Shego was shocked her glow still worked at the entrance. She walked the painfully familiar corridors, corridors she wanted to forget, but couldn't toss out of her mind no matter how much time had passed.
The round table was different however, since it was occupied by different people, well, the same ones, but they seemed strangers to her. The twins were as tall as her now, almost twenty. Henry was fussing over the blond woman – his wife Clara, Shego only briefly talked to. Married life seemed to change him, he didn't look only like a superhero anymore, but a man belonging to one woman, not to the world, a man in love. A darkhaired young man brought a tray with muffins that the twins instantly started to fight over like little kids. The man chastised them and gave a muffin to Mike, who looked at the man with gratitude that was a bit too much than a simple thank you.
With two additional persons the table was rather crowded, particularly since the green chair still remained even if it had been unoccupied for years. Shego did not understand why it wasn't removed to allow more comfort for everybody. The table occupants were all abuzz with dinner and muffins, so Shego used their preoccupation to make an entrance, by leaning against the back of her - most definitely - former chair.
"Can I have one of those?" she asked conversationally, as if it was completely normal for her to be at the Go tower during dinner time.
"Sis!" Yeah, coming to the tower was so worth seeing the expressions on her brothers' faces if not for any other reason. And what other reason was there exactly, hm?
"What are you doing here? Are you back for good now?"
"Now hold your horses, Henry… Or is it officially Hego now? And no, I am just visiting. I needed some perspective and what not…"
"It is Hego. This is Clara, you haven't met face to face yet. And this is Brad, he is-"
"Mike's boy-friend," the twins teased in a unison singalong. "Yeah, Brad, this is Shego, our evil sister."
"Evil?" Oh the boyfriend is just too cute in his confusion.
"I am not trying to take over the world or do anything that'll lend me in jail, but I am still evil at heart." So yeah, brothers dears, no becoming a goody-goody superhero any time soon.
"One can't have a heart if one is truly evil." Mike's gotten himself a smart boyfriend, who would've thought?
"Well… take a seat and grab a plate…"
Shego wanted to remark about Hego being his usual big brother-peacemaker, but decided not to steer the pot that was already overboiling with emotions caused by her appearance in the tower. So she actually did what Hego said – served herself dinner and sat on the green chair quietly observing the going ons. Since she came at the time of dessert, it did not take long for her brothers and the boyfriend to clear out after stacking the dishwasher. Domestic, aren't they? Only Clara remained to package the leftovers. For some reason, Shego decided to struck a conversation with the other woman in the house.
"So… how does it feel to be married to a superhero?"
"Doesn't feel like it most of the time. We work at the same rescue station, so we spend a lot of time together, but we work separately four times a month to have space from each other. So it's all good."
"He is not called to other places where his powers can rescue more people?"
"He is, but I usually go with. That's when Hego finally got the courage to ask me out. It was a really dangerous situation. A whole building crashed down with people inside. It was the first time I saw him considering the possibility that he was not going to come out from under the fallen structure. And so he asked me out to watch a movie with him. What did he say exactly?.. 'I will regret it if I die without trying even once. You can reject me, but I must at least ask.'. I said yes, of course. To the movies and to everything that followed. The dizzying spells were a bit of a bother, but-"
"Wait! What dizzying spells?"
"When we kissed. But Hego undergone full examination and it was all sorted out."
"I need to talk to him right now. Where is he at?"
"His old room. He changed it into a den."
Shego practically flew upstairs to her elder brother's former bedroom. No way could she imagine that somebody else was going through the same dizzying spells as her. Which meant that it was not Drakken's influence on her. Which was a revelation in itself.
"I need to talk to you," Shego announced herself, entering Hego's den without as much as knocking which was completely in character.
Hego did not comment on her rudeness since he knew his sister's character well enough. "If it's about sleeping arrangements then your room is still available-"
"It's about your dizzying spells when you dated Clara. What did the doctors tell you?"
"It is rather pointless to ask why you want to know so I am just going to tell you. Take a sit somewhere, I need to find the papers that the docs gave us."
Shego sat down onto the leather sofa that took half of the space in Hego's so called mancave. She watched as Hego moved his massive form to search various drawers for the illusive papers that contained the answer to her mysterious condition.
"Here it is."
Shego grabbed the papers and scammed through them. There were a lot of graphics and brain scans and all kind of tehnobubble she had no understanding off. "So what does it all mean?"
"As I understand it… Our mutations make us more sensitive to strong emotions, so when we add… eh, physical element to it, like kissing, our brain is overwhelmed with it."
"But you dated before, you had sex before Clara."
"Yeah, but I've never been in love before."
"Wait a minute… Are you saying, that all this strange dizziness happened when you kissed Clara because you were in love with her? But you've just started dating!"
"Well, I had been pining for her for almost half a year, right from the time I joined the brigade. I didn't want to complicate everything by dating a co-worker. But then I finally grew a pair since I just couldn't, well, live without her in my life."
"This is ridiculous! I don't believe it!"
"Why, Shego?"
"Because I was in love before and nothing like that happened! And like Hell I am in love now!"
"Only you know what you feel, sis, I am just stating the facts."
"And what are the facts? What about sex? Does it stop at some point?"
"Well, the doctors told me to take it slow not to overwhelm the brain, so we did. We only started dating so it was okay to hold back on… physical staff-"
"You can say 'sex', brother, we are both over thirty."
"Don't need to be crass-"
"Oh for the love of- Just say it like it is!"
"Mark my words, your temper will be the death of you, Shego. Anyway… We took it slow, keeping the kisses short and the whole thing ended in about a month. It was a bit different for Mike though. But you must ask him about it."
And thus Shego dragged herself toward her younger brother's room (or was it his and his boyfriend's?). Asking for advice about love from her younger brother. Could she fall any lower? Wait, nobody said anything about love. Her in love with Drakken?! Preposterous! Moreover, how does one's brain know one is in love without one knowing about it?
This time Shego knocked since she could interrupt something neither party wanted to be interrupted or witnessed. After the hail to come in, Shego discovered Mike alone, sitting behind a table covered with opened books, that looked quite thick and complicated. What's going on there?
"So where's the boyfriend?" Yeah, great way to break the ice, Shego, continue what her immature twin brothers were doing just minutes before.
"He went out for a bit. What do you want, Shego?" Yep, right with the hostility.
"Just to catch up and so on. The story behind you two getting together must be fascinating."
"Seriously? You want to gossip?"
"Why not?"
"Have it your way then. So after you refused to return after you graduated uni…" The amount of scorn that Mike managed to put into one word was astronomical. "…I was having none of the chaos the twins were creating. I'd just graduated high school and wished for my long-earned freedom and out of our mad house. The next logical step was to enter university, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. But I also wanted to escape so I did just that by going on the tour of the world. I had the money and was an adult, so overbearing super-responsible brother couldn't forbid me anything.
"So I went away for some years. It was liberating. In various ways. I actually followed your crime spree in the media and even thought about joining you… But then considered it too dangerous and not less restricting since you need to hide all the time and not get caught and it all seemed too much trouble. Thus I drifted for years, until Henry put his screws on me to come back and help with the twins, because 'I had responsibility to my family etc., etc.'. I came back since I had nothing better to do.
"I didn't date much in Go city since… I don't even know… Superhero reputation and all that rot. I thought of getting work just to get out of the house during the day. Tried and failed at a lot of stuff. To make this tedious story short… I ran into Brad about six months ago. Well, I confronted him accusing him of stalking me, since we kept running into each other at a coffee shop that I frequented at the time. Turned out that he was working at an aquarium center around the corner. Which I passed numerous times, but didn't even see and that is one big monstrum of a building.
"So I brought the twins there one Saturday since it was my turn to entertain them and it kinda went from there. Brad is a marine biologist and Greenpeace activist."
"And he is dating your self-absorbed self? Is he a saint?"
"Probably. I decided to get a business degree to help with his non-profit activities."
"That's… astonishingly supportive of you. So… what about the dizziness spells?"
"Hego told you about those?"
"It came up."
"Well, when he and Clara happened – and let me tell ya, that was first rate entertainment – he informed me after he was tested etc., that it could happen to me too when I fall in love. I laughed him out of the park at the idea. So imagine my shock when about a month ago… Brad and I are… making out at his place and I get this excruciating headache. I thought it was just a migraine and went home. It was the same during our next date, but a bit milder. So… I thought it was that and I panicked. I talked to Hego and he congratulated me and patted me on the back and so on, but I was scared shitless. I thought about breaking things off. We did for a while, but it was too painful, physically painful. So we've gotten back together. Brad must be a saint indeed if he took me back."
"So what happened after you started dating again? After you professed your undying love and other gagging mushiness?"
"Eeeeh, well… I haven't told him yet. I wanted to, but then I chickened out and asked him to move in with me instead."
"Wait, what? What could you possibly be afraid of?"
"Well, the usual, what if he doesn't love me back?"
"He moved into this crazy house for you, didn't he? So it is not a fling for him either."
"You could be right, Shego…"
"Of course, I am. I am always right. So those spells… Is it just pain or are there lust frenzy or black outs or anything else?"
"No. The pain just suddenly hits and then I need time to get myself together. It was about five minutes today."
"And how did you explain this whole thing to Brad?"
"I've been avoiding it for the most part. But I am going to come clean tonight. I can't put him off any longer."
"Well, he is rather delectable."
"Keep your hands and eyes from my boyfriend, get your own! Speaking off… who are you dizzy about? And don't try to deny it, since there will be no other reason you keep probing this subject and in such detail. So? Who is he?"
There was no denying the fact that Shego was indeed experiencing something akin to her brothers' symptoms, but could the underlining condition be the same? Could she really be in love with- "My boss."
"That blue old man?!"
"He is not that old, Mike. Just a bit over forty."
"And what are his feelings towards you?"
Now that's a million-dollar question. What did Drakken feel?
….
Shego kept pondering the question about Drakken's feelings way into the night. He definitely cared about her an awful lot, since he kept calling her his family. And now that his mother passed, his only family (Motor Ed just wasn't). Although the nerd squad were steadily muscling in there. He missed her when she wasn't around. Frankly, his kisses were not all that platonic either. So what was going on in that mad sciency head of his?
While searching for a change of clothes, she stumbled onto the manila envelope that started the whole running off escapade. She must've tossed it into her bag while she was in a hurry packing the necessities. Could it hold the answer?
After closer examination, turned out that the envelope didn't contain only Drakken's will. There were other papers in there and what caught Shego's eye, was the presence of her name on those. Both of her names. Her legal name was written in as the beneficiary of the profits from the patented inventions after Drew Lipsky's death. But much more shocking was the mentioning of her current name – Shego Victoriana. No wonder Leila was so certain they were dating. There could be only one reason why a scientist names his greatest creation (and in Drakken's case pretty much the only one that was used twice) after a woman. He was indeed too old for crushes. The blue doofus was in love with her.
How didn't she see it before? The flowers, the moonwalk, the presents (he made her an indestructible unique suit from his own vines, for God's sake!) – he was courting her in his clumsy way, which wasn't that clumsy actually, if she had bothered to see what was right in front of her! That's why he agreed to the pretend relationship. To kissing her. Since he knew he was dying and that could be the only opportunity… And yet he refused to sleep with her… Because it would've been the same as his past experiences with prostitutes, who did not feel anything for him, the same way she did. She didn't, right? Or at least, he was sure, she didn't. The song! That's why he was about to cry – it is the song of two friends parting ways forever. That's what Drakken was sure she only felt towards him – friendship. Was it though?
If Shego was completely frank with herself (and she had to be in this situation) things have been shifting for some time now. Five years is a considerable period of time for either of their feelings to evolve somewhere from constant bickering over nothing. Although, Drakken's, the immature one from the two of them, seemed to get to that point much sooner (when exactly?). Five years was twice as long as she was with Adrian. And why was she comparing the two of them again? Well, because she thought herself in love with the pretty loser! So if she is supposed to be in love with Drakken, shouldn't she compare her relationships with both of them to reach a comprehensive conclusion? Shit! Now she was even going all analytical like Drakken.
Anyways… so yeah, Shego staid with the mad scientist, who couldn't accomplish much of anything, because he didn't force her into a mold like Adrian did (and whom she allowed to do so, until the mold just couldn't contain her). Drakken was safe, despite bringing her into life-threatening situations. And yes, he did use a mind-control chip on her, but isn't it any man's dream to have a woman at his beck and call? Did he even realize that he was literally bringing to life a fantasy of his? Ordinary men are satisfied with role play if their partner is willing, but Drakken just made a technological solution, because he didn't know any other way. Couldn't imagine there was any other way for her to be obedient.
Shego was constantly frustrated with Drakken's incomprehensible rants or communication in general. Adrian, on the other hand, kept quite a lot from her. He couldn't talk to her about his clients, but he didn't talk about their own problems either. It seemed, he tried to maintain this ideal fantasy world where everything was perfect. And Shego allowed him, because she wanted their world to be perfect too. But in the end, Adrian's feelings were rotten, at least those that pertained to her. Did he even really love her as he claimed? So both relationships had communication problems? Doesn't any couple have those?
As far as the physical aspect goes… Adrian was hot, no question there. Although, he liked to dominate in bed as he did in life. Frankly, he couldn't keep up with her or her appetites and that was another crack in the wall of their relationship. It frustrated Adrian and that made him more aggressive in bed, and for some reason Shego let him. Was she so insecure in her femininity to attract anybody else that she clung to Adrian as if he was the last man on the planet? That's absurd, right? Shego was smoking hot and she knew it. As well as other extremely handsome men she shared passionate nights with. But for the long haul…
As for Drakken… For him she could very well be the only woman on the planet, who shows any interest in him. Wait just a sec… was she showing any interest? Well, she kept salivating over his torso lately, his ass was also promising… And what if she couldn't stop kissing him because she wanted to and not because of some craziness in her brain?
Dammit it all to Hell, the whole situation was getting out of control and driving Shego crazier than her brothers could. So what should she do next? Go back to Drakken? Like she always did after her vacations? Should she listen to the advice of Kim Possible – the horror! – and spend time at Drakken's side until he actually has time to spend?
Shego took her bag and started tossing her things inside, including the blasted envelope. Shego Victoriana, dammit! She just couldn't ignore being immortalized like that!