A/N: Sorry I'm so behind... The writer's block thing. But anyway, enjoy.

21. "Joy is the simplest form of gratitude." -Karl Barth

December, 2006

Shego was out.

She was out a lot. Though, Drakken tried to remind himself that just because they were a couple now, they were still allowed to have separate lives. He knew it was a lifetime of insecurity that had him always worrying she would meet someone better than him while away. And he could find rational justification for the thought—after all, so many people were better than him.

Especially better for her.

He glanced at the presents under their tree and thought about all the plans for the holiday season... Traditions he hoped to share with her, and new ones he hoped to forge. He smiled for a moment as he imagined what might arise from shared moments. Perhaps a spontaneous frosting fight, as had occurred at his mother's house the prior year. Or maybe he could get Shego to recall a tradition from her own past that she would like to incorporate into their lives, as he had the exchanging of a gift a week before Christmas.

But of course...in order to forge new traditions, she would need to be there with him. His expression saddened as he reached for the photo album on the coffee table—perhaps the most meaningful gift he'd ever been given—and began flipping through it. It was true, she may not be with him right then... But he was grateful for every minute, every smile, and every memory they already had. And he grinned as he slowly flipped through the pages she had made for him with such care, that proved she did in fact value their lives together.

His smile broadened as he heard the door open and familiar footfalls come down the hall. He watched eagerly for Shego's appearance and while doing so flipped past the final page of the album by accident. But a flash of color on what should have been a blank page caught his eye.

At first he was confused, thinking he'd somehow turned back to a picture he'd already looked at. But then he realized...the images on the page before him were new.

It was a photo strip, like the one from the infamous days of the moodulator incident as he referred to it. But these photos from several months ago had been taken deliberately. And the kiss in the last grainy picture of their memorable first official date had most definitely been consensual.

"Hey Dr. D., I— Oh..."

Drakken looked up to see Shego surprised and a little disappointed as she saw him looking at the album, but nothing could put out the flame of happiness that had begun burning inside him upon seeing the pictures.

"I...had meant to show you that as part of our week-before gift exchange, but...it's fine that you saw it."

Shego set her shopping bags on the floor and moved to sit on the sofa beside him.

"I wanted to surprise you," she continued. "I figured...we should keep adding to the album? Since we have more memories we'll want to hold onto, now. Maybe with actual pictures like those ones, instead of just grainy security camera captures."

She was chuckling, but Drakken was still in awe as the feeling like warm flame overtook every fiber of his being. His fingers touched the photo strip, from the awkward posed smiles in the first, to the harsh nudge to lighten up in the second, the hair pulling in retaliation in the third, and the passionate and laughter-filled kiss in the last.

He was transfixed on the image in the album as he felt every insecurity float out of him and pop like bubbles. He finally became aware of Shego's hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. He glanced at her and found that words had failed him.

"Sorry, I...sorry. I should have... I...I should...say thank you," he stammered as his heart beat wildly in his chest for the assurance of her feelings that the tiny gesture had brought.

"No need," Shego whispered as she drew her feet under her and knelt on the sofa nearer to him. And before she'd even fully turned, his lips found hers in a deep kiss.