A/N: Alarm clock-blasting inspired by IconicGwen. Find her fics on AO3! And thanks to GothicThundra for the title of this fic!
Another flash fic, because I'm in that mood. This was inspired by my ficlet "Beautiful." You ought to read that one first. It's short.
This got a little M-rated, so, be warned. There's a couple of decently crude lines in here too.
Shego blinked awake as the alarm clock beeped a second time. She narrowed her eyes and fairly snarled as she destroyed it with a glowing, green blast. She thought she had turned off all the alarms the night before, but, that was the second time it had gone off that morning.
She knew Drakken was doing it to keep her on a somewhat regular schedule. And while the motive was pure, his doting was actually starting to get annoying.
The cooked meals brought to her in bed; the helping her in and out of the bath; the laying out of her clothes; the refusal to let her pick up anything heavier than a spoon. The novelty had long-since worn off and the attention was becoming as annoying as the problem.
Ordinarily, she'd love being waited on like an empress. But she was so fed up with being pregnant that absolutely everything irritated her. Even Drakken's fussing over making sure every pillow was fluffed just right for her when she slept.
She had tried everything to get him to lighten up, from explaining patiently, to yelling at him and threatening him out of the room; the blast scars on the wall near the door were evidence of the latter incident. She was just in pain and wanted to sleep forever.
'Two more weeks... Two more weeks...'
"You'd better be out of here in two weeks, or you're gonna pay," she grumbled as she began adjusting her pillows to attempt to be cooler in the hot bed. The pillows were piled under her, around her, and between her legs to give her the most comfort in her ninth month. But there was no comfort to be had with the now very large baby growing inside her.
A smell of burning arrested her senses and she leaned up on her elbow in a flash. She immediately spotted the smoldering piece of the alarm clock that had landed on the bed that was burning a hole in the red sheets.
"Rrghh..."
She reached out toward it, having to stretch as it was just beyond her grasp, and then...she felt a muscle in her neck seize up, and the entire left side of her neck and down through her trapezius tightened in pain.
Shego grit her teeth and continued reaching until she had flicked the smoldering piece of the clock to the floor and then batted at the burned spot on the sheets. When she was satisfied it wasn't a fire risk, she moved both hands to rub her sore neck but quickly found it wasn't helping at all.
She supposed she wouldn't be able to sleep the day away after all.
Slowly, painfully, she sat up and scooted toward the edge of the bed. The weight of the baby shifted over her bladder as she moved and she had to stop and focus for a moment; it would only make the morning worse to have an accident before reaching the bathroom. Several moments later her feet hit the floor, and she carefully pushed herself up off the bed.
She wasn't sure what hurt worse, her lower back or her swollen feet, as she moved a bit unsteadily toward the bathroom. The baby felt like it was dropping lower and lower all the time, making even walking absurdly slow and awkward.
As she reached the bathroom she wondered suddenly where Drakken was. It was Saturday...and he usually told her his plans if he wasn't going to be there when she woke up. But she couldn't recall him saying anything.
In the bathroom she turned on the faucet to begin filling the tub before moving to the toilet. She stared at her puffy face in the mirror and frowned. She was starting to not look like herself. And the tangled hair and dark circles under her eyes due to the trouble sleeping didn't help.
After leaving the toilet she slowly stripped down, her neck still stiff and throbbing. She opened the drawer on her side of the bathroom counter and then put a headband on, moving her long bangs out of her face. Next she piled her tangled hair up into a large bun atop her head and secured it with two chopsticks.
The preparation completed but the bath barely half full, she stepped back and surveyed her form in the large bathroom mirror. Her face was indeed puffy from weight gain. And while she hadn't really put on too many pounds through the pregnancy it was still visible all over, from her face to her arms to her thighs and rear end. And while her breasts were larger, swollen with milk as nature prepared her to nurse a baby, they weren't larger in a way that she thought was attractive. In fact, she thought they looked saggy and aged her.
Her nine-month baby bump carried low, and looking at herself from the side caused her to grimace. She had all the wrong curves in all the wrong places. And to make matters worse, silvery green stretch marks now covered her thighs, her rear, her waist, and of course her belly. A dark-ish vertical line had also appeared right down the center of belly, along with faint blue veins that were visible beneath her taut, green skin and covered the entirety of her bump. And her belly-button, formerly an 'innie' had popped out to become a very unsightly 'outie.'
Around her seventh month she had given up on shaving anything but her armpits, the effort causing more pain than the result was worth, and so black unruly hairs peppered her legs starting at her ankles and going up past her knees until they thinned out. And she was thankful that at the angle she was looking in the mirror, her bump hid what used to be her bikini line and she didn't have to look at the disaster there.
She reached a hand up to rub her neck at the same time she pressed a fist hard into her low back where it hurt the most. She frowned as she wondered why she had to be one of those pregnant women who looked like a horrible accident had befallen them rather than a miracle. She didn't understand why other women 'glowed' and she just looked...rather obscene.
"Shego?"
The sound of Drakken's voice outside sent a lump to her throat as she looked around hurriedly for something to cover her. But the bathroom door opened before she could grab so much as a towel, and she made brief eye contact with Drakken before she turned to the tub which was nearly fully and began sprinkling her bath salts into it.
Drakken let out a wolf-whistle. Shego glanced back at him where he was admiring her with a mixture of happiness and desire. She rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, please," she scoffed. She started to carefully climb into the warm bath and wasn't the least bit surprised when Drakken was behind her and helping her a split-second later.
He helped her carefully sit down in the water without slipping, and she leaned back gratefully as the water relieved some of the pressure in her abdomen.
"It's a good thing you're my wife," Drakken said, sitting down on the edge of the tub, his eyes holding the same happiness and desire, and a hint of playfulness.
"Why's that?" Shego said blandly, cupping water into her hands and pouring it over her arms.
"Because...walking in on a scene like this... Opening the door to a beautiful naked woman...a man could be tempted to cheat."
Shego blinked at him. It was true, marriage had emboldened him in a lot of ways. But a true grasp on reality he had never quite had.
She scoffed again. "No man would want this," she gestured to her body beneath the water, still ripping as she'd left the tap on. "I look like a diseased whale."
Drakken leaned forward, slightly over the water, his smile growing.
"You're gorgeous."
"I'm a hippo."
"You're gorgeous...and sexy," he said, moving closer.
Shego narrowed her eyes at him. "If this is your way of telling me you have some sort of...fat-kink, then I'm about to become a single parent!"
Drakken's smile faltered and he leaned back. Shego scowled and rolled her eyes before closing them and rubbing her neck again.
"...Neck bothering you?" she heard Drakken ask after a moment.
"Yes. I pulled something earlier."
"How?"
"Just...reaching across the bed for something," Shego said with a frown. She felt the familiar sinking in her heart at what she had been reduced to: a bedridden cow whose unborn calf's favorite pastime was kicking her bladder, making sure to always do so when she was asleep. And for whom normal movements caused pulled muscles.
Drakken moved around to the back of the tub and she heard him struggling to find a comfortable position. And then his hands were on her neck, massaging at the tension all along the left side.
Shego was still annoyed, but she couldn't argue that his attentions were helpful. She let her arms fall and float slightly beneath the warm water.
"Where were you?" she asked after a minute.
"Buying more watermelon," he answered.
"Oh..." Watermelon was her biggest pregnancy craving, for which they were both grateful. The pickles and peanut butter phase had been short-lived.
She relaxed into his touch as he worked at the unusually stiff muscle fibers in her neck, and then just as she felt comfortable enough to give in to her exhaustion and doze off, she felt a kiss on her cheek.
"Mmmm..." Drakken murmured. "Beautiful."
"Would you stop it? I'm not sleeping with you, if that's what you're after. Although why you'd even want to...ugh."
"Mmh...it would be nice," Drakken said, continuing the gentle massage of her neck as he leaned around and kissed her other cheek. "But no."
Shego twisted slightly to look at him. "Do you have some sort of weird kink?"
Drakken shook his head. "No. Can't I just...admire my wife?"
"What is there to admire when I look like this?" Shego said, raising her voice.
"You always look beautiful," Drakken said.
"I look like one of those dead creatures that washes up on the beach that's so unrecognizable you can't tell what species it is."
Drakken ignored her and leaned around to kiss her lips. But she jerked away before he could make contact, making her neck hurt worse. She grabbed it with a hiss as he pulled away in confusion. She glared at him.
"Do you not understand that I am in pain all of the time, everywhere, including places I didn't even know I had places, and...literally the only part of my body that seems to be functioning is my bladder? I don't want you to kiss me. I want to either sleep until this thing is out of me, or...or just...die."
She huffed as she finished her rant and slumped slightly in the tub. Drakken didn't respond, but reached over to turn off the tap as the water level was reaching the edge and bore the risk of spilling over. His hand removed hers from her neck and he silently continued to massage the strained muscle.
Shego closed her eyes and tried to relax. The bath and his massage were helping her aches, but she couldn't shake the feeling that had come over her after looking at herself in the mirror. Because she knew that even after the baby was born, it would take work to get her body back to even a semblance of what it used to be. And she wouldn't have time, taking care of a newborn.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
"Shego?"
Though he couldn't see her face, his tone was one of concern. He could always read her.
"I need to pee again."
He helped her get out of the tub, for which she was grateful; she wasn't sure she could do it alone without falling. And then after handing her a towel, he stood back. When she looked up at him his expression was indeed concerned, but in his eyes was still that happiness that had been annoyingly present for months. And the hint of desire.
"Would you...stop looking at me like that?" she said as her wet feet crossed the cold tiles and she sat down on the toilet.
"Like what?"
"Like you want to have sex with me."
Drakken didn't blush, but his brow furrowed slightly. "I wasn't, I... You can't expect me to look at you and not be attracted to you when you're naked."
"How can you possibly be attracted to me when I look like some science experiment gone wrong?"
Drakken waited to continue until she'd finished her business at the toilet, and then after she'd hung the towel he helped her back into the warm bath.
"You look beautiful."
"Stop that."
"You look beautiful, and...and you're glowing."
Shego turned and glared at him. "I can see it on other women. Not on me."
Drakken sat within her sight-line on the edge of the tub, his face finally falling.
"...Fine."
Shego started and looked up at him.
"What?"
Drakken shrugged lightly, a small frown appearing on his face. "Fine. You're not beautiful."
He was staring over her head at the back wall, but Shego could see in his eyes that he was playing at something else; that the words weren't sincere. And even with that understanding...they hurt.
She looked down and grumbled. "Glad we got that over with."
"It makes more sense anyway."
Shego slowly looked back at him through suspicious eyes. "What does?"
He glanced at her. "Beauty shouldn't have been with...a beast, to begin with," he said, gesturing between them.
Shego rolled her eyes at the lame reference. "You've never been a beast. Well...in bed sometimes," she added with a smirk.
Drakken ignored her. "If you're not attractive, then people won't stare at us so much anymore wondering why...someone like you is with someone like me."
Shego rolled her eyes again. "Come on Doc, drop it. I get what you're doing. It's sweet, but it won't work."
Drakken looked at the wall again, his expression darkening. "No, s-seriously, Shego. People stare. They wonder what someone like you is doing with...someone like me."
"Dr. D."
"You can see me," he reasoned. "Although if you don't really look it would make sense. My face is...a horror movie casting director's dream. My hair is turning gray, my skin sags all over, I have no obvious muscle tone, I..." he grit his teeth through his next words, "sometimes I have trouble keeping it up."
Her brow rose.
"Which you already know," he continued. "All of it. You know, when we went out to dinner last month, twice people assumed incorrectly about us. The first time you went to the restroom the waiter asked if I was the father."
Shego rested her hands on her belly and looked down at herself under the water.
"And the second time you went to the restroom, the lady in the booth behind ours told me it was...so nice of me to take my daughter out to dinner."
"...People are only staring because I'm pregnant," Shego heard herself say.
"People have stared at us since long before you were pregnant. We don't belong together. A goddess like you doesn't belong with...some ugly 'thing' out of—"
"Stop," Shego said.
She grabbed his wrist with her hand, halting his gesturing and wetting his shirt sleeve. He was frowning now, having worked himself fully past whatever persuasion he had started from and into believing the words he was saying.
"Stop saying all that garbage."
Drakken's jaw was set. "Why? It's true."
"No," Shego shook her head. "I love the way you look. I love being out with you and people knowing that I'm yours. I love your face, and your body..." her wet hand left his wrist and rose to cup his cheek. "And you've never failed to satisfy me."
Drakken's mouth was set in a firm line as he looked at her.
"If you can say that about me...then why can't I say that you're beautiful?" he asked with a harsh look.
Shego's face fell slightly and she lowered her hand back to the water. "Because I know in my case it's not true."
"Shego. You're still attractive."
"I'm fat and I have stretch marks."
"You're sexy."
"My boobs are going to sag and look weird after breastfeeding, and there's no way around it."
Drakken's frown grew. "I'm overweight. And saggy all over. How can you say you love the way I look?" he retorted. "If we are in fact going by how we presently look, then...there's nothing attractive about me. And there never has been. I know what's true in my case, too."
Shego wanted to remain stubborn. She wanted to keep arguing with him, because it was familiar. She wanted to wallow in the misery she'd built around herself about her appearance, because it fit so well with everything else she was feeling from the exhaustion to the pain of her third trimester. But his eyes were telling a different story.
He believed everything he said about himself. And she couldn't let him do that.
"Okay...okay, how about this," she said with a sigh. "I'll tell you one thing I genuinely love and am attracted to about your looks. And then you tell me one. And we have to believe each other."
He looked at her skeptically. "...You promise you'll believe me?"
Shego nodded. "Yes."
"Okay," Drakken nodded his agreement, his face softening slightly. He moved to be nearer to her and rubbed her neck with one hand as he looked down at her. "I love your eyes. I love their shape, and how rich and green they are...and how fierce."
Shego considered all that she loved about his face, but was drawn to the same answer as he'd given.
"I love your eyes." He frowned slightly, but she continued. "I love how I can always tell you're thinking, constantly... Always working on something. But if I want your attention, you stop everything and stare right at me. And I know I'm all you're thinking about."
"...Do you have any idea how often you're all I'm thinking about?"
"That's not what we're doing," Shego said. "Next thing you like about me, physically."
Drakken's eyes moved over her, but due to the massive tub all that was visible above the water besides her face was her shoulders. That was what he went with.
"I love your shoulders. And...every line of your body. You look like you were carved out of marble by one of the classic artists."
"Not all of me."
"Bone structure doesn't change with pregnancy."
"My hips are going to get wider," she pointed out.
"Is arguing allowed in this game?" Drakken asked, frustrated.
Shego sighed. "I guess not. Okay."
She looked him over in his casual gray dress shirt, the top two buttons undone, and his dark blue jeans. She wanted to say that she loved the shape of him too, but she had already used 'eyes' after him and didn't want him thinking she wasn't really attracted to him if she seemed to just copy his answers.
"I love your strength," she said. "I love how safe I feel with your arms around me. And you don't have to have bulging muscles to look strong. It's how you move. It shows off how strong you really are."
Drakken seemed slightly uncertain, but he nodded and kept looking her over. "I love your legs. The way you walk... You look like you're floating on a cloud."
"Not anymore," Shego scoffed.
Drakken's eyes narrowed. "Yes, you do. You just don't see it."
"I waddle like a duck."
"You said we had to believe each other," he pouted.
Shego sighed again. She thought about how much effort it took her to get just from the bed to the bathroom. But instead of remembering that pain and struggle, she thought of the admiring way his eyes were always watching her.
"Fine."
They both sighed, and Shego realized it was her turn again. She studied Drakken and tried to think of something good. The truth was, she loved everything about him. Even what some might call his imperfections, in his overly-large chin and his smaller-than-average hands and feet.
"I love your hands," she said. "I love how gently you touch me... And roughly," she said with a smirk. "And how your hands were obviously designed to work with delicate technology. Because you always know exactly what you're doing with them."
Drakken looked her over again.
"I love your lips. The shape of them, and how they frame your teeth perfectly when you smile, or laugh."
"I love your smile. I love how bright and...well, full of life it is when you're really excited, or happy about something. And how the slightest suggestion can change it from...good, to evil. Your evil smile makes me... It makes me hot for you," she finished quickly, her face flushing.
Drakken's expression matched hers, and as he looked her over the color to his face grew even darker. When he spoke his voice was quieter and tense with shyness.
"I love...your breasts."
Shego smirked and shifted upright in the tub to make her chest much more visible to him.
"They're perfect," Drakken continued, still blushing.
"Got lots of sources for comparison?" Shego teased.
Drakken frowned at her, and his gaze definitely drifted below her face. "I love how they feel in my hands...and, ah...kissing them."
"They're totally different now. Misshapen milk factories."
"Shego," Drakken scolded her.
"Come on, just look." She shifted higher in the tub. "Different shape, stretch marks, veins showing through the skin."
Drakken shook his head. "I still love them."
"I don't believe you."
Drakken scoffed and threw up his hands as he rose from his perch and started pacing the small bathroom.
"You said we had to believe each other."
"But Doc, you're actually attractive. I'm not."
Scowling, Drakken lifted a foot and yanked his shoe off. Then the other, and then his socks.
"Oh come on," Shego complained as he started to undress in an attempt to prove a point. Shego felt a headache coming on. "If you do that, I'm going to make you get in here with me."
Drakken paused with his hands on his belt buckle and stared at her.
"Why can't you just agree that...normally I'm hot, but pregnant I'm pretty ugly?" she asked.
"Because it's not true! You've always turned heads, and you still do. You could be a...a maternity model. For clothes or products, or anything. You're so beautiful."
"No, I couldn't. I'm hideous."
"Well, so am I!"
Shego looked over the figure of her husband and the way his well-cut clothing fell on him, emphasizing every little thing she liked about his shape.
"Looking pretty good to me," Shego smirked.
"Then..." Drakken leaned back against the bathroom counter and rubbed his face once before running his fingers back through his hair. "Why won't you believe me when I say it about you?"
Shego looked down and sighed. "I was pretty... Not anymore."
There was an unexpected silence. When Shego looked up, Drakken was looking at her sadly. And then his jaw set.
"Fine," he said.
Shego lifted a brow. He'd said that before, which was what had started the whole discussion. But the way he said it was more...honest.
"What?" she asked.
"You have gained a little weight."
Shego's other brow joined the first. Part of her wanted to gloat at getting him to acknowledge reality. But part of her...hurt.
"Glad you're finally seeing the facts," she muttered, looking back into the water.
"But it's only a little. And it's in all the right places."
Shego's brow furrowed and she shook her head.
"No it's not."
"Stand up."
She looked up and found Drakken right in front of her, reaching for her arms.
"The water's still warm!" she protested.
"Stand up!" he insisted.
She wasn't used to that tone of voice from him; demanding, but desperate. She stood in the tub with his help and then stepped out of it. Even though she was dripping wet, he stood behind her and started running his hands over her curves, starting low on her thighs and slowly moving upwards.
"You see... It just...emphasizes your natural beauty," he explained. His hands even moved over her arms and then one hand stroked her cheek where there was definitely a little added weight as well. "You're glowing... You're attractive. And it is so hard to resist you," he said as he kissed her other cheek and then rested his chin on her shoulder, closing his eyes.
His fingers continued stroking her cheek as his other hand massaged the low swell of her belly, wetting his shirt sleeve in the process. And under his gentle touch, somehow she didn't feel quite as...disgusting as she had before.
"Tell me more," she said quietly.
His eyes flew open and met hers through the mirror. Then he turned to kiss her shoulder and his hands moved to her hips, kneading them.
"You're such...such a woman. Do you have any idea how hard it is to resist you?"
Shego took a long, slow breath, and then sighed. "Tell me."
Drakken straightened and stepped up right behind her and embraced her. One hand rested atop her belly while his other arm crossed her chest and his hand held her shoulder.
"Having to force myself not to stare at you since the first day I laid eyes on you..."
"You've told me that before. Tell me about now. Why am I irresistible now?"
His eyes looked sad. "Because...you're still so beautiful. Why don't you see it?"
She leaned back into him and waited as he continued staring at her. His brow furrowed lightly.
"Just look at you," he said.
She looked. And she looked exactly as she had before she'd gotten into the bath. Except her hair was slightly more frizzy from the steam where it was piled atop her head. But for some reason...now she thought she saw some of the glow. And the imperfections...didn't seem quite as imperfect with his hands running over her wet, glistening skin and his smiling eyes meeting hers adoringly in the mirror.
"I don't know how else to tell you...if you won't believe me. But you're beautiful."
Drakken knelt down next to her and kissed her belly softly, his hands lightly rubbing over the round curves. He kissed her hip once, then rested his cheek against the spot as his hands felt up and down the length of her leg.
She looked at the way he slowly caressed every part of her leg, the touch seemingly designed to make her feel attractive. But she was distracted by her unshaven legs. And by the way he didn't even seem to care.
"Will you shave my legs for me?" she asked.
He looked up at her. "Yes. If you...show me how."
"I'll feel prettier then..."
He looked at her face, seeming to assess her response. He stood up and faced her, setting his hands on the sides of her shoulders and rubbing them gently.
"How else can I make you feel pretty?"
She thought. She wasn't sure.
"Let's start with the legs." She turned back to the tub and Drakken helped her sit down on the edge at the foot of the tub. "You might want to undress, actually. Your clothes need washing now anyway."
Shego drained the tub while Drakken undressed, and then she ran the tap again and grabbed her shaving cream and razor.
"You...usually stand up while doing this," Drakken commented as he stood behind her uncertainly.
"Yeah. Well, not anymore. You sit in the tub."
Drakken obliged, crossing his legs and facing her. Shego was about to begin squeezing out the shaving cream when Drakken surprised her by picking up both of her feet at the ankles, setting them together atop his thigh, and then leaning forward to kiss each of her knees in turn.
Shego felt a warmth grow in her chest, but she ignored it and gave him a wry grin.
"Like that hairy texture?"
Drakken kissed down one of her shins a few inches and then back up.
"You're beautiful."
Shego smirked mischievously and moved her feet up his leg and then purposefully over his crotch. He yelped in surprise, and then the brief flash of mischief that entered his own eyes was replaced with irritation and sadness. He grabbed her feet and set them back on his leg.
"Don't do that."
Shego took a long breath before apologizing. "Sorry."
She started to squeeze shaving cream into her hand, but he took the can from her and did it himself. He slowly began rubbing the cream up her legs, covering every part of her green flesh from the top of her feet to halfway up her thigh. His expression had darkened slightly.
Shego sighed silently. He was right, she shouldn't have teased him. For the last two months she had been in so much pain from the pregnancy that she'd banned sex. And she knew as well as he did, that after the baby was born there would still need to be a recovery period of probably another couple of months.
It wasn't as if they had been like rabbits or teenagers or anything. But they definitely enjoyed one another. She missed the intimacy too.
Drakken picked up the razor and brought it up near the top of her thigh, but she lifted a hand to stop him.
"Women shave against the direction of the hair growth."
Drakken's brow furrowed. "Oh."
The next twenty minutes were a mixture of awkward and amusing, as Drakken inefficiently and with much difficulty managed to shave her right leg. There was also a bit of splashing and growling and shaving cream flicked at one another as he several times declared it was more trouble than it was worth, and why did women care so much about having smooth legs.
Shego suggested for her left leg that he turn around, and after a bit more awkwardness and a slip in the wet tub that would probably give Drakken a bruised knee, he ended up facing away from her with her legs up over his shoulders. It did give him a better angle for shaving her shin and calf, but was horrible for shaving her knee and thigh. He finally turned and got up on his knees in the tub to accomplish it, and by the end of the endeavor he was frowning and had a little bit of shaving cream in his hair.
For her part, Shego found all of it endearing. Watching a man attempt to shave a woman's legs was hilarious in and of itself, but watching her adorable husband who would very likely—no, definitely—jump off a bridge if she told him to, following her directions with complete trust was even more amusing. She'd toyed with the idea of giving him ridiculous directions, but she didn't want to end up cut. And she hadn't received any, for his slowness and care.
"Now...just rinse me off, and we're done."
Drakken cupped water into his hands from the running tap and poured it over her legs and rubbed them up and down. He repeated the process until the sticky feeling of the shaving cream was gone and only her smooth green skin remained. His caressing of her legs slowed and the frustration that had previously been on his face faded first into desire and than rapidly into sadness.
Shego didn't say anything as he moved his hands to her left leg, moving them up and down with an almost painful slowness. First the touch was feather-light. And then his fingers dug into her flesh and massaged in long, smooth strokes from her ankle up her calf and beneath her thigh.
Finally, he pressed his lips to her leg just above her knee in a long kiss. He remained there for several seconds, and when he finally lifted his face it was still sad. His eyes met hers.
"Tell me," she said.
His shoulders slightly tensed.
"You're beautiful," he breathed, staring at her in awe and almost pleading.
She believed him.
Warmth bloomed in her chest and spread outward to her extremities at the sincerity in his eyes and voice. She reached down and took one of his hands from her leg.
"Come on Great Blue," she said and started to stand. His brow rose at the use of the particular nickname. "Let's dry off and...get into bed."
It wasn't a nickname she used often; only in one specific circumstance. Because she meant it not only as reference to him personally, but also to his prowess in their marriage bed.
"But...I don't want you to be uncomfortable," he immediately protested after helping her up and starting to dry off.
"If I am...we can stop," she said with a shrug. "And I also want watermelon. Afterwards."
Drakken smiled happily. "Okay."
He hung the towel on the rack and Shego took his hand again and turned toward the door, but he stopped her by pulling her into a backwards hug and kissing her neck long and soft. She grinned and looked into the mirror where her back was pressed against him, pale green meeting pale blue.
"You're beautiful," he murmured into her neck.
Suddenly, somehow...the image was perfect.
She pulled away from him slightly as she released her tangled hair from its bun, and then set the chopsticks and headband aside. He raked his fingers into her hair until it met some knots, and then he pushed the thick locks over her shoulder and kissed the other side of her neck.
"Show me," she said softly.
He released her from the tight embrace and they left the small room side by side.