A/N: This chapter takes place after 1x15, Nicodemus, in which several people (including Pete, Lana, and Jonathan) are infected with a toxin from a Kryptonite-infused flower. The toxin causes people to act on their innermost desires, i.e. drive recklessly, hit on people indiscriminately, lash out violently when they don't get their way.

Chapter 10 - Apologies

The Kents didn't usually all sit down for breakfast with each other, especially on weekdays when Clark would be needing to get to school soon. But they'd gotten home from the hospital late the night before, and Clark and Martha were both so thankful to have Jonathan home, alive and well, that they'd made an exception.

Clark was telling them both the story of what had happened the night before.

" . . . And then Pete started talking about how Lex's dad cheated him out of his factory, and he was pointing the gun at Lex! I didn't think I could reason with him while he was still infected by the flower, so I pretended to agree with him to distract him, then I got the gun away from him using my powers, and I took him to the hospital, and—"

"Wait, wait," Jonathan cut in. "You used your powers in front of Lex and Pete?"

"Well, Pete doesn't remember anything, and Lex didn't see me."

Jonathan raised his eyebrows. "You're absolutely sure?"

"I'm positive."

Martha's brow furrowed. She wasn't sure what to make of that.

Jonathan smiled and clapped Clark's shoulder. "You did good, son." He stood with his plate. "I'm going to get a start on the morning chores."

Martha watched him go, then turned back to Clark. "How did you know Pete would forget everything he saw?"

"I didn't at the time."

"So how did you use your powers without being seen?"

"Oh, I knocked out Lex and Pete first."

"You what?"

His face fell suddenly. "I didn't know what else to do! Pete wasn't going to go to the hospital, and he was going to shoot Lex! And if I didn't knock out Lex, he would have seen me use my powers. So I pushed Lex against the wall, and I slapped Pete in the head with my super speed."

"Clark!"

"I didn't want to, but I didn't have a choice, Mom!"

She took a deep breath. "I know it was a tough situation, but maybe we can talk about some alternate plans for the future so you know what to do when this comes up again. You can't always knock people out when you need to use your powers. It can be dangerous to hit people in the head, especially for you. One of these days, you'll be in a hurry and use too much strength, and someone might not wake up."

"I'm always careful! I can control my strength."

"I know, sweetie, but I'm sure it still hurt quite a bit."

He looked down at his hands.

She reached out and put a gentle hand on his. "Hey. It's just something for us to think about. It seems like the way things are going, you might find yourself in this kind of situation more and more, so we should talk about what you can do." She could tell he understood her point. She didn't feel the need to bring up the fact that this was Lex's third or fourth concussion in the past couple of months, which could have caused permanent damage regardless of Clark's control.

He sighed. "Okay, I'll think about it. Can we talk after school? I want to make sure to catch Pete before class starts."

"Of course." She stood from the table along with him and gave him a long hug. "I'm very proud of you, Clark. You saved Lex's life. Maybe Pete's too, by taking him to the hospital."

"Thanks, Mom."

She kissed him on the cheek and watched him hurry to catch his bus before she herself headed out to the barn, where Jonathan was already at work taking care of the horses.

She didn't want to bring it up, but there were some issues left unresolved from his time under the influence of the toxin. Even though she knew what had been causing Jonathan's behavior, that didn't mean there hadn't been negative consequences for some of the people involved. "You really don't remember anything from the past few days?"

He shook his head, his eyes on his work. "Nothing. But I take it the poison made people behave strangely."

She frowned. "Strange wasn't the first word that came to mind."

"Why?" His brow furrowed. "What did I do?"

"Well, you blew off work, you tried to . . . come on to me, in front of Clark. You got drunk, and you almost ran over Clark with your car."

He stopped what he was doing and came over to face her. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

"I'm not upset with you, I understand."

He nodded, though his face was a bit pink. "People who saw me . . . they, uh, they all know what happened, right?"

"Clark forgives you, and he understands. But, um . . you also told Lex that you hated him and his family, and that you'd be happy if they all died."

His eyes fell closed, and he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm assuming you're going to make me go apologize for that."

"I think it would be the right thing to do."

He turned away from her, taking a step back. "Come on, Martha, I don't even remember doing it."

"Lex probably doesn't remember his father swindling the Ross family out of their creamed corn factory, since he was nine years old at the time. You're upset with him about that, though."

"What is it with you? Why are you so concerned about that Luthor kid?" He said the name like it was a swear word.

"Because he's a kid, Jonathan. He's been a good friend to Clark, he saved your life yesterday by finding the antidote to that poison, and he doesn't have anyone else. Have you noticed how his father treats him?"

Jonathan grunted.

"I want to help him. He's so desperate for anyone's approval, I'm worried we'll see him becoming his father someday. He's had some really traumatic experiences in the past few months, and I've been trying to invite him over to bring some stability and comfort into his life, but every time I do, you just hurt him more."

Jonathan looked away for a long moment.

Martha swallowed. Having this argument was killing her. She was so happy to have her husband back, she just wanted to drop the whole thing, to tell him to forget it. But they'd left this alone for long enough, and when he looked back at her, she could see she was finally starting to get through. She had to keep pushing.

"For someone who hates Lionel Luthor so much," she said softly, "I'd think you'd have more sympathy for someone who had to grow up in a house with him."

Jonathan sighed. A long, loud, heavy sigh. Then he started to walk toward the house. "I'll call him."

Martha followed him. "Go talk in person. I'll call him to let him know you're coming."

"Fine." He picked up the keys and left the house without another word.

Lex lifted the rack from the pool balls and positioned the cue stick to break. The relatively mindless action of playing pool helped him to deal with stress, and there had been quite a lot of it in the past few days.

Clark and Mrs. Kent had been thankful to him for finding the antidote to that flower's toxin, but he alone knew the truth: that the antidote would never have been needed if it hadn't been for the experiments he was paying Dr. Hamilton to conduct. Finding the cure had been no more than cleaning up his own mess. And he'd been too late, anyway—someone had still died.

His cell phone buzzed, and he glanced at the caller ID.

He picked up the phone. "Hey Clark."

"Actually, it's Martha."

"My apologies, Mrs. Kent."

"That's alright. I'm calling to let you know that Jonathan is on his way over to speak with you, if you're available."

His heart froze. Was it possible Mr. Kent knew about Lex's research? For a moment, he wanted to tell her he wasn't available. But he didn't like lying to her, and there was an urgency in her voice he couldn't deny. Besides, she'd said he was on his way over already. "Okay. Thanks for letting me know."

"How are you, Lex?"

"I'm okay. Things are settling down."

"I'm glad to hear it. You'll call if you need anything?"

"I will." Still probably a partial lie, but she wouldn't have accepted the truth. "Thanks for the heads up, Mrs. Kent."

"Bye, Lex."

He hung up and took a deep breath, embarrassed by how hard his heart pounded against his rib cage. Lex never would have admitted it to Mrs. Kent or Clark, but hearing Mr. Kent's unfiltered opinions of him the other day had hurt like hell. He wasn't exactly up for round two. He knew Mr. Kent had been under the influence of the toxin, and wouldn't remember the conversation, but that didn't help with the pain.

Lex was good at identifying when people were being affected by diseases or other unusual conditions. When Lana had tried to seduce him in the Talon, he'd noticed immediately that she was acting strange. But when Mr. Kent had berated Lex for checking on him to make sure he was okay, Lex hadn't noticed anything was off. Neither had Mrs. Kent, apparently—she hadn't stayed to try to convince Lex that her husband didn't mean his words, or any other nonsense like that. She'd followed Mr. Kent into the next room, and Lex had left the house, chastising himself harshly for being so emotionally affected by the words of someone he already knew hated him.

He couldn't imagine what more Mr. Kent had to say to him now.

His security guard entered the study. "There's a Jonathan Kent waiting outside."

"Send him in." Lex set his cell phone down on the desk, put away his pool cue, and shoved his phone into his pocket.

When Mr. Kent entered the room, Lex didn't make a move to greet him. He just kept his hands in his pockets, waiting, consciously telling his muscles to stop tensing.

"Lex."

"Mr. Kent."

Lex's one comfort was that Mr. Kent looked as awkward and uncomfortable as Lex himself felt. Mr. Kent paced a little and rubbed his face, and his eyes darted around the room. "Ah, Lex . . . my wife tells me that I said some things to you while I was . . . affected."

Lex didn't respond. He didn't know how. So he just kept staring.

"Things I shouldn't have said."

Lex blinked.

"I'm afraid I don't remember any of it. What did I say?"

I don't like Lex Luthor. I don't like Lionel Luthor, and I don't like your friendship with my son. In fact, if all of you Luthors were to dry up and die, I wouldn't shed a tear. The words had repeated in his head over and over, keeping him up most of the night.

"I don't remember the exact words," Lex lied easily.

"Well, whatever it was . . . I guess it was pretty bad, and I'm sorry."

Anger flared in Lex, and for just a second, he lost control. "You told me you'd be happier if I was dead," he spat.

Mr. Kent flinched. "I'm sorry, Lex."

"Is it true?"

There was a short pause while Mr. Kent brought his eyes up to meet Lex's. "No, it's really not." He took a deep breath. "Martha, she . . . she made some good points. And Clark—" he cleared his throat— "Clark obviously looks up to you, and I know you'd never do anything to hurt him."

Lex forced himself to maintain eye contact. He wondered if Clark had told his father about Lex's investigations.

"You're . . . well, it's going to take me some time to get used to all this."

"I understand, Mr. Kent." He did, but the anger still hadn't completely died down. The man's words had soothed some of the pain, but only some.

"I don't wish your family was dead. But even if I did, I shouldn't be speaking to you that way."

Lex wanted to nod, but he couldn't get himself to move.

"Well, I should be heading out." He rubbed the back of his neck and turned to go.

"Mr. Kent."

He turned to face Lex once more.

"Thank you."

Mr. Kent nodded, and walked out of the study.

Lex watched him go, then he returned to his pool table. For the first time in awhile, he felt himself smiling, if only a little.

It was painfully obvious to Lex that Mrs. Kent had put her husband up to this, but it still represented something powerful in Lex's mind. For one thing, she cared enough about Lex to make her husband go to apologize. For another, while Mr. Kent's opinion of Lex was still startlingly low, it was quite not as harsh, nor as unchangeable, as Lex had believed.

Finally—and most importantly—that apology had been real. All of Lex's usual self-protective skepticism couldn't quite stop him from believing that.

"Yeah, he's telling the truth," that voice in his head chimed in. "He doesn't care enough about you to lie."