There is a single bead of sweat rolling past my ear. It tickles my cheek and tortures my senses, but I let it continue down its path. I don't care to move, I only care to feel. I feel the air as it passes through my lungs. I feel my eyes as they follow the faint brush patterns on my ceiling. I feel the few thoughts in my head as they spark over each synapse in my brain.

'Breathe in. And out. Now blink.' Detaching from my surroundings, I seem to be in a waking dream. I cannot see her, but I can hear her soft breathing near my ear, much like the breeze from my window. I can feel her fingertips trace the paths left by the falling beads of perspiration. I can just barely taste the scent of her as the breeze washes me with her. And then as I open my mouth slightly in response, I can feel it as her lips approach mine.

I gasp, realizing that I have stopped breathing. In that instant, my senses lose her. I fumble to sit up a little, confused as to where she could have gotten to. It wouldn't have been the first time that she had stealthily found her way into my room. She had snuck in at least once when I was in high school. I hadn't known why then and I never had given her the chance to explain. I expected that it had been like every other encounter between us then, some illegal happenings had led her to me. Looking back, I'm not sure that she even knew why she was there that night. She had left completely flustered and in a hurry.

My breath is hitching and I'm struggling to breathe. My face has become a wash of tears and sweat falling together as I realize finally that she had never been in my room this time.

And just like that, again I'm at the penitentiary. It's a Tuesday evening and no one will be expecting me. I ignore the fact that the last thing I remember is gasping in my bedroom and walk to the gate. The cure in the past has always been her, there's no reason that today should be different.

I go through the motions with the guards at the front and they do their standard searches and checks but I'm growing impatient. My feet are shifting and shuffling against my will. I'm beginning to panic. I can feel my chest tighten; I notice my breath getting shorter. As they finally lead me down the hall to her, I step quickly on my toes. I must look completely absurd, I know it. But I'm so close to relief.

At her door, time slows in my head. The blare of each entry from the pass code lingers in my mind. It shocks through my ears and rattles on for ages between them. A blink of my eye takes hours. The turning of the key when the pass code is finally entered rings through my eyes and ears like a gunshot. Like a video out of synch, the sound comes first and the vision follows after. I fall behind in my vision as I hear the door open, but my eyes do not see it. I try to catch up, I need to catch up. I don't see as she approaches, I don't see as my feet move of their own accord to her.

As I fall against her in agony, she gathers me and holds me up. Finally, my vision rushes to the current scene and the ticking of my watch is in time with reality.

"It's too hot." I babble against her, absently. Her chest rises and I feel myself displaced before her breath runs through my hair.

"It certainly is, Princess." She answers softly, close to my ear. She holds my head tight to her and waits.

When I can move again, she walks with her arm propping up my waist to the gathering room. We sit next to each other at a table and she faces me.

"You're pale." I watch her lips as she softly strokes her knuckle along my cheek. Absently, I turn into her touch like a cat. She catches the side of my head in her palm and smiles. I can feel her thumb as it barely bushes my ear. My head feels carbonated after the feelings that led me here.

"I love you." I hear myself say. I see her close her eyes and grins before she leans in and brushes her lips against mine. Barely a kiss and yet, exactly perfect. She lingers for a moment with her eyes closed before she retreats from me. The hairs on my arms stand up as she runs her own palms down to grasp mine. She stares at me as she kisses them and holds them close to her chest, still staring.

"Why are you pale, Pumpkin?" I open my mouth but realize that I don't want to respond, so I shutter. She kisses my hands again, one at a time and then one final time, lingering. Tired of softness, I tear her to me and crash into her. I devour her and she does the same to me. I realize that Shego has always been cautious. It is what makes her such a fantastic thief and spy. I tired long ago of her caution, of her calculation of every move. Often, it is sweet and reassuring but sometimes it's strangling. And, when she finally stops calculating, her freed self is primal and needy, ferocious and spectacular.

I truly could not care less that every eye in the room is fixated on us. I welcome their gaze, witnesses to the reality that is between Shego and me. But I do pull back, circling in my thoughts and disoriented.

"We can get you out of here." I say plainly to her, probably too loud. Her eyes go wide and I watch the color drain from her face.

"Stop it, Kim. My term here will be over when the judge deems fit." She speaks more loudly than usual and with a force she's never used with me. She stares at me after subtly scanning the stares in the room.

"Do you understand, Kim?" She stares deeply. I nod to her.

"Good girl. I'm sorry." She pulls me to her and holds me, but turns to my ear.

"Speak softly and pretend that it's lover's chat. I don't know what you're trying to do, but I want to know what you're thinking." She whispers into my hair. I nod lightly and hum. As she backs away from me, we stay close. I lean and lay my head against her shoulder as she puts her arm around me. I put on a dumb grin as I speak.

"Ron's in town."

"This is your plan? Captain Boxershorts?" I giggle and shake my head. At least my grin is real now.

"Ron's aunt has a high position in the corrections department. There's a chance that we can get you a reduced sentence – seriously reduced. Maybe even a re-trial."

"I'm pretty guilty, Kimmy. The evidence is brick and mortar."

"People get out on technicalities all the time."

"And if it doesn't work?" She begins to stroke my hair.

"If it doesn't work…" I find her other hand and hold it dearly.

"If it doesn't work, I have far less legal ideas. You are a criminal mastermind after all."

"And if I somehow do get out, then what?" The conversation has become strangely sensual. As we talk, we stroke one another's hands and hair, we nuzzle against the other, and as she questions, Shego kisses my head. I turn my face up to her.

"Then we live." I hitch up and peck her on the lips. She giggles in surprise and the sound is fireworks.

"It sounds so simple."

"I love you, Shego."

"I love you."

"Miss Possible-" Interrupted as usual. He speaks as he approaches so he could not have heard our whispers, but still I startle. Shego puts both arms around me to calm my shredded nerves. We roll our eyes as we get up and begin the long walk back to Shego's cell.

The possibilities of the situation swim around my head as we walk. I see my dreams and my nightmares fly through my mind. Grounded for just a few more moments until she's forced to leave me, I let the ideas settle. I want her with me. I want her forever. And yet, I can only ask myself over and over, is it really worth risking losing her forever? Do I allow her to stay caged and safe, or do I get the prize, disregarding the possibility of…

I don't want to think it.