Disclaimer: I don't own KP. I'm dealing with it. Therapy is going well.
Because of Ron's injuries when he originally came in, the hospital was not allowing any visitors until they could get him stabalized. After Ron had been thoroughly examined and patched up as best they could, he had been moved to his own room and knocked out with medications. Early the next morning, the nurse on duty called his parents to let them know Ron is in a room and can have visitors. This being the first the Stoppables had heard of their son was in the hospital much less his condition, they called the Possibles to see if they had any more information.
"No, we didn't know Ronald was in the hospital. Kimmie came in from the mission late last night and left early this morning for class. We haven't spoken to her at all today." MrsDrP told Mrs. Stoppable over the phone. "I'll call Kim and see if she can explain what is going on then we'll be over to see how he's doing."
MrsDrP found it quite odd that Kim didn't even leave a note about Ron being hospitalized. Even stranger was the very quick response and hang up when she called. "Sorry I didn't leave a note. I'll stop by the hospital after school but I can't talk right now. Can't be late for class." Kim said in a single quick breath before disconnecting.
Believing Kim's quick response and seeming lack of concern meant that Ronald wasn't seriously hurt. "Probably just some bruises and the hospital wanted to monitor him over night." was the conclusion MrsDrP came to. When the Drs Possible got to the hospital, the Stoppables were already there. Jim and Tim were in school so they were not with them. Ron was sleeping so the room was very quiet. Well, as quiet as it could be with a snoring Ronald. The Stoppables seemed both very upset and distraught. When Mrs Stoppable noticed the Possibles coming in, she motioned for them to follow her out of the room. Once outside, Mrs Stoppable forcefully handed the Ronald's chart to Mrs Possible.
"See what your daughter's escapades have done to my boy?!" Mrs Stoppable harshly whispered.
Not quite understanding what the sudden hostility was about since from the very brief glimpse of Ronald when they walked in the room it appeared he was at least in one piece. Mrs Possible started to look through the patient chart. As she read on, she grew more and more pale. Her husband, reading over her shoulder, wasn't faring any better. Once she got through the chart, she had a pretty good idea why Mrs Stoppable would be upset. How would she feel if someone's child dragged her little Kimmie around the world into dangerous situations time and time again. It certainly didn't take much imagination as to how upset she'd be if Kim were hurt.
"Well?" Mrs Stoppable demanded.
It must have been the tone of voice she used, because something put Mrs Possible on the defensive. Before thinking, she shot back, "All this shows is Ronald was severly injured during a mission. That doesn't mean Kim did this to him. For all we know, he could have be struck by a car crossing the street on his way home."
The harumph from Mrs Stoppable gave everyone in earshot a good idea how likely she thought that was what actually happened. "Those missions have gotten out of hand. They are just too dangerous for my son. Yet that girl keeps dragging him around even though he has no formal training. What does she expect from him? Sad to say, I'm surprised something like this hadn't happened before now."
"Actually, the odds of Ronald being injured are less then being ..." Gene Stoppable started before the twin glares from the arguing females convinced him this wasn't the right time.
About that time, a nurse came over and asked them to quite down. The mothers' voices were rising as the 'talk' progressed. All four went back into the room and picked up where they left off. The nurse followed them in since she had to check up on Ron's various beeping machines.
"Ronald was never forced to go along with Kim. He always had a choice to stay behind. If he felt he was getting in over his head, he could have called a stop to it." Mrs Possible's response was out before she could stop it. It was just the way that Mrs Stoppable seemed to be accusing her daughter of manipulating Ronald that seemed to put her on the offensive.
"Oh you know Kimberly has him wrapped around her finger. She doesn't even have to say 'jump' and he's reaching orbit."
"That's still no reason to blame this on Kim. We have no idea what actually caused this... injury... to Ronald."
"'Injury' is an understated way to describe something so life changing as paralysis. And just because it might not have been Kimberly who did this to my son," that part earned a renewed glare from Mrs Possible, "he would never have been exposed to that sort of environment if it weren't for her."
Ron was awakened by the sound of a steadily increasing argument. Once conciousness fully reached his medicine clouded mind, he realized it was his parents and the Possibles arguing. From the sound of it, it seemed his parents were blaming his former injuries on Kim's reckless behavior. Since no child likes to hear their parents arguing, Ron felt twice as bad since these were his parents and his almost-parents arguing. He quikly jumped out of the hospital bed to break up the argument. Before he had a chance to say a single word, all talk and movement immediately ceased. Initially proud at how he was able to quickly calm everyone down, he started to grow uncomfortable since they were all staring at him. Even the nurse who had come in to check on the machines. His mother was the first to break the silence when she rushed over and enveloped him in a hug. Everyone else seemed to snap out of their own temporary paralysis and started speaking at the same time. Ron was barely able to make out what everyone was saying but he got the gist they were glad he was ok and wondering why the patient chart said he wouldn't walk again and whether they actually had the correct chart.
Since Ron hadn't talked to Kim about the accident, he was reluctant to go into details about how it happened. He was afraid it would spark another argument. "Yes, that is my chart. I don't remember exactly what happened in the lab. Must've just gotten hit by someone- er, something. yeah..." Ron said, hoping no one caught the stumble. It was probably good that his mother was still hugging him since it prevented him from rubbing the back of his neck. Still, from the looks on their faces, it didn't look like he succeeded. Ron tried to derail any further questions by asking one of his own, "Where's Kim?"
MrsDrP was the one to answer, "When we got the call you were here, we came as soon as visiting hours started. I called Kim to let her know you had been moved and were now allowed visitors but she said she had to go to class. She will be by after her classes end for the day."
"Oh, well, I guess she has to keep her grades up..." Ron half-heartedly replied. He really wanted to talk to her first before he slipped and got her in trouble. He really didn't want anyone blaming her since he did move in the way. "I really need to remember to just tap her on the shoulder next time." he thought to himself.
"When can I get out of here?" Ron asked the nurse. Or at least he tried. She seemed to have left the room while everyone was playing question/answer. As if on cue, the nurse walked back in the door but had a doctor in tow.
"What is the problem? Why did you drag me here so quick... ly..." The annoyed doctor started off before she noticed the supposedly paralyzed patient was standing in the middle of the room. Quickly, she moved to Ron's side and started feeling for bones in his back which she knew were shattered mere hours ago.
"Hey! That tickles!" Ron yelped as the doctor examined him.
The doctor replied, "Well, that seems to confirm you have feeling back. And the bones at least feel like they are whole. We need to run through some x-rays to see exactly what is happening, though. Just because you are standing doesn't mean nothing else is wrong."
Ron is soon put though a lot of tests, xrays, cat scans, and a few others which he never heard of. Ron is tight-lipped about exaclty how his back was damaged and then healed. He tried to pass it off as a self-inflicted accident but wouldn't elaborate exactly what that accident was. The doctors simply couldn't explain how the damage they knew was there had dissappeared. Thankfully, they did not ask Ron if he knew. They just asked him when he first was able to get up. He did let them know he got up sometime last night but conveiniently left out the part about wandering around the hospital. Hopefully, Shego doesn't mention his visit to anyone.
All of that was really moot at this point since every test they put him through showed absolutely no damage. Not even the little imperfections that are present in the bone as a break is healing. It is as if there was no damage to begin with. As the staff couldn't find anything wrong with him, they sent him home. Both Kim and Ron were going to local colleges so home was still in his parent's house.
Of course, just because he was heading home didn't mean he was out of the woods. The questions started again during the drive home.
His dad started it off with, "What exactly happened on the mission, Ronald?"
"Um, well, you see..." Ron stalled while trying to come up with some alternate explanation which didn't involve Kim causing the injuries. Considering the disagreement his parents and Kim's parents had earlier, he didn't want to give his parents another reason to get upset. "It was after we had captured Drakken and Shego. Kim was keeping an eye on them and I was poking around some of the doomsday devices. I must've hit a button or something because that is the last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital." Somewhat satisfied with that partial truth, Ron seemed to calm down a little. It was almost true, since he was looking at some of the other inventions around the lab before Kim started badgering Shego.
"Well, I don't know if you should continue going on these missions if they are that dangerous. You were lucky somehow this time. No one seems to know how you healed at all much less so quickly. There's no way to tell if this was a once in a lifetime event." Mrs Stoppable said, trying to convince her son.
"Mom! you can't make me stop missions! We help people. We save the world. Kim needs me.", Ron pleaded from the back seat.
"I just don't want to see you hurt, or worse, just to tag along with Kimberly."
"Come on, Mom. I don't get hurt often. Mostly just a little banged up. This was a freak accident."
"Even so, we are going to have a long talk about any future missions when Kimberly gets here." Mrs. Stoppable said with a tone of finality which the others in the car took to signal the conversation was indeed over. For now.
A/N: Yay for glacier pace story writing! I will strive to complete this story by the new year. All y'all other authors make this crap look easy.
Also, the previous chapters were updated only with minor changes to sentence structure and formatting. Nothing crucial to the plot has changed.
