"What if he is immortal? Or that nothing can kill him but the Kryptonite? He could outlive us all and what would happen then?" Martha looked at Jonathan as though she really thought he might have a better answer but he didn't have a single one. Or maybe the way she looked at the floor after a moment showed that she knew that.
He wasn't a man to avoid taking risks for himself, but when it came to his family, that was another thing entirely. The question was picking the right risk. It was Pete's call that brought it to a head. He'd called after two weeks abroad, asking how they were, chatting a bit about the summit, and finally asking about Clark. When Jonathan had said that there still wasn't any change, it was the way that Pete burst out, "But it's been *six* months, isn't he at *all* better?" that made him think about a possibility he'd always shoved firmly to the back of his mind before.
But he still said, "Martha, let's give him a bit more time. Getting here wasn't easy on him and maybe he's still recovering from that." Even he heard how little conviction there was in his voice; Clark had been easily perturbed for about two days after coming home, but after that, settled in. Settled in to the same lack of responsiveness as before. If they put liquids in his mouth, he'd swallow. If they touched him, he'd be alarmed for an instant and then return to his previous state. Even after the week when one of them was always *in* the bed with him, remembering how that had calmed him when he was much younger and afraid or upset about something.
She sighed and he hated the sound of it. It meant that she was still as uncertain as he was, as glad to postpone the decision yet again. "All right. Another week, do you think?"
"Let's give it a week."
***
During that week, Jonathan couldn't tell if he wanted the it to finish instantly or take forever. But it was too easy to try and defer the decision any longer, to say give it another week, wait until some indication that might never come. But that morning, he wanted to find some reason to wait. He'd prayed his soul raw, they'd watched for any sign that he was recovering, or even for any sign that his stupor was peaceful instead of troubled and unhappy.
He leaned closer to Clark. His son's eyes didn't waver and Jonathan nodded to himself. "Your mother and I will be back in a few minutes. Whatever happens, son, we love you."
Martha must have been just as impatient, since he was barely at the door before she was there, her hand clasped tight shut. "Do you want to-" He let the question dangle, so she could finish it with any course of action.
"It's the right thing."
She ran her fingers through Clark's hair and then brought his hand out from under the blankets. She looked up once at Jonathan but her hand was steady as she placed the red crystal in his.
In the first motion they'd seen from him, his hand slowly closed around it.
***
*hours and days and weeks piling up piling up so deep but I don't know how many just that they're lying dead on the floor like leaves*
*is it a place I know or is it somebody I know no the street is running like water flowing away to come together again at the end*
*please let me go*
*looking in the mirror every night but seeing just a moth in the empty room their bodies look like they shouldn't be able to fly do they*
*it's the perfect kingdom of you and I can't get back or maybe it was a fairy tale like all the others*
*what's happening rising like something from the bottom of the water rising to the sun*
*that's what the sunflowers do and I'm coming with them*
*rising faster faster now hurry now hurry*
*I want I want I want I want*
*I want to do everything I can do everything anything I want to there's nobody to stop me*
*I want I want I WANT*
***
Okay, this new chapter came quickly! Still feels like there's just one left now.
He wasn't a man to avoid taking risks for himself, but when it came to his family, that was another thing entirely. The question was picking the right risk. It was Pete's call that brought it to a head. He'd called after two weeks abroad, asking how they were, chatting a bit about the summit, and finally asking about Clark. When Jonathan had said that there still wasn't any change, it was the way that Pete burst out, "But it's been *six* months, isn't he at *all* better?" that made him think about a possibility he'd always shoved firmly to the back of his mind before.
But he still said, "Martha, let's give him a bit more time. Getting here wasn't easy on him and maybe he's still recovering from that." Even he heard how little conviction there was in his voice; Clark had been easily perturbed for about two days after coming home, but after that, settled in. Settled in to the same lack of responsiveness as before. If they put liquids in his mouth, he'd swallow. If they touched him, he'd be alarmed for an instant and then return to his previous state. Even after the week when one of them was always *in* the bed with him, remembering how that had calmed him when he was much younger and afraid or upset about something.
She sighed and he hated the sound of it. It meant that she was still as uncertain as he was, as glad to postpone the decision yet again. "All right. Another week, do you think?"
"Let's give it a week."
***
During that week, Jonathan couldn't tell if he wanted the it to finish instantly or take forever. But it was too easy to try and defer the decision any longer, to say give it another week, wait until some indication that might never come. But that morning, he wanted to find some reason to wait. He'd prayed his soul raw, they'd watched for any sign that he was recovering, or even for any sign that his stupor was peaceful instead of troubled and unhappy.
He leaned closer to Clark. His son's eyes didn't waver and Jonathan nodded to himself. "Your mother and I will be back in a few minutes. Whatever happens, son, we love you."
Martha must have been just as impatient, since he was barely at the door before she was there, her hand clasped tight shut. "Do you want to-" He let the question dangle, so she could finish it with any course of action.
"It's the right thing."
She ran her fingers through Clark's hair and then brought his hand out from under the blankets. She looked up once at Jonathan but her hand was steady as she placed the red crystal in his.
In the first motion they'd seen from him, his hand slowly closed around it.
***
*hours and days and weeks piling up piling up so deep but I don't know how many just that they're lying dead on the floor like leaves*
*is it a place I know or is it somebody I know no the street is running like water flowing away to come together again at the end*
*please let me go*
*looking in the mirror every night but seeing just a moth in the empty room their bodies look like they shouldn't be able to fly do they*
*it's the perfect kingdom of you and I can't get back or maybe it was a fairy tale like all the others*
*what's happening rising like something from the bottom of the water rising to the sun*
*that's what the sunflowers do and I'm coming with them*
*rising faster faster now hurry now hurry*
*I want I want I want I want*
*I want to do everything I can do everything anything I want to there's nobody to stop me*
*I want I want I WANT*
***
Okay, this new chapter came quickly! Still feels like there's just one left now.