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I hope you enjoy chapter three!
Chapter Three.
Lois was pulling into the driveway when she saw the familiar suit.
She grabbed her purse as quickly as she could and almost jumped out of the car. Almost instantly, she felt her blood pressure spike. Something felt off about this. Something was wrong.
"Clark?" She called.
Clark turned around and sped over to where she was standing. The tear tracks were unmistakable. Even in the dark.
A sick feeling began to churn in Lois's stomach as she reached out to touch her husband's cheek.
"Hey," she said. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Clark shook his head and another heavy sob shook through him.
"It's Jon."
Lois's heart stopped and the nausea flared. She couldn't find any words to say as her brain tried to find a ledge to grasp onto.
"He didn't come home, so I went looking for him…" He said. "He was… It's bad, Lois."
"What happened, Clark?" She asked.
"The football team," Clark said. "They beat him up and strung him up in Riley's Field."
Lois felt like the breath had been punched out of her, but at the same time, her anger boiled within her. Someone had hurt her baby boy.
"Let me see him," she said as she tried to walk around Clark to get into the house. She had to see her baby. She had to make sure he was okay.
Clark gently grabbed her arm. "Lois," he began. She tried to pull away her arm. "Lois, he isn't here."
Lois stopped again. She could feel her heartbeat thudding in her chest. Where was her son? "Then where is he?"
"The hospital."
"The what?" Lois said as her brain once again tried to find something to cling to. Jon was in the hospital. Jon was in the hospital. Normally injuries were treated at home. It had to be really bad for them to take the boys there. Lois felt sick to her stomach.
Clark picked her up. "Let me take you."
The next few minutes were a blur for Lois as Clark flew her to the hospital, then disappeared again to change into his normal attire. The entire time she felt like she was in a daze. Her nausea got worse. Her protective side screamed with every second that she wasn't with her injured son. She needed to see him.
Lois looked around her, then steeled herself for what was about to happen. She had no idea what she was about to see.
Then she walked in.
The lady at the front desk noticed her instantly. "Mrs. Kent," she greeted. "Superman brought in Jon not too long ago. Why don't you sit down while I page someone to come get you?"
Lois nodded numbly, then sat down in one of the chairs. It was hard, but she could barely even feel it. She needed to be with Jon. He was all alone right now and he had to be so scared…
Before Lois knew it though, a nurse had walked up to her and began to escort her to the room they were keeping Jon in.
Then she opened the door to Jon's hospital room.
Lois froze as soon as she saw Jon.
There were doctors and nurses surrounding him, but she could still see his face. She could see his ghostly pale skin, the angry red marks that would make deep purple bruises. She could see a scared little boy who needed his mother. Her scared little boy.
She walked up to him, though she could barely move her feet and her heart felt like it was being torn into a million pieces. Why couldn't she just wake up from this horrible nightmare?
Lois grabbed his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. She knew this hand like she knew her own. She had held it when he had taken his first gaspy wails, she had held it whenever she had crossed the street when he was a rowdy child. And she held it now.
"I'm here, baby," she told him. "Mom's here now."
Jon didn't make any sort of sign that he had noticed her. Instead, he just looked through her with those big, blue eyes that Lois knew so well. They were filled with tears. The tears ran down his red flushed cheeks and past finger-shaped bruises.
Lois allowed herself to look at what the doctors were working on, but she regretted it as soon as she did.
It looked like a jagged S, made up from multiple, deep and careless slashes. The wound started at his chest and didn't end until it was over halfway down his stomach.
Lois swallowed back rising bile along with anger and hatred. Someone had done this to her baby.
Faintly, one of the doctors said something about stitching up the wound. She looked at the doctors for a second, then back to her son.
Jon's blue eyes were dull and unfocused, his busted lips parted so he could breathe… They had cleaned the blood off of his face, but Lois could still see every cut and bruise on her baby's sweet face.
With her free hand, she reached forward and stroked his hair just how she had been doing it since the day he was born. She let her fingers manipulate each blond curl, and when she reached the back of his head, she would start over.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shot being prepared for her son. She winced. It was definitely something numbing so that they could put in the stitches. She knew how much the medicine would hurt and burn… She squeezed Jon's hand a little tighter, like she had always done when her son needed a shot.
Jon's reaction to the injection was instant. When the shot went in, Jon's eyes squeezed shut tight enough that it wrinkled his face. He gripped Lois's hand. He had definitely squeezed it tighter when he was younger, to the point of white knuckles even, but it was still a tight grip
Warm tears dripped from Lois's eyes as she watched her son hold his breath, his cheeks flushing an even deeper red as he held it.
"Mom." The weak, gasped out cry escaped Jon's lips. It sounded so desperate. It was a plea. And it tore Lois's heart into pieces fiber by fiber.
Lois leaned closer to her son. She could feel his warm and shaky breaths on her face.
His desperate eyes connected with hers, and Lois could tell what he was trying to say even though his weak, exhausted body wouldn't allow him to express it through words.
Her stomach twisted and her heart ached. She felt sick. She knew what her son was begging for, and she knew she couldn't give him what he wanted. She was unable to stop the pain, no matter how much the two of them wished for it.
"Shh, shh, shh…" She tried to soothe, but she knew she couldn't console him as they injected another dose of lidocaine into his disfigured chest. She couldn't take this pain away.
"I'm right here, baby," she continued, but the words felt weak and lame on her lips. The words meant nothing. They were the same sweet nothings and words of reassurance that she had been whispering to him for as long as she could remember, but they had no effect.
She continued to stroke his hair, but now his hair was damp with sweat and his skin was cold and clammy.
After the third injection, Jon stopped fighting. He kept his blue eyes once again focused on nothing, he breathed shallowly through his teeth. Every once in a while, he would kick out his leg or squeeze his mother's hand. But otherwise, he stayed deathly still.
Lois continued to ramble reassurances as she ran her fingers through his hair. It was the only thing she knew how to do that wasn't break down into sobs. She had never seen Jon in this much pain before… She had never felt so useless in her life.
She was supposed to protect Jon from these things, yet she had failed again. How many times could she break one of her most important promises as a mother? How many more times would he end up in danger before it was too late?
Finally, after what felt like eons, the doctors finished the last stitch and bandaged the wound that took up almost all of Jon's torso.
The doctors and nurses began to leave as they finished their jobs and Lois paid them little attention as she continued to focus on her son.
Jon's shallow breathing had evened out a bit, but he still shivered and shook. His skin was still cold and clammy. Lois only knew he was awake because his tired eyes would flutter open every once in a while before closing again. He didn't speak.
Lois didn't pay any attention to anyone other than Jon until she heard her name.
"Lois?"
She turned around and a wave of relief washed over her. Clark was here. She wasn't alone anymore.
"Hey," she said softly, then looked away from Clark for a moment and to her other son.
Jordan was paler than normal, and Lois didn't miss the bottle of juice he was carrying. She tilted her head at this.
"They needed blood for Jon," Clark explained. "Jordan's is the closest match they could ever get."
Lois let out a soft hum before turning back to Jon. She was certain he was asleep now. She also just noticed the bag of Jordan's blood that was now entering into Jon's bloodstream.
Clark sat down and began to work through paperwork and forms that needed signing, but Jordan just stood there.
Lois looked up at Jordan again, then frowned. "You okay?" She asked.
Jordan didn't seem to notice her, instead he stayed frozen in place.
She gave Jon's hand a small squeeze before letting go and walking over to Jordan. She brushed his dark curls away from his face.
"Hey," she said softly.
Jordan looked over at her, his big eyes were filled with tears. Lois's heart shattered.
"Mom…" His voice cracked as the word came out, then the tears began to spill.
"C'mere," she said.
Lois wrapped her arms around Jordan and pulled him into the tightest hug she could give her Kryptonian son. Her heart shattered as his quiet tears turned into loud sobs that filled the otherwise silent room.
"I've got you," she told him as she ran her fingers through his thick curls. "It's gonna be okay."
Lois tried to believe her own words, she really did. The doctors hadn't said anything to her that would make her think otherwise, but they also didn't know yet. Jon had been in such an awful condition when he had been brought in.
She had seen Jon's chest, she had heard about the cracked ribs and internal bleeding. She knew that it was a miracle that her baby was still alive.
Lois pressed a kiss to the top of Jordan's head, but his sobs continued and her own anxiety grew. "He's gonna be okay," she soothed.
She was his mother. It was her job to protect him and keep him safe. Even if that meant hiding the truth from him.
"Jon's gonna be alright."
Well, the good news is that Jon is safe in the hospital, but... That's about where the good news ends. Please follow, fave, and review! I would love to know what you thought!
Thanks for reading!