Proposals and Agreements

Bonnie stomped around the gym.

"You cannot be serious." She said, glaring at Kim and then glared at Shelly. "Did you put her up to this?"

"I think she can do it, Bonnie."

"Oh really." Bonnie said, marching up to Shelly and poking her between the breasts. "Did you consider what will-" She paused, and looked over at Kim. "Kim, Shelly and I need to talk about something, don't leave." Then she grabbed Shelly by the arm and dragged her out of the gym.

"Well, that went about like I expected." Kim said to the empty gym.

The dressing room was abandoned right now, so Bonnie decided it was the best place to have her conversation in addition to being conveniently located near the trash bins, making it much easier to hide the body if it came to that.

"Are you insane?" Bonnie hissed.

"No, I've been helping Kim out, and I think."

"That's wonderful. You thought." Bonnie continued, "That this would be a good idea, and I bet she hit you with that Puppy Dog Pout." She paused, "What if she fails? She's just barely gotten back on her feet!"

"Isn't it her choice?"

"No!-Yes! I don't know! ARRGGH!" Bonnie grabbed her hair like she was about to pull it out. "Fine. We'll get a second opinion."

"What?"

"Dr. Peterson." Bonnie said. "That or no deal." She paused, "WHAT?"

Shelly looked at her. "If what I've heard is right…this is a first. Bonnie Rockwaller is at a loss for words or plans."

"No, Bonnie Rockwaller is smart enough to know when to run off and get help like a screaming little girl."

They both than walked out to where Kim was and Bonnie gave the ultimatum.

Kim nodded. "Okay." Bonnie looked around. "Where's Ron?"

"Present, Ma'am!" Ron waved from his position on the Bleacher. "I had to hide, several girls saw me, and overcome by my roguish charm-"

"Right…" Bonnie said, "did he hit his head?" She asked Kim.

"No." Kim said.

"So this is normal for him now."

"He's been talking about getting a hook hand and demanding that 'arrr' be permitted as a proper word in English class."

"We're doomed." Bonnie muttered. "Capn' Nacho, get your butt down here, we're going to see the doctor."

Cindy was finishing up some paperwork about the terrible mental demons that had driven a student to key two teachers car. Unfortunately, she couldn't write the simple English diagnosis, which would have read: "Brat didn't get enough training from Mommy and Daddy about property rights. Either paddle or make him work to pay it back until he learns more about said rights." So, she was consulting her books to say the same thing in language that wouldn't cause people to call her Attilla the Hun.

When the four students came in, She put her report away. Bonnie looked Frazzled… which was pretty unusual. Still, the others didn't look nearly as upset, so it was more likely than not a BonnieMeltdown.

"Kim wants to start cheerleading again."

Okay, so it wasn't just a BonnieMeltdown. Cindy felt the prick of concern rise up, Kim had come walking in, but she still needed her cane, and this was a good day.

Tell me she hasn't decided she can get back to normal. I thought we'd crossed that bridge.

"That's…." Cindy didn't let her concern touch her voice, "A rather impressive goal."

"And it's not what I said." Kim said, giving Bonnie a mild glare. "I said." She continued, "That if I can get in shape, I would like to do one game, not even the whole game."

"That's a bit more realistic, but still, I-" She looked at the others. "Could you all wait outside? This has become a consultation." The other three nodded, and left. When the door closed, Cindy looked at Kim, in a no-nonsense way. "Why Kim?" She asked, "You'll never be able to do this in college, not that you need it, with all your scholarships, so why? Even if you could do it, and that's by no means certain, you'll be spending most of your senior year in great pain to achieve it. She leaned back. "Bonnie isn't someone who normally punts a decision to the higher authority, so you have to understand how badly this shook her."

"Yeah." Kim said, softly, "We probably should have prepared her…still seeing Bonnie at a loss for words like that…"

"Well there was that." Cindy agreed, "But you haven't answered the question."

"Okay." Kim said, and took a breath, "Shego…one of the things she loved joking about was that my cheer days were over. After she…" She gestured at her lower spine, "She asked if they'd roll me out in a wheel chair." She shrugged, "Right before she told me I was going to die in there, of course."

"And?"

"And I don't want her to be right." Kim said, quietly, but fiercely. "I can't be a college cheer leader, hell I can't even be a regular cheer leader, but I want one last game, one last time, and then…and then I can walk into the locker room, take my stuff out of the locker and walk out for the last time, and I'll know it was my decision. I did go out there one more time, and did it, and now I'll go on with my life…but my life, not what Shego had planned."

"And if it doesn't work out?" Cindy asked, "If at the end of the day, Bonnie tells you that you just can't do it, that if you went out there people would only be applauding out of pity?"

"Then I don't go. But I'll have tried." Kim looked up at Cindy and she saw unshed tears in the teens eyes. "Shego beat me, Cindy…not when I was in that room, not when I was starving, or holding on to Ron. I understand, now, why I did, it and you're right, I couldn't have done anything else." Kim paused, and pulled up her long sleeve shirt, revealing the ugly scars.

"She beat me here…when I gave up. When I tried to kill myself, because I couldn't face the world." Kim looked over to the door, "I'm here now, because of them, and you, and Mr. Barkin, and My Parents, and…" she laughed, and her voice caught, "the Tweebs, who did everything they could even though they didn't' have any idea what to do." She turned back to Cindy, "But I owe you all more than to just keep existing."

"You'll never just 'exist,' Kimberly Ann Possible." Cindy calmly said.

"Maybe, but I don't want to go on knowing that anything Shego said, ended being right." Kim said, iron in her voice.

And then it ran out, and she was just a vulnerable teenaged girl sitting in front of Cindy. "So…Tell me true, doctor, am I just being too…'Kim' again. Can I try this? I don't know if I am right or If I'm fooling myself…so what do you think?" No puppy dog pout, no attempt to wheedle her way through it. No denial of the possibility that the answer might be 'no.'

Just an adult asking another adult a question and expecting an honest answer.

Cindy paused, and thought.

"This is going to hurt, Kimberly…physically it's going to hurt a great deal."

"I'm not unacquainted with pain." Kim said sadly, "especially not now."

"No. You aren't. But what if you fail, you've asked me to tell you true, and now I ask you. Will you be able to go on if you fail?"

"That's an easy question." Kim quietly said. "If I don't try, I've failed from the start. If I try, even if I do fail physically, she still didn't beat me. I tried."

Cindy paused, and then nodded. "Then I think you and your team have some exercise options to go over. I'll speak to your physical therapist about this. He and I have an understanding."

"You work together?"

"No. When we were teenagers, I called and told him to get out of his wife-to-be's bedroom just in time to avoid her father. He owes me."

TBC.