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The Chronicles of Martha and Jonathan

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  • #61
    Originally posted by Bally
    I like how you've written that despite having super-human abilities, the young Clark still has the same sort of fears as most kids his age. It fits with his inquisitive yet slightly cautious nature, and it humanises him. It also shows how the Kents have to face the same sort of issues that come with raising a normal child, wanting him to learn about the outside world and yet wanting to protect him from the dangers that lurk.
    I figured Clark would have many of the same fears as other children simply by being around them. Sometimes when we're very young I think we get the idea we should be scared of something because other kids are. Also at this age, Clark isn't yet invulnerable. If memory serves, he didn't start to become invulnerable until he was about fifteen. I also think Clark is an inquisitive child but his parents' own fears would have rubbed off on him, even if they tried not to show it.

    Originally posted by BigRed67
    Ahhh yes the ever present yet slightly poorly hidden space ship. I think you really hit on the idea that Clark, although super powered, is still at heart the obedient son. It's not his nature to push his boundaries even at that young age. And of course as a mother Martha would have perfected "the look", my kids know it well!!
    And I know I've said it before but I really love this series.
    I don't know much about child psychology, but part of my theory as to why Clark never discovered the ship until Jonathan showed it to him, despite its location, was that his parents' own fears of discovery may have played a big part in that. Like he would have sensed some underlying fear. Maybe what happened in the storm cellar was just enough to bring that fear to the surface and he would view it as the reason for that fear.
    Thanks Wendy. I really love writing this series. It really does let me see Clark in a different light.

    Comment


    • #62
      a/n: This was purely from Jonathan's p.o.v and only mentions Martha. I felt like there needed to be some sort of explanation for Jonathan's attitude toward the Luthors in the series. There are little memories of a young Clark. Sorry, they can't always be cute moments around Clark.


      Lionel

      Jonathan, Season 1, Pilot: Do you remember Mr. Bell? We used to go fishing on his property. How about Mr. Guy? He used to send us pumpkins every Halloween. Well, Lionel Luthor promised to cut them in on a deal. He sent them flashy gifts. Once they'd sold their property, he went back on his word. He had them evicted, son.

      Jonathan couldn’t help but feel guilty every time he met Bill Ross in town or every time eight-year-old Pete came over to play with Clark. It was a constant reminder of what he had done to make sure no one would ask questions about his son’s adoption. Questions that he couldn’t really answer.

      It still galled that Lionel Luthor could have so casually threatened to expose Clark if Jonathan didn’t convince the Ross brothers to sell their creamed corn factory.

      To be fair, it wasn’t as if the factory had been a successful business. Like many things in the years before Clark came into their lives, the town had been suffering from the recession. The ’87 crash had caused a lot of investors to lose almost their life savings. The President’s various helping hand schemes for farmers were not as abundant as they once were and like Smallville, rural communities were suffering.

      Bill had often lamented the fact that he wished they had stuck to their guns and not allowed the sale of the factory, especially after Luthor had gutted the entire building and built a fertiliser plant in its place. In just a few years, there had been at least half-a-dozen complaints to the Environmental Protection Agency claiming the plant was responsible for poisoning the land. None of which were ever proven.

      Jonathan could be realistic. The town had become revitalised as the plant expanded, employing more than two thousand people. Lionel had at least employed locals rather than bring in outsiders.

      That didn’t mean, however, that the Metropolis corporate shark didn’t do his share of shady deals.

      Jonathan was worried when, while out one night to meet his friends Mike and Ethan at the Wild Coyote for a couple of beers, Jack Bell and Tom Guy were talking to all and sundry about some deal they were involved in with Lionel.

      He didn’t hear all the details, but he gathered that the deal was fairly lucrative. The problem for both men was that they didn’t have the ready cash to invest.

      As Jonathan got up to get himself his second beer, he bumped into Tom Guy.

      “Hey, Jonathan,” his neighbour said. “Martha let you out for the night, huh?”

      Jonathan snorted to himself. His wife trusted him and knew he wouldn’t drink too much. Sure, he had a temper and could get himself into trouble if he wasn’t careful, but he loved his wife enough to make sure he didn’t overdo it. The one time he had driven home drunk, she had made him sleep on the couch for a week. Of course, Clark, who had only been three at the time, thought his parents were fighting and worried his daddy was going to go away.

      Tom carried on as if he hadn’t even noticed Jonathan hadn’t replied.

      “Getting a good crop of pumpkins this year,” he said. “Bet Clark’s excited for Hallowe’en.”

      He nodded. “Yeah, you know he loves it.”

      The first time, Clark had been three and hadn’t understood what Hallowe’en was all about. They’d just celebrated their first year with him, although they didn’t really mark the occasion. Tom, whose wife had never been able to have kids, sent them a pumpkin which Jonathan had duly carved, with Clark’s ‘help’. Then they’d taken their son trick-or-treating, dressing him up as a cowboy.

      The next year, Clark had decided he wanted to dress up as Yoda from the Star Wars series. Which had been kind of ironic.

      Clark’s third year, he dressed up as a farmer, complete with plaid shirt and straw hat.

      His fourth time, six-year-old Clark had wanted to dress up as a dinosaur. That year the movie Jurassic Park had come out and dinosaurs were all the rage among his friends despite the fact that they’d never actually seen the movie and were not likely to.

      This year Jonathan had no idea what Clark was going to be. He was sure he’d find out eventually.

      Every year, Tom would send them a pumpkin. Tom’s wife adored Clark and would always have little treats for him at the local farmers’ market.

      “So, what’s this I hear about you doing a deal with Lionel Luthor?” Jonathan asked.

      “Yeah. Sorry, I can’t exactly give you the details. All very hush-hush.”

      “Tom, I think you should be careful about doing any kind of deal with that man.”

      The other man bit his lip. “I hear you, but he says it’s legit. The thing is, Amy and I … we’ve been having some problems. Financial ones. Lionel says this deal could help solve all our problems.”

      Jonathan understood about financial problems. The farm was in serious debt and it didn’t look like they were going to get out of it any time soon. He’d already asked the bank about refinancing and they owed money all over town.

      It appeared Tom Guy wasn’t the only one with serious financial issues. Jack quietly confided a couple of days later that they would have to sell the property anyway or the bank would take it. It would be a shame as Jack had let him and Clark go fishing at the river which ran through the property.

      Jonathan could still remember taking his son out in the fields to teach him how to cast. He’d given Clark his first fishing rod when he turned seven. He’d practically had to pry it out of his son’s hands to get him to go to bed.

      As much as he wanted to warn his neighbours, tell them exactly what they were signing up for, he knew they were desperate enough to overlook any concerns.

      A few weeks later he was at the Wild Coyote once again. Mike told him Tom and Jack had sold their properties to Lionel but instead of giving them cash he had told them he had invested the money in this lucrative deal. The two men would be able to buy back their land from the profits. He’d also sent them flashy gifts, like brand new cars saying they were part of the deal. It sounded more like bribery to Jonathan.

      He was surprised when, just before Hallowe’en, Tom Guy turned up on his doorstep. He greeted his neighbour.

      “Tom, come on in.”

      Tom looked away. “Uh, I can’t. Sorry, Jon, I won’t be able to give you a pumpkin this year. Uh, Amy and I … we’re …”

      The other man looked upset. Jonathan frowned. “What’s wrong?”

      “We’re getting a divorce.”

      “What? Why?”

      Tom was practically in tears as the story came out. He told Jonathan that Luthor had not only conned both him and Jack out of their properties, but now they no longer had homes to go to. According to Luthor, the deal had fallen through and he’d lost millions, including the money Jack and Tom had invested.

      Jonathan wondered if that was really the case and not some grand scheme by Lionel to con them out of their land.

      With no money and no land, the two men were forced to move away. Tom’s wife had walked out on him telling him she couldn’t believe he’d been that stupid.

      It was just another reason for Jonathan to hate the Luthors.

      Comment


      • #63
        Lionel is such a scumbag! I think this was a great way to show why Johnathon distrusted Lionel so much, and why he didn't want Clark keeping the truck Lex gave him later on. And awww little Clarkie dressed as Yoda, classic!

        Comment


        • #64
          Originally posted by BigRed67
          Lionel is such a scumbag! I think this was a great way to show why Johnathon distrusted Lionel so much, and why he didn't want Clark keeping the truck Lex gave him later on. And awww little Clarkie dressed as Yoda, classic!
          It just proves that Lionel could never be trusted. I wanted to come up with a really good reason Jonathan hated Lionel as much as he did and what I came up with ticked all the boxes.

          I thought Clark as Yoda would be funny but I love the thought of him dressing up as a dinosaur even more. Especially given the time period.

          Comment


          • #65
            a/n: I know someone's already written a oneshot about a school show but I wanted to do this from a slightly different perspective.



            Show

            “Mom?”

            Martha paused and looked down, holding onto the top of the stepladder. She’d been in the middle of cleaning the top shelf of the pantry when Clark came in.

            “What is it, sweetie?”

            Clark held out a slip of paper. She stepped down and looked at the paper. It was a notice from the Elementary school. They were holding an end of year show and were looking for parents to volunteer.

            “School play?” she asked.

            Clark grimaced. He was eight, but would be nine in a month.


            “I don’t want to be in the play, Mom.”


            “Honey, it’s just the third grade play.”


            “But I’ll have to wear a stupid costume and they’ll make fun of me. They always do.”


            Martha nodded. Her son was rather shy and didn’t like standing out. She often wondered whether that was partially their fault, since they’d been a little over-protective. The last thing they had wanted was for someone to see that Clark was not like other kids. They didn’t need the details of Clark’s adoption put under scrutiny.


            “What’s the play, honey?”


            “Sleeping Beauty.” Clark screwed up his nose. “The Prince has to kiss the girl. What if she has cooties?”


            Martha stifled a laugh, her hand over her mouth. Clark had yo-yoed from having a little crush on Lana one minute to hating her the next. It probably hadn’t helped that he only ever saw her at school.


            She had always thought Nell was being a little over-protective of her niece by refusing to let her visit the farm. Lewis and Laura had lived a mile from the farm and had visited a few times with baby Lana, mostly to buy produce, but at least they had visited. Nell had moved into their house after they’d died in the meteor shower knowing she couldn’t uproot Lana from the only home she’d ever known. Still, her attitude was a little strange.


            “So who’s playing the prince?” she asked her son.


            He made a face then blushed hotly.


            “And who’s playing Sleeping Beauty?” Martha asked, as if she couldn’t guess.


            “Lana. Mom, I don’t want her to play Sleeping Beauty. She makes me feel icky.”


            Despite his protests and his embarrassment at having to play the lead role in the play, Martha was proud of her son. Maybe they couldn’t let him play sports with the other kids, but they could at least let him take part in the school’s end-of-year show.


            She decided to volunteer to help with the sets and costume design. The teacher in charge of the show called a meeting at the school one afternoon, shortly after classes had finished for the day. Martha was running late. The truck had been giving them trouble lately but they couldn’t afford to get new parts for it. They had no farmhands since Earl Jenkins had taken a job at the Luthorcorp plant and Jonathan was basically running the farm single-handedly. He’d given Clark a few chores to do – mostly simple things that he could trust Clark to take on.


            As she walked into the school auditorium, she overheard Nell.


            “Oh, I doubt Martha will show. She’s always soooo busy on that farm. She hardly even bothers to come to the book club meetings.”


            Well, that was a little unfair, Martha thought, considering Nell was the one who rarely attended the book club meetings. It was also rather rude of the woman to assume that Martha was too busy to help out, especially when it was something her son was involved in.


            “I’m here,” she called out. “I’m so sorry I’m late. Our truck refused to start.”


            Nell shot her a look and sniffed. The teacher just smiled.


            “That’s all right, Martha. We were only just getting started. Thank you for coming. I’m so happy you could make it.”


            “Well, how could I not,” she replied with a smile. “Since my son is the lead in his grade’s show.”


            Nell again made a face. “Well, actually, my niece is the lead. Clark is just the prince.”


            Martha refrained from commenting. The teacher also, wisely, didn’t comment. They began discussing the jobs each parent could do. Martha immediately volunteered to make the costumes, since she was a good seamstress, having sewed her husband’s and her son’s clothing for years.


            “Great, all the costumes will be in plaid,” Nell remarked sourly.


            “Nell, are you really here to help or just to make sarcastic comments?” Mrs Finlay asked. She turned and smiled at Martha. “I know you’ll do a wonderful job,” she added. “I have some fabric and some patterns you could use.”


            “Thank you,” Martha told the teacher.


            Later that night, after Clark had gone to bed, she discussed the situation with Jonathan. He shrugged. “I thought you and Nell had buried the hatchet?”


            She shook her head. “I thought so too but she seems to have a bee in her bonnet about something.”


            She could still remember the times they would walk into Nell’s flower shop and the way she would greet them with some caustic remark. She wondered if the other woman was still jealous over the fact that Jonathan had married someone else.


            Yet from what she’d heard, Nell had been dating up a storm. She appeared to be seeing a lot more of Lionel Luthor. The man had lost his wife two years earlier but that hadn’t stopped Nell. Not that Martha felt any sympathy for a man who was known to be fairly ruthless in business and in his personal life. She had heard rumours, long before she had left Metropolis, that Lionel had only married Lillian because she had come from a moneyed background.


            She had no answers as to why Nell had suddenly turned hostile once again. She decided to just ignore it as the preparations for the show went on.


            Rehearsals were another matter. Lana would get irritated every time Clark fluffed his lines. Not that he had many. He would also often trip and stumble as he moved in to kiss her. She would glare at him, playing with the chain around her neck. There was a strange green stone attached to the chain which appeared to become brighter whenever Clark was near. Martha dismissed it as her imagination.


            She had a talk with Jonathan, who took their son out to his little loft to talk, ‘man-to-man’. They’d bought a couch and chairs for the living room and instead of giving the old couch to Goodwill, Jonathan had installed it in the loft, along with an old desk. He’d made a set of bookshelves so Clark could read or do his homework. It was his own little fortress and he loved it.


            It was also a place where father and son would share ‘guy stuff’ as they called it. Martha would sometimes ask her son what they found to talk about up there but he would shrug and refuse to give details. Jonathan, of course, would laugh and tell her it was like her with her book club or her coffee mornings.


            “In other words, gossip,” she’d accused. He’d responded with a withering look. Men, he proclaimed almost pompously, did not gossip. They shot the breeze, talked about football and other manly things. “Gossip,” she repeated.


            She had no idea what they talked about in the loft that night, but afterwards, Clark appeared to be a little more confident.


            Finally, the day of the show arrived. Martha had received praise for the costumes she had made. Nell had been put out when she saw that none of the costumes were actually plaid but she still screwed up her nose in derision, making another caustic remark.


            This time, Jonathan overheard it. They’d been standing in the foyer of the auditorium, drinking the punch the older children had made for the parents when he’d heard Nell’s comments. Before Martha could stop him, he went over to the brunette.


            “Just what is your problem, Nell?”


            She stared at him. “I don’t have a problem, Jonathan. Perhaps it’s your wife who has the problem.”


            “I heard what you said, and I don’t appreciate you insulting my wife. Martha worked hard on those costumes and I happen to think she did a great job. Don’t you, Mrs Finlay?” he asked, turning to the teacher.


            “Absolutely,” the teacher said, glaring at Nell.


            “Well, that’s just great, isn’t it?” Nell snapped. “Saint Martha to the rescue again,” she added before turning and flouncing off.


            Martha understood now why Nell acted the way she did. She was jealous. She’d always been jealous, but now it was worse than ever. To her, it probably looked like they had the perfect life. A good marriage and a wonderful son. If she only knew, Martha thought.


            Maybe it was difficult for Nell, raising Lana alone, but she had no idea what it was like to raise a child who was as special as Clark. Martha wouldn’t give up her son for anything, even if his strange abilities made her worry ten times as much as a mother would with a normal child. It was clear that Nell felt sometimes burdened by what she had taken on.


            There was no doubt in Martha’s mind that Nell loved her niece and would never abandon her, but it was obvious there were times when she wanted time to herself. Martha was well aware that dating was a lot harder when someone was a single parent. She had friends who were in that situation and they found it difficult meeting others. She could sympathise with the other woman in that respect. That didn’t mean, however, that Nell understood anything at all about their own family life.


            The show started again and they all took their seats. Clark’s grade was next. She watched proudly as her son performed, fighting the wicked witch and kissing the princess without flinching from her ‘cooties’.


            When the show was over, Clark came running out, still in his costume.


            “Mom, Dad, did you see me? Did you see me?”


            “We saw you, son,” Jonathan replied, holding up the camera. He’d been recording the whole thing.


            “You were wonderful, sweetie. I think you made a very handsome prince.”


            Lana came out with Nell and looked shyly at Clark. She wasn’t able to wear the necklace with her costume. The older woman glared at them and practically dragged her niece away, leaving them to congratulate Clark on a job well done.
            Last edited by phoenixnz; 11-16-2017, 02:13 AM.

            Comment


            • #66
              The Christmas Present

              Jonathan hadn’t known what to get his son for Christmas this year. Clark was old enough now that he was losing interest in toys. Most of the toys they’d got him the year before had been either broken or just discarded. Clark, being the compassionate child he was, had told his parents that all the toys he didn’t want could be given to Goodwill or wrapped up and given to the church for their annual Toys for Tots appeal. Together, his son and his wife had collected a huge basketful of items ready to be donated.


              Clark would be ten in May and he’d made it known to both of his parents that he was big enough now not to believe in all that ‘kid stuff’. Last Christmas, when his mother had prepared to take him to the Granville Mall to meet Santa, he’d announced that he knew there was no such thing as Santa.


              As much as Jonathan loved the fact that Clark was growing up and becoming a great kid, he missed the magic of those early days when everything was new and Clark viewed the world with wide-eyed innocence.


              He watched his son working in the stables. They’d recently begun boarding a few of the neighbours’ horses, just so they could bring in a little extra money. The farm had not been doing well lately, despite their efforts to turn things around. They no longer had farmhands, afraid that the workers might see his special son using his abilities. Clark had begun doing chores for him, and in many ways, as much as Jonathan hated the thought of his son having to work so hard, his abilities meant he could take on enough for at least eight other workers and still complete the jobs in half the time.


              His father had always told him that hard work kept a man honest. He still believed that. He hoped that by Clark using his abilities for farmwork it would teach him that his strange powers could be used constructively.


              He wondered sometimes if he was too hard on his son. He had even heard a couple of comments in the Wild Coyote that he was working Clark awfully hard.


              Clark looked up and saw him watching.


              “Everything okay, Dad?” he asked.


              “Yeah. Doing a good job there, son.”


              Clark grinned widely, showing pointed incisors. He’d once asked why his teeth looked the way they do, but Jonathan hadn’t been able to give him an answer. He’d had to have braces himself in his teens. It had been a common thing among kids that age. Where Clark was concerned, however, they had no idea if braces or any other kind of dental work could fix it. Given his alien heritage, they had never taken him to a doctor, or a dentist, afraid the doctor would discover he wasn’t like other kids.


              Martha told him it didn’t matter to her if his teeth were crooked or didn’t look like other kids’. To her, he was her beautiful boy, her miracle, and nothing would ever change that. They were such simple words but Clark had gone away from that conversation looking happy.


              Jonathan turned to go back to his own chores when Clark stopped him.


              “Um, Dad?”


              “Yeah son, what’s up?”


              “Pete’s brother Sam said we can go camping with him this weekend. Can I?”


              “Camping?” Jonathan looked at his son, puzzled. “Where? Isn’t it a bit cold?”


              “It’s just out near Palmer Woods,” Clark said. “I know it’s kinda cold but we like to look at the stars. Pete got this cool book for his birthday on the stars and constellations and everything!”


              Jonathan reached over and ruffled his son’s hair. “All right,” he replied with a chuckle. “You can go. But if it snows …”


              “We’ll come back. Promise.”


              One of Pete’s brothers had ended up in hospital with pneumonia last winter. Clark might not feel the cold the same as his best friend, but he did understand the dangers.


              Later, Jonathan went back in the house to clean up. He had hit on an idea when he’d been talking to Clark and decided to look in the attic.


              Martha came up the attic stairs. “What are you looking for?” she asked.


              “I think I just figured out the perfect Christmas present for Clark,” he said, lifting a heavy box out of the way. He exclaimed as he found it.


              His wife smiled as he showed it to her. “Oh, Jonathan, that’s wonderful. I’m sure he’ll love it.”


              He no longer had the box for it, but he figured he’d use any old box to wrap it up.


              On Christmas morning just over a week later, there was the usual array of small gifts. Clark, who used to wake them up just after midnight to tell them Santa had been and wanted to open his presents then and there, was still asleep in his room when they got up around seven. Jonathan had already been out to see to the animals, since a working farm never really had things like holidays, but he’d gone back to bed for a while, snuggling up with his wife in the warmth.


              Martha began frying sausages and bacon with homefries while Jonathan lit the fire. He looked over to the Christmas tree. This year had been rather lean in finances and the pile of presents looked a little sparse. He sighed. He wished he had been able to make more money but since they’d decided to go fully organic, the crop yield just hadn’t been good enough for a decent profit.


              His wife must have heard his sigh as she came out.


              “It’ll be all right,” she said. “It’s not the material things I care about.”


              “I know, sweetheart, but …”


              She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Jonathan, we’re here together, we have a wonderful son. Everything else is just the wrapping.”


              He knew what she meant. His mother had once told him that he could have all the riches in the world but none of that meant anything without someone to share it with. At the end of the day, the true value of a man’s life was in what he shared with the world, not how much money he had.


              A series of thumps could be heard from Clark’s bedroom upstairs. Martha snickered.


              “He must have smelled breakfast cooking,” she said.


              There was a whoosh and Clark appeared before them. His mother frowned at the boy.


              “Clark, no super-speed in the house. You know better than that.”


              “But Mom …”


              “No. What if I’d been carrying a heavy pan?”


              Clark again tried to protest but Jonathan shot him a look. He watched as his son spied the presents. Especially the big box under the tree.


              “Ooh, presents!”


              “After breakfast, son.”


              “Dad …” Clark sighed.


              “You know the rules, Clark.”


              The boy pouted, sticking out his lower lip. Jonathan smirked. “Careful, son. The wind’ll change and you’ll stay like that.”


              Clark rolled his eyes but turned to help his mother with the breakfast. Jonathan chuckled to himself.


              The nine-year-old fidgeted impatiently all through breakfast, wolfing down his food and huffing loudly as his parents took their time with their own share.


              There were still breakfast dishes to wash and a kitchen to clean. Then Jonathan announced it was time for presents.


              “Finally!” was the exclamation from their impatient child.


              He immediately made a beeline for the big box, having already figured out who it was for. He tore the paper and almost wrecked the box in his haste but the gasp and the look on his face was worth the effort Jonathan had taken.


              “Wow!”


              Green eyes stared in wonder at the telescope.


              “Your grandfather gave this to me when I was just about your age,” Jonathan told Clark. “It’s yours now.”


              “Dad, it’s … it’s beautiful. Can I try it out now?”


              “How about we take it up to the loft later and set it up. Then tonight we can check out the stars together. How about that?”


              “Yeah! That would be so cool!”


              Arms wrapped around his waist in a tight hug. “Thanks Dad. That’s like the best present ever!”


              Jonathan hugged Clark back, looking over his son’s head at his wife. The smile on her face said it all.





              a/n: I'm sure there was something in the show that said when Jonathan gave the telescope to Clark but for the life of me I can't find it, so I made up the date and the circumstances.

              Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays -
              however you celebrate this holiday season, I hope it's a good one.


              Comment


              • #67
                a/n: I don't plan on rehashing every episode but there are some important issues that I wanted to look at from Jonathan and Martha's perspectives. Also, I know it's a bit of a timejump but there wasn't really a lot of mentions of Clark's pre-teen years.

                Telling The Truth

                Jonathan was in the barn doing some minor repairs. It was a cool October day. He had been out in the field, working, planting and making sure some of the crops would be protected in the coming winter, but then it had started to rain and he’d had to drop what he was doing.

                He couldn’t help thinking about his argument with Clark earlier that morning before his son had gone off to school. He understood how important it was for the fourteen-year-old freshman to fit in. By his birth certificate at least, Clark was somewhat younger than his classmates, although he looked older.

                A year ago, Clark had gone through a major growth spurt and he was now taller than most of his classmates. Even the seniors. That hadn’t helped his self-esteem any. He thought that made him a bit of a freak, even though a lot of kids his age had the same thing when they went through puberty.

                There were times, however, when Clark appeared a little clumsy. This wasn’t the normal growing tall too fast so the centre of gravity was off kind of clumsiness. They had no idea what caused it since when he used his strange abilities he was as confident as anything. It couldn’t be anything to do with his other-worldliness, Jonathan thought.

                Still, that was part of the reason he wouldn’t allow his son to play football. Despite what Martha thought, it wasn’t that he didn’t trust Clark. He was fourteen, not five. He’d proved he could be trusted in most things, but when it came to peer pressure and trying to prove to his friends that he was not a freak or a geek, or whatever the terminology was these days, he was like any other normal kid.

                “But Clark isn’t normal,” Martha had argued. “The last thing he wants to do is stand out and by not letting him try out for the team, you’re not helping.”

                He wanted to be able to make it up to his son but had no idea how to start. Generally, Clark was a good kid, not given to fits of temper or rebellion like some of the teenage boys Jonathan had seen hanging out by the old movie theatre. When they asked him to do something, sure, he would grumble but he’d still do as he was asked.

                Martha appeared in the doorway. Jonathan smiled at her. She was supposed to be going to some kind of art class that evening. She’d already pre-empted them by telling them not to order pizza. One time, he thought. She’d gone off to some meeting and they’d looked in the fridge, neither one of them particularly fussed about what was in it. Clark had suggested ordering pizza and Jonathan had gone along with it. He couldn’t help smiling at the memory of the look on his wife’s face when she learned they had ordered fast food instead of cooking something.

                He frowned at his wife. She wasn’t smiling back. She looked upset.

                “What is it?” he asked.

                “There … there was an accident. It’s Clark.”

                Oh God. His heart pounded in his chest. The worst thing a parent could go through was to lose a child. It had happened to Ethan Miller a few years earlier. He and his wife had lost a child to cancer. Leukemia. About the worst kind there was. Ethan had never really been the same after that.

                “Where?” he asked.

                “Loeb Bridge. I don’t know what happened. Ethan just called.”

                Without stopping to wait for any more information, he ran to the truck and sped off. Loeb Bridge was a couple of miles from the farm.

                As he reached the bridge, he saw several emergency vehicles including an ambulance. The barrier was broken in the middle.

                “Jonathan!”

                He looked at his friend. “Ethan, what the hell happened?”

                “Looks like a car went out of control and hit the bridge. Clark dove in and pulled out the driver. He saved his life, Jon.”

                “How did the car even …”

                “We haven’t completed our investigation yet but it looks like the car might have been going a little too fast, hit a roll of baling wire and slammed into the bridge.”

                Jonathan ran down the bank. Clark sat there with a blanket around his shoulders. He looked wet and a little bedraggled but otherwise okay.

                As relieved as he was, to discover the maniac driving the car was none other than Lionel Luthor’s son, did not help his mood.

                Clark was quiet when they got home. Martha fussed over him, even suggesting she not go to her class that night.

                “I’m fine, Mom,” Clark said.

                Martha did go to her class, but she couldn’t help worrying over her son. What he’d done was heroic, naturally, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to his story than he was telling. Her son had a lot of skills, but lying wasn’t one of them.

                When she arrived home after class, she checked on him. He was sleeping, lying on his stomach, his feet poking through the blankets. She quietly straightened the covers and kissed him gently on the forehead.

                Jonathan was reading in bed.

                “How was he?” she asked.

                “A little quiet but … It was Lex Luthor, Martha. He was the one Clark saved. Did you know he was living in town now?”

                “I heard Nell talking about it. Lex moved into the mansion yesterday, I think. He’s going to manage the plant.”

                It was certainly not a great start for Lex, having been involved in an accident and barely being in town twenty-four hours. The Luthors, despite being the biggest employer in town, were not popular.

                She lay awake half the night worrying about what the presence of Lex Luthor was going to mean to the town. Or what he might learn about Clark. She still remembered the little boy they’d driven to the hospital the day of the meteor shower. He’d looked so vulnerable. Such a sweet little boy. It was just too bad he had such a monster for a father.

                She didn’t mention any of her concerns to her husband or son the next morning, sending Clark to catch his bus with a kiss on the cheek. Clark squirmed as he usually did. He’d announced when he’d turned ten he was too old for ‘baby stuff’ and didn’t like hugs or kisses from his mother. Especially around his friends.

                She was surprised later that day when a man turned up in a truck with another truck on the back.

                “Mrs Kent?”

                “What’s this?” she asked.

                The man handed her an envelope then went to help his colleague unload the truck. It looked to be brand new. Cherry red with white stripes on the hood. Inside the envelope was a card and a set of keys.

                She sighed when she saw the signature on the card. Lex.

                To say Jonathan was unhappy was an understatement. He grumbled something and went off to throw some branches into the wood chipper.

                Clark returned home from school an hour later. When he saw the truck, his eyes lit up in delight. Martha watched as he went to talk to his father. She busied herself with her own chores as they talked but from what she could see, the conversation was not going well.

                She heard the clunk and squeal of the wood-chipper and went to investigate only to find Clark had thrust his arm down into the machine. Any other person would have instantly lost an arm but he was strong enough to actually destroy the machine instead. As Jonathan looked at her, she shook her head.

                He nodded and looked up toward the loft before walking toward her.

                “What was that all about?” she asked.

                “Clark said Lex’s car hit him.”

                She stared at her husband. How could Clark have survived being hit by a car? Especially one going at a high speed?

                They’d had a few conversations, especially when questions came up about Clark’s abilities. He’d been involved in a fight with a bully when he was eleven but the bully had quickly backed off when he’d discovered Clark was stronger than him.

                Their son had often talked about being normal, as if being what he was somehow separated him from the rest of his classmates. He’d been doing a lot of research lately on other teens with special abilities but so far hadn’t found anything which could explain his own.

                “It’s time,” she said.

                They’d avoided the subject for a long time but she knew they couldn’t put it off any longer. She’d dreaded the day he would go to the storm cellar and discover the ship but he seemed to have mostly forgotten about it. Even when they’d had the occasional twister, he’d just sheltered with them and never bothered about the thing under the canvas.

                Jonathan went into the house to pick up a couple of things, then went back out to the barn to talk to Clark. Martha deliberately chose not to listen in on the conversation. Instead she busied herself in the house.

                She watched as Jonathan and her son crossed the field and went into the storm cellar a few minutes later. They were barely there a minute or two before Clark ran out of the cellar and disappeared.

                Jonathan came back in the house looking upset.

                “I take it that it didn’t go very well,” she said.

                “He just took off. I don’t …”

                “Honey, I’m sure he’ll come home when he’s ready. We just need to give him time to think things through.”

                “I hope you’re right, Martha.”

                As night fell she began to grow anxious. Clark could look after himself, but like any mother, she worried when her baby was out alone. Jonathan had gone to watch tv but he clearly wasn’t focusing on the news program.

                The screen door slammed and Clark came in.

                “Oh, Clark!” She went to hug him. “I was worried!”

                “I’m okay, Mom,” he said. “I just … I needed some space, that’s all.”

                “I know it was a bit of a shock, sweetheart, but we don’t want you to think we were hiding that from you on purpose. Your dad was just trying to protect you, that’s all.”

                “I know, Mom. I mean, I can’t say I don’t wish you’d told me earlier, but I can kind of understand why you didn’t.” He huffed. “I’ve got homework to do.”

                She watched him walk slowly upstairs. She could tell he still wasn’t completely okay with it all but at least now he knew the truth.

                Comment


                • #68
                  The Hardest Thing

                  Martha could not get the image out of her head. Of her teenage son, caught in the middle of an explosion, a huge fireball engulfing him. Had Clark been anyone else, he would be dead.

                  She remembered feeling the heat from the fire and Jonathan touching their son’s shoulder and recoiling. Clark had looked up at her, his green eyes huge. She could smell the burnt cotton from his jacket and her stomach had roiled with nausea, thinking how close it had come to disaster.

                  Yet it was something she was beginning to see a lot more in her son. He’d told her about the incident the night before when he’d stopped that kid from burning down the school gym. She’d once read a Stephen King novel that had included such an incident.

                  She’d always considered herself extremely lucky to have such a wonderful son but after that night, he’d gone up in her eyes. Then for him to risk his own life saving Whitney Fordman from being burned alive in his truck; her son was a walking, breathing miracle.

                  He could have been so many things. He could have used his abilities for all manner of things. The very thought of him using them to hurt others terrified her, but so far he hadn’t shown any inclination to do so. Jonathan had taught him the value of hard work and right from wrong.

                  After Whitney had been taken away in the ambulance, they returned home and Clark began unloading the produce from the truck. Martha decided a cup of tea was in order to calm her nerves.

                  “You all right, sweetheart?” Jonathan asked.

                  She nodded. “I just … I can’t believe what just happened! I was so scared, Jonathan.”

                  “I know. But Clark survived being hit by a car going sixty miles an hour. This was …”

                  “This was a fireball. Jonathan, how are we supposed to deal with this? I mean, I’m proud of him for saving Whitney …”

                  “We’ll deal with it the way we’ve dealt with everything else that’s come up. Sweetheart, I know. There are times when I wish he was normal too, but he’s not. This … having these abilities, that’s normal for Clark.”

                  She knew she was freaking out. She remembered the last time she had freaked out over Clark’s abilities. That was when he was six and he’d discovered his super speed. He’d got himself lost and given himself a good fright. Not to mention her and Jonathan.

                  The last thing she wanted to do was make him frightened of his own shadow, but this was something new. It was as if he was becoming invulnerable.

                  Could anything actually hurt him? What kind of life would he have? How long would he live? Could he actually die?

                  Jonathan was just as worried but had no idea how to resolve this. Martha had a point. If they let their fears show, Clark would never learn to adjust. Yet they couldn’t just act like it was no big deal either.

                  Martha went out to put away the produce and Clark came in to change his clothes. He was quiet as he grabbed a cookie from the plate Martha had set out and took a glass of milk with him when he went upstairs.

                  Jonathan decided to call to George Fordman to check on Whitney.

                  “George, it’s Jonathan.”

                  George’s voice sounded a little raspy and a little stressed. Jonathan had heard the man hadn’t been well lately. He knew thing hadn’t been great at the store, which probably didn’t help George’s stress levels.

                  “Oh, Jonathan. We’ve just come back from the hospital. I don’t know how you did it, but thank you. I’m very grateful to you.”

                  “Is Whitney all right?”

                  “Oh, he’s fine. A few cuts and bruises but a good night’s sleep and he’ll be okay. Tell Clark, tell him thank you. He saved my son’s life.”

                  Jonathan heard the screen door hinges squeak and assumed Clark had gone out to the porch. He exchanged a few more words with Whitney’s father before hanging up.

                  He went out to talk to his son, telling him Whitney was going to be okay.

                  As relieved as Clark appeared to hear that, he was worried about his mother, saying he’d really freaked her out.

                  “You also made her really proud.”

                  Clark went on to tell him that he’d woken up floating. Jonathan was careful not to add to his son’s worries even as he was honest with him. This was uncharted territory for them all.

                  “I just wish it would stop,” Clark said morosely.

                  Jonathan didn’t know what to say to that. He wondered if perhaps Clark was still going through puberty and that was why the new abilities were beginning to emerge now.

                  It hurt that this was something he could never really answer. The device from the ship hadn’t given any clues as to how they would use it or how he was supposed to provide answers to Clark’s questions. It was perfectly natural that he would be asking, now that he understood where he’d come from.

                  “I’m supposed to have all the answers and it kills me that I don’t. But, look, you gotta have faith that we’ll figure this thing out together.”

                  Clark looked at him. “I do,” he said quietly. “But this is happening to me, and I’m scared.”

                  That was the crux of the matter. This wasn’t something a normal human would ever experience. There were no textbooks, no websites which could help. There was no one in the world like Clark and that was the toughest thing about it.

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    You always had a soft spot for strays.
                    The last one turned out all right.

                    Ryan

                    Martha had gone from an initial fear to feeling sorry for the young boy who had come to stay with them. He was a sweet kid, although clearly nervous, thinking they would blame him for the actions of his stepfather.

                    She watched as Ryan and Clark played basketball in the yard, loving the genuine laughter from the boy. It felt as if the poor kid had never really had much fun in his life. Not since his mother had passed away. The way he talked about his mother, it was as if the sun shone out of her. How she had fallen for the man she had eventually married Martha had no idea.

                    Ryan had been initially shy and reticent when he’d come to stay with them the night he’d run out in front of her car. She’d sensed he was afraid but hadn’t expected him to fake amnesia. Still, she couldn’t blame him for that. They’d eventually learned that Ryan’s stepfather James Gibson had been abusive. It was understandable that the boy would be afraid if they found out the truth.

                    Gibson was a career-criminal. He’d exploited Ryan’s strange ability to read minds and used him to help him steal from people by reading their security information, either passwords or safe combinations. Then Gibson had forced Ryan to read Lex’s mind to get the password to his accounts. Clark had gone after them. Now that Ryan’s stepfather was in police custody, the young teen was safe.

                    Thank goodness for Clark, she thought. Her son had always had a way with others and it had been because of him that Ryan had been able to confess the truth. She supposed part of it was the fact that he’d often felt a little lonely himself, so he could empathise with others who were experiencing the same thing. He’d managed to help the young boy come out of his shell, at least a little.

                    Part of her wished they could adopt Ryan themselves, but Chloe had already tracked down his aunt, who was coming to get him. The aunt had been surprised to learn what happened to Ryan and upset on his behalf at the way he had been treated.

                    Jonathan wrapped his arms around her waist.

                    “I know what you’re thinking, and no, we can’t.”

                    “I know,” she said with a sigh. Yet, she couldn’t help thinking it would be good for Clark to have a little brother. Especially one who knew about Clark’s abilities and didn’t need an explanation as to why it was a secret.

                    She wished, and not for the first time, that they could have given their son a sibling. It didn’t matter whether the child was biologically theirs or not. Nothing changed the way she felt about her son. He was her gift. It wouldn’t matter if by some miracle she had a child that was biologically hers.

                    She’d read stories about children who had been adopted only to be neglected once their parents had a biological child. She swore that if that miracle occurred, she would never do that to Clark. For all his amazing abilities, in many ways, his mind was rather fragile. He had some insecurities, not least of which was his abilities, which appeared to be growing every day.

                    She supposed it was partly their fault for having been so protective in those early years. Lord knew, she had been terrified that someone would come along and take Clark away from them. It was never an easy fear to get over and she supposed that had affected their son in some way.

                    He’d once asked them if they’d considered adopting another child. Clark hadn’t said it in so many words, but she guessed he would have liked a sibling. Martha remembered shooting a look at her husband, thinking that having another child around would have made it more difficult to hide Clark’s abilities. Young children often had no filters; they could so easily spill the beans on a secret, no matter what it was.

                    That was one thing Martha liked about Ryan. If there was anyone who realised the importance of keeping this secret, it was him.

                    She looked at Jonathan, who smiled softly at her, watching the two boys at play. They’d both grown up only children and there had been many times she had wished for a sister she could confide in. She had once asked her mother why she didn’t have a sibling but Mary had never given her a straight answer. Perhaps her mother had had the same health problems that had, for Martha, meant she could never have children of her own.

                    Jonathan’s father had been in his late thirties when his son was born. Not that it made a huge amount of difference, Martha thought, but it probably hadn’t helped.

                    “Don’t you wish that sometimes we could have another child?” she asked.

                    Her husband hugged her. “Sweetheart, I think if it’s meant to be, life, or fate will find a way. I mean, it brought Clark to us.”

                    She smiled and kissed him. “You’re right,” she said. “You’re right.”

                    As they said goodbye to Ryan later that afternoon, she couldn’t help smiling at the memory of her husband’s words, even through her sadness.

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      "I think our not so normal son might be going throughsome classic teenage rebellion."

                      Teenage Rebellion

                      They’d been arguing about it for weeks. Clark wanted to buy a class ring but Jonathan refused to give permission. As far as he was concerned, it was too much money for something that really didn’t mean all that much. He had had the same argument with his father, but the class ring hadn’t been as expensive in his high school days.

                      “Come on, Dad. It’s my money!”

                      “It’s $350, Clark. It’s a lot of money to spend on something you really don’t need!”

                      Clark glared at him from his end of the kitchen table. Pete had just arrived to pick Clark up and had walked in in the middle of the argument. He looked uncomfortable.

                      “Uh, Clark, man I’m just gonna go wait in the car.”

                      Jonathan sighed. He knew they were at a stalemate. Martha glanced at him and shrugged. Clark was fifteen. They had to trust that he would make the right decision.

                      Which was why he was bitterly disappointed when just a few days later he saw the ring on Clark’s finger. It looked cheap and very low-quality. Certainly not worth $350.

                      He’d been working on his motorcycle in the barn, waiting for Clark to come home from school. His son was supposed to have been working on trying to fix the garage door with him, but he was late.

                      Martha stood watching as he finished buffing the metal until it shone. She playfully told him she would get first ride once he was done. Just as playfully he told his wife everyone else would just have to get in line. Not that he would ever want anyone else to ride behind him.

                      He looked at her, wishing it wasn’t late afternoon and too close to dinnertime. He remembered the odd occasions when they’d been dating, or the first couple of years they were married when he’d take her out on the cycle. He’d take her to a sweet little diner in Granville, or plan a picnic.

                      Once, he’d taken her out for a midnight picnic out under the stars. Martha had laid beside him on the blanket, curled up by his side, as he pointed out the constellations. He hadn’t known all of them so he’d made names up.

                      Just as he was about to suggest something, Clark turned up. When he saw the ring, he again argued that it was too much money. He was taken aback when his son talked back to him, sounding more like a sulky teenager. He wasn’t usually given to fits of temper, or petulance, so it was a surprise to see him acting this way.

                      He shot Martha a confused look. She put it down to what they figured was usually a phase brought on by puberty. Jonathan knew it well. He and Jack Jennings had managed to get into quite a bit of trouble at the same age as Clark. He’d also gone out and spent $500 on an old motorcycle, against his father’s wishes. The very same motorcycle he’d been working on.

                      It seemed odd, however. He wondered if it had something to do with his son’s strange abilities. They’d only just been able to get used to the fact the boy could start fires with his eyes. That had been difficult enough to deal with.

                      He was still not happy with Clark’s decision to buy the ring, but Martha gently reminded him it was still their son’s decision to make and making a big deal out of it was just going to make it worse. He nodded and pulled her close, kissing her on the top of her head.

                      “You are one smart woman, Martha Kent.”

                      She just looked up at him with a knowing smile. Not for the first time he couldn’t help reflecting on just how lucky he was that she had fallen in love with him.

                      Still, back-talk was one thing, but after the phone call from the credit card company, asking about the series of charges on the card, Jonathan knew this was far more than that. He confronted his son, only for the teen to get even more of an attitude.

                      This was more than just teenage rebellion, he thought, as Martha covered her face with her hands. He did his best to comfort her but tried not to show her how worried and confused he was. Even he would never have defied his father by going out and spending thousands of dollars that they just didn’t have and had no way of being able to pay back.

                      He decided to head to the school. Martha tried to stop him.

                      “Jonathan, you’ll just make it worse!” she warned.

                      “Someone has to do something,” he replied. “This is more than just your typical teenage rebellion. I am not going to let our son get away with talking to us like this or stealing from us.”

                      She sighed, knowing he was right. She worried as he left in the truck, wondering what he was going to be confronted with when he did get to the school. She knew he was trying to hide it, but he was just as confused and concerned as she was. Maybe even more so.

                      It just was so unlike their son, who had always done as he was told. Sure, there had been a few moments where he had disobeyed, like last year when he’d joined the football team, against his father’s wishes. Then there was the not-so-little matter of his friendship with Lex. As much as Martha wanted to like the young man, she thought he was too arrogant. It seemed strange to her that someone like Lex would want to be friends with Clark.

                      Her worst fear was that Lex was using Clark for some yet-to-be-discovered purpose of his own. Despite the many ways he’d tried to ingratiate himself with her and Jonathan.

                      She wondered if Clark’s new attitude had something to do with Lex. It just didn’t make sense any other way. She knew her son felt left out when all his friends had the latest in computer games and he envied Lex for his wealth. There were times when she thought they should be honest with Clark about the sad state of their finances, but she didn’t want her son feeling guilty because of it. God knew it could be expensive raising children but he still helped on the farm, saving them the cost of hiring hands. There was always a give and take with Clark.

                      She grew even more worried when Jonathan came home and told her Clark had shoved him hard enough that he hit the truck. She couldn’t believe the teen would do something like this.

                      What made it worse was this had seemed to have happened overnight. There was no way this was just normal teenage rebellion. It had to be something else.

                      The answer to that came after they called Pete. He came to the farm later that afternoon and told them Chloe had discovered the stones in the class rings were made of meteor rock. Red meteor rock.

                      When they confronted Clark about it, he didn’t seem to care. Or rather, he appeared happy about it. As if using the ring gave him permission to express feelings he’d buried deep down.

                      When he drove off the next day in Lex’s Ferrari, Jonathan looked at her. She wasn’t sure if his eyes were streaming from the dust or whether he was crying.

                      “What do we do now?” he asked helplessly.

                      She had no idea. Clark could just disappear and they would have no way of getting him back.

                      Who would have thought Lex Luthor would provide the break they needed? Despite their ambivalent feelings toward the young man, it seemed he genuinely cared about Clark. Thanks to him, and help from Pete, Jonathan was able to destroy the ring and get Clark back.

                      As they lay in bed that night, Martha couldn’t sleep.

                      “You okay, sweetheart?” Jonathan asked.

                      “Honestly? I don’t know. I mean, I know it wasn’t him, but …”

                      “Those feelings had to come from somewhere,” Jonathan said. “Maybe the ring takes away his inhibitions.”

                      “Sometimes I wish … I hate that we can’t give him all the things his friends have.”

                      Jonathan wrapped his arms around her. “I know. I want that too, but we can’t.”

                      She couldn’t help remembering the things he’d said about them using his abilities. If he was just a ‘normal’ kid, he’d be asked to do chores, but certainly not the bulk of the farmwork. Was that using him?

                      “All those things he said. Do you think that he really feels that way?”

                      “I don’t know, sweetheart.”

                      That was the whole point. They would never really know for sure.
                      Last edited by phoenixnz; 05-19-2018, 01:58 AM.

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        sometimes I wish there was like buttons on here for each post just so that I could express how much I liked those chapters. I like the latest one... we rarely see enough of the parents pov in episodes like that one.

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          Originally posted by Aurora Moon
                          sometimes I wish there was like buttons on here for each post just so that I could express how much I liked those chapters. I like the latest one... we rarely see enough of the parents pov in episodes like that one.
                          Thank you. I really thought it would be an interesting exercise to try to see things from their point of view. I'll continue doing that for a few select episodes.

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            a/n: This is from Redux, when Martha's father came to visit. It will lead into the next snippet. I get the feeling from the episode that things were rather 'cool' in the Kent house for a while and I imagine this is why.


                            Troubles

                            “I’m sorry, Jonathan, but you’re not the only one around here who’s behind on their payments. I just can’t give it to you.”

                            Jonathan sighed, trying to think of a way to convince Andy to let them have an extension on their credit so they could pay their feed bill. They were already three months behind and it didn’t look like it was going to get any better.

                            He returned home and began looking through the farm accounts, hoping there was something he might have missed. Some way to get them out of this pickle they were in.

                            Martha had the afternoon off from work at Luthorcorp. Lionel had a board meeting in Metropolis and had told her he didn’t need her, so she was taking advantage of the time off to bake some muffins, hoping to sell them locally.

                            Jonathan wasn’t exactly happy that she’d taken the job with Lionel. He still didn’t trust the man, and probably never would. It didn’t help that whenever the billionaire was around his wife, Jonathan got the sense that the man was interested in her in a more than boss/assistant way.

                            He’d tried to be reasonable about it, knowing they needed the money, especially because the man was blind, but it was beginning to get on his nerves.

                            The kitchen was filled with a delicious aroma as the muffins baked in the oven. He could smell the spices Martha used; the sweet scent of apples and honey. It reminded him of
                            hischildhood, when he’d come home from school to that same smell and his mother had been baking. Martha was just as good at it – in some ways better.

                            It reminded him of the good times when Clark had been little. Of sharing freshly-baked cookies with his small son. Of lazy summer afternoons when he and his little boy would be out in the barn, sharing manly secrets over the treat.

                            Clark came in as Martha began talking about selling her goods at local stores. Jonathan sighed as he continued to look over the accounts, trying to create some sort of budget so they could at least pay something toward what they owed. He didn’t really like talking about their financial
                            problems in front of his son. Clark had enough to worry about with his developing abilities and his high school classes. He didn’t need to hear about this.

                            Then Martha suggested the one thing he would never do. It was as if the ‘cone of silence’ had suddenly dropped down, like on that tv show he’d watched as a child. The kitchen went eerily quiet as he looked at his wife. She didn’t look happy as he conveyed exactly what he thought of that suggestion.

                            He knew Martha talked to her father occasionally, but had never invited him to the farm. They’d told him about Clark after the adoption, but fearing that the boy would not be able to control his abilities in front of his grandfather, had said that due to the circumstances that it was best if he didn’t come to see his grandson. They had no idea what the old man would have done had he known the truth.

                            William and Mary had moved to Coast City when the old man had decided to retire from his law practice.

                            As much as he’d wanted Clark to have a relationship with his grandfather, that just wasn’t going to happen. They just didn’t want to take the chance. Besides, William had probably never changed from the sanctimonious jerk he’d always been.

                            After Clark went out to the barn to work on his homework, Martha again brought it up.

                            “Absolutely not!” he said.

                            She really hated her husband’s stubbornness sometimes. He’d always dig his heels in, even when he was wrong.

                            “Well, I don’t see any other way out of this, do you? We both know there isn’t enough money to keep the farm going. If we’re not careful, we could lose everything.”

                            “I am not going to ask that man for help. Not after everything he did!”

                            “You’re hardly one to throw stones, Jonathan, considering you hit him.”

                            He glared at her and she stepped back, hating the look on his face. She knew Jonathan didn’t like her father, especially for the way the man had acted, but there was no need for such venom. It had been twenty years, for goodness’ sake.

                            She’d wanted Clark to have a relationship with his grandfather. She knew he’d tried calling her father when he was eleven, but the old man had never returned the call. She guessed he was a little surprised to hear from his only grandson and was probably bitter that he’d never been able to visit.

                            She had to admit she’d been surprised that her father had even bothered to send them something every Christmas, but she guessed her mother would have had something to do with that.

                            As much as she hated doing it, the last thing she wanted was for the bank to foreclose on the property. Jonathan would just have to get over his issues with her father, she decided.

                            She called her father’s number. It went straight to voicemail.

                            “Hi Dad, it’s Martha.” Well, obviously, she thought. “I know it’s been a while since we’ve talked, and I really hate to ask, but the farm is having some financial difficulties.” She bit her lip, trying not to burst into tears. It was worse, far worse than ‘financial difficulties’. “Anyway, I expect you and Mom are busy, but I would like to talk to you.”

                            God, she hated having to go to her father for money, but she didn’t see any other way. She could still remember the final argument they’d had before she had got married. He’d told her not to come crawling back to him if her marriage to ‘that farmer’ didn’t work out. It had been different for his generation, she thought. He’d married someone who fit in with his image of the perfect wife.

                            So what if he’d wanted her to go to law school instead of marrying a farmer? She’d chosen this life and she was happy. Sure, it wasn’t an easy life by any means. A hard year in their crops meant less income and having to beg for government handouts wasn’t exactly easy, but she loved Jonathan. Even if he wasn’t exactly happy with her at the moment.

                            She knew part of the problem was the fact that she worked for Lionel. He hated the man and was even more uneasy about Clark being friends with the man’s son. Martha tried not to get in the middle of the constant arguments over Lex. She felt sorry for the boy in many ways. He’d had to grow up far too fast and that made him arrogant, but she had sensed many a time that what that young man needed more than anything was love.

                            She wondered if Lex would reconsider the business plan he’d offered them the year before. Jonathan would never accept it, she thought. He was just far too stubborn and too proud for his own good sometimes.

                            Her father called her back a couple of hours after she’d left the message. She could tell he was surprised but didn’t comment on it.

                            “I’ll be in Smallville the day after tomorrow,” he said.

                            “What time will you be arriving?” she asked.

                            “Around three, I suppose.”

                            “Will you stay with us?”

                            She wasn’t surprised when he said no. Given the last time he and Jonathan had spoken, she doubted he wanted to be anywhere near her husband.

                            She sent Jonathan to the Co-op in Granville about half an hour before her father was due to arrive. She hadn’t told him she’d called her father and was hoping he wouldn’t have to find out.

                            Unfortunately, Clark arrived home at the same time. When Jonathan found out
                            , upset was a bit of an understatement. While he wasn’t angry at her for talking to her father, he was clearly unhappy that she’d talked to the man about their finances.

                            When they went to bed that night, he again made his feelings quite clear on the subject.

                            “I told you I didn’t want to involve him and now he’s here.”

                            “Jonathan …”

                            “No, Martha. I’m sorry, but you should have talked to me about this before you called him.”

                            She glared at her husband. They had had a few fights over the years they’d been married but this one was bad.

                            “You know, if it wasn’t for you and your stupid pride, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place!”

                            “You think I should have accepted Lex’s offer last year?”

                            “He meant well.”

                            “Don’t you remember what happened when Lionel offered those deals to Jack Bell and Tom Guy?”

                            Of
                            course she remembered. Jonathan had raged about it for weeks. Still, just because Lionel had done the dirty didn’t mean Lex would.

                            “Lex is not his father!”

                            “I still don’t trust him! I don’t like him and I don’t like him anywhere near our son!”

                            She huffed. “I’m not going to argue this with you again. At least I was able to swallow my pride and talk to my father and he is going to help us.”

                            “I’m not going to accept it.”

                            She turned the full force of her glare on him. Jonathan knew better than to dig his heels in when she was that angry with him.

                            “Oh you will, Jonathan Kent, or you will be sleeping on the couch for the next month!”

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                            • #74
                              a/n: This is from Insurgence. I personally think Jonathan was trying to make it an extra special anniversary with the picnic simply because of the way they'd been fighting.

                              Anniversarius Horribilis

                              Last year’s anniversary had been bad enough, Martha thought as she started to make her way downstairs the day after her official wedding anniversary. That time, Clark had decided to take advantage of being alone in the house to invite a few friends over. A few friends had turned into a party where most of the entire Smallville High School population turned up and trashed the house.

                              This year could top even that, she decided.

                              Jonathan had meant well. He’d prepared a picnic of fried chicken, probably trying to re-enact their very first date. If there was one thing she could say about her husband, he wasn’t like other men who tended to forget little details like what happened on their first date, or what their partner was wearing the day they’d met.

                              She knew why he’d gone all out to make it extra special this year. They’d been fighting a lot lately, mostly over her job with Lionel. She understood his hostility toward the Metropolis billionaire. She’d even sensed a few times that the Luthorcorp CEO was making moves toward her that were way inappropriate for a boss to his executive assistant.

                              Things had been a little rocky for a while, especially after the argument over her father. She had hated laying down the law with her husband, but as stubborn as he could be, she could be just as stubborn. They had needed the money and she wasn’t too proud to refuse a cheque from her father just because of a fight Jonathan had had with him twenty years ago.

                              Clark and Jonathan had clearly already been up doing their morning chores. She clutched the paper in her hand. It was her resignation from her job. After everything that had happened, everything she had discovered during the course of the night’s events, she wasn’t sure she could continue working for the man. Not if she wanted to protect Clark.

                              Lionel had asked her to go to the city with him, saying he had some important work he needed to get done. Upset at the fact that she’d had to blow off her anniversary for it, she had gone anyway. Lionel had had her lead him to an office which he’d told her was hers. That he was promoting her.

                              She didn’t have time to even discuss the promotion as someone had burst in, taking them both hostage. They had been forced to sit and watch as the team broke into the vault in Lionel’s office.

                              As she’d been sitting there, afraid the men were going to shoot her, she couldn’t help thinking about the latest argument she’d had with Jonathan. Of course, it had been over her job and the fact she was blowing him off on their anniversary to work. The last words they’d exchanged had been angry.

                              Then the men had managed to get into the vault and Martha had been alarmed to discover that not only did her boss have refined meteor rock but also a thick file on her son.

                              It had turned out all right in the end, thanks to Clark, although not without a few heart-stopping moments.

                              She couldn’t help thinking of what had happened after the police had burst in and she’d finally been reunited with Jonathan. The way he had looked at her, the love and the relief in his eyes when he’d seen she was okay, the unspoken apology for the way they had left things earlier that day.


                              Everything they’d argued about for weeks didn’t matter anymore. Maybe the farm would still be in trouble financially, but for her it was more important to keep Clark safe. She had no idea what Lionel really knew about her son, or how much he had found out, but she was glad now that the files had been destroyed. Lord knew what the authorities would have done, or the people who had taken them hostage would have done with the information.

                              When her husband found out what she’d learned that night, he decided a change of strategy was in order. If they had any chance of finding out exactly what Lionel had on Clark, they should play his game, he said.

                              Martha still omitted to tell them one other thing she’d discovered. The octagonal disk belonging to the ship. She couldn’t really say why she had hidden that from Clark. After all, it was his. She told herself it was to protect him as she buried the disk in the tin of flour before going to bed that night. Deep down though, she knew it was out of fear. Fear that someday Clark would have to leave them. She wasn’t ready for that to happen just yet.

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                              • #75
                                Close Call

                                Jonathan clutched his wife’s hand as he sat by her hospital bed, watching her face while she slept. He hadn’t been able to sleep in days and, while everything was almost back to normal, he couldn’t forget the nightmare they’d been through the past few days.


                                He’d never told Martha but when his mother had died he’d begun having dreams that he would lose his wife as well. He’d often woken up in the night and reached for her, terrified that she wouldn’t be there. His heart would pound in his chest and he’d feel a cold sweat all over his body at the thought that the woman he loved so deeply would one day not be there.

                                His worst fear had almost come true when she’d suddenly come down with what doctors thought was some kind of poisoning. They’d all been mystified as to what could have been the cause.


                                They’d talked for years about what would happen if the government were to suddenly discover what was in that storm cellar. When the Disease Control Agency had come to the farm to try to determine what the toxin was that was slowly killing his wife, Jonathan had barely been able to stop himself from trying to stop the investigators.


                                He was glad that Clark had been there to keep him from panicking, especially when the team had found the key to the ship.


                                What had made things worse was that Clark had also come down with the same ailment, which told them meteor rock had something to do with it.


                                He rubbed his thumb gently over her hand, thinking about the past few weeks. Things had been bad enough with their money troubles, and the ensuing arguments. Then Clark’s friend, Ryan, had died from a brain tumour. Clark had been devastated but Martha had been equally so.


                                “If we’d taken him in, let him live with us, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” she’d said.


                                It was obvious she blamed herself. When they’d met the boy the year before, they’d learned he was able to read what was on the surface of people’s minds. His stepfather had exploited that ability and forced him to help the man and his wife rob various stores. Clark had been able to rescue Ryan after the man had tried to use him to steal from Lex.


                                Ryan had gone to live with a relative, but as it turned out, when she discovered what he could do and what was actually causing it, she had turned over guardianship to a research scientist who was interested in Ryan’s ability. To the point of exploitation, refusing to get him medical treatment. It had accelerated the growth of the tumour, but obviously Dr Garner hadn’t cared about that either.


                                The boy hadn’t held it against his aunt, but Jonathan had been angry at the woman anyway. If Ryan hadn’t been stuck in the research facility, forced to use his ability, they might have been able to save him.


                                Hindsight was always twenty-twenty, he thought, remembering one of his father’s many platitudes. It was ironic that the things that used to drive him crazy about Hiram were the things he now missed the most about him, and found himself mimicking from time to time. Clark would roll his eyes at that, but Jonathan would just tell him to wait until he was a father. Then he would understand.


                                “What’s that smile for?” Martha asked softly.


                                “Just thinking about stuff my dad used to say,” he told her. “Martha …”


                                “Don’t say it,” she said.


                                “I can’t help it. I almost lost you.”


                                It had come very close. Her heart had arrested, just as he and Clark had managed to activate the ship. As much as he feared what that thing could do, it had literally saved Martha’s life.


                                “But you didn’t,” she replied.


                                “Thanks to the ship.” They’d almost lost Clark as well, until they’d thought of the ship. After all, it had healed Martha before, made it possible for her to get pregnant.


                                He laid his hand on her still flat stomach. She was only a few weeks’ pregnant. Possibly about two months.


                                She hadn’t told him about the pregnancy, afraid that if she said something then it would turn out she was mistaken. He had no idea how the toxin from the meteor rock would have affected things.


                                Martha laid her hand on top of his. “Everything’s fine,” she said.


                                Maybe now it was, he thought. He still felt guilty over the fights they’d had, especially over her job. While the money had been sorely needed, he had hated the fact she worked for Lionel. The man was ruthless and immoral. Yet they owed him for Clark. If he hadn’t faked those adoption papers, made it all look legal, he didn’t know where they would be.


                                “Stop doing that,” Martha said, prodding him.


                                “Doing what?”


                                “Going over mistakes. All of that is in the past. I’m here. So is Clark.”


                                “I just …”


                                “I know. Believe me, I know. But remember what you said to me when we first got married? We always said that whatever comes along we’d handle it together.”


                                He nodded and smiled at his wife. Together, he thought.


                                a/n: Obviously this snippet is from Fever. There are a couple of things that bother me about the show timeline at this stage. One, if Ryan knew Martha had found out she was pregnant, wouldn't she be showing by this episode? The one entitled 'Ryan' was aired in November 2002, and this one was in February 2003, so it doesn't make sense. Also, you'd think she would have been six months along by May. We know it's May by the last episode because Clark's birthday is in May.

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