Chapter 5

Clark slammed his locker shut, then slumped against it with a sigh. His backpack thudded to the floor beside his feet. "This isn't fair!" he grumbled to himself. All weekend, he'd stayed with Harmony at the hospital, but she hadn't woken up. He'd hoped his parents would let him miss school to stay with her longer, but they had made him come home last night to get some sleep.

"Clark?" Lana's soft voice broke through. "Are you ok? I came by your house this weekend, but no one was home."

"No, Lana, I'm not ok!" Clark snapped. He didn't mean to, but he couldn't control himself. "Someone tried to kill Harmony Friday night and my parents made me come to school. I don't know if she's gonna live or die, or how she's even doing. I don't know what I'm doing here!" He snatched up his backpack, jammed it onto his shoulder and shoved his way through the hall toward his next class.

Lana was left staring after Clark bewildered, and a little frightened. She'd never seen Clark so angry before, though she couldn't blame him.

"Hey, Lana," Chloe's chipper voice startled Lana. "I know Clark's retreating back can be very fun to watch, but I don't think that's gonna be an excuse for being late to class."

Lana didn't say anything for a moment. She was still trying to understand what Clark had told her. "Someone tried to kill Harmony," she finally mumbled to Chloe.

"What?" Chloe was as stunned as Lana.

"Clark just told me."

"Oh, man." Even Chloe was speechless. "Does he know anything?"

"He didn't say anything," Lana answered. "Just that it happened Friday night."

Chloe just shook her head. Later that day, in the Torch office, Clark came in to use her computer. Though she tried to start up a conversation with him, he was very reluctant and stand-offish. Finally, she sighed and decided to try outside sources for information about what happened at the Kent farm.

"Pete!" She shouted to the stout black boy who'd been Clark's closest friend since before they could remember. Pete Ross pulled his football helmet off his heat and smiled.

"Hey, Chloe," Pete greeted the blonde reporter. "How's it going?"

"Good," she grinned. "Listen, did Clark tell you anything about what happened to his cousin? I can't get him to talk today at all."

"Well, Chloe, he's a little upset right now," Pete shook his head. "You think you can put your reporter hat on the shelf for a while and just be his friend?"

"Pete, this is huge!" Chloe already had her notepad and pen out, and was flipping to a clean page. "Someone attacks the Kents' long-lost niece in the dead of night on their own farm, putting her in the hospital with untold injuries, someone we know with connections to the Luthors, and you expect me to just let that go?"

"Yes, Chloe, as a matter of fact, I do!"

Chloe cringed. As usual, she hadn't heard Clark come up behind her. "Clark, I-"

"You're sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong again!" Clark's words were harsh, and they cut deep. Worse, the pained look in Clark's eyes broke Chloe's heart. "Can't you ever just be a friend? Or is everything always just the next big story for you?" He touched Pete's arm as an invitation to leave, then turned back. "And maybe, just maybe, someday you'll realize that your obsession with turning my life into your big break isn't my real friends' obsessions. Only yours." With that, he turned and walked with Pete to the locker room. Pete only shrugged, then turned away, too.

Tears sprang to Chloe's eyes as she watched Clark walk away. She'd done it again. As always, she'd let her reporter instinct come before her obligations as a friend. No wonder Clark wouldn't let their relationship go beyond just friends. With a sigh and a mental kick that she was sure she would forget as soon as her reporter nose sniffed out the next big lead, she turned and when back inside the school.

Later that evening, Clark sat next to Harmony, watching her as she lay unmoving on the hospital bed. His parents had gone to get something to eat, so he was alone. She's so pale, he thought to himself. The bulky, pasty white bandage that dominated her slender neck looked horribly out of place.

As Clark looked over his cousin, he noticed for the first time a heavy black brace on her left wrist. What happened here? He wondered as he brushed his fingers gently over the brace. He looked again at the different wounds inflicted by the nameless attacker that had slit Harmony's throat. Besides the obvious neck wound and newly-discovered wrist injury, there was also an ugly bruise on her cheek and matching one on her forehead, finger marks on her arm where he'd kept such a tight grip on her, and a severely swollen knee. Clark was unsure how that had happened. How much of this could I have avoided? He asked himself yet again. Yet again, he went over the events of the night. He was sure he could have done something different to have prevented all this abuse from happening to Harmony. Clark hung his head. I could have prevented this. I should have done something! Though what he could have done differently, Clark did not know.

Behind him, the door opened. "Clark?" Chloe's voice called gently. "How's she doing?"

"No comment," he grumbled, glaring at her from drooped eyes, then looked back at Harmony. Gently, he picked up her hand, rubbing her cool fingers.

"Ok, I deserved that," Chloe grimaced. "I'm sorry about earlier. I really am. I was way outta line. But I really do wanna know if she's gonna be ok."

"Chloe, I don't think 'sorry' is gonna be enough this time," Clark turned on her. "When are you gonna realize that you can't turn me into a story? Harmony might die. Do you get that? Do you?"

Chloe stared at Clark. "Tell her I stopped by," she whispered, rushing out the door.

Clark dropped back in the chair.

Harmony would not waken before the end of the week. When at last she did, her throat was so damaged she could not speak. Clark brought her a dry-erase board to help with the communication problem.

"How long have I been asleep?" Harmony wrote on the new board.

"About a week," Martha answered gently.

"How badly am I messed up?" Her words were scribbled from weak hands.

"You're alive, and that's what counts," Martha tried to comfort her, but failed. "Your throat was badly damaged, and your knee was somehow twisted out of place, as was your wrist. Other than that, just some scrapes and bruises."

"Thank you for your honesty, Aunty Em," Harmony wrote, then squeezed Martha's hand.

Just then, Lex entered the room, bearing two vases of lavenders and roses. He placed the flowers on the table beside the window, then stood next to Clark, where he figured he'd be safe. "How are you today, Harmony?" he smiled at her. "I'm glad to see you've woken up."

Instead of answering Lex, she glared at him as she scribbled on her board and turned it to Martha.

"'What's he doing here?'" Martha read. "'Make him leave.' Well, Harmony, about that." She paused for a moment, looking up at Jonathan. "Lex saved your live, dear."

Harmony's jaw dropped.

"Apparently, he knows a little something about medicine," Clark chimed in. "Something about having to cut a hole below where the dude ripped up your wind pipe or something. I got confused. Point is, if Lex hadn't acted fast, you'd be dead." He shrugged. "Basically, dude cut your throat to kill you and Lex cut your throat to save you. I think that's irony." He laughed.

Harmony just stared at him. "And somehow this is funny?" she wrote, flipping the board toward him. "Fabulous. No, Clark, what's ironic is that his father kills my dad and now I owe him for saving my life. That's irony. Evil irony." She slammed the board and pen down on her lap, then picked them up again. "Get out, Lex. I don't want you here."

"There's something I think we need to discuss," Lex began.

"NO!" Harmony wrote, taking up the whole board. She erased quickly. "GO!"

Clark got up to walk with Lex. "Hey, man, I think she's just angry and everything," he tried to apologize.

"I understand," Lex nodded. "Didn't like me to begin with. But I want you to consider letting me stay with her to protect her. It's not gonna take my father long to realize that she's still alive. Obviously, that's not how he wants her. I don't trust anyone else to not get bought out by him."

"You want to be her personal bodyguard?" Clark asked, surprised. "Don't you have your own life and stuff?"

"Nothing more important than protecting your family from my father," Lex insisted, putting his hand on Clark's shoulder. "Talk to her and your parents. Try to convince them to let me stay with her."

"Ok," Clark nodded. "I think it's a good idea."

"Ok," Lex turned. "I'll call you later."

Back inside Harmony's room, her doctor was just beginning to discuss how Harmony was to get her voice back. Clark decided to wait until later to talk about Lex's proposition. They stayed until late into the evening working with the doctor a plan to get Harmony back to her full health. It would take months of vocal therapy, as well as physical therapy to repair the damage done to her knee and wrist, but the doctor was very confident. In no time at all, Harmony would be back and better than ever.

Lex Luthor, on the other hand, was just beginning his vengeance hunt.