"The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him."
-- Pablo Casals
Limits
I.
Kim suppressed a yawn as she threw her book heavy backpack onto her bed. Stretching her arms as far as they would go she winced slightly when she heard a very audible pop. Another full night of fighting super villains followed by one of Barkin's 'learning experiences' was taking its toll on her. At the moment she looked forward to a nice hot bath and a very well deserved good night sleep.
'First though time to answer my mail.' She turned towards her computer pressing the on switch located on the machine before turning back to her mirror sighing at what she saw. Despite her best efforts this morning her hair had remained the mess it was from last night, thanks to one of Drakken's slimier inventions, and the vigorous cheer practice that she had led the squad through had not helped either. Sometimes she wandered if it wouldn't be better to be bald. 'Then me and Rufus would finally have something in common.'
Turning back to the machine she saw that the usual window containing her emails, something she had Wade set up, was now up and to her dismay quite full. She knew, despite asking them not to, that her friends had a habit of screening the email she got on a regular basis. She ignored it to the most part because on the few occasions she tried to deal with the mail pre-screening she had a few unpleasant sitches. Not only was the pure volume just crazy but some of the messages were just disturbing. From the various death threats to the perverted messages sent her way she had quickly learned to leave it up to others. Not that she couldn't handle it but it was nice to have help from time to time.
Smiling at the idea of her friends being willing to give up their free time to help her in this, she moved over to the computer taking a seat. Like usual she started with the first received message in the box and began working her way up to the last. With practiced boredom she shot off replies to various thank you notes, a rare occurrence, to fan letters calling her to visit their hometown. It was sweet but she wasn't into the whole celebrity thing.
After finishing up a letter gushing about how great Rufus was, she really wished people could remember Ron's email when sending messages like that one, she could already feel her neck becoming sore and that soak in the bath calling longingly for her. Groaning in frustration at the pure number of emails remaining she decided that this next one would be the last one. Looking at the title she could already tell it would be yet another fan letter from yet another child. You could always tell after all when the subject line contained the words 'my' and 'hero'.
As Kim sat there reading the message though she suddenly forgot about the bath all together and her own tired state of mind. Reaching over she grabbed her Kimmunicator and hit that all important button.
"What's up Kim?" Kim didn't even need to look at the little screen to know the little boy genius was probably at this very moment slurping away at his oversized drink.
"Wade I need you to get into contact with someone. As soon as possible please and thank you."
II.
"Thanks again for the ride." Kim smiled as she waved goodbye to the nice man as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed back out to the main road. Turning back around Kim took a deep breath before entering into the unfamiliar hospital in front of her.
Now with a mother who worked regularly at a hospital Kim lacked the sort of fear of the place that most people held. Granted she tended to avoid the sicker patients while there, though she did hang out with the older ones on a regular basis, but for her the concept of a hospital held memories of candies being slipped under the counter and nurses telling horror stories of 'those patients'. It was therefore very odd for Kim to feel a little apprehension while approaching this current hospital. Now it could just be the little bit of unease a person experiences when facing a new type of sitch or place but she knew that wasn't the case. No in this case it was pure nervousness over who she was meeting.
Kim scanned the front of the hospital looking for the all too familiar check in place that populated all these places. The area where the sick gathered to wait and fill out forms while griping about the unfairness of their sitch. Be it the uncomfortable cough they were experiencing or the rather annoying itch on their back it was all the same. No matter how truly bad their illness, or condition, was it was the worse in the place.
Walking towards the desk she could see a kindly old black woman filling out forms with a smile on her face as she finished up dealing with a rather healthy looking young man currently arguing the seriousness of his 'illness'. Kim waited patiently for the discussion to finish and took the first opportunity to slip in and direct her question towards the woman. "Hi I'm here to visit someone. Can you direct me towards the right place? Please and thank you."
The woman for her part looked up a contemplative look on her face before it brightened into a large smile. "Do you happen to be Kim Possible? You know that cute little red head who saves the world all the time?"
Kim blushed as she nodded her head. 'Cute little red head?'
"It's good to see you girl. I'm telling you we can't get that little girl to stop going on and on about you. I swear I know more about you now then your own mother and I know a little too much about that Shego woman. Frankly I don't see what that Drakken fellow likes about her. Poor attitude if you ask me." Kim nodded her head a forced smile on her face. "Ah but look at me taking up your time when you're here to see more important people. You'll find little Abigail's room on the third floor. It's the second from the right of the elevator and you can't mess it after all it's the only room with a life sized balloon of you on the outside."
"Thank you." Kim gave the woman a genuine smile at that for giving her the information she wanted so quickly. Though she was a little wary of this life sized balloon.
It was a quick walk towards the third floor dodging the usual equipment that cluttered a hospital's hallways, which wasn't that much actually, and the usual rushing employee and wandering patient. No matter what hospital she visited in the world it was always the same. This brought a smile to Kim's face as she finally made it to her goal. As the nice woman said it was very easy to spot with the large red headed girl, equipped with a fashionable black top and tan cargo pants, floating in the breeze, provided by an opened window, right in front of it. Taking a deep breath Kim checked to make sure she didn't have anything out of place before stepping in.
"What's the sitch!" Kim stopped in shock as a loud voice echoed in the room as soon as she entered. Looking in surprise at the source she couldn't reconcile the voice with what she currently saw.
"Um...I'm Kim Possible." As Kim said this she stared at the small and frail looking girl currently smiling at her from the bed that occupied most of the space in this room. The little girl was decked out in a nice, though wearisomely baggy, flowered dress and she had on a very pretty little pink hat that failed to cover her very bald head. Kim could tell though the girl was very much excited at the visit as the twin brown eyes shinned brightly and the large smile threatened to spilt the child's face in two.
"I've always wanted to say that too you. Did you bring Rufus?" Kim shook her head as she took a breath to calm herself down. As she moved closer to the little girl she smiled at the tiny nine year old, she knew this only from the letter since there was no way she would guess this tiny figure could be nine, and made a gesture with her hand.
"I was too afraid the little guy would eat all the food here so I decided to leave him with Ron. If you want I'll bring him by next time."
"You mean you'll come back again?"
Kim nodded her head as she finally took a sit next to the girl's bed all the time being watched by the girl as she made ever move. "Of course I'll come back. You're my number one fan after all."
"I thought Ron was your number one fan?"
"He doesn't count." Kim giggled at his as she leaned in close to the girl. "Between you and me I think he's a bigger fan of that big breasted video game character anyway. You know Zani something."
"Lani."
Kim blinked at the correction as she looked at the girl. "You know who Luni is? I thought only horny teenaged boys played that game."
The little girl just smiled even more as she pointed to a stack of items on the nearby bed. Kim realized to her surprise it was a stack of video game and on the very top was the one game Ron was always playing. The 'quest for mummy mashing' or something like that. As she studied the picture of the familiar big breasted girl the current objective of her visit continued on in a soft voice. "I have a lot of free time so I like to play video games. I really like Lani so I had my Mom pick up all the games with her in it."
Kim turned back from the video game a frown on her face. "What exactly do you like about her?"
The little girl paused at this staring down at her hands for a second before continuing on in a soft voice. "I like the fact that she didn't let her illness, you know the rotting curse that effected the children of Fundiam, get her down and I like how she managed to beat it and turn out to be a hero. I'd like to be like her too."
Kim was unable to respond for a minute as she took that in, tears threatening to spill out at the pure unfairness of this, before clearing her throat. "You know you're a lot like her already."
The little girl looked up at this a frown on her face. "I'd say you're more like her then me Kim."
Kim just shook her head as she leaned back in her chair a smile now coming to her face. "No I just save the world. You're the one whose going to beat this," Kim waved her hand in the general direction of the hospital unwilling to utter the word 'cancer' at the moment, "and go on to do great things. Compared to that beating down Drakken is nothing."
"What about Shego?"
"Walk in the park."
"What about getting Ron to keep his pants on?"
Kim laughed at that again leaning forward. "Now there's limits to what us girls can do isn't there." Kim grinned as the little girl began laughing once more. "Now while I'm here do you want to hear any stories?"
"How about the time you and Ron switched bodies. I always wandered what it'd be like to be in a boy's body."
Kim paused as she thought back to that moment before shaking her head. "It's not all it's cracked up to be. A lot of extra baggage if you catch my meaning."
Laughter erupted once more from the little girl as Kim prepared to tell her tale.
III.
Kim gathered the various papers in her hands that she had generated last night. After coming home from the hospital she had gone online looking for various experimental and practical cures for the cancer that afflicted little Abigail or Abby as it turned out that she liked to be called. It was a tough one considering just how far spread it was through the body but Kim was sure there was a way to beat it. 'After all anything is possible for a Possible even finding the cure for cancer.'
With this thought in mind Kim walked through the previously unknown entrance intent on visiting Abby for the second time. She hoped the Abby wasn't too tired form the last visit, though just in case she had decided not to bring Rufus along, but had decided to come anyway. You had to keep your fan base happy as Ron always said.
Spying the kind older woman she had asked for help the other day Kim made a direct line towards her a smile on her face. "Hey is Abby able to receive visitors?"
The woman looked up at this paling slightly at the sight of Kim before shaking her head slightly. "Honey something has come up. If you can just wait there a second I'll have someone come down and tell you about it."
Kim frowned at this before nodding as she stepped back. "Ok, I'll just wait over here."
It wasn't long before a woman with a set of tired but kind brown eyes came walking down from the elevator and seemed to be headed in Kim's direction. Turning towards the woman Kim gave an uneasy smile weary of what was going on as she studied the approaching person. As Kim watched for the life of her she couldn't place the woman's age. The wrinkles and lines told her that the woman was of the older generation, though her hair was still dark and rich in color, but the way she walked made Kim think she was younger. As if some tragedy had aged the poor woman before her time.
This thought was interrupted as the woman finally made her way to Kim a sad smile on her face. "Are you Kim Possible?"
"Yes..." Kim was unable to continue as the woman in front of her suddenly reached out and grabbed Kim into a fierce hug. Kim was unable to move as they both stood there being ignored by the general population of the hospital. It was a full minute before the older woman let go stepping back slightly.
"I'm sorry about that I just couldn't help myself." Kim nodded slightly still confused as the woman extended her hand. Taking the offered hand Kim looked up into the eyes as the woman continued. "I know I probably surprised you so I should more then likely introduce myself." The woman took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm Abby's mother and it's an honor to met you."
"It's a pleasure to meet you too." Kim was now feeling her danger sense go haywire as she stared at the woman.
"Abby told me so much about you that I feel like I know you myself. She really looked up to you and your inspiration helped carry her through some of the darker times." The woman paused for a moment, looking down to the clean white tiled floor, seeming to wrestle with her own emotion before looking back up with moistened eyes. "I have no idea what sort of pain my daughter went through but to think that you helped lessen it, even if it was only slightly, make me more grateful then words can express."
"It's no big..."
Kim was interrupted again as the woman held up her hand. "I know you'll try to deny any credit for it but I know the truth. You gave my little girl hope and something to look forward to. That means a lot to me and then on top of all that you pay her a visit when you don't have to." The woman again paused as tears started to run down her cheeks as she looked at Kim. "She was so happy that she finally got to meet you."
Kim looked at the woman in front of her now feeling the worry that had been bothering her turning into full blown screams of warning. Clearing her throat she asked the question she was dreading to get an answer to. "Is Abby alright?"
For a while she received no response as Abby's mother continued to stand there. Finally looking Kim in the eye the woman shook her head in the affirmative. "She passed away last night in her sleep."
Kim felt her heart shudder at this as she stared at the woman in shock. She had suspected the answer but hearing it still hurt. Even though she barely knew the girl she couldn't help but feel the loss at her passing. "I'm sorry." Kim's choked reply finally broke the silence as Kim stood there trying to wrap her head around the situation.
"Don't be she's in a better place. My little girl is no longer in pain after all she's finally with..." Kim looked back up as the older woman stood there her mouth opened slightly as tears ran down her cheek before reaching out and hugging Kim again. "Thank you."
"No big..." Kim's voice sounded hollow even to her ears as she tried to come to grip with the fact that the bright and active little girl she meet yesterday was no longer around. That her smile would no longer light up a room. It was all she could do not to break down like the poor girl's mother.
"I'm sorry if this is a bother to you but I asked the nurse to allow me to be the one to thank you. My husband and I will never forget this." Letting go of Kim once more the woman stepped back a conflicted look on her face before shaking her head once. Looking back up she smiled that same sad smile she had on before. "I've got to go now. You take care dear."
Kim nodded her head as she stood there. She continued to stand there as the woman finally turned to walk away. When the woman was no longer in sight she reached into her pocket and brought out her trusty Kimmunicator pressing the ever true on switch. "Hey Kim what's up?"
"Wade I need a ride."
IV.
Ron looked up at the familiar tree with its very untrustworthy structure built into its branches. He knew this place well for often a damsel, usually him, had been rescued here or a meal served by a loving wife, again him, as a tired husband came home, Kim worked hard after all, back in the day. Now this place had become something like an emotional refuge for him and in many ways Kim too. It was the only place to go to get away without truly getting away.
Taking a deep breath Ron ascended the ladder mindful to watch out for any broken ropes or steps. The incident of third grade still haunted him. As he cleared the entrance he was easily able to spot the lone red head occupying the place. "Hey KP."
"Leave me alone Ron." Ron ignored his best friend as he finished making his way in. Taking a sit near the entrance he watched as his best friend sat there her head resting on her knees.
"KP I heard from Wade what happened. You want to talk about it?"
"If I wanted to talk about it I wouldn't be up here alone would I?" Kim's muttered response held no anger as Ron continued to watch the red head sit there holding herself with her arms. He didn't have to be a genius to know that the recent events hit her hard.
Taking a deep breath he smiled his goofiest smile for her as he pointed towards the ladder. "Then why did you leave that thing down there. Seems to me if you wanted to be alone you should have pulled it up with you."
"I forgot okay."
Ron sighed at this deciding the direct course was the best way about this. "It's not your fault Kim."
"Never said it was."
"But you're thinking it." Ron edged towards his friend closing the distance slightly as he watched her face like a hawk looking for any sign of eye contact. He got it a moment later when she looked up in anger.
"What do you know!"
"Not a lot but I do know this." Ron reached out placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. To his relief she didn't throw it off. "You blame yourself for her death."
"I could have helped."
"You visited her. That's more then most people would have done."
"I could have saved her!"
"How?"
Ron saw the irritation pass across Kim's face before she pulled back waving her hands in front of her. "I could have gotten Wade to create some miracle device or looked around for some top secret project. Even asked Drakken for help! I'm sure he's got some weird thing that could have helped her out."
"No he doesn't."
"How do you know! How do any of us know! All I did was go home do a little research and I thought I was helping her out. I could have done a lot more."
"No you couldn't Kim. I know it's strange for the sidekick to tell you this but this is one thing you couldn't change."
"I'm Kim Possible though." Ron was easily able to spot the pain as Kim looked back at him tears running down her face. "I'm supposed to be able to do anything."
"You're not God Kim."
"I know that! You don't understand though." Ron reached out again as Kim looked once more down to the floor. "She looked up to me Ron and I failed her. I wasn't able to do anything. She was only nine years old. You're supposed to be playing with puppies and getting muddy at that age. I mean I have clothes older then her and yet I didn't do anything to help her. Nothing!"
"You made her happy Kim that's enough."
"But..." Ron finally reached out and grabbed Kim holding her to him as he gently kissed the top of her head.
"It's enough Kim. Its all anyone was asking from you." As they sat there for several minutes Ron could feel Kim gently crying into his chest. Finally when she had enough she leaned back a sad smile came to her face.
"Do you think she's happy now Ron?"
He nodded at this a smile coming to his face. "Yeah I do KP. After all her name in Hebrew does stand for 'Father rejoicing' so all that happened was her Father called her home. That's all."
Kim nodded at this before leaning back into Ron. Ron simply wrapped his arms around his friend as he held her there providing a small sense of comfort. Like many thing she'd get over this too and be stronger for it. After all she was a hero.
The End
A/N: Well I'll admit this was a tough story to write and I had to take a few breaks here and there. Hope it did what it was meant to do.
Anyway I'll leave you with just this story and that's all. God bless and good night. Remember to drop a review on your way out.
Disclaimer: I don't own KP.