"Hello?" Martha was still outside. Jonathan prefered for her to answer the phone, and she didn't mind, just shook her head and looked at him when he let it ring, but she hadn't heard it.
"Clark is with me." Lex Luthor's voice. He couldn't think of a thing to say.
"He's sleeping now, but I'll bring him back once he's awake."
"Where are you? Where is he? Where has he been all this time? By God, if you've-"
Lex's voice cut over his, but jaggedly, not the usual smoothness. "It's a long story. I don't want to leave him alone. I'll call before we leave."
"Martha!" He shouted out the door and she came running. "It's Lex Luthor. He says Clark is with him."
"Where is he?"
"Phone."
"Lex? Where? Is he all right?" Jonathan couldn't hear Lex's words, but could guess from the effect on her face. Anxiety springing up again, as vivid as during the first days after Clark disappeared, and then faintly wiped away.
"All right."
"No, don't leave him alone."
"Yes."
A long pause, and a quiet, "Thank you, Lex." She hung up.
Clark was coming back.
He'd repeated that sentence and all its possible variations numberless times, in the numberless different shades of fear and pain. And now, finally, it was a simple statement of fact.
Jonathan and Martha instinctively moved together, clinging for comfort and solidity. The world had changed again, and the only constant was each other.
"I can't believe it. He's really, finally, coming back." He could barely hear Martha's words as much as he felt them against his chest.
"He's coming back." He'd finally said those words out loud.
"I...I wish I'd thought to ask what happened," she half-laughed.
"He'll tell us soon enough."
"God. I feel like he always felt at Christmas. When it was far away, it wasn't too bad to wait, but now that it's close, each second takes forever."
He saw in his mind's eye, as he knew she did, the excited, restless face, trying to be good and not ask yet another time how close Christmas is, but the question bursting out anyway, in a little explosion of child energy.
"Everything's changed so much. He'll probably feel lost at first." The plant had expanded. Lex had kept the plant operational but made it an experimental facility. The town now had more engineers and chemists and physicists and managers than farmers or shopkeepers. Fortunately, organic produce was fashionable enough that they'd done fine, unlike many people whose rents and taxes had gone up drastically with the increased property values. They'd done better than fine, in fact; not feeling the slightest qualm about nearly doubling their official prices for produce. Of course, old customers got the old prices. Those down on their luck paid just enough to let them keep their pride and share a laugh; they knew that "those newcomers" paid more.
"I'm glad we left his room just as it was. Though, God, he's nineteen now." He remembered the first time the day they'd picked as Clark's birthday passed. He'd tried to ignore it, but when he saw that she couldn't, he was furious with Clark. With Nell, who had come by, of course by coincidence, to boast about *her* perfect adopted niece's latest triumph. With himself, for caring so much still.
"He'll probably say that he's not a little kid any more." He didn't have to try to smile. An idiot grin was spreading all over his face. To hell with the fact that they didn't know where Clark had been or what he was doing or why. Fuck the fact that Lex Luthor had gotten his arrogant ass involved again. Clark was coming back.
"Clark is with me." Lex Luthor's voice. He couldn't think of a thing to say.
"He's sleeping now, but I'll bring him back once he's awake."
"Where are you? Where is he? Where has he been all this time? By God, if you've-"
Lex's voice cut over his, but jaggedly, not the usual smoothness. "It's a long story. I don't want to leave him alone. I'll call before we leave."
"Martha!" He shouted out the door and she came running. "It's Lex Luthor. He says Clark is with him."
"Where is he?"
"Phone."
"Lex? Where? Is he all right?" Jonathan couldn't hear Lex's words, but could guess from the effect on her face. Anxiety springing up again, as vivid as during the first days after Clark disappeared, and then faintly wiped away.
"All right."
"No, don't leave him alone."
"Yes."
A long pause, and a quiet, "Thank you, Lex." She hung up.
Clark was coming back.
He'd repeated that sentence and all its possible variations numberless times, in the numberless different shades of fear and pain. And now, finally, it was a simple statement of fact.
Jonathan and Martha instinctively moved together, clinging for comfort and solidity. The world had changed again, and the only constant was each other.
"I can't believe it. He's really, finally, coming back." He could barely hear Martha's words as much as he felt them against his chest.
"He's coming back." He'd finally said those words out loud.
"I...I wish I'd thought to ask what happened," she half-laughed.
"He'll tell us soon enough."
"God. I feel like he always felt at Christmas. When it was far away, it wasn't too bad to wait, but now that it's close, each second takes forever."
He saw in his mind's eye, as he knew she did, the excited, restless face, trying to be good and not ask yet another time how close Christmas is, but the question bursting out anyway, in a little explosion of child energy.
"Everything's changed so much. He'll probably feel lost at first." The plant had expanded. Lex had kept the plant operational but made it an experimental facility. The town now had more engineers and chemists and physicists and managers than farmers or shopkeepers. Fortunately, organic produce was fashionable enough that they'd done fine, unlike many people whose rents and taxes had gone up drastically with the increased property values. They'd done better than fine, in fact; not feeling the slightest qualm about nearly doubling their official prices for produce. Of course, old customers got the old prices. Those down on their luck paid just enough to let them keep their pride and share a laugh; they knew that "those newcomers" paid more.
"I'm glad we left his room just as it was. Though, God, he's nineteen now." He remembered the first time the day they'd picked as Clark's birthday passed. He'd tried to ignore it, but when he saw that she couldn't, he was furious with Clark. With Nell, who had come by, of course by coincidence, to boast about *her* perfect adopted niece's latest triumph. With himself, for caring so much still.
"He'll probably say that he's not a little kid any more." He didn't have to try to smile. An idiot grin was spreading all over his face. To hell with the fact that they didn't know where Clark had been or what he was doing or why. Fuck the fact that Lex Luthor had gotten his arrogant ass involved again. Clark was coming back.