Day 122

Each time Drakken woke up, Shego was there to first make him eat and drink, and then force him back to bed. It was morbidly reminiscent of when he had been battling the virus and she hadn't left his side for fear she would return and find him dead. He had developed a high fever that was keeping her from her own rest as she stayed with him, watching the rising death-count as reported on TV and cooling him with ice packs. His sleep was fitful, often filled with nightmares he described to her when he woke in which she, the baby, and the henchmen all died. But she continually reassured him that everyone was well and soothed him back to sleep. And it was true as all of the infected henchmen had begun to recover. Blessedly, Drakken's recovery was progressing swiftly too, and she felt more at ease about leaving him alone for brief periods to go to the lab to fulfill her end of their deal.

After Phil's memorial she had made contact with the United Nations and told them about the vaccine. A couple of days of silence had followed as the international body discussed what to do, but eventually they called back and said they were sending representatives to the lair to collect Drakken's research. Of course, they would have to do their own testing and proving before any vaccine could be mass-produced for the public.

On the designated day, Shego regretfully woke Drakken up about three hours before the scheduled arrival of the UN officers. She would need him to double-check that the henchmen had prepared the samples properly for delivery, to prepare those things that the UN had requested that she and the henchmen didn't understand, and then to explain to the highly suspicious group of representatives everything about the vaccine that she and the henchmen simply couldn't. And of course, have plenty of time to get himself ready.

He looked more human after almost two full days of sleep, though the bags beneath his eyes were still exceedingly heavy. Only time would be able to reverse the effects of weight loss due to his unintentional self-abuse, and as Shego watched him dress to meet the officers it was obvious that his sleep had done little to diminish his anxiety.

However, it was clear that his decision to give the vaccine away was resolute as he organized and reviewed his notes on the computer and snapped at the henchmen to hurry in their preparations of the samples. It was the first time he had treated them such since the pursuit to create the vaccine began, and Shego took it be proof of his nervousness over the situation.

Minutes before the arrival, he stood in the kitchen fixing and re-fixing his hair in the reflection of the microwave as Shego attempted to make him eat a breakfast of yogurt and strawberries with her. He had begun asking if he looked all right and was nervously flipping and re-flipping through his paper-stacks of research to be sure it was all there.

"Dr. D.!" Shego finally barked as he repeated the same nervous question for the fifth time.

He startled and turned to face her, blinking in surprise.

She thrust the bowl of yogurt forward and he reflexively took it.

"Eat! You don't want to faint in front of all those big-shots."

He blinked again, but seeing reason his shoulders slowly relaxed and he spooned some of the yogurt and sliced fruit into his mouth.

"You're gonna be fine. You've got all the proof you need," she said, leaning back against the kitchen island as she finished her own breakfast.

Drakken's brow furrowed as he was clearly still skeptical.

"If I were you I'd be worrying more about them trying to arrest us."

He swallowed his small bite and waved his spoon carelessly as he rolled his eyes. "Yes, the henchmen are already armed and outside."

"Good."

Shego moved to the sink to wash her empty dish—a habit she had built while Drakken was incapacitated—as he continued to eat. The glaze of his eyes that she had become used to over so many weeks during his focus on the crisis slowly began to lift as he watched her, his gaze drifting down to rest on her baby-bump.

She pursed her lips and grinned as she continued washing the dish. With Drakken on the mend and the vaccine business hopefully soon to be completed, she was hoping their focus could shift to the baby. Judging by the research she had done, she was far enough along that they could go back to the doctor and find out if they would be having a girl or a boy. She wondered if Drakken would want to know, or be surprised... But more importantly, they could start discussing how they would raise the baby, and if in fact they would be continuing their world-domination pursuits, or if their focus would shift to something else.

As she finished washing her dish and set in in the drying rack, she glanced back to find Drakken still staring at her bump, clearly deep in thought. So absorbed was he, that he had finished off all of the yogurt and strawberries and was now sightlessly scraping the last remnants out of the bowl.

"Hand it over," she said and extended her arm for the dish, startling him.

He blinked down into the empty bowl and then passed it off. She immediately set to washing it. If there was one thing that made domesticity more tolerable, it was being sure that cleaning got done right away. Scraping dry, caked food off of dishes was something she'd only needed to experience once to decide it was never going to happen again.

Drakken moved up next to her, his gaze shifting between her actions and her belly.

"Shego, um. Can I feel the baby move?"

She grinned. "Remember you don't have to ask? It's not moving right now, though."

"Oh."

"But wait about fifteen minutes. It usually moves after I eat."

His brow furrowed slightly, and she knew he understood he would miss the opportunity. They would be talking to the UN officers then, assuming they arrived on time.

"It will move again when I go to bed tonight. You can try to feel it then."

"It will?" he said.

The sound of footsteps interrupted their conversation as Ravinder rounded the corner from where he'd been waiting at the door to the balcony.

"They're coming," he said.

Drakken stiffened, and Shego turned off the water and dried her hands. After a moment, Drakken cleared his throat.

"Go...take your position," he instructed.

The henchman turned wordlessly, and Drakken picked up his massive stack of research again and tapped the papers on the counter to straighten them. Shego stepped to his side and gently held his arm.

"Everything will be fine," she reassured him.

He didn't look convinced, but his tension diminished slightly. Shego followed him across the living area to the balcony door where Ravinder was waiting again with Jameson. At their feet was a small, wooden crate. Drakken set his notes inside the crate atop the rows of packaged specimens he had prepared and then closed and latched the top. He stood up and tensed again as he smoothed the front of his lab coat.

Ravinder and Jameson carried the crate outside, and Shego took a moment to check her appearance as well. It was difficult for her to make an effort where clothing was concerned, since she hadn't had any opportunity to shop for maternity wear and nearly everything in her wardrobe had ceased to fit. She was wearing her loosest-fitting black stretch pants which she knew would soon reach their limit, and a dark green camisole that was slightly too large and so just covered her.

Her regular shirts were out of the question, and in anticipation of needing to look presentable she had raided Drakken's wardrobe a couple of days prior. After a short argument he had begrudgingly agreed that she could take anything he hadn't worn in over a year, and thus she found herself wearing one of Drakken's button-up shirts over her camisole to meet the UN officers. The shirt was much too large of course, so she had the black sleeves rolled up to just below her elbows and the top few buttons undone in an attempt to add style. The largeness of the shirt didn't conceal her baby-bump, but it made it less obvious how large she was at seventeen weeks.

She tossed her hair back and then grinned up at Drakken, who was still tense. His jaw was set like iron as he peered out at the ocean, sparkling in the morning sun. Stationed just beyond the balcony were two hover-cars with electro-stave-wielding henchmen that Shego could just see from inside the door, as well as four more men on the balcony itself. She knew that hiding out of sight at back of the lair were two more hover-cars with guards, and all of the lair's defense systems had been activated.

They may be giving away a world-saving vaccine, but they weren't stupid. The authorities might take advantage of the opportunity and try to arrest them. But there was no way she or Drakken would allow that to happen.

Drakken sighed and stepped out onto the balcony and Shego followed close at his side. About five miles distant was a large ship, and a helicopter was fast approaching the lair from the sea vessel. Drakken narrowed his eyes as the craft grew closer.

"They can't land here," he said firmly.

Shego wanted to roll her eyes. Of course they couldn't, there wasn't anywhere large enough for a helicopter. But the ship was obviously an aircraft carrier.

It became clear after a minute that the helicopter had no intentions of landing, and was in fact doing reconnaissance. They both watched with growing ire as it rose high in the sky and hovered above the lair, obviously studying those defensive measures that it could see before it quickly returned back to the ship.

Drakken was fidgeting more after the craft's retreat, watching nervously. But Shego found herself growing angry. The logical side of her instantly rationalized their visitors' suspicion—they were super-villains after all—but given everything she and especially Drakken had been through in the past four months made her quick to dismiss reason.

She almost wanted to dare them to try a double-cross. She would make them regret it if they did.

Her train of thought was disrupted as the helicopter landed on the ship, and then another craft lifted off. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the unfamiliar vessel that looked suspiciously like one of Drakken's hover-cars, except about three times larger. It was rapidly and soundlessly approaching.

"Shego... Nnh, what is that?"

"I don't know," she admitted with a grimace. 'Top secret' and 'experimental' were the first things that flashed through her mind. And if they were, she wondered if they should feel pride that the UN considered them enough of a risk to use such a unique craft

All of that ran through her head in a second as the more pressing thought quickly took over—was it a craft meant to attack them?

Next to her, Drakken took a nervous step back toward the door, clearly having had similar thoughts. He glanced back at the henchmen and nodded at them to charge their electro-staves, and they immediately complied. If the UN was double-crossing them, they weren't going down without a fight.

They were soon to find out, as the strange and very large craft was coming into focus. Shego's eyes narrowed as it quickly became clear...the ship was in fact, a much larger version of Drakken's unique vehicles.

Next to her, Drakken's eyes went wide. "Shego!" he cried as he stared at the offending vehicle. After a few seconds of incoherent gasping his words came together in an angry splutter. "They...they stole my design!"

"Yeah..." she said as she began taking note of the numerous armed people standing within the approaching craft, along with four people wearing suits.

"But how!" Drakken cried in exasperation as the craft slowed its approach.

Shego's brow rose as understanding came.

"Smarty Mart... The one that was wrecked," she said. "We never went back for it."

Drakken froze and slowly looked at her, his eyes darkening.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" she reminded him.

"Nyeh...ragh!" he cried once more, throwing his hands up in a huff.

The foreign hover-car arrived and stayed about twenty yards distant from the balcony and about five feet above their heads. 'Balcony' was really an incorrect term, because it was the lair's upper-level launch site for the hover-cars—a convenient use of a natural cliff. There were always at least two cars up there while the rest were in the garage below. Drakken had been calling it a balcony when he hired Shego, and despite her questioning, the name had never been changed.

"That's my design! You stole it!" were Drakken's shouted words of greeting when the visitors put their vehicle on idle. "I have a patent!"

Shego rolled her eyes. She looped her arm through his and gripped the crook of his elbow with her left hand, shaking her head when he looked down at her. A moment later, they found themselves surprised again as a familiar mane of red hair followed by blond emerged from behind the taller occupants of the hover-car.

"Kim Possible!?" Drakken cried in dismay.

Shego scowled, suspecting for sure they had been double-crossed. But the two teenagers' sudden looks of shock were enough to give her pause. Possible and her side-kick, whatever his name was, were both staring at she and Drakken with their eyes wide and mouths agape.

Shego glanced peripherally at Drakken and took only a second to understand the reason for their expressions. The mad scientist looked starkly different from the last time he and the teen nuisances had crossed paths. A paler complexion, a figure so thin that his clothes simply hung on him, and gray streaks in his already-thin hair were some of the consequences of the disease, the grief, and the exhaustion. And Shego knew that while she looked remarkably healthier than him, her condition and attire certainly didn't give off the air of 'mercenary.'

The teens appeared unchanged, physically. But as the shock faded from Possible's eyes Shego saw that while she looked as sharp as ever, there was a sadness not too far beneath the surface. And her side-kick, contrary to his usual fright and lack of focus, seemed to be more alert and was standing at Possible's side with an air of protectiveness.

"What is she doing here?" Drakken shouted, clearly expecting betrayal with the appearance of his teen nemesis.

One of the men in suits cleared his throat. "We asked Miss Possible to join us as an advisor because of her vast experience in dealing with you."

"Dr. Drakken," one of the women began, drawing Shego's attention away from the teens. Behind Possible and her side-kick were about twelve men and women, clearly military and dressed for combat. Next to the teens were two men and two women in suits. "Your...side-kick has made credible claims that you have created a working vaccine for the disease."

"Whoa, whoa," Possible's side-kick—Stoppable, Shego remembered—interrupted the woman. "Is Shego pregnant? I didn't even know she was married."

Shego rolled her eyes and gripped Drakken's arm tighter. One corner of her mouth quirked up slightly as the sunlight glinted off her diamond ring at that very moment.

The woman in the suit cleared her throat. "I am Ms. Moon, director of the World Health Organization."

Shego looked at the four authorities of whom she had done a brief web search ahead of their arrival. The directors of the WHO were, in her opinion, no different than any other bureaucrats. And there was nothing whatsoever intimidating about them. The infantry standing behind them and armed to the teeth were the ones Shego was giving the most attention.

"And despite your notorious criminal record—"

Drakken puffed up slightly.

"—due to the nature of this crisis, we are willing to examine your research."

"What evidence do you have that the vaccine you supposedly created works?" one of the suit-clad men—Peters, Shego recalled—chimed in.

Drakken hesitated and swallowed nervously, but Shego gripped his arm reassuringly.

"I... We conducted two weeks of animal tests," he began. "When the vaccine was successful in monkeys, and then in mice, we did a week of human trials. These six men," Drakken gestured to the electro-stave-wielding henchmen split between two hover-cars and the balcony, "were the ones who volunteered. You can see for yourselves they are in perfect health."

The group from the WHO were unmoved.

"You can't create a vaccine in three weeks," countered the other man whose name Shego couldn't remember.

Drakken scowled. "I was working on it for almost three months before we started any live testing."

"You can't create a vaccine in three months," the last suit—a Mrs. Johns, if Shego remembered right—added.

"Well, I did!" Drakken argued. "It's all right here! Everything you asked for," he continued, gesturing behind him to where Ravinder and Jameson were flanking the wooden crate. They knelt to open it, and Drakken and Shego stepped back to present the evidence.

Drakken took out the stack of loose-leaf papers that could fill three textbooks and thrust them out in front of him. "Every single note I took during the process. Even the failures are in here," he said. He passed the papers to Shego and then bent to take out a handful of Petri dishes and test tubes. "And here are all the samples from the men and from the animals showing the successful production of antibodies in all tissues. And this..." He replaced the specimens in the crate and then with far more care took out two syringes packed tightly in Styrofoam, "is the vaccine."

Frowning in defiance of their distrust, he nodded back to the henchmen who carefully repacked the crate under Shego's watch. Drakken glared up at the officials floating in the oversized hover-car as they exchanged their own distrustful glances.

"We will need to take these six men who were supposedly vaccinated and conduct our own tests," Peters said.

"No! Absolutely not!" Drakken said.

Shego had warned him that they would try that. But of course, the poor men who had already put their lives on the line for the sake of the world would only find themselves in prison if they were to leave the safety of the lair. It was not an option.

The WHO officers looked unimpressed with Drakken's resistance. Shego took a step away from him and powerfully flared her hands to let them know just how serious they were.

"...Then how can we know you aren't giving us false specimens? Perhaps even your own blood?" Peters continued.

Shego heard Drakken's chest rumble with a slight growl before he answered. "My blood is in there too. I had the disease."

The directors looked ever-so-slightly less skeptical, if Shego was reading them right. She extinguished the glow and stepped back to Drakken's side and nodded at him. They had discussed other methods of persuasion as well.

"And..." Drakken continued, "we will allow one person to come draw fresh blood samples if that's what it takes."

This caused several brows to rise. Even some of the special forces lost their hard exterior and were beginning to show curiosity. Shego wondered if any of them had lost loved ones to the disease.

"But what's the catch?" Kim Possible said, frowning as she looked at the two villains.

Shego spoke for the first time. "There isn't one."

Possible shook her head. "Even if you did make a vaccine, there's no way you would give it away for free."

"There's no catch," Drakken repeated.

"No, Kim's got a point," Stoppable chimed in. "Why would villains do something that could amount to saving the world?"

Shego felt Drakken tense before she saw it, and at the pained look on his face a familiar, ill turning began in her stomach. She took a deep breath to speak so Drakken wouldn't have to.

"Two days ago," she said, "we buried one of our henchmen. Some of the others are still sick. They're recovering inside."

The group hovering off the balcony exchanged looks again. The WHO directors were giving what Shego thought was an absurd amount of deference to Kim Possible. She grit her teeth as her frustration grew. Even when she and Drakken were actually doing something good, the teen cheerleader was going to foil them.

Drakken was growing more and more tense next to her. She watched as he hung his head and closed his eyes tightly, fighting a silent, internal battle.

"Kim Possible," he said suddenly, looking up. "I'm sorry about Jame— ...Your father."

The sadness in Possible's eyes that had been hovering beneath the surface was suddenly on display for anyone watching to see. But in a few moments it was buried again and her resolve had returned. Stoppable looked almost angry as he stepped closer to his friend, ready to shut down any further mention of her loss.

"The disease took... I lost..." Drakken continued. He paused and looked down, taking a shaky breath. The rolling in Shego's stomach continued. "I lost my mother."

Shego should have realized that it would be a show of humanity that would make the difference. The visiting group discussed briefly among themselves whether or not they should trust the villains, but a few minutes after Drakken's reluctant reveal and with Kim Possible's endorsement, they decided in their favor. Drakken agreed to allow the WHO director onto the balcony to take fresh blood samples from the six henchmen who had tested the vaccine while the crate of research was brought to the hover-car.

Shego stayed far from everyone during the process, nearer to the lair's external wall where she could keep all the players in sight. The moment of truce would be a likely opportunity for a betrayal, if it were going to happen.

Similarly, Kim Possible and her side-kick had alighted from the large hover-car and stood near the balcony's edge, taking everything in. She made eye contact once with the blond boy as he kept looking between she and Drakken and murmuring to Possible, no doubt indulging in gossip about the pair of them.

The teen hero, to her credit, didn't appear distracted in the least. There was still sorrow deep in her eyes but it was obvious that it wouldn't affect her ability to act should the need arise.

Shego's eyes narrowed as a long-buried memory suddenly surfaced while she studied the cheerleader. Possible was about the same age she had been...when her life was turned inside-out for the second time. She fought her own internal battle as she stared at the girl.

The new samples had been drawn and packed and the crate had been safely loaded into the copycat hover-car. As the WHO director and the teens began to board, Shego found herself quickly striding forward to meet them.

"Hey, uh...Kim," Shego said. The red-head turned with a curious but slightly suspicious raised brow. Shego realized that was the only time she had actually called the teen by her name instead of some form of mocking insult. "If it's worth anything...I get it. I lost both my parents when I was your age."

Possible didn't respond but to fight against the sadness that tried to rise in her eyes. But after a moment, she gave Shego a slow and deliberate look up and down before meeting her eyes in question. Shego laced her fingers together and rested her hands below her belly, her shirt's fabric pulling taut as a result and showing off the baby-bump.

"The vaccine is the real deal. He almost killed himself over that thing," she continued, glancing at Drakken who was standing several feet back and listening, not nearly as eager to be so near his teen-aged bane.

"He is giving off some serious zombie vibes," Stoppable commented.

The boy had already climbed into the vehicle and was holding a hand out to Possible. After looking back up at Shego and releasing a sigh of acceptance, the red-head took her side-kick's hand and hopped up into the craft next to him.

"But don't expect us to keep doing stuff like this," Shego said as she backed away from the edge of the balcony. "I'm glad this is over with so we can say bye-bye to the medical labyrinth and get this place back to being a functional evil lair."

For the first moment since their arrival, the hint of a smirk ghosted over Possible's face.

"Looks like you're going to busy with things besides evil for a long time," the teen said quietly.

The hover-car rose higher and began its departure. The henchmen retreated from the edge of the balcony, and Drakken stepped up to Shego's side, looking at her curiously.

"Puh-lease. I could take you right now," Shego called to the teen as the vehicle moved away.

Possible let the brief banter end there, but Shego was sure she saw an actual grin on the teen's face as the hover-car flew out into the sun and toward the aircraft carrier. Drakken's hand on her arm pulled her attention away from the vanishing craft, and she looked up into his uncertain eyes.

"Your parents died...when you were a teenager?" he asked.

Shego looked down and let a small sigh escape through her nose as she nodded, remembering their hasty conversation a couple of mornings earlier. If she were to turn over the Global Justice records, he would learn far more about her than what little was understood about her powers.

The copycat hover-car landed on the aircraft carrier, and Drakken nodded to the henchmen on guard that they could all stand down. As far as the vaccine was concerned...their part now was just to wait. It was possible the UN would contact them with questions, but Shego doubted it. The four officers had been extremely suspicious and reluctant to accept that a villain was trying to help cure a pandemic.

A familiar turning in her belly that had nothing to do with her stomach brought her focus back to Drakken.

"The baby is moving," she said.

His brow rose and he eagerly set both hands over her bump. She slid them to a better location, and he held stock-still as he waited for the chance to feel the life they had made moving within her. A moment later he was rewarded, and light returned to his dark eyes as felt the tiny movements.

The joy in his face overwhelmed any concern she might have had about the henchmen or even Possible watching them, and setting her hands atop his shoulders she leaned up and kissed him.