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Dr. Cameron turned out to be a pert, skinny woman with a lot of brown hair. Lex decided to let Clark handle her –- she seemed well within his capabilities. Lex really was getting very low on sleep, and his head was beginning to hurt. The room came equipped with a second hospital bed. Lex let the doctor have the chair he'd been using; he sat on the spare bed, slipped off his shoes and put his feet up.
She began by earnestly reassuring Clark that his secret identity was safe with her, which was nice and in perfect accord with everything Lex's researches had revealed about her. She burbled on for a while about how wonderful Clark was to go to so much effort, to help people all the time, etc., and Clark aw-shucks'ed at her. So far, so absolutely predictable.
"I'm sure you understand, Mr. Kent, that I need to take a very complete medical history. We really don't know anything about your species, so there's no way of telling, in advance, what would be pertinent and what would be irrelevant."
"I understand," Clark said. "And call me Clark?" Lex could hear the pale reflection of that sunny smile in his voice. He dragged his eyes open to see it –- any chance to catch Clark's smile was precious; he knew he'd regret missing even one if he lost him. Cameron was also stroking Clark's forehead; what the hell? His possessive rage woke Lex up considerably.
"What can you tell me about your family?" Cameron asked, her hands more respectably back on her clipboard and pen.
Clark closed his eyes. "Well, they're all dead," he began wearily.
"Everything known about the planet Krypton and its inhabitants is right here," Lex interrupted, tapping his laptop case. He didn't want Clark to have to go through it all; he knew it made him sad to think about being the very last of his kind.
"Well, that could be a great time-saver, I suppose," Cameron said. "I'll just make a copy of the file--"
"No. You can read it all here, but don't take it out of my sight, and don't make any copies. This isn't a negotiable point."
"Mr. Luthor, I assure you that the highest degree of confidentiality will be respected at all times, and--"
"No," Lex cut her off again. He straightened up and rubbed his hand over his head. (Damn! He thought he'd broken himself of that weak habit, decades ago.) Lex pulled up the Kryptonian History file, and the Fighting Superman file, and the file he'd begun when Clark first admitted he was sick. "Here. All the history you could ever possibly want. But you'll read it here, with me, and you'll only keep notes in your head. Take it or leave it."
Clark threw up again. Lex winced. Cameron sighed.
"I'll take it."
