Chapter 50 - Home

Martha didn't notice Clark leaving the house after breakfast. Given that Chloe had just been there, she didn't think much of it until he didn't return for lunch, but her only thought was that she'd chide him for not letting her know where he was going and for leaving without getting his chores done. When he wasn't back for dinner, and Jonathan hadn't heard from him or seen him either, they began their usual routine: Martha worrying quietly, Jonathan pacing and grumbling about how much trouble their son was in when he got home.

This time, though, there was a deeper undercurrent of worry in Jonathan's voice, too. Lately, Clark had been better about communicating with them. Meanwhile, the danger in their lives had grown. There was a greater chance than usual that Clark was somewhere he didn't want to be, and Martha found herself praying that he was only being thoughtless or even defiant, that he was safe and would come home soon.

They sat at the dinner table until long after dark, but the sun set early in December. It was a little after seven when the side door opened, and Clark stumbled inside.

"Clark!" Martha jumped up to throw her arms around him, and he held her, more weakly than he ever had. She pulled back to look him over. His clothes were ripped to tatters, exposed skin beneath reddened, black and blue in places.

"Son, where were you?" Jonathan rose from the table as well.

"What happened?" Martha asked.

"I was at the Fortress."

She blinked. "The Fortress?"

"Yeah." Clark took another step into the house and nodded back toward the door. "Saving him."

Martha's eyes fell on the opening door.

And Lex stepped inside.

He was worse off than Clark was. The skin on his head and face was split in a few places, blood clinging to his skin, and he limped heavily. Clark took another step back, and Lex stepped into the center of the room, a little distance from each of them.

He kept his eyes on the floor. "We should talk."

Silence weighed down the room.

Martha wanted nothing more than to run to him, to throw her arms around her son. But he had been through a roller coaster over the past few months, and she didn't know how to ask why he had come.

Jonathan spoke first: "Who are you, Lex?"

They weren't the words Martha would have chosen, but they got the message across.

"I don't know," Lex said. "I'm still figuring that out."

"The dark side or the light side?"

"I don't... I'm not..." He pulled in a breath. "I think I'm both."

Martha looked over at Jonathan, whose eyebrows furrowed. He breathed in as though to speak, but he stopped himself.

Part of Martha wanted to ask Lex for clarification, but there was a part of her that felt like she didn't need to. Jonathan had asked the question as though Lex were two people, but he wasn't. He never had been, even when he saw it that way. Maybe the two sides of himself had both asserted dominance, sharing control. Maybe something had happened in the Fortress that had somehow merged the two sides so he wouldn't hear the voices anymore; it wouldn't be the strangest thing that had happened. Or maybe he was just seeing himself in a different light.

She suspected he would soon explain all of that. But none of it answered the question she'd had from the time he first came in, and she still didn't know how to ask why her son was there when his presence was all she had wanted for a long time. Either way, it wasn't time to ask questions. He needed space to speak.

But he didn't speak. Instead, he lowered himself slowly to his knees, then brought his head down, hung low enough that she couldn't see his face.

Slowly, hesitantly, Martha came to stand before him.

"I don't deserve to be here." Despite his submissive posture, his voice sounded confident. "I know who I am, and I know what I've done."

"L-Lex?"

"Say the word and I will leave this place. I will never bother you or your family again."

Martha felt like she couldn't pull in a breath. Her son truly had come home. And he was himself—all of himself. His nobility, his courage, his care, his doubts.

She looked over at Jonathan, allowing him the lead if he wanted it. She trusted him; she always had.

Jonathan didn't speak. He looked from Lex over to her, and he gave her a very slight smile, nodding.

Martha couldn't bring herself to smile, even as she knew what needed to be said. Her legs shook as she approached her son, and she reached out to him, lifting his chin with two fingers.

He resisted, at first. But he finally gave in, his eyes meeting hers.

"Young man," she said, softly but firmly, "go to your room. Your father and I will be up in a moment."

Lex's eyes fell closed, and tears streamed down his cheeks.

Martha couldn't help it. She lowered herself to his level, pressing her lips to his forehead for a long moment as he trembled beneath her. Her hand came around to stroke the back of his head, and his arms grabbed her around the waist.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"I know you are, Alexander," she said, squeezing him tightly. She allowed herself a long moment holding the son she had lost over and over again.

Then she forced herself to let go, to stand and step back. "Go on. We'll be there."

He stood slowly, never so much as lifting a hand to wipe the tears from his eyes, then he passed by her and went to the staircase.

Jonathan cleared his throat and looked to Clark. "Do you want to tell us what happened, or should we ask him?"

"One of the scientists who worked for him turned out to be an artificial intelligence working for a Kryptonian war criminal named Zod," Clark said. "He was trying to bring Zod back by getting Lex to be a vessel. Jor-El told me to kill Lex, but I went to save him. Lex destroyed the Fortress to defeat Zod. I think he meant to sacrifice himself, but I shielded him. When the walls stopped caving in... Lex said he wanted to go home."

Martha blinked a few times. "Oh, is that all?"

"I told him we still loved him and wanted him to come back and be a part of our family," Clark said. "But I've told him that a million times. Maybe this time he believed me."

"We'll talk to him," Jonathan said. "Stay down here, will you, Clark?"

"Dad, I'd really like to hear what he has to say."

"There will be time for that. But this is a conversation he needs to have with his parents."

Clark nodded. "I'm sorry for taking off."

Martha reached up to kiss his forehead. Even if she'd still been upset, she'd lost the will to lecture him. He'd had a good enough reason for taking off. "Get some rest on the couch. We'll be back down when we finish."

"Yes, ma'am," Clark said.

Martha turned to Jonathan, who came over to wrap an arm around her shoulders, and they climbed the stairs together.

A/N: Two more chapters, then a long epilogue.