim went to make her some tea and get her favorite snack. Bonnie was quite relieved to see her cup of tea and a plate of fig newtons waiting for her. She settled in on the sofa, where her girlfriends waited for her.

"So, what happened? Why are you so worn out?" Shego inquired, speaking to Bonnie.

"It's the same thing with Heather, of course," Bonnie started her response. She was not even about to tell them about the other major annoyance she had to deal with at work, which was her coworker, Lyle. She knew once she got to talking about him, she would badmouth him so badly that both Shego and Kim would be up at the firm first thing in the morning to kick his ass in an infinite amount of ways. Part of her would enjoy it, but it would bring too much trouble to her afterwards. It was not worth it.

"We have got to get you some other clients," Kim sighed. She was rather uncomfortable with Heather trying to pick up Bonnie. It did not help that she remembered how Bonnie had flipped over Heather when they were in high school. Now, they had come a long way from high school, but it continued to eat at the back of her mind.

"Then there's my damn mother. She won't leave me alone about this stupid family thing. She's saying I've got to come and all this junk. She kept calling me, telling me about what everyone else is doing and how I need to get my act together and get married and all of this bullshit. She wants me to leave you two," Bonnie informed her lovers.

Shego scoffed. "To hell with that."

"Pretty much what I said. She's not really listening to me when we talk, though. She hears whatever she wants to hear, so in her mind, she swears our end is near and by some miracle I'm going to be into guys again, not that I ever really was into guys. I was just jealous and confused. She makes me so frustrated!" Bonnie made two tight fists and shook them above her head. She then made a motion like she was going to yank her hair, but she did not bother with that. She went back to drinking her tea.

"I don't get it. Why does she want you to come if she's opposed to you being gay?" Shego asked.

Bonnie shook her head. "My mom lives in some other universe where her children can't do anything wrong and if we do, it's not really our faults. I don't know. Maybe it's a cry for attention. I mean, my dad doesn't seem to pay her too much mind. So maybe she thought having kids would change that."

Shego snorted. "He had to pay her some mind. They have more kids than my parents and my father doesn't stop being my demon mother mind." Her girlfriends laughed at that.

"You make a point there. I don't really know what's going on with my mother. She wants us all to be this big, happy successful family, but she's not willing to actually work on any issues to make that happen and it's been that way since we were kids. She never stopped any of us from being horrible to each other. She just pretended it didn't happen. So, we all grew up horrible. And my dad wasn't any better because he just yelled at us all the time about stuff that didn't even have anything to do with us. My household was a mess," Bonnie sighed.

"Look at it this way, if everything goes as it has been with your jerk-ish family, you won't have to bother with them after this last time," Shego pointed out. "So, when do we have to go?"

"Tomorrow sometime in the evening," Bonnie answered.

"Oh, fuck," the ex-thief groaned as if she had just been told that she was going to be taken to a wall and shot.

"Wow, tomorrow?" Kim said in almost as much surprised horror as the eldest.

Shego and Bonnie turned to look at Kim, who had to work hard to keep her expression neutral. It was too late, though. They figured Kim was just about as thrilled to go as they were.

"You know, instead of doing this group torture thing that Kimmie seems intent on making us go through, we could just spend tomorrow here, in bed," Shego commented, rather hopeful that Kim would go for that.

"I second that," Bonnie said quite honestly. A day in bed with the two sexiest women she could think of versus a night with her family? Sexy women won that match like a heavyweight championship boxer going against a five-year-old kid.

"Yeah, but we're not a democracy today," Kim commented.

"Obviously we're into tyranny today," Shego remarked dryly.

"Think of it more of communism with a first among equal thing," Kim countered with a smile. Her girlfriends rolled their eyes. It would seem that they were going no matter what.

"You owe us big for this shit," Shego stated quite seriously to the hero; her expression backed up her tone. Bonnie nodded in agreement. Kim's smile faltered a bit thanks to that.

"But, you both already agreed," Kim said.

"So? You still owe us," Shego replied, just as strongly. "First amongst equals." She snorted.

-*-(Next day)-*-

"I don't want to go," Shego grumbled as she and Bonnie wandered around the apartment, taking their dear, sweet time getting ready for their appointment in Hell.

"I don't either. I really want that day in bed you were talking about yesterday," Bonnie remarked with a lecherous smirk. She reached out and ran a finger down Shego's bare arm.

"That would be great, if only little Miss Perfect didn't run off to check on her pictures again," Shego huffed.

"It could've been worse. She could've been going after that cat again, after all."

Shego conceded that point. It seemed like Kim was coming to grips that Cali was gone. She had gone out looking yesterday, but she had not stayed out nearly as long as she had the previous nights. They could only hope she did not go out at all when they got back from their day in Hell.

"She's so going to get it for making us do this," Shego said and Bonnie nodded.

The best thing was that they could plot together while they were alone. Kim should have known better, they thought. Well, she was going to regret leaving them by themselves now.

-8-8-8-8-

The Rockwaller family was all gathered at the main house in Middleton. They were waiting for the two youngest of the siblings to show up before they got to have dinner. Mrs. Rockwaller seemed to just want to have a family get-together out of the blue as far as everyone could tell, but they were not opposed to it, even though all of the siblings and their spouses were in agreement that Mrs. Rockwaller was annoying. It was just that she cooked really well.

"Where the hell are Johnnie and Bonnie? I'm starving," Ronnie complained from his space on the sofa, where he and his older brother watched a football game. He rubbed his stomach as it made its upset mood known by complaining loudly. His sapphire blue eyes narrowed from anger.

"Me, too," Donnie agreed with his younger brother. "Those two play around too damn much. I just want to eat and get out of here."

Ronnie nodded, wanting the same thing. He already had to put up with his wife coming around every five minutes, wanting to know when they were leaving. She was nagging him and his mother was her usual annoying self. He did not get along that great with his siblings either, even though he and Donnie could be somewhat civil toward each other under the right circumstances. He just wanted to eat and get the hell out of there now.

"Why the hell did Mom plan this stupid get together anyway?" Ronnie inquired in a grumble, his lip curled up in aggravation.

Donnie shrugged his massive shoulders. "Who the hell knows." He did not care about the reason. He just wanted his food, so he could get him and his family out of there. He did not want to be around his parents and siblings any more than the next sibling.

The brothers focused their attention back on the game while ignoring the background noise, coming from the kids and the "women folk" as the brothers liked to refer to their sisters and wives as when they all got together. They got more annoyed with each second that went by and neither of the younger siblings showed up. Their frowns deepened and they folded their thick arms across their chests while bodies tensed. To make matters worse, their team was losing the game.

A knock at the door garnered some attention from the adults in the house. Mrs. Rockwaller went to answer and was surprised to see who was at the door. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Brick?" she said in disbelief. He looked different from when she last saw him, but she knew it was him.

"Uh, yeah, hi, Mrs. Rockwaller," the blond said with a slight wave and a little, charming smile. He was different from when she last saw him because he was a teenager when she last saw him. He was now in his mid-twenties. He was taller and wider, but still quite muscular. His blond hair was longer and pulled back into a ponytail. He was dressed kind of the same from his teenage years, though. He had on plain jeans and a t-shirt since no one said anything about formalwear.

Mrs. Rockwaller practically bounced on her heels upon seeing Brick. He must be back with Bonnie, she thought with inside excitement bursting from every pore in her body. Oh, joy! That was great. Her little Bon-bon was back to dating men! Maybe Bonnie would even get married to Brick, which made her feel even better on the inside. Thanks to that idea, she started smiling widely.

"Come in, dear. Come in," she urged him, motioning inside the house with one hand.

Brick showed signs of being no smarter now than he was the last time that she saw him. "Uh…" he mumbled for no reason, but did know enough to step inside the house.

"It's so good to see you again," she said with a grin, shutting the door.

"Is it?" he asked with his face scrunched up a little. He could have sworn that after the break up with Bonnie, the whole Rockwaller family would hate him, even though he even picked up the fact that they did not like Bonnie much. He guessed they cared even less about Bonnie's emotional wellbeing than he first assumed if no one was upset with him over the breakup.

"Of course it is! Everybody look, Brick's here!" Mrs. Rockwaller announced to the household as if he was some big VIP.

"Brick?" Ronnie echoed, craning an eyebrow. He turned to his big brother, checking to see if he had any information in regards to why their sister's ex-boyfriend was there.

Donnie shrugged again, silently conceding that he did not know what was going on. They both then turned to look toward the front of the house. Everyone else did the same.

"I'll be damned. It is Brick," Donnie commented in a surprised tone. His turquoise eyes showed just as much shock as his voice did. "Guess that's good news for you," he added, speaking to his little brother.

"Good news for me?" the younger brother asked with a little frown.

"Yeah, now your little sister isn't getting better pussy than you," the eldest remarked with a cruel smile.

Ronnie frowned and resisted the urge to deck his older brother. It was not like the bastard could take a punch, after all, Ronnie reminded himself, but he did not hit him. It would start their mother up, whining about their "roughhousing" and such. It was not something he wanted to hear right now.

They turned around as Brick came up to them and expended his hand for them to shake. It took them a long moment, but they did reach out and shake his hand. He had a tough grip, more so than they remembered, but they did not say anything.

"Watching the game, huh? I got money on it," Brick said with a sigh as he sat down on the far end of the long, curved sofa. With his size, Brick actually made the brothers look small, which was just amazing since they were built like football players themselves.

"You and everybody else," Donnie huffed.

Brick could not argue that one. Unlike the brothers though, he bet on the team that was winning. He could tell that they had bet on the wrong team just from the sour looks on their faces. Yes, he was a bit slow when it came to school, but he could read people just as well as any other person.

"So, what're you doing here by yourself?" Ronnie asked, speaking to the newcomer.

"Yes, Brick, dear. Why did you come by yourself?" Mrs. Rockwaller inquired in a chipper tone.

"Oh, I was gonna come with my… significant other," Brick answered. He sounded a bit awkward saying that last bit. It was not a phrase he was used to saying, but he remembered hearing it a couple of times and felt it was the best thing to say right now. "But, running late seems to be something that runs in the family," he remarked with a light laugh and a shrug. He was a bit uncomfortable being there by himself with the questioning going on, but he played it off rather well, aside from the awkward laugh, anyway.

"Probably just means we're doing something that involves thinking," Connie snidely commented in passing as she walked from the den through the living room to get to the dining room where her husband was on his laptop computer, trying his damnedest to not interact with the Rockwaller sharks.

Brick got the remark, having been around the bitchy Rockwallers more times than he liked. He did not say anything, but looked away a bit and shift in his seat a little bit. He did not understand why they had to go out of their way to be horrible to any and everyone. He really could do without being in that house again, but he had made a promise, he reminded himself.

"This is so darling! It's great to have you back here!" Mrs. Rockwaller grinned while taking a hold of Brick's broad shoulder. If she smiled in wider, her head would have split in half.

"Um… cool," Brick replied, not sure what else to say. He could not help wondering why Mrs. Rockwaller was so happy to see him. He had been told to expect the worse.

"I'm sure Bonnie'll be here soon," Mrs. Rockwaller said.

"Uh…" Brick was not sure what to say to that one, but he did not get a chance explain himself.

There was a knock at the door and Mrs. Rockwaller rushed to answer. She opened the door and grinned again to see her youngest child standing before her, alone. She grabbed Bonnie by the arm while continuing to smile.

"It's great that you're here, Bon-bon!" Mrs. Rockwaller declared, causing her daughter to raise an eyebrow.

"It is?" Bonnie asked in an almost horrified voice. Since when? What the hell did her mother know that she did not?

"Come look who's here, dear, waiting for you," Mrs. Rockwaller said, ushering Bonnie into the house.

The lawyer tried to object, pointing behind her, but her mother was not paying any attention. Bonnie made a tired face while she was pulled into the house. Her mother left the door open since the woman seemed more intent on getting Bonnie into the living room than anything else. Bonnie could only wonder what new Hell was awaiting her now.

"Look, Bonnie, see who's here," her mother said, motioning to Brick.

Bonnie turned her attention to the sofa and saw the former football player. He turned around to see her, too. They looked at each other with confused expressions painted on their faces. Their eyebrows were curled up and their mouths gaped open like little fishes.

"Brick, what the hell are you doing here?" Bonnie inquired once she recalled she could speak.

"Oh… um…" Brick hesitated as he rose to his feet. He was not sure why he stood up to speak with Bonnie, but he did not sit back down when he realized what he did.

"He's here for you, of course, dear!" Mrs. Rockwaller explained, still sporting a mile-wide grin.

"For me?" Bonnie echoed as if she did not understand how such a thing was possible.

"Of course! It's great that you're back together!" Mrs. Rockwaller commented, hugging her daughter around the shoulders. "I knew that was just a phase with those girls and now you're back with Brick and you'll get married."

"Married?" Bonnie practically shrieked in terror. Like hell she would ever marry Brick Flagg! His thinking was quite the same and it showed on his face considering the fact that he looked like a gun was being held to his head when he heard the word "married."

"Who's getting married?" Shego asked as she strolled into the house through the open front door. The sound of her voice caused the entire Rockwaller family to turn their attention to the front.

"What are you doing here?" Donnie demanded with a snarl tugging at his top lip. He glared daggers at her, as if she was some demon. She did not care.

"I'm here to take more of your money in pool, doy," Shego remarked with a mocking smirk on her face.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing here?" Mrs. Rockwaller demanded as she boldly went up to Shego to chastise her face to face. "Bonnie doesn't need you here. She's with Brick now."

"Since when?" Shego asked with a craned eyebrow. "What the hell happened between the car and here?" She shifted to look at Bonnie, who denied the charge by shaking her head vehemently. Shego was curious how the hell she and Kim got dumped between the walk from the car to the front door.

"With me?" Brick pointed to himself. He knew he was kind of slow, but he figured he could not be so slow that he missed picking up Bonnie as a girlfriend again.

"Like hell I'm with Brick!" Bonnie managed to holler in disbelief as her brain finally recalled how to voice indignation.

"You better not be," Shego chimed in, frowning somewhat at the very thought of her duchess being with someone other than her and Kim.

"Of course you're with Brick. Why the hell else would he be here?" Ronnie pointed out.

"Are you kidding? She's with me," Shego declared as she went over to Bonnie and grabbed the lawyer quite possessively. It was something that Bonnie was used to and she liked the excuse to press herself against Shego in front of her family anyway.

"Well, at least she's just with one girl now," Lonnie commented, joining in all of the excitement. She walked out into the living room for a better view of what was going on, figuring she would be able to add in some of her remarks to help things get thick.

"What's going on in here?" Kim asked as she and Johnnie walked into the house. They could hear the starts of the argument going on outside, where they had been having a pointless and annoying debate in Shego's opinion. Shego had been out there just to keep an eye on Johnnie since she thought he was "trying to get into the pants of a hot lesbian" as Bonnie once put it.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Donnie hollered when Kim stepped in. He pointed an angry finger in the redhead's direction.

"Are you really this dense? I always come with Bonnie," Kim reminded them with an annoyed look on her face.

"Funny, so do I," Shego remarked with a lecherous smile as she nuzzled her face in Bonnie's neck for the sole purpose of pissing off the Rockwallers, which worked wonders.

"Disgusting," Lonnie pretty much gagged at the sight. "Damn perverts."

"Look, what're you two doing here if Bonnie's with Brick now?" Donnie demanded as he moved to get in close to Shego and Kim. They suspected he was looking to pick a fight just for the sake of fighting. After all, it was not like he truly gave a damn about his baby sister, they knew. He would be sorry if he picked a real fight with them, though.

"I'm not with Brick!" Bonnie stated again, getting red in the face from her frustration with the idiots that she shared more DNA with than she liked. "I don't know where you guys get this crazy idea, but I'm not with him!" A vein started showing in her forehead because of her anger.

"She's really not," Brick backed her up, waving off the idea with a few motions of his hand.

"You said you were waiting for her," Mrs. Rockwaller pointed out.

"You what?" Bonnie hollered at Brick. She knew he was a moron, but she doubted he would ever be so stupid as to try to get back with her.

"I didn't say that. I said I was waiting for my significant other," Brick reminded them, speaking in his typical laidback tone. He had to brush a few strands of loose hair out of his face.

"As in Bonnie," Donnie figured while jabbing his thumb in his baby sister's direction.

"No," Brick said, his face scrunched up in confusion. If he was waiting for Bonnie, he would have said so. Why were they acting so stupid, he wondered.

"Then who the hell are you here for?" Ronnie shrieked because he hated being confused. His brain wanted to know if Bonnie was still a freak dyke or what?

"Uh… that would be me." Johnnie stepped over to Brick. It took all of his willpower to hold his head high as he answered that question and the only thing keeping him from running away was the comforting, muscular arm that wrapped around his shoulders. He looked over at Brick and smiled his thanks.

"What. The. Hell?" Donnie and Ronnie said simultaneously in shock at what their little brother seemed to be implying. Lonnie and Connie were actually speechless for a long moment.

"No way…" Kim muttered, her mouth hanging open. Brick? Johnnie was with Brick Flagg?! Since when was Brick Flagg gay, she wondered.

"I'll be damned," Shego mumbled. So, Johnnie really was gay. Well, that was one less thing to worry about.

"Um… Brick's with me. He was waiting for me. I figured it was about time you guys met him… again," Johnnie lamely explained, looking down at his feet. Everyone experienced the same stunned silence for several seconds. The air around them became heavy and thick, seemingly waiting to explode with one spark from someone. Connie was the one that set it off.

"You did this!" she screeched as she marched out onto the scene, pointing an accusing and well-manicured finger at the baby of their bunch.

"Me?" Bonnie drew back a little, putting a hand to her chest.

"You turned Johnnie gay! He had a chance and you did this to him! You made him gay! You ruined everything for him!" Connie pointed out in an outraged voice.

Bonnie and Johnnie were incredulous to what they were hearing, as were their lovers. The statement might not have been so insane sounding coming from any other Rockwaller sibling or even their mother, but Connie was the smart one. And yet, she accused Bonnie as if she had given Johnnie some sort of disease, like she breathed on him and that had turned Johnnie from a beer-drinking, cigar-smoking, chick-humping man's man into a flaming faggot or something. It was beyond ridiculous to them.

Shego did not miss a beat. "Nah, he probably caught it from a toilet seat," she remarked with a half-smirk on her face.

"Don't you even start! You've only been encouraging Bonnie to act like a disgusting bitch since you came into the picture, you fucking animal!" Donnie declared.

"You know, for a guy that's met me twice in his lifetime, you're really pushing for there not to be a third meeting or much more lifetime," Shego growled, cracking her knuckles, which she was certain she would have to put on someone's cheek if things continued on.

"Sweetheart," Bonnie said, wrapping an arm around Shego's arm to keep her from really hurting someone. Sure, Bonnie hated her family and the feeling was mutual as far as she could tell, but she did not want Shego to assault one of her siblings. After all, she knew the damage Shego could do to a person. She did not hate them that much… yet.

"No, no, no. I'm not gonna stand here while some piss-ant, dick-weed calls you a bitch," Shego argued in a heated tone with a frown wrinkling her usually smooth face.

"I'm not just calling her one, but you, too. And that skinny bitch there. You're all fucking freaks!" Donnie hollered, pointing at Kim, who just stood back, glaring at the Rockwaller family.

An internal clock in Kim steadily ticked away, but no one could tell that by looking at her. She still gave off her normal, almost sweet aura. She even looked calm.

"Hey, fuck you!" Shego hollered, her anger clouding her brain to the point that she could not even think of anything witty to say in return.

"Don't call them freaks," Johnnie spoke up, sounding stronger while standing up for his sister and her girlfriends than he had for himself.

"Don't even start, you fucking homo," Ronnie jumped in.

"Don't call him that," Brick growled in anger. His anger seemed to have quieted down the older brothers for a moment since he was rather a big guy. He could probably break Ronnie in half if the urge overcame him.

"This is all your fault! You're awful and poisonous! You ruined everything!" Connie snarled, now in Bonnie's face over it. She glared down at her little sister with some harmful intent as far as Bonnie and Shego could tell.

"Back the fuck up off of her," Shego commanded in a cold, menacing tone, not liking the vibes from any of the older Rockwaller siblings at the moment. It seemed like this could go beyond their usual barbs. Mrs. Rockwaller seemed to be in a state of catatonic shock.

"Shego," Bonnie said, keeping her grip on the plasma-wielder to make sure she could rein Shego in if the need should arise.

Shego now stood in the face of Connie, practically nose to nose with the woman, glaring frosty daggers into Connie's soul. It was like she was daring Connie to say something else. Connie looked back at her with a hard gaze, refusing to back down.

"We knew you'd never amount to anything, but we actually had faith in Johnnie," Connie said in a deliberate tone with her eyes focused squarely on her baby sister, a sister she knew used to worship the ground she walked on and looked up to like she was some all mighty god when she was younger. A sister who she was always so certain was worthless and felt that needed to be said. "But, you've ruined that, like you ruin everything. Everything about your is worthless."

"Everything," Lonnie chimed in, sounding just as sincere as the eldest sister as she walked over to glare down at the baby of the family. Those words seemed to stop everything again, like the whole world was in super-slow-motion.

Bonnie had always suspected her sisters felt that way, but to have it confirmed, out in the air, made it seem real, solid, like she could touch the shame her family held for her, like it could crush her under its enormous weight. Why, her mind asked. Why did they treat her such a way? Why did they feel that way about her? Why?

Bonnie never understood it. What had she done? What made her so different? They all looked differently, so it could not be looks. They were all treated the same by their parents, annoyed by their mother and ignored by their father for the most part. Why did they seem to hate her most of all, even though they all treated each other poorly? It was just that sometimes, they got along with each other, but never with her. She was always on the outside looking in when it came to them. WHY, her mind demanded!

She was never one of them. Never. Feeling it was one thing, but having it confirmed… she was fairly certain her organs collapsed inside of her.

Bonnie's turquoise eyes seemed to crack as her soul shattered inside of her. Her siblings, minus Johnnie, had the nerve to look smug as they took in her pain. And then tears began to stream down Bonnie's face. She did not even realize she was crying.

And Connie had the gall to look like triumphal, smiling slightly, eyes shining from her cruel victory. Connie was happy to have killed her on the inside. Connie was happy to have shredded her to pieces that she might never be able to put back together and no one contradicted her. The silence only seemed to back Connie up and clawed at the rest of Bonnie, tearing off big chunks.

Shego scowled and growled like an animal. Her rage was so brilliant that it seemed almost to make her hair stand on end as her ire shot through her. She raised a flaming claw, ready to do some serious damage to Connie, to have Connie physically feel what Bonnie was going to through. Only problem was, she was beat to it.

Kim sprang to life in a flash that light would have envied. She moved faster than a thought, it seemed, which might explain what happened next. No eye noticed her even move from her spot near Johnnie, but she had to move. After all, there was no other way to explain why her fist crashed against Connie's disrespectful mouth, wiping that evil smile away like industrial strength cleaner. It did not even occur to the house what happened until Connie was on the floor, bleeding from her mouth and spitting out a tooth. Kim stood over her like a butcher over a lamb.

"Say something else," Kim dared Connie with a dark look in her olive eyes. Connie gulped and everyone was silent for what seemed like eternity.

"Kim," Bonnie and Johnnie muttered in disbelief, staring on with wide eyes.

Shego was not as shocked, having seen the darker side of Kim, more so than she liked actually. Right now, the only problem she had with it was that Kim beat her to hitting snobbish bitch. For a long moment, no one moved.

"What do you think you're doing?" Donnie demanded as he reached out a hand to grab Kim, but Brick grabbed his wrist.

"Why don't you just calm down?" Brick suggested, maintaining a tight grip on the older male's hand. Luckily, Brick was the bigger of the two or he knew there would be a fighting going on. Donnie was not looking to get his ass kicked it would seem.

It was probably best that Brick grabbed Donnie anyway. From the look in Kim's eye, she probably would have dropped him before he managed to touch her. Donnie growled.

"Calm down," Brick repeated in a strong tone.

"Yeah, before we have to drop a few more of you," Shego commented, still posed to take someone down. There were a lot of people there, after all. She did not know if one of them wanted to be brave. She hoped one of them did. She wanted to punish them all for treating Bonnie so terribly.

It was the act of violence that got Mrs. Rockwaller out of her daze. She looked down at Connie, who was curled up on the floor, looking rightfully afraid now. The middle-aged woman turned her attention to Bonnie and her "guests," looking at them with anger, near-hatred in her eyes.

"You ruined the whole night! You should go," Mrs. Rockwaller ordered her youngest child in an almost cold tone.

"I ruined the whole night?" Bonnie yelled incredulously, tears still staining her tanned cheeks. Her body started shaking uncontrollably. Why was it her fault? She had not attacked anyone verbally like her siblings had. All she did was show up! She guessed that was her mistake… from the first time she showed up twenty-five years ago. Or should she add the nine months she sat in the womb to that?

"Yes, just go!" Mrs. Rockwaller commanded, pointing to the door and stomping her foot to emphasize her order.

"Mom," Johnnie started to defend his little sister, but was not given the chance.

"You, too!" Mrs. Rockwaller pretty much screamed while her hand seemed to be stuck in the position of pointing at the door. "You started all of this, after all."

"I started all of this?" Johnnie hollered in disbelief, pointing to himself with his right hand. How the hell had he started it?

"Yes, you and your…" Mrs. Rockwaller could not even say the word "boyfriend" as she glared at Brick.

"Let's just go," Brick said to Johnnie while releasing Donnie's hand. He put his arm around Johnnie's shoulders in a protective manner while turning them both toward the front door.

"We should get out of here, too," Shego figured. Damn it, she was reduced to being the rational one now that Bonnie was having a breakdown and Kim completely had lost her temper.

"Yeah, I guess," Kim agreed. She glared at Connie one last time and then at the other Rockwaller siblings before turning to leave with her lovers. Her look actually stopped their hearts for a few seconds, but they easily regained their misplaced bravadoes.

"This isn't over. I'll see you in court," Connie said once Kim's back was to her.

"Call my fucking lawyer then, bitch," Kim replied while motioning to Bonnie. She then exited the house with her girlfriends. They were right behind Johnnie and Brick.

There were no words between them. Everyone just retreated to their vehicles. Kim drove home while Shego cradled Bonnie in the backseat. Kim drove because she had taken the chance to hit a Rockwaller, knowing Shego was the one that wanted to do it. So, she figured Shego should be the one to make the first effort at comforting Bonnie. Besides, she needed time to cool down.

Kim's heart pounded in her chest, fueled by the adrenaline coursing through her. How could she put Bonnie in that situation? She had to keep pushing for Bonnie to see her family, hoping somewhere in there, they were actually good people. After all, Bonnie turned out to be a good person, so she figured Bonnie's siblings might be, too. She was too wrong this time, she realized as she looked at Bonnie in the rearview mirror.

Bonnie cried the whole silent trip home. Shego was kind enough to carry her up to the apartment when they got there. She settled down on the sofa, which was where Kim came in to add her presence to it all. Bonnie leaned against Shego, but she took Kim's hand and clutched it tightly, as if she hung from a building and Kim was the only one that could pull her up.

"Why are they like that to me? What did I ever do to them? Why do they hate me so much?" Bonnie begged the air, wishing her lovers had answers for her. Her heart and soul desperately desired to know why her family treated her as they did.

"It's okay, Duchess. I promise you, everything's going to be fine, Duchess," Shego found herself saying while holding the younger woman in the most reassuring grip she could muster. She did not know what else to offer. She did not have the answers Bonnie sought and she doubted she ever would.

"We're here for you," Kim promised, showing she did not have much in the way of supportive dialogue either. She was just forced to point out the obvious.

"I know. I know. Thank you both," Bonnie replied sincerely, curling in closer to Shego. She was not sure what she would do in life if she did not have Kim and Shego. She probably would have given up on life, thinking no one could ever truly love her if she did not have Kim and Shego with her now.

Shego and Kim just waved her off. "You never have to thank us," Kim whispered and kissed the side of her head.

"We love you," Shego said, thinking Bonnie needed to hear that aloud.

"Love you with everything inside of us and always will," Kim promised.

Bonnie fell asleep before them that night, worn out from the emotional toll that was taken on her. She felt like she had been dragged through miles and miles of broken glass and it haunted her in her sleep. Kim and Shego stared down at her in her sleep, where she still looked slightly tense.

"I can't believe you hit that bitch before I could even move," Shego commented in a low tone as they settled into bed, each on an opposite side of Bonnie. She was impressed and envious that Kim knocked out a tooth from Connie's mouth, too. She ran her fingers through Bonnie's silken locks, loving the feel of them on her fingertips.

"That had been building since I met those jackasses," Kim admitted, sounding neutral on the subject, neither proud nor ashamed. Her hand rested on Bonnie's shoulder, gently caressing the attorney in her sleep.

Shego nodded, understanding how that was possible. She had only met the Rockwaller siblings twice, but Kim had to deal with them for years. She had to stand there and watch what they did to Bonnie for years. Shego was not sure how Kim made it.

"I don't know where you get all of this patience from, Princess, but you must've been a saint or something in a past life," Shego remarked.

"Why a past life? Why not now?" Kim teased a bit.

"Saints tend to avoid punching people in the mouth, splitting their lip open, knocking out their teeth, and then standing over the person as if saying 'you're my bitch now,'" the pale woman replied with a warm smile. "Besides, I think it's against the rules for a saint to be as sexy as you are anyway, especially when you're punching the shit out of people."

Kim chuckled a little bit and they were silent again. They focused on Bonnie, both still caressing her. They silently promised to be all of the family that she needed, to always be there for her, and to never make her feel as if she was lesser than they were. Sure, they could not fathom her pain, not coming from remotely similar situations, but they could empathize with her and they could love and support her.

"I didn't mean to hurt her," Kim said.

"You didn't hurt her, Princess. Those bastards hurt her. Her brothers and sisters constantly tearing her down hurt her. Her mother's silence hurt her. Her parents were supposed to squash that shit the second it started," Shego replied.

"But, I encouraged her to see them."

Shego snorted. "Because you believed in them. It's not wrong to believe in someone and you're right. People shouldn't just throw away family. Unfortunately, those jackass threw Bonnie away."

Kim sighed and looked down at Bonnie. "They're so stupid to throw away someone so precious."

"Some people are just stupid and do stupid shit like that. None of this was your fault," Shego replied.

Kim nodded, even though she did not totally agree. Eventually Kim fell asleep, the turmoil of the day catching up to her. Shego looked at both of her girlfriends and chuckled a bit before smiling fondly at them. She then turned over and reached for the phone, which had somehow found its way to her side of the bed again.

"This thing must have legs or something," she mumbled as she dialed a number. "Hey, Mommy, how you doing? …I just called to say 'hi.' …I know that's weird. Don't make a big fucking thing out of it, though. You around any of the guys?" she asked. By guys, she meant her father or her brothers. "Tell them to get on the phone, too… I just want to say hi. Stop asking so many damn questions."

-8-8-8-8-

Bonnie woke up to warm embraces, which she had expected. She wished she could snuggle into both, but that was not possible. But, the next best thing happened, her lovers drew closer to her.

"You slept longer than usual," Shego commented for lack of a better thing to say.

"You feel okay?" Kim asked with concern in her voice.

"I feel much better," Bonnie answered honestly. Better did not equal fine, but she knew she would be fine sooner or later. She had support and she was strong. Her siblings had yet to break her and she was not going to give them the satisfaction when she was doing so well in life.

"You want anything?" Shego offered.

"Just to stay here for the whole day," Bonnie replied with an oddly soft smile as she reached her hands up, placing one on each of her girlfriends' arms that were protectively around her.

"Done," the two martial artists said.

"Baby, I'm sorry about that," Kim apologized. If she had not been so insistent, they never would have even gone to the house.

"It's not your fault, Kim. Don't even think about feeling guilty or something, Possible," Bonnie commanded in her usual strong voice. Shego smiled, glad Bonnie backed up what she told Kim last night.

"Throwing the thought away right now," Kim replied with a slightly embarrassed smile. They were all silent for a while before Kim just had to say one thing that had been on her mind since last night. "I can't believe Johnnie is dating Brick Flagg."

"It's a bit of a surprise," Bonnie agreed.

"I never would've guessed Brick was gay," Kim commented.

"Baby, you didn't even guess you were gay," Bonnie teased a bit.

"It's a lot easier to figure out when you're kissing me at all kinds of random times before I even took you on a real date," the redhead remarked. "Since you dated Brick, did you ever suspect?"

That was enough to get Shego interested in the conversation. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you dated that guy?" she demanded.

"Dated, sweetie. Past tense, as in not happening anymore. Kim dated him, too, kind of anyway, which was sorta how I ended up dating him," Bonnie replied.

"What?" both Kim and Shego asked with perplexed expressions knotting up their faces.

"I didn't want him near Kimmie. So, I started dating him to keep him away from her. I was going to do the same thing with Josh Mankey. Hell, I even kissed Stoppable to try to get him away from you," Bonnie stated, making face on that last one.

"I thought you kissed Ron because Brick broke up with you," Kim pointed out.

"Well, sure, that's what I wanted you to think. I didn't give a damn about Brick. I knew he was gay since junior year. He figured out that I was in love with you around the same time," Bonnie countered.

"Brick Flagg figured out you loved me?" Kim was so incredulous that she could not even add to that beyond the echo.

"He's not as dumb as he seems. He can figure people out pretty well. It's books that confuse him. When I called him on being gay, he got kind of mad that I figured it out and tried to turn things on me, pointing out that I was, too, and taking a step further to utter words that were totally taboo to me back then, telling me I was in love with you. Caused us to break up for a little while, but then we got back together, figuring out that what better way to hide what we were than to be together. I mean, a gay football player and a lesbian cheerleader wouldn't have been the move, but we knew no one would figure us out if we stayed together."

"I guess being a gay quarterback wouldn't sit too well anywhere," Kim remarked in a mumble. "But, you guys were always all over each other and everything."

"Didn't it seem that we were a little too public with our relationship?" Bonnie said. She was especially clingy and affection with Brick when Kim was around back then, sometimes lying it on more thickly than she meant to.

"Um…" Kim was not sure how to answer that.

"You're so naïve, Kimmie," Shego chuckled, reaching over to run her free hand up and down Kim's arm.

Kim huffed and turned up her mouth. "Am not." Some things just went over her head.

"Don't worry, we love you that way," Bonnie commented with a soft smile.

"We love you, too," Kim and Shego assured the lawyer. "And we always will. You're an amazing woman and we're lucky to have you."

"I know and I know I'm lucky to have you two, even if you don't know how to act," Bonnie teased and they laughed a little.

Bonnie had absolute faith they would always love her and they would always be there for her. It was because of that she knew the wounds dealt to her last night would heal. She would go on and she would be loved.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: a brief intermission.