Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney the great and powerful. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

We had a good thing going for us, girl
I gotta be out of my head
Now what have I said? Where are you going?
Can't we stop and take back the things that we said?

Take Back the Things That We Said

On the dance floor of the larger club on the ship Shego and Kim moved to Carameldanzzzen. Kim's ease showed she had done it before. The first minute or two had been awkward for Shego, but she picked up the moves quickly. She realized the drinks had given her the courage to get on the floor with Kim, but now she found herself enjoying being with Kim. "Being on the dance floor," she told herself. "I'm enjoying dancing. I do not enjoy being with Kim." She glanced nervously at Kim. Kim smiled, and Shego realized she was smiling too. "Okay, maybe I enjoy being with Kim, a little." The dance seemed to simply go on, and on, and on.

"You like it?" Kim shouted loudly enough for Shego to hear.

"Yeah," Shego admitted. "How did you–"

"You haven't looked at your wrist for–"

Shego glanced at the device on her wrist. "Shit!" She ran for the door.

Kim stood still for a moment, not sure what to do. Her best guess was that someone was breaking into Shego's cabin, or had broken in. Shego could probably take care of an intruder without any help... Shego had also had a couple drinks and was angry, both of which might slow her down. And Kim remembered Shego had expressed a concern about a possible attack. Kim felt Shego could handle any one attacker, but would she be able to handle multiple attackers? Kim ran for the exit as well.

From his table, where he was drinking with another NSA agent, Clint Thienstein watched Shego's hurried departure, and Kim following a few moments later. The pair were a mystery to the American. He had read Shego's dossier when he was given the assignment, and requested information on Kim when the two began spending time together. According to their histories they should not be spending time together. It didn't make sense. The assumption was that Shego was on the cruise to steal something, although there was nothing to steal in terms of policy discussions and no one could think of a criminal use for any of the technology being shared. And the NSA agent would have guessed Kim was on the cruise to thwart criminal actions by Shego. Except that Shego didn't seem to have any kind of designs on the global warming conference, and Kim didn't seem interested in thwarting anything. He had heard a rumor there was some sort of betting pool on whether Kim and Shego were having sex. So, what had he just seen? A lover's quarrel?

During his surveillance he had also noticed how often Shego consulted the device she wore on her wrist. He needed to find out what was happening.

"Call of nature?" the man he was drinking with asked as Thienstein stood.

"Call of duty."

"Need help?"

"I'm guessing no. Let you know if I'm wrong."

In Shego's cabin Channarong fidgeted nervously. Could the woman be preparing some trap for him in the corridor? It was taking too long. She should have run into the dark cabin within minutes of his breaking in, giving him a chance to stab her before her eyes became accustomed to the dim light – guaranteed by the fact he had unplugged the lamp. What if the red-haired woman returned with Shego? She was also reported to be highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

But Channarong's over-confidence in his special forces training out-weighed even Will Du's self-opinion. His confidence in his training and the fact his intended target was a woman. He had received the mission because of his skill and dedication. And his employer must expect him to kill the green woman, he told himself. He would not have been told the reward for the green woman's death if he were not supposed to kill her. The warnings of her skill were just a reminder that he had to be careful – retrieve what had been stolen and kill the thief. Channarong assumed his employer wanted no witnesses to the connection between what had been stolen and himself. The brown man refused to consider the possibility he might also count as a witness to the connection. He thought himself too valuable to consider he might also be viewed as a liability.

The door to the cabin burst open.

Shego flicked the light switch. Nothing happened. "Fuck!"

Movement from her right.

The drinks, anger making her lose focus, the darkness, years of wearing a kevlar and leather catsuit that offered some protection... Shego blocked his slash with her right arm but was was cut deeply. Blood spurted.

Channarong stared in surprise. No one was that fast. She wasn't dead, but she was bleeding badly. The pain would–

He didn't have time to finish the thought. Her foot thudded into his side, cracking three ribs. He didn't realize they were cracked, only that it hurt like hell. She was as dangerous as he had been told. Still confident he could have beaten the wounded woman he decided flight might be the more prudent choice.

He threw the light desk chair at her. Maybe, if it knocked her–

It didn't. But it provided a momentary distraction which allowed him to get out the door.

As Kim reached the corner of the corridor the brown man rushed past, splashed with blood and moving as if in pain. Her reflex was to hit him, but she stopped herself. She didn't know the source of the blood. It might be Shego's. Theoretically it could be something entirely innocent, but she doubted that. And fear that Shego was wounded caused Kim to run even faster to the green woman's cabin.

Shego was on her knees, partially in a state of shock – but trying to stop the flow of blood with pressure. "Call the doctor!"

"Stop bleeding first," Kim told her, and ripped up a pillowcase for a strip of cloth to make a tourniquet.

"What happened," a voice demanded from the doorway. Kim looked up to see her average-sized man, with average hair and average eye color.

"Call a medic, or doctor," barked Kim.

He decided to make the call first, rather than claiming he just happened to be walking by and had seen some drops of blood in the corridor.

"All your fault," Shego muttered as Kim kept pressure applied with the tourniquet. "All your fault."

Within minutes the cabin was cramped and chaotic with a doctor and nurse trying to help Shego and two members of ship's security demanding answers to their questions on who had cut Shego.

"I, uh, didn't see what happened," Thienstein told them, "but I heard that woman – the woman who was cut – say it was the fault of the redhead.

The sedative Shego had been given was starting to take effect, but she still managed to curse the NSA agent, "She distracted me, Stupid... Not... Kim, stay here!"

"Stay in your cabin?"

"Yeah... I..."

"Shego? Shego?"

"She's under," the doctor told her. "Gurney will be here in a minute. We're taking her to the medical suite, better equipment for treating her wound."

One of the security officers asked Kim, "Any idea why she asked you to stay in her cabin?"

"No idea," the redhead lied. She had several ideas. The one that appeared most likely, in her opinion, was that the attacker had wanted something Shego had in her cabin. Perhaps he had found it before attacking Shego. Perhaps he hadn't. "Shego wants me to stay here and protect something."

"You can't stay here," the other security agent told her. "There's blood and–"

"I'll clean it up."

"The attacker might be back."

"I'll be careful before opening the door. Could you have someone from housecleaning... Cabin-cleaning... Whatever you call it bring cleaning supplies."

Shego was loaded onto the gurney and taken away. Thienstein gave his statement to security and left – wondering what was happened.

The the break-in, search, and fight had all happened quickly and the room was largely undisturbed. It gave Kim hope that she would find whatever it was Shego wanted her to protect.

Kim did a little straightening as she waited for cleaning supplies to be brought. The opened package, addressed to Alexis Jade was in the middle of the small desk. Kim saw the address, and realized immediately that Shego had lied to her. Shego had left her at the mall to pick up the package. The green woman had said there should be no reason to be followed in Bergen. And the reason for that, it seemed to Kim, would be because Shego had a something waiting for her in Stockholm whose content someone wanted very badly.

There should have been a customs declaration with the small package. There wasn't. Nor was it in the trash can by the desk. Shego could have thrown it out in the post office. Or, if Shego were in a hurry to get back to Kim, she could have brought it back to the ship. The package was left out in the open, as if deliberately to be seen. Shego could have burned, flushed, or swallowed the customs statement. "Burned or flushed. No point in swallowing." But a wadded up piece of paper in the bathroom trash was the declaration. Glass and quartz beads for crafting bracelets. Value €25. "No one was going to kill someone for glass and quartz beads."

So, the box could not have held exactly what the customs declaration claimed. "But why leave the open package on the desk? Why not hide the whole box; it wasn't very big. It's almost like she wanted it to be... She wanted it to be found." That made more sense than the attacker finding the box in the trash and leaving it here as a message he had discovered it.

There was a knock on the door. A cabin steward with cleaning supplies. "Hi, I was told... Oh, it's nasty in here! What happened?"

"Someone attacked the woman who is staying in this cabin."

"How badly was she hurt?"

"Bad cut on the arm. She asked me to take care of things here."

"Want any help?"

"Thanks, but I'll take care of it myself. I'm a friend. Maybe she was afraid of a cleaning crew finding her porn stash."

"Or weed. Hey, you need some haz-mat gear. We're supposed to wear it when we clean blood." He rummaged around on the cart in the corridor and left her a small bundle of protective clothing to wear.

Kim wanted to search for package contents before cleaning, but knew her responsibility was to clean first. She had a small hope that the 'glass beads' she sought might be found while she was cleaning. But before she did anything she called the number for medical emergencies by the cabin phone. Whoever answered the phone explained he was not supposed to say anything. Kim told him she was a friend, who had been asked to stay in Ms Jade's cabin and clean. She was told she shouldn't be there, it was the job for cruise staff. Kim briefly considered leaving to find the medical suite and administering an atomic wedge in hopes it might prompt an attitude adjustment. Instead she took a deep breath, managed to calm herself, and eventually extradited the news that, though the cut was deep and Shego currently under sedation there should be no permanent damage.

Feeling slightly relieved Kim set to work cleaning. She found a blue stone during the clean-up of Shego's cabin.

Kim looked at the box and declaration again. "Glass and quartz beads." The box was relatively small, and probably could hold a couple dozen beads of the size of the one she found. "And it probably did hold a dozen or more," Kim thought. "You want it to look real if the package is x-rayed. Diamonds? Emeralds? Rubies? What was in here? This is blue, like a sapphire." She checked, but it wasn't a real jewel.

There was a chance the thief had found what he was looking for, but Kim did a fast check of obvious potential hiding places. She found two more stones with a blue color. "Was this what the thief wanted!"

Except they weren't. She was able to determine she had found two more quartz beads. They were very nice quartz beads, and had been professionally tinted. But they were quartz beads.

Adjusting a cushion revealed another stone. Once again, it was not worth the risk of burglary or attempted murder.

She had discovered four fakes.

Kim decided that somewhere in the cabin there was a large, blue, real whatever. The thief had probably found one, believed he had discovered what he was there for, and Shego had arrived before he could leave. Kim refused to consider a gem was worth the life of anyone.

Apparently Shego had hidden several fakes around the cabin. Kim wondered how many fakes she might find if she looked carefully. And would she be able to discover the real jewel, assuming the thief had not discovered it, if she looked carefully enough?

Kim's money was on the real jewel still being hidden. Did the thief even know he had a fake? A jewel thief, such as Falsetto Jones, would be able to tell real from fake stones at a glance. Someone whose training was not in jewels could be fooled. It had taken Kim some effort. Shego expected someone who did not have training in gems. "Who was that guy? And, if Shego is wanting to keep her nose clean, why did she... She could have had it honestly? No, if she was being honest she wouldn't need all the hiding and ditching me at the mall... But if she stole it, why didn't the guy who attacked her ask security to arrest her?"

Nothing made sense.

The first knock on the door that disrupted Kim's confused thoughts was the cabin steward asking how the clean-up was going and if he could help. Kim gave him the cleaning supplies and materials used in cleaning up the blood. Part of Kim hoped the thief came back. Kim would make sure some of his blood was in the cabin before... Kim took another deep breath. No point in tearing him apart in her mind.

The second disturbance was Rose Gardner, asking what had happened. Kim reported the facts she knew: Shego had been attacked, a description of the attacker, Kim being asked to remain and clean up Shego's cabin. Kim's theories were speculation rather than facts and she kept them to herself.

"Seems odd. Why would she ask you to stay? Something she wants you to protect there?"

"Probably. But I'm not sure what. The thief could have found what he wanted."

"You suggested someone might want to kill her, could... But she wouldn't ask you to stay if his goal was assassination."

"That's why I said probably here to guard something. Shego wouldn't know if it had been found or not. She was also in shock and had been given a sedative, so maybe she wasn't thinking clearly. The guy who brought the cleaning supplies suggested maybe she didn't want the cruise staff to find her marijuana stash."

Rose shrugged, "If you find out exactly what's going on, let me know."

Kim nodded, wondering if she would be honest or not... She would be honest. It was her duty. She had to believe Shego wanted to stay legal. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Maybe."

"I'm worried about Shego. When I called the number for the medical office I mostly got the run-around. Then I got some sort of vague reassurances. Could you–"

"Get a real status report and call you?"

"I'd be grateful."

Kim spent the next twenty minutes in a combination of anger at Shego for stealing whatever it was she must have stolen – and ruining her legal status, and fear in regard to Shego's wound, and anger for Shego not trusting Kim enough to tell her the truth, and fear that the assassin might make another attempt on Shego's life while she was under sedation. There was also a sense of guilt, that it might somehow have been her fault. "Maybe I was distracting her."

After what seemed an eternity the phone rang, "Yes?"

"Spoke with a nurse. The wound is deep, but not life-threatening. They estimate it may be four or five months before she's completely recovered. Have you found anything about what she might want you to protect?"

"No. I haven't seen anything worth stealing or killing for. And I'm not sure of the ethics of ransacking her cabin."

"Good point."

"But I realized, Global Justice should station someone at the infirmary."

"Why would... Oh, in case the attempted killer comes back? Good idea. I'll ask Will, it will make him feel useful to have a real assignment."

"I wish you'd assign someone–"

"And I've told you, his abilities as an agent are quite good, even if his interpersonal skills are lacking. Sorry about Shego's injury. You don't feel it was your fault in any way, do you?"

"Maybe a little. I was distracting her and... Yeah. A whole bunch of guilt."

"She will recover, it will just take time."

"Maybe not as long as the doctor estimated. I hope not as long as her doctor estimated. Did the dossier on Shego talk about her healing power?"

"She heals faster than most people, but it still takes her time to heal, it was a deep wound."

"I'm not saying she'll recover tomorrow, or by the end of the cruise. I'm saying it probably won't take four or five months."

"We'll just have to wait and see. Any other ideas before I call Du and tell him to do a junkyard dog impression?"

"No. Thanks for the news."

Kim didn't try to attempt time conversion. She felt certain Ron should be up. She didn't know his class schedule, but decided to risk it, she needed to talk to someone. Mostly she needed assurance.

Ron listened. "Not your fault."

"But I distracted–"

"Still, not your fault."

"But if–"

"Focus. Not your fault she was attacked. If she'd been honest with you, you'd have helped her with... With whatever it is she wants you to do now."

"What if she's stolen something. She's legal, Ron! She likes that, I know it. But if she... I'm scared."

"For her, or you?"

"Both of us."

"'Cause you know your job, and you'll do it. You need to know if she's got something stolen in her cabin, that's your job. Right?"

"Right," Kim sighed. Ron had tried to comfort her. But at the moment she was feeling too much guilt and fear to feel comfort. She tried explaining how she felt... It seemed like Ron was unusually quiet. "Ron, are you there?"

She noticed her battery was dead. She decided to clean up a little more, maybe Shego had a charging cable she could use. Maybe she shouldn't... Would Kim want someone rummaging around in the contents of her cabin? But what if someone needed to contact her? What if she found proof that Shego was still a thief? Unsure what was the most ethical, or desirable, course of conduct (whether ethical or not) she didn't look for a charging cord.

She didn't sleep well.