KP – The Light at the End: Part 53


"I can't believe I let you talk me into this, K." Bonnie's voice drifted through the closed door of the small dressing room that had been provided for them by the First United Mount Middleton Church of Christ.

Kim leaned against the door jamb, already wearing her dress. Patiently, she adjusted her earrings, thankful at least for the small favor that the emeralds actually went with the atrocity that enveloped her slender body.

"Nobody made you do this, Bonnie. Sherry asked, you said yes, end of story."

"Well…I had too many margaritas, or something like that." She opened the door, sticking her head out first to make certain that her former rival was the only one in the anteroom at the moment. Unlike Kim, she looked like she had been poured into the green and silver taffeta horror, though that was more due to her own buxom proportions than the bridesmaid dress being a poor fit. "So just what happened to that nice navy dress she showed us at the Bachelorette party?"

"I don't think she ever had any intention of having me wear that dress. You shouldn't complain, like you said, you wanted another chance to catch the bouquet."

"She should have let us wear that one. It looked nice, and I could have worn it in public. I'm just glad there aren't going to be that many people here for this wedding, and none of them know me anyway."

Kim crossed her arms, taking a sideways peek out the shaded window. She wouldn't have minded having a margarita of her own at that moment, though, just as she said to Bonnie, it was just as well there were not many people attending the nuptials.

By that, she meant that, besides Drakken's mother and her own parents, she didn't know who else would actually be there.

Well, no, she had to take that back. At least one of Sherry's brothers would be there. Despite being Bonnie's live-in boyfriend, Mego somehow managed to maintain a semi-close relationship with his sister, even when she was a criminal. It was very likely he would have come even if she hadn't somehow managed to finagle Bonnie Rockwaller into being her second bridesmaid.

"I just hope we can get this over with quickly so I can change back into normal people clothes." Bonnie griped as she attempted to adjust the bodice.

"I don't know, Bonnie. I kinda hate to admit this, but you actually make that thing look good."

"Shows you still don't know all that much about fashion, K. I'd probably get arrested within five minutes trying to wear this back in Go City."

"Ugh, oh please. It's not like you look like a hooker in it, Bonnie. It's a decent enough dress that way, it's just ugly."

"That's what I mean, Kim. I'm not worried about the Go City police force, I'm talking about the fashion police. I do have certain standards I have to maintain."

Kim started to say something, but changed her mind, turning her attention to the limo parked outside. Sure as she did open her mouth, it would turn out the fashion police actually were real, so she didn't want to be the first one to stick her foot in her mouth. They may have put their one-time rivalry behind them, but some things just simply did not change.

She caught sight of a tall, slender man wearing a nice black suit. Mego was obviously wearing some sort of holographic generator to disguise the fact his skin was normally a rather light shade of violet, and his hair the color of a dark red wine.

"How are things with you and the BF?" Kim asked, letting the shade fall back on the window.

"Oh, pretty much the same as when you and Ron stayed with us a few months ago."

Kim grinned at her, narrowing her eyes just slightly. "He still not taking a hint?"

"Oh, he will, eventually. Besides, he's going to have all kinds of chances, like with me graduating in two weeks, or maybe at your wedding. Maybe even here, since I'll be damned if anyone else is catching that bouquet."

Kim's smile widened. "Oh, and what makes you think you're going to be the one? I'm the one who knows sixteen kinds of kung fu."

Bonnie crossed her own arms. "Now how is that fair? You've already got a fiancé, and you're getting married in just a few more weeks. Give the rest of us a chance." Her eyes narrowed slightly "Though I think you've got a way big opinion of your chances. I am still on a cheerleading squad, and you've been…what have you been doing?"

"Finishing up college, Bonnie. I left cheerleading behind because I didn't have anything to prove any more."

"You weren't competing with me any more." Bonnie shot back with an evil grin.

"No."

"It's true. I know for a fact you already had a spot on their squad, but you passed it up because I wouldn't be there."

"No, that's not it, Bonnie. I'm not sure exactly why I felt the way I did, but one thing for sure, Middleton College isn't exactly known for it's sports teams, so the cheerleading squad wasn't that big a deal. If I'd have gone to GCU…"

"Hah. Those girls would have eaten you alive. You'd have to spend the first three years just being the low girl on the totem pole again, because only seniors can be captain. I'd have given you a month." She started tapping her chin, as if lost in thought. Instead, it turned out she was lost in memory. "No, make that two weeks."

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you, Bonnie? Well, I wasn't the one who bailed when I found out being captain was hard work."

"And I'm not the one who went blabbing to her boyfriend that I wouldn't last two weeks either."

"I was right, and Ron wasn't my boyfriend back then."

Bonnie shook her head. "Whatever you say, K, whatever." Bonnie took a spot at the opposite edge of the window. "Oh, speak of the devil. Wonder what Grapevine and Ronnie are talking about?

Kim looked at them herself. Ron may have been somewhat taller than he had been for most of his life, but he still looked a little small beside the lanky superhero. Not that she minded. She would have loved him just as much if he was still shorter than her.

"Probably something along the lines of how ferociously weird it is that I'm about to be the maid of honor for a woman who used to try to kill me."

"Talk about not letting something go, Kim. I thought you and…Sherry were friends now." She met Kim's eyes for a moment, having almost called her Shego again, even after being corrected about a dozen times at the so-called Bachelorette party.

"No, I'm serious. I was reading Ron's lips and that's what he was saying to Mego."

"You can read lips?"

"Doy, I can do anything, remember?"

"Ugh, so you keep reminding everyone, ad nauseum. So, what's my sweetie saying?"

"That he hopes this is over soon enough so he can have a beer." Kim curled the edge of her mouth up slightly, suppressing a snicker since it was actually the honest truth.

Bonnie just rolled her eyes, knowing herself that was probably the foremost thing on her boyfriend's mind.

"Are you two going to keep babbling, or are you going to help me get dressed in here?" Sherry's voice trailed from the dressing room.

The two younger women abandoned their spots at the window and stepped into the slightly darker room. Amethyst was standing on a wooden chair, valiantly trying to help her mother zip up the pastel green wedding dress.

"Well don't just stand there gawking, help me." She growled, her eyes sparkling green very slightly as her power tried to reassert itself.

Kim gently picked the toddler up off the chair and set her on the floor, while Bonnie took her own turn trying to work the zipper. "You sure you're gonna fit in this thing?"

"It fit when I bought it, but then I had a professional help me into it."

"Oh please. I know more about fashion than that hack ever will. Hey, maybe you and blue boy've been…"

"Hey, my daughter is right here, you know. Zip it with the 'married people hugs' talk."

"Married people hugs?" Kim asked, once again stifling a giggle.

"Mommy says that's what she does with Daddy." Ammie chimed in, looking just as uncomfortable in a dress that mirrored the bridesmaid dresses, though in a shade of purple that went quite well with her name.

"Riiiight."

"Well I don't know what the people who made this dress did differently, it's just plain stuck." Bonnie growled, squinting at the fine-toothed zipper.

"Bonnie, why don't you go check on the boys and I'll take a look." Kim offered.

The brunette grunted once and stalked out, muttering about being seen anyone in her dress.

"What'd you do that for, Princess? If I remember right, you're not exactly the domestic goddess type."

Kim leaned down, looking at the tab, then backed it up a couple inches. "I just wanted to spare Bonnie a little embarrassment. She wears glasses for reading, but doesn't want anyone to know it and she couldn't see the thread that was caught in the zipper." She tucked the loose string inside and pulled the zipper up to the middle of the older woman's back.

"Didn't know you cared."

"Just how long have you known me Sherry?"

Sherry made a slight noise in the back of her throat. "Long enough to know that you and miss bubble-chest there used to be at each other's throats. It's a different world now, isn't it, Kimmie?"

"If you say so." She stepped back, surveying her handiwork.

"Who'd a thunk? Me and Dr. D getting hitched in thirty."

"Honestly, Sherry, that kind of caught me blindside. I know he's been real good to Ammie, but the two of you? With your age difference?"

"Hey, not everyone gets to have a guy who's just a week apart. It's not like Drakken's old or anything."

"No. Guess I just wasn't looking at you two that way is all."

"You know, Princess, sometimes you really aren't all that." Sherry sat down and started fiddling with the straps of her high heals.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kim leaned against the counter, crossing her arms.

"Look at you and the sidekick."

"Ron's not a sidekick." Kim protested.

"Whatever. What I'm getting at is that everybody on the planet knew you two had something going on except for you…and maybe Drakken."

"I've heard all this before, Sherry. From you, from Mom, from Dad…it gets old. I had to do a lot of growing up before I was ready to fall in love with Ron."

"Growing up doesn't have a whole lot to do with falling in love there, Cupcake. In my case I had to let go of some of the 'growing up' I did to realize my feelings for him were deeper than 'he makes a nice daddy.'" She glanced over at Ammie, who was playing with a stuffed doll she had brought along and wasn't paying the adults the least bit of attention.

"You really love him, don't you?"

"Yeah, and it's not about the 'married people hugs' snort either. I guess I can't explain it. On the one hand, I think I've seen him as kind of a father figure in my life, which is strange since my Dad died when I was twelve and I didn't have anyone like that until I met him…and no, Herman…Hego doesn't count. Yet now, looking back, I wonder if that was just some kind of cover for what I was really feeling about him. Then I noticed something about you and Stoppable."

Kim raised her eyebrows, in a silent indication she wanted the other woman to go on.

"You two always stuck by each other, no matter what. At first I thought it might be some kind of weird pity thing. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who had many real friends, and knowing how goody-goody you were I figured you stuck by him out of some notion of obligation."

"It's not like that."

"Yeah, I know that now, but outside of our…professional activities, I really didn't know you all that well. Look at it through my eyes. Pretty cheerleader and a wimp loser."

"Sherry." Kim almost growled.

"Just hear me out, Kimmie. So he's this obviously unpopular geek, and it's pretty easy to assume he stuck by you like a little lost puppy."

Kim frowned, realizing how close to the mark that had almost become, especially when she pushed Ron aside to date Erik. Just thinking of that short, but intense period made her scrunch her eyes shut in anger and shame.

"Now it's clear to me. Long before you two fell in love, he was your best friend. It wasn't geek-obligation or anything, but honest, real friendship. The kind that meant you'd die for each other even if the romantic stuff didn't happen. That was the foundation of your relationship, and when you did start sucking face with him…"

Kim simply rolled her eyes.

"…I started thinking. You've got friends, I'm sure, but nobody quite like Ron. Part of me got really green-eyed jealous of that, because I didn't have a friend like that. Hell, I didn't really have friends. Yeah, there've been guys along the way, but that was…you know."

"Uh huh."

"Then I realized that, if nothing else, maybe Drakken really was that kind of friend. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it really was true. Then we got into the whole 'best friend with benefits' thing, and slowly I realized that maybe what you and Ron have is what we have. So see, if you two hadn't gotten together, I might still be…" She stopped, getting a slightly far away look in her eyes.

Kim looked at Ammie, then back at Sherry, realizing just who the raven-haired beauty was thinking about. The moment green eyes met green-tinged brown ones, both knew that nothing needed to be said about it. They were both there that day several years earlier.

Almost without thinking about it, Kim caught Sherry in a long, tight hug.

"I'm not going to cry." Sherry muttered as she returned the embrace. "It's my wedding day, it's supposed to be the happiest day of my life."

They both looked down as another set of arms wrapped around their legs, joining the hug. Ammie might have been too young to know what the women were actually talking about, but she wasn't going to miss out nonetheless.

"Here." Kim picked up a tissue and helped Sherry dab her eyes before her makeup could run.

Bonnie stuck her head in the door. "Everybody's in the church, unless you want to try for 'fashionably late.'"

"Ready?" Kim asked softly.

Sherry nodded. "Almost." She took a couple steps toward the door, taking her daughter's hand in hers. Looking back at Kim, she smiled.

It started with her eyes. They didn't just glitter slightly, they turned from a deep, almost black shade of brown to luminous green. The color, which was more of a deep glow than a pigment, spread from her face, down the expansive exposed part of her chest, then down her arms, disappearing into the long white gloves she was wearing, until her skin was a shade of green only slightly lighter than that of her wedding dress. For the briefest moment, her free hand was wreathed in green fire as the blue-black shine of her hair took on a distinctively green cast.

Kim stood there with her mouth open. "I…thought you were going to do this as Sherry Godfrey, not Shego."

"One of these days you'll understand, Princess. We're one in the same."


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