EPILOGUE - Aftermath

Standing behind police barriers, the crowd watched silently as paramedics emerged from the gates of Bueno Nacho's headquarters building carrying two stretchers between them. Many of those present had left their houses minutes earlier to escape from the murderous Diablo onslaught that, though it had lasted less than two minutes before the Diablos deactivated, had killed or maimed many residents of the Tri-City area and destroyed their homes, in many cases beyond repair.

Steve Barkin, the occupant of the first stretcher, was immobile, having been placed in an induced coma, with his head in a neck brace.

"It's Kim Possible," cried one observer as he recognized the occupant of the second stretcher. While no-one knew what had happened inside the building, the failure of Drakken's plot could only mean one thing: that the teen hero had saved the day once again. Even the most badly affected families knew that the outcome could have been so much worse if Kim hadn't succeeded.

"Give them room," came a commanding voice. Elizabeth Director had flown in by helicopter as soon as it was clear that the assault on Drakken's headquarters had been successful. There were so many questions to answer. But right now all her thoughts were with her injured operative.

Kim was barely conscious after receiving an intravenous dose of morphine. Her torso was covered by a sheet. She lay motionless on the stretcher as an orderly walked alongside her holding a drip.

Ron accompanied the two stretchers, his eyes never leaving his friend. He felt a sense of dread as the police cleared a path for the ambulances, sirens screaming as they approached the crowd.

Lightbulbs flashed as a crowd of reporters pressed forward to see the teen hero, the police straining to hold them back. Word of her latest exploit had quickly spread as the Diablo threat faded.

"Ms. Possible, what happened to Drakken and Shego?" one reporter shouted.

"How did you stop the Diablos?" exclaimed another.

"Can you get out of the way please," shouted a photographer to the blond boy who was obstructing his view of the teen hero. As the crowd milled around him, Ron found himself separated from Kim and Barkin.

Someone thrust a microphone into Kim's face.

"Give us a quote, Kim. Tell us how you beat Drakken?"

Summer Gale, Middleton's star reporter, interjected. "You looked down and out on Drakken's broadcast. How did you come back to defeat him and his Diablos?"

The crowd hushed as Kim painfully lifted her head off the pillow, waving away the attentions of the paramedic accompanying her.

"I didn't defeat Drakken or stop the Diablos," she told them.

Bulbs flashed as the crowd waited for an explanation.

"I was almost killed by Shego. It wasn't me who saved the world. It was my partner, Ron Stoppable."

Summer Gale looked puzzled. "Who is Ron Stoppable?" she asked.

Kim looked around for her savior but he was nowhere to be seen. She blinked away tears.

"Ron is the bravest person you'll ever meet. He rescued me from certain death at huge risk to himself. And the entire world owes him a debt of gratitude."

A tear rolled down her cheek.

"He was my best friend and I took him for granted. And I am going to do whatever I possibly can to make it up to him."

And maybe one day I'll be worthy of him.

The reporter looked confused, then her face cleared and she smiled, turning to her sound man.

On camera she exclaimed "Kim, you're so modest. Viewers, Kim Possible has invented a partner to give the credit to. What a hero!"

"Kim Possible, the girl who can do anything!" someone shouted.

Cheers erupted from the crowd. "Ki-mmie, Ki-mmie, Ki-mmie," they chanted.

"No, it wasn't me …" Kim tried to say but her words were drowned out by the crowd and by the sound of a helicopter descending.

The injured girl sank down numbly into the stretcher as she was carried into the craft.

Ron I'm so sorry. I tried, but they don't want to hear.

Kim gave in to sleep as the morphine took effect.

ooOooOoo

Ron listened to the crowd cheering for Kim.

I was never one for the limelight anyway, he thought.

"Over here, Ron."

The blond lifted his head to see Tara and Josh waving to him to come towards them. He pushed free of the media frenzy and made his way to the pair. Tara flung her arms around his neck, unwilling to let go, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Thank god you're safe," the girl kept repeating.

He looked quizzically over her shoulder at Josh, who nodded.

Ron carefully slipped his arms around the blubbering girl, rubbing her back gently to calm her down.

"Josh, I think your girlfriend needs you," he said to the boy.

"No, Ron," Josh responded. "It's you she wants."

Ron looked shocked. "Me? But what about …"

"Me?" Josh queried, a forced smile on his face. "Oh we were just casual. Don't worry about me. You're the one she's been crushing on."

The girl turned her face towards his. Her lips opened as she smiled giddily at him. He smiled back, heart racing.

It wasn't how he would have wanted this to happen, and he had a nagging feeling that he should have been the one to express his feelings first. But sometimes you just had to go where events took you.

And tonight's events had unexpectedly taken him to Tara.

He looked around noticing an absence. "Where's Josh gone?"

Tara looked embarrassed. "We sort of spoke earlier. About our relationship."

Josh gave up Tara? Because he knew how she felt about me?

He looked at Tara, who was waiting with trepidation for his next actions. Or words.

"Tara, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked her.

Her reaction was all he could have hoped for.

He took her in his arms but before he could kiss her he heard a cough and felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Forgive me for interrupting, Ron but Doctor Director needs to talk to you right away," Can Du said apologetically. Her boss had tasked her with finding Ron, who was the key to what had actually occurred in the BN headquarters that night. Truly she was surprised to find that Ron was spoken for: she had assumed that he and Kim had some sort of understanding. But he couldn't fault the boy's taste - the blond girl was exquisite.

Ron turned to Tara, seeing her pout and sharing her disappointment. "Wait for me?"

"We'll get you home, Miss. You two will be able to see each other tomorrow morning," Can promised.

The pair embraced, unwilling to let each other go. Ignoring Can's presence, they poured years of unrequited feelings into their first kiss before separating. And if Ron's mind momentarily flashed back to another kiss at school the day of the Middleton Days fair, well he did not have so many others to compare with.

His attention was drawn to the sound of a helicopter taking off. He watched as the 'copter lifted off, taking his team-mate to Middleton General Hospital.

She was going to need a lot of support in the coming weeks. He was no medic but he had more than a suspicion that her injuries were life-changing. And having on top of that to deal with the emotional tidal wave caused by Eric.

Someday though they would be ready to talk. About things they should have said to each other before but hadn't wanted to put their long friendship at risk. About change, and growing up, and differences, and shallowness, and goofiness, and crushes, and loyalty, and courage, and cowardice, and strength. About food chains, and never being normal, and growing together, and growing apart.

And friendship.

And more than friendship?

The End.

To be continued in "Rest and Re-creation (United and Divided II)"

Author's note: That ends Part 1 of the story. I had originally intended a fuller epilogue but feared that this might dilute the ending. So if you want to find out what happens next to our protagonists you'll have to wait for Part 2 and new challenges and threats. I'll write much of it before starting to post, so watch this space though it won't be for a number of months. If you want to be notified when R&R is posted, please follow Librana on ffdotnet.

This story was an attempt to create a more convincingly realistic So the Drama while keeping as much of the KP feel as possible (including the weird science, powers and talking rodent). If the comedy was in short supply towards the end, I hope that was understandable.

I would be very grateful for any constructive comments – positive or negative – on United and Divided. I hope to learn and improve from the feedback for the next story. It has been a daunting challenge to write a full-length novel but hugely satisfying. I am already indebted to those of you who regularly reviewed my story and encouraged me to return to it after a long absence and see it to completion – you know who you are and you are all cherished. My turn to review your stories now.

If you liked this, perhaps you'd be kind enough to nominate me for the 2019 Fannies. Or since the story finished in 2020, you may prefer to wait until next year's Fannies. topic/329/179943468/1/15th-KP-Fannies-Awards-Nomination-Period.

And for those of you who want to know who I ship, I leave you to draw your own conclusions. Teenagers are notoriously fickle after all, and adulthood beckons.