Chapter 17
The next day found both Kim and Ron walking in the escort of a pair of GJ guards, on their way to wake up their rehabilitation session guests for the day. Kim smiled over at Ron, her best friend since pre-kindergarten, and now boyfriend, who yawned hugely. "Tired, Ron?" she asked.
Ron shrugged. "Well, KP, it is six in the morning, and summer holiday to boot," he told her, then frowned. "Sorry to be the one to tell you this, Kim…but that's just sick, not to mention wrong."
Kim chuckled. "Hey, I didn't force you to come on this gig, you know," Kim observed wryly.
Ron looked over at her, giving her a pained look. "What, and let my bon-diggedy girlfriend alone to deal with the six most notorious villans all by her lonesome? I don´t think so," he answered.
Kim smiled at that. "Actually, if I'm not mistaken, I think it´s only going to be five villains before too long."
Ron blinked, surprised. "Oh, really? Do tell, Kim…"
"Well, remember what Wade said about those chips on the pendants we gave our 'guests'?" Kim ventured.
"Um, vaguely I do, KP," Ron told her weakly. "Hey, remembering all that techno mumbo-jumbo this early in the morning might prove deadly…"
Kim laughed at Ron's humor. "Do try to be serious, Ron. Remember? About how they were supposed turn a person's evil tendencies toward good?"
Ron gasped then. "Whoa! Was that what he was saying then?" Ron said, scratching his head.
Kim just smiled and shook her head, glad that Ron was just the way he was.
"Well," Kim continued after a moment. " The effect seems to be working on our old buddy, Stephanie. I give her only a few more weeks time, and she'll be good totally."
The two stopped in front of the first of the villains' doors, which happened to be Shego´s cell door. "So, who are we picking up first?" Ron asked.
"Stephanie, of course," Kim replied.
"Stephanie? Um, that´s Shego…right?" Ron asked.
Kim frowned, then gave Ron a look that made him blush. "Ron, you know that they're not supposed to be called by their criminal names any more," Kim said as she laid her hand upon the plate beside the door, allowing it to identify her fingerprints.
"Oops. Sorry bout that. Not to worry, KP…I'll just have to practice more is all," Ron apologized, then promised.
Kim nodded approvingly. "Well, do try to have them memorized before our rehab session today, okay?" Kim instructed.
"Yeah, about that…um, exactly why am I leading this session again?" Ron asked a bit uneasily.
Kim ignored his question a moment to place her eyes to the eyepieces before responding. "Because, Ron…you know perfectly well that I can´t cook for anything! And, since this particular session is going to be a cooking class, I think that you might see the wisdom in letting you have this one, hmm?"
Ron rolled his eyes, grinning. "Admit it…you're still freaked about that one course we took together back at Middelton High, aren't you?" Ron mused aloud.
Kim threw her hands up in dismay, looking over at Ron imploringly. "Ron, you know that mixer hated me," Kim said just before saying her name, causing the door to Shego´s cell to open.
"Oh-kay, KP," Ron soothed with barely a hint of a grin. "Whatever you say, girlfriend." Ron laid a comforting hand on Kim´s shoulder.
Kim smiled, squeezing Ron's hand between her cheek and shoulder. "Thanks, Ron," she replied, before turning around to give him a quick, yet passionate kiss on the lips.
"Oh, for crying out loud! Why did you two have to come inside here to do that?" came Shego, a.k.a Stephanie Gonzales' voice, filled with wry amusement.
Kim's eyes went wide, and she stepped quickly away from the now blushing Ron. Kim regained her composure first, and looked over toward Shego´s bed, where Shego herself lay looking back at them. "Morning, Steph! Been awake long?" Kim asked.
Shego turned on her bed and put her feet down. "Woke up at five o'clock," Shego admitted. She then stood up, gave the two another telling look, then headed over to her closet to select her clothes for the day. "While I'm in here, you two lovebirds feel free to do what you like. Um, that is just as long as my kitten doesn´t see anything. She is young and impressionable, you know. I don´t want her to get the wrong idea, you understand. She's smarter than she looks, you know."
Kim shook her head, seeing the mischevious gleam in Shego´s eyes. "Oh, just you hush, Stephanie," she rebuked her, her cheeks flushing red temporarily.
Shego just smiled a devilish grin, and moved into her bathroom. As soon she came out dressed…Kim smiled at her choice of clothes. Shego now wore a bright green t-shirt, one that bore the slogan, "Warning! I have an attitude and I know how to use it," in small black lettering. Underneath that---in even tinier print---was spelled out, "T-shirts for women who take no crap" (Just a little AN here. I got a shirt like that just that mine is in turqouise). With that charming choice of shirt, she wore a pair of black cargo pants just like Kim favored. "So, Kimmie, are you and Ronald here going to take me to breakfast? In case either of you are wondering, I really am starving!"
"Girl's got a point, Kim…besides that sound awfully good to me," Ron replied hungrily.
"You are impossible," Kim replied with a laugh. "The both of you."
After a good and healthy breakfast, the villans, their animals, as well as both teens, all gathered together and walked to a different room within the sprawling Global Justice facility. It came as no surprise anymore just where everyone was headed, all of them understanding just what expected of them. Once they arrived at their final destination, and they waited for Kim to open the door, everyone filed in.
The six villains looked about their new surroundings. The whole room looked like one big kitchen. "All right," Kim annouced once they were all inside. "For this session at least, I'm going to sit on the sidelines, folks."
Everybody looked up, quite surprised, looking over to a slightly blushing Kim. "Not to worry though…I´ll be here, in the room," Kim added rather hastily. "But your instructor for this session, will be none other than Ron here."
"Egads! The buffoon is going to teach us to cook?" Drakken groaned. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen…"
"Hey! Ron's a natural at cooking, buster!" Kim declared defensively. "Oh, and by the way, Drew…his name is Ron, not 'the Buffoon', okay? So, learn it, use it, or it's solitary. Got it?" Kim's green eyes blazed intently, challenging.
"Yes, Ma'am," Drew supplied at once, swallowing hard.
Ron smiled and looked around them. "Okay, gather round now, people. I'm dividing you all up into three teams, so we're going to split you six up into three teams of two."
Shego immediately looked over at Drakken, catching his eye, which caused him to nod approvingly.
Ron saw this pre-emptive pairing going on, and immediately held up his hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he declared, seeing the villains attempting to pair themselves up. "Just to be fair, " Ron continued, noticing that somehow DNAmy and a reluctant Andrea Lynn were left unpaired. "We'll be using a tried and true method of selection, folks! We're drawing straws." That elicited groans all around the classroom, but Ron stuck to his guns.
He ignored their complaints, and held up six straws. "Now, observe…" he instructed. "At the end of each of these straws, is a color. Okay now, here's the deal…two of these straws are tipped in green, two of them blue, and two of them red. Simple enough, right? Right," Ron coached. "Now, each of you will select a straw. Once everyone has their straw, we simply pair up those of you with straws of the same color. Foolproof."
Shego groaned. This is so pre-high school, she grumped, folding her arms before herself.
Well, sweetie, at least you might get someone other than Drakken to work with for a change, her conscience counseled.
What do you know? He might be still be my partner, Shego told her voice.
True, but ask yourself this…is that what you really want? Her conscience queried.
Shego sighed. Why did that blasted voice always have to ask questions like that?
"All right, folks. Pick a straw, any straw," Ron declared, holding out a hand in which six straws were held, their colored ends concealed by his fist. "Whoa-kay, ladies first," Ron instructed, holding out his clenched fist to Shego first.
Shego picked the leftmost one, and smiled as she drew a green one. "Figures," she said, causing the others to laugh quietly.
Ron nodded, then said, "We'll alternate from here on out, lady, gent, until everyone has themselves a straw." Ron then turned toward the surly looking Monkey Fist, shuddered minutely, and offered him the remaining five straws. Monkey Fist glowered at the nervous Ron, but relented and swiftly drew the middle remaining straw, which was tipped in red.
And, so it continued on. Ron offered DNAmy a straw next, and she managed to draw a blue-tipped one. "Hmm, all right," Ron mused aloud. "Halfway there, and still no partners. Well, that's definitely about to change. Next." He held out his fist to Drakken to choose. Drakken looked suspiciously at the remaining 3 straws, then selected. He sighed as he noted his straw was tipped in blue. DNAmy grinned and waved coyly over at a most disgruntled Drakken, which caused Shego to guffaw softly.
Next, Ron offered his fist and two remaining straws to Andrea Lynn. She softly bit her lower lip, then took one. It was tipped in bright green. Andrea Lynn smiled and looked over to a startled Shego. "Stephanie dear? You've got yourself a partner," she proclaimed.
Shego simply nodded, accepting the pairing. Well, at least I didn't get paired up with that grump, Duff Killigan, she thought to herself with a small smile.
Ron opened his fist, and displayed the lone remaining straw, which was tipped in red. "Well, that means that Duff is paired with Lord Fiske there," Ron declared. Monkey Fist looked sourly over at the dour Scot, who returned the lack-luster look with one of his own.
"Listen up, folks! Pair up with your partners, and once we're all teamed up, I'll pass out the essentials," Ron said, smiling in satisfaction as everyone followed his instructions.
Andrea made her way over to where Shego stood before a workbench. "Hello there, Steph," she said by way of greeting.
Shego smiled, and nodded her own greeting. "Hey there, Andrea. So…bummed to be my partner, partner?"
Andrea smiled and shook her head. "Actually, no," Andrea said. "I had hoped I would have one of you girls as a partner. And, truth be known, I'm not too thrilled about talking about cuddlebuddies for the rest of this class. I'm sure you understand then, yes?"
"Amen to that," Shego replied with a grin. Shego reached over and removed a green apron, and passed it over to Andrea, before taking the other one herself.
"All right, now we begin," Ron said, moving to each bench, passing out the recipe cards for what they were going to make. "We are going to start with something simple, yet delicious! Now, I do hope no one here is allergic to chocolate?" Ron looked about, and smiled when all he saw was shaking heads. "Great! Okay, folks…start reading!"
Shego picked up the recipe card, and looked it over. "Chocolate cake," she read. "Eh, that sounds good by me."
"Teams," Ron began. "You may start now. And, remember, if you have any questions, sing out! I am here to help."
Shego smiled, feeling a bit encouraged. After all, just how hard could it be to make a simple chocolate cake? She looked down at her recipe card, then briefly over at Andrea. "Okay, what do you say we first gather the ingredients and cookware," she suggested as Andrea came over.
Andrea looked over, asking, "So…what do we need? Ingredient wise, I mean?"
"Hmm, let's see," Shego responded, reading. "We need some flour, two eggs, some baking powder, sugar, cocoa, a stick of butter and some almonds."
"Mmm, sounds good so far," Andrea commented, smiling. "So, what are we making anyway?"
"Flourless Chocolate Cake. The Scandanavian version, it says," Shego said, looking up from her recipe card.
"Sounds yummy," Andrea said with a grin.
Shego gathered all of the pans and spoons and whatnot they would need, while Andrea handled getting all the ingredients to make their cake. Everything was going well until Andrea came over with the heavy flour bag. As she moved over toward Shego and their work area, she inadvertantly sat the bag down a little harder than she intended to. Flour exploded out of its bag, creating a cloud that quickly made both ladies seemingly disappear from view. After a moment or so, the flour settled, allowing both ladies to look upon one another. Each was covered in a thin coat of flour, which made them appear as if they were a pair of white-faced ghosts.
"Um, Andrea?" Shego said softly, pausing to blow the flour off of her lips. "Could you please be a little more careful with the flour next time?" Shego asked as she brought her hands up to brush the flour out of her hair.
"Sorry," Andrea answered sheepishly, following Shego's lead. And with that incident behind them, the two girls got to work.