SOC ROAD TRIP: STORMS OVER COLORADO, PART 2

Shego drove down the road in northern Colorado, allowing the warm, spring air to blow through her long, dark raven hair. In the seat next to her was her girlfriend of almost five months, Kim Possible. Kim had begrudgedly agreed to allow herself to be blindfolded for this last leg of the journey. Shego wanted this to be surprise. Shego smirked wickedly at the thought.

As Shego thought about it for perhaps the umpteenth million time, she would have never thought that the last seven months would have gone the way they had. Kim and Shego had started their journey as acquaintances, barely having gotten past the fact that they were previously mortal enemies. Now... now was a whole different story. Despite the fact that it was discovered that it was an underhanded plot by Doctor Drakken that had set events into motion, Kim and Shego had agreed to continue exploring their feelings for each other.

The rewards had been beyond description.

"So, Pumpkin," Shego smiled, turning to her blindfolded girlfriend. "You ready for our May Day celebration?"

In spite of being blind, Kim smirked knowingly. "You sure I'm not going to embarrass you?"

Shego laughed. "You mean, like you did on Saint Patrick's Day?"

"Keep me cockatoo cool, Curl!" Kim sang, standing on a bar stool and holding up a pint of green beer in the air. The goofy grin on her face spoke volumes about her state of inebriation. "Keep me cockatoo cool! Ah, don't go acting the fool, Curl. Just keep me cockatoo cool! ALL TOGETHER NOW!"

Everyone around the Sydney, Australia, bar that Kim and Shego had chose to visit on Saint Patrick's Day rose up their own pints and began to sing along with Kim.

"Tie me kangaroo down, sport! Tie me kangaroo down! Tie me kangaroo down, sport! Tie me kangaroo down!"

"'N' take me koala back, Jack!" Kim continued to sing. "Take me koala back! He lives..."

Kim stopped suddenly as she felt a tug at her shirt. She glanced down at her girlfriend, Shego, who was blushing a furious shade of green and keeping her head down to hide it.

"Kimmie, just... just stop," Shego muttered softly. "You're embarrassing yourself."

"Oh, come on!" a nearby man said, pounding his empty mug on the bar counter. "Let th' sheila have some fun. We all are!"

"Yeah!" agreed another man. "Quit bein' such a sook!"

"Yeah, Rochelle," Kim smiled. "Quit being such a..." She then glanced up at the second man. "A what?"

The men sitting around the bar busted up laughing at that point.

"Kimmie...," Shego whimpered, almost literally withering down into her barstool.

"Seriously," Kim laughed. "What's the deal? Rolf Harris is quintessential Australian."

"That's the thing," Shego hissed. "You're an American in Australia trying too hard to be Australian. They're making fun of you for that!"

"Naw," the guy next to Shego laughed. "We're jus' makin' fun o' how pissed off her head she is. We all love Rolf Harris."

All of the other patrons rose their pints and cheered in response.

"Come on, Rochelle," Kim soothed, kneeling down to rub Shego's back gently. "Calm down. Try to have a little fun."

"Can you at least think of another Australian song?" Shego sighed, burying her face in her hands. "Tie Me Kangaroo Down seems to be the only one anyone ever knows."

Kim stood up and thought about it a moment. The other patrons watched with bated breath as Kim silently considered her options. Suddenly, she smiled brightly and began to sing again.

"I know just how to whisper," Kim sang, raising her pint gently. "And I know just how to cry. I know just where to find the answers. And I know just how to lie. I know just how to fake it. And I know just how to scheme. I know just when to face the truth. And then I know just when to dream."

Shego's eyes went wide on that one. "Air Supply?"

"They're from Melbourne," Kim replied wickedly.

"Oh, gawd!" Shego cried before ramming her face into the bar counter.

Oblivious to the act, Kim and the other patrons continued to sing the song, Making Love Out Of Nothing At All.

"I didn't embarrass you," Kim laughed as she playfully whipped her hair in the wind of the convertible just the way she knew Shego liked it. "You embarrassed yourself. Me and the blokes had fun that night."

"You and the...?" Shego started to ask, looking at her blindfolded girlfriend queerly. "Oh, geez!"

Kim laughed delightedly at Shego's reaction. "At least you had fun at Easter, though."

Shego snorted as she thought back to Easter. "That, my love, was indeed a riot."

"So, let me get this straight," Master Sensei said as he considered the group of people in front of him. "An usagi hengeyokai spirit travels the entire world in a single day once per year, hiding colorfully painted eggs for children to search and find? And this is in celebration of the Spring and fertility?"

Shego grinned playfully as she considered the old Japanese man in traditional monk robes. Kim sat next to her, carefully gauging Shego's act. "Come on, Master Sensei. You of all people should know how differently the spirit world works compared to our world."

"Indeed," Master Sensei replied thoughtfully, caressing his full, deep beard with one hand. "So, in order to celebrate this spirit's gifts, we must search our grounds diligently for these eggs?"

"Right," Kim added, squeezing Shego's hand knowingly. "Each of us takes a basket and tries to fill it before anyone else fills theirs."

"So, it is a contest of perception, speed, and diligence?" Master Sensei asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Yes, Sensei-sama," replied Yori, who sat between Kim and her boyfriend, Ron Stoppable. "It is my honor to confirm Kim-san and Shego-san's story. It is indeed how Americans celebrate their Spring holiday."

"Hmmm," Master Sensei hummed softly. "And all of this time, I had led myself to believe that Easter was in celebration of the resurrection of the Western culture messiah, Jesus of Nazareth."

"Bah, Passover is far more important than that!" Ron stated, earning him a soft smack on the back of his head from Yori.

"Well then," Shego said, standing up and holding up four colorful baskets. "The person with the least eggs gets to do the dishes for the rest of the week."

"You're on!" Kim smirked, standing up and taking a basket.

"It is my honor to accept your challenge, Shego-san," Yori laughed, standing up and taking a basket.

"Might as well count me in, even though I'm pretty much hosed," Ron mumbled, standing up half-heartedly and dusting off his pants.

All three girls took off running, giggling and laughing as they began to dive into bushes, duck behind fountains, and leap from rooftops.

Ron watched as the girls went about their play. "You know, the smart man would accept the fact that I'm going to wash those dishes, no matter what I tried. So why even try to look for those eggs."

Master Sensei rose a brow to that. "Indeed?"

Ron suddenly got a look of grim determination on his face. "But I'm not a smart man. I'm a hero. And a hero does his best, no matter the odds. Look out eggs! Here I come!"

Master Sensei couldn't help but smile knowingly underneath his beard.

The hunt carried on for almost an hour. Kim, Shego, and Yori laughed, joked, and taunted with each other the entire time. Kim and Shego, true to form, spent the entire time attempting to one-up each other, each stealing a find from under the other's nose. Yori would often take advantage of the other two's distractions and steal a find from under the other two's noses. Yori would then taunt the other two; this only fueled their mutual determination to one-up Yori. The battle of wits carried on until the three felt they had found every egg that was hidden on the Yamanouchi grounds.

Kim, Shego, and Yori walked back to the garden, each carrying a basket filled with eggs. Each was laughing and carrying on about their superiority over the others.

"I got twenty-three eggs," Kim said, smiling impishly. "What did you get, Angel?"

Shego did a quick count of her eggs. "Twenty-five."

"Twenty-five?" Kim asked incredulously. She started to reach for Shego's basket. "Are you sure?"

Shego growled playfully and swatted Kim's hand away. "Nuh-uh! No touching the merchandise! Yes, I'm sure. Twenty-five. I beat you by two, Pumpkin. Face it."

"I only found twenty," Yori sighed. "My only hope is in Ron-kun now."

As the three women approached the garden, they found Ron standing next to Master Sensei. The girls had to stop in unison, gawking at the site.

Ron's basket was filled beyond capacity, the eggs within rising like a mound above the brim of the basket. Ron couldn't help but cock a goofy grin.

"Stoppable?" Shego breathed incredulously, pointing first at the basket then to Ron then back to the basket. "How...?"

"Yeah, Ron!" Kim said in a bit more of an accusatory tone. "Just how did you get that many eggs in such a short time."

"One should never underestimate the potential of one who eschews the mantle of a smart man and dons the mantle of a hero," Master Sensei said proudly.

"Okay," Shego sighed, closing her eyes and shaking a finger at Master Sensei. "I'm not even going to try to explain the insult you just hid in that comment."

"Where did you look where we did not, Ron-kun?" Yori asked, looking at Ron with pleading eyes.

Ron smiled proudly. "The one place you three never bothered to think of looking."

All three sported risen brows at this point. Kim spoke first. "And... just where was this place?"

"After you explained the concept of the Easter celebration to me," Master Sensei said. "I chose to color eggs of my own to hide. Ron-chan found those eggs... in a basket sitting in my lap."

Three feminine jaws dropped so low that one could only imagine the crashing sound of them proverbially hitting the floor.

"That's... cheating!" Shego finally yelled, pointing at Ron.

"Like you're one to judge, Shego," Ron huffed.

"In most things, you'd be right there, Sidekick," Shego growled. "But I played this particular contest fair and square."

"I think I understand now why you cheated in all of our fights," Kim mumbled.

"I know, right?" Shego turned, agreeing with Kim. "Wait, what? No! I never cheated during our fights! I always won those fair and square."

As Kim and Shego verbally sparred, Ron walked up to Yori. "How many did you find, love?"

Yori sighed and looked down at her basket. "I found only twenty, I am afraid."

Ron gently placed a finger on Yori's lips, gave her a soft hushing sound, and handed her his basket. "No, you didn't, Yori. You found sixty-eight."

Kim and Shego stopped dead cold in their verbal sparring match. "Wait, what?" they both gasped in unison.

"Yeah, Yori found forty-eight more in my hand, just like I'd found those forty-eight in Master Sensei's lap," Ron explained, folding his arms in front of him. "Ultimately, I've found none. I'm the one who'll have to do the dishes this week."

Yori stood there for a moment, her lips trembling, as tears started welling up in her eyes. Finally, she dropped both baskets and leapt onto Ron with a tremendous hug. "Ron-kun! It is my honor to call you my hero!"

"Wow, Sidekick," Shego said, nodding appreciatively. "Way to man up for your girlfriend."

"That was very romantic," Kim agreed.

"Indeed," Master Sensei added. "Great things come to he who eschews the mantle of the smart man and dons the mantle of the hero."

Shego rose a brow to Master Sensei. "Stoppable was the first one to make that analogy, wasn't he?"

"Indeed he was," Master Sensei replied thoughtfully.

"Doesn't surprise me," Shego chuckled, earning a playful slap in the shoulder from her girlfriend.

Meanwhile, no one noticed how Yori had pulled Ron into a deep, loving kiss.

"And now we have Mother's Day coming up," Kim said, smiling as they drove along the now mountain road.

"We're going to decide which mother we're going to visit," Shego agreed, a bit more somberly than Kim's excited tone.

"Nonsense," Kim huffed, despite still sporting a smile. "I'll pull in a favor and get my mom out to Honolulu. We'll make it a girl's day out between us, including a good long visit with your mother."

Shego smiled softly to Kim. "You have a solution for everything, don't you?"

"I had a solution for us, despite Christmas, right?" Kim cooed softly, leaning into Shego.

"You sure did," Shego agreed. "Despite my stupidity. Thank you for believing in me, Princess."

"Always and forever," Kim whispered softly, nibbling lightly on Shego's earlobe. "Always and forever."

"Gyah!" Shego gasped, swatting Kim away. "Not while I'm driving! What are you doing? Getting us killed?"

Kim scooted back and grinned evilly, an effect made even more intense due to the blindfold she was wearing. "I... I just died in your arms tonight," Kim sang playfully. "It must've been something you said."

Shego couldn't help but bust up laughing at that. "Oh, my God, Kimmie! What did I ever do before you?"

"Listen do a blue dolt with no life whose book smarts vastly outstripped his common sense," Kim fired back without missing a beat.

"I am so glad those days are over," Shego said, shaking her head.

"Hey! I remember this road," Kim suddenly noted, lifting up the blindfold and looking out her window at the landscape beyond.

"Kimmie! You weren't supposed to see!" Shego gasped. "See if I trust you again in the future."

Kim blinked and shoved the blindfold back into place. "I'm sorry. My curiosity overrode my common sense again. I..."

"It's okay, Princess," Shego sighed, managing a soft smile as she reached over with one hand and untied the blindfold. "You were going to see it anyway. I was just hoping to see your face once we got to the cabin."

"How...?" Kim began to ask, turning back to Shego as the blindfold fell into her hands in her lap.

"Let's just say I have connections of my own," Shego grinned. "And I don't need a Poindexter webmaster to keep track of them."

"Hmmph!" Kim huffed playfully, as she folded her arms and looked back out the window.

A short time after that, Shego pulled up to a log cabin. In front of the cabin was a minivan. By the minivan was a Latin man and a black jaguar on a leash.

Shego got out of the convertible and approached the man. "Hector Delgado!"

The man smiled in return as Shego approached him. He extended a hand to Shego, who quickly took it and shook it affectionately. "Rochelle Godeaux! A pleasure finally seeing you again after... what? Six? Seven years?"

Kim jumped out of the convertible and approached the two. "You two... know each other?"

"Miss Godeaux have a past together that I am quite sure neither of us wish to revisit," Delgado explained. "Let's just say we are both exes of our respective fields of study."

Kim decided at that point to not press the matter further.

"I appreciate you pulling through for me, Hector," Shego said, stepping back to carefully consider the man and his pet.

The jaguar growled softly at Shego until Kim approached it. It then quit its growling and snuggled up to Kim as she knelt down next to it.

"Hey, there, Sheba," Kim smiled, petting the great cat affectionately. "I see you remember me and how I saved you from the big, bad police."

"Sheba?" Shego asked, looking at Delgado queerly.

"Her full name is the Beautiful and Exalted Queen of Sheba," Delgado explained. "But everyone just calls her Sheba."

"It's a beautiful cat," Shego admitted. "Sleek fur, well-toned muscles, gorgeous eyes..."

"Reminds me of someone else I know," Kim agreed, looking into the cat's eyes. "You're just jealous she might outstrip you in that department, aren't you, sweetie."

Sheba roared knowingly to Kim's inquiry.

"Um, right," Shego said, scratching her head.

"Well, as we agreed," Delgado smiled, handing Shego the keys. "A week here at the cabin in exchange for a favor to be named in the future."

Kim glanced up at Shego incredulously.

"Oh, don't worry your pretty little head off, Pumpkin," Shego laughed, snatching the keys from Delgado's hands. "Hector and I are out of the game. If he ever calls in the favor, I'm sure it'll be something like protecting him from some element of our past that he's trying to leave behind."

"Of course," Delgado smiled smoothly. "Well, you ladies please enjoy the beauty and tranquility for which I bought this property."

"Of course we will," Kim assured the man.

With that, Delgado opened the side door of the minivan. "Your Majesty, come. We're leaving."

Sheba responded by skipping over to the minivan and gracefully leaping into one of the seats inside. Soon enough, Delgado himself was behind the wheel and pulling out.

"Well, Kimmie," Shego said, turning to the front door. "Here we are."

"Where it all began," Kim breathed, stepping up to Shego and lacing her fingers with her girlfriend's.

"Where it all began," Shego agreed.

"Would you have believed, that night eight months ago, that we'd be here, feeling the way that we feel?" Kim asked, looking up at the slightly older woman.

Shego shook her head. "I knew we were entertaining ideas," she said, still looking at the cabin door. "But I never thought it would have developed so quickly... and so completely."

"Me neither," Kim sighed, squeezing Shego's hand lovingly as she turned back to the cabin door.

Suddenly, Shego scrunched up her face and used her free hand to swipe at her nose. "What in the...?"

Kim looked at Shego curiously before she suddenly jerked her head back, squinting her right eye violently.

Both women looked up at the darkening clouds above them as Kim held up her free hand flat. They both began laughing as they realized what was going on.

"It's starting to rain," Shego snorted.

"Let's get the top up and the bags inside," Kim laughed, releasing Shego's hand and heading for the trunk of the convertible. "Before I have to lend you another nightgown."

Shego laughed at the memory as she jumped into the car and raised the top.

Shego sat on the bear skin rug in front of the fireplace, using the poker to stoke the fire. Outside, the rainstorm roared ferociously, occasionally broken up by a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. Shego was wearing the black Tacnayn nightgown that she had worn eight months prior in the very same cabin. She was sitting slightly askew, her legs bent slightly so as to show off everything below mid-thigh. Kim approached Shego and handed her a steaming mug of Coco-Moo. Kim was dressed in a similar nightgown, except that it was violet with a gothic-punk Hello Kitty on the front.

Shego took a moment to appreciate Kim's legs as the younger woman sat down on the rug. "What is this? The third? Fourth mug now?"

"Fourth," Kim agreed. "Although I only spiked the first two."

"Hmmm," Shego hummed, taking a sip from her mug before setting it aside. "Well, I'm still feeling pretty good."

Kim set her own mug aside before stretching out and resting her head on Shego's lap. "I was feeling pretty good before we even walked into the cabin."

"Oh, really?" Shego said, reaching down to absently play with Kim's hair.

"You're not drunk, are you?" Kim asked, just as absently using her fingers to stroke Shego's arm.

"Kimmie, it's going to take a lot more than two Coco-Moo with Bailey's to give me a good buzz, let alone make me drunk."

"Good," Kim said, leaning up slightly. "That makes what I'm about to do a lot easier on my conscience."

With that, Kim reached up and gently brought Shego's lips down to hers. The two women kissed passionately for several minutes before they finally broke the kiss and stared deeply into each other's eyes.

"Kimmie," Shego breathed, obviously stunned by the emotion in the kiss, "why would you feel bad about giving me a kiss like that while I'm drunk?"

"It's not the kiss itself that I'm talking about," Kim whispered, running her fingers across Shego's cheeks and down her neck. "It's what comes with the kiss."

"Kimmie," Shego breathed again before Kim locked another kiss on Shego's lips.

The two women collapsed onto the bear skin rug, in front of the roaring fireplace, with the thunderstorm roaring outside, and explored their options throughout the course of that night.

"Mom! Over here!" Kim cried, waving her hand.

Dr. Anne Possible stepped out into the airport and looked around for the source of the voice. Seeing Kim waving her hands frantically, the older redhead smiled and walked towards her daughter... and her girlfriend.

"Welcome to Honolulu, Anne," Shego smiled, watching Kim hug her mother before stepping in to give Anne a hug of her own. "And Happy Mother's Day."

"Thank you, Shelly," Anne smiled, looking at both her daughter and her daughter's lover. She felt comfortable thinking that. She could see the glow as the two looked at each other. They were lovers now, not just travel companions or girlfriends. It was that obvious.

And, somehow, Anne was not only comfortable with that fact, she was happy for her daughter for finally finding the happiness that had long been denied her.

"So, what's on the agenda today, ladies?" Anne said, clapping her hands together.

"Well, first we get you settled into your room, which is right next to ours," Kim gushed.

"You poor, poor soul," Shego mumbled under her breath, eliciting a playful nudge from Kim and a wry chuckle from Anne.

"Then we're grabbing some take-out from a wonderful Polynesian restaurant that Shego turned me on to. We're taking that food and we're going to Queen's Medical Center and you're meeting Shego's mom. Janet is a such a wonderful woman."

"The woman who made me who I am today," Shego added. "Once I got past who I had become."

"We going to have a wonderful dinner with Janet," Kim continued. "Then the three of us are going dancing. We got exclusive invites to a party happening at a hotel by one of the most beautiful beaches. So, yeah, beach party. Hope you brought your bikini."

Anne smiled and ruffled Kim's hair. "Bring it. I guarantee I can still turn heads, even at my age."

"Good," Shego smiled. "Let's see how many hearts we can break tonight telling those poor saps that we're all taken."

With that, Kim, Shego, and Anne laughed and walked down the airport.

And towards what was probably going to be the best Mother's Day ever.

[END STORMS OVER COLORADO, PART 2]

NOTE: And there you have it. That wraps up the SOC Road Trip Series for now. If you're liked this story, you might enjoy my other KP stories as well. If you haven't already, go to my profile and try out the TSOD Universe stories (The Specter of Death, Robots & Redemption, Wedding Elements, and The Shadow of Infinity) plus my new Chrono Trigger crossover story, Chrono Sitch.