Chapter 14 - Lingering Danger

"I believe he's gone to stay with the Kents. He hasn't been by the mansion since the night of the attack."

"That's fine."

"The drugs will wear off, sir. I can't easily administer them while he's not here. "

"I'm well aware of that, Darius."

"Then how do you expect him to get himself committed to Belle Reve?"

"Ah, but there's no use in trying to commit him anymore, is there?"

"You think the Kents will break him out?"

"If they Kents are involved, well, that calls for a bit of a change in plans. I'll be sending additional instructions shortly."

"Yes, sir."

For the next week, Martha barely slept at night.

With Gabe's permission, Chloe stayed with them for a couple of days—they had to offer her the couch, since the guest room was taken—and Clark didn't stray more than ten feet away from Lex's room until his psychotic episodes had slowed to a stop. But when they heard nothing for a few days, and when the effects of the drugs seemed to be letting up, they began to drop their guard. It just wasn't possible to be on red alert constantly, and there was simply no evidence that they were in any danger other than Lex's injuries and a small piece of glass Clark had found on the floor of a hallway in the mansion.

Part of Martha wondered, though she would never have said it aloud, whether the whole debacle had been, somehow, a hallucination. The idea that Morgan Edge had somehow survived with a new face didn't sound too far off from the other delusions Lex had had. But she also knew he would be sensitive to such a suggestion. After doing some research, Chloe confided in Martha that Lex had had hallucinations about Julian when he was a teenager as well—he was particularly susceptible to psychosis, and he probably knew it. And Martha knew Clark had once lied to Lex in a way that made him feel like he might be crazy. She had to be careful about making those kinds of suggestions.

Then, of course, if this whole thing really was a conspiracy, it was working. It had gotten Lex to back off the fight. Either way, Martha was just thankful he hadn't been seriously hurt.

From what she could tell, if it was a conspiracy, someone—probably Lionel—had been trying to make it so Lex would be dismissed as a lunatic. Of course, with a family of supporters on the outside, that would be difficult to ensure. Martha wondered if Lionel knew.

Meanwhile, something else was on Martha's mind. Thanksgiving was less than a week away. She knew Lex hadn't had a proper family dinner on Thanksgiving in years, and she had been hoping to make it the best they'd ever had. It seemed petty and small in comparison to the battle her sons were fighting, but she also knew that sometimes, the security of those sweet family moments were what helped all of them make it through the toughest times. And that security was what she could give.

A week after the incident at the mansion, Clark sat in the Torch office trying to catch up on classwork. The attendance office at his school hadn't asked any questions when his mom had called in sick for him for a week. He was often late to class, but he was never absent, so they had no reason to doubt her word. But he couldn't stay away forever, and now he was paying the price for having missed all of that work.

Chloe came into the room with a file folder. "Lab results came back."

Clark sat up straight and turned to face her. "And?"

"The scotch is clean."

Clark frowned. He didn't want to break into the mansion again to steal more samples—Lex wouldn't be okay with it. "Well, maybe they drugged something else."

"Look . . . I want to believe that this is a conspiracy just as much as you do, believe me, but I think we need to start preparing ourselves for the possibility that Lex really is losing his mind."

"I'm not ready to do that."

"Clark—"

"He didn't imagine someone shooting at him, Chloe."

"You saw him hallucinating, didn't you? And . . . I know he's your friend, and he's been great to my father and to me, but you have to admit, his perceptions aren't always all there. And I know things have been rough for him. Is it possible he's taking drugs?"

"No. He wouldn't do that."

"Didn't he think he hit you with his car when he first met you?"

Clark let his eyes fall closed. Even though it had been necessary at the time, he felt terrible about the way he'd made Lex feel about that. Chloe bringing it up made him trust Lex's word more than ever, though he couldn't explain why to her. "Chloe, do you trust me?"

Her brow furrowed. "Of course, Clark."

"Then believe me now. You know how dangerous Lionel is."

"I do, it's just . . ." She winced and shook her head. "No. You're right. I admire your loyalty to your friend, it's one of the things I like about you."

"He's not just my friend, Chloe. Lex is my brother. He's part of my family now, he . . . kinda started calling my parents Mom and Dad."

Her eyes widened. "I had no idea. That's great, really. I know he doesn't really have much of a family."

"Yeah, it is." She was the first person he'd told about that. He and Lana hadn't exactly been in each other's confidence for awhile, and things were still awkward between him and Pete, since Pete was constantly finding excuses to badmouth Lex.

"I'll keep looking into things," Chloe said. "Maybe I can find some evidence hidden away . . ."

Clark shook his head. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'll be careful. I can take care of myself. I just . . . I know how important this is, and I want to help."

He hesitated, but then put a hand on her arm. "I can always count on you, Chloe."

Her face lit up, her eyes smiling along with the rest of her face, and for a moment, he remembered that awhile ago, she'd had a crush on him—she might get the wrong idea if he said things like that to her. But then, he figured, that had been a long time ago, and it had been her idea to remain just friends. It was probably fine.

Lex had no idea where he would be if he didn't have the Kents to back him up in his belief that there was a conspiracy at the mansion. He might have been effectively convinced that he really was going insane. And if, on top of that, Clark had still been lying to him about his secrets, it might have been devastating. Lex had never been so thankful for his family.

As the effects of the drugs started to wear off, Lex found that his memories of the days before were foggy. Martha told him he'd hallucinated seeing Julian, which he didn't remember at all, and that he'd had to be pinned down by Clark to keep him from running away or hurting himself, which he remembered vaguely. As to the nasty scrape on Martha's arm, though, he remembered all too clearly how she'd gotten it, and it took several of her gentle lectures and long hugs to tame the crippling guilt he felt whenever he saw her.

Unfortunately, that was just the start of the guilt. After a few days, Lex had to start emailing and calling in apologies to everyone he'd let down at the plant by missing work for a few days, and making it up to them by working double time to catch up. His mind overfull with worries about Lionel, Morgan Edge, his family, and the plant, it took over a week for it to even occur to him that he'd missed a meeting with Lana and hadn't been by the Talon at all for almost two weeks.

The day he realized what he'd done, Lex dropped by a few minutes after closing with a box of chocolates, a dozen pink roses with baby's breath, and a folder with all of the work he was supposed to have completed over the past two weeks, as well as some work that was usually hers to do. She was wiping down tables when he came in.

She looked up at him and smiled. "What's this?"

"My sincerest apology. I missed our last meeting and never told you why. I've been . . . struggling with some family issues, as well as my health."

"Oh, Lex!" She took the flowers, set the box of chocolates on the table, and thumbed through the folder of work. "Oh, thank you. I was dreading this."

"I'm under no illusion that it makes up for blowing you off without communicating to you."

"This is really sweet. You didn't have to go to all this trouble."

"Yes I did. It was unprofessional and disrespectful to your time. It suggests I don't appreciate you, which couldn't be further from the truth."

She smiled wryly. "If I held a grudge every time someone stood me up for a meeting, Clark Kent would be my worst enemy."

Lex frowned—that wasn't okay with him. He knew Clark had a tendency to disappear at odd times, but he didn't realize how bad it was, and it made him uncomfortable to know he'd been defending that behavior to Lana. "Well, that's unacceptable. I'll talk to him about it."

"It's really okay. I know he's like a brother to you, and you feel like you have to defend him, but . . . I'm over him. Really."

Lex nodded slowly. "Lana . . . I want to promise you that it won't happen again. But I'm going to be honest with you, the family issues . . . they're still going on." He was going to see if he could get through the holidays without any further issues—the case wasn't going to get any colder, but giving Lionel time to let his guard down could be helpful. "I might disappear again, and I might not be able to let you know in advance."

"It's okay, Lex. I just appreciate someone being honest with me." She looked away.

Oh, yeah. She's definitely over Clark. Lex resisted the urge to say something about it—that whole issue really wasn't his business, even though he had made it so for a long time. "I'm assuming you're wanting to skip our meeting this Sunday as well. Seeing as it's Thanksgiving weekend."

"I'm available if you are." She smiled brightly. "I've got some stories about customers . . ."

That was always his favorite part of their meetings. "I'm available. The mansion isn't. We could meet here after closing?"

"I'll see you then." She grinned, and he left the Talon, feeling lighter than he had in awhile.

He drove home and caught Clark just before he was heading up to bed. "Hey, Clark."

"Hey, are you still feeling alright?"

Lex nodded. "I think the drugs have worn off. I appreciate everything you've done for me."

"You're my brother, Lex. We're not going to stop fighting this."

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Clark's brow furrowed.

Lex took a deep breath. "Whoever drugged me sent a pretty clear message about what this fight is going to be like. Now, I'm still willing to go to bat to take down Lionel—"

"You're not getting me to back down. We're in this together."

"That's not what I was saying. I'm just thinking . . . maybe we take a break."

Clark crossed his arms. "Until the end of your six-month deal with Mom and Dad, so you can cut me out?"

"No. Until after Christmas." Lex gave a half smile. "Maybe it's selfish, but . . . I kind of wanted to enjoy the holidays with your family."

Clark nodded. "Of course."

Lex put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, Clark."

"You, uh . . . you haven't had a real family Thanksgiving or Christmas in awhile, have you?"

Lex shook his head. He used to hide in a coat closet.

Clark grinned. "I can't wait."