The Luxor hotel and casino, Las Vegas Strip.

The beautiful pyramid of polished black glass stretched upward, looking magnificent even in the light of mid-afternoon. Clutching Ron's hand firmly, Kim Possible raced for the nearest door and only just stopped in front of it before it sprang open. Taking charge and ordering Rufus inside first to sweep for traps, she tried to explain the importance of such things to the little naked mole rat while he sat stubbornly in her palm. "Kim, we're not on a mission, remember? I know it feels like we've just been through one, but this is our vacation..." Calm and perfectly at ease with the concept of the mundane, Ron Stoppable took his faithful pet and sidekick back onto his shoulder and dug his hands deep into his pants pockets. Casually walking inside with something of a strut to his usual gait, the young man pointed out the distinct lack of hazards and traps inside the pyramid. There were no spikes that would suddenly jut out of the walls and surprise the unwary, no razor-sharp steel jaws that would snap shut around their necks. No poison darts, no fireballs, nothing...

"You're right, Ron. I still haven't adjusted to normal, real life yet." Together, they went to announce their arrival to the staff at the desk with all their bags in tow, and Rufus found himself being the subject of an awful lot of questions. Ron and Kim found themselves having to explain that the tiny creature was unusually intelligent, almost human in his own little way. Demonstrating his talents for the desk clerk, Rufus covered his left paw in some of the ink from her stamp pad and proceeded to write "Hello, my name is Rufus." on a scrap of paper for her. Clearly impressed, the clerk was only too happy to grant him a special dispensation, provided he wore some form of identification. Chittering and squeaking in Kim's ear, Rufus explained that he would be okay with a wrist-band worn around his middle.

Doctor Drakken's mobile lair, currently above Seattle.

At long last, the signal he had waited for! For too long, the mad genius had been without his army of loyal and utterly perfect robot servants. For years, their presence in the world without their creator to guide them had taunted him. "Shego! The most amazing thing has just happened," he barked over the P.A system. Not wasting her opportunity to make fun of her employer, the pale girl laughed derisively before taking the microphone. "Ooh! Let me guess... You ordered five CDs for a dollar and they're all good ones?" While Drakken fumed with rage, Shego had already appeared from out of nowhere to sit herself down in typical nonchalant fashion on the edge of a desk.

"No, no, I can get this one. You got the tank in that HenchCo sweepstakes thing?" The doctor was already up and out of his seat, pacing back and forth as he launched into another of his long rambling tirades. "No, Shego. The tank is not ours..." She had already cut him off to make another comment at his expense, but the streams of data being constantly sent into the sensor banks of this armoured heli-carrier looked much more interesting to her in some way. "Doc, what's this? Somebody called Bebe, huh?" That whole ordeal with the emotion-controlling microchips was still fresh in both their memories, perfect ammunition for Shego to use in her playful little verbal sparring matches. And she was just loading up the big guns now... "Have you been seeing other underlings behind my back, Drewpie?" Shego purred in mock-accusatory tones, adding the doctor's childhood pet name for good measure. "My, isn't it hot in here all of a sudden, Shego? Would you like me to pop down and fetch you a cool, refreshing glass of C...?" Adjusting his collar, Drakken stepped back from his evil sidekick with a stupid grin plastered all over his face. Shego, her eyes narrowing to diamond-hard slits, advanced slowly on him in predatory fashion with a wicked grin.

"Cocoa-Moo? Is that what you were gonna say? That is precisely the dumbest friggin' word you have used, ever! Could you just get back on the subject and tell me who this Bebe is?" Sitting down and steepling his fingers in evil fashion, Drakken buttoned his collar back up before leaning forward to begin his story. "Very well. Prepare yourself, Shego, for a tale of... Where are you going? Come back here this instant!" Waving him off dismissively with a gloved hand, the girl was almost out of the control centre when she looked back over her shoulder and called out, "See, you can't tell a story without all that Masterpiece Theatre crap, can you? Make it short and simple..." "Yes, alright. The Bebes, as I named them, were my personal army of robots. Of course, I had programmed them each to be utterly perfect, at which point they began to question exactly why they continued to follow my orders..." Holding her head up with one hand, Shego found herself becoming fascinated with the pattern of holes in the ceiling tiles as she mumbled "Oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure your Snowman Hank pyjamas had absolutely nothing to do with it either." "Shego, could we please not have any more unpleasantness over the laundry hamper incident?" As Drakken momentarily lost his train of thought again, Shego was doubled over in hysterics. "You built robots, and the robots dumped you? A-heh... Ha ha haa haa haa! Oh, this is perfect!"

And she was off, kicking her feet in the air and banging panels with her balled-up fists as she laughed, long and loud with youthful abandon... This could potentially keep Shego busy for days, and Drakken needed her for more important things. "Ah, Shego, if you don't mind... If I could just have your attention for a teensy, tiny moment?" Wiping her eyes with her uniform's black sleeve, Shego tossed her hair back and tried to compose herself. Inexplicably in mid-toss, Drakken let out a small yelp which compelled her to stop and let her hair all hang over her eyes. "Gah! Shego, pay attention when I'm speaking to you..." Parting the curtain of blackness flowing over her face, Shego rolled her eyes upward in an attempt to freak out the insecure self-proclaimed mad genius as she moaned "Seven days..." in a near-perfect death rattle. "No, I'm sorry. Just foolin' around with you, Dr. D. So, you got these robots, and then you lose them with your inadequacies and now what?" Rising and preparing himself for another round of evil ranting, Drakken punched the air with a finger as he began to outline his new scheme. "Now, Shego, I will take back my army of Bebe robots and force them to accept me as their master once more! Why are you looking at me like that?" Stopping in the middle of his flow, Drakken looked curiously at his finger as if there was something on the end of it. "And you're not prepared for someone like, oh, say... Kim Possible interfering," Shego asked in an entirely serious questioning tone. Still absorbed in the mysteries of his finger, Drakken vaguely mumbled something before repeating himself a little louder. "I said I'd almost completely forgotten about her. Where are they anyway, those two?" Finally throwing her arms up in the air, Shego stormed off grumbling to herself, leaving the Doctor to his own devices. "Oh yes, Kim Possible... Have your fun wherever you are for now. I am a patient man," he chuckled to himself before taking a swig from the glass of chocolate milk delivered to his side by a motorized claw arm on wheels before exclaiming "Mmm! That's good Cocoa-Moo!"

Meanwhile, back in Las Vegas...

The room was superb, exactly as Kim had booked it when she sat down with her father and made all the arrangements herself. It would be perfect if not for one tiny little thing... She had jokingly referred to Rufus as a "child" on the online booking form, a purely accidental moment of non-clarity during the excitement of Spring Break. In the rush to get safely inside before the Bebe hive could jam Wade's ultra-adaptive frequency, neither of them had bothered to check exactly what kind of room they had been given. Expecting Ron to be nervous, Kim tried her best to reassure him. "It'll be okay, Ron. I mean, look at it. With a bed this big, we couldn't possibly do anything in the middle of the night." Measuring the size of the double bed against his and Kim's own rough measurements, Ron merely nodded softly. "Y'know, if this is too awkward for you I'll sleep on the kid's bed and Rufus can just have a pillow. Besides, KP, don't you already plan to share your bed with someone you brought with you?" Lowering the spectrometer sunglasses that she was using to perform a quick sweep of the room, still partially in security-conscious mode, Kim gave Ron a questioning glance and replied, "Hm?" With a sly smile, Ron made his way to Kim's suitcase and plucked a small inanimate creature from within. The prize of Kim's personal Cuddle Buddy collection, Panda-Roo hung from between Ron's thumb and forefinger, its tiny black plastic eyes devoid of life or personality. Squealing like a little girl, Kim made a grab for the soft plush animal, thwarted only by Ron jerking his hand out of the way in equally playful high spirits. "Hand over the Cuddle Buddy and I promise nobody has to get hurt, Stoppable." Setting aside the spectrometer sunglasses, Kim lowered herself to a half-crouch and fixed Ron dead in her sights before backing up a few steps. "Kim, what you gonna do? What you gonna do, huh?" As Ron proceeded to make the little plush creature dance in the air in front of her, Kim dove for the child-size bed and snatched up Rufus with a faintly evil smile. Squeaking in protest, Rufus looked to his owner with pleading eyes.

"You throw me Panda-Roo, I throw you the mole rat," Kim laughed as Rufus' tiny paws scrabbled furiously in mid-air. Diving with Panda-Roo onto the comfortable and luxurious double bed, Ron really wasn't surprised to see Kim following him shortly after. Following the exchange of "hostages" both of the teenagers just looked into each other's eyes and barely let as much as a word pass between them. After nearly losing one another forever, both Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable silently agreed that they had some catching up to do. Bodies and hormones were already forming their alliance to take control of the host bodies, but it was Kim's brain that stopped the potential havoc from being wrought. "You know, what you were about to say back at the airport... Right after I kissed you and thought I'd never see you again?" More than a little afraid, Ron nodded a couple of times before rolling over to look at Rufus. Blinking beady little black eyes back at him, Rufus gave his owner a smile and raised both thumbs. As far as he was concerned, Kim and Ron were two of the best humans he'd ever met. Turning back to face Kim, shifting his position on the bed to make both of them more comfortable, Ron answered his best friend.

"I knew I would see you again, though. And I also kinda knew that you weren't just kissing me because we were about to die." Reassuring her, Ron drew Kim closer and draped an arm around her hips. "We kissed because I finally realized something, Ron. I've had real feelings for you since before the whole thing with the Moodulator. I don't know what made them stronger, whether it was artificial or not, but I think our friendship has blossomed." Deep inside him somewhere, Ron knew that was right. It was true and it was real. Only together could these two face the uncertain future, and they began to draw each other into another kiss as the sun began to set outside.


This chapter is dedicated to the work of John DiMaggio and Nicole Sullivan. We wouldn't have Shego or Drakken without them...