(Time: Saturday afternoon after Prom)
Kim didn't exactly run, but she thought she saw a disapproving expression from at least one floor-nurse as she hurried past various sections on her way to the ICU. She briefly checked in with the head nurse and walked into Ron's room where she found Tara sitting next to Ron's bed with her tablet propped up as if she was watching a movie with him. She saw that Ron was unconscious with half of his head heavily bandaged but at least he didn't have a breathing tube.
"K! You're OK!", the bubbly blonde got up and hugged her cheer squad captain tightly.
"T? What are you doing here?"
"Watching Beauty and the Brick with Ron, silly," Then changing to a whisper, she continued very quietly, "He's barely hanging on, K. Your mom won't tell us, but we have found out that his surgery went a lot better than expected, but the next day or two are critical. Jessica and I are doing shifts until his parents get here. If he dies, then at least he'll be with a friend." Backing away, Kim could see her eyes were bright with unshed tears.
"Hey Tara, need a break? Oh, hi Kim, glad to see that you are OK."
Kim turned to see Jason Morgan, Tara's date to the prom. Was the prom really only yesterday?
"Why do you think I wouldn't be OK?" the puzzled redhead was relieved that they weren't asking her about how her date with Eric went.
"Have a seat Jason, the movie is close to the part where the townsfolk march on the castle where the Brick is wooing the fair Mason. Come on K, come with me, we can't have three visitors in here for long, it's against the rules."
Tara pulled her cheer captain along, while Jason pulled up the chair, saying, "You're a tougher man than I to watch that movie, how about we change to The Brick Identity or The Brick Supremacy until she gets back..."
"When's the last time you have eaten?" Tara steered the redhead toward the cafeteria.
"Uh, I'm not carrying any money..." was the reply.
"I am and you're good for it. Sit here and I'll be back with food."
Kim watched dully, she was hungry but her lack of sleep was catching up to her.
Tara plopped a tray between them, "I started to pick up burgers and fries, but decided that you need calories instead," grinning she added, "Of course, I have to keep you company." The salads had lots of cheese, crumbled bacon, honey roasted walnuts, dried craisins and a peppercorn sour cream ranch dressing. Tara was almost as famous as Ron at Middleton High for having a high metabolism.
The blonde waited until Kim started to eat, then started an inane conversation about pretty much anything and everything - except Eric, the Prom and the events of last night.
The extra calories helping to temporarily push back her fatigue, the redhead asked, "OK, Tara, I appreciate your 'blonde act', but I know you better than that."
Pulling out her cellphone, the blonde, in hair color-only, tapped on the screen several times then handed it to Kim with the screen showing the Middleton Gazette's picture of Kim carrying Ron with the caption, 'Kim Possible Saves Middleton From Dr. Drakken'.
"K, what the hell happened and where have you been?"
(Time: Monday after Prom, late afternoon)
"Kim, honey, you really need to go home and get some rest. We can take over for you."
She opened her eyes to see the worried face of Mrs. Stoppable. "I'm OK, I just closed my eyes for a second..."
"I'll see that she gets home OK, Mrs. Stoppable," Jessica was pulling her gently to her feet, that girl was the second strongest on the squad and could bodily carry her out if needed. Letting herself be led out of the room, she turned to take a last look at Ron. She saw a tiny dark-haired girl straddling his chest, leaning forward to look into his closed eyes. That was Hana, his soon-to-be baby sister by adoption. His parents told her that Yamanouchi's 'Mr. Sensei' had told them the toddler could help Ron. To her overstressed mind, that seemed pretty low on the weirdness scale, at least as she and Ron counted weirdness.
In the hall, they ran into Mr. Stoppable. Hugging Kim, he said, "Thank God that you are OK, Kimberly. Jessica, let me take Kimberly home. Besides, Rufus needs to report and I'd really rather that you help him, please."
"Well..." Jessica looked doubtful and seemed reluctant to let her captain go.
"I swear I won't interrogate her. Please, I need a break from this place, the shock of seeing Ron here is getting to be too much. If I can get just a small break, I can prepare myself mentally to come back and actually be useful."
"OK... I guess," Jessica replied, "K, we'll message you if anything changes."
"Thanks, Jess," the exhausted redhead wobbled a little then steadied with a little help from Mr. Stoppable.
Jessica walked back into the room, looking around and seeing no nurses, softly called, "Rufus? Time to make a report, sweetie." A lump moved under the covers and a small pink form appeared and ran over to her shoulder bag. She picked up the bag as soon as Rufus climbed in and she walked out into the hall. Traveling down the elevator, she was soon outside the hospital. Casually walking back to where there were benches and lots of flowering plants, she sat down and put her bag on the ground. Rufus slipped out and ran into the flower bed where she assumed that he did his 'business'. After a minute the rodent slipped back into the bag with a squeak of 'Thanks!'
Standing up, she casually sauntered around to the loading dock area where the dumpsters were kept. A lid on the farthest dumpster lifted up and a pair of antennae slid out. Rufus made strange hissing and clicking sounds which were answered in kind from something inside the dumpster. The exchange stopped, implying that Rufus had brought Roachie up to speed on Ron's status. Steeling herself not to flinch, she stepped up to the dumpster, reaching out to stroke a pair of antennae the diameter of a garden hose.
"Thanks, Roachie, you guys are the best!" she cheered, pulling on every cheerleader skill she had to make her voice sound happy and enthusiastic. An antenna nearly the diameter of her wrist waved in front of her, begging for attention. Petting it with an honest laugh she said, "You too, Lenard." Following the antennae, she saw Lenard hiding in plain sight next to the dumpsters. No mean trick as it was easily the size of two dumpsters placed end to end.
Task complete, she walked back into the hospital and up to the ICU.
"Mr. Stoppable, I'm sorry about Ron, it's my fault he got hurt." She had mechanically allowed him to steer her to his car and they were on the way to her house.
"Really Kimberly? You burned his face?"
"NO!" taking a breath and a sniffle, she continued, "He told me that he suspected that Drakken was going to try to take over the world but I wanted to finish my date at the stupid prom and wouldn't go with him. He went alone and I wasn't there and Shego bur... bur..." her voice breaking into a sob.
"Here," he handed her a box of tissues, "So convinced of your own importance you are."
"What?" she said after blowing her nose.
"Kimberly," he said softly, "the problem I see is that you both have put yourself in a place where you are indispensable. Granted, you more than Ron, but seriously, neither of you have a backup. What if you had slipped on spilled milk at lunch and broken your leg? Would it still have been your fault that he got hurt?"
"No, but my leg wasn't broken and even with me refusing to help him, he actually saved me from being sexually assaulted! What the hell kind of friend am I?"
"Right now, you are an emotionally exhausted friend who needs to take care of herself so she can be there for Ronald," he pulled up in an empty driveway. Getting out of the car, he told her, "Come on, let me fix you something to eat, then you can get some sleep."
"You cook?" she said too stressed to be polite.
"Of course," he replied, "All Stoppable men cook," he smiled, adding "it's how we attract the ladies." Turning serious he continued, "You said that Ron saved you? But I thought you two weren't together."
"We weren't. Rufus was bringing help to him. On the way to help Ron, they ran into me, found me drugged and about to get raped and saved me," all the blood drained from her face, "If they hadn't stopped to save me, they would have been in time to save Ron from being burned... Oh my God, it really was my fault!"
Mr. Stoppable steered a weeping Kimberly into the house, managed to get her to eat a little lunch and sent her to bed. Then he called his wife.
Jean Stoppable pulled up in the driveway ten minutes later. Getting out of the car, she was followed by Tara.
"Is she really bad honey?" the older blonde gave her husband a quick kiss at the door, "Anne is tied up in surgery for the next several hours, Yori and Jessica with Rufus and Hana are with Ron."
"It's bad dear, they were planning to rape her," her normally laid-back husband said, anger flashing in his eyes, "Ronald somehow saved her, it didn't make a lot of sense to me. If you two will watch her, I will run back to the hospital and be with Ronald. If she needs her mom, call me and I'll get Anne cut loose if I have to burn the place down."
"Let us try first, dear," Jean replied, "she probably needs someone to talk to more than anything. We'll call you if you need to do something. But let's not add to her guilt by dragging her mom out of surgery, at least not yet."
As Gene got in the car to hurry back to the hospital, Jean told Tara;
"Tara, you go on up, I'll get us some drinks and join you in a minute."
As the older blonde hurried into the kitchen, Tara started up the stairs to Kim's loft yelling, "K! I'm coming up! It's OK if you aren't decent, I've already seen it!" The stairs going up to a hatch in the ceiling was unconventional and while she wasn't as close a friend to Kim as Ron had been...STILL WAS, she still knew the way. As her head popped through the floor, she could hear a faint, sobbing sound. Looking towards the bed, she saw that Kim was curled up around her plush Pandaroo, full fetal, and quivering slightly.
"Kim!" She gasped and vaulted up the few remaining steps with a speed and grace that came from years of being a cheerleader. She was soon sitting next to her squad captain, resting a hand on a trembling shoulder and wondering what else she could do.
"T? Why aren't you sitting with Ron?" asked the miserable young woman.
"His dad called his mom, thought you needed someone to talk to."
"Who else is here?" Kim asked, hearing the sound of a whirring blender.
"His mom is downstairs, she said she was making us something to drink."
"Oh, God, T, how can I face her when Ron getting hurt was my fault! Maybe I'll get lucky and mine will be poisoned," groaned the redhead.
"Sorry Kimberly, no luck, no poison, just a smoothie with a little protein isolate and ground flaxseed powders along with the seven essential chocolates and heavy cream," Jean came up the stairs carrying a blender jar and three glasses."
Mrs. Stoppable poured a glass for all of them, "OK, rule #1. Nothing that any of us say here leaves this room."
"Not even to my Mom?" Kim's voice was flat, defeated.
"Anything that your Mom needs to know, you will tell her," the older blonde said, "Kimberly, you've been my son's best friend forever, I know that you will do the right thing."
"But I wasn't his friend on prom night!", the distraught young woman wailed, "I refused to go with him because I was more interested in my date than going with him to watch his back!"
"Kimberly, did you have any reason to expect that Ron would be in danger? Wade says that the idea was that Ron was just going to take a quick look and report to the authorities..."
Kim apparently wasn't listening, "People are saying that he went alone, that he was a brave, foolish boy! But that's not true! He had backup coming," her voice dropped to a low moan from her anguished wail, "and his backup would have saved him, but it stopped to save me instead of directly going to help him. That delay cost him everything.
"K," Tara said softly, "you only told me part of this at the hospital. What really happened? Who attacked you?"
"Eric," Kim laughed bitterly, "Eric was everything I thought I wanted, a hot piece of arm candy, smart, funny. You saw us at the prom, T. We were the perfect couple, the top of the food chain. Or I guess I should say the fool chain..."
"Eric attacked you?!" Tara exclaimed, "I thought he was a good guy!"
"Eric kidnapped you?" Jean tried to understand, "Then Ron's friends rescued you?"
"Eric was neither good nor a guy. He was a synthodrone, a sophisticated robot created by Drakken to keep me distracted so I wouldn't interfere with his plans." With both blondes temporarily speechless, Kim continued,
"He didn't kidnap me, he was my date, I trusted him! I wanted to go with him! He told me that he called Dad and got permission for me to stay out for another hour and a half. We were going to drive up to the lake, watch the moon rise, make out a little..."
"What happened K?" Tara asked, "I can't imagine even a robot overpowering you..."
"Drakken...he planned this," Kim finally murmured between her sobs. "He wanted E...that thing to molest me, just because I had beaten him so many times! He drugged me," Kim was nearly wailing again, "Drakken told me that he miscalculated the dosage, that the drugs were supposed to make me 'compliant' but knocked me out instead. He said that he wanted me to feel utter defeat, that not only would I fail to save the world, but my rape or seduction would have been the humiliation and degradation icing on his take over the world cake."
"He was petty and evil," Tara assured her friend. "He wanted to hurt you in any way he could."
"But with Eric," she laughed bitterly, "Drakken miscalculated again." After several, shuddering breaths, the redhead managed to continue. "Eric...he was so perfect...and I wanted him. If he had skipped the drugs, well, I was already hoping to have a serious makeout session with him at the lake. It was a beautiful night and we had the park to ourselves. If he had..."
"If he had just acted the way he had been, you would have gone all the way with him?" Tara asked, her voice just a whisper. Kim nodded.
"What does that make me?" Kim hissed, sobbing but trying to be quiet. "I wanted to make love to a thing! I wasn't a person to that thing or to Drakken! I was a thing to be used and humiliated...and I wanted to make love to it!"
"You didn't know!" Tara protested, hugging her shuddering friend. "You just thought he was a really cute, funny and great guy! He was everything you wanted...so you shouldn't feel bad about wanting him."
"But when my best friend was getting hurt like that?" Now, Kim wasn't trying to control her volume. "Ron was out trying to stop Drakken while I was off about to..."
"Kimberly... Drakken played you!" the older blonde sat next to her and gathered both girls in her arms, her heart breaking for the young heroine. "You have a good loving heart, it wasn't your fault that bastard took advantage of it."
"And now here I am, complaining about this, while my friend, the friend that saved my worthless virtue, might be dying!" Kim wailed. "What does that make me?"
"Human," Tara told her.
Jean pressed a glass on Kim, making her take a sip, "So how did Ron's friends find you if they were supposed to be helping Ron?" asked Jean.
"Turns out that their path took them past us. Rufus was leading them. A synthodrone uses pressurized goop in tubes instead of muscles and bones. I woke up with my jeans mostly pulled off and its deflated body next to me. One of Ron's friends was standing watch over me. I got dressed and we raced after Ron, but got to him too late."
"Did you wake up to Roachie or a big one standing over you?" asked Tara.
"Roachie? Uh, you know about Roachie?"
"Yeah, K, it's the damndest thing, Roachie and one of the big ones are standing guard at the hospital in the back by the dumpsters. You can't believe how easy it is for a bug the size of two dumpsters to be inconspicuous when it wants to be. One of us takes Rufus down to report on Ron's condition every few hours"
"Wait, Kimberly, you talked to Drakken," asked Jean, "Did he get arrested?"
"No, Mrs. Stoppable. He didn't get arrested this time." Kim couldn't look either of them in the eye.
"So what happened?" this Mom violated her principle of not asking her child a question if she didn't want to hear the answer. Right now, Kimberly wasn't her child, but close enough...
"I killed both Drakken and Shego then blew up their lair."
This mom decided that she liked this answer.
"But at least the world was saved," said Tara who had a more gentle soul that Mrs. Stoppable.
"Ron saved the world. Not me. I failed to save Ron. Maybe I can at least make sure he gets the credit," Kim hopped off the bed and picked up her Kimmunicator.
"Hi Kim, how can I help you?" asked her tech genius who looked nearly as wretched as she felt.
"Get me on a radio talk show and an interview with the Gazette, anybody you can think of. We've got to let people know that it was Ron that saved the world not me. It's not much, but it's all I got right now."
"Gotcha Kim, I see what I can get set up, call you back in about an hour." Wade sounded a little perkier, probably from having something constructive to work on.
Jean thought that Kim looked a little better probably because being a young woman of action, she was doing something to right a perceived wrong. Still, she pointed out;
"Kimberly, you need to tell your parents about all this or at least give me permission to talk to them, You are going to need counseling."
The young woman paled, "I can't! Mom dedicates her life to saving lives and I just took two. If Dad hears that I was almost raped, I'll never be allowed to leave the house again even to go to school, much less go on missions! You promised! I'm positive I can get counseling at a teen crisis center without my parents being involved, I'll do that, OK?"
Jean looked sternly at the young woman that she had once hoped to become a daughter-in-law. Getting up and wrapping her in a huge hug, she said, "Here is the deal. I will tell your mom that you are having a rough time and give no details. If Tara doesn't come to me and confirm that you have started counseling by Friday, I will tell Anne everything."
"Thanks, Mrs. Stoppable"
"You really should talk to your mom sweetheart, I've been on both sides of this secret thing and not knowing details suck."
"You mean Ron and my Mom?"
"Yes dear. It was the right thing to do at the time, but it still sucked."
(Time: Tuesday after Prom, Way too early in the morning.)
"...And we're back with 'Way too early in the A.M.'. I'm Mike Metro and my guest this morning is Kim Possible. We've been talking about her and Ronald Stoppable's latest exploit with our callers. Our next caller is Sue. Sue, do you have a question for Kim?"
"Yes, I do, Mike. Miss Possible, you really refused to help Ron fight Dr. Drakken and Shego just so you could finish your date at the Prom?"
"Sue, as I said in the beginning, I felt that the thing with Drakken was not an emergency and I just wanted to be a normal girl for just one night. Ron Stoppable thought otherwise and went to investigate. That was fortunate for Middleton as he discovered that Dr. Drakken was about to start his attack. Ron stopped the attack but was seriously injured. I only arrived after he had blown up the transmission tower. I didn't know that anyone had taken the picture that the Gazette published and they didn't ask me. Otherwise, the caption would have given Ron the credit, not me."
"Miss Possible, I work hard and my husband works hard and we pay our taxes. I don't appreciate my tax money going to pay for you to go to the prom instead of being on-call to protect this city..."
"But Sue, we raised money to pay for the prom, it wasn't funded by the city..." Kim was baffled.
"I mean your salary; just how much did taxpayers pay for you to go on a date and the prom!"
"But, I don't get a salary for doing hero work, we just like to help people..."
"No salary? Then how do you pay for all your equipment, your guns, your bullets, stuff like that?"
When Kim didn't answer immediately, Mike looked over to see that Kim had gone pale at the last question. Switching off Kim's mic, the radio host frowned and started to end the show, but Sue continued after a pause,
"Really dear, maybe you just aren't cut out for the big jobs. Maybe you should leave those to your partner Don, don't you think?"
Mike believed that he was there to take care of his guests while entertaining his listeners. If either got out of hand, well, there would be the next guest tomorrow. He said;
"Sue, I think that the way people help out Kim and Ron in their work is well documented on their website, as well as the history of their missions where you will see that they don't carry firearms. Folks, that's all the time we have this morning, I'll be back for another 'Way too early in the A.M.' tomorrow when my guest will be Judge Hector Q. Snobblestone to talk about the new speed cameras going up all over Middleton and how the Internet rumors claiming that driving while naked will disable them are false. Until then, remember that coffee is your friend and loves you."
The "ON-THE-AIR" sign in the little studio went dark.
"Kim? Miss Possible? Are you OK?" Mike looked at his guest with concern. She had been a pretty good guest, not as funny as her partner was. The last time he had them on the show was much more lighthearted. This time was...was like she was missing part of herself. She hadn't said more than a dozen words about herself. She was a young woman with a mission and that mission was to tell people that her partner had saved Middleton without her help and not only that, he had, in some way that she wouldn't elaborate on, saved her from a sexual assault.
"Mr. Metro, what I am going to tell you, I tell you in confidence. I ask that whatever you do with the information, please don't let it hurt Ron." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her wallet and handed the radio personality a Federal Concealed Carry Permit issued by the Department of Homeland Security. After he had looked at the card, his eyes widening in amazement, she put it back and continued, "Ron and I both have these. The difference is that Ron has never carried a firearm except on the practice range. Until Saturday, I never carried one. Now?" Standing, she drew her Walther PPK and set it on the desk after checking to make sure a round wasn't loaded in the chamber and the safety was on. "Now?" she repeated, "I carry. It feels like I threw away part of my soul to make room for it."
"Have you ever used it?" whispered Mike.
Her answer was interrupted by Wade calling on her Kimmunicator, "Kim, is everything OK? Your interview was shorter than I was expecting. You're due to be at the Gazette for your next interview in thirty minutes."
"I'm OK, Wade, I'm on my way," she replied, putting her wallet and pistol away then addressing her host, "Thanks Mike, this should help clear up a little of the misunderstanding."
"Happy to help," replied the host watching the heroine (and in his mind, she was still a heroine) head for the door, "May God walk at your side, Kim."
She momentarily paused, answering, "God does as He will, Mike. I would rather have Ron walking at my side but I may have forfeited that blessing forever." Then she was out the door.
(Time: Tuesday after Prom, mid-afternoon.)
"Go, Hana, Go!" Jason cheered as Hana did three back-to-back cartwheels with Tara running alongside her to be the little girl's spotter.
"Yea, Hana!" he cheered again as the small acrobat jumped out of Tara's arms into a backflip. "Uh, Tara, should you be showing her this stuff? She's liable to get hurt."
"Well, too much would be bad for her developing muscles and joints, but a little bit should be fine. Plus, she knows the rules, right Hana?" said the blonde cheerleader.
"Have spotter!" the little girl exclaimed, "Brother best spotter!"
"That's right, Hana," she replied, letting the small child step onto her hands and boosting her into another backflip, "Ron was the best spotter I ever had. Besides, Jason, we need to burn off some of Hana's energy and give Yori a break, I think this is the first sleep she's had in the last two days."
"Brother is awake!" the little girl started bouncing up and down.
"Let's go see him, Hana," Tara said, giving Jason a 'what the heck?' look.
"Mr. Robertson, simply print a correction! Or even better, spin it as a 'downtrodden young man wins against impossible odds, showing that a guy can win the day even in this politically correct day and age'," Kim was imagining that her pistol was softly whispering 'Shoot this bozo...'.
"So," the Editor grinned at her, "You wouldn't be inclined to use your eleven styles of Kung Ku on the writer that wrote, "Ron Stoppable Protects Middleton while Partner Protects Her Hairdo?"
"Less inclined than I am to try my SIXTEEN styles on a certain editor who is giving me a hard time!" Kim snarled thinking that there was a reason that junior high school girls should not be packing heat. Fumbling to get her phone to silence its insistent beeping, she checked her messages and read:
"Tara: Ron's awake! They are kicking us out for tests, you've got time to stop at B.N. and smuggle in Nacos."
Looking at the editor, she growled, "Just fix it!" and ran to the door.
"Master Sensei, Please excuse the interruption, but I have information you may be interested in," the very young courier bowed deeply. Her job was to deliver information briefings from the intelligence section to those that needed to know. This was her first official trip to take information to the head of the school and she was nervous.
The white-bearded senior Ninja looked up from the proposal from one of the school suppliers to change their training bo staffs from the traditional ash to polypropylene. They would be a little heavier, tougher and possibly more environmentally friendly. Still, tradition... Looking up, he smiled broadly and greeted his young visitor;
"Ah, Katsumi-kun, your interruption is most welcome. What has your group learned?"
"Kim Possible is doing web searches for teen crisis centers. She is looking for a discreet counselor. We assume that she desires help for some trauma encountered in the Drakken/Shego incident."
"Please request senior students Wang and Chin to join me for tea in thirty minutes. Along with yourself. Perhaps the four of us can come up with a solution to help the famous heroine."
"Hai!" the young student raced off thrilled to be a part of something that sounded so important.
CREDITS
All characters are the property of the Disney Company. This is a work of fan fiction.
Authors Note: I had planned on ending this story tragically with this chapter in a blaze of bullets and Ninja throwing stars. Unfortunately, I saw a posting with short snippets of adorable puppies playing, so that chapter has been delayed as that cooled my Twitter Rage. With the talents of CajunBear73, Daccu65, and Sentinel103 assisting me with plot bunnies, I am no longer confident that I can kill everyone off at the end. Special thanks to Daccu65 in helping raise the angst level. Note that the idea of having Rufus keep Roachie up to date was from Mindless Violence Fan.