Wow...I didn't plan for Shego to turn out so un-Shego-like in this. I think I can make it work, though, and I'll get back to the snarky Shego we all know and love.

In no way, shape, or form do I own any aspect of Kim Possible.

It was an easy task for Shego to find Kim's house and break in. Careful not to track wet snow throughout the Possible family residence (which was out of character for her in so many ways) she quickly ascended the stairs and found Kim's room. Gently, she set Kim down on her bed. The poor girl was freezing, her hair crusted with snow. Her cheerleading clothes barely covered her body, leaving her more vulnerable. No matter how many times she had envisioned being clearly superior to her teen nemesis, Shego wasn't sure she liked seeing Kim this small and frail.

Shego walked into the girl's bathroom briefly and ran a hot bath for her. Then she looked in the closet and found a loose fitting pair of sweats, perfect for keeping warm. Returning to Kim's bedside, she hesitated. What if Kim woke up? What would she do?

No matter, she decided. She could die if I don't do anything.

Gently, almost tenderly, Shego eased Kim's clothes off of her body. She focused solely on Kim's unconscious face, not looking anywhere below her neck so as to leave her some dignity. She was skating on thin ice with sexual harassment as it was. She picked the girl up and carried her to the tub, laying her down gently. The snow on her body hissed slightly as it came into contact with the hot water, and color began returning to Kim's face, much to Shego's relief. After about ten minutes, Shego pulled the plug and lifted Kim out, drying her off with her flickering emerald plasma. Getting her dressed without looking was no easy task, but she managed it well enough. Then she laid Kim back down in bed and gently pulled the covers back over her body.

"Night, Kimmie," she said softly.

Kim awoke two hours later. Her first feeling was one of confusion.

What? W…where am I? It was so cold…and now…

Her second reaction was panic.

Oh God…oh God…where am I? I'm in a bed…oh no, oh no, oh no…not again, please God, not again…

She was too scared to realize that she was in her own room, in her own bed, with no man in the house. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she clutched the blanket tightly around her, choked gasps escaping her mouth.

"Kim?"

She heard footsteps outside her bedroom door and started trembling harder.

"Kim, are you awake? I thought I heard crying…"

Shego walked in and stopped short when she saw the state Kim was in. She was sitting against the wall, knees pulled tightly against her chest, her face streaked with tears. Her entire body was trembling fearfully. "Kim…?"

Kim's head snapped up as if spring-loaded, and she shook her head vehemently. "D…don't come any closer! Leave me alone!"

If anything, Shego was more confused than Kim. "What? Kim, what's wrong?"

Kim finally seemed to realize that Shego was not, in fact, a man. "Don't let him come…don't let him come near me again…"

Shego approached the distraught girl slowly. "What do you mean?"

"He'll…he'll do it again…"

Shego sat down on the edge of the bed, and Kim flinched away.

"Whoa there, it's okay, Kim. I won't hurt you. Who's 'he'?"

Kim shook her head again. "I…I don't know…" Realization dawned on her face. "Shego?"

"Yeah, Kimmie, it's me."

Suddenly, Kim wrapped her arms around Shego's neck, sobbing uncontrollably. "Oh G-God, Shego, I thought y-you were…were him…what h-happened to me? What's going on?"

"It's okay, Kim," Shego comforted awkwardly, startled by Kim's sudden movement. "That Bonnie girl pushed you into the snow, and you were so cold you passed out. I just brought you back to your house and defrosted you."

"Defrosted?" Suddenly, Kim realized that she was wearing different clothes, and she yelped. "W-why aren't I in my cheer clothes? How did I get into these?"

"Calm down! Your cheer clothes were soaked; I wasn't about to leave you in them."

Kim released Shego slowly, staring at her like a frightened animal. "You…you d-dressed me?"

"Yeah. I didn't see anything, if that's what you're implying."

Kim crawled to the other side of the bed and pulled her knees to her chest again, her body shaking with shivers that had nothing to do with the cold. Tears began streaming down her face again, leaking out through closed lids.

"Kim, did I do something wrong?" Shego asked.

Kim couldn't bring herself to answer. Then it hit Shego; everything seemed to connect. Kim's fear, her panic at learning she had been undressed, the mysterious 'him' that she kept referring to. It all made sense. Shego felt like she had been kicked in the stomach as she looked at Kim. How could she not have known? All this time, fighting Kim, she had never once figured it out, never once realized how badly her arch foe had been hurt.

"Oh, Kimmie," she whispered, displaying a tenderness that was totally uncharacteristic for her. "Oh my God, Kim."

She slowly scooted over next to the frightened girl, reaching out slowly so as not to scare her more. She flinched slightly at the touch, but did not shy away again. Gently, Shego took Kim into her arms, cradling her close to her chest like a small child. She could feel as the girl's sobs racked her body, feel Kim's pain and fear through her actions.

"Oh God, Kim," she murmured. "I'm so sorry. I never wanted to scare you. I didn't know that…that had happened to you. I'm so, so sorry."

Kim buried her face in Shego's neck, tears dripping from her eyes to the young woman's skin.

"You don't know what it's like," she whispered brokenly, "to have your…your peace of mind taken away from you. You don't know how it is to be snatched away from somewhere you thought was safe."

Shego hesitated before glancing away. "Yes, I do."

Kim's eyes widened, the tears ceasing momentarily. "You…what?"

"Yeah, Kimmie, I…I was raped too." Shego couldn't believe she was sharing this with Kim, of all people. "It was almost three years ago today."

"That's when I…" Kim swallowed. "That's when it happened to me."

A tear ran down Shego's cheek, not going unnoticed by either of them. "There was someone else in there too…she was cuffed to a bed across from mine. He made her watch as he raped me, and after that… he made me watch." Her voice hardened. "He marked us, Kimmie. Branded us with his symbol. The girl was in so much pain, and so was I, but we couldn't fight back. She was about my age, and what are two teenagers against someone like him?" She sighed, another tear following the first. "I don't even know if the other girl survived him. It hurt so much…I never imagined I could feel like that…"

She trailed off when she saw Kim's expression, a mixture of fear, confusion, and sadness. "What?"

"Marked?" she whispered. "He marked you?"

"An E. He carved it into our stomachs with a knife." Shego shuddered. "It left a scar."

Kim bit her lip. "Shego?"

"Kim?"

"Could you see the other girl's face?"

Shego shook her head. "A bag was over her face when I could see her, and then he put a bag over my face." Inside, she was sobbing. Why was she reliving her worst nightmare to Kim? Why was she torturing herself?

"Shego." This time, it wasn't an inquiry.

Shego looked back at the young woman in her arms. Kim grasped her shirt hem hesitantly, trembling, and lifted it to reveal her stomach. There, right in the middle of her skin, was a pink E, the remnant of a years-old wound. Shego stared at it in shock, unable to move for a moment. Then, biting her lip, she lifted her own shirt hem to reveal an identical mark on her own pale green stomach.

"That was you," they both whispered at the same time.

Then they were both crying, holding each other tight like they were the only comfort in the world. During all those years of fighting, years of hiding their stories, they never knew that the other victim was right in front of them the entire time.

"I thought he had killed you," Kim whispered. "You didn't move after…after he had finished. I thought you were dead."

"I wished I was," Shego murmured. "I saw everything he did to you, Kim. I'm so sorry I couldn't stop him."

"He tortured you, Shego," Kim said shakily. "Nothing was worse than watching him do that to you …hearing you scream, and cry, and beg for mercy… nothing was worse than your pain."

At a loss for words, Shego could only bury her face in Kim's fiery hair and sob her heart out. For so long she had thought she was alone, that no one else knew of the burdens she carried – both that of herself and that of Kim. No one had ever cared about her before.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," Kim whispered. "I wanted to…"

"Please don't apologize," Shego said softly. "You did nothing wrong. It was all him."

Kim looked up into Shego's deep green eyes, which so often were blazing with hate. Now, though, they were burning with something else, something better.

"Shego…"she murmured hesitantly, trying to read the woman's eyes.

"Kim." Shego's voice was low and soft.

"We can thank him for one thing."

"What?" Shego replied bitterly. "For the fact that we're living the rest of our lives in fear of a man's touch?"

"No. Just think. If that had never happened, I never would have wanted to go into business helping people. We never would have met as allies or enemies."

"I never would have become a villain," admitted Shego. "I was already thinking about breaking away from Team Go, but that sent me over the edge."

Kim attempted a smile. "Different results from the same catalyst. You know, there's one thing he didn't count on."

"Oh? What's that?"

"You rape the two most powerful women in the world at the same time, and there'll be hell to pay. He didn't count on us becoming what we are."

"It's his own fault that we can now kill him," Shego muttered. "Your logic is flawed, anyone ever tell you that?"

Kim shrugged. "Your sarcasm is annoying, anyone ever tell you that?"

"Why, thank you." Shego attempted a curtsy while sitting on the bed.

"You're insufferable." Kim stuck out her tongue at the older woman; to her surprise, Shego stuck hers out right back at her. It was such an un-Shego-like gesture, she was struck momentarily speechless.

"What's the matter, Princess? I steal all your words with my pure awesomeness?" Shego grinned smugly.

Kim recovered herself quickly. "Sure. If you say so."

"Good, Princess, you're learning." Shego sighed, suddenly exhausted. "So we got an attack to plan or what?"