Boilerplate Disclaimer: The various characters from the Kim Possible series are all owned by Disney. All registered trade names property of their respective owners. Cheap shots at celebrities constitute fair usage.

Break a Leg

Shego failed to block Kim's kick, and the green woman was flung back against the wall. Her head thudded against the bricks and she dropped to the floor, stunned.

"Ron! What's happening?" the redhead called.

"Get out! Rufus and I loosened the bolts! The centrifuge is tearing itself apart!"

"You safe?"

"Yeah! Go!" Even as Ron shouted the assurance of his safety Kim heard the scream of metal against metal as joints on the massive structure began failing.

"NOOO!" Drakken's anguished scream rang through the cavernous lair.

Kim assumed Drakken was safe, the blue man usually kept himself from harm's way. The cheerleader started turning as she saw a heavy metal support leg of the centrifuge falling. The pylon should miss her, but Kim glanced at her adversary. "Shego! Move!"

The green woman had struggled to her hands and knees and was slowly shaking her head, trying to regain her full senses.

"SHEGO! MOVE!" Kim screamed.

The thief clearly couldn't move fast enough to save herself. Kim sprinted toward the fallen woman, threw herself at Shego as the metal leg collapsed, she managed to push the thief out of the way as the pylon crashed down. Other scaffolding, centrifuge parts, and a variety of debris rained down around them.

The crash shocked Shego back to consciousness. She had no memory of the collision of her head against the wall, but retained a vague sense of Kim screaming for her to move, being unable to respond, and feeling shoved. Still shaking her head to clear the fuzzy feeling she looked around.

Kim's face was white, her teeth clenched to keep from screaming with pain.

The shock of seeing her adversary in pain restored Shego to full consciousness. She examined Kim's position and the material pinning her down. "Your leg might be broken," she warned.

"I'm sure it is," Kim gasped.

"Let me see if I can move this without hurting you worse."

Shego was still assessing the situation when Drakken entered to see if any of his work could be salvaged. "What happened?" he demanded."

"Princess here got trapped, her leg may be broken."

"Ha!" Drakken chortled. "We have her now! There is no way she can escape this time! We'll put her–"

"Shut up!"

"What?" the blue man asked, unable to believe Shego would speak to him like that at their moment of triumph.

"I said shut the fuck up. We are not doing anything to Princess here."

"But she's–"

"Nothing. Zip. Nada."

"You're always fighting her! And losing! This is–"

"When I beat her she goes into a death trap. This was an accident. It doesn't count."

"That's nonsense!"

"It's the Code of the West. Now help me get her out."

"No."

"No?" Shego growled.

"No," Drakken insisted, showing an unexpected backbone. "She's ruined my plans too–"

He was interrupted by Ron running in, frantically calling, "KP! Kim!" He skidded to a halt when he saw Kim trapped and went into a fighting stance.

"Stop him, Shego," Drakken ordered.

"No."

"No?"

"He's going to help me get Princess here to a hospital."

Ron looked confused, glancing back and forth between the villains, not sure what was happening.

"If you don't fight him. You're fired!" Drakken told Shego.

The thief shrugged, "Can't fire me. I quit. Oh, and I'm taking the hovercraft. Your last paycheck bounced." She snapped her fingers, "I'll get a job like that."

"You help Kim Possible and you'll never work for a villain again!"

Shego turned to Ron. "Throw things at him. Preferably heavy with sharp edges. Don't let him take the hovercraft."

Ron hesitated, unsure if he could believe Shego. Drakken turned and ran, retreating toward the hovercraft.

"STOP HIM!" Shego screamed, and Ron took off in pursuit.

Drakken tried dodging, but Ron wasn't distracted. He made straight for the hovercraft, and, reaching it first, stood between it and Drakken. He had time to pick up a couple hefty chunks of debris, and when the first one thudded into Drakken's chest the blue man decided to escape on foot.

Ron stood by the air car for a minute, wondering if Drakken might come back, then ran back to see what was happening with Kim and Shego. "Can I help?"

"I... I don't see a good way to lift this off. I could burn a couple girders, but the heat will hurt her more."

"Can... you... lift... with... hovercraft..." Kim gasped.

"Kiss her, she's a genius," Shego told Ron and sprinted for the hovercraft.

Kim fainted as her leg was freed and Ron and Shego gently loaded her into the hovercraft.

"Home or nearest hospital?" Shego demanded of Ron.

"I don't–"

Kim had revived slightly, "Home," she whispered before slipping back into unconsciousness.

"Middleton it is," Shego muttered. "Call Wade. Alert the hospital."

A morose Ron sat by Shego in the co-pilot's chair. "This is my fault," he muttered.

"Not your fault," Shego told him.

"Yes it is! I took out the bolts. I didn't see if she was safe."

"It was an accident! It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was if I–"

"Ron, I'm going to give you a word of advice I gave Drakken ten minutes ago. Shut the fuck up. It wasn't your fault. It was an accident. Right now I want to get Pumpkin to the hospital and I sure as hell don't want to listen to you whine. Capisce?"

Kim revived a little later, "Near Middleton?"

"Hold her hand and tell her just a minute," Shego ordered Ron.

He got on his knees and took her hand, "Almost at Upperton. Three minutes the way we're going. I called the hospital."

An emergency crew was in the parking lot, waiting for Kim to arrive by ambulance, when the hovercraft sat down.

Kim's mom supervised the orderlies as they laid Kim on a gurney and wheeled her to the emergency room. She stared at Shego, wondering what was going on – why Kim's enemy was there.

"She saved Kim's life," Ron explained. "Will Kim be all right?"

"I haven't seen the X-rays... I'm a brain surgeon... I... I need to go in and find out what's happening."

"Can I wait?"

"Of course, Ron."

"I'll wait with you," Shego told him.

"You don't have to, I–"

"I told you, I'm waiting with you," she barked. "Good advice still holds."

Ron swallowed, hard. "Yeah, I need company. Thanks."

Shego needed company too, although she was unlikely to admit it.

Ron and Shego drank a couple cups of the wretched coffee available in the waiting area as they stared at the clock. After about forty minutes Anne Possible came out.

"What's happening?" Ron demanded.

"Displaced fracture."

"What does that mean?" Shego asked, "Good or bad?"

"Fairly bad. It could be worse. She's in surgery now."

"She... She won't lose the leg will she?" asked Shego.

"Shouldn't. You did a good job of getting her here."

"How long to recover," Ron wanted to know.

"Recovery times vary. If the healing goes well, as little as four months. Kim is young and healthy. I'm hoping there won't be complications. And, of course, there will be a need for physical therapy even if she heals quickly - muscles atrophy while in the cast."

"C-can we... " Shego stammered, "Can I wait to hear how the surgery goes?"

"You may. No one has called the police if that was your question."

"Yeah. Yeah, guess it was."

"I'll wait with you," Ron offered.

The two sat beside each other on a waiting room couch. Ron slumped over and began mumbling, "My fault," again.

Shego put an arm over his shoulders and gave him a one-armed hug. "Ron, I told you to stop that shit. It was an accident. It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was."

"No it wasn't. Stop it."

"I can't."

"Yes you... I'll give you a choice. You stop it, now. Or, you go find a decent coffee shop and bring us back something worth drinking. That way I don't have to listen to you for at least a few minutes."

"Any other option?"

"Hmmm... I suppose I could kill you. But at the moment I'm not especially in the mood."

"Not sure I'd mind right now."

"Well, I would. And Kim would try and fight me – and that sure as hell wouldn't do her any good. So do the right thing – either get us a couple good cups of coffee or shut up."

Ron was back about half an hour later. He handed Shego one of the styrofoam cups he was holding and joined her on the couch. "Any news?"

"Not yet." She removed the plastic top and took a sip. "Thanks, needed that."

They focused on coffee for a few minutes, and then Ron ventured a question, "Why did you save Kim?"

"I didn't save her."

"Yes, you did. Drakken wanted to kill her. You stopped him. You could have just left. But you–"

"Look," Shego interrupted, "I'm willing to take off her head in a fair fight. Hell, I've tried. You don't kick someone while they're down. It's the Code of the West."

"Oh... Well, thanks."

"Don't mention it. Seriously."

Anne Possible came out before they finished their coffee. "She's coming out of the anesthesia. Would you like to see her?"

"Yes," Ron answered enthusiastically.

"Will she be okay?" Shego wanted to know.

"She should be, but it will take some time," Dr. Possible assured her. "Follow me."

Kim was still groggy, but managed to greet the pair with, "Want to be the first two to sign my cast?"

"No signing until the plaster is dry," a nurse told her. The nurse turned to Dr. Possible, "Dr. Stevens would like to keep her overnight. She should be fine now." The nurse left.

Kim looked at Shego, "Thanks for saving me."

"I didn't save you... Look, I got to go."

"Where? Drakken fired you."

"He didn't fire me. I quit. You heard me tell him that."

"Yeah, where you going?"

"I don't know... Somewhere... If I told you, you'd probably get out of the hospital bed and try and take me in."

"Not for awhile," Kim said sadly, looking down at the cast and making Shego feel even more uncomfortable.

"Do you want to spend the night at our house," Anne asked. "It's the least we can do for you saving Kim."

Shego decided Kim hadn't told her mother what really happened – that it was Shego's fault Kim had been hurt. The redhead's leg had been broken when she saved Shego's life. "Look... I... Thanks for the offer, but I don't feel like I saved Kim, I'll–"

"Of course you did," Anne assured her.

"I'd drop it," Ron advised Anne. "She's kind of weird on that. Some Code of the West thing – not kicking someone while they're down. Or maybe she's worried you'll call the police or something."

"I will not call the police," Anne said firmly. "And I don't care what you call it, young woman, but you will stay with us until you have a real place to go."

"Better accept the invitation," Kim warned. "Don't make my Mom angry... She's tougher than I am."

Shego hesitated, then shrugged, "Okay... Thanks." "They'll throw me out when they find out this was my fault."