Strange World
C1: Immediately After
[A/N: Thanks to Glittery Doom for all your praise. Enjoy.]
[Disclaimer: KP and all that good stuff belongs to Disney. I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.]
The door creaked open, but Kim and Shego took no notice. Dr. Possible stopped when she caught sight of her daughter and slowly backed out of the room, closing the door as quietly as she could.
"What's the news, Dr. P?" Ron asked, "Any good stuff?"
"Yes, Ron." Dr. Possible looked over her shoulder and smiled at the door, "It's all good."
----------
The kiss ended and the two pulled back from each other. Shego lay back onto the bed, smiling up at Kim. Kim smiled back, her hands wrapping around one of Shego's.
"There's only one downside to this." Shego muttered, "I suddenly don't have a place to stay."
"Oh!" Kim put a hand to her mouth in shock, "Oh, man. I'm sorry, Shego."
"Don't worry about it, Kimmy." Shego lifted her free hand and caressed Kim's cheek, "I'll find some place around here. Probably get something cheap, too."
"But, Shego…" Kim protested, "You shouldn't…I mean…um…"
Someone knocked on the door. Kim felt relieved and annoyed at the same time. Dr. Possible peeked her head into the room, her eyebrows raised in question.
"Hey." Shego waved nonchalantly.
"Mom, could Shego stay with us?" Kim asked almost too fast to understand. Both Shego and Dr. Possible looked at Kim with a questioning stare.
"I mean, uh, since she doesn't really have a place to stay." Kim tried to cover her eagerness to have Shego around more, "I mean, no crazy evil boss' lair, right? Heh, heh."
"Sure, Kimmy." Dr. Possible smiled at her eldest, "Shego can stay with us until she gets her own place." Kim grinned and mentally shouted for victory.
----------
It was three days before Shego was released from the hospital. Only a lot of bandages remained of the ordeal.
"Do you want to go home?" Kim asked as she and her girlfriend exited the hospital, "We made up a room for you."
"Kim, I kind of need to do something by myself right now." Shego murmured softly, "Is it all right if I just meet you at the mall in a little bit?" Kim stared at Shego for a moment, taking in everything. Shego's left thumb rubbed over bandages on her right forearm, her green eyes clouded with thought.
"OK." Kim nodded, "I'll meet you at the fountain in the mall." Before she left, Kim stood on her toes and gently kissed Shego on her uncovered cheek. The redhead hurried off to let Shego do what she needed to. Shego watched her go, lifting a hand to her face.
As she touched the place where Kim had kissed her, a smile came to her. It was beautiful to be loved.
----------
"Hello, Dr. Drakken."
"Shego!" Drakken jumped up off the bed, running to the thick clear Plexiglas, "Where have you been? I've been waiting for four days!"
"I've been in the hospital." Shego replied.
"Well, get me out of here!" Drakken shrieked through the wall. Shego stared right back at her once 'employer'. He stood inside a box made of Plexiglas, three feet thick on each wall. He was in the highest security prison Middleton offered—which was very secure.
"No." Shego replied simply.
"What?" Drakken yelled, "You little—oh, I see. You're trying to lull Kim Possible into a false sense of security. Then, when she least expects it—BAM! No more teen hero!"
"No." Shego said again.
"What'd you mean, 'no'?" Drakken snarled, "I order you to kill her!"
"I don't work for you anymore." Shego shook her head, feeling the bandage wrapped around her forehead like a bandana rub against her pale skin, "I love Kim. I'm not going to hurt her. I'm not going to break you out of prison. I'm going to take everything from the lair. All the money, all my stuff, everything. And you're going to stay here and rot for trying to hurt her."
"SHEGO!" Drakken howled furiously.
"Bye, Dr. D."
----------
The abandoned lair was quiet without the sound of machines whirring to create the downfall of Kim and the rising of Drakken. Shego slipped her arms inside the dark blue jacket given to her by the Possible family and zipped it up—it was cold inside the mountain lair.
Cardboard boxes were plentiful. When you had to change lairs as much as Drakken did, you had to have a lot of them. Shego folded a few of them into box shapes and started to throw everything that was hers into them. Clothes, books, weapons, anything she lay claim to.
Her pace became frantic. Everything in the lair reminded her of everything she ever did. Every innocent person ever hurt, every object ever destroyed.
Every time she tried to hurt Kim.
Shego pounded her fist against the wall with a sob. All of that chaos and destruction—her fault. All that pain and suffering—her fault. She didn't deserve Kim—she didn't deserve the life she was getting.
After a moment, she sealed the boxes and shoved them to the massive garage. Spinning tops of doom, helicopter-cars, and one single, normal motorcycle.
It was forest-green, and the small passenger car was sitting close by it. Shego connected it to its motorcycle counterpart and put the boxes inside. A black helmet was hanging on one of the handlebars. Shego looked at it, staring at the reflection that the visor gave.
And all she could see was wicked.
----------
Kim sat on the edge of the fountain on the bottom floor of the Middleton mall, kicking her feet back and forth while staring at them.
"Kim?" Kim whipped her head up and smiled widely. She leapt up and wrapped her arms around Shego.
"Hey!" Kim said in a cheery tone, "Everything done?" Shego shook her head, looking rather sad.
"What do you need to do?" the redhead asked in a confused tone.
"Leave."
Kim felt something inside her start to hurt. Shego stood there, not looking at her, her poison green eyes dull with pain.
"Why?" Kim asked in a soft voice, "Why?"
"Kim, I don't deserve someone so good as you." Shego murmured, "I'm just an evil bitch. You're practically an angel. Everyone's savior. Me? I'm the devil." Kim slowly shook her head, her eyes starting to sting.
"I didn't want to hurt you anymore, so I decided to tell you I'm leaving. It's the best thing, Kimmy."
"NO!" Kim sobbed. She wrapped her arms around Shego, crying into the taller woman's chest.
"I love you, Shego." she whispered in tears, "I love you. I don't want you to leave. You aren't evil. You aren't bad. I love you so much."
"But, Kim—" Shego was silenced immediately as Kim stood up on her toes and kissed her. Tears switched owners as Kim stopped hers and Shego began to sob.
Shego fell to Kim's arms, both of them sitting down on the fountain's edge. Kim rubbed Shego's back and stroke her hair, letting her once-enemy cry on her shoulder.
"Oh. My. God."
Kim looked up quickly and found herself staring at Bonnie. The brunette was staring slack-jawed at Kim and Shego. Then a gleeful grin paraded onto her face.
"Go away, Bonnie." Kim murmured, "This isn't the best time."
"You're a dyke!" Bonnie pointed at her fellow cheerleader, "This is so great! You'll be an outcast in a second! You—HGH!"
Kim watched as a person in a hooded yellow trenchcoat lifted Bonnie clear off the ground by the collar. Bonnie kicked and scratched at the person's arm.
"How's this." the person said—it was the same girl that had given Kim the roses three days before, "You leave these two alone and learn to deal with differences, and I won't run your undergarments up a flagpole—while you're wearing them." Bonnie just gulped and nodded a little bit. The girl dropped her flat on her backside, sliding her hands into her pockets and smirking.
"Good." she chuckled, "Now go run home." Bonnie scrambled to get away.
"Thank you." Kim said speechlessly.
"Think nothing of it." the girl smirked, turning around and walking into the milling crowd. She was gone a moment later. Kim stared into the crowd before turning back to Shego.
"Shego, come on." she shook the black-haired woman slightly, "Let's go home." Shego sniffed a bit, but nodded against Kim's shoulder.
----------
We thought it might be a good idea if we let you get Shego settled in. We'll be back tonight, so don't worry. There's money on the table if you want to order out for your dinner. Love you—Mom and Dad.
Kim slowly put the note back down onto the table near the front door, turning to face Shego. She still wouldn't look at Kim. The redhead sighed a bit and lead her girlfriend to the couch in the den. She sat the quiet woman down and hurried back outside, bringing in the four boxes Shego had packed.
Shego was still sitting the same way Kim had pushed her into sitting. Kim frowned slightly and sat down next to Shego.
"Shego, look at me." she said sternly. Shego only lifted her hands and stared at them, as if there was something wrong with them. Kim reached out and grabbed both of them, bringing them close to her chest. Shego finally looked up at Kim.
"Shego, don't start beating yourself up." Kim said firmly, "After god-knows-how-long, we just told each other that we love each other, and now you want to leave? You don't do that, Shego. I want you to stay here. Leaving would hurt me. You staying would make me happy. It would make you happy, too."
"Kim?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm so screwed up."
—to be continued—