Author's note:

Ok, so we come at last to the final chapter of this update. I hope you guys have enjoyed it so far and are hungry for one more. The chapter title this time is the name of a song by David Gilmour (read Pink Floyd), called Where we start, taken from his On an Island solo album. While I had toyed with the idea of calling this chapter Breakfast at Kimmie's, after the song Breakfast at Tiffanies, I'm not a fan of replacing names in song titles of lyrics (not sure why), so we're going with Where we start. Personally, I think this is a really nice fit for this chapter, as I feel that this both the end of this part of the story and the start of a new one. So, enjoy it and I'll see you all at the end.

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Chapter Fifteen: Where we start

A grating noise filled Kim Possible's ears and roused her from her slumber. What on earth is that? Before she had managed to open her eyes, two more noises followed, the first, one she would have associated with an electronic lock opening and the second definitely being that of a metal gate sliding open. The resultant bang caused her to jump and her eyes snapped open, only to be confronted by… what the… she thought on seeing the grey wall in front of her and the grey blanket that covered her.

"You'd better hurry up, Kimmie, or Brook's will have your ass."

Shego's voice registered with Kim at the exact same moment as she saw lifted her blanket and saw the orange jumpsuit that she wore. Kim practically leapt out of bed. "What on earth?" she exclaimed in complete and utter shock as her eyes took in the drab cell.

"Just leave her in bed and let Brooks flay her alive. It might do her some good."

Kim spun around to see… "Bonnie," she breathed in disbelief on seeing her old schoolyard nemesis standing at the door to the cell. Like herself, the brunette was also clad in an orange jumpsuit. She turned to face Shego; who was identically attired. "Shego… what's going on?"

Shego rolled her eyes. "It's called morning roll call, Kimmie," the green-skinned woman replied mater-of-factly. "It's where Brooks and her flunkies saunter through the cellblock, check to make sure we're all still here and shit on anyone that pisses her off."

Kim's terrified eyes did another sweep of the room. "Wait, no, I broke you out!"

From the cell door, Bonnie let out a derisive laugh. "No, you broke in here, tried to bust her," the former cheerleader pointed at Shego, "out and got the entire place put on lockdown when they caught you. Now you're stuck here like the rest of us." A twisted smile formed on her old nemesis' lips, "a rather fitting and ironic fate if you ask me."

"No…" Kim uttered in disbelief as a feeling of panic began to set in. She turned back to Shego, "…we escaped, I remember it."

A grim expression formed on the green-skinned woman's face. "Wish it were true, Kimmie, but the alarm got raised as you were climbing up onto the outer wall. It automatically cranked the voltage up on the razor wire, which blasted both of us of the wall and down to minefield. The blast from the mines we hit rendered both of us unconscious and knocked our stealth-camo's offline. I woke up yesterday evening in the infirmary but you were still out of it until not long before Brooks had us moved here last night, don't you remember?"

"Yeah, and she had the audacity to move me with you," Bonnie spat sourly. "Something about making us the 'Cellblock C Sirens'." The former cheerleader then snorted, "it was bad enough when it was just her I had to put up with, now I've got to share my cell with you too, Kim," before walking out of the cell.

"But… but…" Kim stuttered, unable to comprehend what was happening. No… how could I have let this happen…

From outside the cell, a voice yelled, "Rockwaller, Bonnie."

"Present," Bonnie replied.

"Possible, Kim," the voice then barked.

A chorus of laughter and a few wolf whistles echoed around the cellblock after her name had been shouted, followed by a voice Kim knew all too well yelling, "HA! KIM POSSIBLE!"

All the colour drained from Kim's face and a cold sweat covered her body when the voice barked again, "Possible, Kim."

"No… I can't be…"

From beside her, Shego's hand grabbed Kim's wrist and started to drag Kim towards the cell door, but before they reached it the dominating figure of Captain Brooks appeared in the doorway.

"Holding up my rollcall on day one, how very like your new cellmates," Brooks said as she marched into the cell. "However, I shouldn't be surprised at such insolence from someone that would try to free this one," the Captain pointed a sharp fingernail at Shego, "from jail."

Without warning, Captain Brooks seized a handful of her flaming-red hair. Kim yelped in pain as her wrist was wrenched from Shego's grasp and she was dragged out of the cell. "Ahhh, no, please, stop!" she cried, but she might as well have petitioned the walls for mercy as her plea fell on deaf ears. She then felt a hard kick in the back of her legs and she fell to her knees.

"Take a good look, Inmate," Brooks said in her ear and then used Kim's hair to turn her head from side to side so that she could get a good view of the cellblock and all the jeering inmates, many of whom were supervillains that she herself had sent off to jail. "If I have my way, you won't see beyond the walls of my facility ever again. So, if I were you, I'd get used to it and your new family. I imagine there are a lot of inmates here who are just dying to meet you again."

Her head suspended by her hair in the hateful Captain's grasp, Kim gazed around in terror at her new home. The laughter intensified as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "No… no… NO!"

Kim sat bolt upright and gulped down a large mouthful of cool air. Her frantic eyes darted around her bedroom, which was bathed in the warm glow of the sunlight that managed to break through the blinds. A dream…. just a dream… It took her several moments to calm down, everything about cellblock C having felt so real. She exhaled slowly as her heart rate gradually slowed back to its normal rhythm. "Just a dream," she reaffirmed out loud. However, dream or not, it had done a perfect job of illustrating just what could have been, had things gone ever so slightly differently last night. Ok, note to self, I can't do anything that reckless again. Unfortunately, the admission highlighted that the part of her that was still Kimmie; her black and white younger self had been right. Despite the outcome being exactly what she had wanted, what she had done last night had not been sensible; put lightly. Only she knew that given her time again, she would do the exact same thing. It led her to wonder just what other things her now enlightened self might do that she would once have considered 'unsensible'… she'd cross those bridges when she came to them.

Climbing out of bed, Kim winced loudly at the stabbing pain in her back, son of a bitch! At about five am, just before taking off her battle suit, she had pre-empted the inevitable pain and taken a single codeine, however, it seemed the effect had now worn off. No surprise, she thought on glancing at her alarm clock; it read 12:13. She continued to wince as she gingerly hobbled through to her bathroom to shower, resigned to having to take another one of the drugs if she wanted to get through the afternoon. Her back was not the only part of her to have suffered injury. Around both her ankles, where the electrified razor wire had been entangled, were two burn marks, the current having generated enough heat to penetrate her battle suit. Nevertheless, all things considered; including the alternative she'd seen in her dream, Kim considered herself relatively unscathed, so long as there was nothing to tie her to Shego's escape. However, she would probably only discover that if Global Justice suddenly appeared and tried to batter down her door. Turning on the shower, she slipped out of her pyjamas and climbed into the cubical.

After a much-needed shower, which helped to loosen her back muscles slightly, Kim finished drying her hair and tossed her towel into the laundry hamper, before tying it back into a ponytail. Pulling her lilac pyjamas back on, she exited her bedroom and wandered stiffly into the main living area. She immediately heard the sound of the TV and her gaze fell upon Ru-Ru, who was perched upon the sofa with a plate of toaster tarts beside him. "Hell must have frozen over last night if you're awake before we are," she chuckled and wandered past him to the kitchen. Granted, it was probably already under ten-foot of ice after I broke Shego out of jail.

Ru-Ru looked up at her from the TV, blew her a friendly raspberry and then went back to his program and toaster tarts.

In the spare bedroom, Shego tossed and turned amidst her sweaty bedsheets. At some point during the night, she had wrestled herself out of the sky-blue pyjamas Kimmie had given her, which were now strewn across the floor. Between the gap in the curtains, a stray beam of sunlight broke through, caught her eye and forced her to shift her head underneath her pillow. Urgh! I feel shitty. As if to emphasise this point, she started to cough. Fever, headache, and a sore throat rounded out her symptoms. The only positive being that at some point during the morning, her nose had dried up. Although, that had resulted in it becoming blocked and so necessitated her to breathe through her mouth.

When the sound of the TV from the opposite side of the door reached her ears, Shego knew sleep would elude her. She let out a slow breath through her mouth as her brain tried to take stock of the bizarre, if not totally screwed up situation in which she found herself. Ok, so last night Kimmie shows up, breaks me out of jail, drives us back to Middleton and then twists my arm to get me to stay the night at her place… and in what universe am I not suffering from a weird fever dream? She gently rubbed the bedsheets between her fingers. Not only were they far softer than those found in cellblock D, but also felt far too real for this to be a construct of her imagination. I guess this is reality then. Do I even want to know how this is possible? While her head hurt and she felt like crap, the answer to that was unquestionably yes. Her curiosity would not allow the mystery to go unsolved. Well, I'm not going to get the answers lying here.

Somewhat unsteadily, Shego sat up and climbed out of bed. Dressing in the pyjamas Kimmie had given her last night, she slipped the personal jamming device, which she'd placed under her pillow, into the pocket and then glanced in the mirror that sat on the dresser on her way to the door. Her hair was dishevelled, more so than it had been back in her jail cell and there were large dark circles under her eyes; her nose was crusty looking too. Well, don't I just look ready to go to the ball, she laughed internally. I wonder what state Kimmie's in? Opening the door, she stepped out into the apartment's main living area.

Kim heard the sound of the spare room door opening and poked her head out of the kitchen. "Afternoon," she said cheerily and smiled at the green-skinned woman; feeling oddly at ease with the fact her rival had just wandered into her main living area in a pair of borrowed pyjamas. I guess I'm equating this situation with that of Miss Go staying at mom and dads.

"Afternoon," Shego grunted as she practically staggered into the dining table and sat down in the first chair her hand could grasp the back of. "Please tell me you've got coffee."

"I've got a pot brewing as we speak," Kim replied, sensing that she felt a lot more awake than her rival did. "I'm only just up and showered myself. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been mauled by a jaguar, which got scared off by the bulldozer that then ran me over," Shego answered, before her head drooped down onto the table. "How about you?" she then asked, her voice somewhat muffled by her hair.

"My…" Kim began but stopped upon feeling the creeping hand of self-consciousness start to grip at her from the dark recesses of her mind. It seemed she did not feel comfortable talking about her injuries. "…I'm fine," she then said and hurriedly busied herself with pouring two mugs of coffee. She brought them both over to the table, along with the sugar bowl and a jug of milk. "Here," she said and sat one of the mugs down in front of Shego.

Like she was some strange creature, Shego reached out a hand and pulled the mug of black coffee behind the curtain of her raven hair and held it under the nose. The steam rising from it felt somewhat soothing. "Thanks," she grumbled without looking up.

"Your welcome," Kim chuckled lightly. "You're almost Ru-Ru level grumpy." When her rival did not immediately hit back with a sarky comment, she added, "I'm making pancakes, they'll be ready in a few minutes."

That comment was enough to get Shego to raise her head and stare at her rival. "Are you sure that's safe? I heard you had difficulty just pushing a button to dispense cheese when you worked at Bueno Nacho," she said and managed a small grin.

"How on earth do you know about that?" Kim replied, feeling slightly concerned that the green-skinned woman had somehow found out a rather obscure detail about her life.

"I overheard Ned telling a trainee about the worst employee in Bueno Nacho history one time," Shego answered. Her smile widened as she added, "it didn't take much work to figure out that the stuck-up, red-haired girl with the serious attitude problem and dorky sidekick was you."

"I wasn't that bad!" Kim protested, although knew she was kidding neither of them; she had been that bad. "And where does Ned get off calling someone dorky?"

Shego simply gave Kimmie a pointed look, picked up her mug and took a sip of her coffee.

In complete indignation, Kim stormed back to the kitchen and started pouring pancake batter into the hot pan. I'll show her who can't push a button!

Some ten minutes later, Kim and Shego were both sat at the table with stacks of surprisingly tasty pancakes, with bacon and scrambled eggs in front of them. Something that came as somewhat of a surprise to both parties. They ate their food and drank copious amounts of strong coffee in relative silence, the background drone of the TV the occasional gleeful 'woo-hoo' from Ru-Ru, the only things of note to be heard. When their plates were finally cleared, it was Shego, who's curiosity could wait no longer, that finally spoke.

"So, Kimmie, why is it that I'm sitting here at your dining table; eating pancakes, rather than whatever crap the prison cafeteria is serving for lunch today?" Upon mentioning the penitentiary, she spared a brief thought for Bonnie, I wonder how she's coping without me? Heh, I bet it won't matter today. Brooks will have the entire place on lockdown because of my escape. I just hope I taught her enough to survive…

Ok, here goes... Kim opened her mouth to begin the explanation with the revelation about her sexuality, except no words came out. This was the first time she had been about to utter words tantamount to, 'I'm a lesbian', to someone else and she found that they stuck in her throat. Ever since she'd discovered this truth about herself, it had existed solely inside her personal 'Kim Possible' bubble. However, saying it to someone else, especially to Shego, felt like opening the front door when you knew there was a pack of hungry wolves circling your home. She took a deep breath; heart thundering inside her chest, struggled to wrap her tongue around even the first word and eventually only managed stutter, "I…" she paused, come on, Kim, you can do this, you can do anything. She tried again, "I…" but hit the same problem. Her knuckles turned white and she screwed up her eyes, as she tried to force the truth from her mouth, "I think… I might be a lesbian…" Kim automatically flinched from a verbal attack that did not come. Cautiously, she opened one eye a crack, half expecting her rival to launch into a vicious assault at any moment. When nothing happened, she was able to relax her body enough to open both eyes and unclench her fists. However, her heart was still going a million miles-per-hour.

Shego sat and watched Kimmie, as the hero struggled to utter the first part of her explanation. This ought to be good if she's stumbling over her first word. She chose to say nothing, but neither did she intensify her stare or put the girl any more on the spot than she already was. When the hero's completed sentence finally reached her ears, Shego almost fell off of her chair. Whatever explanation or rationale she had been expecting, that had not been it. And while she knew she had not misheard, she could not help but utter, "did you just say..." Oh, holy fucking crap! I'd figured kissing her back in Drakken's lair would have booted her ass out of anger and into fear, but I would never have imagined she'd virtually end up at acceptance in less than two weeks. As let's face it, if she's telling me she might be a lesbian that probably means she's already ninety-nine-percent certain.

When no angry mob with torches and pitchforks sprung out of the walls to lynch her, Kim relaxed slightly more, let out a sigh and shook her head. "No... sorry… that's a lie... I'm positive I'm a lesbian. It's just..." the rest of her sentence got caught in her throat again.

While Kimmie's first words could easily have wrong-footed her into thinking the girl was about to recant her admission, Shego knew different; she could hear it in her tone. At that moment, she completely forgot the fact they were hero and villain; nemeses and showed Kim the sincere; compassionate side of herself that was all too often buried beneath buckets of sass and sarcasm. "It's just still so difficult for you to come to terms with and admit to someone," she finished softly. Shego then gave Kimmie a warm smile and from the girl's eyes managed to discern something else, "I'm the first person you've told, aren't I?"

On hearing her rival correctly assume that she was the first person to hear this from her, the reality of what she had just done, had been planning to do for days, finally hit her. Is my life that messed up that the first person I've told about my sexuality; one of the most important self-discoveries a person can make, wasn't my parents, best friend or best girl, rather the woman who is my nemesis? That thought served only to shine a brighter spotlight than those she'd been under back at the prison upon the current state of her life. I no longer have a best friend, my best girl hates me and I can't bring myself to talk to mom... Kim slowly nodded her head before turning it away. She sniffed slightly as she forced herself to hold back the tears that she knew were fighting to burst from her eyes.

Shit, things must be bad for her if I'm the first person she's told. However, it still begs the question why. Shego chose to give Kimmie a moment to collect herself before asking any questions. Given that this had been where the hero had chosen to start her explanation, it did not take her long to reason that this was why Kimmie had come to visit her on Monday. "Are you ok?" she eventually asked when the girl finally turned back to face her.

"Yeah," Kim replied in a low voice, which probably betrayed the fact that she wasn't ok in the slightest. "I can't tell you how hard that just was or what it's been like since we... you know... in Drakken's lair."

"Kissed, Kimmie," Shego laughed lightly, "we kissed inside Drakken's lair… a lot. And you don't have to. I know exactly how hard it's been for you because I once walked the exact same path you're currently on." As she said those last words out loud, Shego knew she had just answered her own question. "That's why I'm the first person you've told. You wanted to tell someone whom you knew would understand, right?"

Kim nodded again, "yeah. It's why I came to visit you on Monday. Only that didn't quite pan out the way I'd planned. And between needing to talk to you, how I saw you were being treated and Ru-Ru cajoling/ attempting to bribe me, I knew the only option I had was to break you out."

"It's probably a good thing your visit didn't work out and not just because I got a get out of jail free card out of it," Shego said, unable to suppress a grin. "Given my disposition towards you before Ru-Ru dropped Nerdlinger in the shit, I would have told you to piss off, had I been in my right mind. Which is not the sort of thing you want to hear the first time you ever tell someone that you're a lesbian," although, as angry as I was, it still would have been better than the shit I got.

Like a dam had just been blown up by some sort of mad-science super-dynamite, words suddenly exploded from Kim's mouth in a single long string that she had no control over, "ImsosorryforhowangryIwasatyouhowItriedtohurtyouandformypartingettingyousenttojailIjustreallyneedtotalktoyouIvegotsomanyquestionsIdontevenknowwheretostart." She only managed to stop when she inevitably ran out of breath.

"In English, Princess," Shego laughed, then added, "why don't you start by taking a deep breath and slowing down."

Kim did as her rival suggested and ensured she had full control over herself before trying again. "I'm really sorry for how angry I was at you and that I tried to seriously hurt you. You clearly knew the truth before I did and I was both too stubborn and scared to accept it."

Heh, that's putting it mildly. "It's been over ten years since I came to terms with my own sexuality, so it's much easier for me to see the signs in someone than it is for them to see it in themselves," Shego replied.

"Still, I should never have treated you the way I did," Kim said solemnly. "I realise now that you were just trying to help, not mess with my head."

"Given that you went from outright ignorance to acceptance in just over a month, I'd say I did a not bad job," Shego said with a smile. Even if I hadn't planned on doing anything more than kicking you out of denial and into anger. "I think it took me almost a full year to go from one to the other."

Kim let out a cringy sort of laugh, "actually, it was only three weeks." A whole year! My three weeks were bad enough. I don't even want to think about how difficult it must have been for her to suffer for that long. "That's why you chose to help me, isn't it?" Kim then asked. "You saw yourself in me and didn't want me to suffer for as long as you did."

Shego was slightly taken aback both by Kimmie's assertion that it had only taken her three weeks to go from ignorance to acceptance and by how the hero had managed to deduce her reasoning so easily. Damn, I'm good. She must have practically bypassed fear and bargaining and gone straight to acceptance after we made out in Drakken's lair. Heh, guess I forgot who I'm dealing with here. "Yeah. Despite how angry I was with you over that non-date, once I'd cooled off a little and then saw you trying to prove that you were straight, I knew that you were a lesbian..." she paused as her compassionate side clashed with her Shego persona and after a quick battle, the former won out. "Given how alike we are, it didn't take me long to realise that you would probably wind up going through the same prolonged hell that I did... I guess I figured that not even you deserved to go through what I did."

"Shego, I..." Kim began but quickly found that she did not have the words to express both her gratitude for what her rival had done for her, shock that the woman had done it in the first place and sorrow for what she knew must have been hell on earth for Shego all those years ago. In the end, all she could say was a simple, sincere, "thank you."

Given that she was no longer used to having people thank her for anything, Shego again found herself torn when it came to how to respond. However, whether it was due to being ill, lingering gratitude towards Kimmie for breaking her out of jail, or because the issue transcended their hero/villain relationship, her Shego persona was again restrained somewhat. "Don't worry about it, Kimmie. Since you broke me out last night, why don't we call it even?"

Kim sighed internally, damn, I guess she's got a point. Given that she helped me first and with something so huge, getting her out of jail probably only just covers that. Except I still need her help. She then bit her lip and said, "I need to rack up more debt."

"Meaning?" Shego asked with a pointed look, although did not need to. While Kimmie had reached acceptance in regards to being a lesbian in only three weeks, there was zero chance of her having figured out how to go about living as one. She'll have a bucket load of questions she needs answers to and since, unlike me, she's got someone she can ask, it's no surprise that's what she wants to do.

"I've got a lot of questions I'd like to ask you," Kim said apprehensively and then quickly added, "but only if you're ok with answering them. I don't want to impose," however, instantly regretted it. Great, now she's going to think I'm needy.

Shego couldn't help but roll her eyes. "This is going to take a while, isn't it?"

Kim cringed slightly as she struggled to read her rival's expression. Is she annoyed with me, or was that more of a long-suffering resignation? Unfortunately, she had no choice but to be honest with her, "probably. I'm not even sure where to start." She then decided to appeal to the part of the green-skinned woman that had shown her such kindness and helped her in the first place, "I guess you probably had the same sort of questions."

"I did and I had to figure out the answers to them by myself," Shego replied. Kimmie's face had already started to fall before she was able to continue, "and it sucked; royally. A breath caught in her throat and she broke out into a small coughing fit, a perfect illustration of the point she had been about to make.

"I'll get you some water," Kim said and hastily stood up and headed for the kitchen. Ok, so it sounds like she had just as much trouble figuring out the answers to all the questions I've got. But is the connection we clearly share over this issue enough that she'll be willing to help me a second time? After all, look what happened to her first time around. She filled a high-ball with water and then brought it back to the table. "Here," she said and set the high-ball down on the glass surface.

Shego, who had stopped coughing, picked up the high-ball and drank from it. The cool water made her throat hurt when she swallowed. "Listen, Kimmie," she began, her voice now sounding slightly hoarse, "I feel like hell and am not in the mood right now for an even longer heart to heart than we've already had. And trust me, this is going to take a while." That and there's something more pressing that I need to do before I keel over.

"I understand," Kim said as her head drooped slightly. "It's not fair for me to impose my problems on you, especially when you're not well. I just really could have used someone to talk to about all of this."

"Hey, I didn't say we couldn't talk, I just said not right now," Shego replied quickly, before she found herself subjected to Kimmie's damn puppy-dog-pout.

"Do you mean…"

"Yeah, since you obviously want to go out for another drink, I'll give you a call when I'm feeling better and we can meet in Spritzers."

Kim's face lit up and she had to stop herself from diving forward and throwing her arms around her rival. Oh my god, she's agreeing to go out with me again and I didn't even have to ask. However…

"However, let's be clear, we're only going out to drink, talk and maybe have something to eat, that's it," Shego then added. As she's definitely not ready for anything more than that and I'm not sure how I feel about making another attempt at sleeping with her, even if she is both sexy and cute.

"I'm ok with that," Kim quickly agreed, feeling slightly relieved that her rival had both made the move to avoid the disastrous misunderstanding from last time and taken anything beyond that off the table. However, at the same time, there was that small part of her that couldn't help but feel a tad disappointed. I haven't even sorted out how I feel about when we kissed yet, she quickly reminded herself.

"Good. Now, unless there's anything that absolutely cannot wait until then, do you mind getting me a ride home?" Shego asked. While normally she would never have asked Kimmie for anything, she felt too crappy to try and deal with the matter by herself, especially given that she had no money or cell-phone. "I'll pay you back when we meet for that drink."

"Of course," Kim said all too willingly and rose from her chair. "I'll call in a favour, so it won't cost either of us."

"I thought in the current climate favours had gone the way of a Drakken plan and currency had become king," Shego replied.

"It has, but I've still got a bucket load of favours due to me from missions I did prior to the Lorwardians screwing everything up." Kim headed through to her workroom and picked her Kimmunicator up off the desk. There were a bunch of messages labelled urgent from Wade and she had a sneaking suspicion that his monitoring of GJ traffic would have picked up on the fact Shego was once more on the loose. Needless to say, she chose to ignore them. She'd call him later, feign shock that her rival had escaped from jail so soon and say she'd deal with her when she next surfaced. The irony being that she really would be front and centre next time Shego made a public appearance. Flicking through her contacts, she began sourcing that ride.

Taking another drink of water, Shego watched Kimmie head off down the hall, her eyes lingering on the girl's tight backside. Dammit, she's sexy, cute and now batting for my team. Urgh, why did you have to go and complicate things, Princess? In all fairness, after their brief make-out session, she should have anticipated that by the next time she saw the hero that she would have accepted the fact she was a lesbian. Shit, I do still want to sleep with her. She shook her head and stood up, focus, Shego, there'll be time to deal with that later. Heading back into the room she had slept in, Shego changed into the clothes Kimmie had given her last night, made sure both the letter and jamming device were safely in the back pocket of the jeans, she didn't trust Captain Brooks not to have put a tracker in with the glow suppressing serum and headed back into the main living area. She'd decided against showering as she would need to do so again after she got home anyway. "Ru-Ru, it's time to go home," she said upon reaching the sofa.

The naked-mole-shark turned his head to look at her. "Cheese?" he asked hopefully.

Shego laughed, "if there's any in the fridge that's edible, you can have it."

"Mmmm, yum-yum," Ru-Ru said and licked his lips. He stood up and climbed onto the top of the sofa.

Shego smiled, held out a hand and Ru-Ru happily hopped on and scuttled up to her shoulder.

Kim wandered back into the main living area just in time to see the brief exchange between the pair. Wow, she really does care for him. I guess I was right in thinking that Miss Go wasn't just some freak mad-science accident. That persona is part of Shego, she just doesn't let it show. "You're ride will be outside in five minutes."

Shego glanced up and saw Kimmie standing at the edge of the hallway, unable to shake the feeling that she had just been caught with her pants down. "Oh, right… thanks," she mumbled. Dammit, why did she have to see me being nice to Ru-Ru? She'll think I've gone soft. Naturally, she tried to compensate. "Well, it's been fun, Kimmie, but I'm out of here."

Kim couldn't help but laugh lightly at her rival's attempt to act aloof. "It'll be fun when we go out for a drink, promise." Shit, did I just flirt with her? Internally she hit her head off of a wall, stupid, stupid, stupid! We only agreed on it being drinks and a chat ten minutes ago and already I'm messing with that.

Shego raised an eyebrow at that comment. Did she just flirt with me? She forced herself to brush it aside. Remember what happened last time you thought that. Regardless of when this night out happens, drinking, talking and possibly eating; that's it. "Fun's subjective, Princess. Now, I'm out of here," she said and headed for the door.

More than a little annoyed with herself, Kim followed and deactivated the security system before opening the front door. "Have a safe trip home and get well soon," she said by way of a parting remark.

With Ru-Ru perched on her shoulder, Shego stepped into out into the hallway and crossed the short distance to the elevator. When the doors slid open, she stepped inside and turned to look at her shoulder. "Say goodbye to Kimmie, Ru-Ru."

"Bye-bye, Princess," the naked-mole-shark said and gave Kim a wide grin.

"Bye-bye, Ru-Ru," Kim said, feeling slightly relieved that she would no longer have to guard her food and fingers from the little terror. She then met the green-skinned woman's brilliant emerald gaze, "I'll see you soon, Shego."

"Yeah, see you soon, Kimmie," Shego replied and then smirked at the hero. "By the way, Princess, for you first proper felony, you sure knocked it out the park." The elevator doors closed just as she saw the look of infuriation spread across the girl's face and she could not help but laugh.

##

Kim closed her apartment door and let out a long, slow breath. Ok, so that went better than I could possibly have hoped. She's going to call me, we're going to go out and I'll finally be able to get my questions answered. She headed over to the dining table, collected the dishes and then went to the kitchen to wash them. Oh god, what if she lied to me? I could be waiting for days on a phone call that's never coming. She felt her heart rate increase and her breathing become slightly ragged at that thought. Why the hell did I think it was a good idea to trust a supervillain and Shego out of all of them?

"Well, well, look who's finally coming to her senses," the voice of Kimmie said derisively, as the image of her younger self appeared inside her head; wearing an uncharacteristic sneer.

No, Kim thought firmly, Shego wasn't lying. She's going to call me and we're going to go out for a drink and a chat.

"Urgh, quit deluding yourself," Kimmie spat. "Thanks to you, she's out of jail and can do what the hell she likes and you can bet that you don't factor into her plans."

You don't know her like I do! Kim yelled as she shoved the dishes into the sink with a clatter. She wasn't sure where exactly that had come from but found herself rolling with it. All you remember is having to fight her in order to stop Drakken… back when everything was black and white.

"Nothing's changed!" Kimmie yelled at her. "She's a supervillain and you're supposed to be a hero. Do you honestly think that her pretending to be nice changes that?"

Everything's changed! As much as I hate that Captain Brooks, she's right; the world isn't black and white. And I… she paused on realising what she was about to say, however, despite how insane it sounded, she had to believe it was true, …I trust Shego, at least when it comes to the issues I'm having with my sexuality. Regardless of what you think, I know she wasn't lying when she told me that she went through the same hell.

"Well, don't blame me when everything comes crashing down around you," Kimmie fired back.

Like the previous night, Kim's latest internalised argument abruptly ended and left her feeling drained. Shego will call me, I know she will, she reaffirmed internally. In no mood to wash the dishes, she wandered over to the sofa and sat down. It was now Wednesday afternoon; eleven days after she had stopped Dr Drakken from holding the world to ransom with his lightning ray and Kim Possible had not stopped a villain since; merely ensured some cargo got from A to B. And as she sat and channel surfed, she knew that somewhere, Dr Betty Director would probably be having a fit and not just because the world's most dangerous supervillain was once more at large. Yet Kim did not care one iota.

##

At the tame, law-abiding speeds, it took Shego forty-five minutes to get from Kimmie's apartment building, beyond the outskirts of Middleton and to the turnoff that led to her secluded forest home. While the driver had been more than willing to take her to her front door, she'd insisted he drop her off half a mile away. The man might have had no clue who she was, but she did not want to take the chance. With Ru-Ru safely on her shoulder, she'd walked the rest of the way home.

Home sweet home, Shego thought and smiled when she turned the corner and the house came into view. The gravel on the driveway crunched underfoot as she made her way up to the porch. Fortunately, she had both the energy and ability to activate her glow long enough for the house security system to deactivate; negating her need to use her contingency plan. Stepping inside, she wandered through to the kitchen and deposited Ru-Ru on the countertop, before opening the fridge. Unsurprisingly, given she'd spent the week prior to her incarceration living in Drakken's volcano lair, there was little in the fridge that was edible. Nevertheless, she found an unopened block of cheese, one of the many she'd bought since the naked-mole-shark had moved in, and withdrew it.

"Here," Shego said and handed it to him. "Go eat that and watch TV. I need to go out."

Ru-Ru's eyes lit up and he grabbed the offering like it was a bar of gold. However, his stomach did not get in the way of him looking pointedly at her and saying, "sick!"

"Since when did you become Nurse Ratched?" Shego laughed. She then fixed him with a stern look. "Yes, I'm sick and when I come back, I'm not going to be in good shape and will most likely sleep until lunchtime tomorrow, but this will help me feel better more than any cold medicine."

A look of concern that she would not have thought possible spread across the naked-mole-shark's pink face and he replied, "feel better?"

"I will, now go watch TV." She watched Ru-Ru hop down off the counter and scurry through to the living room with his block of cheese before she headed for the stairs.

Up in her bedroom, Shego stripped out of Kimmie's clothes and went into her wardrobe; taking the letter she'd received on her last day in prison with her. Finding her most battered clothing; a pair of khaki combats, a black vest and red hoodie, all with several holes and paint marks on them, she pulled them on, along with an old pair of sneakers and popped the jamming device in the pocket. She then slid open a small; secret wall panel in the back of her closet to reveal a safe made from mad-science steal and locked with the same glow-activated contraption as her front door. From inside, she withdrew two boxes. She opened the first one and looked at the small stack of parchment envelopes that had her real forename written on the front in neat calligraphy. Her hand froze for a moment as she went to place the latest one inside. Maybe it's time I open one and see what she has to say… Shego quickly suppressed the thought, dropped the envelope atop the others, closed the lid and shoved the box back inside the safe and locked it tight. I don't care what she thinks of me!

The second box, made of metal and locked with a simple clasp, was only about four inches long, two inches wide and one inch deep. Shego pocketed it and made her way out of the bedroom, down the stairs and out the front door. Multiple tracks led off into the trees all around the house, save for on the eastern side, which bordered the lake. She chose one that headed north.

The early evening sun shone through the luscious green foliage that hung overhead, the latter being the only thing to make the trip somewhat bearable, as it blocked a good portion of the light. While better than rain, the sunlight caused her head to hurt and each step that did not find flat ground caused her feet and legs to ache. Every so often, she would cough or be forced to stop and catch her breath, but she forced herself to keep going. Step after heavy step, Shego continued for about a mile and a half before she came to a clearing about twenty metres in diameter. It was not a natural occurrence.

Several years ago, a logging firm had purchased the land and bribed the state governor for clearance to chop down the entire forest and so had sent a team in to carve out the clearing as the first step to establishing their base of operations in the area. Those were the only trees they ever managed to cut down. The corruption had been exposed by environmental activists and the governor forced to resign, with his replacement swiftly retracting the permission. A large forest that could not be harvested suddenly became an undesirable asset for a logging firm and so Shego had purchased the land from them at a bargain price, built her house on it and put signs around the border that read: Trespassers will be shot. She never saw a sole amidst these trees.

A scorched branch crumbled to ash as Shego stepped out into the clearing. All around her the ground was scorched black and the felled trees nothing more than a pile of charred wood amidst a pool of black ashes. She hated coming here, the sight a dark reminder of just how dangerous she could be if uncontrolled. Nothing above ground lived in this part of the forest and likely never would again, not after the first time she'd come here. Still, it was better that she'd destroyed what had already been a tree graveyard than set the entire forest ablaze.

Walking to the centre of the charred sea of destruction, Shego reached into her back pocket and withdrew the small metal box. Popping the clasp, she opened the lid and withdrew a small vial and a hypodermic. She stared at the clear liquid as she filled the syringe, a faint rainbow shimmering through it. Even though she desired the outcome more than anything in the world at present, no hint of a smile formed on Shego's lips. Here goes nothing. Rolling up the sleeve of her hoodie, she found a vein in her wrist, tapped it a few times to and then pierced it with the hypodermic. She just had enough time to withdraw and discard it after injecting herself with the contents, before she felt the burning sensation begin to spread throughout her body from the sight of the puncture mark.

Shego fell to the ground and huddled her knees to her chest as her entire body began to feel like it had been tossed into a vat of molten steel. Though she'd clenched her teeth in anticipation, she could do nothing to stop the scream of agony being ripped from her lips. At that exact moment, a bright green glow surrounded her and begun to rapidly pulsate. Eyes screwed up tighter than should have been possible, Shego continued to scream as her glow broke free of the metaphorical rubble that had been the GJ serum and began to burn the toxin from every part of her body. Then it happened. In a bright green inferno, Shego's plasma exploded outward from her as her body uncurled and torched everything within almost the entire ten-meter radius from herself and the undamaged trees at the edge of the clearing. The pain suddenly ceased and Shego rose to her feet, propelled by two streams of plasma from her hands. Like a green demon from the depths of hell, she stood bathed in the dazzling green of her glow and the flames of her plasma, most of her clothes having been burned in the initial blast. Instinctively, like she had been born with this knowledge ingrained in her DNA, she began to fire a series of large blasts into the air from her hands; her body needing to literally burn off the excess energy or self-combust. Slowly but surely the intensity of her glow decreased and the flames that surrounded her faded.

Eventually, Shego was left standing with only her hands ablaze and she was once more able to think and sense beyond the basic instincts that her glow had written into her DNA the night it had chosen her… the night she had been reborn. Exhausted, she surveyed the blackened landscape and scanned the edge of the clearing for any sign that the explosion had reached beyond what she knew to be the safe distance. And she could not help but have the thought, the same thought she always had after restoring her glow in this manner, this power is almost too much for an adult to handle. How on earth did I manage it when I was only eight? A hollow laugh rang through her mind, oh yeah, that's right, I didn't. The only saving grace… the only thing that probably saved me and everyone around me, was that my power never reached its full potential till I turned sixteen… I wonder how my brothers would have coped had one of them got it instead?

Her hands still wreathed in her plasma, Shego set off in the direction of home. While as a child she had often wished that one of her brothers had been burdened with her glow, that idea now felt completely abhorrent. The green Team Go glow belonged to her and now she had it back. Once more, Shego felt whole.

##

Author's note:

Ok everyone, deep breath time I think...

Right, so a lot happened in that update, more than in any other save for perhaps the penultimate update to last season, at least in my opinion. Shego is now out of jail, the ladies have cleared the air and made some genuine progress with their relationship. That being said, there are a couple of points I'd like to raise before I sign off.

First, the conclusion to the jailbreak. I know a lot of you really wanted to see Captain Brook's get a proper beatdown from Kim, Shego or both. Unfortunately, this was never on the cards and I think I covered both reasons for this in the chapter. First, it would have been too much of a risk for either Kim or Shego to try and take her down and I wanted to illustrate that both (especially Shego) are better people than she is. It also fits in with my philosophy that sometimes good things happen to bad people and vice versa and that some people never get their comeuppance. However, I want to stress that I simply making a point about my philosophy when writing her, not suggesting what may or may not happen in the rest of the story.

In After the ordeal, Kim also found out about Danni, albeit just her name, however, she is a character I'd like you all to keep in mind, even if it takes me a while to reveal more about her and her history with Shego.

Then at the start of Where we start, I could not resist showing a very brief glimpse of the Cellblock C Sirens. While there had never been any intention for Kim and Shego to get caught, I must confess I gave a little thought to it when Shego made that joke in Jailbreak, jailbreak, jailbreak! I really would like to see how that would pan out, but cannot split my time between the main story and a spin-off based on a single Shego comment, lol. So, that little snippet is all we get.

And, of course, at the end of Where we start, Shego got her glow back in full. That scene was such a relief to finally write as I'd had it in my head for a very long time, even before I knew I would be sending Shego to jail.

Finally, I'd like to touch upon where the story is now headed. We have now entered the second part of season two and reached what I feel is a major turning point in Kim and Shego's relationship. And after five consecutive chapters where they have interacted a lot, my intention is to now focus a lot more on them while they are together. So, from this point on expect them to interact with a much greater frequency than they did throughout season one and this first part of season two. That being said, there are still subplots that I will be giving chapter to at various points in time and I suspect some new ones will pop up as I continue to write this season (one has already entered my thought process, but I'll be keeping it under wraps for now).

Thank you all for taking the time to read this update. I hope you have all thoroughly enjoyed it and it was worth the wait. The next one should be two chapters long and be with you in two weeks' time, which should be a little more bearable a wait this time, given I did not leave this update on a wallhanger, lol ;p Thanks once again for your continued support and I'll hopefully see you all then.

Warmest regards
The very tired author, K1G0