Aftermath


The flight seemed to go on longer than it actually had, though Shego was sure that was due to the last few days' roller coaster crashing down on her. She wanted nothing more than a hot shower, anything to kill the pain up her back, and to sleep for a very long time. The space suit she still wore was becoming almost like a vise around her, though she was certain the cause was just her overall stress. She wanted to forget about the aliens, the space adventure, the asteroids...all of it. She shook her head as she felt her breath hitch. She was putting herself into an emotional whirlwind for no reason.

Her eyes took in the trashed lands and buildings around them, some structures intact...some completely gone. Electricity seemed to be in and out but it was there. There were ambulances, police, and all forms of first respondents racing around as she and Drakken flew. She wondered how much carnage was beyond the broken buildings. They were over just one small city. She could only imagine bigger metropolitan areas that the alien technology had reached. Another thought occurred.

"Wonder how many governments are going to fight over space scrap," she scoffed, glancing at where pictures were being taken of a device wrapped in vines. "Your flowers traveled?"

"It appears so," came a gruff reply. Shego's eyes darted to Drakken.

His hand was rubbing his throat, where she noticed the petals had not yet returned. Drakken seemed focused on the back of his neck and she raised a brow.

"Something wrong?" asked Shego. Her hand went to his collar.

Drakken blocked her hand and pulled his collar tighter.

"It's nothing," he muttered.

Shego's brow furrowed and she turned away from him, her arms wrapping around herself as she did so. Her agitation and snappy reply ended before they began. Her eyes drifted over Drakken's pained and tired expression. She took in the damage to parts of his coat and the dirt and chemicals splattered over him. His eyes were red from exhaustion. She knew that she herself looked worse for wear. She felt like she was sitting in tacky glue from the sweat of the layers and exertion she had gone through. She looked down at herself, suddenly wondering how many contaminants they might have on them.

"Finally," grumbled Drakken.

Shego looked at him and then ahead where a gas station stood intact on the ground. At first she wondered if it was being looted for necessities, but then she saw someone slipping through the missing door. Shego shared a confused look with Drakken. He shrugged in response before landing the hover car. Neither hesitated as they climbed out of the vehicle. Shego felt the pain shoot through her as her feet hit the ground and she let out a small hiss. She saw movement to her left and saw Drakken barely a foot away with his arms towards her. A look of concern flickered over his expression before his arms retreated.

Again.

She shook it off as they both wordlessly entered the convenience store. Despite the destruction outside, the place was in fairly good condition. The door and one window were missing, and the young clerk was sweeping up broken glass from those and from what looked like a soda cooler door. Shego raised a brow at Drakken and he made a hand gesture as if to imply that the young person being left to clean up such a mess wasn't surprising. Shego would inquire later if she cared to remember.

The clerk looked at them and their eyes shot open, darting upwards and then back to them. There was a nervous grin on their face.

"C-Can I help you find anything... I mean a lot of stuff was looted so—" Shego chose to ignore whatever rambling was going to start.

Her focus was on essentials. They needed wraps, bandages, compression pads... She didn't know the extent of any injuries Drakken had yet but she wasn't about to chance her own injuries beyond what she saw without her suit off. She glanced to see Drakken holding up a shirt that looked her size. She rolled her eyes and walked by him and switched it out with a different one. He didn't even seem to acknowledge the motion or change and just tossed it over his arm with the other garments he'd gathered for them to change into. She saw his hand reach behind his neck again as she darted down another aisle for a sewing kit. Was it the best option? No. Would it do if needed? It would have to.

She looked at the heap of items in her hand basket and then to where Drakken had drifted over towards the checkout counter. The clerk was grinning at him, though this went seemingly unnoticed as Drakken was watching her gather things with a tired expression. She took it as a cue to leave and was readily in agreeance. She didn't hesitate to dump her haul on the counter over the garments and snacks Drakken had collected. The clerk, still grinning, simply shoved all of it in a bag and handed it to them.

"You have a good night," the clerk nodded.

Shego raised a brow and looked at the perfectly functioning till on the counter and then to Drakken. His confusion was marred by a yawn before taking the bag and turning from the counter. Shego followed the action, including the yawn. They took a few steps towards the door when her eyes caught sight of a muted television on the ceiling. She grabbed Drakken's arm to stop him from walking.

"What..." Drakken trailed off as he'd seemingly followed her eyes.

The television was broadcasting footage from the battle just a short while ago. Footage that seemed to have been caught from a window showed Drakken's plants dragging away the alien devices. There were also aerial shots of she and Possible with Warmonga and Warhok, the hover car, and Drakken. They looked at each other in confirmation of what they had seen and looked over their shoulders at the clerk, who was still grinning.

"This keeps getting better," muttered Drakken as he walked out the door with a head shake.

Shego glanced at the television once more before following after Drakken. She scoffed to herself, wondering how the media would spin the blame on them in some way. They were villains after all.


Drakken couldn't place his emotions even if he tried. He was too tired and sore to know what was just because of that factor and what was due to actual events. He felt his skin crawl up his back as Shego now drove. His hand darted to his neck in response, waiting for the plant attachment to make an appearance. Groggily he wondered what else might be going on inside him, but Shego pulled those thoughts away. She was looking at his neck where his hand was. He removed his hand quickly. He knew she assumed he had injured his neck somehow, but he was in no mood to introduce Shego to his new attachment. The petals were quite enough. His hand snapped up to his neck as if expecting them to bloom again.

"What are the odds there's a vacancy?" Shego sighed. Drakken looked at her and then the hotel they were approaching.

"Most are out of power and with homes destroyed...we'd have a better chance at a motel," stated Drakken. He let out a deep sigh. "We can always commandeer one by force."

"Sounds like a plan," she snickered. "If need be. I don't think police are going to be available if we have to."

"Yes. Plan," Drakken nodded. He felt movement in his neck. "We uh... Get a night's rest and then back to what's left of the lair."

"Which one?" asked Shego as she landed. "The broken icy flower one...the tropical smashed one?"

"I'll decide in the morning," yawned Drakken.

"Stop that," yawned Shego. "We might still have to look intimidating... Nothing's intimidating about being tired."

"I don't know... Most violent acts are often committed by those tired of society." Drakken smirked and he saw a faint one form on Shego's face.

Any hostility that they might have planned faded rather quickly from their minds. They'd barely gotten to the hotel counter before a room had been practically thrown at them. Neither had questioned it and simply proceeded to walk down the carpeted hallway with its flickering lights to their destination. The sounds of families and children beyond most likely packed into rooms made Drakken uneasy. The destruction they'd seen on the way there was minimal at best compared to some he was sure. He knew the actual carnage of the alien aftermath would take days or months to calculate before the media began blasting it... Then they would find blame.

As much as Drakken wanted world conquest...the idea of having such things possibly pinned on he and Shego made him feel queasy. He'd hoped no one would know they were even there, but the footage they'd seen had already proven that hope worthless. He heard the beeping of the door and realized they had reached their room. Shego had taken the card out of his hand without him noticing. Shego hit the lights as he stepped in, only to be shoved into a different direction. He stumbled as the bathroom came into view.

"You stink," muttered Shego. She handed him clothes from their bag. "Shower before I gag."

Drakken frowned as Shego vanished from view. He knew she was lying and was simply being nice in her own way... He wasn't about to argue with that now. He closed the door and tossed the bag on the sink. The relief of removing his heavy soiled clothing made Drakken groan. His coat was always heavy and lined for protection, but somehow it felt like he'd just tossed weights off of him.

He looked at the coat for a second and sighed. It would have to be destroyed with all the contaminants and chemicals on it. The tears and stains on the leather weren't worth the effort of cleaning. He looked down at his wrists where small cuts and puncture wounds could be seen from the restraints he'd been wearing on the ship. There were some on the sides of his ankles but not nearly as bad. He felt the coil in his spine again and his eyes darted to the mirror as he looked at his back.

Drakken's brow rose.

A little ways above his shoulder blades he saw what looked like a cut with heavy bruising that trailed a small distance down his spine. He felt behind him but there was no difference or protruding feeling along his spine. He narrowed his eyes in more confusion as he wondered where the long tendrils had come from. He didn't even know if his new appendage had caused the bruising as he had a series of marks along his shoulders, and the faint dark blue lines accompanying the bruising on his back did little to help differentiate between them. He cared very little beyond his spine at the moment, wanting to wash the last few days away.

He'd barely stepped into the water when he felt the tingle in his neck and he let out a defeated sigh as the petals basked in the water. He felt his shoulders slump and grabbed the small bottles the hotel had provided...which took only a few minutes to regret as his neck began to sting from the soapy water. He felt his spine touched just before a pale pink flower began basking in the water. He may have knocked over a few bottles of the small shampoos in shock.

Shego's voice came at the door.

"Drakken?"

He yanked off the petals hoping the stinging would subside but he realized they weren't the source. There were cuts on his neck from what the aliens had used to grab him on the ship when he'd tried to escape. He'd caused the cuts to come open again. He rested his head against the tiles on the wall. He just wanted to sleep and the slight pain made it all the more desired.

"Drakken?" came Shego's voice again.

"Yes?" he sighed. There was silence.

"Just wanted to make sure you didn't pass out or something," she grumbled through the door. "And leave some water for me, would you?"

"Tell that to the flower," muttered Drakken as the thing splashed him. "That's enough."

Surprisingly, it listened. There was another interruption at the door.

"Our faces are plastered all over the news. Something tells me your villain cred is gone," came Shego's voice.

Drakken raised a brow and tried to figure out her words. He stepped out of the shower. If they were painting them as the main problem, then it wouldn't hurt their villain credentials... Their very lives perhaps, but not their villain status. He wondered if it was because they had been seen working with Possible and Stoppable. He glared as he attempted to dry his hair. He couldn't fathom her statement's meaning.

"Drakken? Yo, Dr. D.?" Shego's voice came again as he pulled on his clothes.

"What do you mean, gone?" asked Drakken as he yanked the door open. Shego stumbled into him slightly from where she had been leaning on the door.

"Ohm," Shego stood up and gestured to the television. "Well, from what it looks like...they're making you out as some sort of...hero."

Drakken felt his stomach sink as he walked past Shego, gently shoving her in the bathroom in the process.


Shego closed the door behind her and let out a sigh as she tossed the many layers of clothing aggressively to the ground. She could hear Drakken muttering things including a few choice 'doodles' as she did so. Drakken hadn't even fully turned the water off, which was a relief for not having to wait for the temperature to adjust. The moment the water touched her she felt like she would fall asleep right there. The only thing stopping her was the shooting pains up her back and aches all over her body. She should have taken something instead of watching the television. It was all carnage, destruction, and she and Drakken plastered all over the footage tied to it. Something about that was making her uneasy. While they were seemingly painting Drakken as a hero...she knew how easy a single word could flip that with ease.

"Shego?" Shego jumped at the sudden sound interrupting her thoughts. She caught the bottle she'd knocked over before it fell.

"What?" she sighed.

"I'm putting your stuff in here, you forgot it on the bed," came Drakken's voice as the door opened. "Ow."

Shego rolled her eyes and peeked around the curtain to see Drakken blindly reaching for the counter.

"I'm in the shower, you can open your eyes," snorted Shego. She smirked as she watched his antics...then her eyes saw dark red on his exposed neck. "Is your neck bleeding?"

She watched his eyes open and he leaned towards the foggy mirror.

"Uh, not too much," he said calmly. "I thought it had stopped... Perhaps I should wrap it."

"So long as you don't bleed out before I get out of here," Shego glared at the color, wondering where it had come from. The petals?

She watched Drakken's eyes roll as he looked towards her. She nearly laughed as she saw his eyes go wide and he practically hit the door.

"I'll do my best," hastened Drakken as he grabbed the door handle.

Shego looked at the curtain in concern as she'd let it slip, but all that was seen was at most her shoulder and arm. She smirked as he fumbled with the steam moistened door handle.

"What's wrong, a little skin freaking you out?" she teased. Drakken gave a forced laugh as he yanked the door open.

"Hardly—ow!" She heard him hit the door frame before the door closed.

She snorted and yanked the curtain closed.

Shego's smirk fell as she went back to scrubbing her face. Images of the last few days flashed behind her eyes when she closed them. She knew her adrenaline had long died off, but it seemed her thoughts were still alert and wanting to process all the emotions she'd been suppressing. Instead she thought about the lair...in ruins, and the other covered in plants. She looked at her hands in the water. Her knuckles were a bruised and bleeding mess, a normal fight consequence, but the ache she felt was different—an all-over ache as her mind flew back to sitting outside the Lorwardian ship in the Kepler, her restless mind not listening to her. The emotions that had run through her as she looked at the alien ship...it had been nothing short of a suicide mission, and she knew that...had ignored it... But now the feeling was back. She hadn't hesitated to rip the suit off Possible and fly into a nearly impossible situation.

She watched the soap run down the drain and took a hard swallow as she began processing everything. It was short lived as she heard a thump in the room. She slammed her hand on the water nozzle and had to stop herself from sprinting out into the room.

"Drakken?" she called. There was more movement.

"I'm fine," she heard him barely say.

Shego rolled her eyes and finished drying off, her chest still pounding. She finally looked at herself in the mirror. She had bruises and marks from where she'd been thrown into objects and an imprinted bruise caused by the jetpack on her back when Warmonga had thrown her into rubble. She was aware of the pain in her body, but she knew the healing would be slow and aggravating. She yanked on the clothes and snorted at the blue 'Mad Dogs' on the front of the black shirt, and the yellow and purple plaid pants to match.

She wrapped her hair in the towel, too tired to worry about a hair dryer or anything else. She reentered the tiny hotel room. She'd waited for Drakken to whine about the one bed but instead. He lay across the thing in a dramatic display. He was wearing a matching shirt and pants to her own, and bandages were in a scattered mess around him...as clearly he had given up on trying to tend his wounds.

Typical.

She tossed her towel into the bathroom and made the few small steps to sit next to him on the bed. He'd secured an ice pack on one of his wrists. Shego grabbed the free one and saw faint cuts, but worse was the bruising fading its way past any purple hue into green. She grabbed the unrolled bandage and began to wrap his wrist. It was worse than the wounds they'd get on a typical Monday's failed plan, but it felt...familiar. Drakken's other arm moved and she felt an ice pack on her shoulder. She hadn't known it was a central pain until there was a sudden relief from the cold.

"Typical Monday medic night, right?" she snorted. She heard him give a hum of agreement.

What if there hadn't been anymore...

Shego swallowed hard and glared as she tied the wrapping, yanking his other wrist towards her. The ice pack fell on her leg and he grumbled but complied. His wrapped hand grabbed the pack and replaced it on her shoulder. Her eyes fell to his neck again, and he must have been watching her because his hand fell over it as he sat up.

"It's fine... I can wrap it. I just need help tying it. I tried already but it kept coming loose." He grabbed the wrap but Shego snatched it.

"I'm right here already... Is my eye bruised?" sighed Shego as the ice pack now was placed on her eye. "I need that to see."

"You have the other eye," he muttered. Shego was about to argue but instead she just did her best to wrap his wound.

Her fingers touched the cut and she heard him hiss. Some of the bruising was light and the rest deep and heavy. She wondered what had caused it because she could see other bruising where the petals had been coming out, higher than the nearly full circle around his neck. Her hand reached to the other first aid items she'd bought. She added liquid skin on the cut just in case. He hissed at the pain but it was better than moving and bleeding out on the bed later.

She just looked at him, his dark eyes watching the television...and tired. She examined every detail and crease of his face, the slight labor to his breathing from pain more than likely. She found herself fiddling with the gauze a bit more closely. He did nothing to register her notably odd behavior. She thought back to seeing him on the ship and how she'd wanted to throw her arms around him... Emotions were welling inside her, and she wasn't holding them off as well as she wanted to.

We could have died... He could have—

"We forgot painkillers," sighed Drakken, not looking away from the television.

Shego saw her chance and got up quickly.

"I'll go grab some from down at the desk." She didn't think she'd ever moved so fast.

She practically ran out of the room, only stopping halfway down the hall to collect herself and push back the stinging in her eyes. She took a deep breath before she reached the end of the corner and rounded it to head to the front desk, momentarily glad she'd forgotten an essential item.


Drakken felt like his body kept cracking at every move he made. All he'd done was reach over and grab the remote to turn off the carnage. The news was unsettling him and he was too unfocused to really put effort into following whatever rumors and thoughts were running wild. His eyes scanned the room and it dawned on him that they had only one bed. His hand fell to his neck and over the large bruise and cut. He was glad the shirt covered it and that the water had seemed to appease whatever had grown on him. He felt throbbing aches as he went to stand up, his eyes searching for the ice bucket.

"Something tells me we're going to need more than a bucket," he muttered as he grabbed it and an extra bag.

His walk down the opposite hall to the entrance was a slow and painful one. He longed for the adrenaline just to stop his sluggish movements. He could barely remember a time he'd felt this exhausted and sore. He knew there had been plenty other times that were worse... It was just the events seeming to make it feel worse than it was.

He'd zoned out in his thoughts as he pictured the vast void of space, the laser blasts, and the sounds of the alien ship... He knew this only because he was suddenly back at their room, ice in hand, and hadn't remembered getting to the ice machine.

"Drakken!" Shego's voice pulled him out of his thoughts as he opened the door.

Shego looked... His brow rose. She looked frantic as she darted out of the bathroom, her eyes shifting quickly to fall on him as he closed the door. He held up the ice as her eyes narrowed. He couldn't read her expression past that and when she moved rapidly towards him...he took a step back. Her arms wrapped around his middle and it took him half a second to hesitantly wrap his hands around her in confusion.

Was she worried...? I just got ice.

"You're welcome for the ice Shego, but there's no need—"

Her grip tightened and it dawned on him she had been worried. But he'd just...not been in the room when she'd returned. He wanted to dismiss it as something less than that, but the part of his brain that normally helped with such things seemed to have fallen silent.

She came to get you... Of course she was worried. You're her friend.

He suddenly regretted not hugging her on the ship, but knowing full well...if he hadn't stopped himself in his tracks...he would have stepped too far over that line he had been so desperately reinforcing for months. He hugged her a little tighter. This seemed to pull her out of whatever she had going on in her own head because she shoved away from him and headed back to the bed.

"It's late and I am so over this day," scoffed Shego as she climbed in the bed. "This week even."

Drakken muttered some sort of agreement as he shoved the ice in the freezer of the little cooler and he grabbed the normal ice packs. He tossed one at Shego who caught it and rolled to face the wall. Drakken slowly crawled into the bed and hit the light, willing sleep to come as he put the ice pack under his sore neck. He closed his eyes...but sleep didn't come.

It felt like hours as his mind went from complete silence to high traffic noise. The ship, the plants, the emotions...all bubbling in his head like an overflowing stew pot on a stove. He tried to pull away from those thoughts, only to fall into the destruction he'd seen on their flight to the hotel. Homes demolished, businesses trashed...and just in one small city. It had been complete chaos on the planet while they were gone. He began thinking about other parts of the world, their friends' lairs...familiar places and if they would still be there. How many families were displaced and—

Drakken's eyes shot open and he had to stop himself from jumping out of the bed. His hand practically knocked the phone off the tiny nightstand as he hastily dialed. He didn't care about the time or cost of the call. It went to voicemail. He dialed again, and again. His heart was pounding in his throat and he felt heat rising in his face and eyes. Were his hands shaking? He was about to run to the hover car when a groggy voice came on the line.

"Hello?"

Drakken felt a shaky sigh leave him.

"Mother." He hated that his voice cracked. "It's me—"

"Drewbie!" came her shrill voice in excitement, "you're okay! I tried calling you and Shego's phone but—"

"Yes, well, they were very out of network range," smiled Drakken. "Is everything all right by you?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" asked his mother. Drakken blinked and was about to further question, "Oh, you mean about those alien things on the news. I guess there was one in the city, but we were fine. Hold on let me see what's going on now—"

"Mother... Mother," Drakken sputtered but she'd put down the phone. He rubbed his eyes and waited and then suddenly a scream over the phone. "Mother?"

"Drewbie! You and Shego are on the news!" She'd picked the phone back up. "And so is that strange girl and Ronald."

Drakken rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure they're spurting all sorts of drama and lies. Mother I'm going to go," sighed Drakken, "I just wanted to check on you—"

"Do you have a television near you? Turn it on! Turn it on!" his mother sounded excited.

"Mother, I'd rather—"

"Drew Theodore P. Lipsky, turn on the news this minute," she snapped. Drakken grumbled and picked up the remote.

He hit mute and captions as he scrolled through. He didn't have to flip far because on every channel...it was him. Him and Shego...him and Possible...Possible...press conferences...and the strange blue light he'd seen before it all had ended—something he'd yet to actually ask Shego about now that he thought about it.

"Mother, I'll call you back." Drakken didn't listen to her protests as he watched the television.

He was waiting for the ball to drop as he watched the screen. Some sort of spin, conspiracy, cover-up...something. Instead it was still boldly painting him as some sort of hero. He watched the screen changing and fought a cringe as he saw Shego's face on the screen...clad with her Team Go mask. He felt like he was in some sort of distorted reality. What if he was? What if all this was a dream and he'd never made it off the ship? What if Shego had not come to get him... Those boxes he'd angered had killed him. Stuck in some sort of purgatory...one where he was with Shego and he was being praised for his work...publicly.

There are worse things—

He wondered if Shego would want to watch.

Shego let out a scream next to him so sudden and loud he fell off the bed. He had somehow forgotten, in his panic, that Shego had in fact been asleep next to him the entire time. He wondered if she'd had a nightmare or... Drakken paled. Shego's hands were ablaze and with a quick movement his vines, which had seemed to be wrapped around Shego's wrist, shot back into his spine. The speed caused Drakken to shiver slightly.

"Shego...calm down." Drakken moved slowly.

"Calm down... What was that?" asked Shego. Her voice cracked as her glow faded. "Is that...was that attached to you?"

"Ohm...yes," said Drakken. He watched as the flower peeked around his shoulder.

Shego's hands glowed again.

"Shego. It's fine... Maybe I didn't explain it well in the planning... This is how I controlled the plants," Drakken tried to explain. "It's how I got Possible and I out of captivity."

Shego's glow faded and she eyed the pink-petaled thing with suspicion.

"So...that...is another mutation?" Shego raised a brow. "Why was it caressing my hand?"

Drakken looked at the flower and glared. The petals drooped. Drakken tried to think about that and remembered his previous thoughts. He'd been thinking about Shego. It suddenly dawned on him that it might not just be commands it listened to—that it might somehow be connected to both his conscious and subconscious thoughts. Though it had no eyes, he felt like it was looking at him as if attempting to agree with what he was realizing. Drakken and the flower both turned to Shego. She looked less distressed and more confused.

"It is most likely attached in some way to my subconscious...but it may not read things like I intend. I was thinking about you because of the television... It must have wanted to wake you up because I was wondering if you wanted to watch the press conference," Drakken explained. He waved his hand as the flower moved towards Shego and it finally vanished. "It may take time to work out a communication."

Shego slowly nodded and squinted her eyes over Drakken's shoulder. He didn't have to look again to know the vine had resurfaced. Drakken gave a nervous smile and shrugged. He didn't expect Shego to not have a reaction, he'd simply hoped it wouldn't have been a terrified scream... Though he could imagine an inanimate vine-like flower waking you up out of nowhere... He gave an apologetic grimace.

"Okay...okay," Shego let out a deep breath. "This is new... I can get used to this."

Drakken felt a partial smile on his lips. It went away as the flower vine darted towards Shego. She hit the wall and glared at it and then him.

"Ohm... Flower," he said. It seemed to turn towards him. "Maybe some other time for introductions."

The appendage seemed to look between the two before its petals wilted and it retreated. There was a moment of silence between the two before Shego seemed to calm back down enough to nestle back into her side of the bed. He watched her take another breath and then look at him and then the clock.

"It's only been an hour," she scoffed. "Uhg, I'm too tired for this."

"I'm sorry it woke you..." Drakken watched her expression. There was something unreadable on it. "Would it make you feel better if I slept in the tub?"

Shego didn't say anything. Her eyes still looked over his shoulder as if waiting for it to appear again. He took that as an answer. He went to grab his pillow but Shego's hand clamped around his wrist and he looked at her. She had a serious expression on her face.

"That thing... Flower... You said you control it?" asked Shego. Drakken shrugged, and she continued. "It acts on what you want it to?"

"It appears so...in a way. But there might be more factors—"

"Uhg, please. Not tonight. Just go to bed. Rant in the morning," groaned Shego. "I'll just take it as a yes."

Shego reached past him and grabbed the remote, turning off the television and immersing them in the dark. Her hand let go of his wrist and he heard her pull the covers up. Drakken stood there unsure of what to do. He went to slide his pillow out of the bed but it didn't move.

"Just...come to bed," she sighed softly. Drakken felt a tingle in his chest at her words before he mentally cursed at himself.

Drakken got back into bed and resumed his position of staring towards the window. His eyes adjusted to the lack of light and he watched the curtain gently move from the vents below.

"Drakken?"

He reached behind his neck, worried the vine had slid out again, but there was nothing there.

"Yes?" asked Drakken with relief.

"Can...can you ohm...not sleep with your back to me...? The vine—"

"Right, okay," Drakken rolled over, assuming Shego had done the same but she hadn't.

Shego was staring at him, her green eyes half open. Drakken felt his own eyes grow heavy.

"Drakken?" asked Shego. He hummed in response. "You'd better not turn into a potted plant."

Drakken let out a soft chuckle as he closed his eyes.

"I'll try... Might be too much responsibility for you." He didn't know if all the words made it out of his mouth.

He hoped they did, but Shego didn't give a witty retort if they had. He finally felt some sort of calm in his mind, though his thoughts still raced. He wondered how many nightmares he would have, or if he was going to wake from a strange dream and it all never happened. He wondered what damage there might be at the lair... How there was no sound and he felt like he was being pulled in and out of consciousness... As he let sleep take over, finally, there was a warm feeling and tingle of pressure in his hand that he couldn't place.


Perhaps an Earlier Update... who knows.