"We almost lost him on the table..." The doctor continued.
"Almost, that means he's alive?" Lex's heart pounded with hope.
"Yes, and we managed to stabilize him, but that doesn't mean he will pull through. The night will be the true test. It all depends on how well his body can fight it, I really can't tell you anything sure, either way." The doctor's eyes darkened, "Although his body seems susceptible to infection and it doesn't seem odds are in his favor. His body was weakened from something previous. Does he have some kind of disease?"
"No." Lex said thinking of the serum he had been injected with for months. Lex didn't know why he lied, because this particular doctor already knew all Clark's secrets.
"Can we see him?" Lana broke the awkward, painful silence.
"In about an hour we are going to move him down to the ICU, when his sedation wears off, and then you can visit him." He instructed him.
"I want to see him now." Lex said sternly.
"Mr. Luther, you can't. You will put the other patients at risk for disease." He said.
"He could die anytime, you said it yourself." Lex pushed more.
"He is stabilized, and will be fine for now. I swear if his condition changes, we will notify you." He said, trying not to feel intimidated by the Luther name, "And when he is moved to the ICU one of the nurses will call." The doctor gestured towards the phone, on a table in the middle of the waiting room.
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So
Lana and Lex waited. Every time the phone rang, Lex and Lana jumped,
but it was always to notify someone else on their loved one's
condition.
Finally their call came and they descended a floor.
When Lex and Lana reached the thick double doors that led to the ICU,
both their hearts raced. It had a rather large note stating that
faculty alone was permitted, unless you were given permission to
enter, and for that you had to call the nurse inside.
Lex picked
up the phone that was placed outside the door, just for that purpose
and dialed the number posted on the wall above it.
"I'm here
to see Clark Luther... I'm his brother..." Lex entered, with
Lana, after they had received permission.
Lana let a tear slide
down her cheek as the nurse escorted them to Clark. Lana felt
panicked as she walked by all the other beds and saw how bad off the
patients looked.
Clark was placed in the last bed. Lana had always
pictured the ICU differently; it was one large room, with about 20
beds, only separated by a curtain, and there was a large curved desk
in the front.
"He probably won't know what is going on,
because of the medication." The nurse tried to prepare them a
little, "I'll be at the nurses' station, just over there is you
need anything." With that she left them.
Lex and Lana pulled
back the curtain and stepped inside. Lana felt herself go weak when
she laid eyes upon Clark. He was so pale, and he had lost the glow of
life and his spirit seemed to be depleted too.
"Clark."
Lex occupied the left side of his bed, as Lana positioned herself at
the right.
Clark opened his eyes and stared at Lex; it was an
expression Lex had never witnessed on Clark before, and he didn't
know what it meant, "Clark, it's Lex."
"Lex..."
Clark was barely audible.
"How do you feel?" Lex asked,
not sure what to say, but grateful to see Clark was alive.
"I'm
dying..." Clark croaked out with a tone of deep pain.
"No,
you're not." Lex assured him.
"Why does it hurt so bad?"
Clark's throat went tight, "What happened?"
Lana was
completely unprepared for this, and she was at loss for words. Clark
looked so weak, and he looked on the verge of tears. His voice
screamed of pain and fear. Lana had never seen Clark even close to
this in her whole life. He was always so strong, and he could handle
anything... he was about to cry... Lana had never seen him cry. It
was so unlike Clark, and it threw her whole world off. It was then
that Lana discovered there was a sorrow too deep for tears.
She
squeezed his hand, trying to comfort him. Clark turned his head, the
movement was slow from exhaustion, towards Lana, for the first time
he saw her.
"Lana?" Clark blinked, as tears receded, for
the time being.
"Yeah, I'm here Clark." She forced a
smile, and oh was it forced.
Clark closed his eyes; Lex and Lana
thought he had fallen asleep until they heard him groan in pain.
Clark started breathing hard, as if in a panic. Lana noticed for the
first time, the tube that was in Clark's nose, and wrapped around to
and behind his ears.
"Clark, what's wrong?" Lana
asked.
"I can't feel my arm..." Clark sounded so scared,
and it grated on Lana's emotions. Lex grabbed a nurse,
"He
can't feel his arm." Lex told her.
"Clark..." The
nurse leaned over his bed, "Don't be worried, it's normal."
"I can't feel it." Clark told her in a panic, not aware
of what she was saying.
"Clark, listen to me..." She
placed a hand on his face, forcing him to look at her, "You're
okay. Don't panic. It's the medication, you're alright. Are you
okay?"
Clark nodded his head, and his breathing slowly
returned to normal.
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Lana realized she had been standing the whole time and spotted a chair in the corner. She finally let go of Clark's hand, to grab it, but Clark's eyes shot open, "Don't leave." He pleaded, again he sounded so fragile.
"I'm not, Clark." She assured him, as she slid the chair under her and took a seat.
Clark reached for her hand, and when he had it, he fell asleep again, just as Lex re-entered.
"He's going to be okay." Lex's eyes glimmered with hope, "He is recovering really well, the doctors say. He responded really well to the medication."
Lana's heart lifted a little, but she couldn't really feel the difference as she gazed upon Clark's pale complexion.
&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&=&The night had been particularly hard. Clark kept waking in a sweat with immense pain or vomiting. About half way through the night, Lex left, he had to take care of the legal matters and fill out police reports about the night's events.
Lana missed the strength he brought to the room. Lex seemed to always know what to say, to calm Clark's fears, or if words couldn't help, he fetched a nurse to increase his pain killers.
The second half of the night had been the hardest. Clark kept asking her what happened, and she didn't know how to tell him, and worried that if she told him Lionel shot him, he would get upset. Twice he asked her who she was, and even after she had responded with her name, he still had no memory of her, but then minutes later he would start up some odd conversation of the past, only to fall asleep mid sentence.
Clark got most upset at around 4am when he tried to talk, and Lana couldn't understand him, he slurred his words too much. He kept trying to say something, and grew frustrated with the situation. He knew what he wanted to say, but he couldn't get the words out.
The nurse came in every hour to check Clark's vitals, and had to cut back on Clark's pain killers because of the side effects they were having on him- the slurred speech the main symptom, but it could be extremely harmful in the aftermath.
That made things even rougher; Clark couldn't sleep with the pain and he kept losing feeling in various parts of his body, which sent him into a panic each time. The nurse tried to explain to him that it was normal, but he would forget.
After observing how much pain Clark truly was in, his nurse gave him another dose of morphine, because despite the harmful effects in might cause, if Clark couldn't sleep then he wouldn't have any of his energy restored and he couldn't recuperate.
At about 7am, Lana couldn't hold off sleep anymore, and fell asleep at Clark's bedside.
She woke around noon, and found Lex across from her.
Clark was asleep and his hand was still entwined with Lana's, as it had been all night.
"Lana, you should go home." Lex said, seeing how worn down she looked.
"No, I have to stay here with him." Lana turned away from the sun leaking in threw the window.
"It's okay, he's going to be fine. He's been sleeping for a few hours now. You should go home and get some sleep, eat, take a shower, something." Lex urged her.
"But-" Lana began to protest, but was cut off.
"He'll be fine, Lana. You did your part last night, I'm eternally grateful, but you are just going to run yourself down. Go home at least for a few hours, and come back tonight." Lex persuaded her, "I'll be here if anything happens."
"Okay..." Lana kissed Clark on the cheek, careful not to wake him, "I'll bring you back something to eat."
"Thanks." Lex smiled.
Lana left unwillingly.
&
&
& TBC...
okay, R&R the bad & good
Oh, I wanted to dedicate that to my brother, who without him, I wouldn't have the experience to write this accurately. this and the next chapter are for him, even though he will never read this. lol