Chapter Thirty Six

The nonstop ringing would let up until finally the slumbering couple couldn't take anymore and Clark practically rolled out of the bed, "I really wish we stayed at the fortress" he grumbles while Lois lets out a small laugh while she watched him fix his bed head hair while he began digging through their clothes to find the cause of the ringing.

He threw his jacket to the side then dug into his pants and pulled out his cell to see that he had ten missed calls in the last hour, it was at that moment that Clark knew something was wrong.

"Mom" he answered while Lois watched his ever changing emotions until finally she saw the shock and sudden panic in his eyes, "I'll be right there" he hung up and super sped back into his clothes.

"What's wrong?"

"My dad had a heart attack" was all she had to hear before she immediately jumped out of the comfort of the bed to get redressed.

"You don't need to wait for me" she gives him a kiss on the cheek then pats him on the chest, "I'll catch up" he gives her a look, "Go before I kick you out myself" he kissed her again before whooshing away.

Minutes Later…

Lois ran through the hospital hallways until she spotted Clark standing in the waiting room with Kara and a slumbering Maggie, "I came as fast as I could." She said when he wrapped her in a tight embrace, "How is he?" she asks once they pull away from each other.

"I don't know." He replied with an obvious worry and sadness in his eyes, "My mom hasn't left his side since they got here and the doctors won't tell us anything yet." She pushes back some of his out of place hair and places a small kiss on his lips, "I'm glad you're here." He says with his hand encasing hers, "I don't think I could go through this without you."

She smiled back and was about to say something when Martha appeared in the waiting room, "Clark" she says his name softly while looking at the distraught woman.

"Mom" he rushed to Martha's side almost immediately in time to catch the distraught woman who sobbed into his chest while he just stood there with a stoic look on his face while the woman that raised him continued to sob.

The wood was smashed into pieces and thrown into a pile of more just like it as Clark continued pounding his fist against the each stack but even that couldn't fix the pain and uselessness he was feeling at the moment.

In frustration his super strength got out of control and the wood splintered beyond usability, "Great" he says to himself as he walks towards the broken tractor and immediately saw the image of his father smiling at him.

BANG!

The metal dented from the impact of his fist and Clark looked down at the damage he had caused and immediately went to fix it when he noticed that Lois was standing in the barn's doorway.

"What you're doing isn't healthy." She walks towards him and almost feels dejected when he steps away from her, "Bottling up what your feeling is only going to eat away at you until one day you just snap and someone gets hurt."

"I know" he replies softly with is head bowed when he looks up showing Lois that he was reverting back into the same broken man he was when they met, "Ever since I was a kid. I always looked up to my father and now…"

"You don't want to see him like this because you think it'll change your opinion of him." She finished his sentence, "When my mother got sick she wouldn't let my sister and I see her even in her last minutes for that same reason."

"I can break the sound barrier and bend steel with my bare hands yet I can't even save my own father." his fight against his own emotions was futile and it all became too much causing the kryptonian to finally break down, "I don't know what to do." He stated causing Lois to wrap him in a comforting embrace.

She buries her face into his neck and painfully listened to his cries, "He's a fighter" she says softly as her hand began rubbing his back, "Everything will be alright. You'll see." She leaned down to kiss his cheek and offered a small hopeful smile that eased some of his spirits.

It was snowing covering the entire place in nothing but white, too many people it would've been a beautiful day but for the Kents it was a day of mourning the loss of their patriarch.

Martha sobbed quietly to herself while Clark just stood there watching them lower his father's body into the ground when he heard sounds of a struggle and a familiar heartbeat which caused him to look up to see Lois fighting with a shadowy figure that was growing in size while it began consuming Maggie.

He raced towards them but his super speed wasn't working and it felt like something was preventing him from saving them, "Let them go!" he shouted before being knocked to the ground by the shadow helpless as he watched the dark shadow consume his daughter and the woman he loved, "NO!" he roared

"You could've saved them" a deep dark voice called out as the shadow became taller and more of solid form with haunting red eyes looking down at him, "Their souls are mine now" the dark cloud dispersed and traveled through Clark's body causing a great amount of pain to spread across the kryptonian's body.

"Kal-El" he could hear Jor-El's voice and watched the shadow retreat just as a hand touched his shoulder and the world became much lighter driving out the dark clouds that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Its time to wake up son" this time the voice at his side wasn't Jor-El but Jonathan Kent as the dream world started to fade away.

Clark's eyes slowly began to open and the images of the dream began to recede as he stretched then looked around the hospital room to see Lex staring at him from the other side of the window.

He rose out of the chair almost immediately and stepped outside to confront their unwelcome guest, "What are you doing here?" he asked in a demanding tone.

"I didn't come to fight; I'm simply here to show my support." Lex replied turning back to look into the hospital room, "Don't forget that I am still Margaret's godfather and despite our differences I'd like her to know that I'm still here for moral support"

"Don't use my daughter as a scapegoat for your selfish purposes." Clark stepped closer in a threatening manner, "I won't let you use my family just to get back at me. If you so much as-"

"Your not one to make threats" Lex cut the kryptonian off immediately turning back to give Clark a cold stare that would've shook anyone to the core, "Superman" the name falls off Lex's lips with spite, "Don't forget that I know what hurts you and it isn't kryptonite"

Lex brushes past Clark with the intention of leaving, "Do you really hate me that much that you'd threaten innocent lives?" the question was enough to stop him from walking away, "That reason right there is why I was never going to tell you my secret. You take what you want without any regard to human life."

Lex scoffed then walked away leaving Clark to deal with the ailing Jonathan Kent, "Lex?" another voice once again stopped him from leaving this dreaded place and it was wearing thin on his patience but the second he turned to see his goddaughter standing there all anger and hatred faded away, "Are you and dad fighting again?"

He gave her a small smile and squatted down in front of her, "It's just a little disagreement we've been having, nothing to worry about." He could see Lois Lane standing behind the child giving him a look, "You shouldn't worry. Everything will be fine." He gives her one more smile before rising up to say goodbye when suddenly she wrapped her arms around him in a hug that would warm any cold hearted man's heart.

She gave him a small kiss on the cheek before walking back over to Lois with the feeling of kindness dissipating and the frown to reappear on Lex's face as he rose back to his feet and the left the hospital once and for all but not before making a quick call.

He gave the hospital one last look before slipping into the car which drove off almost immediately afterwards without looking back on the people he had considered family.

TBC

So…yeah, tell me what you think.

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