Kim’s mother was concerned by how distraught her daughter looked. Mrs. Dr. Possible was far from unaffected by Shego’s condition – having spent a few days as a prisoner of the Acceptable Family and seen what an extended stay did to Betty Director, she had a great deal of sympathy for what Shego went through. More importantly, she could see that Kim considered Shego a new, fast friend, which was a lot for a young woman who had never really bothered to form close bonds beyond Ron, Monique, and Wade. So it was with sorrow that Mrs. Dr. Possible left the operating room.
Still, the level of Kim’s misery surprised her. She didn’t know many details of what had happened to Shego besides Drew being at fault somehow, but there was obviously something going on that she didn’t know about. Maybe more than one thing.
“Mom?” Kim asked as she approached. “Shego, were you able to – save her?” The hope in her voice was close to desperate.
Mrs. Dr. Possible sighed. “I’m sorry, Kimmie,” she said compassionately. “We were able to stabilize her vital signs but – she’s brain dead, Kim. She’ll be in a coma for the rest of her life.”
Behind Kim, Ron’s face fell. “Aw, hell,” he muttered. “KP – “
“No,” Kim said, raising a hand to his mouth. “Don’t say it, don’t say anything.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “You’ll only make it worse.”
“Kim,” her mother said. “I realize you haven’t been friends for very long – “
Kim interrupted her with a bitter involuntary laugh. “I’m no friend to her. I’ve hurt her worse than any enemy did.”
“That’s not true, KP.”
“Who pushed the button, Ron? Who put her in that coma? Who ruined her…”
“Be that as it may, Kim,” Mrs. Dr. Possible said, worried, “you’ve spent more time with her lately than anybody. Does she have any family that you know of? Next of kin?”
Kim shook her head. “She had – has no one. Her parents died when she was born, and her childhood was just a series of orphanages and foster homes. I just found out myself.”
“Well, at some point there’s going to be a decision regarding her future. She’ll be on a ventilator the rest of her life. With proper care, she could go on living for decades – if you can call it living, Kim. I don’t know if Shego ever mentioned anything like a living will, even an idea of what she’d want in this situation…”
Kim looked at her in horror. “Her life support could be turned off?”
“Without a family member to make that kind of decision for her, or a living will in her name, a guardian would have to be appointed, and then she could be taken off the ventilator, yes.”
“So she could still die.” She looked away. “She might prefer that. She’d hate being stuck in a bed for 50 years.” But if Shego died, so much blood on Kim’s hands… was she really any better than John Acceptable?
“Any insight you could offer, Kimmie, would only be in Shego’s best interests. Do you want to see her now?”
Kim started to nod her head, and then stopped. “No, not right now, Mom,” she said quietly. “I’m not ready.” Then she turned away and started walking.
Ron looked helplessly at her mother before he ran after. “KP, wait, you have to stop blaming yourself for this,” he said.
“Why?” she asked without stopping. “Did this somehow magically become not my doing?”
“There’s blame to go around, Kim.”
“Drakken paid already.”
“I should know, I'm the guy who pulled you off of him. Actually, I meant me.”
Kim whirled on him. “What?!”
“Me,” he repeated. “And not that I want to get him in trouble, but your father too. We’re the ones who pushed you to wait before you left. Hell, Kim, I’m the one who reminded you about bringing the silicon phase disruptor. If you’d gone there without it, this might never have happened.” Ron looked away from him. “I did this to her too.”
“Ron, I get what you’re trying to do, and I appreciate it, but it’s different for me.”
“Different? Why? Because you pushed a button?!”
“Yes! And because our last time together was a horrible fight! And because – “
“Because what?”
She almost said it was because she had feelings for Shego, because she had a dismal suspicion that they could have had something special together. If that was true, then she’d be haunted forever by the ruin of two futures – Shego’s, and her own.
That possibility was too dreadful to voice, however.
“Because I can do anything,” she said instead before she took off again, moving as fast as she felt she could in a hospital, until Ron was left behind.