I don't own these characters.
6: Getting to know you
…I've been giving my patient some space for the moment to allow her wounds to mend and I do not mean her physical wounds. She seems to stand unshaken, but in her very telling eyes, I see something behind the anger. I will wait until that is gone or until she wishes to discuss this and then go back to trying to cure her of her other ills. For the moment, I can see why she prefers her perversion to the norm, but I cannot allow her to continue down that path. No one should have to live life ailing. Besides, it is not like all men are David Barkin.
I must admit that I am surprised with what she did to that man. He is so large and yet she fended him off, subdued him, and maintained her virtue. I wonder if her ability has something to do with the reasoning behind her father chaining her like some poor dog. She is more than what she shows and perhaps much more than I have ever witnessed. I am… I am curious.
-*-(Present)-*-
"She actually fired that guy for trying to rape her patient, huh? I'm shocked," Shego commented while turning away from the journal for a second. She rubbed her eyes, which were a little bothered from focusing on small handwriting for such a long time without a break.
"Why? She's a Possible, so of course she would try to do the right thing and get rid of a rapist," Kim argued. It kind of bothered her that the fired orderly was named Barkin. Could he be related to Steve Barkin, the all-purpose substitute teacher from her high school? If so, that was just creepy. Well, creepier. She really hoped there was no relation, even though she had not seen Mister Barkin since she graduated high school.
"That's true. Being a goody-goody probably runs in your family, just like being a snobby elitist," the older woman replied. Now, as the words left her mouth, she realized she was being bitchy for no reason, but they had already left her mouth and she would not bother with changing them or covering them up. She was the bad girl, anyway.
"What? Are you calling me an elitist?" the hero inquired with a deep frown. I am not snobby or elitist, her mind huffed.
"You are," Shego declared with a bit of a laugh. Just because the words had sneaked out did not make them any less true.
"I am not and neither is Journal Kim," the redhead retorted, which threw her foe off.
"Journal Kim?" the older woman echoed with an arched eyebrow. "Out of everything that you could've possibly said, you picked those words?"
"Well, I wanted to say 'neither is Kim,' but it seemed a little weird," Kim explained her choice of words.
"This whole thing is weird. Let's get something to eat," Shego suggested because she was hungry and it seemed to be making her more irritable than usual.
"Pizza or takeout?" Kim asked.
"Do all of your meals get delivered to your door by pimple-faced teenagers?" Shego inquired.
"No," the slim adventurer replied.
"Fine, do all of your dinners get delivered to your door?" the green-skinned female corrected herself.
"Mostly, if I'm home, anyway," Kim admitted with a shrug. "There's nothing wrong with that. It's not elitist or snobbish." She believed Shego was only making a thing out of it because the older woman was naturally snippy.
Shego snorted. "Let it go, Kimmie. What do you eat when you're out? More junk that could be delivered to you if you were home?"
"Yeah, so?"
Shego sighed and shook her head. "You are such a typical college kid. Let's drop this for a second and go buy some actual food," she suggested.
"Why? What's wrong with pizza?" the younger fighter asked with her eyebrows drawn in and a quick shake of her head. To her, pizza was a lifesaver, especially since the pizza shop near her stayed open almost all night along. It was a guarantee that she would never starve, unless they went out of business anyway and she doubted that was going to happen with the great place they set up shop. They were right next to her college campus. If nothing else, the weed-heads and her would keep them in business.
"A lot of things, so go put your shoes on and let's go," Shego answered in a forceful tone as she put the journal down on the arm of the sofa. She was really hungry and was not a fan of takeout food. She wanted a real meal.
Kim did not argue and grabbed her shoes; she always took her shoes off at her front door because she did not like tracking the outside dirt into her home. She was also hungry, but she did not have anything that could even add up to a real meal in her apartment. She was not as picky as Shego was when it came to food, though. She left with the raven-haired woman and they actually went grocery shopping.
There was a supermarket a few blocks from the redhead's home, so they walked there. Shego grabbed a cart and then shoved it in Kim's hands. The hero made an irked noise that the moss-hued woman ignored. Shego continued on into the place while silently noting that Kim had better be following her. The college student was right behind Shego and made sure to look as cross as possible with the situation.
"Is it even all right for you to be walking around in public like this?" Kim asked as she pushed the shopping cart and Shego searched for aisles for what she desired to turn into dinner. She wandered about the place without a care in the world it seemed and she was wanted criminal as far as the redhead knew.
"Don't worry about me, Princess," the green-skinned martial artist replied, waving the question off. She then started to grab items. She suddenly recollected something; she remembered that Kim had asked her what she wanted on her pizza before, which led her to ask a question. "Princess, what do you want for dinner?" Shego inquired.
It was not often that the thief had an excuse to exercise the manners that her mother had drilled into her head when she was at an impressionable age. She blamed all of the stupid and irksome people of the world for her attitude. If there were not so many of them, she could use her manners more often, but alas, they seemed to be the dominate species of the planet.
"Me?" Kim was so shocked that she pointed to herself to be extra-sure that it was her Shego was addressing.
"No, the other you. Yes, you. What do you want for dinner?" Shego asked again. In a moment, she was going to withdraw the offer if Kim wanted to play dumb. She suspected Kim would eat damn near anything anyway.
"It doesn't matter to me. I've learned not to be picky at all while living on my own with absolutely no cooking skills to speak of," the redhead answered with a small shrug. She would eat just about anything if she were hungry enough.
"I thought as much."
Kim chuckled. "Then you know me well."
Shego smiled a bit because of Kim's sincere answer. She was not sure why, but she liked the honesty in the response. The feeling probably had something to do with the fact that she liked it when people were earnest with her because that was so rare. She decided to prepare something that would not take too long, so they could just eat and get back to the journal.
"Do you cook a lot?" Kim asked as they continued to go and down the aisles. She looked at some of the things. She did not even know what they were. Cooking seemed all the more complicated when she saw what went into the food.
"Most of the time. I'm on a special diet until the day I can kill my mother," Shego remarked. It was mostly the truth; she was on a special diet.
"Kill your mother?" Kim repeated in a puzzled voice, her mouth turned downward a bit. She sounded perplexed for a couple of reasons. One reason was the fact that she did not even know that Shego had a mother, but it made sense. Somebody had to bring the cranky woman into existence, right? She now wondered just who in the world gave birth to and raised Shego.
The other reason that Kim sounded so bewildered was that it shocked her that Shego would say that she was going to kill her mother. Not even Shego could be so ruthless as to want to kill her own mother, right? Besides, Shego did not kill people, so why would she start with her mother? But then, why would she say that if she did not mean that?
"Don't think too much on it, Princess. It's just a figure of speech. She's just the obstacle that I have to overcome," the older woman replied by accident. She had never told that to anyone who did not know about it already. She made a lot of slips of the tongue around the little hero lately, she quietly noted.
"The obstacle that you have to overcome?" Kim was more confused now than before. Shego might as well have been speaking another language at that point.
"It's not something that you'd understand," the moss-hued thief tried to assure the younger female.
"How do you know?" the trim redhead inquired.
"Because I know you," Shego answered in a "duh" kind of voice. She hoped Kim did not view herself as some big complex mystery that was hard to figure out because she was far from that.
"Like hell you do," Kim objected. Forget the fact that she had just said as much. Still, she did not like Shego just dismissing her.
"I'll admit that the casual swearing right there is a bit of a surprise, but other than that, I know you pretty damn well, Princess," Shego stated with confidence.
The villainess knew the redheaded hero, she was certain of that. And because she knew Kim, she did not know what to do with the girl, in her opinion anyway. Maybe it would have been better if she had put the girl out of her misery when they had first met, she considered. She probably should have just broken both of Kim's legs in several places and called it a day. But instead, they fought and now they were where they were. She really did not know what she should do with Kim now that she knew the petite hero.
"You don't know me as well as you think you do," Kim argued.
Shego could not possibly know her that well, Kim was certain of that, even if she had just shown some knowledge of the hero. Sure, they had fought each other for years countless times and bantered back and forth, but that did not constitute knowing a person. There was more to her than what they did when they met up, way more. She did things her enemies never saw and knew nothing about, so Shego could not possibly know her as well as she thought that she did.
Shego thought on that for a moment and then surprisingly enough, she yielded. "You're right," she simply said.
"I am?" the redhead asked in a surprised tone. She had nothing against being right, but she did not expect her enemy to agree.
The emerald-eyed thief conceded the battle because if she really did know Kim, she would know just what to do with the kid, she figured. She knew Kim on the outside better than Kim knew her on the outside, but they were both mysteries on the inside. Neither knew what the other wanted out of life and after being kicked into that electronic tower, Shego had long ago decided that she did not care, but now she was changing her mind since Kim had admitted she had not gone psycho that one night over a boy.
Kim was also reshaping her image of Shego. It seemed that the raven-haired female was not the completely obnoxious evildoer that she came across as being. She wondered why Shego acted that when she was not totally like that. She also wondered what Shego was all about now that she saw a different side of the villainess, a side that she never would have thought existed, especially the side that cooked. She actually hoped she learned more about Shego, if only to sate her growing curiosity of the plasma-wielder.
They continued on through the grocery store, as if this was something they did often, and shopping was done quickly. They got into a minor argument over who was going to pay for everything. Shego volunteered Kim since they were at the redhead's apartment while Kim pointed out that Shego was the one that wanted to cook. The cashier just watched as the pair went back and forth and wondered when the duo was going to come to blows. The two frowned at each other and seemed to be close to physically fighting, but then there was an announcement made about a spill in one of the aisles. The pair looked around and realized they were in a supermarket. They decided to go half on it if only to get it out of the way.
The pair returned to Kim's apartment where the guest proceeded to take over the kitchen; not that the apartment owner had any objections to that. Kim looked forward to a homemade meal. It would be the first one she had in a couple of months. Now, this was not for lack of going home, but she tended to leave the house before any meals were made, usually to go save the world.
Shego whipped up a quick meal for them, which Kim greatly appreciated, even though she did not say so. Shego could actually see it in those big olive eyes that Kim was thankful for some real food. The pale woman was touched, even though she did not say so out loud.
"This is actually pretty good," Kim said, finishing off her chicken with tomato and olives.
"You say that like you're surprised," Shego remarked.
Kim laughed sheepishly. "I totally didn't mean it that way. It's just… I don't cook…"
"So, you assume the rest of the world can't?" Shego teased.
"No, no, no. I also don't hang around people that cook. This is just… I don't get to eat a lot of really cooked meals," Kim explained, trying to dig herself out of the deep embarrassment.
"You should learn to cook. It's better than all the junk food you eat," Shego commented. "It'll be a shame when your metabolism catches up to you."
"You saying I'm going to get fat? I think I exercise enough to keep that from happening," Kim replied with a smile. "Now, to top this night off with ice cream!"
Kim fixed herself some dessert before they were going to go back to reading. Shego watched almost in disbelief that after Kim ate two helpings of dinner, she was going to have dessert. Kim grabbed a bowl and started shoveling ice cream into it.
"Want some?" Kim offered politely.
"What kind is it?" Shego inquired.
"Rocky Road," the olive-eyed girl answered with a small smile. All ice cream was a saving grace in her opinion. It was the ultimate good in the world.
"Nah, I don't like rocky road," Shego answered.
"Are you sure? Have you tried it?" the slim hero asked.
"Well… no," the villainess admitted. She tended to stay away from ice cream, especially if it was not one of the three original flavors.
"You have to try it then," Kim insisted.
The redhead quickly fixed Shego a small bowl of ice cream. She practically shoved it into her guest's hands and smiled while waiting for Shego to eat it. The raven-haired thief rolled her emerald eyes because of how eager the little hero was. She tasted it and found it was not as bad as she thought it would be, so she began to dig in.
"You like it," Kim grinned, teasing the older woman.
"Shut up," Shego replied. Ice cream had to be the ultimate good because it had conquered even the hard-shelled villainess, the petite adventurer thought.
They returned to their places on the sofa when they were done with their meal and dessert. Shego left the dishes to Kim because she had cooked and the annoying hero needed to do something. Kim silently decided to get to the dishes later. Right now, she just wanted to get back to the journal. They did not watch the distance them now. In fact, the thought had not occurred to them. Kim accidentally brushed up against Shego, but the green-skinned female did not blow up at her about it like she did the last time it happened. Shego picked up the book and they went back to quietly reading.
-8-8-8-8-
…My patient is still being tight-lipped with me. I am not sure if it is because of the incident with Mister Barkin or because she is still looking to be standoffish with me. I suppose it could be the former; I can only imagine how that could scar a woman. In her eyes, it's starting to look like she wants to tell me something. I do not know what she wishes to tell me and she pretends that she has nothing to say. I can wait. I believe that it is best for me to wait. It's best that I not try to force information from her because she is so easily riled up.
She has this weight on her shoulders. I doubt she knows that I can see it and I shan't tell her. I will just wait for her to unburden herself to me, no matter what it is that she is carrying around. It might be more than the incident that I am seeing and she should not have to carry around that or any other burden alone. If anything, I may just try to gently coax the information from her to avoid her allowing it to devour her entire being. I only wish to help her and I want her to understand that.
-*-(1855)-*-
Sheshona was parked in her room on her new bed. Well, it was new to her, but she was pretty certain that it had been used before. She could only hope it had new or at least fresh linen on the bed. She shuddered at the notion that they might have just given her any old sheets that were lying around. She had faith that Kimberly had not allowed such a thing to happen, but she could not be sure.
She thought of her doctor, who she would have to go see sooner or later. She had skipped a couple of sessions because she did not want to sit there and pretend to talk about things. She used the word "pretend" because she liked to eat the time away by talking about nothing beyond the fact that she was attracted to Kimberly and they were actually supposed to speak on other matters. Kimberly rarely responded, but when she said just the right thing, a blush would stain the doctor's cheeks and it was enough for Sheshona.
Her doctor was on her mind, but not as she usually was. She did not think about having sexual intercourse with her physician on that expensive desk that was just asking for it, but other things. Things that bothered her.
The pale woman thought about how the doctor had dressed her wounds after her bout with that giant monkey of an orderly. No one had done such a thing for her in so many years and she had done it properly with such a calming touch. She had not expected the doctor to have such a soothing hand and she disliked thinking the touch might have affected her. The doctor also made sure that she had eaten afterwards and had allotted her the space that she needed and desired after making sure she had gotten the tangible things that she required. And then, the cherry on the cake, the good doctor had fired Barkin and had not admonished her in any way.
It was almost like the redheaded vixen cared about her, Sheshona dared to consider. No, her mind insisted on getting that notion out of her head. No one cares about me anymore. No person alive cared about her. I don't need anyone to care about me. Her life was not about that. So, even if her doctor did care, she did not. Well, she doubted the doctor cared. After all, the redhead was being paid to treat her. She was Kimberly's job, so she was probably pretending to care, Sheshona convinced herself.
Even if Kimberly only pretended to care, it seemed to sneak passed Sheshona's well-fortified defenses and worked its way underneath her skin, much to her annoyance. After all, the raven-haired woman had moved on from thinking about how good it would be having the redhead on that huge desk to thinking about how the doctor had come to her aid when – she would never admit it out loud – she needed it. She had required the assistance. After all, she had been trapped in a tiny room with a few injuries and a man that desired to violate her. Sure, he had been unconscious, but he would have woken back up sooner or later and she would have had to just continue the same dance with him for more time than she wanted to. She had needed help and Doctor Kimberly Possible had been the one that answered the call and she did not ask for anything in return.
"Why?" Sheshona's voice was such a whisper that she convinced herself it was the wind.
Sheshona sighed. She had never had such thoughts before. They caused something inside of her to begin acting up and she tried her best to ignore it. The physician was going to be a conquest, she quietly insisted. She would be a conquest and nothing more, just like all of the other women that she had been through. They were all just conquests, people that she offered a pleasurable experience to in return for the same. It was not that she did not care about them, but they were not particularly special to her. Some of them, she could not even recall their names and she was fine with that. They were just sexual partners, there for when she wanted release or when she wanted to show women a good time. There were no emotions connected to them or to her being with them. She did not believe in emotional attachments because they only got in the way.
All of the women she had been with through out her life, they meant little to her and the smarter ones knew that. The smart ones knew better than to get attached to her, at least not in any harmful way. Some of her ladies remained her acquaintances and provided her with some human interaction beyond sexual gratification. The doctor would not be one of them, she promised herself. She wanted to have her way with Kimberly and then get away from the doctor because she did not like the thoughts Kimberly made her have. She also did not like the fact that the redhead might just be working her way under her skin.
The pale female heard the door to her room unlock, which took her away from her thoughts. It was time for her to go visit with her dear doctor. She had the choice to go for her session or to stay in her room. Kimberly thought that was fair because Sheshona had a lot on her mind and she might need some time alone. She decided to go if only to gaze at her prurient physician. She figured eyeing her doctor might get her mind back on the right track, namely thinking about Kimberly naked and how fun it would be to have her on that desk.
Sheshona trotted to the office and flopped down into her usual chair. She looked at the desk and realized that the good doctor was not sitting at the desk. Odd. She scanned around the room and spotted Kimberly on a sofa that was parked against the wall.
"Um… Doc," Sheshona called.
"Yes?" Kimberly replied. She had her legs crossed at the ankles and looked her patient in the eye, as if daring the pale woman to come and join her.
"Why aren't you at the desk?" Sheshona inquired in a bemused tone. She even pointed to the desk, like the doctor did not know where it was. It was as if she thought Kimberly was connected to the table and could not escape it.
"I don't need to always sit at the desk," the redhead answered with a small smile.
She thought the desk seemed to a barrier between herself and her patient. It was like she proclaimed that she was the all-mighty doctor and Sheshona was just the lowly patient lucky to even be in her presence. A woman like Sheshona has to resent that, she thought, even though things were not like that. She usually sat at her desk because she was eternally behind in her paperwork. So, to show she did not think she was better than her patient and in the hope it would help them grow closer, she had moved from behind the desk to some place that seemed more open, friendly, and inviting.
"Why don't you come and sit over here?" the olive-eyed female suggested with another small, inviting smile, making the offer tempting to her patient.
Sheshona craned an ebony eyebrow to the suggestion and the change. She was suspicious of the doctor, but she made her way over to the couch. After all, she was suspicious, not scared. She sat down across from the redhead. They both seemed instantly awkward with each other, sitting not even six inches apart now.
Sheshona got a healthy waft of Kimberly's perfume from their new seats. She had smelled it before, but now it seemed to surround her. It was subtle scent that wrapped around her whole body and then seemed to softly invade her insides. Sheshona tried to shake it away to be rid of it, but it only burrowed deeper. Her heart fluttered as the aroma caressed it.
"How are your bruises? Should I change your bandages?" Kimberly asked while inspecting her patient. It was the only thing that came to mind to ask. She had not planned further than sitting together and she had not planned on that to be so discomforting.
"I'm all right," Sheshona huffed, thankful for the distraction of words. It seemed to tear the bonds of Kimberly's smell. She did not want or need the redheaded woman worrying about her or trying to be kind to her.
Kimberly nodded. She already got the picture that her patient was a fiercely independent woman. There was something almost masculine about Sheshona. She guessed her patient's personality helped explain her abnormal attraction to women. But, she could not explain why she continued to think about her patient, even when she was away from the institution, ever since she had discovered Sheshona in her room with Barkin.
The redhead thought of her patient often, but it was usually because her antisocial patient tried to break her down and always got on her nerves. Her patient always tried to gather attention with distasteful and inappropriate remarks. Lately, though, she thought of how strong her patient had to be, how remarkable her patient was.
"Sheshona, you are an incredible person," Kimberly commented and her patient was stunned by those words and she was not the only one. The doctor could not believe she said that out loud.
Emerald eyes were wide and Sheshona's mouth dropped open. She was speechless, probably for the first time in whole life, but something inside of her was very flattered. She was not used to sincere compliments for no reason. She usually had to do something to or for someone to be complimented and the compliment typically came immediately, not out of the blue.
-8-8-8-8-
…My patient is a remarkable woman and I shall quietly admit to feeling privileged to know such a woman. I wish to get to know her as best I can, not to cure her, though it is still my desire as it is my job and she deserves to be normal, but I also just wish to know her. I hope that she shall open up to me and perhaps we shall have the opportunity to become friends through out this process.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: the Sheshonas hurt the Kims.