A/N: Yes. This fic is exactly what you think it is. It's the only inspiration I've had to write at all basically since the new year. It is indeed about the 2020 pandemic. And if you think I'm making light of it by turning it into fanfic...I'm not. I'm really, really not.

Disclaimer — I'm not in the medical profession and know very little about medicine. So forgive (and please correct!) any egregious error. There were some things I was deliberately...shy about describing, in the interest of peoples' sensitivities.

There are many aspects of this story, especially in the earlier sections, based on or inspired by my personal experiences. Those who chat with me will recognize a few. I have more notes at the end about those specifically, but there are spoilers so do not skip there now.

I categorized this fic as Romance/Angst but you could also add Tragedy. The core of the story is Romance.

I rated the fic "T" so it shows up in all searches, but I consider it to be a solid "M." There are some rather horrifying scenes and descriptions, and 'mature' content, but I don't want to spoil anything... If you want spoilers, go to the AO3 version and read the tags there.

And, this is VERY IMPORTANT — this fic is set pre-So the Drama . It is an AU story, of course.

Pandemic

It is an enemy that comes without warning. It sneaks silently behind your lines of defense. You don't know your haven has been compromised until it is too late. And by then...it has used you. It has made you its secret, unwilling ally in its war to destroy all that you love. You may never even discover this horrible truth, and spend a lifetime wondering how you lost all you hold dear.

Its coming is accompanied by its partners: fear, anger, suspicion, greed, and chaos. It makes broad use of your quickness to accept these as your own companions, invading ever further until you have nothing left, its victory assured. And your world will never be the same. And you will never forget.

Day 00

She gripped the front of his coat tightly as she pulled him backwards into his bedroom, their lips never parting. He didn't seem to know what to do with his hands as they moved from her waist to her shoulders and back again. When the door slid closed behind them she opened her eyes to place a kick on the lock-control, and then threw her arms around him as she kissed him more deeply.

His lips left hers suddenly and he stopped cold, looking down. She followed his gaze to see she had nearly pulled them into the moat. She let go of him as she smirked and hopped back over it and then sat on the edge of his bed. He crossed the moat and went toward her. He looked terrified. But it didn't stop him.

When he reached her she pulled him down to sit next to her with her arms around his neck and immediately began kissing him again. Her heart was racing, and a stirring of unique feelings she'd never had before began spreading from her heart across all of her senses. What was it?

She brought her hands back to his chest and began unbuttoning his coat as she kissed him. After a few moments his lips left hers and he stared down at what she was doing, his expression unreadable. She smirked and pushed him down on the bed as she continued making quick work of the buttons. Suddenly his expression changed into an annoyed frown, and a second later she found herself flipped on her back as he yanked down the zipper at the front of her suit.

She was so taken aback that she didn't move for a moment, her breaths quickening as he struggled with the belt around her waist. She reached up to unfasten his belt and his eyes briefly met hers, still annoyed but now uncertain. While he continued fumbling with her belt she started tugging his coat from his shoulders, and he let go of her to stand up and escape from the offending garment himself. She was up on her knees before he had finished and started tugging his shirt up over his head.

This seemed to annoy him further as he tried to complete the task but push her hands away at the same time. The shirt gone, they paused a moment as he now he was before her bare-chested. He still looked frustrated, but the uncertainty in his eyes was growing. She smirked and undid the latch on her belt that he'd been unable to find and tossed the accessory aside.

He hesitated. She reached up and pulled him down next to her again and kissed him, her heart beating so hard she was sure he could hear it. She tried to push him down to his back, but he grabbed one of her wrists and pulled her off balance while his other hand pulled her suit's zipper the rest of the way down. He flipped her to her back again and then his hands were pulling back the lapels of her suit and revealing her sports bra underneath.

He paused, and she found herself hesitating too.

'Why am I doing this? Why are we doing this?'

He started to look scared again. It angered her. With a growl she shoved him away and he fell back to sit on his rear. A second later she was across his lap, her knees on either side of his hips as she pressed closer to him and pulled the arms of her jumpsuit down. She kissed him open-mouthed, and a moment later his hands were helping with her suit. She kissed his lips...and then his face, his jaw, and his neck. He seemed to take her cue and a moment later he was suckling at her neck and she found her hands sliding up his chest and then gripping his shoulders.

She bit down hard on her lip to combat the sensations his kiss sent flooding through her.

His hands found her waist and then slid down to her hips, resting there lightly. She reached between them for the belt that held up his pants, and then she felt him tugging at the fabric of her suit as together they rose up to their knees facing each other. She got his belt unbuckled and continued to undo the front of his pants. He startled her by shoving her down onto the bed, frustration in his eyes again. He tried tugging at her suit to get it over her hips, but she interrupted his effort by sitting up to take her boots off. He noticed and he reached down to yank off his own boots, eliminating the last of the most difficult obstacles.

He paused again, his eyes frustrated and uncertain as his chest heaved. Smirking to hide her trembling, she pulled her bra off over her head in one quick motion, her hair falling in disarray over her shoulders as she tossed the garment aside. She heard the faint catch of his breath as he stared at her. She launched forward to push him down, but he caught her wrists and maintained his balance as they faced each other on their knees again. She scowled at him. His look almost mirrored hers. And then they were kissing ravenously as she fought to free her hands from his unrelenting hold. Finally he let her go and her arms went around his shoulders to cling to him as his arms encircled her waist.

His lips found her neck again, and Shego found her voice.

"Oh!" she gasped. "Drakken!"

Day 28

Shego woke suddenly at the feeling of something missing, though she wasn't immediately sure what it was. She lay prone and spread-eagle beneath the heavy blankets of the massive bed, with both arms folded beneath her pillow and her face turned out toward the wall. She bent one knee and pulled her leg up toward her torso in a stretch as she felt along the mattress above her head until she found the headboard.

Her body ached and felt light at the same time. She suddenly realized what was missing.

"Drakken?" she called, sitting up in a rush, eyes darting around the room. In the few moments it took for her vision to clear in the dim light she spotted him, dressed and just finishing tying back his hair.

He looked at her in response, but his expression was one of distraction. His eyes didn't quite meet hers as his brow remained furrowed in worry.

"Come back here," she said insistently.

He reached for his lab coat, shaking his head with a determined frown.

"Work to do..."

"Come back here..." she said, leaning back on her hands and letting the blankets slip and reveal her nude form. "I'm not done with you yet."

Drakken froze and stared at her for several seconds as she tempted him, but then he shook his head and the worry in his eyes intensified. He started toward the door as he put one arm into his coat sleeve.

Shego launched across the bed and grabbed his shoulder as he passed close enough, pulling him off balance until he landed sideways on the bed and with his wrist under his hip.

"OW!" he cried, pulling his wrist out from beneath him and clutching it to his chest. When his eyes met hers they were narrowed in annoyance. "Shego, I don't have time for...for..."

She had self-consciously pushed her hair in front of her to give her some modesty as she moved closer to him and set her hands on his shoulders.

"You had time last night. Come on, the world can wait..."

"You don't know that," he said, pulling away from her with a frown.

She sat back, blinking in surprise. "...Why is this suddenly so important? What do you think's gonna happen?"

"This isn't some...some bio-weapon that we can control!" he said angrily, shaking his head. "This has the potential to be worse than anything the world has ever faced."

She set her hands on his shoulders again. "It can't be that bad? I mean...back when there were real plagues we didn't have any knowledge or means to stop them. But this is the 21st century."

He looked at her seriously. "We don't know what we don't know until we know it."

"...Say that five times fast," she smirked.

He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back harshly, standing and walking stiffly toward the door the moment her hands were off of him. Shego stared with her jaw hanging open as she sat up again from where he had pushed her down onto the mattress. She knew he could be...dangerous...but he so rarely turned on her that it took her by surprise.

Especially after his tenderness the night before.

She glanced around until she saw his discarded t-shirt from the previous day laying on the floor. She slipped it on and hurried about gathering up her things. She needed a shower, and then...it was well-past the time for a serious talk about their relationship.

"Why are you so worried?"

"Mmh," Drakken grunted, staring up at the computer screen in the lair's lab.

"I mean...nobody's even talking about it. You didn't even know about it until yesterday. I'm the one who told you about it."

"Mmh."

Shego glanced from his intent face to the screen, where he was reading something that had no pictures and single-spaced text from top to bottom. It made her dizzy and she quickly looked away.

"Epidemics happen all the time. Every few years or so a third-world country gets one. And sometimes they spread to a few more. But we don't live in a third-world country, Doc."

"You know that's not even what that term means?" he said, glancing at her suddenly.

"Huh?"

He shook his head and turned back to the screen. "Never mind."

Shego stood and moved to stand behind him, setting her hands lightly on his shoulders. They tensed at her touch.

"Do you realize," he said, slowly turning to face her, "that we may not be getting accurate reports from these so-called third-world countries?"

Shego blinked. "Um..."

"And that it can take up to two weeks before any symptoms are shown? And that there exists no reliable test worldwide to determine if someone has the disease? And...never mind that there is no way to factor in the unreported and undiagnosed cases into any of these predictions," he said, gesturing up at the busy screen.

Shego stared at him. His frown deepened and he turned back to the computer with a scoff.

"You know what? Whatever. You go ahead and panic like you do with every little splinter you get. I've got plans today anyway."

She turned to leave so quickly that she missed his hand reaching out for her and his sad expression.

Shego pulled a hanger off the department store rack and admired the fine black leather and tailoring of the jacket she had selected. It would look good on her... But she couldn't find the energy to try it on. She couldn't stop thinking about Drakken's stubbornness, and the way they kept skirting around the issue of their relationship.

They had enjoyed a few nights of passion throughout the past month, but they had yet to have any serious discussion about what they were to each other. She had mentally gone back and forth about it, deliberately shutting out all thoughts of 'love' and telling herself that sometimes such things happened with villains. Especially ones who had worked together as long as she and Drakken had.

For his part, his regular behaviors toward her were unchanged. The only time he acted any different was when she coaxed him away from his lab and into his bedroom. Or...stayed in the lab, that one time. And then his tension and fury dissolved as his single-mindedness refocused on bringing her to ecstasy. And she was more than happy to give him the same.

But there was one unusual aspect to the new part of their association that she had noticed—other than some playful teasing, he barely said a word during their nights of passion.

She wondered...if his silence meant something. Of course, she talked enough for the both of them, if one could count shouting his name repeatedly as talking...

"Shego?"

The villainess jumped at the voice at her shoulder and she whirled around to face her shopping companion. She hoped he wouldn't notice the flush in her cheeks that had resulted from her thoughts.

"What, Junior?"

"You are very distracted today. Is something the matter?"

"Oh... No, it's just that Drakken is in one of his moods. He's going to be obsessed with his new project for days."

"More shopping for us, yes? Or perhaps it is time to take a vacation."

"Maybe..." Shego shrugged, putting the jacket back on the rack. Thinking about the previous evening, she found that a vacation just didn't have the same appeal...

"Would you like to visit my favorite resort overseas? Look, here are pictures from my last trip."

Photos dropped in a long accordion-fold from the wallet Junior held up, and Shego tried to focus on the images of her younger friend in a Speedo on the white beaches. But she couldn't get Drakken out of her mind. Why was he so concerned about something he hadn't even known had existed a day before?

"Sure, that looks great," she said with a half-smile. "You want to come with me?"

"Ah no, I am afraid my father has a slight cold and this demands my attention," he said with an embarrassed cough.

Shego crossed her arms. "Your dad makes you take care of him when he's sick?"

Junior looked affronted. "Of course not! Good heavens, the germs! No no, it is that he is afraid I shall get up to some scheme unworthy of his villainous prowess while he is unable to supervise me. So I will be unable to travel until he is well."

"Uh huh... Yeah...well, enjoy your house arrest. I'll be enjoying the beach away from Drakken's new obsession."

"Please do! Take pictures for me!"

"Sure," Shego said, giving him a half-grin.