Story: Life's Worth (chapter 4)

Authors: Handj

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Chapter 4

A/N: Okay I would like to clarify something, Kim here was having a retrograde amnesia, the inability to recollect the memories that happened before the injury, but I’m not changing the line “she might have anterograde amnesia” as said by Anne Possible in the previous chapter since it is one of the probable sequelae of a brain injury.

Chapter 4

We could start weaning the patient.

“--?”

Patient's vital sign stable, latest laboratory work up has improved, the patient is responding well with the new drug -

If the condition remains within 24 hours, we could drop aminophylline already.

“What the - “

You did it, I am so proud of you Kimmie!

KPKPKP

I opened my eyes and was greeted by the sight of Shego closely snuggled to me. Her head was placed on the crook of my neck, her lips was so close to kissing the skin over that said area, one of her arms was draped over my abdomen, and a leg was placed across my lower extremities. I turned my head and looked down at her and smiled. I can't help it… having Shego here in my arms felt great, something I'll never trade for anything else. I removed some of the hair obstructing her face with my free arm and I placed a kiss on her forehead causing my green skinned wife to stir a bit. Now...how do I get out of this position without waking her up...

“I know your awake Pumpkin and don't you try to get up and do something chaotic in the kitchen again.” Shego mumbles which caused me to laugh,

“I can't get it how you pretend to be sleeping very well!” I asked her smiling.

“It's one of my many talents Pumpkin!” She said then she slowly removed her arm from my abdomen but I stopped her action and returned that arm to where it was. I looked at her tilt her head and looked me in the eye

“Let's stay for a while longer, the kids aren't awake yet anyway.” I whispered.

“How do you know that?” she raised a single brow at me.

“They haven't barged in yet like crazy monsters - ” I replied.

“Your little monsters by the way.” she smiled at me, pushed herself up and placed a kiss on my cheek

“Do that again...” I urged her,

“Do what?”

“The kiss,” I said smiling. I watched her shook her head but then she slowly pushed herself up once again to kiss my cheek but I turned my head quickly so instead of her kissing my cheek, it landed on my waiting lips…

She was smiling when she pulled away, “Nice move,” she teased, “If you wanted that kind of kiss, all you have to do is a - “ I didn’t let her finish that sentence as I dived in and caught her lips with mine. This time I did not think, I just go with what my heart was telling me to do, and that was to kiss my wife passionately. I did just that and did get the response I wanted from Shego. I felt her gasped and I took that opportunity to slide my tongue inside her mouth...

This felt good, this felt right.

I felt Shego's hand on my abdomen started making circular movement making the feeling deep inside of me to intensify. I responded well with the action as my free arm started caressing her side automatically and then I felt her hand stopped and then continued but instead it started traveling northward and under my night shirt. That same hand landed on the side of a breast, ‘it’ hand started caressing my ribs over that area, and I could feel my muscles there contract causing me to moan into the kiss, I felt her smile while our lips were still locked together, and then slowly she lets that hand travel centripetally to capture a mound and squeezed gently...

Then it happened. I froze and my brain started processing different kind of thoughts...Is this right? Is what I’m doing right? Let us say that I do really have an amnesia, isn’t it unfair for me to do this things when I can't even recall being in love with Shego?

As my mind started conjuring up crazy scenarios and crazy questions, my body responded as well. I stiffened, my lips unlocked with hers and my eyes widened. I know Shego noticed this as I found her looking at me with a pained expression on her face and eyes when my brain jump starts again...

And by luck that awkward moment was interrupted by a pale-green skinned girl rushing in the room yelling “WAKE UP MOMMY, MOMMA!”

I smiled at her and said “Kids...” Oh yeah, now I put the blame on the kid barging in as the reason for my sudden withdrawal from that passionate interchange.

“Yeah.” Shego said smiling, deep inside I know that she was just making up that smile…

I hurt her once again

“Shego - “

“I need to get up and cook breakfast, Shane will be asking for it.” She said before she stood up and heads to the comfort room to arrange herself...or cry maybe

I would have followed her if not for Shane crawling onto me and snuggling, “Mommy, I want to play.” she said as she leaned her head on my chest, I nodded my head even though Shane can't see me.

KPKPKP

Shego was working quietly on our breakfast. I on the other hand was quietly watching her. I was seated on a chair in the kitchen; my chin rests on my palm that was propped on the kitchen table. I have no idea what Shego was cooking, but from the way I acted earlier, I do hope she wasn’t making anything to kill me. Shane and Kish were at the living room watching a Japanese cartoon, I guess that the process of cooking our breakfast today will be slower than the previous days so I thought a bit of distraction would be needed so that the kids will forget about their growling stomachs for a while longer. Aside from that, I don't want the kids to feel that there was something bad going on between their mothers.

So going back to what happened this early morning, I started berating myself about my reaction the moment Shego went out of the comfort room. It was evident on her face, especially her eyes that she cried and I knew that I was the cause of it. So until now I kept on berating myself. Why the heck did I reacted that way? I knew I wanted what was happening to us that time, I actually wanted her to touch me, I wanted us to go on farther but I cannot understand why I have to freeze like that, and to make the matters worst was that why do I have to think of all those things? Why? I have proven that Shego wasn't lying to me; I know that she cares too much for me to do such a thing and I know that we share exactly the same feelings, the same kind of affection. You know it’s weird that though they claimed that I have amnesia, the feeling I have for Shego was constant, as if the feeling before and after I had this was the same.

So what stopped me from doing what my body screamed for me to do?

“Shego - “She didn't answer. I am hurting right now because I could see her hurt and there’s no one to be blame but me. The feeling was too much to bear so I shed tears, sniffling I call on her again, “She- Shego,” I watched as she stopped what she was doing, “Please - “

Though my eyes were blurring from tears I cannot contain, I saw her turned around to face me. I could see in her eyes the sorrow and the look of someone who was about to apologize. She didn’t say anything though; instead she stepped closer to me and enveloped me in a hug. I think that is all I needed and my soft crying intensified, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” I chanted, “I really don't know what’s happening to me, I don't know, I don't - “ I buried my face on her abdomen, my arms encircled around her waist, she has her arms around me and her head leaning on top of mine

“Shh,” then she kissed my head, “I should be the one to say sorry -”

“But you didn't do anything, it’s my fault, I hurt you.” I said in between sobs

“No, It wasn't...I told you I'll wait and I acted like a jerk!”

“You didn't - “

“Yes I did Pumpkin, stop being too good and just sucked it up. When I said that I'll be with you throughout this ordeal, I should have put inside my head that the ordeal includes our sex life,” she started caressing my head causing me to relax a bit, “I should have been more understanding and stop acting as if I'm some kind of a brat!” What can I say to that? It's not everyday that Shego will admit she’s at fault, from the time I remember of course.

I pouted, my eyes were still watery, “So you’re not angry at me anymore?” I saw her smile and shook her head no, “So can you make breakfast faster now?” I asked again, the pout not leaving my face

“Yes I will and stop pouting, your my wife not my kid!” she said slapping my arm lightly. I smiled at her then she leaned and pecked my lips, “I love you so much Kimmie.” She said before she turned around and walked towards the oven. I have no idea what to say, I know I feel something different for Shego, something I haven’t felt, since my last recollection of her was her being my enemy in a truce, but should I equate what I am feeling right now as love?

“Shego -”

“You don't have to say it until you get back to your old self Pumpkin,” You said without looking at me, “…and don't think that I’m hurt about it, I do understand your situation Pumpkin, and you don't have to worry.” I smiled though she can't see me. I stood up and approached you, your back on me, I embraced you again just like yesterday...

“I think momma isn't finish cooking our breakfast Shane because mommy won't stop hugging her!” Kish said grinning, the little red head was at the entrance of the kitchen and she was leaning against the baluster, on her side was Shane. The little girl was holding her older sister's hand, “Shane is complaining already momma and no amount of cartoons would make her stop!”

“Hungry,” Shane said her face sporting that puppy dog pout she learned well from her mommy and gramma.

Shego looked at our daughters and smiled, “Why don't you ask mommy to make you two a glass of chocolate milk, I’m sure mommy could do that without making disaster in our kitchen. I'll be finish with this in a while.” I looked at her and pouted

“Please mommy?” Shane said her body swaying in a circular manner, how can I say no to that? My own daughter using my own special weapon against me

“No big!” I said smiling. I disentangled my arms from Shego and made my way to where the stocks of powdered chocolate milk were located. I saw Shane's face brightened up and the two girls helped themselves on a chair, Kish helping her sister to climb her high chair.

KPKPKP

The four of us were lounging on the extra-large, leather couch watching a cartoon. To think that the couch was too big that we can actually sit there without crowding, but we decided against it. In a corner of the extra-large couch, we decided to crowd ourselves. Shego was leaning on the couch's armrest, her back resting there. I decided to snuggle with my wife so I did and very closely. Shane decided that her momma's lap was much, much more comfortable than the couch so she crawled to her momma and stayed there, Kish decided its her time to snuggle with her mommy, so she did snuggled to me, her arms encircling my waist. This is heaven...

We were all watching and yet we are not because all of us were dozing off when the phone rang. Once, twice, thrice, four times...

“Who's going to answer that?” Shego asked and no one answered, “Come on, if I answer that I would have to stand and all of you will have to - “ Shego ended her speech because out of all of us...it was Shane who crawled down from her momma's lap and answered the phone

“Hello!” she squealed, “Momma? Mommy?” she asked the person on the other end of the line, “Fine.” she said. Shego and I looked at each other asking in silence who the heck could she be talking to, “Done,” we really are getting curious, “Watch cartoons!” she squealed again then she giggled, “Love you too!” she said then I saw her looked at Shego and smiled, she walked towards us and handed the wireless phone to Shego and said, “Gramma.”

I smiled at Shane and so does Shego, then she took the phone from the little girl while Shane crawled back to her momma's lap and quietly watched the cartoon. Kish was already sleeping on my side. I looked up at Shego while she spoke with my mom,

“Okay, I'll bring her and maybe I could drag the two monsters with us as well so they could visit their Gramma.” Shego said smiling, she then covered the mouthpiece and mouthed if I wanted to talk with her, I nodded. I took the phone from Shego and we started chatting.

KPKPKP

The visit to the hospital was tiring. For one, we have to wait for long because my mom was called for an emergency operation. There was an accident not far from the hospital and the patient's spinal nerve was caught in between his intercalated disk, so mom has to do an emergency laminectomy. Then the two girls got bored since there wasn’t much they can do inside the hospital premises, so we have to make numerous travels in and out, plus the workers there all wanted to have time with Kish and Shane and sometimes, these irritates the younger girl which caused her to make tantrums I have no idea she could. If not for Shego's superb parenting skill, I’m sure I would have not survived the afternoon at all.

After about 3 hours, my mom finally came and that's when the two girls stopped being bored. After playing a bit with Kish and Shane, she took a file in her cabinet and walked over to a table with an x-ray stand. She pulled out a series of film and hanged it there then she turned on the light. My mom explained to us what they found out on my latest cranial CT scan and angiography.

We went home with a very light feeling, as if a very heavy baggage was lifted off of our chest. All we have to do is wait for me to recover fully.

KPKPKP

Shego and I were in the girl's room. Shego was sitting at Kish bed and I was sitting at Shane's, the little girl was curled up on my lap and was hugging her pandaroo while she sang a nursery song. Kish and Shego were watching Shane with a smile,

You’re my honey-bunch, sugar plum, pumpy-yumpy-yumpkin

Your my sweetie pie, your my cuppy-cake, gum- #&(&)#(&# shore

The apple of my eyes, and I love you so and I want you to know

That I'll always be right here, and I love to sing this song to you

Because

You

Are

So

Dear!!

Shane ended with a squeal while I poke her sides, “No mommy that tickles! Please mommy!” she squealed and giggled while I kept on tickling her. I stopped after sometime and watched her pants from exertion, “I sing mommy, you tell story!” she said grinning

“Yes mommy, tell us a story.”

“So what story should I tell now?”

“Ahhh - “

“Why don't you tell them about the hero who became a villain?” Shego suggested then smiled

“What? The one by choice or by force?” I asked grinning back her

“The one by force of course, I will be the one telling the story of the hero who became a villain then become a hero again!” She said laughing

“Then tell us the story momma!” Kish said while embracing Shego

“Yeah! Momma tell story! Momma tell story!”

“They want you this time Sheg,” I smiled at her and she frowned but for just a second before she smiled

“Okay...so how do I begin?” I watched Shego scrunched her forehead in concentration, “It was a long time ago, there were 5 normal siblings who were playing in a tree house -” she was cut by Kish

“Why don't we have a tree house momma?” she asked

Shego looked at her, “Do you want me to answer that question or tell the story?”

“Story!!” screamed Shane

Kish smiled, “Yeah, I like to hear the story momma.”

“Okay, to continue…the eldest one...”

KPKPKP

In a conference room somewhere in Middleton General Hospital

A group of doctors gathered together for a conference. The doctors includes Dr. Jimmy Pearl, the admitting consultant and a pulmonologist, Dr. Eduardo Ramirez, the ER consultant, Dr. Mark Libarnes, internist-neurologist, Dr. Anne Possible, neurosurgeon, Dr. Edna White, neuropsychiatrist-somnologist and Dr. Aaron Doyle, the admitting resident.

Dr. Doyle stood up in front of the others and opened the projector, “This was the case of K.P., a 19 year old female who was admitted to the emergency room with the chief complaint of difficulty of breathing. The patient's past medical and family history was unremarkable, she is currently a fresh man college, is non alcoholic and non smoker, she also is a free lance agent for an unnamed government agency fighting for the law. 1 week prior to admission (PTA)...

Dr. Pearl started turning the file in front of him after the resident physician presented his case and after several questions was thrown at him. “Dr. Doyle, you have a very good presentation we commend you for that, so will you please excuse us as we have some matter we need to discuss?” He said looking at the still standing resident

“Yes sir.” he bowed and collected his file before he turned and leave the room.

Silence (except for the sound of papers being turned)

“I like to hear the whole situation from you Jimmy,” Anne said looking at the bald, chubby man at the end of the rectangular table

“Well, as for my part as her pulmonologist, I could say the patient is in a very good condition. We started weaning the patient on her respirator on the second ICU day and expecting to remove it later this afternoon then hooking her on a CPAP, the result of her blood culture leads us to a conclusion of viral pneumonia and we thank God that we are not dealing with SARS as what Dr. Ramirez suspected during her admission at the ER. We dropped the antibiotic and shifted the meds to intravenous ribavirin and our patient responded well with it. We are also in the last bottle of aminophylline.” he ended

“As for her neurological status, the cranial CT and MRI scan as well as her Cranial angiography returned with a normal result Anne, her neurological exam was all normal except for cranial nerves I and VIII which was not tested due to her condition, so this is not a case of coma since the patient was responsive. I referred her to Edna and she suggested an EEG.” Dr. Libarnes said once the table was turned to him, then he looked at the woman beside Dr. Possible and nodded.

“I did an EEG tracing of the patient at the ICU and –“ she started distributing a folder to each and the doctors turned to page 1, “I made a copy of her tracings along with some tracings that could help us understand Miss Possible's situation right now.” she said then turning her own folder on page 1, “Pages 1 to 5 are the baseline EEG tracing of a normal person sleeping. You will notice two kinds of spike waves, the smoother one is the theta wave and the other is the alpha wave. So we know that the alpha wave represents the active form of the brain, and the theta wave is the inactive,” There was silence as the doctors turned the file and looked at the tracings, “Pages 6 to 8 are 3 different tracings of a person in coma, so you can compare that tracing to the normal sleeping person.” and that's what the other doctors did, “Pages 9 up to the last page are the different tracings of our patient at different time intervals.”

The doctors turned their folders on the said page, Anne's eyes widened when she saw it

“What does this mean?”

Dr. White looked at Dr. Possible, “Dr. Libarnes and I talked about this, so Kim is not in a coma, Kim I think is under a suspended animation.”

Anne just looked at the doctor in silence

-end chapter 4-

A/N: Do you remember the movie Somewhere in Time which cast Christopher Reeve? I think this explains how he was able to go to that place. Remember how he was pulled from it by a coin in the present, I am hoping to find a better excuse how to pull Kim in her suspended animation.

Explanation: In suspended animation, I think a person's brain is trapped in a make believe world, what causes it, I don't know but I'll guess that it's one person's strong emotional bond to a certain things, in Kim's case in Shego though she was not aware of it yet. So about the EEG pattern, I am not an expert in the interpretion of EEG readings, but from what I know one would expect to see in the stages of sleep, I arrived to this idea. I am not going to explain it here but if there’s anyone who is curious about my explanation you can just send a PM to me and I'll try my best to explain how I arrived to the idea of suspended animation. For further questions may it be related to the story or not, you can also just PM me and ill try to answer it the best that I can.

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