Chapter 7- Battle

Chapter 7- Battle

Six weeks and two days since Shego was in her accident, and Kim was still distraught. She had avoided missions, preferring to let Global Justice handle Professor Dementor and the other villains that they had normally deemed beneath them. She had almost taken up residence in the hospital, and only left for the six hours a day that she had class and then go home to sleep when the nurses asked her to leave, usually around eleven at night. It had become a daily ritual.

She would get up early, check for any changes at the hospital, and then go to school. There, she would ignore the jibes from those students who simply did not understand. Two fellow students in particular seemed to revel in Kim's hardship. One was Bonnie Rockwaller.

And today was especially bad for whatever reason. This particular Monday, Bonnie had taken up a petition (yet again) to have Kim taken off the team.

"Why this time?" Kim asked tiredly, filling in answers on her math homework.

"Kim, you haven't even been around for two months. It is the Captain's job to make the routines, and if you're not here to give them to us, we can't perform."

"So take the job;" Kim said with a shrug, "since you're so mad at me. It is the job of Vice-Captain to take over if the captain can't fulfill their duty." She could recite the rule book too, and having written the blasted thing. "So you do it." She shut her book and stood up. "Instead of bitching to me, do your damned job." Kim hissed at her, and stood up so that they were looking eye-to-eye at each other. "Stop pulling me down simply you can't get the guts to bring yourself up."

What happened next was just a bit unexpected. Bonnie slapped her. Hard. The strike turned Kim's head to the side and the sound reverberated through the Study Hall.

"How dare you Possible!" Bonnie said, "You think that because I'm trying to get you to do your job that I'm trying to pull you down to my level?" She scoffed and folded her arms. "Like I'd want someone like you at my level."

It took everything within Kim to not rip Bonnie apart. She could do it too. She had sixteen styles of Kung Fu at her command, and all of them had lethal moves to go with them. But no, she had also been drilled in discipline (A fact she sometimes lamented).

Not to mention that were she in prison, she could not see Shego. So instead she decided to keep her dignity and simply packed up her books. "Bonnie, I think you just proved my point." She said, and walked out, her cheek throbbed, but she felt so good about not taking the bait and fighting back. As she left, Bonnie was being sent to the principal's office. Revenge, even if she did not perform it, was oh so sweet.

As Kim wandered the halls until her next class, she spotted Monica making out with her current boyfriend against a set of lockers. She ignored it as best she could and opened the door to her own locker down the hall. The familiar face of Wade came over her locker computer almost as soon as she opened it, the picture she had of Shego in a long green coat fluttered slightly against the door.

"What's the sitch Wade?" She asked tiredly, and Wade shrugged.

"No sitch Kim, just wanted to give you an update on Shego like you asked me too."

Kim brightened a little, "And, any change?" Kim asked, praying for an answer than the one she thought was coming.

"No Kim. Just the regular readings. No spike yet today." Shego had been having spikes in activity, and it seemed to happen whenever Kim was around, doctors recorded no other major activity when Kim was at school or elsewhere. Only when Kim was there. The doctors had no idea what was going on, but Kim knew. Shego was trying to get out, and she wanted to do it with Kim there for whatever reason. Why Shego would want to talk to her after what she had done was beyond her.

"Alright. Thanks Wade." Kim said, and grabbed her books. Then she heard a noise behind her and came face to face with Monica. Monica who had cheated on Shego, and Monica who it seemed was related to Depths Murky.

"So, my uncle is getting three years." She said, scowling at the redhead with utmost contempt.

Kim shrugged and shut her locker door, fighting again to not hit someone. But Monica would not just let her be. Instead, she pressed Kim against the locker. "My uncle, who happens to be the only person in my family that I can stand, is getting three years probation, and got his license suspended because of that freaky loser!" She said, and Kim had had enough. She dropped her books and grabbed Monica in a wrist lock, driving her to her knees before leaning down to talk in her ear in a manner that shocked even her. In that moment, it almost felt as though she were embodying the old Shego that had threatened her in detention, and it felt good to not play the good girl for once.

"You're going to listen to me." Kim said, her voice harsh and so unlike herself. "I don't give a damn about your sleaze ball of an uncle. He has a suspended license and probation, big flipping deal." She twisted a little and Monica yelped, "Right now Shego's in a coma because your Uncle was trying to submit a very unflattering article about Shannon and I to the paper he works for." She twisted again, "An article that I think you may have tipped him off for." One more twist and Monica was nearing tears, "So really, when you think about it, this is your fault." She smirked, an expression that she had adopted from Shego before continuing. "It is your fault your uncle got what he did. If I had any say in the matter, he'd be in prison." She said, fighting to keep her stony demeanor. "And it is your fault that I've got you like this. Because you can't leave well-enough alone." She let go then, and backed up a step before picking up her books. "So you stay away from me, and I'll promise to not beat you into the bed next to Shego's." She cocked her head to the side and plastered a bright smile on her face. "Okay?"

Monica nodded and ran off, clutching her wrist to her. Kim sighed and rested against the locker to wait for the next bell to ring, mulling over what she had just said. She did not really think it was Monica's fault, or so the semi-rational part of her said. That honor rested on Kim's shoulders for sending Shego away.

The bell rang and Kim stood, wading through the crowd and the jeers that she had never really noticed before that were aimed at her. Most of them were queer jokes and the like, and Kim could handle that easily enough. But the ones that were at Shego's expense tore her apart inside. How could people be that heartless? Not even the villains she fought were this cruel.

It took every fiber of her being to be able to make it through the rest of her classes without lashing out again. As three o'clock rolled around, Kim bolted out of the building and drove as fast as she felt comfortable. Inside, she spoke to the nurse at the desk who greeted her with a smile and a nod before checking off the information on a list she had made for repeat visitors. Kim had come every day (with the exception of one day where she had testified against Depths Murky) for six weeks, a record unprecedented in all of the nurse's time working at that hospital.

Inside Shego's room, Kim set her things down at a small table that had she had brought from home. The folding table served as her desk while Kim was visiting. Indeed, she had even taken to talking to Shego while she did her work, among other things.

"Hi Shego." Kim said, and bent to kiss her on the cheek. Her bruises were almost gone now, with only a sickly yellow-green color remaining in certain places. The doctors had also removed the bandages around Shego's head, and there was quite a bit of growth A small part of her mind hoped that Shego would wait to wake until her hair had grown back.

"You wouldn't believe it Shego." Kim said, and sat down on the edge of the slim bed, gripping Shego's hand in hers. "I went nuts on Monica today…" She smirked again, "Now I think I know why you liked fighting so much, especially when people spoke badly of you, her wrist is going to be sore for a few days." She leaned down again, telling herself that she wasn't going to cry today. She had not cried in two weeks. Shego would have blown a gasket to see her crying again.

"So you keep fighting, and I'll do my chemistry…" Then she remembered that Shego had been working on a chemistry paper when the accident had happened. It was part of her final grade. Had anyone told the adult education person she wondered, and resolved to do so that afternoon. That was the only real loose end that had to be cleaned up.

After word had gotten around that Shego was in the hospital, people started pitching in. Drew, her trainer, had started to learn from the physical therapy people what he would need to know when Shego woke up, his elder brother Eddie had offered to fix Shego's bike, which had gotten trashed on impact. He, in conjunction with Wade, would have it back to rights (and with many extra gadgets) any day now.

And then there had been the small media surge when Kim's relationship had been revealed. As part of Murky's trial, Kim had been asked to testify, and so she had. During the cross examination the question had come about as to the nature of the article in question from Shego's attorney, and Murky's had objected on the grounds that it was irrelevant. The judge overruled when Mr. Trippim explained to him that the point would be revealed after the question, and that it was a key point of his argument.

So Kim had come clean, to the entirety of the Middleton Tri-county Municipal Court room, and shortly following, to the rest of the country. She had read some of the articles written about them, most of which were thankfully short due to the under-the-radar nature of their relationship. If anything, it had only increased Shego's standing among the wrestling community. Her level of fan mail had doubled. Granted, the majority of the letters were coming from teenaged boys, but regardless, it was support.

Kim remembered that there had been one letter that had upset her. It was from a family she had saved from an avalanche the previous winter that begged her to recant her sins before God. Apparently despite all the good deeds she had done for the world she was still hell-worthy. And Shego? Well, Shego was going to hell for a number of reasons, the least of which being that she was a lesbian. The letter went into alarming detail about the punishment that awaited them in the underworld, and cited everything from Dante's Inferno to the Bible itself (Leviticus).

Someone that she had saved, that had said "Bless you child" to her in front of news cameras and the world at large, had condemned her. She had had problems even fathoming the hypocrisy involved. Fortunately, the media attention had petered down to nothing within two weeks of her saying "no comment" and performing a flip over every member of the paparazzi she saw. She had also promised interviews with several major magazines and television shows three weeks after Shego woke up, of course, who knew when that would be.

After a moment of looking down at the unmoving face that belonged to Shannon Gomez, she turned away and sat at her makeshift desk. Knowing that Shego was not there half the time was not a comforting thought, and threatened her sanity much of the time, but she could not bring herself to not come. She had (HAD) to be there when Shego opened her eyes again.

She sighed and cracked open her book. The word problems dragged one into the next and the time also dragged. At six o'clock, the nurse came in to replace the IV bag and check Shego's vitals, they were still steady. "Still no change…" She said, and shook her head, trying to offer a comforting look in Kim's direction. Kim just shrugged, "She'll snap herself out of this." She assured the nurse, "And then she's gonna bitch about her hair being gone."

"Good one." The nurse said, chuckling quietly as she excused herself from the room. Once the nurse was gone, Kim reached a hand over the bed's railing and ran her hand through Shego's hair.

"If only she knew that I wasn't joking." Kim said to her, smiling softly, "That's gonna be the first thing out of your mouth, and I'd be willing to bet on it."

Just watch and see Princess.

Shego thought, in that bizarre state between lucidness and sleep just before the sensors registered that she was awake. She had no idea why she did not register right away, but it gave her time to just listen to what Kim was up to. Much of the time what she heard was painful, Kim having to put up with homophobic jerks all the time. Kim was not gay, she knew that, she did not care. She had Kim's affection, that's what mattered to her, but most of the world simply could not understand that. She certainly was not pleased about her hair, but there were more important things. The most important being that she could tell that this was absolutely tearing Kim apart, and every day she tried to break out of this ridiculous prison and just tell her it was going to be alright.

But there were other things, the fan mail was hilarious to listen too, especially from the teenage boys who obviously thought she was hot. And the daily reports about how her brothers were doing. They had been scripted to win the tag-team championship this year, and while she knew that Hego was up for the heavyweight title, she could not remember exactly how the outcome would be, in any case, the match was sure to be a good one. Kim had even been kind enough to turn the wrestling on for her a few times when she was not swamped with work. That Kim would put on a TV show she detested for someone who for all she knew could not even hear it was a very gratifying thing, and it made her rethink just what she thought of Kim. Yes, she thought that she was amazing. How could she not? Kim was strong, proud, intelligent, independent, beautiful, and as well as passionate and giving. But there were those three words that Shego had never been able to say to another person outside her family. She did not simply give out "I love you"s like they were candy. She had stopped herself several times before the accident had even happened. But she wanted to tell Kim. It was going to be alright, and Shego loved her, loved her and more than forgave her. She had never blamed Kim in the first place.

She rested for a moment as Kim grumbled about her chemistry homework. She could wait until Kim was done before attempting to break free of herself, which would probably be seven o'clock, or thereabouts. Kim would go to the bathroom (she always went after she finished her homework). As Kim got up, Shego sighed inwardly. So predictable. The wait for Kim to get back seemed to take hours, though from the rhythmic beeping of her heart monitor, she could tell is was only a minute or two. As Kim was coming back, something changed that she had no control over. She was still buried, but it felt like some layers of whatever was keeping her trapped in her own mind had lifted. Yes. This was a good time, for whatever reason. And it certainly helped that Kim had started to talk again, just about something random and inconsequential, but it gave her something to focus on.

She pressed against her mind, forcing her way into that part of herself that she used to control her eyes. She had to see Kim. Had to. The heart monitor next to her started to pick up, and in a flash Kim was by her side, holding her hand again. She was always there supporting her, egging her on. Yes, there was a hand on her face, she could smell Kim's perfume. Closer… closer… She could feel the brightness beyond her eyelids. Just a little more… Come on…

Shego's monitors were going crazy almost as soon as Kim came back from her bathroom break. She sure had amazing timing. Kim took her hand and glanced at the machine that measured her brainwaves. There were huge spikes that she had not seen before. If this was it… Kim pressed a hand to Shego's cheek and leaned herself over so that she could look at her. The faintest motion in Shego's eyes. Yes! She was snapping out of it.

"Come on Shego…" Kim said, and kissed her cheek somewhat frantically. "I swear, if you wake up now, I'll not only go to your next match, I'll wear the little black dress…" She smiled slightly. Shego loved that dress for some reason that she had not been specified, but Kim almost never wore it unless there was something important. It was a little revealing than most of Kim's wardrobe. Even as Kim finished the sentence, Shego's heart rate had spiked again.

"Oh, so you can hear me?" Kim said, a little in awe. She leaned back down, hitting the call button on the remote control for Shego's bed.

The heart rate monitor slacked off then, and Kim turned away to look and make sure that all was normal. When she was assured that indeed everything was as it should be (heart rate wise), she turned back with a sigh, and waited to see what was going to happen next.

Disclaimer:

I've had a really bad week, and therefore make no promises that this was any good. All characters presented herein with the exceptions of Depths Murky and Monica are property of Walt Disney Corporation. I hold no claim over them and I am not making any monetary profit from their use.