Author's note:

Right, ok, here we are again, another update to And You And I.

First, an apology is in order from myself for two things. One, this update is a day late and two, it's only a single chapter. By the time I finished editing this chapter last night it was 4am and I was too tired to post it, hence why it's late. And the reason it is only a single chapter is twofold. First, I went to re-play a little bit of the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot and have subsequently finished both it and Rise of the Tomb Raider 100% and started Shadow of the Tomb Raider, so I've not written a damn thing this past week (yeah, I know, my bad, lol). However, the main reason is that the actual content of this chapter has wound up getting orphaned from where it was originally supposed to sit in the story. While I came up with a lot of different things I wanted to incorporate on Shego's side of the story at the start of season two, I didn't really have much structure or cohesion for them when I actually started writing. Hence, why I found myself at a point of no return when I came to write this chapter, given what has happened on Kim's side of the story (Jailbreak, Jailbreak!) Which also means, as you have probably figured out by now, that this chapter is not the Jailbreak chapter you've all been patiently waiting for (yeah, I know, my bad on that one too, lol). However, as I really wanted to include the events of this chapter, it has to be now.

Anyway, for this chapter, the title: I can read your mind like a magazine, is a lyric from the Hawkwind song Psi Power, taken from their 1978 album 25 years on (released under the name Hawklords because of legal issues). The reason, you'll soon find out.

Finally, as always, a massive thank you to all my reviewers and to everyone who has followed/favourited this story. I hope you enjoy this small update and I'll see you at the end.

P.S. The author accepts no responsibility for readers choaking on cookies or other foodstuffs due to the content of his work or a surprise posting of an update ;p.

Chapter Ten: I can read your mind like a magazine

Normality. A strange notion and one that Shego despised. The thought that she might ever be considered 'normal' felt abhorrent to her. She'd been eight the last time that term could ever have been applied to her; before the Team Go comet crashed into the family treehouse and permanently altered her physiology. And she had endured all the shit the world had been able to throw at her because of her green skin and tendency to set things on fire, to the point that she had embraced her weirdness a long, long time ago. She applied this same principle to other people too. Normal people tended to bore her, thus she had little time for them. So, for her to wake up and be thankful that she felt normal was a strange thing indeed.

Shego opened her eyes when the claxon sounded to signal the start of the prison day. Her gaze travelled around the drab cell and even though everything in sight was grey, it felt like it was bursting with colour, such was the stark difference in how she saw it in comparison to yesterday. Wow, I never knew grey could look this good. Her mind quickly recalled what had happened when she'd woken during the night and a thin smile formed on her lips, however, I think I prefer green. Focusing all her energy on her right hand, which was still concealed from all but her view by her blanket, she watched a green glow surround it for a few seconds before it faded. Hello, old friend. We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to get out of here… if I'm going to see Kimmie. She knew it was risky, that if she got caught using her glow she would probably find herself subjected to another dose of the GJ serum, however, the more she used it, the quicker it would regenerate to a level that would allow her to escape… to see Kimmie.

"Urgh, don't tell me you're still all zombified."

Shego heard the voice of Bonnie and looked up to see her cellmate staring at her. A sassy smile formed on her lips. "Given that the grey mush they fed me while in the hole looked like stewed brains, can you blame me?"

If she'd not had her emerald green gaze zeroed in on the former cheerleader, she probably would have missed the faint smile that formed on the girl's lips before she replied, "I swear when I get out of here, I'm going to eat so much Bueno Nacho." Bonnie then sighed, "I could murder a chimmerito right about now."

"For breakfast?" she asked, before letting out a light laugh. "I know the feeling all too well. It's the little things you miss the most when you're stuck in this hell-hole."

An expression of longing formed on her cellmate's face, "yeah..."

From outside, the sound of Lieutenant Boyle barking, "roll-call!" cut Bonnie off.

The pair exchanged glances. "We'd better go or Brooks' will probably toss us both in the hole," Shego said.

That prospect seemed to frighten Bonnie somewhat. "I don't want to end up like you were yesterday," she said, her voice quivering slightly.

"Then let's go."

##

The prison morning passed by in much the same manner as every other, Captain Brooks having the routine timed to the minute. After breakfast, Shego had returned to her cell and plonked herself down on the top bunk. That was when she had first sneezed. And while she had tried to brush it off as a one-time thing, her body had quickly reported that her luck had finally run out. After being hosed down with icy cold water by Captain Brooks during her processing, she had been convinced she would have come down with a cold, such was the level to which her body temperature had dropped. Miraculously she had dodged that particular bullet. However, after four days in the freezing cold of the hole, said cold had finally caught up with her. Head feeling stuffy and her body temperature fluctuating, she'd grabbed a large wad of toilet paper and proceeded to blow into it every couple of minutes. She'd then settled down with a book.

In her left hand Shego held a copy of A storm of swords; the third Song of ice and fire novel. She'd read the first two during her previous stint in jail, however, never got around to picking up the third after she'd escaped. I really do need to find time to read something other than magazines when I'm on the outside. I wonder if Kimmie has read these... she caught herself having the thought about her rival and quickly buried it. Any time she started to think about the fiery-haired vixen her mind ended up at war with itself, which proved to be very counterproductive. She needed to concentrate and not on her book.

Awkwardly, Shego turned the page with one hand, made more difficult due to the damn size of the book. Her right hand remained hidden underneath her blanket. For the past two hours, she'd been igniting her glow, holding it for as long as she could before it faded, only to repeat the process the moment she had the energy. So far, she'd increased the active time from about five seconds to fifteen. While it might not seem like much, given that she could normally have her glow active indefinitely if she chose to, she knew it was just the start of a long process that would take weeks. Indeed, today she was thankful at just being able to feel it again, like she was starting to become whole again.

"Yo, Shego."

Shego looked over the top of her book and watched Bonnie saunter into the cell. Immediately, she extinguished her glow. The last thing she needed was for someone to see it, as they would immediately become either an information casualty or potential blackmailer. And in Bonnie's case, the girl could easily become both. "Yeah?" she replied. So much for being left alone to work on my glow and read my book.

"FYI, you're probably going to have to beat up a couple of skinheads later," Bonnie said, an air of amusement about her tone, probably at the fate she hoped awaited the latest individuals to pick on her.

She rolled her eyes, but the effect was lost by the need to blow her nose. "Seriously? This is my first full day back in the block and already you need me to beat people up," she said, her voice muffled by a wad of toilet paper. "What happened this time?"

The former cheerleader shrugged. "They were in my way, so I barged past them and told them they looked like a cue-ball and an eight-ball."

Shego slammed her book down atop the mattress and looked incredulously at the girl, "what the hell were you thinking?"

"What?" Bonnie asked, her tone clearly suggesting she did not see a problem. "They need to learn not to get in my way and you get to beat some guys up. Win-win."

She pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, "urgh, you are such an idiot."

"What?"

"First, I just did four days in the hole for beating Morgan up. If Brooks or one of her flunkies catches me laying a finger on another inmate, I go straight back in," she began, her voice taking on the same derisive tone she used when pointing out the flaws in one of Drakken's stupider plans. "Second, I don't enjoy beating up random people who can barely defend themselves against me. Third, I'm not your personal thug for hire. I said I'd protect you, not go about beating the shit out of people who you deliberately antagonise. And forth, I feel like crap and am in no mood to beat people up."

"They were in my way and refused to move," Bonnie quickly countered, before adding, "are you sick?"

"Yes," Shego answered and blew her nose by way of demonstration. "However, that's beside the point. You should have gone elsewhere. Just because you've got me in your corner, doesn't mean you get to saunter around the place like you own it. I thought you were beginning to learn that before Brooks tossed me in the hole."

"What, so you expect me to sit and play board games with the three stooges?"

Shego did not need her cellmate to clarify that she was referring to Drakken, Dementor and Lucre. "If it keeps you out of trouble, then yes. Or try picking up a book," she held up her copy of A storm of swords, feeling like she needed to show the girl what a book was. A memory from her time as Miss Go telling her that the girl didn't do books.

Bonnie wrinkled her nose, like the suggestion she read offended her. "What do you think I've been doing while you've been gone? I spent so much time reading books that I actually finished one!"

"Well, when you put it like that, we wouldn't want you finishing another," Shego said with as much sarcasm as she could muster. "You might actually learn something." She was then thankful for Bonnie's rebuttal, as she caught herself thinking, thank god Kimmie isn't this uncultured…

"Prft, yeah, whatever," the former cheerleader said offhandedly. "Anyway, what are you doing holed up in here? I would have thought after being in solitary confinement for days, you'd want to get some air. Besides, you don't seem like the book sort of person either."

"I just told you, I'm sick. You try doing four days in the icebox Brooks put me in without catching a cold," Shego replied. "Not to mention when your choice of companions is limited to Drakken, Dementor and Lucre, you'd want some quiet time now and again too; especially when you're ill." While not the truth, neither was it a lie. On their own, one of the above became grating after fifteen minutes, taking them all together; a common occurrence when in prison, could easily be classed as a form of torture. "Besides, I actually like to read."

"What about me?" Bonnie retorted, her tone reminiscent of the high school Queen B whom everyone should perpetually beg to hang out with. "Don't tell me you're grouping me with that lot!"

Unintentionally, the girl had just demonstrated why Shego would want time away from her too. Urgh, I hated that high school attitude when I was there. I shouldn't have to put up with it now. At least Kimmie had the decency to grow up a bit over the past couple of years. She hurriedly shoved that thought into the hole with the previous two she'd had about her rival. Why the hell am I thinking about her so much? Before she'd even managed to properly ask herself the question, the answer made itself known. Doy, because I've got some serious unfinished business with her. She shook her head and returned her attention to Bonnie. "You're a different type of annoying, Cupcake."

A scowl formed on her cellmates face, "what? I'm like totally the most normal person in this madhouse. You should be thankful that I'm even willing to hang out with you, especially given how zombified you've been since you got here."

"Your normality is what can make you exceptionally boring." Shego smiled at the look of infuriation that spread across Bonnie's face. However, before the girl could respond, she added, "Drakken might annoy the hell out of me, but at least he provides me with plenty of entertainment. I wouldn't get a fraction of the opportunities for sarcasm or funny moments with you."

"What, so you just hang out with him so you can laugh at him?" Bonnie said, sounding indignant on Drakken's behalf.

"Pretty much," Shego replied absentmindedly and picked up her book, electing not to go into the details of her 'weird' relationship with Dr Drakken.

"That's shallow, even for a supervillain," the former cheerleader snorted.

She laughed, "like you've never done the exact same thing."

"Of course I haven't..." Shego stopped the girl mid-sentence with a piercing stare from her brilliant emerald eyes. There was a brief moment of silence before Bonnie then uttered, "what the hell would you know about it anyway? You don't know me."

Shego watched the girl turn on her heal and motion to storm out of the cell. "Let me see, a girl whose older siblings accomplished everything at every level and to such a high standard that everyone always compared her to one of them, no matter how old she was or what she did."

Her words caused Bonnie to stop dead in her tracks. By the time the girl had turned back to face her, Shego had already begun to continue, "a girl whose siblings delighted in lauding their superiority over her, to the point that they caused her to develop an inferiority complex. That, in turn, has resulted in her feeling a need to be better than everyone else around her and to actively tear down anyone who might threaten her precarious position at the top of the metaphorical food chain."

Bonnie simply stared at her, teal eyes wide and mouth agape in horror. "I... do... not..." she finally stammered."

Shego smirked at the girl. "You want proof? How about your relationship with Kimmie? You've hated her ever since you first laid eyes on her and all because she's one of those people who are just naturally brilliant at everything she tries her hand at…. well, almost everything."

Bonnie finally found her voice and fired back, "you don't know what you're talking about. You're just some two-bit sidekick!"

"Wow, with insults so cutting I might need to fetch a band-aid," Shego mocked, her tone brimming with sassy sarcasm, unfortunately, the effect was ruined by a sneeze that required some serious tissue work to contain the contents of. When she could finally take a breath without snot dripping from her nostrils, she continued, "however, if you want to go down that road, be my guest. But be warned, Bonnie Rockwaller, I know a hell of a lot more about you than you do about me."

"As if," Bonnie snorted. "This is the first day you've woken up and not been somewhat zombified. How can you possibly know anything about me?"

"Well," Shego began with a knowing smile, "I've seen you a couple of times when I've been duking it out with Kimmie," she paused to wipe her nose before then adding, "I suppose I might also have picked up a few things during the week I spent teaching at Middleton High."

"What?" Bonnie said incredulously. "You, a teacher? Do you think I'm stupid enough to believe that?"

Shego's smile widened, almost becoming a wolfish grin. "It's true. Picture me wearing a brown skirt, short grey jacket, teal turtleneck and with a matching headband in my hair."

Bonnie let out a snort of derision, as though the exercise was completely pointless, rolled her eyes and then stared at Shego. It took a couple of moments, possibly due to the girl's lack of imagination, however, her jaw eventually dropped. "You were that supply teacher in senior year, Miss Go, or whatever it was you called yourself!"

"Bingo."

"How on earth did I not see that days ago?"

"It's all to do with perception, Cupcake," Shego answered in amusement. "You knew that I'm a supervillain, therefore that's all you saw. Your mind never even contemplated that I could be anything other."

The girl looked half stunned, half outraged at this insinuation. And she quickly hit back with, "why on earth would a supervillain go and teach in a high school for a week? In fact, how is that even possible? Don't they check your qualifications and stuff like that?"

"Well, as a supervillain, I could easily have forged that sort of thing and gone in incognito, probably as part of some nefarious scheme to take over the world…"

Bonnie scoffed at that remark, "what, by brainwashing the students to do your bidding?"

"Drakken's had far more ridiculous take over the world plans than that," Shego interjected. "However, that's beside the point. In this instance, my brain got messed up and so I took the job because my degree is in child development."

"Wait a minute, you have a college degree?" Bonnie quickly shook her head and laughed, "ok, ha-ha, very funny. Now I know you're just trying to yank my chain."

Shego met her gaze and said firmly, "it's true. I have a college degree."

"Seriously? You have got to be kidding me. How and why would a supervillain bother to get a college degree, and in child development of all things?"

"It's a long story and not one I intend on sharing," she replied, her tone indicating that there would be no further discussion on the point. "However, you'll find a lot of the supervillains had a life before they became villains. For example, Dementor was a professor of spatial physics back in Germany, Drakken was studying for a robotics degree before he dropped out and Motor Ed," she rolled her eyes, finding this one difficult to believe herself, "is one of the country's best mechanical engineers."

Bonnie shook her head. "Ok, you guys just get weirder by the day. I suppose that Frugal Lucre guy has a degree in economics and was unfairly beaten to the banker of the year award, thus twisting him and turning him into a supervillain."

Shego burst out laughing. "No, he's just an ex-Smarty Mart worker with delusions of being a supervillain. Anyway, my point was, I know a lot more about you than you think."

"Prft, you just spouted some random shrink crap," Bonnie retorted.

"Well, child development is just a concise way of saying child psychology with a focus on education, hence why I'm a teacher." She let out a light laugh, "you know it's quite funny…"

"What is?"

"…I'm actually quite a good teacher." Shego laughed again, "I even managed to turn Junior into a decent supervillain before Senior fired me for monopolising his time with proper villain stuff, rather than crap such as practising evil laughs."

"Urgh, he's still obsessed with crap like that," Bonnie said in disgust. "And he's so hung up on the traditions of villainy. Like this one time, he totally could have finished Kim off, but no, he had to leave her in a complicated death trap with a chance for her to escape, which she proceeded to do and then foiled his plan."

Shego gave her a grin. "That's why they're the main villain and we're the sidekicks."

"Why, because they get the flair for the dramatic and we get the common sense?" Bonnie asked, actually managing to crack a smile of her own.

"We also get the sass and sarcasm too."

The former cheerleader then rolled her eyes. "There's a point lurking amongst all this rubbish, isn't there?"

"I thought you might like to talk," she replied.

"That's it? You thought I might like to talk?" Bonnie scoffed. "Bullshit."

Shego gave her a piercing stare. "Fine, what I really mean is that we're going to sit down and you're going to talk, so I can guide you, kicking and screaming if needs be, to an epiphany about why you do stupid things. Such as calling a pair of mean-looking skinheads cue-ball and eight-ball."

Her cellmate snorted, "and if I tell you to fuck off, then leave?"

"Then I leave you to deal with cue-ball and eight-ball by yourself," Shego replied smoothly. "So, think very carefully before you walk out that door."

Infuriation spread across Bonnie's face as she stood for a moment to contemplate a situation entirely of her own making. Eventually, she let out a low growl and sat down on the bottom bunk.

"Good girl," Shego said and sat her book down again. "Choosing to talk about your issues is the first step towards dealing with them."

"My only issue is that you're being difficult," Bonnie spat.

She laughed lightly, "why don't you start by talking about your sisters?"

"I am so not doing this," the former cheerleader quickly spat and a moment later she was back on her feet.

"Yes, you are, or you might as well just go out into the yard and give yourself over to cue-ball and eight-ball for a beating," Shego said, her tone conveying that there would be no wiggle room on the matter.

She watched the girl pause, before sitting herself back down, her mere movements managing to convey her disgust at the situation. "Fine. What do you want me to say? That they're total bitches who never missed an opportunity to ridicule me?"

The biting tone the girl had used told Shego immediately that she had struck a nerve and that the words had more spilt out of Bonnie than been said by choice. "If that's how you feel about them, then yes." In the moment of silence that followed, Shego had the thought, why the hell am I even doing this? It would be so much easier to just beat the crap out of cue-ball and eight-ball. She then promptly sneezed and had to wipe away the snot that began to leak out her nose on her wad of toilet paper. Ok, case and point. I feel like crap and really don't want to end up back in the hole. Besides isn't there a proverb about giving a man a fish or teaching him how to fish?

From the lower bunk, Bonnie then continued, "they never cut me any slack, ever. They made me feel like the only reason for my existence was to keep them amused." The girl's voice began to quiver and Shego could hear the anguish in it. "I was their younger sister, yet they never looked out for me or congratulated me on any of my achievements. It was always about them and how they'd already done everything better than I ever could. You know, they always used to say that Connie got all the brain and Lonnie all the looks…"

"And you got whatever crap was left," Shego finished for her. It seemed she had chosen the perfect topic to get the girl talking. As she'd expected, the former cheerleader had a lot of suppressed anger towards her siblings and had just been offered an outlet for it. "You know it's not true, right?"

"Of course I do," Bonnie replied, however, her shaky tone betrayed the fact that the girl did not quite believe her own words.

"They used to trick you a lot when you were a kid, didn't they?" Shego then said. While she phrased it as a question, she already knew the answer. During her time as Miss Go, she'd taken the time to profile Bonnie, given that she was a consistent problem for Kim. Indeed, had she not been changed back to Shego, she probably would have attempted to reconcile the pair… eventually.

"Yeah and I was so stupid back then that I fell for it every time."

"It's not stupidity to want your family to genuinely care for you," she said in a soothing tone, or as soothing a tone as one could with their nose clogged up with snot.

Bonnie it seemed was not in the mood to be placated, "what the hell would you know about it?"

"I'm the middle child and the only girl out of five," Shego replied, her tone again trying to calm her cellmate. "And I know what it's like to have older siblings who are either too obsessed with themselves or with their black and white ideals to care about you or the fact you've got a lot of shit going on out with them."

Sharing this small piece of information seemed to be enough to settle Bonnie down a little and establish more of a rapport between them, for the girl redirected her anger back to the subject of her sisters. "I never did anything to them, yet all they ever did was bully me. Apparently, being born was enough to permanently irk them."

"Older siblings, especially middle children, sometimes get jealous of younger ones as all of the attention they got can often get swallowed up by a new-born," Shego said.

"That's not my fault!" Bonnie yelled. "I never asked to be born."

Acting predominantly on instinct, Shego climbed down from her bunk and sat at the foot of her cellmates. "I never said it was your fault," she replied, meeting the girl's gaze with a kind one that was far more the property of Miss Go than Shego. "Unfortunately, it happens all the time. Parents and other family members lavish attention upon a new-born and forget about the other kids in the family. And those kids don't yet have the capacity to figure out that it isn't the baby's fault."

"So what? My sisters are bitches to me because they think I stole mom and dad's attention from them?"

"It's a distinct possibility that's how it started," Shego agreed. "Maybe they continued to hold that grudge against you, or perhaps they simply enjoyed bullying you too much to stop. However, we're not here to talk about them. This is all about you." As expected, her last line subconsciously struck a chord with her cellmate and she watched the girl smile slightly. Guess I've not lost my touch. "Why don't we move onto school. You were happier there than at home, weren't you?"

"Do you know how totally fucked up that is?" Bonnie snapped, although it was clear that she agreed with Shego's assertion. "For a kid to actually be happier at school than at home?"

"That's because, despite what your sisters said, you were genuinely good at things and people wanted to be friends with you," she replied.

A slightly stunned expression formed on the former cheerleader's face, one which clearly read, 'how on earth can you know so much about me?' Nevertheless, she replied, "hey, I worked damn hard to make myself popular. I didn't just have friends fall into my lap."

"I never said that it was easy, just that people did want to be your friend," she paused and focused her piercing gaze on the girl's teal eyes, "however, it wasn't just about working hard in a positive way, was it?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Because of your sisters, you learned earlier than most, that people aren't always nice and that despite how much we preach about equality, society still operates on a pyramid structure."

"So?" Bonnie grunted.

"So, you realised that there is only room for one person at the very top of the pyramid. And you were determined that it would be you, all because your sisters had kept you at the very bottom at home. However, when it became apparent that there was someone genuinely better than you at almost everything and that no amount of hard work would change that, you started using all the nasty tricks your sisters had used on you on other people. Preying on the weak to make yourself look strong." Shego intensified her stare as she said, "the victim became the bully."

Bonnie, whose complexion had paled with each and every word Shego had spoken, to the point she now looked the colour of milk, could only stammer, "I… didn't… mean… to… be… like… them…"

"No, that's probably the last thing you wanted to be," Shego agreed, seeing that the girl was genuinely close to tears. She turned away to sneeze and wipe her nose before continuing, "unfortunately, you realised how much easier it is to bully and belittle others to try and keep yourself on top, rather than work hard. To the point it simply became second nature. Although that's not the ironic thing…"

Bonnie simply sat there, shellshocked at having her own psyche sliced up and served to her.

"…the ironic thing is, that despite what you might have thought, Kimmie never wanted your friends or your popularity. Even though she had all the attributes of a fellow lioness who had the potential to take over the pride."

"She was just so infuriatingly good at almost everything…" Bonnie whispered.

"Yeah, she is," Shego agreed. "Only you failed to realise that, while the two of you shared some interests, cheerleading being chief amongst them, she wasn't a threat to you. She just wanted to do her own thing. And despite how you might have perceived things, you were the one that threw the first metaphorical punch in that fight, just like your sisters would have."

"I hate them so much!" Bonnie wailed.

"I know," Shego said softly. "They bullied and belittled you so much that they coloured your view of the world, to the point that you need to always be the one at the top of the pyramid, otherwise you feel like you're still underneath their boots. Which is why you go around treating everyone like they're beneath you. And in here, after the culture shock of your first few days and me getting thrown in the hole, you're desperate to get off the bottom of the pyramid. Which is why you're back to acting like an idiot and all because I told you no one will touch you if hang around with me."

The second she finished, she let out a rather violent series of sneezes and had to grab a fresh wad of toilet paper to stem the flow of snot. It had only been a couple of hours but already her nostrils felt green-raw from the constant rubbing with the coarse paper. My kingdom for some balm tissues.

"So what? Am I just supposed to pretend like I don't hear my sisters laughing at me every time someone puts me down?" Bonnie spat then quickly shut up.

Shit, does she have an actual psychosis? Shego stared into Bonnie's teal eyes, "do you genuinely hear them laughing at you?"

"Of course not!" the former cheerleader replied, sounding offended. "What do you think I am, some nutcase?"

"No."

Bonnie absentmindedly began to rub her upper right arm. "It used to feel like that was what was happening," she then said slowly. "At least when I was younger. As I got older, I found myself in that sort of position less and less. However, by my third day in here, when I said something to someone and they punched me, I'd never felt that vulnerable since I was a child and my sisters were shoving me into the dirt or one of the other horrible things they did to me. I thought I was going to get killed for a moment before the guards intervened…"

"It sucks to feel powerless, especially if you've got a truckload of bad memories that weigh on you whenever it happens," Shego agreed. "And the moment you feel like you have control again, you can't help but flaunt it."

The former cheerleader nodded. "It did feel good to be able to wander through the yard, knowing that all I needed to do was drop your name and no one would lay a finger on me." Bonnie then rolled her eyes, "urgh, ok, I get it. I let the feeling of having some measure of power go to my head. There, are you happy?"

Shego started to laugh, but it transitioned into a sneeze and it took her a few moments of nose maintenance before she could reply, "it's a start. However, now you have to do something that I doubt you've ever done before."

"What?" Bonnie asked, her tone wary and derisive in equal measure.

"Apologise to someone."

"What!" the girl yelled incredulously. "No way. I'm not apologising to some stupid skinheads!"

Shego gave her a pointed look. "Yes, you are, as it's the only way this problem is going to go away."

"And what if they beat me up?"

"Then you take your medicine and learn from the experience." Shego let her words hang for a moment and watched the horror spread across the girl's face, before adding, "however, given that I'll be with you, I doubt that's going to happen. Although, you still need to learn that treating people like they are beneath you can sometimes come back to bite you on the ass. Who knows, maybe being stuck in here might do you some good. It might help you realise that you don't always need to be on top of the pyramid."

A sour expression formed on Bonnie's face as she said, "fine, but don't expect me to stop treating idiots with the contempt they deserve."

"I'll allow you sass and sarcasm, but be careful who you use it on," Shego said with a smile. "With great wit comes the need for a little restraint, or some crap like that."

"Urgh, why do I get the feeling you enjoyed this?"

Shego's smile faded slightly as Bonnie's words unintentionally dragged up some old memories of her in a classroom. "I actually liked teaching," she uttered more to herself than to her cellmate. She promptly sneezed and the moment was gone. After wiping her now green-raw nose, she said, "then let's get this over with, before all I can do is shoot snot balls at people." She stood up and offered Bonnie her hand.

"Eww, I am so not touching you while you're all plague-ridden," the former cheerleader said, as she got to her feet by herself.

Shego turned and headed for the cell door, however, before she stepped out into the grey corridor, Bonnie called out after her, "hey, I almost forgot, this came for you while you were in the hole."

She turned and saw the envelope the girl held out to her. Like it was an unexploded bomb, Shego gingerly reached out a hand and took the letter from Bonnie. It felt slightly weighty in her hand, although she knew it contained nothing other than paper. On the front was the name Shego and the address of the prison; both printed. Why does she keep doing this? she thought before she had even opened it, already knowing what she would find. Ripping open the generic white post office envelope, she withdrew a second one; made of a heavy cream parchment. On its front, written with a black ink fountain pen and in neat calligraphy, was a single word; her name, yet it did not say Shego.

Shego simply stared at the letter and the name written upon it. While she recognised the handwriting, she hadn't needed to. Every time since her first proper stint in jail, she received a single letter within the first two weeks of her incarceration, always written in the same hand and on the same heavy parchment. The thought from moments prior repeated itself inside her mind, why does she keep doing this? I don't care what she thinks about me.

"Are you so sure about that?"

Shego froze upon hearing the voice of Miss Go inside her mind. Given that she'd not been herself until today, she had been spared the internal conflict that her devil's advocate so often brought about.

Ye…

"Who's it from?" Bonnie asked nosily.

The sound of her cellmate's voice stopped Shego from devolving into a full-on internal argument. She looked up at the girl. "No one of importance," she said quickly and stuffed the parchment envelope back inside the white one. Moving to her footlocker, she opened it and stuffed the letter underneath everything else. "Now, let's go and find those skinheads so you can apologise.

"Urgh, I agree with Dr Drakken. I think you are better when you're a zombie," Bonnie replied.

Shego led the girl out of the cell and into the drab corridors of cellblock D. However, while the bulk of her mind was focused on teaching Bonnie a lesson she sorely needed, part of it could not stop thinking about the latest letter that had been stuffed to the bottom of a prison footlocker. I don't care what she thinks about me.

Unfortunately, she could not stop the voice of Miss Go again whispering, "are you so sure about that?"

It seemed that she now had something else to argue with herself over.

##

Author's note:

Ok, so what did you all think?

Uncharacteristically, I was actually a little unsure about this chapter, even after I editied it. However, I wanted to both elaborate on the insinuation given in the show regarding Bonnie's sisters and how they treat her and highlight the fact that Shego (not just Miss Go) is capable of solving problems without resorting to beating someone up and that she has a more compasionate side. I also had not managed to work in the part where Shego received the letter into one of the previous chapters and needed to do so before Kimmie breaks her out.

Which bings me to the next update and the moment we've all been waiting for since the end of last season, the Jailbreak. Unfortunately, I'm not going to say anything more than to confirm that it will be in the next update, so you'll all just have to wait ;p. However, given that I only gave you one chapter this week, I'll see if I am ready to post it next week, rather than in two weeks time. Until then, thanks for putting up with me while I indulged myself yet again (although to be fair to myself, this is the first time this season that I've done so) and I'll hopefully see you all next week.

Warmest regards
K1G0