Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible. She is owned by Disney and Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley. Any original characters shown or mentioned belong to me and cannot be used without permission. Got it?
Maternal Instinct: Spotlight
Chapter 20: Shego II-Lullaby
Shego let out an exhausted sigh as she gently rocked back and fourth in the recliner with a crying Shin in her arms. Unlike most babies she had read about, Shin usually slept pretty soundly throughout the night. Unfortunately, that meant all those nights when she was awake it was quite a chore to put her back to sleep. Shego had already been at this for about thirty minutes and it seemed not matter what she tried the infant in her arms just did not want to stop crying. She let out another slightly annoyed sigh as she glanced over her copy of the latest Richard Castle novel she had discarded when she heard her daughter crying. It seemed like Shin seemed to sense when she got to one of the best parts before she started her little fit. She tore her eyes away from the book cover to move them back towards the upset pale green baby.
"You're just determined to not let me read anymore tonight, are ya kiddo?" she asked with a crooked smile.
The half hearted joke did little to calm Shin's crying fit. Shego sighed again and sped her rocking up just a bit to see if the motions would help clam her. Again it seemed to have no effect. Shego laid her head back against the chair and closed her eyes, resigned to just let her daughter cry herself back to sleep even if it meant she didn't get much sleep herself. Unfortunately, that plan died in less than a minute of hearing the high pitched wail. She looked down at Shin again and tried to think of something that would relax her.
"What do you want?" she asked rhetorically. "A story? A lullaby?" She paused and smiled when an idea formed in her head. "Or how about both? I think I have the perfect one but it's not one I like to go into too often so you better not tell anyone about it. Got it?"
Shin barely acknowledged her through tangent but she did open her eyes slight to look up at her mother.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'," she smirked.
She then took a few deep breaths and cleared her throat a bit before she looked down at her daughter and began:
"Once upon a time in the land of misty satin
dreams there stood a houseAnd a man who painted nature scenes
He painted trees
And fields and animals and streams
And he stayed and he didn't hear the falling of the rain
No, he didn't hear the falling of the rain"
She paused slightly when she noticed Shin's crying had slowed down a bit. She took that as a sign that it was actually worked and started to rock the chair in a steady rhythm to help sooth the baby even more. As she recalled the next set of lyrics her face took on a slight wistful look before she continued.
"In the forest green lived a girl who put her hair
in braids and she sang
As she walked all about the wooded glades
She was glad when the rain came falling on
her face
And she sang, 'cause she didn't mind the falling
of the rain
No, she didn't mind the falling of the rain"
She reached down to tickle Shin's stomach slightly which got her to stop crying altogether. She considered stopping and seeing if she could get her daughter back to sleep some other way but at this point she was already far too into the song to stop. So she continued to look lovingly at her daughter as she got to the chorus.
"Will it always be the same as we recall?
Does it touch you when the rain begins to fall?
Ah, but I don't want to know and I don't want
to see
Another rainy day without you lying next
to me, ah"
Another reminiscent smile crossed her face at the next set of lyrics.
"High upon a hill far away from the dusty crowd
is a boy
With his eyes on the ground, his head is bowed
He's a fool and his mind is filled with hopeless
dreams
And he waits, but he will not see the falling
of the rain
No, he will not see the falling of the rain"
At this point Shin's eyes had started to droop and she was quickly drifting back into dreamland. Shego softened her voice before she repeated the chorus.
"Will it always be the same as we recall?
Does it touch you when the rain begins to fall?
Ah, but I don't want to know and I don't want
to see
Another rainy day without you lying next
to me, ah"
She filled in the instrumental interlude in her mind and rocked her arms in time to it, a motion that finally put Shin completely to sleep. Which Shego counted as a blessing as it kept her from noticing the change in her demeanor. Her expression fell into a rather sullen one the nostalgic energy she had during the earlier parts of the song seemed to fade. Regardless she forced herself to finish the song.
"So now the boy becomes the man who sits and
paints all day
But the girl with the braids in her hair has
gone away
And it seems that time has brought things
to an end
Nothing's changed, 'cause you can't stop the
falling of the rain
No you can't stop the falling of the rain"
She let out a long, sad sigh as she finished and leaned her head against the back of the chair again. She closed her eyes and sat in silence for a few seconds. When it finally clicked that it was silent she looked down and noticed that Shin was fast asleep once again. She let out an amused chuckled then leaned down to kiss Shin on the forehead. She then carefully got out of the chair and walked back over to the crib and gently place the sleeping infant in it. She ruffled the black and red strands of hair onto of Shin's head before she turned around to grab her book.
"So how come I've never heard that one before?" a voice asked softly.
Shego clamped a hand of her mouth to keep from screaming in surprise and waking Shin up again. When she recovered her wits she her eyes narrowed to glare at Kim who seemed rather amused as she stood in the door way. Shego grabbed her book then quickly ushered the redhead out of the room. After she closed the door she gently bopped her girlfriend over the head with the hardcover.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Kim remarked, as she rubbed the sore spot on her head.
"For ease dropping and then scaring me enough to almost wake up Shin," Shego explained. "Which, by the way, if that had happened you'd be the one trying to put her to sleep again."
"Okay fine, I admit I shouldn't have been spying on you," the redhead apologized but then smiled. "But it's just so much fun to watch you in those motherly moments."
Shego blushed and looked away from the shorter girl.
"Yeah, yeah I can get sappy sometimes too. But it doesn't mean I still can't kick that bubble butt of yours," she warned.
Kim's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"What have I told you about saying those words?"
"Mmmm," Shego paused and tapped her chin dramatically. "You know I just can't seem to remember. Must be slept deprivation."
"Or losing brain cells from reading those cheap thriller novels," the redhead remarked, pointing to the book in her hands.
"Okay Kimmie, fun is fun but don't dis Castle. The man's a genius with this stuff. There's a reason he's been on bestseller lists so often."
Kim rolled her eyes. "And I'm sure all those 'steamy sex scenes' are just there for flavoring right?"
"Exactly," Shego beamed. "Besides I figured you'd like him just based on the fact that he helps the cops solve murders."
"It'd be better if he helped the cops prevent murders."
"Calm down Princess, not everyone can be as kick ass as we are."
"Suppose so."
When they walked back into their bedroom, Kim went straight for the bed and was about to climb back under the warm, inviting sheets when she noticed Shego opening the closet door.
"Shego if you're going to fetch some 'toys' I'm really not in the mood right now," she remarked.
Shego let out an annoyed groan and glared at the red head over her shoulder.
"You know, Princess, it is possible for me to go over to the closet and look for something else. Sheesh! What kind of horndog do you take me for?" she muttered then turned her attention back to the closet.
"The kind who begs for it at least once a night," Kim retorted with a smirk.
"You've done plenty of begging yourself there Pumpkin."
The redhead frowned. "So you're not coming back to bed then?"
"Just like that," the raven haired woman smirked.
"I didn't mean for that!" she protested with a blush. "I just wanted to know if you were going to try to sleep now or not."
"Probably not," Shego clarified.
She then quickly pulled something from the leg pouch of her costume and slipped it into her book before she turned around to face her girlfriend.
"I want to get a few more chapters read in my book before I hit the hey," she told her, giving the book cover a slight tap for emphasis.
"Well alright," Kim said a little dejected as she slipped into bed. "Just try not to wake me up when you do come to bed."
"Trust me, you won't even know I'm there," Shego smirked.
She left the room before Kim could offer up a snide remark of her own and made her way into the living room. She plopped down on the couch with a loud and long exhausted sigh. She idly flipped the book in her hands, thankful that it provided a good enough distraction to keep Kim from asking about why she hadn't heard Shego sing that song before. Or why it was so important to her. She glanced down at the Castle novel and pulled out the object from her leg pouch she had slipped into it. It was one of the few personal items she carried in the pouch along with her professional ones. This one just happened to be very personal. So much so that she hadn't even let Kim see it yet and wasn't sure when exactly she would be ready. Which in it's own way was a bit funny considering how simple an object it was.
It was an old, faded and slightly crumpled picture. It was of a girl of about five years old with long, black hair that was tied in twin braids. She was running through a small wooded area in a garden with a boy chasing after her with a dripping paint brush. He obviously intended to leave a mark on the girl's face but she was keeping a quick pace ahead of him. Although she was running away she had a wide smile on her face and it was easy to tell she was giggling happily in the picture. The kind of simple bliss that comes with childhood that makes everyday an adventure. The happy, playful scene was contrasted, however, by the grey, cloudy sky peaking through the tree tops that promised a rain to end their fun prematurely.
A small tear welled up in the corner of Shego's right eye and she resisted the urge to crush and burn the picture. Just like always. And as always when she looked at the picture she couldn't help but remember the last few lines from the song she had just sang to her daughter.
So now the boy becomes the man who sits and
paints all day
But the girl with the braids in her hair has
gone away
And it seems that time has brought things
to an end
Nothing's changed, 'cause you can't stop the
falling of the rain
No you can't stop the falling of the rain
The End
Author's Notes: This idea is one that's been floating around in my head for awhile. Mostly because I love Billy Joel's "Falling of the Rain" because it's such a beautifully bittersweet song that really pretty much anyone can relate to. I found a really well done video to it on YouTube and that just spurred on doing this fic even more. I just thought it'd be a touching song for Shego to sing to Shin as a story/lullaby to help put her to sleep.
Of course me being me I couldn't just leave it at that and had to add a bit of pathos to it. I'm hoping I sold it as well as I think I did because that last scene is on that's been really burned into my brain for awhile so I really wanted to do it justice. Which of course means my small writer's block/lack of focus came back to haunt me this past week so I'm not sure how good a job I did. That's where reviews come in handy to see if I did or didn't pull it off well. So let's hear it from you guys.
This will probably be my last KP fic before I start delving into my other fandoms but I do have some more ideas floating around in my head so we'll just see. But I also have a lot of stuff I need to catch up on so...we'll see what happens.
Stay tuned I suppose.