"You know what I really hate?"

"That your boyfriend melted?"

"Nah. You."

Shego only opened her eyes when the approaching footsteps woke her, even though she recognised them. She didn't want to do this now, but she knew Kim would be too stubborn to take the hint and go away. Still, she'd ignore her for as long as she could. Her feelings were hurt, after all, and she knew she should practice her limited patience when the opportunity presents itself. Perhaps she'd dreamed about that moment because some part of her knew the cheerleader was on her way...

The footsteps stopped outside her door. "Did you know?" Kim asked without any preamble.

Hm. She doesn't sound remorseful or apologetic at all.

"How long did you know?"

What is she talking about? Why's she so angry?

"Was he the one flying the jet?"

Good grief, is she still mad about the syntho-boytoy? It's been a month already! Way to focus on the what actually matters, Kimmie...

"Ugh," Shego exhaled. Apparently this wasn't about patience so much as mood. She stared at the wall in front of her as she answered, "I only knew an hour before you did, which is when I met him; so no, he wasn't."

"You really didn't know?"

Shego remained silent a moment, then asked, "You know what prisoners really hate?" She made sure to use the same intonation as that night.

"...That they were caught?" Kim said with equal amounts of sarcasm and venom.

"That they can't walk out the front door whenever they damn well like." Shego finally rolled over to look at Kim's face through the barred window of her cell door. "Since when has that been an issue for me?"

"It's usually only a matter of time," the teenager admitted, "But since you haven't gotten around to it yet, you may as well take the time to talk to me."

The villainess sighed and swung up into a sitting position. "My contract was ending and he knew he'd have to impress me to keep me on, so there was no 'mad scientist rant' detailing his 'best plan ever'. As I already told you, I couldn't figure out his plan. He made a big deal out of it, how you're no smarter than I am, therefore you couldn't figure it out either. There was a real chance he would actually win for a change."

"You were really trying to kill me that night, weren't you?"

The segue was abrupt, but Shego had anticipated the question. "Yeah, I brought my A game to that fight. As I recall, you handled it just fine..."

"So you cheated."

"Not my plan."

"But you played along," Kim insisted, her voice rising, "You played me!"

The redhead's temper was flaring, and as usual, Shego's followed. She was on her feet before she realised it, glaring at that frowning face through the bars. "I was getting back up while you were busy hugging your boyfriend; you were just too damn distracted, too stupid to wonder what he was doing free. Noone to blame for that but you."

"I was relieved he was safe!"

"You managed to keep our professional and personal time seperate, but you fouled up over some boy you'd only known for weeks? And on top of it, he interrupted our fight! So I gave us another chance. I didn't strip that supersuit off you, didn't lock your equipment away, didn't snap the rodent's spine when I thought of it. You did what you always do and we got our rematch, and you won! So what the hell do you have to be angry about!"

Shego abruptly turned away. Another second looking at Kim's confused face and she'd try to blast it. Instead, the green girl took a moment to calm down before continuing. "You wanna be angry at Drakken for getting so close, fine. You can even be angry at me for doing my job a little more enthusiastically than usual. But hate doesn't recognise any boundaries, Kimmie. And you sure as shit can't love someone you hate."

Silence.

The villainess turned back. Kim was still frowning, but she wasn't looking at anything anymore, just trying to work things out.

Eventually, the teen hero asked, "Is that why you haven't bothered to break out yet?"

Fighting you and fucking you were the two highlights of my life, Kimmie. "You completely, totally and utterly beat me, once and for all. What's the point?"

"No, I mean..." Kim trailed off, not explaining what she meant.

"What, you thought I'd jump back into bed you after that? We're done, Kimmie."

Kim obviously didn't like the sound of that. She had made a mistake and started thinking she could salvage this, only to... "I kick your biscuit and you break up with me?"

"Okay, one: you didn't break a few ribs by kicking my ass. Two: break up what? Were we ever really together? Two years and you couldn't even tell your best friend; the only reason your mother knows is because she's sneaky and I had a thing for her."

"You're... quitting with her too? She's the one who convinced me to come see you!"

"Call me crazy, but I've gone off redheads lately. Now I know why you don't have my kind of temper; you keep it bottled up until it explodes like a fucking volcano."

"Shego..." Kim growled, then took a breath. "I don't hate you. I thought you were in on it all along, including... that weekend away. That you'd taken Erik because we'd talked about him. And then I find out he's been a part of it from the start and that you'd known all along."

"If I had known, I still wouldn't have told you."

"W-what?"

The villainess mimed a small box to her left. "Personal!" Then to her right. "Professional! And by the way..." Shego pointed at herself and said, "Evil!"

The look on the teen hero's face nearly made her recant her proclamation without even thinking. Once she was sure her voice wouldn't give her away, she continued. "At first, it was just a meeting of equals. Then it was for fun. And then..." Her face and voice threatened to soften, but she curbed the impulse. "We knew it was fucked up, knew it was doomed. We enjoyed it as long as we could, and now it's over," she said as she went back to her cot and lay on her back, hands under her head. "Drakken's on his own now, and so am I. I'll serve my time so I can enjoy my retirement in peace."

"...Fine," was all Kim said, and walked out of sight, her footsteps going back the way they'd come.

Then they paused, turned, and brought the redhead right back to the door. "No, not fine," she declared, not so much angry as assertive. "Shego, the reason I came here... I had a dream about you last night."

"And you will until you shack up with someone else who can make you feel as good as I did," the villainess remarked, not even bothering to open her eyes.

There was a pause before Kim spoke again. "It was about that night. That kick. In the dream, you didn't survive. My conscience catching up with me..." She trailed off as she relived the moment in question, before bringing herself back to the present with a shake of her head. "I wasn't thinking, not about the circumstances or the consequences or anything. I was just feeling betrayed by the woman I loved. I didn't even consider the fact that the battlesuit enhanced my strength, the possibility that I'd send you all the way across to that transmission tower, or that the impact would-"

"So now you're trying to pass it off as an accident?" Shego interrupted, wishing the teenager would skip to whatever point she was trying to make.

"It wasn't about beating you. I just wanted to hurt you as badly as I believed you'd hurt me. I watched you go down with that tower, and... I was glad." A pause, and then there was a cadence to Kim's voice that Shego had never heard before. "I enjoyed it."

"Oh, now I get it. You're feeling guilty over your first taste of villainy." Shego chuckled. "Little miss perfect had her nose rubbed in the dark side she never knew she had. It must really bug you to know that's what it took to beat me."

"The more you fought evil, the more you liked it," Kim said, quoting the green girl's blue brother, Hego. "What if this was my first step down the same path? Would I still be the girl you love if I turned out like you?"

"I dunno. Break me outta here, and we'll see how it goes."

"I could. I can do anything."

Shego finally opened an eye and aimed it at the door. Kim was actually thinking it through, deciding how she'd go about it. For a moment, the villainess was curious... then reality reasserted itself. "Naaah, you won't. Not with your conscience kicking into high gear."

"Did you do this to me?" The teenager murmered, "Put these ideas in my head? You even made me think of my own mother as... as..."

"A potential lover?" Shego finished for her. "It would be 'ferociously' hot. But why were you getting off on the idea?"

"Because... I knew you would." Kim thought it over, then added, "And because it's so..."

"Wrong." The villainess closed her eye and settled into the thin mattress. "Now you know why I do pretty much everything I do."

"Because you're a selfish, rebellious bitch," the teen hero stated matter-of-factly, "But you have your limits."

"Everyone does. Have fun finding yours." Shego rolled onto her side, once again facing the wall. "Now if you don't mind, I was napping."

"There's one more thing I should tell you," Kim said, "Though I guess it doesn't matter anymore if we're... Ron and I are together now."

"Good grief," Shego muttered under her breath, "Rebound much?"

Kim hadn't quite heard it. "What was that?"

The green girl did not respond. "Shego?"

Shego's eyes remained open and unfocused long after Kim had walked away.

But she refused to let herself cry.