27. Cinnamon

December 25, 2006

Shego was surprised when the childlike, ever cheerful man she had had to force to sleep only hours before was awake well before dawn and calmly brewing up something that smelled delicious in the kitchen. It was the scent that had driven her downstairs still wearing her pajamas and robe, and she found Drakken attired the same.

She paused at the kitchen's saloon doors and peered at him, looking very different from the person she had pushed up the stairs the night before. He had just stopped stirring a small pot on the stove and set his hands on his hips with a satisfied sigh. Then he reached back and rubbed his neck for a moment before pulling the elastic out of his hair and then proceeding to put the slightly tangled strands back up into his trademark rebel look.

Shego took a deep breath and felt what was becoming a more and more familiar warmth swell in her chest.

"Is that breakfast?" she asked as she entered the darkened kitchen, the only illumination being the flames under the pot and the gray light filtering through the lace curtains in the living room.

Drakken glanced at her with a smile. "Hot apple cider," he said as he took the wooden spoon and stirred the pot once more as Shego approached.

"Not cocoa-moo?" Shego quipped with a smirk as she sidled up next to him and looked in the pot. Though the room was dark, she could still see a murky amber liquid that contained some orange halves, apple rounds, and floating spices she didn't recognize.

Drakken got three mugs down from the cupboard and set them next to the stove and placed a cinnamon stick inside each.

"This was my father's tradition," Drakken replied simply, his brow furrowed but a soft smile on his face. Shego wondered if he remembered it, or if it had just been something he'd been told as the years passed as his mother kept up the pastime with the family of two.

She had been going to ask why he'd kept the lights off, as it was barely light enough to see what he was doing, but being struck again by the contrast between the serious man who was straining cider through cheesecloth into cups, and the man who had tried to trap Santa Claus the night before, she forgot the question entirely.

The cider poured, Drakken stirred his with his cinnamon stick once and then raised the mug to his lips while passing another to her. She looked down into the steaming liquid for a moment before raising her eyes to meet Drakken's over the top of his mug as he took a sip.

She didn't know what her expression looked like, but it must have been unique as his own changed then. He slowly set his cider down, looking at her with wide, questioning eyes. She only knew that she was beckoning him as he closed the small space between them. She slipped her free hand up behind his neck as one of his circled her waist, the other wrapping around her shoulders possessively.

"Shego—" he barely had time to breathe before her mouth softly covered his. The heat and spice of the cider was on his lips and the kiss gentle at first, but almost immediately growing deeper. She set her cup down in the brief moment they broke for breath, and then his fingers were digging into her shoulder while his other arm held her tightly against him as they fell into passion.

She loved him. Ardently and with the fires that burned inside her, she loved him. She wanted to know everything about this man who had disarmed her and could melt down her strongest barriers, from his lonely childhood up to the moment she'd first met him...she wanted to know it all. She wanted to know what had made Dr. Drakken and, she wanted to show him how loved he was.

Her lips pulled ever so slightly from his and she took a sharp breath in through her nose, their faces resting together as she stood on tiptoe to be that much nearer to him. She smiled.

"Let's go back upstairs," she whispered, her lips brushing his. She could see his eyes widen and his brow twist in uncertainty, but he made no moves to release her.

"But...the cider?" he protested softly. "And mother will be up soon."

Shego slowly let go of him and he her, and she immediately missed the feel of their hearts beating together. She took his hand and started back toward the stairs.

"Not that soon," Shego murmured as Drakken stepped to her side and slipped an around around her waist again, which somehow made her fire burn hotter. She squeezed his hand as they started up the stairs. "You have another present to unwrap, first."