My sincere apologies for the tardiness of this installment!

No Man Knows My Story

by "The Enduring Man-Child"

All standard disclaimers apply.

Thanks to cpneb for beta-ing this and the previous chapters.

Chapter 4

"Wade, what's wrong?"

"Uh...nothing's wrong! Why do you ask that?" Wade was obviously fibbing, displaying all the "tells" (refusing to look her in the eye, touching his face, raspy breath).

"Hey Wade, don't make my lady use the PDP!" Ron warned.

"Yeah, and I'm in just the mood to use it!" Kim agreed.

Wade knew he was done for.

"Okay...okay. Anything but that." He took a deep breath. " Ned's in the hospital."

"He's what?" Kim and Ron said in unison.

"That's where I've been. Vivian discovered him yesterday at his apartment. His appendix had burst, and she called the ambulance. She took the day off to stay with him at the hospital and I pulled shift today while she went back to work."

"Wade, why didn't you tell us?" Kim asked.

"I didn't know you guys would consider it so important," Wade explained a little guiltily.

"Well, it is important! We're Ned's friends, and we're going over to see him right away! Oh, and we'll be sure to tell Larry and the gang over at Nerd Nirvana."

"Um...please don't do that, Kim," Wade said.

"What??"

"You probably don't know about this, but...well, Ned's a very private person. I mean a very, very private person."

"We'd sort of figured that out," she mumbled.

"Kim, have you been snooping around to find out about Ned? You've been worried about him?" Wade was beaming. "Oh, that's so sweet!"

"Of course I've been worried, Wade!" Kim said. "Why wouldn't I be? He's my friend!"

Wade stopped beaming to give her an accusatory look.

"Okay. Maybe 'friend' is a little bit of a stretch, but he's certainly..."

"He serves us our Nacos, Wade!" Ron interjected, "how could we not be worried sick? C'mon, man!"

"Okay! Okay! I get it!" Wade said, holding up his hands defensively. "Middleton General, Room 601. Just don't tell him you got it from me, okay? I don't know if he'd like me getting too many people involved."

"Deal," Kim agreed.

- - - - -

Vivian didn't bother to interrupt her concerned stare at the still sleeping Ned when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," she said, expecting a nurse.

"Dr. Porter? How is Ned?" Kim asked.

Vivian turned around on hearing the unexpected voice, surprise evident on her features. She was still wearing her lab jacket from work and a bewitchingly alluring pair of "nerdy" spectacles, showing she had indeed come to the hospital right after getting off work.

"What are you two doing here?"

It wasn't exactly how they had expected to be greeted, considering they had once cleared her name and gotten her job back at Middleton Space Center. Besides, why wouldn't she welcome anyone with whom to share Ned duty? There only seemed to be her and Wade, and that was cutting it awfully thin.

"Dr. Porter? Wade told us Ned was in the hospital and we came to see about him." Vivian looked at Kim's extended hand but didn't take it.

"He shouldn't have told you," she said, turning back to face the still unconscious patient. "I'll have to have a little talk with him about that. He knew better."

"I don't understand..." Kim said. "What's the big secret? Ned's our friend. We missed him. We were worried about him. A lot of people are worried about him! How can you expect to keep his whereabouts a big secret? What about his friends?"

"Oh. Well, he doesn't have too many friends," she answered.

"Monkey muffins!" Ron said. "Everyone who hangs out at Bueno Nacho is worried about him, and there's his fellow gamers at Nerd Nirvana and the Robot Rumble...like you! Why wouldn't they want to know where he is? Why wouldn't you tell them?" he wanted to know.

Vivian sighed.

"It's not so simple," she said, "you probably don't realize this, but Ned is a very private person. And I mean very private."

"So we've learned," Kim said, "and that's his right. But he's in the hospital! Wouldn't he want his friends to know? Or at least let the folks at Bueno Nacho know?"

"As I said, he's very private," Vivian replied.

Kim was tweaked.

"So, Dr. P—er, other Dr. P—Wade told us it was his appendix," Ron volunteered.

Vivian glared at him. "Wade's quite a blabbermouth. Now I'm really going to have a little talk with him."

Both teens winced. Neither wanted to get Wade in trouble, and neither could imagine why simply giving them this information should do so. But what could they say?

"When did it happen?" Ron continued at last, hoping to break her train of thought from what she was going to do to Wade. And sure enough any anger or irritation vanished from her face as she looked back at the still sleeping Ned.

"When I stopped by yesterday morning to pick him up for work he didn't answer the buzzer. I have a key and found in sprawled out on the floor. Poor Ned. I don't know when it happened—must have been some time over the weekend. So I brought him here and stayed with him...missed work to do it. I called Wade and he came and took my place last night and again today. So now it's my turn again."

"What about his family?" Kim asked. "He has to have someone. Why aren't any of them here? I'm sure Wade would be happy to track them down if you don't know—"

"He doesn't have any family that I know of...not that care anything about him, anyway," she answered.

Kim and Ron looked at one another, utterly stupefied to learn of the solitude of one whose face was so much a part of their everyday world.

"I—I don't understand," Kim said at last, sniffling a little and rubbing her eyes, "how could he have family that doesn't care about him? I mean—everyone is loved by his family, right? They're the people you can always go to, no matter what! How can anyone's family not care about him? How??"

Vivian looked directly at Kim.

"Miss Possible, you're a very nice person—there's no doubt about that. But I'm afraid despite your intimate familiarity with super-villainy and take-over-the-world schemes, you are also very sheltered and very naïve about what life can be like."

Kim cast her eyes downward, ashamed. This disturbed Ron.

"Don't listen to her, KP; after what you did for her she should be ashamed to talk that way to you."

"No...no, she's right, Ron," Kim confessed, "I really have led a very sheltered life. My genetics rock, my parents rock, saving the world rocks, my annoying brothers rock (much as I hate to admit it), you rock...everything about my life rocks, Ron. And I guess sometimes I take it for granted that everybody else's life rocks too, and I know that it doesn't—whenever I take the time to think about it, that is."

"Well...don't beat yourself up over it," Vivian said, swiveling her chair to face them and taking off her glasses. "You can't solve everyone's problems for them, and I'm pretty sure if you could you'd do it. You're a nice person. Both of you are. I didn't mean to put you down."

"Well I should hope not!" Ron declared, almost yelling.

"Take it easy, Ron," Kim attempted to calm him.

"And if I never thanked you for helping me get my job back—and clearing my name—that time, well then...thank you, both of you."

"Now that's more like it!" Ron observed approvingly.

"Listen," Vivian said as she stood rather stiffly, "I've just been here worrying over Ned so much the past couple of days...I really need to get back to his apartment and find his insurance card. Why don't you come with, Kim?"

"Really? I mean...are you sure?" Kim realized that to actually see where Ned lived was a rare privilege indeed.

"Sure. We need the card—I certainly didn't spend any time looking for it yesterday morning—and I need a break. What do you say? Is your boyfriend up to spending a little quality time with the Naco man?"

"Well, Ron?" she asked him.

"Always ready to help a friend, KP...especially one who could use a few more friends."

"Good man! Then it's settled. Kim, you come with me. I could use your deductive skills to find that card. He didn't have his wallet on him when they came to get him yesterday and I was too distracted to think to look for it with all that was going on."

"All right; see you in a little while, Ron," Kim said before kissing him. "Take good care of Ned while we're gone."

"You know it, KP. I won't leave him for a second—er, unless I have to use the bathroom."

"And here's my cell number in case of an emergency," she said as she handed him her professional card, "and by emergency I do not mean having to go to the bathroom, capiche? I hope you won't need it."

"Me too, Dr. P...er, other Dr. P!"

"Good. Let's go, girlfriend!"

Ron watched the women exit and sat down to watch Ned.

"Wish I'd brought a book of Tehillim to say for you, old buddy," he said softly to the sleeping form in the bed, "but I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with saying 'barukh 'Attah HaShem 'Eloqeinu Melekh HaOlam, rofe' cholim!'"

Ron wasn't sure, but he thought he might have seen Ned's lips just barely mouth a silent "'Amen."

To be continued...