"Are you serious?" The question didn't have to be asked, but everyone knew it would be.

"Martha, why would I make this up?"

Jonathon looked down. "Will…"

"Look, Jonathon—I know we haven't seen exactly eye to eye over the years, but I want to make up for it now." He looked at Clark. "Or at least make up for it as much as I can."

To Clark, it felt like someone had dropped a tractor on him with kryptonite around. "But…"

"I'm not looking for pity—everyone knows I'm not the kind of person who would stand for it. And before you go talking about getting better doctors, you should know Kathy and I have spent the past three months going down that road…"

"Lex!" Clark interrupted. "Maybe he can help."

Martha nodded—she was thinking the same thing. "Our son has ties with Lex Luthor…"

"Lex has got to have enough pull to reach the best doctors in the world."

"He might have enough pull, son, but would he do it?"

"Dad, he'd do it for me. We're friends again."

"As much as I love being clueless in a conversation, let me end this by saying nothing can be done. Doctors can do a lot, but they can't do as much as you think they can."

Clark remembered Ryan. He had always saved Ryan—looked out for him. Ryan was beaten by his stepfather, drugged and tested by a ruthless doctor, but ended up dying from cancer. No matter how hard Clark fought, he couldn't save him from disease. He wasn't going to loose that battle again. "There must be something we can do— Lex can…"

"Son, let's just drop the whole Lex thing, okay?"

Clark looked at his dad. "Why?"

Jonathon shook his head. "Let's just drop it."

"Well you are staying here tonight, Dad." Martha ran up to him and hugged him tighter than she ever remembered hugging him before. "I'm so sorry."

"There will be time for mourning after I'm gone, Martha. All I want now is happy memories—for you and for Clark."

Everyone looked back at Clark, and suddenly he felt like they were all staring at an alien. He tried to divert the attention. "I'll go put new sheets on the guest bed."

"No, Clark—why don't you let your mother and I do that." Jonathon put his arm around Martha for emotional support. "Stay out here and get to know your grandfather."

"Or you could show him the house," Martha added. It hadn't entered into their minds that it was okay for William to go inside. Clark didn't know why—especially since he had just volunteered to put sheets in the guest room for him. Stress… Clark thought. He was finally having enough stress to take away his common sense. He just hoped the next step wouldn't be loosing his mind.

Martha waited until they were out of earshot to speak. She was kind of mad at Jonathon. She knew she might be looking for a scapegoat, but she didn't care. "Why don't you want to talk with Lex? Lex knows the best doctors—that could end up saving my father's life!"

"Martha—you were from Metropolis. What's the one thing everyone knows about the Luthors?"

Martha stopped. She had known Lex for so long that she had forgotten the rule—Luthors are only friendly to you if they have an alternate motive.

"If Will knows how close Clark and Lex are, he could suspect something."

Martha knew he was right, but she didn't want him to be. "He doesn't want to suspect anything—remember, he just said…"

"We can't take that chance." Martha and Jonathon just looked at each other for a moment. They both had mixed emotions about what they were deciding to do—if they even knew what they were deciding to do.

"He's my father, Jonathon."

Jonathon looked down before speaking. "He's our son, Martha."
Jonathon looked her in the eye. "Are you really willing to take that chance?"

Martha paused, then shrugged. "I don't know." She walked towards the house. "But I do know that I won't play God like that."

Jonathon followed her. "We might not have a choice."

Martha stopped. "What do we keep telling Clark? —We always have a choice."

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Chloe was still in the Torch, finishing up the last odd jobs that had to be done. It was harder now that she didn't have Clark to share the workload with, but that was sort of her choice, too. She could either be with Clark everyday and risk not being mad at him, or she could just avoid him until he gave her a reason not to. She liked the latter choice better. The silent treatment hadn't worked on Clark before, but only because she didn't see it to the end. And besides, this time she wasn't even sure she wanted Clark back in her life.

"Another busy day on this side of the rainbow?" Chloe looked up, but relaxed when she saw Lana walk into the room. Kansas would never live down its Wizard of Oz metaphors.

"Just doing what needs to be done."

Lana fiddled with some gadgets beside the Wall of Weird. "Clark's not helping you?" Lana stopped as her gaze landed on the picture of her as a three-year-old, right after witnessing her parent's death.

Chloe followed her gaze and suddenly felt like the worst friend in the world. "Does it bother you—having that up there?"

Lana shrugged and tried to shake her head no. "Yes. But it's in the past, Chloe."

Chloe knew where this was going. "Yeah—just like Paris and Jason getting fired is in the past." Lana looked at her. "The past influences the future, Lana."

"But it doesn't have to control it." Chloe stopped, trying to find something to say to that. In reality she liked being able to fight with a friend without being angry at them. "So, back to my previous question—Clark's not here?"

"Okay, I'm going to drop the whole metaphor thing and just say this—Clark deserves to be mad at. Come on, Lana—don't you dare tell me that you aren't still angry with him."

Lana tried to change the subject. Slightly, anyway. "Well for what it's worth, I think it's working. I have never seen Clark so passionate about anything."

"Besides you." That just kind of came out without Chloe's knowledge. "Sorry."

Lana chose her words carefully. "I have never seen Clark so
willing to do anything to get a friendship back—including mine."

Chloe hated to admit it, but that made her feel a little bit better. She smiled. "Well good—he's supposed to feel bad."

Lana laughed a little. She turned towards the stack of newspapers that would go out in the morning. "And what would he feel bad about missing today? Mystery meat in the cafeteria again?"

Chloe smiled. "No, nothing so electrifying, I'm afraid." She grabbed a paper and tried to sound as excited as possible. "New Tree Planted Near South Entrance!"

Lana nodded, trying to think of something supportive to say. "I can see where you could add twists to that."

"Well, if someone would just try to kill us with their telekinetic brain capabilities like usual, this just might have to be bumped down to page three."

"Okay, please tell me you are not wishing for meteor infected people to come after you."

Chloe smiled again. "That's how you know it's a slow news day."

Lana's gaze fell on something else. She picked up a green file she hadn't seen before. "What's this?"

Chloe's eyes got wide. She scrambled to her feet. "That's… nothing." She grabbed the file away from Lana. Lana just looked at her. "If you tell Clark, I'm not going to talk to you for a very long time."