Chapter 17 - Coma
Some days it felt like it was never going to end.
One after another, her family members kept getting hurt, hospitalized, traumatized. It was like the doctors said, and like she was always telling them: healing would take time. They had to be patient and let it take time.
But it just never stopped. They never had time to heal from one hurt before the next one came. In the past couple of years, Clark had been hospitalized for broken ribs and strange viruses and he'd been shot with a kryptonite bullet; Jonathan had been in and out with heart problems; Martha herself had been injured in a car accident and miscarried; and then there was Lex. He hadn't been severely injured nearly as often, but emotionally, the trauma just kept coming. And every time one of her family members hurt, she hurt.
It felt like they would always be like this. Someone would always be hurting, more than she could help. They would never have time to heal before they were broken again.
It had been going on for a long time. But it never got any easier.
Jonathan was the one to drive them to the hospital. Even after so many scares, tears still poured down her cheeks on the drive. Somehow, it almost hurt worse, knowing they had gotten through so much together, only to wind up here. Again, and again, and again.
The waiting room at the hospital was quiet, almost eerily so. Jonathan was the one to approach the front desk. "We're here to check on Lex Luthor."
"Are you a family member of Mr. Luthor?"
"Yes, I'm…" Jonathan frowned. "Listen, you know that Lex lost his father a few weeks ago. We are the closest friends he has."
"I'm afraid without a family connection—"
"Now you listen—"
"Jonathan." Martha placed a hand on his arm. Yelling at a receptionist who was bound by hospital rules wasn't going to do them any good. "Ma'am, I know it's probably not part of the usual procedure, but if you could just check his files. I'm sure he has us in as emergency contacts."
"I'm sorry, I—"
"Thank you, I'll take it from here."
Martha looked up to see the newcomer. It was a doctor she recognized from her own stay in the hospital.
"I'm well acquainted with Lex's file. Thank you for coming. If you would step right this way, Mr. and Mrs. Kent, and we can talk about your son."
Martha's heart warmed, even through the pain and fear.
"I have to warn you," she said as they walked, "his injuries are very serious. Brace yourselves."
They followed the doctor into another room, where Lex lay in a hospital bed, connected to wires and tubes and machinery.
Martha gasped and grabbed onto the metal bar of the hospital bed, but she managed to keep herself from breaking down or throwing her arms around her son. She had never seen any of her family members as severe as this.
"He's alive, and for now, he's stable. But he's unresponsive, in a comatose state."
"A coma?" Jonathan's voice cracked, and Martha let go of the hospital bed and took his hand.
The doctor nodded. "He's in shock, and his body isn't repairing itself."
"Well… when… Is he…" Jonathan's hand squeezed hers tighter.
"We don't know if he'll wake up or not. It's too soon to say. Will be monitoring his progress closely, and calling in specialists at his request, as noted in his files. It depends on whether his body starts to heal or not."
"Is that... something it might not do?"
"Like I said. We'll have to monitor. But I have to be honest with you, Mr. Kent. Right now, if we removed the machinery, he wouldn't survive."
A couple of sobs escaped from Martha's lips. She knelt down beside the hospital bed, gently stroking Lex's cheek. "He's a fighter," she said softly. "He's survived so much. He's not going to give up."
"Of course." The doctor nodded. "I'll leave you some time alone."
The doctor headed out of the room, and Clark came in less than a second after she left. He went immediately to Martha, who wrapped her arms around him.
"Are you OK? Are you hurt?" she whispered.
He shook his head against hers. "I heard everything the doctor said."
She pulled back and took his shoulders, looking him in the eyes to tell him what he needed to hear, words she believed in her mind even if her emotions weren't following: "We both know Lex is a fighter. He's going to wake up sooner than you think."
"Where were you, son?"
"I brought the shooter to the police station. They had a lot of questions, but I think I managed to answer them without revealing too much."
Martha knew she should ask him more about how he'd managed to get the shooter to the police station, but it could wait. There were more pressing things right now.
"What are we going to do?" Clark asked.
Jonathan frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean... if he doesn't heal, are we gonna..."
"Clark."
Clark's eyes turned to meet hers, and all at once she could see it in his eyes.
He wasn't just worried about Lex's safety. He was worried about what Lex had been worried about. About his darkness.
He knew something. Something he wasn't telling them. Maybe Lex's darkness had already taken over, and Clark was covering for him—because he was afraid Lex would be kicked out? Because Lex had threatened him? Or maybe he hadn't given in. Maybe the fight was just worse than Lex had been letting on. Maybe he'd played a bigger role in this accident than Clark was willing to admit.
Martha breathed in to ask Clark what was going on, but she stopped herself. It wasn't the time. Not while Lex was fighting for his life—or maybe not fighting, based on what the doctors had said.
Her next thought was to talk to Clark alone when she could get the chance. She was pretty sure she could get him to talk. But she also didn't want to put pressure on him at the time he would be suffering the most.
She considered talking to Jonathan about it, but she worried about how he would respond. Both he and Clark seemed to view the darkness as an enemy who could infect Lex's mind and kill him from the inside. Granted, they'd encountered stranger things in the past three years, but she was less and less certain that the darkness was as simple as that. She worried what Jonathan's reactions might be if she conveyed her suspicions to him without talking it over with Lex first.
And that was really what it came down to. If Lex were awake, she would have talked to him first before talking about him behind his back. Now, she needed to offer him that same courtesy, when he woke up.
Even if the darkness had taken over, he'd stayed with them for this long. That meant he wasn't a lost cause—some part of him still wanted to be saved, and she didn't care whether that was what he considered the darkness or the light or both. He was her son. She would make sure he still knew he was loved, no matter what. She would assess the damage, and they would work things out as a family.
In the meantime, if Clark wanted to tell her what was going on, he could. She'd be there for him.
And when Lex woke up, she'd be there for him, too.
Even the smell of the barn was just right. Lex hadn't forgotten it. He'd once hated that smell; now it was right up there with old books, grass after rain, and fresh baked cookies.
Lex hadn't realized how tough a work day Christmas Eve was for the Kents. His dad explained that it was because they tried to avoid working on Christmas, as much as they could. Lex wanted to follow his biological mother's advice and ask Clark about the day he had woken up after getting shot, but his dad was in such good spirits, he didn't want to ruin that by bringing up something that could potentially be painful to relive.
It wasn't until after dinner that he could catch Clark alone. He caught Clark in his room putting on a tie, and he asked, "Hey, can we talk for a minute?"
Clarks eyebrows raised. "Is it something serious?"
"Ah, yeah, I guess."
"Can it wait until after the party?"
"Party?"
Clark gave him a look. "You're not wearing that, are you?"
"I . . ."
"You should probably take a shower."
"You didn't shower."
"Farm chores don't make me sweat."
"Ah . . . right..."
Lex wandered uncertainly to the bathroom to shower. The one upside here was that any Christmas party the Kents were attending had to be a lot better than the ones he usually had to go to.
An hour later, they were all piling into his dad's truck, dressed up like they were going to church. Lex almost wondered if they were, but Clark had specified a party…
They ended up parking down the street from the Talon, and the four of them walked in together. The whole place was decked out with trees, garland, and lights, and the smell of coffee was mixed with apples and cinnamon and peppermint. Lana and Chloe stood together near the front entrance behind a table, in red and green Christmas sweaters, greeting everyone who came in with wide smiles.
Lana beckoned Lex over. He hesitantly came closer to her, and she leaned in close before asking, "I don't know what you want me to put on your name tag?"
"Name tag?"
"I know, everyone should recognize you here, but there's gonna be a lot of people here we don't know, that's kind of the nature of a party meant to bring the community together."
"Oh." Lex blinked a couple of times. "Um."
"You know what, I'm just going to write Lex Luthor. For now."
"Sounds great." Lex took the name tag, bewildered. Did he go by Alexander in this world? He hadn't heard anyone call him that; his parents used it, but only when he was in trouble.
"Lex!"
Lex turned to face the new voice, and found himself pulled into a tight hug before he could even process who it was.
"It's so good to see you!"
"Chloe." He gave a little laugh at her energy, but he didn't have time to say much before she threw her arms around Clark with a greeting just as enthusiastic.
"How's the internship at the Planet?" Clark asked.
"It's good! Just flew back in yesterday." She turned back to Lex. "I wanted to thank you again for that, I never could have done it without you."
"Oh! Ah..." Lex shook his head. He had no idea what to say. "It was nothing, really."
Chloe laughed, her nose wrinkling, and she turned to Clark. "Nothing," she repeated, then she leaned closer to both of them. "Hey, congratulations."
Lex couldn't help but ask. "On..."
"Oh. Clark told me. I'm really happy, your parents must be thrilled."
Lex didn't think he could ask any more without coming off as suspicious. "Thank you," he said.
She grinned and ran off to greet someone else.
The party continued to be more than a little overwhelming. People kept approaching Lex and wanting to talk to him, but he didn't even know most of their names. He tried to hang close to Clark, but Clark was mostly spending time with friends his age. Meanwhile, Martha and Jonathan had separated from each other, and Martha was talking to a bunch of women her age, Jonathan to a bunch of farmers. Lex couldn't quite feel like he fit in anywhere.
And yet he fit in perfectly. Everyone was friendly to him, everyone smiled and waved and congratulated him on the Talon's success. He wasn't sure what that was all about, either. This wasn't his world, but he found himself overwhelmed with longing for it to be.
When it all became too much, he stepped outside to get some air.
His biological mother was waiting for him outside the door.
It all came crashing down, and he almost wanted to cry again, but what came to the surface was anger. "Why are you showing me this?" He stepped closer until he stood right in front of her. "Trying to torture me?"
"All of this could be yours. You have to make the right choices."
"How?"
"You still haven't asked Clark."
"Yeah, well, I've been a little busy since I got here."
"You can have this life. I've brought you here to show you how."
"Fine. I'll ask him."
She gave him a slight, gentle smile, and then she disappeared.
