In Memoriam Feminae Viridis

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I forgot to toss this into chapter 1, but I like it better that way. Nothing to slow you down. I own none of these characters. They all belong to Disney.

--

The sound of the words leaving Shego's mouth was the only thing in the little room for the next several seconds; there wasn't even the sound of a drip from her intravenous bottle. Kim's stomach felt like it fell from her abdomen, struck her knees, and settled somewhere in the hospital basement. She tried to speak, but her voice didn't work, so her mouth moved silently.

That same eyebrow quirked again on Shego's face. "Well?" she asked.

"You…you don't remember?" Kim finally managed to speak. Her voice, once again, was unstable.

"Should I?" Shego challenged.

Kim nodded while sniffling. "Yeah…we've known each other for about four years now." She didn't have the heart—or the mindset—to mention that they'd been near-mortal enemies for almost that whole period. Except for when she was Miss Go…and that other time, when we helped her brothers…and during graduation, when we had to fight together, and…

Realizing she was mentally rambling, Kim snapped herself out of it just in time to hear Shego ask, "So you know who I am then, right?"

Something between a sob and a laugh escaped Kim right then. "Shego," she supplied. "You're Shego. And if you're pulling my leg with all these questions, I…" Her voice failed again; she was going to finish with, "…am gonna beat you for it later," but given the current situation, she was loathe to even lay a hand on the green woman.

Though left unspoken, the semi-playful threat was easily-enough understood. "Nah, you look like the one who broke, not me," Shego said idly, "and there's something about kicking someone while they're down that really doesn't appeal to me."

Kim gave her a soft smile from her seat at the edge of the bed. "Look, Shego," she began. "I…"

"Yes?" Shego drew the word out over a few seconds when Kim stopped speaking.

Realizing she didn't know what she was going to say next, Kim just shrugged and shook her head. "Nothing, I guess. I don't know where I was going with that."

"That makes two of us, then," Shego said, lying back in the hospital bed. "So did I always hate hospitals, or is this a recent development?"

"I…don't know," Kim replied honestly. "That's one bit that I never knew."

"Oh," she said simply. Her eyes closed, and as Kim watched her breathing slowed to the deep rhythm of sleep.

Kim chose that moment to pat her hand, eliciting a small smile from Shego in her sleep, before getting up. Her back protested the change in position—she had been in the chair since the early afternoon anyway. Speaking of which… Kim craned her head to check the wall clock in the small room and was shocked to see that it read three-twenty-two. A check of the windows demonstrated that it was quite dark outside, which meant it was three in the morning. She didn't know what time she'd managed to fall asleep in the room, but that rest had apparently lasted for hours. She checked her purse, which was slung on the chair back behind her, and grabbed a couple of dollar bills from her wallet. With one last look at the sleeping villainess, she left in search of a vending machine.

--

Cracking one eye open, "Shego" saw that she was finally alone. Shego, she mentally snorted. The hell kind of a name is that?

Glancing at the sides of her hospital bed, she took note of the monitoring equipment set up to make sure anyone would know of changes in her condition. She was pretty sure, though, that they tracked only bad changes…when she'd awakened, there'd only been that weepy red-haired girl there to greet her, not a nurse, which was odd. She was in a hospital; there were supposed to be at least nurses on staff all the time, right?

She grinned a bit in memory of that girl. When "Shego" woke up, the first thing she noticed was that her bed was a bit imbalanced. It took a while to even realize I didn't know my own name, she thought, privately amused by her apparent sense of priorities. She'd watched the girl sleep for a bit, but given the expressions crossing her face, whatever dreams she was having were not the most pleasant ones ever. That was confirmed when she saw tears start to fall.

She'd felt an odd urge then, a desire to comfort the girl she didn't even know, so she had reached out a hand and rested it on her head. Almost unconsciously she began to stroke her hair, even going so far as to run her fingers through it. The feeling had been nice, even to her…

Then she woke up, looking confused, wiping her eyes, and "Shego" had had another sudden and very odd urge; this one was the temptation to simply go "Aww" at how adorable the expression was. The girl had blinked at her a couple of times in apparent disbelief before attaching herself to "Shego's" waist and earning her tag of being weepy. Their little conversation had followed, in which "Shego" had found she had more questions than she initially thought. The girl had done an artful job of not answering the first one, though, which was why "Shego" still didn't know what her name was.

She heaved a sigh as she tried to sort through her mind and take stock of what was there. A lot of the bits she tried to think on slipped out of her mental grasp like wet soap; the second she thought she had something, it was gone. What really frustrated her were the things she could remember, trivial bits of information that were of absolutely no consequence. She knew, for example, that her skin was green for real; she couldn't remember why, or how, or if it had always been that way. She also knew that her favorite colors were black and green, though the same limitations held on that idea; she didn't know why they were, or how long they had been, or anything like that.

She couldn't remember her own name. She couldn't remember anything about her family—she had to have a family, or at least parents, she knew, but were they still alive? Was she an only child? Were her parents still around? She didn't know how old she was, but by the feel of her body she couldn't be that old.

The never-ending questions began to make her angry. She felt like her blood was boiling in her veins. Her fingertips began to tingle; the sensation spread to the whole of her fingers. She brought her hands up; the feeling was close to an itch now, and she scratched, feeling like her bones needed the relief instead of her pale green skin.

Pale green. She stopped scratching abruptly, simply staring at her hands, and the parts of her forearms she could see. The anger drained away, and with it went the tingly, itchy sensation in her hands. Her curiosity began to take over, wondering at the color, and her imagination began to fill in details of the how and the why.

Maybe somebody assaulted me with a green permanent marker years ago and the color seeped into the living layer of skin, she thought, and the mental image of such an attack almost made her laugh. Strange as the scenario sounded, she was green, so she wouldn't rule out such an occasion as that.

Impatience suddenly began to gnaw at her, demanding she do something. Lying in bed all day was certainly not that attractive a proposition, especially since she didn't feel all that broken. At the very least she could walk around the place, get herself some sort of exercise. She glanced over at the IV bag on its stand next to her bed, and with a mental shrug decided it was hardly necessary now. She was awake, alert, and from the feel of it, quite able to handle solid foods.

Not that hospital foods are all that appetizing anyway.

"Shego" briefly wondered if that thought came from experience or hearsay before deciding it didn't matter. It was time to stand up, walk around…and leave, if she could.

She gripped the IV line and catheter in her hand and pulled gently; it was painful, and it felt like she had something slithering around her insides as the short length of plastic tubing pulled free from her blood vessel, but the uncomfortable feeling was over quickly enough…and as she watched, the blood following it stopped flowing almost immediately. It was interesting, to say the least; she'd expected to need a bandage for the little hole.

She shivered as she levered herself out of the bed and onto the floor; the frigid hospital air slipped around the skin on her bared back thanks to the hospital gown she was in. The bed had been nice and warm…but confining. And lack of memories aside, "Shego" was absolutely sure that no person liked being that confined.

Besides, she barely noticed the chill now. It was an odd sensation, but just as odd was its familiarity—the knowledge felt like it was tickling the inside of her forehead, but it refused to congeal into anything real.

She slid open the door to her room and peeked her head out, one hand bracing herself on the doorway so she didn't lose her balance, the other holding her rather impressive mane of straight-black hair back.

Well, it was impressive to her, at least.

Seeing nobody, which was hardly a surprise given the hour, she crept into the hallway, her bare feet making absolutely no noise as she padded along. She stayed against the walls, peeking around corners when it was necessary.

She got about four hallways away before she realized two things: one, it was absolutely absurd that she was sneaking around a hospital like that. What's the worst they're gonna do, put me back in the bed?

Second was, How the hell am I doing this?

She didn't have to wonder long before a semi-familiar voice called from behind her.

"Shego?"

She turned, acting as nonchalant as she could with that nagging feeling of being half-naked in the hospital garb. That red-headed girl from before was standing there, a couple of brightly-colored, wrapped items in her hand, a curious look on her face.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

Shego cast about for some kind of answer that would make some sense and not land her in trouble. Unfortunately, the only one that she had that would fill those was the truth.

"I wanted to go for a walk," she said simply.

--

"I wanted to go for a walk," Shego answered after a second.

Kim blinked. For a brief second, the mental image of her arch-nemesis in both her catsuit and a dog's collar popped into her mind and threatened to make her giggle uncontrollably, but she shoved it aside as quickly as she could, writing it off as a product of her less-than-rested mind.

"Ah hah," she said instead, as neutrally as she could. She'd watched Shego creeping down the hallway like her usual, rogue-ish self, and had been absolutely fascinated with the motions involved. So graceful, she thought, and those moves…like water. No wonder no one could ever hear her. The incongruity of an amnesiac Shego sneaking around like nothing was different hadn't struck her yet.

Shego just continued to stare at her, not saying anything. Kim decided to break the silence herself. "I went to get a snack," she said needlessly, holding the items in her hand aloft.

"I see that," Shego replied, and Kim mentally berated herself. Here they were, standing in a hospital hallway, staring each other down like a fight was going to break out—and the only thing she could say was that she had snacks. Brilliant, Kim. Why not tell her the sky's blue while you're at it? She took a step toward Shego, but when the green woman took a step backwards, Kim stopped. She pouted slightly. "Where are you going?"

"Going?" Shego echoed. She looked at her legs, surprise written all over her face as she saw how her body had apparently tried to back away without any input from her at all.

"Yeah," Kim said, regaining some conversational confidence. "Last I knew you were zonking out, not out exploring."

The surprised look on Shego's face faded away, relaxing back to its normal, "Go away kid, you bother me" look. "I had to get away," she said. Then she shook her head, a bemused look on her face. "Why am I even telling you this? I don't even know you."

"Actually…you do," Kim replied sheepishly. "Pretty well."

"Do I? You never did tell me your name."

"I…" Kim's mouth snapped shut as she thought back. "I didn't, did I?"

"No. Doy."

The familiar word made her smile a bit, but Kim actually answered. "I'm Kim. Kim Possible."

"Kim Possible," Shego repeated slowly. To Kim, it looked like she was thinking it over, because her lips kept moving even though no sound came out. Shego remained silent for so long that Kim began to worry that she'd broken her or something, and she took another hesitant step forward, then another when Shego showed no reaction.

Suddenly Shego snapped her fingers, her gaze snapping upward with equal speed. "I've got it!" she said.

Kim stopped moving and she felt hope swell. Maybe this sitch is going away faster than I thought…

"Your parents thought they were sterile, then you came along," Shego said triumphantly.

That hope Kim had felt died a quick, painless death as reality asserted itself in its usual cruel fashion. She sighed. "No, Shego," she said tiredly, suddenly glad of the infusion of sugar still in her hand. "Kim is short for Kimberly. I was named for a great-great-aunt or something way back on my dad's side. Almost everyone in my family has a name with some sort of 'in' sound in it." She plodded forward, partly disappointed that her name didn't do something miraculous like bring total recognition to Shego, and partly mad at herself for thinking something that cartoon-like would happen. Shego didn't move, so when Kim made it to her she offered her one of the snacks in her hand.

Shego accepted the proffered sweet thing without protest, which Kim was glad for; she was half-expecting the injured woman to refuse it, or at least be very suspicious about it. That didn't happen, though, which told Kim there was still no recognition; they'd fought each other far too often for Shego to simply take something Kim was willingly giving her—that is, if she were "all there."

"That's…pretty corny," Shego said finally, unwrapping the snack—pop tarts—and taking a bite. When she swallowed a look of bliss crossed her face.

"You okay?" Kim asked. It was a bit of a weird reaction.

"Fine!" Shego answered loudly. "Just glad for solid food."

After a few minutes of standing there watching Shego inhale the pop tarts like they were manna from heaven, they resumed walking, except this time Shego wasn't trying to sneak around. Kim kept asking little questions here and there, mostly about how Shego was feeling; she could tell, by the end of the walk, that she was starting to drive the other woman mad. By the time they reached Shego's room again, Kim was back to mostly silent, dwelling once again on the circumstances that brought the two of them to this point.

Shego must have sensed her darkening mood, because she heaved a theatrical sigh and stretched hugely, mostly for show. "Well, this has been a thoroughly fascinating walk," she declared, "but I think I'd better get back in before I get in trouble."

Kim cracked a grin. "Yeah, you scamp. Who said you could be up and about anyway?"

"I did." She shrugged.

"Figured as much," Kim said with a resigned shrug. "Well then…can I stay with you?"

Shego watched her for a minute, and Kim started to feel decidedly uncomfortable for asking such a question. Before the fight, before…it, she knew Shego most likely would have simply laughed in her face. Now, though, she didn't say anything, and Kim's sense of unease grew until Shego finally shrugged. "As long as you don't wake me up," she responded.

This time it was Kim who sighed—in relief.

--

Neither girl woke up until close to noon the next day.

Dr. Bruback was in the room when "Shego" awoke, and her movement roused Kim from her rest, as she'd resumed her earlier position of sitting in the chair but leaning on the bed. The doctor was going over some chart or another while she roused herself.

"Good morning," he said cordially.

"Meh," Shego answered. "Was morning earlier."

"Indeed," he returned dryly. "I must say, your recovery is rather remarkable. We weren't sure when you were going to wake up from that coma."

"Coma?" she echoed, turning to look at Kim, who in turn couldn't bring herself to meet "Shego's" eyes. The pale-green woman narrowed her eyes. "How long?"

"By my estimate, about twenty-six hours," he said, and "Shego" blinked.

"That short? Can you still call it a coma then?"

Dr. Bruback flipped back to the first page of his papers and settled them under his arm. "Technically, to call it a coma, you need four total conditions: the patient does not awaken, the patient does not undertake any voluntary actions, the patient has no regular sleep/wake cycle, and the patient does not respond normally to pain or light." He chuckled. "Kim here could have socked you as hard as she could, and you still wouldn't have woken up."

"Shego" snorted. "She doesn't look like she could do enough damage to a houseplant."

The doctor's reply was cut off as Kim jerkily got up from her chair and practically bolted out of the room.

"What was that about?" In spite of her status as a recently-awakened, previously-comatose hospital patient, "Shego" was quite sure of her powers of observation, and she had definitely seen tears on that redhead's face as she left. Puzzling as that reaction was, her own was even more so: she wanted to chase after her and calm her down, maybe even lend some comfort, or at least a shoulder to cry on.

Why do I have that urge? I hardly even know her!

Dr. Bruback sighed. "I'm sorry; I think I touched a nerve."

"That was terrible," his patient complained, rolling her eyes. At his confused expression, she gestured to the clipboard he was carrying. "It says you're a brain doc on the back," she explained. "So that line…"

"…was completely unintentional," he defended himself, though he wore a faint grin. "And they say doctors don't have senses of humor."

"Wherever yours is, you should probably take it out," she retorted.

He chuckled, then consulted his board one last time. "Well," he announced in that tone of voice used when making a final announcement, "you're as healthy as you're going to get while staying here. It's obvious you're in fine physical shape, and laying on a hospital bed isn't going to help that."

"Finally, someone around here who makes sense," she said, though with half a smile on her face. "So I can go?"

"Not quite yet," he said. "I have a colleague whom I want to have look at you, just to make sure everything's going to be okay. She'll probably let you go, but a second opinion is always more valid than having just one."

"Shego" considered it. "I guess you're right," she conceded.

The doctor nodded. "Of course I am," he replied, his face taking on the same grin she'd had a few seconds ago. "Sit tight; she'll be in as soon as I can find her." With that, he nodded to her and left.

"Shego" was alone in her room. She sighed and tried to get comfortable in the bed, waiting for her mythical second doctor to arrive. It didn't work very well.

While she lay there, she tried once again to go over the events since she'd awakened. First it was waking up to that girl…Kim. Then the weird feeling that she'd known some things, some people, that she'd seen today, but couldn't remember anything exact. Her irritation earlier, making her hands feel like pins and needles to a gigantic degree. Sneaking around the corridors of the hospital like she wasn't supposed to be there, which was silly. Kim finding her in the hallway…

"Shego" frowned a bit. If the girl had seen her sneaking around, maybe she'd have some answers as to why she'd been doing it, or how she knew how to, even as she didn't know. Then again, she hadn't given any indication she'd been watching, leading "Shego" to believe that Kim had simply walked in at just the right time to catch her while she wasn't moving.

She frowned again. "Kim" was far too short a name, and "Shego" had a distinct feeling that, given her behavior at the hospital, she'd be seeing a lot of the younger girl in the near future, whether she wanted to or not. Names with one syllable are so…boring, she thought, but "Kimberly" is way too old. I'm no ancient hag to be calling her that.

"Shego" smiled wryly. Just like earlier, she reflected, in that she didn't know her own age but by the feel of her body—and from the doctor's comment—she was in good shape and thus couldn't be that old.

The door to her room opened again, breaking into her musings, and a tall, thin, red-haired woman in a lab coat entered the room. Her blue eyes held no expression that "Shego" could read, but she certainly looked professional enough.

Then it hit her, and she squinted a bit at the doctor. Replace the eyes with green, make her hair longer a bit, and she could be Kimmie's clone. Or…

"You're her mother," she stated matter-of-factly.

Dr. Anne Possible, for that was indeed who it was, blinked a bit in shock. She'd read Dr. Bruback's reports, and from what they were able to infer—plus from what Kim had told her when they'd run into each other in the hallway early that morning—it was clear that Shego had amnesia; specifically, retrograde amnesia. It explained why she didn't know who Kim was, or what her own name was, or anything, for that matter.

It also explained why she was so surprised when Shego said that.

She'd also seen Karl's scans of her brain activity, as well as those of the injury that had done it, and she was privately impressed. Shego certainly did heal far faster than anyone she'd ever seen before, and Anne knew she had her comet powers to thank for that. She only hoped that those same powers extended to getting her memory back—not out of any sense of altruism or respect for Shego, but because it meant she would be out of the hospital sooner rather than later.

For now, though, she had a job to finish…and a patient who, amnesiac or not, could probably get whatever information she wanted with a minimum of effort, especially if she decided to light her hands on fire like she did with Kimmie all the time.

"Yes…" she stated unsurely.

"Good to know I can still call 'em," Shego said, laying back. "By the way—your name isn't some strange play on impossible, too, is it?"

Anne blinked again. "No…no, it's not," she said, slowly realizing that, for now at least, Shego was going to be causing nobody any problems—at least, not until she remembered that that's what she did for a living. And quite possibly for fun. "My name is Anne Possible, and I'm here for your last examination, Shego."

Shego nodded. "Examine away. The sooner I'm out, the better." She did note that Anne sounded like she knew her, which lent some credibility to Kimmie's claim that she was named Shego, too. And as Anne was older—which was probably unfair but realistic—Shego trusted her word more.

Anne couldn't agree more, but she wisely stayed silent; if Shego started asking questions, it would only frustrate her, since Anne had no answers. Instead, she checked the patient sheets hanging near the bed before doing a close inspection of the injury site.

"What're you doing?" Shego asked as Anne's fingers pressed on the right side of her head, in front of her ear.

"I'm squeeshing your head." Anne's voice sounded a bit distracted as she worked.

Shego snorted. It was the best she could do, with her head in the doc's hands. Inside, though, she was cracking up; who'd have expected a doctor with a real sense of humor?

Anne was still a bit surprised at just how rapid Shego's healing factor was, but decided not to push it any further. She stepped back into Shego's field of view. "I'm sure Dr. Bruback already told you that we want you to come back in a month for another scan, to see how your brain is doing," she said. Shego shrugged. "In the meantime, there's a few prescriptions you'll have that might help you."

"Might?" Shego echoed.

"Might," Anne repeated. "Amnesia is never a sure thing. We're still not quite sure how the brain does what it does with memories, so all we can do is give it all the bloodflow and oxygen it wants to see if that helps it along. We all hope you'll recover fully, though…and since you've only been here a day, even with the type of injury you came in with, I'd reason that your chances are better than most."

"Thanks, doc," her patient said.

--

Shego sighed as she got out of the hospital bed for, hopefully, the last time. The nursing staff had, of course, brought the requisite wheelchair up to her room; it was waiting outside, per her request. She changed into the clothing given her for the occasion—a pair of sweatpants and a zippered sweatshirt, along with her underwear—and blew a goodbye kiss to her bed before walking out and settling in the wheelchair.

She didn't look to see who was going to push. She didn't particularly care, either. All she wanted at the moment was to have her command fulfilled: "Get me out of here."

Before the last word even left the air she was suddenly cruising forward, heading toward the elevator and, thankfully, the outside. Shego glanced back and up at whoever was driving, and was a bit shocked to see Kimmie there, looking almost as anxious as she felt herself.

Neither said a word until they reached the outside, whereupon Shego vaulted out of the wheelchair and stretched hugely. She turned back to Kim, smiling slightly. "God I needed out of there," she said, and Kim returned her smile.

"Yeah, I hate hospitals, too," she said, "which is probably strange since my mom works in there."

"I know; I met her."

"You did?"

"She was the one who said I could go, but that I needed to come back in a month for another scan." Shego shrugged.

Kim was silent for a moment. Then: "Sorry to run out on you earlier today…" She spoke so low that Shego wasn't sure she was talking until the fourth word was out.

"What was that all about, anyway?" Shego asked.

"I'd…rather not talk about it right now," Kim replied, looking away. "I just wanted to apologize for leaving you alone."

"Ah." Shego shrugged; it wasn't that big a deal, especially since Kimmie had come back. At the moment, that counted a lot in her book. She told Kim as much, and the younger girl smiled again.

"Well…I had an idea waiting for you to change. You don't have anywhere to stay, so come stay with m—with us!" she squeaked. Her face reddened. "Um. If you're okay with it, that is."

Shego raised an eyebrow. "Don't I have a family? Somebody had to spit me out, and they can't be old enough to be dead."

Kim thought for a second. "I know you have brothers…and under normal circumstances I think you would sooner sleep in the ocean than go back to them. I could…get a hold of them if you want."

Something—Kim's reluctance, maybe, or maybe it was that damnably adorable pout—told Shego that would probably be a bad idea. "No, thanks," she said finally. I'll probably regret that later, but I think I'd break in two if she looked any cu—more upset.

"So you'll come?"

"Yeah, Kimmie, I'll come."

Hearing the old pet name made Kim feel immensely better already, even if there was no connection there yet, so it was with a bigger smile than she'd had in the last couple of days that she said, "Let's go home."