Subject - Chapter 34
See previous parts here...
Short summary: Clark's health gets worse before it gets better and revelations come from an unexpected source.
Chapter 34
The next time Clark woke, he felt much worse. He was on the ventilator and in a lot more pain. Things weren't as clear...
Everything seemed darker and more confusing and there were balloons... He was confused by that.
Clark looked out at the garden where the snow had melted. The sky was overcast and there were long, dark shadows underneath the trees.
Clark lifted his head to get a better look and thought he saw a figure standing still in the shade of the trees outside. Groggy from the drugs in his system, he didn't know who was watching him.
A gentle touch brought his eyes up to Dr. Edwards. He stood next to Clark's mother and looked down at him. He looked grim. "You're still really sick... You need to relax, Clark."
He couldn't relax. Who was watching him from the trees? Why did the room look so disjointed? The room started to spin as Clark's ears began to buzz.
Dr. Edwards checked Clark's eyes quickly with a pen light and smiled encouragingly at him. Clark clamped his eyes shut as a wave of dizziness overtook him. Dr. Edwards looked concerned, "Are you in pain?"
Clark shook his head, his vision was dim and his chest really hurt but he didn't want to sleep again. He needed to stay awake, because he had to get out...
He fought the restraints. There was enough play in the ankle restraints the bedding was disturbed, and he kicked the quilted pillow his mom made out of bed.
Perplexed by Clark's silent struggle, the doctor asked, "Clark, you still with us? You need to stop fighting the restraints." Clark's silent struggle continued as the doctor's voice seemed like it was coming from down a long tunnel.
Dr. Edwards felt Clark's forehead and frowned up at one of the monitors. He looked at his parents. "His fever is up and his eyes are glassy, I think he might be delirious.... I'll order a sedative with the pain killers. That should help him get a deeper, more restorative sleep..."
Clark didn't want to sleep. He wanted to leave...
Tears stung his eyes and, frustrated, he continued to pull weakly against the soft yet unyielding restraints. His clenched fists pulled against the cuffs and his feet shifted as his mother looked down in concern. Her cool fingers gently brushed the hair from his eyes. "You need to relax, sweetheart." She looked up at the doctor. "Is he going to get better? He's never been this sick before..."
The doctor touched her arm in a gesture of comfort. "The pneumonia is about as bad as I'd ever seen... He's very sick but he's very strong so I'm hopeful."
Clark weakly pulled on the restraints and looked desperately up at his parents.
"Can't you release him? I think the restraints are scaring him...."
The doctor stopped writing and looked over at Clark as he weakly struggled. He sighed and looked back at Clark's parents. "I'm sorry. If he keeps thrashing around like this, it'll be hard to keep a line in... The restraints are necessary until he gets better."
Dr. Edwards left and his mother looked sadly down at Clark as he continued to strain against the restraints. A nurse stepped up to his mother's side and cleaned the injection port.
The nameless nurse looked down at him. "This will help with the pain, Clark, and there's also a sedative to help you sleep." He looked sadly at her as she injected the drugs into his IV line.
His mother picked up his pillow and placed it back on the bed. The nurse shortened the ankle restraints and straightened the covers.
His mom sat in a chair next to the bed and picked up a book from the bedside table. His Mom held Clark's hand with one of hers as the other held open the book. Warmth spread through his body as the drugs started to work. His eyelids became heavy and fluttered closed as his mother read to him.
Soothed by her melodious voice, his pain and exhaustion eased by the drugs, Clark went back to sleep.
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Clark awoke, confused and groggy. He vaguely remembered pain… Colorful balloons, flashes of faces: Chloe, Lana, his parents, Dr. Edwards, Gus, the red haired nurse, others he didn't know...
He remembered being restrained but not being able to get up... Wanting to scream and not being able to...
He tried to get a better grasp on the images and sounds that skated on the edges of his memory, but couldn't…
He looked around, trying to get his bearings. The light was very dim… The room he was in was shiny and looked like it was made completely out of glass...
That frightened him; the sense of déjà vu was overwhelming. It seemed familiar and scary, but he didn't remember his chest hurting so much before...
Unable to speak because of a breathing tube down his throat, he tried to pull it out but his hands were restrained. He could feel something soft, yet unyielding, around his wrists and ankles. A heavy strap across his chest kept him prone...
He felt strangely weak, but it wasn't like the after-affects of kryptonite poisoning... It was more like when he had been held in the dark back in the lab. The similarity made him feel more anxious about being tied up. He pulled weakly against the restraints.
He shivered with the cold and was confused about where he was... Was he in a lab? Had he dreamed it being over? Had he dreamed his parents coming?
Clark panicked and tried harder to fight the restraints; he fought to take deeper breaths than the machine would allow as his head spun and his ears buzzed...
He had to leave, but then soft hands stilled one of his. He looked to find his mother grasping a hand in both of hers. Rough, dry hands grasped his other hand. Clark looked up to his father.
His mother tried to soothe him. "Clark, sweetheart.... It's okay, don't fight. You're safe... you're in Lex's house, but you're safe."
Confused, Clark looked around and remembered. He couldn't smell the flowers because of the tube in his throat, but he could see a glorious display behind his mother. The tension eased from Clark's body, the exhaustion taking over as he relaxed.
Oddly, there was a bundle of shiny, Mylar balloons attached to the end of his bed. His sight was too blurry to read the print. He couldn't make sense of it...
He blearily looked at his parents and they both looked like they hadn't been to sleep. His mother's hair was mussed and her make-up free face was drawn and pale; his father's eyes were lined with dark circles. Also, he had uncharacteristically heavy stubble on his face... They must have been sitting by his bedside all night.
Clark looked closer. No, not all night; it looked more like it had been days they'd sat up with him... His father had a good three or four day growth of beard at least.
He again wondered how long he'd been there but Clark was calmed by his parents. Their hands held his and his mother's voice soothed him as she softly whispered tender words of love.
He relaxed further as the drugs and the exhaustion he felt took over. His breathing slowed to allow the ventilator take over the job and let him rest again. His eyes fluttered closed as his mom softly hummed a lullaby and stroked his hair...
Comforted, Clark drifted back to sleep.
------
Clark drifted in and out of consciousness the next few days. He vaguely remembered faces: Gus, Chloe, Lana, but never Lex...
His fever was high but then it finally broke and he got the sleep he so desperately needed.
One evening, he woke in a fright; his heart racing from a vaguely remembered bad dream. He was panicked when he couldn't yell out... The breathing tube was still in and he was still restrained.
His mother leaned over him. "Clark, its okay... You were just having a bad dream." She gently cupped his cheek in one hand and smiled at him. "It was just a dream."
Clark wanted nothing more than to leave... He didn't trust Lex and didn't like being in his house.
The sun was setting and the shadows outside were long. The shadows didn't hide the figure Clark could again see still standing out in the garden and it frightened him.
Dr. Edwards came into Clark's view and smiled. "I think you're finally out of danger and showing signs of improvement. After weeks of cloudy skies the sun finally came out the last couple of days, and I think that helped..."
Clark's brows knitted in confusion. Weeks? He'd been there weeks?
He couldn't feel kryptonite. Were the weeks of cloudy skies why he felt so weak and was still in so much pain? He wanted to ask but he was voiceless and his arms were restrained.
"It's time to get you off that vent." He could only raise his eyebrows in response as his parents smiled warmly at him. "I'm going to remove the breathing tube now."
The doctor turned off the machine and removed the Velcro strap that held the breathing tube in place. He told Clark to cough and as he did, Dr. Edwards pulled out the long plastic tube.
The irritation to his throat made Clark to cough deep, hacking coughs that caused his chest to burn and made his head spin. He was helpless to fight it... Still restrained, he couldn't turn over onto his side like he wanted and it frustrated him.
The coughing slowed and finally stopped, but the fit had taken what little strength Clark had left. He leaned his head back and pulled weakly at the restraints. Too tired to do anything more than that, Clark glared at the doctor and said in a hoarse whisper, "Un-cuff me..."
Doctor Edwards shook his head and softly pointed out. "I'll remove those when you don't need the IV anymore."
Clark growled his question, making it a challenge... "Am I a prisoner?"
The doctor paled and cleared his throat. "No, of course not..."
"Prove it." The doctor hesitated and Clark tried with all his might to sound menacing, "Un-cuff me!" but he wasn't sure it worked. The doctor just sighed indulgently in response.
"You still need medicine, the antibiotics and other drugs. If you pull the IV out again, I'm not sure I'll be able to get it back in. It was hard enough to do the last time without kryptonite..."
Furious at being effectively dismissed, this time Clark managed a growl. "Un-cuff me...."
The doctor gave Clark a pained look and then looked at Clark's parents. They didn't say anything but gave their own pleading looks to the doctor.
He grumbled, "Don't make me regret this." Dr. Edwards unbuckled and removed the cuffs and the straps that held Clark to the bed. Once gone, the doctor turned away to check the readings on a monitor.
He scowled at the doctor's back.
No matter what Lex's allegedly good intentions, and the doctor's seemingly sincere desire to help, Clark didn't feel safe in a glass box with strange people watching from the shadows... Dr. Edwards couldn't be trusted anymore than Lex could. Clark had to leave.
Despite how weak he was, Clark decided to try to get away. He yanked the covers off and sat up. His eyesight dimmed and his head spun as his mother cried out, "Clark!"
He tried hard to ignore the pain and the dizziness, but he felt strong hands push him back onto his pillow and hold him down. He was too weak and couldn't fight them... Clark was surprised his father helped Dr. Edwards hold him down.
"Dad, lemme go...."
"You're sick, son. You need to stay in bed."
Clark looked at Dr. Edwards. "...don' trust 'im..."
His father shook his head and looked sadly at Clark. "He wants to help you, son. You were close to dying.... He worked long hours to take care of you..."
"...can't trust 'im! ...lemme go..." Frustrated tears welled up in Clark's eyes as he pushed feebly against the strength of his father. His body wasn't up to it and his head began to spin as his body went limp. Clark weakly protested, his voice barely above a whisper. "Don' you understand...?" He looked at his Dad desperate, "He's one of them."
Clark's breath came in gasps. His vision had dimmed but he could see well enough to see the truly shocked expressions his parents had.
They hadn't known. That's why they trusted Dr. Edwards....
Clark could see his mom put the pieces together. She stared at the doctor, horrified. "That's how you know so much about our son, isn't it? You were part of..." Apparently unsure of what to call it, his mother faltered a bit before continuing, "....that place?"
The doctor didn't speak but his flushed face said enough.
She pulled on the guard rail and lowered it. She sat next to Clark and gathered him into her arms. Her warm embrace soothed him and his breathing eased.
She spoke intently, her gaze not wavering from Dr. Edwards as she held her son. "Clark is the bravest person I know... He's always done what's right despite the risk to his own life. He's physically fearless, yet he's afraid of you..." She glared fiercely at the doctor, "What did you people do to him?"
Clark wrapped his arms around his mother as he trembled, weak and in pain. She gently kissed the top of his head as she pulled him in tighter.
Dr. Edwards sighed. "What I was part of back in New Mexico was awful and I'm sorry I added to Clark's suffering even a little bit..." The doctor swallowed and looked at Martha as she clung to her son. "Now, I want to try to make up for my part in that and I sincerely want to help him get well..."
His father's voice was heavy with bitterness. "Is that why you're taking Lex Luthor's money to be here?"
Dr. Edwards growled in anger. "I'm not taking any money from that man."
Clark looked up at the doctor and quietly asked; his voice now a whisper it was so weak and hoarse. "Is that what you meant about not being an employee?"
Dr. Edwards looked surprised. "You remember that?"
Clark nodded as his mother gently held him.
"Luthor had offered me a lot of money, many times what I would normally make in a year, to take care of you but I didn't take it. So, no; I am not his employee." He sighed heavily. "I have enough to feel guilty over without adding blood money to the mix." The doctor gestured vaguely toward the house. "I'm letting him feed me and give me a place to stay, but only because I can be more effective if I'm close..."
His mother relaxed a bit and brushed Clark's hair back and kissed him on top of the head. "I think you can trust Dr. Edwards, Clark."
Clark quietly replied, "I still wanna leave, mom..."
His mother leaned back and looked him intently in his eyes. "Clark, the solarium gets sun all day. Also, there's room here for everyone who's taking care of you to stay close. We can't put people up in the barn, Clark. You need professional medical help and you can't go to a hospital... You need to stay."
"I don't want to..."
His dad spoke urgently. "Please, Clark, promise you won't try to leave again? Stay at least until you get better. Your mom and I are terribly worried about you and it's only here where you can get the help you need."
His mother sadly said, "You're safe here, Clark..."
"Men watch me from the shadow while I'm in a glass room..." Clark swallowed hard and looked out into the garden where he could the man standing in by the koi pond, standing in the shadows of a large oak tree. He added quietly. "I don't feel safe..."
The doctor added. "That man isn't here to keep you prisoner, Clark. He's one of Lex's body guards."
"Why's he watching me?"
At a loss of what to say at first, his parents looked at each other in exasperation. His father signed heavily and held Clark's hand. "He's not there to hurt you, son. However, you didn't answer the question. Can you promise to stay until you're better?"
Troubled, Clark looked out at the man in the garden and then back at Dr. Edwards who quietly watched his patient. The older man continued, "The IV should stay in. You badly need the antibiotics and the rest that the drugs will help you get."
Clark frowned and looked at his mother. "You should stay and let the drugs do their work so you can get better." She leaned back to look Clark in the eyes and gently cupped his cheek in one hand. Unshed tears sparkled in her eyes as her voice broke. "Please promise to stay. You look exhausted, sweetheart..."
His own eyes stung with tired, frustrated tears. "I am tired..."
"Then stay, Clark. Rest so you can heal. If we didn't trust you were safe we wouldn't have agreed to let Lex bring you here." She spoke more quietly, her voice heavy with emotion. "Please, promise you'll stay at least until you're strong enough to walk out of here?"
He looked at her earnest face, so strong and yet so vulnerable. He wanted to do what he could to ease her fears.
His father firmly squeezed his shoulder as he spoke, his voice rough with emotion. "Please, Clark. Let the doctor and nurses help you..."
Clark was torn but he had to admit to himself that he was tired, exhausted. He couldn't speak his ascent, so he confined himself to a single nod as he hugged his mother more tightly.
His mom returned the hug in relief. "I'm so glad, Clark..."
The doctor nodded. "I'll order that sedative for you. You just concentrate on getting some sleep, Clark."
Dr. Edwards left and his mom hugged him tighter and leaned back against the headboard. Clark snuggled into her embrace, his head tucked under hers where it rested on her shoulder.
He enjoyed the warm baby powder smell that he had always associated with his mom as the nurse injected the medicine into the line. His father gave him his pillow and he held it as he snuggled with his mother.
Clark couldn't fight the exhaustion anymore. Nudged closer to sleep by the sedative, he could only mumble a hoarse, "Love you..." before his eyes fluttered closed.
Clark fell asleep still wrapped in his mother's arms as the sun set got lost behind looming storm clouds.
------
Thunder shook the room and Clark woke with a start, rattled by nightmare visions as they faded. Still groggy from the sedative, he could see it was now fully dark and the only light was from the monitors by his bed and the occasional lightning flash.
He was on his side, his head on his quilted pillow. He looked at the small dresser next to his bed. The surface of the table was covered with a couple of small flower arrangements and colorful greeting cards. The cards stood open and upright and were placed in a pattern across the top of the dresser.
He was still groggy so he just looked at the cards and flowers. The bright birthday cards and the modest flower arrangements sitting in room filled with expensive flowers gave the room a surreal quality.
Clark thought for a moment. Had his birthday come and gone? Had he slept through his twentieth birthday? Is that what the balloons had been for?
A soft noise caught his attention behind him. He rolled over, expecting to see his mother asleep in the chair next to the bed, but he was surprised someone else sat in the seat next to the bed.
Clark spoke, his voice still hoarse from the breathing tube. "Lana?"
She looked up and smiled. In the dim light, she almost glowed. She looked down and then back up, in a gesture he wasn't sure he understood, and took Clark's hand. She looked at the cards. "You had a bit of a quiet birthday party.... Several people came but you were still pretty sick, you opened your eyes but I'm not sure you were conscious enough to remember."
"I remember the balloons and some people visiting but when was my birthday?"
"It was a couple of weeks ago, but you look so much better now. Everyone has been so worried about you. Chloe was here a few days ago, but you were asleep the entire time she was here. She's confused why you're here and not at a hospital..."
"My parents didn't tell her why?" Lana shook her head. "It's just as well. I never told her my secret, it'd be hard to explain the injuries and why I'm not in a hospital if she didn't know the rest."
"You should tell her." Clark shrugged and just shook his head. "Well, she had to go back to Metropolis. She's got an internship at the Planet in addition to taking journalism at Met U, did you parents tell you? She's well on her way to becoming quite the accomplished journalist..."
Clark was confused, why was Lana here in the middle of the night making small talk? Another thunder clap shook rattled the glass panels in their metal frames. A flash of lightning followed almost immediately after it, it lit up Lana's pale face and made her normally soft features harsh.
"Why are you here? Where are my parents?"
"They just left." Lana cleared her throat and spoke more confidently. "They've been keeping a vigil by your side for weeks. They both needed a break, so I offered to stay..."
Confused by her presence, annoyed at her not answering the question, and tense because of the storm, he shook his head. His anger was building, "You didn't answer my first question. What are you doing here, Lana? It's late... Aren't you living in Metropolis?"
Lana blinked and it took her a moment to reply. "I'm staying here for right now... I wanted to make sure you're okay, especially after what you've been through..."
Clark swallowed and felt his face heat with shame at the thought of the last time he'd been with Lana. He replied quietly, "I'm sorry that you had to find out like that.... I had wanted to tell you about my abilities, and I should have..."
"Clark, that doesn't matter now. I understand. You did what you thought you had to. Now, you just need to concentrate on getting well."
He swallowed hard and looked down at the hand that held his. "Back there... At the..." He couldn't say it... "Uhm... They were bad people. They would have hurt you had they discovered what you were up to... You shouldn't have taken the risk."
"I couldn't leave you in there..."
"You could have been killed."
"It was worth the risk to help you escape. No one deserves what they were doing, least of all you."
A thought occurred to him and he looked at Lana. "I guess I'm glad you did what you did, but why'd you stake your life based on what a stranger told you?"
Lana took a deep breath and played with the rings on one finger. Then she looked steadily at Clark. "I did it because Lex asked me to help."
"Lex?" Confused, Clark shook his head. "My parents said a man called..."
"Lex had one of his men call to your parents. He couldn't make the calls himself... It couldn't seem like he was involved. It was only later, when I started asking questions, that Lex revealed that he was the one behind the escape attempt..."
His mind still foggy, Clark was having trouble reconciling that with the fact that Lex had engineered most of the torments he had suffered. Clark shook his head again and looked at Lana.
"Lex arranged for you to help me? Why? Why would he do that and then inject me with kryptonite? Kidnap me?" He looked at the glass walls that surrounded him as if they could give him answers... "It doesn't make any sense..."
"He was trying to help you."
"By drugging me with kryptonite? Don't you know how much that hurts?"
Lana's tone tried be sympathetic, "I know it hurts, but he wanted to keep you from making a mistake..."
Clark's head started to buzz and he felt lightheaded. He was extremely tired and could barely keep her in focus. "What mistake, Lana? I just wanted to leave..."
"You weren't thinking straight, Clark. The lab had been shut down and the government had stopped looking for you. It was over and yet you were seeing phantoms that weren't there... You weren't going home so he needed to stop you so he could try to convince you to go back to your family."
"They were coming for me. It was too dangerous to go home..." Dizzy, he let his head drop back onto the pillow.
"Do you realize how you sound, Clark? Do you really think they're still after you after what everyone has said about you not being hunted anymore?"
He felt defensive and replied quietly. "I know what I saw. Those helicopters were real..."
She gave an exasperated sigh. "They were real but they weren't coming for you. The Army was running a training exercise from Fort Ryan. They never got within ten miles of your parents' house."
"Why didn't Lex just tell me?"
"At the time, he didn't know what helicopters you were talking about... He only found out later where they were from. They've stopped looking for you, so you were making a huge mistake not going back home."
"But drugging me with kryptonite?"
She got defensive. "It didn't turn out like he'd planned, but you're a hard man to stop when you don't want to be. Lex did the right thing."
"So ends justify the means, Lana?" Angry, his hoarse voice was quiet yet deep. "I nearly died..."
Lana paused as if about to say something but then changed her mind. Her voice became softer and she looked at him, concerned. "Clark... We should wait to talk about this when you're feeling better."
Clark growled. "No, I want to talk about this now." His heart raced and his chest heaved. The deeper breaths hurt and he grimaced. The room began to spin and his eyesight dimmed.
Lana's tone was urgent. "You're in pain. I should get the nurse."
His energy depleted, Clark quietly spoke. "No, Lana... She'll just give me more drugs and they'll just put me to sleep. I want finish talking about this..."
"I think we're done, Clark. You need to sleep, not argue..."
She turned to leave but, desperate to keep her from leaving, he sat up when he tried to reach for her hand.
His vision went black and he fell back onto the pillow, nearly passing out. He groaned as alarms sounded.
"Clark!" She turned to yell over her shoulder. "Nurse! Come quick!"
He shook his head and weakly implored, "Don't, Lana... Please."
The nurse came in and rushed to Clark's side and frowned when she checked the monitors. "I'm going to give you some medicine, Clark. It will help you sleep..."
Clark scowled at her but was too weak to do more than complain. "...don't wanna sleep..."
She injected the medicine into the line. "You need to rest, so it's for the best."
Exhausted, Clark sighed heavily and slurred his objection, "...people keep sayin' tha..."
The nurse smiled sadly at him and left.
Lana stood next to Clark's bed, "Everyone keeps saying that because it's true. All anyone wants now is what's best for you, Clark, even Lex. You have to believe that."
Clark swallowed heavily. The drugs made his eyelids heavy and his mouth felt dry. His eyes closed and his breathing slowed and deepened.
He was roused somewhat when he heard someone step into the room.
"Is he asleep? I slipped past the nurse, but I told Dr. Edwards I wouldn't bother him here..."
Lex.
Lana replied softly as Clark heard the rustle of fabric, silk rubbing against wool. "Yes, you're safe. He's asleep." He heard another rustle of fabric and her voice became muffled by something. "I'm glad... he had such a terrible nightmare..."
It was hard to fight the powerful drugs, but he wanted to see why Lana's voice had become muffled. Clark struggled but managed to open his eyes. What he saw confused him at first, but the sedative made him unable to say anything to voice his surprise once he realized what he was looking at... Neither Lana nor Lex noticed his eyes open.
Lex stood behind Lana and had wrapped his arms around her. Lana's fingers curled around his arms as she smiled into the dark night. The rings she'd been playing with earlier twinkled on one finger as her head leaned against his arm. It had been Lex's jacket that had muffled her voice.
It was a very affectionate posture and Clark was shocked, given Lex was married. Would even Lex show such open affection to Lana in his own house? What if his wife saw?
It was only then, as Clark saw Lex affectionately kiss the top of her head, that his drug fogged mind realized the rings that Lana had been playing with earlier were on her left hand. There were two, one was a diamond ring and the other was a plain platinum band that matched Lex's...
Clark hadn't thought Lex's betrayal could deepen, but now it was complete.
Lex had married Lana.
He should have realized Lana was his wife as soon as he'd heard about Lex's marriage. He felt so stupid and used... Why did Lana lie about why she was here? What reason did they have for keeping it from him?
His anger at this newest betrayal was softened by the drugs.... Unable to fight the powerful drug's pull to sleep any longer, Clark's eyes again fluttered closed.
Lex's voice sounded as if it came from far away. "Did you tell him?"
Lana softly replied as Clark heard fabric rustle again. "No, he was too angry." She sighed heavily. "It didn't seem like the right time... I promised his parents I'd stay so I'll tell him when he wakes."
Lex's voice was soft with concern. "Are you sure? You need your rest too."
"He deserves to know..."
He wanted to tell them to get out, but nothing came out except an unintelligible mumble. Clark heard her step closer and felt her fingers tenderly touch his arm. "Clark, you awake? Can you hear me?"
His eyelids fluttered, but didn't open. Clark sighed softly and one hand twitched, but could give no other sign he heard her.
It sounded like it came from far away, but Clark could hear when Lex replied softly, "I don't think he's awake, sweetheart."
Even though it wasn't what he wanted, Clark heard no more as sleep took him.
Continued Here....