Fiction - Phoenix addendum
Here's another ficlet for the Smallville Drabble-a-thon that scribblinlenore is hosting. I started this one a while ago, based around 'Phoenix'. This encouraged me to go back and revisit it. Hope that you enjoy it:
Clark and Lex had both been back in Smallville a couple of weeks now. They'd come back quieter. Their eyes filled with pain that neither seemed to want to share, except perhaps, with each other. At least that's what Martha hoped for.
Clark stayed hidden out in his loft most of the time. She was frightened by how fragile he seemed. His skin might be unbreakable but his heart was all too human. She saw the effort Chloe and Pete were making to draw Clark out, but nothing they did was helping.
He went to school; he'd taken the makeup tests and passed them all so at least he was still with his class. Clark even went to the sessions with the counselor the school had assigned to him. They'd had no choice. He was classified as an 'at risk' juvenile. If they hadn't agreed to the sessions the state would have stepped in, maybe even tried to remove Clark from their care.
She'd reported back to them that most of the time he sat in silence, barely answering her questions. Fear gripped Martha's heart when she said Clark may need medication or even hospitalization if he didn't start to show some improvement. How would she protect her alien son if it came to that? Martha wished with all her heart that Clark could truly open up with her. But there were so many secrets standing in the way.
The hardest thing was that she knew the signs of depression, all too well. She'd battled them through the long, lost summer they'd just survived. When Clark was able to rest his sleep was broken, plagued with nightmares. The circles under his eyes, his increased jumpiness bore mute testimony to the demons he faced at night. As did his weight loss, her once bottomless pit of a son barely ate at all now.
Lex was no better. The ordeal he'd lived through had scarred him terribly, especially in the face of Helen's treachery. Two marriages, two annulments; all in less than one year, Martha knew he'd rushed headlong into both. That more than anything else showed her how starved he was for a home, for family. She was determined that if Lionel was incapable of giving Lex the love he so badly needed than he'd find it with them.
Thankfully Jonathan felt the same way. No true parent could see his pain and not be moved by it. Lex was still lost. Still cut off, afraid to reach out after what'd happened to him on that damned island. If they didn't reach out to him now he may never find his way back to them. Martha was terrified that if that happened, if Lex were truly lost to them, it would be the thing that would break her son, forever.
Two wounded boys. Both returned to them broken. By God, she'd find a way to mend them. It was too important a battle to lose; somehow, she'd get her family back.
Clark and Lex had both been back in Smallville a couple of weeks now. They'd come back quieter. Their eyes filled with pain that neither seemed to want to share, except perhaps, with each other. At least that's what Martha hoped for.
Clark stayed hidden out in his loft most of the time. She was frightened by how fragile he seemed. His skin might be unbreakable but his heart was all too human. She saw the effort Chloe and Pete were making to draw Clark out, but nothing they did was helping.
He went to school; he'd taken the makeup tests and passed them all so at least he was still with his class. Clark even went to the sessions with the counselor the school had assigned to him. They'd had no choice. He was classified as an 'at risk' juvenile. If they hadn't agreed to the sessions the state would have stepped in, maybe even tried to remove Clark from their care.
She'd reported back to them that most of the time he sat in silence, barely answering her questions. Fear gripped Martha's heart when she said Clark may need medication or even hospitalization if he didn't start to show some improvement. How would she protect her alien son if it came to that? Martha wished with all her heart that Clark could truly open up with her. But there were so many secrets standing in the way.
The hardest thing was that she knew the signs of depression, all too well. She'd battled them through the long, lost summer they'd just survived. When Clark was able to rest his sleep was broken, plagued with nightmares. The circles under his eyes, his increased jumpiness bore mute testimony to the demons he faced at night. As did his weight loss, her once bottomless pit of a son barely ate at all now.
Lex was no better. The ordeal he'd lived through had scarred him terribly, especially in the face of Helen's treachery. Two marriages, two annulments; all in less than one year, Martha knew he'd rushed headlong into both. That more than anything else showed her how starved he was for a home, for family. She was determined that if Lionel was incapable of giving Lex the love he so badly needed than he'd find it with them.
Thankfully Jonathan felt the same way. No true parent could see his pain and not be moved by it. Lex was still lost. Still cut off, afraid to reach out after what'd happened to him on that damned island. If they didn't reach out to him now he may never find his way back to them. Martha was terrified that if that happened, if Lex were truly lost to them, it would be the thing that would break her son, forever.
Two wounded boys. Both returned to them broken. By God, she'd find a way to mend them. It was too important a battle to lose; somehow, she'd get her family back.