"Why would she have a change of morals just because you did? I think she's trying to exploit you for something."

Shego pulled her ring off and tucked it into the pocket of her track pants.

"It...makes perfect sense to us, Mother," was Drakken's tense reply.

At the sound of Drakken's voice, the dog leapt off the couch and ran for the stairs, barking excitedly.

Mrs. Lipsky closed a large umbrella and began taking off a plastic raincoat. Finding nowhere to put them, she turned and laid both across the bags in Drakken's arms and then strode down the stairs. She seemed unperturbed by the hard, forced smile Shego was giving her from the sofa. Shego's brow rose when the woman merely blinked at her, and then looked back up the stairs.

Shego followed her gaze to where Drakken was beginning his descent slowly, three grocery bags in his arms and one department store bag on his wrist, all now getting wet from the plastic coat and umbrella. His hair and clothes appeared a bit damp, and the dog was jumping up on his legs.

"Admiral Cuddles! Can't you see I'm busy right now? Down!"

Shego's anger faded slightly as she watched him struggle.

"Careful, Dr. D. Wouldn't want to sprain your wrist right before Christmas."

He peered at her from behind the bags with narrowed eyes.

"Shego," Mrs. Lipsky said, approaching her, "how are you feeling today?"

Shego blinked at the sudden change. "Uh... A little nauseous actually, but I'm on the mend," she answered honestly.

"That's good news," Mrs. Lipsky said, folding her hands in front of her.

Drakken tripped over his own foot as he reached the last stair and stumbled forward, barely maintaining his balance as the dog continued to run under his feet. One of the grocery bags started to slip to the floor.

"Oh, do be careful Drew. Shego," the woman turned to face her again, "since you're feeling so much better—"

Shego's brow rose.

"—wouldn't you rather spend Christmas with your own family, and not cooped up in here?"

Shego leaned back and made herself comfortable again, setting her feet up on the coffee table.

"I'm pretty used to it," she smirked. "And my family don't live around here."

"Oh, they don't?" she asked, beginning to frown.

"No. They live in Go City. You know... Shego...Team Go."

"Oh yes, I remember seeing that on the news... You were a hero before you decided to become a criminal."

Shego lay her braced wrist across her lap and nodded, her smirk staying on as she watched Drakken struggle. He was trying to pick up the fallen bag, but each time he bent over the dog would jump up and crawl into one of the others.

"My Drew seems very glad that you had a change of heart," Mrs. Lipsky continued. "He keeps insisting that you should spend Christmas here."

Shego barely heard her, still watching Drakken struggle in avoiding the dog. "Mhm."

"But I told him that surely you'd rather spend the time with family than with your employer."

Shego turned her head and faced the red-haired woman thoughtfully. "Well, a flight to visit my brothers would be...five hours longer than your flight here was..."

Mrs. Lipsky's eyes widened, and the corner of her mouth quivered in a grimace.

"And usually five minutes with them has me wanting to destroy something," Shego finished with a smirk.

"Oh..."

"Admiral Cuddles! Get down!" Drakken said in frustration as a second bag slipped from his grasp. He was still on his knees trying to manage all of them at once.

"What did you buy?" Shego asked, now wondering at the bags. "I thought I got everything you asked for."

"Oh no dear," Mrs. Lipsky said, "I looked through your refrigerator. You were missing lots of things."

Shego blinked and clenched her jaw, her anger beginning to return.

"But Mother..." Drakken said, his own jaw clenched as he tried to right the bags with one hand and hold back the dog at arm's length with the other. "We're not entertaining. It will just be the three of us. And...a little something for my two interns."

Shego cocked her head at that. She'd expected the henchmen to be entirely ignored unless needed.

"That doesn't mean we can't have a traditional Christmas!"

Shego looked between the two, starting to worry. What might Mrs. Lipsky have in mind for a traditional Christmas that Drakken hadn't already told her? She supposed if anything got too sickening she could hide in her room...

"Mother..." Drakken said with a hint of impatience, finally getting to his feet with all of the bags, "would you mind holding Admiral Cuddles while I put all of this away?"

"Of course not, dear. Come here Cuddles," she called.

The dog obediently ran to her and she scooped it up into her arms, where the dog began happily licking at her hands. In a few long strides, Drakken had vanished from the room with the groceries and other items, leaving the two women alone.

Mrs. Lipsky sat on the couch and set the dog in her lap, petting it kindly as it continued to lick her hands.

Shego studied the woman, who seemed much too spry and strong for someone her age. Her appearance was everything one would expect of a woman with a son approaching senior status himself. Her hair was thin, dyed, and teased to a ridiculous stature. Her cat-eye green-tinted glasses actually helped slim and feminize her masculine face a great deal, though it was still apparent to anyone looking that her son had gotten his nose and chin from her. Her blue eye-shadow was hidden behind the glasses, but the bright pink lipstick that most women her age favored stood out on the lower-half of her face. Her earrings and necklace were obviously cheap costume jewelry, and Shego suspected the beauty mark on her jaw was fake too. It only emphasized the size of her chin.

She was wearing a short-sleeved dark teal dress patterned with lighter-colored teal flowers. Shego could see by the fabric's texture that it was cheap, but the pattern was at least a bit more youthful than the things she had seen Mrs. Lipsky wear before. But clothing and makeup couldn't really hide the woman's age.

"Are you sure you won't be bored, spending Christmas here with your boss?" Mrs. Lipsky said.

Shego frowned. "I'm here all the time. If it was that boring, I'd...I'd have left a long time ago."

"I am curious, dear. What do you do?"

Shego blinked. "Do?"

"Yes, working for my son. He invents wonderful things to better the world. What do you do?"

Shego thought quickly. They hadn't gotten that far in planning lies, since they had planned to simply announce their engagement and let that settle everything. They hadn't expected the complications they had had so far.

"I'm...his personal assistant."

"Yes I know. But what do you do?"

Shego crossed her arms and shrugged. "Anything he wants."

"Do you bring him his coffee?"

Shego thought about that. In the context of work, never... "Yes," she lied.

"Do you cook for him?"

"Sometimes," she lied again.

"Do you help him with his inventions?"

"I get supplies for him."

Mrs. Lipsky blinked. Shego couldn't read her expression.

"Do you answer phones for him?"

"Yes."

The dog put its paws up on Mrs. Lipsky's chest, and she pushed it back down. The woman's expression had lost some of its hardness toward her, but still didn't offer any warmth.

"Does my son pay you well?"

Shego thought of the previous morning and grinned. "Yes."

"Is that why you stay?"

Shego sat forward with a start. Her grin vanished.

"All right, Mother," Drakken said, re-entering the room. The dog leapt down and ran to its master, and Drakken scooped it up. "Everything is put away."

"At last! Now you can give me that tour of your home you promised me, Drewbie."

Drakken was setting the dog back down and looping his leash around his wrist He brushed his damp hair back from his forehead and looked up with a weak smile.

"If...if you'd like, Mother."

Shego sat back with relief. The rapid-fire questioning and lying had thrown her off more than she expected. Especially the question about if she stayed for his money.

As she thought about it more, her anger began to build. Just what was the woman's problem with her? She turned back and was about to ask, when—

"And Shego, I'd love to see where you work and what you do."

Shego's eyes narrowed. She opened her to mouth to speak...and suddenly Drakken was in front of her, grabbing her good hand and pulling her to her feet.

"That's a wonderful idea, Mother! Then you can see just how important Shego is to me."

Shego's view of the smaller woman was completely cut off as Drakken handed her her crutch and gave her a warning look. Shego's eyes only narrowed further.

"Ah, Mother...would you mind refreshing Admiral Cuddles's water dish? He's acting a bit parched. It would...give me a moment to get out of these damp clothes before your tour."

"Of course, Son. Anything for my Drewbie."

"Eh-heh..." Drakken laughed nervously.

"You should change too, Shego. You're covered in dirt."

Shego looked down at the t-shirt she'd put on, accurately covered in dust from all of her searching for wrapping paper that morning.

Drakken whirled around and handed the leash to his mother, still blocking Shego's view of her entirely.

"I'll help you to your room, Shego," he said with put-on cheer as his mother disappeared into the kitchen.

As soon as she was gone, Drakken's entire frame slackened. Shego turned her glare on him.

"What was that all about?"

"You were about to say something!"

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I could see it in your eyes. You were going to...to insult her, or something."

"She deserves it. You know she thinks I only work for you because you pay me a lot? Does she still think I'm evil or something?"

"Yes," Drakken said, turning and heading toward the hall. "Come on, we'd better change."

Shego looked after him, then down at her shirt, and then at her crutch. "Sure, I can walk. Not a problem, Doc."

He was already gone, and she hurried after him as fast as she was able. She needed to blow off a lot more steam before spending time with that woman. And more importantly, they needed to make a decision about telling her about the engagement. And this might be the only moment alone they had for the rest of the day.

"Drakken..." she said once she reached the hall, but he was already in his room.

Frowning, Shego hobbled into her own room and sank onto her bed with a frustrated growl. She threw off her t-shirt and glanced over at her dresser. Maybe she should just say she's sick and hide out until dinner... She did still feel a little nauseous, which was strange.

Of course, Drakken's mother would make anyone nauseous.

She hopped over to the dresser and started to grab another t-shirt...when she suddenly had a devious idea.