FIC: In Memory 3/3
Title: In Memory
Fandom: Smallville/Charmed AU
Prompt: Table 1: Author's choice - Remember
Characters: Lena (OFC), Clark Kent, Martha Kent, Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, Dr. Garner, Lionel Luthor, Jonathan Kent, mentions of Phoebe Halliwell
Pairings: None
Rating: PG
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Angst
Summary: AU rewrite of Smallville season three episode "Memoria." Lena was abandoned in Metropolis at the age of five with no memory of where she came from. Now sixteen, Lex Luthor introduces her to an experimental treatment that just might help her to remember who she really is. But when Clark becomes involved Lena must reevaluate what's most important to her.
Previously: Part I, Part II
Part III:
In Memory
Part 3
“Did she say where they were?” Jonathan asked sitting on the couch while wishing that he was pacing. He had been surprised with an early release from the hospital that morning. However, the jubilation was a bit short-lived when Martha told him that Lena and Clark weren’t home.
“Just that they were in Metropolis. At first I thought… I mean it’s not like them, but maybe they were at a party or something, except Lena sounded so frightened Jonathan.”
“If we just knew where they were we could go get them,” Jonathan said with frustration.
“Well we-” Whatever Martha had been about to say was cut off when they heard the roar of the truck pull into the driveway. Jonathan and Martha hurriedly rose from the sofa and ran to the kitchen, tossing open the front door. What they saw stopped them in their tracks. Clark and Lena were slowly walking up the porch, Clark looking haggard and worn, and Lena supporting some of his weight as they painstakingly climbed the stairs.
“Clark!” Martha shouted, meeting them at the top step and grasping Clark’s arm, effectively trading his weight off of Lena. Jonathan and Martha assisted him inside to the couch and for a moment Lena just stood on the porch, watching the family through the open door, wondering once again if maybe things would be better if it were just the three of them.
Then Martha turned to Lena, staring from the living room back out to the door, meeting Lena’s eyes. “Lena,” she called. “Come inside, honey.”
-------------------------------------
Lena sat with her parents and Clark and explained everything that happened, from Lex approaching her with the proposal to begin treatments at Sommerholt, to Clark becoming an unwilling participant, to the night in Metropolis. Jonathan listened, tight-faced and angry, though at whom Lena could not readily tell. Martha was more sympathetic, running her hand down Lena’s arm as she talked, and encouraging her to continue whenever she stalled. When she finished she looked between the two, waiting for someone to comment.
“Lena…” Jonathan finally said. “I can’t even begin to explain how wrong what you did was. Trusting Dr. Garner, undergoing an experimental treatment that easily could’ve killed you… I… I don’t even know where to start.”
“I’m sorry,” Lena said, eyes moist. “I didn’t even think about any of that… I just… I wanted to remember so badly.”
“We know that, Lena, and please, please promise us that you’ll think things through a little bit more, come to us with things like this,” Martha said.
“I will.”
“Alright, now why don’t you go upstairs and change, okay?” Martha requested. Lena nodded, sparing a glance at her father, who still looked angry, and then at Clark before running up the stairs.
“How are you doing?” Martha asked her son once Lena had gone.
“Not too bad,” Clark said. “Sort of hungry, haven’t eaten in a while. I guess Lena loses her appetite when she’s nervous,” he joked.
“Alright, I’ll make you something,” Martha offered.
“I should call the school, you two are definitely not going to be going in today,” Jonathan remembered.
-------------------------------------
“Lena?” Martha called, knocking lightly on the door to Lena’s bedroom. She was carrying a tray heaped with pancakes and a glass of orange juice.
“Come in,” Lena said after a moment, sniffling. Martha pushed the door open to reveal Lena sitting on her bed, back pushed up against the wall, holding Midnight close to her chest.
“Hey baby, I thought you might be hungry,” Martha said, putting the tray down on Lena’s bedside table, and climbing up on the bed with her.
“I don’t think I could keep anything down,” Lena responded, a hand on her stomach. “I just keep seeing Clark passed out in that tank, makes me want to hurl.”
“I talked to Clark again about what happened… you were very brave, Lena. Moments like those… they really bring out a person’s true character, you did whatever it took to help Clark, that says a lot about who you are.”
“I never meant for anyone to get hurt,” she said, tears spilling out of her eyes. “I just wanted to know who I am, where I belong, is that really so wrong?”
“No baby, it’s not,” Martha responded, wrapping her arms around her daughter. She rested Lena’s head against her shoulder and gently ran her fingers through her hair. “I guess in this past year your father and I have been so wrapped up in Clark’s background, with the ship and Jor-El and all, that we really forgot to think about you, and how it was all affecting you. I won’t make that mistake again. But Lena you should never feel like you don’t belong here, you are a part of this family always.”
Lena nodded, burying her head in Martha’s shoulder as she cried. They remained that way for a while, Lena relieved to know that her mother loved her, and Martha counting her blessings that both of her children were still with her, whole and alive, after nearly losing both of them, Lena to her memories, and Clark to death.
-------------------------------------
Lena sat in the dark field, perched on the fence. She had used brushing Daybreak as an excuse to get out of the house, but hadn’t even been over to the barn. Throughout the day she had been able to feel her father’s barely controlled rage, and whether it was targeted at her or not, it was still stifling. Clark had decided that he was fully recovered, despite still looking like death-warmed-over, and it had taken all of Martha’s bribes and skill to keep him firmly rooted to the couch for most of the day. He still managed to weasel his way out of the house and into his loft, leaving Lena alone with both of her parents. Their concerned, angry, and confused thoughts really became too much for Lena to block out, and so she used Daybreak as an escape route.
Paws the cat jumped into her lap, curling into a ball and staring up at her with a somehow concerned-looking stare. “I’m okay, Paws,” she reassured the cat. “I’m a little disappointed that after all this the only thing I remember really is my mother’s name, but I’ll deal, really.”
Footsteps in the grass drew Lena’s attention and she turned toward the sound to find Lex Luthor stepping towards her out of the shadows. “Lex, hi,” Lena said a little uncertainly, shifting Paws into her arms and standing up.
“Lena… I just checked on Clark, he seems much better than before,” Lex said evenly.
“Yeah, thank God,” Lena responded.
“I don’t know how my father found out about your sessions, Lena,” Lex came right out with it.
“I assume he spoke with Dr. Garner,” Lena shrugged. “How is he by the way?”
“He’s in a coma. It appears that we will have to look elsewhere for solutions to our memory problems.”
“No, Lex. I’m finished. What happened yesterday - with Clark getting hurt and everything - it’s just not worth the risk. I think we’d both benefit if we would just stop looking backwards, and start worrying more about the future.”
“I’ve heard the speech plenty of times, but I never thought I would hear it from you.” Lex sounded disappointed, and for a moment Lena felt like a kid being chastised.
Lena stared squarely into Lex’s eyes. “You know what, who am I to lecture you, right? Do what you want, Lex, and I’ll do what I want to.”
“You can’t tell me that you suddenly don’t want to restore your memory.”
“I never said that. I just think if it’s going to happen, it’s not going to involve some crazy treatment with meteor rocks, okay? Besides… did you even remember what you were after?”
“I was getting close,” Lex responded. “I was having more flashes during the day. I think it was all within my grasp.”
“Then I’m sorry that your father managed to get in your way again,” Lena sighed.
Lex just shrugged her comment off. “Lena… I have no way of knowing if my father’s fascination with Clark is expanding now to include you, but I would suggest that you be careful.”
“I will,” Lena answered. She watched him walk away, listened for the sound of his Porsche flying down the driveway, wondering at the conflicting emotions she sensed in him. All of this just reiterated what she already believed about Lex, that he wanted so badly to be good, but that there was darkness inside of him, struggling to take over.
Lena snuggled Paws closer to her, feeling the cat’s purring as she stroked her fur. She made to sit down again when she was suddenly struck with a vision, but it was more than that, it was a memory.
“I’m just going to say a little spell that will make you fall asleep, and when you wake up, you’ll have a new life,” her mother says, holding her hands in hers. They’re in Metropolis now, not far from the building where Lena was found. Her backpack and Midnight are on the ground next to her mother, and her father is sitting beside her, hovering awkwardly as if he cannot stand to be any further away from Lena.
“But I’m not sleepy, Mommy,” she responds.
“You’re not sleepy,” Phoebe laughs. “I know baby, but you will be.”
“And I don’t need a new life… I like mine, it’s nice.”
“I like it too,” she whispers, pulling Lena close to her. “But you can’t hold on to the way things were, you have to be able to leave the past behind and move on. You’ll learn that, when you’re older.”
“Are you going away?”
Phoebe pulls away from her and looks her in the eye. “I will always be with you, Lena, always.”
“But you’re sad, I can feel it.”
“Yeah I am, but everything will be better soon, you’ll see. When you wake up, everything will just get better and better.”
“Okay. Then maybe I am sleepy,” she smiles.
“Alright, sweetie.” Phoebe holds Lena close, presses kisses onto her head and then murmurs in a low voice, “A mother’s promise to keep, my darling girl fall asleep, not to wake until I say the rhyme, just to give me a little time.” Lena’s eyes close, her breathing begins to even out, but she can still hear the next few words.
“Okay Alec, let’s say the spell.”
“You’re still sure about this?”
“I am, Lena will be the Halliwell who survives this, she just has to be.”
“From the top then.”
The next few rhymes fell on deaf ears as Lena finally fell asleep.
Lena blinked, her eyes full of tears once again. She fell awkwardly onto the ground, leaning against the fence post as she ran the memory over and over again in her mind. There was so much in it she didn’t even know how to begin to analyze it, but the most important thing was the love she felt. Her parents truly did love her, they didn’t abandon her because they hated her or they couldn’t take care of her. They did it to save her somehow. “Lena will be the Halliwell who survives this...”
Lena closed her eyes, focusing on the memory, solidifying it in her mind. She opened her eyes with a resolve to leave the memory where it belonged, to not let it and the possible lead it represented, take over her life, at least not today. “Come on Paws, let’s go check on Clark.” As she walked to Clark’s loft, she thought of her biological parents, and couldn’t help but think that they would be happy with the family Lena was now a part of.
Fandom: Smallville/Charmed AU
Prompt: Table 1: Author's choice - Remember
Characters: Lena (OFC), Clark Kent, Martha Kent, Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, Dr. Garner, Lionel Luthor, Jonathan Kent, mentions of Phoebe Halliwell
Pairings: None
Rating: PG
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Angst
Summary: AU rewrite of Smallville season three episode "Memoria." Lena was abandoned in Metropolis at the age of five with no memory of where she came from. Now sixteen, Lex Luthor introduces her to an experimental treatment that just might help her to remember who she really is. But when Clark becomes involved Lena must reevaluate what's most important to her.
Previously: Part I, Part II
Part III:
In Memory
Part 3
“Did she say where they were?” Jonathan asked sitting on the couch while wishing that he was pacing. He had been surprised with an early release from the hospital that morning. However, the jubilation was a bit short-lived when Martha told him that Lena and Clark weren’t home.
“Just that they were in Metropolis. At first I thought… I mean it’s not like them, but maybe they were at a party or something, except Lena sounded so frightened Jonathan.”
“If we just knew where they were we could go get them,” Jonathan said with frustration.
“Well we-” Whatever Martha had been about to say was cut off when they heard the roar of the truck pull into the driveway. Jonathan and Martha hurriedly rose from the sofa and ran to the kitchen, tossing open the front door. What they saw stopped them in their tracks. Clark and Lena were slowly walking up the porch, Clark looking haggard and worn, and Lena supporting some of his weight as they painstakingly climbed the stairs.
“Clark!” Martha shouted, meeting them at the top step and grasping Clark’s arm, effectively trading his weight off of Lena. Jonathan and Martha assisted him inside to the couch and for a moment Lena just stood on the porch, watching the family through the open door, wondering once again if maybe things would be better if it were just the three of them.
Then Martha turned to Lena, staring from the living room back out to the door, meeting Lena’s eyes. “Lena,” she called. “Come inside, honey.”
-------------------------------------
Lena sat with her parents and Clark and explained everything that happened, from Lex approaching her with the proposal to begin treatments at Sommerholt, to Clark becoming an unwilling participant, to the night in Metropolis. Jonathan listened, tight-faced and angry, though at whom Lena could not readily tell. Martha was more sympathetic, running her hand down Lena’s arm as she talked, and encouraging her to continue whenever she stalled. When she finished she looked between the two, waiting for someone to comment.
“Lena…” Jonathan finally said. “I can’t even begin to explain how wrong what you did was. Trusting Dr. Garner, undergoing an experimental treatment that easily could’ve killed you… I… I don’t even know where to start.”
“I’m sorry,” Lena said, eyes moist. “I didn’t even think about any of that… I just… I wanted to remember so badly.”
“We know that, Lena, and please, please promise us that you’ll think things through a little bit more, come to us with things like this,” Martha said.
“I will.”
“Alright, now why don’t you go upstairs and change, okay?” Martha requested. Lena nodded, sparing a glance at her father, who still looked angry, and then at Clark before running up the stairs.
“How are you doing?” Martha asked her son once Lena had gone.
“Not too bad,” Clark said. “Sort of hungry, haven’t eaten in a while. I guess Lena loses her appetite when she’s nervous,” he joked.
“Alright, I’ll make you something,” Martha offered.
“I should call the school, you two are definitely not going to be going in today,” Jonathan remembered.
-------------------------------------
“Lena?” Martha called, knocking lightly on the door to Lena’s bedroom. She was carrying a tray heaped with pancakes and a glass of orange juice.
“Come in,” Lena said after a moment, sniffling. Martha pushed the door open to reveal Lena sitting on her bed, back pushed up against the wall, holding Midnight close to her chest.
“Hey baby, I thought you might be hungry,” Martha said, putting the tray down on Lena’s bedside table, and climbing up on the bed with her.
“I don’t think I could keep anything down,” Lena responded, a hand on her stomach. “I just keep seeing Clark passed out in that tank, makes me want to hurl.”
“I talked to Clark again about what happened… you were very brave, Lena. Moments like those… they really bring out a person’s true character, you did whatever it took to help Clark, that says a lot about who you are.”
“I never meant for anyone to get hurt,” she said, tears spilling out of her eyes. “I just wanted to know who I am, where I belong, is that really so wrong?”
“No baby, it’s not,” Martha responded, wrapping her arms around her daughter. She rested Lena’s head against her shoulder and gently ran her fingers through her hair. “I guess in this past year your father and I have been so wrapped up in Clark’s background, with the ship and Jor-El and all, that we really forgot to think about you, and how it was all affecting you. I won’t make that mistake again. But Lena you should never feel like you don’t belong here, you are a part of this family always.”
Lena nodded, burying her head in Martha’s shoulder as she cried. They remained that way for a while, Lena relieved to know that her mother loved her, and Martha counting her blessings that both of her children were still with her, whole and alive, after nearly losing both of them, Lena to her memories, and Clark to death.
-------------------------------------
Lena sat in the dark field, perched on the fence. She had used brushing Daybreak as an excuse to get out of the house, but hadn’t even been over to the barn. Throughout the day she had been able to feel her father’s barely controlled rage, and whether it was targeted at her or not, it was still stifling. Clark had decided that he was fully recovered, despite still looking like death-warmed-over, and it had taken all of Martha’s bribes and skill to keep him firmly rooted to the couch for most of the day. He still managed to weasel his way out of the house and into his loft, leaving Lena alone with both of her parents. Their concerned, angry, and confused thoughts really became too much for Lena to block out, and so she used Daybreak as an escape route.
Paws the cat jumped into her lap, curling into a ball and staring up at her with a somehow concerned-looking stare. “I’m okay, Paws,” she reassured the cat. “I’m a little disappointed that after all this the only thing I remember really is my mother’s name, but I’ll deal, really.”
Footsteps in the grass drew Lena’s attention and she turned toward the sound to find Lex Luthor stepping towards her out of the shadows. “Lex, hi,” Lena said a little uncertainly, shifting Paws into her arms and standing up.
“Lena… I just checked on Clark, he seems much better than before,” Lex said evenly.
“Yeah, thank God,” Lena responded.
“I don’t know how my father found out about your sessions, Lena,” Lex came right out with it.
“I assume he spoke with Dr. Garner,” Lena shrugged. “How is he by the way?”
“He’s in a coma. It appears that we will have to look elsewhere for solutions to our memory problems.”
“No, Lex. I’m finished. What happened yesterday - with Clark getting hurt and everything - it’s just not worth the risk. I think we’d both benefit if we would just stop looking backwards, and start worrying more about the future.”
“I’ve heard the speech plenty of times, but I never thought I would hear it from you.” Lex sounded disappointed, and for a moment Lena felt like a kid being chastised.
Lena stared squarely into Lex’s eyes. “You know what, who am I to lecture you, right? Do what you want, Lex, and I’ll do what I want to.”
“You can’t tell me that you suddenly don’t want to restore your memory.”
“I never said that. I just think if it’s going to happen, it’s not going to involve some crazy treatment with meteor rocks, okay? Besides… did you even remember what you were after?”
“I was getting close,” Lex responded. “I was having more flashes during the day. I think it was all within my grasp.”
“Then I’m sorry that your father managed to get in your way again,” Lena sighed.
Lex just shrugged her comment off. “Lena… I have no way of knowing if my father’s fascination with Clark is expanding now to include you, but I would suggest that you be careful.”
“I will,” Lena answered. She watched him walk away, listened for the sound of his Porsche flying down the driveway, wondering at the conflicting emotions she sensed in him. All of this just reiterated what she already believed about Lex, that he wanted so badly to be good, but that there was darkness inside of him, struggling to take over.
Lena snuggled Paws closer to her, feeling the cat’s purring as she stroked her fur. She made to sit down again when she was suddenly struck with a vision, but it was more than that, it was a memory.
“I’m just going to say a little spell that will make you fall asleep, and when you wake up, you’ll have a new life,” her mother says, holding her hands in hers. They’re in Metropolis now, not far from the building where Lena was found. Her backpack and Midnight are on the ground next to her mother, and her father is sitting beside her, hovering awkwardly as if he cannot stand to be any further away from Lena.
“But I’m not sleepy, Mommy,” she responds.
“You’re not sleepy,” Phoebe laughs. “I know baby, but you will be.”
“And I don’t need a new life… I like mine, it’s nice.”
“I like it too,” she whispers, pulling Lena close to her. “But you can’t hold on to the way things were, you have to be able to leave the past behind and move on. You’ll learn that, when you’re older.”
“Are you going away?”
Phoebe pulls away from her and looks her in the eye. “I will always be with you, Lena, always.”
“But you’re sad, I can feel it.”
“Yeah I am, but everything will be better soon, you’ll see. When you wake up, everything will just get better and better.”
“Okay. Then maybe I am sleepy,” she smiles.
“Alright, sweetie.” Phoebe holds Lena close, presses kisses onto her head and then murmurs in a low voice, “A mother’s promise to keep, my darling girl fall asleep, not to wake until I say the rhyme, just to give me a little time.” Lena’s eyes close, her breathing begins to even out, but she can still hear the next few words.
“Okay Alec, let’s say the spell.”
“You’re still sure about this?”
“I am, Lena will be the Halliwell who survives this, she just has to be.”
“From the top then.”
The next few rhymes fell on deaf ears as Lena finally fell asleep.
Lena blinked, her eyes full of tears once again. She fell awkwardly onto the ground, leaning against the fence post as she ran the memory over and over again in her mind. There was so much in it she didn’t even know how to begin to analyze it, but the most important thing was the love she felt. Her parents truly did love her, they didn’t abandon her because they hated her or they couldn’t take care of her. They did it to save her somehow. “Lena will be the Halliwell who survives this...”
Lena closed her eyes, focusing on the memory, solidifying it in her mind. She opened her eyes with a resolve to leave the memory where it belonged, to not let it and the possible lead it represented, take over her life, at least not today. “Come on Paws, let’s go check on Clark.” As she walked to Clark’s loft, she thought of her biological parents, and couldn’t help but think that they would be happy with the family Lena was now a part of.