Day 96

Drakken's grief looked much more like Shego had expected after that. Following the agony of the morning he gradually began coming back to the person she knew, the misplaced anger vanishing and being only occasionally replaced by anger toward himself. For the most part, it was clear...he was just in pain.

Shego had stayed in the lab with him, at his side instead of across the room, as his resolve to find either a cure or a vaccine increased. She worried as she watched him work. With every hour that passed he looked more and more haunted, and his efforts against the virus were frequently broken by crying spells mixed with coughing. She dutifully tended to him and didn't remind him once about what had begun tormenting her.

What if something was wrong with the baby?

She had almost brought it up that night when he asked her to bed with him. But the pain in his eyes silenced her. So she'd only held him close as he clung to her and cried himself to sleep. She was more alert to her own body than ever before as she worried and wondered... He fell asleep first and about an hour later she finally slipped into slumber with him, both of them emotionally exhausted.

Shego was the first to wake the next morning. They lay exactly as they had when falling asleep: on their sides, chests pressed tightly together and arms around each other's backs. His leg was up over her hip, and she had lain both of hers across his other.

Her left arm and left hip were stiff from laying on them all night, and her cheek hurt from where it rested atop his right arm. The tangle they were in had been a relief at first, but it was impractical for actual sleep.

She started to peel out of his tight embrace when suddenly, she felt a familiar flicking within her abdomen. Light and hope rose in her chest even as tears sprang to her eyes as she concentrated on the feather-light sensation.

"Drakken!" she said quietly. "Drakken!"

The blue man didn't budge, his face twisted in pain even in sleep. She cuddled closer to him again and felt the slowness of his heartbeat compared to hers.

"Drakken," she said, squeezing his shoulder. The flicking feeling stopped and his only response to her was to hum in displeasure and hold her tighter.

She sighed. "I wonder how that teddy bear survived so long..."

She pushed hard on his shoulders as she tried to extract herself from his grasp, but it only caused him to hold on tighter. She paused to catch her breath as she realized she had begun to sweat.

"Hmm..."

She set a hand on his chest between them and ignited it.

'One... Two...'

"Aaahhh!" he screamed and scrambled away from her, his hands batting at his chest as his eyes looked around in panic.

Shego leaned on her side and lifted her glowing hand as she smirked.

"Good morning."

"Shego!"

He frowned and continued wiping at the front of his pajama shirt even though there were no flames. An annoyed and concerned humming escaped his lips every few seconds that Shego found endearing.

A second later Drakken was knocked back on the mattress as Shego tackled him, her lips meeting his with a long hum of happiness.

"Shego..." he said again with less annoyance when she came up for air.

She watched as he lay his head back on the mattress and closed his eyes.

"My head hurts."

Her smirk softened. "I'll bet..."

"And my eyes and...my everything."

Shego rolled off of him and started re-arranging the pillows by the headboard. "Come here. Rest a bit longer."

"I need to get back to work..." he said, sadness creeping back into his eyes.

"Come here." She patted the mattress and then tugged on his arm. He relented and lay on his back, his head propped up by the pillows, and she cuddled into his side and lay her head on his chest. She reached across him for the TV remote atop the headboard.

"...And adding to the growing list of celebrity deaths from the disease, renowned Japanese toy-maker Fusajiro Nakasumi passed away in the hospital early last night..."

Drakken started at this, his brow furrowing, but he said nothing. Shego wondered why that announcement in particular seemed to move him.

They watched as a photo montage of various people of celebrity and eminence who had died played across the screen. When Señor Senior Sr.'s smiling face was displayed Shego felt a pang in her chest. Some of the other faces she recognized, but most she didn't as she kept her focus on the captions naming each person. She was looking to see if Brooks Leon would be among them, since Camille's commercials had stopped abruptly two weeks prior without any explanation.

Both she and Drakken jerked in surprise when a different name and face that was very familiar to them appeared on the screen: Dr. James Possible.

"Wow..." Shego breathed as she settled against Drakken's chest again. She looked up at him and saw a great muddle of surprise, resentment, and melancholy on his face. "He's...he was...your age, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Drakken said, the resentment fading out of his eyes.

As she continued to watch him, all the other apparent emotions subsided to give way to his growing melancholy. He closed his eyes tightly and began rubbing his temples. Shego realized that a tableau of death was the last thing he needed to be watching, and she grabbed the remote and changed the channel.

"...And while violent crime is down, there has been a marked increase in petty theft and perhaps most shockingly, an increase in domestic terrorism..."

This perked both she and Drakken up as they listened to the report of the expected decrease in murders and car accidents, but the increase in burglary, bank robberies, and hold-ups at gas stations and grocery outlets. There were detailed reports about terrorist groups who were deliberately spreading the infection, some targeting health officials, peace officers and politicians, while others were motivated by hate and targeted particular ethnic or religious communities.

"This is insane..." Shego said, sitting up. It was one thing to steal food, drink, and toilet paper. But to deliberately spread a world-ending virus? When you weren't a super-villain with a cure ready to disperse at will after your demands had been met?

"I have to get back to work."

Shego decided that was her least-favorite assemblage of words in the English language.

"...And internationally, relief to the suffering and unemployed has been put on hold as various groups are bargaining and pushing their political agendas..."

Drakken tossed the blankets back and climbed out of bed. She let herself fall to the mattress in frustration as she watched him. He paused to cough into his elbow before going straight for his wardrobe.

"Dr. D.? Will you be all right here if I go out for groceries?"

He paused and turned back, looking a bit afraid. "Um..."

"We can't just eat strawberries. And they'd go bad before we could finish them all anyway."

His brow furrowed as he clearly remembered the strange sight in the fridge from the morning prior.

"Henchmen can't do anything right..." he muttered.

Shego climbed out of the bed and hugged herself, suddenly chilly despite her long-sleeved pajamas. "So...you'll be okay? I can call you, or...you can call me, you know, whenever."

Drakken took a step away from the wardrobe toward her. "I'll come with you."

Shego peered at him. "Thought you had to work?"

Drakken looked torn. After a moment he glanced away.

Shego stepped closer to him. "It's really important to you to figure this out, huh?"

He sighed through his nose. "It was always important. But...now, I..."

His eyes saddened and she set her hand on his arm.

"Take a break. Come shopping with me."

After going to five stores across two islands, they had everything except toilet paper. Shego was packing the last of their purchases into the trunk of the hover-car, glancing at Drakken all the while who had been looking more and more distant and despondent throughout the excursion. Now he stood a few feet from the hover-car looking at the near-empty parking lot outside the Everything-A-Dollar store.

"Wanna try one more for T.P. or call it a day, Doc?" she asked. She was feeling very tired, and also had one more destination in mind before they returned to the lair.

He didn't answer.

"Doc?"

"It's...as if some natural disaster, or...nuclear catastrophe occurred..." he murmured, still staring at the parking lot. The only other person in sight was a respirator-wearing elderly man putting groceries into his car.

Shego closed the trunk and leaned against the hover-car, crossing her arms. "Some conspiracy theorists have been talking apocalypse."

"It's not..." Drakken said absently.

"Well, I know that."

Drakken didn't answer, and she stepped up next to him. He seemed to shake himself out of a thought, though his eyes were still sad and thoughtful.

"So toilet paper?" she asked.

"No... I'll start sending the henchmen out in shifts to find some. Let's go home."

He turned and walked back to the hover-car, hopping into the driver's seat.

"Actually, Doc..." She took a nervous breath. "I think you were right yesterday."

He turned to look at her, his brow raised in question.

"I want to go to the hospital."

Three hospitals turned them away. They didn't have the disease (they had lied) so the hospital simply didn't have the time or resources for them. Not even for a first-time pregnant woman worried something was wrong with her child.

They were headed back to the lair, Drakken casting worried glances in Shego's direction while she silently fumed, tears stinging her eyes.

"Land in that park over there," she said suddenly. "I need some air."

Shego hopped out of the car before the ignition was off and shivered. There was a breeze and the sky was overcast that day. She zipped up her jacket and hugged herself to fight the chill.

Since they were villains out in public during a time when people were panicking irrationally, they hadn't dressed in their normal raiment. They were similarly attired in jeans, t-shirts, and leather jackets, the main difference being that her jacket was a black double-rider and his a dark brown bomber. They had also donned their gloves and boots.

"Shego?"

"Let's walk," she said. She started down the paved path in the park without giving him a glance. He caught up to her a moment later.

She couldn't believe that no hospital would see her, not even for an ultrasound. She understood that every medical facility everywhere was overworked, overfilled, and running out of supplies... But it was her baby's life.

After a moment she felt Drakken's hand steal shyly into hers. She looked up at him gratefully and leaned her head against his shoulder.

A cough suddenly sprang out of Drakken's chest. They stopped walking as it became worse, and he grabbed her arm for support as he endured the familiar, painful process. Shego brought her own elbow to her face to cough once as she watched him. Being out in the wind was probably not good for getting any remaining virus out of their systems.

"Shego?"

Drakken's voice was raspy as he finished coughing and straightened back up. His eyes were downturned and his expression sad. He turned to face her and set both hands on her shoulders.

"I... I'm sorry, I..." He grit his teeth and looked away.

She understood. She lifted her hands to rest on his shoulders.

"You were a jerk. But I already forgave you."

He looked back. He seemed to want to say more, but the sadness in his eyes was claiming dominance over anything else. She slipped her arms around him and moved in close.

"It's okay to hurt," she said, rubbing his back.

He took in a shaky breath and closed his eyes, the pain he was still in very apparent. She tilted her chin up and kissed him, gentle and reassuring. He responded with more fervor than she expected and was surprised to find his arms around her a moment later, holding her tight and almost lifting her off the ground as he kissed her back.

"Hey!"

A male voice caused Shego to break away and turn around in the direction the sound had come from. There was a man, younger than her, who had paused on his bicycle and was smirking at her and Drakken.

"Get a room!"

Shego growled. Her first instinct was to blast the man and his ridiculous racing bike, but...she decided instead to do something to try to boost Drakken's mood.

"We already did," she smirked, tucking herself back against Drakken and stroking his jaw.

The man laughed and didn't ride away, surprising Shego. Most hecklers were cowards. She glanced up at Drakken, who was regarding the stranger with curiosity.

"You know there's gonna be a huge baby boom next year," the man said.

Shego's smirk faded. "...No doubt."

"You're the first people I've seen today."

Shego's sliver of good humor was gone. She put her arms around Drakken again. "Yeah, and we don't wanna be seen, so...go look for someone else as crazy as you are to annoy. And remember to keep your social distance."

The man looked uncertain.

"Not joking. Get lost," Shego said.

The man frowned and looked almost hurt as he quickly pedaled away. Shego sighed heavily as they were left alone again, their only companion the rustling of the leaves in the wind.

"...I think...he was just lonely," Drakken said after a moment.

"I don't care," Shego said, her arms tightening around him. She rested her head against his chest as tears returned to her eyes. She shivered, and Drakken held her closer.

"If you want...we could always make a hospital see you," Drakken suggested.

She took a long, slow breath as she considered. "No..."

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feel of him. Familiar...and yet still not safe enough. Not the way she was longing for.

"Dr. D.?" She looked up at him, and he met her questioning eyes. "Why do you want to save the world?"

His brow furrowed.

"I mean, after...after your mom, it makes sense. A sort of vengeance against the disease, but...you wanted to stop it long before that. You cared about it before anyone else did.

Drakken cast his gaze slowly over the empty park, his expression sad. He took a shallow breath.

"The world...has always been against me. For as long as I can remember, it...they were against me. No one had a kind word to offer, or a helping hand... No one except—"

She felt his breath catch, and she held him tighter as he pinched his eyes shut and shook his head.

"But, even though they all hate me... A world without people just seems wrong. This..." he gestured loosely at the park, "is what it will be like, if it isn't stopped."

Shego looked at his conflicted, haunted expression as he stared again at the empty park. The wind blew harsher and she pulled in closer to him.

"Easier to conquer?" she suggested.

"I just don't want millions of people to die! Especially if...I can do something to stop it. I'm sure I can."

His breaths were coming more heavily as he scowled at the emptiness around them. She rose up on her toes so they were at eye-level and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"D-don't say it," he said, looking away in bitter embarrassment. "I know."

"So...maybe not quite as evil dictator and...mad scientist as you pretend to be. Maybe."

"Maybe not."

He looked down sadly. A silent sob escaped his lips, and then he coughed into her shoulder. She gently rubbed the back of his neck.

"I love you, even if you're not as evil as you...as you want to be."

He looked up at her. "Why?"

She felt a nervous clenching at her chest. 'Why?' The last time she had tried answering it hadn't gone well. She closed her eyes and set her face against his. She thought of every moment over the past few years that had made her walk through the doors of his lab instead of onto a plane headed for a Mediterranean resort.

"I love...your passion, and your confidence... Your creativity, and your innovation... Your singing."

She opened her eyes and pulled back. He was staring at her.

"I love your drive, and...and your viciousness," she continued, rubbing his jaw. "And your innocence," she said with a slight chuckle. She leaned in close to his ear to whisper. "I love hearing you talk..."

His hands slid up her back and his fingers dug into her shoulders. She leaned back to look at him again, feeling even more anxious as he stared at her.

"And...whoever Drew Lipsky was...and is, I...want to know him more. Because I already love him, too."

She felt Drakken's hot breath a split second before his lips were on hers. His kiss was fierce, and he held her so tight that her feet left the ground. He stumbled under both of their weight. But she found her feet and kissed him back, knowing that this time...he believed her.

But something still felt like it was missing.

She pulled out of the kiss and his lips immediately moved to her cheek, and then to her neck. She felt her knees go weak and she clung to him.

"Drakken..." she breathed.

He didn't answer but to continue kissing her neck.

"Why do you love me?"

He slowly pulled away to look at her, and she tried to find balance on her trembling legs. When she focused on his face he looked nervous.

"You're beautiful," he said. "And smart. And a leader... When I don't have the answers, you do. You're always...you're always the missing puzzle piece. And..." He looked down, his eyes growing frustrated. "I'm sorry, I'm...not as articulate as you are."

She lifted his chin with her fingers and smiled at him gently. "Keep talking."

"I... I just know that...when you're gone, it feels like...life is a giant hamster wheel that doesn't go anywhere. But I want to...to do things, when you're with me! When you're with me...everything comes alive. I... I come alive. And..." his gaze fell again, "I'm happy."

She softly caressed his jaw and smiled at him. He looked up at her worriedly.

"Shego? I'm really sorry about...about everything I—"

"I told you," she interrupted. "I already forgave you."

"I..." He looked into her eyes anxiously, shyly. "I love you, Shego."

She set her face against his and lightly kissed his cheek before moving her lips over his. "I love you, Dr. D."

She felt her knees weaken again as he kissed her, all the love he had just spoken and more in the passionate touch. She melted into him as his lips caressed hers, her heart swelling with light and love and completion and everything else she hadn't known she was dreaming of.

And then...

"Ow!"

She was suddenly alone, stumbling for balance on her shaking legs and gasping for air. She looked up to see Drakken batting at a green flame on his shoulder.

She looked at her hands. They were alight.

"Oh..." she managed as she tried to catch her breath.

Drakken had put out the flame on his jacket, and they looked at each other in surprise and uncertainty. Drakken began to look annoyed and hurt.

"Why did you do that?"

"I didn't," Shego answered, shaking her head.

Understanding came to Drakken's eyes, and then a measure of trepidation.

"Is that...going to happen a lot?" he asked.

Shego shook her head again. "I don't know... It's never happened before?"

Her hands were still surrounded by the bright, green glow. She was stunned as it took her a moment to remember how to stop it.

"Let's go home?" she said. The flames finally dissipated, but she felt an indescribable urge to light them again.

"Okay," Drakken said, reaching his hand toward her. Shego cautiously placed her hand in his. The walk back to the hover-car was silent, as Shego found herself having to focus to keep her powers at bay.

After climbing into the car she sank back heavily in the passenger seat and held her hands out in front of her. After a moment, she let go of her wavering control and let them ignite, staring at them in fascination. The release of energy felt necessary.

Drakken started the car and looked at her with that same questioning and a hint of distrust.

"So. Um... You don't...know why that happened?" he asked as he lifted the car off the ground.

She turned and to look at him and shook her head. But a moment later amusement was turning up the corners of her mouth, and she shrugged.

"You're a good kisser."