Martha watched as Jarod's head swung from side to side on the pillow. She could tell he was definitely having a bad dream, but she didn't know the best way to wake him or if she should at all. She listened to him shout out, "NO!" in his sleep, and her heart went out to him. What had happened to him that would cause such a nightmare? She couldn't wait any longer; she was going to have to wake him up.
Martha reached forward and gently shook his shoulder, calling his name quietly. "Jarod… Jarod, wake up. You're having a nightmare." She was slightly startled when he suddenly awoke and opened his eyes, taking a deep, panicked intake of breath. Martha could tell by the wild, scared look in his eyes that he wasn't fully aware of his surroundings as he looked around the whole room.
"Jarod, look at me. It's okay. You're safe; you're in my house." She waited for a moment and watched Jarod calm down, seemingly coming to his senses.
Martha glanced away from Jarod when she heard a loud squeak. A split second later, Clark bounded down the stairs. "Is everything alright? I thought I heard a scream."
"Everything's fine." Martha looked momentarily over at Jarod before returning her gaze to her son. "Jarod had a nightmare; that's all. Go back and get washed up. I'll have breakfast ready in a few minutes."
"Okay."
Martha looked back at Jarod after Clark had headed back upstairs. "Sorry about that," he said with an embarrassed look on his face. "I don't sleep very well. I didn't mean to disturb anyone."
"No apologies needed. Are you okay? Do you need me to bring you something for the pain?" Martha smiled sympathetically.
Jarod looked at her, stunned. She and her family had taken him in and cared for him without knowing anything about the circumstances or really asking any. "Why are you being so nice? Not that I'm complaining, but you don't even know me."
"Who you are doesn't matter," Martha answered genuinely. "You needed help, and I'm glad we were able to help you. We always try to help out when we can. And when we need help, I'm sure someone will do what they can." Jarod smiled up at her for a moment, silently musing about the resemblance between her and his mother again. "Since we haven't properly introduced ourselves yet I do that now. My name is Martha Kent. My loving, and sometimes overly cautious husband is Jonathan." Martha smiled slightly before continuing. "So, do you need any pain medicine?"
Jarod shifted slightly and pain shot through his side. "Yeah, I think I'll take some," he replied with a slight groan.
Martha got up and headed toward the kitchen to get a glass of water and some Tylenol. As she returned, she told him, "Since you are our guest, you get to decide what to have for breakfast."
Jarod stared, dumbfounded, at her standing there with the glass in her hand. He didn't know how long it had been since the last time he'd had a home-cooked meal. He wasn't sure if he'd ever had a home-cooked breakfast. "I – I don't know."
"Here, let me help you get up and take this while I give you your choices."
"Thanks for the offer, but let me try this myself."
Martha stood there patiently as Jarod slowly sat up; she wouldn't offer a second time. She knew how men could be stubborn and didn't always want to accept help. "Okay, we can have blueberry pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, biscuits."
Jarod blushed as his stomach rumbled loudly while he listened to the food being listed. Martha couldn't help but smile. "It seems like I'm going to have an appreciative audience," she teased him. "So, what's it going to be?"
Not hesitating at all, he answered with a grin, "Blueberry pancakes."
Jarod watched from the couch as Martha started on the pancakes. Clark came down and joined her in the process; soon after, Jonathan joined in the morning activities by getting the day's coffee going. The scene had such a feeling of warmth and love that it almost made Jarod forget about everything else, though the wound in his side was his constant reminder that he couldn't rest. He also knew that he needed to let the family know what they had gotten into.
