Fusion (Part 2)

[Previously]

Kim looked at the woman sitting across from her in the Bueno Nacho and tried to make sense of everything that had happened since the genetic zipper opened.

The way she'd asked about their date at Bueno Nacho had been all Shego. Far too smooth to be Ron, too confident --almost predatory. But it was Ron who had known that they were planning to return to the Middleton Bueno Nacho for a night of remembering old times. Back on the first hand, though, she'd said "Princess." Kim was "Princess" to Shego, not to Ron.

Ron had other names for Kim.

When the woman got weak, verged on falling, and called out one of those names, "KP!", it had been all Ron. Sure, the voice was as feminine as the body. But that was Ron.

"I'm half drugged here," too, seemed more of a Ron thing to say.

And then, after borrowing Kim's compact to get a look at herself, "Booyah!"

What was Kim supposed to make of that? "Booyah! I'm smoking hot."

In themselves the words were Ron, but they were about having a body that was definitely not Ron. The confidence was more of a Shego thing, but then it was followed by, "But ... do the freckles work with the green?" in a moment of Ronish insecurity.

By the time they reached Bueno Nacho the drugging had worn off enough that she could walk fine on her own. She'd ordered Ron's standard Naco Night order and had the money ready to the cent. Money taken from Shego's pouch as if she'd been paying that way for years.

Definitely a lot of Ron in there. In theory ...

"You're looking at me weird, KP," the woman said, breaking Kim out of her thoughts.

"Well this is weird," Kim said.

"I feel like we've seen stranger," the woman said.

"But that's just it," Kim said. "We haven't. I never met you until today."

"I've been your best friend since Pre-K," the woman said.

"No," Kim said. "Ron has. Definitely not Shego. I don't even know what to call you."

"You're acting like I got a new haircut or something," the woman said. "Actually, I guess I have, but look at it.' Kim did. It was Shego's length and color. It was Ron's unruly mess. "I'm still in touch with my quintessential Ronness."

"I thought it was 'essential', Ronness," Kim said.

"So I got a bigger vocabulary," the woman said with a shrug.

"That's hardly the only difference," Kim said.

"I know! I, as Ron, haven't felt this comfortable in a body since that time..." the woman got a faraway look in her eyes. "I wonder if my hair is flippy?"

Kim had a flashback to sophomore year.

Looking at her body through Ron's eyes while it practiced the Rita Hayworth maneuver. When she asked Ron what he was doing with her body, he'd responded, "Your hair: it's so . . . flippy."

It had freaked her out then, far more than simply being mind switched, and she wasn't up for a repeat performance now.

"Don't!" Kim said, perhaps a bit too loudly.

"Maybe later then," the woman said. "Anyway, your body was nice to be in, but this is a such a perfect fit. It's the first time my Ron side has been as comfortable in a body as my Shego side always has been. It's ... refreshing."

"That!" Kim said. "That's the thing. You're part Ron and part Shego and I ... I don't ..." Kim couldn't figure out what she wanted to say and ended up taking an easy out: "I don't even know what to call you."

"I hadn't thought of that," the woman said. "I mean I'm ... obviously some combination of 'Shego' and 'Ron' would make sense, right?"

Kim just nodded. Maybe it was all a dream and she'd wake up.

"Rongo. Nope. Rogo? No. Rego? Too much 'Shego', not enough 'Ron'. Sheron. No. It sounds like a weird way to say, 'Female Ron'. Shegon? No. Shron? Ugh. It sounds like a bad sci-fi movie."

For a time there was silence then the woman said, "Wait." Kim hadn't been doing anything, so waiting was easy. "Sheron," she said again. "Sheron, Sheron, Sheron," she said quickly. "Sharon! That's what you can call me, KP."

"Ok, Sharon," Kim said, "are you my friend or my enemy?"

"Oh, you know I've always got your back, Princess."

"Ron always--"

"Who saved you when you were captured by Drakken inside a giant cheese wheel?"

"Ron."

"Right, I did," Sharon said.

"But you also--"

"Who risked everything to stop you from disappearing by going on a dangerous expedition to find a rare flower in--"

"Ron, not She--"

"Who got the nanotick bomb off your nose?"

"Ron, but Shego was--" Kim shouted.

"Who saved you from Killigan outside of the Cloak and Dagger when you were too busy competing with Will Du to notice when Killigan showed up and attacked with--"

"Ron, not y--"

"When we were after the stolen Centurion Project, who saved you when the roof of the Cloak and Dagger collapsed?"

"Ro--" Kim stopped short. Ron hadn't saved her. "Shego did."

"Damn straight, Princess," Sharon said. "Didn't even crack a line about how I was the only one allowed to beat you. But, speaking of, ghost pirates and Warmonga. Warmonga twice in one mission."

"That's not fair, the second one was at least as much because of the Tweebs and--" And Ron. Kim didn't say anything.

"Me," Sharon said. "I was saving you with a little help from myself that time."

-

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