Kim lay in bed, wondering if tonight was the night Shego was going to visit. The teenager would have expected her the night after their latest confrontation, but a lot had happened in the day that followed. And the night after that. For all she knew, it was still happening even now. What convoluted scheme would Drakken have to come up with in order to remove Shego's moodulator?

Over a week and she still hadn't shown. It actually felt wierd to go foil Dementor without first being visited by the green girl. And then there was the fact that she'd been literally joined at the hip with her high school rival overnight. Kim had assumed that Shego would show up on that night if any, and suggested spending the night at Bonnie's instead. There'd been no argument from the tanned brunette, since she'd made her opinion of Kim's family clear and had that date with Brick... a memory that still made Kim growl with frustration.

Somehow, Dementor's bonding agent had no effect on the clothing between them; presumably to prevent people from simply undressing out of their predicament. So, despite their... personality conflict, Kim had seen enough to admit Bonnie's body was hot. She had a dancer's physique instead of a fighter's. It was a noticable difference. She was built to move with others, not against them. Maybe Bonnie would mellow out once she got away from her sisters, and then they might become friends. Or friendly. Or something. In the meantime, actually dancing with Shego moved a couple of steps up Kim's list of things to do.

Was there a difference between mind control and emotion control? Kim remembered Shego's reaction once they'd both been freed from the compliance chips, but Drakken wasn't to blame for the moodulator misadventure. Perhaps it depended on his behaviour during the whole thing. How had he responded to Shego's... advances? The thought of Drakken and romance combined was worthy of a shudder, but the villainess wasn't exactly romantic. What if she'd simply jumped him?

Not touching something because you didn't know where it'd been wasn't nearly as horrifying a thought as not touching because you did know... but not knowing one way or the other was getting increasingly aggravating.

So seeing Shego sneak in through the window was a welcome relief. It didn't even matter that she only sat on the edge of the bed, fully clothed.

"Those things made us want whoever we were nearest to at the time, right? Please tell me it's just whoever's nearest."

"...As far as I know, yes."

Shego's relief was palpable. "Okay... okay. For a while I was worried I had developed some actual feelings for Drakken that were brought out by the damn thing."

"Well, I do love Ron. Not like that, but... you must care about Drakken in some way to put up with him for so long."

"He's the best choice among villainous employers, that's all."

"That's really the only reason?"

"Oh, please. I'm considering quitting, that's how bad it is."

"...What did you do?"

"I kissed him. More than once. And I liked it." Shego's grimace worsened until an involuntary "Gyah!" escaped her lips.

"I guess I was lucky. Kissing Ron wasn't so bad, and I only did it once."

The green girl raised an eyebrow. "You weren't dressed to kiss, that night. Were you even wearing anything under that little black dress?"

"Of course I was," Kim hissed, poking Shego's thigh. "Otherwise Ron and Drakken would have seen more than they should while they were cowering in that... wait..." Her eyes widened. "Were you planning to..."

Shego shuddered. "Ugh. New topic!"

Normally the redhead would have simply started kissing her at that point, but due to the subject of their conversation, neither of them seemed particularly interested at the moment. She cast about in her mind for a moment, before falling back on the fighting.

"What was the deal with you almost backing down when you stole from Dr. Bortel?"

"I'd never back down from a fight with you, Kimmie. I was just..." Shego trailed off. It was business that she tried to keep seperate from... this, but when it came down to it, she trusted Kim. Innocence bordering on naivety, she would never use something she was told in confidence for 'heroic' purposes; though she might see it as an opportunity to wean her away from villainy. With a shrug and a sigh, Shego continued. "My contract was for five years, and we're halfway through the fifth year now. I'm just reminding him how badly he needs me, especially since you started sticking your nose into his business."

Kim's hopeful face fell. "You're going to keep working for him, then."

"Try not to sound so disappointed, princess. The routine's getting a little stale, but if I retired or went back to thieving as a free agent, we wouldn't be crossing paths nearly as often."

"You only visit me after we cross paths. If you dropped in on a regular basis..." Kim gave her a pout.

"You'd want that? Even if I kept breaking the law?"

"Well, yeah!"

Shego blinked in astonishment before schooling her expression back to one of nonchalance. "Huh. That never really occurred to me."

Kim sat up and hugged her. "I love you. You're my gorgeous green goddess, and I want you in my life as much as possible. Especially since there's so much we can't do together; not openly, anyway." Shego was resisting, but the teenager pulled tighter, breathing in the scent of her hair before sighing into it and letting her hands start to wander.

"Would... would you let me take you away from here?" Shego asked. "Overnight, or a weekend, or... something?"

"As long as it's not to a lair. We both see enough of them at work."

"If anyone's spying on me, or you, and they see us together..."

"Then you'll just have to take me somewhere very private," Kim insisted as one of her hands cupped a breast and squeezed. "Your bedroom comes to mind. Can we be as noisy as we want, there?"

"Uh, my bedroom's in the lair, cupcake. I was thinking more along the lines of a cabin by a deserted tropical beach."

The squeezing paused. "Isn't that kind of thing ferociously expensive?"

"Trust me, I can afford it."

The redhead leaned back so she could see Shego's face. "...Really?"

"Yeah. Once you've scraped enough millions together, it's easy to make more."

"Millions?" Kim repeated far too loudly, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

Shego sniggered. "Hey, guess what. Crime pays. It can pay even if they catch you. You just have to be good enough at it. Just look at Wall Street; everything they do there is technically legal."

The teenager was still wrapping her head around the millions. "Let me see if I've got this straight. You've made your money from stealing, as well as a legitimate paycheck from Drakken, and once you have a few million... what?"

"Bank accounts with a five per cent interest rate, that's what. I only use what I have to, which is barely anything while I'm under Drakken's roof - one reason why I took a steady job - so the money just keeps growing and growing and growing. And no, I'm not gonna tell you how much I've got. 'Enough' is all you need to know."

The redhead gaped before her next question came to mind. "So you really could retire right this second and you'd be set for life."

"Yeah, but I'd get bored," Shego declared, taking on an air of superior importance. "I'm still in my prime, y'know."

"You could always help me save the world..."

Kim's tone made it obvious that she was only teasing, but the villainess couldn't help turning the tables. "And you could help me steal stuff, even if it's just for fun. You could even give it back, if you had to. Just think how famous we'd be after stealing the Mona Lisa, the Golden Jubilee diamond... heck, we could steal the crown jewels of every sovereign nation. The two of us, your geek in support, we'd be unstoppable."

"Wade? I'd never involve him in-"

"He's a hacker. A preteen criminal. And," Shego admitted with surprising sincerity, "He's a genius. If he was insane, you'd have to foil him."

Reluctant to admit Shego had a point, Kim struggled to make hers. "There's different levels of... I don't know everything he does, but it's for the greater good..."

"Oh yeah? Ask him if he'd be interested in backing up our crime spree. We'll see if he does it for the greater good, or for you."

"But... I'm just..."

"A hero," the villainess pointed out in a tone so serious it brooked no argument. "And he's had a bigger influence on you than the sidekick that got you started. Taking over your website, supplying you with gadgets..."

"Wait, how do you know all that?"

Shego closed her mouth with a snap, then grudgingly grumbled, "I may have visited the site, once or twice. It's all right there on the history page."

"Oh..."

The grin on Kim's face was too adorable not to kiss, so that's what Shego did. Her hand went into her hair, and a tug opened the redhead's mouth... it was a little ritual the two of them had somehow developed. As their tongues began to play, Shego's hand slid down Kim's neck and...

"Mm," Shego suddenly cut things short, "How are you after that kick to the chest?"

"Huh?" The teenager needed a moment to remember the kick in question. "Oh, no big. I managed to shift my momentum right before contact, so all I got was a major bruise. All healed, now."

"We got those things on us during the fight, right?"

"Moodulators, and yeah. Ron picked up the controller instead of the kimmunicator. Started fiddling with it the morning after, left it in the house when we went to school. It was all an accident."

"Hm. Well, we got away scot free with the doohicky Drakken was actually after, that's what matters. How'd you get your 'moodulator' off?"

"It broke when you attacked Ron, remember? I guess the need to protect him from you overrode it."

"Well, that makes sense," Shego muttered, more to herself than Kim, it seemed.

"What about you?" the heroine asked.

"...I nearly killed Drakken."

"What happened?"

"What happened was I nearly killed Drakken. The threat of losing my employer is what broke it."

"You mean you literally..."

"I'd been all lovey-dovey with him for most of the day. Then we're at the parade, I start sobbing for no good reason, and he abandons me. Then I'm enraged and go after him."

Kim had been distracted by her own fury at the time, but thinking back, she recalled Shego's behaviour. "If you were focused on Drakken, why take a swipe at Ron?"

"...He ran into me," the green girl deadpanned.

"That's all?"

"Ugh, fine. There might have been some jealousy involved."

"Reeeally?" Kim hummed with lidded eyes and a knowing smile.

"He gets to do the stuff with you that I can't. Every day."

"But he doesn't get to do this with me," Kim assured her before leaning in and capturing Shego's lips with her own.

When the kiss ended, the villainess breathed, "I thoroughly sterilized my mouth, but I think I'll need a lot more of those to wash away the memories."

"A shame we couldn't have been together when it started," the redhead giggled. "Oh, but the whole episode may have given Ron ideas. Mom once said teenage boys fantasize about pretty much all the girls they find attractive, so he's probably thought of me like that..."

"Probably," Shego agreed neutrally, despite the sudden surge of panic.

"I think last week made things... real. That he'd like to give it an actual shot." Kim shrugged. "I doubt he will, though. Change always freaks him out."

"How do you feel about it?"

The tone of Shego's voice, the look on her face; Kim could tell she was taking this surprisingly seriously. "We've been best friends since pre-K. I've never been interested in him like that. It'd be too wierd."

"And if that changes?"

Now the teenager frowned. "What are you asking me, Shego? If I'd leave you for him? What about all your threesome fantasies?"

"Did I ever mention the doofus?" The villainess huffed. "Your mom is hot enough to give your dad a try. The boys you crush on tend to be cute. But him? Hell no. He barely even has shoulders! You honestly think I'd ever kiss Bueno Nacho breath?"

"He brushes his teeth regularly, you know." The quip fell flat, so Kim tried to be serious; she couldn't understand what the big deal was. "Does this really bother you? We agreed that this was seperate from the guys in our lives. You've been with men while on vacation since we started, haven't you?"

"This is different," Shego mumbled, frustrated with herself for being such a sap. "He knows you in a way I never will."

Now Kim got it. "And you know me in a way he never will. It's kinda sweet that it makes you jealous, but it doesn't change a thing between us. You're the first and only person I've ever been in love with."

Shego took a deep breath and released it slowly before finally looking Kim in the eye. "You're a hell of a girl, Kimmie."

"Look who's talking," Kim murmered before the kissing resumed.