I don't own these characters.

7: Ready, set, go

Kim scratched the end of her nose while looking at the computer screen. She had hit yet another block in her writing. She was fairly certain that if she had been writing a true account of something that she had done, she would have been done with it already. She was just trying to make her current story even more fantastic than her last and that was going to take a lot of work considering all of the bizarre things that she had put in her last tale.

Scratching her nose turned into rubbing her hand with one hand and she sighed. "I feel like I'm forcing it when I do this, but I have to get this done. I can't keep begging for an extension and the editor can help if I can just get down this freaking draft," she reminded herself.

She tried working through the block because writing was all that she had left now. Her painting muses had abandoned her after the art show and that had been nearly a month ago. She had attempted to paint, but all she came out with was junk in her opinion. Her strokes were heavy, her colors were dull, and the images were not worth looking at.

She had been looking for inspiration from the outside world, but she had not gotten anything. She had not seen anything worth taking a picture of to modify it as a painting later on. Not even beautiful things in nature while she was out on missions caught her eye. She was just dry on that artistic front.

She did not feel like going outside unless it was necessary. She went out for missions because no matter what she was going through the world still needed saving and when Bonnie forced her out to parties. Bonnie was trying to help, which she respected.

The dancer could tell that Kim was down and out, more so than she could recall ever seeing the redhead. She thought that to get Kim back on her feet, the hero needed to meet someone and that was why she always called Kim out to gatherings. She introduced Kim to a number of women, but none of them did anything for Kim. Some of them were really fucking annoying.

There were women that wanted to change her, be it how she dressed or the fact that she went on missions. Every now and then, one was a fan and all she wanted to do was talk about Kim's work. The rest just were not good fits in some way or another. She was so over the dating thing thanks to them.

Kim was tired of Bonnie trying to put her in a relationship and she said as much, but Bonnie never listened. Kim no longer even tried with finding someone to date. She was just spent and it was obvious from her behavior. She did not try to impress girls that Bonnie introduced her to. Instead, she often tried to frighten them away.

She liked showing off battle scars and adventure marks. If those did not get women away from her, she had stories of some of the things that she did all over the world. She always could find something down her list that would frighten or gross females away from her. Bonnie did not give up, though, and whenever Kim scared a girl away, Bonnie came around with someone new. Kim wondered where the hell Bonnie found so many lesbians from because she knew that she never could find one when she had been looking.

"Bonnie must have freaking radar for lesbians or something. Gaydar," she chuckled to herself. Whatever Bonnie had, the redhead was more than aware that she did not have it.

Other than parties and missions, Kim could be found locked away in her apartment. She kept herself secluded there because she knew that if she went out, she would go to the Triple S to watch some football. There was always the chance that Shego might be there and she did not want to see Shego at all.

"Screw Shego …" she grumbled to herself, as if needing to remind herself that she now hated the pale woman.

It had been a month since she last saw the older female at the art show where she had been thoroughly ignored through out the night. She never got an explanation why she had been cut off. Hell, she had not even gotten a hello or something that showed that had once been close. Shego would not even take her money if she called the service to try to hire the green-skinned woman. Apparently, they had just come to the end of the road and Kim had not been aware until Shego all but drew her a diagram stating that "it" was over. Kim did not even know what to call "it."

"It's not like we were friends and we definitely weren't girlfriends. I don't think, anyway."

She and Shego did not really have a relationship that could be classified. They were not friends as far as she could tell because if they were, they would more than likely still be on speaking terms. They were not girlfriends because they never went on dates, unless Kim paid for that and her idea of a date and Shego's idea of a "date" were two completely different things. They were not lovers, even though they had had their fair share of sex. She would not say that the sex was meaningless, but that was only to her. It probably was meaningless to Shego; after all, she had sex all of the time. It was how she made her living.

What were we then? Kim was not sure. She just knew that everything seemed right in the world when she got into Shego's apartment and she could just park herself on the cushy sofa while watching enough soccer to make her eyes bleed. A peaceful feeling used to wash over her when Shego embraced her, held her close, and made her feel wanted. It had just been nice. Nice was really the only word that she could think of to describe it.

She guessed that it was not nice for Shego. Maybe the pale woman had just been playing with her and was now done with her. That is a depressing thought. She frowned, but her mind only made things worse. I was just good for being a toy for the one person willing to be around me on more than one occasion and didn't want to change me or talk about my work all the time. It was like she liked me for me.

"Fuck," Kim sighed in a sorrowful tone, slumping over onto her desk. She was making herself feel worse than she already did. "I just … I feel so …" She swallowed the word down, but it drifted across her mind without her permission. Lonely.

She sucked her teeth as she acknowledged that she was lonely, but she could not do anything about that. After all, she had long ago proven a failure at attracting company. She was lonely and now depressed, which was getting in the way of her work. She needed to do something with herself and since her Kimmunicator was not going off to offer up a distraction, she guessed that she was going to have to go with her cure-all. She needed to watch some soccer.

Kim tore herself away from her computer and grabbed her keys from off of the floor. She exited her apartment and marched down to the Triple S. She could only hope that she had a piece of good luck in the regular world and Shego not be at the bar. As she entered, she discovered that someone or something somewhere was looking out for her because the bar was empty.

"Oh, long time no see," Senor Senior Senior greeted Kim with a warm smile.

"Yeah, been busy," she replied with a forced smile. "Is it all right for me to watch a match?" she asked.

"You're the only one here," the old man answered.

Kim nodded and she went to have a seat. She turned to the soccer channel and a glass of soda was brought to her. She was so thankful that there was a place where she could watch soccer anytime of day; whoever thought of an all-football channel had her thanks, too. She sighed, thinking that she would be able to relax because of her favorite sport.

As time progressed, Kim noticed that the game was not helping. She had barely touched her soda and her chin was resting on the tabletop, like a scolded puppy. She still felt like everything inside of her had rotted away. She did not understand why she felt so shitty. She had been rejected by dozens of men and women through out her life and she bounced back pretty easily. She always had things to do to get her mind off of the fact that she had been discarded, but now the feeling was staying with her.

"Why does it have to be like this?" she groaned in a low tone.

Kim put her forehead down on the table and tried to will herself to calm down. Everything's cool. I just need to keep it together. Everything is fine. Everything was the way that it used to be. So, why the hell do I feel like crap? It did not make sense to her, but that was how she felt and she kept her head down while trying to will her emotions to change. It was not working.

Senor Senior Senior and his son looked at Kim for a moment and then their attention was drawn to the front door. Shego stormed in and made a beeline for the bar. She flopped down at the bar and just tapped the counter.

"Yes, ma'am?" Junior asked, doing his best to be polite and friendly.

"The usual, dip-shit," Shego answered.

Junior frowned, but he did not argue and fixed her a drink without saying another word to her. She took and just stared down at it. The Seniors noticed that their only two patrons were both in horrible moods, so they decided to avoid them unless the ladies requested something.

"Fuck," Shego sighed miserably into her beverage.

Shego did feel a bit rundown and she had been feeling that way for about a month, not that she was keeping count of the days or anything. Everything seemed so pointless suddenly to her and she was not sure why that was. Her life was pretty much the same as it always had been, yet felt completely different. It's like I want everything to just go away, even though nothing's changed from my life.

When she was working, everything was all right. She could just focus on her client, even if the client was an idiot. She was a professional and conducted herself as such. It gave her a distraction and her mind stayed right where it was supposed to be. When she was at home, everything was shit.

She dragged around her apartment as if nothing mattered. She had trouble sleeping, but she still did not like getting out of bed. She had been drinking more lately when she was home. Drinking certainly did not help anything, not that she even wanted to admit to herself that something was wrong with her.

Being drunk at home sometimes made things worse. She grumbled to herself a lot, talking to the walls as if they would solve her problems. Sometimes, she drank herself unconscious and dreamed of memories that she needed to forget. She woke up with a forbidden name on her lips. She needed to stop drinking at home, she figured, if she was getting "pass out" drunk.

She sipped her drink and looked around, even though she was pretty certain the place was empty. Still, she liked to be aware of her surroundings, even when she was getting drunk. She caught sight of the other patron in the bar. It felt like her heart stopped and leaped into her throat when she saw that redhead tucked into a booth in the corner. She knew who it was even though her head was down and the soccer game was watching itself.

"Princess …" she whispered before she knew what she was doing. Her heart actually resettled just from that action, that little piece of acknowledgement.

Shego bit into her lip to prevent herself from calling out to the younger woman and resisted the urge to go over to Kim. She knew immediately what it was that had been eating at her for a month. She missed her Princess. She never had anyone in her life like Kim and now that she was gone, there was a hole in her life. A big hole shaped like Kim that was just getting expanding as time went on.

All right, Shego was not a fan of being close to someone and of needing someone, but she was less a fan of feeling like shit. Life was not about feeling like crap. She was all about enjoying life as much as she could, so she guessed that in order to go back to enjoying her life, she needed to get her Princess back. Beside, her Princess looked like she could use a pick-me-up.

"Don't go bothering that kid," Senor Senior Senior ordered Shego when he noticed her looking over in Kim's direction.

"Shut the fuck up, old man," Shego replied in a blunt, serious tone. Usually, she at least sounded a bit playful when she said such things, but at the moment, she sounded as if she hated his guts and she would hurt him if he dared to butt in again.

"Look, the kid's obviously having a bad day. Leave her be. What good can you do her?" he inquired with a stern expression.

"What part of 'shut the fuck up' are you missing? I didn't ask for your fucking permission and since you're not her fucking father mind your own fucking business," the pale woman commanded, pointing at him.

Shego stood up and gulped her drink down to help calm her down for what she was about to do. She was going to approach a kid that had no problem being rude toward her, a kid that she had been pretending did not exist for more than a month, and a kid that saw her out with a date during one of the bigger nights in her life. She might be lucky to not get a soda thrown in her face or slapped.

Well, there was always the chance that she might get Kim's polite side and the girl might actually listen to what she had to say. She took a deep breath before proceeding. She took long, powerful steps toward Kim, hiding the fact that she was nervous for one of the few times in her life.

"Kimmie," Shego said in a soft tone while putting her hand on the girl's shoulder.

Kim shot up, alert and on guard because she was unsure who had just approached her. Her state did not change when she saw who it was that was upon her. She gave Shego just about the hardest look of disdain that the green-skinned woman ever encountered. Shego even had to take a step back because of the expression and gulped a little.

"Princess," Shego started again, but the redhead was not even looking to hear anything from a woman that had completely severed their relationship without even explaining herself.

Kim stood up and began going for the door. Shego uttered the nickname again and reached for Kim's hand. The redhead tore away from her grip and continued fleeing. Shego was about to chase after her, but Senor Senior Senior grabbed her from behind.

"Leave her be," he repeated, almost growling at time.

"Let me go, old man," Shego practically snarled.

"Leave her—"

"I said let go!" Shego roared and her hands ignited with emerald plasma that the old man was not expecting.

The old man gasped backed away from her. Beads of sweats ran down his face and she sincerely hoped that he was not going to have a heart attack because she did not have time for it and she doubted that his moron son would know what to do. Typically, she would have reveled in the fact that she had gotten to frighten something with her powers, provided he did not die from the shock, but she wanted to catch up with her Princess.

"Calm down and take deep breaths," she told the older Senior and then she turned to the younger. "The number is 9-1-1 if he's having a heart attack," she said because she did not think he was smart enough to remember it for an emergency.

With that done, Shego bolted out of the bar, but she did not see Kim on the street. She silently cursed to herself, but she knew where the girl was going. She figured that she would just meet Kim there and force the fool kid to listen to her.

-8-8-8-8-

Kim was going to the one sanctuary that she did have, her home. She just wanted to get away from Shego. She could not believe the gall of that damn woman. Over a month of total isolation and now the bitch dared to approach her when all she wanted was to be left alone to watch her match; not that she really wanted to be alone or was really watching the match. Still that damned woman had a lot of fucking nerve.

"Bitch," she hissed heatedly and she swallowed down a lump in her throat.

Kim felt so bad over what was happening that she did not know what to do, aside from going home anyway. Her hands were trembling from fury and sorrow. Her bottom lip did the same and the only way to stop it was to sink her teeth in it. She felt as if she were going to throw up, so she kept swallowing to keep down whatever burning sensation was trying to rise, be it some emotions or dinner. Her olive eyes misted over, but she refused to cry. There was no way in hell that Kim Possible was going to cry, especially over a woman. Over that woman.

She fumbled with her keys as she got to her door, going so far as to dropping them twice as she tried to get the key in the lock. It had never taken her so long to open a door in her life. And as soon as she got in her home, she let out a breath that she had not been aware that she was holding, and then she kept breathing loudly. It sounded as if she was weeping, but there were no tears falling from her eyes.

"Why did it take you do long to get here, Princess?" Shego inquired and Kim looked over to her window in disbelief.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Kim demanded while glaring at the older woman.

"Kimmie, just listen to me, please," the pale woman requested with begging emerald eyes. She had broken into the apartment fairly easily since Kim left all of her windows open. She supposed that it was all right since Kim lived on the fifth floor, but that did not stop her.

"No, get the fuck out before I throw you out!" the redhead threatened … or maybe promised considering her skill level.

"Will you just fucking listen to me?" Shego practically shrieked, going so far as to stomp her foot.

"No! Fuck you and whatever the hell you have to say! I wanted to talk over a fucking month ago and you were ignoring me. We're not doing everything you wanna do just because you wanna fucking do it. So, get the hell out!" Kim pointed to the door.

"Make me get out or listen to me," Shego dared the girl. Kim took the answer that she did not expect.

The redhead marched over to Shego and seemed to have the idea in her head that she was going to throw the pale woman out, as if Shego would allow that to happen. The green-skinned woman would leave until she got to speak her mind, or so was her plan. They began tumbling with each other and got into a serious fight.

They were not sure who got into a fighting stance first, but they were there and suddenly kicks were flying. They were both dodging and countering, trying to take ground while not giving any away.

Kim was shocked that Shego could fight with her as an equal as they went at it. After all, Shego was a call girl and Kim was a globetrotting adventurer. The redhead really thought that she should be able to take Shego down with no problem, even though she did recall the night of their first "date" and Shego had managed to pick her pocket. Theft and fighting were two separate things, though.

They went at it all over the loft apartment with kicks and punches. They moved as if they had fought each other a million times, even though that was their first real fight. They dodged and blocked moves while trying to break the other's defense. They both would have found it very entertaining if only they did not have serious matter to get to.

They eventually ended up near Kim's bed area and Shego knew that she had an opportunity that she needed to seize. She tackled Kim on to the bed, taking the younger woman by surprise with the rather unsophisticated assault. Shego quickly went into under the bed for something that she had stashed there a while ago, handcuffs. She pushed Kim's wrist up against the wooden headboard and swiftly attached one restraint to her wrist and put the other on one of the wooden poles lining the headboard. Kim did not even realize what just happened, mostly because she forgot that she had cuffs in her room, until she tried to lunge at Shego. The shackle pulled her back.

"What the hell?" Kim turned to look at her hand. "You bitch! Let me go!" she ordered while tugging at the cuffs.

"Watch your mouth, Princess," Shego reprimanded the redhead with a slightly smug expression on her face. Truly, she did not like the kid cursing. It did not suit her.

"Fuck you!"

"You are mighty hostile tonight," the pale woman commented. She felt like she could be her usual too cool self now that she was in control of the situation.

"Of course I am! Now let me go!" Kim ordered while yanking at the handcuffs again. It did not occur to her that she might break her little wooden futon if she kept stressing it out as she was.

"No, you're going to fucking listen to me now," the raven-haired female replied.

"Like hell I am! I don't want to listen to you! I don't want to see you anymore! I just want you to get the hell out of my house and out of my life! I don't care about you anymore!" Kim hollered, becoming red in the face. It was like if she said it loud enough, they might both believe it. But, if that was the case, she had not said it nearly loud enough.

Shego did not respond right away; she just could not. It was not because she was hurt by Kim's lies. It was the fact that they were lies and she knew that. It meant that Kim cared about her. When was the last time someone gave a damn about me? She could not recall and what did she do to the first person to care? She had hurt her because she thought that she would be safer without getting close to the redhead. Am I really that fucking stupid? At the moment, all signs pointed to a bright neon "yes."

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: so, do they kiss and make up?