To say that Ron was alarmed was an understatement. He knew Kim, and he knew how confident and even brash his now-girlfriend usually was. She wouldn't have sounded like she was about to cry unless something truly terrible had happened, and Ron wanted to know what it was. He hurried over to the hospital as she had requested and found her with her parents in the waiting area, all three of them clearly devastated. Jim and Tim were nowhere to be seen, so it didn't take a rocket scientist or brain surgeon to figure out something had happened to the boys.
"Hey, Kim. What's—"
Ron couldn't even finish his sentence before a tearful Kim ran over and hugged him. Ron hugged her back and tried to comfort her. "It's okay, KP," he said gently, while silently hoping things really were okay. He still didn't know what had happened, and judging from Kim's behavior it must have been awful.
"Oh God, Ron. This has sniffle been the absolute worst day of my sniffle life." She turned to her parents. "Mom, Dad, can we have a few minutes alone?"
Ann nodded. "Certainly, honey. I want to see if the boys are ready for visitors anyway." She wiped away her own tears as she and James got up. "I need to be with my Jimmy and Timmy right now."
Ron's eyes widened as James and Ann left the room. Ann calling the tweebs Jimmy and Timmy was a massive red flag that whatever happened to them, it was horrible. "Kim, your brothers—"
Kim bit her lip. "It's bad. Sit tight while I pull Wade up. He needs to hear this, too." She pressed a few buttons on her Kimmunicator and Wade's image popped up on it. He was immediately taken aback by how red Kim's cheeks and eyes were from crying. "Kim, are—are you okay?"
"No, Wade. I am not okay." Kim gave the Kimmunicator to Ron and sat down, taking a deep breath. "Guys, before I tell you what's going on, you have to promise me that you'll keep this confidential. This is a very bad, very serious sitch and we don't want it to become common knowledge. Especially with how famous I am."
Ron and Wade both nodded in agreement. Rufus, poking his head out of Ron's pocket, made a zipping motion over his mouth for emphasis. Once they had, Kim swallowed hard. "Jim and Tim were hurt really badly, but not in an accident. Someone—" She immediately started to choke up all over again. "Someone attacked them while they were at school yesterday. They were—they were—" Kim realized then this would be her first time saying the R-word out loud since finding out what happened. It was more difficult than she thought. "They were raped."
Ron was so shocked he almost dropped the Kimmunicator. No wonder Kim was acting so upset. "R-raped?"
Kim nodded. "A teacher at their school did it to them. And—and he also hurt their privates so much they can't be dads now."
That last piece of news got both Ron and Wade to visibly wince. They understood, in a way that Kim herself really couldn't as a female, that the tweebs' experience had to be painful beyond belief.
Kim got a tissue to wipe her eyes as she continued. "We've been dealing with this all day. The police are involved and the piece of shit who did this to them is in jail now, but the tweebs are—" She had to pause for a minute to let a couple of sobs out, and she gave her mission partners a pained look. "You guys know Jim and Tim. You know how wild and crazy they get. They're not acting anything like that now. They're practically scared of their own shadows. I—I don't know if they'll ever be able to get back to their old selves. And it's killing me."
Wade was especially disturbed by what he was hearing. He was the same age as Jim and Tim, after all. "Kim, I—I don't even know what to say. Except I'm sorry."
"Thanks, Wade." Kim blew her nose. "But with all that's going on, I'm going to need to take a break from missions for a while. I mean, if the world's about to get blown up or something, let me know. But right now my brothers have to come first. They need all the help they can get, and our entire family has to focus on getting through this. That's a mission in and of itself."
"Totally understand, Kim. Family's more important than a hobby, even when the hobby is saving the world." Wade tapped a few buttons on his computer. "I've put a notice on the website that you're not accepting new missions at this time. And so you know, I'll be more than happy to get you any information about your brothers' case, especially once it goes to trial. If you want any help, all you have to do is ask."
At that moment, James and Ann walked back into the waiting area. "Kim, the boys are ready for visitors. Only family, though."
Kim looked apologetically at Ron and Wade. "Guys, I have to go. Thank you so much for understanding and just for being here. I couldn't ask for better friends."
Ron turned the Kimmunicator off and gave it back to Kim. "I should get going anyway. I do need to study for that geometry test tomorrow." He went over to Kim and hugged her one last time. "Hang in there, KP. And if you ever want to talk or cry about this, give me a call. I'm always here."
Kim smiled gratefully. Ron always knew just what to say. "Absolutely."
After their hug, Ron took off and Kim followed her parents to a large hospital room down the hallway. Inside, lying on twin beds and wearing hospital gowns, were Jim and Tim. They looked up at their parents and older sister coming into the room, and Kim noticed right away they looked terrible. They had blank stares and seemed almost in a daze.
"Jim? Tim? How are you guys?" she asked worriedly.
"Mr. Gray—what he did—we didn't know it was that bad," Tim managed to say. "We knew it was painful—really painful—but we didn't think—"
"I know, honey. None of us thought that." A tearful Ann went over to the boys' bedside and sat down next to them, giving first Tim and then Jim a hug. "What matters most right now, though, is that everyone in this family is here for you."
"What—what's going to happen to Mr. Gray?" Jim asked.
"He's in jail," Kim told him. "Detective Miller and I arrested him this morning, and I promise he won't hurt you ever again. I broke his nose."
Almost instantly, the boys' trance-like state disappeared as they looked at Kim and actually smiled at her. "You broke his nose?" Tim asked, seeming almost giddy.
Smiling herself, Kim told the boys about her takedown of Mr. Gray and how he had needed medical attention himself before going to jail. Jim and Tim were too hurt inside to truly enjoy much of anything, but this was the closest they had gotten since the attack. It made Kim's hour at the board of inquiry completely worth it. Her brothers still had a long and difficult road ahead, but for now they were happy about something. And she loved seeing that.
