Kim wants to leave the day after but decides to stay the weekend with her parents. It's… kind of nice. Just awkward. Seeing how she's been assigned to kill Ron and everything. Like it feels wrong to not tell them that, or to not tell them she's essentially an assassin. Her parents are just so nice to her. They trust her unconditionally.

They always have, and it feels like a betrayal to be doing any of this now. It's only been a month since this all started and everything changed so fast. So all in all, it's kind of nice at the end of the weekend to have spent four days outside of that reality.

But the moment she steps back into her apartment, it's like she never left. All that warmth from Middleton? Gone. Busy. She's busy. She goes to lecture, she vidchats with Wade, and hangs out with her girlfriends. But it's all so boring. She loves Wade and her girlfriends. But it isn't enough for her. She's hungry.

Mostly, she has no mission assignments, she knows missions can stack against this Ron thing so she sorta figured they'd give her something else to do… but maybe they're assuming she is fully committing her time to planning the death of Ron Stoppable.

She hates Ron but like — there has to be another way.

She misses she could see Shego, but she's classically MIA… until Saturday night. Kim's in her little black dress, slipping on her heels. Lyft XL pulls up in two minutes and Kim gets an email. She checks it and well — it's just a picture of a triangle which means… Kim has to cancel on her friends. Which is probably okay, because she was planning on drinking tonight.

Kim arrives at the Bermuda Triangle and finds Shego waiting for her at the bar in a silky green dress with a thigh slit. Kim slumps in next to her. "I missed you," Kim smiles.

"Yeah." Kim notes that Shego slips her hand away from Kim's almost immediately.

"Um… how was your Thanksgiving?" Kim asks.

Shego looks to Kim and shrugs. "You?"

Kim shrugs back. "Lots of drama with Ron. I think… it's okay for now."

" Okay ?" Shego raises an eyebrow. "With that new assignment you just got, you are gonna tell me things are okay with you and him? Yeah. Alright." She finishes her bourbon.

"Sorry, it's just a lot right now. He's not… well, I think. Ah. I… can we talk about something else? Like you." Kim smiles weakly. "Like, how… how were your brothers?"

Shego blinks, and turns her legs around on the stool to face Kim. "You… don't know?"

Maybe it's the stress of everything, but a cold sweat comes over Kim fast. She's expecting the worst, like… the Go Bros. died because of their lack of powers, like their anatomies don't work without superpowers, or something like that.

"You aren't drinking tonight, right?" Shego interrupts Kim's thoughts.

"Trying not to."

"Okay, let's go outside."

So they go for a walk, and somberly stay besides each other for some time. The streets are pretty packed. Pretty soon there will be snow. Shego looks so cute in her winter clothes, with her peacoat and woolen hand-knitted hat, and gloves…

"How come you wear winter clothes?" Kim asks kinda stupidly. "Can't you just warm yourself up?"

Shego smirks. "Yeah, but I know you think I'm cute like this."

Kim blushes hard. "Heh. I really do. Um. Where are we going?"

"We're gonna keep walking until I feel okay enough to tell you something I don't tell just anyone."

Kim frowns and stays in place. Shego doesn't notice until she's a few steps ahead and looks back. "Let's go to my apartment," Kim says. "No one's home."

Shego seems to consider it, and then shakes her head. "No. I don't want to fuck you tonight."

Kim's cheeks glow brighter, like… ooh , good to have that on the table but also, like, "That's not what I meant. It's just quiet there and we can talk. We can't have sex on my bed anyways, it's twin sized."

Shego's shoulders fall, and she motions for Kim to lead the way.

"I'm still surprised you live with so many people," Shego slowly looks around, keeping her coat on. "I just took you as someone with a lot of money. I mean your parents must be well off."

"Yeah, but, I try to make my own path," Kim says, knowing she is in fact a little privileged, and does ask for money when she needs it. "So um… your brothers?"

"Oh, yeah," Shego's hands escape into her pockets. "So like, you know how I was a kid superhero right? Well, uh, there's two versions of that story. What did Hego tell you?"

"Hego told me that um… you became infatuated with villainy and decided to become one yourself. Do you want some tea?"

Kim doesn't actually want tea, but she's pretty sure taking physical distance from Shego will make it easier for her to speak candidly. Kim wants to respect that.

"Yeah, that'd be great."

Kim nods and goes to the kitchen, listening to Shego all the while.

"So that isn't true at all," Shego says. "I ran away from home when I was 11 or something. I just felt like I was being used and exploited because I had these dumb super powers. I kept asking if I could stop and Hego would go on these rants about how Go City needs protecting! "

Kim fills her tea kettle with two cups of filtered water, and settles it on the stovetop, while picking out the teabags. Peppermint for her, spiced cinnamon for Shego.

"Me running away from home looked pretty bad for them, so Hego lied. He lied and lied and lied and, uh, I think he kinda believed his lie after a while. It was really shitty," Shego monologues. It feels like she might have rehearsed this. It makes Kim's heart thump.

"So anyways, I'm a child with superpowers and no friends or family. I don't want to go to an orphanage or anything, I don't even want parents so I just… well, I need to survive. And I fell in with a pretty bad group of people. They used me just like Hego did."

Kim starts to feel bad. Maybe she should be on the couch with Shego, not organizing her kitchen while listening in. But she knows not being physically besides her makes Shego feel safer."

"I did a lot of bad shit, like, really bad and the guy who pulled me out of it was Doc. Lots of energy, no direction though. And he kinda sucked at being a villain but paid me pretty damn well so… I went along with it," Shego pauses and Kim thinks she hears her sniffle. "Because I could survive under him without really hurting anyone innocent, and like… his plots were stupidly fun." Kim can hear a smile settling in. Shego must be nostalgic for those early days.

The tea kettle wails and Kim pours the water into the mugs, setting the timer for five minutes and steps out into the living room to see Shego's knees pressed together, hands clenched.

"Do the math, Kimmie," Shego says. "We're the same age, and your dad went to college with Doc; what do you think happened?"

Kim thinks it over for a second, and the conclusion is kind of obvious in context but like… would Drakken really…?

"He adopted you?" Kim nearly gasps.

Shego presses her lips together and nods. "My legal name is Sheila Lipsky now, yeah, and Doc is… um…" She bows her head.

"It's okay," Kim gently grips Shego's knee, rocking it back and forth. "Don't be embarrassed. I'm, um, proud of you."

Shego nods, sniffing again, trying to shake it off. "He's my Dad, like, for real. He'd make me dinner, he'd make sure I was in bed on time, home schooled me between capers, took me to the doctor, he's… yeah. He's my best friend, Kimmie. That's why I'm standing by him right now." She gives Kim a serious look.

"But, um, because of his work now, he's busier than ever so we didn't get to do Thanksgiving this year. It's fine. Dumb holiday anyways."

Kim nods along, waiting to make absolutely sure Shego is done talking before speaking. "If it helps, um, I told my parents about us…"

Shego flinches.

"...and they said they'd love to see you with me next year, if uh, you know, things go okay, maybe we could even do Christmas together," Kim started saying that with a smile but when she doesn't see a smile back at her, she frowns. "You don't see us like that, do you? Fuck," she turns away. "I misread things, I'm so stupid…"

"Princess, Princess," Shego grabs Kim's shoulder and turns her around. "Be cool, you didn't mess up. You just freak me out. I've never been in a serious relationship before, and I know that's what you want from me."

Kim groans. "I am so transparent."

Shego reaches over and runs a glove through Kim's hair, gently twirling it. "It's scary for me, especially because like… you know, we work together, but only sometimes. I'm not going to be around most of the time and honestly, we communicate too much outside of work as is. Like we're technically allowed to, it's just frowned upon because this is all supposed to be airtight. But I know why you really stole that diamond and why you're here. And it's… flattering, Kimmie. It really is."

Kim gently guides Shego's glove out of her hair, and tugs it off, revealing the white hand underneath. Kim touches it, running her finger over all the calluses. She looks into Shego's eyes and…

Beep-beep-de-beep!

...Shego bursts out laughing. "Oh my God! That is your ringtone?! Holy shit, Kimmie."

Kim blushes furiously, trying to ignore the fact that Shego is actually crying at how funny this is, and checks her dumbass phone. "Fucking dammit."

Shego flicks a tear away. "What's wrong?"

"Fucking Ron."

"Oy vey. Yo, do you need help with that?"

"What? Taking his powers away? Probably," Kim sighs. "I keep forgetting to block him."

"Whoa, slow down, Kimmie," Shego suddenly yanks Kim's phone away, setting it down behind her. "I don't think you should block him."

"Why?"

"Because, like, the whole reason they even picked you for this mission is well, you're… you know. Your in is right there, to stop someone like Stoppable, you're probably going to need to manipulate him—and hey, don't shoot the messenger here, I'm just sayin'. You have every right to block him, if it were me and I had to do this with Hego… I'd block his fucking ass. But you need to consider your options and think about it, how you're actually going to stop him. Because it's inevitable, Kimmie. If you don't do it… someone else will."

"And they'll be harsher," Kim finishes. "Um, I actually… I kind of told him—I didn't say I had to kill him!" She throws a hand up. "I just mentioned people will be coming for him, and seeing how he's not even using his powers, he should try to get rid of them. Take the target off his back."

Shego blinks a few times and shakes her head. "Def don't tell Hank you did that, but I hear you. He's not gonna like… do that for you though. Maybe if…" She leans back, swinging her leg over hers. "...you told him like, hey, you can keep texting me, but only if you do this shit to get rid of your powers ."

Kim frowns and nods. "I'll consider that—" and hears the timer go off. "—okay cool. Tea's ready. Are you okay to like… just hang out tonight?"

Shego cracks her neck back, and squeezes her jaw like she's swallowing a really gross green bean. She knocks it back and sighs, "Yeah, yeah. Let's… let's hang out."

Kim smiles.