Author's note:

Well, that got a little hairy there. For those of you who doubted Kim, remember, she's the girl who can do anything, lol ;p. So, one down, three to go (yeah, I'm totally spoiling you this time around). Anyway, the title for this next chapter is taken from an instrumental track: The road to... from last year's amazing Hawkwind album All aboard the Skylark. I really like this title for this chapter, as it leaves the destination unknown, which I found to be quite fitting. Enjoy.

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Chapter Thirteen: The road to…

Picture a block of ice in a sub-zero room, where the air is bitter cold, to the point that it is motionless. Now imagine a slight change in the room, one that causes a solitary drop of water to roll from the top edge of the ice, down one side and drip onto the floor. That is perhaps the aptest description of the inside of the Sloth and what was about to transpire, as it sped down the empty highway.

For the past ten minutes, Kim and Shego had sat in deathly silence, as the prison and the small army of searching guards had disappeared from the view of both their eyes and the car's sensors. Eventually, once Kim had got them to the safety of the interstate, she had decloaked the Sloth, allowing her to unleash the full power of the vehicle's engine and rocket down the long road that would take them back to Colorado.

Shego stared out of the passenger window, her gaze not fixed upon anything in particular, simply trying to avoid looking in the direction of Kimmie. Yet still she could not escape the hero's visage, the girl's fiery-red hair and soft features partially reflected in the glass. Despite her best efforts, after it had become apparent that they had escaped from Captain Brooks and her entourage, Shego's brain had gone into a full-on meltdown. Her thought process struggling to reconcile her dual feelings of lust and hate for her rival. On the one hand, the girl had stirred up feelings inside her that she thought she had purged a long time ago, but on the other, Kimmie had been responsible for her incarceration and all she had suffered since. Add to that the events of tonight and her metaphorical nuclear reactor had gone critical.

In the driver's seat, Kim was forcing herself to keep her eyes trained on the road. While this should have been obligatory, given the ridiculous speed at which the Sloth was travelling, the interstate was virtually dead. That and the Tweebs had recently installed an autopilot feature. This gave her mind ample opportunity to wander. And after she had been sure she had eluded Captain Brooks and the small army that had been hunting for them, that's exactly what it had done. The fact of the matter was, she felt torn. She'd just risked her life, or more likely her freedom, to break Shego out of jail, yet the woman had no interest in talking to her. Unfortunately, she had both thought of and feared this eventuality. It seemed that in her rival's mind, the jailbreak was not enough to erase the initial event of her incarceration, which she had already made crystal clear she blamed on Kim.

She woke something inside of you… something you thought you'd long suppressed, a voice said inside Shego's head. She packed you off to jail and then sauntered off with Betty Fucking Director, a second countered. She just broke you out of jail, the first retorted, causing the second to swiftly fire back, only to clear her own conscience. You haven't felt anything towards anyone since Danni…

SHUT UP! Shego bellowed internally, completely sick of the plethora of thoughts and counter thoughts that had been duking it out for the past ten minutes. I don't want to feel anything towards anyone and I don't care why Kimmie broke me out. I feel like crap and I just want to go home! you should at least hear her out… ARGH! Shego balled up her fist and hammered it against the door panel.

Several moments before the green-skinned woman's impromptu outburst, Kim too was wrestling with her own thoughts. Should I try to talk to her? Try to explain that I didn't bring GJ down atop her and Drakken? …Yeah, nice idea, Kim. She's sure to take your word for it, given how many times you've sent her to jail in the past. Oh, and don't forget how you told her that you were going to beat the shit out of her and send what was left off to jail in the first instance. Unfortunately, all of the above happened to be true. What the hell do I say then? Hey, by the way, I'm pretty sure I'm a lesbian now, let's make out. Kim almost veered the Sloth off the road at the sudden manifestation of that last thought. She snuck a brief glance at Shego. Oh god, do I actually like her? That idea scared her and she suddenly felt glad that the green-skinned woman intended to leave as soon as possible.

The sound of Shego hitting her upholstery caused Kim to turn and look at her. Even in her current, somewhat dishevelled state, Kim did not fail to notice the woman's inherent beauty. That long, luscious raven hair. Those petite lips, above which sat those piercing emerald eyes… She shuddered internally as the sight of the woman invoked the memory of what they had done back in Drakken's volcano lair. Get a grip of yourself, Possible. She doesn't even want to be in the same car as you. While she forced herself to suppress the memory, she could not escape the underlying personal reason for her actions that night. I broke Shego out in part because I need to talk to someone about being a lesbian and that hasn't changed. I can't let her leave without at least trying…

"Shego," Kim ventured, pausing to both see if the green-skinned woman would even acknowledge her and because she'd opened her mouth before even formulating a concrete plan of action. Great, guess I'm winging it then.

Hand throbbing slightly from the force she had put into the blow and the discovery that the door panel was heavily reinforced, Shego turned her head and forced herself to stare at Kimmie. Damn, she's hot… the thought crept into her mind before she could stop it. I need to get away for her asap. "What?" she asked testily.

The ice in her rival's tone was so cold it froze Kim in her tracks and she completely forgot whatever it was she might have been about to say. If she doesn't want to talk to me, I can't force her. Instead, she found herself retreating to the relative safety of the practicalities of their current situation. At the very least, that might get the woman's attention for a moment or two. "There's a backpack on the backseat. It's got a change of clothes, some money and snacks inside. It should be enough to help you get home, once I drop you off." She forced herself to laugh slightly as she added, "I don't think orange is the new black and green."

Shego's eyes followed Kimmie's gaze to the backseat and she saw the backpack in question. However, she could not stop herself from hesitating before reaching out and snatching hold of it; another instance where she wanted to refuse the hero's help outright, but had no choice in the matter. If she set foot out with the car in her prison garb, anyone who saw her would likely immediately put in a call to the local law enforcement; something she could definitely do without. When she yanked the backpack between the seats, she could swear she heard a 'wah!' sound coming from inside but paid it no heed as she lifted the flap.

"What the…" Shego exclaimed when her gaze found itself looking into an already unzipped pack and at the mess of empty snack packets and crumbs that covered a pair of blue jeans. Her eyes widened when they met with the pink face and beady black eyes of… "Ru-Ru! …how the hell…"

The naked-mole-shark gave Shego the innocent look she had become accustomed to seeing whenever she busted him doing something naughty. "Ta-da?" he said in a sweet tone that she knew was his attempt to try and get out of trouble.

Before Shego had the chance to say anything else, Kim's gaze too fell inside the backpack. "You greedy little sod!" she exclaimed in annoyance. "Those snacks were not for you."

True to form, Ru-Ru blew Kim a raspberry and then gave Shego one of his wide, 'I'm innocent and cute,' grins.

"What the hell are you doing with Kimmie?" Shego uttered, her mind still trying to recover from the shock of finding the naked-mole-shark safe and sound. She then felt a pang of guilt for both losing him in the first place and because she'd barely spared him a thought during her incarceration. Granted, she'd not been in her right mind for the bulk of the past eleven days, but it was a poor excuse. Nevertheless, she genuinely felt both happy and relieved to see him safe.

"Holliday," Ru-Ru replied, before scuttling out of the backpack and onto her knee.

Shego turned to look at Kimmie. "Care to explain?" she demanded, though whether knowingly or not, the ice that had laced her tone had melted slightly.

Kim smiled at her rival. "He stowed away inside the belt pouch of my battle suit before Dr Director whisked me away in her chopper."

"Yeah, he's got a real knack for that," Shego replied and gave the naked-mole-shark a knowing grin.

"So I heard," Kim said airily, her gaze too travelling to the sneaky rodent-fish. While she had automatically yelled at Ru-Ru for eating his way through the snacks she'd packed for her rival's trek home, something she had found herself becoming accustomed to doing over the past eleven days, she wanted to reach over and kiss him. His appearance could not have come at a better time. In fact, the ordeal of escaping Captain Brooks had caused her to completely forget about him. Seeing Ru-Ru has definitely softened her slightly. Maybe there's still a chance she'll listen to me. "I've taken good care of him," she then added, at least better care than I managed that time Ron left me to look after Rufus.

All Shego could do was shake her head; this latest information only making the entire situation more difficult for her to comprehend. What the hell is Kimmie playing at? "What, so you send me to jail but decide to look after my…" she paused mid-sentence as she tried to quantify what exactly Ru-Ru was to her. Eventually, the only apt word stuck in her throat slightly, "…my friend. What the fuck, Kimmie?"

Kim took a deep breath, this was it; Shego had invited an explanation. If she could make the woman understand what had happened, maybe she could repair the damage enough that she would be willing to talk about 'other' things with her. "Shego, I know what you think happened back at Drakken's lair, but I didn't bring Global Justice down atop you, I swear it."

Shego snorted upon hearing her rival's words. "Yeah, right, Kimmie, and Drakken's going to take over the world next time. Do you really expect me to buy that bullshit?"

As expected, Kim's initial attempt at telling the truth had been met with scorn. However, she had no intention of giving up. "It's true, Shego. How do you think they managed to get there before you even managed to escape the lair? They were already on their way before I even got there."

"Geeze, I wonder why that might have been. Hmm, let me think," Shego paused briefly, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "I'm going to beat the crap out of you and send what's left to jail," she then said in an imitation of the hero's own angry tone from the day in question. "Sound familiar, Kimmie?"

"I know that's what I said and I'm sorry. But I was so angry with you that day and wanted to hurt you as much as possible," Kim replied in exasperation, more at herself and her own stupidity than her rival's refusal to listen. She sighed, "look, when I said that, sending you to jail was an afterthought. Simply something that I knew would make you suffer long after I'd finished beating the crap out of you…" she lowered her head, "…that's what I'd been obsessed with. I was so consumed by that single thought that calling GJ never even crossed my mind. Please… you have to believe me."

While Shego knew that the girl was telling the truth about how her anger had driven her to the point she'd wanted to hurt her, having lived through a period of similar anger in her teenage years, she simply could not forget the pain, humiliation and hollowness she'd been forced to endure by Captain Brooks and the GJ serum. "Why the hell should I, Princess? I stupidly told you what happens to me when I get arrested and you purposefully used it against me," she spat viciously, the recent memories having caused her temper to fray."

"Please, Shego," Kim pleaded, "you have to believe me…" I need you to believe me. "…it was Wade who called GJ. He realised that my anger had consumed me and was worried about me, so he passed the intel he had on to GJ in the hope they would be able to save me from myself."

"Nice try, Princess, blame the Nerdlinger," the green-skinned woman scoffed. However, before she could say anything else, a third voice spoke.

"Truth," Ru-Ru said firmly and drew the gazes of both women onto him.

"What did you say?" Shego asked, locking onto his beady black eyes with her emerald greens.

"Truth," the naked-mole-shark reiterated. "Nerdlinger guilty."

A look of joyous relief spread across Kim's face and she again felt the need to kiss the sneaky rodent-fish. "Of course, you were eavesdropping on my conversation with Wade; when he told me what he did," she exclaimed.

Shego looked between Ru-Ru and Kimmie. "Is that true? Was it really Nerdlinger who called GJ?"

"Yes," Kim said reiterated. She then looked Shego directly in those piercing eyes. "However, I'm so sorry for my part in it. Wade was only trying to protect me. If I'd not lost control of myself, he would have left me alone to deal with you and Drakken."

Shego turned again to stare at the naked-mole-shark on her knee.

Ru-Ru nodded his head emphatically, "uh-hu, uh-hu." He then gave both of them a wide grin. "Princess missed you."

A look of horror spread across Kim's face at the exact moment the corners of Shego's lips curled upwards in amusement.

"So, you missed me, Princess," the green-skinned woman said, the last of the ice that had clung to her tone having just been melted by a healthy dose of hot sass. Now, that is interesting.

"I…" Kim stammered as her mouth fell open. When she failed to come up with words to refute the claim, she rounded on Ru-Ru. "You little shit!"

The naked-mole-shark blew another raspberry in Kim's direction and then began rolling around Shego's lap in a fit of hysterics at the look of indignation that formed on the hero's face.

"Ru-Ru, it's not polite for you to laugh at Kimmie like that," Shego said sternly, however, the second she had his attention, she quickly added, "I'll backdate your cheese ration eleven days when we get home if you have more of her juicy secrets to share."

Kim watched in horror as the naked-mole-shark's beady black eyes lit up. Aww crap! I never even thought about what that little shit might be able to tell Shego once I reunited them. Urgh, this could be so embarrassing and is so the drama! However, as she had come to expect from the opportunistic sod, Ru-Ru knew he had something of value and so immediately started to haggle.

"One month," the naked-mole-shark countered.

"Two weeks' worth," Shego said firmly.

"Three!"

Shego looked at him pointedly, "two weeks and that's your lot."

"Will the two of you stop bartering the secrets of my private life!" Kim yelled indignantly. God, if he knows I sometimes still sleep with Pandaroo and tells her, I'll never live it down… and I'll skin him!

"My, my, Kimmie, scared of what juicy dirt he might have on you?" Shego said and gave the hero a wolfish grin. She then held out a finger towards Ru-Ru, who promptly took hold of it and shook it.

"Argh! Kim exclaimed as she watched her secrets being sold for the meagre price of two weeks' worth of cheese. She then lightly hit her head off of the steering wheel. "This is not happening."

"Well, don't blame us, Kimmie. Remember, you were the one who just broke me out of prison," Shego said, purposefully adding insult in injury.

With little else to lose and with her rival's anger seemingly dissipated, Kim decided to risk a segue, "if you want to find out more about me, you could simply ask me over a drink."

Shego's ears pricked up at that remark. Is that simply an offhanded comment, or is she asking me out again? The memory of how things had ended between them the last time they'd gone out for a drink made itself known and caused her to pause. While she couldn't deny the lust she felt for the girl, that last time had started because of a simple misunderstanding and wound up becoming a train wreck. I'm not going down that road again without first knowing her intentions. Hell, I don't even know if she's accepted that she's a lesbian yet. Not to mention I still have a slight urge to beat the crap out of her. With that in mind, Shego remained reserved in her reply, "careful, Kimmie, remember how that one ended last time."

Kim ran the comment through her mind multiple times. Ok, while she's not outright rejecting the idea that we go for a drink, she's definitely sending me a warning; don't fuck with me again. I'll need to make my intentions crystal clear if/when I ask her to meet me for a drink… She thought about how she might possibly phrase her desire, only to quickly discover that she did not know what exactly it was that she wanted. Aside for the obvious; to talk about how she went about being a lesbian, Kim couldn't say whether she simply wanted one last 'night with Miss Go', to make a second attempt at trying to be her friend or a genuine date.

Kim stared out of the windscreen as she guided the Sloth past only the second car they'd encountered that was going their way. Once back in their lane, she allowed her gaze to linger. They were still a good two and a half hours away from Middleton. Maybe I don't need to ask her out for a drink yet; if at all. I've got her here and she seems willing to talk to me now. Why don't I just tell her that I think I'm a lesbian and ask if she'll explain some things to me? She motioned to turn her head, but never got the chance to even utter the green-skinned woman's name.

Having taken a breath in through her nose, Shego both heard and felt the large wad of snot shift in the upper region of her nasal passageways. She had just enough time to think, uh-oh! before she let out a violent sneeze and the snot began to stream out of both nostrils. URGH!

The sound of Shego's sneeze caught Kim by surprise, crap, I forgot that she's sick. On seeing the snot begin to leak from her rival's nose, she reached over and fished around inside the glovebox for a pack of tissues. "Here," she said warmly and held them out.

Without hesitation, Shego took the packet, ripped it open and buried her nose in the first tissue she could wrestle out of it. She burnt through three before she managed to regain some measure of control over the flow. It seemed the reprieve she'd had during the escape, when the adrenaline had been flowing and her mind had been too busy to pay attention to her nose, had come to an end. Great, guess I'm back to being a walking snotgun.

Having not been paying any attention, Shego had simply dropped each tissue into her lap once it had become full, completely forgetting about its current occupant. As a result, Ru-Ru let out a loud, "yuck!" when the first one landed on his head and he quickly cast it aside. This was followed by, "yikes!" when he saw the second one fall.

The hero glanced down at the naked-mole-shark as he dived from Shego's knee and onto her own. "Oh no you don't," she declared and swiftly grabbed him by the fin. "You just sold whatever secrets you might know about me for some cheese, so you can just go back and deal with Shego's icky snot-filled tissues. And with a flick of her wrist, she sent Ru-Ru straight back into the firing line.

"Wahh!" the naked-mole-shark cried as he tumbled back into Shego's lap, just in time for another tissue to land on his head. Wrestling himself out from underneath it, he began shaking one of his small fists in Kim's direction and uttered a string of unintelligible curses.

Kim started to laugh and then turned her attention to Shego. "How long have you been sick?" she asked, feeling a slight sense of worry. If she's anything like me and I know she is, she'll try and hide how unwell she's feeling.

"Since this morning," Shego replied and blew her nose into tissue number four. Then, without thinking, added, "Captain Brooks tossed me into a freezing cold solitary confinement cell for four days."

"Freezing cold!" Kim said in alarm. She knew her rival had been in solitary confinement for four days, but Brooks had neglected to tell her that she'd been torturing Shego by lowering the temperature. Her knuckles turned white inside her gloves and she felt an urge to turn the Sloth around and go back to give the Captain the beating she'd felt compelled to during the escape. She forced herself to take a calming breath. Shego's free now, that's all that matters.

"Yeah, Brooks must have figured out that I hate the cold," Shego said bitterly. She then reached inside the backpack and pulled out the crumb covered blue jeans, along with a red t-shirt, a blue and white checked shirt, matching pale pink underwear, white sports socks and a pair of black Converse; unsurprisingly all designer labels. She recognised the shirt as being the one Kimmie had worn on their 'non-date' in Spritzers. Is this a coincidence or is she trying to tell me something? Or am I just being an idiot and looking for something that isn't there? She then withdrew a bar of chocolate, the one snack it seemed Ru-Ru had not gotten the chance to scoff. "Here, take this and go enjoy yourself in the backseat," she said and held the candy bar out to the naked-mole-shark.

Ru-Ru's eyes lit up and he licked his lips, "mmm, yum-yum." He then grabbed his prize and promptly did as he was told and scuttled off to the backseat to devour it.

Once the naked-mole-shark had left her knee, Shego unclipped her seatbelt, kicked off her shoes and proceeded to slip out of her orange jumpsuit. Her white t-shirt, bra and unflattering granny panties soon joined it on the floor; along with the thin socks. She grimaced at the cotton panties, Pink is so not my colour, but nevertheless pulled both them and the jeans on. While the elastic on the former had to stretch somewhat to accommodate her backside, the latter fit her perfectly, meaning they were probably slightly loose on their owner. She had a similar thought about the bra's colour too, however, stopped to stare at it for a moment, yeah, aint no way my melons are fitting inside one of Kimmie's bras. She gave half a thought to putting her prison one back on, but quickly rejected it on the grounds she wanted rid of everything related to that hell-hole. Besides, by the looks of it, the red cotton t-shirt Kimmie had provided for her would be softer on her nipples than the prison-issue bra had been. Captain Brooks having been of the mindset that every single detail of the inmates lives should remind them that they were being punished. Tossing the pale-pink bra onto the floor, she pulled on the t-shirt. It was a somewhat tight fit over her breasts and resulted in about an inch of her midriff being left exposed, a somewhat ironic state of affairs, given the hero's perchance for that particular look. She then pulled the socks on, slid her feet inside the Converse and laced them up. Even though these are Kimmie's clothes and this t-shirt is more than a little snug, it still feels good to wear something other than those scratchy jumpsuits.

While the polite thing to do would have been to avert her gaze completely, Kim could not help but sneak a peek at her rival as she changed. However, her cheeks suddenly burned bright red on the realisation that Shego had not been wearing a bra. Oh my god, she looks divine! Kim hurriedly averted her gaze as she felt a spark ignite inside her and immediately recognised it as the same one she had experienced inside the volcano lair after her lips had first touched those of her rival's. Shit… I think I'm genuinely attracted to her… surely it's just because she's the first woman I've seen in only their panties since I realised I like girls…

Given her head felt like it had been taxidermized, Shego's normally sharp perception was dulled somewhat and she completely missed the fact that her rival had been checking her out while she changed. However, once she pulled on the shirt and refastened her seatbelt, a thought occurred to her. "Kimmie," she asked as the question finished forming in her mind, "when you saw me yesterday, I was completely out of it and almost non-responsive. What did you intend to do with me if I had still been like that tonight?"

It was only on hearing the question, that Kim realised that she hadn't given any prior thought to it. While she had considered the worst-case scenario when it came to getting her rival from her cell to the Sloth, she'd only planned for the best-case one from that point on. "Umm," she replied stupidly.

An amused smirk formed on Shego's lips as she said, "apart from shoving some stuff into a bag, you didn't give one iota of thought towards what you were going to do with me once you got me to your car, did you?"

Kim felt her cheeks begin to burn under the intensity of her rival's piercing stare. Eventually, when she could stand it no longer, she blurted out, "ok, fine, I was too concerned with just getting you out of there that I didn't think about what I was going to do afterwards." And with talking to you about my sexuality.

"Well, it looks like you got lucky in that I can walk by myself. Otherwise, you might have had to take me home with you," Shego replied and let out a light laugh, followed by a loud cough that lasted far too long for her liking. When it had ended, she became acutely aware of the fact that her throat felt scratchy. Crap, I bet that cough's not just a one-time deal. Guess I've got more than just a cold.

Kim listened to the green-skinned woman cough and it immediately reminded her of the one she herself had suffered from a few weeks prior. Uh-oh! She's not just got a cold. She stared at her rival with concern and once she had finally finished coughing, asked, "Shego, where is home for you and how do you want to get there?" From my recent experience, she needs to go home and go to bed asap. "Do you want me to drop you off at Dr Drakken's lair?"

Shego burst out laughing, but it quickly became another cough. With the adrenaline well and truly gone, she knew she was now at the mercy of her illness. Urgh, I need to get to bed. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen any time soon. When she could eventually see straight again, she found Kimmie holding a bottle of water out to her and saw the concern on the hero's face. Great, now she's feeling sorry for me. Nevertheless, she gratefully took the bottle, unscrewed the cap and took a long drink, before saying, "I stopped living in Drakken's lairs almost three years ago."

"How come?" Kim asked with interest.

"One, that old Caribbean lair of his wasn't exactly the most hospitable place in the world and two, I was stuck with Drakken as a roommate," Shego replied.

"I can see the problem with that," Kim laughed. "So, where do you stay now?" she then inquired, not unaware that the mood between them now almost felt like it had during their two nights in Spritzers. "Somewhere near Middleton, obviously." …damn, I was so angry at her after that 'non-date' that I forgot how much fun we'd had. And even if she doesn't feel the same, I still want to be her friend.

"That's as much as you need to know, Princess," Shego said, while her tone was still light, her gaze conveyed the fact that she had no intention of elaborating further.

Ok, so she doesn't want me to know where she lives. I suppose that makes sense, Kim thought. What self-respecting supervillain would want me knowing where to stop by for tea. However, that begs the question, "where do you want me to take you then?" Her brain then also came up with a second question which she chose not to voice, and why do you live so close to Middleton?

Shego blew her nose again and then wedged some wads of tissue up her nostrils. "There's a truck stop about thirty miles outside of Middleton, you can drop me off there and I'll walk the rest of the way."

Kim knew the place and it immediately set off alarm bells inside her head. There's no residential area closer to that truck stop than Middleton itself. She can't walk thirty-plus miles in her condition! "Shego," she began slowly, trying to mask her concern, "just how far will you need to walk to get home from there?"

Fifteen miles, but that's not for you to know, Princess. I'm not narrowing down the location of my house that much for you. "Far enough," Shego replied curtly. And I am not relishing it. In my current state, it'll take me hours to get home. Maybe I can try and hitch a ride with some trucker.

Hearing this response was enough to tell Kim that Shego intended to follow in her own footsteps and do something downright idiotic. If she walks any distance in her condition, all she's going to do is aggravate it. She needs bed rest and possibly some antibiotics. I can't let her do something so stupid. It was on having that thought that she realised the irony of the situation. Her rival would probably fight her tooth and nail on the matter, resulting in herself forcing the issue… just like mom did with me... With difficulty, Kim set the hypocrisy of the situation aside to be dealt with later. "Shego, I can't let you walk home in your current state. So, either you have to let me drop you off at home…" she paused, not quite believing that she was about to say," …or you come home with me."

Shego started to laugh, but one look at those olive-green eyes told her that Kimmie was not yanking her chain. "Wait, you're serious?" she asked but did not need to hear the answer. Before the hero could reply, she added, "you are not driving me home."

"Then I guess you're coming home with me then," Kim said firmly. "You can get some sleep, have some breakfast and then I'll call in a favour or pay for you to take a cab straight home."

The green-skinned woman locked gazes with her rival and glared at her with those piercing emerald eyes of hers, however, the hero's olive-greens did not buckle one millimetre. "I am not bunking with you tonight."

"Shego, you're sick and need rest. I can't let you walk god knows how many miles before you get home. It's idiotic and all you'll do is make yourself worse," Kim said, her gaze unwavering. She then added slowly, "…take it from someone who recently did the idiotic thing and wound up stuck at their parents' house for two whole weeks until they had fully recovered."

While Kimmie stopped talking there, her gaze wordlessly added, "don't fight me on this. Not only are you sick and without your glow, but you're stuck inside my car and even if you do escape, you don't stand a chance against me. Oh, and in case you missed it, I'm also wearing my battle suit." The prospect of spending the night, or to be more exact, morning, at Kimmie's place only felt a little less abhorrent than going back to cellblock D. Unfortunately, Shego knew she had no choice in the matter. Either she did so willingly or suffered the humiliation of having the hero use whatever means were at her disposal to restrain her. She chose the former. "Fine, Princess, you win. I'll crash at your place for the rest of the night, but after breakfast, I'm going home."

While she let out a light chuckle at her rival's indignation, Kim could not ignore the slight feeling of relief. "At least you're taking this with more dignity than I did," she said, hoping to lighten the green-skinned woman's now soured mood. "After you beat me up and my mom got me home, she slapped one of the Tweebs inventions on my wrist, which activated the house security system whenever I went within four feet of any of the doors or windows. It then acted like a shock collar when my mom let me go out on a walk with her."

Even though she felt infuriated with her rival, Shego couldn't help but laugh at the story. I can just imagine the look on her face when her mom did that to her. "Did she also buy you a collar with a little tag on it that read Kimmie?" she asked, before turning her tone serious, "try to pull a stunt like that on me and I'll turn your home into a blazing green inferno."

It was Kim's turn to laugh, even though it was slightly unnerving that Shego had come up with the exact same joke about the collar with the Kimmie tag that she herself had during her incarceration, albeit it had been no laughing matter for her at the time. She chose to ignore it and instead replied to the woman's second point, "how do you plan to do that?" She left the question at that, managing to stop herself before she directly mentioned the fact that her rival currently lacked her signature green glow, knowing that it would be a touchy subject.

"I'll rip the copper wiring out of your walls and add it to some homemade fireworks," Shego replied with a grin. However, if that's not good enough for you, I'll come back a couple of days later and do it for real.

Kim laughed again, knowing from high school chemistry that copper burned green. "I'd say I don't come over to your place and trash it, but we both know that's a lie."

"And I already told you that I ditched Drakken as a roomie like a mouldy turd." When they both laughed, the nature of their interaction became apparent to Shego too. Damn, I forgot that Kimmie is actually fun to hang out with. But I don't do friends… Her gaze lingered on the hero's smile and those warm olive-green eyes that were just downright gorgeous. …worse yet, she's both sexy and cute and I know it and I still want to sleep with her. Not to mention my instincts tell me she wants to ask me out for another drink… I just don't know her motive yet… or if I can say yes. Shego took another drink as a way to force herself to stop staring at Kimmie. Urgh, I don't have the headspace to deal with this right now. I just want to go to sleep. Reaching down the side of her seat, she pulled the lever to recline the back and lay down on her side; facing the window. "Wake me when we get to Middleton," she said and closed her eyes. While she did not expect she'd sleep, Shego needed to distance herself from the girl before she found herself tumbling down the metaphorical rabbit hole.

"I will," Kim replied, managing to hide her disappointment that the conversation had come to an end. Damn, I wanted to keep talking to her… to tell her that I think I'm a lesbian now. She picked up a bottle of water of her own and took a drink. Ok, this isn't a disaster. In fact, far from it. We've cleared the air regarding her incarceration and she's talking to me in much the same way she did during our two nights in Spritzers. In hindsight, I couldn't have asked for things to go any better. Yes, I want to talk to her about my sexuality, but that can wait. Heh, I can talk to her about it over breakfa… Kim's mind came crashing to a halt as the situation of her own making finally dawned on her. Holly crap, I'm taking Shego back to my apartment and to stay the night! Her heart rate kicked up two notches and she had to force her breathing not to spiral out of control. Ok, Kim, get a grip of yourself. You're doing this purely because she's sick and it would be very bad for her to walk for hours on end to get home… I'm going to have Shego sleeping in my apartment! That was it, her control slipped and she started to hyperventilate.

A thin smile formed on Shego's lips as she listened to Kimmie's breathing spiral out of control. Heh, I bet she's just realised what exactly she's done by insisting I come and stay the night with her. She laughed internally, serves you right for being so difficult, Princess.

It took several moments for Kim to take in a proper breath. When she finally managed to regain control over her body, it did nothing to abate her frenzied mind. I'm going to have Shego staying the night! She tried to take a calming breath, followed by a drink of water. Get a grip, Kim. This is no different to when she was staying with you as Miss Go. That thought didn't help. She's not Miss Go, she's Shego! It's completely different! She's a supervillain and I'm a hero; her nemesis. She'll probably try to put a poisonous spider or a scorpion in my bed! Kim shook her head at that notion and quickly had to admit that she had taken the issue way too far. One, Shego did not have either of those things and two, she knew the woman would never finish her off in such an underhanded way. It was at that moment, at having actually thought about the idea, that Kim finally came to a realisation that she should have had a long time ago, she'd never finish me off, even after beating me in a fair fight… I'm too much fun for her. A small smile formed on her face as she glanced over at the green-skinned woman. You enjoy spending time with me, don't you, Shego. I just need to be persistent in order to make you realise that you don't have to limit it to when I show up to stop Drakken.

With the optimism her rival had snuffed out at the end of their 'non-date' renewed, Kim turned her attention back to the long road that would take them back to Middleton. Meanwhile, Shego lay in the passenger seat, unable to hide from the fact that she too wished for something more between them. Both women also knew that at some point, one whopper of an internalised argument awaited them over the issue. However, that would come in due course. While both knew the destination at the end of the physical road they were on, the metaphorical one still eluded them. But that was ok. For after having driven the car off a cliff several weeks ago, Kim and Shego were finally back on the road to…