It took a while, but here we are. I try to update regularly. My busy work does not leave enough time and power to write. This story may become longer than first expected. I have so many ideas for this. All allready played in my head. I hope you enjoy.
Everyone was shocked.
Jonathan just woke up and said something that sound like he had no clue who they were.
"Jonathan… Jonathan, everything is okay!" Clark said.
"Who are you?" Jonathan asked again. Suddenly he looked more confused than before. "And who am I? Where am I?"
Everyone looked on Jonathan with big eyes.
"Okay… Jonathan, I know you are still very mad on me…" Clark thought Jonathan was so mad on them that he pretends to not know them.
"Ehm… Jonathan? Is that me?" Jonathan asked stupidly.
"Woah… DAD, FIX HIM!" Jordan screamed. He was convinced that this was not acting. Jonathan suffered from amnesia! The loud scream hurt in Jonathan's ears and forced him to hold his ears…
"Jordan, your brother is in pain. Lower your voice." Lois hissed. "Jonathan, everything will be okay! This bulge will heal! Are you okay? Does it hurt?"
"My head…" Jonathan wailed and lift his hand to feel the big bulge on his forehead. "What is that? And who are you guys?"
"I call an ambulance now!" Lana said, already dialing 911.
"Everything is fine." Clark reassured everyone. Convincing Lana to put the phone away.
"FINE?! JON LOST HIS MEMORIES!" Jordan yelled angrily.
Jonathan flinched again, holding his ears because the loud yell caused headache. Lois fell on her knees to comfort him…
"Jonathan, everything is okay. You are safe. We are your family! All is fine!"
"Jon, look at me! It's me… Jordan! Your brother!"
"You are my brother?" Jonathan said without any sign of hesitation.
"Jon, please…" Jordan begged. "Remember, me! Aww… this is all your fault! Fix him!"
Clark was shocked. Could it be? Yeah, of course! Jonathan got a punch on his head. And that with superspeed. Superspeed! People can get amnesia from a trauma. He knew that! But did he just hit his son so bad that he caused an amnesia? Everyone in the crowded room start to talk wildly. Mostly they all wanted to call an ambulance… or a doctor…
Clark turned around…
"Okay… okay… Jonathan needs now some rest!" Clark said. "Everyone who is not living in this house leaves now!"
"You should call a doctor!" John-Henry said.
"You take him to the fortress and let grandma scan his brain!" Jordan yelled.
"Fortress? I thought this is an Internet-legend from Reddit?" Crissy said.
Clark looked around. The house was full of people. Three of them only learned the big family-secret a few weeks ago. He was not in mood and had not the time to tell them now everything about the fortress…
"We explain that later! Lana, please… Sarah, sorry… and Chrissy… Reddit is partly correct. John, Natalie… would you please…"
Everyone except the Kents and Sam left. There was no need to discuss the Kent-family-issues in front of everyone who knows their secret. Lois got an icepack from the kitchen to place it on Jonathan's head…
"Jonathan, sweetie… It's me! Mom!"
"Mom?" Jonathan asked. "Is that your name? Mom?"
"No, I am your mom!"
"And I am your brother! Jordan!"
"Jor…dan…" Jonathan stuttered before suddenly a wave of nausea hit him. "Ugh… Jordan… and who am I?"
"You are Jonathan!" Jordan said. "We already said that?!"
"Jonathan? Is that my name?"
"Yeah!" everyone said. Everyone was much more confused. It was like Jonathan already forgot everything again.
"Ugh…" another wave of nausea seems to hit Jonathan. "Ugh… who are you guys?"
"Woah… okay… Something is seriously wrong!" Jordan said and lift Jonathan off the couch.
"What do you do?" Clark asked surprised.
"I fly him to the fortress and let grandma check his brain!" Jordan said stern but Clark took Jonathan to place him back on the couch.
"Let's give your brother some rest first! Are you fine, Jonathan?"
"Ehm… Jonathan? Is that me?" Jonathan said confused and looked around.
Clark could suddenly feel that he was pulled away. Jordan grabbed him by his arm to pull him away from his hurt brother to yell on him again.
"…you! Look what you did to him? He does not even recognize me anymore!" Jordan said, a tear running down his face.
"It was an accident! How many times I need to tell you that again!"
"Aww… I know… It' just…" Jordan cried before he burst out in tears. "…I can't believe this is really happening! My brother forgot me!"
"He will be okay! Amnesia is just temporary. After that… he will be as mad on us as before…" Clark said. He was not looking forward to it.
"Gosh, I wish I could forget what I said to him!" Sam wailed and left to look after Jonathan.
"Fix Jonathan's head. Or I will never ever talk to you again!" Jordan cried and left too again.
"OH MY GOD!" suddenly Sam yelled.
Everyone went back to the living-room to see why Sam was so shocked: Jonathan sitting on the ground, eating the leaves from the fern in the corner…
"You still think that he is all right?" Jordan asked madly, went to Jonathan, and lift him from the ground to carry him outside like a baby. "I'll get him to grandma. NOW!"
"Jordan, you are not good in long-haul-flights." Clark said, speeding in Jordan's way and taking Jonathan into his own arms. "We handle it!"
Jordan, still furious on his father, took his brother again. "I bring him to grandma!"
"He'll be fine!" Clark tried to calm his son down.
Jonathan starts to laugh like a baby when he was carried and got passed back and forth by his father and his brother.
"Dad, look on him! He is getting worse." Jordan said.
"CLARK…" suddenly Lois could see that Jonathan's trousers were wet in the crotch.
"Oh, gosh…." Clark looked on Jonathan who was looking on him like he had no brain anymore. "Jonathan, did you just wet yourself in?"
Finally, Clark realized that he really should take him to the fortress… His first thought was the hospital. Jonathan was human. The hospital would be good. But otherwise, the fortress was able to help him, too. And maybe faster. Jordan insisted on it.
With superspeed, Clark raced out of the house and depart into the air to get Jonathan to the new fortress in the ocean…
Jonathan's face was full of joy…
When Clark flew them to the fortress, he mentioned how happy and joyful Jonathan became. Clark holds Jonathan tightly with his right arm while his left one was stretched out. Jonathan was laughing like a little boy, when he stretched out his own arm to do it like his father.
Clark saw that Jonathan tried to do it by himself. To fly… he wondered how Jonathan would act when he remembered everything. But for now, he just had so much fun, that he tried to fly by himself, too. Clark could literally feel the happiness and the joy inside his son. He thought about flying a bit longer, just to make him happier. But he knew he should take Jon to his mother as soon as possible…
The new ocean-fortress had some useful features, Clark's arctic-fortress or Edge's desert-fortress didn't have. A big spacious terrace, that could be used as landing-area, training ground, or just for sunbathing, was also included.
Clark landed them softly on the flat surface. Jonathan didn't stop laughing…
"AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN!" he yelled happily like a little child and jumped up and down.
"Yeah… yeah, later… Jonathan, Jonathan please listen to me. Wait here for a minute. I go inside and announce us. And you wait here for a minute, okay?"
"Okay!" Jonathan said with a bright smile and looked around for something interesting. In his face, Clark could see that everything here was interesting for him.
Clark speed in and looked around, too. The new fortress was bigger than his old and Tal's together. Thanks to its location and some other improvements it was cozy. Not too cold or to warm inside. It was still relatively empty. But he and Jordan already made plans today how to use the space and who got which room. One more reason he should had asked Jonathan today morning, if the wants to join them. He would have liked it to be involved. But Clark had no time to fall in despair again.
Carefully he put his mother's crystal into the podium again and the holographic image of Lara Lor-Van appeared in front of him.
"Hello, my son. You look worried!" Lara said.
"Mother, I brought Jonathan with me!"
"Oh, finally! I am waiting for so long to meet him." Lara said. "It fulfills me with joy that I finally get to meet my other grandson."
Clark became moody again. He knew he waited too long with that. But first he had to help Jonathan: "Mother, there was an accident! He is suffering from amnesia!"
"Amnesia?! How long?" suddenly Lara was extremely worried.
"A few minutes, maybe! Maybe longer!"
"Bring him in! Kryptonians usually only get amnesia when they have severe brain-damage. Every second matters…"
"Mother, Jon is human…" Clark wasn't used to someone referring Jonathan as Kryptonian. Jonathan called himself a full human, too.
"KAL, QUICK! EVERY SECOND MATTERS!" Lara yelled. This time she was harsh and commanding.
Hearing his mother's harsh order, Clark raced back outside to see that she was right. His son, who wet in himself and act like a toddler, was running with stretched out arms over the terrace, making weird sounds… as if he was a plane. Jonathan would never do something. No grown-up teenager does this. Clark grabbled him, carried him inside and placed him on the table-like surface that came out of the wall.
As soon as he placed him on the table, he was instantly surrounded by a bright light. Jonathan stopped buzzing and closed his eyes while Clark could see his head start to glow.
"Like I predicted!" Lara said. Her voice full of worry.
"Oh, my God… mother, can you help him?"
"The treatment is in progress… Analysis completed. Now I initiate a healing protocol and begin the treatment…"
The lights flickered briefly and changed from blue to green, from green to pink and from pink to a colorful rainbow. Clark saw his son's body relaxing. A weird smile appeared on his face while Jon fell into a deep sleep.
"Your son is going to recover completely."
"Oh, that's good news!" Clark said.
"But his healing process will take some time." Lara explained. "Kryptonians only suffer from amnesia when certain areas of the brain are hurt. Unlike human brains, Kryptonian brains need treatment while humans heal amnesia by themselves. If we had waited longer, your son would have got severe brain-damage that can even let to death."
Now he understood that it was right to bring him here. If he had flown him to the hospital, they wouldn't have been able to help Jonathan. His human son was more Kryptonian than they all admit. And it was not right to assume that Jonathan was fully human. He didn't want to imagine what would have happened if he waited longer.
"Your son's injury brings me to the conclusion that he got a hard punch on his head with a fast force. How did it happen?"
Clark burst out in tears. "It was my fault!"
"Kal, did you beat your son?" Lara asked shocked.
"It was an accident!" Clark said and explained how it happened. Lara mentioned that her son was true about that it was an accident but was worried anyway. After Clark finished suddenly the rainbow-light over his son vanished.
"The treatment is now completed! But your son's recovery will take some time!"
"How long?"
"According to my analysis at least one or two days! But he will have no lasting damage and his memories will return restlessly. His brain-structure is very similar to his brother's. He has a lot of potential!"
"Oh, yes! He has!" Clark said nodding, looking on his son who was sleeping peacefully on the table.
"Kal, your story sounds like you and your son have serious issues."
Clark moaned. "I admit… I was not the father to him, he needed…"
And so, Clark starts to tell his mother the whole story…
He told her about his own youth. Not knowing where he came from, why he had powers or why they send him to earth. His adoptive parents always in fear, he could be taken into a lab, examined or even worse. About his issues and his fears to hurt someone. He lived, his powers hidden, needing to learn how to hide them. After his son's were born, he hoped both to get spared from any powers. Being able to live their lives without the burden of always holding themselves back, or fearing to get locked up in labs, too.
"I admit we had this fear, too. And I am happy that this world welcomed you so warmly." Lara said.
"Yeah, I was lucky. Tal wasn't! When I married Lois, we had no clue what will happen!"
Clark told about the boys' birth, how they wondered if they would have powers. How they avoided doctors, blood-tests and other things. And that he never told the boys who he is or that they are actually half-kryptonian.
"Why? Why did you never tell the boys about their origins?"
"I wanted them to have a normal live! Be themselves! Not having that burden of this secret… I already know that it was not right from me. I should have seen the signals."
Clark told her about the boys. About their youth, their talents and all the small signs that let him assume that they could have powers. He only brought samples of their hairs to Jor-El, who told him that it is 'unlikely' that they will develop powers…
"Your father was a scientist! But not a geneticist. His knowledge of this matter is limited. And I admit, I don't know much about Human-Kryptonian-Hybrids eighter. That's why you should have taken both boys to the fortress regularly. Jordan is the perfect example that they develop differently than you expected…"
Clark nodded. He told her how the boys found the spaceship, the day after their grandmother's funeral. And that this was the reason for telling them. How disappointed and mad the boys were on him. Jordan felt like a freak and Jonathan like a cheater. And how Jordan's powers manifested a few hours later. And the decision to move with his sons back to the small town where he grow up.
"My adoptive mother suggested that. The simple life. I wanted to make up for missing so much. Spending more time with them. I found a way to bond with Jordan."
"And Jonathan?"
Clark moaned. "Jonathan… he… supported his brother in everything. He agreed to the move, without hesitation. He left behind everything. His friends, his future... He was supportive. He was fine with being powerless. The human one!"
"Jonathan was never human!" Lara said. As weird as it sounds, she was right! Technically, Jonathan was never fully human. With Clark as father, he was always partly Kryptonian. Clark nodded. "He has a human mother, right! But like Jordan he is a hybrid!"
Clark continued, telling her how he regularly flew with Jordan to the fortress. How Jordan became better, while Jonathan (despite being supportive) more and more felt like falling back.
"Why you didn't take Jonathan to Jor-El, too?"
"Well, Jonathan has no powers! So, I saw actually no reason for it! And Jonathan didn't care."
"I can't believe what I hear. You withheld your son from learning about his heritage and you didn't even give him a chance to meet his grandfather. I am deeply disappointed!" Lara said accusing. Everything Clark was able to do was lowering his head. "You preferred your other son over Jonathan because he got powers! Being Kryptonian is not about powers, Kal! It's culture, knowledge, legacy… Would you have liked it if I had told only brother Tal about our family history and shared nothing with you?"
"No!" Clark agreed.
"I would have expected this from Zeta-Rho, but not from you!"
"It was stupid from me! And not okay! I am aware of this now. I just…" Clark suddenly burst out in tears. "…I don't want to lose him! I can't! He means so much for me, Lois and Jordan. He lost his mind because of me. He was mad on me for a very good reason. I didn't make up for the lost time like I promised. I… Aww… I even didn't think about how Jonathan should ever get here without being able to fly…"
Suddenly he remembered Jonathan's statement on the boat again. That this fortress is only for the people who can fly… Clark didn't consider that fact. Jonathan would always have to ask someone to bring him over or fly him back. His self-esteem was damaged enough, and his pride wouldn't have made it able to him to overcome his fear to always ask someone.
"You told the boys about their origins at the same day, so you should have taken them to meet Jor-El the same day, too!"
"I know! And believe me, I am not happy that Jonathan now never has the chance to meet him."
"As I said, Jordan is the perfect example that the boys develop unpredictably!" Lara said. Clark nodded again. "And Jonathan?"
"He was forced to handle things no boy in his age should deal with! And we only cared for Jordan's health because I feared it could hurt him and make his powers unstable."
Clark told her about his hometown. The town changed rapidly since his childhood. Many people he knew left it. Jonathan felt not home. How he wanted to move back to Metropolis on his own. He just ignored that this was actually a cry for help. While Clark's relationship with Jordan became better and better it became worse with Jonathan. It was wrong to brand him as the easy one, they can always rely to and don't need to be worried off. In truth, he needed him as much as Jordan did.
"Jonathan was almost killed by Zeta-Rho when he possessed Jordan!" Clark confessed. "He broke his arm twice! He felt left out! Neglected! I was so focused on training Jordan, helping him to control his powers…"
"Jonathan could develop powers, too! Have you ever considered that, Kal?"
"Honestly not! I was relying on the old test results." Clark said, looking on his son who was still sleeping peacefully on the table. "Awww… I should have seen it. He was never jealous on his brother. He also doesn't even want powers. He wants to be human! A normal human!"
"But you should have given him the chance to learn about his heritage anyway. He is human, right. Jordan is human, too! But they are both Kryptonian, too! And the fact that you don't gave him a chance to adapt to this side of his heritage only because he has no powers is unacceptable. I only scanned his brain, and I can tell you that he his brain-capacity is that of a Kryptonian. Like his brother!"
Clark continued. Confessing that all the traumatic events, his powerlessness, and the fact that he was not there for him enough, created a rift between them. Jonathan thought he couldn't trust him anymore. Thinking he has nothing to say in their family as the human one. Then he told her about the XK! Jonathan thought that he destroyed their relationship for good. How he felt unloved much more after that and how his life was turning from not happy to even worse after that. How bad he felt while Clark was gone for a month. His fear to never ever get even with him.
"You didn't even think about letting me check him after he took the XK?" Lara asked. "What if it had lasting effects on his Kryptonian cells?"
"He never reacted to Kryptonite!"
"Are you sure about that?"
"Aww… no! It was just the synthetic one he was always exposed to…" Clark moaned, rubbing his tired eyes. "He was so afraid, that I will only spend time with him when he gets powers and that it would be the only thing that makes me proud!"
"You've told me so many good things about Jonathan while I was in the body of that human woman! I couldn't wait for the moment to meet him. And powers are always a possibility. Your sons develop differently but you see on Jordan that it would be better to check them regularly! Maybe he reacts to Kryptonite but is immune against the poisonous effects of it?"
"Can you scan him now?" Clark asked curious. "Now that we talk about it! And Jordan wants to know why his brother does not have powers!"
"I wanted to since I first scanned Jordan. To see how he developed, will develop, or why he hasn't shown any signs of powers yet. But now I can't do that? He needs to recover from his trauma first. If I scan him now, it could impair his healing progress!" Lara said. "For now, we have to wait and help him as good as possible threw his healing progress!"
Suddenly they heard Jonathan yawning, and the teenager opened his eyes again.
"Jonathan? Jonathan, how are you?"
"Ugh… my head hurts? Where am I?"
"You are in the fortress?"
"What fortress?"
"Our fortress! Do you remember? We were on the boat together when it was created?"
"His memories haven't return yet!" Lara interfered.
Clark looked on his son with tears in his eyes. "Oh, Jonathan… I am so terribly sorry. What do you know? What do you remember?"
"Ehm… I was in a room. Many people were looking at me. You… you told me you are my father. And Mom and Jor-dan… and… 'cough'… ugh…" suddenly Jonathan coughed and pulled a green strand of a plant out of his mouth. "Ugh… did I eat a plant?"
"Jonathan, everything will be okay! You lost your memories. But we will help you to regain them! I am Lara! I am your grandmother! And your name is Jonathan Kent! Your Kryptonian name is Jon-El! You are here on Earth! The planet you are born on and that is your home! This fortress is a relic of our home planet Krypton."
"Oh…" Jonathan said and looked around in the bright, sparkling walls and the colorful lights. "Nice!"
Clark wanted to ask if it is not a bit too much to come up with the Krypton story so fast. But when he saw how happy and cheerful his son was, he decided to rely on his mother's strategy by being honest and direct…
"You are my father?"
"Yes? Do you remember how we got here?"
"Ehm… no!"
"Really… you… you were so happy when we flew here together!"
"We can fly?" Jonathan asked excited and thrilled about that thought.
"Well… ehm… I can…" Clark said but suddenly he saw his mother's holograph making a 'shut-up-gesture'. "… I mean… I flew us here yeah."
"Kal, your sons recovery depends on his emotions. My scan indicates that his human cells could help. You should avoid bad things. Happiness will have a positive effect on his recovery."
"Is there anything we can do?" Clark asked.
"I recommend staying with him here at the fortress. He will have phases of psychotic attacks that make him unpredictable or even dangerous. It will be better to have him monitored all time. What also helps is attention, love, and patience. And as I already said happiness!"
"Always!" Clark said.
"His personality is mostly the same! Only his memory is impaired." Lara said, making a gesture to Clark to listen closely. "His psychotic attacks may occur any time! Some might be harmless, but others can be very weird."
"I get Lois and Jordan and some things he likes. That will help." Clark said.
"This is a good idea. Show him things he knows and likes. Go! I take care of him as long as you are gone."
"Thank you, mother!" Clark said, before he turned to Jonathan, who was sitting on the ground and watched the holographic play in front of him. "Hey my boy… I need to go for a few minutes to get your mother and your brother here. Your grandmother will look after you! Okay?"
"Okay!" Jonathan just repeated with a bright smile. Clark 's mood became much better while looking on that smile. This innocent, heartwarming smile he could never withstand when he was little…
After giving his son a last hug, Clark speeded away to fly back to Smallville. Jonathan starts to laugh amused after witnessing it. Trying to imitate the woosh-sound. Lara looked on her grandson happily…
"Jonathan, would you like to learn about your family-history?"
"YEAH…" Jonathan cheered and sat down on the ground again to listen curiously…
This was what Lara expected from Jonathan: open, curious, happy and inquisitive. And so, full of pride, she began telling him about Krypton.
Clark arrived back in Smallville just a minute later, landed behind the barn on his favorite landing-spot (where nobody could see him from the street) and walked up to the house in rush. Jordan, who heard his landing, came out of the house, crossed his arms, and looked on his father mad and still full of fury. Clark could see that Jordan cried just a few moments ago.
"Where is he?"
"With your grandmother! He will recover completely." Clark said. "Let's go inside… I want to tell your mother and your grandfather, too!"
Inside the family came together in the dining-room and Clark told them what his mother told him. Clark was still in despair, Lois burst out in tears, Sam became moody, and Jordan was furious.
"I KNEW IT! BUT YOU DIDN'T WANT TO LISTEN TO ME!" Jordan screamed. "YOU WANTED TO WAIT… INSTEAD YOU ALMOST KILLED HIM!"
"I know! And I am sorry, but Jonathan needs us now!" Clark said. "My mother is taking care of him for now, but we should go there. He needs us now! No matter what we did, no matter how mad he is actually on us, and no matter how mad he will be when his memories are back… We need to show him that we are there for him. That we love him. And that I am so sorry for what I did…"
Clark burst out in tears again. Seeing Clark like this the family realized that he was really sorry for what he did. And they all had to agree that it was indeed not on purpose when he knocked him out. And that this was not the time to be mad on each other. Jonathan was their top priority, for now.
"We…" Clark tried to calm down. "…we… need some things that will help him to remember… photos, videos, things he loved…"
"Martha collected everything! That won't be difficult." Lois said.
"Does he have a diary?" Sam asked. "I heard somewhere that people who suffer from amnesia should read their own diary. It would help!"
"I don't know! Jordan, does your brother have a diary?" Lois asked, while searching the shelve in the living-room for Martha's old scrapbooks.
Jordan just shrugged. It was actually a good idea, but it could be a bad one… Especially when Jonathan wrote about all the disappointment and the pain, he had to endure…
"We must prepare now. The faster we get to Jonathan, the better it will be for his recovery!" Clark said. "My mother has some stuff from the boys in the attic…"
"I look for the photo-albums…" Lois said. Leaving to look for them in the shelve in her home-office.
"I go to the attic!" Jordan said.
DING DONG
Suddenly the doorbell rang…
"Who is that now?" Clark moaned. He wanted to go back to his son as soon as possible. Not that he didn't trust his mother to take care of him, but she told him that he needed him and his family now. One more reason to get back quick. Maybe it was Lana? Or Natalie? Someone who wanted to check for Jonathan.
Clark opened the door to see a foreign, petite, stern looking woman in a grey pantsuit standing on the porch.
"Mr. Kent?"
"Yes!"
"I am from the child protection association! We received an anonymous call about domestic violence!"
Please review and keep well!
While writing this chapter, I heard that Jonathan actor Jordan Elsass leaves the series which I think is actually a huge shock. Get well soon Jordan Elsass. The series won't be the same without you!