Kim Possible Porn Story: So the Trauma Chapter 4

Boilerplate Disclaimer: Disney owns everything Kim Possible.

Home to Meet the Family

By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There’s a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat

“You didn’t need to come in here with me,” Shego snarled at Kim as they walked down a hospital corridor. “I’ve seen enough of you today.”

“And I forgot how irritating you were before we fell in love,” Kim shot back. “I want to talk to my Mom about getting you a head transplant.”

They reached Shego’s room. Dr. Possible was already there, talking with a woman who reminded Shego of a female Ed Asner. “Who the hell are you,” the green woman snapped, “another head doctor?”

Anne cleared her throat, “Actually, Sharon, this is your boss – Judge Alice Armstrong.”

“Bloody hell,” Shego muttered and grabbed the bag with her pajamas and headed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Dr Possible looked at her daughter, “Well, that seems to have gone terribly well.” She turned back to the judge, “I warned you about her memory.”

“Yeah, you did,” the judge grunted, extracting herself from the visitor’s chair. “Doesn’t seem to be any point in staying just now.”

“You’re not going to fire her, are you?” Kim asked anxiously.

“Hell no At least not now. She brought in some great publicity for the firm, and the Lipsky and Load account. Your Mom says she’ll be fine before too long. I’ll give her five days after she gets her memory back before she needs her butt back in the office. If she’s not okay in a month Well, we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. Probably some kind of extended leave.”

Alice left. Shego emerged from the bathroom a couple minutes later in pajamas and crawled into the bed. “Was that troll really my boss?”

“And the lawyer who defended you in court. She’s the reason you’re on probation and not in prison,” Anne told her.

“And she won’t hold what you said against you,” Kim added. “She knows your memory is messed up.”

Shego grinned, “Cool, I can say anything I want to anybody and they have to forgive me because I’m sick?”

“I would advise against that,” Anne remarked coolly. “When you recover your memories you’re going to remember everything you said and did in this period. And you will feel so guilty about being rude to people who care for you that grovel in front of them and beg forgiveness.”

“You take all the fun out of being sick,” Shego pouted. “And I don’t grovel.”

“Mom, have you looked at the tests?” It was the first time Kim and Shego agreed on anything that day; they wanted to know the answer.

“It basically looks good. She should be fine any day now.”

“I want my Shego back now.”

“It doesn’t work that way. What happened at the coffee shop?”

Kim responded first, “She was impossible!”

“She dumped a ton of lies on me! No way could that stuff happen!”

“I’m going home,” Kim told her mom.

“Good riddance,” Shego called.

“Kim, sit down in that chair,” her mother ordered. “Sharon, you need to–“

“I don’t want her here!”

“Mom, she’s impossible!”

“Kim, sit now. Sharon, familiar faces are the best thing for you – besides, you need to go through the stack of get-well cards you’ve received and you won’t remember who most of the people are. Kim will help you. I’m going to stand here for a little while and make sure the two of you play nicely with each other.”

Anne handed the cards to Shego. As Shego decided where to begin Kim calmed down.

“Ah, Shego?”

“What?” the green woman answered harshly.

“Sorry I got so angry It’s just that you mean so much to me and this was like the bad old days when we were really fighting.”

Shego sighed and looked up, “I’ve got no idea what’s going on. I can’t believe a thing you said to me. When I get my memory back, if you were telling me the truth, I’ll owe you apology. If you’re lying to me I’ll beat the snot out of you, got that.”

Kim nodded, “Perfectly clear. I’m not afraid.”

“You never are,” Shego grumbled, “that’s your problem.” She pulled a card out of an envelope, “Justine and Felix?”

“She lived at the house with us a couple years. She married Felix The judge who was here?”

“Yeah?”

“She performed the ceremony.”

“Okay, Ron I know,” Shego said, opening a second card. A piece of paper fluttered out. Shego picked it up, “Coupon for one free back rub? Is doofus hoping to get lucky with me?”

“If you don’t want that, I’ll take it,” Kim offered, “Ron gives great backrubs.”

Shego kept opening cards, “Ruth?”

“Your rabbi.”

“I’m really Jewish?”

“Yep.”

“Monique and Will? You said Monique had lived with us?”

“Yeah, she and Ron were my best friends in high school.”

“Will?”

“He works for Global Justice. He’s got the personality of soggy cardboard – I don’t know how he and Monique could end up together And I’m the one who introduced them.”

Shego threw a card on the floor, “Hego.” The next one bore a Chicago postmark also, “Ed and Connie. My brother Ed?”

“Yeah, Constance is the daughter of the Alchemist. She’s on Team Go now.”

“A Wego married the Alchemist’s daughter? He’s too young. He’s only…” Shego shook her head and opened another card, “Bonnie You said she lived with us too?”

“She’s in California now, got a job on an afternoon soap opera. She keeps her room at the house. She’s back here a lot – which makes Ron happy.”

“Drakken Wade Your buddy Wade?”

“Probably.”

“Joss and Bego? Never heard of them. Boston postmark.”

“Joss is my cousin.”

“Bego her husband? Bego? Almost sounds like he’s part of my family.”

“Bego is a she. Bebe body modified to basically look like you, got a copy of Joss’s brain imprinted in her. She and Joss are like sisters now – with only one set of childhood memories.”

“Why Bego?”

“Well it was too confusing to call them both Joss.”

Shego ignored the explanation and opened a card signed, ‘Z said I had to sign this damn thing myself. David Donner.’ “Who is David Donner?”

“Donner sent a get-well card? I thought you two didn’t like each other.”

“I don’t think we do. Who in the hell is he?”

“Your probation officer. He’s with the Feds.”

“A Federal probation officer?”

“They didn’t prosecute for your Federal crimes I, ah, shouldn’t say this, but I think they blackmail you into doing jobs for them sometimes.”

“Z was Zach Goldman. Nice to know the son of a bitch cares about my health.” She questioned her conclusion when, by odd coincidence, the next card had a name beginning with Z, “Zita?”

“High school friend. Moved in with us for a while after bad marriage fell apart. I don’t know if its official that she runs the day-to-day for Drakken or if it’s just what happens. He needs a strong woman to keep him in line.”

That actually brought a chuckle from Shego. There were cards from Legals, and some Kim could not identify who might have been friends from classes, members of Shego’s synagogue, or people who worked at the law firm. “The Crandalls?”

“He’s the assistant DA, tried to put you in prison.”

“And the bastard sends me a card?”

“He was doing his job. I wouldn’t call the two of you friends, but you’re polite to each other. His daughter, Briana, is friends with the twins.”

As Shego worked further down the stack of cards another visitor walked into the room.

Shego looked up and stared in amazement, “Mom?”

Kim knew one thing about Susan O’Ceallaigh; she was a hugger. The redhead smiled, it would be a couple minutes before Shego would be free of the embrace.

The green woman didn’t know how to respond. She had been told she had reconciled with her family, but could not remember it. The one thing she could be certain of was that her mother would not join a Possible led conspiracy to drive her insane.

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“I can’t remember stuff. They tell me I have amnesia. I don’t know if that’s true or if they’ve done something to me They tell me Kim and I are that we Hell, you know what I mean.”

“I think so. And you need to stop using language like that. You set a bad example when you use it in front of the girls.”

“I think they said Kim and I had a wedding ceremony or something?”

“Oh yes, it was beautiful.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“I was okay with it by the time of the wedding. I think we were all shocked when we found out.” She turned to Kim, “You could have done a better job of warning us.”

“Sorry,” Kim apologized.

Susan turned back to Shego, “Henry still hasn’t accepted the fact. Your father had some–“

“You and dad are still together?”

“We’re doing very well these days. He was disappointed. Still, it was hard not to love Kim for bringing you back to us. If he still has problems with the two of you as a couple he doesn’t mention it any more.”

“I’m going to get a cup of coffee,” Kim announced, rising and turning the chair over to Shego’s mom. As she left the room Susan was telling her daughter of the recent family history Shego could not remember.

Later Anne returned with Kim to the hospital room to find Susan still going strong with family stories. “I’m going to throw you and Kim both out,” Dr. Possible announced to Susan. “Sharon needs her rest.” She looked at the patient. “Sharon, you can leave the hospital tomorrow. Do you want to go home?”

Shego hesitated, “No, it just sounds too weird.”

“Perhaps that’s just as well. Sorry I suggested it. I’m not sure how much peace the twins would give you; and you need to continue to rest. Why don’t you come home with me tomorrow afternoon and stay in our guest room? That way you’re close to the doctor.” Before Shego could answer she turned to Susan and Kim, “Dinner tomorrow night at six. Bring the twins.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Susan answered. “The girls and I have been baking cookies, we’ll bring some.”

After her mother and Kim left, Shego continued to look at cards – wondering who had sent them or if it was part of a complex plan to drive her insane. Conspiracy made little sense; there was too much work for too little reward. Shego took pleasure in the thought she might actually have a large circle of friends as she fell asleep.

Shego’s memory had not returned the next morning. She felt vaguely nervous as she watched television in the Possible’s family room that afternoon and waited for supper. She had started to accept the possibility that she was supposed to like Kim, but the fact remained that she didn’t. Could she and Kim have really fallen in love, or had she been engaged in some sort of subterfuge – fooling Kim into thinking she cared about her. The later idea made sense. Kim had many friends, including some in places of authority. Trick Kim into thinking that she cared about her and Kim might have responded. She toyed briefly with the idea of faking affection for Kim, then shuddered at the idea. What crime could she have committed so terrible that she would sentence herself to pretending to like Kim to avoid the consequences?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Anne called, “Sharon? Would you set the table?”

Glad for the chance of mindless activity instead of worry Shego went to the kitchen. “How many will there be for dinner?”

Anne tallied the figures. “Just seven.”

“Did you invite Drakken? I, uh, could use a familiar face.”

“We invited Drew, but he begged off. Maybe there’s something happening at Lipsky and Load.”

“How is Doc doing?”

“In what way: professionally, socially, medically?”

“Um, a fast version of all the above. He said he’d been ruled incompetent, had therapy, and was on meds.”

“True enough. He’s been off his medications at least once – went back to trying to take over the world. But he’s doing well as long as he stays on them. He’s been on some interesting adventures with my sons, Jim and Tim Do you remember them? I think you met Tim yesterday.”

“I think I met Jim at the Can’t really call it the lair anymore.”

“No, I guess not. I’m sure you don’t remember Joss and Bego. Joss is a–“

“Kim told me about them.”

“Oh, and can’t forget Wade Load.”

“How in the hell did Wade and Doc join up?”

“I think that was partly your doing. You left Wade in charge of the lair when you were arrested.”

“Why would I do that?”

“You worked with him while you were trying to locate Drew. He’d been taken captive by–“

“Kim told me about that.”

“Anyway, Wade liked the lab space of the lair and thought that he and Drakken working together might make effective business partners.”

“Do they?”

“The firm seems to be off to a very good start. I’m not certain if either has real business sense, but they’ve gotten some nice high tech contracts. Jim and Tim work there now.”

“Is he happy?”

“He seems to be happy. He was friends with my husband and two other men in college, Bob Chen and Lakshman Ramesh, before he dropped from the graduate program. The four of them sometimes get together now for things. He and Kim don’t get along very well, but they usually manage to be civil to each other.”

“Think he backed out tonight to avoid seeing Kim?”

“I doubt it. They tolerate each other, and he adores your girls.” Anne hesitated for a moment. “Perhaps I shouldn’t ask this, but is there any chance he might not want to see your mother?”

“Don’t think he’d want to see either Mom or Dad,” Shego thought. “I doubt that was the problem.”

James called and apologized for the fact he would be a few minutes late for dinner. Kim and company arrived slightly early. The twins tackled Shego while Susan took the cookies into the kitchen. Kim hesitated about what to do, but having been warned Shego didn’t have her memory back decided to go to the kitchen and ask her mother if she could help rather than risking another conversation going badly.

Shego could not remember what the girl who had gotten into her hospital bed had been called, but remembered Kim comparing one of them to her as being trouble. She let them wrestle her down to the floor where she put an arm around each of them and looked closely. They looked like they could be her children – she’d try to remember to check for stretch marks.

“Kasy?” she said cautiously to Sheki.

“I’m Sheki. You really don’t remember me?”

“I’m sorry There’s like a big hole in my memory.”

“Do you remember how to read?” Kasy asked.

“I remember how to read.”

“Oh, ’cause Sheki and me could teach you. We read real good.”

“I think that’s supposed to be ‘Sheki and I could teach you’.”

“You don’t have to teach me, I already know real good.”

“She brought The Cat in the Hat to read to you,” Sheki whispered.

“Do you want to hear it?” Kasy asked eagerly.

“A couple questions first, please. Am I really your mom?”

“No. You’re our Eemah.”

“Oh yeah, that Jewish thing again. Am I a good mom?”

“Eemah! Kim is Mommy. You’re Eemah.”

“And do I do a good job with that?”

“What’s an Eemah supposed to do?” Sheki asked.

“I don’t know. Do I tell you to make your bed, eat your broccoli, drink your milk and not put bubble gum in your sister’s hair?”

“I think you’re wonderful,” Kasy said, and gave her a big hug.

Shego smiled as Kasy hugged her, “You are really Grandma Susan’s grandkids,” she whispered.

“Of course we are,” Sheki assured her, joining the group hug.

There was a little tension at the meal. Kim, Kasy, and Sheki all wanted to sit beside Shego – who would have preferred her mother as the only person she could really remember. At least allowing the children to sit on either side kept Kim at bay.

The green woman still wanted someone to admit this was all a bizarre hoax. She questioned James Possible, “What do you think about Kim and me being together.”

Anne answered for him, “He’s always been suspiciously supportive.”

“What do you mean, Dear?” James asked.

“I used to just think you took it better than I would have expected, but then,” Anne looked over at Susan and Shego, “Did you get the warning about the basement door over there?” Both women nodded. “Then the twins thanked him for rescuing them when they got lost down there. I think he knows something.”

“The coleslaw is really good tonight,” her husband commented, changing the subject.

“Do you know if Sharon will be all right?” Susan demanded.

“I think she’ll be fine,” he assured her, “but that’s because my wife, the brain surgeon, tells me she will be.”

Shego could not avoid Kim as a bridge partner after dinner.

Children’s bedtime ended the evening early. Her mother and the twins gave Shego hugs. Kim took a step towards Shego, and the green woman stepped back to avoid her. Kim cancelled the hug she planned to give.

“I’m going back to Chicago tomorrow,” Susan told her daughter.

“Sorry I didn’t get to hear more about the family.”

“You’ll know it when you get your memory back. I want you to move back home tomorrow.”

“Go to Chicago with you?”

“No, you need to move back into your home, the one you share with Kim.”

“I won’t go.”

“Yes you will. The girls need you.”

“No. I won’t sleep with her,” Shego pointed at Kim.

“I never said you should. There are a lot of rooms over there.” She turned to Anne, “You said familiar surroundings were the best thing for her?”

“Yes, I did.”

“See? Kim will drive me out to the airport at eleven. You need to be there before I leave to say goodbye to me and watch the girls.”

Susan hugged her again, “You will be happy when you get your memory back.”

Shego doubted like that. She could not possibly be happy with Kim. The thought that this was some sort of hoax she was playing on Kim came back to her.

What did not come back to Shego was her memory overnight. The next morning James went into work late, and drove Shego over early.

“I live here?” she asked in astonishment.

“Yes, it’s quite the place, isn’t it?”

“With a hot-and-cold running ghost?”

“I’ve never seen Helen.”

He parked and walked her towards the door. He gestured to the large carriage house, “There’s an apartment there that the twins moved in to.”

Shego appeared lost, “Kasy and Sheki?”

“Sorry, not the grandtwins, I meant Jim and Tim. They started college early and we didn’t want them in a dorm with much older students. This way they had some independence in their own place – but had Kim close to keep an eye on them.”

She stopped at the foot of the steps and stared at the house, “Kim said you bought this place; we pay you rent?”

He smiled, “I really consider it your house. You and your brothers did a lot of work. You paid for most of the repairs. You’ve paid me back most of the money I spent By the way,” he winked, “that is our little secret.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You said that you might lose it in a civil suit if it was in your name. You said keeping it in my name was safer for you.”

“I’m pretty smart, aren’t I?”

“Yes, you are. And you’re going to be fine.”

“You say that like you know something. Do you know something the rest of us don’t?”

He glanced at his watch, “Better get you inside. I want to say goodbye to your mom before she leaves, and I’ve got to get to work.”

“You didn’t–” she started to object, but he gone up the steps and opened the door to the house.

“She’s back,” he called.

Twenty minutes later Shego was alone in the house with two little strangers who loved her as Kim headed to the airport with Susan.

“So, uh, what do we do for fun?”

“You can read to us.”

“We can read to you.”

“Television!”

“Go Fish!”

“Egyptian Rat Screw!”

“Hearts!”

“Time!” Shego called, “Egyptian Rat Screw?”

“It’s a card game. We play it with Jason and Jessica.”

“I won’t even ask who they are. Do I like the game?”

“No You and mommy won’t play it with us. But since you don’t remember you can try it.”

After several games of Go Fish the twins suggested they eat some of the cookies they’d made with grandma Susan.

“Sounds good,” Shego responded. “Is there any tea in the house?”

“Of course there’s tea. You like tea.”

The answer bothered her more than it should. This was her house. She had tea in the kitchen, very likely tea she had picked out for herself. And she didn’t even know where the kitchen was. She followed the twins to the kitchen and let them debate what cookies they should have while she looked for tea. She glanced in the pantry, opened cabinets, and searched drawers – growing more and more frustrated. She finally sat down on the floor and started crying.

The twins came running. “Are you okay, Eemah?” “What’s wrong? Did we do something?”

She grabbed them and hugged them, “My brain isn’t working, and it scares me. I can’t remember you. I can’t remember anything. I can’t even find my own damn tea!”

“Can I make tea for you?” Sheki offered.

“That would be wonderful, thank you.” She sat on the floor, holding Kasy on her lap, as Sheki found a cup and the tea and heated water.

After mac-and-cheese from a box for lunch the twins insisted Shego watch a couple episodes of the Go Team Go cartoon they’d recorded. As they sat in front of the television a colorful creature crawled into Shego’s lap.

“Does it do this a lot?” she wondered.

“Smaug likes you.”

“Mommy says you’re the warmest spot in the house. Did she tell you Smaug is poison?”

“She forgot.” “Or did she not tell me on purpose and hopes I’d get bitten?”

As the show ended Shego apologized, “I’m still a little tired. I think I need–“

“Ice cream!” Kasy told her.

“I think I need a nap.”

“But you always get us ice cream. Every afternoon. It’s time to take us for ice cream.”

Shego looked at the redhead with suspicion, “I take you for ice cream every day?”

“Don’t you remember?” Kasy asked with all the innocence she could muster.

“Sheki, is she telling the truth?”

The dark haired twin wasn’t sure what to say.

“If I take you for ice cream, and after I get my memory back I find out you’re lying, there’ll be no ice cream in the house for a month – got that?”

The threat drove the truth out of Kasy. “Well, I think you should take us for ice cream every day.”

“But I don’t, do I?”

“No,” the redhead admitted.

“Tell you two what,” Shego turned to Sheki and raised a hand in the air, “You didn’t tattle on your sister – but more important, you didn’t lie to me.” She gave the girl a high-five, then turned to Kasy, “Nice try kiddo – way to think on your feet.” She gave the redhead a high-five also. “Let me take a little nap and we can go out for ice cream together.”

The children even crawled onto the bed in the guest bedroom and lay down on either side of her. Kim’s dad said the house was really hers, Shego thought as she drifted off. She wondered if she could throw Kim out. She was willing to keep the kids; they seemed nice. On the other hand, the house was still in the name of James Possible, and he might cause problems if she tried to remove Kim. Maybe Kim could take the guest bedroom and stay on.

Shego wondered what had happened to Kim when the redhead still wasn’t home at the end of the nap, but didn’t worry enough to try calling. Instead she set out with the twins for what they told her was the closest ice cream shop. They had gone about three blocks when a police car pulled to the curb ahead of them and a patrolman climbed out and headed their way. Shego panicked and considered fleeing, but had a small child holding each hand.

“Got a memo on you,” the policeman growled, “says you’re suffering amnesia and we’re supposed to go easy on you if we find you committing a crime. I don’t believe it for a minute. You’re setting us up – I’ll keep my eye on you.”

“I I really don’t know what’s happening.”

He frowned, she really looked bewildered, “No doughnut jokes for me? No comments about my fat ass?”

“What are you talking about?”

He sighed, then smiled, “Sorry Hey, since you won’t remember this anyway. You did a heck of a job the other day.” He stuck out a hand and she shook it. “It’ll be a shame to have you back to normal.”

“Actually, they tell me I’ll probably remember everything that’s happening now when I get my memory back.”

“Damn,” Officer Hobble headed back to the patrol car.

“Who’re you?” Shego called.

“Tom Stevens, Officer Stevens,” he shouted over his shoulder.

The girls talked her into a trip to the park after ice cream. Shego agreed, since it meant putting off seeing Kim.

The redhead was back at the house when they arrived. “What’s for dinner,” the green woman asked.

Kasy pulled on her arm. Her Eemah leaned over and Kasy whispered loudly, “Mommy doesn’t cook. You and Daddy cook.”

“Daddy cooks?” Shego looked at Kim with anger, “Who’s Daddy? You told me they–“

“That’s what Kasy calls Ron. Some girl at pre-school said everyone has a Daddy, and she adopted him. And I promised the girls we would go to JP Bearymore for pizza when you got home.”

“Can we have another option? Any other option?”

“The girls love it. I promised.”

“Can I stay home?’

“No, Eemah!” Sheki objected. “You have to come with us! It’s no fun without you.”

“You know, if you two weren’t so cute you’d be annoying.”

“You’re coming with us, right?” Kasy demanded.

Shego sighed, “I’m going with you.”

“A medium pepperoni and a medium sausage?” Shego suggested as they entered the pizza emporium.

“No, you don’t eat pepperoni or sausage pizza.”

“Yes I do.”

“No you don’t.”

“I know what I eat.”

“You’re Jewish.”

“I don’t remember being Jewish.”

“Give me your cell phone, I’m calling your rabbi.”

Shego reluctantly handed it over, “I’m not going to skip pepperoni pizza just because a rabbi tells me not to.”

Kim asked the waiter to come back in five minutes, and quickly explained the situation to the rabbi.

“Tricky question,” Ruth told Kim. “Hand the phone to Sharon.”

Shego accepted the phone, “Yes.”

“Eat the pizza you want.”

“Eat the pizza?”

“That’s what I said. I’m your rabbi, and that’s my opinion. You keep the laws of kashrut when you have your memory because you want to. Keeping kosher is not about trying to earn Brownie points with God, or fearing punishment if you eat a strip of bacon. You do it because the mitzvoth, the commandments, are meaningful to you. If you’ve lost your memory it isn’t meaningful to you at the moment.”

Shego grinned at Kim, “She said I should order pepperoni.”

“What! Give me that phone!”

“Rabbi? She said that you said that she–“

“I did.”

“But what about when she gets her memories back?”

“Judaism is not supposed to be about commandments. It’s about relationship with God and the community. Those who turn it into competition to see who can keep the most commandments make the Torah into a burden. Sharon’s faith is not a burden to her, and I don’t want her to regard it that way.”

“But what if she feels guilty afterwards?” Kim asked.

“I’ll have her do five ‘Hail Marys’,” the rabbi told her dryly.

Shego enjoyed the pizza more than Kim, eating with a smug satisfaction Kim found distinctly annoying.

When the slices of pizza were almost gone at their booth Kim bought game tokens for the girls. She and Shego sometimes played games with the girls, or against each other, and sometimes sat and talked as the girls played. She wasn’t certain what to do this evening with Shego’s memory suffering large holes.

“Whack-a-Mole is open!” Sheki called, and dragged Kim to the machine. The presence of an adult at the game allowed her to claim it for her own. “Get Eemah,” she ordered Kasy. A minute later Kasy returned, dragging Shego behind her.

There were places for four players. “You’re on the other side from Mommy,” Sheki explained to Shego as the twins took positions opposite each other.

“My turn to put in the tokens!” Kasy reminded everyone, and dropped them into the slots.

A few second later plastic moles began popping up, to be conked by sponge-padded mallets.

“Ha! Forty out of forty!” Shego cried in triumph as the game ended and a string of tickets spewed from the ticket box beside her.

“I get Eemah’s tickets tonight,” Kasy called, grabbing them.

“Good job,” Kim began, then looked over. “You cheated!”

“What do you mean?”

“You played right-handed!”

“Kim, I’m right-handed.”

“But you and I always play left-handed.”

“And how was I supposed to know that?”

“Oh, sorry We both usually get forty if we play right-handed. That’s why we play leftie.”

Shego shrugged, “I guess that makes sense. Maybe I’ll have my memory back the next time we come out–“

“Again!” Sheki called, “we gotta play again.”

“Left-handed,” Kim warned.

“I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back.”

At the end of the next round Shego complained, “Hey, I can’t remember how to do this left-handed.”

Shego won the third round, but wasn’t certain if Kim was trying as hard as she could – which the green woman found condescending and annoying.

They were both clearly trying the fourth round, which ended in a draw.

“Good place to end,” Kim suggested.

“Yeah,” Shego agreed.

The two returned to their booth and sat in uncomfortable silence as the twins used the last of the tokens, then turned in their tickets for plastic spider rings, miniature plastic slinkies that would be tangled knots before they got home, and pencils in day-glow colors.

“You two, up to bed,” Kim told the twins when they arrived home.

“Think I’ll turn in too,” Shego began.

“Sit in the living room with me, please? Just for a minute. I want to hear about your day,” Kim requested.

The twins hugged both their mothers, then ran off to bed.

Kim sat on the couch in the living room, and patted a spot beside her. Shego, however, went over to a chair and sat down in it.

“Still not sure about me?” Kim asked.

“No.”

“None of this seemed familiar at all?”

“No It was really frustrating. I’m starting to believe this is my place – but it doesn’t feel like my place.”

“Must be hard You spent the day with the twins. What did you think of them?”

Shego leaned back and stared at the ceiling for a minute. “I think I like them. I can see me in them. I’ll probably want to keep them.”

“Like we’ve got a choice,” Kim snorted. “The warranty’s off them. See any of me in them?”

“A little. I won’t hold that against them.”

“Is any of the hate gone?”

“I guess so. I don’t want to hit you with a chair any more You got off lucky at the coffee shop the other day. But you’re not on my list of favorite people. This still seems weird to me.”

“Serious question, did you have any fun tonight?”

The green woman paused and thought, then smiled, “It was fun tonight. You know, maybe I’ll let you stay here after all. You can have the guest room.”

Kim wondered what Shego meant as she got ready for bed, but decided to consider it progress from wanting to hit her.