The kitchen was a mess. Shego now believed Anne's claims that Kim was pretty bad in the kitchen. What was supposed to be an easy task (cutting tomatoes and onions) ended up being a very messy operation. Kim had gripped the tomatoes too hard, so when her knife pierced the flesh, seeds and juice sprayed all over the board and counter.

And Kim started crying when dealing with the onions.

If Shego was a sous-chef and Kim the apprentice, she would've told Kim to just leave and let her deal with cooking. Except her girlfriend was quite adamant in getting the meal done - contributing to a group effort, if you will.

So what happened was that Shego had to deal with one determined, yet crying, redhead who was horrible in the kitchen and to somehow produce something edible for both of them to eat.

In the end, they sat on the kitchen floor sharing a pot of somewhat edible pasta between them.

"You know, Kim, I totally believe your mom now."

Kim gave her girlfriend a toothy grin. "I was worse before... I guess. At least the kitchen isn't covered in flour... I had a baking phase at one point in high school. Bonnie and I were competing to sell the most baked goods... But I couldn't bake for beans and my mom ended up helping me."

"Did you win though?"

"Did I ever! You should've seen the look on Bonnie's face when they told her I won by one sale."

Shego laughed. "Must've been quite the reaction. I'm surprised you both ended up good friends even though you both seemed to be a bit competitive with each other."

"Yeah, life works out in strange ways, doesn't it? What about you and Betty? I guess you and her are kind of like Bonnie and me..."

"We were dorm mates in college. The girl was a wild one back then. I was a bookworm of sorts and a bit antsy when it came to sloppiness, so to say we did have disagreements is an understatement, but we somehow ended up good friends. I guess she got used to me nagging at her to clean her part of the room, and I put up with her whole carefree attitude."

"Betty was carefree?" asked a surprised Kim. "She doesn't seem like it..."

"There's some saying that our youth shapes who we are... After her accident with her eye, I guess she, uh, literally saw things differently. She used to be a party girl, but sobered up after the accident."

"Oh..."

"Word of advice: don't play beer pong with objects or paddles that could hurt your eye... And don't let your brother anywhere near pool sticks when drunk."

"I... Don't even want to know now," laughed Kim. "That just seems so bizarre."

"It is bizarre, I wasn't there when it happened, but from what I heard, it was a crazy party and, well, accidents happen."

"It just doesn't seem very Betty-like to me."

"You haven't known her for fifteen years, that's why," laughed Shego. "I think it really turned her life around though. Like you said, life works in strange ways."

"I guess it does." Kim swirled her fork around in the pot and put it in her mouth, chewing as she thought. "You know, I think that you're right. We both have friends who are similar to each other, both Betty and Bonnie are fairly headstrong people on their own. I wouldn't want to see the day they work together - it might be terrifying." Kim pretended to shudder as her girlfriend laughed.

"It's a good thing they're sort of partnered up indirectly though. I'd be terrified too, but it could work to both of their advantages." Shego took another swirl of spaghetti in her mouth.

"I guess that's true... Oh!"

"Hmm?"

"I never actually asked you this, I think. How did you end up in graphic design? Was it something you wanted to do in college?"

Shego looked up at the ceiling pensively. "No, I actually started off as a history major, but realised after my first year that graphic design skills would come in handy. I had took some art classes back in high school and was told I was good at it, but I never really pursued the field further until a classmate asked me to design a college frat party poster." Shego laughed.

"Frat party posters don't even have to look good, but the classmate wanted some nice-looking one and had heard I played around with graphics programs during my spare time, so he got me to do his. Alpha phi and beta psi rivalries and all that aside, it turned out pretty nicely and the print shop owner found out my contact information... So I guess you could say I freelanced for a bit - without any formal training, mind you. It's funny though, I ended up graduating with a history degree and go into a field that's completely irrelevant."

"Well, I think you're good at what you do, so regardless of the path you took, here you are." Kim smiled and patted Shego's hand. "What kind of history did you study?"

"History of science and philosophy, which is why I guess I surprised everyone when we were over at your parents' house. I think my brothers have forgotten what I studied in college since I've been doing graphics design for a while... And ended up taking some courses post-graduation to just brush up on current standards and whatnot."

"At least you're still knowledgeable about what you studied. I probably would forget everything history-related since I'd be too worried about the paper. I guess majoring in journalism has really stuck with me."

"I think what's more amusing is that Betty studied English literature yet she's not taking up teaching, but set up her own business. That's sort of messed up, don't you think?"

"Not really, I guess, everyone takes different paths in life and if we end up in a place where we're happy with, we might just stay there. The same goes for career choices."

"I suppose so. I've never admitted this to Betty, but I'm glad our friendship has lasted so long. I sure as hell know I wouldn't have made it through my mess of a life if she wasn't there to help me out."

Kim squeezed Shego's hand. "I'm sure she knows you're grateful even if you don't say it. Not saying something tends to speak volumes in itself."

Shego smiled. "You know, Miss Possible, you are very wise for your age. Are you sure you're not older than me?"

Kim swatted a hand at Shego's arm. She jokingly asked, "Are you calling me old?"

"Oh, maybe I am... But you're old enough to be so wise and cute at the same time." Shego kissed the top of Kim's head and put an arm around the redhead.

Kim grinned and snuggled closer to Shego, making sure to move the now-empty pot of spaghetti to the side. "Sorry if cooking with me was difficult..."

"I don't think I've ever seen you cry, so that was a bit of a surprise," chuckled Shego.

"Well, now you know slicing and dicing onions makes me cry," murmured Kim.

"I'll make sure to chop them instead next time... And give you the duty of handling all of the cooking," laughed Shego. "It's not a bad thing, I thought you looked very cute while crying."

Kim chuckled. "I'm not sure whether you'd think I'm cute when I'm bawling my eyes out."

"You would at least look a lot better than me... When I cry, you'd probably cringe."

"No, I don't think so... If you cry, I'd probably cry with you." Kim shifted so that her head was now lying on Shego's shoulder.

Shego smiled. Kim had often said cute things like this and the older woman honestly believed that the redhead would follow through with her claims.

"Did you want to do anything else aside from eating and lounging on your kitchen floor?" Shego felt Kim shake her head.

"We have work tomorrow, might as well enjoy the rest of the day together. I'm sure Bonnie's going to start harping about preparations for the Christmas edition of the paper."

"Really? Christmas isn't until for a while..."

"She told me to take an extended vacation for Christmas, so I think she wants to get started on it earlier than usual."

"Ah... Have you not taken vacation in a while?"

"Not for the past two years..."

"Did you want to do anything during Christmas?"

"Nothing really comes to mind except spending time with you. Do you normally go back to Go City to celebrate with your family?"

"Yeah, it's probably the only time of year that everyone makes an effort to go back home."

"Ah, ok. I know my mom mentioned Christmas, but if you're heading to Go City..."

"If you want, you can come with me, but you'd still be celebrating Christmas without your family... I don't think your parents would like that."

"I'm sure they'd understand, or we can spend half the holiday at one and the other half at the other's?"

"Yeah, that would work-"

"Wait... Are you sure that'd be ok? I thought we agreed that it might've been too early for you to meet my parents-"

"Kim, at this point, it's fine. What's done is done. And I think the Wegos gossip about me to my other siblings anyway... I got a text from one of them the other day saying how he wants to meet you and everything," shrugged Shego. "Brothers are annoying."

"He wants to meet me?"

"Probably not just him. Knowing Horace, he probably told my parents I'm dating again," sighed Shego.

"I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing..."

"Good for us, obviously. Bad for me in the sense that Horace is rather... Closed-minded."

"And your parents?"

"Open-minded, supportive, probably the best parents in the world." A slight smile crept up on Shego's face as Kim sat up and looked at her girlfriend. "They never really asked questions when I went out with my first girlfriend, they just accepted it - I mean, they didn't love me less because of it. All of my brothers were fine with it too... All except Horace. I sometimes wonder how in the world we're related, but I'm sure my other siblings feel the same."

"Ah, well, not everyone is as accepting. I respect that. I had my fair share of 'straightness' thrown at my face... Even from my dad at one point, but he's gotten over it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he wasn't particularly vocal about it but did hint a few times that I might be better off with a guy."

"Tough, especially if he was rather quiet about it. Horace, on the other hand, tried talking my parents into sending me to a shrink to 'fix me'." Shego noted the surprised look on Kim's face and laughed. "Obviously, he wasn't successful... And was upset for a while that my parents didn't give me a 'talk' about my sexual orientation. Honestly, I don't think they care as long as all of us are happy doing whatever we're doing."

"I think my parents are like that too. I guess my dad didn't really imagine the possibility of me dating girls, so he was pretty surprised when I brought one of them over for a family cookout."

"Heh, I can only imagine his reaction..." Shego looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Do you mind if I ask how many people you've dated in the past?"

"I don't mind... To be honest, there are maybe two I can call an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend and the rest are just 'hey let's hang, but we're not really dating' ones. How about you?"

"One in high school, college was a bit weird since I was in an on-again, off-again kind of relationship, and then there's my hellish six years with my ex."

"It can't have been that all of the years were hellish... I'm sure there are some good times too."

"I think I've just blocked them out because I really can't think of any right now," Shego responded bluntly.

"I... know the feeling. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. You can ask me whatever you want and I'll try to give you an answer..."

"I'm sorry because I was being insensitive, that's all."

"It's fine, really." Shego slowly got up and offered Kim her hand. "Let's clean up?"

Author's Notes: I decided not to give Betty a doctorate. *shrug*

Just a general response to those who have asked me to write longer chapters: I like the current length for most of them (somewhere between 800 to 1500 words) due to how I'm pacing the story. If I make them any longer, I know I would get bored of reading and editing my own writing. ;-)

Going to maybe put out another chapter before the long weekend ends. Happy Easter'12.

Chapter title is from "Way Back Into Love (Demo Version)" by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. I like this version better than the one with Haley Bennett, but you should watch the movie. Cutesy romantic comedy. =)