Where Did the Time Go? : Part XVIII
Kim winced as the nurse pulled the compress away from her scalp, just above her forehead. She had heard about head wounds bleeding way out of proportion to their severity, but having your own blood running down into your eye was bad enough and it freaking hurt!
"So, what's the verdict?" She asked as the nurse started cleaning some blood the temporary bandage had left behind.
"The verdict? That your cranium must be made out of titanium or something. No concussion, just the gash right above your scalp line." She dabbed at the wound, even though Kim kept trying to shrink away. "Come on now, I thought you were supposed to be so tough."
"I can usually bob and weave when somebody's trying to hurt me."
She snorted slightly. "As I've heard you saying to somebody else on the footage they show of you, quit being a baby. I don't know what's worse, treating doctors or treating daughters of doctors."
"Hey." She said petulantly, but she sat still and let the woman finish. "Is it going to need stitches?"
"In a manner of speaking." She broke a small plastic tube in half and went to work on the gash.
"What is that?" Kim asked as a familiar smell reached her nose.
"Actually, it's really nothing more than sterilized super-glue."
Kim almost raised an eyebrow but thought better of it. "You're actually gluing me back together?"
"Ain't is cool? There, see now, a couple years ago we'd have to shave some of that pretty hair off and, oh, I'd say four, maybe five stitches."
Kim held her foot up. A temporary immobilizing brace was strapped to it, effectively trapping her on the ER table while she waited for the x-ray results to come back. "So what about my ankle?"
"The pictures came back negative there too. It's just sprained. Wrap it up, stay off of it for a couple days and you should be right as rain." She unstrapped the brace and wrapped the ankle up in an ace bandage, then took a chemical ice pack, broke the ampoule inside and put it on. "Doc wants to know if ibuprofen's going to be okay, or if you need something stronger."
"The Ibuprofen will be fine, please and thank you. It's not hurting that much any more and I don't like how the other stuff makes me feel."
"I know what you mean."
"So how's Ron?" Kim finally asked, wondering why she hadn't seen him yet. His injury wouldn't have kept him off his feet.
"He didn't fare so well as you in x-ray. They're should be putting the cast on right about now."
"Oh boy." Kim gulped.
By the time they were able to contact Wade they saw a light bobbling in the woods. Realizing it was a flashlight and not another totem pole monster, they called out, or rather Ron called out because the shouting was making Kim's head hurt.
Steve Barkin was immensely relieved to find them, though he was a bit distressed at finding Kim somewhat less than whole. He carried her all the way back to the ruin of the camp and put her in Principal Directors car to take them to be treated.
Up to that point, Ron had been whole and healthy, showing no signs of his battle with the creature. Barkin hadn't even asked them what happened. Twice he had to deal with Gill in that very camp and he had almost been chased out of his home by the toxic zombie snowmen the lake water had created. Their description of an bio-chemically animated totem pole didn't phase him in the least.
It was when they got to the hospital and Ron got out to get Kim a wheelchair that he stepped on a patch of black ice and went down hard on his right wrist. To her it didn't look like he hit that hard, but it was the same hand he struck the monster with and even if he had used the Mystical Monkey Power, the blow might have started the fracture.
Despite the pain in her head and ankle, she smiled when Ron walked into the treatment room. His broken wrist already in a fiber mesh cast. You couldn't even write well on the surface of those things.
"Hi." He said, reaching for her hand with his remaining good one.
She took it and gave it a good squeeze. "Hi yourself Mister Graceful."
"You know, they really should put some salt out there. Somebody could really get hurt." Ron pointed back out the Emergency Room door with his cast.
Kim brushed a few locks of his hair away from his eyes. The faint purple bruise on his chin was already starting to fade a bit, though it had only happened less than twenty four hours ago.
The nurse finished her paperwork. "Just sit tight a minute Kim. The doctor's going to take a look at you, then your teacher can take you home.
As soon as she was gone Kim touched Ron's cheek gently. Their eyes met and a lot more was said that way than could be with mere words. Kim rolled her eyes upward as if she were looking at the bandage above her left eye. Smiling sheepishly she said. "Not tonight, dear, I have a headache."
Ron laughed softly. "It's okay, KP. I think somebody is trying to tell us something anyway."
"Ya think. Somehow I think if it hadn't been the totem pole then we'd have gotten caught sneaking out. If we didn't get caught I bet the Kimmunicator would have gone off, and if that didn't happen, well, I bet we'd chicken out again." She said, letting go of his hand and crossing her arms.
Ron hopped up on the counter across from the examination table, wincing as he forgot what condition his hand was in. "Doctor Director is here."
"I figured she would be. She's probably giving Barkin down in the country for letting us go after that thing."
"Uh, no, well, yeah, Principal Director is here, but I'm talking about Doctor Betty Director, as in GJ."
"Oh." Kim slumped a little where she sat. There were probably going to be some hard questions very soon. The Battle-Suit was technically her property, legally designated a gift from Wade but it was filled with technology that, had it been developed by anyone else besides a genius twelve-year-old it would have been considered top secret. There were plenty of organizations around the world who would like to lay their hands on a suit that was capable of absorbing energy, amplifying the wearers strength and speed, generating protective force fields and made of a mutable fabric that could repair itself instantly if it were damaged.
Up until now Kim had displayed a great deal of responsibility with such devices.
The thought of keeping the loss of the suit quiet never even crossed Kim's mind. She would report it and take her lumps, even if it meant turning over a large portion of her arsenal to the international crime-fighting organization.
Before either of the Director sisters or the attending doctor could come in, Kim's mother pushed through the curtain. She was dressed in slightly sweaty scrubs and her hair was matted to her forehead.
"I just found out you two were here, Kimmie. I was in the middle of a very long procedure but they should have come and told me."
"Mom, it's just a cut and a sprained ankle, no big."
"Hmm. Let me be the judge of how big it is." She stepped up close and examined the bandage. A little bruising was showing around it and Kim winced a little at the handling of her head but it seemed to satisfy her. Almost immediately she had the x-rays out, peering at them intently. "You're lucky you didn't re-injure your ankle." She said, convinced then it was no more than a bad sprain. "I think I'm going to order an MRI for your head, though."
"Mom, I'm okay, it's just a bad cut. The doctor said I didn't have a concussion."
Anne raised an eyebrow. "Between him and me, which one is the neurosurgeon?"
Kim rolled her eyes and growled slightly.
"To think, of all the times you've had to fight that Shego, of all the scraps you've been in, you actually get hurt skiing for fun." She looked at her daughter again. "and just where was your helmet?"
"It was on the bus."
"Kim, you know what I've always said about wearing helmets. I wouldn't even let you ride your first two-wheeler without one."
"I know, Mom, but we weren't skiing when it happened."
"But the report said you fell into a ravine." She looked at her once more, a little confused.
"I did, but that's when we were being chased by a crazed totem pole monster."
"Oh, I see, well, then you're lucky you've got such a hard head." Anne Possible had heard enough over the years that such a statement didn't even phase her.
"Good Morning Doctor Possible." A middle-aged black man in a white lab coat said as he entered, picking up the charts and the x-rays.
"Good morning, Doctor Frasier." She responded, a little coolly. Ron and Kim exchanged a glance, wondering what that was all about.
"Well, Miss Possible, it looks like you're going to live, and you too, Mr. Stoppable."
Anne frowned, then noticed the cast on Ron's hand for the first time. He just smiled sheepishly at her. "Black ice…sidewalk." He explained, nodding toward the entrance.
"Somebody needs to put some salt out there before somebody splits their head wide open." Anne said to he colleague.
"I've already called maintenance twice. Well, I don't see any reason to keep the two of you any further. The discharge nurse has your prescriptions. Just keep off that foot for at least forty eight hours, Kimberly."
Deciding to forego a wheelchair, Kim leaned on Ron's shoulder as he helped her out into the waiting area. They cleared up the last of the paperwork and Kim swallowed. Somehow she thought it could only be worse if the third known Director sibling was waiting out there as well.
Sensing that, Ron's hand gripped a little tighter on her waist.
"Mom." She said softly, "Mister Barkin is going to drive us home."
Anne kissed her daughter softly on the cheek. "Okay dear. I really do want to schedule an MRI."
She shook her head, fighting to keep the momentary pain that caused hidden. "No, Mom, I'm okay. I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed. I'll be okay by morning, I promise."
"Okay." She said tentatively. "I won't be home until late in the morning. I've still got some follow up to do on my patient."
Kim smiled. She found out when they brought her in to the ER that her mother was still in the middle of a procedure that had already done twelve hours and that was almost two hours ago. Fortunately she had inherited her mother's ability to keep her focus for extended periods but not being in her famous 'mission mode' the long day was fast catching up to her.
"Are you going home, Ron?"
"I, uh…" he started.
"No. This was our weekend together and we're going to finish it together." Kim said, squeezing his shoulder with her arm.
"All right." Her mother said, exchanging a quick look with her daughter.
Kim limped into the main waiting area with Ron's help. Still waiting there were the Director sisters and Steve Barkin. The two women quickly got up once they noticed them coming out. Seeing them both together for the first time Kim could finally see the differences in the two women, Betty Director's eye patch aside. The younger woman's hair was significantly darker and slightly shorter, though it looked like she may have recently had it cut. She was also slightly slimmer since the rigorous training she endured for her job kept her constantly in tip-top shape. In the fluorescent lights of the medical center, her principal's hair seemed almost red, though it was a little darker than her own.
She had to stifle a slight giggle when she finally noticed the significance of their names. Wilma and Betty, the former with red hair, the latter with dark, nearly black hair. That made sense as she figured they were both born some time in the sixties.
Ron leaned over to her and whispered, "They look more like twins than Dr Director and her real twin Sheldon."
"Kim Possible, I'm glad to see that you are all right, more or less." She said, looking first at the small bandage on her head, then her wrapped ankle.
Wilma Director faced her sister. "Bets, we'll continue this discussion at a future date. Miss Possible, Mister Stoppable, I'm happy things were not worse than they are. I trust I will see the two of you in class Tuesday morning?" The ski trip was always scheduled to coincide with a state mandated Teacher's workday, allowing the students an extra day to unwind before classes resumed.
"We're fine." Kim said. "I'm just tired right now."
"Good." She said as she turned to leave, shooting Barkin a withering stare as she passed him. He just sat there glowering (which was nothing unusual.)
"Have a seat, Kim." Dr. Director said, motioning toward a row of chairs. She sat down on the edge of one herself, her back ramrod straight.
"Have they found anything?"
The older woman shook her head. "I have a team recovering the remains of the creature. Preliminary analysis shows it was exposed to a highly concentrated form of the mutagenic compounds that used to be in the lake. We thought it was too far above the water-table to be affected the last time we examined the property."
"Super concentrated? Is it possible something got to it when they cleaned up the grotto?" Kim asked. The last time they had been to the camp, most of the lake was completely cleansed but a small pool of concentrated muck had been missed and over time it had gotten more and more powerful as the water slowly evaporated from it.
"I don't think that is possible. We supervised the second cleanup and the main camp never came into contact with those materials. It is far more likely the exposure came when the two of you emptied the vacrometer back into the lake. We think it may be as simple as the pole being splashed with the materials while it was still hyper-compressed."
Kim and Ron looked at each other frowning. Both of them remembered clearly his repeated warning as they flew the weather machine back to Middleton the place was evil.
"KP, that's why it was coming after us." Ron said as a light bulb apparently went off in his head.
"What, Ron?" Kim asked. Dr. Director seemed intensely interested as well.
"Remember how the snow men went after the weather lady? The only reason they would have done that is because she created them. Maybe that thing, if it really had a mind, was after us because we made it."
Dr. Director nodded. "A very astute observation, Ron."
Kim smiled broadly at the compliment directed at her boyfriend. That smile faded as she remembered the main reason the head of Global Justice was there to see them at the hospital.
"What about the suit?"
The older woman shook her head. "There's no sign of it. Not in any of the demolished cabins, not on the bluff. As you know, if the suit is intact, it is very hard to trace considering the passive stealth properties Mister Load designed into it."
Kim nodded. Wade had already said as much. There was a shielded frequency transponder that he could track, but it would only be activated if somebody actually put the suit on. Considering it had apparently been taken by the Wannaweep creature, that seemed unlikely.
"Doctor Director, I'm so sorry I took it with me. I wasn't even thinking."
"Kim, the mere fact the two of you were attacked out there shows why we have to trust you to carry such equipment into the field. Personally I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt right now. My superiors may feel differently, depending on how long it takes to recover it, but for right now I think it is best the two of you go home and get some rest. We can take this up at a later time if I find it necessary."
With that she stood and shook their hands. Then she did something Kim found rather odd. She gave Ron a wink with her good eye. He shrugged, not knowing what that meant either, unless the woman had unexpectedly been discussing their love-life with Kim's mother, a thought neither of them could imagine ever taking place. Ron quickly wrapped his good arm around her waist and led her for the door, Barkin rising to take them home.
The heard Dr. Director say something very softly to Barkin as she walked by. The only thing they could make out was "Good night, Major."
As the large man started the car, Kim leaned across the back of the seat and actually gave the big man a kiss on his cheek.
"Thanks for coming after us back there, Mister Barkin."
"As you like to say, Possible, no big. I never leave a man…or a woman…behind." He turned and looked them up and down in the back seat before putting the car into gear. "Just what happened back there anyway."
Ron glanced at Kim, then answered his long-time teacher. "The thing came at me and I ducked under it. Next thing I know it's gone over the cliff."
"I see." Barkin said, clearly understanding there was much more to the story than that.
Twenty minutes later he was dropping them off at Kim's house.
"I don't know about this." He said. "I really should be taking Stoppable to his own house."
"No, Mr. Barkin. I already told my Mom, this was supposed to be our weekend and we're going to finish it together." She leaned a little closer to the car. "It's not like we're going to be doing anything both our parents don't approve of."
"Hmm. I still don't like it, but if you've cleared it with your mother, far be it from me to pass judgment, though I'd probably get in trouble if Colonel, I mean Principal Director ever found out about it, but I trust you two. Don't know why, I just do."
"Good night, Mister Barkin." Kim said as he closed the door so he could take the white sedan back to the school and retrieve his own car.
The house was completely empty. With Kim's father in Washington and her mother pulling an all-nighter at the medical center the twins had been taken to a babysitter, much to their chagrin (they were counting the days until they turned twelve, the age they had always been promised would signal the end to babysitting.)
It was a little tough getting up to Kim's room, but they managed. Kim went right behind her privacy screen and changed into her favorite pajamas, one of Ron's old jerseys and a pair of shorts. She sat down on the end of her bed after handing him a clean set of his own sleepwear.
Once he was changed he sat down on the end of the bed beside her.
"You know, this is kind of funny. By now we would have been sneaking out of our cabins." He said.
Kim giggled slightly, then leaned over and gave him a very gentle kiss on his lips. "Not tonight, dear, I have a headache." She repeated before kissing him again, this time a little more deeply.
"I know. I think we're better off waiting until we don't have to sneak around anyway." He said.
Kim pulled herself across the bed and started fluffing her pillows. She arched an eyebrow at Ron as he walked around the side of the bed.
"Where do you think you're going?" She asked him, half smiling at him.
"I thought I was going to bed." He said, a little confused.
"Yeah, downstairs in the guest room."
"Aw, man." He said, dropping his shoulders.
"Ron, Honey, that last time was with Mom's permission and Daddy did not like it. This is still their house and we're going to have plenty of chance to spend time together when we do have their blessings…both their blessings." She added, since it seemed her mother was okay with the level of intimacy the two had reached. "Besides, Ronnie, I'm not kidding, my head does hurt." She looked into his eyes, seeing the understanding there.
"Come here." She said, holding her arms open for him. He sat down on the edge of the bed and she gave him a big hug, followed by an even bigger kiss. "I'll see you in the morning." She touched his chin lightly. "If Mom isn't home when we get up, I want you to make one of those big badical breakfasts of yours, then we can set up camp on the couch downstairs and watch TV until our eyes burn."
"Goodnight KP. Love you." He said.
Kim gave him another big kiss before he got up to head downstairs. "I love you too." She said softly as he started down the hatch.
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