A/N: Thanks again for editing bcbdrums!

Roller Coaster

Drakken jumped out of the hover car with a wide grin. The sun was shining and they had gotten a great deal on a monthly lease for a lair far away from Kim Possible. It came with a built-in signal deflector...and that was about it. The lair they'd hoped to snag was far out of their price range and was apparently being leased by some evil royal.

Drakken rolled his eyes.

Evil royal? How Disney.

"Shego, this new lair will be the perfect inspiration for our new world take-over plans," grinned Drakken. "We got it for a steal."

"Still say this was a waste of money. We could have easily borrowed a place from someone. Junior says they have a lair in Venice they don't even use," Shego pouted. "Shopping would have been a dream."

"Because Shego, as we've learned, lairs need to be hidden," glared Drakken. Shego rolled her eyes. "That suburb lair I had stood out like a sore thumb... Let's not have that again."

"It was a twenty-one bedroom lair made to look like a mountain...in a cul-de-sac. It was a horrible design from the get-go." Shego rolled her eyes again. "Now if it had been made to look like a suburban home...that might have bought us some time."

"I do miss the shark pool," sighed Drakken, shaking his head. "Let's not do that again. Venice? It was probably an oversized manor that stood out more than the suburb lair."

"I doubt that, he said it was discreet," she scoffed. "Or maybe... I mean, you never know with the Seniors."

"Let's focus, shall we. This one's a bit smaller than my normal lair choices, but with the slack on henchmen, it should suffice," said Drakken as they walked through the door of the cave entrance. "This won't take nearly...as...long... Wow."

"Yeah...wow," retorted Shego as she stood behind him in the entrance.

It was suddenly clear why they had gotten such a good deal on the lair; it was completely trashed. There were three large cylinders in the center—the power source no doubt—but only one was still standing. The other two were broken and seemed to have been a nest to some sort of wild animal. The ground was littered with trash and what looked like blood and scratch marks.

Broken vials were among the trash that Shego side-stepped over to look down the hall. Drakken followed the scratch marks to where she leaned around a corner.

"How fresh do you think these marks are?" asked Drakken as he looked at the dark red stains.

"What am I? A blood and scratch mark connoisseur?" muttered Shego as she stood on her toes to look farther down the hall without moving.

"I didn't say you were," grumbled Drakken as he touched it with his foot. "It's still liquid."

"Uhm hmm," said Shego moving quickly towards the exit. "If you're not behind me when I start the hover car, I'm counting you as a loss."

"What?" asked Drakken. He heard growling from the darkened hallway. "Shego, wait for me!"

"This was not an expense I had anticipated," sighed Drakken as he looked at the semi-cleaned floors and the now vacant hallway.

Drakken wasn't exactly sure what the creature was that had been removed, or even if it was a creature. Shego and he had spent nearly an hour arguing over just that topic. Either way they had it removed. Judging by the vials and destruction, it was a project of the last resident. Or, as Shego put it...the last lair owner.

"Relax, I fronted the bill to remove Jekyll and Hyde," Shego rolled her eyes as she slung a bag over her shoulder.

"Oh, well, that's... Where are you going?" asked Drakken. Shego didn't turn around.

"I'm swinging over to Mumbai. One thing about this lair... It's less than an hour in the hover car," she said. "See you later."

"Shego... Shego," Drakken crossed his arms. "At least grab dinner."

"I planned on it," she retorted as the hover car started up.

"...She meant only for herself," sighed Drakken in defeat after she was clearly gone.

Drakken nodded at his progress. With a lot of work, and not a single finger lifted by Shego, he'd managed to carve out an office space to work on his new project. In his efforts to find a new plan, he had finally cracked it... Now if only he could find his notes.

He'd ask Shego, but she'd been in a foul mood since she'd gotten back from Mumbai, surprisingly with food for him. That had been two days ago and she'd yet to really say anything. Only glare at him. Whatever mood she was in, he was not playing into it this time.

"Dr. D," came Shego's voice suddenly. He dropped the papers he'd been going through.

"What, Shego?" he snapped with far more aggression than he normally would have.

"Whatever circulation this cave has is broken... How that works in a cave is beyond me," Shego glared down the hallway as she fanned herself with papers. "It's barely cooler than outside."

"It's fine in here," said Drakken as he snatched the papers from her. "I've been looking for these."

"Your chicken scratch about making a new Doom-V? Seems like a waste of money and time," scoffed Shego, still looking down the hall.

"You don't... What are you looking at?" asked Drakken, leaning over her shoulder to look.

He had expected her to roll her eyes, make a crack at him, even try to scare him—the usual things Shego did when she was in a roller coaster mood swing like she had been. What he hadn't expected was for her to full-on jump away from him and hit the doorway in doing so. She suddenly crossed her arms and tried to act like she hadn't just knocked a rock out of place with her shoulder.

"Is everything okay with you?" asked Drakken. He suddenly felt concerned. "You've been acting awfully peculiar."

"I don't think I have," she responded in a smug tone. "Maybe it's you... Maybe it's the heat."

"Maybe you're deflecting," retorted Drakken, though as he stepped into the hall it did seem warmer.

"Uhg, just use whatever genius-claim you have and fix the air," grumbled Shego as she stalked off towards her room.

Drakken stared after her and picked up the rock she'd knocked loose. He'd never seen her so jumpy before. He hadn't noticed anything different than normal about the moment. He'd simply leaned around her to check if something was lingering in the lair's halls again. He wondered if maybe her fronting the bill for the pest removal had irked her. He saw her glance over her shoulder before darting into her room.

"Is it me?" he asked himself. She'd shot him a scathing look in that second before going in her room. "No. It's probably just the heat... Guess that will have to come first before she gets worse."

"Are we going to talk about it?" asked Drakken after a solid hour of flying. Shego continued to look at her gloves. "Shego?"

"It was hot, sticky, and falling apart. I think the new door I gave it was an improvement," snapped Shego. She muttered under her breath. "It helped with the air flow."

"Shego, you pitched a fit and tore the place apart," he growled. "We're never getting that security deposit back."

"I just want to get back to the normal lair. Can we drop this conversation?" sighed Shego. She leaned on her palm and looked at the water below.

"We can't stay there... Guess the water lair is a go," shrugged Drakken. He watched Shego rub her temples. "Do you have a headache?"

"Just the usual one you give me," she hissed under her breath.

"Is that all?" asked Drakken with a glare. "You know what Shego, I'm done trying to figure out what's gotten into you. I asked. I made you a sandwich... I tried to fix the air. I even took you to Mumbai AFTER you destroyed my new lair. So go ahead. Just be moody."

"Thanks for your permission," Shego shot him a scathing look.

"That's not... I didn't," he growled and went silent. "Never mind."

It hadn't taken much longer to reach their normal lair. Drakken was thankful, because the silence was unsettling. He had glared at the radio for a great deal of the last few miles; it had chosen a fine time to stop working. Shego jumped out of the hover car before he could fully land it, and by the time he got out. She was gone. He'd debated going to talk to her after reaching his empty lab. Something was clearly off with her, but he had a feeling...he might only make it worse.

"I'll just give her some space, I'm sure it will work itself out," sighed Drakken as he pulled out his partial sketches of the new lair. "Sooner we get this lair done the sooner I can get back to world domination."

"Uhg, could you not," snapped Shego as Drakken's hand touched her shoulder when he leaned around her.

"You said you STILL had a migraine and didn't want any noise. I was being courteous," retorted Drakken as he jumped back and snatched the blueprints she'd been leaning on. "You've been even worse since we got back days ago. I don't think heat was the problem, and honestly you're getting on my nerves."

"Welcome to every day on my life with you," growled Shego. Drakken's brow furrowed and he went back to talking to the henchmen.

Shego watched his scowl fade into excitement as he looked at the blueprints. They were for the new underwater lair he'd been raving about. Apparently, he'd gotten a small structure deal to build one of his own... But she begged to differ. He was blowing more of their funds than he needed to. She was certain this lair would end up costing more than outright buying one.

We do need a new lair...

She groaned as her migraine intensified. Ever since she'd gotten back from Go City and looked at the contents of her safety deposit box that she apparently valued, she'd been less than civil. Her mind played back sneaking into the villain 'bank' as if she was a thief in the night. Ironic because at the time any thoughts of committing crime had made her physically ill. She'd had several safety deposit boxes and yet...the only one she took had trinkets that were mostly Drakken-related.

She didn't know what was going on. Perhaps it was just the fact she'd actually been on a date, or maybe it was the emotional turmoil of having her moral compass forcibly shifted. She could be deflecting all of that onto a box that meant nothing. She huffed. She didn't know and she didn't care.

Well, she did, but it was just fixing it she cared about.

So, she'd been doing the logical thing to resolve whatever misguided mental issue she was having. Well, what seemed logical anyways. She was actively focusing on everything wrong with Drakken. Normally she overlooked his issues to stay employed, or used them as fuel to poke fun at him when he got too into his own head. Unfortunately this hyper-focus she'd turned to had resulted in a major migraine at nearly everything he did. Like touching her.

She had never been aware of how many times in a day he found some way to touch her. Granted, the number of times had increased with him trying to not egg on her migraine pains, and she'd been in the way of something he needed. In fact, if she was really honest, she did the same usually just to annoy him when he was trying to concentrate. Either way, that needed to stop. It had clearly affected her subconscious and she didn't need to feed it anymore.

"Excuse me," he hissed as he snatched another paper in front of her and stalked off back by the henchmen.

Another annoyance—he was petty, moody, and childish. A grown man stomping off and overreacting to her pain. She made a face at him and he stuck his tongue at her.

Childish.

He was also extravagant with spending—a major problem if ever there was one. They did not need a new lair. Well, they did, but an underwater one was just ridiculous. They had several other ones they could have gone to. Sort of. They had leased the one north of India, but that place was in shambles, had no air, and honestly it was just a well-lit cave. She could have made less of a scene about it, but that was neither here nor there now.

You spent the security deposit on clothes...

Her internal monologue was a definite contender for the cause of the sharp pain that shot through the back of her head and temples. She watched as Drakken flopped in the hover car and looked over at her, but said nothing. Just rolled his eyes and looked at the blueprint. She sighed and tossed her magazine down—she hadn't even read it—and got up to jump in the hover car.

"We're just going to check out the new lair, you don't have to come if you don't want to," said Drakken as he started up the hover car. Shego shrugged and said nothing as they took off.

"Shego," said Drakken after several minutes of silence on the flight. "Have I offended you in some way...? Is this still about that cave-lair, or the loan you gave me?"

"No. Maybe you're just irritating me more than normal," she shot at him with far more venom than she should have. He looked ahead and was silent. "Finally."

"Is it about the contract?" asked Drakken. Shego had the urge to plasma blast him. "I said if you want one, fine. But you can't just shrug and continue filing your nails."

"Clearly it's bothering you," said Shego. "Maybe I don't like the idea of having to legally stick around."

"I merely asked because you never said anything more about being partners... Wait," said Drakken, his expression suddenly unreadable. "Shego, are you planning on leaving?"

"No," Shego replied sharper than she intended again. "I mean, no I'm not planning on leaving, but I like the option."

"I see," said Drakken. He nodded as they approached the water way. "We're here. Well, this is going to be...here."

"You're going to blow that out of proportion aren't you," scoffed Shego. Drakken shook his head, and she narrowed her eyes.

"It's good to keep options open," replied Drakken casually. She didn't like the strange sensation in her stomach at his words. He sighed and then grinned. "All right, let's go get started on the new lair."

She sighed as he landed the vehicle. Drakken got out and headed to a grassy knoll that was actually an elevator, according to the blueprint. She took a deep breath as she got out. Perhaps this was getting out of hand. She was more or less ruining their working environment in an attempt to fight her subconscious. Honestly, perhaps she had been reading more into it than she thought. She watched him kick the knoll and she let out a breath as she walked over towards him. She needed a different method of getting away from whatever was going on internally.

Drakken looked at the gear he wore in confusion. He had only a vague recollection of what had transpired after he opened the pirate chest. They were mostly flashes of scenes that kind of added up and others that were down-right confusing. One being, why had Kim Possible pulled him from the water and not Shego? True she'd grabbed him with their getaway craft, but something felt off. He remembered a physical pull like he was being tugged downward by some unknown force, and then sudden clarity and Kim Possible. He glared. He didn't like the idea of owing the obnoxious teen problem any form of a debt.

That ruins any credibility at world take-over time.

"All right, let's get you out of that crap," said Shego as she walked in with his normal attire. "Captain what's-his-face had way too much purple going on. Uhg, it's like letting Mego go shopping."

"Shego, were you going to let me drown?"

That was not what he had intended to ask at all; his eyes went wide.

"I mean the coat's not— Excuse me?" retorted Shego, her eyes narrowing. "Let you drown? No."

"Well, as I vaguely recall, Possible and I were floating in the water for some time," he stated, feeling more certain as he spoke.

"First of all, you can swim. And even if you were still possessed, pirates can swim," said Shego angrily. She looked uncomfortable.

"Well apparently he didn't," said Drakken.

He felt his stomach drop as he pieced everything together, starting with that day. The fact that she knew he was possessed and just ran with it; the way she'd been avoiding him since she got back, how she had actively seemed to seek arguments with him... He still had not the faintest clue why she'd been visiting her brothers other than villain problems again. He didn't even know if she'd wanted to come back; he'd just gone and gotten her because he'd tracked her cellphone.

He looked at her. She was looking off as if deep in a disturbed thought. He recalled their earlier conversation.

"Shego, you don't have to stay here," said Drakken. He felt like ice filled his veins at his statement. "If you don't want to work with me any longer...that's fine."

"Whoa...whoa," she growled. "Way off-base! Whatever is going on in your deranged mind right now...is nowhere near the mark."

"So you didn't subconsciously almost let me drown, haven't been distancing our normal working flow, and vocally declaring possibly leaving then?" He was angry now. Mostly at himself for the swell of emotions he was feeling.

She's left before. I should have known…

"Oh…" Shego's shoulders slumped and she just stared at him.

He took the opportunity to head to his own domain. Shego had taken them back to their old lair, which he was thankful for. He had hoped when he'd said it that she would have an argument ready, and tell him he was being an idiot due to lack of oxygen or something. He would have bought it. But the confused look she had…meant she wasn't sure herself.

I should have known when I asked her to be my partner and she didn't want it anymore. She asked about it when we first re-wrote the contract.

He tossed down the coat as he got in his room and flopped in his lounge chair and watched the cave stream flow with its faint green aura. His mind was silent and that unnerved him more than its normal array of thoughts and messy ideas. He was waiting for the anger and vengeance to start dancing around his head. They didn't come. Instead, the more he tried, the more he wondered what he might have done to drive her away.

You haven't exactly been brimming with ideas...

It wasn't like he hadn't been trying. He had scribbles and thoughts. He'd even been thinking about environmental factors. He wasn't in favor of those though; some could be permanently chaotic. If he was going to be dominating the world, he didn't want to have it destroyed by his methods. Being feared could only take you so far before you had to win the favor of your subjects. Pollution and plagues seemed the opposite of effective... He shook he head.

His mind flashed back to her taking steps away from him. She'd been avoiding him since the first night she got back. He thought back to his birthday, and a wash of embarrassment came over him. Perhaps he'd been trying to will his wish to fruition without meaning to. Had he been flirting with her? He cringed. Perhaps she'd gone to her brothers to get away from him because of it. It would explain her avoidance, the way she reacted when he'd gotten close to her...

His chest tightened and he sighed. It wasn't like he was surprised. He didn't even know why he had...why he even made that stupid wish. Clearly something in his mannerisms had shifted and it had caused whatever rift was happening between them.

Shego had been more than clear about their relationship and he'd gone and overstepped...like normal. He'd barely noticed... He didn't think she had... Clearly he'd been wrong. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, his thoughts tangling in a mass of chaos going every direction but where he wanted.

Why do I mess everything up...

"He is over-reacting," said Shego in her own room, nodding to herself. "I did not leave him to drown... I did go with the possessed pirate spirit though..."

Shego looked at her ceiling and shook her head. She knew she'd been tense since she'd gotten back. She knew she had been actively making changes in their normal day-to-day life. She hadn't eaten with him since she got back, had barely been in the lab, had spent more time reading magazines and going out than normal. Had this somehow translated into subconsciously trying to get rid of him? Sure, he was annoying and she had been channeling everything she found annoying about him with hyper-focus...

Good job, Shego.

She took a deep breath. All that concentration had made her blind to what she was normally on top of. She should have known something was wrong with him the second he got possessed; the replay in her head was night and day. She shouldn't have gone along with the spirit's plan. Any other time she would have back-stabbed them and then gotten Drakken back to normal. She most certainly would have been focused on the fact he'd not surfaced and on Possible jumping in after him.

Not only did I let my skills fail, I almost got my friend killed—

She froze. Her eyes shot open and everything lined up all at once. She covered her mouth and shook her head. She'd been so worried about the idea of possibly having feelings towards Drakken... She might have simply misread why she had grabbed those items. Just like there were pictures of her and Junior in the box...she'd taken positive mementos from her villainy. She and Drakken spent nearly every day together... They had far more memories together than anything else she had done over the years.

"Fucking, Steve," she hissed under her breath. She blamed that stupid date for this. "Great... Now what am I going to do..."

She didn't exactly want to explain all the dramatics behind her actions and she wasn't about to have a talk about their friendship. She cringed at the idea again. Once was enough for this lifetime. She could pretend like nothing had happened and it was all his imagination. That was always a good go-to. Eventually he would go with it like normal.

He thinks you tried to kill him because you don't want to work with him anymore...

She nodded to herself. She couldn't just ignore it this time. Shego walked out of her room and towards his door, knocking before she even knew what she was about to say. There was a lull in her head. A silence even. What if he didn't accept it this time? He'd overlooked a lot of fall-outs over the years... But this was the second time he might have drowned.

She looked at the door panel with wide eyes. Her mind raced back to Warmonga, their argument on the beach, and the months they hadn't worked together. Her whole stomach felt like she'd downed a frozen drink. She didn't want that to happen again.

It can't...

"Yes, Shego?" The door opened, and his face was expressionless. Ice ran up her spine.

"Do you want Chinese food?" asked Shego. She swallowed as he raised a brow. "I'll let you have the last egg roll."

"...Okay." He seemed unsure as he stepped out of his room. "Where?"

Shego almost smacked herself as they sat on what was once the balcony of the first lair they had resided in together. The whole thing was caved-in and looked like the sea cliff it was meant to be disguised as.

The same questionable Chinese food place had been open as the first time. So there they sat, empty containers tossed aside and the lids being removed off frozen yogurts they'd spent way too much on at the small grocery store in the town a little ways off.

"Now that you have enlightened me about your actual reason for going to Go City...care to explain the dinner? The very silent dinner apart from pointing out how much I annoy you?" said Drakken. He gave a half attempt at a smile. "Is this a goodbye dinner?"

"I'm not leaving," sighed Shego as she poured wine into her frozen yogurt.

"So, you're going to kill me then?" he smirked, but he wasn't fully committed to the joke.

"Trust me, I'm not trying to kill you," scoffed Shego as she handed him the wine for his float. "If I was..."

"I'd already be dead," he finished, and she smirked. "Shego, why didn't you tell me about the Attitudinator and Electronique? I would have helped."

"My morality was doing its own thing... And it wasn't like I helped you when you were all goody-good," said Shego. "Apparently when my evilness took a hike, my courage went with it."

"Fair enough," said Drakken as he passed her a spoon. "But what about after? What was with all the agitation?"

"...I didn't handle the switch well," said Shego. She knew it was a lie, but she wasn't about to have that conversation. "And we spend a lot of time together, so you got the brunt of it."

"So you're not planning on running off and being a hero again?" asked Drakken, and Shego shoved him playfully. "Shego we're on a cliff!"

"You're fine, I'd grab you," said Shego. Her chest felt a sharp twang at the recollection of his words from earlier. "I thought you were fine... I wasn't trying to—"

"Let's just chalk it up to a really bad day," said Drakken as he took a spoonful of his float.

"Sound like a plan," said Shego. Her hand rested on his shoulder, and he shifted suddenly at the touch. Her stomach felt cold at his action.

"I think you were right about one thing, we've been spending a lot of time with just us as of late. Perhaps we should go back to a contract," said Drakken. "That way you have set days off and we can get things on a more professional level."

"Right," said Shego. Her hand retracted, and there was a sense of unease. "What if I don't want one?"

"I'll put in that you can leave whenever you want..."

"Then what's the point?" asked Shego, her eyes narrowing. "What else would we put in there?"

"Personal space, time off, vacations, the usual..." said Drakken. He looked focused. "Interest back on your loan."

"I don't want it back," snapped Shego, and Drakken raised a brow. "I mean, I've used god knows how much of your money. I think I owe you more than that."

"We could call it even then," shrugged Drakken. Shego didn't like this nonchalant attitude. It bothered her more than she thought it should.

"I don't want a contract," said Shego as she put her float down. Drakken raised a brow at her again.

"Shego, you're the one who's been annoyed by how much time—" Shego cut him off.

"Partners," she said. Drakken stared at her in confusion. "You offered me Partner, and I want it. We split everything 50/50. No contract. Just a verbal agreement."

"What's the difference?" asked Drakken.

"Trust," she heard it leave her lips before she could register it. "Mutual trust. No more of this back and forth thing... My part in particular. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

"But you said..." Drakken didn't finish his statement, he just fell silent.

Shego watched his expression but her mind was circling itself. A few days ago, she'd been worried about being around him too much... Now she was worried he didn't want her around at all. So much so, she wanted to be partners. She was contradicting herself and it was confusing, and concerning, and...his hand extended to hers.

There was a genuine smile on his lips. No smirk, no evil expression, no devious glint. It scared her as she took his hand. This was one of those rare moments they shared from time to time. A wine float, a setting sun on a broken balcony... Her mind flashed back over the years, darting and lining up every one of them, all the way back to the bowling night, and then to the first night they'd actually talked.

A bad date for her, no karaoke for him—just two people on a balcony with bad Chinese food and the same frozen yogurt floats. Her hand tightened on his but his expression didn't change. Hers mirrored his. She wasn't going anywhere.

That feeling poured back into her chest. Warmth and unease. Comfort. She was comfortable, the one thing she'd told herself not to ever be, and yet...here it was. As his hand let go of hers and he went back to his float, there was something different...or clearer.

Sentiment. She'd grabbed those items because of sentiment, hadn't she?

"Shego, I need you."

There were his words again. There were the fibers of her being reacting. She looked at his smile again, still the same. Her chest tightened again but this time...there was no panic. No over-analyzing. So, she'd grabbed those items. So she felt content? So she may not know what was actually going on in her head... Who really ever does?

She was realizing now she'd been missing some key factors in their relationship. He truly was...her best friend. She stabbed her float and shook her head. When she glanced over at him her stomach's ice melted into a wave of flutters as he looked at her with the same smile as before.

The flutters in her stomach picked up and she grabbed the wine bottle and finished it off.

I'm in trouble...

Uh OH -