Chapter 10
Morning
The empty cattle trailer skidded to the side dangerously as Jonathan turned into the lane, but managed not to slide over into the ditch. He grimaced as he watched it wobble precariously in the rear view, but didn't slow down much until he saw someone ahead. He furrowed his brow, watching the young woman in mud spattered khaki cargo pants and wearing what appeared to be one of Clark's old flannels over a green T-shirt, the ends tied in a knot in front. She had her drizzle dampened copper hair tied up with an faded red paisley handkerchief and was limping slightly and carrying two large buckets full of feed. She stopped and set them down, waiving a worn work glove at them as Jonathan pulled the truck to a stop, the weight of the trailer making them skid a bit in the mud before finally coming to rest.
"You must be Clark's folks." She said genially as they got out of the truck.
"And just who are you?" Jonathan asked, eyeing the buckets.
"Terrisa Limner. You can call me Terri." She said, walking over and holding out her hand. "Oops." She said, spotting the mud stained work glove and quickly pulling it off before offering her hand once more.
Jonathan shook it, eyeing her warily. "And what exactly are you doing, 'Terri'?" He asked, nodding his head towards the buckets.
"Oh." She said, glancing back at the buckets, then flashing him a smile. "Just finishing up the chores. I found a checklist on the fridge in the kitchen. I'm curious... is he forgetful or did he just have extra chores while you were gone?" She asked with amusement.
"Clark's just been a bit... distracted lately." Jonathan muttered, then raised his voice again, "And just why are you doing his chores?"
She shrugged, "Well, what else was I supposed to do? Elise just got back from the grocery store and is making lunch as we speak. Linda's watching the boys..."
"The 'boys'?" Jonathan cut in.
"Ya. Clark and Lex." She said, obviously surprised he didn't know who she was referring to.
"What's Lex doing here?" Jonathan asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Watching Clark like a hawk, what else?" Terri said with amusement.
"I thought Pete was watching him!"
"No. He took his friends to the hospital last night, then he came back here and stayed the night, but then he had to go to school. I called the school to tell them Clark wouldn't be in today, but they'd like you to call back and confirm since I'm obviously not a parent or guardian."
"Pete just wandered off and left Clark?" Jonathan asked in dismay.
"It's not like Clark was alone!" Terri replied, "We were here. You know, if you ask me, Lex should have stopped by the hospital himself. He had to have gotten at least a touch of hypothermia when he went into that lake after Clark, but he wouldn't even let Linda clean up the cut on his head until she'd checked Clark over."
"Lex pulled him out of the lake?" Jonathan asked in surprise.
"Oh yeah." She said distractedly as she pulled a damp bit of hair out of her face and tucked it back with the rest of her hair. "I wasn't there of course, but from what I heard he dove right off the pier, hauled Clark back to shore, gave him CPR, then carried him all the way to the access road, which wasn't all that close from what Elise said, then when they got here he hauled Clark into the house and all the way up to his room. I must say, Lex is apparently a lot stronger than I gave him credit for. Clark's a well built boy, so I can't imagine he's light. Lex looks like such a soft, pampered rich boy. Who knew?"
"Lex can hold his own." Jonathan grudgingly conceded, recalling all the hard farm chores Lex had done when he'd stayed with them briefly. Still, he was surprised the man was strong enough to be carrying Clark around. Even Jonathan usually got help on the few occasions he'd had to carry his son somewhere since Clark had hit puberty. He suspected Clark's body was a bit denser than a normal human of his size, because he certainly weighed more than you would suspect from looking at him.
"Well, so Linda and Lex have been watching Clark for signs of secondary drowning, but his lungs were still sounding clear when she checked him about an hour ago. Still, Lex has barely slept he's been so worried."
"Pete said Clark was alright!" Martha said pensively.
"Oh, I'm sure he will be!" Terri quickly assured them, "Lex is just a bit over protective. Clark's just worn out and needs to rest. Near drowning and hypothermia are bad enough, but who knows what might have been in that water! Not to mention it looks like he was dosed with at least some of the same drugs the other two were. I'm sure he'll get over it, but even Linda said it'd probably take time to flush the toxins and whatnot from his body. Still, he's warmed up nicely and he's coherent whenever he wakes, and is drinking plenty of fluids to help flush his system. All things considered, he's doing amazingly well."
"I'm going to go check on him." Martha said, patting Jonathan on the arm before hurrying off towards the house.
Jonathan nodded, then looked back at Terri. "Well, thanks for the help, but you can consider your job done. Tell Lex I can manage the chores just fine on my own, thanks."
She looked nonplussed for a moment, then chuckled merrily, "No one hired me to do this, least of all Lex!"
"Then... if you don't mind my asking, why are you doing it?" He asked, obviously trying to phrase it delicately, though tact was far from his strong suit.
"Well, for one your son saved my life yesterday, so a couple of measly chores is the very least I could do... and I'm not really one to just sit around and watch and wait. I need to be doing something. Besides, isn't it an old farming community tradition to lend your neighbor a hand when it's needed?"
"Yes... but we're not neighbors." Jonathan replied with a smile.
"And I hate to disagree with you, but we are now. I'm moving into the Remington farm just down from where Lex lives. That might be a ways away in a city, but out here in the boonies that's practically next door."
"Oh..." Jonathan said in surprise, "I had no idea. Welcome to the neighborhood then I guess. I must say, I'm a bit relieved. I'm glad the land won't be plowed under and turned into another plant or waste dump or something like that. There was a nasty rumor going around that LexCorp had purchased that land."
Terri nodded, "Oh, Lex's company didn't buy it. Lex did. I'm just going to be living there. He's engaged to marry my best friend, and she wanted me nearby, so he's letting me live there. Rest assured, he's promised not to develop on the land. I almost get the feeling he bought it just for me, but that would be a ridiculously expensive way to keep me around."
"I wouldn't put it past him." Jonathan replied evenly.
She shrugged, "Well, I don't plan on doing a lot of farming. I just more planned to live there, maybe renovate the barn into an art studio, but I've toyed with the idea of getting an animal or two to have around, and the orchard out back looks pretty self sustaining. A garden would, of course, be mandatory as well, but just a small one. No more than an acre. I was thinking perhaps a couple of milk cows. What are your thoughts on chickens?"
Jonathan gave a snort. "I wouldn't go with chickens. Noisy, messy and rarely worth the effort unless you're mass producing. And before you ask, geese have a nasty temperament, so you'd do well to steer clear of those as well."
She nodded, "Thanks for the advice. I always thought the idea of stealing their eggs was a bit evil anyway. I'd probably feel too guilty to do it!" She said with a little laugh.
"Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you, but..." He said, indicating the house.
"By the way," She said quickly, "I saw that awesome loft room you have in there." She said, indicating the barn, "Did you do that work yourself?"
"As a matter of fact I did." Jonathan said, trying to remain polite sounding as he continued edging towards the house.
"Well, I'm not really into carpentry, so I'm kind of in the market for someone who could help me renovate my barn. I'm not rich like Lex, but I do reasonably well, so I can pay..."
"I'll think about it. We can talk more later." He said with a nod before turning and starting for the house once more.
"Oh, Mr. Kent!" She called before he'd gotten more than a couple of paces, "One more thing... I was curious... Do you have powers too? Or is it just Clark?"
Jonathan froze in his tracks, then slowly turned to look back at her.
She smiled and picked one of the buckets back up. "Why don't we feed the cows while we chat?" She asked brightly.
- 0 – 0 – 0 -
Linda was nodding off a bit, her eyes heavy and her body weary from the all night vigil. Lex was sleeping at last. She'd never seen him so worried. He didn't seem to want to let Clark out of his sight. He'd even gone into the shower with him and held him up while he cleaned the lake water off of him, then gently dried Clark off and put him to bed, then had even gotten under the covers with Clark to help get him warmed up. In fact, she'd been rather surprised when he'd agreed to borrow her car and drive home to change clothes once they were sure Clark was stable. Lex walking around in damp boxers or clothes borrowed from Clark would have been difficult to explain if Clark's parents walked in and saw him. Lex'd actually been gone a bit longer than she'd expected. She suspected he'd needed the time to gather himself, because he'd looked much calmer when he finally returned. Once Pete had left for school Lex had slipped back into bed with Clark and finally given in to exhaustion.
God they looked so adorable cuddled up together! Clark had draped himself half across Lex, his arm looped around him possessively, his head nestled up against Lex's neck. His face was so serene it was like looking at a sleeping angel. Lex was looking pretty peaceful himself. She'd always thought he looked so sweet when he slept... but even then there had always seemed to be a kind of sadness around him. But laying there, cuddled up to that boy, he looked absolutely content and at peace for the first time since she'd met him.
She closed her eyes wearily and just listened to them breathing. It was soft and slow... and in almost perfect sync. It was so soothing to listen to.
A sudden creak broke her out of the daze and she rubbed her eyes and shifted back up in her chair. When she blinked her eyes back open she suddenly realized there was someone else in the room.
"Mrs. Kent!" She said quickly, though she kept her voice hushed as she scrambled up out of her chair. "This isn't what it looks like." Martha didn't say a word, her eyes locked on her son, so Linda pressed on, "Your son was hypothermic. We had to raise his body temperature, and he refused to go to the hospital, so we had to use the old fashioned method of body heat transference. I know he technically shouldn't be sleeping after getting hypothermia, but we couldn't keep him awake. I suspect it's the drugs he was dosed with."
"Is my son alright now?" Martha asked softly, her eyes still fixed on her son. He looked so peaceful, a faint smile on his lips even in sleep.
"He seems to be." Linda replied quickly, "He should be watched for signs of secondary drowning for seventy two hours after the incident, and if he was exposed to the same drug cocktail as the other two he really should have been admitted to the hospital for observation. It's possible the contents of his stomach escaped into the lake water, which may be why he hasn't had as serious a reaction as they did, but it's likely at least some got into his bloodstream before he went into the water. The drugs would explain why he wasn't able to simply swim to shore... but then he may have just been knocked unconscious. He hasn't said much, but it sounds as if the boy who drugged them accosted him on the pier. Mr. Ross took the other two to the hospital and the doctors there pumped their stomachs, but they still had to stay overnight for observation. Clark really should go to the hospital just to be safe, but he didn't want to go. Lex insisted we respect his wishes and wouldn't even let me take a blood sample to confirm what toxins might still be in him. Still, you're here now, and you're his parent, so if..."
Martha's eyes darted over to her for the first time. "No. No blood tests and no hospital." She said quickly.
"If he was drugged they will need proof in order to prosecute whomever did it. Many drugs metabolize and become untraceable within hours. Any evidence might be disappearing as we speak." She said reasonably.
Martha shook her head. "You said that whoever it was drugged two other people."
Linda nodded, "Chloe Sullivan and Tommy Fischer. I thought you'd been told. They're still at the hospital, but I believe they'll be released shortly. They should be alright, but if they'd consumed much more it could very easily have killed them. The drug cocktail they were given... at that strength, intent to cause death shouldn't be hard to prove in court. No one could be stupid enough not to realize those were toxic levels. And the drugs appear to have been all of the kind that take some time to set in, so the victim would have been more likely to consume the whole glass before even starting to feel the effects. Whoever did this had unquestionably malicious intent, a complete lack of morales, and obviously needs to be locked away."
"I'm not questioning that. I just don't think they need my son's blood to prove that. They already have two samples. They shouldn't need more than that." Martha said evenly.
Linda sighed, "Even without the drugs, that lake isn't exactly pure. Who knows what could have gotten into his system from that water. Bad things have happened to people who have fallen into that lake. We had him shower as soon as we got him home, but the real danger will be what might have entered his body when he breathed that water in. The lungs lead almost directly into the circulatory system. He really needs..."
"I know you're just looking out for my son," Martha broke in gently but firmly, "And I'm grateful for all you've done for him... But we can take care of him from here. What you really need to focus on right now is the fact that it looks like the young woman outside has stalled my husband as long as she could, but he's heading for the house as we speak. Do you really want him walking into this room right now?"
Linda's eyes shot wide and darted out the window, seeing Jonathan heading for the house, then down to Lex, who was still sleeping. She turned quickly towards the door.
Martha caught her arm before she could leave. "Be stubbornly insistant on taking him to the hospital and getting blood samples."
Linda nodded in understanding, then hurried out and down the stairs.
The floorboard creaked as Martha came to a stop beside the bed. Lex stirred, then slowly blinked his eyes open. It seemed to take him a moment to register who he was looking up at, then his eyes darted around, taking in his surroundings, then down to Clark. He immediately tried to shift up, but Clark just tightened his hold on him a bit and nuzzled into the side to his neck.
"Clark, I have to get up now." Lex said gently.
"No. Stay with me." Clark muttered, obviously still mostly asleep.
Lex glanced up at Martha again, then sighed and tried to move Clark's arm. Clark immediately resisted, his arm snaking under Lex and pulling him up tight so he couldn't escape. Lex winced in pain, but didn't say anything.
"Clark, dear." Martha said softly, reaching down and stroking Clark's hair, "Let go. You're hurting him."
Clark still didn't look conscious, but he instinctively released his hold at her words and rolled onto his back. She backed up and Lex slid out from under the blankets and got up, making sure to keep the covers down so Clark wouldn't get a chill. He was fully dressed, save for his shoes, but he still felt naked somehow. He located his shoes and sat down on one of the chairs they'd brought in, pulling them on, all the while carefully not looking at her. How does a grown man face the mother of the teenaged boy he'd slept with? The little scene she'd just walked in on may have been relatively innocent, but the familiarity with which they had held each other was telling enough for a blind man to see.
"So you're the one Clark's been pining for." She said softly.
Lex finished with his shoes and straightened up, but still couldn't make himself look at her. He couldn't think up a single lie that he could bring himself to tell her right to her face like this. In business he could be the king of deception. He'd even lied straight to his own father's face without batting an eye... but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to lie to Martha Kent. How many times had she defended him and given him the benefit of the doubt, even when he hadn't really deserved it? Clark may have been the single most welcoming and accepting person to Lex in Smallville, but Martha came in a close second. And for a young man who had lost his own mother early in life, the lure of the brief glimpses of maternal affection she sometimes bestowed upon him made him feel a childish desperation to earn more. Well, any hope of ever earning more affection from her was most likely far out of reach now... but he still couldn't bring himself to disappoint her further with deception... so he chose to remain silent.
She sat down on the side of the bed. Clark rolled over onto his side again. His hand quested for Lex for a moment before stilling, his absence eliciting a little sad sigh. Martha set one of the pillows next to him and Clark latched onto it, hugging it to him. He settled back down into sleep, but the little smile had left his lips.
"I have to admit... I suspected it was you." She said as she stroked Clark's tousled hair. "He's always been such a happy boy... but he hasn't smiled since the last time you two were together. Well, not really smiled anyway. He really wasn't trying to hurt you that day, was he?"
Lex's cheeks colored and he looked away. It was pretty obvious she'd already deduced what had happened.
"When I heard you'd left..." She said in a soft, hesitant voice, "I couldn't help but worry... he... he didn't... force...?"
"No!" He said quickly before she could even finish the question. She could think whatever she wanted about Lex, but he could never let her think for a moment that her son would ever do anything like that. But now that he'd finally broken the silence, he couldn't just leave it like that. He wanted her to understand, though he wasn't sure she ever would. "But I swear to you, I never would have even thought of..." God, he couldn't even force the words out, "It was... his idea, and I had no idea he wasn't himself at the time, but I should have tried harder to stop it. I was the adult, which makes what happened entirely my fault. If I'd just have tried a bit harder I know he would have stopped. I left because I thought it would be better for Clark... but then I came back and I see now that it was the worst thing I could have done. Hurting Clark is the last thing I would ever want to do. I can't apologize enough for the pain I've cause him." He got up, though his eyes stayed locked on the floor, "You can tell your husband if you want. I've more than earned anything he might do to me." He said as he took his long black coat off the back of the chair and pulled it on.
"Just tell me one thing, and be completely honest with me." She said quickly as he turned towards the door.
He turned back, eyeing her warily for a moment, then said, "Anything."
"Do you love my son?" She asked softly.
Damn it! Why did Martha Kent have to asked him that? Lex's eyes strayed hesitantly back over to Clark. The sight of him filled Lex with so much guilt and sorrow he could barely stand it... but even that couldn't eclipse the feelings he wished he could deny. He took a deep breath. "More than life." He admitted, trying and failing to keep the soul deep ache out of his voice. "But don't worry." He added softly, "I'm leaving for Metropolis as soon as I can get things in order here... and this time I won't come back. I learn from my mistakes. He may not like it at first, but he'll get over it in time. He's much better off without me."
"You saved his life." She noted softly, "He wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for you."
He gave her a little grim smile. "I sincerely appreciate the attempt to justify my existence, especially after what I've done... but that hardly counts if I'm the one who put his life in danger in the first place. That boy went after Clark because he knew it would hurt me. I'm the one he was after. I seem to inspire that kind of hatred in a lot of people. That's got to say something about me. I think we both know the world would be a better place if I'd just been left in that corn field all those years ago."
Martha stood up, "Lex..." She said sadly, but then she quickly stopped as they heard Jonathan's work boots clomping quickly up the stairs.
Linda followed him up pensively. A wave of relief crossed her face as she saw Lex there in the hallway.
Lex stood aside, letting Jonathan hurry past him.
"Stay as long as they need you." Lex told Linda quickly, "And make sure they have your number when you leave."
She nodded, her eyes growing concerned.
Lex forced his eyes back over to Martha. "Goodbye, Mrs. Kent." He said softly, then he slipped past Linda and on down the stairs before Martha could say another word.
- 0 – 0 – 0 -
Chloe awoke to the irritating soft murmur of voices. She tried to shut them out, but then the word 'drugs' was said, sending up little red flags in her mind. Her curiosity, so easily roused, dragged her back towards full consciousness.
"The amounts found in that cup were obviously lethal. She couldn't have had more than a sip or two."
Chloe cracked her eyes open. One glance told her she was in the local hospital. She could see her father standing by the door, his back to her, but it was the dark skinned man in a doctor's uniform that was talking.
"She got off really lucky." He said gravely, "It could have been far worse than just getting her stomach pumped."
Well, that explained to god awful feeling in her stomach and the raw feeling in her throat. Her mind was still a bit groggy, but it was alert enough to piece together that she'd been drugged. Someone must have slipped something into her drink. No wonder it'd tasted so bad. Who the Hell would do something like that? You'd have to be a real bastard to drug someone's drink at a party. Ah. She had an inkling who it might have been...
"One of the drugs was botched when it was manufactured." the doctor continued, "The boy had enough in him to cause renal failure if it'd been left untreated much longer."
The boy? What boy? It suddenly clicked in her mind. If someone had drugged her beer... "Tommy!" She yelled in alarm, though it came out as something more like a raspy squawk. She sat up, but that sent her head spinning. She felt hands take hold of her, trying to urge her to lay back down.
"Take it easy, Miss Sullivan." The doctor's warm voice said.
She resisted, pulling her arm from his grasp and clutching her head until it settled. "Where's Tommy?" She asked, her voice scratchy and a bit vague as she fought off a wave of lightheadedness.
"Calm down, honey." Her father said, "Everything's ok now."
"What happened to Tommy?" She persisted.
"Drink this." The doctor said, placing a warm mug in her hand. She opened her mouth to object, but he quickly cut her off. "Drink first, then I'll answer your questions."
She sighed, then took a drink. It was kind of nice actually. Some kind of tea or something of the like. It was a bit too sweet, with a definite honey flavor, but not so much that it was cloying. She had to admit it did wonders for her throat. When she spoke again her voice had smoothed out a bit and it didn't hurt as much. "How's Tommy?"
"He'll be alright." The doctor assured her.
She narrowed her eyes, suspecting he was just lying to her to calm her down. "I heard you say something about renal failure. That's bad. That's like his liver or something..." She said, rubbing her head and trying to remember. She knew this one. She knew it was something vital, but her head was still a bit muddled and she couldn't quite remember.
"Kidneys." The doctor corrected her, "But we were able to get to him before any permanent damage was done. He'll have to be careful about what he consumes and what over the counter medications he takes for a while, but as long as he follows instructions there should be no lasting damage. We're keeping him tonight for observation, but I expect to be releasing him by tomorrow morning. You should be released by this afternoon, as soon as we get the last of the lab results in. You seem to have been exposed longer, but consumed less. You should probably avoid certain things for a week or so as well, but it wasn't nearly as bad in your case. We've given your father a list. It's not too restrictive. You just have to avoid certain pain relievers that are hard on the kidneys, try to avoid caffeine..."
Her eyes went round. "Wait a second! Are you seriously trying to tell me I can't have coffee?" She asked, horrified.
Her father chuckled softly. "You'll survive." He assured her.
Chloe pouted, not quite as sure...
They didn't want her getting up. She drank her tea and played nice. Her father left to put in a half day at work, and the doctors and nurses eventually left. As soon as she was finally alone, she got out of the bed. It was a bit more painful to stand than expected, and she discovered her knees were pretty badly bruised and there was a roughly six inch by three inch bandaged taped across her lower leg. It was numb for the moment, but she suspected it was a cut of some kind. She wondered if there were stitches hiding under that bandage, but wasn't about to peek. It was bad enough that she might get a scar out of this, she didn't want it to be worse just because she was too stupid to leave her bandage alone and got an infection.
She located her clothes and quickly changed into them. She wasn't one for the air conditioned gowns. She peeked out the door, watching until the coast was clear, then slipped out of her room. She made her way down the hall, peering into each room, but a lot of them had the door closed. She peeked in to each of those as subtly as possible, but obviously wasn't careful enough.
"What do you think you're doing, young lady?" A crisp voice asked from behind her.
Chloe snapped the door she'd been peeking into shut and spun around, trying not to look guilty.
"That's a private room." The nurse said, eyeing her warily.
"Sorry!" Chloe said quickly, "I just... I was looking for my friend. I was told he was brought in last night, but they didn't say what room he was in. I didn't mean to be nosey... I just wanted to see him." She said, giving her best innocent smile, hoping this woman didn't know she was supposed to be a patient.
The woman's expression softened. "That teenage boy they brought in last night?"
Chloe nodded.
"I'm afraid he just got out of surgery. He's still in the recovery room, but you might be able to see him in about an hour or so when they move him to a regular room. He'll be in the last room on the right once they move him." She said, indicating the door down the hall.
Chloe's eyes went round. "Surgery? Is he going to be ok?" She asked worriedly.
"I'm afraid there wasn't much they could do. Well, I doubt there is much even the hospital in Metropolis could have done under the circumstances, and our hospital isn't quite as well equipped as them. I'm afraid self mutilation isn't something we deal with a lot here in Smallville. Well, that's a good thing obviously, but we just weren't prepared for..."
Chloe held up her hand, "Whoa! What are you talking about? Did those drugs make him hurt himself?"
"Drugs?" The nurse asked, furrowing her brow, "Well that would explain a lot, but I didn't hear them saying anything about his tox screen showing anything more than a little bit of alcohol..."
"We... I mean he came here because he was drugged at a party." Chloe said. When the nurse just looked confused she elaborated, "Tommy Fischer. He was brought in late last night..."
"Oh! Lands! I'm sorry. I thought you were talking about the Jenkins boy! Your friend must have come in before I came on shift. Let me check." She said, hurrying over to a console at the small nurse's station.
Chloe stared after her, shocked. Jenkins was there? There were only three Jenkins' in town, the jerk from school and his parents, so the odds were pretty stacked in the favor of it being the boy she strongly suspected was behind the drugging of her drink. He'd mutilated himself in some way the doctors couldn't even fix? Oh she HAD to know what that was about! Still, there would be time for that later. She quickly shut her mouth and wiped the shock off her face as the nurse turned back.
"Umm..." the nurse said uncertainly, "Sorry, dear. His parents aren't here yet, so we're really only supposed to let family in to see him until his parents give consent. Looks like we've been calling all night, but haven't been able to contact them. Maybe they work the night shift." She said regretfully.
"Oh please!" Chloe pleaded, "You have to let me see him! It was my beer someone spiked, and I let him have it, and if anything happens to him... Please, I have to know he's alright!" She said, her eyes tearing up.
The nurse looked torn.
"Please!" Chloe begged, clasping her hands before her as if in prayer, letting a couple of tears slide down her cheeks.
The nurse took a deep breath and sighed it out. "I... I'm sorry. I can't. I'm going to go on my fifteen minute break now, then I'll be doing my rounds. You can wait in the waiting room up front. I'll tell you when he can be seen." She said evenly, then gave a slight glance to the console before striding off towards the break room.
Chloe looked around to make sure no one was looking, then hurried over to the console that had 'accidentally' been left logged in. Tommy's file was up already. She quickly located his room number, then glanced over the entry. A lot of it was in medical technobabble, but it seemed to say basically what the doctor had told her. Well, it was reassuring to know the man hadn't lied to her. Some adults had an irritating habit of lying because they seemed to think teens were incapable of handling the truth.
She was about to log out, but then paused. She shouldn't. She glanced both ways once more, then quickly backed out of Tommy's file and typed in Jenkins' name. She knew she shouldn't... but she also knew she'd just stand there and agonize over the morality of it for a while before giving in anyway, so she didn't waste the time. She'd never have forgiven herself if someone had come along and she'd missed out on this golden opportunity. She opened the file that popped up... then her jaw dropped.
"Oh my God!" She breathed, staring at the screen with morbid fascination. She hit the print key almost without thinking. She blushed guiltily and glanced around again when she realized what she'd done... but she still took the pages when the printer spit them out, folding them up and stuffing them into the pocket of her jeans before quickly returning the browser to the home page and logging out.
She was a bit stunned as she walked down the hall. She was sure she must have read that wrong... but she couldn't risk taking the papers back out and looking at them again. She didn't want to lose those! That was a journalistic gold mine! The trick would be how to report on it without breaking any of the rules the principal had set down... let alone admitting where she'd gotten the information, since what she'd just done was just a tad illegal.
She snapped out of it, pushing it back down into the back of her mind as she neared the right room. She checked for nurses, then quickly and quietly slipped into the room, closing the door after her. It was a two bed room, but luckily the other bed wasn't occupied at the moment. Tommy appeared to be asleep, and looked like he was a bit uncomfortable. He'd shoved the blankets to the side and was sprawled across the bed at a somewhat awkward angle. It made her a bit nervous that they had felt it necessary to clip a little monitor to his finger, but at least he didn't have an IV or anything. The heart monitor beeped away with a slow, steady beat. The readout read thirty eight beats per minute. That seemed a bit low to her, but he was a swimmer and seemed pretty active overall, so she supposed it might well be normal for him.
She shoved down her anxiety and approached the bed. The nurse had said she was going to be on rounds in about fifteen minutes, so that was likely all the time she had to see him. She came to a stop next to the bed and looked down at him worriedly. He looked pale, and there was one of those small bandages on his arm like she'd had on her when she woke up. She hoped it was just from them taking blood samples and not that they'd had to give him medicine intravenously.
"Tommy?" She asked softly.
His breathing changed slightly and he tossed his head to the side, but didn't wake.
She reached out and took his hand. "Tommy?" She said a little louder.
There was a little intake of breath, then he blinked his eyes open. His heart rate bumped up a couple of notches as he looked around. He spotted her and blinked again to clear his eyes. "Chloe?" He asked a bit groggily, his heart rate gaining strength.
He started to struggle to sit up, but she quickly put her hand flat on his chest, pushing him back down. "You shouldn't..." She started, but then looked over in surprise at a sudden rapid beat from the monitor. He saw her notice and when she glanced back over at him he was blushing. She blushed a bit and tried to hide her little smirk. Her touch had made his heart flutter! She quickly pulled her hand away. "Um... you should stay lying down."
"Right." He said, avoiding eye contact.
"Do you remember anything?" She asked gently.
He ran his fingers through his hair. "Not a lot. I mean they told me what happened... but the last thing I remember was..." He trailed off as his heart rate increased a bit more. He glanced over at her, his cheeks coloring again.
She grinned. The kissing she remembered.
He looked thoughtful for a moment, then looked over at her with obvious concern. "We didn't...?" He asked tentatively, "I mean... it... it didn't go further than kissing, did it? Please tell me we didn't..."
Her eyes went round. "No!" She said immediately, "Well... I mean I don't think... I mean we'd remember something like that..." And she didn't feel like she'd done anything. Well, other than perhaps fall a couple of times. She was a virgin after all, and by all accounts, you could usually tell when you did that for the first time. Not that it would be completely horrible if Tommy was her first... but she sure as hell didn't want to lose her virginity and not even remember it! Oh God! What if they had done it? Would he have been together enough to have used protection?
"Your phone!"
"What?" Chloe asked, broken out of the beginnings of panic by his words.
"Your phone rang. I remember your phone ringing." Tommy said, obviously trying hard to remember.
It started coming back to her. She'd gotten up to answer her phone. "Right..." She said, recalling it, relieved to remember discontinuing the kissing. With luck they hadn't gone back to that and her virginity was still intact! "It was... um..." She pulled out her phone and opened it up. She furrowed her brow. Her background photo was changed and it looked like some of her preferences had been changed as well. Who'd been messing with her phone? Well, she'd leave that question for later. She went into her call log and easily found the call. "Lex?" She said, perplexed.
"Wait... I thought it was like Clark's mom or something...?" Tommy asked.
The second he said Clark an alarm rang in Chloe's head and it came to her. "Clark was missing!" She blurted, "Did we find him?" She asked, her gaze darting back over to Tommy.
He looked lost. He just shook his head, "I have no clue. I don't remember finding him, but then there seems to be a rather large chunk of the night I don't remember. They said Pete Ross brought us in. Why don't you ask him?"
"Pete! Of course!" Chloe said, wondering why he wasn't there at the hospital as she quickly selected his number and hit send. She waited impatiently as it rang a number of times. She thought it was just about to go to voice mail when it was finally answered.
"You trying to get me busted for having my phone on in class?" Pete whispered.
Chloe's eye darted to the clock as she suddenly realized it was Friday, not Saturday. "Crap! Sorry!"
"Luckily the teachers are just as eager for an update as the students are. Miss Reynolds sent me out into the hallway to answer. How are you guys?"
"We're fine." Chloe said quickly, "How's Clark? Did we find him?"
"He's... he's ok." Pete said a bit less firmly than Chloe liked.
"Where was he?" She persisted.
"He kinda fell into the lake." Pete admitted. Chloe might remember at least some of it later, and she'd be really pissed if he lied to her about that! "But Lex was able to get him out and gave him CPR in time and like I said, he should be fine. He's at home."
"He fell into the lake?" Chloe asked, confused, then her eyes widened, "Was he drugged too?"
"Um... maybe a little." Pete admitted, "Or more likely he was just a little drunk. He drank quite a bit of beer, and you know he almost never drinks."
"Why isn't he here in the hospital?" She demanded.
"Because he insisted he didn't want to go." At Chloe's indignant sound he quickly pressed on before she could start to rant, "Listen, Chloe, he was fine. Besides," He said, dropping his voice a bit more, "They can't really afford a lot of hospital bills right now. Your dad has the LexCorp medical coverage, they don't."
Chloe grimaced. She knew how tight money was for the Kents, but still... "That crap they slipped in my beer is toxic! The doctor said the stuff in that one glass was enough to kill several people! If we hadn't gotten to the hospital it could have at the very least destroyed our kidneys! And Clark had a whole glass all to himself! If they can't afford one trip to the hospital, how are they going to be able to afford having Clark on dialysis for the rest of his life?"
"He won't need that!" Pete insisted. "Listen, he barely got a sip out of that first glass before a bug flew into it and he dumped it out and got a fresh glass. Nobody else at the party was drugged, so the keg was clean."
"He dumped it out? Are you sure?" She asked with trepidation.
"I swear. I watched him dump it myself." Pete replied, glad she couldn't see him. He hated trying to lie to her face. "Listen, don't worry about him. Lex brought someone over to check him and make sure he's ok. I'm not sure if she's a nurse or what, but he said she'd had medical training and she seemed to know what she was doing. You know Lex will take care of him if anything's wrong with him."
She sighed, unhappy with it, but knowing there was very little she could do about it. Pete was right. Even if Lex was being an idiot about his relationship with Clark she couldn't believe he'd let anything happen to Clark.
"Um... it's really great to hear from you, and I can't tell you how happy I am that you're alright... um I mean that both of you are, of course... but the teacher is eyeing me through the window. You got a bone I can throw her so she doesn't change her mind and confiscate my phone?"
"Right." Chloe said quickly, "I should be released this afternoon. They're keeping Tommy overnight for observation, but he should be released tomorrow." She looked over as Tommy held out his hand, wriggling his fingers in an obvious request for the phone. "Oh, um... Tommy apparently wants to talk to you." She said, then handed the phone over.
"First off, thanks for bringing us to the hospital, man." Tommy said into the phone. "You're a life saver. Literally!"
Chloe blushed, realizing she hadn't bothered to thank Pete.
"Also, just wanted to say the cops found Cloe's cup. I'd dumped most of it, but they said there was enough of that crap in what was left to kill a horse! They dusted it for prints and came up with a couple that didn't belong to either of us, but they won't know if they mean anything until they find a match for them. Afraid that's all I've heard." He paused, then said, "Sure. No problem. I have no doubt that Chloe will have the whole scoop by the time we get out of here." He said, giving Chloe a little smile.
Chloe grinned. Cute and had an appreciation for her journalistic aptitude? Nice...
"Yep. See ya, man." He said before clapping the phone shut and handing it back to her. "He had to go. The bell rang."
"Right." She muttered, taking the phone and slipping it away, her mind going back to worrying about Clark.
"Um... listen..." Tommy said hesitantly and Chloe realized she'd been lost in silent introspection for a minute or two. "I... um... I didn't mean for it to sound like it would have been the end of to world if we'd... you know."
She blushed. "That's ok. I mean I was worried too." She said quickly.
He shifted a bit uncomfortably. "It's just... I've never... um..." He trailed off, his cheeks crimson, the heart rate monitor kicking up to fifty two.
Wow. That was unexpected! "Me either." She admitted, hoping it would make him feel better.
He arched an eyebrow, "Ummm... I thought you and Clark...?"
Man was she glad she didn't have one of those monitors hooked to her right now! "No! I mean yes we kinda... messed around a little... but we never actually... did that."
"Oh." He said softly. "Well... umm..." He took a deep breath, "This... umm... you know..." He said, waving his hand between the two of them, "It kind of had a weird start, and I'm not sure if you're even interested in me when you're not drugged..."
She flashed him a little smile. "I don't think the drugs had much to do with the interest."
His heart skipped a beat, but he pointedly ignored the annoying machine that announced it. "Well, I just... um... thought maybe I should get this over with now in case it makes a difference." He took a big breath, then forced out, "I don't plan on changing that any time soon."
She opened her mouth to ask what, then made the connection. She must still be a bit groggy. "Oh." She said softly, "Are you religious or something?" She asked, unable to squelch her curiosity. His family certainly didn't seem like the overly religious type.
"No... I just... even with protection it's a risk I'm not ready to take yet. My mom got pregnant with me when she was only sixteen. Her parents kind of forced them to get married even though they didn't love each other... and she has made no secret of the fact that she blames me for her crappy life. My dad never comes out and says it... but sometimes I catch him looking at me when she's getting onto him about something... and I can just feel it. I can feel him wishing I'd never been born."
"Oh god! That's terrible!" Chloe said, reaching out and taking his hand.
"My dad's always been a lush... but he used to at least keep it to nights and weekends. It didn't start getting really bad until my little brother was born. That's when dad really started hitting the bottle. Daytime, nighttime, didn't seem to matter... even if he had to work." He looked over at Chloe. "My parents both have blue eyes."
Chloe furrowed her brow, gazing at his brilliant green eyes, "But... blue is recessive. They can't both have..." Her eyes went round.
"What just took you five seconds took my dad about ten years to figure out. To be honest, I figured it out looking through a junior biology book at the library a couple of months before he finally clued in. Dad never got past high school. Only passed biology because he was a football player and the coach was giving them the answers to the tests. It wasn't until my brother Levi came out with the most beautiful brown eyes that he thought to look it up. If you ask me, he should have divorced her right then... I used to delude myself into believing he stayed because he actually cares about me and knew I'd have to go with her if they split... but I think he was really just too embarrassed, so he pretended he didn't figure it out."
"Man... I've always been sad that my mother left my father and me when I was just a kid... but I guess it could have been worse." Chloe said softly.
"Ya." Was all he said.
"I understand why you want to wait."
He looked back over at her. "Do I still have any chance with you? Seriously, just be brutally honest. I'd much rather you dump me now, before I get too attached..."
"Why would you think I'd dump you just because you don't want to hop into bed with me right away?" Chloe asked with a mirthful grin.
"Because that's exactly what the other three girls I've gone out with did." He replied evenly. "The first one only went on one date with me, then dumped me when I wouldn't put out. The second one took it as a challenge and even went to far as trying to get me drunk so she could get into my pants. The last one just couldn't comprehend why I was upset when I found out she was sleeping with other guys while dating me. She said just because I didn't want any shouldn't mean that she had to go without."
"Ow! That was cold!" Chloe said. "I'd like to say I'm shocked... but there are some real bitches in our school."
"No kidding." He replied ruefully, "It's not like I wasn't willing to... you know... make them feel good." He said evasively, his cheeks coloring once more.
A little smile slipped over Chloe's lips. "Any of those girls ever bother to... you know... reciprocate?"
His cheeks had regained their previous crimson glow. "Well... I mean the second one did. A little bit one time. But then she tried to... switch it up. She got pretty pissed when I stopped her. That was when she dumped me. She said I was a tease, and that I shouldn't take it out unless I intended to use it."
Chloe grinned and perched herself on the side of his bed. "Well..." She said a bit mischievously, "It sounds like those girls were suffering from a severe lack of imagination. There are an awful lot of very fun things two people can do together without going 'all the way'. What you need is someone a bit more... creative."
It was pretty obvious he liked the direction this was taking, even without the rapid beeping of the irritating machine. He struggled to shift up, but she saved him the trouble, quickly shifting down to meet him. His lips were just as warm and enticing as she remembered. Yes, in a way she was disappointed he wouldn't want to be having sex any time soon... but then again, she sure as heck didn't want to get pregnant right now anyway! Not to mention she'd already proven with Clark that you could have a pretty amazing time even without actual sex. If Tommy was willing to explore their options a bit, this might be just as rewarding. Besides, if this worked out between them they'd get there someday. She was willing to be patient.
She parted her lips as his fingers slipped through her hair. This time he took the opening. His tongue had an ever so slight medicinal taste, but it felt amazing nonetheless when he flicked it gently over hers. It amused her how fast the heart monitor was beeping, but once his tongue grew a bit bolder even that was forgotten. His other arm had slipped around her, his warm palm on the small of her back gently pulling her closer. The hard plastic of the monitoring clip on his finger almost tickled as it pressed against her back, but she barely noticed.
"Oh, you have got to be shitting me!" An irritated female voice said, cutting through their blissful daze like a knife. Tommy's hands jerked away from her and Chloe jumped up and spun around.
There was a rather attractive woman standing in the doorway that appeared to be in her early thirties. From the irritation on her face... along with the somewhat angular jaw line and dishwater blonde hair that matched Tommy's, Chloe easily deduced this was his mother. Tommy quickly confirmed it.
"Mom!" He said, blushing brightly and struggling into a sitting position. "Um..." He said, looking between Chloe and his mother, "Mom, this is..." He began.
"Oh, like I give a shit who your little tramp is." She drawled irritably.
Chloe's jaw dropped indignantly.
"Mother!" Tommy hissed angrily.
"What the Hell you think you're doing, boy?" She snapped, striding in, practically dragging a little boy that looked about six or seven behind her. "I had the goddamn cops knocking on my door! I'd barely had time to take my coat off! If they'd've gotten there fifteen minutes earlier I woulda had to deal with those damn holier-than-thou social workers!"
"You went out last night?" Tommy asked, obviously aghast.
"I'm an adult. I can go out whenever I damn well please, and I certainly don't have to ask your permission!" She growled.
"You knew I was out! How could you leave Levi home alone? He's not even seven years old!"
"Ya, well you were just over playing video games at your friends house. Right?" She asked with sarcastic sweetness, "If you'd have been home by ten like you promised he wouldn't have been alone for long, now would he? I swear, you are so irresponsible! I should have known you were out getting wasted!"
"I wasn't getting wasted! I didn't even have a whole beer! Someone slipped me something!" Tommy said defensively.
Chloe just wanted to slink away and escape this little dysfunctional family nightmare, but unfortunately there was no easy way around his mother without getting closer to the woman than she was comfortable with. She could tell by the little furtive glances he was shooting at her that Tommy was horribly embarrassed that she was witnessing this scene, she just didn't know any way out of it. His little brother didn't look any better off. He was cowering a bit, looking back and forth between his brother and mother. He looked like he wanted to go to his brother, but just like Chloe, he wanted to stay out of the line of fire. The saddest part was it was pretty obvious this wasn't the first time he'd been put through something like this. His mother was still gripping his forearm, and it was obvious her tight grip was hurting him, but he didn't say a word.
"It really wasn't his fault." Chloe interjected tentatively, trying to help Tommy by backing him.
The woman turned her angry gaze on her and Chloe immediately realized that had been a mistake. "What the Hell are you still doing here?" She snapped.
"Leave her alone!" Tommy snapped right back.
His mother looked over at him and tilted her head, giving him a nastily sarcastic smile, "Aw... isn't that sweet? Little Tommy's protecting his little girlfriend. What's the matter? Not done tapping this one yet?"
"Mother!" Tommy hissed.
"You knock her up and you're on your own!" She growled irritably.
"Jesus, you're drunk, aren't you?" Tommy asked with obvious disgust.
"Oh, like the boy who drugged himself straight into the hospital can really criticise someone who just had a nightcap." She drawled.
"Did you drive here? With Levi in the car?" He asked pointedly.
"Oh, I am just fine behind the wheel and you know it! I am not going to stand around and listen to your ridiculous accusations!" She said angrily, "Why don't you just go back to screwin the flavor of the week. They're not releasing you until tomorrow anyway. If you're lucky, I'll come back for you then!"
He reached over and grabbed the long key chain trailing from the pocket of her purse and yanked it out. She spun back, but her balance was a little thrown by the sudden movement, so she wasn't quick enough to nab the keys. He held them over, as far from her as possible, "You don't drive worth shit when you're drunk and we both know it. Have you somehow forgotten about that tree that 'came out of nowhere' last summer? Or the fence this spring that was four feet off the road, but 'somehow' managed to scrape the paint off the side of your car? Risk your own life all you want, but I'm not letting you drive off with Levi in this condition!"
"You are about five seconds away from a serious beating, boy!" His mother growled murderously.
"Aren't I always?" He replied evenly.
"You're a real son of a bitch!" She hissed.
"Obviously!" He shot back.
"Why you little bastard! You really are your father's son, aren't you?" She spat.
"I wouldn't know." Tommy replied deadpan, "Have I ever met him?"
Her jaw dropped in outrage. She released her grip on the boy's arm and belted Tommy hard across the face, leaving a vivid red handprint on his cheek.
"Mommy, don't!" Levi squealed, tugging on her purse.
"Stay out of this, you little shit!" She snapped, giving the boy a little careless shove back before returning her attention to Tommy, "Give me my fucking keys!" She screeched, smacking Tommy again.
Levi stumbled back from the shove. Chloe instinctively darted over to him, catching him after he tripped over his own sneaker and fell backwards, barely managing to keep him from cracking his head on the hard floor. She picked him up and he wrapped his arms and legs around her, sobbing. When she looked back to the bed, she saw that Tommy had curled in on himself and was covering his head defensively while his mother was hitting him, whacking him with her heavy looking purse and cursing at him. Chloe wanted to try to stop the obviously deranged woman, but she couldn't risk the little boy in her arms by intervening.
"Help!" Chloe yelled.
It turned out to be unnecessary, as two nurses and an orderly, alerted by the noise, were darting in the door almost before she got the word out.
One of the nurses and the orderly grabbed a hold of the woman to restrain her while the other nurse moved Chloe back to keep her and the boy out of harms way. Chloe just backed up to the wall, then closed her eyes and ducked her head down. God, she didn't want to see this! It didn't help that the little boy in her arms was sobbing and trembling, clinging to her as if she were a lifeline. She wished she could go back in time. This was all her fault! If she hadn't let Tommy have her beer he wouldn't be in the hospital. If she hadn't come to visit him his mother wouldn't be shrieking and making a huge scene. She just wanted it to stop!
"What the Sam Hell's going on in here?" The sheriff's voice called out, cutting through the din.
The wrestling around ceased and Chloe quickly blinked her eyes open.
The sheriff was standing there, hands on hips, the deputy standing behind her looking antsy to get in the room and help, but Mrs. Fischer was at least together enough to stop struggling once the sheriff arrived. The two who had been restraining her still had a hold of her arms. "My son and I were having an argument." Mrs. Fischer offered before anybody else could get a word out, "It got a little loud and then these brutes charge in here and grabbed me!"
"Oh please!" The nurse on her right said, "You were wailing on that poor boy when we got in here!"
She gave a little irritated sound, "This was a private family discussion and you had no right to barge in here and attack me! Let go of me, or I'm pressing charges!"
The orderly on her left just gave a derisive snort. "If you come in here and attack one of our patients we have every right to stop you!"
"Tommy?" Chloe said worriedly, trying to see around them to the bed. Little Levi grudgingly let himself be transferred over to the other nurse, then Chloe hurried over to bed, ignoring the poisonous glare Mrs. Fischer was giving her. "Tommy? Are you alright?"
Tommy flinched slightly when she touched him, but his eye flicked open and he relaxed when he saw it was her. "I'm fine." He muttered.
Chloe shifted closer, trying to see why he was keeping his face down on the pillow. She spotted a splotch of crimson. "Oh God! You're bleeding!" She said, her voice going a bit shrill with worry.
"I'm fine! Really, I'm fine." He quickly assured her. "I just have a bloody nose. Just give me some tissues and I'll be fine."
Chloe grabbed the tissue box off the bedside table and quickly pulled out half a dozen tissues, handing them to him. He put the wad of tissue to his nose and shifted up. Chloe noted he 'conveniently' shoved the pillow up against the headboard of the bed so the others could only see the clean bottom of the pillow... not the top with a blood stain bigger than a softball on it! He kept his head shifted away from the others as he tried to wipe as much of the blood off his face as he could.
"Are you alright, Mr. Fischer?" The sheriff asked.
"Fine, fine." Tommy replied quickly. "I get nose bleeds all the time. They don't usually last long."
"See? He's fine. He just got a nose bleed and these incompetents overreacted." Mrs. Fischer added, yanking her arms out of her captors hands. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going home." She said haughtily, grabbing up her purse.
"There's the rub, Ma'am. I'm afraid I do mind." The sheriff replied evenly.
Mrs. Fischer gave an irritable huff, snatching the keys up from where they had fallen on the bed while the orderly and nurse watched her warily. "This is ridiculous! Tommy!" She said, rounding on her son and making him flinch slightly. "Did I hurt you?" She asked pointedly.
Tommy gazed at her for a moment, then dropped his eyes and shook his head.
Chloe's jaw dropped.
"See?" She said triumphantly.
"Mr. Fischer," the sheriff drawled, "If your mother didn't hit you, where'd you get that nasty bruise that looks to be raising on your cheek?"
Chloe's eyes darted over. There was a patch of discolored skin along his cheekbone that looked like it would be developing into a rather impressive bruise before too much longer. She hadn't even noticed it with as distracted as she'd been by the blood that continued to run from his nose, soaking through the tissues at an alarming rate.
"I fell down." Tommy muttered, not lifting his gaze.
Mrs. Fischer smiled and nodded, "He's pretty clumsy."
The sheriff folded her arms over her chest. "I see. And how does that explain why his skin is under those manicured nails of yours?"
The woman's eyes darted down to her hands and she noticed for the first time that there was blood on the tips of the pale pink nails of her right hand. "Ew!" was her only reply.
Tommy looked his arms over and realized she'd left a nice set of deep scratches across his wrist when she'd tried for the keys. His nose hurt so bad he hadn't even noticed the other wounds. "She tried to catch me when I fell." Tommy quickly supplied.
"Yep." His mother quickly agreed, giving the sheriff a bright smile.
"I see." The sheriff said, her voice dripping disbelief. "I happen to have been talking with your son's doctor before your little 'argument' distracted me. It seems your son has been falling down an awful lot these last couple years."
Mrs. Fischer shrugged, "He's really clumsy, like I said. The boy's got two left feet. He plays some sport kinda things at school too. That's probably where a lot of it comes from."
"Schools file reports if students are injured during sports. There are no reports on file, the doctor checked. Besides, I don't think they get a whole lot of bad bruising and broken bones in competitive swimming."
"This is a ridiculous witch hunt." Mrs. Fischer replied irritably. "And I'm not sticking around for it. You! Blondie!" She snapped at the nurse holding Levi, "Gimme my kid back. We're leaving."
"Hold up, there!" the sheriff said, holding up her hand to the mother while waving the nurse with Levi forward. The nurse brought the boy closer, eyeing Mrs. Fischer with obvious contempt.
"Can I see your arm, honey?" She asked the boy in a soft, imploring tone.
His bottom lip was trembling, and he looked wary, but he let her take his arm and look at it. "Now where did this come from then, do you suppose?" She asked sweetly, smiling over at the boy's mother as she let her see the handprint shaped bruise forming on the boy's arm from where she'd held it too tight.
Tommy's eyes snapped up, fixing on his brother's bruised arm.
Levi, seeing all eyes on him, got self conscious and pulled his arm away from her.
"You have bruises anywhere else, sweety?" The sheriff asked softly.
Levi looked at his mother, who glared back warningly, and quickly shook his head, then grabbed a hold of the front of his shirt and pulled it down some and held it to make sure she couldn't lift it. Of course since the shirt was a bit too big on him, obviously being a hand-me-down, doing that exposed a bit more of his shoulders... and the edge of another, fully formed bruise on his back. The sheriff noted it, then looked over at the boy's mother expectantly.
Mrs. Fischer barely hesitated. She jerked her hand up, pointing it straight at Chloe, "It was that little bitch right there." She announced, "She grabbed my little boy and yanked on him hard and made him fall down. I saw her myself. If you want to arrest someone, arrest her!"
"What?" Chloe sputtered in utter shock.
"She did not and you fucking know it!" Tommy snapped angrily.
"Get your priorities straight, you stupid idiot!" his mother snapped back in an undertone.
"Mine are obviously a lot straighter than yours are!" He growled right back. "I'm not going to just stand by and let you falsely accuse her of something like that just because you can't control yourself!"
"Just shut up!" His mother snapped angrily.
"You swore you wouldn't touch him!" Tommy yelled, tossing aside the blood soaked tissues, "I keep quiet and Levi stays safe. That was the deal!"
"Shut up, you fucking moron!" His mother yelled back.
"I think I've heard enough." The Sheriff said, motioning her deputy over. He came forward, taking his cuffs out.
When he took hold of her hand, she jerked it to try to free it. "Let go of me! You can't prove nothin!" She yelled.
The Sheriff looked over to the nurse, "I want the little boy thoroughly checked over. X-rays, anything you feel is necessary. Take pictures of those bruises and anything else you find. As for the mother, I'd like a breathalyzer test done before we go, and while we're at it, check her for drugs as well."
The nurse nodded.
"Oh Hell no!" Mrs. Fischer growled as the deputy managed to get a cuff around the wrist he'd been struggling to keep a hold of. "Get the Hell off me!" She yelled, swatting her big purse at him. It hit him in the side of the head... and apparently it was as heavy as it looked, because it caught him off guard and he went down.
The Sheriff grabbed a hold of Mrs. Fischer, whipped her around and had her face first on the foot of the gurney almost before the deputy hit the ground. Tommy's mother winced as the Sheriff finished cuffing her, then glared at her son.
"You happy now, you little bastard?" She yelled at Tommy. "See what you did? Your worthless father is off in rehab, so now you and Levi get to go into foster care. Go on! Tell him what he's in for. Tell him what you did to him!"
"I've heard about enough out of you." The Sheriff growled, yanking her up and shoving her towards the door as her deputy got back up to his feet, nursing a sore jaw, but otherwise apparently unharmed.
"He's going to be fucked up for life, and it's all your fault!" His mother shrieked as they pulled her out the door.
As they hauled her out, the doctor that had been tending Chloe earlier came in, watching the still screaming woman as she was hauled past, but then focusing his attention on the occupants of the room.
"We're supposed to check this boy over for signs of abuse." The nurse holding Levi told the doctor.
He just nodded, his attention on Tommy.
Chloe looked over at Tommy, noting the beeping of the heart monitor was starting to race.
"Why don't you take the boy to the cafeteria and get him some ice cream first." The doctor suggested.
The nurse opened her mouth to reply.
"Now." He prompted softly.
She followed his gaze, then nodded and hurried out with the boy.
"Tommy, are you ok?" Chloe asked with quickly growing alarm. His heartrate had almost reached a hundred, and he looked like he was having a hard time breathing.
Tommy shoved the blanket aside and tried to get up, but just ended up sliding down to the floor.
"Tommy!" Chloe cried, ignoring the pain in her knees as she quickly dropped down beside him, catching a hold of him as he started to slide down to the side. He was gasping desperately for air, and as she pulled him up against her she could feel him shaking. She looked up and found only the doctor remaining in the room. "What's wrong with him?" She asked anxiously. Why wasn't this guy helping?
"It'll be alright." The doctor reassured her softly, "He's just having a panic attack. It's not his first. I sent the nurse for something to calm him down. Just keep him still and wait for it to pass."
Chloe nodded and held him tighter. He slipped his arms around her and pulled her tight, holding onto her as if terrified of letting go. The way he was gasping, his heart rate already into the triple digits, it was more than a little frightening. She could only imagine how it felt to him.
"Calm down. It'll be ok." Chloe said, trying to soothe him.
"No it won't!" He gasped, his voice tight with anxiety, "I fucked up! I totally fucked up!"
"No, you didn't!" Chloe insisted. "You're better off without that abusive bitch!"
He shook his head, but pressed closer still. "No, we're not!" He gasped. "I've been in... foster system..." He gasped, "Eighteen fucking months! They can't do that! Not to Levi! My mom is nothing. There's so much worse out there! I can't... I can't let them. Not Levi! I promised him I'd protect him! It's all my fault! It's always my fault! I'm such a fuck up!" He sobbed.
Chloe's eyes teared up. What had those fucked up parents done to this boy? She could hear the deeply ingrained sense of guilt and shame in his voice, and it broke her heart. She looked up as the doctor crouched down beside them. He pulled up Tommy's sleeve and swabbed his arm with alcohol, then gave him a shot. Tommy didn't even seem to notice, but his heart rate started dropping within seconds. Slowly his trembling went away and his breathing eased as he sagged against her.
"I'll make this right, Tommy." She vowed softly as his head drifted to the side, "I don't know how, but I will."
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A/N – Yes, I know, Smallville already has more than its fair share of psycho bitch mothers, but what's one more? :) And I know more than half the chapter didn't have Clark and Lex, but trust me when I say it was necessary. And yes, I'm aware the chapter title was painfully unimaginative, but I'm tired... so did you really want to wait another day or two for me to think up something better? I didn't think so. So, what do you think so far? Please do review. Remind me there might actually be a few people out there reading this. It might help motivate me to write more... *hint hint* :)