Hanging at the lab meant that Shego could drop at any time and thus could catch Drakken in situations she could mock. Which made her day. Like it always did for the last five years. She just wasn't as harsh now, a bit of a teasing here, a laugh there to break the tense researchy atmosphere.

So when she saw Drakken at his desk, staring into the upper drawer, she had the stage, the set and the audience. "Staring at your secret crush?" she teased, hopping onto the corner of the desk.

"I am too old for crushes, Shego. Those are… just good memories."

Shego was intrigued… particularly since she knew exactly what the drawer contained. Thus late at night she snuck into the lab (insanity in itself, since she was supposed to maintain the security of the place and now could easily penetrate said security? Dang it, they need to have another security staff meeting.) to see what Drakken was looking at exactly. Shockingly, his personal office was not locked – good for her. She opened the drawer and illuminated it with a small flashlight – her glow would've been too noticeable.

It tuned out, Drakken was not lying. Yes, there was their laminated photo from the UN ceremony, but there were also photos from the reunion (laminated of course). Here Shego had to agree, they made a striking couple. There was also a photo of their kiss, the one she forced him into at the dance floor. That photographer sure had a good eye. There were also pictures of Mama Lipsky: alone and with all three of them. And some pictures from the karaoke birthday and group photo of the nerdy kids.

There was also a manila folder with her name on it. She opened it right there since it had her name on it and dropped it to the floor as if burned after reading the very first sentence. She grabbed the folder and stomped towards Drakken's quarters without any care if she triggers alarms or not.

"The fuck is this?" she spat, throwing the folder into Drakken's face after kicking open his door.

Astoundingly, the room's occupant was not perturbed by her violent entrance. "You have a university diploma, surely you can read."

"Last will and testament?! I, Drew Lipsky, widely known as Doctor Drakken, in genius mind and mutated body leave all my assets, including all revenue from my intellectual property, to Sandra Estella Radford, infamously known as Shego?! The fuck is that?!"

"My will, Shego. You have something against being a millionaire?"

"Why have you had a will drawn?!"

"I am a wealthy man now… It is an ordinary procedure. Accidents do happen."

"Don't bullshit me, Drakken," Shego snarled, grabbing Drakken by the lapels of his lab coat, which he was still wearing for some reason even if it was almost midnight. "It's dated two days after I told you my legal name, as if you were only waiting on that. Something is going on here and you are going to tell me now! Or I'll shake it out of ya!"

"The skin mutation won't be enough."

The explanation was so unexpected that Shego released Drakken with the battered envelope falling to the floor. He, in turn, picked it up, straightened the creases and put it into Shego's paralyzed fingers. She looked down at the yellow envelope that supposedly made her a millionaire and then back at Drakken. Green spots were peeping out of the edge of the collar of his shirt. "What-" And then the truth hit her like a freight train. "No! This is preposterous! To turn you into a vegetable will make it die too so why even try?"

"Drakkenia just wants to survive like every other being on the planet."

"You knew it, didn't you? Right from the start! You knew, this mutation was impossible to survive! That's why you are so focused! Because you live on borrowed time! And how much is that exactly?!"

"Two, maybe three years. It is impossible to predict."

"That's it?! You are not even fighting it?!"

"And what exactly can I do, Shego?!"

"ANYTHING! EVERYTHING! You are a bloody genius, aren't ya? Cut it out for God's sake!"

"I can't do that! It is part of me, part of my marrow! Even if by some surgical miracle, it's cut out, there is no guarantee no plant cells will be left and then they will grow again. Much more aggressively this time for sure. I told you all this before!"

"No, I don't get it! You have everything you ever wanted now. A lab, assistants who worship you, world recognition, money. Isn't that enough to fight for your own survival? Am I not-"

Shego was a creature of habit so when she felt too much, when she was in pain, when she felt her world was ending, she acted as she always did – she ran.

…

Kimberly Possible was happy with her life. Her studies in Rome went smoothly. Ron's studies in Rome went smoothly which was not an easy fit. They had a reprieve from lectures for a couple of days so they planned a road trip to partake to Italian architectural wonders. And cuisine, of course. So yes, life was good. Until she felt being lifted from the bench, she was enjoying sun rays on, and thrown across the yard. Only her life-long ingrained instincts helped Kim to lend on her feet. She automatically took a defensive stance, searching for her attacker, but then her whole body sagged, when the attacker was identified.

"Shego?" Kim was not exactly sure, since she never saw the older woman so disheveled. Even if her hair was shorter, it was all over the place as if a tornado went through it. Her eyes were red rimmed and glassy, her clothes were dirty and creased with no usual black-green suit in sight. Overall - Shego was a mess. And the combination of blows she practically buried Kim under showed that she was also angry as Hell for some reason.

Kim had no choice but to fight or at least to defend herself from Shego's kicks and jabs that, even if familiar, were much stronger than usual. Yes, Kim had not been in the field for almost a year and her workouts were irregular, but she still considered herself to be in shape. But that in no way helped Kim to turn to the offensive. The sheer power of Shego's blows was double if not triple from what she remembered. Could it be possible that Shego had hold back all these years? Was it Kim's vanity that allowed her to think that she was on par with the woman with super powers?

"What's going on, Shego?" Kim managed to rasp out between attacks. She had to stop the onslaught, because she already felt at least two ribs were cracked.

"Your fault. Always your fault," Kim heard in-between kicks.

"What are you on about? Talk to me, Shego!"

A roundabout kick made Kim see stars, but she still managed to decipher: "He is dying and it's all your fault!"

With her last strength Kim managed to pin Shego down even if the latter struggled to get free like she was brought to an execution. Kim has never seen Shego exhibit so much emotion. She was always so precise and collected in her movements, even elegant, and Kim was at time jealous of that level of skill. And to see her nemesis (former or not was not yet fully established) close to madness made Kim's heart clench in an unexpected pain. And not because Shego was hitting Kim's chest to get from under her.

"Stop it, Shego! Who is dying and why is it my fault?"

"The plant… The plant is killing him."

"Drakken? But how am I to blame? You were the one who pushed him over the edge when he fell into the Pollinator."

That tiny fact seemed to sober Shego up, but then she continued with her assault. "If you hadn't come, nothing would've happened!"

"But then he wouldn't have saved the world either!"

"So he must give up his life for the world that didn't even care about him?!"

"I can't answer that, but since you obviously care about Drakken, why are you here fighting me? If indeed… his days are numbered… shouldn't you spend as much time beside him as possible?"

"Hey, KP! I didn't know wrestling was in the plans today."

Thank God for Ron and his obliviousness. Even Shego lost her concentration which allowed Kim to take a position standing above Shego ready to block the ex-villain's next attack, but also look non-threating, at least to onlookers.

"Is that Shego? What are you doing all the way over here?" Yes, Ron, why did Shego crossed an ocean to beat the daylights out of someone she hadn't seen for more than a year? "And what are you doing, KP?" he asked, when Kim stretched out her arm to help Shego up.

Ron simply asked; Shego, in turn, just glared at her nemesis as if the young fighter went mad after entering college. But Kim persisted and did not take her arm away even if Shego stood up, choosing to ignore the presented assistance.

"You have anywhere to stay, Shego?"

Hearing that, Ron grabbed Kim's forearm and dragged her several steps away from their sudden guest. "What are you doing, KP?" he whispered, but he was still well heard not only by Shego, but even by the students gathered after witnessing the impromptu fight that they were surely posting everywhere. "This is Shego, for crying out loud! Are you suggesting she stays with us?!"

"Look at her, Ron. She has been crying. For hours. We can't just abandon her in a foreign country."

"She was wanted in this country!"

"Not anymore. Hey, where are you going, Shego?!" Kim hailed, seeing the older woman leave the place of their epic battle without even a backward glance. They followed her as Shego walked as if in a trance. Her destination turned out to be at the edge of the campus where a hover car was parked. "Look, Ron, it's a new one!"

What happened next made even Ron reconsider his animosity towards Drakken's sidekick. Shego fell down onto her knees and started shaking with silent sobs. She was clearly doing everything not to express her true emotions – the pain that was consuming her. And that pain had nothing to do with the fight that has just occurred.

"What's going on, KP? Has she gotten her brains switched again?"

"Something is wrong with Drakken. He is… dying."

"Oh."

There was no word of protest heard from Ron after that.

…..

During her relatively short life Shego has experienced things that no human can even imagine to accomplish during a lifetime and that counting a trip to space. But with all the extraordinarity she was deprived from things that were part of the everyday life of general population. Like setting table for dinner, cooking said dinner and sharing it with guests who were sleeping over. And that was happening after Kim Possible invited Shego to stay the night in their tiny student apartment.

When Kimmie made that suggestion after Shego finally got her crying under control (why did it keep happening to her?! She has not cried in years! At least on her own volition), she numbly nodded and followed them to their place after grabbing the bag she threw together leaving the lab. She stayed in a motel for a couple of days raving mad about Drakken not telling her anything, not trusting her enough, not caring enough after all she did for him. Her anger needed an outlet, someone to blame, someone to beat up her rage into. And she found the perfect candidate in Kim Possible.

It was strange to think of the Princess as a punching bag while Shego was sitting motionless on the sofa they told her to sleep on, watching Kim and her buffoon of the boyfriend prepare for dinner, goofing around the kitchen. The very fact they were still together… They looked so carefree, so happy, so in love… The pain in Shego's chest intensified. She thought she had that and then it all crushed down and she swore that never again would she allow herself to be vulnerable like that. Was her desire to rule over the world or even part of it stemming from fear that there exists no single man whose worship of her will be enough to make her heart, her life full? Why was it so easy for them? Well, they did know each other since kindergarten and there were some serious friendzoning bumps, but they made it.

"You want to join us?"

The question snapped Shego from her musings. She left Kimmie black and blue for weeks to come and she was suggesting they eat together. Why was the girl so compassionate? She did see the world during her times saving it, right? It was not perfect and it was ugly. And yet, she still allows her nemesis to sleep in the same apartment as her. Whatever Kimmie's reasoning, it was as mysterious as Shego's to stand up and sit behind the table in the tiny but cozy kitchen.

"So, Shego… can I use this opportunity to ask you something?"

"Can I stop you?" Yeah, clearly it was alright to snap at her host.

"Well, yes, you can. I won't ask anything if you are not comfortable with talking about… anything."

"Well, it will be a change from the usual, so go ahead, Princess."

"Have you been holding back in your punches and kicks all these years?"

Now that was a surprising turn of the conversation… Shego must've let herself completely loose in her rage, forgetting her usual control over her strength. That… has never happened after she gained said control. She must've been more distressed than she realized. Why?.. "Well, you remember having Hego's glow? His power is superstrength and he can do some miraculous stuff with it, but…" Shego took a knife and twisted it into a pretzel, literally. "My specialty, beside the green glow, is agility, but I, as my other brothers, still have strength and resilience far above ordinary human. Being superhuman does change one in more than one way. So yeah, you would've been long dead if I had gone full throttle. Frankly, I am surprised that Drakken is not dead yet, since for all the times he made me mad and I tossed him around-" Shego chocked on her next words. No, he wasn't dead, but he will very well be soon. She took a deep breath to gather herself, feeling the tears threatening to fall again. "I think… I am going to retire for the night."

"Okay… So are you going back, Shego?"

"No… I can't go back." Her leave was a truly messed up one.

Shego thought the same the next morning, when she wordlessly disappeared out of Kim Possible's new life. Shego couldn't go back, but she also had nowhere else to go. Well, there was one place. One place, where she swore never to go again – home.