+ Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Kim Possible characters. All belong to Disney. I make no profit from this, it is simply a product of pleasure.
A/N: Omg, three long chapters in just a little over three days. I've been staying up till 5:30 am. Am I crazy? Nah, KiGo is greater than Everything. Even sleep.+
Kim Possible's second day with the recruits at Global Justice drug on longer than the first, it was almost boring. Today was stamina. Every man and woman in her training unit started out with a four mile run before returning to the large open area beside the obstacle course they had ran the day before.
"Everyone drop down and start push-ups!" Kim shouted, sporting a black tank top tucked into tighter camouflage pants. Today was too hot to wear her usual outfit, not to mention she honestly did not like wearing the same clothing over and over again. A uniform was different, but her position required her to wear what she wanted. And since no one would run out here in jeans, they expected practical attire.
Blowing a whistle sharply, each voice shouted out a "Hah!" as they dropped almost as a perfect unit. With each blow of Kim's whistle, the bodies in front of her would raise up in a push up before lowering back down. Keeping to an even pace, Kim walked through the lines, hands behind her back as she watched or correcting a man's foot placement. As she did this, she was half paying attention, and half thinking of this morning.
She-roo, or so she still teased Shego, had watched over her after the red-head fell back asleep from her nightmare. Her arch-rival claimed she had not slept since, and merely waited the hour until Kim's alarm went off. It had surprised her that Shego had been so attentive, and even told Kim to take an extra few minutes to get a good breakfast before going. Of course, in a fashionable manner, Shego snapped that Kim probably didn't need to be throwing up from lack of substance if she was going to be kicking good guy butt, or so she put it. She was right, unfortunately. Kim realized on the drive over that she felt a lot better than she had the hour and a half prior. Who would have thought Shego's simple demand would put her in a better state of mind for the day.
"Fifty more!" Kim shouted, having found they were close to a hundred push-ups, and they didn't need the whistle to keep rhythm as she shouted for them to keep the pace. If anyone had any thoughts that the once-teen-hero would be a softer drill sergeant because of her young age, they would be proven wrong. Kim had permission to be as hard as she felt it necessary to be, to shape the new members of GJ. And it proved to be a good way to keep her mind off of things. At least, that's what she thought, as she pulled them up from their pushups and shouted for another five laps around the track.
"Impressive work today, Possible," a voice said behind the red-head, who had tied her hair back into a low pony tail to keep out of her eyes while she finished up the paperwork during her lunch break. The voice caused her writing to pause and her olive green eyes to turn upwards, meeting a single stare.
"Thank you, Doctor Director," Kim said simply, her voice was steady but her mind was preparing for the scolding. Betty had not talked to her face to face about her internship or membership in almost two years, Kim thought as she stood up and shook the Directors hand as sheer courtesy, not because she wanted to. Her respect for the Director diminished after the incident over in Russia. The woman had almost demanded reports the minute they returned to the States, and Kim had been in such bad condition that even Yori, one of her lesser friends, had yelled at the Director in her place. Not only that, but Kim wasn't allowed to join any missions till the next spring, when her wounds were well scared over and her condition back at a hundred percent. As Betty had put it, "We don't need a Kim who isn't up to par." It was a simple, almost militaristic sentence. But it was one that had dug into Kim the moment it was said, and had ever since.
It was times like this that she wished she wasn't on GJ's members list, because she would've been in some trouble for not reporting Shego's 'accident'.
"Seems like you could whip those men into shape better than one of our more senior drill sergeants." The woman with the eye patch looked around, her face surprisingly serious for one as young as she was. Then again, she wasn't the head of GJ for nothing. The men in Kim's unit were all seated towards the back of the large cafeteria, looking worn as they stuffed their faces. Water bottles were scattered around the table, which a few of them started picking up and throwing away only to come back with more.
"Yes, sir," she confirmed, addressing the woman as protocol demanded, "They all kept up well enough. A handful show much promise, while another few are on the bottom of the list. But their determination is astounding." The red-head gave the Director a rundown of her plans for the rest of the day, which she received a nod of confirmation.
"Keep up the good work, Possible." Surprising the heroine, the Director began to turn away. "Oh, Possible," she said, looking over her shoulder, "Have you seen Shego around?" Her one eye bore into Kim's blinking olive greens.
"No, sir. Has something happened?" The twenty-two year old had already prepared herself for anyone questioning her on seeing Shego, knowing that Drakken was out planning something. Yet, while she knew this, she was still harboring his assistant in her bedroom and eating frozen waffles at the dinner table...
"There have been several reports spotting Drakken running about, actually purchasing items with cash. Shego hasn't been seen with him in five days."
"He's actually buying something, sir?"
"Yes. Small end items, wires, a radio and tv antennas, several fuses, along with some sort of lengthy connector cable. Keep your eyes peeled, Possible."
Nodding, Kim watched the Director walk away then went back to her reports. Her heart was pounding hard, trying to keep her face stoic and focusing her attention on her fast scribbles. She may need to have a talk with She-roo later.
"Five days, Shego." the pandaroo said later on that afternoon, staring at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her appearance still made her cringe and she was very glad, for one of the few times in her life, that she was granted her abilities from the comet. If she was forced to stay like this forever, she might have to strangle herself a bio-geneticist into making her something less… fluffy. Tugging at an ear as she hopped down from the stool in front of the sink, she headed back down stairs. The majority of her morning had been sleeping and thinking if she wasn't, staring at the ceiling from the middle of Kim's bed, the mix-matched pandaroo contrasting harshly against the light pink sheets.
Wade had checked on her an hour prior and she updated him on her condition, and let him know about Kim's nightmare.
"Nightmare?" he had asked, "I don't know Kim to suffer from nightmares, let alone from something harsh enough to cause her to wake the way she did."
Shaking her head, her ears flopping around, Shego growled at herself. "Stop it, you fool. Kim's not your friend." She needed to hear it spoken aloud, but her tone wasn't the least bit convincing. That made her angrier, her fist balling up and igniting in a sharp green flame, raising one above her head…
Sighing, she made the flames fade to nothing and rubbed a clawed paw over her short muzzle. Getting angry and putting holes in Kim's nice house wasn't going to solve anything. Which reminded her of how the younger woman had smacked into her a few nights ago, causing the injury on her upper arm. Shego had played up the pain that first night, but since then there was none. With the bandaged unwrapped from her arm, she looked at the spot that covered it. The fur was flattened slightly from the pressure, but the bruise had faded, as far as she could tell at least, and the small gash was already scabbed over nicely.
"Ah!"
Shego shouted, the bandage dropping to the floor, forgotten as she doubled over, arms gripping around the round egg shaped torso as a surge of pain shot straight into her guts. A very familiar pain, one that caused her to gasp and curse before she realized it was the same pain from five days ago. "No! No, no, no, not now! It's too soon!"
"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" a shaky voice asked the shadowed figure that had entered earlier without permission, but the coward did not have the guts to venture further than what he spoke.
Far on the other side of Middleton, a large, seemingly abandoned observatory rose above the buildings that joined it near an underpass. Though the evening sun was beginning to set, shadows and sunlight danced through the rounded windows spaced around the large room, landing on the figure that had intruded the Doctor's current place of work.
"Harsh, Doctor? No." the voice whispered, their breath a fog against the window for only a second before a head jerked back and began laughing. Cynically and with a grin that caused the person it was directed at to cringe and back up a step. "Nothing is too harsh for these fools! Proceed with the plans." The laughter ceased immediately and was replaced with a snarled threat. "And don't fuck up, Doctor. Or I'll make sure you won't know hell from earth."
Long, brown, floppy ears flattened while green and black patched paws shuffled together nervously under the olive green stare.
"Well?" Kim said, eyes narrowing as she wondered if she'd have to repeat her question. When the red-head returned home that night with some more take out, seeing as she didn't want a disaster in the kitchen if Shego decided to try and help, she found another sort of disaster.
"It was an accident, Kimmie," Shego offered quickly, shifting in place. She looked as if she was a four year old caught scribbling on the walls. Moving a paw, she pointed up at the top of the steps. "I was coming down from washing up, and this pain hit. I… I kind of fell." The last bit was mumbled, rubbing at an arm in embarrassment. Upon the tumble down the steps, she cut open her lip from a smack against a stair edge, but otherwise was unharmed. What was harmed, though, was Kim's wall. Shego had tried to catch herself and instead clawed a gash down the soft white wall. The force of her weight down the steps also caused two pictures that were hanging to fall. One was a frame, which broke, and the other a wooden plaque, whose back had wiggled loose enough for the Pandaroo to fail in any attempt to fix and hang it once again.
Her attempt at one cover up wasn't nearly as pathetic as the picture she was now handing Kim. The glass frame had cracked and split into three pieces along the screen that covered the picture of Kim and Ron a few years ago, posing at their graduation, an arm in the air and the other around each other. Strange, Kim thought as she looked at the cracked memory she held, how everything could change so easily. Maybe Ron was right. Maybe she was better off alone, maybe she couldn't be in a relationship with anyone. Maybe… Global Justice was her only future.
"I'll replace it, Kimmie, I promise." Shego saw the sunken expression and felt a twinge of sadness, not realizing that it wasn't her fault.
"No, it's alright. I have other frames. But that wall, however. You'll owe me for that one," Kim said, smiling and putting the pictures aside.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Once I'm back to normal I'll get it fixed." Crossing her arms, her attitude was back again, but found Kim was staring at her. "What?"
"Do you… You seem… taller," she said, wondering if it was just her eyes playing tricks on her. "Wait, what day is-,"
"The fifth, Princess."
"Then maybe you're changing back!" she exclaimed in wonder, smiling more than she realized. In turn, though, Shego found herself snapping.
"Don't sound so happy about it." Then turning from Kim and bouncing off towards the kitchen to retrieve a drink. Dragging a chair to the cabinet, Shego jumped up and opened it to retrieve a small plastic cup, hearing Kim now hurrying after her.
"That's not what I meant, Shego. I know you don't like being in that state anymore than I would be if I was in it." She countered Shego's glare with a one of her own, trying to show the green warrior she was being as sincere as a Possible could be.
Ugh, those eyes were too much for Shego to look into at the moment. The debate with herself earlier of befriending the heroine came crashing back again. Jumping down from the chair, Shego pushed it back into its place at the kitchen table then thrust the cup at Kim and glared.
"You can apologize by getting me something to drink. The handles are too large for my stupid paws." Kim only gave her a smile, which caused Shego to look away and hop off towards the living room and the smell of delicious food.
After dinner, Kim was sprawled out on the couch when Shego finally spoke, breaking the long silence between them. A silence that had followed Kim's unanswered questions on why Drakken needed the items he was purchasing. The only thing the mix-matched colored pandaroo was a sarcastic, "He must be making something very sinister if he's buying tv antennas." Kim dropped the subject.
The TV flickered as old cartoons played that caused them both to share a few chuckles, but otherwise the two arch-rivals shared the silence without tension.
"Do you think I could snag a couch cushion to sit on tonight?" Kim's floor, though soft with a thick carpet, didn't do much for a bottom heavy mammal. The added cushion would give her the satisfaction of not waking up with sore hips in the morning. As she was in the middle of explaining that Shego was limping for most of the day, she was cut off by Kim, whose eyes were half shut in her exhaustion. The second half of her day consisted of participating with the recruits instead of just watching. The exercise kept her mind off of everything well enough, but it left her wanting to go to bed early.
"No."
"No? You're going to deny me comfort?" Shego snapped, mostly in shock, about ready to counter sarcastically, when Kim spoke again.
"No."
"'No' what?"
"I'm not denying you comfort. You're sleeping in bed tonight."
That shocked Shego into silence, but only for a moment.
"Geez, Princess, I didn't know you wanted the Cuddle part of me so badly." Grinning, but ducking the pillow half-heartedly thrown at her.
"Shut up, Shego. Either take the offer or whine about being sore in the morning." Kim wouldn't confess that she felt guilty for waking the other up early that morning, nor that with the change Shego probably had to be in some sort of pain. If it was happening, then at least the green warrior could whimper in pain with a soft mattress under her.
"Will you stop staring, Shego?" Kim said with a blush, arms crossing as she found the pandaroo in her room waiting for her after Kim had brushed her teeth and put on some pj's. The red-head was tired, Shego could tell from the way her eyelids slid slowly down in a blink, and her light teasing didn't phase the girl's embarrassment.
"Sorry, Princess, I can't help it. It's gorgeous," she mumbled, looking back at the poster art of the two of them from a fan of Kim's, the one titled 'Her heart bleeds green'. Shego wouldn't let herself imagine letting Kim beat her after all the time they spent fighting each other. Shaking her fuzzy head and rubbing it with a paw, she turned and managed to climb up into the bed. The left side was where she settled, near the wall it was pressed against.
Kim yawned, and Shego didn't force anymore conversation, but the actions of the mix-matched pandaroo did not slip past Kim's watchful eye.
"Is the pain returning?" Her voice was soft, concerned.
She's only tired, Shego thought as the lights were flicked off.
"Yes."
Taking her stuffed Pandaroo in her arms, Kim faced Shego and mumbled something about how she was sorry. Shego watched for only a few minutes as the younger woman's face softened, the heroine drifting down into slumber. Strands of red hair lay against the girls' cheek and across the bridge of her nose. A nose that curved just ever so slightly to make what one would describe as a 'button' nose.
Those strands were soon pushed back and tucked behind a round, soft fleshed ear. Shego frowned, having been so focused on those strands that she didn't realize her own claw had grazed against the skin of Kim's cheek in the action. Jerking her hand back, she flexed it and held back a growl so as to not wake up the sleeping woman. This was ridiculous, she scolded herself, turning and facing the wall so her back was to Kim. The brown ears picked up a soft sigh from her companion, but didn't feel Kim shifting or her breathing pick up.
The throb in her head was increasing, her muscles matching her heartbeat as it seemed like her whole body was beating so hard that she was worried Kim would feel it and wake up. But the red-head remained in place, softly snoring.
However, the aches were slowly increasing along Shego's body, and the only way she knew how to fight it was to sleep. Her emerald eyes closed and she turned the throb of her heartbeat into a lullaby, softly thinking over and over again, one word with each beat until she fell asleep.
Remember.