A/N Disney owns KP. With that out of the way, thanks to all who have already read reviewed. This will be a little darker than my usual.
Matt, it gets worse. kpandron, hope you like it. daywalkr82, innocent 'till proven guilty. Campy and AndyCosta, hope this is soon enough, unfortunately, the next may be a week or so. Also, a large Atta Boy to the first figurer outer.
The Gift
Chapter 2: Saturday Evening
I.
The families stood at the window, one among them aching to enter the room to give some comfort to the figure on the bed. Kim had been in mental shock all day, after hearing the Doctor's conclusion. Who would do that to Ron? Which of the villains she had fought would take their defeat out on Ron? Was it her fault for dragging him along on her missions? Eyes drained, she continued to stare at her boyfriend, only the occasional twitch telling her he lived.
II.
Unable to drag Kim away, the adults sat in the hospital cafeteria with coffee and worry.
"Anne," Barbara Stoppable finally asked, "What did Dr. Jefferson mean by torture? Have they told you anything?"
"No body knows anything for sure, Barb, but I'll be glad to get his chart if you like and you can read what I read. Anything you don't understand I'll be glad to explain. I don't have Jack's experience, so I have to go with his deduction. "
Dean stroked his wife's hand for comfort. "I got a call while you were getting coffee; the police want to talk to all of us and Kim too. Just normal they said."
James turned to his friend, "Dean, if there's anything we can do, you know you only have to ask?"
Dean looked at his friend's tense face, "We know that, Jim, we know you and Anne feel about Ron as we feel about Kimberly."
The four all turned at the cough beside them.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm Chief Steffer, are you the Possible and Stoppable parents?" Four nods answered him. "May I sit down? I have some questions I need to ask you, and I may have a few answers for your questions."
The Chief sat and produced a recorder. "This is not formal, nobody is being accused or charged with anything, but I find my memory isn't always as good as I'd like, so if nobody objects, I'm going to tape this conversation. Anybody that wants a copy or transcript, I'll be glad to provide you with one."
James, after glancing at the others replied, "No objections, Chief Steffer, but I would like both a copy and a transcript, and Dean and Barbara would like one too."
"Not a problem," Steffer smiled, "My secretary needs the work. Now, can I ask questions first, or would you like answers first? I'll warn you, I don't have many."
"Why don't you ask your questions first, and then give us your answers. Then we may have questions."
The questions were fairly standard. When had they last seen Ron, did they have any idea who had done this, did Ron have any enemies, and so forth. The Chief finally sat back and rubbed his forehead.
"Ok, the last time anybody saw Ron was 11:30 last night, then he's found on the Possible front yard at 6 A.M. Narrows it down some, but about what I expected."
"Now, your answers, Chief." Barbara asked.
"Right, well like I said, we don't have many." He glanced at the two men as if asking for directions.
Dean Stoppable squeezed his wife's hand. "You can say what's necessary in front of our wives, Chief, they are both strong women."
Steffer looked at the two mothers and nodded, "Right. We followed the blood trail to a house a couple of blocks away." He hesitated, "Sorry, Mrs. Stoppable, but the amount of blood made it easy."
Barbara paled and briefly closed her eyes.
"We found the house Ronald was held in. We also found the, ah, implements used to, ah, injure him. We've tracked the owner of the house, but it took a little while because of the weekend. Unfortunately, that didn't help us much."
"Why not?" James gritted.
"It's complicated." Steffer sighed. "The owner of record died six months ago. I haven't been able to get all the details, but there seems to be some sort of inheritance fight going on. All I know for sure is that a judge slapped an order out that no one is allowed on the property until the case is settled."
Anne asked the logical question. "Then do you have any idea who has been using it? Obviously someone broke in."
"No, ma'am, no on both counts. As far as we can figure out, no one has entered the house except Ronald in eight months or more. Which is another reason I needed to talk to your husband."
III.
Kim turned as she felt an arm around her waist.
"Kimmie, would you come with me for a little bit, please?" Her mother asked.
"Is it really necessary, Mom, I need to…"
Anne interrupted her, "I think so, and Kim, you know Ron wouldn't like it if you exhausted yourself."
"I know," Kim whispered, "but it's my fault he's in there."
"Kimberly." Anne pulled her daughter into a tight hug, "that's nonsense. We don't know how this happened or who did it. Don't start blaming yourself until you know what is going on for certain." Anne held her child close, trying to give her a reassurance Anne didn't feel herself. "Honey, I need you to…"
"Mom?"
Anne released Kim, stepping closer to the window, staring intensely at the monitors. "Damn!" She grabbed Kim as she ran into the room's first chamber and began stripping her clothes. "Kim, get those clothes off and these scrubs on, now!"
Kim immediately began jerking her clothes off, "Mom, what's going…"
Her mother was all doctor now, already gloved and gowned. "Later, honey. You know sterile procedure, get gloved and masked and get in there." She rushed into the main room with Ron.
Worried, Kim hurried her changing, and then followed her mother. Dr. Possible was pressing the call button, intently studying two monitors. She tossed the button to Kim, "Kimberly, keep pushing that button until someone answers or someone comes."
Kim only had a moment to wait before Dr Jefferson, suitably masked, came rushing in.
"Anne, what are you..."
"Jack, look at these screens. I may not be the best at reading an ECG, but nobody is better at reading an EEG. Ron's heartbeat is speeding up, and his brainwaves are going crazy."
"You'll have to interpret for me, Anne, is he waking up? I hope not."
Kim was shocked. "Why not? Why don't you want him awake?"
"Because he'll be in agony, that's why," Jefferson answered her impatiently, "with that pneumothorax of his, we can't give him any serious pain killers. They shut down respiration, increasing the chance of pneumonia."
"Jack, grab his arm!" Dr. Possible ordered, as Ron's left arm raised to grasp the bedrail. "He's waking up. Kim, lie across his legs, lightly dammit, just try to keep him still."
"Anne, I think he's coming out of it, and we can't use restraints with those broken bones."
"I know, but maybe light pneumatic splints…"
Several events occurred at once. Dr. Jefferson screamed and went to his knees as Ron freed his arm and grasped the doctor's, Ron's eyes popped open, and lithely evading Anne's startled grasp, he sat up in bed.
"KP…Kiiiiim!" He screamed.
"Kim, get where he can see you." Anne ordered as she tried to gently force Ron's shoulders back down.
Line of sight wasn't working, so Kim came around the bed, to gently cup her boyfriend's face. "Ron, Ronnie, I'm here."
The battered head turned toward her voice, frantic eyes seeking her, "KP…KP…ya awl righ…ya safe…KP?"
Tears came to her eyes at the desperate gurgle. She kissed his forehead, "I'm fine, Ron, just fine."
"Ya…ya…safe…din't ge' ya? Safe?"
"Safe, Ronnie, I'm safe, rest now, please."
"Saf.." Ron collapsed back into Anne's arms.
Kim stared into her mother's equally moist eyes. "What was that all about?"
"I'm not sure, Kim, but I think…"
"Excuse me." Both women turned to a pale Dr. Jefferson, who held one arm in the other, "Could one of you use my cell to call a nurse to help me out of here."
"Jack, what happened to your arm?"
"Anne, I want to hear your theory as soon as possible, but right now, I think your daughter's boy friend just fractured my arm."
Kim's eyes goggled, "Ron…with just one hand…Ron?"
Dr. Jefferson tried to smile through clenched teeth. "He seemed to want to get to you a little desperately, Kim."
"Kim, stay here, if Ron wakes up again, calm him down, like you just did. I'll be right back. Jack, we don't need any more people in here, I'll help you to the nurse's station, and then we'll get a nurse in here 24-7, ok?"
"Right."
IV.
The parents and the Chief watched silently as the young redhead sat beside her boyfriend's bed, gently stroking his hair. The two mothers' were fighting tears. The three men, even the tough cop, were swallowing repeatedly, trying to hold back private emotions.
"Thanks for allowing me up here, Dr. Possible, "the lawman finally whispered, "I think I understand why he did it."
"Who did what?" Barbara asked.
"Mr. Possible, would you like to explain?"
James took a long, slow breath, looking sadly at his wife and their friends. "I haven't had a chance to explain, but when Chief Steffer and I left the table, while you were gone, Anne, I called Wade and had him set up an interrogatory circuit. It confirmed what the Chief told us, no one except Ron had been in that house."
He flinched at the other's stares.
"Anne, it might help you to know that one of the reason's Ronald's injuries are so bad is because they're doubles."
"What do you mean?"
"Ron…Ron escaped once, how we have no idea, but we know he did."
"How?" Dean asked quietly.
"Because when he escaped, he was already injured, badly," Chief Steffer inserted, "probably couldn't move fast enough."
"Fast enough for what?"
"To get away," James looked haunted, "So when he was re-captured," he swallowed heavily, "they just re-booted and started over."