Clark sat in a chair by Lana's bed, holding her hand. She lay unconscious, hooked up to tubes, IV's, and monitoring devices. At intervals, nurses would come in and check her or do some sort of treatment. It had been several hours since Lana came in, but she hadn't woken up yet. He sighed, X-raying her yet again. He was really getting to know her anatomy.
I prefer the way I got to know it before, he thought, remembering their few short months of romance. I'd rather not get to know it by x-raying her to see how her heart and lung damage is doing. Clark did feel cautiously optimistic, however; he was no doctor, but based on repeating viewings, her organ pathology wasn't growing any worse.
Clark thought back to his conversation with the emergency room doctor. The physician, a middle-aged man with tired eyes, said, "Hopefully we can get her through the initial trauma. That would be the heart damage, the lung damage, heat injury, skin burns, stuff like that. You probably saw the red marks on the skin. Those are lightning burns. We think the lightning actually heats up the blood in the capillaries…" He took a sip from what looked like a very cold and stale cup of coffee. Clark had a feeling that the doctor was very tired and was saying more than he actually intended.
"She's certainly got some lung damage from the heating of the air in her lungs by the lightning strike. But that should resolve in a few days."
Clark, happy to hear that, gave the doctor a nod and then made a questioning noise, indicating the doctor should go on.
"But, Mr. Kent, you should know, a lot of bad stuff still can happen. Sometimes we don't know the full extent of the damage for weeks. Sometimes years." The doctor sat down wearily on a chair in the hall. Clark sat down next to him.
"Years?" Clark parroted.
"Oh, yes. Sometimes people struck by lightning get cataracts years later…" the doctor mumbled, looking down at his coffee cup, only now realizing how cold and unappetizing it was.
"I just hope there isn't brain damage", the doctor said.
Clark sat very still. "Brain damage?" he asked.
"Well, getting fried by lightning isn't actually the best thing in the world for a sensitive organ like the brain. We worry about seizures, strokes, memory loss, long-term subtle damage that we really can't quantify right away." Then the doctor sat up straighter, reacted to Clark's expression. He grimaced as he realized that maybe he was being a little too honest for Clark's peace of mind.
The doctor put a confident tone into his voice. "But, the best thing is, she's still alive so far, and she's not getting worse. You got her here in time, and I really think she has a good chance now." He gave Clark an encouraging smile, obviously trying to put a positive spin on the information.
Clark would have felt better if he hadn't looked back and seen the doctor surreptitiously crossing his fingers and knocking on the wooden paneling in the hallway.
I should go check on Laura again, he thought. Laura, also unconscious, had been moved to the nursery. Technically, since he wasn't next of kin or her legal guardian, he had no right to see her. But since he'd brought her in, the hospital gave tacit permission. Clark had gone to see Laura; she seemed to be OK, only sleeping.
Clark made no move to get up, though, wanting to stay by Lana. The dark room was lit only by the graphs and figures on Lana's monitors; the eerie, flickering light cast strange shadows on her face.
"Lana", he said softly, talking to her, hoping she could hear him in her altered state of consciousness. "I think Laura is going to be OK." He paused, squeezed her hand gently. "I hope you'll be OK too."
Clark moved his chair closer to her, took her hand in both of his. He really didn't know what to say. "Do you remember the days on the trail? You were getting tired of ramen noodles. And I caught some fish for you? And you don't like fish all that much either?" He rubbed her arm, massaged it.
Clark heard a change in the nurse-and-aide voices out at the nursing station down the hall. He'd tried not to listen to them ever since he'd heard them gossiping about his presence there with Lana Luthor. They'd obviously read the tabloids and had heard about the infamous Luthor-Kent-Lang love triangle. It was titillating to be in the actual presence of two of the three actors in that messy scandal. Clark mentally cursed the tabloids once again.
The hospital staff kept their voices low, even though he was far down the hall in Lana's room. But if Clark extended his hearing at all, he could hear them speculating about him, about her, about Lex. It was just too juicy a topic to leave alone. Some of the comments about himself brought blushes to his face – the nurses got coolly clinical when they discussed his anatomy. At least the comments are favorable. So far, Clark thought.
"Laura is a fighter. She'll do OK." Clark's voice caught as he stared at Lana's unconscious form. "You were a fighter too. You had her out in the wilderness with no one to help you…." He left himself out of the picture, feeling he hadn't done much.
A small noise behind him alerted him. He'd been concentrating on Lana, trying not to listen to the gossip out in the hall. A figure strode into the room, stared at Lana on her bed. It turned to look at Clark.
"Clark", Lex said.
Clark stood warily, releasing Lana's hand, laying it on the bed next to her body. "Lex", he said, in the same guarded tone. He really didn't feel like answering questions. But he knew Lex would have plenty.
Lex went around the bed, sat in the other chair, touched Lana's forehead. Clark waited, not moving, as Lex took Lana's hand, stroked it, then laid it back down on the bed. Lex got up, came to the end of the bed, picked up Lana's chart and looked at it. He turned to face Clark.
"Well, Clark", Lex said. "I hear you brought Lana in. How did that happen anyway?" So far, only polite interest in his tone.
Clark debated internally how much to say. As little as possible. "Kind of a coincidence, Lex", he said, trying to match the other's cool tone. "I happened to be hiking, and ran into Lana after her plane had crashed. She said that the pilot died. We hiked out. She had the baby on the way." Lex's face momentarily twisted. "We were close to town, and got caught in a storm. She and the baby were struck by lightning. Fortunately, the hospital was close by."
Lex stood still, not speaking for a moment. "Well, I guess I owe you a big thank-you for escorting her." He gave an insincere smile. "
More than you know. "You're welcome, Lex", Clark said, just as insincerely.
"But you know, Clark", Lex said in his tone of false affability, "there are so many statements there that seem, oh, I don't know, just so fantastic. Or maybe we could say, far-fetched."
"It's the truth", Clark said tightly.
"Ah, but what is truth?" said Lex. "Pontius Pilate said that and he never got an answer either." He stared Clark directly in the eyes, challenging. "For instance, you just happened to go hiking?"
"I decided to go for some time alone after your wedding", Clark said evenly.
"And you just happened to run into Lana?" More incredulity in Lex's voice.
"Just lucky, I guess." Clark wondered why he was staying here, taking Lex's sneering half-accusations. He'd walked out on a Lex cross-examination several times in the past. I'm not going till Lana's awake.
"Maybe you can tell me where you found her. We'll want to locate the plane and give the pilot a decent burial."
Clark stood, taken aback for a moment. He'd forgotten about the pilot. He's right. The man deserves a memorial. Then he made his decision. "Well, I'd like to, Lex, but I left my backpack by the side of the road when I was getting Lana to the hospital. It's missing now, and all my maps and GPS were in it. I don't think I could retrace our steps." He gave Lex a tight smile. "Sorry."
Lex's eyes narrowed. "Well, it couldn't have been very far." Making another outwardly innocent but provocative statement, he continued, "How far could Lana walk in a day, in her condition?"
"Not much", Clark agreed, smiling inwardly. Then his amusement vanished. I have to tell him. "By the way, Lex, your daughter was born ten days ago." Your daughter. If it's true…that's hard to say.
"I have a daughter…" Lex said in a wondering tone for just a moment.
"Lana named her Laura, after her mother", Clark continued. Not a Luthor name. I think Lana didn't want to name her after your mother, not after hearing what your mother did to her own son Julian. "She's in the nursery. Don't you want to go see her?"
Lex looked undecided for a moment. Then he went to the door and summoned one of his escorts. "William, my daughter is in the nursery. See if you can bring her here."
Clark looked with interest at the business-suited security guy. This was one he didn't know. He'd gotten to know most of them when he was friends with Lex, but Lex seemed to have a fairly high turnover in his security department. Maybe it was related to his habit of treating his staff like crap. Lex only seemed to give them threats and snide comments, constantly pointing out their screw-ups. He didn't compliment them on the good job they did the other 99 of the time. People would only put up with that for so long, no matter how high the pay, Clark thought. In passing, Clark wondered if that was why Lex seemed to have so many security breaches at the mansion.
As William approached the door of Lana's room, Clark felt a familiar twinge of nausea. Alarmed, he looked more closely at Lex's security guy. The tall man had a small meteor-rock tiepin. Clark sat, not moving, in the chair by Lana's bed, hoping the man would not enter the room, would not come closer. Clark didn't want to vomit or pass out or fall to the ground in a fetal position, all of which he'd done before when exposed to kryptonite. He especially didn't want to do anything odd in front of Lex's sharp eyes.
Lex strode back into the room, near Lana in the bed again. Then both of them turned toward the bed as Lana made a noise. Clark couldn't help but X-ray her; he noted increases in activity, heart rate, a change in breathing tempo.
"She's waking up", Clark said softly. Anxiety suffused him. Would Lana be OK? If she was OK, would she tell his secret? He mentally chided himself for thinking about that when Lana's life was still in the balance, but he couldn't help worrying about it. Clark hoped that the hypnotic suggestion would hold, but getting hit by lightning…what would that do?
He and Lex both headed for the bed. Both took a chair, Clark on the right, Lex on the left.
Lana rustled under her bedcovers. Her arm moved weakly. She tossed her head from side to side on the pillow. Lex took her hand in his own. She struggled, pulled it out of his grasp.
"Clark?" she asked hazily.
Clark sat uncomfortably, then took her hand. Lex shot him a look of pure venom.
Lana's eyes opened. She looked at Clark holding her hand first. Then she turned her head and saw Lex.
"Lex!" She pulled her hand out of Clark's.
"Where am I?" she said in a hoarse voice, throat obviously sore. Lana turned her head in all directions, taking in the obvious hospital décor. "What is Clark doing here?"
Lex gave a tiny smile. Clark's stomach dropped out from under him. This is not the way Lana sounded before the lightning hit.
"Don't you remember, Lana?" Clark asked her. "We were hiking out of the wilderness after your plane crashed. You were hit by lightning and I brought you to the hospital."
Lana lifted her arm, dragged it across her eyes. "Hit by lightning?" she asked incredulously. The IV line impeded her, and her arm fell back to the bed. "The last thing I remember is packing up at the lodge."
Clark couldn't keep a slightly desperate tone from entering his voice. "Then you don't remember having the baby?"
Lana got a panicky look. She struggled, sat up. She lifted the sheets and looked at her stomach, rubbed it with her palm. "The baby!" She began hyperventilating, then coughing, despite her nasal oxygen cannula. Frantically she gestured towards an emesis basin; Clark handed it to her; she coughed up a wad of mucusy sputum. Clark, alarmed, saw a tinge of blood in it.
"Lana, calm down", Clark said, trying to remain calm himself. "You had the baby in the wilderness after the plane crashed. You had a little girl and you named her Laura. She's here in the hospital now."
Slowly Lana's breathing eased. "A girl…" she said slowly. "Is she OK?"
"She's fine", Clark reassured her.
Lana stared at Clark suspiciously. "Why are you here again?"
Clark couldn't answer. Stunned realization stole his breath; sadness clenched his throat. Lana didn't remember anything. He could tell when people were lying; he picked up on subtle changes in pulse, respiration, muscle activity – just like a polygraph. Lana had none of those changes. She believed what she was saying, and that was asking him why he was there in a room with her and her husband. Why he was here, the third wheel, when she and Lex were supposed to be alone together.
Their time together in the forest, her gradual acceptance of him, the shared joy of getting to know Laura, the easy conversation, the day-to-day life of routine chores done together, the sense of relief he had at finally confessing to her – all that was gone. Obliterated. Erased. It never happened.
Somehow, Clark knew she'd be OK but for the loss of the memory of their time together. Bitterly, he just assumed that it would work out that way. Their relationship had been marked with so many strange coincidences, so many weird happenings, so many malign twists of fate, that there was no other possible way it could be. She'd go back to her uncomfortable suspicions. She'd see him as the ex-boyfriend with trust issues, the one who was always lying to her. Clark actually felt faint as he realized that if he wanted Lana to know, he'd have to tell her his secret all over again, deal with her fear and horror…
His eyesight blurred as tears welled up. He tried to control them, uncomfortably aware that Lex was watching him intently.
It came as a relief when someone knocked at the open door.
"Mr. Luthor", the security man said. "We brought the baby." A nurse entered the room, wheeling a bassinet holding Laura, as the security man waited at the door. Lex, Lana, and Clark all turned to look. A wide smile crossed Lex's face; a strange expression to Clark who was used to seeing Lex give sardonic smiles, cynical smiles, false smiles, calculating smiles, but never the smile of unalloyed joy Lex wore right now.
Lana looked confused yet eager; her hand stole down to her flat abdomen again, a wondering expression on her face. She moved her hands up to her breasts; Clark, turning back to her saw the bedcovers become wet with milk leaking out. He looked back at Laura, just in time to see Lex pick her up from the bassinet, and gently hold her in his arms, over his shoulder. For a moment Lex almost looked tender. Laura squirmed a little in his arms, began crying.
Clark came closer, unable to stop himself. Lex's body language changed slightly; he stood more hunched up, holding Laura closer, turning slightly away from Clark. Laura opened her eyes and saw him. She stopped crying, gave a satisfied gurgle. Lex changed her position so that she was over his other shoulder; more to the point, this kept Clark from seeing her and vice versa. Laura began fussing again, oblivious to Lex's patting her on the back.
"Well, Clark", said Lex in a tone with only a little triumph in it, "thank you for all you've done. Now, if you don't mind, we'd like to have a little private family reunion here…"
And don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, Clark mentally added.
Clark took one last despairing look around the hospital room. This was bitter. He stared at Lana, the Lana who knew him and loved him once, but no longer did. He looked at the nurse, who should be going back to the nursing station but was hanging around, no doubt to collect more gossip. He looked at the security guard; the man stood in an alert posture, awaiting possible instructions from Lex. Clark looked at Lex and the baby last; Lex stood, holding his daughter tightly, keeping her from Clark.
"My plane will take you back to Smallville, Clark", Lex said, outwardly polite, twisting the knife."
Clark turned his back on Lex, Lana, and Laura. As he walked out the door, he said tightly, "No thanks, Lex, I'll find my own way back." Clark took a steady, measured stride. He managed to keep his rhythm and avoid stumbling as he passed the security guy with the kryptonite tiepin, keeping a stone face that showed no sign of the pain within.
Clark walked down the hall, past the nurses at the station, ignoring their covert stares and whispers. He walked slowly through the corridors of the hospital, thinking over and over of what he could have done. What? Rip Laura from Lex's grasp? Kidnap Lana and the baby? If he still had Lana on his side….but that Lana was gone.
The blue-haired elderly volunteer at the main hospital entrance wished him a good afternoon as he pushed open the doors; he returned the greeting without really seeing her. He exited the hospital, staring up at the cloudless blue sky, so different from the cloudy gray sky that had blasted his hopes.
Once he got outside, Clark went to a secluded area. Carefully scanning the area for witnesses, he saw none. He went into super-speed.
He ran all the way back to the lake where he'd found Lana before he gave way to his tears.