Chapter 6
A month later, Harmony had grown accustomed to communicating with her body language and her eyes as much as words. Her voice was still weak, but slowly returning. She was determined to get her life back to normal, but frequently became frustrated with having to refer to Clark's dry erase board to communicate. Once a week, she returned to Smallville Medical Center to work with a speech therapist, and everyone was hopeful for her.
Not all was entirely as smooth as Harmony would have preferred, though, considering that only a month prior she'd had her throat slit. Clark had sprung on her a wild idea that Lex Luthor be her personal bodyguard! On the day she before she was to be discharged from the hospital, no less, when she still had a needle in her hand. She'd argued, of course, vehemently, but between Clark and Martha, and eventually even Jonathan, she'd been forced to accept it. But she certainly didn't pretend to like it. For the first two weeks, they fought constantly. To each, it seemed that the other was always picking arguments.
By the third week of being each other's constant companion, they had come to a settlement of sorts. At least, to Harmony, it seemed that Lex' presence had become familiar, though still not entirely welcome. Their ceaseless bickering was dwindling gradually, until it seemed to Harmony that there were times when they almost actually agreed. Neither would admit to it, of course. At least, not Harmony. She knew that Lex was haughty, obnoxious, and downright rude at times, though sometimes, she found her subconscious self actually finding comfort in knowing that he was always just a step behind when she thought the stranger across the street had been there a little too long, or the man on the other side of the Talon was staring at her a little too hard.
Still, she was glad for the secret arrangement she'd made with Clark that would become effective once she got her voice back.
Today, for the first time since she'd been attacked, Lex was not at her side. Though she wouldn't admit it, she did find herself looking around a little more throughout the day.
Finally, Clark put the magazine down he'd been flipping through. "Are you ok, Harmony?" he asked.
Harmony cleared her throat. "Yeah, why?" Her voice, though returning, was very raspy.
"You keep looking around like you've misplaced something," Clark answered. "Wait. You're looking for Lex!"
"I am not!" Harmony retorted, clearing her throat again.
Clark laughed. "Yes, you are! You like having him around. You've gotten used to him, haven't you?"
Harmony glared at him, but she didn't know what to say. "Don't you have some homework to do or something?" her voice began to crack. She took a sip of water from her glass, glaring at Clark around the rim.
"Nope. Much more fun realizing that you like Lex! Mom!" Clark bolted for the stairs to the loft, nearly running down his father, who was just climbing them to greet Harmony.
"Goodness!" Jonathan jumped for the landing in an effort to avoid being run over. "What's he in such a rush for?"
"He's crazy," Harmony answered, returning to the catalog she was looking through.
"I came up to tell you Lex called," Jonathan sat down next to Harmony. "He said he should be back by lunch. Harm, I've been meaning to talk to you about him." Jonathan paused, glancing sidelong at Harmony, gauging her reaction before continuing. "He's more than what he seems. He's been studying our family for as long as he's known us, and I'm concerned that this whole bodyguard business might just be a ploy to get close to us for more study."
"So it can't just be that he's concerned for my welfare, or that he wants to mess up his father's plans whenever possible?" Harmony's tone was unassuming, though her words carried a sharp edge.
Jonathan chose to take the lead of the tone. "Could be," he replied. "But he's a Luthor, and we both know how very dangerous the Luthors can be."
"And we both know how easily a name can hide more than what we see," Harmony retorted. Jonathan knew she was referring to Clark's powers being hidden by the unassuming Kent name. "Is it possible that there's more to this particular Luthor than meets the eye?"
Jonathan paused, staring at the floorboards for a moment. "You're beginning to sound like Clark." He smiled. "If you say that he's not is father, I'll know you've been spending way too much time with him."
Harmony laughed, then cleared her throat again. Jonathan handed her the glass of water, waiting patiently for her to drink. "Actually, I was gonna say just that," she rasped.
"When was the last time you took your throat drops?" Jonathan asked, reaching into Clark's desk drawer where he knew Clark kept a bottle of Harmony's medicine. "My niece, you need to stop getting ahead of yourself. You'll get back to normal soon, but not if you set yourself back further than you were when you started."
Harmony grimaced at the awful taste of the medicine, but finished the dose and handed the bottle back to Jonathan. "Thanks, Uncle J. I do get ahead of myself. Lex is good for reminding me about not doing that."
"When's your next vocal appointment?" Jonathan asked. "I'd like to come along, if it's ok."
Harmony pointed at the small blue planner on Clark's desk. When Jonathan handed it to her, she turned to the right day, pointing to that afternoon, nodding to her uncle her approval that he should attend. She indicated that he was to drive.
"You want me to drive?" he asked, grinning. "Sure."
Harmony grinned back, giving him the thumbs up.
In the main house, Clark and his mother were in the kitchen cleaning the morning's dishes when Chloe and Lana entered through the front door. Since the incident in the hospital, Clark and Chloe had been avoiding each other, and Clark had been so involved in Harmony's recovery that he hadn't had a lot of time to talk to Lana. Now, though, he thought he as glad to see both of them.
"Hi, guys!" He grinned, pulling them both into a hug. "You guys want something to eat? Mom just made a pie again. She does that a lot, you know."
Lana laughed, looking a Chloe. "I think that answers your question, Chloe."
"I guess so," Chloe grinned. "And I never turn down a piece of Mrs. Kent's pie."
"Me either!" Lana hung her bag on the back of a chair, seating herself at the table next to Chloe.
Martha laughed. She really enjoyed these two girls and was glad Clark was friends with them.
"Great!" Clark helped his mother get the dishes out, then plopped himself across the table from his female guests, leaving Martha to serve.
"So, how's Harmony doing?" Lana asked, digging in to the steaming pie.
"Actually, she's doing pretty good," Clark nodded, squirting more whipped cream on his pie. "She can talk a little bit at a time. But sometimes she forgets to take her throat drops." He continued to shove pie in his mouth.
They ate quietly for a moment before Clark looked quizzically at Chloe. "What question was Lana talking about?"
"If you are still mad at me about my moment of extreme stupidity when I found out that Harmony got hurt," Chloe answered."
"Oh," Clark nodded. "Nope. We're good."
Chloe grinned. "Good to hear."
"So, when can we talk to Harmony?" Lana asked. "I wanna ask her what it's like having Lex around all the time."
"Yeah, she's out in the barn," Clark said, standing up.
"Lex is around a lot?" Chloe asked Lana as the girls put their coats back on.
"Yeah," Lana nodded. "He's Harmony's new bodyguard."
Chloe laughed. Clark watched the two of them as they walked together to the barn, heads bent together, hands shoved into their coat pockets.
"Girls' Night is back, Mom," Clark grinned. His suspicions were confirmed with a laugh when his father came rushing out of the barn with a startled look over his shoulder.
Across town, Lex Luthor faced off against his father.
"You think I'm gonna back off of protecting Harmony?" Lex smirked at Lionel. "Your asking merely confirms my suspicions that I've something to protect her from."
"Please, Lex," Lionel shook his head. "She's barely more than a kid. Why would I want her dead?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Did her father know something he wasn't supposed to?" Lex guessed.
For the briefest moment, Lex thought he saw his father hesitate, and quickly filed it away in his mind, but made no indication that he caught anything.
"You are far too suspicious for your own good, Son," Lionel shook his head, seating himself behind his desk.
"Perhaps, Father. Perhaps." With that, Lex left his father's office, entering his own to work for a few minutes before returning to Harmony.
Harmony. Lex glanced at the picture in his wallet as he pulled his credit card out, placed his order at the local Chinese restaurant, looked again at the picture with a smile, and began typing.