Disclaimer: I own none of these characters. They are the property of the WB and producers of the Smallville series.
Clark's Challenge
If a person had to pick one word to describe Martha Kent, that word would be – Giving. She was the most selfless woman in Smallville. In addition to her tireless attention to her husband and son, she also volunteered for numerous charities and organizations around town. One of her favorites was taking her homegrown vegetables and canned goods to elderly farmers. These were people who could certainly have food delivered from any number of grocery stores in town, and sometimes did. But ask any one of them and they would tell you that the store bought vegetables just weren't the same. Most missed the days when they could walk out into the cornfield and pluck a couple of ears for supper to eat with the tomatoes and greens picked the day before. Martha understood how they felt. She liked nothing better than serving her family a dinner that was grown 100 right on the Kent farm.
In addition to bringing these folks food, Martha brought them something they were even more desperately starved for – company. In most cases, she was the only person they saw all week, except for the mailman, and even he didn't always have cause to stop as most of them no longer had friends or family to correspond with. Martha often took Clark with her, partly to help with carrying the heavier baskets, but also because the older people seemed to get such enjoyment out of having a young person around.
Clark didn't mind. In fact, if truth be told, he lapped up the attention. The old women openly doted on him and the old men entertained him with endless stories of their own youth. By the time Clark was a freshman at Central Kansas, he made sure he kept two afternoons a week open to continue the visits on his own. It made him feel good to know he was able to make someone's lonely life a little brighter by just stopping by.
The one except to the lonely elderly that Martha and Clark visited was Mrs. Lipton. She was a 76-year-old woman who lived two farms over from the Kent's and she had known Jonathan all of his life.
It was Mrs. Lipton's house that Jonathan and his friends had egged the Halloween he was 13. It was Mrs. Lipton's apple tree that he climbed and swiped fruit from on his way home from school. It was Mrs. Lipton who chased him out of her barn with a rake the night he took Leslie Snider there to make out. And it was Mrs. Lipton who gently carried him to his house the afternoon when he was 7 that he fell out of her apple tree and broke his arm.
In recent years, Mrs. Lipton had taken in her great-granddaughter, whose mother had died two years ago in a car accident. Mrs. Lipton's own daughter, Phoebe, had married well and was living in Metropolis and had not been eager to alter her life to include a four-year-old. Her lack of concern for anyone's needs other than her own was undoubtedly the reason her 16 year old daughter had gotten pregnant in the first place. So, with no other family available, Mrs. Lipton offered to raise the child.
It was an adjustment for the older woman to suddenly have an energetic little girl around the house again, but she welcomed the companionship. The child enjoyed having an entire farm to roam and explore and she adored her great-grandmother, whom she called Gram. It was good for both of them.
So, while Mrs. Lipton had plenty of youthful company, there was something else that Clark was able to help her with. At 76, Mrs. Lipton was still very active. She cooked three meals a day, kept a spotless house, and lovingly cared for her great-granddaughter, Lexie. Unfortunately, what she wasn't really equipped for was bike riding, tree climbing, swimming in the lake, or any number of activities that would appeal to an active six-year-old child. That's where Clark came in. He would come by every Thursday just to spend some time with Lexie. Sort of the Smallville version of the Big Brother Organization.
Lexie looked forward to his weekly visits more than anything. She was waiting at the end of the long driveway every Thursday when he showed up. She helped him unload the vegetables and then he let her choose whatever activity she wanted to do. Currently, they were working on building a tree house in the large maple tree in the back yard. It was really coming along. They already had a floor and were ready to start putting up the walls.
This particular Thursday, Mrs. Lipton had made Clark promise to come inside for some freshly made lemonade and cookies before he left. He happily agreed to do so. Mrs. Lipton made the best lemonade he had ever tasted. It was better than his mom's, though he would never admit that to Martha!
As he and Lexie entered the kitchen, Clark could tell instantly that something wasn't right. The refrigerator door was open and there was smoke rolling out of the oven. Clark quickly took the pan of cookies out of the oven and dumped them in the sink.
"Gram!" he heard Lexie cry out.
He turned around and saw the little girl standing over her grandmother, who had collapsed on the floor behind the table.
Two hours later, the doctor finally came into the lobby where Clark waited with Lexie, now joined by Jonathan and Martha.
"She's had a stroke," he informed them. "I think she'll recover, but it could take a while. I'm having her admitted here for now. She'll eventually need rehab and therapy. For that, she'll have to be moved to another facility. Do you know if anyone has contacted her family?"
Martha stepped forward. "I found her daughter's number in her address book. I called her but…"
"Yes, Phoebe and I grew up together," the doctor said, not bothering to mask his apparent dislike for Mrs. Lipton's only child.
Martha gave him a piece of paper with a phone number on it. "She'd like you to call her. She says she'll make whatever arrangements are necessary regarding her mother's care."
Martha looked over at Lexie, who was standing beside Clark, holding his hand.
"Could I see you just a moment over here?" she asked, taking a few steps towards the window. The doctor followed.
"When I spoke to Mrs. Jacobs she made it very clear that she was not willing to take care of Lexie. I was wondering if Mrs. Lipton is well enough to tell us what she'd like us to do about the little girl?"
The doctor thought a moment. "The stroke has affected mainly her left side, but not her speech. I'm sure she's physically capable of talking to you. The problem is that we can't afford for her to become upset right now. She's just too unstable."
Martha glanced over at the little girl, who was now sitting with Clark on the couch.
"I hate to see her taken by Child Services…" she said sadly.
The doctor smiled. "Tell you what, if she stabilizes a little overnight, maybe you could have a few minutes with her in the morning."
"Do you think it would be all right if we took Lexie home with us tonight?" she asked the doctor.
"I'm sure Mrs. Lipton would be very grateful," he assured her.
"We'll see you in the morning, then," she said.
It was nearly 7:00 by the time they got back to the farm. Martha quickly threw some dinner together and they all sat down at the table to eat.
Martha noticed that Lexie was doing more picking at her food than eating it.
"Sweetheart, if you don't like roast, I could fix you something else," she offered.
"I'm just not very hungry," the little girl said softly.
"Would you like a roll?" Martha asked.
Lexie shook her head slightly.
"How about a piece of apple pie?" Martha tried, now just desperate to get her to eat anything at all.
Finally, a spark of interest. "Okay," Lexie agreed with a shrug.
Martha quickly got up to get it for her. Clark decided to try his hand at cheering her up a little.
"Hey, squirt. If you want, after dinner I could take you out to the barn and show you my loft."
"What's a loft?" she wanted to know.
"Uh," Clark said, thinking of the best way to describe it. "It's like a great big giant tree house…without the tree."
"Cool," she said as Martha put a piece of pie in front of her.
"More milk?" Martha asked.
"Okay."
Lexie ate two pieces of pie and finished her second glass of milk before following Clark out to the barn. She was impressed with what she found there and quickly decided that she wanted a loft in her barn just like this one.
"Why don't we see how we do on the tree house first," Clark suggested.
He showed her his telescope and helped her find a couple of constellations he knew the names of. She was full of questions about the planets and the stars and Clark was happy to go on and on about everything he knew. He rarely had such a captive audience.
"Do you think there's people out there?" she asked suddenly. "Like aliens?"
Clark smiled. "I can practically guarantee it."
"Cool," she said, clearly intrigued at the thought. "You think we'll ever meet any?"
"You never know," Clark told her.
They had been in the barn for a little over an hour when Martha and Jonathan came up the steps.
"I think it's past somebody's bedtime," Martha said.
"I don't wanna go to bed," Lexie complained. "I wanna stay out here with Clark."
"You can see Clark in the morning," Martha assured her. "Right now you need to go to sleep."
"I don't want to," Lexie said flatly, sitting down on the couch.
Martha looked to Clark for help. He took the hint.
"How about if I give you a piggyback ride back to the house?" he offered, kneeling down in front of her.
"No," she said as she crossed her arms.
Clark looked back at his mother and shrugged. He stood back up.
Martha walked over and sat down on the couch beside her. "You can sleep in Clark's room," she coaxed. "Then, in the morning we'll all have breakfast together and go to the hospital to check on your grandmother. Okay?"
She looked up at Clark. "Where are you going to sleep?" she asked him.
"It's pretty warm out. I'll probably just crash up here on the couch. I do that a lot in the summertime, anyway," he told her.
Lexie turned to Martha. "Then I want to sleep out here, too," she announced.
"Honey, I don't think that's a very good idea. It's a little cool out here for you," Martha said gently.
"It's not too cool for Clark," she argued.
"Clark's used to it. Like he said, he does this a lot."
"I'm sleeping here," Lexie declared.
Martha looked at her husband, not sure what to do. Jonathan decided to try being firm.
"Not tonight. Let's go, kiddo," he said taking a step towards her. Lexie immediately let out a loud scream. Jonathan froze in his tracks.
"What the…" he said, backing up.
Martha put an arm around her. "Lexie, what's wrong?" she asked frantically.
The little girl turned to Martha and said in a now totally calm voice, "I wanna sleep here."
Now getting a little angry, Jonathan started towards her again. "Now listen here, young lady…"
Lexie screamed again, jumping up off the couch and darting past Jonathan. She got about 10 feet away before turning back to face him.
"I wanna sleep out here with CLARK!" she said, her volume rising with each word.
Clark took a step in her direction. "Lexie…"
Lexie screamed. Clark stopped.
"Honey," Martha said, standing up and taking a step.
Lexie screamed. Martha stopped.
"That's enough," Jonathan said, walking over to her.
Lexie screamed. Jonathan didn't stop.
Instead, he knelt down and took her by both shoulders. Lexie's eyes got wide. Screaming usually worked.
Jonathan looked at her sternly. "I don't want to hear any more of that. Understood?"
Taking her silence for compliance, he nodded towards Martha. "Now you go on back to the house with Mrs. Kent and get ready for bed," he said.
"I want Clark to take me," she said, shrinking back a bit, apparently not sure how her demand would be received.
Jonathan stood up. "That'll be fine. Clark?"
"Sure, Dad," he said, holding his hand down to Lexie. She shook her head.
"I wanna ride piggyback, like you said."
Clark picked her up and put her on the couch, turned his back to her, and leaned down.
"Hop on," he instructed.
She did and they disappeared down the stairs.
Martha walked over and put her arm around Jonathan. "Well, that was fun," she said sarcastically.
"I am definitely getting too old for this," he said with a sigh.
"Maybe Mrs. Lipton will be able to talk to us in the morning. Hopefully she'll have some ideas about what to do with Lexie," Martha said optimistically.
"And if she asks us to keep her?" Jonathan asked.
"Let's not cross that bridge before we get to it," she cautioned. "Come on, Gramps. I'll help you back to the house," she teased.