Oo000oo000oO
Like she always did with a freshly brewed cup of coffee, Anne held the mug up close to her and took a deep breath, savoring the aroma of the coffee before taking a sip.
"I can't believe you're still doing that." Grace said from across the table.
"Old habits die hard." Anne replied after taking a sip. "So, how are you doing?"
Grace sighed and looked down at her hands for a few moments before speaking. "I'm trying." she said. "I keep hoping that Ron's alive, now how much every other part of me screams at me that he's not. After what happened to Kim-" she stopped suddenly and a look of horror came over her face as she realized just what she had said. "Oh God, Anne I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" she began.
"It's okay." Anne said. "You're not in a good situation. At least James and I have-" her voice cracked for a moment but she recovered "closure with Kimmie..."
Grace grabbed Anne some napkins and slid them over to her as she shuddered and wiped her eyes. "Here..." she said.
"Thanks." Anne said as she took one and dabbed at her eyes. "I don't how you do it, Grace." she said.
"I wonder that about you sometimes." Grace said. "I guess we're both stronger than we think."
"We have to be." Anne said with a sniffle. "Especially with those media vultures roaming around."
Grace made an ugly face. " Ugh, don't remind me about them." she said, disgust in her voice. "They're horrible."
Anne nodded her agreement of Grace's description. "They never leave me alone." she said. "Did you know that they're bothering my family back in Iowa?" she asked. "Asking about my personal history?"
Grace got a shocked look on her face. "Have they found out anything about when you were college?" she asked. "What about get together's?"
Anne shook her head. "No." she said. "Thank goodness."
Grace gave a little relieved sigh and took a sip of her coffee. "Yeah. The last thing our kids need is our... private lives dragged out in the open."
Grace could only nod.
Oo000oo000oO
Shego happily drummed her fingers on the steering wheel of the van as they navigated along the highways of extreme southern Georgia, heading west. They'd gotten to Miami in the mid morning, grabbed their van and after a quick stop at a Wal-Mart for some clothes and toiletries, they had gotten onto I-95 and headed north, going up the Florida coast until they got to I-10, then had headed west on I-10 until they got to I-75, then had headed north until they got to the Valdosta exit and had exited onto the two lane blacktop and were now going west on State Highway 84.
The backwoods of rural Georgia were rather pretty, Shego mused. For one thing, they were green. This amazed her, being a girl who grew up out in California and whenever she wasn't on the job, lived in Colorado. Both places tended to be brown for most of the year, and even when they were brought to life with irrigation, were nowhere even as lush as what was rolling by them on either side of the highway.
"Hey Ron, what do you, think-" Shego started to say, but when she glanced over at her fellow passenger was currently fast asleep in the passenger seat, his head lolling open and a line of drool trickling down his cheek.
Shego laughed and went back to admiring the scenery as they drove down the road, accompanied by dance music from the stereo.
Her solitude proved short lived, however, when their right front tire hit an armadillo carcass with a loud thump, jolting Ron awake.
"GAAAH! Sorry Mr Barkin- oh wait, I'm not in class." Ron said, blinking several times and looking around the interior of the van. "Where are we?"
"Rural Georgia." Shego answered. "Heading west."
"Oh." Ron said, and pushed himself into a more upright seating position. "How long was I out?" he asked.
"A few hours. " Shego said. "It's getting towards sundown."
"Man, I must have been tired." Ron said, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah." Shego said, then glanced out of the corner of her eye at Ron. "Mr Barkin?"
Ron grimaced at the mention of his least favorite teacher. "He's the vice principal at our school, and general pain in my ass."
"Oh." Shego said. "He yell at you in detention or something?"
Ron did a 'shake and nod' gesture with his head. "Yeah. He also filled in as a substitute teacher as well." he said. "Usually in the classes that put me to sleep. Math and History, usually."
Shego nodded in understanding. "Oh. He sounds like Mr Burke at my high school." she said. "Was I ever glad the day I graduated and could tell him to kiss my green ass."
Ron arched an eyebrow at Shego. "You actually told him that?"
Shego smirked. "Yep. During graduation, and right when he handed me my diploma. His microphone caught it and the whole graduating class heard it." she explained. "I got a standing ovation."
Ron sorted in amusement and stretched. "Hey, I got a question." he asked.
"What?"
Ron slouched forward for a moment, then sat back. "Think we could stop soon? I gotta use the bathroom."
Shego glanced down at the gas gauge, which was reading a hair above a quarter tank. "Yeah." she said. "We gotta stop for gas soon, anyways."
"Good." Ron said and rubbed his eyes.
"I was thinking that we'd stop for the night as well." Shego suggested. "I mean, we started out at six AM and we're already in south central Georgia."
Ron thought this over for a few moments and then nodded. "Yeah." he said. "I'm still kinda tired."
"And we're in luck." Shego said as a large brown road sign went by them showing what food, gas, and lodging were available at the next exit. "You don't have a problem with Motel 6, do you?"
Ron shook his head in the negative. "Nope." he said. "They're clean and affordable. A great bargain, really." he added.
"Not to mention low key." Shego added. "As much as I like five star hotels, luxury is high visibility, and I rather like not having certain people know where I am."
"Right now, I can agree with that." Ron said.
Oo000oo000oO
Forty minutes later, they had refueled, booked a room, and gotten dinner, which was a large order of fried chicken for him, two different types of colas, and the ingredients for a chefs salad for Shego, which he had prepared by the time she came back from a run to the liquor store.
"I'm back." Shego said as she opened the door and stepped in.
"Ah, good." Ron said. "Dinner's ready."
"Perfect timing then." Shego said as she set a brown paper bag on the table.
"So, did you get your wine?" Ron asked as be brought Shego's salad over to her.
"Well, I was, but I lucked into something that I haven't had in ages." she said, reaching into the bag.
"What's that?"
"Applejack." Shego said, withdrawing the bottle and showing it to Ron.
"Applejack? Never heard of that." Ron said as he sat down.
"It's hard liquor made from apples." Shego explained as she unscrewed the cap on the bottle. "Here, try some. You'll like it." she said, grabbing Ron's cup and pouring a small amount in.
"Uhhh..." Ron said, eying the glass she was holding out to him.
"Oh, come on, Ron, a little bit won't kill you." Shego chastised him, and Ron reluctantly took the drink and took a sip.
And much to his surprise, discovered that he rather liked it. "It's good." he said. "I like it. May I have a little more? I'll drink it while I eat."
"Good idea." Shego said as she poured a bit more into Ron's plastic cup. "the food will absorb the alcohol, it wont hit you as hard."
After she poured some applejack for herself, Shego raised her glass, and they tapped them together, then began to dine. As she ate, Shego happened to glance up at Ron and idly wondered what he would be like drunk. And then she was hit by an evil thought:
"Why not?" she thought. "What better way to pass an evening? Besides, I was just going to watch TV anyways. Why not have some fun?"
Concealing a mischievous smile, Shego quickly put together a plan.
Oo000oo000oO
A very irritated Earl Harbinger was chain smoking as he drove the road to Cozrador from the MHI compound. They had a werewolf who could operate machinery when he was transformed during the full moon, and their only lead on him had up and disappeared.
Said lead was one Ron Stoppable, who's last known whereabouts had been on a small island in the Florida Keys, and when their team out of Miami had shown up looking for him, they had been greeted by the islands owner, who had greeted them with a sting of 7.62 NATO from an M-21 and a demand to get the hell off of his island.
After some quick negotiating, they were able to calm the owner down enough to get him to talk. What he had said was that, the kid had been there, with Shego, who was their target's minion- or had been, apparently. According to the owner, she'd told him that she'd quit.
They'd stayed there for a day, then they'd left for parts unknown.
On top of that, the kid's tracking chip had gone quiet again, so his hacker friend couldn't track him. That didn't sit right with him, so he was going to have one of the master hackers that MHI kept on retainer look into it-
Harbinger's musings were cut short by the ringing of his cell phone.
Flipping it open, he put it to his ear. "Harbinger." he said tersely.
"Evening Ray." a voice on the other end of the phone, and Earl nearly drove off the road in surprise.
A voice Harbinger hadn't heard since late 1971, and who's owner he'd first met in the opening months of 1942.
A voice using the name he had been born under, and hadn't used in decades.
"Johnathan." Harbinger said. "It's been a while."
"Indeed it has." Johnathan said. "Look, I know you guys are really busy right now, but could you swing up to Mobile? There's something that we need to talk about."
"That's quite a drive, John." Earl pointed out. "Can't we talk about over the phone?"
"You know I don't like to talk shop over an open line, Ray." Johnathan said. "If you're worried about the drive, I can send someone to pick you up."
"Pick me-" Earl began, but stopped when his hearing picked up the distinct sound of helicopter rotors. "Dammit, John. I hate it when you do this."
"I know that, Ray." John said. "But what we need to talk about is pretty important."
"Worth sending a chopper?" Earl asked.
"Definitely." Johnathan said. "We should have you back by midnight."
"Thank you." Earl said, and began to ease his car over to the side of the road.
Oo000oo000oO
The chopper turned out to be a Nighthawk, the specialized version of the Blackhawk helicopter used by the Special Forces, which picked him up from the side of the road using the hoist, and had then hauled him to Mobile at breakneck speed.
The Nighthawk had deposited him at a National Guard airfield, where he had then been driven in an unmarked Crown Vic to an unremarkable McMansion in a mostly empty development. Inside the house he'd found Johnathan Winters waiting for him in the living room, not looking a day older than when he had saw him last.
"Captain." Earl said, giving the man a salute. "You're looking well."
"Thank you, Ray." Winters said, returning the salute. "And it's Major now."
"Congratulations on the promotion." Earl said. "And could you quit calling me that?" he asked. "You know that I can't go by that name."
"Right, sorry." Winters said with a nod. "Anyways. We're both busy men, so I'll keep this brief. First, I know you and your attack accountant have been asking around as to why the MCB have been keeping a low profile."
Earl snorted in amusement at Winters description of Owen and nodded. "Yeah." he said. "We're looking into it. Not that we don't the government breathing down our necks, but we're worried that something like what happened last year might be going on, and well, we both know that those guys cant find their asses with a road map on a good day..."
"I don't blame you for being concerned." Winters said. "But you've been worrying about nothing. The Monster Control Bureau has been... defunded, and their resources reallocated."
Harbinger scowled at Winters. "Cripes John, you've been hanging around the spooks too much. You're starting to talk like them." he commented. "So they're out of the way. I take it that ...the agency... finally got around to dealing with them?"
"Yes." Winters said with a nod.
"What took you so long?" Harbinger asked. :"They've been running around for years."
"While we're quite good, Earl, we are not omnipotent." Winters explained. "And speaking of which, you guys are going to be getting a lot of business now that the MCB is under control, so you might want to start planning accordingly."
"Thanks for the tip." Harbinger said. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
"Just that Drakken isn't anywhere in Florida." Winters said.
Harbinger arched an eyebrow at Winters. "I don't suppose that you could give me something more concrete?" he asked.
Winters shook his head in the negative. "That's all I can tell you." he said.
Harbinger scowled at Winters answer. "Is that all you guys know, or all that you're going to tell one of your chess pieces?" he asked, to which Winters only shrugged. "Cripes, John, I was right. You have been hanging around the spooks too long."
"You're welcome, Ray."
Oo000oo000oO
Leaning back against the headboard of her bed with her brain full of cotton wool, Shego laughed at a gag on the TV and took a sip of her applejack. Looking over to her right she saw Ron was leaning back much like she was and the alcohol she had been spiking his cola had taken effect.
"Speaking of which..." Shego looked at the plastic tumbler in her hand and swirled the eighth of an inch of brown liquid around in the bottom.
"Hey Ron," she said as she swung her legs off the edge of the bed. "I"m getting a refill. You want one?"
"Yes, please." Ron said, holding up his glass.
That was something that Shego found surprising- Ron, even though his hand was weaving slightly and his eyes were slightly glazed, his voice was steady and he spoke without the slurring of words that she expected.
Taking his glass, she walked, slightly unsteadily, to the bathroom where they had the cola and the applejack sitting on ice in a foam cooler. Placing the glasses on the counter, she took the applejack and filled her glass, then added a splash to Ron's cola before topping it off.
Picking up the glasses, she walked back into the main room and handed Ron back his drink.
"Here you go." she said. "Now scoot over."
"Huh?" Ron asked, giving Shego a puzzled look.
"I want to see the TV better, and I'm cold, so I'm using you as a heating pad." she explained and put her right leg on the bed.
"Oh," Ron said, his face brightening. "Okay."
That reaction surprised Shego, and she voiced it as she climbed onto Ron's bed. "You don't mind?" she asked.
"Nope." Ron answered as he scooted over. "You're cold. I'm warm."
Perhaps it was the applejack influencing her, but the thought that went through her mind as she watched Ron's muscles flex as he moved over (He was wearing just a pair of sweats) was "More like hot... damn all that running has paid off."
"That's true." was what Shego said aloud as she sat down next to him.
After adjusting themselves into a comfortable position, they went back to watching the TV. When the next commercial break came on, Shego glanced over at Ron, who was taking a pull on his soda, and got an idea.
"Hey Ron.." Shego said.
"Mmm?" Ron asked.
"Could I have a taste of your cola if I gave you a taste of my applejack?" she asked.
Ron thought about it for a second as he took his drink, then lowered his glass and nodded.
"Sure." he said.
Shego smiled, took a sip of her drink, then leaned over and pulled Ron into a kiss.
Ron, for his part, with the combination of the alcohol in his system and the shock of what was happening to him, could only sit there as Shego probed his mouth her tongue.
"Guh...guh...guh..." was all that he could say when Shego broke the kiss.
"Glad you liked it." Shego said, leaning back with a smirk.
"Why'd you-?" Ron started to asked.
"Because I wanted to." Shego said.
"Because you wanted to? What kind of reason-" Ron started to say as he turned to look at her, but stopped when his gaze fell upon her chest.
He blushed beet red, and looked away.
Shego had been watching Ron the whole time, and smiled a delighted and slightly devious little smile. "What?" she asked, cupping her left breast. "It's not like you haven't seen them before." she teased.
"Y-Yeah, but- but, but- you're- poking out..." Ron stammered, then looked at his drink and proceed to drain it. "I'm just going to watch TV." he said when he put his glass down, his face beet red.
By this point, the next program's introduction had finished and the program itself was starting. Over the course of the next few minutes his blushing began to deepen, something that Shego hadn't thought was possible.
"Funny thing about HBO..." she said, raising her glass, "they get a little racy after midnight, don't they?"
"Yeah." Ron said in a small voice, his gaze locked on his knees. "Could we change the channel please?"
"No." Shego answered. "I haven't seen this episode."
Even though he wasn't looking at the screen, Ron's discomfort increased as he listened to the soundtrack. "What are they doing?"
"Having sex."Shego said, and seeing his discomfort, rubbed a hand along his back. "You're not interested?" she asked.
Once again, the alcohol spiked in Ron's drink worked his magic and loosened his tongue. "Well, yeah, of course I am." he answered. "But, it's, well, I've never really, well, had any experience..."
"Not even with yourself?" Shego asked. Ron flinched and hunched over some more. "Oh, well that's good." she added. "You know, you don't have to lean forward like that."
"I... can't..." Ron said in a strangled voice.
"Why cant you-" Shego said, then recognition dawned on her. "Oh, yeah. That's right. Guys." she said, putting her drink on the nightstand.
"Yeah." Ron said. "It's a guy thing. Be glad you're a girl, you don't have this problem..."
"Don't be so sure of that." Shego said as she leaned forward and began to massage Ron's back and shoulders. "C'mon, relax. You're too tense."
"But-" Ron protested.
"Oh, come on, Ron, it's not like I haven't seen one before." Shego tut tutted. "Though from what I felt, it's certainly bigger than anything I've seen in person before."
"What?" Ron asked as Shego got to her knees and shuffled over behind him.
"Porn, Ron." Shego explained. "You have watched it before, right?"
"Well, yeah." Ron said, his shoulders loosening up under Shego's ministrations. "Who hasn't?"
"Good point." Shego said, working her hands up a bit on Ron's shoulder and leaning into him as she put some effort into it.
As she did that, Ron stiffened slightly when he felt Shego's breasts' press into his back, then relaxed and leaned back, an act that did not go unnoticed by her.
"Bet you like that, don't ya?" she asked.
"Yes." Ron said, his voice deepening.
"Well, the feelings mutual." Shego replied in a much more assertive voice.
As she massaged up to Ron's neck he gave a deep rumbling growl-moan and Shego smirked.
"He's just like a big ol' puppy dog..." she thought as Ron's scent tickled her nose. "Whoa... he smells good..."
For some reason her head seemed to be getting fuzzier, even though she had put her drink down. Her thoughts were becoming disjointed, and then for a reason she could only dimly focus on, she leaned in and kissed him where his neck met his shoulders.
In a trance, she began to work her way along his neck, to his earlobe, then his jaw, then his mouth...
Oo000oo000oO
….Shego was on her back and Ron was above her, and they were fuzed together, pure pleasure was rocketing up her spine to her brain as their eyes locked together-
Oo000oo000oO
-Ron's hands were surprisingly strong but gentle as they massaged her breasts as she rode him-
Oo000oo000oO
-She was saying something in French but she couldn't understand what she was saying as she grabbed the headboard, it was pure ecstasy-
Oo000oo000oO
-it was like the entire universe was exploding in her brain, Ron was saying something as he shuddered and held her in a tight embrace, their sweat slick bodies sliding across each other-
Oo000oo000oO
Dawn was already long past when Shego woke up, and much to her surprise, she didn't have a hangover. With half lidded eyes she looked at the drapes back lit by sunlight, and took stock of her situation. One, she was warm. Two, there was something warm and heavy that she was lying up against. Three, her memory was a bit fuzzy at the moment, but she was fairly certain that her bed was the one closer to the window. Four, her joints felt like over cooked spaghetti, and her nerves felt like melted rubber, but in a really good way, which meant that she had gotten righteously laid the night before.
"Well, this certainly complicates things, doesn't it?" Shego asked herself as she tried to sit up, but discovered that she couldn't because Ron's arm was draped across her. "Well, there goes me sneaking out to my own bed."
Not being able to escape without waking Ron, Shego did the next best thing: she laid back down and enjoyed the afterglow.
Oo000oo000oO
End.
Authors Note: And so end's another chapter of Bad Moon Rising, with added complications! Things were going too nice for Ron and Shego, so I decided to makes things muuuuch more complicated for them. .
The next chapter is going to be longer, I promise. With lot more action in it. No lemons, but plenty of blood though.
-ZB.