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Epilogue

Shego steered the hovercraft toward the western horizon with practiced ease. At least I never lost my touch with this thing, she thought with a grin. Maybe she would suggest to Drew that they hang onto it instead of putting it back into storage. It would sure make buying groceries and picking up drycleaning more fun.

She sighed a little at that thought. Back to normal life. Back to being good—well, neutral, anyway. It wasn't that she wanted to stick with a life of villainy. A week of wearing her old jumpsuits and pottering around the lair again had been enough to convince her that wasn't the life she wanted anymore. The only fun thing about it had been going up against the Princess again, and if she was really honest with herself, even that had lost some of its old appeal. She'd only gone along with the idea in the first place because it seemed to be what Dr. D wanted, and, she realized, she wanted to be by his side no matter what he was doing—taking over the world or taking out the trash. To her surprise, she found herself far preferring the latter.

The only problem was, she had more than her own feelings to consider on the matter.

She chanced a glance over at Drakken. He looked absolutely miserable. Slumped down in his seat, arms folded across his chest, studiously avoiding her gaze. The setting sun was filling the sky ahead of them with streaks of pink and purple. It was beautiful, but he wasn't enjoying it, so neither was she. Shego sighed. Caring about another person could be so… annoying.

"Hey," she said, nudging him with her elbow. "No big deal, right? We gave it one last old school try, and it didn't work out. We just weren't meant for the taking over the world thing."

Drakken finally turned to look at her. "I wasn't cut out for taking over the world," he said woefully. "You're brilliant at being a villain. You always have been, and I just—"

Shego frowned. "You just what?"

"I just wanted to prove that I could do it," he blurted out. "So I wouldn't always be a disappointment to you."

Shego sighed and shook her head. Maybe the Buffoon was right—they did need to see a relationship counselor. "Look," she said—a little too snappishly. She softened her voice and continued, "You're not a disappointment to me."

Drakken looked up at her again. "But… I never succeeded in taking over the world. Not once! And—"

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Shego cried, throwing up her hands. "I don't care about taking over the world! I was only ever in the taking-over-the-world game because you were, and you were the one offering the best pay. If I'd really been interested in actually taking over the world, I would have gone and worked for Dementor or something."

She regretted that last statement as soon as it had left her mouth, but what could she say? It was true; she'd never really had much hope of Drakken succeeding, and she hadn't much cared. All she'd wanted back when she'd first joined up with him was a steady paycheck and the chance for a little excitement. Admittedly, the paychecks hadn't always been steady, but Drakken had always managed to make up for it eventually. And as for excitement, it had never been in short supply.

Drakken's expression darkened, as she'd expected, but to Shego's surprise, he focused in on something other than her mention of his rival in evil. "That's the only reason you were with me?" he asked plaintively. "The pay?"

Shego stared back at him for a long moment. She could lie… but it seemed like lying—or at least, keeping quiet about the truth—had gotten them into enough trouble already. "At first, yes," she said, sighing as she saw his expression fall further. "But need I remind you, you never offered to pay me for this latest gig?"

Drakken looked puzzled now—and disappointed. "So you were in it for the evil."

Shego rolled her eyes again. "No, you idiot!" she growled, knocking on his head as if to see if it was hollow. "I was in it for you! Because you wanted to do it. Because it seemed like it was making you happy! Because, God help me, I don't know why, but I love you!"

Drakken stared at her, mouth agape. Annoyed, Shego finally reached over and nudged it shut. "You'll catch flies like that," she said. "Especially going at this speed."

She started to pull her hand back, but Drakken's own hand shot out and grabbed it. "Shego," he said wonderingly, "you just—did you say…? You l-lo—"

"I love you, yes," she snapped again. "What's the big deal? You're acting like I've never said it before."

"You haven't," Drakken replied, and Shego opened her mouth to fire back again, but stopped short. She must have said it before… right? But looking back over the last three years, all the time they'd been together after the Lorwardian invasion and their slow acceptance that they meant more to each other than mere colleagues or even friends… she couldn't remember ever saying those words.

"I'm sorry," she said, and Drakken looked almost as shocked to hear those words from her as the other three. "Of course I—" She faltered. Why was it so hard to say now that she'd taken the time to stop and think about it? Why did everything come easy for her except the words? "I love you."

"I love you, too, Shego," Drakken murmured back, smiling for the first time since they'd made their escape from the collapsing lair. He made it sound so easy, and suddenly, for some reason, her heart was in her throat.

They grew quiet after that, and she turned her attention back to the empty sky ahead. But their hands stayed joined between them, and… it felt nice.

"Shego," Drakken said after a few minutes.

She turned to look at him again. "Yes?"

He let go of her hand and tapped his fingers together nervously. "I wasn't happy because we were trying to take over the world, you know."

"Could have fooled me," she said. "You seemed pretty happy."

Drakken shook his head. "I was happy. But I was happy because I thought what I was doing would make you happy. I thought it was what you wanted."

Shego sighed. "We really do have communication problems. I told you I don't—"

"I know that now," he said. "But before—I was only doing it because I wanted to make you happy. And… because I wanted to prove to you that I could make you happy for the rest of our lives," he added softly. "I was planning on doing this when we celebrated our triumph, but, well…" He reached into his lab coat's pocket and pulled out a little black velvet box.

It was Shego's turn to gape as Drakken struggled to get down on one knee in the confined space of the hovercraft and flipped the little box open.

"Shego," he said, grinning up at her, "I guess you're right that we've been having problems with communication lately… but hopefully it's clear what I'd like to ask you."

Shego looked back and forth between him and the ring several times before the question really did sink in, and then a smile spread slowly across her face. There was only one way to answer. She leapt across the hovercraft's console and tackled Drakken to the floor, planting a kiss on him that he would not soon forget.

With the sudden shift in weight distribution and the sudden loss of its pilot, the hovercraft lilted wildly to the right, but at the moment, neither of the former villains cared one bit.

To Ron and Kim sitting down on the beach, the hovercraft was now just a distant speck, but they still couldn't miss when that speck swerved wildly before righting itself again.

"What was that?" Ron said.

Kim smiled mysteriously. "I have a feeling Shego finally got what she really wanted," she said.

Ron stared at his girlfriend—no, fiancé!—puzzled. He was about to open his mouth to comment, but Kim silenced his question with a kiss, and all thoughts of Drakken and Shego and whatever might be happening on that hovercraft instantly evaporated.

"Guess we should call for a ride of our own," Kim said as she sat back.

Ron sighed. "Yeah, guess so."

Kim gave him a conciliatory kiss on the cheek as she pulled the Kimmunicator out of her pocket. She hit the button to connect to Wade… but nothing happened.

Kim hit the button again and stared at the still blank screen. "Oh, don't tell me Shego fried this or something…"

"Well," Ron said, "it does sound like something Shego would do—leave us with one last little parting—" But before he could finish, the screen finally blinked on.

"Hey guys," Wade said. "Mission complete?"

"Yep," Kim answered with a smile. "Could you let Mr. McCorkle know we've got a Black Jade Monkey to return to him, and find us a ride home?"

"Sure thing," Wade said, already typing. "By the way, sorry if you had a bit of a delay getting through to me."

"Yeah, what was up with that?" Ron asked. "Was your system down or something?"

"My system doesn't go down," Wade replied, a bit of an edge to his voice. Then he grinned. "But if anything could do it, it would be this flood of congratulations letters we've been getting through your site."

"Flood of congratulations?" Kim raised an eyebrow and looked over at Ron. "Ron, just how many people knew you were proposing?"

"Not that many!" he answered defensively. "Um, you know, your family and mine, Monique, Wade… uh, and I guess the jeweler I bought the ring from probably guessed, but that's—"

"And everyone who was at that Middleton Mud Hens game…" Wade interrupted. "And everyone who watched the game on TV… and everyone who saw that clip from the game after it was posted on WeTube…"

"Thanks, Wade," Ron muttered.

Kim's eyes slid back and forth between the two young men. "So basically what you're telling me is I'm the last person in the world to know about my own engagement?"

"N-no, I'm sure you're not the last person," Ron said insistently. "What about, uh… the Amish? I'm sure the Amish haven't heard about it yet!"

Kim was silent, which Ron took as a bad sign. A very bad sign. When he finally screwed up the courage to look over at her, though, he saw that she was… laughing? When she looked up and saw him watching her in confusion, she just leaned against his shoulder and continued to shake with mirth. "Maybe," she finally managed to squeak out between giggles, "maybe we should ask our ride if they can drop us off in Pennsylvania Dutch country so we can spread the word."

Ron just blinked at her. "So you're… not mad?"

Kim sat up enough to look him in the eyes, as she wiped tears of laughter from her own. She shook her head and smiled fondly at him. "No," she said, leaning closer to brush her lips against his. "I'm just glad you finally let me in on the joke."

Ron's grin lit up the darkening beach. "Yeah, me too."

He leaned in for another kiss, but was interrupted by a loud cough from the Kimmunicator. Both he and Kim turned their attentions back to the screen, their expressions half apologetic and half frustrated. "Sorry, Wade," Kim said.

"No problem. So… I've found you a ride, but it might be about an hour before they can make it to your location." He offered them both a little grin. "Think you can handle the wait?"

Kim smiled back. "I'm sure we can find some way to fill the time, Wade. Thanks."

"You got it." Wade started to reach over to sever the connection, but he was interrupted by Ron.

"Hey, Wade?"

"Yeah?"

"You rock, buddy."

Wade chuckled. "Thanks. And I almost forgot! Congratulations to both of you!" Before they could thank him again, he hit a button and the screen went black, leaving them blissfully alone once more.

The newly engaged couple just sat there for a minute, gazing into each other's eyes. It was Kim who finally broke the peaceful silence.

"Well, that just leaves us with one big question."

Ron's brow wrinkled in confusion. "What's that?"

Kim grinned slyly. "Do we invite Drakken and Shego to the wedding?"

Ron's eyes went wide. A second later Kim began laughing again—and this time he joined right in. Still giggling and holding each other, they fell back onto the sand together. And long after their mirth had subsided, they lay there in each other's arms, watching their own private fireworks show: the purples and pinks of the sunset fading into black, and the stars appearing one by one.

The End

Exactly one year from the day I started writing this story seemed a fitting time to bring it to an end. Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed over these last several months; I've treasured your encouragement and support. I came to this site because I had stories in me that wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote them down—this being one of them—but a large part of why I've stayed is the great community I found. I hope you've all enjoyed reading A Ronmantic Proposal as much as I have enjoyed getting to share it with you.

And to my friend and beta reader Slipgate, I have only one thing left to say: You rock.