AN: Not sure that anyone is actually going to be interested in this story getting an ending but I got inspiration on it again lately and am determined to give it an ending. I'm working on chapter 20 and plan on 21 or maybe 22 to be the last chapters. Here's to hoping it gets finished and I can mark another chapter complete. I have no doubt that if you are interested in seeing how this ends still you are going to have to reread previous chapters. I know I did when I started writing again. Happy Reading to anyone interested! If no one is, then I guess I finish this for myself!
Outside room 105, Cecily and Jonathan paused for a moment before Cecily reached out and opened the door slowly. She wasn't sure what she was walking into.
Cecily walked into the room first, even though she could feel her father's presence right behind her. She felt tears welling up in her eyes again as soon as she saw Lex.
A bandage now covered the wound above his right eye, but the eye was black and blue and swollen. In fact that whole side of his face looked puffy. Both of his arms were covered with scrapes and bruises.
Holding back the tears, Cecily walked over to the side of the bed.
"Lex," she said out softly, her hands resting on the bed rails as she was afraid to touch him out of fear of causing him more pain.
At the sound of her voice, Lex opened his eyes. As he saw her, a smile came to his face.
"So am I off the hook for being late?" Lex asked lightly as he reached his hand out to her.
Cecily reached down and took it gently in her own.
"I guess I can let it slide this time," she told him going along with his joke. She knew then that he was going to be okay. "I love you," she told him.
"I love you too," he told her. He took his eyes off of her and looked at her father who was standing behind her. "Thanks for your help tonight Mr. Kent."
"No problem," Jonathan told him. "And how about we drop the Mr. Kent thing. Call me Jonathan," he told him, still not sure either of them would be comfortable with the father and son labels yet.
"Should I call your father and have him postpone the wedding?" Cecily asked as a silence fell over the room.
"Postpone the wedding? Why?" Lex asked her.
"I just wasn't sure if you were going to be up to it or not."
"This isn't going to keep me from marrying you. Even if I have to get married on crutches or something, I still wouldn't have cancelled Saturday. Nothing is going to get in the way of our wedding Saturday," Lex told her. "Nothing."
Cecily nodded as she heard her father speak up behind her.
"And if you'll still have me, I'd be honored to walk my daughter down the aisle."
Cecily gasped in shock. She had resigned herself to the idea of her Dad not being at the wedding and now here he was asking her if he could walk her down the aisle. Once again she felt tears coming to her eyes.
"Of course I want you to," Cecily said as she let go of Lex's hand to throw her arms around her father.
Lex watched daughter and father embrace with a feeling of longing. Ever since he had first met the Kents, he had envied the closeness they shared. The way they openly showed their love for one another. He couldn't help but wonder if he would ever really be a part of that even after he and Cecily were married.
"Look, I'm sorry about the way I've been acting," Jonathan said, as Cecily took a step back from him, though she still had one arm around his waist. Not ready to let her go either, he had one arm across her shoulders as he continued to speak. "I was doing to the two of you exactly what Martha's father did to us and I don't want to do that. I want the relationship we've always had back. I've already missed your graduation but I don't want to miss another important day in your life."
"I've missed you, Daddy," Cecily replied, not giving a second thought about whether or not to accept the apology. There really was no decision to make on the subject. She never had wanted it to come down to either her father or Lex. She wanted both of them in her life, and it finally looked as if that was going to happen.
Knowing that Cecily wasn't the only one who had been affected, Jonathan reached out with his other hand and took a hold of Lex's hand.
"Somehow, all of us are going to figure out how to be a family," Jonathan told them, looking at Lex as he said the words. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, though. His relationship with Lex had a long way to come. He also knew he had some repairing to do with his relationships with his wife, son, and daughter. And then there was a matter of Clark's secret. Did they tell Lex? Could they really be a family if they didn't? In the end, Jonathan knew that the decision whether or not to tell Lex his secret rested with Clark. Still, it was something that was going to affect them all.
Those were questions that weren't going to be answered tonight nor did they need to be. The important thing was that the first steps to restoring the closeness of the family had been taken. They'd figure the rest out as they went along, just as they had weathered every problem they had faced before this.
Climbing out of the family truck, Clark carefully shut the door, trying to stay focused on how much force he used on it despite the turmoil of thoughts he was experiencing. He had just come from the hospital, and what he had learned there had him once again debating the wisdom of keeping the truth about what happened on the bridge the day Lex and he had first met a secret. Compounding those feelings was the medical report the doctor's had given them.
Seeing his father heading toward the barn, Clark went to join him.
"Hey Clark," Jonathan said, looking up at the sound of footsteps in the barn. "How are Lana and Lex.?"
"Lana's doing fine. Nell took her home right after lunch."
"That's good news," Jonathan said, pausing in his work to look over at his son. He was well aware that only half of his question had been answered and he didn't like the implications of that. "And Lex?" he asked again.
Clark sighed. "They're keeping him another day. Apparently the headache isn't going away, he's been nauseous and a MRI showed the swelling had increased from the original one."
Jonathan sighed. It wasn't the report he had been hoping for at all. "Cecily still there?"
Despite Dr. Evan's request, Cecily had insisted on spending last night at the hospital by Lex's side. The doctor had finally given in, and allowed her to stay, though he had shooed the rest of the family out until regular visiting hours.
"Yeah. Lex and I tried to convince her to go home and get some sleep but she wasn't budging."
"As soon as I'm finished with this, I'll head over there myself. Perhaps she'll listen to me," Jonathan said, though he knew he was in for a fight. It was hard to get Cecily to do something when she had decided to do something else.
"Well, I hope you have better luck. She looked exhausted," Clark commented, as he debated on whether or not he should bring up the other topic that had been on his mind since his arrival at Smallville Medical that morning.
Ever an observant person, Jonathan picked up on Clark's troubled thoughts. "What else is on your mind, son?" he asked, hoping that Clark wouldn't brush the direct inquiry away.
There was a short pause of silence before Clark finally looked up at his father. "Did you know that Lex still has nightmares about the accident from the bridge?" Clark finally asked.
Jonathan Kent shook his head in response though he doubted that it was a question that Clark expected an answer too.
"When I went to visit, I showed up just as Lex was waking up from one of his nightmares. I knew the accident bothered him but I didn't realize it was that bad. And I know you have your concerns about telling him the truth, and I do understand them, but what if I could have spared him the nightmares from telling him the truth? And what about now? Cecily has admitted to me that knowing my secret has put stress on their relationship already. I know she would never give away my secret but, Dad, I don't want to be the reason that her marriage doesn't work!"
"I understand how you feel, son," Jonathan said slowly when he was sure that Clark was done speaking. "I've been thinking a lot on that subject myself. I think that Cecily's upcoming marriage to Lex does change the situation. I still have my doubts about whether Lex can be trusted with your secret but he will be family soon and you're right, trying to keep it from him is going to put stress on the family dynamics on all levels." Jonathan Kent put aside the pitchfork he was using and closed the distance between him and his son. Resting a gloved hand on Clark's shoulder, he continued to speak.
"It's not an easy decision to make, son, and there is no clear cut right or wrong answer."
"Does that mean you aren't going to just tell me what to do this time?"
Jonathan smiled. He did have a tendency of giving out orders and expecting his family to follow them. It worked well while Cecily and Clark had been growing up, but they weren't kids anymore.
"Ultimately, it's your life, Clark. Your mother and I of course want to protect you but sometimes parents can't always protect their kids. There are a lot of things to consider though. First off, telling Lex your secret might not have spared him from the nightmares. Remember when you ran over that rabbit with the tractor?"
"Did you have to remind me of that," Clark replied, shuttering at the thought. He hadn't seen the little creature until it was too late to stop or move the lumbering machine out of the path of the rabbit. He had seen that scene repeated many times in his head over the days that had followed.
"Sorry," Jonathan told him, "but it illustrates the point I'm trying to make. If hitting a rabbit stayed with you, imagine if that had been a person. Whether or not he knew you couldn't be hurt, he still hit you. Chances are that would still haunt him even if he knew your secret."
"I guess there is some logic to that," Clark said, contemplating his father's words.
"A second thing to consider is that it's going to be hard to keep things from him once he's part of the family. There are going to be more and more things that we'll have to try explaining and eventually we might have trouble keeping those explanations straight. Hard feelings have a way of increasing over time."
"So, you think I should tell him?" Clark asked in disbelief. He hadn't been able to imagine any scenario in which his father would be okay with letting Lex Luthor in on the family secret.
"I do," Jonathan said. "The more I mull it over, the more I'm convinced that it's the only way to keep this family close, like we've always have been. I don't like having to keep secrets from one another. As much as I hate that Cecily kept her relationship with Lex a secret for so long, I can't ignore my part in that decision. If I hadn't been so closed minded, and against everything to do with the Luthors, then I would've known what was going on in her life. Who knows, maybe I would have even started seeing a different side of Lex, the one that she sees. Perhaps things would have even turned out differently."
Jonathan paused, considering his next words. He wasn't sure how much he wanted to share with his son. Then again, keeping secrets from one another is how things had gotten to where they had these last few weeks. Neither Cecily nor Clark were really kids anymore. They were both old enough to be making their own decisions and not be sheltered from things as much. Perhaps it was time that they knew more about their family's connections to Lionel Luthor.
"Truth is, Clark, you've been right all along. Lex isn't his father but I have been letting how I feel about Lionel dictates how I feel about Lex without really getting to know him."
"Why do you hate Lionel so much?" Clark asked. "I mean I know what he's done to others in the area, like Pete's family but . . ."
Clark let his words trail off, unsure of exactly how to phrase what was going through his head.
"But you don't think that those things justify the intensity of my feelings toward the Luthors," Jonathan said, finishing the thought for his son.
Clark shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I always get the feeling that it's more personal than just neighbors being wronged."
"Because it is," Jonathan replied, seeing his opportunity to discuss the topic of how Clark came to be a part of their family. Walking over to a bundle of hay, Jonathan sat down and motioned for Clark to sit down on the bundle nearby. He didn't wait for Clark to comply before he continued. "I told you that we found you during the meteor storm but what I didn't tell you was how we went about arranging for your adoption."
Clark's curiosity was piqued as he sat down next to his father, as Jonathan continued speaking.
Knowing that he couldn't stop now that he had breeched the subject, Jonathan kept talking, hoping the right words would come as he tried to explain to Clark the events that allowed him and Martha to keep Clark. Jonathan told him about using another pick-up to haul the ship and Clark away from the crash site. About crossing paths with Lionel, about transporting Lex to the hospital, Lionel's gratitude for saving Lex's life which led to Jonathan turning to him to help arrange Clark's adoption.
"There was one more stipulation to the deal though," Jonathan continued as he finished up the story. "Lionel wanted me to use my influence in the community to convince the Ross brother's to sell their cream corn factory. Without me getting involved Pete's father and uncle never would have sold to Lionel and the Luthor's never would have gotten a foothold in the community."
"You don't know that Dad. If he couldn't buy out the Rosses, Lionel probably would have just moved onto another property. It may not have been as soon, or in the same way, but Lionel still could've built a factory here in Smallville. There is a lot of empty land."
Jonathan took a moment to take in Clark's words. There was a certain logic to them, one that Jonathan had never considered before. "True, but I wouldn't have been a part of it. I can never forgive myself for my part in Lionel moving into this community, and yet I can't say that I wouldn't do it all over again if given the choice. I love you, Clark, just as much as I would if you were my own flesh and blood."
"I know that, Dad," Clark told him. "That is one thing in my life I have never doubted," he assured him. "And I guess I understand your dislike of Lionel but taking over the Ross' cream corn factory and establishing the fertilizer plant and everything else he has done in Smallville, but that was all Lionel. Lex wasn't a part of that. Since coming to Smallville, Lex has turned the plant around, fought to keep it open and save the jobs of Gabe Sullivan and the other employees, as well as saved the Talon from becoming a parking garage. Could you really see Lionel doing any of those things?"
Jonathan nodded. "No, son, I can't say that I could," he admitted. "I guess I was just so blinded by my guilt and hatred toward Lionel that I didn't want to believe that his son could be any different."
"And now," Clark ventured.
"When I found him last night, the first thing that Lex asked me about was Lana. I guess that there made me realize that Lex could put somebody else before himself, something I've never seen from Lionel. He couldn't even help his own son out in that cornfield that day. He was afraid to touch him, like whatever happened to Lex that day could've affected him just by touching him."
"Not exactly the kind of father figure I'd want to grow up around," Clark commented. "I guess Lex and I were both lucky you were there to help us that day."
"Maybe. I haven't exactly been the ideal father here lately. Boycotting my own daughter's graduation ceremony because she chose to make her own decision."
"Nobody's perfect. I seem to remember someone telling me that the important thing isn't making no mistake but making sure you learn from the one's you do make."
"You're right," Jonathan admitted, realizing that they were words that he needed to be reminded of just as he had known they were words that his children needed to be taught.
Jonathan got to his feet. "I guess I better get to mucking these stalls so that I can head over to the hospital. Even if I can't convince Cecily to go home to get some sleep, at least I can offer her some support."
"Why don't you go now, and I'll take care of this," Clark said.
"You do enough around here as it is Clark," Jonathan replied, hesitant to lay his own responsibilities onto his son's shoulders.
"I don't mind helping out. Besides, I'll be able to get it done in no time, if I want. Or maybe thinking over the decision I need to make will be easier while I'm working," Clark reminded him.
Jonathan smiled. The words were both a reminder that Clark was quite different from him and yet had still picked up some of his habits over the past twelve years. It was a reminder that family was just about blood, but the bond that people shared.
"Okay then," Jonathan said, grabbing the nearby pitchfork and handing it to his son. As Clark took it, Jonathan continued speaking, turning the conversation back to the topic that had started the whole exchange. "Like I said Clark, I'm leaving the decision about whether to share your secret with Lex in your hands, but there is one thing I insist on. When you tell him, I want you to do it here, on the farm, where we can be sure there are no hidden cameras or people lurking in the shadows."
Deep down, Jonathan knew that Clark would bring Lex into the circle of people who knew about his true origins, whether Clark realized that now or not. It was something that Clark had wanted to do for a long time, and now perhaps the reasons were more compelling than ever.
"I will," Clark replied, turning to get started on mucking the stalls as Jonathan headed out of the barn and to the pickup that Clark had arrived in not long ago.