Lex sat in his office at the mansion. He'd waited until this moment to open the envelop Dr. Allen left for him. Dusk was just settling over Smallville, and the sounds in the mansion were quieting to a soft hum. Lex felt safe he wouldn't be interrupted. He carefully slit the envelope open and pulled out the white sheet of paper inside. On it was a long paragraph that obviously had been typed in haste. He read the letter twice before grabbing a pen to make notes. She had last seen Clark alive 2 days before. Apparently his father wasn't taking any chances in anyone discovering Clark's whereabouts. All the doctors met at the same location; a public building. It wouldn't look odd to see a group of professionals getting aboard a shuttle in downtown Metropolis. From there they were driven to the location. She noted the windows were tinted black, so it was nearly impossible to see. But she remembered "..feeling the wheels of the shuttle hitting metal grid, and sounds of ship horns..." The bridge. They must being working on the other side of the city bridge. Lex tossed the paper aside and quickly turned on his laptop. With any luck, he'd be able to hack into his father's holding account to see if he'd recently bought any waterfront property. The Luthorcorp logo had just begun to spin on his screen when he heard his name called He carefully shut the laptop and looked up to see Jonathan Kent standing in the doorway, flanked by a very apologetic looking security guard.

"Its ok Johnson...come in Mr. Kent."

Lex hadn't seen him since the night Clark left for Metropolis. That night he never looked more like a man who wanted to rip Lex's head off. He couldn't blame him, all his fears pointed to this eventual end for his son. As far as Jonathan Kent was concerned, he'd been right all along. Now he stood a little awkwardly, dressed in the uniform of farmers, the outfit he found so comically endearing on Clark; on his father it only looked imposing in its simplicity.

Jonathon walked towards Lex's desk, as Lex came around to meet him.

"What can I do for you?"

"Lex..I appreciate everything you've done for Clark up to this point."

Lex could tell by his tone he didn't appreciate it at all.

"But, I've talked it over with Martha...and we both agree, its time for Clark to come home."

Lex felt his chest tighten..what timing he had.

"Thats very dangerous Mr. Kent..My father.."

"I know, your father is a dangerous man, I understand that. But this has gone on long enough. Its time we just face this..whatever it is..together...as a family. We just want our son home. We'll protect him as best we can."

Lex swallowed hard. How could he tell this man that his absolute worst fears had been realizedthat everything he feared would happen since they found Clark had come true? His son was now at the mercy of Lionel Luthor, and Lex wasn't even sure if he was still alive.

"Mr Kent..."

But Jonathan tumbled on, "I know you and Clark thought this arrangement was best for all of us. And Clark doesn't want us to know where he is for our protection. He may be strong, but we're still his parents. Protecting him is still our job..and I'm just sorry we forgot that for so long. I'm done hiding Lex..just tell me where he is so I can go and get my son."

"I can't do that Mr. Kent."

Jonathan stepped forward, closing the distance between them.

"I think you misunderstand me Lex. I'm not asking you politely here, I'm demanding to know where Clark is."

His cool, blue eyes held Lex's gaze steadily. Unlike Clark, there was nothing ambiguous about Jonathan Kent. He had no choice but to simply tell him the truth.

"The reason...the reason I can't tell you where Clark is, is because I don't know."

Jonathan spoke very carefully "What do you mean you don't know where he is?"

"I lost track of him a few weeks ago."

He saw immediate panic and anger flash in those blue eyes.

"And you didn't tell us!"

"I realize now that may have been a mistake.."

Jonathan grabbed Lex by the collar, unleashing all his pent-up anger and frustration.

"Lex this isn't a game, this is my son we're talking about, if you've done anything to hurt him, so help me..!"

"I wouldn't hurt Clark, Mr. Kent. I;ve done everything I can to help him, but my best efforts weren't good enough."

Jonathan let go of Lex, and walked away in frustration. "What do you mean?"

"My father has Clark."

Jonathan stopped and turned to Lex, eyes wide. "How is that possible! You told us he was safe! "

"And I honestly thought he was."

"And I can't believe I was stupid enough to trust you! "

"Mr. Kent calm down.."

"Don't tell me to calm down! My son, who means more to me than anything in this world is being held by that monster you call your father!"

"Mr Kent if you'll just listen to me, I have every reason to believe Clark is still alive..and relatively well.."

Lex sighed heavily, leaning against his desk

"There was this girl...I met her once when I went to check on Clark... I didn't think much of it at the time..I just figured Clark probably met her in the neighborhood, and invited her up because he was lonely. I should have seen something like that coming. Clark doesn't like isolation much."

"What does this girl have to do with Clark disappearing?"

"I'm getting to that. When I hadn't heard from Clark in a while, I called the hotel. They said he left with the girl, and hadn't been back; his things were still in the room. I went there to check if out for myself. The room was left as if he thought he'd be returning shortly, and there was no sign of a struggle. A few days after that, I noticed a suspicious girl standing just outside the entrance to your farm. I went back the next day to see if it was the same girl I saw in the room with Clark that day...I was right. She's the one who told me she'd been hired by Lionel to lure Clark to him...she took him there herself. She doesn;t know what happened to him once she left."

Lex watched as all the color drained from Jonathan's face. For a moment he thought he was going to collapse. His hand instinctively went to his chest, and Lex suddenly remembered his heart condition.

"Mr Kent would you like to.."

He just waved Lex away. He turned slowly and looked at Lex with moist eyes. "So..she doesn't..she doesn't know if he's..."

Lex shook his head. "No..but I got a call from a doctor this morning. She was part of the team my father assembled to..take care of Clark. She saw him less than 2 days ago, and he was very much a live. She seemed to think my father has no intention of killing him.

"Then she knows where she is!"

"No, she doesn't exactly..but from the clues she gave me, I think I can find him pretty easily, if you'll give me just a minute."

Jonathan paced back and forth in front of Lex's desk, tugging at his face frantically. Lex went back over to his laptop to see if he could access his father's accounts.

Jonathan felt ill and very tired suddenly. He fought hard not to let his mind wander to thoughts of his most precious thing on earth being held against this will, with strangers doing god knows what to him...everything they'd tried to protect him from...everything..he just wanted to scream; but there wasn't time to panic, he had to stay focused or he'd never see Clark again.

"Did you find anything yet?"

Lex sighed "No..I should have known it wouldn't be this easy."

"Lex we can't just sit here!"

"I know Mr. Kent. But the only clue I have is that he may be holding him somewhere over the bridge, near the docks. That area is so vast we'd never be able to find him without something more to go on."

"Then I'll go through every building on that waterfront if I have to. I can't just sit here and let them kill Clark. So you do whatever you need to do, but I'm going to Metropolis."

"Mr. Kent listen, If my father finds out you're going after Clark, he may decide its too risky, and discontinue his experiments."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, my father may decide to kill Clark if he thinks he'll be discovered."

Jonathan stopped at the doorway. He swayed a little, but regained control immediately. But he when he turned around he looked defeated.

"I'm at a lost Lex…I just want him home..I really don't know what to do.."

"I know its frustrating, and I promise you I want Clark home safely too. But, unfortunately with dealing with men like my father, you have to tread carefully. I know its hard, but I think you should go home. I'll contact you when I find something more."

Jonathan nodded slowly. "I really hope I can trust you Lex."

"You don't have a choice."

Clark stood naked in front of the full length mirror in the bathroom. Droplets of water from his shower still glistened on his pale skin. He stood there calmly studying his reflection. He ran a hand down the length of his torso, over his now protruding ribs. The realization that he was much thinner than he'd been when he arrived, barely registered with him. He felt detached from his body. So many people had claimed his flesh for their own, he no longer felt it belonged to him. The only thing he had left was the person trapped inside, the person that slowly slipped away from him a little more each day. He discovered he no longer remembered the smell of wet grain, or fresh baked muffins in the morning. Even trying to recall the timber of his mother's voice, or the sound of Chloe's laugh, proved difficult. That now all seemed part of some distant past that belonged to someone else.

He touched the faded scar across his abdomen. All that remained was a slight twinge of soreness. His body was almost completely healed, and tomorrow they planned to reopen the scar, and the ordeal would begin all over again. He wasn't sure how he'd manage it, but things weren't going to go as planned. Whatever was left of his life wouldn't become an endless cycle of pain and torture.

Clark froze suddenly. The lock to his room clicked open, but he remained still, mentally checking if he remembered to lock the bathroom door. No one thought much of walking in on him, no matter what he was doing, so he learned quickly to always lock doors, and listen hard for approaching footsteps. He waited patiently, listening to every sound, and only relaxed when he hard the soft clank of a tray being set a table and then retreating footsteps. He emerged, still wet, from the bathroom only when he heard the sound of the second door shut. Fresh white scrubs sat waiting for him at the edge of the bed. He sat next to them, fingering the rough cloth gently. With a sigh he finally pulled the top over his head, still hating the feel of roughness against his skin, but realizing he was getting used to it.