Sooo… in response to comments on Chapter 19… some people are close, some are way out in left field. I will say that Kim isn't some kind of master of time and space. Check out Betty's own thoughts as a reference on how to interpret, but eventually the answers will be there. We are where Kim is. Again, I'm flattered by all the kind words… especially considering that it's not finished yet. Ye Old Legal stuff: Kim Possible, Shego, Ron Stoppable, Yori, Doctor Betty Director, Wade Load, Doctor Anne Possible, the Tweebs, Will Du and all other characters borrowed from the wonderful KP Universe are the creations of Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley, and those names are all trademarks of the Disney media organizations. Although use in this context may be considered fair under parody law, just in case: this work was not created for profit, no money changed hands etc. Also, this story takes place at a time at which all characters shown should be considered to be over the legal age of 18… except, obviously Wade and the Tweebs.
####
AT THE CENTERFOLD OF THE STORM
Chapter 20
######
Anne Possible came out of the prep area to see the pale figure in scrubs still sitting in the dark corner of the room. The woman had to be exhausted… Will Du had practically collapsed from fatigue as they brought Kim in through Middleton General 's Life-Flight access ramp... but it was obvious that her daughter's… lover... there, she'd said it… intended to be there for the duration.
It had been strange enough to see Shego come in sporting an entirely different skin color, which had somehow vanished after a trip to a visitor's shower… but the almost desperate look on her face, even though Anne had assured her that the operation would be a relatively simple one… had been profoundly moving. Mainly because it was Anne, who was forbidden to actually work on her daughter by the hospital guidelines, who was usually experiencing the same emotions herself. In silence.
And of course, according to Doctor Director, the entire rescue operation, including the three way use of the Shegofone to resolve the issue without greater violence, had been entirely Shego's idea. It had been Anne's own peace-loving daughter who had inflicted the major carnage.
Anne hadn't even known Kim knew how to use a gun. She wondered what else she didn't know. Betty had been rather… enigmatic on that subject.
"You can go see her for a moment," Anne spoke softly, deciding to bend the rules just a bit. "But you'll have to wait out in the lobby, during."
The look of gratitude on Shego's face as she slowly stood and made her way towards the prep room told Anne she'd made the right choice… except…
"Mask," She reminded Shego, handing her the disposable piece of surgical wear. "And you can't touch her or anything on the gurney."
#####
Shego just nodded, acknowledging the depth of her debt. No sense explaining she'd just burned off the entire top layer of her skin and run her hair under the equivalent of a broiler. She was probably a lot cleaner than any of the doctors or nurses but…
There was a time to make waves and this wasn't it.
Entering the clean area, she was shocked to see how small and fragile Kim looked, lying on the one size fits all metal table. It was hard to believe this was the strongest woman she had ever known… and once again she was profoundly grateful that the surgical team hadn't deemed it necessary to shave Kim's head. That would have made this all so much worse. Fortunately Will had done a yeoman's job of treating the exterior wounds and the interior damage would be best treated using a piezo scaler and the new ultrasonic mending tools… with the drawback that Kim would have to be awake and under a local as she went under the not-knife. At least they'd knock her out afterwards.
"Hey," Shego tried to put on the most cheerful and reassuring face she could… forgetting Kim couldn't see it.
"Hey you," Kim smiled back softly. "Coming to rob me?"
"Huh?"
"The mask," The redhead explained, seeing Shego's baffled eyebrows rise in surprise. "Too late anyway. Sure, I recognized her officer. That was the girl who stole my heart."
In spite of herself, Shego chuckled. "God Princess, how can you joke at a time like this?"
"It'll be fine," Kim continued to smile. "It's not my first trip through this operating room, you know." A mischievous grin crept over her face. "In fact, if you could steal me a scalpel, I'll be wanting to add another notch to my lucky wheelchair."
"Steal something AND help vandalize private property?" Shego laughed. "Who's supposed to be cheering up who here?"
But Kim's face was deadly serious as she said; "The fact that you're here at all makes me happier than you can possibly imagine."
It was too much. Shego's limbs felt weak and she ended up leaning against a cabinet to support herself. How could this girl punch her buttons this way?
"Um… was it something I said? Kim asked worriedly, twisting her head as far as it would go in order to keep Shego in view.
"No," Shego admitted. "It's just you. You drive me crazy, you know that?"
"Is that a psychotically crazy or a 'boy those hospital gowns turn me on" kind of crazy? Because if it's the latter, I can get 'em brought in by the gross." Kim winked to cover her own display of nerves. "They're BACKLESS, you know."
"It's a 'I'm going crazy trying to figure you out.'"
"Oh. That." Kim shrugged. "What's to figure? I love you. I hope you love me. End of story."
"No, not end of story. And yes, of course I love you. It fucking scares me how much I care about you… but the whole mission thing…"
That had Kim's full serious attention again. "Go on."
Shego shifted her weight to the small of her back. It was kinda like being in the shrink's office, but vertical. "You know I never had much choice in where my life took me. The comet took care of most of that and then it was just trying to find the options that sucked the least. But you… You really can do anything. And with all those other options open to you… why keep risking your life to save the world? Why do that when you could be… well… normal?"
Kim seemed to give that a long serious thought, and when she finally spoke again, Shego barely heard it. "s'funny."
"What?"
Again, the voice was unusually soft and introspective. "The whole reason I originally started doing the missions was so I could be MORE normal."
"Uh huh… you know that doesn't make a lick of sense, Princess."
Kim shook her head. "Sure it does. You've met my brothers. Are THEY normal?"
"Well…" Shego had a lot of words for the Tweebs but that wasn't one of them.
"Exactly." Kim nodded. "I love them, but they're mutants. They've been kicked ahead in school so many times that they don't really fit in anywhere except with each other. And look at how Wade's turned out. He's barely left his room in years because he's evolved so far beyond other kids his age that they don't even speak the same language, and the people who DO understand him see his body and can't get around the fact that he's a kid."
Shego could only agree mutely. She admired what Wade had achieved, but he was one of the few people she'd ever met who seemed more alienated than her.
Kim not only saw that agreement, she seemed to pull it into herself, her green eyes taking on a softer and more vulnerable expression than Shego had ever seen.
"And I'm not normal either." She sighed. "Never was. Even back in pre-k, I'd figured out I was wired way differently from everyone else. When I'd read a math question that said Sally has twelve eggs and Bob takes two, my mind would get stuck on the question of whether or not Sally had said that Bob could take them… and if not, why Bob needed those eggs so badly that he'd take them anyway. It just seemed to me that learning how to make Sally and Bob work together was every bit as important as was who ended up with how many eggs. Drove my teachers crazy asking ethical questions about Dick and Jane."
"Oookayy…" Shego countered slowly. "I'm not sure I understand that, but it DOES sound like you."
"Right. So every year or so, some teacher would get it in their head that I was being held back and should be kicked ahead a few grades. Or a gym coach would want me to go to some special camp for runners or gymnasts or whatever for a year. But I wanted to learn about PEOPLE, and in my gut, I knew the place to do that was with kids my own age. Don't know why, don't know how, but I did."
A small, almost embarrassed smile crossed Kim's face.
"So I just dug in and refused to let them move me up. Every time they tried I became a total brat, and for years I used Ron as my excuse… I couldn't leave my best friend, right? And he really was my rock in so many ways, because no matter what crazy idea I wanted to try, he'd always be up to giving it a shot. But once I started doing the missions, it was like I'd finally found this perfect excuse for avoiding being pushed into taking senior advanced geometry in my sophomore year, and then it was a way to get out of being pressured into being on the basketball, track AND soccer teams all at the same time. Which they WOULD have done otherwise, because I've never been really good at saying 'no.'"
Shego didn't believe THAT for a second, but now the smile blossomed to become the classic Kim grin. "Of course, the funny thing was that I got to meet more people and experience more of the world with every mission I took, so while the original idea was to hand-pick the handful of things I really wanted to do, and use the missions as an excuse, it turned out that the missions were the things I ended up making the most time for."
"You know, none of that has helped me figure you out at all," Shego scowled, her brows knitted.
"I'm sorry. Did I imply it would? Maybe you should just accept the fact that I'm bat-shit crazy." The redhead gave her own pronouncement a thoughtful pause. "After all, what kind of Princess except a crazy one would keep a Dragon anyway?"
"It's the Dragon who keeps the Princess, Princess."
"Tomato, tomahto. As long as the dragon is waiting to give Sleeping Beauty her wake up kiss, I'm happy."
"That's not how the story goes, you know," Shego protested.
"My fairy tale, my rules," was the impossibly smug response.
"Ahem." Dr. Possible said from the door, two nurses behind her.
"Just be there for me," Kim whispered, and then Shego watched as she was wheeled into the OR.
######
It was interesting to be awake while someone was cutting inside your head, Kim thought. Kind of like being at the dentists, but even more invasive. Especially given the other options they'd decided to employ as long as they were in there. The tiny speaker Wade had developed would remain dead for now, as would the locating chip… but the wires down to the replaceable power source in the hole where a wisdom tooth had once been still needed to be run. At least the way it was configured, she'd have the ability to turn it on and off herself… the idea of someone being able to suddenly speak and eavesdrop inside her own head was still a bit too creepy… but she knew that, eventually, she was going to have to go all the way if she wanted to keep pursuing her present course.
For the moment, though, the Bluetooth link to her Kimmunicator would be enough to adjust to.
The local anesthetic they'd given her was barely even making her drowsy when she finally heard Dr. Chandra announce that the tricky part was finished. She made a loose thumbs up as they asked if everything still felt okay, and then, blessedly, the major drugs kicked in.
She didn't dream at all.
######
And then she was awake.
And a very familiar, if unexpected face was peering down at her. Well, faces, plural actually. Both pink, but one completely naked and the other much larger and topped with a shock of blonde hair
"Hey KP!" Ron grinned as Rufus chimed in with a "Hi!"
"Ron?" Kim blinked groggily. "What are you doing here?"
He looked shocked by the question. "Well, jeez KP, you didn't think I'd be here by your bedside after you fell out of my treehouse, did you? Oh, and I brought today's homework assignment from Mr. Barkin."
"Treehouse!" agreed Rufus! "Ouch!"
"WHAT?" Kim's head almost snapped out of her skull as she attempted to bolt straight up in the bed, but was restrained by Ron's strong hands. Well, those and the half dozen or so canvas straps that still held her mostly immobile.
"Whoa KP!" Ron burst out laughing! Unfortunately, her brain kept moving for a half-second longer and her inner ear went really wonky, but before the world turned to jello, she had enough time to see Shego, the bitch, laughing her fool head off in the background.
"You…" Kim sputtered "B.. b… SHITHEADS!"
"I'm sorry, KP," Ron grinned not very apologetically. "But I couldn't resist. Figured it was better than being all sad and gloomy and 'sorry you got shot in the head,' you know?"
"Here Princess, let's get you propped up," Shego, who WAS having the decency to look a little chagrined, was already by her side, starting to undo the straps and pushing the button that brought the hospital bed into a more chair-like configuration.
By now Kim had calmed down enough to note that there was another person in the room, one who looked as embarrassed as the other two damn well should. She might have known. Yori.
"Okay…" She finally managed to ask after the world stabilized. Theoretically all of the cuts and slices made during the operation should have been instantly healed, but her inner-ear's balance was still a bit off. "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but what ARE you doing here?"
"Yori and I were the backup plan," Ron acknowledged the slim Asian girl at last. "If the A team couldn't negotiate your release, we were going to bust you out. But big green here and Du had you back before we'd even crossed the Himalayas, so we caught a flight out of New Delhi to Middleton." He shrugged. "As long as Global Justice was covering the ticket, I figured we could use the flyer miles. See the folks…"
"And you," He added with a soft smile. "I've missed you."
"I missed you too," She admitted. She loved Shego, but having the two of them together was… wonderful. Almost worth taking a bullet at point blank range for, in fact.
"You have my apologies, Kim-san," The Japanese girl finally spoke. "I thought the joke was in… questionable taste, but I was not asked my opinion."
"Hmph!" Shego tried to look indignant.
"Um… thank you, Yori," Kim managed. "You know you don't have to use the honorifics, right?"
"I know," Yori grinned slyly. "And I only accord them where respect is due, Kim-san. This is why Ron is just Ron now."
"Hey!" The blonde boy turned beet red, but his eyes didn't look all that upset at all. In fact…
"So I take it from that that you two finally hooked up, huh?" Kim guessed.
""Um…" Ron attempted to say nothing. "Well…"
"I'm sorry Kim-san," Yori blushed. "How did you…?"
"Three stages of Ron-ness. Stage 1 – God, what a goof. Stage 2 – Oh, the buffoon thing is all an act! Stage 3 – Nope, really a goof after all. Welcome to stage 3."
"Ah. Yes. Thank you." Yori replied cautiously, then adding: "I was told that you and Ron were no longer an item. This was not misinformation supplied by a lecherous gaijin seeking to get into my fuku, was it?"
Kim looked up past Ron to Shego, who answered the question in her eyes with a subtle shake of the head.
"No, you weren't lied to… at least on THAT particular issue. And as for me and Ron…" Kim smiled, giving Shego 'the eye,' " I think we both figured out we were barking up the wrong tree. In fact… there's something a certain dragon owes me that will explain a lot."
Shego actually paled a bit at that, but dutifully stepped forward and leaned in.
It felt odd to be kissing Shego in front of Ron, but if he could screw with HER mind…
"BoooYah!" He cheered, and Rufus was mimicking the move. "So you guys finally figured it out!"
"WHAT?" Kim and Shego blurted as one, incredulous and incredulouser!
"Oh for gosh sakes," Ron grinned, pitching his voice to a falsetto. "Go stop Drakken, Ron, I've got to wrestle with Shego! Defuse the bomb Ron, I'm going after Shego! Drakken and I could have been playing mumblety peg or baking cookies and you'd have never noticed, you were so busy getting your hands all over each other. And the way you looked on the way home after a Shego-fight… no offense, Kim, but you were like a cat in heat!"
"Icky!" Confirmed Rufus, who'd been nodding emphatically the whole time and was now grabbing his own tiny pink breasts in an extraordinarily wrong-sick gesture.
"And you never SAID anything?" Kim looked at her best friend in total disbelief, thankful that at least Shego was also so embarrassed that she was forgetting to laugh at Kim's expense.
"I thought you KNEW!" Ron was totally exasperated. "And then, all of a sudden we were dating and I realized that you DIDN'T know, and what was I supposed to do then?" He gave Shego a mock glare. "Plus she WAS evil at the time! Or said she was. Except she kept saving you. Anyway, I figured you were trying to develop a taste for the other white meat. So, nobly, I made the sacrifice."
"Gah…" Kim's brain was in reboot mode. "So when we broke up…"
"I'd finally realized you were totally and completely, yeah. I'm goofy, not blind." He sighed and looked at her for absolution. "Maybe I should have just told you then, but how would have that have sounded? Hey Kim, the reason we're not clicking… it's not me at all. No, you just like girls. Yeah, THAT would have gone over great."
"And besides," he added with a twinkle in his eye. "There was always the chance you wouldn't have figured it out if things went south with Yori. The Ron-man likes having a sweet piece of honey in reserve."
"You did so not just say that," Kim groaned.
"But I so did," Ron smirked. "So, so much for the OLD news. Is there any NEW news I should know about going on?"