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Revelations of Destiny	By : Kellendros Category: Kim Possible > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 63461 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 76
- 77
- 78
   “Thanks again for the lift, Mr. Corrazza.” Ron shouted in through the open passenger-side window of the ancient, battered pickup truck after jumping down from the rear bed and coming around the side of the rusty, loudly rumbling vehicle.

   The ride in the back of the decrepit truck, fenced in by high, improvised walls of rough wood and with nearly no suspension, not to mention a thick layer of dirt and grime on the floor, hadn’t exactly been comfortable, to say the least, but it was a lot better than having to walk three miles—especially three miles to a place he didn’t really known the location of, unlike the driver, who knew exactly where he was going.

   “Si, si, la villa della patronessa; you find you friend here, animato orange-hair signorina with pretty smile! Si!” The jovial old farmer sitting at the wheel of the truck responded energetically.

   “Ok then.” Ron smiled and nodded, waving to the old man one last time before turning and heading for the driveway only a few yards away from where the truck had pulled over. Behind him, the raucous sound of grinding gears and crunching gravel filled the air as the pickup pulled away from the side of the highway, leaving a noticeable haze of rank exhaust fumes in its wake.

   A few moments later, Ron gave a short, impressed whistle as he came around the high lilac hedge surrounding the property and finally got a good look at the not-so-modest mansion he was now walking towards.

   “Wow, that’s big. I mean, it’s not Naco royalties big, but still, pretty impressive…” On his shoulder, Rufus chattered emphatic agreement; “Uh-huh, un-huh!”

   “Looks like our luck’s still holding little buddy; first Franco swaps us his ticket for the earlier train last night, then the first guy we talk to around here who knows some English not only knows Kim, but also knows where she’s staying and knows a guy who can give us a lift out here right away, and now it turns out KP’s been living in luxury all this time—even if a place this big doesn’t have a pool, the ocean’s only a few hundred yards thataway!”

   Ron stabbed a finger in the general direction of downhill, and the vast expanse of blue-green sea he knew the villa and surrounding hedges currently obscured. A second later he straightened his arm and pointed up into the distant sky.

“Heck, I can even see some guys parasailing way over there!”

   Rufus nodded, but didn’t bother looking. His eyesight might have been much sharper than most people would have credited a naked mole rat with, but even so, he did have his limits, and an eagle he was not. He’d just have to take his upbeat human companion’s word for it. A few moments later, the rolling cadence of Ron’s gait started getting to the rodent, and he gave a gaping, razor-toothed yawn before clambering down the side of his owner’s shirt, vanishing into Ron’s pants pocket for a much-needed nap. By the time Ron reached the enormous double doors to the mansion, Rufus was sound asleep.

   “Hmmm… now, how the heck do I get into this place?” Ron pondered aloud as he looked around for a doorbell or an intercom or even an old-style bell-cord or doorknocker. A moment later his duffle bag hit the broad granite landing in front of the doors as his visual inspection came up empty, and, entirely on assumption, he sighed at the annoyance of designers concealing things so as not to ruin the “visuals” of their precious old-world-style architecture.

   “Great, now I have to find the—” Even as the frustrated blond stretched out his arm and began to lean against the smaller door framed inside the larger left-hand portal, he knew he was in trouble as, with a sharp click, that support immediately gave way under his weight. A split-second later he found himself following the inward-swinging door in a wholly unanticipated and mostly uncontrolled sideways fall.

   “Yaaaah!”

   The alarmed cry split the air as Ron instinctively twisted around to land on his backside, both so he could safe-fall and to prevent Rufus from being squashed against the hardwood floor swiftly rising up to meet him. As it was, the slumbering rodent only half-stirred from his rest—after all these years he was used to such unexpected jostling; his owner would have to take a much more elaborate tumble to wake him nowadays.

   A few seconds after Ron hit the unyielding floorboards with a heavy thump, he sighed again—this time with far more aggravation and disgust—and grumbled; “Well I guess that answers that question…”

   Picking himself up off the floor, Ron stepped outside to retrieve his luggage—such as it was—and then, in far more customary fashion, re-entered the main hall of the villa.

   Absentmindedly reaching out and pulling the door shut behind him as he passed, Ron spared nary a glace at the treacherous wooden portal, instead being far more interested in the sights before him. Once again, the blond was moved to give a low, impressed whistle as he took in the dark, lustrous wooden floors, paneling, banisters, balconies, and twin rising staircases arrayed before him, not to mention the lofty beamed ceiling high above his head, with its two huge wrought iron chandeliers, and the elaborate indoor flower garden laid out in the center of the expansive chamber.

   Idly wandering around the outer edge of that same indoor garden as the faint echoes of his whistle dissipated, Ron continued rubbernecking until he ended up standing in the open area at the foot of the right-hand staircase, looking mostly back the way he came in order to take in the early morning sunlight streaming through the huge windows behind him.

   “Why does this place look so familiar?”

   The soft mutter fell from Ron’s lips as he kept looking around the hall, a strange, growing itch of recognition teasing him at the edges of his mind, just out of conscious reach. A few moments later, a somewhat familiar voice coming from above and to his right interrupted his more-puzzled-than-impressed-now scrutiny.

   “Hey, Sidekick, aren’t you here a little early?”

   Looking over his shoulder, Ron placed the voice even as he saw Shego casually descending the far staircase, apparently wearing nothing other than a frilly, half-length, cream-colored robe belted tight to her unusually narrow waist—a robe that also seemed to be just the slightest bit semi-transparent.

   “Oh, hey Shego. Yeah, I-yeeeeaaahhh! Shego!”

   Ron’s eyes bugged out of his head when his conscious mind finally caught up to what he was seeing, and an instant later the terrified teen was diving for cover behind a nearby planter. As soon as he was safe—comparatively speaking—the panicked blond began demanding answers from no one in particular.

   “What’s going on? Where’s Kim? Why’s Shego here? Is this some kind of a trap? I demand to know what you’ve done with Kim Possible you evil woman you! Y’know, if that’s ok and all…”

   At the same time, the mix of frenzied diving, scrambling, and shouting proved to be just the right combination to wake Rufus up, and a few moments later the sleepy rodent stuck his head out of Ron’s pants pocket, rapidly looking in every direction while muttering something that sounded remarkably like “Who? What? Where? Why? When?”

   By the time Rufus blinked himself fully awake and scrambled up to Ron’s shoulder for a better vantage point, the teenager was cautiously attempting to peer over the heavy planter he was hiding behind. This gave both of them a mostly unobstructed view as Shego continued down the stairs.

   “Aaaah, S’ego!” Rufus squeaked in alarm the moment he caught sight of the green-hued woman.

   Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Shego muttered; “Ugh, I need coffee before I can deal with this shit…” A few seconds later, as she reached the bottom of the stairs, the pale woman turned right while bellowing; “Kimmie! Your sidekick’s here!”

   As Shego seemed to be completely ignoring him in favor of heading around the staircase she’d just descended, Ron rushed over to the other side of the flower garden so he could continue keeping an eye on her, though he made sure to stay behind cover as much as he could while he went. Just as he took up his new position crouching behind yet another large planter, Ron could swear he heard Kim’s voice coming from the archway Shego was nonchalantly strolling towards—unintelligible to be sure, but still recognizable as Kim’s… at least, he thought it was.

   “No, he’s here now!” Shego shouted back as she disappeared through the opening.

   “I said Ron’ll be getting here around noon if his train’s on time; I told you that last night!” This time Ron was absolutely certain the loud, slightly cranky response was Kim’s.

   “And I’m saying that your little chum is out there right now, cowering behind one of my fern beds!” Shego shot back testily.

   “What? But… I don’t— He can’t be here, I haven’t…”

   Kim’s voice, now alarmed instead of aggravated, dropped considerably lower, but Ron could still make out most of what she was saying. An instant later he heard the sound of feet thumping against hardwood, and a few seconds after that, the familiar form of his redheaded friend came flying out into the main hall, wearing an oversized powder-blue t-shirt, knitted ankle socks with small purple pom-poms dangling from the heels, and skidding wildly on the polished floor as she tried and failed to stop suddenly.

   Bouncing off the staircase, Kim stumbled out into the central area of the main hall while rapidly regaining her balance with every step she took. As she came, her anxious fern-green eyes scanned the indoor garden until, much to her continuing disbelief despite Shego’s declaration mere moments ago, they latched onto the familiar features of her best friend and his little pink companion, cautiously peering out from around a large clump of lush ferns they were otherwise concealed behind. Unconsciously, Kim’s pace slowed until she was just standing there, staring at her friends. After several long, endless heartbeats, she finally found her voice.

   “Ron? What are you doing here?”

   “Me?” Ron stood up from behind the planter. “What are you doing here?” A second later he screwed his eyes shut for a brief moment while shaking his head violently. “I mean, what’s Shego doing here? This is where you’ve been staying, right?” Another shake of the head, followed by an irascible mutter; “What am I saying? Of course it is…” In a louder tone, the flustered teenager demanded; “What’s going on, Kim? Why is Shego of all people staying at the same place you are, and why aren’t the two of you, oh, I don’t know… fighting or something? I mean, I know you say you can do anything and all, but I really doubt that extends to spying on Shego when she knows you’re you and you’re right out in the open like this, so unless there’s some kind of mind control or freaky mutant aliens involved, I really can’t see how the two of you would be rolling out of bed and… going to… breakfast… without…”

   Even as he rambled on, wheels and gears and cogs and ratchets were spinning in Ron’s head, all turning faster and faster while seamlessly falling into place with one another, until the truth of the matter was as plain as day to the instinctually insightful blond, blossoming in his mind like a newborn sun.

   “Yohmygod you’re seeing Shego!” Ron’s arm reflexively shot up to stab an accusatory finger at Kim, and his eyes just kept getting wider and wider as his expression slid into a dumbfounded gape. “Y’can’t… ya’Imeanyou… you and Shego? You and Shego? How can you possibly be seeing Shego? And how could you not tell me about it?”

   “Ummm… this… is? my way of telling you?” Kim responded lamely in the face of her best friend’s condemning demand, still too off-balance to keep from blurting out the first thing that came into her head.

   “What?” Ron’s shriek was pure outrage.

   “Well I don’t know, you’re not even supposed to be here yet!” Kim shouted back in a defensive whine. “You were supposed get here this afternoon! I was going to show you around and we were going to have lunch and then I was going to ease into all of this slowly, gently, not throw everything at you all at once! I had it all planned out!”

   “So now it’s my fault?” Calling the response Ron gave while stomping up and over the planter lying between him and Kim, so that he was all but nose-to-nose with her when he came down on the other side of it, indignant would have been a masterful understatement.

   “Yes! No! I don’t know…” The frustrated teenager’s long red hair swirled around her shoulders as she shook her head back and forth. Then she took a deep breath and continued in a more even tone. “It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s just not the way this was supposed to happen. I’m sorry…”

   “Sorry? Sorry?” Ron’s voice dropped to a flat, matter-of-fact tone as he continued, matching his stony, displeased frown. “You’re sorry you didn’t happen to mention that you’ve been seeing Shego for nearly a month now. Really.” The blond’s voice climbed to a shout again; “ ‘Cause it’s not like we haven’t seen each other a few dozen times while all of this was going on or anything! What? Just never found time to say ‘Oh, by the way, I’m dating my archenemy now, ain’t that just spankin’ ’?”

   “I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now.” Kim’s voice was contrite, as well as noticeably more composed. “I was just waiting for the right time… the right opportunity to… I don’t know, break it to you gently?” Kim hesitated for a split-second, then quietly added; “And it’s been a little longer than a month. Well, sort of anyway…”

   “Excuse me?” Ron was back to flat and hard.

   Kim took a deep breath before responding; “I’ve known I was… interested, in Shego for months now, I just couldn’t admit it until… well, remember the weekend Monique forced me to open up and tell you everything that was going on with me? The day before that, I had a run-in with Shego and it… didn’t go well. I almost killed her because I couldn’t accept what I was feeling. Then, right around when Corscan disappeared, Shego came after me because of what I’d tried to do to her that night. That confrontation ended… differently—for both of us. Two days later, Shego called me, said she wanted to meet and talk about it, so… we did. Turns out she’d been having the same sort of… shift, in the way she felt about me as well, though she didn’t realize it either—at least, not until what happened when she came after me happened. Then she definitely figured it out.”

   Kim took a quick breath, almost a sigh, and continued.

   “So, we decided to see where things went, and then we were off chasing Corscan and coming up empty, and then Shego sprang this whole moving-in-with-her-for-the-summer thing on me for a bunch of crazy reasons I’m still not sure I agree with, and it was all complicated and messed up and I didn’t even know if it was going to work or not, and then the more it looked like it might, the more I wanted to tell you what was going on, but by then I figured it was way too late to just come out and say it, so I started trying to plan everything out the way I usually do. I was going to tell you last weekend; we went to Paris so I could give you a surprise visit and everything, but then some stuff happened the night we got there and it threw us completely off track, so I had to wait until this weekend. Then you showed up here, early, and… well, you know the rest I suppose.”

   “So, you’ve been seeing her for… what? Nearly three months now, and…” Ron trailed off suddenly, insight dawning in his deep brown eyes even as his brow furrowed suspiciously. “Waaaait a minute… if you knew how you were feeling about her that weekend, and you had a fight with her just the day before you talked with Monique, then that probably means…” Ron’s eyes widened as he could tell—just knew by the look on Kim’s face—that he was right. “It does, doesn’t it? You told Monique! You told Monique months before you even decided to tell me!”

   “Not because I wanted to, Ron. I only told her because I had to, because she dragged it out of me—and I didn’t tell you because I couldn’t understand it; didn’t want to understand it. I just wanted it to all go away.” Kim stated simply.

   “Great, just great…” Ron grudgingly accepted before going back on the offense. “So, anyone else you told before me?”

   “Well, yes actually…” Kim answered softly and with understandable hesitation. “I had to tell Wade what was going on when I moved here—but only because he would have figured it out on his own if I hadn’t!” The redhead hastened to add, desperate for Ron to believe her. “I never would have told him if it wasn’t for that!”

   “Oh come on!” Ron shouted. “Wade? You told Wade before you told me? What next? Gonna tell me Drakken knows? Or maybe Bonnie? Heck, how ‘bout the entire Cheer Squad?”

   “No, Ron, I haven’t told anyone else, ” Kim responded in a firm tone that held just a hint of exasperation in it, “and like I said, I wouldn’t have even told them if I could have avoided it. You would have been the first person I told if I could have had everything my way.”

   “Yeah well, whatever, it’s not like that really matters anyway.” Ron dismissed in an aggravated grumble. “The real issue is how the heck can you be seeing Shego of all people? This is a woman that was punching and kicking you just last fall and meaning it! She’s older and criminal-er and so not a friend! You put her in jail thirteen times last year!” Ron’s voice rose to a shriek briefly. “Her boss stole that supercomputer from your dad’s work on prom night and she probably helped him do it! So how? Why? You? Her? It doesn’t make any sense! What could you possibly see in her?” Ron paused for a second, then reflexively added; “I mean, aside from the obvious…”

   “It’s complicated, Ron—she’s complicated. I can’t just sum it up in a few words; there’s no easy, neat little explanation…” As an afterthought, Kim added; “Oh, and she wasn’t involved in stealing that supercomputer for Drakken either.”

   “And how exactly do you know that?” Ron shot back derisively.

   “Because I was having dinner with her when it happened. We got together as sort of a ‘first date’ to feel each other out on the weirdness, but mainly to talk about what we were going to do find Corscan.”

   Ron arched one eyebrow high.

   “So… you went to dinner with… Shego, instead of going to the prom, have I got that right?” Ron raked his fingers up through his hair and then tugged on the short blond locks in frustration, shouting; “Gaahh! What is with you and evil, older women? First that Amazon sociopath and now a woman who’s been trying to do us in for over two years now! You’re gonna break my brain with all the wrongsick crazy you’ve been throwing around lately!”

   “That’s enough, Ron!” Kim barked in a hard, no-nonsense tone. “You’ve got a right to some of that with Shego—maybe most of it—and certainly towards me for all the lying, but I’m sick and tired of your crap attitude towards Corscan! You sure as hell didn’t seem to mind her much before I told you we were seeing one another, so that makes me think that maybe it’s my being a lesbian that you have the problem with after all, despite everything you’ve been saying since I told you! Is it? Because if it’s not, then I wanna know what the hell your problem is with her and I wanna know right now!”

   “What? No! No, that’s not it at all, KP!” Ron suddenly found himself on the defensive, though he wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened. “I’m perfectly fine with you being Gay! One-hundred-percent copasetic! Really!”

   “Then what is it?” Kim demanded loudly, very nearly shouting now.

   “Well, it’s just that I ahhh… that is to say, I might have… kinda… done something that wasn’t… maybe… my smartest idea ever…”

   Bit by bit, Ron slowly, agonizingly found himself telling Kim about his “solo mission” to the phony Corsair International complex in Georgia, on the weekend after she’d come out to him and told him everything that was going on between her and Corscan, along with his subsequent overly violent, one-sided altercation with the woman in question, after penetrating the various layers of security surrounding the central building and confronting her to deliver his “big brother” speech.

   “You… you what?” Kim stammered, staring at Ron for several long, flabbergasted seconds. Then her disbelief shifted to hot, mercurial anger. “You could have been killed! How could you have possibly done something so monumentally stupid as to sneak into a heavily fortified, well-guarded industrial complex just to deliver a… a… a meddling, overprotective declaration to my girlfriend? Are you crazy?”

   “Oh come on!” Ron shouted back, his own anger returning. “I was just trying to watch your back; to look out for you like I always do—and we sneak into heavily fortified bases that are guarded by guys a whole lot more willing to hurt us than a bunch of security guards all the time!”

   Kim opened her mouth to retort, then closed it again a second later without having spoken. Despite her anger, she couldn’t deny the truth of Ron’s words, nor the underlying—if misguided—heartfelt concern that had motivated his actions. Even so, one thing still remained for her to take issue with.

   “All right, fine; I guess you’ve got a point… but why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? Like, say, maybe when I told you about Corscan disappearing? Or when we found out she wasn’t who she said she was? You know how worried I’ve been over that! Over who she really is and what she really wanted with me!”

   “Oh I don’t know…” Ron moaned petulantly. “I mean as much as I hated to admit it, she had a point at the time, and the longer and longer I kept it from you, the harder and harder it got to try and tell you.” Ron sighed as he realized just how much he’d been walking a mile in Kim’s shoes. “Look, I’m sorry, ok?”

   Kim sighed as well, equally understanding, and her voice was soft and sure as she responded; “Yeah, it’s ok, Ron.”

   Meeting his best friend’s gaze, Ron quietly asked; “No more lies?”

   “No more lies.” Kim smiled softly.

   A moment later, in unspoken symmetry, the lifelong friends raised their arms and stepped into a long, warm, mutual hug. After a time, Ron stepped back, his low voice breaking the deep silence that had fallen over the hall.

   “Of course, that still leaves… y’know, this.” Ron gestured about the hall with both arms, in indication of the situation more than the surroundings.

   “I know. Look, Ron, I’m not asking you to forget everything about who Shego is and welcome her with open arms just because I’m seeing her. All I want is for you to give her a chance—for me, just give her a chance…”

   Ron drew breath and sighed deeply at his friend’s gentle, sincere plea.

   “I don’t know, Kim, you’re kinda asking a lot here. What do you think, Rufus?” Ron looked from shoulder to shoulder and came up empty. “Rufus?”

   Lifting his arms, the teenager twisted back and forth while sweeping his gaze across the floor around his feet, but there was still no sign of his little pink friend, even when he expanded his search to look over to where he had set his duffle bag down. Turning back to Kim, Ron spoke with obvious concern in his voice.

   “Where’s Rufus? He was just here a minute ago…” Turning away from Kim, the blond shouted out; “Rufus! Where are you, Rufus?”

   “I don’t see him anywhere…” Kim responded after taking a moment to look around the hall herself.

   “Where could he have gone? You don’t…”

   Ron trailed off; given that his feisty redheaded friend was apparently involved with Shego now, he wasn’t foolish enough to accuse the woman of being behind Rufus’ disappearance in front of her—honestly, knee-jerk reaction aside, he didn’t really think Shego was foolish enough to try pulling anything like that either, for the exact same reason. That perfectly logical supposition didn’t exactly make him feel any better however, nor did the worried look he quickly noticed in Kim’s big fern-green eyes.

   “Whaaat? What is it?” Ron demanded anxiously.

   “Well, it’s just…” Kim hesitated, then forced herself to voice the concern, “Shego has a cat, Ron.”

   “What? Then we’ve got to find him, now!” Calling Ron’s reaction “alarmed” would have been an understatement. “C’mon, let’s go ask her if she’s seen him!” The blond swiftly turned and ran towards the archway Shego had gone through and Kim had emerged from, only to skid to a halt just as quickly when he saw the corridor beyond. “Aaaand I don’t have a clue where I’m going!” Looking back to Kim, his hand was a circling blur as he impatiently motioned for her to hurry up and take the lead, exclaiming; “C’mon! C’mon! C’mon! Let’s go!”

   “Calm down, Ron. Rufus can take care of himself; I’m sure he’s fine.”

   Despite the words, Kim was moving pretty quickly herself as she led her friend down the corridor and into the kitchen. A few seconds later, the friends breathed a deep sigh of relief—Kim’s mental and Ron’s vocal—as they turned and looked through the archway to the dining room, only to find Rufus standing safe and sound on the near side of the table therein, right next to a big, steaming cup of coffee—and seemingly staring down at a newspaper spread out before Shego, intent on whatever held the pale woman’s attention as she sipped from her own mug of richly brewed mocha. Even as they watched, the hairless rodent looked up at her while pointing to the page, enthusiastically squeaking; “Pic’dors! Pic’dors!”

   “Picadores… really?” Shego asked, one sable eyebrow arching slightly as she took another drink of her coffee.

   “Uh’huh, uh’huh!” Rufus nodded vigorously, grinning a big toothy grin—not that he could really smile any other way.

   As Rufus turned and lapped at his own drink, Shego stared at the paper for a few seconds longer. Then she gave a slight nod before carefully writing something onto the page using a short yellow pencil.

   “Huh… looks like you’re right.” Shego conceded as she started writing something else out with equal care.

   Stepping through the archway while Rufus nodded again, apparently in response to what Shego was writing, Ron interrupted the peculiar pair as he said; “Hey, Rufus, you had me worried running off like that; didn’t know what happened to you, little buddy. So ahhh… whaaaat’re ya’ doin’?”

   “Caf’ee! Cros’werd…” Rufus chattered cheerfully, looking up and over his shoulder at Ron while gesturing to the half-finished crossword puzzle in the paper lying at his clawed feet.

   Next to him, Shego gave a wryly-murmured “D’oy…” that only the hairless rodent was able to pick up clearly.

   “Why in the world would you ever be doing a crossword puzzle with Miss ‘I am evil’ here?” Ron demanded with honest confusion.

   Before Rufus could answer, Shego looked up and, with one dark eyebrow arched once more, asked; “What exactly is it you think the wiener-rat here does while we’re all waiting around for the two of you to wake up from your latest gassing or, y’know, general pummeling or whatever, so that Dr. D can get his gloat on? Twiddle his claws nervously or something? Between this and cards we’ve probably logged over a hundred hours together…”

   “What?” Ron’s surprise bordered on shock, and his attention quickly returned to his little friend as he asked; “Is that true, Rufus?”

   “M’hm, m’hm; cards.” Rufus stated plainly while nodding in the affirmative. Then he turned to Shego and chattered something that sounded mildly accusatory at her.

   “Yeah, yeah, yeah; I know,” the pale woman immediately grumbled back, “I still owe you eight bucks from last time. You’ll get’cher money you little bloodsucker…”

   Rufus just grinned a smug little grin and chattered something wordless to no one in particular, yet everyone in the room somehow knew he was saying; “Can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen…”

   “Oh that’s just great!” Ron grumbled, throwing his hands up in the air. “First my best friend since pre-K tells me she’s dating the Queen of Mean, and now I find out that you’ve been fraternizing with the enemy all this time too! What next? Wade dating Adrena Lynn? Or maybe Mr. Dr. P has a regular golf game with Duff Killigan…”

   Shego gave a sharp, strangled snort at the blond’s exasperated griping, and even Kim had difficulty controlling her amusement in the face of Ron’s admittedly understandable, but nonetheless over-the-top ranting. Long since inured to his owner’s ways, Rufus was the only one who took the tirade in stride, simply lapping at his coffee while the words rolled over him to no great effect. A moment later Ron gave a growling sigh of frustration and shook his head before moving on.

   “Anyway, Kim wants us to stay here just like we’d planned before finding out all of this, so what do you say, little buddy?”

   Rufus looked up for a long moment, considering, and then shrugged his shoulders while chattering; “I’un’know… g’ess so.”

   “You really think we should stay?” Ron asked with only a little bit of surprise, but considerable wary skepticism.

   “Uh’huh, uh’huh!” This time Rufus nodded vigorously, his squeaky tone much more enthusiastic and resolute.

   Ron sighed again—with far less growl and far more put-upon turmoil in the lusty exhalation—before spending several long, silent moments in what was to Kim, nerve-wracking contemplation of the situation. After pondering the quandary to the point where his quiet consideration had become very nearly unbearable to his anxious redheaded friend, Ron finally, if exceedingly grudgingly, offered his concession to her.

   “All right, all right, we’ll stay—for you!” Ron hastened to add sharply. Then his voice softened. “We’ll stay and give this thing a shot for you, Kim. Nothing more, nothing less; we’ll give it a shot, that’s all.”

   “That’s all I ask.” Kim responded gently, but before either teen could say anything else, Shego interrupted the pair.

   “Look, as much as I hate to run the risk of validating the title the Sidekick just laid on me, I’m trying to have my morning coffee in peace here, so could the two of you maybe take this little ‘after school special’ of yours somewhere else? Preferably out of earshot?”

   “Heeeey, I like after school specials!” Ron shot back defensively.

   “That doesn’t surprise me in the least, Sidekick,” came Shego’s immediate, matter-of-fact response.

   “C’mon, Ron; let’s go get you settled in and then we can figure out what we’re going to do after that.” Kim interjected while reaching out and giving her friend’s arm a little tug.

   “Yeah, ok.” Ron turned in Kim’s direction and then paused, looking down to Rufus. “C’mon, Rufus.”

   “ ‘K…” Rufus answered simply, tilting his coffee mug to take one last, big drink of the dark liquid before jumping up to his regular perch on Ron’s shoulder.

   Kim led Ron back out into the main hall at a much more sedate pace than they’d come, all three friends walking along quietly, lost in their own thoughts, the silence not quite uneasy, but definitely bordering on it. Once Ron collected his duffle bag off the floor where he’d dropped it, he followed Kim up the right-hand stairway, where she paused on the landing at the top of the broad wooden steps, gesturing to each of the various doors along the balcony in turn.

   “That’s the door that leads to the suite I’m using, the one further down is for Shego’s,” Kim turned to face the other side of the hall, “this one here leads to a couple of smaller suites no one’s using right now, and way down there, that last door is the one for the suite you’ll have.”

   “Whoa, whoa, whoa; wait a minute—suites, as in, like, hotel suites, not rooms?” came Ron’s immediate, questioning response.

   “Yep.” Kim started walking along the balcony leading to Ron’s suite. “Each one has a living room, bedroom, walk-in closet, and a full, private bathroom.”

   “Huh… and who says crime doesn’t pay?” Ron mused idly as he followed along beside Kim. A split-second later, the redhead snorted sharply while trying and mostly failing to control a broad smirk. Ron ignored her unexpected reaction in favor of pursuing his own musings, however. “Kinda strange that she’d have four extra suites though; given the layout, it seems to me that three would make more sense…”

   Despite that comment tickling her funny bone as well, after a second to think on it, Kim quickly sobered and said; “Yeah, I’d keep that to myself if I were you—especially if Shego’s anywhere in earshot.”

   “Why’s that?”

   “Let’s just say I noticed the same thing too when I first got here, but when I mentioned it, I kinda added some… observations, that she didn’t exactly take too well—like, flaming green hands not well. Come to think about it, don’t bring up cloning or her heritage around her either; way big hot-button topics…”

   “Heritage? And what’s she got against cloning?”

   “I have no idea…” came Kim’s honest if somewhat frustrated response. “And heritage like her ethnic background.”

   “Oh, you mean that bit of an Asian vibe she and Mego seem to have going on?”

   “Yeah, that’d be it; very touchy subject with her. Apparently on top of the usual racist crap she’s had to deal with, her father’s side of the family had… issues, with it as well. Actually, don’t ask her anything about her family at all; a lot of it… isn’t pretty.”

   “No need to tell me that, Kimbo,” Ron responded, feigning nonchalance at the faint sadness he detected in the soft tones of his friend’s final words, “after seeing her with her brothers, I wouldn’t touch that hornet’s nest with a ten-foot pole.”

   “Good.”

   By now, the pair had arrived at the entrance to Ron’s suite, so Kim reached out and pulled the sturdy door open while Ron headed inside with his duffle bag. Following along right behind him, Kim spent the next few minutes explaining how the intercom and remote control system worked.

   “Aaaand that’s about it. I’m sure you can figure out everything else on your own; it’s all pretty user-friendly.”

   “Thanks, Kim.”

   “All right then, while you’re getting set up here, I’m going to go grab a quick bite to eat and then get dressed. Once I have, we can figure out what we’re going to do next, ok?”

   “Sounds like a plan.” Ron agreed cheerfully.

   “Ok, see you in a bit then.”

   With that, Kim vanished out the door, though she did swing it shut on silent, well-oiled hinges as she left.

   “Whaaah’d we gonna do about this, Rufus?”

   The anxious question burst from Ron the moment he and his little friend were alone in the suite—or rather, the moment he thought Kim was out of earshot.

   Rufus leapt off Ron’s shoulder and sailed through the air in a curling flip before bouncing off the center couch cushion, landing lightly in the middle of the coffee table a moment later. Then he came about, reared up on his hind legs, and launched into a long series of intent chitters and gesticulations.

   “What do you mean, ‘nothing’?” Ron demanded as he came around the couch.

   Tracking Ron, Rufus gave his head a swift little shake and tried again.

   Dropping his duffle bag at his feet, Ron shouted; “Excuse me? You actually think we should go along with this craziness? Seriously? This is Shego we’re talking about! Evil, evil Shego!”

   “Meh, e’vul…” Rufus responded with a nonchalant, dismissive wave of his right paw, dropping his gaze for a second.

   “Doesn’t matter? Doesn’t matter? How can you say that? This is a woman that works for a guy that wants to take over the world! Tried to take over the world with crazy mind-control shampoo just a few months ago! With her help!”

   Rufus rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath, then launched into another, much longer animated exchange with his at-times-infuriatingly-dense human companion. By the time he finished, Ron was looking at him with a half skeptical, half confused expression, head cocked and one eyebrow arched wryly.

   “Soooo… lemme get this straight. Somehow Shego being evil is supposed to be a good thing? Or ahhh…” Ron’s face twisted up in pure confusion now. “Shego's… not? Evil? Just… evil? Gaahh! I don’t get it!”

   Rufus gave a disgusted growl and smacked one paw against his forehead, dragging it down his face in frustration. A second later, he took a deep breath, held it for a long moment, and then released it in a controlled, cleansing sigh. Somewhat more calmly, he tried again.

   “Pred’ter; S’ego pred’ter!” The hairless rodent squeaked emphatically before elaborating on his point at length.

   “What do wolves have to do with anything? What, she wants to eat us?”

   Rufus silently counted to ten while trying to banish bloody thoughts of springing off the table and going for his owner’s throat. Eventually, he succeeded.

   Once composed, the persevering rodent yet again ran through his point that Shego was a predator like a wolf. Wolves did whatever they had to in order to survive; they were ruthless and beyond dangerous to their prey or, if need be, anything that threatened them, but only to the point of necessity—a wolf would flee rather than attack if it didn’t have to, unlike a wolverine, which reveled in bloody conflict and often killed even when it didn’t have to, just for the sake of killing. That wasn’t to say that a wolf wouldn’t tear out your throat as soon as look at you if it needed to, just that it did need a reason. More importantly, all that feral viciousness surfaced just as quickly, if not more so, in defense of its mate, pups, or fellow pack members—if you could gain the loyalty of a wolf, it would die in your defense, while doing absolutely everything in its power to deal with the threat or take the enemy with it.

   “Ok, ok, I think I see what you’re getting at, but even so, she’s still a super villain—” Ron swiftly held his right palm up to Rufus, preemptively cutting his friend off, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know; a super villain that’s never really gone out of her way to target us, finish us off, or fight to the bitter end like, say, Monkey Fist, and a super villain who keeps working for the same guy she’s under contract with despite the ton of reasons he’s given her to say ‘take this job and shove it’, but still: super villain! Can’t get around that!”

   “Un-huh, un-huh.” Rufus nodded vigorously, pleased that Ron finally grasped what he was saying, then fanned his whiskers and proceeded to elaborate on what he was getting at.

   “So you’re saying that Shego’s dangerous, but only when she’s ehhhh… being, Shego, so to speak, and otherwise, it’s… better to have her on your side than not? Or ahhh, Kim’s side, I suppose that’d be.”

   “Yeah! Yeah!” Rufus grinned and nodded again.

   “Alright, even if I bought that, what about when she is ‘being Shego’?” Ron lifted both hands to do air quotes. “Because I really don’t think she’s planning on stopping that anytime soon. Not to mention that the one time we did work with her, it didn’t exactly end too well, now did it?”

   “Kim ‘cision; Kim ‘cision.” Rufus chattered insistently.

   “So we’re just supposed to roll with it and give Shego a chance because Kim is?” Ron sighed deeply and then muttered; “Which… would be… exactly what you said in the first place—‘least now I know why…” A moment later the blond threw his arms up in the air and shook his head while loudly declaring; “All right, fine! Despite the fact that I’m apparently the only rational person left in this entire place, I’ll go along with the crazy just like everyone else seems to be doing—but only for Kim’s sake and only as much as I have to! The minute I get any weird vibes from Shego or anyone else, I am so outta here!” At the look Rufus gave him, Ron rolled his eyes, made a face, and clarified; “I mean any more weird vibes than I’ve already got!” After a few seconds the disgusted teenager shook his head again and added; “C’mon, let’s get unpacked; the sooner we get this exercise in insanity started, the sooner we get it over with…”

   Bending over, Ron grabbed his duffle bag before turning and heading for the bedroom. Behind him, Rufus vaulted off the coffee table and scampered along behind his owner. A short while later, the blond was back out in the main room with Rufus on his shoulder, both of them looking around with obvious interest.

   “I gotta say, this might all be nuts, but I can’t complain about the digs; at least we can ride it out in comfort, little buddy.”

   “Un-huh, un-huh!” Rufus nodded enthusiastically.

   After a few more seconds staring at the big-screen TV mounted on the wall, Ron gave a soft sigh and shook his head, resignedly muttering; “All right, let’s get this show on the road.”

   With that, the teenager left his suite and headed for the stairs at the back of the main hall. Once there, and finding no one else around, Ron took a moment to consider his options, then made his way downstairs. When he reached the ground floor, he looked about to make sure he had his bearings before setting out for the kitchen.

   Arriving just in time to see Shego loading a last few dirty dishes into the dishwasher, the noticeably uneasy teenager quickly looked for Kim, but failed to find her. As he stood in the doorway twisting around and craning his neck, trying to get a better view of the living room through the archway to his left, Ron started as Shego addressed him out of the blue.

   “Kimmie’s upstairs getting changed, Sidekick.” After a moment’s pause, the pale woman’s straightforward expression shifted to mild, and slightly uncertain, curiosity as, with one eyebrow quirked slightly higher than the other, she added; “You eat yet?”

   “Wha’ya? Ah… yeah, yeah, we ahhh… ate on the train.” Ron stammered back. “Picked up something from a street vendor while we were wandering around town too.”

   “All right then.” Another, shorter pause. “You want some coffee before I clean out the pot?”

   Despite the sheer magnitude of the recent shocks Ron had endured, Shego’s casual courtesy gave them all a run for their money in giving the teenager pause. This was the first time anyone—anyone—had ever offered him coffee in his entire life—ever. That it was Shego treating him like… well, like he wasn’t just some kid, simply made it all the more astonishing. Still, surprisingly, it only took a few seconds for his brain to reboot.

   “Ahhh, yeah… sure. Sure!”

   “What d’ya take it with?” Shego asked as she turned and stepped over to the coffee maker.

   “I dunno, what do you have?” Without thinking, Ron took a single step into the kitchen before his ingrained—and up to now, entirely justified—instinct to keep away from the pale woman kicked in.

   Reaching up and opening the cupboard above the coffee maker, Shego stated; “Cinnamon, honey, sugar, coco, and vanilla—plus milk and cream in the fridge.”

   “Hmmmm…” One of the drawbacks to never having been offered coffee before was having little experience with it. After a few more seconds of hesitation, Ron decided to play it safe. “I think I’ll go with mocha cinnamon and a little cream.” He might not have drunk it much, but he’d certainly heard people ordering it a million times before.

   “Got it.”

   Shego took down a tall, heavy, fired clay mug and set it on the counter, then dropped a few spoonfuls of dark brown powder from a fat, white, lidded ceramic jar into it, followed by a thick cinnamon stick from a clear glass container with a big cork stopper. After that, it was just a matter of swirling the last of the coffee around in the pot before pouring it out into the mug and stirring the whole concoction thoroughly. As the spoon clinked against the sides of the mug, she turned to the side slightly and looked over her shoulder, staring at Ron pointedly with one eyebrow raised.

   “Cream’s not gonna walk over here on its own, y’know.” She quipped a moment later.

   “What?” It took Ron a few seconds to clue in on what Shego was getting at. “Oh! Ahhh, yeah…” Stepping over to the fridge, he reached out and pulled both doors open at once, holding them wide while looking around inside. “So where is i—” Ron cut off sharply as Rufus tugged on his collar while pointing to a medium sized stainless steel pitcher on the left-hand door. “Never mind; got it!”

   Ron lifted the pitcher free of the door rack, shut the fridge, and then walked over to the counter by Shego, though he stood right at the end, nearly three feet away from her. Without so much as a second glance at him, the pale woman stopped stirring the coffee, slid the mug down the countertop with her left hand, and then turned her attention to turning off the coffee maker and rinsing out the pot before putting it in the dishwasher.

   Seemingly left to his own devices, Ron set the pitcher down after pouring a half-inch or so worth of cream into his mug. Then he stirred the rapidly lightening mixture for several moments. Once it turned a light tan color, the teenager removed the spoon, sucked it clean, and then set it on the counter before picking up the mug and taking a cautious sip. Seconds later he was swallowing forcibly, face screwed up in clear distaste.

   “Glah! More cream! Definitely more cream!” Ron wheezed sharply, quickly setting the coffee mug down and all but topping it up with additional cream. Then he stirred the much paler brew while making absolutely sure to grind down every last bit of the cinnamon stick while he was at it. Next to him, Shego smirked to herself as she shut the door to the dishwasher and turned it on before stepping away to finish tidying up.

   Very, very cautiously taking another sip once he finished stirring, Ron swallowed a moment later and smacked his lips a few times. The now cream-heavy brew wasn’t quite as bitter as it had been, and what was there was mostly aftertaste as opposed to an up-front assault. At the very least it was drinkable now—though next time, if there ever was a next time, Ron fully intended to add sugar to the mix. Lots of sugar…

   After a second, larger swallow, Ron decided that maybe he was being a bit too harsh in his judgment—but only a bit. However, before he could take a third drink to test that revised assessment, both his intent and train of thought were swiftly derailed as Shego addressed him sharply.

   “Oi, Stoppable!” Shego paused for a brief moment as Ron looked up at her with an alert gaze that was wary and questioning, but mostly surprised. Then a faint, wry smile crossed her black lips. “Yes, I’m the one that remembers your name.” The smile quickly vanished as she continued. “I’m also not your mom.”

   It took Shego jerking her chin towards the pitcher sitting on the countertop before Ron figured out the admittedly ambiguous statement.

   “Oh, ah, yeah. Sure. Sorry.”

   After Ron put the cream back in the fridge, he returned to the counter and took another drink from his mug, pondering soberly while watching Shego finish cleaning up. By the time she was done, she turned around to find him still watching her.

   “And you want…?” Shego voiced the question dryly, one sable eyebrow arched high.

   Ron sighed, took one more drink from his mug, and then set it on the counter before drawing himself up resolutely. Staring Shego square in her flashing dark green eyes, the teenager addressed her with a firm, unexpectedly steady tone.

   “Despite almost getting me killed last time I tried this, we need to talk.” From his perch on Ron’s shoulder, Rufus’ eyes widened and he muttered “uh-oh” while simultaneously, Ron took a deep breath and then continued on steadfastly. “I want you to tell me whether or not what’s going on with you and Kim is in any way, shape, or form, some kind of evil plot by you or anyone else.”

   Shego shifted her stance, squaring her shoulders and folding her arms beneath her breasts, then stared hard at Ron. After a long, silent moment she finally answered him in a surprisingly straightforward, matter of fact tone.

   “No, it isn’t.” After a slight pause, the pale woman amended; “Or at least, not to my knowledge—and believe me, Sidekick, if someone is messing with us like that, I’m going to want them dead a whole hell of a lot more than you ever will.”

   Ron swallowed at the chill finality of Shego’s last statement, then steeled himself and continued.

   “All right, good to know… Now, what exactly are you looking to get out of all of this?”

   Shego couldn’t help snorting softly, a ghost of a smile twisting her lips as, with flip sarcasm, she shot back; “What, are you asking me what my intentions are towards Kimmy?”

   “Yeah, I guess I am.”

   Shaking her head slightly and giving a little chuckle under her breath, Shego eventually answered; “Ok, what the hell… I don’t really know yet. All I’ve been trying to do so far is figure that out while seeing if ‘this’ can even work, given, y’know, the copious amounts of crazy it is and all.” Shego sighed softly. “That’s all I got, Sidekick, that’s all I got.”

   Ron was surprised at the older woman’s open response to say the least, but he forced himself to continue instead of being distracted by it.

   “And if it doesn’t? Work out I mean—what happens then?”

   “Then we go our separate ways I guess, sadder but wiser…” Shego replied wistfully.

   “No ‘I Am Evil’, ‘if I can’t have her, no one else can’ burning houses down or some other kind of crazy vengeance?” Ron countered skeptically.

   “That’s… unlikely, but honestly, can’t rule it out, Sidekick. It’s always possible it could end badly, and you know me, I don’t usually handle ‘badly’ well, but with all the wack shit that’s gone down with us so far, I think it would take something monumentally fucked up for that to happen—and nothing I can think of off the top of my head either…”

   “Well if it does, you’ll have to deal wi—”

   “Yeah, yeah, yeah….” Shego cut Ron off, right palm raised to him and a faintly exasperated expression on her exotic features—along with a hint of a smile as well. “Spare me the ‘big bother’ best friend speech, ok? Already well aware of what side you come down on.” Shego paused for a moment, a wicked gleam coming into her dark green eyes. “Now, you’ve had your three; my turn.”

   Since Ron was currently running on all cylinders with high octane, he had no trouble catching Shego’s meaning. A second later, Shego arched one eyebrow, fixed her hard-eyed gaze firmly on him, and continued.

   “Are you actually going to give me and Kimmie a fair shot, or have you already made up your mind?”

   Ron’s jaw muscles twitched and shifted as he ground his teeth together, then, as if every word was an effort, he grated out; “No, not yet—and as insane as this is, and as much as I wish I didn’t have to, for Kim’s sake, yes, I’ll give you a chance.”

   “Good. And are you going to try and put our… history, behind you while you do? Because I sure as hell know you can, given the whole wacko Christmas truce you cooked up with Drakken the year before last, but that doesn’t mean you will.”

   Ron took a deep breath and then sighed before responding; “I’ll try, for the same reasons, but that’s all I’m going to do, ok? Ball’s more in your court on that one…”

   “All right, I guess I can accept that.” Shego paused, weighing and measuring Ron with a sharp, forceful gaze for a long, long moment before continuing. “Now, listen to me very carefully, Sidekick. If it turns out that you find some real reason not to get behind this, or you don’t want to have anything to do with it for whatever reason, then I’m ok with that, understand? Won’t exactly like it, for Kim’s sake, but I’m ok with it. However,” Shego’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and her clenched right fist burst into writhing, lime-green energy as she swept her forearm up to point a rigidly extended forefinger at the ceiling, while her tightly controlled voice took on a menacing, iron-hard tone of absolute sincerity, “if I ever find out that you’re trying to sabotage us just because you’ve decided to be a selfish, insecure, whiny little bitch, I swear to god I will pound you so far into the ground you’ll think you’re a goddamn tent peg, you got me?”

   Wide eyed, Ron swallowed fearfully, but his voice was, to him, surprisingly calm and even when he answered a few moments later.

   “Y-yeah, I got you.”

   “Good.” Shego answered with flat finality. A second later, she dismissed her power and opened her hand while lowering it and then extending it in Ron’s direction, voice softening as she said; “Then we have an understanding.”

   Ron stared at Shego’s proffered hand for several seconds, as did Rufus, then cautiously reached out and took it in his own while tentatively responding; “I guess we do.”

   The two stood there matching gazes for a long, extended moment of silent, mutual understanding, all while Rufus nodded approvingly from Ron’s shoulder. Then, with shocking suddenness, they both sprang apart while uttering startled cries of alarm—Shego’s admittedly far more subdued than Ron’s—as, with barely any warning, Kim bounded into the kitchen wearing a tight blue crop-top, cutoff jeans, a purple fanny pack, and an old pair of hiking sneakers.

   “There you are! I—” Kim broke off suddenly, staring at the pair intently. “Hey, what’s going on here?”

   Ron looked down at the floor while rubbing the back of his neck, and Shego suddenly became very interested in the ceiling above the cabinets to her right.

   “Nothing! Just ah’yah’coffee! Yeah, that’s it—coffee!” Ron blurted out an instant later, snatching his mug up from the counter and taking a big, obvious drink from it before giving Kim a broad, hopeful grin. On his shoulder, Rufus nodded vigorously, chattering; “Uh-huh, uh-huh; caf’ee!” while across the room, Shego chimed in with; “Yeah, Sidekick wanted coffee before I cleaned the pot.”

   Kim arched one cinnamon eyebrow high, staring at each of her companions in turn while suspiciously muttering; “Yeah… sure…” A moment later she shook her head and dismissed it all as not worth bothering with. “Anyway, now that I found you, I wanted to know if we’re all going out together or not…”

   “I’m game if he is.” Shego responded. A second later, Ron visibly swallowed his latest mouthful of coffee and then, after a brief glance at the pale woman, said; “No reason not to, I suppose.”

   “Great!” Kim beamed cheerfully. “I guess you should go get changed then, Shego.”

   Shego nodded and, after putting the rinsed-out coffee pot back in the machine, headed out of the kitchen while saying; “I won’t be long.”

   “Ok.” Kim answered, while Ron remained silent.

   This is so-ho-ho-hoooo wrongsick.

   That thought, or variations of it, kept running through Ron’s head as he finished his coffee, watched Kim rinse out the mug and put it in the dishwasher, and then followed her out into the main hall to wait for Shego to come down and join them before they left. It didn’t exactly get any better when she did, wearing an airy, pale vanilla belly blouse with flaring half sleeves, and a loose, powder plum, calf-length knotted skirt that was carefully tailored to look improvised, while a pair of heavy, worn leather sandals, a big, floppy straw sun hat, and a noticeably large sack-purse sporting a jaunty floral pattern on a dark blue background completed the outfit.

   After a few moments of everyone standing around looking at one another in growing silence, both Ron and Shego simultaneously declared; “Well, let’s get this show on the road already.”

   Almost immediately, the pair shot suspicious, uneasy glances at one another, like two strange dogs suddenly finding themselves face to face, and each of them absolutely certain they had a very long, weird day ahead of them…
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Revelations of Destiny