Shego stares in silence. Kim had been standing in the same spot for over an hour now. Fireworks are already bursting in the air, choking it with light and smoke. Shego hadn't really noticed them. She'd only briefly realized they'd started before she'd gone back to thinking about the figure standing before her.

She had made a point to get to the show early. She'd stealthily followed the redhead when she left her family in claims of having a friend to meet up with. After crossing only a few blocks until they'd reached downtown, Kim had climbed up to a random roof and remained there.

"Why do you haunt me so?" whispers Shego, her voice carried along the wind.

A small pause in the fireworks display allows Kim to hear the soft remark. She looks around cautiously, eyes scanning the shadows.

A firework flares brilliantly, lighting up a tall lithe figure dressed in black slacks and a deep green blouse. The rooftop goes dark again, and Kim loses sight of the person. As a new colorful explosion goes off, it reveals the woman to be gone.

Kim blinks. She remains still, even though her breathing has quickened and her heart is pounding in her chest.

"Are you real?" murmurs a voice, hot breath tickling Kim's ear.

It sends in involuntary shudder through Kim and it takes all her willpower not to turn around.

"I'm not a ghost," answers Kim, her voice soft and barely heard over the sound of the fireworks.

"You act like one, disappearing and reappearing on whim…"

Fingers gently run through Kim's hair, and she dares not even breathe lest they be removed. A soft inhale nearly has her losing her composure.

Shego grins, enjoying the tense yet flushed look on the redhead's face. Hell yeah turn-about is fair game! Maybe she should have done this sooner…

"Were I a ghost, you could not touch me," remarks Kim, voice husky.

It sends a shiver down Shego's spine.

Definitely sooner.

Taking the comment as the invitation it is, Shego reaches out and trails her fingers across Kim's toned shoulders. She marvels as the muscles twitch under her fingertips.

"Hmm… You're real after all," hums Shego, playing along. "Are you my Princess? Or have I made a mistake?"

At first, her only answer is a gurgling gasp. It makes her chuckle lowly. Prey is speechless and predator is loving it!

Swallowing, Kim dares to lean back and press herself into the green skinned woman behind her. "The one and only," she breathes softly. "Are you going to save me?"

Shego slowly slides her arms around Kim, pulling her closer. She nearly purrs as Kim's warmth bleeds through her thin silk shirt. "I know that most princesses need saving, but this Princess has the tendency take care of herself."

Kim snuggles into the heat behind her, face quite content as she makes herself comfortable. "But this Princess is so busy saving everybody else, she often forgets about herself. Besides, she has taken on a task far greater then she's ever dreamed of. It holds many perils."

"What would you have this one do?" Shego nuzzles the red hair before her. Though she'd planned not to play into the little word games, she can't help but fall into them. All her previous anger had melted away while she'd silently watched Kim standing alone waiting for her. "A thief is condemned, imprisoned, not pardoned and then asked to fight."

"Why not?" asks Kim, eyes on the fireworks. "All souls deserve redemption. The only price is that the redemption is true and life lasting. Were intentions false, then there would be no deserving soul because the soul doesn't want it's own enlightenment. That soul would doom itself, even though opportunity offers it another option."

"A deserving soul…" echoes Shego. Her eyes land on the fireworks above, their light almost blinding in the darkness.

Was she a deserving soul? Did she want redemption? Did she want to change her life? Again?

What would come of it? What would she gain? What would she lose?

… Would she be happy?

"There is as much sacrifice as gain, Princess… This Thief is uncertain if redemption is the answer she seeks."

Kim trembles in her arms, voice suddenly shaken as she answers. "I-I suppose… that the gain is indeed weighed differently by different people… And… I s-suppose that a promise is laughable to a thief… But e-even still… this one… would have promised all she had, will have, for the entirety of her life… if the thief promised, in return, not to leave…"

Frozen in shock, Shego's mind whirls.

Such a promise! Such a heartfelt admission! And the weight of gain… for all that Princess has to offer…

Shego's heart clenches. "This… it's no longer a game…"

"It stopped being a game a long time ago," answers Kim. Her eyes are cast downward, face hidden in shadows. "The banter, the teasing, the nicknames, the taunts… all of that was a game. But this is serious. In a short time, things are going to change… They'll change drastically. It is important to know who and what is on your side. It's important not to treat it like a game because it could cost more then imprisonment… It would cost lives…"

"Why are you doing this?" Shego nearly begs. She's feeling so many conflicting feelings and thoughts, it's overwhelming. Her arms tighten a little. "Why are you doing it now?"

"Time is up," remarks Kim. "There's no other way. I'm forcing everyone to see reality. I'm… forcing you to realize the truth. If you want to walk away, you can. I won't bar you of your choices. I merely ask that you see me, see who I am, who I really am… and decide. You can have the world as it is, open to you and all that you desire… Or you can share it, be a part of the world I create and be free to do with it as you will…"

"With limits," mumbles Shego.

"Limits you already impose upon yourself for deciding to be one with my world. I would ask nothing of you that you didn't already offer."

"It's a crazy thing you propose," says Shego. "It's a lot you're asking me to choose between."

"Do you think I haven't had choices just as difficult? Do you think I don't have just as much to lose as you do? Do you really believe I don't understand the price for everything I'm doing?"

Shego sighs at Kim's harsh tone, amazed she'd actually riled the redhead up without even trying. "How do you chose?" she asks, refusing to remove her arms from around the redhead. "How did you do it?"

Though obviously still tense and angered, Kim doesn't pull away.

"Though the losses… my losses, would be devastating, there was more to gain by doing it… so much more… I do not gamble with lives. I do not pretend to play God and decide who is more important and who is not, even if it seems I do that. I do not decide who is past saving and who is not. I do not even decide what is religiously right and wrong compared to what is morally right and wrong. I merely hold in concrete judgment that all life is precious and worth saving."

Kim's voice softens. "It doesn't mean that I don't hold certain people more closely to my heart then others. It doesn't mean I don't cherish some more then others. When it came to that… When it came to deciding how much I wanted for my precious people… it wasn't so hard to decide anymore. And the biggest gain… for me, for myself… was that one person, just one certain person… could become more important in my life, could… share my life, could be a part of everything… on an equal level. To me, that sealed the deal, because for a purely selfish purpose, I wanted to feel complete and whole with the one person in the whole world who could truly perfect my world, no matter what may transpire in it."

Mute from the confession, Shego watches as the grand finale lights up the entire sky. After the last rebounding boom dies away, both women are left in the darkness and weighty silence.

Kim starts to pull away.

Shego firmly but gently holds her in place.

"That isn't a decision I can make overnight, Princess…" Shego rests her cheek on Kim's shoulder, noticing for the first time that the redhead is actually slightly taller then her now. She's amazed she's as calm as she is. Since when had she not answered everything with sarcasm and firepower? How things had changed… since Kimmie's high school days…

"How long would you need?" breathes Kim, hardly daring to allow herself to hope. "Things are progressing rapidly. I don't know how long I can hold things off."

"Halloween?" asks Shego, a tinge of hesitance in her question. Why is she even considering it? Had she lost her mind? "The perfect time… for a second beginning."

A smile spreads across Kim's face, and to Shego, it lights up the darkness that had overwhelmed them seconds ago.

"Halloween…" Kim inhales slowly… then slowly exhales. "It's starting to become my favorite holiday." She starts to move away, and Shego regretfully loosens her hold.

Only to have Kim turn around and slip right back into her arms.

Kim places a soft kiss at the corner of Shego's mouth. "I will await the Thief's decision… turning away all other's who may dare enter my Tower."

Despite herself, Shego grins broadly. "The Thief's answer will be one of the most honest one's ever spoken."

Kim beams happily at her before slipping out of her grasp. "Then, until Halloween." She blows a cheeky kiss and disappears over the edge of the roof.

Shego doesn't move. She's still grinning crookedly where Kim had left her.

She shakes her head ruefully.

"Here I was, all pissed off and ready for blood… and she's completely turned the tables on me again…" She sighs. "I don't even care about the answers anymore." She runs her fingers through her hair. "How the heck does she do that to me?!" Shego glances at the sky, face oddly thoughtful. "For all it's worth… Is it really worth it? Is it…?"

Shego shakes her head. "So much to think about. So little time to actually think. For a Princess to become a Knight, and then a Queen… and a Hero to become a Thief… and then?" Shego snorts. "It's all so ridiculous!"

She sighs again. "And yet so damned appealing…"

The black haired woman growls. "Nine months and I'm already as tame as a whipped dog!" She huffs and crosses her arms over her chest. "Nine months of constantly thinking about three, only THREE, damned encounters, and I'm completely collared and leashed! I was so eager to see her, I even stopped cursing her every five minutes that she crossed my mind!" She scrubs her face irritably. "And I don't want to either…" She pulls her hands away and stares at them. "I… want to know… if it's possible. I want… more… And then she dumps this on me! I… damn… how much I want to deny that a part of me really… really wants to say yes…"

Shego snarls and smashes a burning fist into the roof. "Damnit!" The flame around her hand dies out, and she's left panting over the hole she'd created. "I'm losing my touch…" she says lowly. "I can't even stay angry at her anymore. Is it too late? Have I already fallen too far? I didn't have one waspish remark or some snippety comeback… Do I… Do I really…? Is it even possible? Can my biggest foe… really become…?"

"SHEGO!"

The black haired woman jumps at the loud wail. She whips around to find Drakken piloting a hovercraft right next to the roof.

"What the hell Dr.D?! Can't a woman think without you interrupting?!"

"I have the greatest idea for a new invention! I've got this death laser that-!"

"Shut-up!" roars Shego. "I'm not in the mood! Go take over the world by yourself! I've got some thinking to do!" She walks away from him.

"But Sheeeeego! I've-!"

"I said enough!" She glares at him, fists alight. In the darkness, her face is lit eerily under the glow of her plasma. "You've got the count of three to get your big blue butt out of here! Then I start cooking!"

"Cooking?" Drakken asks foolishly. "Why would you start cooking? You're out in the middle of-"

"GRAH!" Shego lunges forward and swipes a burning fist down onto the nose of the hovercraft. It crashes into the roof, sending Drakken into a heap near the wreckage.

He groans, rubbing his head as he starts to sit up.

Shego grabs his collar, holding him up inches away from her snarling visage. "I said beat it! If you come anywhere near me without my permission, I'll burn you to a crisp!" She shakes him roughly.

"But-"

"Do you want me to make it so the only way to identify your corpse is by your teeth?" she growls out darkly. Her eyes spark dangerously as she holds a flaming hand near enough to his head that the heat causes his skin to redden.

Eyes wide, Drakken gapes in terror.

A tell-tale stench and a pooling of liquid at his feet is all the answer Shego needs.

She drops him with a disgusted snort. "Don't contact me. At-all."

She stalks away and disappears from his sight.

Once she's on the street, she smirks to herself. "I've still got it."

A/N: Okay! First off, this was obviously meant for the 4th of July. Sadly, things happened and it didn't get finished and posted.

Secondly! Yes, Shego was oddly compliant through the entire conversation with Kimmie. Why? She's been stewing about things for 9 months! And though it's taken that long for it to start sinking in, she has to admit she "kind'a likes" the redhead. Plus, turning the tables has her starting the conversation with the "lets be flirty teasey" thing in mind. And haven't you noticed? Her continued encounters with Kimmie/KAP have cooled her jets bit by bit. So! Last conversation was civilized, and this one is totally co-flirty stuff! As far as relationships go, I think 9 months is plenty of time to change the pace! What do you think?