Day 36: Waiting Room, Lobby 2

[lady-general.livejournal.com]

Celes had actually relaxed enough, speaking to Naminé during lunch, to allow herself a small smile. It thinned into a line, of course when her nurse materialized from nowhere and swept her off, giggling over her 'surprise.'

"Oh won't it be nice?" she chirped as they walked into the waiting room. "You'll be so happy, I am absolutely sure of it." Celes's small smile thinned itself into a line and she was plunked into a chair to await her visitor. Perhaps I shall be lucky, she thought, looking at some ridiculous motivational poster. It won't be anyone I know, not really. Her nurse wandered away and Celes folded her hands on the table, the picture of impatient waiting.

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[damned-visitors.livejournal.com]

Lex frowned. "Fine, Kal. You win. Your parents don't want to talk to you at all. They're ashamed of you, of you're being here. You've made them look bad by being here, and they're trying to put as much distance between you and them so that your insanity doesn't become an associated concern for your family. Your father's running for congressman, he can't afford to have attachments to an insane son. People are already asking about you, but they've done a good job of controlling that fire before it gets out of hand."

This wasn't how the conversation was supposed to go. "Your parents have all but disowned you. But I haven't."

[son-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

Clark wasn't sure what surprised him more - his parents supposedly avoiding him or his dad running for Congress. Since when? His dad was more than happy to remain on the farm and run it - if there was anyone who might run for anything, it might be his Mom, but that was already far-fetched as it was. This seemed even more impossible than him hurting people; with these powers, he knew he could hurt people, but his parents were always supposed to be the same people he knew and loved. Now Lex was saying he couldn't even have that much as "Kal" - if everything like that was true, Clark could see why Kal had gotten addicted to Red K. If it was anything like that time he'd run into red kryptonite, then he knew it was tempting to just let loose and stop caring and do whatever you wanted because it distracted you from everything that bothered you.

"If I get out of Landels, then I can make things right," Clark insisted. He couldn't allow himself to get upset like last time. "Lex, I know you're trying to help and I appreciate that. I just need to get a clean bill of health and everything's okay, right?"

He really wanted to see his parents face to face to see if what Lex told him was true. According to Wally, he'd fallen into some kind of bizarro time warp or alternate dimension, but the only proof he had that that was true was Lex's words and Wally's. He couldn't make sure for himself stuck in Landels with off-kilter powers, however.

[damned-visitors.livejournal.com]

Would he really be able to make everything okay? Lex wasn't so sure. Kal had a lot more problems than his own mental instability to worry about. Even if he walked out completely cured, he'd still have to deal with his parents, who in some ways made the Luthors look like angels. But he'd save that for another day.

"It'll be a big step forward," Lex said, not quite willing to lie to his friend but perfectly content to offer half-truths that sounded reasonable enough. "I'll keep visiting as often as I can, Kal. You just keep making progress, alright?"

[son-ofkrypton.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Clark said. He tried to sound gung-ho about it, but it wasn't very easy and he was pretty sure he wasn't fooling anyone.

He was silent for a bit, trying to think of what to say. He wasn't sure how much he could trust Lex right now - he seemed to think the only way he could help him was for him to go through Landels the "right" way and he wasn't sure what could convince him otherwise. Proof he was different? That he wasn't crazy? The only proof he had there was his powers. But Clark couldn't risk exposing his powers to Lex, especially Lex, and instead he had to keep his mouth shut.

Instead, he said, "Thanks for coming, Lex. It means a lot to me."