A/N: This is my 130th Drakgo fic in total!

A little change in flavor this time. This should hit all the right spots, I hope, and with a comfortable G-rating as well. Enjoy.

For Nancy.

Selfless

Shego stopped short first at the sound a tinny clang, and then at the sight of the trash bin rolling across the floor past the lab doorway, its contents gradually falling out and littering the floor behind in a haphazard trail. It had clearly been kicked over, and upon glancing around the lab it was clear that the bin hadn't been the only target of the mad scientist's temper tantrum.

She opened her mouth to make a quip about Drakken's childish behavior, but halted again as she saw the man's expression just before he turned away. This wasn't a pout over a meddling teen cheerleader or a frustration over a plan gone awry. This was something deeper.

Part of her wanted to dismiss it; tell herself he'd snap out of it and be fine eventually, as he always was. A few sarcastic comments could even do the trick and get him distracted in bickering with her. But there was something about the hunch to his shoulders as he leaned over the desk...

He looked defeated.

"...Dr. D.?" she asked, approaching tentatively.

For once, the man didn't startle.

"What is it, Shego?" he asked sullenly, not even bothering to hide his mood.

She hesitated slightly. This wasn't the mock sadness he often adopted to get her attention.

"Just...wondering what the trashcan ever did to you," she said with all the honesty she could muster.

Drakken gave her a sad side-eye before nodding to the small monitor that Shego noted was playing some kind of news broadcast.

"It's Possible."

Shego's mind raced. "She foil you before you even got started somehow?"

"Not the teen. My so-called college compadre," he explained.

Shego stepped forward and took a closer look at the news where Dr. James Possible was being interviewed, some type of rocket ship visible in the background.

"He stole my design. Yes, I discussed the theories behind the Kepler with him in college, but... They were my ideas! Possible wasn't even interested in rocket science back then!"

Shego's instinct was to assume Drakken was exaggerating and being dramatic, but his attitude suggested that for once, he may actually have had the rug pulled from under him by a former so-called friend.

"And now he's getting the glory!" Drakken said, his shoulders slumping as he leaned against the table with a finality.

The rant had been brief and actually coherent—very unlike the mad scientist's usual dramatics. Shego pursed her lips in a wry frown as she considered. Her better instincts told her to offer a platitude and leave until he was back to his usual chipper self. But something else she couldn't define got to her first, and in a moment she heard unplanned words leave her lips.

"What gets to you the most? The fact he stole your design or the fact he's going to go down in history for it?"

Drakken whirled to face her, a finger raised in protest and his mouth wide as he drew in a breath...and then he paused and blinked.

"That— You're not mocking me. That was a serious question."

"...Yeah. Guess it was."

Drakken studied her for a moment where she'd paused near him, the fingers of one gloved hand grazing the lab table top as she glanced at the news broadcast. He looked at the TV for another moment before clenching his fists.

"He barely even had to work for it. It might look like he spent years researching this, but I hacked the space center's database. It's all my work that he barely tweaked and now...now he's going to change the entire face of space exploration. With my design. His name will go alongside other paragons like Newton and Einstein in the history books instead of...instead of..."

"...Lipsky?" Shego provided.

He turned to her then, his eyes open and seeking something.

She realized in an instant that this cut deeper than any defeat by Possible's daughter ever could. This had torn through the facade of distraction that world domination provided and taken him back to the core of the person who had been driven to villainy in the first place. If the world rejected him as a legitimate scientist, he would find fame as an evil one. But what Possible had done to him now...

She glanced down, wrapping one arm around her middle. She felt completely at a loss to answer his un-articulated questions, but he was clearly waiting for her to shine some light into his newfound darkness. She could think of plenty of ways to distract him... Simple mocking, revenge plots, even kissing him crossed her mind as a possibility. But they were all just temporary alleviation to the deeper problem, which she found she had no solution for.

She looked up.

"I'm sorry, Dr. D."

She watched his wounded, searching eyes as he examined her words for anything but the sentiment she had offered. And when he found none he sighed, slumping down into his chair and watching the ongoing interview with a dangerous despondency. He took a breath, and his voice came out tense as he seemed to hold back tears.

"All I've ever wanted is my fair share."

After a moment Shego closed the small distance between them and tentatively set a hand on his shoulder.

"You'll get it," she said with calm assurance as they watched the strange rocket ship with the name 'Kepler II' emblazoned on the side lift off in its first test flight.

"Oh, suddenly you're playing cheerleader," Drakken said with an edge of bitterness.

Shego bit down on the instinct to snap back at him.

"Well..." She nodded to the screen when he looked up at her. "If you could design that back in college, and it works today without much changed... Seems like you've just got to set your mind to the right thing."

The rocket faded into the clouds, and then Shego felt a hand covering hers. She looked down to see Drakken's expression had begun shifting into something grateful even as his eyes shone with un-shed tears.

"You really think so?"

She took a breath.

"Yeah. And...if you really want Drew Lipsky to be remembered, you might try something...outside of evil," she said with effort.

He turned slightly to face her more directly, his hand still on hers and his eyes questioning.

"What are you saying?"

"Just that...if it's really Drew Lipsky you want in the history books, you might want to go another way besides world domination. Possible is changing space exploration... Maybe you should solve world hunger or something. Invent some kind of sustainable food source...a plant that grows in any climate or something, I dunno."

The words had tumbled from her lips both too quickly and too slowly, with her listening to them as if from the outside. Give up evil? She wasn't really suggesting that...was she? Why didn't she feel more concerned about it?

"Or," Drakken said, standing, gripping her hand in his, "I could create a hive mind of evil plants to take over the world!"

Shego blinked in surprise. Just like that...the spark was back in his eye.

"Think of it Shego! Possible leaves his house to go to that...pompous, over-funded space center, and is attacked by his rhododendron! His car crushed by a bougainvillea!"

Shego was surprised then to be spun around by the hand Drakken still held as he laughed in excitement over his imaginings. He hesitated just before pulling her into his arms, his eyes as wide as hers as he realized what he'd nearly done. More concerning to Shego was the fact that she was bothered that he'd stopped, and that the thought of kissing him had bubbled to the surface again.

"Yeah well," she said shakily, taking a small step back. He released her hand instantly and looked away, his cheeks coloring as she cleared her throat. "While you start work this plant army, want me to go blow up Possible's car?"

Drakken grinned. "That would be delightish!"

"Delightful," she corrected as she turned to leave.

"Yes. Thank you, Shego."

Something in his tone gave her pause, and she looked over her shoulder to find the most open, grateful smile she'd ever seen on the blue man's face. The corners of her mouth curled upward ever so slightly.

"You're welcome."

She watched Drakken turn off the TV and rub his hands together for a moment before she turned again to leave, his voice drifting back to her as the familiar disjointed thinking aloud began.

"Now, we'll need to move lairs..."