Chapter Three

Kim sat in the Miami hospital, her eyelids heavy, her legs stretched out in front of her, and her arms cross over the open book on her chest. Nana Possible lay on a bed beside her, asleep. She looked strange with her grey hair around her shoulders and her large, thick glasses were on the night stand beside her. Her eyes were dark, her cheeks hollow and slack and her breathing was shallow.

Heaving a sigh, Kim looked up at the vitals monitor, its display showing a thin green line, interrupted by small spikes in a rhythmic pattern. "Hang in there, Nana. Kim said, reaching out to clasp her grandmother's hand.

A small smile played at Nana's lips and she weakly clenched her hand around her granddaughter's. "Oh, Kimberly-Anne. Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Classes have been postponed for a few more days, Nana." Kim smiled shyly.

"I don't suppose you had anything to do with that, did you?" Nana chuckled before letting a few coughs slip through. Kim's smile faded and she looked away. She had been at home when her dad had called, telling her that Nana had had a stroke, apparently brought on by stress caused by hearing her granddaughter had been killed a few weeks ago. "What's wrong, dear?"

"I... I feel like this is my fault. Like I should have been more careful like you'd always told me to be." Kim said, beginning to choke on her words.

"Kimberly-Anne. You know you can't change destiny." Nana stated, propping her head up slightly.

"But I'm Kim Possible!" Kim insisted. "I can do anything!"

"I know you can, dear." Nana said, slowly reaching out to a cup of water and a straw on her mobile lunch table, taking a sip. "People come and go. It's a fact of life."

"But I save people all the time! I'm always changing destiny..." Kim argued, sniffing.

"Now, Kimberly-Anne... your destiny here is to save the lives of those that need to be saved to fulfill their own destiny. I've had a full and happy life with no regrets." Nana said with a smile. "Now, where are my sons and their other children?"

Kim blinked a moment and smiled, noticing the change in subject. "The fam is on their way with Slim and Marie. Joss and Wade are on a mission and should be getting here soon."

"Is that boy still helping you on your missions?" Nana asked, referring to Wade.

"Yes, Nana. Wade is still a big help to Ron and I." Kim commented.

"Well he had better be giving my granddaughter the attention she deserves. Joscelyn-Marie is a very special girl, you know." Nana said with a tender smile. "And how are you and Ronald?"

"We're doing well, Nana. He's working at the moment, otherwise I know he'd be here." Kim explained, a little uncomfortable talking about her relationship with Ron to her grandmother.

"That's alright, dear. A man has to provide for his family." she said with a wink. "I like that boy. Not the sharpest tool in the drawer, but he is a nice boy. You did well, Kimberly-Anne."

Kim bit her lower lip and nodded. "Thanks, Nana." she said, looking away.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong, dear?" Nana asked, concerned.

Kim shook her head and smiled. "I'm okay, Nana. You should get some rest." she said. "I'll be back after lunch, okay?" Kim continued, picking up her book and standing to leave.

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere yet." Nana smiled back. "I am a little tired, though. You'll wake me when you come back, won't you?"

"I will, Nana." Kim replied from the doorway. She closed the door softly behind her and turned to see the doctor waiting patiently down the hall a few feet away. "Is she doing alright?" she asked, knowing she wasn't going to like the answer.

The grey haired, dark skinned man started letting air hiss through his teeth, obviously weighing the odds of the world reknowned Kim Possible finding out on her own anyway. "I really can't go into details, Ms. Possible. But the stroke disrupted many of your grandmother's lower motor functions. The odds of her walking again are slim."

"You're sugar coating. Doctor, my mother's a brain surgeon. I know when the outlook is grim." Kim said, crossing her arms in an attempt to console herself.

The doctor put a hand on Kim's shoulder. "I doubt that she'll make it more than a few more days. However, most people in her condition would barely be able to speak. She may yet pull through. There's always hope." he said, trying to remain comforting in the face of bad news.

For a moment, Kim looked sullen. But then her brow arched in determination. "No. My Nana's a Possible, and anything's possible for a Possible."

"Kimberly, I'm sorry. But these things happen. Sometimes we can't save everyone." The doctor stated, still holding onto her shoulder.

Kim shrugged it off. "I can..." she growled, striding down the hall. "At least I know someone that can." she whispered to herself.

Ron yawned.

Not because he was tired, and not because he was bored. Although he was both of those things at the moment, he yawned for a simple lack of energy. The last few days without Kim to pull him away from the Z-Boy, to insist on something other than mexican food, and to get him to stretch and exercise had allowed him to quickly slip back into his laziness.

"This is the life, huh, Rufus?" Ron asked, his feet up on the assistant manager's desk. It was the third day in a row that the man had called in sick, and Ron had been volunteered to assist in the various tasks of making sure everything ran smoothly in the pet department.

"Uh-huh!" Rufus squeaked, giving a thumbs up from his place beside a gial red SMART button that sat on the desk.

"Yep! Just the boys to tell the boys what to do." Ron said, leaning back in the chair with a grin. "Nothing but cheese puffs, action movies, and Zombie Mayhem."

"Oh yeah!" Rufus shouted, stretching out.

Ron dropped his feet off of the desk and hunched over, resting his head on a propped up hand. "No girly underwear or makeup lying around. No one telling me how to do my homework. No more finding red hair in my razor... No smoking hottie walking around with just a towel..." Ron sighed. "I miss Kim."

Rufus lowered his head in mimicry. "Yeah..."

"Hey Ronald!" came Francis Lurman's voice, a naturally nasal sound that made Ron shudder. He looked up to see a hairy arm protrude through the doorway. "I hear your girlfriend's out of town. Wanna have lunch? My treat!"

"Pretzels from the cafeteria?" Ron asked, suddenly sullen.

"Francis pointed a chubby finger at him and laughed. "Whoa! A real high roller, this one. You top brass types really spend big, dontchya?"

For a moment, Ron couldn't decide if Lurman was being serious or sarcastic, then realized who he was talking to. "What do you say, little buddy?" Ron asked Rufus, who leapt up on the bright red SMART button.

"That was smart!" came Martin Smarty's enthusiastic voice from the speaker on the button.

Ron shrugged. "Can't argue with that."

Ironically, the Pet Department was situated close to the cafeteria, which resulted in many jokes amongst the other departments when pets would disappear the day before a new special appeared on the menu. Ron mostly walked in silence as Lurman prattled on about his experiences as an evil mastermind and how he, just like Dr. Drakken, was turning his life around in an effort to save the world.

"Y'know, coming up with an inexpensive plot to save the world is a lot harder than one to take it over."

"Can't imagine." Ron said absentmindedly, picking a pretzel and digging into his pocket for change.

Francis put his hand up to stop him. "Allow me, boss..." he said, rummaging through his own pocket and pulling out an unwrinkled ten. "Bam!" he shouted, slapping it on the table.

Ron pulled a piece of pretzel off, feeding it to Rufus. "Thanks, Lurman. I guess you're not all bad."

Francis snatched his own pretzel, counted his change, then followed Ron to a table. "Y'know, that's probably the nicest thing anyone's said to me."

Ron thought about that for a moment. Sure, the guy was thirty, just moved out of his parent's basement, and had more body hair than Monkey Fist, but that didn't mean he deserved to have people by mean to him. Without a friend like Kim, would Ron have turned out any different?"

"Except for that girl in prison. She was nice." Francis continued.

This caught Ron's attention. "You met a girl in prison?" he asked, strangely curious.

"Oh yeah! Smart, beautiful, with the loveliest eyes! Well, actually, I never really saw her eyes since she always had her hood over them, but boy, what a doll!" Lurman said excitedly as he broke a piece of his own pretzel off and handed it to Rufus, who squeaked with pleasure. "So where'd your girlfriend go?"

Ron shook off his surprise at the concept of Lurman in a prison romance, bringing his attention back to the conversation. "Huh? Oh, Kim went down to Florida."

"How come?" Lurman asked, leaning onto the table in interest. "You in the dog house? Huh? Huh?"

Ron narrowed his eyes. "No." he shrugged, "She went to visit her grandmother, I guess."

"She's driving twelve hours just to visit during a school year?" Lurman asked in surprise. "There's got to be a better reason than that!"

"Knowing Kim and her car, it's probably only an hour." Ron laughed.

"With the cost of fuel nowadays?!" Francis shouted. "Especially rocket fuel! Have you seen those prices?!"

"You're right, Lurman." Ron said, the checkout light behind him coming on above his head. "There's got to be something else. I should have gone with Kim!" He said, pounding his fists on the table. Rufus chittered a question at him and Ron nodded. "Right, Rufus. What about work?"

"I can cover for you..." Francis said, a touch of his Frugal Lucre accent coming through.

Ron unpinned his Assistant Manager label, tossing it across the table towards Francis. "Lurman, cook me a Naco, I'll be back before breakfast!" he shouted, snagging Rufus as he rushed out the door.