Chapter 19 - Hospital

Clark had to call Chloe at home. Summer break had begun, and Clark didn't think he would be able to find her in the Torch office.

Ironically, Mr. Sullivan told him to check at the school anyway. She was there to do some prep work for the school newspaper for next school year.

She raised her eyebrows when he walked into the Torch office. There were piles of papers everywhere; it was no wonder she'd had to come in. "Clark! I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Chloe, I need your help. But I need you to promise that you'll never talk to anybody about anything I told you today."

She stood up from her desk. "Oh! Of course! What's going on? Is everything OK?"

"No, it's not." His throat choked up, and he found it difficult to continue.

She frowned, taking a step closer. "I, uh... I heard about Lex getting shot. I'm so sorry, Clark. I know you were close."

Clark cleared his throat, willing himself to focus. "He's a fighter. And he's got world-class specialists working on him. But that's not why I came." That was sort of a lie, but she didn't need to know the whole truth.

Her brow furrowed. "What is it?"

"You know more about . . . the meteor rocks, than anyone else in town." For a moment, he had almost said kryptonite.

"I don't know about that."

"Do you think the rocks make people bad?"

Her eyes widened as she let her breath out. "That's a tough question." She began to pace. "I've had a few theories about this, but I've never been quite satisfied. After watching so many people become killers right after they were infected, it's hard to imagine that there isn't a connection. But at the same time, most of those people had other reasons to be upset and turn to a criminal lifestyle. Still, statistically—"

"Do you think it's possible that there's a relationship between meteor rock infection and . . . good and evil?"

She stopped in her pacing and nodded slowly. "It's possible."

"Have you ever heard of meteor rocks turning anyone . . . from evil to good?"

Chloe looked down. "There are rumors. But that's probably all they are, rumors, and that's coming from me . . ."

"What rumors?"

"Different colors of meteors having different effects on people. And there were reports of some strange effects from black meteors. But I don't know . . ." She shook her head, looking back up at his face. "What's this for, again?"

"Black meteor rock." Clark had never seen anything like that. But then, he had lived a lot of years in Smallville without ever having seen red kryptonite. "Any idea where I might find it?"

Chloe sighed. "I don't know. But as far as I know, all the meteor rock we have is from that one shower. It might be buried in the ground somewhere. Or some scientist has it in a lab somewhere."

"Right." That that gave Clark both a plan A and a Plan B. "Thanks, Chloe."

"Yeah, anytime." But the look on Chloe's face was more confused than anything. "Hey, when you said you had a secret, I thought . . ." Her voice trailed off.

"What?"

She looked down. "Never mind."

Clark wanted to ask what she had been thinking, but he had a job to do, and he might not have much time. "Thanks for the help," he said again.

"Sure." But Chloe looked more confused than ever.


Lex raced into the kitchen with Clark to find his father collapsed on the floor, clutching his chest.

"No, no!" Their mom gripped his shoulder. "Not today, not on Christmas-"

"I'll call 911," Lex said, but by the time he could get out his phone, Clark had already picked up his father and run out of the house, presumably to speed to the hospital.

Their mom was still left on her knees, bent over where their father had been, sobbing.

Lex's heart shredded within him, and he lowered himself to his knees beside her. "Mom," he said, and she turned to grip onto him. He supported her and helped her to her feet, and then out of the house. He needed to get them both to the hospital.

Lex guided her out to his car—or at least, what he believed was his car, since it was slightly nicer than the Kents' truck, though it must've cost only a fraction of the cheapest car Lex remembered having. She cried all the way there. He could do nothing to help her.

But as he sped to the hospital, he tried to comfort himself with the thought that none of this was real, that it was a dream. In real life, he was the one dying in the hospital, and his father was fine—as it should be. It didn't make sense to mourn something that wasn't happening.

It wasn't a comfort at all. He could still hear his mother sobbing, and he could feel her pain. She would cry, too, in real life, when she found out who he really was and the fact that he had lost his battle, but he wouldn't be able to comfort her there, either, from the back recesses of his mind. Or from beyond the grave, if he didn't survive this coma...

He put that thought out of his mind. He was here now; even if it wasn't real, he still had to get through it.

By the time they reached the hospital, their father had already been taken in to the operating room. The three of them were offered a little waiting room, where Clark and Lex took turns holding and trying to console their mother. After she had cried as much as she could, she asked for a moment alone, and Lex followed Clark outside, into the brisk night air.

Clarks eyes were red and a little swollen. So far, Lex had managed to keep himself from tears, but he didn't know how much longer he could last. In this reality, he was the oldest son. If his father died, Clark and his mother would be counting on him to be the man of the household. His dad had taught him enough times that that didn't mean he couldn't cry, but he wanted to hold it together for long enough to give them the chance to weep first.

But it was more than that. He knew something they didn't know.

He knew that this story had to have a happy ending.

Otherwise, the whole situation didn't make sense. His biological mother had brought him here to see how beautiful life he could have if he stayed on the straight and narrow path; there was no way she would have brought him to the very day his father died as a way of convincing him to try to make this reality happen. Some help would come out of nowhere, and he wouldn't die. If only he could convince his family of that now, so they wouldn't have to feel the pain along the way…

Clark shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Talk to me about something," he said.

"About what?"

"Anything else."

Lex looked down at his watch. It was past one in the morning. "It's Christmas," he said.

Clark shook his head. "Anything else. Anything besides the fact that my father is going to die on Christmas."

"He's not going to die, Clark."

"You don't understand…"

"What do I not understand?"

"I don't want to talk about this. Anything else." Clark paced a few steps. "You were trying to ask me about something earlier. What was it?"

Lex blinked. "Right. I wanted to know… I got shot six months ago, right?"

Clark lowered his head a little. "Yeah. Right after our trip to Egypt."

"Did I… hurt you on that trip?"

"A little. With kryptonite. You were threatening my family if I didn't keep your secret. You had lost a fight with your dark side."

"Remind me what happened after that."

Clark frowned. "You know what happened."

"Refresh me. Distract us both from what's going on in there."

"Well, you…" Clark took a deep breath. "You woke up from a coma. You'd been out for about a week, and we were all really worried about you, and I was worried about what you were going to do when you woke up, but then… something had changed."

"What changed?"

"You were going on about some dream you had had. It gave you, the real you, just a little bit of strength. Just enough to take control for a moment, and in that moment…"

"What did I do?"

Clark shook his head. "You already know what you did, Lex."

"Humor me, Clark. Tell me the story. You said you wanted to be distracted."

"You sold everything you had. The mansion, the cars, all your valuables. The more you sold, the more strength you had. You distributed all the proceeds to different world charities, then you moved back into the farm and worked here. You called in all the favors you had built up over the years to help our friends. LuthorCorp dissolved, and other people took it over, and… it was enough for you to win the battle. You were healed, and you were happy."

Lex looked away. He never, ever would have suspected that his wealth was giving his dark side so much ammunition. He had enjoyed having the power and control to seek the outcomes he desired, to protect the people he cared about, and, frankly, to get what he wanted, but if that was really all it took to defeat his dark side…

It was a small price to pay. Such a small price. He'd have that moment of strength when he awoke; he could do this.

He could be free.

The door of the hospital opened and closed. Their mom stepped out of the building. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes are puffy, but she wasn't crying now. If anything, she seem to have gone stiff and numb.

"They stabilized him," she said. "But it won't last."

"What… what does that mean?" Clark asked.

"It means…" Her voice cracked. "He has long enough to say goodbye."

Lex's heart sank yet again.