Drakken hurried out of his room, now changed out of the rain-dampened clothing and into some comfortable jeans and a deep blue polo shirt he knew his mother would approve of. Re-tying his ponytail, he dashed down the hall toward the kitchen on the off-chance that Shego had decided not to change and might be verbally assaulting his mother.
When he arrived, his mother was alone, cooing at Admiral Cuddles as he lapped gratefully from his water dish.
"Ahh...Mother," he sighed in relief.
"I'm so glad Admiral Cuddles is working out. I was so concerned..."
Drakken approached her. "Concerned about what?"
"Concerned that you wouldn't accept a gift from me."
"Oh...Mother, why would you say such a thing?" he asked, brow furrowing in worry.
"Because...it's the mother's fault if the child doesn't turn out well."
"Mother... That's not true."
Drakken hugged her to console her.
"He's right."
Shego's voice in the doorway drew their gazes. Drakken gasped and his mother's eyes widened at her appearance.
Shego had let her hair out of its bun and now wore it in a high ponytail. She still wore the velour black track pants that hugged her hips and had a low-rise fit. Both features had previously been concealed under the baggy t-shirt, but now showed as she had opted for a very different top. She had put on a cropped, skin-tight spaghetti-strapped pink tank top, and was very clearly lacking a bra. The crutch she leaned on and the brace on her wrist did nothing to detract from the effect of the new, skimpy look.
"Ultimately, a kid will make their own choices. No matter how good the parents are," she continued with a smirk, hobbling toward them. "That's what happened to me."
With great effort, Drakken forced his eyes to stay on Shego's face as she approached them.
"Drew," his mother whispered in her usual far-too-loud voice obviously intended for others to hear, "does your assistant usually dress so inappropriately?"
"N-no," he shook his head lightly, his own voice barely audible. "She...usually..." His voice trailed off as his thoughts evaporated in the face of Shego's smug look. "Ah...Mother, we can begin the tour of the lair—the a-apartment here. This is the kitchen."
His mother blinked at him. "I know."
"Ah-hah, yes, of course. Well, on to the lab—uh, the, I mean...yes, the lab."
He rushed past Shego without making eye contact.
Shego watched his mother follow a moment later, looking her up and down critically without any pretense, and then she turned to hobble after them. Admiral Cuddles left his water bowl with a tiny growl and trotted along at her side. Shego was too pleased with herself to care about the dog's attention.
When she entered the hall, Drakken was waiting by the lab door, fidgeting with his fingers as he waited for them to catch up, an enormous fake smile plastered on his face.
"This is...where I make my world-saving inventions, Mother!" Drakken said brightly as his mother approached.
"Oh, goody! I can't wait to see them!"
"I'll even...let you see some of the new ones I haven't patented yet, if you promise to keep them secret," he continued.
"Of course, Son!" Mrs. Lipsky said.
Drakken opened the door and gestured inside. Mrs. Lipsky hurried past, her hands raised in excited fists next to her face.
As soon as she was in, Drakken turned to Shego with a scowl.
"Now remember," Shego whispered with a smirk, "we're going full-hero on her."
"I know that!" Drakken hissed. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Having fun," Shego said, hopping a bit as she adjusted her weight on the crutch. "She doesn't like me. So I'm just making her visit bearable."
"But we're going to tell her about—"
"Drew, what does this do?"
Drakken tossed one more scowl at Shego as he hurried into the lab after his mother. She was bent over an array of apparent humanoid robotic parts on his workbench.
"Ah...those are...advanced prosthetics. A soldier loses an arm? They can have a...a fully-functional robotic one instead! Or a person is born without legs? Not to worry! Robotic legs will be available to them at a...a very affordable rate!"
"Oh, my wonderful, brilliant son!" Mrs. Lipsky cried, embracing Drakken around the waist. A genuine smile broke through his facade at her praise. "Making the world a better place!"
"Ah...y-yes, Mother."
"I'm so glad those awful aliens came and made you come to your senses!"
Drakken's smile faded. "Yes, well... There are some things...that everyone should be able to agree on."
He glanced at Shego, and her smirk faded a bit.
Mrs. Lipsky moved on to look at the other planted inventions laid out on the various workstations for her to view.
"That reminds me, Drew... The news reporters said that your super-plant invention had...transformed you into some sort of human-plant hybrid. Is that true?"
"Ah...um... O-of course not, Mother," he said nervously.
"Nah, it's more of an annoyance," Shego said, catching up to them. The dog jumped up on her legs, whimpering for attention, but she ignored it.
"Drew?"
Drakken shot her a quick glare.
"Well it's...I..."
Mrs. Lipsky looked between the pair of them, a frown forming each time she looked at Shego.
"It's more of a...a parasite," he finished.
The older woman gasped and her hands covered her mouth.
"I'm still figuring it out."
Mrs. Lipsky started looking her son over, clearly looking for evidence of the 'parasite.' Shego finally reached Drakken's side and smirked up at him.
"It's more comical, than anything else," she said.
Mrs. Lipsky frowned. "How do you know? Are you a scientist like my son?"
Shego blinked in surprise at the woman's sudden ire.
"Mother, it's...it's really not a problem. I hardly even think about it anymore."
"I help him with it every day," Shego retorted.
Mrs. Lipsky looked between the two of them, her gaze narrowing as she looked at Shego's chest for a moment before meeting her eyes.
"Oh?"
"Yes."
"She...she gives me injections to suppress it. Something I...came up with recently," Drakken explained.
Mrs. Lipsky still didn't look convinced.
"Mother, how about we go and look at my office? I think you'll be very impressed with the accolades I have achieved in the last few months..."
Drakken ushered his mom back through the door and down the hallway. Shego turned to follow, but Admiral Cuddles started chewing on her crutch.
"Hey! Let go, Cuddles!"
She shook the crutch to get him off, hopping on her good leg as she lost balance. She had to put her right leg down as the dog ran under her again, causing her to trip. She hissed at the pain behind her as the healing wound was pressured from her steps.
"Owww... Come on, you just started being almost tolerable," she complained to the dog.
'Rrarf!'
"Can't you go annoy Drakken?"
The dog wagged its tail, looking at her curiously as she leaned heavily on the crutch. She headed out of the room and down the hall toward Drakken's office—a place scarce few people besides the two of them had ever entered—with the dog walking at her side once again.
When she arrived she leaned against the door frame, the pain in her leg growing. She wondered if a stitch had been ripped again. Inside the office, Drakken and his mother were bent over some small objects on the floor. The dog trotted into the room toward them as Shego took in the scene.
"So that's where you ran off to yesterday... How did you get in here?" Drakken said, frowning at the dog.
Shego peered at the objects on the ground and recognized some of the knick-knacks she had purchased two days prior, of a sleigh and little reindeer and a fat Santa Claus. The dog picked up the Santa in his mouth and began growling at it.
"Admiral Cuddles!" Drakken scolded, kneeling down to pull the plaster piece from the dog's mouth. After doing so he began gathering up the other decorations.
"Oh, my heroic son!" Mrs. Lipsky cried, now admiring the medal from the UN mounted on the wall.
Drakken beamed with pride as he dropped the ruined decorations in his trash can.
"And all these honors from all these countries!" she said, looking at the various other smaller medals hanging up on the wall around the other one. "France...England...Canada..."
"It was...a rather spectacular feat," Drakken said, puffing up a bit under the praise. Shego smirked and shook her head.
"And all of these job offers!" she continued, flipping through the planted stack of papers on his desk. "Are you sure you don't want to take any of them?"
Drakken shook his head. "No, Mother. I don't want to be tied down. I'll...be able to help more people if I'm working independently"
Mrs. Lipsky folded her hands in front of her as she turned to face her son.
"Drew... You make me so happy!"
Drakken blushed lightly.
"I was so worried, when I heard about...about everything you'd done..." Her face fell.
"That's all in the past, Mother!" Drakken said quickly, lifting her chin with one hand.
"You...you promise?" she asked.
"Yes," Drakken nodded, swallowing nervously.
Mrs. Lipsky lowered her voice and lifted her hand as if to whisper conspiratorially. But of course, her voice was clearly audible as she pointed with her other hand at Shego.
"You won't let anyone tempt you back into a life of crime?"
"Hey!" Shego cried, starting into the room.
"Mother! Shego is...no more a criminal than I am."
Shego halted her advance with a small smirk.
Mrs. Lipsky didn't look convinced, but she sighed. "If you say so, dear... But are you sure your judgment isn't still compromised?"
"What do you mean?" Drakken asked.
"Well, you must have had someone," Mrs. Lipsky glanced at Shego, "or something influencing you to lead you down the wrong path to begin with. I'm just concerned that you might still be listening to some bad advice."
Shego glared. But before she could retort, the dog ran and jumped on her injured leg again, taking her by surprise. She stumbled back against the wall, dropping her crutch and grabbing the back of her leg with a hiss of pain.
"Admiral Cuddles!" Drakken scolded fiercely.
For once, the dog appeared remorseful. It ran out of the room whimpering.
Drakken looked between Shego who was scowling, and his mother who was frowning.
"Shego is valuable to my work, Mother," he said after a moment, crossing the room and picking up the crutch for her.
Mrs. Lipsky blinked and then glanced around the room. "So...where do you work, Shego?"
Shego held onto the crutch but continued rubbing her leg, ignoring the question.
"Shego...sits there," Drakken pointed to the chair she typically lounged in. The Villainess magazines usually in the nearby rack had been hidden away ahead of time.
"And what does she do?"
"She's my assistant... Mother, let's...continue on with the tour," Drakken said, hurrying to her side and ushering her out of the room. "We have a lot left to do before tonight's dinner, anyway."
"Oh. All right, what's left?"
"Ahh... J-just, where the interns work, and the bedrooms," he said, pushing her through the door.
Shego hopped a few steps after them and then leaned against the wall. Her idea of teasing Drakken and his mother had evaporated as the pain in her leg grew. Why was she even going with them? There would clearly be no winning his mother over to liking her. And her idea of wearing the skimpy top to annoy her wasn't going very far.
"Shego?"
She looked down the hall to where Drakken and his mother had paused as he looked back at her.
"Go on," she said. "I'm done."
Drakken left his mother and jogged slowly back to her side.
"Come on," Drakken urged quietly.
"Why? She's not going to like me," Shego said. "Let's just...get through Christmas and never tell her about us."
"Not tell her!?" Drakken said incredulously.
"Yeah. Just do this whole thing without me."
"Shego... She just needs to get to know you."
Shego frowned at him.
"Really. We'll...go do something where she can't accuse you of being evil anymore."
Shego shook her head. "Hurts too much to walk."
Drakken sighed through his nose and then took a deep breath. "I'll carry you," he said.
"Oh, your mother will love that..." Shego said, rolling her eyes.
"Drew?"
Drakken glanced back toward where his mother had called. He bit his lip and then bent down, carefully picking Shego up.
"Drew! You can't— She...she's not dressed appropriately for you to do that," Mrs. Lipsky said boldly.
Shego's nails dug into Drakken's neck as she scowled.
"M-Mother...that's enough."
Shego's eyes widened in time with Mrs. Lipsky's.
"Drew Theodore P. Lipsky! How dare you speak to me that way?"
"Mother, Shego is hurt. It's...my dog's fault that she's hurt, and it's not fair to...to make her risk hurting herself further."
Shego's death-grip on Drakken's neck relaxed. Mrs. Lipsky's glare began to slowly soften.
"If she would have gone home for Christmas—"
"She is home. She's not close to her brothers."
Mrs. Lipsky crossed her arms. "Well surely her parents—"
"My parents are dead," Shego said, adjusting her grip on the crutch she carried.
Mrs. Lipsky's brow rose and her gaze softened significantly.
"Oh...my."
"Forty-five..." Shego muttered.
"What?" Mrs. Lipsky asked.
"Nothing," Shego answered, shaking her head.
A pregnant silence filled the hallway. The two Lipskys glanced at each other, and then around at the stone walls and floor. After a moment, Shego cleared her throat.
"How about the rest of that tour?"
Drakken shifted his hold on her. "Good idea," he said, stepping up to walk alongside his mother. Shego saw the pleading look he gave the shorter woman.
"All right dear. What's left?"
"Ah...the...um..."
"Main lab," Shego said.
Drakken looked at her, and then nodded at his mother.
"Yes. That's where...the interns work," he said, stepping past his mother and starting down the hallway.
Shego wanted to lay her head on Drakken's shoulder, but she knew better. She sighed, hoping she could just escape soon. Drakken took a few steps, and then...
"What's down there, Drew?"
Drakken turned around and they saw his mother standing at the staircase that led down to the henchmen's quarters, the shark tank, and other unpleasant things.
"Oh... N-nothing. Um. Apartments...where the interns live."
"There are other apartments? Oh, I could come move in with you! Then we could make up for lost time!"
Drakken bit his lip and Shego dug her nails into his neck again.
"Ah...um, n-none of the apartments are vacant, Mother. I have lots and lots of interns."
"Oh, that's a shame. Are you sure, Drew?"
"Yes," both Shego and Drakken said together. They looked at each other before Drakken continued. "I'm sure, Mother. S-sorry."
Mrs. Lipsky frowned and then walked ahead of them.
"Where is this main lab?" she asked tersely.
Drakken led the way through the maze of halls and down another staircase. The moat was flowing with its sinister green glow, and the huge computer screen stood out as the centerpiece along with the generator, but otherwise the room had been stripped bare of all of its evil accoutrements.
"And what do you do here?" Mrs. Lipsky asked.
"Um... I..."
"The interns test inventions down here," Shego supplied, looking over Drakken's shoulder at the shorter woman.
"Oh. You've given them a lot of space."
"The...whole facility is large," Drakken said nervously. He adjusted his grip on Shego and looked around the room.
"Shego...do you ever work down here?" Mrs. Lipsky asked.
Shego pursed her lips into a smirk. "Occasionally. But mostly I'm upstairs with Dr. D."
"Oh Drew..." Mrs. Lipsky turned and headed back up the stairs. "Why are you still going by that awful name you used as a...as a criminal?"
Drakken followed and Shego smirked at him.
"It's...part of my image, Mother."
"The world wouldn't recognize him otherwise. Although the blue skin is kind of a giveaway," Shego chuckled. She was warming back up to the idea of teasing them both, now that she wasn't stuck hobbling behind them.
"Oh I do wish you could find a cure for that. I miss your handsome face the way it used to be," Mrs. Lipsky said as they reached the top of the stairs.
"I dunno, I think he looks kind of cute," Shego said, pinching his cheek.
Mrs. Lipsky looked back at them with wide eyes and a raised brow.
Drakken cleared his throat anxiously.
"Mother, it's almost lunch time... How about we have a picnic on the beach?"
Her brow twisted in confusion. "But it's raining?"
"Not anymore," Shego said, pointing to the window that was just a tiny hole in the stone wall. It was still overcast, but heat from the sun was coming in. The clouds would be gone soon.
Shego felt the muscles of Drakken's arms starting to shake, and she slid down out of his grip and balanced on her good leg, one arm around his waist.
"I might sit this one out, actually. But that dog needs a chance to run around," she added.
Drakken gasped. "Admiral Cuddles! I...I yelled at him."
Shego wanted to roll her eyes at the pathetic look on his face. But unfortunately, the situation did seem worth some concern.
"Yeah... You'd better go find him, before he destroys something."
Drakken waited until Shego was leaning on her crutch before sprinting away down the hall.
"I'll help while you go change, Shego dear!" Mrs. Lipsky called, hurrying after her son.
Shego frowned, and then looked down at her cleavage. Her pale green skin was set off nicely by the pink top.
A distant scream from Drakken caused her to grimace. Apparently the worst had happened where the dog was concerned. She wasn't too keen on finding out what that was.
She smirked however as she hobbled down the hall. She had a few other pink items in her wardrobe, courtesy of a shopping trip with Kim Possible when she'd been under the influence of the Reverse Polarizer. Perhaps she would change...and then join the Lipskys on the beach after all.