"What?!"

"You heard me." Shego gave Drakken a sharp look, daring him to pretend that he hadn't heard her. But just in case he simply couldn't believe it... "I'm leaving. I quit. End of the line for our partnership."

"But- I don't- You, you can't just do this!" the blue man flailed impotently, the shock evident by the sprouting of numerous grasping vines from around his neck. Amusingly, he pulled out her 5 year contract and waved it at her like a lifeline. "You're under contract!"

"You wanna know what I think of that whole contract thing?" she said, having looked forward to this for the years she'd been waiting for him to try pulling it on her. He gave her a confused frown until she suddenly lit the flimsy piece of paper he was holding on fire, chuckling at his aghast expression while he tried to grab the ashes and put them back together.

"Shego! Why would you do that?!" Drakken growled when he realized there was no fixing the damage done, puffing himself up with anger. "That contract was a legally-binding supervillain-minion contract!"

"Yeah, remind me, which of us is a supervillain and which of us is the minion?" Shego asked, watching for his reaction.

"Well, of course I'm the supervillain," he replied. "You're... Not quite a minion, but still my employee! And as such, you are required to follow the contract we laid out."

"What contract?" she innocently queried. "As far as I know, any such contract existed in one copy, which may or may not have just been incinerated. No one would believe I would subject myself to some contract that referred to me as a minion. And as far as most anyone else is concerned, we never even had that contract. My lawyer'll back me up on whether he wrote one up or not. Besides, we're villains. Since when do we care about legality?""

Drakken comically gasped at her bald-faced assertion. "I can't believe you, Shego! After all the years we've had, and all those times you pulled out that contract to keep me from doing something! You're going to leave me like THIS?"

"Well doy!" She nearly thwapped him upside the head, seeing as how he was the one that usually pulled the card she was about to pull. "I'm EVIL! I may be temporarily retiring from villainy, but that doesn't make me a nice person, Drewbie. I do what I want to do when I want to do it! I won't stick around with a dork like you if I don't think it'll be worth my time. Even with a contract, and promises."

"Even if I pay you a lot?" Drakken tentatively asked.

"Money isn't everything," Shego said, ignoring the sudden giddiness at the idea of how much he'd be willing to pay to keep her around. She began to study her nails as he tried to fake-cry some pity out of her. He even began to grovel at her feet, his vines drooping pathetically around him.

As he made a spectacle of himself, her resolve to leave him strengthened. She knew two things for certain at this point: that if she stuck around, she and the doc would become an item, and that she would quickly get bored and leave him if he stayed the same person as he was now. It was painfully obvious after the fiasco at that villain/hero reception thing. If only she'd known he would act like this, she would've blasted him on-stage.

Acting like such a baby just because she was leaving for a while? Pathetic.

Not worthy of her at all.

"Look Dr. D, I don't plan on being gone for forever," she tried to tell him through his whimpering and pleading as she recognized some of it as genuine. "I'm just taking a break. I'll only be gone as long as it takes for you to grow up, got it?"

"Grow up?" he said, snot and a touch of anger getting through the crying. "I'm already a grown man! What, do you want me to be gray and decrepit before you'll come back?"

"Wrong kind of growing up, Doc," Shego sighed. She should've known he wouldn't get it. "Just... Try to get along without me, and I'm sure that once you've grown up and started being serious I'll hear about it. 'kay?"

"No! Not okay! Sheeeegooooo, I need you!"

"Which is exactly what the problem is," she sadly replied. "DON'T call me. At all. I'll call you when I think you're ready. Got it? Good." Shego turned her back to him and resolutely walked out the door, blocking out his cries the entire way.

Once again, Shego found herself relaxing on her favorite resort's beach. She hadn't gotten any calls from the doc, even in the few months that she had left him to his own devices. It was a relief, really; none of the yelling over the phone like she had with his dumb cloning plan, or the stupid holiday incident with the camping at the North Pole. There was a small wonder at if he took her words to heart or just decided to continue on his stupid, repetitive path of failure, but even the doc wouldn't be that dense. Not after the victory against the Lorwardians.

She had gotten the urge to check in on him every now and then, but quickly brushed those off when she reminded herself that this was more for him than for her. If they were going to be equals in a relationship, he had to build himself up. And if she heard about what he was doing that wasn't some type of ground-breaking, Earth-shatteringly evil plot, then he still wasn't ready for her; after all, if she REALLY wanted to she could take over the world. She just never really wanted too. Too much work for too little reward.

And of course, just as she was thinking of Drakken, the unwelcome gossip that had been haunting Shego's life for the past month since word had gotten out that she'd ditched Drakken hit the beach, and of course she spotted Shego before the green woman could try and dodge her flapping gums.

"Oh great," the beach lounger sighed as the familiar tubby woman skipped over to where she was relaxing.

"Helloooo, Shego," the geneticist cheerily greeted the former villainess/heroine.

"Hello, Amy," she greeted back not-so-cheerily. "Why in the world are you here? Again?"

"Well, I just so happened to be in the neighborhood and realized that my sweetums needed a good polishing. So I checked in and sent him off to get a good scrub and wax. Though it really is inhumane of them to call him 'furniture'. Very insensitive."

Deciding to not mess around with the crazed scientist, Shego bluntly said, "You do realize you're just bothering me at this point, right? This is what, the fifth time you've just so happened to be at the same place I'm at?"

"Sixth. But bothering you? Oh, you're such a silly bear!" DNAmy chuckled while trying her best to get her fingers around Shego's cheeks, completely ignoring Shego's other questions. Employing her agility from her years of work, the green woman evaded Amy's grasp with ease. "I know I'm not really bothering you. If I were, you'd be shooting me away like you did your cutie boss!"

"My cu-ugh." Shego had to resist facepalming at the woman's obvious delusions. "Dr. D is most certainly not a cutie, and even if he were I didn't shoot him away. I'm just taking a much-needed long-term break from him, that's all."

"Oh? You two are just taking a break?" the chubbier woman said, eyeing Shego in a comically obvious fashion. "Are you sure that he knows that? Because really, you wouldn't believe how much things are changing for the bad doctor," DNAmy added in her trademark sing-song voice.

"Yeah, I don't care," Shego grunted at the geneticist's painfully obvious attempt to rouse her curiosity. And she really didn't. That was for later, when she got back in touch with the doc. As for now, she didn't wanna hear anything about him. Not in the least.

"Are you sure? It's quite juicy," Amy continued pushing.

"Don't you know what 'I don't care' means?" Shego grumbled. "It means 'this topic is closed'. 'I do not want to hear more on it'. 'This is something I will hear nothing about of my own free will'. Get it?"

"I guess..." DNAmy reluctantly answered, the same as usual whenever she tried to bring it up. It was sad, in Shego's opinion, that it had become an 'as usual' thing, but it wasn't her fault that the mad scientist tried to talk about it so much. "Would you at least be up for something tangentially related to him?"

"No!" she practically shouted in response, unable to stop a spurt of flame from shooting from her palm.

"Or maybe calling him? I have it from a good source that he's still crying at your absence." Ms. Hall sighed in longing, completely ignoring Shego's reactions, instead clasping her hands behind her head and spacing off into space. "Isn't that just so romantic?"

"Yea-no. Sniveling with snot leaking out his nose is about as romantic as if he were to show up and get down on a knee to play a bad rendition of an OhBoyz song on a banjo," she replied with a light shiver. "Just shut up about it if you insist on hanging around me."

"Okay Muffin," the larger woman said with a shrug, finally taking the obvious declarations at face-value. "But I bet you'll be kicking yourself later for not listening sooner."

"Not gonna happen," Shego snippily replied, reaching for her music player. "I'm going to sit here, enjoy the rays, and wait until I get a sign that Dr. D is finally ready to b-...to not be so stupid. Until then, keep your opinions to yourself." After a pause, she asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why're you so concerned about me and Dr. D anyway?"

"I'm a sucker for a good romance, though this one seems to be going the way of a cautionary tale," Amy said with a shrug. All Shego did was groan at the obvious jab before putting her headphones on and turning her music up louder than was probably healthy.

One night about a half-year later, monstrous ink-dyed shades began popping out of nowhere. Their shapes varied like fingerprints, no one design being repeated among them. Fangs longer than her arm in mouths of behemoths; dripping, fleshy tentacles that dissolved whatever they touched; tunneling swarms of clicking beasts. All of them destroying whatever they could get within range. The weirdest thing about them was that they faded in and out of sight, a mirage in reality itself almost.

Shego didn't know where they were from, what they were, or what they wanted. All she knew was that they were ruining her suntan by getting in the way of the sunlight and making a lot of noise when they were eating the beach courtesans.

It was easy enough to scare most of them off. A few blasts of her power and they went scurrying, slithering, flying, and blinking away from her. A handful thought they would be tough guys and try to take her on in hand-to-whatever combat. They soon learned how much of a boner that was. Whatever made them blink through reality did not make them immune to her flames.

After she shooed them all away from the immediate vicinity, she was further annoyed by all the remaining patrons and resort employees gathering around her for protection. What were they thinking? She wasn't a hero! Heck, they should've paid her for that sort of protection.

Luckily, it was only a matter of time before Miss Goody-Two-Shoes saved the day with her geeky monkey-boy, or Global Justice, or whatever hero-ish thing managed it. Once the threat to life and limb passed, Shego made sure to get paid by the other resort-goers. As for the employees, she settled for a free week-long stay, free food and hot rock massage included.

Of course, of course that nosey little scrub DNAmy tried to blather to her about Drakken when she showed up again the next day. Why couldn't she have been eaten?

"Oh, you won't believe what happened to him now!" she'd gushed like the gossip she was.

"Is he alive?" was what Shego'd asked.

"Well, yes, Muffin, but those dark meanies-" DNAmy spluttered before Shego cut her off.

"That's all I care about, toots." And that's all she would deign to hear about involving Drakken. She wanted to make it a pleasant surprise on her part for waiting so long for the dork. Whatever accomplishments he achieved were all thanks to her, and she wanted to bask in the glory of it all when the time came for her to reap her rewards.

Besides, now he was being the difficult one by not calling her. Even if she told him not to, he still should have done it.

Shego was bored. It was a surprise to her as she usually ate up being on the beach, tended to by studs while the local peons and tourists stared in envy. But as the months dragged on, she had found it to be less enjoyable than it used to be. It had already been... Two and a half years? More? She really should have marked the calendar.

Maybe... Maybe she was being too strict with her standards? That plot with the Diablos was pretty impressive, now that it was a distant memory. The fuzziness helped to clear out the sharp annoyances of not knowing and the sudden shifts in her involvement.

But then she thought about the last time she saw him, when she told him she was leaving until he grew up. The crying, the whining, the lack of pride… She would never respect him if that was how he would react to her doing her usual vacation stuff.

Shego decided to finally try calling and checking on him. Just to check and make sure he hadn't somehow keeled over without that bozo Amy hearing about it.

The mercenary pulled out her phone and pulled up the doc's number. Her finger hesitated over the call button for a second before she finally pressed it.

It rang once, before it suddenly had a busy signal cut in. Incredulity mixed with anger surged through her as she realized what must have happened. He shut her off! When she was trying to check on him, no less! That...that idiot! He didn't even know what she was calling about. For all he knew, she was ready to forgive him for being pathetic and take him back.

The only thing that calmed her down was remembering that yes, he was an idiot. He probably didn't even look at his phone when it rang. Doctor D might've been in the middle of an experiment or something, after all. He wouldn't do that on purpose. In fact, when he called back he would probably grovel for her forgiveness or something. That thought made her smile.

"Ohh, what is our dear Sheegie-poo smiling about now? After talking on the phone?"

And there went her smile. "What are you babbling about, Amy?" Shego asked wearily.

"I think a certain someone called a certain someone else!" DNAmy sang, trying to boop the green woman on the nose and failing.

Scowling, Shego growled, "I was not calling Doctor D. I was… Arranging for a masseuse. Got a pain in my neck like you wouldn't believe…"

Amy's own smile faltered at that. "Oh dear." Her head tilted in worry as she asked, "Are you sure you don't want to hear anything about Drakkie-poo? I know you've been rather resistant, but-"

"Has Drakken done something amazing?"

The pudgier woman thought. "Er, of a sort?"

"Something he can brag to me about?" Shego amended with some frustration.

Bristling, DNAmy cried, "Good heavens no! I don't think anyone would brag to you about-"

"Then save it, sister. I'm waiting for something epic from the doc before I even bother reading up on his current exploits. I'm sure it won't be much longer," Shego waved the hesitant woman off. As she relaxed back into her chair and listened to DNAmy lock onto more hapless bystanders, she sighed.

Yes, she could wait a little bit longer.

Three. Years.

She had been waiting three years for him to make some sort of big splash, to prove that he was worthy of her or, at least, call her back.

But no! That idiot completely ignored her call. Shego just couldn't believe that he was being such an ass about this. Okay, so maybe she should have called earlier. That, however, did not excuse his behavior at all. He was acting ever more like a baby than he used to!

Fidgeting in her luxurious chair in her luxurious room on a luxury resort, she considered her chain of thought. No, that really wasn't right of her now that she thought about it. She did like to troll people sometimes, but accusing them of being a baby because she only called him once? Did he even see that she'd called? It could very well be that the phone number doesn't work or something stupid like that.

...she would give him a little bit longer. Maybe taking on some side work would do her some good. And give her the chance to check up on him without depending on an out-of-date phone number.

Shego sighed in annoyance as she saw the clock hit midnight. Damn. Four whole years spent out and away from Dr. D. She'd barely managed to not die of boredom during the time.

Barely.

Trying to revamp her reputation had been killer. She was no hero material, but she'd initially been aiming for some neutral role so she could take advantage of both sides. Sabotage a villain here, tutor some villain wannabe there, rescue or kidnap whoever whenever… It would have been completely at her discretion.

Until GJ approached her.

They were far, far more full of themselves than even her mind inflated them to be. Demanding that she cease all villainous activity? Demanding that she be their own personal little spy? Demanding that she go against that nutball Gemini?

Yeah, no. She liked money and power and all that generic villain stuff, but she far, far preferred to keep her head firmly attached to her shoulders and her butt clear of any animal bites.

So she had to go a little below the radar to dodge out of that mess. Down to Chile, of all places, to let things cool down and get GJ to back off.

The only problem with the mess was that she didn't get to check in on the doc at all. She didn't even get the kind-of hints from the chubby scientist; Shego had to keep ahead of everyone, including her, to keep from being harassed to do incredibly stupid things at the behest of an agency that was, at its heart, a plaything for one of two insane fraternal twins.

Things had finally settled down at least. Betty had moved on to another poor sap to use as her playing piece. Who it was, Shego didn't know nor care. She was sure that they'd end up as broken or uptight as any other GJ agent. The only thing she was, admittedly, worried about what the bad old doctor was up to lately.

But it would be okay. Drakken was hers, after all, and it wasn't like she had any competition for him. All she needed to do was find someone that knew where he was so she could drag him off to get married or whatever once he showed off whatever his awesome plan was.

Finally, DNAmy would be useful.

Author's Notes

No, I'm not dead. LOTS of stuff has been going on with me. Hit by cars, coworkers deported, working 5 months straight with no days off... Funtimes. But I'm finally getting some steady time off, so I'm trying to get back into the swing of writing. Figured I'd post something a little different. Chapter 2 is nearly done, but I have no idea when I'll have time again to finish it or chapter 3. It might be a long wait...

Shego is very, very stubborn sometimes. She managed to dodge Doctor D for a year in close proximity. He did well when he kept plans secret from her. And he fell back into habit when she started hanging around again and listening on his plans. So a forced breakoff to make him shape up to see if he'll actually be the partner that's worthy of Shego. Or if he'll fail. Eh, who knows? All I know is that she stepped back from the main stage. It's not like anything interesting would've happened, right? Right?