Author's note:

Good evening and if you're just joining us, we have another triple bill of And You And I for you tonight... too much? Meh, moving swiftly on.

As always, before we begin, a huge thank you to everyone who has favourited/followed this story or left me a review. I hope you are all still enjoying reading this story as much as I am writing it.

As you may have already guessed, I have three chapters for you this time. Wait, didn't you say that you had already written two before you posted the last update, I hear you cry. Yes, you are absolutely right, I did. So, why then has it taken you almost a full week to write one measly chapter, I now hear you ask. Well, I've actually written three and a half this week. *pause for discontented grumbling.* Wait, what? Then where the hell are they, you lousy author bum! Ok, if you all put away the pitchforks and torches, I'll explain. As you have all probably gathered by now, I have a tendency to turn one chapter into six. This is sort of what has happened this time too. I only had a brief outline for what was going to happen in this update and when I started writing it (specifically Kim's side) I realised that I was going to have to add an extra 2-3 chapters for everything to make logical sense (more details on that at the end). I have also done some thinking about where we're headed and I think I'm going to need a little more time to hammer out the details and then write the chapters that will take us to this 'major' event I keep banging on about. So, my choice was either finish the chapter I am currently working on tonight, give you all six tomorrow and then leave you for two weeks, or give you three tonight and three next week. In the end, I decided the former was a better option, hence three chapters tonight and three next week. That should give me enough time to figure things out and get writing for the update in two weeks time. Sound fair? *pause for more discontented grumbling.* GET HIM! *army of pitchfork and torch-carrying readers chase after the author.*

On a more relevant note, the title for this first chapter, I can't breathe anymore, is a track from David Gilmour's (read Pink Floyd) self-titled debut solo album. Sounds a bit ominous though, right? Don't worry its purely a nice metaphor for how Kim is feeling when at home. I hope you all enjoy and I'll see you all over the page for chapter 26.

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Chapter twenty-five: I can't breathe anymore

The slightly cooler night air caught in Kim's chest as she sucked in a breath of air and she broke out into a coughing fit. The pain radiating from her right-hand ribs flared up again at the uncontrollable action, almost causing her to double over. The adrenaline from her brief fight with Shego had already ebbed and she felt exhausted, weak... vulnerable. For a moment all she could do was stand still, for any other movement would likely send her crashing back to the asphalt. With difficulty, she sucked in a breath that did not cause her to cough. Well, that was monumentally stupid of me, she admonished internally. However, she knew fine well that she would not have done anything differently. The pull of chasing Shego, of facing off against her, had been far too great to resist. Unfortunately, as much as she hated to admit it, the green-skinned woman had been right. Their brief fight, despite the fact she had been injured, had been more exhilarating than when she had been making out with Matt. What the hell does that even mean? Her anger and indignation at having been beaten so easily quickly overrode that thought. Screw Shego! The first time I kiss a boy since Ron and she goes and ruins it. As soon as I'm back in top shape, that bitch is going down!

Kim glanced around, unsure of where the green-skinned woman had led her. After a few moments, she recognised the street. While she felt the driving urge to chase Shego, she had no means by which to follow. Grudgingly, she had to accept the cold hard facts of the matter; her rival was gone. Except coming to that conclusion left her with the issue of where to go or what to do now. I suppose I should head back to Heartbeats and make sure everyone is ok. She had just figured out the quickest route back to the bar when a voice called out to her.

"Kim!" It was Monique.

Turning her head, she caught sight of her best girl walking towards her. "Hey, Mo," she replied, forcing herself to look and sound as normal as she could. The last thing she needed was for the girl to find out about her current pain level and telephone her mom.

Her friend looked her up and down, before asking, "are you ok?"

Kim could hear the note of concern in her voice and so replied firmly, "I'm fine," then quickly changed the subject, "but Shego got away."

Seemingly satisfied that there was nothing wrong with her, the expression on Monique's face hardened somewhat. "It's not Shego I care about, Kim."

The slightly harsh nature of her best girl's tone caught her slightly by surprise and so Kim quickly tried to reassure her that she would deal with the matter. "Don't worry about it, Mo. I'll have Wade keep an eye out for her and go after her the moment she pops up. I'll have her in jail within a week or two, so she won't be able to hurt anyone else, promise."

Much to her surprise, this did nothing to placate her friend and if anything, Monique's expression darkened. "I don't give a shit about Shego, Kim, and neither should you."

Taken aback by the scathing remark and confused as to why her friend did not seem to care, she responded with the only thing she could think of, "it's no big, Mo, honest. She's dangerous, but once I'm back to full strength, I can take her down without getting hurt." Not likely, but I can take anything she can throw at me and still beat her.

Monique shook her head in what looked like disbelief. "You just don't get it, do you, Kim?"

A blank expression formed on her face as she replied in confusion, "get what?"

"Matt's going to be fine, thanks for asking," her best girl spat, a look of outrage beginning to form on her face. "The paramedics arrived and checked him over. He's got a slight burn to his mid-back, but other than that, he's going to be fine. Not that you seem to care."

"Whoa, Mo," Kim said incredulity. "Why are you so angry all of a sudden? I'm glad Matt's going to be ok."

"Are you, Kim? Do you genuinely care or are you just saying that for the sake of social convention? Because your actions say something completely different."

Her mouth fell open and she stared at her best girl in shock. "Where's all this coming from, Mo?" she eventually managed to ask; completely stunned by the manner in which her best girl was speaking to her. What the hell have I done to piss her off so much?

"Do I have to spell it out to you, Kim? You did your hero thing, leapt into action to put that fire out, which is great and probably stopped Matt from being seriously hurt. But then you tore off after Shego without even stopping to see if he was ok."

"I went after her because someone needed to catch her and try to bring her in," Kim fired back indignantly. "What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong with it?" Monique yelled in frustration; her firsts clenching by her sides. "The boy you were supposed to be getting to know could have been seriously injured, yet you chose to go chasing after Shego instead of making sure he was ok."

"But you and Dylan were there," she countered, still not understanding what on earth the girl was getting at.

"That's not the point! Ok, so you only just met Matt tonight, but normal people don't just abandon others when something serious happens to them and they might be hurt. We stay and make sure they're ok. If the perpetrator gets away, then so be it. But you had to chase off after Shego."

On hearing her best girl's words, those of Shego herself rang in Kim's ears, "instead of making sure he was ok, you came after me." That was exactly what she had done. The second she knew the fire had gone out, her gaze had started scanning the crowd for the green-skinned woman and the moment she had caught sight of her long raven hair, she'd tore off after her; not even pausing to ask Matt if he was hurt. But if I could do it all over again... Her anger quickly cut through that thought, hell, no. I just saved Matt's life and this is the thanks I get! And in her current state, she was not in the mood to roll over and allow someone who didn't understand what they were talking about, even her best girl, Monique, tell her, Kim Possible, how she should have reacted. "I saved his life, Mo!" she bit back. "You, Dylan and everyone else in the club were able to look after him, but only I could chase and catch Shego."

While her words had been biting, Monique did not back down. "You are completely missing the point, Kim! And after everything I've witnessed from you over the past week, I'd say you've completely lost touch with reality."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kim yelled, her own fists clenching. She took a ragged breath in through gritted teeth and had to force herself not to start coughing again.

"It means you've completely lost sight of everything normal in life," Monique shot back.

It was on staring at her best girl's expression of disdain, that Kim recalled one of their conversations from yesterday in the mall. The one about how she had gotten her friend out of work. At the time, Mo had looked like she had a lot more to say on the matter, but had elected to hold her tongue. Now, whether down to the fact that she was slightly drunk or not, Kim received the full two barrels that Monique had spared her from yesterday.

"You live in your own little Kim Possible world and only pop back into the real world when it suits you. You're always making excuses not to spend time with your friends and even when you do, you're so disinterested that you sit and check that Kimmunicator of yours."

It was slight, but the expression on her face shifted slightly to betray the fact that she had just been busted. And it did not go unnoticed.

"Yeah, Kim, like Ron, I've seen you do that too." Her friend then swiftly moved back to her original train of thought. "The only time you ever actually take an interest, is when it's something you want to do and you just expect people to drop what they're doing or worse, you call in favours to get them out of their responsibilities, just to satisfy yourself."

Kim listened to the scathing commentary on her life but was in no mood to entertain it. Instead, she fired back, "I didn't hear you complaining yesterday when I got you out of work and got you an appointment with Raul."

"I didn't complain because I'd hoped that by spending some quality time with you, I'd find some shred of a normal person left inside of you that I could relate to. In fact, you almost had me convinced when you asked me to take you out tonight, but all it took was the appearance of that green-skinned freak and you switched back to being Kim Possible; world hero and ignored the actual important thing."

Kim felt her fists begin to shake as she retaliated, "she's not a freak and her name's Shego!" While she was still seething with rage at her rival, for some reason she could not stand to hear the derogatory remark. However, she quickly cast it aside and got back on track, "besides, that's a load of bullshit! You think I'm the one using people? You and your little group of friends only invite me out because I can get you all served in a crap tonne of places you normally wouldn't even be able to get into. I'm simply a convenience to you. None of you actually care what I might want to do."

A twisted expression formed on Monique's face at the insinuation and she wasted no time in hitting back with, "what you want to do is go off and find your next fix. Like when you were driving yesterday, you had to go and shove the car into a crazy skid, just to give yourself that little rush. Ron was right, Kim, you're an adrenaline junkie!"

On hearing her 'friend's' latest comment about her life, Kim knew she was done. I am so fed up of hearing this sort of shit from people. I save the world on a weekly basis, but everyone else seems to think I don't know how to run my own life. Well, they can all fuck right off. With her ribs hurting like hell and her temper frayed, Kim knew that she had to leave before she did something she would regret. All she said was, "screw you!" before marching straight past the girl. Mom can forget it if she thinks I'm going back to her place tonight. I'm going home. Another breath caught in her chest and she broke out into another coughing fit.

From behind her, Monique called out, "Kim, are you ok?" concern having replaced the anger in her tone.

"I'm fine," she shot back, her chest starting to tighten. I don't need anyone's concern. I can look after myself… she forced herself to take another step forward, only for the pain from her ribs to ratchet up to excruciating levels. A film of water obscured Kim's vision as she doubled over and fell to her knees.

"KIM!" Monique yelled and was at her side in an instant. "Shit, Kim, what have you done?"

"I'm…" she managed to say through a gasped breath. Her hands planted themselves on the asphalt, but her arms began to immediately shake as they struggled to hold her weight. However, her entire body was too preoccupied with trying to take a proper breath that she could not do anything about it. From beside her, she was vaguely aware that Monique had pulled out her phone.

"Dr Possible, where are you?" Kim heard her best girl say but could not hear the reply.

Dammit, she's called mom! She felt another flash of anger, but that only made her cough more. I don't… need… their… help…

"Kim, your mom will be here in two minutes, until she gets here, you need to try and stay calm and take big deep breaths."

"That's… easy… for…" Kim managed to get out, but quickly found that talking reduced the amount of air she could inhale. What… is… wrong… with… me… Her chest had tightened again and she struggled to take in anything more than small, shallow breaths without it resulting in a coughing fit.

A moment later her arms finally gave way, but she was spared from hitting the ground by Monique, who had put an arm around her and was now holding her upright. How long she remained on her knees, with her best girl supporting her as she struggled to breathe properly, she did not know. However, eventually, she heard the distinctive roar of an engine that could only belong to the Sloth 3.0. The sound of her car's tires screeching brought the vehicle to a halt and through the pain and tears that covered her eyes, Kim could see a fuzzy cloud of purple.

The sound of the driver-side door opening was accompanied by, "what happened, Monique?" said in a firm, no-nonsense tone. It was not the typical cry or flap of a mother who had just got out a car to see their only daughter on the ground, struggling to breathe. Rather, that of a doctor who knew such reactions were completely unhelpful and that the situation called for a cool head and expertise.

"I'm not sure," Monique replied, trying to keep herself from flapping. "She chased after Shego, but by the time I'd called you, got Wade to find her and then got here myself, she was alone. We then…" shame laced the girl's tone as she finished, "…we got into an argument. Kim went to leave, but broke out into a coughing fit and then collapsed."

At the same time as her best girl was giving her mom the clip notes version of what had happened, Kim felt her mother kneel by her side.

"You're going to be ok, Kimmie. Just try and take deep breaths," the woman said calmly.

She then felt a mask get pressed against her face and a moment later, pure oxygen hissed out of it. She took a breath and felt the gas fill her lungs, relieving some of the stress on her chest. Focusing solely on the fact that she could breathe more easily, Kim missed anything that may have been said between her mom and best girl. However, she did feel her mother lift her top and place the open bell of a stethoscope over her lungs. She winced in pain when the woman touched her right-hand ribs. Several minutes passed before the mask was lowered away from her face.

"How is your breathing now, Kim?" her mom asked.

"Better," she replied after a moment, finding it easier to breathe regular air again.

"Ok, good. Now, Monique and I are going to help you to your feet and then we're going to walk slowly to the Sloth. Is that ok?"

"Yeah," Kim nodded. While she did not like the idea of needing people to help her to the car, she disliked the idea of staying on her knees more.

She felt the two women drape one of her arms over their respective shoulders and carefully bring her up onto her feet. Her left foot buckled on the first step, but since ninety percent of her weight had been taken by her mom and Monique, she remained upright. Ever so slowly, step by buckled step, she was carried to the Sloth. At the push of a button, her mom opened the passenger door and then with Monique's help, guided Kim into the seat. Once strapped in, she managed to raise a hand and wipe the tears from her eyes; her ribs still sending shooting sharp stabs of pain through her body. She then watched as her mom placed the oxygen tank on the floor and handed her the mask.

"You'll be a lot more comfortable if you use this," her mother said. While her voice had a kindness to it, her words had still been spoken in her doctor tone and what they really meant was, "put that mask on and don't take it off until I tell you."

Kim complied, glad to have the oxygen back; normal air sucked by comparison. Around about her, Monique and her mom climbed into the Sloth and the latter wasted no time in starting the engine and setting off. She was virtually a spectator to the short conversation that followed.

"Do you want me to take you home, Monique," her mom then asked her best girl.

"Please, Dr Possible," her friend replied from the back seats. "I'm just glad you got here when you did."

"That was all down to you, Monique," her mom replied. "If you hadn't of had the sense to call me when you did, I'd only just be leaving the house." Kim then received a brief but serious look. "You owe both Mo and Wade your thanks, Kim. It's because of your friends that you're sitting here right now and not in the back of an ambulance heading for the hospital." Her mom paused briefly, before finishing, "I suppose you owe your brothers a thank you too. After all, they are the ones responsible for the Sloth having sat-nav with tracking capabilities, well-stocked medical equipment and for the fact that it can go so quickly. I must have hit one-hundred-and-fifty at one point on my way to find you."

So, Wade was in on it too. It makes sense. He must have tracked my cell phone. However, it doesn't bode well that the three of them can collaborate so efficiently. Kim simply nodded her head, too focused on taking in wonderful deep breaths of sweet oxygen. If anyone said anything else, she did not hear them. Soon, her mom was pulling into the curb outside Monique's parents' house.

"Thanks, Dr Possible."

She craned her head and watched as the girl unclipped her seatbelt and opened the door.

"No, thank you, Monique," her mom replied, before saying something that made Kim shudder slightly. "And don't worry about Kim, I'll take care of her."

What on earth does she mean by that? She didn't want to think about what sort of medical exam she was about to be subjected to once her mom got her home. Or what else might fall under the vague umbrella of 'take care of her'.

Monique then turned to look at her. "Kim," she said, her voice flat and sounding like she was either unsure of what to say or if she even wanted to voice her current thoughts. "I'm sorry we got into a fight, but I'm not sorry for what I said. Someone had to say it to you; I just wish it hadn't been me."

Kim motioned to lower her oxygen mask. What she intended to say, she did not know but was quickly prevented from doing so by her mom.

"Kim, you need to keep that mask on," the woman warned. "You can talk to Monique about this later and thank her for having some common sense."

Without removing the mask, she glumly nodded her head and said a muffled, "thank you," directed towards her best girl, before adding, "I'm sorry too," even though she saw no reason why she should be sorry.

Even in her current state, Kim could detect the sorrow in her friend's actions as she lightly shook her head and replied, "I really wish I believed you, Kim, however, I know that you don't really mean it. And I really do regret having to say this, but we both know that you're too stubborn to even consider the possibility that me or anyone else might be right."

Kim's immediate thought in response to this claim virtually proved the point, you don't have the faintest clue about my life, so have no right to comment! She felt another flash of anger towards her friend, but a stern look from her mother told her that an argument would not be tolerated. Instead, she fixed the woman with an expression that clearly said, "aren't you going to defend me?" Except her mom remained silent and allowed Monique to continue.

"Listen, Kim, I know I've not been the best friend either and owe you an apology for using you to get into clubs and bars. But unless you're willing to admit you might be wrong and apologise too, and I mean a proper apology, not some grand gesture that you've cashed in favours to pull off, I don't think I can talk to you. However, if you're willing to do that, I'm willing to listen," Monique said, the pain of her own words evident on her face. And Kim almost thought she could see a tear in the girl's eye when she finished, "bye, Kim."

On that bombshell, her best girl turned and walked towards the house. Her mom then pulled away from the curb and Kim had a bad feeling she had just lost another friend. I don't see what I have to apologise for.

Unfortunately, her mom seemed to agree with Monique. "I think you have a lot of serious thinking to do, Kim," she said in her no-nonsense, no-argument mother voice.

She opened her mouth to do just that, but a stern look forced her to stop and simply take another large mouthful of oxygen. Had it not been for the fact that her temper was so frayed, she probably would have been enjoying the nice high that comes from inhaling pure oxygen. However, it seemed that her mom was intent on keeping her in her current state of irritation.

"I'm not sure I even want to know what you were thinking tonight," her mother admonished. "I would have thought telling you to stay in one place and not to overexert yourself if you decided to dance, would have been enough of a warning that your body isn't in any state to be chasing after super-villains. Not to mention the pain your ribs must still be causing you."

Her mom wasn't even looking at her when Kim opened her mouth to respond and had the words taken straight out of her mouth. "And if you even think about telling me your fine, Kimberly Ann, I'll turn around and take you straight to the hospital."

She promptly closed her mouth.

"Needless to say, any chance you had of going home tomorrow has gone right out the window," her mom continued.

Kim rolled her eyes. This isn't good. She's not even examined me properly and already she's trying to prevent me from going home tomorrow. I'm not that badly injured. I probably just stressed my lungs a little too much having chased and fought Shego, followed by that stupid argument with Monique. She folded her arms and huffed, causing her mask to steam up slightly. I'll be fine come morning.

"You're very lucky that Monique called me the moment she left Heartbeats to go and look for you and that Wade was able to track your cell phone," her mom went on. "And I don't even want to think about why Shego didn't finish you off when she had the chance."

While she knew the answer to that one, Shego's victory had been so easy that she hadn't been worth finishing off, Kim had not wanted to think about it, or indeed anything to do with the fight, either. Unfortunately, her mom had just put it front and centre inside her mind once more. Damn Shego for pulling that stupid kick. It was no lie to say that she would rather have taken the full force of the blow and for her rival simply to have left her in a heap on the asphalt. For it illustrated perfectly that she had shown weakness to her enemy and then been humiliated by the green-skinned woman's uncharacteristic display of mercy. I wasn't even worth her time to beat to a pulp. That thought caused her to grit her teeth and clench her fists. Next time I see her, I'll make her regret leaving me in one piece. Save for the night of her junior prom, It was utterly foreign for Kim to feel this level of hatred towards anyone; even her nemesis. But Shego had toyed with her emotions by pretending that they could have been friends and then slamming the door in her face. Messed with her head and almost deluded her into thinking that she liked girls. And then purposefully ruined her first time with a boy since Ron. Mix it all together and sprinkle on the indignity she'd just suffered and the end result wasn't unreasonable; understandable, truth be told. Next time we fight, I'm taking her down once and for all…

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Author's note:

Ok, so I lied (sort of) about the chapter title. While it is a good metaphor for how Kim feels when stuck at home, it really was more to do with the actual events of this particular chapter.