"How is Clark?"

Jonathan Kent sounded more broken than Lex thought he ever could. He'd only been released from the hospital that morning, but Lex had suspected-no known-that he would be receiving a visit. Martha was still in the hospital, but a few more days and it looked like she'd be out.

"He's as good as he can be, given the circumstances."

"Which is your fancy talk for, 'he's surviving'."

"But saying it that way sounds so brutal," Lex admitted, getting up from his desk and going over the couch. He gestured for Jonathan to take a seat.

Hobbling over on his crutches and sitting, Jonathan relied, "At least it's direct and honest."

Lex felt his temper rising. What was it about this man? "Mr. Kent, I am doing everything I possibly can for you son." He knew his tone sounded a bit heated, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Jonathan looked down at the floor, and to Lex's surprise actually looked sorry. His suspicions were confirmed a moment later when Jonathan said, "I know, Lex, I do. I'm sorry. But he's my son and-"

Lex waved his hand. "I understand. No good father wants to put his son in this situation."

"How much longer?" Jonathan asked.

Lex only shook his head and looked at the opposite wall. "It's impossible to tell. I'm going to start drugging Jason today. As for how long it will take for him to commit some kind of insane act in public-accidental or set up-I've no idea."

"And when he does?"

"I'll bring Clark home."

"Isn't that going to make it obvious that you were involved.?"

"Mr. Kent, I have enough money to make people willingly turn their heads. Once Jason Teague is categorized as insane, I can work the rest."

Mr. Kent only nodded. "Alright."

"How is Mrs. Kent?"

Jonathan ran a hand through his hair. When he turned to look at Lex, the younger man was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "There was a blood clot this morning. She-she's going to be alright, but it's going to take time."

"She's going to be Ok?"

Jonathan nodded. "Yes, but it's going to be a longer stay in the hospital than expected."

"Can you afford it?" Lex asked.

"Lex, I'd appreciate it if you stay out of my family's financial affairs."

"You can't afford it." It was not a question, but a statement of a fact.

"I don't believe that is your worry. Get me Clark back safely and you will have done more than enough."

"And if he has no home left to live in because the bank foreclosed on it?" Lex asked, his voice becoming biting again. He didn't know what it was about Jonathan Kent, but for some reason the man brought out his defenses and his vulnerability at the same time. It was like a much more honest, sod of the earth, version of his own father. He didn't like that at all.

"We can handle it as a family," Jonathan insisted, his tone matching Lex's.

"And how do you plan to do that? Your wife is in a hospital bed with the bills mounting and your son is currently locked away. Just what other family do you have to confer with?"

Jonathan's face hardened. "Don't you dare talk like that to me."

"What if it's the truth?"

Jonathan stood up and hobbled to the door, his face slightly red. Anger was evident in his whole posture.

As he was about to leave, Lex called after him, "When you decide what's important enough in your life to come before your pride, call me."

Jonathan shot him a withering glare before slamming the door. Lex only sighed and watched him go.

-----------------------------

"What do you want?" Clark asked tiredly, upon seeing Lex enter the room.

"Just coming to see if you're alright."

"I'm fine."

"You're not." And Clark wasn't, he realized. His face was drawn with misery, and he was shivering. That wasn't even mentioning the blood that was on his face. Bitterly, he realized Jason must have come in at some point. "Are you cold?"

"Yes," he answered truthfully. There really was nothing to be gained by lying about that.

"I'll get you a blanket." Lex left the room again and for the life of him Clark couldn't understand Lex. He seemed...concerned with his comfort. Jason only seemed concerned with what was needed to keep him alive.

But Lex was just as bad. He was the best friend who had betrayed Clark. Just because he was a little concerned with Clark's welfare didn't make him better-it made him worse for daring to play games with Clark.

Lex re-entered the room with a thick blanket as well as yet another wash cloth. The blanket's red color reminded Clark of home and for a moment he felt the insane urge to cry again, especially when Lex shook it out and spread it over him. Its flocculent material felt blessedly soft on his skin and for a brief moment he allowed himself to indulge by closing his eyes.

"Clark." He opened his eyes again, only to be met by Lex's worried gaze. "Are you alright?"

Clark was unsurprised to see Jason enter the room behind Lex. Clark could feel the anger building within him at the sight of the man and he grasped the rails of the bed tightly, trying to ignore the sight of his wrists cuffed to it and their red and abraded state.

"He's fine," Jason said seriously, his voice causing Lex to turn around. "He's just a little upset is all."

Lex's eyes narrowed and Clark held his breath. He really didn't want Lex to know what had transpired earlier-it was just too embarrassing.

"Why would that be?" Lex asked, much to Clark's dismay.

"He had a urine sample taken earlier," Jason answered with a shrug.

Clark could see Lex swallow heavily. His face betrayed nothing, but as a man who had been Lex's best friend, he knew the signs of his emotions-and that slight swallowing motion was one of them. "And what about the blood on his face?" Lex asked, finally regaining control enough to make sure there was no emotion in his voice.

Jason shrugged. "It'll stop when he tells me what I want to know."

Lex only sighed and moved over to Clark, taking the cloth he'd brought and washing the blood away again. Jason never asked him about the stones when Lex was in the room, Clark realized. Did Lex not know what Jason was really after? What was really going on? His mind was working furiously but was hitting dead ends every time.

Jason glanced at Clark again. "Don't bother cleaning him up. I've got some scientists waiting outside for me to give the signal to come in a take some more samples."

Clark, who had been allowing Lex to take the blood off his face, stiffened. Lex, clearly recognizing his friend's fear, asked, "What kind?"

Jason smiled ominously. "Let's find out." As he had previously, he went over to the door and gestured for the scientists to come in. They were different from the previous ones but certainly didn't look any friendlier. If anything their expressions were colder than the first pair.

Approaching the bed, the first pulled out a pair of scissors. He gingerly cut a little of Clark's hair, gathering it and putting it in a cup. Clark swallowed hard. "Lex," he begged. Surely, not matter what Lex was after he wouldn't let them do this. Surely he couldn't abandon him to this extent. "Lex, please!"

He would not cry. He would not allow himself to cry, even as he felt himself panicking. He raised his eyes, searching Lex's face. The regret there was obvious, but he made no move to stop the doctors. Clark felt as though the wind had been knocked from his lungs.

Suprise hit him like a train when the second doctor took out a sanitation cloth and wiped at his arm with it. When the first doctor, having finished sealing the cup with Clark's hair in it, took out the scalpel, he jerked back in the restraints.

"Don't, no, don't!" he tried to plead with them, having given up on Lex. If he hadn't helped him in the previous sample collection, he knew he certainly wouldn't now. "Please!"

The men made no sign they'd even heard him. Jason only smiled softly, seemingly pleased at Clark's discomfort. Lex looked sick, although he was obviously trying to keep his back turned so that Jason couldn't see that.

He screamed when the scalpel cut into him, its cold metal slicing through skin like butter. And then he realized that it wasn't only metal-it was metal coated in meteor rock. He tried to pull away because it felt as thought the rock was inside him-in his veins, in his very bones.

His attempt to escape was halted by the restraints and it only made the scientist slip, causing the scalpel to cut deeper and eliciting a curse from the scientist. Clark screamed again, a horrid sound wrenched from his throat.

The man seemed to be drawing a square on his arm. It was simply too much for Clark. It wasn't enough to make his pass out, and yet he was right on the brink; he was hanging on a precipice that he couldn't seem to quite make it over. The pain was insufferable, and yet he was being forced to suffer through it.

Then the scientist made a swift cut under the square of flesh, cutting it off him. His screams became unceasing and his vision left him. From somewhere there was a hand petting his hair, and a voice urging him to hang on, telling him that he would be alright.

The tears that he'd been holding in flowed as the pain finally became centralized around the cut. He watched the scientist put his flesh in a container as well. The second man began to dress Clark's wound.

Clark became aware that hands were still stroking his hair. He raised his head and was met by Lex. He couldn't stand that; it was simply too much. "Don't touch me," he sobbed out. "Just don't." Lex removed his hands, looking surprised at the depth of Clark's anger. Clark couldn't allow Lex to try to comfort him. He was the one helping to do this. He would not accept soothing from one of his tormentors.

And to him that was what Lex had become.

---------------------------------

Lana was not what he needed right then. The way Clark had looked at him-it had terrified him. He'd looked so broken. Lex knew why he hadn't wanted to be touched. And really, who could blame him? Clark had screamed from him-begged for him, and he'd been forced to ignore him. Clark wouldn't want to be comforted by the one whom had done that. And after all of that, he simply couldn't deal with Lana.

"Where were you all day, Lex?" she asked as soon as he entered his office.

"Lana, my whereabouts are not your personal concern."

"You're hiding something from me."

"I'm not entitled to tell you anything."

"Is this about Clark?"

"Why would this be about Clark?" He tossed his suitcase on his desk. He was far too tired and heart-sick to deal with this. That wasn't to mention that he was sure that if he were actually facing someone adept at reading people-which Lana was not-he would be giving away his emotions on his face.

"Because he's disappeared."

It was about time she noticed. "I don't know where his is." That was a flat out lie, but he couldn't have cared less.

"I-I saw him in his barn right before the meteor shower hit."

Lex only raised an eyebrow. He didn't see why she thought that would matter to him.

"The stone you wanted from me-I gave it to him."

And suddenly the conversation ceased to be trivial and annoying and had upgraded to infinitely important. "What?" he asked, aware that his emotions were playing all over his face.

"I wanted him to have it."

"What did he do with it?"

Her face scrunched with anger. "Is that all you care about from him? The stones? His secrets?"

He felt like hitting her, but of course he wouldn't, because, one, chivalry declared that he couldn't hit a girl, and, two, he needed to know about the stone. If Clark had it Jason's torture ceased to be only grating on Lex because it was Clark being tortured and became even worse, because Clark had something that he could give away. "Listen to me, Lana," he commanded, striding over from his desk and sitting her down on the couch. "Clark could be in danger. That stone could be the deciding factor here. I've got to know."

"Is something wrong with Clark?" she asked, her eyes growing wide and worried.

"What did he do with the stone?"

She groaned and placed her head in her hands. "I don't know! I don't know what he did with it! I kissed him and left."

Lex stood up. "I've got to go."

"Lex? It's ten at night."

"The defense attorney arrived today, right?" She nodded. "Tell him his services are no longer required. Since my father's in a catatonic state, it doesn't matter that he has the body."

She looked as though she was about to say something, but Lex fairly flew out the door before she could. If Clark truly knew where the stones were, things had just gotten a lot worse.