Chapter 42

- Metropolis Medical Center -

Lana walked through the halls of Metropolis Medical Center feeling like she was visiting a part of her life that she longed to forget. The sterile smell made her skin chill. It wasn't an unpleasant scent to most, but for her, it brought back thoughts of needles and the lonely hours of long nights, with only the frequent visits of nurses flipping on the lights to awaken her from the edge of sleep.

Lana hoped that she would never spend another moment in such misery. She'd been lucky that way, with her episode of cancer being her only time as a hospital patient. Which is why she wanted to come so badly today, to comfort Perry White's grandson and hopefully make his stay a bit happier than hers was.

If all went well, and Perry White had finally agreed to let Clark leave work, Superman would be joining them any minute. This was when Clark's dual identity was a complicated disadvantage. White had been the one to arrange the superhero visit for his grandson, yet he was also the one person who could spoil it.

Clark had been asking for days if he could have a few hours off today—to do some volunteer work with his mother, he'd claimed—but White had hemmed and hawed about it, and had yet to give Clark a solid answer. Lana assumed they were still discussing the issue in White's office, just as they were when Lana left the Daily Planet building.

When Lana delivered the official message to Perry White from Superman that he was 'working furiously on the problem they discussed,' White had confided in Lana that his five-year-old grandson had cancer, and that Superman promised to visit with him. She played stupid as far as the serum was concerned, but said, "Mr. White, I'd appreciate it if this stays between just the two of us, but I'm a cancer survivor and would love the opportunity to visit with your grandson, if that's okay."

White was shocked by the news, but whole heartedly accepted Lana's offer. She was supposed to arrive when Superman did, but with White holding Clark hostage, she was starting to wonder if she'd have to appear in the suit. Forget the obvious details, including the full foot, and one hundred pound difference between she and the real thing, this kid wanted a superhero, and he was gonna get one!

Lana was all smiles from her silly thoughts, when she entered room 308. Matthew White was playing a Spider-Man X-box game. She couldn't help but smile. "Hi, Matthew, I'm Lana," she said, going to the side of his hospital bed. The drip-drip-drip of the IV tower just inches from Lana made her shiver. That sound still lingered in her head, in the quietest of moments. Her real smile dissolved, but she was quick to pull out a fake one.

Matthew gave a weak, "Hi," without looking. He didn't know Lana was coming, or even who she was. And White had promised to keep Superman's visit a secret, so Lana hoped Matthew had enough energy today to enjoy himself.

He wasn't playing the video game like a normal child would, with excitement and concentration, he seemed to just be pushing random buttons, and watching what happened.

"You know what?" Lana said. "If you hold the left trigger Spider-Man will shoot his web."

"Really?" Matthew asked, perking up a bit.

She knew that because Chloe had given Clark the game as a joke, but he'd become really good at it. Lana was close on his heels though.

"Cool!" Matthew said, getting the web trick down.

"His web is really sticky," Lana said.

He turned to her with wide eyes. "How do you know?"

She smiled. "I used to live in New York City, and I met him." She told Matthew a few web-slinging stories, leaving out the part where she literally got tangled in Spidey's web.

Chloe and Lana had been ordering pizza from the same place throughout their college career, but when a new skinny kid brought their delivery one evening, something went terribly wrong for him. He offered them their pizza box, while at the same time taking their payment of a twenty dollar bill. But when Lana tried to take the box from him, she couldn't. It was stuck to his hand . . . and so was the money! He owed them change, so he was caught up in the money problem with Chloe, when Lana tugged a little harder on the box, and out came a glob of sticky web. And then the twenty dollar bill shot across the room, with a fifteen foot trail of white stringy stuff.

Peter Parker was absolutely speechless. The girls loosened him up, however, after Chloe told him all about her days in Smallville, and the countless people she'd met with special abilities, emphasizing the fact that she and Lana knew how critical it was that they keep his secret. He'd explained that he'd been having a few "malfunctions" lately. He stopped by a few more times, but then his life got busier—with other things besides pizza.

"I wish I had a Superman game, but my grandpa says they don't make those yet," Matthew told Lana. "He's my favorite superhero."

"He is, huh?" Lana said, glancing at her watch. Where the heck is he?! She pulled out her phone and sent a text message to ask if he was on his way. "He's my favorite, too."

"Cool! Did you see him stop that big flood?" Matthew asked. "He did that with his superbreath!"

"And his huge muscles," she said.

"Yeah! I bet they're as big as cannons!"

She laughed. "Well, he likes to think so."

"Do you know him, too?!" asked Matthew, nearly sitting upright now.

Clark text messaged her back, with a simple "Y" which meant he had to be in a hurry—a good sign.

"Can you keep a secret?" Lana asked Matthew.

He nodded with enthusiasm. "I'm the best at keeping secrets."

"Good for you," came Superman's deep voice from the corner of the room.

His plan was to super-speed through the hospital and get inside the room without being noticed. Apparently, he'd pulled it off. Otherwise, they'd have a circus on their hands.

Lana breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him, but Matthew didn't look like he was breathing at all.

Superman smiled. "Because I'm here to make you my official protector of secrets."

"ME!?" Matthew finally coughed out.

"Yep. I'm gonna show you how I do all my superpowers," Supes said.

"No way!"

Lana then noticed a little issue and started laughing so hard, she couldn't speak, only point.

Superman looked down to find that he only had one of his red boots on. His other foot was in a Kenneth Cole loafer. Good thing Perry White wasn't there, he might have recognized the shoe Clark wore to work nearly every day.

"Uhh, looks like I'll be starting with a demonstration on super-changing," he said, laughing almost as much as the other two. Then he was gone a mere five seconds, and returned with both boots this time. "See, I did that on purpose, just to show off."

"That was awesome!" Matthew said.

"Yes, but now he has his red underwear on backwards," Lana said with a grin.

Superman's jaw dropped and he looked down slowly. "Funny," he said, smirking at Lana.

The joke made Matthew giggle so hard that his bed was shaking. He finally calmed enough to say. "Why do you put your underwear on the outside of your pants? My mom would never let me do that!"

Superman's face turned the same color as his cape. "Well, Matthew," he said, "when you grow up and don't live with your mom anymore, you get to wear your underwear however you want."

Lana made a mental note to tell Clark that his future wife might have a thing or two to say about that.

"Okay, enough picking on me," Supes said. "I better show you some tricks before the nurses catch us."

Superman froze Matthew's water, then used his heat vision to defrost it. Then Matthew hid several objects under his blanket, with Lana's help, so Supes could use his x-ray vision to guess what they were. After a game with super-hearing, Matthew wanted to see Supes use his strength, so he took a quarter and pressed it between his fingers—and soon, the coin was nearly liquid.

At last, Matthew said he wished he could see Superman fly.

Lana gave Supes a skeptical look.

"There's not enough room to fly in here, buddy, but . . . " said Supes, looking around the small room, ". . . maybe I could . . . "

Matthew and Lana watched with intrigue as Superman went over to a bare wall and started walking straight up it. Soon, he was completely upside down, with his feet on the ceiling and his cape nearly touching the floor as it hung from his shoulders.

Thunderous applause broke out from Matthew's bed. But then slowly, his laughter faded . . . little by little, until he fell back exhausted onto his pillow.

Lana remembered that feeling all too well. She would get bursts of energy, giving her hope, only to be pulled back into a dark, terrifying cave. But she had finally beat cancer, and she had to help Matthew do the same.

She looked to Superman, nodding her head with determination. "We can do this," she whispered.

Supes took Matthew's hand. "I'll make you a deal, big guy. I'm gonna take you flying someday . . . real flying, if you promise me that you'll keep fighting this evil villain that's making your body sick, okay?"

"I promise," Matthew said. "My dad said he sold our car today so he can buy some more medicine that the doctors are out of." Or never had to begin with, Lana thought. "It makes me feel a lot better. So maybe I can go flying with you in a couple of days."

"That would be great, Matthew," Supes said. Then he gave Lana a look that said he had an idea. She couldn't wait to hear what it was.

They couldn't talk then, however, because Clark had to meet Lex in five minutes, for lunch.

Hopefully, Clark wouldn't have such a difficult time with his super-changing this time. Or he might end up wearing one red boot. She doubted Lex would miss that!