I do not own the characters named herein from either Disney, or D.C., and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only.
Kim Possible: Sacrifices
By LJ58
1
Kim smiled as she folded the blanket near the now emptied baskets setting nearby. She had a rare day off from school, missions, and even the usually endless catalogue of social obligations her helping and favors usually demanded of her.
Her mother, quick to take advantage of her momentary lull in her extraordinarily busy life, quickly suggested, and arranged a family outing. The picnic in Middleton Park drew a lot of friends as well as her family, and they ended up having a semi-public celebration of sorts as more than a few families from their neighborhood all came together to have a day off.
"Hey, KP," Ron grinned as he finished packing away his own family's basket. "Monique and I were going to head over to the mall for ice cream before the new Major Slamm film started, and then do the film thing. Want to tag," he sandy-haired boy grinned.
"Well…"
"C'mon, GF," the ebony beauty grinned her way as she sauntered over. "It'll be great."
"Well, ice cream sounds nice," she told Monique. "But an underdressed wrestler playing a rogue cop? Isn't that a bit clichéd."
"Kim," Ron gasped. "How could you?"
Both women sniggered at Ron's predictable reaction.
"You know, Dying to Live is also playing," Kim smiled suggestively at Monique.
Ron gave a horrible, gasping-choking sound.
"A…. A chick-flick," he moaned as if in agony. "KP! Major Slamm! Rex Steele himself did his own stunts," he complained loudly.
"That just sounds so wrong on so many levels," Kim sighed.
"Come on," Monique teased her. "It'll be fun," she assured her. "And it will take your mind off that silly paper Mr. Barkin assigned you after you blew off his History quiz."
'I had to stop Dementor from…..!"
"I know it. You know it. Want to guess what buzz-cut probably thinks," the young teen smirked knowingly. "Especially after that whole Miss Go dealie?"
"No," Kim sighed. "I could use a little break. One thing is for sure, when I finally do graduate, I will not miss that guy. At all."
"Who would," Ron complained. "I think he teaches every single class in school single-handledly."
"Ron, he can't actually….."
Ron just stared, crossing his arms, as Rufus appeared to scramble up his shoulder, adopting his master's own comical pose with his tiny limbs.
"Give it up, GF," Monique advised. "The only thing harder than Steel Toe's footwear is Ron Soppable's head!"
"That's right, I….. Hey," their friend sputtered as both girls shared a grin.
"Fine. Fine. I'll go see the fake film about wrestling cops," Kim sighed dramatically.
"It's not about wrestling cops," Ron complained loudly as they carried their things to their respective family cars. "It's about a cop, who happens to be a wrestler, in real life,of course, not the film, only…."
"Ron, I get it….."
"But, KP, you have to get the nuances," he protested. "Don't worry. I can fill you in."
"You've already seen it," Kim asked suspiciously.
"No," he sputtered. "Of course not. It's just premiering. Still, I might have run across a pirated script online, and….read a few pages. Or ten."
"Or more," Monique and Kim both parroted.
"What? So I can't have an interest in the arts," he defended.
Kim burst into laughter at that one.
"What's so funny," Dr. Ann Possible asked mildly as the teens came over, all of them carrying blankets, or baskets.
Both nodded at Ron since their hands were full.
"Ah," the neurosurgeon smiled knowingly.
"What?"
The clueless boy handed over his burdens to his father, who surrendered them to his wife, who deftly packed their things away in the small trunk as Hana just grinned at them from out of the back window. She was very hard to keep in a car seat. Or so the Stoppables were learning.
"Hey, mom," Kim said. "We were going over to the mall from here, if you don't mind," she said as she handed the blanket over to her dad, who was packing the rear of the family van with a precision she suspected came from packing his rockets' payloads before launching them.
Inadvertently, or otherwise.
"The mall," stereo voices from the rear seat complained. "We want to go!"
"And the movies, after," Kim quickly added, knowing the boys were both banned from the local theater.
Something about unlicensed projection devices that somehow altered existing films, and made even the most hardcore fans of a certain anti-hero film run screaming in terror from whatever they had been shown. To this day, certain details were still being censored.
"I think you boys will just go home," James Possible drawled in his sternest 'dad' impression. "Especially after trying to launch the Higgins' cat into orbit with that barbecue grill."
"It would have worked….."
"If the old lady hadn't freaked, and….."
"Boys," Ann cut them off. "You're going home. Grounded. Remember?"
"Man," they moaned in unison.
Kim smirked.
"So….?"
"Go, and have fun, dear. I'm just glad you've finally managed to have a whole day off."
"So far, but don't jinx it," Ron hissed at her, eyeing Kim's right pocket where he knew the ever-present Kimmunicator waited to ruin things.
Kim's mother only smirked herself, and told Kim, "Just don't stay out too late," she told Kim, and headed for her own door after James closed the back of the van.
"And no boys," James added sternly before he headed for the driver's side.
"But….."
"Let it go, Ron," Kim sighed. "You know dad."
Ron still found it hard to look at Kim at times when Dr. P was around. Especially since he kept hearing, "Black hole, Ronald," every time he did.
"Right," Ron sighed. "So, ice cream? I know a great place where they let you make your own cones."
"I already foresee disaster," Monique giggled.
"Wow, you do know him," Kim deadpanned as the Possibles drove off, leaving them to make their own way to the mall.
"Of course she knows me, KP," Ron declared guilelessly. "The Ron-Man is…. Uh, knownable."
Both teens rolled their eyes, and Kim grabbed his left arm, as Monique grabbed his right.
"C'mon, Ron-Man," Kim drawled. "But since you're probably saving what little allowance you have left for the film, understand one thing."
"What," he asked anxiously.
"One dip. Nothing weird. Or I will tie you up outside the theater….."
"No, we'll tie you up inside the theater," Monique suggested playfully. "After we drag you into the chick-flick."
"Good idea," Kim grinned as Ron recoiled in horror.
"That's cruel, and inhuman!"
"You mean inhumane," Kim asked with a grin.
"That, too!"
Rufus, still perched on Ron's shoulder, only rolled his own eyes.
KP
Kim wasn't really paying attention to the film that seemed to involve lots of improbable wrestling moves that passed as fighting while the bad guys, predictably, shot everything except the hero who seemed pretty hard to miss in her opinion.
After all, all he did was break in doors, and stand there dramatically long enough that half the villains should have been able to blow him away without trying.
Apparently, tactics and common sense had no place in movie heroics.
She fought another yawn as the 'hero' somehow made a car blow up by somehow throwing a brick like a Frisbee, and making her roll her eyes yet again when someone came in late, and actually used a flashlight to start looking around.
She frowned, overhearing a few complaints, but then realized she knew that silhouette.
Jumping up, she moved to the center aisle gracefully before she met Officier Hobble halfway down the aisle.
"Something wrong, Officer," she asked, eager for any excuse to get out of this very dreadful film that had Ron and Monique both squealing over the apparent action. "Anything I can do to….."
"Kimberly, I've got bad news."
She frowned at his tone.
"What is it," she asked.
"Your family…. They were in an accident, and…."
"How bad," she gasped, never once thinking it might have been her family involved. "What happened?"
"Kimberly, I….. You'd better come with me," he told her, and started to turn away.
"How bad," she demanded, grabbing his arm, and pulling him back around.
Officer Hobble looked torn as he realized half the theater was now looking their way, and he grimaced as he belatedly switched off his flashlight. Kim's green eyes were round with dread as she looked up at him, and he grimaced as he glanced at the screen when a huge explosion went off. Then he looked down, and did the only thing he could.
"It's bad," he said, and put a big arm around her, and pulled her after him. "Let's go. We need to talk."
"How bad," she grit out, letting him steer her now.
"Your mother….may not make it," he finally said as they left the theater, and he headed for his nearby cruiser. "She's at the hospital now."
"Mom," she croaked, remembering that last moment at the park, and her mother's smiling face. "What about….?"
"Kimberly," he sighed as they settled into his car. "I should…."
"Tell me," she demanded as she snapped her own belt in place, and stared pointedly at him.
The craggy officer sighed, and stared away as he said, "The others didn't even make it to the hospital. As I said. It was bad," he told her, easily reading the shock on her face.
Kim felt her heart clench, and her stomach drop to her toes.
"N-No," she gasped. "Dad….? The Tweebs?"
"It was a bad accident, Kim," the officer told her again as he started the car.
To her horror, she learned that her mother was badly hurt, and still in surgery when she arrived. Fifteen hours later, she was still alive, but in a coma that might, or might not be ending anytime soon.
She was, the doctors admitted, in a very fragile condition, and they still worried, ironically, about brain damage after the severity of her injuries. Kim was left staring at a small body all but wrapped in bandages as she stared into the ICU where nurses and doctors flocked around one of their own to ensure she received the best possible treatment.
Kim was left feeling…..empty.
To Be Continued…..
A.N.: A special nod to Trainer Russ for the plot bunny that became this tale.