AN: Alright, I want to as always THANK ALL MY REVEWERS! and Readers... And while I can messege some of you on your reviews... Other's I can't. So I would like to thank CalamityCrane and assure you... I will be doing my best for more frequent updates and again to all Guest reviewers. Thank you so much!
A big thanks to the wonderful bcbdrums for editing! Please do check out their latest fic Pandemic!


Hangovers


Shego practically threw her coat when she made it back to the lair the next day. She hadn't slept, her head was pounding, and she'd spent an hour looking for Drakken only to realize he'd taken the hovercar. That alone had set her off. Then she couldn't get a cab because of the high-speed chase on the freeway, which ended up helping her ease some frustration since she'd gotten to plasma-blast the driver...who had been Davis...which she already knew.

When the police had left to chase him on foot, she'd taken the car. Dean had been cowering in the back seat the entire time. By the time she'd managed to calm him down enough to get him into his apartment, it was already sunrise. She'd at least been able to have coffee while at the apartment...and a granola bar. Turned out Dean didn't keep food in his apartment, which was an inconvenience. When he'd calmed down enough to fall asleep on the couch she'd decided to head back to the lair.

This, in theory, would have been great. However it was the morning after New Year's and every cab had been occupied. Davis's car could only take her so far before she had to ditch it because of police still looking for it. She'd actually ditched it outside the jail after blasting Davis's cell wall out. He had gone to get Dean after all, successful or not.

After another stolen car and a new boat acquired via trade of stolen car, she was finally back at the lair. She yanked her boots off as she walked down the hall, her feet screaming in relief. Her pace slowed as she looked down the dark hallway. Her heart began pounding for a different reason all together.

She'd not thought about what to say to Drakken once she saw him. What if he didn't even want to talk to her? She had a lot of questions suddenly spinning in her head. Had it just been the alcohol? What had he meant on the staircase about choosing her? Shego shook her head to try to focus but it only made her headache even worse.

"I really hate tequila," she groaned. Her fingers were still tingling, which should have subsided by then.

She continued walking down the hall towards her room. She would have time to dwell on things after a shower and a nice long rest. With the amount of alcohol Drakken had consumed he was probably passed out himself.

She heard the distinct sound of a welding iron and froze. She had a split second to realize how much that actually made sense. It seemed like something Drakken would do instead of letting himself sleep after drinking; he would work on a project.

"Destroy it more likely," hissed Shego. The sound made her cringe but she moved towards it and the lab.

The only light in the lab was on Drakken's desk. His overhead light was on and the sparks flying from whatever he was working on made a ghostly glow over the equipment scattered around him. Shego's nails dug into the doorway from both the sound affecting her hangover and the spinning in her stomach at an uncertain approach.

Just get it over with... He's the one who escalated the kiss.

She took a deep breath and nodded at the floor. Her internal pep talk was halted by Drakken's voice.

"Shego! You're back." He sounded cheerful.

Shego looked up as he put his tools down and gestured towards the front of his desk where she could see what he was working on. His laser was built, minus the spare parts still in front of him. Shego didn't know what to focus on, the completed invention or the blatant nonchalant behavior from Drakken. He was in fact smiling, though it wavered as he looked at her, his protective goggles still obscuring his face as his face dropped into a frown.

"I know it's not exactly finished, but I got pretty far in one night," he sighed. "Turns out that little potion of Dr. Sweets does work. I took a five minute nap and BOOM...completely fine... Little foggy about the night."

Shego gave a slight snort and crossed her arms as she walked into the room. She felt on edge, as if waiting for him to say something as she looked at the laser.

"You think you're lucid enough not to have botched it?" scoffed Shego as she examined it. She could feel him watching her.

"Whatever was in that stuff of hers, after a brief sleep...it's like...nothing transpired at all last night," Drakken stated. Shego felt tense at his words and continued focusing on the laser.

"Don't remember much from last night?" asked Shego as her gaze lingered on a weld seam for longer than normal.

"Some..." he trailed off but she waited as she heard him snort. "Last clear memory was getting sick on my date... Not a shining evening in all honesty."

Shego glared at the ground for a second before turning around with a curious expression on her face.

"After that?" she asked. Her stomach was twisting.

"Not a lot," he shrugged. "Why? Did... Did something happen?"

Shego looked at him and then back to the laser again. She wanted to rant, to tell him they had kissed...that her powers had been acting up and she hadn't meant to stop it...her mind was swirling along with nerves in her body. She wanted to do all that. She shook her head and sighed, letting a casual smirk fall on her face, hoping it didn't look as forced as it was.

"Nothing," she sighed. "It was an uneventful evening."

She watched his smile flicker and then slowly form a relieved grin.

"You're back earlier than I thought," he said as he played with a pen in front of him.

"Would have been back sooner but someone took the hovercar... Not many cabs after New Year's Eve," snorted Shego. Drakken cringed.

She sighed and walked back around the desk and flipped his face shield back down as she did so.

"I'm getting some rest, you should do the same, Dr. D," she stated as she walked towards the exit.

"I will after I finish these last parts," she heard him respond.

"You better. I'm not re-stealing parts because your hangover was tinkering without sleeping," she snorted as she rounded the corner.

The moment she turned the corner she felt all the tension in her body fall as she leaned against the stone wall.

He doesn't remember...

She thought hard about it as she focused on the dark ceiling.

Or if he does...he doesn't want to.

It was enough for her to get a clear answer. It had just been the alcohol and being dumped. That was it. She picked up her discarded boots and headed to her room. Her chest was aching more than her head at the moment, and she needed a hot shower to wash away the whole night.


Drakken let out a shaky sigh of relief as he heard Shego's footsteps fade away. He yanked off his mask and rubbed his red eyes in frustration. After a moment he tossed it rather harshly away from the desk. He fell back against his chair and looked above him in thought, playing his evening over in his head, all of it...foggy and clear.

He barely remembered flying back to the lair, autopilot or not. Only that he'd somehow managed to keep himself together till he got to his bedroom. He groaned at the disaster he'd woken up to...not just the emotional one. The lab had been the only thing that had seemed a good idea to clear his head. He was thankful because it had given him enough focus to think it through.

If Shego didn't say anything...he wouldn't either.

It came as a small relief that she either didn't remember or was choosing to ignore it. His stomach knotted again as he crossed his arms and let out a deep breath.

I crossed a line...

He nodded. He had let himself indulge in drinking, far too much for anyone really. The night had been filled with bad decisions from the start. Going out for one. It had all lead to something as simple as a New Year's kiss nearly costing him his partnership. Intoxicated or not, there had been no excuse, the tingling in the side of his face a stark reminder of that.

What if she hadn't come back...

He shook his head. She had.

Still. He'd played that scenario in his head a dozen times while attaching the core pack on the laser. He wouldn't have blamed her. He'd escalated something he shouldn't have even tempted under his mental state. He knew better...and yet he had.

He forced his eyes closed and tried to focus. The night was over, both of them had marked it off as nothing... It was over. He just needed to be mindful of the boundaries he had spent an hour focusing on. He knew he'd let them slip over the years. Standing too close, subconsciously leaning on her... He even remembered a few times he'd grabbed her hand when they had been on a caper. That had not helped him in any way other than, for a second, letting himself overstep.

It's not happening again...

He was not tempting fate again. Drakken had given himself that pep-talk last night and this morning. No matter how tempted, he wasn't going to any more parties or events. He was working on his plans and completing his goal. He'd allowed himself far too many distractions for too long.

He looked at his laser and nodded. It was nearly complete and it had only taken a night of regret to wake him from his stupor. He had done more work that night than he had done in weeks. He looked down at his notes and squinted to focus on them before getting up and grabbing his discarded goggles to help him focus on them better. He just needed to attach the readjusted Particle Regeneration Core and attain the power source.

He felt a small wave of euphoria as he looked at it and then looked back at the paper. His hand tapped on the power source and its many scratched-out ideas. The circled one had been scratched out several more times. It seemed the only thing that he knew would work. He didn't want to risk destroying his work after all the trouble Shego had gone through to get him what he needed. He chewed at his lips and groaned.

Maybe Tibet?

He nodded. It wouldn't hurt to try and see what exactly the governments were hiding there. If it was a rare power source it could be something far safer than the alternative. He hesitantly took his pen and re-wrote the only thing he knew for sure might work, mentally hoping there was something of equal energy or minerals being hidden by the government... Or somewhere...another form of it.

"Painite," he muttered to himself and tapped the paper.

He swallowed hard and looked over his shoulder for Shego as he opened his desk drawer and pulled out a heavy box. His hands shook as he opened it to look at the only power source he had. A last resort. He took a deep breath as he flipped up the lid. Looking down at the worn bronzed metals, the ornate carvings, the dark dried blood at its tips, and the large dark Painite stones. He swore he saw it twitch causing him to slam the lid shut and lock it.

"Last resort," he whispered as he looked at the box.

He quickly put the box away and locked the drawer. He looked back down at his notes and swallowed hard as he looked at his still-fresh writing. Seeing the word no longer crossed out, and seeing them once again made his skin crawl.

'The Gauntlets.'