Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from Kim Possible are all owned by Disney the great and powerful. Any and all registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

Kim and Shego agreed to team up for a special taping of The Amazing Race... Well, that's not quite how it happened. A nuclear terrorist had demanded a special filming and the network agreed as a stalling tactic while the threat was neutralized. Kim Possible: former crime fighter, college grad, and soon-to-be law student was among the active and retired heroes who volunteered for the race. Shego was among the criminals in prison offered a pardon, without being told specifically what it was about. Kim, now out of the closet, had enjoyed working with Shego, and since the older woman had no place to go after her release had invited Shego to stay with her in Boston. (See my The Amazing Race if you want the details.)

You Can't Go Home Again

Kim waited nervously at the baggage claim area at Logan's terminal B. She checked the arrival board again. She looked at her watch again. "I got here way early 'cause parking can be a nightmare..." She breathed a sigh of relief it hadn't been. "Or they might have changed the terminal." She wondered if the airline could change terminals for a landing. She suspected each airline had a certain number of gates reserved at specific terminals. They probably couldn't change terminals. "Still," she told herself, "I'll bet they could if some kind of emergency came up."

She checked the arrival board and it showed Shego's plane arriving. "Taxi to the gate. Unload passengers... How far back is Shego seated? Shego has to walk through the terminal to find the baggage claim. Does she stop for coffee? Does she stop to use the restroom?" Kim did mental arithmetic to try and estimate the approximate time until she would see Shego. Was Shego even on the flight? More importantly, "Is she as scared as I am?"

They'd been thrown together as partners for The Amazing Race. They'd got along great... Well, except Kim had probably made a nuisance of herself hitting on Shego. "Maybe she's not even coming. Maybe she's screwing with my head for being pushy." Kim looked at her watch again. She wondered if it were broken. It didn't seem to be moving at normal speed. Or maybe she should wait longer than seventeen seconds between times she looked at it.

Kim's heart made a loud thump inside her chest as she saw a familiar form on the down escalator. Shego seemed to be scanning the crowd. Kim waved wildly and the green woman saw her and nodded.

Shego wore a small backpack, probably her carry-on. "How many bags?" Kim demanded.

"Just a small duffel."

Kim pouted, "I, uh... You aren't planning to... I thought you..."

"I just got out of prison," Shego reminded her. "Currently pretty much everything I own fits in a small duffel."

The two moved to the crowd waiting at the baggage carousel. Shego seemed to be fidgeting too. "So, ah, this as weird for you as it is for me?" the pardoned thief demanded.

"Yeah. I'm... I'm kinda scared–" Kim quickly corrected herself. "I mean thrilled! Thrilled and excited! ... And scared."

"Scared nails it," Shego agreed, then sighed deeply. "Well, we've already had sex. So we know we each put out."

"Is that what you want?"

"Is that what you want?"

"I asked you first."

Shego closed her eyes and sighed. "God's truth? I don't know what I want. Except out of prison and away from Mom and Hego."

"They both love you."

"You haven't met my Mom."

"She wouldn't have ordered Hego to bring you home if she didn't love you."

Shego opened her mouth to make a retort, when paused a moment. "Well she's got a funny way of showing it."

"I'll bet she made your favorite dessert for you! She did, didn't she?"

"The Wegos like it too."

"See! She made it for you 'cause she loves you!"

"How 'bout we do a lateral here. You tell your Mom I'm coming to Boston to crash with you?"

Kim gnawed her lower lip in thought. "No," she finally admitted.

"Why? Afraid she wouldn't make your favorite dessert if–"

"How about we drop Moms, okay?"

"Fine by me, Cupcake... Oh, I think you told me you're out. You are out, right?"

"I'm out... I'm just not sure if she's ready to hear about us."

"So, ah, what do you mean by 'us'?" Shego wanted to know. "I'm just crashing with you a couple days while I look for work and a place to stay."

"Just a couple days? I thought..."

As they talked Kim led the way out of the terminal to short-term parking.

"Look, Cupcake, I'm not making any specific plans beyond the next four days. We ended up as great partners in the race. You may want me to– I may want to stay longer. Or we could get in a fight and wreck your apartment before I toss you out in the hall... I'm assuming there is a hall. You got a hall for me to toss you in if we get into a fight?"

They had reached Kim's car as Shego was talking. Kim opened a rear door and tossed in the duffel bag. "Yeah, there's a hall. Like, you really think you could toss me out of my own place?" Kim stood on the passenger side of the car rather than moving around to the driver's side and getting in the car.

"I could try... Oh, back to the sex question. I assume we'll have it. That a problem?"

"No... Only this time you don't pretend you're drunk and don't trick me into–"

"You call that tricking you? You wanted to take advantage of–"

Kim held up a hand and Shego stopped talking. "We shouldn't start off with a fight."

The older woman shrugged, "You're right. But that's kind of our history – and why this is so weird. We're gonna need to learn to communicate and stuff."

"Yeah, that," Kim agreed, "and this." She suddenly put her arms around Shego and kissed the older woman. It was a long kiss. When it finally ended Kim grinned, "I'm glad you're here."

Shego grinned back, "That kiss was almost worth the whole trip. But it doesn't replace other kinds of communication."

The redhead gave a teasing pout, "When did you get to be so smart?"

"Pretty sure it was after I quit working for Drakken."

Kim laughed as she moved to the driver's side and slide behind the wheel.

Conversation died for a few minutes as Kim found her way out of airport and back to the road. "That kiss was almost worth the whole trip by itself? Really? I know I'm hot but–"

Shego laughed, "Don't dislocate your shoulder patting yourself on the back. It was great, but it's just nice to be away from Mom and Hego."

"It was really that bad at home?"

Shego leaned back and stared upwards for a moment. "Probably not. I just feel so guilty around them... And please, don't tell me I should feel guilty. Yeah, I screwed up. I got sent to prison. But I don't like feeling–"

"Were they telling you that?"

"No, it's just the feeling that I have around them."

Kim frowned, "Will you feel like that around me? I mean–"

"Princess? That kiss in the parking lot? That was definitely an, 'I want to fuck your brains out' kiss."

"That–" sputtered Kim, "That... That wasn't that kind of kiss."

"It wasn't? Felt like it to me. What kind of kiss was it?"

"It was a 'after dinner tonight we'll have a little wine, go into the bedroom and make love' kiss."

"Careful with the 'L' word Pumpkin. Way too early in our not-a-relationship to even think the 'L' word."

"I prefer to call it a not-yet-a-relationship. And I was using the 'L' word for a verb, not a noun."

"Not entirely sure it makes a difference."

"Well my Mom raised me right, and I won't use the 'F' word."

"Hey, my Mom raised me right too, not that it took. So we'll compromise and just call it sex?" Shego lowered her voice to the throaty purr, "Hot sex?" She sensuously run her hand along Kim's arm, "Wonderful, torrid, passionate hot–"

Kim growled, "I am not pulling off the the highway and making– Doing anything in the backseat of the car!"

"But you thought about it for a second, didn't you?"

"No I didn't. And we need to come up with an acceptable word... Until we can use the 'L' word."

"You're getting ahead of yourself in our N.A.R." warned Shego.

"N.Y.A.R." insisted Kim. "And we need a word."

"Garden," Shego suggested.

"Garden?"

"We're out somewhere, and it's dull. It's so 'effing dull I'm willing to gnaw off my leg to escape. It's so 'effing dull I might consider gnawing my head off to get away. I glance over and you look like you're in danger of falling asleep standing up. So, I casually mention, 'Oh, wow, we've, like, totally forgotten that we need to go back and garden.' We go home, hop in bed, and I garden your brains out."

Kim tried to think of a good response to the suggestion. She glanced over, and found Shego staring vacantly upwards again. "You okay?"

Shego let out a long sigh, "Know what's weird?"

"Congress? British foreign policy? Why anyone watched Seinfeld?"

"Two months ago I was in prison, and suddenly I'm offered a pardon, I get dropped into this insane race around the world – with the woman who helped arrest me as a partner – we end up liking each other and, after seeing my family again I'm in a car heading to her place and I haven't a fucking clue what is happening to me."

"We're–"

"It may have been a rhetorical statement... No, it wasn't. But you should be as confused as I am."

"Almost... Your brother thought I should be careful with you. You've been locked up and... And Hego told me not to take advantage of you."

"Will you knock off the poor fragile Shego crap? I'm not helpless."

"No, but this is all new and strange. I'm sure we'll– you'll figure out what you want to do, it'll just take a little time."

"Hopefully sooner rather than later... Princess?"

"Yes"

"That night in Thailand when you held me after I fell apart? I... Thanks."

"No problem. It's what friends are for."

"Can you just hold me tonight? I think I need another night with you holding me."

Kim smiled and nodded, "Like I said, it's what friends are for."