15. Home is where the heart is

December, 2005

The resort was everything that Shego loved to indulge in. She was surrounded by opulence that made her feel like she wasn't a villain sneaking through life, but living it to the fullest. The bed she had slept in was so comfortable she could forget that waking was something she had to do. The quality of the meals she'd been served made all other food seem cheap. The spa was a comfort she wanted to melt into forever, and the views on the beach as she took in the sun's warm rays were more beautiful than anything she could imagine.

And despite it all, she wasn't enjoying herself as much as she used to. It was nice, and yet the vacation felt more like a box she was checking rather than something she wanted to spend energy on. And the more she thought about it, the more she didn't want to acknowledge the reason why.

Everything she was enjoying, and everything she wanted to relish in on her vacation...she wanted to be sharing with someone. She wanted to be able to turn to someone next to her to laugh at the ridiculous pizza-looking hat a woman was wearing, or share the decadent food with someone else who would appreciate it. And in the absence of somebody with her, she wanted to pull out her phone and tell someone about all of these things she suddenly realized she wanted to share.

And of course, 'someone' wasn't just anyone.

Shego scoffed at her thoughts as they went to a place she was trying so hard not to acknowledge and curled in on herself in her sunlounger. Her need to be with him and talk to him were just some phase. Nothing more.

Drakken was jolted from sleep by the sound of the beach door closing. He knew it could only be Shego, and he groggily began trying to pull himself together from the disheveled slump he'd been in on the sofa since she departed for her annual holiday vacation. Unfortunately he tripped on the blanket he'd brought from his bed and fell face-first on the floor. He heard the bag of chips fly and felt a few of the tiny points land on his person, and then realized with greater embarrassment how he must look. Unshaven and unkempt and now with his pajama-clothed rear in the air, it was painfully obvious he'd not made any progress on their plot and had just been moping since she'd left. He mentally braced himself for the tongue-lashing he was going to get about how irresponsible he had been.

Instead, he heard the soft thump of Shego's duffel bag on the floor next to the sofa followed by her softer plop down onto the cushions.

"Ugh, how can you be cold... What are you watching?"

Drakken rolled to be upright, further twisting himself inside his blanket. He blinked at her in surprise as she stared straight ahead at the TV screen that had gone to static.

"Ah, I...fell asleep watching Snowman Hank..." he said slowly, and then his eyes widened as clarity struck. "You...you're back early."

"Yeah, the resort was lame. We can rewind this if you fell asleep," Shego continued, still not looking at him as she searched for the remote.

Drakken struggled to his knees and grunted in pain as he knelt on the lost object. He scowled and fished the remote from his blanket and tossed it onto the sofa as Shego snickered, and then he tried to smooth back his tangled mane of hair as he clambered back up to the sofa to sit next to her.

"Maybe we can watch that painting show again after this," Shego said as the tape rewound.

She was playing with the ends of her hair and still staring at the static on the screen, her face blank and yet...strangely calm. And Drakken watched her curiously.