The Gift: Chapter 4
I.
A low moan jerked Kim out of the exhausted sleep she had finally fallen into. The hospital bed she was lying in had been placed beside and level with Ron's so that she could watch him by only turning her head. Infrequently, throughout the night, Ron's unconscious moans and whimpers of pain had jolted her awake, hoping he had awoken. Each time she had been disappointed. The hand she had held, even in sleep, twitched, then suddenly clenched, only her surprised yelp of pain causing the crushing grasp to weaken.
"KP?"
"Ron?" She hurriedly leaned over him, "Ron, are you awake? Ron?"
"KP," the barely audible voice spoke, " wha' ya' doin'? Ya a' righ'?"
Tears welled in her tired eyes, barely alive, and her love's first thought was of her. "I'm fine, Ron, don't worry about me. Let me get the doctor."
His hand lightly kept her beside him. "Wait, don' go ye'. Got to know, di' ya beat 'em?"
"Who, Ronnie?"
"Things, did thi', didn' ge' ya?"
"Ron, look at me, don't I look all right?"
The battered visage that turned slightly towards her almost made her lose control. Yesterday, the bruises had been bad, but this morning! His eyes were almost closed by the swollen discolored flesh. How he could see her, she didn't know. The puffed, blood filled lips tried to smile.
"Ye', beu'ful, li' a'ways." The eyes closed the quarter inch they had managed to open, Ron collapsed back into blackness.
Fully awake now, Kim glanced at her watch, "Mom should be awake now." She snatched the phone up, dialing home.
The second ring had barely started when her mother answered, "Possible residence, Dr. Possible speaking."
"Mom, it's Ron."
"What happened?"
"He woke up for a moment."
"Did he say anything?"
"Just asked if I was safe."
A thoughtful silence answered her.
"Mom, could you bring my mission clothes and the Kimmunicator when you come?"
"Of course, why?"
"I need to talk to Wade, and possibly see some people."
"Kimmie…"
"Mom, I need to do something."
"All right, we'll talk when I get there, should be about an hour."
"Thanks, Mom."
II.
Dr. Possible entered the room properly gowned, gloved, and masked. "Kim, has he revived again?"
"Just for the moment, Mom."
Dr. Possible checked the printout graphs that has occasionally issued from the monitors during the night, and then carefully examined Ron. Satisfied, she turned to her anxious daughter.
"Kim, I left your clothes, yes, I brought mission clothes too, outside. I want you to go to my office, use the shower, and change into street clothes for now."
"But, Mom…"
"No buts, I'll stay here until the nurse arrives, then join you. Then we are going to get some breakfast and talk."
"All right, street clothes, for now." Kim grudgingly agreed. As she left, she kept glancing involuntarily back at Ron, to her mother's amusement.
"Kim, go, I think I can be trusted to take care of him."
Kim blushed, speeding up her departure.
III.
Wrapped in a towel, Kim exited the small shower in her mother's office, coming to a startled halt as she found her mother and father waiting.
"Daddy!"
Mr. Dr. Possible flushed, quickly standing and turning his back to his daughter. Kim grabbed her clothes, and retreated into the shower stall, accompanied by her mother's stifled giggles.
A glaring, sore elbowed daughter rejoined her parents shortly.
"That was so not funny," She fumed. "and why don't you have someplace to dress besides the shower."
"There is some jealousy already about my private shower," her mother barely concealed her laughter, "a private dressing room would be way over the top. Besides, he's your father, he's bathed you before."
"When she was three!" Mr. Dr. Possible objected, "Anne, some things have changed since then. You could have said something."
"Thank you, Daddy."
Both glared at Anne, who only laughed, "I forgot, all right. The lack of a dressing room never bothered you before, James. And, Kim, the look on your faces…"
"Never bothered you before? So not even going there!" Kim shuddered as her father flushed brightly.
:"Besides," the neurosurgeon continued, "we all needed to lighten up a little. Ron is not going to die. That is a minor miracle in and of its self."
Her family stared at her. "Chief Steffer did not tell everything that was done to Ron, probably because you and Barbara were there, Kim, but I've talked to the surgeons and reviewed his charts. Believe me; he was in even worse shape than you thought."
Kim was shocked, "Mom, how much worse?"
"You really don't need to know, Kimmie, or you either, James." The doctor firmly halted her husband's beginning objection. "Ron will heal. He is in for a lot of pain, Jack was right about that, pain medications are out. The only mystery is…" she was interrupted by a knock on the door. When she called permission, an orderly entered with three breakfast trays. After thanking him, Anne ushered him out and returned to her chair.
"Eat and then we'll discuss your plans, Kimmie."
IV.
Handing the Kimmunicator to Kim, Anne began, "I assume you want to go after whoever did this to Ron, Kim, but there are some problems with that."
"Problems?"
"For one, I don't want you getting too far from Ron until he gets better. He could do himself further injury if he gets excited again."
Kim reluctantly nodded.
"Two, Chief Steffer has not been able to come up with much information, and he won't, until Monday, when the state offices open. I know what you're thinking, but having Wade hack government computers could get him arrested. I know patience is not your strong suit, Kim, but waiting is the only option."
Kim began to object when her father interrupted, "Kimmie-cub, whoever did this was a robotics expert. That kind of capability is not common. I've already called some people in the field, and they will get back to me with names and possiblilities shortly. Remember, this person not only had to write the programs, he had to build the hardware. By tomorrow I think between myself, Wade, and the Chief, we will have narrowed the suspects considerably."
Kim wanted to object, but could find no stronger argument than her need for action.
Mrs. Dr. Possible hugged her daughter, "Just a little patience, Kim, is that too much to ask? For Ron."
Defeated, Kim slumped, "No, Mom, I'll stay."
"Now, some good news, if he wakes up a few more times, I should be able to see a pattern on the EEG that will allow us to predict when he's going to wake up. That means you can go to school tomorrow."
James began laughing as his daughter gave his wife a disgusted look, "This is what you call 'good news', Mom?"
IV.
Kim exited the isolation room to collapse sobbing into Barbara's arms.
"How long?" She managed
Barbara held the young girl comfortingly, "Not long, Kimberly, maybe two or three minutes. Then you woke up."
Barbara had watched her son's entire body clench in pain, and then relax as he seemed to realize Kim was beside him. He had weakly raised his right arm to clumsily stroke the bright hair beside him with bandaged fingers, waking the girl. Then she had seen his swollen lips move before he collapsed.
"What did he say, Kim?"
"Just…just the same, was I safe," the girl held by gentle arms whispered, "then he…he said 'love you."
"He does you know. I hadn't realized how much until this." Barbara soothed. "How was he last night?'
Kim raised her head to stare into sympathetic blue eyes. "He never woke up last night, he moaned in his sleep, but when he woke up this morning, and every time since, all he wants is to know I'm all right. He hasn't complained once."
Ron's mother nodded, "Another good thing about you being with him."
"I don't understand."
"Ronnie won't complain while you're there, he doesn't want to worry you."
Kim was shocked, "Worry me? After what he's been through?"
Barbara ignored the question, "They can't give him anything for the pain, remember, so I would be just as happy to have him ignore it and pass out, instead of hearing him scream when we can't help."
She pulled the teenagers head back to her shoulder, stroking her hair in sympathy. "I know it sounds cold, but it's best."
Kim partially relaxed into the semi-familiar comfort until she heard her mother.
"Exactly right, Barbara, that's why I sent James home. He was having a hard time watching Ron suffer. The excuse I provided him was that someone needed to be home to explain to Tim and Jim what was happening when they got home."
Barbara smiled back, "I couldn't stand to see Dean suffer either, that's why I told him he needed to go home and take Rufus over to the twins. He and James and the twins don't need to be here."
Kim felt like she was being let in on some sort of feminine conspiracy. The two older women were worried sick, but they were trying to help their husbands deal with the situation.
"Mom, Mrs. Stoppable, I don't…"
Anne smiled at her precocious daughter. "You'll find out, Kim. Men, for the most part, do not do well with bedsides. Your father and Dean would just stand here getting madder and madder, this way they have something to do."
Barbara agreed. "Don't think they wouldn't be here in a minute if necessary, Kim, but this is easier on everyone."
Kim still felt confused, "But they…"
"Kimmie," Anne interrupted gently, "both your father and Dean are strong men, they feel guilty, though they will never admit it, that they allowed this to happen."
"That makes no sense. Nobody could have…"
"Kimberly, " Barbara explained, "never let anyone tell you strong men don't have emotions, they just show them differently. You love my Ronald, and as you grow closer, you'll understand how we know how our husbands are thinking."
Kim wanted to argue, she knew Ron, after all they had been best friends forever, but seeing the knowing looks in the older women's eyes, she decided to postpone that discussion until she and her mother were alone.
V.
James and Dean sat at the Possible table drinking coffee, James worried about the unnatural silence. The twins had heard that Ron had been hit by a car, but James had told them the truth. That shock had worried them so much that Rufus was in no danger of a test launch.
"Dean, is there anything Anne or I…" the phones ringing interrupted him.
"Yes….hello, Mrs. Renton…no. tell Felix that Ron is not allowed visitors right now…yes, I'll let him know as soon as Ron's able."
James listened a moment, "His father is here with me, I'll pass that along. Perhaps you can help us, do you know any one who could program and build a system to capture andtorture someone…yes, don't spread it around, please, but that's what happened."
He listened for a moment, "Well, thanks, I don't know if that will help, but I will tell Ronald that Felix and you send your best. Yes, thanks, Goodbye."
He hung the phone up, to turn and stare thoughtfully at Dean.
"Jim, did you learn anything."
"I'm not sure. Do you know the Rentons'?"
"I've met a Felix Renton."
"That was his mother. She's a cybernetic robotics expert at the Space Center."
"I assume you asked her if she knew anyone who could do this?"
"Yes, I did. That's what's puzzling. She said she knew one and only one person who could do the programming and building, that's the problem."
"Why is that a problem?"
"I knew the man she mentioned, he died about six months ago."
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To all who read and reviewed thanks, you give me the incentive to keep this going. I realize this chapter may be a little slow, but I wanted to explore the different reactions of the people involved. There is a time line involved, as you may assume from the chapter titles.
kpandron: hope this meets with your expectations
surforst: (forgive me if I misspelled your name). You are very close, not in the bull, but the 30-20 ring.
Matt. thanks for all the encouragement.