This chapter comes to you with great help from SVCrystalGreen.
There was obscurity clouding this consciousness. There was something pushing him to awake but it was weak not strong enough against the dark hold. Yet as time went on it began to grow, soon it became a strong light filling his mind until…
Clark opened his bleary eyes against the bright sun streaming in through the window. He blinked several times to try as his eyes tried to get adjusted to the light. Once he did as his vision somewhat settled then his sleeping parents caught his attention. Both were asleep in the chairs across the room. He watched them for a while still trying to get unaccustomed to his being awake. Soon, he glanced down and saw that he wasn't wearing a shirt and was covered up with a blanket.
His mind felt foggy and he presumed that he must have fallen asleep on the couch the night before.
But, why would his parents have sat up with him and fallen asleep in the chairs instead of going to their room?
'Mom would have woken me up and told me to go into my own bed.'
So his presumption had to be incorrect. He tried to search through with his aching head so as to remember what really happened the previous night.
'Movie with Chloe and then…' He reached and felt of his shoulder, hoping that what had come as a memory was untrue and yet as he touched his shoulder he felt the dressing covering it. He grimaced either from pain or from the dread that was filling his stomach.
This was definitely real. It hadn't just been a nightmare. More importantly, he needed to get up somehow and find out where she was.
Gathering his strength Clark tried to push himself into an upright position on the couch. However, the movement caused his head to pound and his shoulder to throb. Helplessly, a small grunt escaped from the effort as he wearily rubbed his head with his good arm.
Martha instantly roused at the noise. Opening her eyes, she saw her son sitting trying to sit up with no luck. She rushed over, exclaiming. "Clark! How are you feeling, sweetie?"
"I-I'm okay, Mom," his voice sounded flatter than he intended, perhaps even croaky, this partially giving away the fact that he wasn't as fine as he stated.
Martha gave him a
serious look one he that told him he was getting out of this. "I
saw you rubbing your head."
"I've just got a small
headache," Clark tried to give one of his normal bright smiles, but
it only came out halfway, in reality his head was pounding
furiously.
Jonathan now joined Martha and opened his mouth to say
something as the phone began to ring. He looked over at it slightly
annoyed, deep down he wanted nothing more than to stay with his son.
However as he looked at Clark almost grimace then gingerly rub his
head, he decided to answer it due to the persistent noise, that
almost surely only adding to Clark's headache.
Clark watched his father walk away before turning back to his Mother, who sat down beside him, looking down at him as he lay. "How did I end up back here?" he asked quietly.
"We found you face down on the sidewalk," Martha paused, brushing away a stray hair from Clark's face. Clark could hear her give a small sniff as if she was trying to contain herself. "You really gave us a scare last night. First one minute you would be burning up with fever, the next you would be shivering with cold, even after we turned up all the heating."
Martha sighed clearly distraught by her son's condition the previous night, while the young man looked away a little guilty for having caused his Mother to worry so much.
In turned he sighed and looked at the blanket and noticed that it was damp. Martha also noticed that the blanket needed to be changed. "Here, let me get another blanket for you." She picked up the soiled blanket, placing it on top of the stack that had formed during the many hours of watching over the boy. She got a fresh one then rested it over Clark's lower torso.
Just then, Jonathan returned to the living room with a serious look on his face. "That was, Gabe. Chloe didn't come home last night."
Clark's heart started to pound and his headache got worse at what his Father was saying.
Jonathan exhaled slowly. "What happened last night, son?"
Clark paused gathering his thoughts. "Chloe and I were walking down the sidewalk after the movie and she told me she had hacked into Lex's security videos." Clark looked between his parents before continuing. "She saw what happened at the mansion with Eric, she also saw something else."
"What else was there?" Jonathan asked cautiously. There was no telling what Chloe could have stumbled onto.
Clark shook his head despondently. "I don't know. She was about to tell me when I heard a gun go off. I tried to shield her from it. A masked man took her away. Next thing I remember is waking up here."
Clark knew what his dad was probably thinking. "You think Lex did this," he said it in a neutral tone, more as a matter of fact than an accusation.
"Well, he is the obvious suspect," Jonathan remarked a little too quickly.
"Dad, I know Lex and I aren't friends anymore, but I don't think he would do this." Clark looked up at his father with pleading eyes. He just couldn't believe that Lex would do something like this. But, then he also couldn't have believed that Lex would have turned on him when he confronted him at the mansion.
Jonathan saw the look in Clark's eyes and decided not to push the subject any further. His son was still getting over the confrontation and in Clark's condition he didn't need to add to the situation. "If it's not Lex, then someone else knows about you. I like that scenario even less."
"I know…" he paused in mid groan, "…Dad." Clark absently moved his shoulder around, trying to work the pain out of it.
Jonathan watched Clark and his anger at Lex or whoever it might be was replaced with concern for his son.
"How's your shoulder?"
Clark then realized what he had been doing, felt sheepish. "Its fine," he said quietly, a little less conviction that he wanted.
"Let me see it." Jonathan obviously didn't believe him.
Clark tried to back away from his father. "Clark, let your Father have a look at it," Martha gently cajoled.
Clark didn't want him to touch it, then he'd know just how sore it really was, and that would only add to the worry that his parents were already feeling. But Clark really didn't have the energy do anything else, so he obediently turned to allow Jonathan access to the dressing.
Clark grimaced and sucked in air as Jonathan began to remove the bandaging, his shoulder flaring up at being touched. Martha shared of look of concern with Jonathan at Clark's reaction. She had hoped when Clark woke up this morning that he would be completely healed, but that didn't seem to be the case.
Jonathan was relieved to see that the wound didn't look nearly as bad as it had when he first saw it. The dark green lines had faded to a much lighter hue and it had lost some of the angry, red inflamed look. The dressing was going to have to be changed, though. And Clark was still in pain, but Jonathan hoped at least that it would get better.
"Well?" Clark questioned slightly nervous, wincing a tad his shoulder feeling more tender now that it was exposed. He hadn't seen what it looked like yet.
"It looks better than it did last night," Jonathan answered, trying to sound upbeat. "Clark, why don't you go take a shower and then I'll put another dressing on it."
"Is that really necessary? Do you really think I need to?" All Clark wanted to do was get up and find Chloe.
"Just to be on the safe side."
"Dad, what about Chloe? I have to go and find her." He started to get up quickly and swayed on his feet slightly.
Jonathan grabbed Clark to steady him and pushed him back onto the chair with ease. That very fact made him worry even more so. "Son, you are in no condition to go after anyone right now. You can hardly stand up."
Clark knew he was right, but didn't want it admit it out loud. He lowered his head a tad and said to his feet, slightly embarrassed. "I just got caught up in the blanket."
"Clark, I want you to hear me." Jonathan countered sternly, knowing he had to shake some sense into the boy. Clark looked up a little taken aback by his Father's tone. "I know you want to go out this minute and find Chloe, but you have no idea even where to start looking. You are going to have to let the police handle this." Jonathan placed a hand on either side of Clark's shoulder. "I'll help you upstairs and then please take a shower, by then your mother will have some breakfast for you."
Clark nodded his head reluctantly, he was going to find Chloe but he knew he was going to have to do some digging first. That would have to wait until at least after breakfast.
