A/N: Next chapter may or may not be delayed a week or two—I'm a bit slammed with other things at the moment, and I let my queue run out.

Chapter 49 - Steps

Clark didn't bring up the conversation he'd had with his father to Lex, and he didn't mention it to his mother, either. He didn't see what good it would do. At best, it just wouldn't help anything at all; at worst, it would get him in trouble for mouthing off. The next time they all gathered for a family dinner at the mansion, Clark didn't even waste any time worrying about how his dad would treat Lex. He just assumed his dad wouldn't make it to the dinner at all.

But then he did.

It was a full table. Lex sat at the head of the table, Clark beside him, and Ryan on the other side of Clark. His mom and Pamela sat on the other side. That left the other head of the table, which was usually empty during their family dinners. Today, that was where his dad sat.

It was awkward and silent when the meal first began. Everyone ate without speaking, not seeming to know what to say. Clark found himself wishing that he had Ryan's power so he could read what people were thinking but he doubted it would help him very much, because he already knew what most of them were thinking. He figured Lex would be almost thankful for the quiet, if the alternative was being criticized and berated, and his mom would be holding her breath, hoping she'd be able to keep the peace once the discussion began. Ryan and Pamela probably didn't know enough about the history between Jonathan and Lex to be thinking about much other than how awkward it was. And his dad was probably thinking through everything that Clark had said the other day. Or maybe he was just angry.

By the time the servant was bringing out dessert—that was his mom's contribution, she had brought over a pie—no one had spoken a word.

Ryan was staring at Clark's dad, and he lowered his fork. "Why do you think that?"

Clark's dad raised his eyebrows. "Son, I know you can't help seeing what's in other people's heads, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't share them out loud."

"Clark and Lex are trying to help me."

"I know."

"Really? Because my life depends on this. Pamela's, too."

"Ryan," Lex said gently, "these are guests. Whatever they think of me—"

Ryan looked up at Lex. "it's not just them. It's everyone in this town. I thought they were right at first, because . . . well, there's so much darkness in your mind. But that's not your fault. and you're trying to help me."

Clark couldn't quite get the words out to tell Ryan that none of this was going to be helpful, that he had already told his dad all of this and it was going to take him some time to process all of it. For the first time, he kind of wished Ryan could hear his thoughts.

Ryan frowned and looked over at Lex. "If you keep hiding all that anger, it's going to come back to haunt you. I've seen it happen before."

Lex put down his fork as well. Clark looked around the table and realized that nobody was eating. He had been scrambling to think of something to say all throughout the meal, but now he realized it was more important than ever. What tumbled out was, "So, the harvest is just wrapping up, we've been pretty busy at the farm."

"But you already know that, don't you?" Ryan went on speaking to Lex as though Clark hadn't said anything. "You heard that from your therapist."

Clark winced. "Um, Lex, how are things going with the new company?"

"I'm not angry," Lex said to Ryan.

"Yes you are," Ryan said.

Clark looked over at Pamela. "Hey, you're doing a new crafting project, aren't you?"

Pamela gave Clark a sad look. "Your father came over here to talk, Clark. I know you're trying to help, but this needs to happen."

"You want to talk? Fine." Clark's dad stood up.

"Jonathan," his mom muttered under her breath.

"I told you I wasn't comfortable with the experiments on my son. As far as I can tell, you've only ramped up your research since then. It's clear to me that I'm some kind of joke to you, that you don't care about my opinion at all. Clark tells me you don't speak ill of me, and I'll be honest, I appreciate your restraint, I really do, but you still helped him to lie to me. You still keep meteor rock around the house. I know you're working on a way to get around my rules, which I think are for Clark safety, but you think it's some kind of punishment."

"Well, it would help if you hadn't presented it to Clark as a punishment," Lex said with some humor.

"You've never been a parent. You have no idea what it's like to realize you've had no idea where your kid has been for the past year."

"If you haven't noticed, your kid isn't exactly ordinary. And he's not exactly a child anymore."

"just because your father let you do whatever you wanted from the time you were 12—"

Pamela stood as well. "How dare you?"

"No, Pamela," Lex said, "it's okay."

"That man abused his son and his wife. You have no right—"

"That's enough." Lex looked up at Clark's Dad. "I understand your reasoning, Mr. Kent. I don't expect you to change, and I don't want you to. The truth is, your lack of trust in me keeps me accountable, and I'm okay with it."

Pamela shook her head. "That's not how it works, Alexander."

"Regardless. I'm okay, but I would like the opportunity to start earning your trust. I know it's going to be difficult, and it might take a long time, but I'm willing to put in the work if you're willing to give me a chance."

There was a long silence. Clark just stared down at the slice of pie in front of him. He couldn't imagine beginning to eat again.

"No," Ryan said to Clark's dad. "It can't be like that."

"Like what?"

"Like, halfway. You can't make someone earn the right to you giving them a chance. It just . . . doesn't work."

Clark's dad swallowed hard. He looked Lex in the eye. "I didn't know about the way your father treated you."

Lex's jaw pulsed. "I didn't want you to."

Clark's mom looked up at his dad. "Maybe it would help if we talked a little bit about the experiments?" she said. "It could help set your mind at ease. And it's really fascinating, what the boys have been up to."

Clark could tell that that was the last thing his dad wanted, but he nodded after a short pause.

They ended up leaving their dessert plates at the table, and they all went into the experiment room to take a look at some of the more recent data. They looked at some new scans of the meteor rocks that showed intricacies in the molecular structure that they hadn't noticed before; they looked at some of the data that had been collected from Ryan's blood and from Byron's, although it wasn't enough to provide any answers quite yet. They even looked at some data from when they were experimenting with Clark's heat vision, even though it wasn't really related to the main project, and even though it made Clark's face feel warm with embarrassment.

Clark's dad didn't say a lot throughout the presentations. After he was up to date, he frowned and asked, "So, the goal is to cure the mutations?"

"At the very least, we'd like to be able to cure the side effects," Lex said. "We're unsure whether this will require curing the mutations themselves, at this point."

"Side effects. You're talking about cancer?"

"And the homicidal effects. but those might not even be linked, and the cancer is our first priority right now."

Clark's dad nodded slowly. "What does this have to do with Clark?"

"Not all of it does," Lex said, "but it has to do with the meteor rocks. Everything is linked."

"Have you tried looking at the spaceship? Maybe there's a clue there."

Clark felt his heart speed up just a little. His dad was actually getting involved in the conversation. "I've looked a little," Clark said, "and there's some writing, but I can't read it or anything, so it hasn't really been helpful."

"Maybe some of the materials? I'm guessing it's not built out of any ordinary metal, just like the rocks aren't built out of any material known on Earth."

"You let me in to take a sample?" Lex asked.

"If you can be discreet about it, I'll let you take the whole ship."

Clark blinked. That was the last thing he had been expecting. "Really?"

"Lives are at stake, Right?"

"It's worth a try ," Lex said. "But I doubt the ship has much in the way of organic matter, which usually provides bigger Clues about biological problems."

"What's organic matter?" Ryan asked.

"Anything carbon-based," Lex said. "There are elements in the meteor rock that no one has ever seen, but there's also the basics. Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen. The metal in the ship isn't likely to have those."

This was a different kind of conversation than Clark and Lex had ever been able to have. They had never had permission to make use of any other materials from Clark's home planet. "So, organic material from my planet might have a clue about how to cure this?"

"If we knew exactly where you came from, this would be a lot easier."

Clark swallowed. "Are people organic material? They are, right?"

Both Lex and his dad glared at him. His dad spoke first. "Clark, whatever you're thinking—"

"We're not going to do that," Lex said, though he seemed to be speaking more to Clark's dad than to Clark himself. "Believe me, I've thought about it, but we're not going to slice you up. That's exactly what your father's been trying to protect you from."

"Okay, but what about just taking a blood sample? Or a cheek swab, or a bit of my hair—"

"We'd have to send your sample to the scientist," Lex said. "It's one thing to send meteor rocks to them, or samples from people that are already known to be meteor mutants. I'm not going to send your blood to a bunch of scientists."

"But what if you sent it in parts or something? Like, just white blood cells, or just the red, or just plasma? They don't have to know where it came from."

"It's too dangerous, Clark," his dad said. "I won't allow it."

"It's too dangerous to let the cancer spread anymore. If my blood could hold the key I'm -"

"Son, you're going to change the world in many ways. But this isn't going to be one of them. I've made up my mind."

Clark held himself back from scowling. "Well, what if Lex does the analysis himself?"

Lex shook his head. "I'm not a doctor, Clark."

"But you have some training in biochemical engineering, right? You can at least get some information. It's worth a try, isn't it?"

Lex stared at Clark for a moment, then he looked over at Clark's dad. "With your permission, Mr. Kent?"

"You have it," he said. "I'm trusting you, Lex."

"Yes, sir. I won't let you down."

Clark grinned. Finally, they were making progress.