A Parent's Loss

Summary: Post-Exodus. Just a sad but sweet missing scene focusing on the Kents after the events of Exodus. One shot. Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Smallville. Except some DVD's. )

Jonathan Kent was not a worrier, at least it didn't seem like it to the people who knew him. Even to himself, Jonathan didn't seem to be a worrier. But in the course of a summer, that all changed.

That summer Jonathan worried about a lot of things. But mostly it boiled down to his son, and his wife. He worried about Clark because he wasn't sure that Clark would ever come home, though he would never admit it. He worried about Martha because she kept her feelings bottled up inside her.

Normally, when Martha was sad and hurt, she'd cry. She'd cry a lot. But now, she'd lost her son and her baby. She was so sad and hurt, she couldn't cry. That made Jonathan worry about her.

One morning in mid-July, Jonathan woke up and immediatly knew that it was going to be a bad day. He looked over and saw Martha sleeping semi-peacefully. He looked at the clock; it said 5:05.He usually woke up at 5:30, but he decided that today he was getting up earilier. He turned off his alarm clock; he decided it would be best if he let Martha sleep in.

Martha woke up around 8:30, and had the same quiet, somber attitude that she had all summer. These days, she hardly said a word. Surprisingly, the only person she even began to open up to, was Lana Lang. Lana had been over to talk many times since Clark had run away and Martha had been released from the hospital.

This hurt Jonathan's pride a little bit, but he decided it was best if he didn't say anything. He knew that Martha still didn't say much to Lana, but every little bit helped, even it was just exchanging a few words with a teenage girl. But it still didn't do much good.

Anyway, Martha went about doing her normal weekly laundry, except a third of her work was gone. She wished she had it back. But as she went on doing her normal load after load after load, she couldn't stop thinking about Clark. Later that day, when all the clothes were clean, she took them upstairs to her and Jonathan's bedroom. She put them in there, and when she stepped out of the room, she found herself staring at the shut door leading into Clark's room.

Martha couldn't help herself. She just had to go in there. She opened the door and stepped in. She opened one of the drawers to Clark's dresser and pulled out a flannel shirt. She held it to her face, letting the scent that was truly Clark soak in.

With the shirt still in her hand, Martha lay down on Clark's bed and shut her eyes.

Jonathan walked into his home, expecting Martha to be in the kitchen somewhere, but she wasn't there. He wanted to talk to her about something concerning their farm. So her went to find her.

He never thought to look in Clark's room until after he had looked everywhere else, so it took awhile to find her. But there she was, curled up asleep on Clark's bed, holding one of his shirts. He sighed.

He walked over to the bed and sat down. "Martha, what am I gonna do with you?" he whispered to himself. He didn't want to wake her up, so he sat there waiting for almost an hour.

When Jonathan least expected it, he heard a small sniffling noise. He turned around and Martha was facing the other way, but he could tell that she was crying. He put a hand on her shoulder. Martha sat up and faced him, the tears glistening in her eyes.

She looks so sad, Jonathan thought. He pulled her into him, and she sobbed for the longest time, with him just holding her. After about 45 minutes, her sobbing subsided into hiccups. She pulled away and looked straight into his eyes.

"Jonathan," she said, "why doesn't Clark come home?" Martha wanted to cry again, but she held back her tears, although the previous ones were still lingering.

Jonathan looked down at the bed. "I don't know, sweetheart. I wish he would, too."

Neither of them wanted to leave the position they were in, so they just sat there and never got up for a long time in silence. Eventually, Jonathan broke the silence.

"Martha," he said, "from now on, when you feel bad, just cry. Let it out. I've been worried about you, because normally, you do cry. This time you didn't, and when you finally did cry, you couldn't stop."

Martha was getting choked up from the flow of tears again, so she couldn't speak; instead she simply nodded.

Jonathan pulled her back into his embrace. He started thinking about the day when Clark ran away. His own words came back to haunt him. Your actions have consequences. Didn't your mother and I ever teach you that? . . . . There's no time for excuses, Clark . . . It's too late . . . You didn't think this thing through. He had felt guilty for that all summer, but he didn't realize it until now. He wished he hadn't turned his back on his son and not listen to what he had to say.

Martha's sobs again slowed down, but she stayed in her husband's embrace. She felt safe there. Like no one could ever harm her there.

She knew what Jonathan was thinking about. She knew he was feeling bad about what he had said to Clark. "Sweetheart," she said. "It's not your fault Clark's gone."

"How did you know I was thinking that?"

Martha sighed. "I've known you for a long time. I always know what you're thinking."

Jonathan smiled a small smile. "I love you Martha."

"I love you too Jonathan."

So they sat there for a long time, and they ended up sleeping in Clark's bed that night. Jonathan decided he would wait a few days to tell Martha that the bank was going to foreclose on their farm. For now, he just wanted to pretend that everything was going to be all right.

THE END

A/N: I hoped you liked it! Please review and tell me what you think!