Kim, Your Father Is In The Hospital.
A Kim Possible Fan Fic by the Pharaoh Rutin Tutin
Kim Possible and all related characters copyright © Disney.
This is a work of Fan Fiction. I receive no compensation for this story.
Please do not edit, sell, repost, or redistribute without my permission.
Kim Possible gets a call that her father is in the hospital.
- - - - -
Amazingly enough, life returned to almost normal for Kim and Ron in the days after the prom. Normal, except that they were now openly expressing what they had denied in their hearts for so long.
The last class of the semester had just released and the members of Team Possible were comparing summer reading assignments by Kim's locker when Wade Load appeared on the screen.
"Kim! Ron! I'm glad I caught you!" the young genius excitedly called.
"What's the sitch, Wade?"
"Kim, your father has just been admitted to the emergency room at Middleton Memorial Hospital."
Thinking back to the event later, Kim could not honestly say she remembered how she got to the hospital that afternoon. Presumably, Ron brought her. But she just didn't know.
What Kim did know was that the next thing she remembered involved standing by door to the emergency room. Dozens of her mother's colleagues were passing in and out. Kim knew many of these people as well as she knew some of her own relatives. As the daughter of the Chief Neurosurgeon, Kim had been in all parts of the hospital many times. As the best friend of Ron Stoppable, she had been to this ER even more. But today, she was the teenaged daughter of a patient in his late 40's. As such, she was stuck in the waiting room until the attending physician gave permission to enter.
Although Kim always enjoyed Ron, and was learning to appreciate him more every day, there were not many times when one could honestly say, "Kim Possible envied Ron Stoppable." Today may have been one of those times. Sitting in the waiting room and just . . . WAITING . . . was something that did not fit easily into her "I can do anything" attitude.
Rufus and Ron, in the mean time, after getting Kim settled down found themselves with a little boy and girl. Neither one a day over five. Their family had been in a van accident, and they were waiting here while the rest of their relatives were checked and treated for injuries. They were trying to put on a brave face, but they had waited long enough that they were scared.
The waiting room had a video game system, but not many games. So, to distract them, Ron pulled out a trial version of a game he was testing for the manufacturer along with Felix and Wade. It was a game about an enchanted workshop where elves would weave magical stories that would delight boys and girls everywhere. But running the workshop was a giant mouse that would stop the elves from telling their stories. No one had been able to get more than 65 stories past the giant mouse. Felix, Wade, Rufus, Ron, and practically everyone they knew were determined to beat the mouse's 65-story limit.
Watching Ron with the kids, Kim caught herself thinking, "He'll make a great father." Then she thought, "My father. He's in there… in there…."
Kim realized that she had no idea what was happening to her father. But neither did those little kids. If she were to panic, those children would be terrified.
As the children played the game with Rufus, Ron sat down by Kim. Sighing she asked him, "How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Ron, I know you're just as scared and nervous as I am, but not only do you get me calmed down, you distract those kids from the overwhelming panic they had to be feeling after their crash."
"To borrow a phrase from the most badicaly bodacious beautiful babe I know, 'it's no big'. I'm a sidekick. Distractions are what us sidekicks do."
"RON," Kim started with anger in her voice, "You're my PARTNER, not my SIDEKICK! Why can't you get that through your…"
"KP, relax. Letterman has Schaeffer. Fearless Ferret had the Wonder Weasel. Robin Hood had Little John. Even Moses had Aaron. Clearly one part of each pair was more famous, and more important for the history books. But any one who really knows the top character will also know their second. Those heroes would not have accomplished half of what they did without their sidekicks. KP, I'll always be proud and happy to be your Little Ron."
Does it really need saying at this point that brilliant, flippy, waves of auburn hair cascaded over the shoulder of a blonde young man while glistening emerald eyes silently wept into his crimson jersey?
In short order, a significantly older brother steps out of the ER with a sprained ankle to sit with his younger siblings. Then, an orderly asks Kim and Ron to follow him into the ER.
Before Ron could leave the waiting room however, "Mister, your game!" the little girl cried out.
Ron knelt down to her, and getting her older brother's attention as well, told her "When you're ready to go, just take it to the Sunshine Spreaders' desk down the hall and tell them it's for Dr. Possible. They'll take care of the rest."
The older brother repeated, "Dr. Possible, OK. Thank you."
In the Emergency Room, Dr. Anne Possible, still in scrubs from her own surgery, was already standing by her husband's side as the ER nurse went over instructions.
Dr. James T. Possible was a mess. The left half of his face was bruised and swollen, and his jaw had been broken and wired shut.
As calmly as she could, Anne Possible told Kim that her father had been attacked.
"I'LL KILL HIM!!!" she shouted. "Who DID It? Draken? Killigan? Monkey Fist?"
"Young lady, there will be NO talk of killing in this hospital! Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes mom."
"Now, just so you know, it wasn't one of your enemies. This is one 'sitch' your father managed to get into all on his own."
"NNNRGH!" Mr. Dr. P. grunted, "Nuh - Nuh."
"Now dear, I think it's about time your daughter heard one of her family's dark little secrets."
"NNNN Nuh nuh nuh nuh"
"Mom?"
"Kimmie, you know that most of the time, your father is a very busy man."
"Yes, of course."
"But even so, he would often find time to get away for school projects, family events, and all those spousal encounter weekends?"
"I never gave it much thought."
"Neither did I at first, but a few years ago, I overheard a phone conversation, and then I was able to put the pieces together."
"It seems your father picked up quite a nasty habit in his first post-graduate fellowship.
"What kind of habit did he have, mom?"
All eyes fell on Anne Possible. Of course in that hospital, the eyes of many men often fell on Anne Possible.
At this point Rufus joins James Possible in a nasally hummed rendition of the bugle call "Taps".
"Well, he's always worked in big, bureaucratic institutions. Enough people, titles and departments to fill several phone books."
"After I confronted him about this a few years ago, this is what he told me."
"Apparently, whenever he had too much paperwork to deal with, he would take everything he thought was redundant, confusing, irrelevant or unnecessary and mark it " 'Refer to Dr. Smith.'"
"You see, your father reasoned that in huge organization like the space program, there had to be dozens, if not hundreds of Drs. Smith. So the paper work was sent out. Some was lost. Some was settled. And, if it was important, it would find its way back."
"And your father kept doing this for years, whenever he wanted a little time off."
Kim interrupted at this point. "What does this have to do with dad getting attacked today?"
"Well Kim, it seems your dad had a visitor today."
"Who?"
And with that, the hospital curtain pulls back to reveal a man with his right hand in a cast. He walks up to Kim and Ron and says, "Hello, I'm Dr. Smith", and "oh, the pain".
- - - - -
fin
- - - - -
Author's note
Yes, I know it's an old joke. The Evil Plot Bunnies demanded I tell it before the end of 2006.
By the way, for those unfamiliar with the American bugle call "Taps", its opening bars are somewhat similar to the British bugle call "Last Post".
Does this fit somewhere in the midst of my continuing story lines? Definitely maybe.
Happy New Year. Here's hoping it may it be better for you than the last year.