Chapter 1 - You did WHAT?

Martha had been pacing in the kitchen for almost an hour when Clark trudged into the house. She breathed in to scold him for being home so late without even calling her to let her know he was alright, but one glance at his face stopped her. He looked heartbroken, and his lower lip was bleeding.

"Oh! Baby, what happened?" She cradled his face in her hand.

"I said good bye to an old friend."

Martha pulled him into her arms, rubbing his back. "Who did this to you?"

He was quiet for a moment before softly replying, "Lex."

"Lex?" Martha held him at arm's length, frowning at his split lip. Lex had never seemed to be the violent type. She knew the tension between Clark and Lex had been high lately, but she didn't know it was this high. "What happened?"

"You're not gonna believe it, Mom. You know how you and Dad and Lana got taken hostage today?"

"Yes?"

"Lex did it."

Martha shook her head. "But those were meteor mutants."

"Lex sent them. He made a deal with them and told them to ask me to get the serum from the LexCorp labs."

"But . . . why would he do that?"

"To get me to break into his lab, so that he could see me use my powers."

Clark had been right—she didn't quite believe it. Thanks to Lionel, Lex was clearly damaged, and he had the scars and vices to prove it. He had investigated Clark, his history with women was disappointing at best, and he'd gotten himself involved in some questionable projects. But up until now, he'd always proved he was really trying to be a good man and a good friend to Clark—he'd risked his life quite a few times to try to save others. "H-how do you know he did this?"

"Chloe looked into it. He was also at Belle Reve the day the psychos escaped."

"Well, isn't his father at Belle Reve?"

"So?"

"So, he was probably visiting his father. How do you know he's connected to the patients escaping?"

"It's not just that. Chloe also found out he was watching us over the security cameras."

"Okay . . ." She waited for him to continue.

Clark just stood there.

"Clark?"

"What?"

"Um . . . how do you know Lex planned this whole thing?"

"He was watching us!"

"Well, yes. You had to break into his lab and steal from him. It's a lab building with sensitive experiments, they have security cameras."

"Which he used to spy on me!"

"So . . ." She squinted. "That's all the evidence you have?"

"What more do I need?"

"But . . . all you know is that he visits his father at Belle Reve and that his lab has security cameras."

"And he used that against me!"

She raised her eyebrows. "You're saying he purposely released a mentally unstable kryptonite mutant, in the hopes that the mutant would make the connection between you and kryptonite, take our family hostage, demand the serum, and that that would force you to break into LuthorCorp, and maybe you'd fail to take out one of the security cameras, so that Lex might get to see you use your powers?"

"Now you know why I broke off our friendship."

Martha blinked a few times. "But Clark, does that sound like something Lex would do?"

"Yes! He's just like his father!"

Martha blinked a couple of times, bewildered. "Honey, even if he were willing, or wanting, to put our family in that much danger intentionally, he would have found a more certain way of doing it. He's smart. And . . . aren't you two best friends?"

"Not anymore. He put our family in danger, and he hit me."

She frowned—Clark's lip was bleeding. But as much as she wanted to comfort her son, she found herself questioning why Clark had thought to accuse Lex in the first place, so she had to ask: "Who threw the first punch?"

Clark looked down. "I did."

"And . . . how many times did you hit him before he hit back?"

Clark's jaw pulsed. "I don't know. Two or three. He blocked the last one."

Martha gasped. "How did it get to that point? I'm assuming you talked before you fought. What did you say?"

His cheeks turned pink. "Uh, we didn't talk first."

"You must have said something."

He shrugged. "Not really."

Her breath caught in her throat. "You mean to tell me you went into his house and just started throwing punches?"

"It sounds bad when you say it like that!"

"How else should I say it?" Where had she gone so wrong in her parenting that he could possibly believe that that was okay?

She had once suggested to Clark that Lex might be Sageeth, the prophesied enemy of Naman. Since then, she'd regretted making the connection aloud. She prided her family on seeing the best in everyone. Jonathan had a strong, unyielding prejudice when it came to the Luthors, and Martha had been pleased that Clark didn't seem to have the same weakness. Ever since she'd suggested Lex might be Sageeth, though, Clark seemed to have developed that prejudice as well.

"Clark," Martha said, "maybe Lex had an explanation. He wouldn't have invited you over if he didn't have something to say to you."

"He didn't invite me in."

"Did . . . did you trespass?"

"Uh . . ."

"Did you have to sneak past security?"

His nostrils flared. "He betrayed me! You should have seen the look on his face when he saw the security footage. He thinks I have powers!"

"You do have powers!"

"You don't understand. He's obsessed. He's always asking about kryptonite mutants, about the stones of power, about me . . ."

"Sweetheart, he's seen a lot. I'm sure he's curious about the things you do. You can't blame him for that."

"Maybe not, but I can blame him for putting our family in danger."

She took a deep breath. "Okay, Clark. Let's say you're right. Let's say Lex really betrayed you. Is this how you handle people who might have hurt you? Trespass into their homes and beat them up?"

"How else am I supposed to deal with it?"

"By talking!"

"You don't know what he's like, Mom. He's changed. You can't reason with him."

"Did you try?"

Clark's jaw clenched.

Martha gave him a piercing look. "This is completely unacceptable, Clark."

His face fell, but she let those words hover in the air between them for a long moment. If he was, deep down, the person she thought he was, the words would settle into his skin like acid—but he needed to hear them.

She silently counted to ten and began again. "You told me about that conversation the two of you had a few weeks ago. Didn't he all but beg you not to give up on him?"

"Yeah, but that was before . . ." His voice trailed off.

"Before what?"

"Before he endangered our family."

It was quiet for a moment.

Clark scowled. "Are you gonna make me apologize to that monster?"

"I think you should find out if you need to apologize. Did he know why you were hitting him?"

"Yeah, I told him."

"What did he say?"

"I, uh . . . I don't really know."

"Because you weren't listening, or because you were hitting him too hard for him to respond?"

He looked away. "I shouldn't have talked to you about this."

She crossed her arms. "I'm glad you did. I think you should talk to him and make things right."

He groaned. "Mom . . ."

"Don't even start with me, Clark Jerome Kent. You trespassed into his house. You threw the first punch. I know what you think he did, but I still don't understand why you think he did it. You have no evidence, and it doesn't make any sense."

"It's too late, Mom. I already ended our friendship. Please, can you just . . . can we drop this?"

Martha could hear her pulse in her ears. Jonathan had tried to shut her out in this way a couple of times. But she knew what to do about it.

She nodded. "Okay, Clark. If you're sure you did the right thing."

Clark grimaced.

"It's just . . . I'm disappointed, that's all."

"Mom?" His face fell, and his eyes begged Martha's.

She pulled him in for another quick hug, then let him go and patted his back. "It's late, and you have chores to do in the morning. Go on up to bed."

His eyes shone, but he obeyed. As soon as he was gone, she smirked to herself.

Twenty-four hours until he caved. Tops.

A/N: Your thoughts are always appreciated! I'm going to release this as a two-parter, but this may eventually become my dumping ground for one-shots in which Martha talks sense into people who *cough* desperately need it.

Also, thanks goes to jakrar for imploring me not to give up on this story, and for helping me figure out a direction for it :D