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I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Six

Jon was not having a great day.

His pain meds weren't working. It was like whatever the hospital had sent him home with wasn't strong enough. He could still feel all of these painful aches and pains all over his body. All the medication seemed to do was give him a headache and make his brain feel fuzzy. He hated it.

His mom checked in on him often and made sure that he didn't need anything, but she wasn't able to stay for very long due to the story that she was working. For the most part, he was alone.

He tried to sleep, but it didn't really help. What it really did was give him a few hours where he didn't have to think about anything or feel the pain.

Jordan had brought over books and a video game controller when he had last been in the room though, which had brought Jon a little bit of entertainment when his head wasn't killing him.

Jon still wasn't sure what he had done to deserve such a good brother, but he was scared that if he dwelled too much on the one good thing in his life, it would be taken away too. And he couldn't lose Jordan.

Probably the worst part though was the anxiety. He had no idea how his grandpa would react to everything that had happened in the past couple weeks and he wasn't sure that he could handle being in any more trouble.

There was a knock on his door though, and Jon looked up. A small wave of fear coursed through his veins. Grandpa Sam wasn't supposed to be here for a few more hours. He wasn't ready yet.

"Come in," Jon called, even though he really didn't want to.

The door opened and his dad walked in. He sent Jon a small smile. "Hey."

Jon tried to smile back, but he couldn't. How could he? His dad had ignored him in his time of need. He had promised that he would protect him…

"Hi."

Clark sat down on the edge of the bed, and Jon tried not to wince at the sudden dip in the mattress. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Jon resisted the urge to shrug. He didn't realize how much easier it had been to communicate before he had been through all of this. He could just shrug away the questions, now he had to actually answer them or be subject to even worse ones.

"I'm okay." It was such a lie. The last thing that he was feeling was okay.

Clark frowned and Jon tried not to squirm under his father's gaze. "When did you last have medication?"

"Um…" Jon said. He couldn't actually remember. "It was last night, I think. Jordan woke me up for it."

Clark nodded. "Did he write it down on the board?" he asked.

Ever since the twins were little, medication times had been written down on the dry-erase board on the fridge so that it could be easily remembered. Sure, it was supposed to be for groceries and meal plans, but Jon's parents had always found a way to squeeze their last dose of cold medication in between Lasagna and Chicken Fajitas if they were sick.

"Uh, I dunno," Jon said. "Probab-"

Clark sped out of the room before Jon finished his sentence, but was back before Jon had much time to react.

"5am," Clark said. "Your dose is past due. Do you need more?"

Once again, Jon tried not to shrug. On the one hand, his chest and ribs were killing him, but he also really didn't want to eat right now. The anxiety about Grandpa Sam's visit was making him feel sick.

"I dunno what to eat…" Jon said.

Clark reached down and placed his hand on Jon's leg. "C'mon, I'll make you whatever you want, and we can hang out together."

Jon's mouth began to water at the offer. It wasn't every day that his dad would cook his favorite foods just for him. Though, almost anything would be better than the awful hospital food that would probably give him nightmares.

There was one small problem though.

"I can't go downstairs," Jon said.

Clark frowned. "Why not?"

Jon looked down at his hands. He suddenly felt very aware and self-conscious about how weak he was compared to his father. Off the top of his head, he could only think of one time that his dad had been hurt, and that had been self-inflicted heat vision to the hands. Jon, on the other hand, had been hurt too many times to count.

He picked at the tape on his hand where he had been bandaged up from the IV. He was so weak, so human, next to his all-powerful Kryptonian father.

"I can't walk down them," he said. It was so embarrassing to admit. His dad had never been through anything like this. He had never been so weak that he couldn't even walk from one place to another.

Clark gave Jon's leg a small squeeze. Jon held his breath and hoped that his heartbeat would stay even enough that his dad wouldn't notice anything. He still didn't want his dad to touch him.

"I can carry you downstairs," Clark said. "All you had to do was ask."

Jon shook his head. "I don't want you to carry me."

Clark's eyes widened with shock and Jon could see the pain in his eyes. "Jon…" he said.

They sat in silence for a minute, and Jon couldn't stand the way that the guilt ate away at him. It wasn't fair for him to feel this way. Not after what his dad had done.

Finally, Clark broke the silence. "Jon, please talk to me," he begged. "Let me know what's going on."

Jon looked down at his hands, then over to the nightstand at the ELT. The damn ELT that would have saved him from all of this if his dad hadn't taken it away.

"You let me get hurt and you didn't come and get me until it was too late," Jon said.

Suddenly, he couldn't stop. Now that he had opened up a little, he couldn't bring it back in. "You took away my ELT! You didn't come and get me! Did you just not care!?"

Jon burst into tears. Why did his dad hate him? Why couldn't he be the golden child anymore? Why couldn't he be as special as Jordan? None of this would have happened if he had just been more like his brother…

"Jonathan…"

At the sound of his name, Jon looked up. He wiped his eyes. "Yeah?"

"I'm so sorry," Clark said as he wiped tears out of his own eyes. "I didn't realize that your ELT was in your backpack."

Jon sniffled. "Really?" Admittedly, that wasn't too hard to believe. He had seen the inside of his backpack…

"And I should have gone to find you sooner instead of assuming the worst," his dad said. "I definitely didn't leave you out there to teach you a lesson or punish you."

"But you were so mad," Jon said. Just a few days ago, his dad hadn't even been able to look at him because of how mad he was.

Clark shook his head. "I was upset, but I would never do something like that, Jon," he said. "You're my son."

Jon stayed quiet and his gaze dropped back down to his hands. "You hate me."

Clark reached forward and grabbed Jon's hands. It was gentle, but still tight enough that Jon couldn't pull away. "Jonathan, look at me."

Jon looked up at his father, but didn't say a word.

"I love you, and I always have," he said. "I would never ever leave you to be hurt if I knew about it. And if I led you to believe that, then that's my mistake and I will spend the rest of my life trying to regain your trust."

Jon shuddered, then looked down as more tears began to fall. It had been an accident. All of it.

"Hey…" Clark soothed, and Jon felt his father's hand cup his cheek.

"I'm so sorry," Clark told him. "I'm so, so sorry."

Suddenly, Jon threw himself into his father's arms. It hurt like hell, and every single cut, bruise, and break felt like it was on fire. But then Clark wrapped his arms around Jon, and it was like everything was okay for the first time in weeks.

His dad's warm arms wrapped around him tightly and protectively. Clark held Jon close in the way that Jon had been wishing for since his dad had found out about the X-K.

Before he could stop it, another wave of tears burst from Jon's eyes. It was too much. The hugging, the apologies, his dad saying that he loved him… It felt like a dream, even though his life was currently a nightmare.

Clark began to gently rock him. "Shhh…" He soothed, then pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Jon's head. "You're okay now. Everything's gonna be alright. You're safe, Jon."

Jon nodded as he curled a bit closer, cherishing his father's warmth while he could.

Maybe things would be alright, but he just hoped that this wasn't the calm before the storm.

Clark and Jon finally talked and things seem to be a bit better between them! I would love to know what you thought of the chapter!

Thanks for reading!