Clark ran into the waiting room, seeing the Sullivans and Pete sitting in a corner. But there was a fourth figure... Mel. She had come from Metropolis. Kent ran up to the group, giving a short greeting. "Pete, how is Lana?"
"Clark, she's in a coma. She had a heart attack and convulsions from something, then slipped into the coma."
"Heart attack?!" exclaimed Clark. "Didn't that happen to her date... what's his name..."
"Kevin. Yeah, he's slipped into a coma as well. So have four other people in Smallville." said Chloe, joining the conversation. "The doctors think it's some sort of toxin." she explained. "They say it's unlike anything they've seen before."
Clark took a deep breath. "How is she doing?"
Sullivan spoke up. "Lana is stable, along with the other five. But that doesn't much. The sixth, some guy visiting from metropolis, was in stable condition before all of his vitals just stopped." Chloe said, joining the conversation. Her voice was was trembling in fear. "The doctors can't find anything in the blood stream, so it might be a virus of some kind... or this could be some sort of coincidence... or another meteor incident..."
"Chloe, calm down. Everything is going to be allright." said Clark, wrapping his arms around her. But the hug was just as much for Chloe as it was for Clark. One of Clark's worst fear was coming true: Lana was dying, and she could go at any second. And Clark couldn't do ianything/i to help her. "It's going to be allright." he repeated, looking around the hospital room. Everyone was grim, and so were the other gatherings of family. Probably other patients in the same condition Lana was in.
The doctor came into the waiting room, heading for the group. "Hello, I'm Dr. Alice Masterson. You must be Mel." she said, shaking the woman's hand.
Mel shook her head yes, unable to respond vocally without breaking out into more tears.
"I've been looking after Lana. I won't lie to you, she isn't in good condition, but we hope to be able to pull her through it."
"What happened to her?" asked Chloe, almost angry.
Alice blinked, turning to the annoying teenager. "We think she might have ingested or have been exposed to a toxin, or have been introduced to an unknown virus. But this is pure speculation."
"Was she conscious? At all?" asked Chloe again.
"She was semi-conscious for a few seconds just before she slipped into a coma."
Clark swallowed. "Did she say anything? Anything that would give us a clue?"
"Not really. She was rambling, just like the others."
"The others said things too?" asked Clark, homing in on that point.
"Yes. They were very similar, but that was just an overactive brain before it shut down."
"What did she say?" asked Chloe, stepping closer to the doctor. She was treating the doctor as if she was the enemy, the foe to be conquered.
In a way Clark felt that too. The doctors needed to understand that this was iLana/i they were dealing with.
The doctor looked down on her clipboard. "Okay... 'help me', 'get away', 'get out of me', 'stop', and 'this isn't real'. That was all. That was about the same as the other patients, so whatever is affecting them is triggering the same psycological stresses." she explained. "If worse comes to worse we may have to airlift Ms. Lang to Metropolis for more diagnostics. Now, if you will excuse me I would like to run another MRI on her." the doctor said, leaving the overly defensive crowd.
Clark sat down in the one of the chairs, resting his head on his hand. What had happened to Lana? What was happening to everyone else who was being affected? If it was a virus, everyone in Smallville could be vulnerable. Everybody could have the virus inside of them allready, just waiting to lose it's dormancy... it could happen to Clark, too. He knew first hand that he was vulnerable to a strong enough contagion, even though the only one to ever affect him was of kryptonite.
Kent looked at Mr. Sullivan. "May I please borrow your phone, sir?"
Mr. Sullivan managed a weak smile. "Only if you promise never to call me sir again." he said, pulling the small phone out of his pocket. He tossed it to Clark.
Kent opened it, dialing his number. He was for the phone to be answered.
i"Hello?"/i
"Hi mom, it's me." said Clark. "I'm at the hospital."
i"Clark, is everything ok?"/i
"No." replied Clark. "Not exactly. Something is happening to some people in Smallville, including Lana. The doctors think it may be a toxin or a virus... mom, please try to stay at home. The contagion could be airborne and be floating outside or in a certain part of town."
i"Allright, Clark. Thank you for the warning. Is that all? Yes? Okay, goodnight sweetie."/i
"Wait, mom," said Clark, his voice fluctuating, "I love you."
i"I love you to, Clark. I'll see you at the hospital tomorrow or when you come home."/i
Click.
Clark looked at the clock. He had been there for all of five minutes, but it felt far longer. Was Lana allright? Was she going to talk out of this unharmed? Or would she die, or end up a cripple as so many victims like this do? How would she react to that? What could he, Clark, do to help her?
Nothing. That's what he could do. Kent couldn't do anything to help Lana, no matter how much he needed to.
Alexandra watched Martha on the phone, talking to Clark. Mercer was sitting at the table, nibbling on Mrs. Kent's truly wonderful apple pie. She watched intently, hoping that Clark would ask to speak to her.
Click.
Alex lowered her head, staring at the pie. He didn't. She was alone at the table, Johnathan had gone outside to do some more farmwork before the sun was set for too long. "This is wonderful." repeated Alex as Martha came back from the phone.
Martha smiled. "Thank you dear, again. I'm sorry for Clark. He has a... one-track mind."
"And he's been derailed from mine." replied Alex, now inhaling a chunk of Martha's pie. "I guess I shouldn't feel like this. I mean, his best friend is in the hospital."
Martha shook her head. "That's no reason to just run away like that. But Alex, Clark may drift his focus for a time, but it always slides back to what's really importent to him." she explained. "And he may not be back tonight."
Alex nodded. "Allright. Goodnight, Mrs. Kent." she said, standing up to head for the door.
"Alex, wait." said Martha, "Clark mentioned something about a virus or toxin... you can stay here if you would like. I would drive you, but Clark took our truck. Staying were would be safer than walking home."
"Oh no..." she started, pausing to think about it. "Okay, maybe I will stay, if you are absolutly sure I'm not imposing."
"Of course not." said Martha. "Our couch isn't very comfortable, you could sleep in Clark's room since he's not here. He wouldn't mind."
"Um... okay." said Alex. "If you don't mind I'm fairly tired."
Martha thought it strange to be going to sleep this early. "No, of course I don't mind. Sweet dreams." said Martha as she sat down at the kitchen, picking up a book.
Alexandra walked up the steps to the unfamiliar house, seeing many doors. Which one was Clark's? 'That one.' she thought, looking at the one half open with some jeans laying on the ground blocking the door from fully shutting. She opened it, seeing that the rest of the room was't any tidier. Alex laughed slightly when she walked over to the mirror, removing the red shirt draped over it's surface. Mercer looked into the mirror, gazing at herself. She was surprised at how tired she looked. But now she could rest... not just for tonight, but she could finally slow down and just be. That was only possibly here in Smallville.
Mercer looked to the bed, taking off her overcoat. She layed down in it, the light switch switching off with a single one of her thoughts. She started laying on her side, looking out the window at the settig sun. She really was tired to be going to bed this early. She eventually closed her eyes, trying to calm her thoughts.
A yell. Alexandra opened the door without moving, Mr. and Mrs. Kent were fighting about something... Alex usually didn't snoop, but she wanted to make sure she really wasn't being a nuisance.
"You invited her to stay overnight?" Johnathan asked.
"Johnathan it could be dangerous for her to walk home. Do you want to put her in danger?"
"Martha, you could be putting us in danger. You know what she can do. What else do we know about her?"
"Johnathan stop! She is a sweet girl."
"You've judged her to be completely trustworthy from one dinner? Martha, that kid can be idangerous/i. We have no idea how powerful she really is, or what she really wants. Every other freak-"
"Johnathan!"
"Allright, I'm sorry, every other ialtered/i person Clark has faced before has tried to kill someone."
"Clark has only found these kryptonite altered people while trying to help a victim. Have you ever thought that the majority of people in Smallville affected by the meteors are really normal people?"
"That's beside the point, Martha, and you know it. They are still dangerous. The fact is we know nothing that we have no idea who Alex really is, or what she wants with Clark. All we do know is that Clark is blindly infatuated with her. She's a telepath, how do we know she's not planting these emotions in Clark's head? How do we know that she's not going to try and hurt us while we're sleeping?"
Alex gripped her pillow, which had soaked up tears. She understood Mr. Kent's fears... but Alex's belief that both of Clark's parents were different was being shattered. Johnathan had been lying at dinner. He was just pretending to put the least bit of trust in her with his family.
"Johnathan, that's absurd."
"I don't think it is." replied Mr. Kent. "Martha, we let her into our home. But now she's staying? Martha we have ino idea/i about who she really is. She could really be the nice girl that we saw at dinner, or she could be a monster." Johnathan said. Suddenly he turned towards the stairs as he heard movement.
Alex reached the bottom of the stairs. She put on her jacket.
Martha's eyes widened. Alexandra had been hearing their conversation. "Alex, dear..." she said, seeing Alex's cheeks soaked.
Mercer looked at Johnathan. "No thank you, Mrs. Kent. I'm not welcome." she said, trying to wipe the moisture away.
Johnathan remained quiet.
"Alex, wait. You're always welcome here." Martha said, trying again.
"She's right. Alex, please stay. I'm sorry for what I said." said Johnathan, sounding defeated.
Alex reached for the door. "Mr. Kent, I'd appreciate it if you didn't lie to me. We both know that's not true. I inever/i wanted to hurt Clark, or you." she said. "I can't help who I am, Mr. Kent." she said, stepping out the door. She closed it gently behind her, walking down the steps leaving the home behind. She walked down the driveway, hearing both Martha and Johnathan fighting again. Mercer knew that leaving like that was completely immature, and that it wouldn't help anybody, but she just couldn't stay there.
"Clark, she's in a coma. She had a heart attack and convulsions from something, then slipped into the coma."
"Heart attack?!" exclaimed Clark. "Didn't that happen to her date... what's his name..."
"Kevin. Yeah, he's slipped into a coma as well. So have four other people in Smallville." said Chloe, joining the conversation. "The doctors think it's some sort of toxin." she explained. "They say it's unlike anything they've seen before."
Clark took a deep breath. "How is she doing?"
Sullivan spoke up. "Lana is stable, along with the other five. But that doesn't much. The sixth, some guy visiting from metropolis, was in stable condition before all of his vitals just stopped." Chloe said, joining the conversation. Her voice was was trembling in fear. "The doctors can't find anything in the blood stream, so it might be a virus of some kind... or this could be some sort of coincidence... or another meteor incident..."
"Chloe, calm down. Everything is going to be allright." said Clark, wrapping his arms around her. But the hug was just as much for Chloe as it was for Clark. One of Clark's worst fear was coming true: Lana was dying, and she could go at any second. And Clark couldn't do ianything/i to help her. "It's going to be allright." he repeated, looking around the hospital room. Everyone was grim, and so were the other gatherings of family. Probably other patients in the same condition Lana was in.
The doctor came into the waiting room, heading for the group. "Hello, I'm Dr. Alice Masterson. You must be Mel." she said, shaking the woman's hand.
Mel shook her head yes, unable to respond vocally without breaking out into more tears.
"I've been looking after Lana. I won't lie to you, she isn't in good condition, but we hope to be able to pull her through it."
"What happened to her?" asked Chloe, almost angry.
Alice blinked, turning to the annoying teenager. "We think she might have ingested or have been exposed to a toxin, or have been introduced to an unknown virus. But this is pure speculation."
"Was she conscious? At all?" asked Chloe again.
"She was semi-conscious for a few seconds just before she slipped into a coma."
Clark swallowed. "Did she say anything? Anything that would give us a clue?"
"Not really. She was rambling, just like the others."
"The others said things too?" asked Clark, homing in on that point.
"Yes. They were very similar, but that was just an overactive brain before it shut down."
"What did she say?" asked Chloe, stepping closer to the doctor. She was treating the doctor as if she was the enemy, the foe to be conquered.
In a way Clark felt that too. The doctors needed to understand that this was iLana/i they were dealing with.
The doctor looked down on her clipboard. "Okay... 'help me', 'get away', 'get out of me', 'stop', and 'this isn't real'. That was all. That was about the same as the other patients, so whatever is affecting them is triggering the same psycological stresses." she explained. "If worse comes to worse we may have to airlift Ms. Lang to Metropolis for more diagnostics. Now, if you will excuse me I would like to run another MRI on her." the doctor said, leaving the overly defensive crowd.
Clark sat down in the one of the chairs, resting his head on his hand. What had happened to Lana? What was happening to everyone else who was being affected? If it was a virus, everyone in Smallville could be vulnerable. Everybody could have the virus inside of them allready, just waiting to lose it's dormancy... it could happen to Clark, too. He knew first hand that he was vulnerable to a strong enough contagion, even though the only one to ever affect him was of kryptonite.
Kent looked at Mr. Sullivan. "May I please borrow your phone, sir?"
Mr. Sullivan managed a weak smile. "Only if you promise never to call me sir again." he said, pulling the small phone out of his pocket. He tossed it to Clark.
Kent opened it, dialing his number. He was for the phone to be answered.
i"Hello?"/i
"Hi mom, it's me." said Clark. "I'm at the hospital."
i"Clark, is everything ok?"/i
"No." replied Clark. "Not exactly. Something is happening to some people in Smallville, including Lana. The doctors think it may be a toxin or a virus... mom, please try to stay at home. The contagion could be airborne and be floating outside or in a certain part of town."
i"Allright, Clark. Thank you for the warning. Is that all? Yes? Okay, goodnight sweetie."/i
"Wait, mom," said Clark, his voice fluctuating, "I love you."
i"I love you to, Clark. I'll see you at the hospital tomorrow or when you come home."/i
Click.
Clark looked at the clock. He had been there for all of five minutes, but it felt far longer. Was Lana allright? Was she going to talk out of this unharmed? Or would she die, or end up a cripple as so many victims like this do? How would she react to that? What could he, Clark, do to help her?
Nothing. That's what he could do. Kent couldn't do anything to help Lana, no matter how much he needed to.
Alexandra watched Martha on the phone, talking to Clark. Mercer was sitting at the table, nibbling on Mrs. Kent's truly wonderful apple pie. She watched intently, hoping that Clark would ask to speak to her.
Click.
Alex lowered her head, staring at the pie. He didn't. She was alone at the table, Johnathan had gone outside to do some more farmwork before the sun was set for too long. "This is wonderful." repeated Alex as Martha came back from the phone.
Martha smiled. "Thank you dear, again. I'm sorry for Clark. He has a... one-track mind."
"And he's been derailed from mine." replied Alex, now inhaling a chunk of Martha's pie. "I guess I shouldn't feel like this. I mean, his best friend is in the hospital."
Martha shook her head. "That's no reason to just run away like that. But Alex, Clark may drift his focus for a time, but it always slides back to what's really importent to him." she explained. "And he may not be back tonight."
Alex nodded. "Allright. Goodnight, Mrs. Kent." she said, standing up to head for the door.
"Alex, wait." said Martha, "Clark mentioned something about a virus or toxin... you can stay here if you would like. I would drive you, but Clark took our truck. Staying were would be safer than walking home."
"Oh no..." she started, pausing to think about it. "Okay, maybe I will stay, if you are absolutly sure I'm not imposing."
"Of course not." said Martha. "Our couch isn't very comfortable, you could sleep in Clark's room since he's not here. He wouldn't mind."
"Um... okay." said Alex. "If you don't mind I'm fairly tired."
Martha thought it strange to be going to sleep this early. "No, of course I don't mind. Sweet dreams." said Martha as she sat down at the kitchen, picking up a book.
Alexandra walked up the steps to the unfamiliar house, seeing many doors. Which one was Clark's? 'That one.' she thought, looking at the one half open with some jeans laying on the ground blocking the door from fully shutting. She opened it, seeing that the rest of the room was't any tidier. Alex laughed slightly when she walked over to the mirror, removing the red shirt draped over it's surface. Mercer looked into the mirror, gazing at herself. She was surprised at how tired she looked. But now she could rest... not just for tonight, but she could finally slow down and just be. That was only possibly here in Smallville.
Mercer looked to the bed, taking off her overcoat. She layed down in it, the light switch switching off with a single one of her thoughts. She started laying on her side, looking out the window at the settig sun. She really was tired to be going to bed this early. She eventually closed her eyes, trying to calm her thoughts.
A yell. Alexandra opened the door without moving, Mr. and Mrs. Kent were fighting about something... Alex usually didn't snoop, but she wanted to make sure she really wasn't being a nuisance.
"You invited her to stay overnight?" Johnathan asked.
"Johnathan it could be dangerous for her to walk home. Do you want to put her in danger?"
"Martha, you could be putting us in danger. You know what she can do. What else do we know about her?"
"Johnathan stop! She is a sweet girl."
"You've judged her to be completely trustworthy from one dinner? Martha, that kid can be idangerous/i. We have no idea how powerful she really is, or what she really wants. Every other freak-"
"Johnathan!"
"Allright, I'm sorry, every other ialtered/i person Clark has faced before has tried to kill someone."
"Clark has only found these kryptonite altered people while trying to help a victim. Have you ever thought that the majority of people in Smallville affected by the meteors are really normal people?"
"That's beside the point, Martha, and you know it. They are still dangerous. The fact is we know nothing that we have no idea who Alex really is, or what she wants with Clark. All we do know is that Clark is blindly infatuated with her. She's a telepath, how do we know she's not planting these emotions in Clark's head? How do we know that she's not going to try and hurt us while we're sleeping?"
Alex gripped her pillow, which had soaked up tears. She understood Mr. Kent's fears... but Alex's belief that both of Clark's parents were different was being shattered. Johnathan had been lying at dinner. He was just pretending to put the least bit of trust in her with his family.
"Johnathan, that's absurd."
"I don't think it is." replied Mr. Kent. "Martha, we let her into our home. But now she's staying? Martha we have ino idea/i about who she really is. She could really be the nice girl that we saw at dinner, or she could be a monster." Johnathan said. Suddenly he turned towards the stairs as he heard movement.
Alex reached the bottom of the stairs. She put on her jacket.
Martha's eyes widened. Alexandra had been hearing their conversation. "Alex, dear..." she said, seeing Alex's cheeks soaked.
Mercer looked at Johnathan. "No thank you, Mrs. Kent. I'm not welcome." she said, trying to wipe the moisture away.
Johnathan remained quiet.
"Alex, wait. You're always welcome here." Martha said, trying again.
"She's right. Alex, please stay. I'm sorry for what I said." said Johnathan, sounding defeated.
Alex reached for the door. "Mr. Kent, I'd appreciate it if you didn't lie to me. We both know that's not true. I inever/i wanted to hurt Clark, or you." she said. "I can't help who I am, Mr. Kent." she said, stepping out the door. She closed it gently behind her, walking down the steps leaving the home behind. She walked down the driveway, hearing both Martha and Johnathan fighting again. Mercer knew that leaving like that was completely immature, and that it wouldn't help anybody, but she just couldn't stay there.