Disclaimer: Kim Possible and related characters are created by Bob Schooley & Mark McCorkle. Copyright by Disney.

My sincere thanks to Andarion (andarion . deviantart . com) for beta-reading this story and providing me with feedback and suggestions.

Shego stared at the piece of paper she was holding in her hands as if she was willing the letters on it to disappear, or at least spell out something different. The text, however, stubbornly refused to change and still conveyed the same message it did nearly an hour ago when she had first opened the letter. It almost seemed to her as if those accursed letters were mocking her, and finally, a flash of green flame engulfed the paper. Soon, only ashes remained.

How the hell could this happen? she thought to herself. Well, of course she knew HOW it could happen, but how, and why, did it happen to HER?

Finally, she got up. She started to feel locked up in her quarters. She needed space, now! She picked up her duffel-bag, which she always kept handy for a quick exit, and left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Dr. D, I'm taking a vacation"

Drakken stopped tinkering with his latest device and turned around to face Shego. "What did you say?" he asked incredulously.

"I said I'm taking a vacation." Shego said irritated "You do understand English, don't you? I'm gone for the next few weeks or so. Maybe longer."

"But… but…" Drakken stammered. "You can't take a vacation. At least not now! My latest invention is nearing completion and that means that annoying teen-hero Kim Possible and her bumbling buffoon will invade our lair in the next week or so. I won't allow you to go on vacation." Drakken concluded resolutely.

"You won't?" Shego asked incredulously. Was Drakken really loosing his mind now? First he decided to go back to his incompetent "take over the world" plans, and now he actually thought he could order Shego to do something that conflicted with her plans?

"Yes, I won't! I need you now, Shego." Drakken confirmed.

"Oh, can it, Dr. D!" Shego said in an annoyed voice "You've got enough henchmen to protect your half-assed scheme against Kim Possible. Though I doubt she'll even bother to show up. After all, any time you come up with one of your evil schemes, it turns out to be a dismal failure."

"Shego!" Drakken whined. "What did we agree on about words that hurt?"

"Well, I don't care, because I'm going on vacation. Right! Now!" Shego stated.

"No, Shego! I told you, I can't allow…" Drakken's statement was cut short when Shego grabbed his collar and pulled his face close to hers. She lit her other hand and calmly said "Listen up, Dr. D. I will say this once again. I. Am. Going. On. Va-ca-tion!"

While she walked out, Shego turned around one last time. "Oh, and by the way, Dr. D." she stated.

"Yes?" Drakken asked suspiciously.

"Since you're back to taking over the world," Shego continued. "Wouldn't you at least have the decency to take off that medal they gave you for saving the world from Warmonga?"

And with those words, Shego walked out of his lair. She would never see it again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, that was weird." Kim Possible said, while she and Ron got into her car. Behind them, secondary explosions were tearing down the walls of the hall that had held Dr. Drakken's latest doomsday device.

"What was, KP?" Ron inquired. "Drakken's latest invention self-destructing before we actually reached it? That weird costume he was wearing? His syntho-drone bodyguard? Or his henchmen actually coming in action against us?"

"The last two, mostly." Kim replied. "But the main strangeness was that Shego was nowhere around to make things difficult for us. I mean, first they go back to a life of crime, and then, when the chips are down, we come up against syntho-drones and henchmen that were anything but first class. No offence, Ron, but you could have taken care of this sitch all by yourself."

"None taken." Ron re-assured Kim.

"So, where's Shego?" Kim mused. "Without her, Drakken is just another Dementor, and where's the fun in that?"

"Fun?" Ron asked in a surprised voice.

"Never mind." Kim said "I was just trying to get a feel for the villain's motivations."

"Getting into your college books before classes have even started, aren't we, KP?" Ron asked.

"Not every day, and only the really interesting courses." Kim said defensively. "Anyway, the main question still stays: Where was Shego? What is she up to?"

"I have no idea, KP" Ron confessed. "But it wouldn't be the first time she stuck out on her own. Especially in the last year or so, we've seen her more often without Drakken than with him."

"I still don't like it." Kim muttered. "Something weird is going on here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shego sighed while she considered her options. In the last two weeks, she had been traveling around for places where she could gather her thoughts and hope to come up with another plan than the obvious one.

She had tried visiting the temple again, although she hadn't been observant even before that meteor messed up her life. Well, that had been a loss of time.

She had tried other churches as well, but they all left her with the same empty feeling. She had even tried to visit the wild wilderness and "get in touch with Life, the Universe and everything" but no epiphany had struck her.

She had gone as far as visiting the remains of their parental home, but the same obvious answer kept coming back to her over and over again.

And now, she was looking at Go Tower, her last sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, there was another solution. She just couldn't believe that she was even thinking of asking her stuck-up brother for help.

Shego sighed and considered the only other option she had. The one plan that had seemed logical since the very beginning. Was it really so much worse than entering that accursed tower?

Of course it wasn't! Fuck Go Tower! She may have sunk deeply, but nothing short of another blast with the Attitudinator would ever make her ask her brothers for help.

That left her with only one choice. The very same one she had so desperately sought an alternative to.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a minor noise and a slight rush of air. Normal people wouldn't even have noticed it, but Kim wasn't exactly a normal person. She sat bolt upright in her bed within a second. "Who's there?" she demanded while reaching for the light switch, though the shadowy outline by her window made her expect the worst. A moment later, her room was illuminated and her suspicions were confirmed.

"Good night, Princess." The intruder said pleasantly.

"Shego!" Kim hissed. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I need your help." The thief said.

"You WHAT!?" Kim exclaimed.

"I said I need your help, Kim. I want out. And you're the only person decent enough to help me."

"You want out?" Kim asked incredulously. "Well, that's easy. You're standing next to the window. You use it the same way you did to get in, just in the opposite direction. Good night."

"Oh, har har." Shego said sarcastically. "Don't act as if you didn't understand me."

"Well, why don't we act like I didn't understand you? What do you mean 'you want out'?" Kim pressed.

Shego gritted her teeth. She knew exactly how she felt and what she wanted to say, but actually having to say it suddenly seemed like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. She took a deep breath and started. "I want out of this life! I want to stop being a wanted criminal. I no longer want to fight you, or any other law enforcer for that matter. I want to earn a chance at living a normal life. I want to cut a deal: my knowledge for immunity. If needed, I'm even willing to 'pay my debt to society'." Shego nearly spat out the last phrase and she actually used air-quotes while saying it.

For a moment, Kim sat in silent surprise Shego actually turning herself in? She must be dreaming. She quickly regained her composure, though. This just had to be some kind of trick.

"So," Kim asked. "What in the world made you decide to stop your life as a criminal? What makes this time so much different from a few months ago, when you got a medal in front of the whole UN? You got hit by the Attitudinator again?"

"Hell no!" Shego said indignantly. "Did you at any moment hear me giggle like a love-sick school girl? No, this is the real me!"

"And the real you just got up this morning and decided she'd stop being a criminal and would become the bestest friends ever with Kim Possible and everything would be zip-a-dee-doo-da Happily Ever After?" Kim mocked.

"Of course not!" Shego growled. "Did you miss the part about doing time? Besides, I never mentioned being friends with you!"

"I guess it got drowned out by the whole 'I want' litany. Somehow, that just didn't sound like the confession of a remorseful criminal" Kim countered.

"Look," Shego said calmly. "You and I both know that I'm no Ghandi, but that doesn't make me a Jeffrey Dahmer or Bin Laden either. I've never been one for fancy words, and I tell it like it is. That doesn't make me any less serious in my desire to get out, though."

Kim considered Shego's words. She was nearly convinced that Shego spoke the truth, but she was also certain there was something Shego wasn't telling her. An essential piece of information that would explain why Shego had made such a pivotal decision.

"Well Shego," Kim stated "I think you've got to tell it like it is then. If you want me to believe you, you've got to do better than such a half-assed sob-story. I know there's something you're not telling me. So cut to the chase and tell me why I should believe you."

Dammit! Shego silently cursed. She had hoped she could have kept that info secret. At least for the time being. But somehow, she had known Kim would keep on digging. That little crime fighter was nothing, if not persistent.

Well, here we go, Shego said to herself while she took a deep breath and said those three words she'd never have thought would come out of her mouth.

"Kim, I'm pregnant."

-- End of Chapter 1--