A/N: Thanks again to bcbdrums for The Giraffe. And to sweet-or-sarcastic for their co-creation of Pandora and Hermes. Also, call out to all the names used by Shego in all the stories.

The Heist Part 3

"This is a new look," said Pandora, brushing her dark hair back as she looked at Shego. "I almost didn't recognize you...almost."

"You look nice," said Shego. She really needed that waiter back as dinner was starting to be served. "Those earrings, are they the rubies that Her-...that Jasper swiped from Cleo?"

"No idea what you're talking about," said Hermes with a coy smirk. He looked at Drakken. "So, Drew. Haven't seen you since your little party. Got some sun I see, less blue... Anything...new?"

"Must you rhyme?" said Drakken. Shego raised a brow and wondered at Hermes's drink content, though she wasn't much better.

"Oh, I forgot about that," said Hermes. He looked at Pandora. "You know, Ruby and I found it to be a startling coincidence after the party. Isn't it funny, it's such a small world..."

"We need another planet," said Shego under her breath. She ignored Pandora's smug smirk, but Shego glanced at Drakken. "But yes... Drew, isn't it?"

"Sort of like a movie. Two pairs of exes finding each other, how Hallmark," said Pandora. Shego choked a little and glanced at Drakken. He looked at Hermes with narrowed eyes.

"Drew didn't like to call it that," said Hermes, casually drinking his wine with a smug look. His eyes narrowed a bit. "Besides, it was more...friends with semi-benefits."

"Oh, that's true. Kind of like us...Sheila, is it this evening? You know Drew, we were a...thing...for a year. To this day, I still don't know her real name. She was Shayla, Shannon, Sarah, Shailee, Sherry, Rachel, Shilo, Shea, Sierra, Lauren, Savannah... My goodness the list does go on. So is it Sheila Gowen tonight?" asked Pandora. Shego needed something stronger than wine.

"Anything else to drink?" asked a waiter as dinner was served.

"Tequila," said Shego. Drakken's hand found her knee and squeezed. "...Strike that, whiskey sour please."

"Make that two," said Drakken. Shego kicked him. "Ohm, I mean..."

"I'll have a John Collins, make her whiskey sour a large," said Pandora with a sweet smile.

"Manhattan, in a large glass. Drew, you should try the Bailey's Comet they have here. Sort of an ungraded peppermint patty. Put it on our tab," said Hermes. "We're going to be getting a lot of drinks so, be attentive."

"Yes, sir," said the waiter and he left as the food was placed in front of them.

"I can order for myself, thanks," said Drakken. Shego could feel the unease wafting between the pair, but Shego had other issues.

"So, how long have you two been a thing?" asked Pandora as she cut her salmon.

"We're—" Drakken was cut off as Shego felt the need to shut down any ideas the other two had.

"Two years," said Shego. She wasn't really lying, but even if she was, it was none of their business.

"Really? At the party you two seemed so taken by others..." said Hermes with a raised brow. He and Pandora looked at each other. "Unless this is a more...open partnership."

"It's closed," said Drakken quickly. He cleared his throat. "So, let's not play around. You two are obviously here for the same reason we are."

"A good time," said Pandora innocently. She winked at Shego, who dug her nails into her arm. "Why so tense, Sheila?"

Shego's mind wandered to that necklace. Perhaps she and Drakken should just kill the heist idea, grab the necklace, and mad-dash out to the waiting limo. They could blend and no one would think it was them, they'd assume it was some jewel thieves or one of the other dozens of villains in there. She wasn't sure she could deal with the emotional and psychological rollercoaster that was their table. She looked at Drakken, trying to judge if he'd be willing to break and get the hell out of there. To her surprise, he looked calm, and that baffled her. He was normally an easy read for her, but nothing on his face indicated an emotion.

It was a good thing she hadn't gotten too hasty and made a mad dash to steal the necklace. That had been the idea of Monkey Fist, who became the first to get stopped by Possible and company. Normally that would have ended an evening even like that one, but the young heiress refused to hear of it, and the ball continued. Luckily for Shego and Drakken, their unwelcome table guests had taken to the dance floor with many others. It seemed they had a similar plan to theirs: play innocent until the time struck. It was during this time that Killigan had been hauled off by guards for attempting his own theft. Shego downed another glass of pinot noir, avoiding the untouched whiskey at the table.

"Now that everyone's on high alert, this is going to be even more of a problem," said Drakken. His hands went towards his hair in a normal tick to mess it up in anger. Her arm stopped him.

"Calm down... I have an idea," said Shego, looking at her drink. "Forget the necklace."

"What? That's the whole reason we're here," said Drakken, though his voice didn't sound angry; just shocked.

"I mean for now. You said if I came up with a better idea to execute it. Here it is... Let's...forget who we are, and just... Be Sheila and Drew. A doctor and a teacher, at a ball, having a good time. We can do or be whatever we want... Then when the moment strikes, so do we," said Shego. Drakken rolled his eyes. "Tell me, when's the last time you actually just...threw caution to the wind?"

"Hiring you," said Drakken. She saw his smirk and rolled her eyes. He sighed. "I suppose it's an idea... But no more drinks for you."

"Excuse me?" asked Shego. "This is the only thing keeping me from running and screaming out of here... Also the reason I have some thoughts in my head that shouldn't be there."

"Fine, you're limited. One drink a half an hour, and you have to eat an appetizer," said Drakken. Shego rolled her eyes.

"Same for you Doc," she smirked. They both stared at each other. "All right, so that's the plan. We are Sheila and Drew. Shego and Drakken are gone for the evening. Let's live it up."

"Within reason," said Drakken, swiping her drink. She sighed, but smirked when he downed it. "That's mine and yours."

"Okay, Drew, what's your focus?" said Shego as they looked around the ball room. "What does Drew want to do?"

"Drew...wants..." Shego watched him look around the ballroom nervously, and she waited for his response. His eyes fell over to where a few women were at the small bar. "He wants to dance with the most stunning woman in here."

"Hey, if that's your goal tonight," said Shego. Something in her stomach turned. She looked at her empty glass. "I'll help..."

Drakken's hand extended to her, and Shego raised a brow in confusion. Then it clicked as he smiled at her. Shego's chest was pounding now. She felt her face flush. Luckily her makeup would cover that. She thought about rolling her eyes and saying something sarcastic about how lame that was, but in that moment...Shego didn't care if it was cheesy, lame, or if he was just playing it safe. Instead all reason flew out the window and the drinks seemed to have won over as she took his hand.

"Lame," she breathed as they went on the dance floor, but she smirked.

"It got you here, didn't it?" he asked, his hand finding the small of her back as his other locked with hers.

"You have a point," said Shego as her hand slid atop his shoulder. "Well then, wow me with your cotillion trained, ballroom dance skills."

"Why and when did I tell you that?" asked Drakken with wide eyes.

"You didn't. Your mother told me you escorted your cousins there," smirked Shego. He looked wide-eyed. "You really shouldn't ask me to take her calls for you."

"Yeah, well that stops for sure now... What else did she tell you?" asked Drakken as they began to waltz around the ballroom floor.

"Putting it bluntly, I have more fuel than I will ever use." She smirked as Starlight Waltz played from the orchestra.

"Fantastic," groaned Drakken. His eyes rolled. "The woman will always... You know what? Not tonight. As you said, we're not us."

"Mark it on the calendar, he's listening," smirked Shego. She watched him smirk. It was still unsettling.

As he spun her to the song, each time seemed less awkward than when it started, and she had to give it to him once again—Drakken may not be the most coordinated at times, but he could dance. She wished this was more formal, because each time she looked at him it was more and more unsettling. She cleared her head for a moment. She needed to listen to her own words. That night he was not Dr. Drakken, mad scientist bent on world domination. He was Drew—sorry, Dr. Andrew Lipsky. She needed to view it the same for her. She wasn't Shego that night. She was...Sheila. She let her shoulders relax. She smiled. They could be anyone they wanted.

"So, Drew, how did we meet?" asked Shego. Drakken looked confused and then smirked.

"I was in need of an assistant while working on a remote island on a new means of village travel for vaccines," said Drakken. Shego nodded. "...And?"

"I just so happened to be taking a sabbatical from teaching and was in need of a temporary job, so I answered the call." She couldn't help but smirk as he spun her again. "Your lucky day."

"Oh yes," said Drakken as the music picked up pace.

"Cliché love at first sight?" asked Shego with a raised brow. Drakken seemed to think about it.

"No, strictly professional at first," said Drakken. "We don't want to be that couple."

"Too overdone," said Shego with a nod. "I asked you out to a New Year's party."

"That's our starting date? That's simple," said Drakken. He spun her again. "Do we have a song...?"

The game of pretending took a quick halt when Drakken went to switch arms and a large blast and cloud of smoke caused everyone to panic. Shego caught Drakken as he fell, and a wave of pink and blue smoke wafted around them. Hector stood far away from where the heiress and the necklace lay on the ground, holding a smoke screen box as Cleopatra and Carmella choked on the cloud. Drakken saw the opportunity he'd been waiting for. No one was around the heiress, the officials having all jumped to arrest the three smoke screen culprits. He stood up quickly and wiped the smoke particles out of his eyes. Before he could move farther, Shego yanked at his jacket. In confusion and just trying to move quickly, he let her take it.

"Are you okay, Ms. Leon?" asked Drakken as he swept down and offered his hand while the heiress coughed.

"I'm fine, no thanks to these idiots," she scoffed, glaring at her bodyguards. She looked at him and her eyes squinted as pink powder must have gotten into them. "I can't see anything. Debutante!"

Drakken saw his opportunity to grab the necklace as the heiress looked for...something. However his plans were dashed by a few things all at once: his decoy necklace was in the coat with Shego, and sharp needles suddenly dug into his leg and he let out a scream of pain. As he went to kick at whatever it was, it stopped as the heiress squealed and picked up a small cat off the ground. Drakken looked towards Shego as the guards formed around the pair again and the scene was as if it never happened. Pink and blue dust littered the floor and party-goers. While Carmella, Cleopatra, and Hector were being hauled off, Shego was clutching Drakken's jacket to her and gave him a shrug before her eyes went wide. Before he knew it, he was being hauled off to the bathroom, Shego's hand gripping his.

"Why are we in the women's bathroom?" asked Drakken, as Shego shoved him in and blocked the door. "You know if you hadn't taken my coat, we could have had that necklace."

"Yeah and a blown cover," said Shego. She showed the backside of his coat, beige marks up and down it, and beyond that visual was the green flesh of Shego's chest.

Shego rolled her eyes as Drakken's eyes widened in realization. Her grabbing him had rubbed off her makeup onto his coat. She pointed for Drakken to look in the mirror. Not only had her makeup rubbed off, but in his action of wiping away pink dust he'd wiped off some of his makeup. Shego had grabbed her bag on the way to the bathroom and dumped out its contents on the counter. She tossed his jacket at him and some wipes and began getting his makeup together.

"You would have switched the necklace, Possible would have seen, and she would have busted us before we cleared the door. If you want to do this the right way, we need to be cautious. Now if you want us to do a grab and go, give me the signal and we do it," ranted Shego. She glared down at her front. "This is going to be a nightmare. Let's get you done first. If anyone comes in, you can say I'm having a breakdown and buy us time or something."

Shego began wiping his face with the cloth, very haphazardly. The pink powder was a nightmare to remove and it was all over his shirt. She felt a weird mixture of emotions running through her: disappointment that they hadn't gotten the necklace at a prime opportunity; amusement that Hector had seemingly sabotaged Carmella's and Cleopatra's attempt at stealing the necklace; frustration at the fact she had to redo her makeup, and not knowing if she'd brought the right brushes; and anger that their dance had been interrupted. Drakken's hand grabbed hers and stopped her from wiping his face. His concerned and terrified look made her look at her semi-glowing hand, and she yanked it away from him.

"Are you okay?" asked Drakken as he began wiping his own face, still looking at her. "Or is my makeup that much trouble to get off, thinking about blasting it off is a better option?"

"I was just...thinking," said Shego. She sighed and began using the towels on herself, glaring at the fabric that was taped down. "Get my zipper."

"W-What?" asked Drakken. He dropped the sponge he'd just gotten ready.

"My zipper. It'll be easier to fix this without the fabric in the way. Good thing I brought more tape," said Shego as she got her brushes out. She was relieved she'd grabbed the right ones.

"Okay," said Drakken. He reached over, not looking, and unzipped the dress before busying himself again.

"...Excuse me, sir," said Shego. It had happened so fast, she hadn't registered the movement. "Where did you learn that?"

"No idea what you're talking about," said Drakken, not looking away from himself in the mirror. But Shego saw a quick smirk play across his lips.

"Don't forget your edges," said Shego as she pulled down the top portion of her dress, tossing the tape on the counter as she did so.

Shego looked up to grab her brushes and noticed Drakken was facing farther away towards the end of the mirror, laser focused on his face, his eyes wide and unmoving. She rolled her eyes. The man acted like she hadn't worn the proper undergarment for the dress. If they weren't in such a hurry she would have continued to give him hell about earlier.

"Okay, crisis averted..." said Shego as they walked back to their table where Pandora and Hermes lounged casually. "...Pandemonium sighted."

"Bit of a touch up?" asked Pandora as she sipped her wine. Her brow quirked and she smirked. "Nice cleavage, Sheila."

"Thank you," replied Shego, trying to play it off, but she felt the seize of discomfort in her spine.

"Jawline's looking well, Drew," smirked Hermes. Drakken rolled his eyes. "So, how many others are here infringing on our turf would you guess?"

"Your turf?" asked Shego. "I'm sorry, did you claim the ball?"

"Sheila, you know there are subcategories in our...career choices," said Pandora. She gave her a playful smirk. "How many countless nights did you explain that to me before fleeting off to stop them?"

"We are collectors. Gemstones and oddities. You two are...well... What is your actual category?" asked Hermes. "Or do you actually have to have a success to get a title?"

"Watch it Jasper," said Drakken as he picked up a glass that Shego took and downed.

"I'm sorry, how many heroes know you on a first name basis? Better yet, how many countries are you banned from?" asked Shego, her eyes narrowed.

"None," said Pandora with confidence. "It's called having the brains to not get caught. Only lesser villains use it as bragging rights."

"Funny, but isn't that what nobodies claim?" asked Drakken. Shego took another drink and he took the glass.

"We could go back and forth all night, but we do have a job to do," said Hermes, shooting a glance at Pandora. "Come, darling, let's not ruin our evening with petty pests from the past."

"What did you ever see in her?" asked Drakken as Shego was handed a water glass.

"It was college. First taste of actual freedom... Everyone was experimenting... You?" asked Shego with a raised brow.

"It was college... There were a lot of edibles," shrugged Drakken. "Same song and dance."

"Speaking of dancing, shall we?" asked Shego as a slightly faster song started to play.

"In a few," said Drakken. He wrapped an arm around Shego and pulled them towards a group of other people talking.

"What...oh," said Shego, as she saw Kim and Ron walking in their previous direction.

"Why, hello there," said an older man. "Some young blood at the ball I see. Reginald Hobbs. This is my wife Loraine. We own Hobs, Knobs, & Handles."

"Name's Tank Millers," said a boisterous southern man in a fine suit. He indicated to a thin woman. "This little filly is my wife Maria."

"Nice to meet you," said Maria with a warm smile."We own Southern Mesa Company."

"Bueno Nacho, Texi-Right, Deep South Nine," said Tank confidently. Drakken's interest perked, and he smiled.

"Dr. Andrew Lipsky. I work privately overseas." He gestured to Shego, who had attained a glass of wine from a bypassing waiter.

"Sheila Lipsky, his wife," smiled Shego as she shook Maria's and Loraine's hands. Drakken choked on his drink a little. "What do you two do?"

"Homemakers," the two women said in unison and smiled. Loraine continued. "You, dear?"

"I teach English overseas with my husband," said Shego. Drakken wasn't sure where she'd gone off the plan, but he smiled at the two men.

"Beauty and brains, good for you Doc," laughed Tank. Maria rolled her eyes.

"You know, your companies are nationwide, aren't they?" asked Drakken, doing his best to fight a devious smirk.

"What was that?" asked Shego as the two slowly danced to the orchestra. "Why were you so excited to talk about overseas food companies?"

"Well...we travel a lot. Some nice food connections might be nice," said Drakken. He tried his best not to sound nervous, and was glad when Shego shrugged it off. "Speaking of, what was that? When did we get married?"

"After two glasses of pinot noir and the sobering realization you're probably as close to a husband I'm ever going to get," said Shego with a shrug. Drakken fought a laugh as she rolled her eyes and smirked.

"What's that backstory?" asked Drakken as he spun her.

"We got married June twenty-seventh this year, the anniversary of when we first met," she shrugged. "Honeymoon in Greece, that's why your tan. We're thinking of moving there."

"How'd I propose?" asked Drakken.

"Wow. So this is our marriage... I'm doing all the work," scoffed Shego playfully.

"Well, you married us, I thought you had a plan," Drakken rolled his eyes. "Gondola ride?"

"Lame."

"Eiffel Tower?" he suggested.

"Are we a rom-com?" Shego rolled her eyes and groaned.

"On a beach, eating crappy Chinese food. I put the ring in your fortune cookie?" he suggested. She seemed to weigh the odds.

"In the dumpling, you got a deal," said Shego, her brow rising.

"Fine, but then you accidentally ate it," said Drakken.

"Yeah, because I forgot I put it in your dumpling," sighed Shego. Drakken dipped her and she smirked.

"Excuse me?" asked Drakken with a raised brow as the song ended.

"Please, you and I both know. I would propose to you," said Shego with a scoff. "Appetizers?"

"I would so... be the one... I chose the proposal," said Drakken, glaring at her.

"Yeah, but do you see a ring?" asked Shego, holding her gloved hands. "I mean we could be a 'new age' couple who doesn't wear rings."

"Is that the couple you want to be?" asked Drakken with a concerned look on his face.

"Uhg, no. Bad enough we're the sociable couple. I want a big diamond and to judge others from the shadows. But I can make do," said Shego as she grabbed a mini-tart.

"Well then, let's judge some people on the rings they won't miss," said Drakken, casually looping his arm with Shego's. "A doctor's wife can't be ring-less at a ball, Dumpling."

"I want a nice one," said Shego with a smirk as they headed towards a large group of people.

"Only the best for my 'wife.'" He rolled his eyes and gave a devious grin that matched hers.

Ring a Ding Ding →