Chapter 33 - Medical file
The Kent family had spent far too many days in the hospital over the last year. It never got any easier.
It was Martha this time. Jonathan and Clark had rushed her to the hospital after she fainted in the kitchen. Jonathan made Clark leave the hospital shortly after they'd arrived. It was no help for both of them to stand around panicking, and for as long as Clark was around, Jonathan would have to be the strong one. He didn't think he could hold up for long.
Jonathan found himself alternating between pacing the hallways outside Martha's hospital room, flipping through magazines in the lobby, and sitting beside her, holding her hand and praying that, after everything they'd been through, this wouldn't be what finally took her from him. When he was sure no nurses or doctors would be coming by to check on her for awhile, he let himself cry into the back of her wrist as she slept. She'd said before that she would be lost without him, but it didn't begin to compare to how utterly lost he would be without her.
Minutes after he'd dried his tears, Dr. Bryce called Jonathan out of Martha's room to talk to him. It occurred to him to wonder, just for a moment, whether Lex had told her about their fall out. If she knew anything, she didn't let it affect the way she talked to him—she was as professional as ever.
"I've sent her blood sample to Metropolis for further testing," Dr. Bryce said. "But I have to be honest with you, I'm concerned. For both Martha and the health of her baby."
Jonathan turned to face her. At first, he didn't feel anything but disbelief. It was impossible. "Baby?"
Dr. Bryce blinked. "You didn't know?"
"There must be some . . . kind of mistake. The doctor said she could never have a baby."
"I asked your GP to fax over Martha's medical records. There's no mistake."
Dr. Bryce disappeared down the hallway, leaving the news to sink in.
The first thing that entered Jonathan's mind was that he was going to have a third son.
He remembered that it could be a daughter before it even occurred to him to second guess his count of how many kids he had. He wasn't sure whether to count the one who had apparently disowned them.
The child would grow up around their secrets, and they'd have to figure out how to deal with that. Clark would have to be careful not to use his abilities around his little brother or sister, which meant they'd have to call the child inside and distract him any time Clark needed to finish his chores quickly. Eventually, the child would start to notice that things got done impossibly fast, or wander into the storm cellar, or ask the wrong questions to the right people, and the Kents would have to make a tough decision.
Jonathan had waited until Clark was fourteen to show him the spaceship. Some days, Jonathan felt like he should have waited a couple more years, but in the years leading up, he felt more like he'd waited for too long.
What was the right age to bring Clark's little brother or sister into their secrets?
Jonathan grimaced. They'd never told Clark's older "brother" the truth, and as disastrous as the results of that had been, Jonathan still wasn't entirely convinced they had made a mistake. Jonathan had believed strongly that they could keep Lex safe from his dark side in the long run, but he'd also seen what could happen in the momentary lapses. It would take time to rebuild trust. If he was honest with himself, though, keeping the secret from Lex had more to do with Lionel than Lex himself.
Their new child wouldn't be fighting such a dangerous battle, either with his father or with his own mind, which meant it was a little less complicated.
Besides, they had years to figure out what to do with their youngest child. No doubt, there would be danger, and fear, and struggle. One more person for them to protect, both from the dangers of Clark's secret itself, and the emotional turmoil that would come along with their having to lie to him in the meantime.
And yet he couldn't imagine anything more beautiful and joyful than having another son or daughter.
He stepped back into the room and knelt down beside his wife.
"Sweetheart," he whispered, "you have to wake up. You just have to. I can't do this without you." Jonathan couldn't imagine living and parenting without her: mourning both the loss of his wife and his baby, and then for years afterwards, guiding Clark through impossible life decisions with terrible consequences, keeping him safe while trying to maintaining their promise to Clark's best friend who wanted nothing to do with them because of decisions they'd made. "I need you."
He moved his hand down to her stomach, stroking gently. "Don't you worry," he whispered. "Your mom's a fighter. You're going to be just fine."
When Lex heard that Mrs. Kent was sick, his first instinct was to go check in on her. It was what he had done for all of Clark's friends and family members for so long, and the thought of something happening to her, especially with how they'd left things, kept him awake even later into the night than he usually was.
Actually, his normal tactic was to call in specialists to help deal with the problem, but he couldn't do that without insulting Helen. Before long, though, the disease control agency ended up getting called in anyway. Apparently it was some mysterious toxin.
As much as Lex wanted to, he couldn't visit. The darkness didn't want him to, and it wouldn't leave him alone about it. It tried to convince him they wouldn't want to see him anyway, after he'd pulled away from them for weeks; it reminded him he couldn't trust them, after they'd lied for months; it said there was nothing he could do to help anyway; it told him they'd want to be alone, as a family, which Lex wasn't a part of.
Lex knew his mind was playing tricks on him, but the tricks worked. He knew that if he went to visit, the Kents would either push him away, or try to be kind to him again, and he didn't know which was worse.
Then Clark fell ill.
Lex would have been ashamed to admit that his curiosity spiked even more than his fear, but part of that was because he really wasn't convinced Clark could die. The fact that Clark had gotten sick at all made him especially worried for Mrs. Kent, but the darkness in him was fixated on what that toxin might be.
"This is good," the darkness told him when he was alone in his study. "This will be a major clue in my investigation. Let's ask Helen what she knows."
"She doesn't know anything."
"She might. Jonathan does, and he might tell her."
"I could ask him directly." Some part of Lex was getting desperate for an excuse to talk to them, even if he was afraid to do so.
"No, don't bother. He'll lie, remember? He always lies to you. If he knows anything, he'll tell Helen."
Lex paced in his study. Helen would be arriving any minute. He almost wished she wouldn't. He didn't want to take advantage of her, but he could feel that he was going to lose this fight with his darker half.
She entered just then, setting her coat over the arm of his couch. "What a day," she muttered.
"Yeah?" He stepped forward and kissed her. He loved the way she kissed—her passion increased with each week they dated. "I heard about the toxin."
"I've never encountered anything like it."
"Oh?"
"Well, I can't say much, but I guess you'll find out sooner or later. Both Clark and Martha were getting progressively worse, and they both made a full recovery tonight."
Lex felt the tension in his shoulders drain considerably. Only then did he realize how much he had really worried about them. He felt like he could burst out laughing or crying or both.
"Now," the voice interjected.
Lex straightened up. "So, what happened?"
"Ah . . ." She took a half step back. "I really don't know much. And I can't really talk about what I do know."
"The Kents are my friends. They won't mind."
She raised her eyebrows. "Lex, I take my doctor-patient confidentiality very seriously."
Disproportionate rage pulsed through his body. It took a half second for Lex to realize it wasn't his own anger, not exactly. He was feeling what the darkness felt. He forced his voice to remain calm, and he caressed her arm. "Of course. I wouldn't expect anything different," he said.
She smiled and kissed him again.
Long after Helen had gone to bed, Lex paced in his Room of Obsession, looking around at all the evidence he'd collected.
"Helen knows something."
"At least she isn't telling any lies." That part was comforting. She'd just told him that she couldn't talk about her patients. With the single exception regarding whether she'd ever encountered his father, Helen had been honest with him throughout their relationship, and Lex loved her for that.
"Martha's medical file will have the answers you're looking for."
"Helen will never let me see it."
"Then steal the file."
Lex's insides squirmed. That was the kind of thing he knew how to do—it would be an easy matter to blackmail another doctor with access to the files, but he didn't usually use blackmail for simple convenience. He reserved it for emergencies, to protect himself and those he cared about in extreme circumstances.
"This IS an extreme circumstance," the voice insisted. "This could be a chance to learn the truth."
He knew it was probably right. A mysterious illness, a miraculous healing—it screamed of untold secrets. Mr. Kent had strongly implied it was all connected, which meant Lex probably didn't need to solve every single part of it. One answer could open the gateway to many.
But then he thought about how he'd felt the moment Helen told him that Clark and his mother were healed. The relief had been overwhelming, and if he was honest with himself, it was the most intense and genuine joy he'd felt in a long time.
He just wanted to tell them how glad he was that they were okay.
"Focus on what's important," the voice said.
"I am," Lex told it. "I'm going home."
"They won't tell you what you want to know. And they're not your family." He could feel it growing desperate. "They'll lie to you again! They'll pretend to care about you, and they'll convince you to forgive the lies and stop looking for the truth!"
"Maybe. But I just want to see them."
And before it could say anything else, he grabbed his car keys.