And You And I

Chapter 25: I can't breathe anymore

The slightly cooler night air caught in Kim's chest as she sucked in a breath of air and she broke out into a coughing fit. The pain radiating from her right-hand ribs flared up again at the uncontrollable action, almost causing her to double over. The adrenaline from her brief fight with Shego had already ebbed and she felt exhausted, weak... vulnerable. For a moment all she could do was stand still, for any other movement would likely send her crashing back to the asphalt. With difficulty, she sucked in a breath that did not cause her to cough. Well, that was monumentally stupid of me, she admonished internally. However, she knew fine well that she would not have done anything differently. The pull of chasing Shego, of facing off against her, had been far too great to resist. Unfortunately, as much as she hated to admit it, the green-skinned woman had been right. Their brief fight, despite the fact she had been injured, had been more exhilarating than when she had been making out with Matt. What the hell does that even mean? Her anger and indignation at having been beaten so easily quickly overrode that thought. Screw Shego! The first time I kiss a boy since Ron and she goes and ruins it. As soon as I'm back in top shape, that bitch is going down!

Kim glanced around, unsure of where the green-skinned woman had led her. After a few moments, she recognised the street. While she felt the driving urge to chase Shego, she had no means by which to follow. Grudgingly, she had to accept the cold hard facts of the matter; her rival was gone. Except coming to that conclusion left her with the issue of where to go or what to do now. I suppose I should head back to Heartbeats and make sure everyone is ok. She had just figured out the quickest route back to the bar when a voice called out to her.

"Kim!" It was Monique.

Turning her head, she caught sight of her best girl walking towards her. "Hey, Mo," she replied, forcing herself to look and sound as normal as she could. The last thing she needed was for the girl to find out about her current pain level and telephone her mom.

Her friend looked her up and down, before asking, "are you ok?"

Kim could hear the note of concern in her voice and so replied firmly, "I'm fine," then quickly changed the subject, "but Shego got away."

Seemingly satisfied that there was nothing wrong with her, the expression on Monique's face hardened somewhat. "It's not Shego I care about, Kim."

The slightly harsh nature of her best girl's tone caught her slightly by surprise and so Kim quickly tried to reassure her that she would deal with the matter. "Don't worry about it, Mo. I'll have Wade keep an eye out for her and go after her the moment she pops up. I'll have her in jail within a week or two, so she won't be able to hurt anyone else, promise."

Much to her surprise, this did nothing to placate her friend and if anything, Monique's expression darkened. "I don't give a shit about Shego, Kim, and neither should you."

Taken aback by the scathing remark and confused as to why her friend did not seem to care, she responded with the only thing she could think of, "it's no big, Mo, honest. She's dangerous, but once I'm back to full strength, I can take her down without getting hurt." Not likely, but I can take anything she can throw at me and still beat her.

Monique shook her head in what looked like disbelief. "You just don't get it, do you, Kim?"

A blank expression formed on her face as she replied in confusion, "get what?"

"Matt's going to be fine, thanks for asking," her best girl spat, a look of outrage beginning to form on her face. "The paramedics arrived and checked him over. He's got a slight burn to his mid-back, but other than that, he's going to be fine. Not that you seem to care."

"Whoa, Mo," Kim said incredulity. "Why are you so angry all of a sudden? I'm glad Matt's going to be ok."

"Are you, Kim? Do you genuinely care or are you just saying that for the sake of social convention? Because your actions say something completely different."