After having spoken to Superman, Hailey was all talked out. She was so grateful to see a familiar face though not the same person she knew that it had allowed her to open up. It was the same with Lex. They were third-party listeners. If they had been family or friends, she wouldn't have had the courage to speak openly about her ordeal. But she couldn't muster the energy to do it anymore. Not outwardly anyway.

Jason was there—a hallucination—with her trying to keep her spirits up. He did plenty of talking and reading so that she wouldn't feel it necessary to fill the silence with her own voice.

She was tired. And she didn't feel safe. Everything scared her. The footsteps of the nurses and doctors and patients and visitors walking through the hall scared her shitless. The beeping of the machines drowned out her own heartbeat. The AC turning on hid her too-fast breaths. But only to her own ears. The machines she was hooked up to were recording everything. But she didn't know that.

She hadn't slept. She only pretended to sleep. While she slept, Jason kept watch. But Jason was a product of her own mind. So if Jason was keeping watch, all that meant was that she was keeping watch. And Jason—the brave and happy part of her—was just as scared as she was. Even though he told her he was there to protect her. Though he claimed that he was the one who'd saved her.

She'd saved herself.

Hailey had drowned herself. A person she'd never seen during her stay in that cell who just so happened to clean the cell while she was allowed to shower, got her out. She remembered him through broken memories. He'd hovered over her after he'd revived her. He'd lifted her up and hid her in a body bag. He spoke to her the entire way to the hospital. It had taken hours and hours and hours. It could've been less time. She had lost all sense of time in that cell. A single second had dragged on in her own mind for so long that the time she'd spent there felt like years and years. But in reality, it had been months and months.

She couldn't remember the man's face. She only knew he spoke with an accent. His skin had been dark. And he was kind. Or maybe he hadn't wanted her death on his conscience on top of everything else. Like her abduction. Her detainment. The sexual abuse she'd been subjected to. He'd had to have known about it all. A silent witness to her misery. Yet he hadn't helped her until she drowned herself.

Why hadn't he just let her die? That would've been a real kindness. All he did was try to assuage his own guilt. But she was still there in that cell. She would never leave that cell. Maybe there were more people around her now but she was still being detained. Kept against her will in a room that wasn't that much bigger than the cell she'd been in. Sure, she had a window. Whooped-dee-fucking-do. But she wasn't free. Not from fear. Not from loneliness. And especially not from her own fucked up thoughts.

When the doctor came in to check on her, Hailey refused to engage with her. Lex came into the room and just sat and watched her. Jason wasn't happy that he was there. Hailey didn't mind. She stared at his bald head. It was kind of nice. He would never have to worry about tangles or a thinning hairline.

"Yes," Lex said as he ran a hand over his scalp. "It takes time to become accustomed to baldness." He looked at Hailey with a serious expression. "When I was a young man, I never believed my mother when she told me to stop stressing out or all my hair would fall out. But…when you're committed to something you have to see it all the way through." Lex shrugged with a small smile playing on his lips.

Jason burst out laughing. "This guy is committed alright!"

Hailey tried but she couldn't stop the smile that overcame her.

"You're being released from the hospital first thing tomorrow morning," Lex told her.

Hailey breathed in deeply and closed her eyes.

"However, the doctor recommended you see a trauma specialist," Lex told her and pulled out his phone. He passed it over to her to show her something. "This is the Willow Grove Therapy Center. For the next few months, you will be staying there to receive the proper care."

Hailey lay back down and turned her back to Lex. She was going from one cell to another. Lex was still talking but Hailey wasn't listening to him anymore. Jason wasn't talking either. He was just staring at Lex mouth agape.

"He's having you committed?" Jason said softly. "Does he think you're crazy?"

Hailey looked at Jason and frowned. Of course, Lex thought she was crazy. Because she was. She was talking to her dead brother, for crying out loud! Hailey knew she needed help and she wanted to be somewhere safe. But she didn't trust anyone anymore. And if she couldn't trust anyone, how could she ever be safe?

Lex stood up suddenly and walked to the door. Hailey looked over surreptitiously and saw that Clark was standing a few steps from the door. Lex greeted him but blocked him from entering the room. Lex spoke in a hushed tone. But Hailey could tell by the set of his shoulders that he wasn't happy. Clark tried to step past him but Lex put his arm up. They exchanged a few more words before Clark exploded. He sounded frustrated. Hailey focused on their conversation, hoping to hear the exchange.

"She's my goddaughter!" Clark said loud enough to hear.

There was a moment of stunned silence before Lex laughed. It was a short unamused sound. "I should have known you were in cahoots with Wayne. Does he know she is here?"

"No," Clark said abruptly.

"I'm surprised you didn't tell him," Lex said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Since the two of you are so close."

"We may have been at one point," Clark said, letting out a breath. "We don't speak anymore."

"Oh," Lex said, sounding surprised. Then he chuckled again. "Lover's quarrel?"

Clark didn't respond. He looked past Lex to Hailey. They made eye contact. Clark turned to look at Lex again. His brow furrowed. "I'm not going to let you take her home with you."

"Let me?" Lex said ironically. "You don't have a say in the matter, Mr. Kent. I'm her legal guardian."

"Let's make a deal, Lex," said Lois, sounding further away. "Let her decide. If she chooses to go home with you, we'll back off."

"Lois Lane, why am I not surprised to see you?"

"Do you agree?" Clark said.

"Why would I agree? As I told you before, I'm her legal guardian."

"And as I said before, I'm not letting you take her to your home."

"Well, then I suppose we're in agreement on something."

"What's that?"

"She's not coming home with me."

"Where are you sending her, Lex?" Lois said, sounding curious.

Lex sighed heavily. "Not that it's any of your business but she's been through a lot. The doctor recommended a trauma therapy center."

"Are you sure that's necessary?" Clark said, sounding concerned and upset at the same time.

"She was catatonic this morning. I only managed a few words out of her before she lost interest in any conversation. According to the doctor, she's not sleeping. She's having panic attacks off and on. On top of that, the security detail I left posted tells me she's been speaking to herself," Lex told them, sounding as if he was talking to children. "So, yes, I do believe trauma therapy is necessary. And I have the means to provide it."

Clark took a breath and then spoke softly. Hailey couldn't hear what he was saying.

"Suit yourself," Lex said and moved away from the door.

"Thank you, Mr. Luthor," Clark said through tight lips.

Hailey closed her eyes. She didn't want to talk to Clark. He wasn't the Clark she knew. And now he knew too much. He wasn't going to be able to put that aside while he spoke to her. To her surprise though, Clark only sat on the bed with a hand close to her elbow but he didn't touch her.

Hailey let out a breath and turned around. She looked up at him and held his hand. Clark smiled at her. She smiled back. But then the smile disappeared. And she let go of his hand. From the corner of her eye, she'd seen Lois come into view. She felt a feeling of safety wash through her. As Lois smiled at her, Hailey's eyelids were suddenly too heavy and darkness overcame her. She'd finally fallen asleep.

A nurse woke Hailey the next morning. Lex was present for her discharge. But he didn't accompany her to the therapy center. In his stead, he sent Kara Danvers, a woman he'd hired to stay with Hailey during her stay at the facility. He apologized that he couldn't go with her then used his company as an excuse. And even though Hailey hadn't expected Lex to be a stand-in father, it had still rankled that he couldn't afford a few hours' leeway to ensure she arrived safely. It wasn't as if she had ever been kidnapped from a police precinct of all places—note the sarcasm.

It took some time for Hailey to trust Kara no matter how nice she was. It took even longer for her to talk to her therapist. It wasn't until she'd been there for over five months that she finally felt safe. Even so, she kept to herself. She was opposed to making friends or connections of any sort with the other residents. She didn't see the point. She wouldn't be staying there much longer. Or so she thought. At the end of every month, the therapist would recommend that she stay a while longer. And Lex always agreed with them.

Clark visited her every Sunday with a home-cooked meal. Lois accompanied him a couple of times but Hailey couldn't bring herself to even care. This Lois was older and more on the cynical side. The Lois she'd met and liked was a lot more down-to-earth and always found the humor in everything. Clark was also a little different. He carried himself as if he was always waiting for bad news to hit. Though he took everything with a seriousness not becoming of the other Clark, he was still very kind. His humor was dry. And he played up his manners in front of others. But not by much since it seemed to be a real part of him as well.

Lex stopped by at the end of every month for Hailey's evaluation with her therapist. But after the fourth month, he stopped coming. Though he called once every two weeks or so just to check-in. But from what Hailey overheard when she pretended to be asleep, he would call every night for a progress report from Kara.

Kara was supposed to be around twenty-four-seven but she disappeared from time to time. Hailey never asked her where she went. Or why her hair seemed wind-blown when she returned. It didn't matter to her. And she was grateful for the break of the constant surveillance. A job Kara took a little too seriously. She twisted a few arms of a couple of orderlies when they entered Hailey's room without knocking during their first week there. Now they all knocked and announced their names and purpose before even turning the knob. Kara was intimidating. Even to Hailey, if she were honest. But Hailey liked that about Kara and it was what had earned Hailey's trust. Because as long as Kara was around, no one would dare hurt her.


A/N: Sorry, this chapter has taken so very long to post. I have main events in my mind that I want to include and sometimes I have trouble with the in-between chapters like this one. Not much happened here but Hailey is at least getting help dealing with the trauma she experienced from an unlikely ally. I don't really consider Lex Luthor a supervillain in my headspace. He seems more like an anti-hero who makes very very bad selfish decisions. He's not trying to destroy the world, just Superman, and at the same time, he's power-hungry. So, yes, I think he's villainy but not necessarily evil. Does that make sense?