Mirror, Mirror

AUTHOR: The Humbug

DISCLAIMER: “Kim Possible” and all characters within © The Walt Disney Company and its related entities. Kim Possible created by Mark McCorkle & Bob Schooley. All rights reserved. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within.

SUMMARY: This is a little tale of an alternate pairing within my own personal “Who’s Writing This Crap?’ Kigoverse. Otherwise, you can expect pretty much the same tripe.

TYPE: Romance, Slash

RATING: PG-13 for intimations of a physical relationship and intimate contact between consenting adult females and should also cover some occasionally harsh language. No cheerleaders were harmed during the writing of this story. If any of this will offend you, please read something else and then seek professional help.

Mirror, Mirror – Two

The taller one stood and pulled the smaller girl up with her; they might as well have been two parts of one being. She gingerly prodded her cut lip, bruised and already swollen, and the other girl winced as if the pain were her own.

The taller one glared at Kim.

“Can I at least clean myself up?”

“Sure.” The redhead frowned and turned to Shego. “Would you mind?”

“Mind… what?”

“Watching her while I stay here with…” Kim shot a look to the other woman, who was no longer crying but looked as if she were waiting for the firing squad.

“You’re kidding.”

One pair of emerald eyes burned and Shego rolled hers in exasperation.

“You’re not kidding.” The former thief rounded on the bleeding woman and stabbed a finger in her direction. “Ok, you… lead the way to the can and don’t give me a reason to assert myself.”

They walked off to a narrow doorway just past a tiny kitchenette and dingy blue tiles were visible briefly before the door was closed. Kim watched the door for a second before turning to face her former classmate.

“Hey.” The redhead reached out and tenderly turned the young woman towards her. “Look at me.”

“What?”

“Look at me, just for a moment.”

“Why?”

“I want to make sure that you’re ok.”

“I’m fine!” The tears threatened to return. “There’s nothing wrong with me!”

“Ok, ok! I just wanted to be sure.”

Kim watched her friend getting more agitated by the moment and the last thing she wanted was more hysterics. She led the young woman back to the plain deal mattress with its rumpled sheets and sat her down near the dusty headboard, picking a spot for herself a few feet farther away.

Kim waited until she had made eye contact before speaking.

“Your folks called me a few days ago.”

“…”

“They’re worried sick about you. Your friends are, too.”

“My mother doesn’t care. Daddy, either.” She sniffled. “I bet they’ve disowned me.”

“Not true.” Kim felt a pang of doubt even as she said the words; she didn’t really know how her friend’s parents felt about the sitch. She only knew what they’d told her, that their daughter, Kim’s old friend and classmate, had taken up with a stranger and hadn’t been seen since. There was something that she was confident it, however.

“Bonnie misses you. She hasn’t seen you in weeks and would love nothing more than to know you’re alright.”

“Really?”

“I swear. Bonnie and Ron and me and the rest… we all need to know that you’re alive and well. You can’t just drop off the radar like this and not expect someone to notice!” Kim showed the anxious young woman a smile and did her best to keep the worry out of her voice; the poor girl was under enough stress.

The young woman sighed and looked more like her old self. Her eyes suddenly went wide and she refocused on Kim.

“How did you find us?”

“I made some inquiries about… her.” Kim did her best not to let the contempt leak into her voice. “Lowerton seemed the most likely spot for her to hang her hat.”

“It’s not her fault!” The young woman’s tone was heated. “It’s not easy for her to find a job with her record and I can’t afford my own place yet!”

“I’m sorry, honey… really, I am.” The hero slid close and put her arms around her friend. “I didn’t mean anything by that.” The young woman didn’t answer but she let herself be held and Kim wondered for the thousandth time how hard her own sitch would have been had her own family not been so supportive.

Kim looked around the one room apartment.

“Do you two live here together?”

“We… we have been, for… for…” The fair skin blushed about as deeply as Kim’s ever had, maybe more so.

“Hey.” Kim reached out and took her hand. “Remember who you’re talking to.”

The other girl blushed and giggled, prompting the redhead to breath a little easier.

“Yeah. You’d know how awkweird it is to talk about.”

“Sometimes, yeah.”

“You and that green woman! Have you really been together for four years?”

“Yep.”

“Has it been easy for you?”

“Geez, no!” Kim laughed. “Every day is an adventure.”

“I never understood what you could see in her! You used to fight her, right?”

“What do you mean, ‘used to’? There’s still the odd battle royal at our place, sometimes.”

“And your little girls. How is it that they look so much like…?”

“I’ll tell you later.” The redhead waved her off; no way was she going to attempt to explain THAT sitch this late and after so much drama. “At dinner, if you’ll agree to stop by and visit us on Thanksgiving.”

“Both of us?” The girl was incredulous.

“Absolutely!”

Lord, what will Shego say!

“Oh, that would be swell!” There was a glimmer of doubt and the eyes glanced to the bathroom door again. “But… she gets uncomfortable around strangers.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll just be my parents and you two and maybe Bonnie and Ron if they can make it.” Kim took the other woman’s hand. “And I’m certain that they will.”

“But… your parents…”

“… won’t prejudge you. You’ll be welcome.”

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Shego shut the bathroom door and leaned back against it while her charge walked stiffly to the small sink. The woman turned both taps and let the basin fill with water that gave off a wisp of steam; she snagged a threadbare washcloth from a hook near the mirror and methodically cleaned her face of blood, dust and sweat.

“So.” She casually inspected her chaperone in the glass. “Are you really doing the hero shtick with Possible?”

“She’s the hero. I’m just along for the ass whuppings.”

The other woman laughed humorlessly before covering her face again with the dampened cloth.

“I know the feeling.”

“So why’d you quit?”

“The same reason you did. A better offer than a shitty life where I can’t see the future… because there is no future. An offer with a tight little hardbody that doesn’t look at me like something that leaked out of a septic tank.” The woman lost focus, staring past Shego and off into the middle distance. “An offer that smiles every time I walk in the room, always wants to cuddle and watch movies late into the night.”

“Touché.” Shego smirked and pulled away from the door. “Add a pair of raggedy flannel pajamas and some fuzzy bunny slippers and we could double-date.” She looked around and found a towel folded atop the toilet’s water tank. With a rueful admission that she was NOT the same old Shego, she held it out to the woman at the sink.

It was accepted with a reserved nod.

“Thanks.”

“This isn’t the sort of place I’d ever expect to find you.”

“Yeah, considering how damn glamorous my old life was!” She actually smiled. “What reason could I possibly have to leave the limelight, the attention and the admiration of my adoring fans?”

Shego sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be a smart ass. You’re in enough trouble.”

“You mean Possible hauling me in?”

“That’s the least of your worries. You know that Kim isn’t going to just walk away. She’s not gonna buy that her friend is shacking up with you of her own free will.”

The woman clenched the towel in her fists.

“We’re not shacking up!” She stopped, taking several deep breaths before continuing. “At least not yet. She lives at home more than she does here because her folks don’t know what to make of her since she met me.”

“But she’s here now.” It wasn’t a question.

“Only for the last week. We’d get a better place but her ‘McJob’ doesn’t pay very well and I can’t get a decent job in the tri-city area to save my life.” She slowly folded the towel and set it down on the edge of the sink. “Am I to understand that you two are getting along ok?”

“Most of the time it’s marital bliss, yes.”

“And the rest of the time?”

“Thankfully, I heal fast and she’s too quick to catch.”

“Mm, hm.” The woman narrowed her gaze. “What’s up with her kids? They’re hers, right?”

Shego slid a nail file from a streamlined pocket and scraped at the talons built into her glove as nonchalantly as she could.

“Yeah.”

“They sure look an awful lot like you.”

“Your point?”

“Anything you’d care to tell me?”

“Not really.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds longer than was comfortable; it was the other woman that broke the silence.

“Are you sure that she didn’t force you back into the hero biz?”

“No way. I’m just along for the ride, like I said. I’d have a better chance of making her turn to evil.”

“I have to admit, when I first heard you two were an item… and stopped thinking that it was a load of crap… I’d have sworn that you’d done just that.”

“What? Anti-Kim? Dark Possible?”

“It was a thought.”

“Shit.” The woman in green and black could have laughed the concept if she didn’t know just how obsessive her Princess could be. “The closest Kimberly Ann Possible comes to breaking the law is when she has me use my plasma to burn the leaves in our backyard without paying the twenty-five buck fee for a permit.” She stifled a grin; she liked to play in the leaves with their daughters. “Otherwise, we’re both on retainer as Independent Operatives for ‘GJ’.”

“Good for you.” The woman sounded truly sincere.

“It’s steady work and we get to do the kind of things we love the most. That, and plenty of time for our children.”

“That sounds nice.” She sighed. “I’m lucky to have the part time gig I’ve got.”

“You tried to go straight?”

“Is that a joke?”

“Look, none of us are marching in any parades. You know what I mean.”

“Forget it.” The woman turned towards the mirror and looked herself over, running her fingers through her hair. “I knew what you meant. Yeah, I’ve got a ‘nine to five’ right here in town.”

“Something in show business?”

“Shit. I’m invisible as far as the media is concerned.”

“So you pay for this palace by doing…?”

“I’m a personal trainer at the Middleton Fitness Center.”

“Really? I’d have thought that you’d still be putting your talents to use.”

The woman frowned, more bitter than angry.

“I can’t do what I used to do, not for money or for kicks.”

“Why not? I’ve seen what you were capable of, both on the news and some old ‘GJ’ surveillance tapes Kim showed me yesterday.” Shego was far from awed but appreciated athletic skill when she saw it. “You were damn good.”

The woman turned away from her reflection.

“How old do you think I am?”

“Huh? Um… well…”

“Never mind.” The woman smirked, more sad than bitter. “I’m almost forty but that’s not my point. The years of overdoing it has taken its toll.” She reached above the sink and opened the medicine cabinet, revealing over a dozen bottles of various medications. “I have the body of someone twice my age. My joints are ruined, my back is a joke and I’ll be hurting for days from your partner making me taste my own wallpaper.” She shut the cabinet. “I’m old before my time.”

Shego grew pensive; it was her worst fear. Not for her, of course, because of how quickly her wounds healed, her plasma-based power keeping her body healthy and fit without nearly as much exercise as should be required to achieve the same result. Her fear was for Kim; the hero could become injured some day or wear out her body prematurely while still a young woman. She shook off the distraction and looked her former contemporary square in the eyes.

“This kid loves you?”

“Kid? She’s no younger than yours!”

“Whatever. I mean that she’s really here with you of her own free will?”

“Doy!”

“You have no plans to hurt her?”

“As if.” More tired than sad, the woman sat down on the closed toilet seat. “I love her.”

“And the horseshit we interrupted?” The sight of the medicines had shocked Shego; she had often thought of herself getting along in years, but this person was in far worse shape. Her question did bring a little life into the eyes of her charge, however, and the woman even blushed a bit.

“She, um… she likes to do a little ‘dominance and submission’ some times. What you two barged in on is about all I’m capable of these days.” She seemed to lose focus, hard eyes softening.

“I’d do anything for her.”

Shego pursed her lips; this sitch was becoming much too personal.

“Where in the Hell did you two meet?”

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“I joined a gym a few months ago.”

“Really?” Kim was glad that talking had made her friend relax. “Which one?”

“The Middleton Fitness Center. It’s where we met.” She pointed towards the bathroom door. “She’s a personal trainer there.”

“I didn’t know that.” And she hadn’t. Kim had lost track of her old foe and had never felt the need to investigate her whereabouts. “They hired her with her record?”

“Oh, not full time. She works part time only because the owner doesn’t fully trust her not to rob the place. No benefits, you know? That makes it hard to pay for…”

The young woman paused, obviously embarrassed. Feeling like a heel, Kim prompted her.

“Making it hard to pay for what?”

“Oh, anything. This apartment, food, her medicines.”

“Medicines?”

“Mostly over the counter stuff. Some generic prescriptions, other stuff she gets from the Lowerton Health Clinic.”

“Is she sick?”

“No. Well,” the girl seemed confused, searching for the right words, “she’d been hurt so many times from her old life that it’s hard for her to move around like she should. She’s in pain most of the time.”

“What do you call the shenanigans we saw earlier?”

“Don’t let her know that I told you, but… she and I play this game where she’s captured me and I’m her prisoner and then we… we… we do stuff.” The blush returned. “You know?”

“I think so, yes.” Kim didn’t like what she was hearing; this sitch was not what she had expected, just as Shego had guessed. She reached out and once again took the small hands of her old friend in her own and looked deep into the other woman’s eyes as if reading her soul.

“Honey, please tell me the truth.”

“Ok.”

“I mean it. The God’s honest truth.”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I?”

“Are you sure that this is what you want? That this… that being with her is where you want to be?”

“Yes!”

“Does she love you?”

“Yep.” This was punctuated with an emphatic nod of the head. “And I love her.”

“Hm.”

Kim wanted nothing more than a few seconds to think, to work the sitch through, but the opening of the bathroom door and the return of Shego and the woman she had been watching interrupted her thoughts. Her friend pulled her hands free from Kim’s grip and bounded off the bed, making a beeline straight for her friend but stopping just short of contact when she caught sight of the expression on Shego’s face.

“Kimmie, a word, please?” The pale green woman gave her charge a meaningful look. “Don’t gimp off.”

“You’re about as funny as a rubber crutch.” There wasn’t much rancor in her voice, though. Her whole demeanor changed when Shego moved aside to let Kim’s friend pass by. The two held each other close and Shego’s frown deepened. She ambled over to the bed and sat down next to her mate, the box springs squealing in protest.

“Princess, we need to talk.”

“Yeah, baby, I think we do.”

The other two had no attention to spare for the heroes and only had eyes for each other. They hugged tightly… the younger not so tight as to hurt the older… and leaned into each other to whisper softly.

“What’s going to happen now?”

“Baby, I don’t know, but I need you to be strong.”

“You don’t really think they’ll take you in, do you?”

“I said I don’t know, but with my record…”

“No!” The large eyes started to tear up all over again. “It’s not fair!”

“Shh, shh, shh. Sweetness, please don’t cry.”

“I’ll call daddy! I’ll make him get us a lawyer! Then we can…”

“Um, excuse me.”

Kim was standing nearby, roughly halfway between where they were whispering and where Shego still sat on the bed. The women looked up at the redhead with mixed expressions of panic and anxiety.

“I… uh… I don’t mean to eavesdrop but maybe… maybe…” She frowned and scuffed her mission shoes along the ragged carpeting. “Maybe no one really has to go anywhere.”

No one spoke for several heartbeats. Even Shego avoided any snarky comments.

“Do you mean…?!” The younger woman’s entire face shone with joy and words failed her. The older woman had less trouble asking the question once she found her voice.

“Are you saying that you’re not going to take me in?”

“The thing is…” Kim folded her arms and closed her eyes; she prayed to God that she was doing the right thing and mentally reviewed a score of ‘GJ’ policy documents in her mind’s eye. “The only reason we came here was because of an alleged missing person. Since that person is not actually missing, and is in fact both alive and well and not being detained against her will, there is no crime being perpetrated and we have no reason to take anyone anywhere.”

“Oh, Kim! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…!”

This earned Kim a crushing hug from her friend, a hug that Kim heartily returned, as well as a kiss on the cheek, and a hard look from both former villains… who were wondering if this classified as cheating.

“But you each have to promise me something.” Kim held her friend out at arm’s length. “Promise me that you’ll call your family right away and let them know what’s going on. Then call Bonnie and stay in touch. Then call me before next Thursday and I’ll give you directions to the house for dinner.”

“Dinner?!”

“Yes.”

“But that’s Thanksgiving!”

“I was going to tell you!”

One former villain shook her head in mock disgust while the other former villain stared hard at Kim with suspicion.

“What promise do you expect from me?”

“To stay out of trouble, keep your nose clean and to make her happy.” Kim cocked a thumb at her friend.

“That’s all?” The tone was mildly belligerent even as she pulled the smaller girl closer.

“That’s plenty. Or I’ll be back… and you can see how much trouble it is to get her moving.” Kim didn’t have to turn around to know that Shego was making faces at her; the expressions of the two lovers told her enough. The tall woman smiled as she looked beyond the redhead towards the woman on the bed.

“I thought that you said she wasn’t evil.”

“And I know the owner of the Middleton Fitness Center.” Kim chose her words carefully, not wanting to offend. “He would appreciate knowing that he’s got such a respectable member of the community working for him.”

The woman colored.

“I’m not a charity case.”

“This isn’t charity. I’m not giving you anything.”

“Baby, we could get a better place!”

“That’s not… what I mean is…!”

“It could mean a new life together!”

“Yeah.” The tall woman blinked and slowed her breathing. “Yeah, it could.” She inspected her former nemesis guardedly and her expression was neutral. “Thanks.”

Kim kept her tone flat, neither patronizing nor magnanimous.

“You’re welcome.”

Her friend was far less reserved as she bounced up and down and revived her earlier mantra of gratitude.

“Oooo! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“That’s it.” Shego grimaced when she stood up; she was slightly embarrassed at how the bed made more noise when she was on it than anyone else. “We’re leaving before I vomit.”

“Shego!”

“Let’s make ourselves scarce so these two can bump uglies.”

“EWWW!” The shocked look on the faces of both of the younger women brought a smirk to both of the older ones.

“She lets you kiss her with that mouth?”

“That and more.” Shego grinned. “Let’s make like a library and book, Kimmie. I need ice cream.”

“Alright, alright!” The redhead was practically growling. “I can’t take you anywhere.”

The tall woman kept her arm around the shoulder of her young lover and glass crunched underfoot as everyone walked to the door of the cramped apartment. Kim was reminded of her enthusiastic entry with Shego and gently took hold of her friend’s other shoulder.

“I’m sorry about the skylight.”

“It’s ok, I guess. We’ll pull the cover down ‘til we get it fixed.”

“Maybe I can help.” Kim fished around in one of the pockets of her cargo pants while the other three glanced absently at the jagged hole in the ceiling. She soon pulled out a business card and handed it over to her friend. “Call this guy and tell him that you know me and I’ll make sure that he bills my account. He does a lot of home repairs at our place after things get too rambunctious.”

“You mean fighting?”

Kim found that she couldn’t quite get the answer out and Shego came to her rescue.

“Yeah. Fighting. Ok, Pumpkin… home, now. There’s a half gallon of French Vanilla calling my name.” Shego led the way to the door, tenderly dragging Kim behind her.

“Geez… nag, nag, nag!” The hero barely kept from stumbling as she turned back to the occupants of the tiny apartment. “You two take care of each other and don’t let anything stop you.”

“We won’t! Uh, I mean, we will! I mean…”

“She knows what you mean, baby.” The taller woman nodded at her former enemy as she was dragged down the shadowy hallway. “Thanks, Possible.”

“Call me Kim and… Shego, darn it, leggo… we’ll see you both for Thanksgiving dinner!” The last few words were yelled because the pair had already started down the stairs.

The former villain just stood there for a moment before pulling her younger lover back inside and slowly closing the door. They could only look at each other in silence with something akin to hesitant elation; their lives had been so difficult after having chosen to be together that the events of this night seemed much too good to be true.

“Well, that was…”

“Oh! Let me say it!”

The tall woman smirked.

“Knock yourself out.”

“Freeeaaky!”

“No, no! You always say it wrong!” It was hard not to giggle. “It’s ‘frEAKY’!”

Andrea ‘Adrena’ Lynn smiled down at her lover; it was a true and open smile. It came freely and easily and she had an odd feeling that it might be the first of many. Tara did giggle, a mischievous gleam in her sparkling blue eyes.

“Well, you’re freaky!”

“Oh, really?” She reached up and caressed the fair skin and ran her fingers through the long, blond hair. “Tell you what… let’s resume our calistenics…”

“Giggle!”

“… and work up an appetite. I could go for some barbeque.”

“Ew! Meat is murder! Let’s go to that new organic vegetarian bar!”

“Nuts to that. I’ll surrender to Team Possible first.”

“Not funny!” Tara’s smile faded. “Do you think we’ll be ok?”

“Huh? Well, sure.” Andrea frowned. “We’ll get take out from each place, and…”

“No, I mean do you think that we’ll be ok together.”

The former stuntwoman and media star embraced the shorter woman in her arms.

“There you go again, sweetheart. You think too much. Of course, we’ll be ok.”

“How can you be sure?”

“As different as those two are,” she nodded her head towards the apartment door, “if they can stick together for so long without killing each other, we’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Fr-EAKY!”

“That’s my girl!”

The End

Author’s Notes: Oh. So that’s who they are!

I whipped up the name ‘Andrea’ (hardly a stretch) as the real name for Adrena Lynn because I like the characters to have as much realism as possible. I hope that you enjoyed this little foray into the lives of two lesser characters. I don’t know if they’ll ever resurface in my Kigoverse… but only time will tell.