The setting was familiar, but the roles were reversed. After the good Dr. Ann Possible pulled some strings, Kim was allowed to stay at Shego's bedside in the dim hospital room more or less indefinitely. People streamed through from time to time, either trying to console the practically meditative Kim or to perform yet more tests on the sleeping green lady. The only one who really had any pull on getting Kim to eat or move was her mother and even that was a challenge.

Kim slept a lot. She sometimes laid next to Shego, she sometimes sat reclined in the chair that the staff had provided for her when they realized that she was not going anywhere. She was tired, so very, very tired.

After she had spent three days in the hospital room following the battle, Kim's mother had convinced her to go home for a night. When she returned the next day, there was a flutter around the green girl; an urgency that hadn't been there the night before. Kim demanded answers and was eventually granted them. Shego had had a rough night when Kim wasn't there. She had had a seizure and had been put on a series of new medications which sedated her to the point where she may as well have been in a coma.

From that night on, Kim refused to leave the room for more than a few hours. Her mother worried immensely, but there was no talking to the young heroine.

One night, her mother stayed. She sat silently on the other side of the room with a book, waiting. The extra presence made Kim fidgety. After having fallen asleep and woken up several hours later, Kim was startled, almost jumping into battle mode until she remembered that the other person in the room was her mother.

"Mom, you don't have to stay here." Kim turned to her mother. She wore exhaustion all over her face. The dark pockets under her eyes were pronounced and her eyes were streaked with red blood vessels. Ms. Ann Possible held herself back. She so wanted to envelop her daughter in her arms. She so wanted her face to become vibrant again. She stayed back, though. Even in the light of her actions on the day of the fight, she knew that she had been an upsetting part of her daughter's life for several months. She needed some sign from Kim that things were better now. She couldn't bear to make things worse between them.

"Kim, it's not healthy for you to be in here all alone for so long every day. But, if you want me to leave, I can."

"I'm not alone, mom." Kim responded with a touch of annoyance in her voice. Her eyes traced back to the broken girl in the bed. The good doctor nodded.

"I know." She was quiet and sincere, which Kim did not miss. Composing herself, Kim stretched and tried to appear normal.

"Did you ever find out what they did with Drakken?" She asked nonchalantly, as if there were not a giant pink elephant in the room obscuring both of their vision.

"I can't be too sure. The United International Task Force has decided to finally take control. Your father tried to talk to some of his friends and they say that Drew is being housed in a rehabilitative work facility owned by the North Koreans in Russian Siberia."

"That's intense."

"Drew Lipsky is an intense man." The elder redhead reclined in her chair, musing. Kim scoffed lightly at the idea.

"Drakken was a figure head. His plans only ever went half way and what Shego couldn't clean up for him ended up exploding." Her mother laughed. Kim, in return, smiled for the first time in a week.. She looked away to gather her thoughts and the room went silent again, at least silent of voices. The electronics still beeped and the machine still streamed oxygen to Shego.

"Mom..." Kim ventured softly. She balled her fists in her lap anticipating the tension. Ann, sensing her daughter's unease, was immediately alert and attentive.

"What is it Kimmy?" She was soft tentative. Kim looked up to see actual concern in her mother's eyes. She had come to resent her mother over the past months and it was hard to see her as something other than a threat again. She wanted dearly to have her mother back; she had been so close with her prior to the ice lands and so torn when she decided to hate the person that Kim had come to care about.

"Mom...why do you hate Shego so much?" Kim was quickly finding herself overcome with tears. She had no desire to cry. Her body betrayed her.

"I don't hate her." Ann softly replied. Her toes itched as she used every part of herself to not rush to the girl's comfort.

"Then why did you do all of that?!" Kim shouted while still trying to remain quiet. She was overcome. The good doctor hunched in her seat, pulled by a cord that was not visible.

"For you." She answered simply, her face dripping with sadness.

"Me?" She was almost offended.

"Of course you, Kimmy." The older Possible got up from her seat and cautiously began stepping towards her daughter. "Kim, you were still just a little girl when you got that first hit on your website. Two weeks before that day, I remember your father having to carry you up to bed because you had stayed up too late watching a movie with us. It was all very sudden. And, even though you were more than capable, every time you went out was a big question. Would my little girl make it home or would she die that day? Would those ad hoc inventions she's always using choose today to backfire? How much bandaging was she going to need tonight?" She stopped and swallowed, her eyes tracing to the body behind Kim.

"But the thing that came up more often than anything for no reason other than her employer's own persistence and stupidity was whether or not the plasma throwing acrobat woman would choose tonight to finally finish the job that she had started long ago. Kimmy, you can't ignore the fact that Shego was, for a long time, by far your most dangerous encounter. In fact, that was true until the days you spent in the ice lands after the explosion, wasn't it?" Kim's heart raced and she looked almost fearful.

"I can handle her, Mom. I always could and did."

"I know, Kim. It scares me sometimes just how capable you are; how strong and powerful you are and I don't mean that physically. But I'm your mother. I held you in my arms when you were floppy and couldn't hold up your head. I picked you up when you were struggling to learn to walk. And when you started to run right after that, I realized just how strong you would be. I didn't want to hate her, especially after you fell in love with her-" She caught on the words for a moment before taking a breath to compose herself. Her daughter was in love.

"It was hard for me to separate the person that you love from the person that used to try to kill you twice a week not so long ago. It still is to a degree. And as your mother, it was hard for me to realize that she didn't want to hurt you anymore. I will always want to protect you. Sometimes, I just get mixed up in it." Kim's tears had begun to fall again, but this time for entirely different reasons. She was at peace with them as she motioned to beacon her mother to her. Finally getting her long wanted invitation, Ann rushed to the girl and securely held her like she had wanted to for so long. Both felt a weight fall away from them, both finally feeling at ease again. Behind them, they heard a small hicking sound and a light sniffle.

The wide variety of drugs that Shego was on left her rarely awake and completely incoherent when she had been awake. When Kim looked behind her shoulder and the good doctor instinctively went to the other side of the bed to examine the green girl, they saw her weeping.

"Shego?" Ann laid a hand on her face, trying to get her attention. Green, glassy eyes opened slightly at her name.

"Momma..." Shego slurred as she cried, clearly not fully awake. Ann turned to her daughter.

"Kimmy, where is her family?"

"Her brothers are in Go city, but they stress her out."

"And her parents?" Kim looked to the side uncomfortably.

"Well, they're kind of..." Ann knew and nodded. She turned back to Shego.

"Shego...you're mother isn't-"

"Mom!" Kim shouted, making sure that she wouldn't say it. Ann's face contorted before she made a decision. She sighed and took Shego's hand, leaning a bit to be sure that she would be heard.

"Mommy's here." She said calmly. Kim turned and took Shego's other hand, looking over the bed to her mother.

"Thank you, Mom." Ann nodded and cooed to Shego until she was again asleep. She went back to her daughter and brought her chair. She decided that they would stay together and they were going to talk everything out even if it took all night.

A day after the talk with her mother, Kim found herself still sat next to Shego's sleeping body, but now without her mother. She felt better, but she was still worried. She had fallen asleep leaning over the bed after murmuring mindlessly at the girl.

When Shego found herself waking up, she was deeply confused. She had been having so many strange dreams. They were largely nonsense, but for the first time in a long time, she had dreamt of her mother. And her mother had spoken to her in her dream. It lingered in her head as she assessed her current state. She could barely move. She felt like she should have been in pain, but the only thing that hurt was her eyes and forehead. Her mouth was dry and tasted like a moldy cotton towel had been sitting in it for days. The room that she was in was not well lit and it took her a little while to realize that it was the hospital again. She moved like molasses and was very groggy. She was drawn to look at her side by a flash of red sneaking into her peripheral vision. She tried to move her hand to the girl, but found that her fingers were the only thing to move and even then, just barely.

"Kim?" She tried her voice, feeling painful, dry streaks coming up her throat as a whisper crept out. She swallowed until she felt like she could make a sound. She tried to call to her again, this time succeeding, and saw the girl stir. Shego smiled as the sleepy redhead fluttered her eyelids from her dreams. Her eyes went wide when she saw the deep green eyes awake and staring at her.

"Shego!" She lunged towards her, but stopped short, afraid to hurt her.

"Kimmy?" Shego questioned, wondering if she should be hurt or worried. Kim looked at her, misty eyed and torn.

"Kimmy, what's going on? Why can't I move? Why won't you touch me?" Kim shuttered and forced herself to smile.

"What do you remember?"

"Pretty much everything, I think. We fought off Drakken, he practically killed me, you kissed me, I'm here. Oh. And your mom is a badass." Kim's laugh surprised her but quickly overcame her, the tension that she had felt for so long beginning to calm. Shego smiled at the way the girl washed with happiness.

"Kim. I love you." Kim's laughter quickly fell off and her eyes glassed again.

"I love you so much." She looked down and watched as a tear fell to Shego's pale skin.

"Princess, you won't touch me." She tried her body again but her fingers barely twitched.

"You broke almost half of your bones, Shego. Again. For me...again." Her tears fell faster. Shego rolled her eyes and her lips curled to a smile.

"Seriously?" She purposely sounded sarcastic. Kim looked up with a frightened confusion. Shego giggled at the look.

"Kim, I've been asleep for like, a while. Get up here and kiss me."

"But-"

"No, seriously. What happened happened because I love you and I wasn't gonna let anything happen to you. Stop thinking about it, stop feeling bad." Kim closed her eyes and nodded. Shego looked satisfied as Kim moved up and carefully placed her red lips on hers. When she moved away, Shego stared her down.

"You're pretty." She mused with a smirk, trying to break the continuous, light stream of tears from the redhead. It worked and she choked into giggles. Shego smiled, satisfied, and enjoyed the moment.

"So Kimmy..." She started, catching the attention of the girl. "why...exactly can't I move anything?" Kim bit her lip for a moment.

"Well, you're on a lot of drugs right now. We're hoping that's all it is."

"It will be." The once-villainess assured.

"Hey... are you alright after all of that? You look okay." Kim nodded.

"I'm fine."

"You look tired."

"I've been staying here the past few days." She looked a little guilty. Shego was understanding. She smiled softly before catching a wicked smirk.

"You smell and you look like crap. Go home, Kimmy. I can take care of myself." Kim looked playfully offended.

"How incredibly rude!" She lightly slapped Shego's limp hand.

"Not nearly as rude as your odor." She retorted, a face of coy arrogance that called back her vigilante wiles. Kim sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Fine! I can take the hint." She began to gather her things. As she turned towards the door, Shego had a brief moment of panic.

"We-well wait a minute. I mean, I could stand you just long enough for a goodbye kiss." There was a small begging in her voice, terribly hidden. Still facing away from the other girl, Kim smiled giddily, a dusting of red settling on her cheeks. She turned with a sureness in her movement, an ease in the step she took, and pushed Shego's hair back as she kissed her deeply. She had her beautiful, rude, rogue back.

Kim improved quickly when the troubles about her mother had been remedied and her worries over Shego calmed. By the time Shego was ready to be released from the hospital, Kim was almost walking unaided again. The Possible parents had talked and told Kim that, when Shego was released, she would be able to stay in the Possible's spare room until she was functioning better. And, Ann would be able to keep an eye on the green girl and the many things on her that were broken. This further relieved Kim leaving her to concentrate on her own wellness. She argued out an agreement with her mother while Shego was still in the hospital. She would spend the normal visiting hours with her but would go to rehabilitation and would go home at night.

As Shego was weaned from her many medications, all parties waited with worry to see how she would react. True to her word, she was almost completely back to normal. She was still wrapped up and covered in plaster casts, but she moved. The first day that Shego was able to move again, Kim spent the day teasing the girl and making her reach just a little farther each time she wanted to hold her. It worked like a charm. In a matter of hours, Shego moved from weak, twitchy shifting of her arms and legs to almost sitting up and wrapping her arms around the redhead.

"You're gonna have to do better than that." Kim had teased, hovering with her hands on Shego's side and her face staring down at arm's length. Shego growled softly in frustration as she was shifting onto her elbows and tried to get what she wanted. She thrust off of her elbows like a spring and hooked herself around the redhead clumsily. Kim grinned down at her with a prideful look, both wanting and happy.

"Very good." She said softly, nearly seductive, lowering herself down with Shego still latched to her. She turned and laid herself next to the pale girl, looking at her. For a moment, they were still apart from the idle running of fingers in circles over each other's skin. Kim slid into a wide grin which pulled a giggle from Shego.

"You know, they say you get to come home tomorrow." Shego nodded lightly.

"So I've been told." Kim's grin had not faltered and Shego was beginning to get suspicious. She studied the girl's face for a moment before deciding for sure.

"Alright, what's the big secret, Cupcake?"

"There's no secret." Kim's squinted and tried to suppress her chuckling. It did not work very well at all. Shego leaned in and indulged in a nip of Kim's lip. The heroine half moaned an exaggerated gasp, trying to be playful while ignoring the tickling in her fingertips and toes that shuttered through her body at the gesture. She sighed, composing herself.

"My parent's set up the spare room, Shego. You're going to stay with us when you get released. At least until you're better." Shego gaped at the girl's confession. Kim began to second guess herself instantly.

"Of course, you don't have to. It's just, my mom thought that you could probably use the extra help and it's easier than getting around the apartment..."

"I thought...Kimmy, last I heard, your mom was not...well, she didn't like me much." Kim flooded with realization and relief.

"Oh! Oh, Shego!" She giggled, releasing the nerves that had held her briefly. "I was so focused on you and you being awake- Shego, I talked to my mom. She's better. A little edgy about you still, but she's my mom. She's kinda supposed to be, you know?" Shego stroked back Kim's bangs and laid a kiss on her forehead as she hummed affirmative.

"So...will you come with me?" She asked hopefully, peering over the top of her eyelids as she gazed downward shyly. Shego rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Duh." She teased. After Kim returned her own smirk, they both fell quiet again and still. Shego stared green eyes to green eyes.

"Hey Princess..." Kim hummed.

"Do you think this is for good?" She flicked her eyes between the two of them. Kim looked saddened briefly before she shuffled to wrap her arms around the rogue. Pale, weak arms mirrored as much as they could. Kim breathed a deep breath while her face was buried in her neck. Muffled comfortably by the other girl's skin, she spoke.

"I'd never let you go."

And that, all, is Ice Lands.

A special thanks being sent to those who have stuck around for the last three years. I'm sorry that it took so long but I am so glad to have you.

Do check out my other fics; there is a second ongoing Kigo fic called "A Hobby of Cordial Visits" that I am really having a great time doing and there are other fics for other fandoms.

I'm considering the possibility of an epilogue for this so if the ending was not to your satisfaction, tell me what you want to see, it's poised to be almost entirely fan-driven so...

Thank you all.

-S