Close to Home - chapter 12
He didn't go home that night. Twenty minutes before Martha usually woke, he blew through the house and started a pot of coffee. On his next pass, he did the milking and brought in the eggs. The coffee was done and Martha wasn't up yet to fuss at him, so he drank it straight out of the carafe. He started a new pot, put some bread in the toaster, and flew off again.
When he passed the farm again, the toast was buttered and waiting on a plate. Martha was staring at it as she sipped her coffee at the kitchen table, wearing a plush robe over her thin nightgown. Kon landed on the porch and walked through the door. He realized with a jolt that he hadn't, before. His feet hadn't actually touched the ground since Jake had left, the day before.
"Are you just getting in?" Martha asked when he sat down.
"Hero stuff," Kon said, and drained the mug she'd thoughtfully poured him.
Martha's face twisted in concern. "All night? I'd hoped you'd stayed over in town."
Kon choked on his toast. Shit. He coughed and got a thump on the back that made the bread go down. Did she mean at Jake's? She couldn't! Had she seen them out the window? Or guessed? Or -
"Tim called."
Kon swallowed. "What, here? I had my phone on."
"Oh, he just had a message to pass on. He said not to worry about what to wear on your date." She paused - Kon was pretty sure just to make him squirm - and then added "He said he's having something sent out for you."
Oh God. Kon finished his toast as fast as he could so that he could escape before he died of embarrassment. The only way this could possibly get worse would be if Martha brought up -
"Cassie hasn't visited in a while," Martha said, casually. She took a sip of her coffee. "Or called, that I know of?"
"I think she's mad at me," Kon admitted.
Martha looked at him levelly. "Can't imagine why."
"I'll call her," Kon said. "I will! I just - so much has happened this week, Ma. I've been busy."
"You need to set for a spell," she said as she levered herself out of her chair. "I'll make you up a good breakfast."
Kon bounced up out of his chair and hugged her. "I'm in a rush," he said as he set her down again. "Gotta grab a shower, and then I'm gone again."
"Conner Kent!" she shouted as he flew off up the stairs. He heard her fuming as he stripped and started the water, and then she shouted up the stairwell, "I wish Clark had given you a middle name!"
*
He escorted his friends to school, unseen, from above the day's conveniently low-hanging clouds. Once everyone was safely into their homeroom classes, he took off for Lowell County General and landed near the roof-access door.
Justine was asleep on a fold-out camping cot, covered by a thin blanket. Kon stared at Dalton for a while, and then scribbled out a note on hospital stationary and left it, folded, in Justine's palm. If there were any change, he wanted to know, and if he were going to school today, he couldn't be there on guard.
When that was done, he slipped off again and flew back to Smallville. The shops were starting to open, so he landed in a clump of trees behind Murphy's bar. The walk was a little longer, but it was way more circumspect. He really wished his school had roof access sometimes, especially when he was trying to sneak in late.
Cross was standing just inside the front doors talking to a policewoman when Kon entered. When he caught sight of him, his eyes lit up. "Mr. Kent!" he said, with great relief.
Kon froze. He usually got a very different greeting when he arrived at this time of morning. "Um.... Good morning?"
"Excuse us," he said to the cop, backing up with a short bow. "Mr. Kent, my office if you please."
Kon followed as quietly as he could. He wasn't going to open his mouth and incriminate himself if he could help it. Kon had been in this office enough times to learn that lesson. He sat when Cross offered him a chair, and watched warily as Cross settled himself behind his desk and folded his hands.
"You and Mr. Dalton were close," he said after a moment.
Kon blinked. "If you're even suggesting-"
Cross laughed suddenly, a short, sharp, bark of humor. "Gracious, no, Conner. I knew Alex better than that."
Kon swallowed. "Know."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Know," Kon repeated. "You keep using the past tense."
"I-" Cross paused. "Do I? I'm so sorry. I didn't even realize." He shook his head and leaned forward. "Conner, I just wanted you to know you won't be punished for leaving school, yesterday."
Kon sat up a little straighter. "I'm not in trouble?"
"No," Cross said kindly, "of course not. Don't take this as a blank check, though. I don't want you slipping back into your old habits of poor attendance, now..."
Kon tried a little smile.
"And - well, I understand your reasons for being late this morning. If it were earlier in the year, I would be offering to let you swap classes, but it's far too close to graduation. That said, we can make some arrangements. I'd like you to try attending with the substitute tomorrow. If you find it too difficult, we can talk about an independent study program."
Kon shifted in his seat. "You, ah. You've really been thinking about this."
"That's my job." Cross smiled. "I know it's easy to think of me as the enemy, but I'd really rather not be. When I tried to block your club, it really was out of concern for the safety of the students here." He looked sad for a moment. "I marched in Birmingham, Conner. I never thought I'd be 'The Man.'"
"Aw," Kon said reluctantly, "you're alright."
Cross chuckled. He leaned across the desk and handed Kon a card. "We've been assigned four councilors by the county. I really suggest that you talk to one. Actually-" He dug in his pocket and handed Kon a whole stack of the cards. "Your friends might take these from you when they won't from me."
Kon looked down. Each card had a list of phone numbers for individual councilors and two for crisis lines. He slipped them into his pocket to pass on to Mel.
"Your friends were very worried about you yesterday. I was worried, for that matter. I must have called your aunt a dozen times."
Oh, he bet Martha had loved that. The bell rang, signaling the end of first period, and Kon stood up. "I'll, uh, be sure to check in next time I decide to disappear for the day," he said sheepishly.
Cross gave him a wry smile. "You do that."
*
Jake was in their corner when Kon walked in, so focused on whatever he was drawing that he didn't look up and notice Kon for almost ten minutes after the bell rang. "Oh," he said, sounding surprised. "Hey. I didn't see you this morning."
"I was late. Hey, you didn't get in trouble, did you? For leaving yesterday?"
"Nah," Jake set down a nub of charcoal and wiped his hands on a paper towel. "The secretary said they were counting it as a sick day."
Kon nodded. "Cross wanted a heart-to-heart, but he said I'm not in trouble, either." He leaned over the table and peeked at the paper Jake had taped to his board. Oh, it was him! His face, in charcoal and white chalk, on honey colored paper. "That looks great!" he said. "I thought you were painting something."
Jake cleared his throat and went back to work. "Had to scrap it," he said. "It was...I screwed up."
"Oh," Kon said, and then, because he really kind of hated the look on Jake's face, "how did, ah. Things. Go."
Jake looked up and smiled. "Great, actually. I was right about Nell guessing, and she was totally supportive, and - well, dad freaked out a little, but I think he's mostly okay? It's kind of a big adjustment, right? But he was surprisingly cool. He, um," Jake ducked his head. "He asked about you."
Kon turned back to his drawing, which, with Jake's help, looked mostly like a human being, if not very much like Jake. He wasn't going to ask. He wasn't.
"I, ah, told him we’re friends," Jake said quietly. When Kon glanced up, his ears were pink.
"Yeah," Kon said, hoping he didn't sound as relieved as he felt. Jake was great, but Kon had Cassie. And anyway, he didn't think he could date anyone who wasn't part of his world - who didn't know him. That kind of thing was better left to people like Tim, who could separate their lives out, with different pieces for different people.
"I'm not sure Nell's convinced though," Jake added, "but she seems to like you." He looked up at Kon and grinned. "Enough that she gave me a box of condoms."
*
Kon stopped off to get rid of all that coffee on the way to lunch. As he was drying his hands, his phone rang. He answered it quickly, hopefully before the only other boy in the bathroom realized what it was playing. "Dude, you don't trust me to dress myself?"
"I didn't want to have to worry you'd show up in flannel. Or garters."
"Shut up," Kon said, "the garters were rockin'!" The other boy paused on the way to the door and turned to look at Kon at that pronouncement. Kon smiled and waved, and the guy left quickly.
On the other end of the line, Tim snorted. "If you say so."
Kon magnanimously chose to ignore him. "Do you have anything for me?"
Tim was quiet for a moment except for his breathing. When he did speak, his voice was more subdued. "Oracle and I have been scouring emergency facilities within a hundred mile radius. We found three incidents of severe scalding, but they all checked out as innocent."
Kon cursed. Couldn't they catch a break?
"I'm sorry."
He turned and leaned over the sink, closing his eyes. "Thanks for trying."
"Hm," Tim said, unhappily. "I couldn't get much of use from the photos, either. You were right about the door, and the size of the assailant's hands. That's consistent with what we know about Stephens's killer - that and the similarity of the injuries is enough to make me seventy-percent sure that we're dealing with a single meta. And..." he paused. "He's strong. Strong enough to overwhelm an average person easily, and to do significant damage. But he's not that strong."
Kon caught sight of himself in the mirror. His eyes were a little shot. He'd missed a spot on his jaw this morning, too. He tilted his head. "What do you mean?" he asked, and then held very still and closed one eye. The smell of singed hair filled the room, and Kon brushed a little ash from his shirt.
"If you'd punched a door mad enough to maim someone on the other side, there wouldn't be much door left."
"This is true," Kon said. He turned and sat on the edge of the sink.
"He damaged the wood instead of the lock itself - and instead of just ripping the door off, which would have been the quietest option."
"Huh, yeah," Kon said. "And - well, considering how crazy the attacks were, there wasn't a lot of collateral damage."
"Exactly," Tim said, and then added. "I bet his teammates never have to apologize for damage to American military facilities."
"I said I was sorry," Kon grumbled. "Anyway, Jaime helped!"
"Oh, I know. But Cassie called his mother, so additional teasing would be in the realm of cruel and unusual punishment."
Kon didn't know Jaime's mother, but that sounded a little harsh. A boy came through the bathroom door and gave Kon the kind of look Conner Kent was apparently going to have to get used to. "Listen," he told Tim, "I've gotta go. Anything else I need to know?"
There was a short pause, and then Tim said in a flat voice, "just a piece of advice, for now. If you're so concerned about leading someone on that you feel the need to secure an alternate date to your school dance, you probably ought to refrain from making out with them." There was a click as the line disconnected. Probably it was a good thing Tim had hung up. Conner Kent would really start getting weird looks if he'd responded to that out loud.
*
He collected a small crowd when he got to the cafeteria. Everyone seemed happy to see him, particularly Clarence and Delilah, who all but dragged him to their table. "How is he?" Clarence demanded. "Have you seen him? He's alive, right? Is he going to be okay?"
Kon slid into the seat beside him and rested his head in his hands. "Dude...it's not good."
Everyone got quiet. Jake chose that moment to appear with a two hamburgers on his tray. He put one on a napkin and slid it across the table to Kon, who shot him a grateful look and dug in.
"He's still out," he said, after he'd swallowed the first bite. "His girlfriend told me they don't really expect him to wake up."
"Wait," Chase said. "He's not queer?" Delilah punched him in the shoulder. "Ow!"
"Poor guy," Mel said, softly. Katie pulled her chair closer and put her arm around her shoulders. "I really liked him."
"He's not dead yet," Kon said tightly. "I'm not giving up on him."
"But you've seen him?" Hamilton asked.
"Yeah," Kon said. "He's...he doesn't look good. But I've seen people in worse shape pull through. As long as he's not getting worse, I'm going to assume he's getting better."
Across the table, Jake had barely touched his own burger. He was watching Kon eat. When the conversation paused, he put his french fries on another napkin and slid that across the table, too. "Are you going again this afternoon? I'd like to go with you."
God, Kon couldn't waste half an hour driving out and back, not to mention the time he'd spend sitting there, while everyone else was scattered, unprotected, in their homes and cars and jobs. "They aren't letting people in," he said, which wasn't entirely a lie. He just didn't mention that Justine probably wouldn't have minded another student visiting, especially if Kon vouched for him. "I seriously had to fight to get in there the first time. The police don't even want people knowing what hospital he's in."
"The police," Chase said, bitterly. "Fucking fascist biggots." Mel made a distressed sound, but Chase just snorted. "Seriously. You don't think they'd have caught the psycho by now if it wasn't one of us that got it? I don't know, maybe now that a teacher's down, they'll pay attention. But probably they think he got what he deserved, hanging out with a bunch of fag kids."
Kon frowned. "I'm sure they're doing their best," he said. He wished he could bring up the police reports, and how many people were assigned to the case, both from the sheriff's office and the state police. "Look how many cops they've got here on campus."
"I think they're scared we're going to start fighting back," Clarence said. "The cops don't care, or Matt's dad would be in jail already."
The table went silent. Mel, in particular, looked slightly green. "His dad?"
Clarence nodded. "Abusive fuck. If I knew where he was living, I'd go after him myself. Matt's mom threw him out, a few years ago. He beat the crap out of Matt when he found out he was seeing this guy..."
"Oh, Curtis," Chase said. "I remember. Jesus, that was a mess."
Kon wiped his hands and threw his napkins onto the table. "Curtis?" he asked, aiming for casual curiosity.
"That jerk," Delilah muttered. She turned and looked at Kon. "He was older. Didn't exactly stick around."
"I didn't really know Matt then," Clarence said. He sounded sad. "Lilah introduced us, not long after. He was still on crutches, had tape on his nose and everything...So not exactly love at first sight."
"Oh, shut up," Delilah said, with a sudden laugh. "You thought he was cute."
Clarence smiled a little. "Yeah, maybe."
"No, no, I always know." Delilah grinned and tore into an orange. She looked at Kon's pile of napkins and stuck about half of the sections in front of him. "You two, for example," she said, looking at Kon, but tossing her head across the table.
Kon felt himself flush. "Ah ha ha ha," he laughed, but it sounded stilted even to his own ears. "No, um, we're not... I mean..."
"Conner has a boyfriend," Jake said, without looking up from his pudding.
Everyone turned to look at him, and then at Kon, who flushed even harder. "Um."
"Huh," Clarence said, "good on you, Cowboy."
Chase reached over and stole Katie's chips while she was busy looking at Kon. "I just assumed you and Jenkins were doing it."
"You just assume everyone is doing it," Delilah said, exasperated, then turned to Kon. "Really? Not at Smallville, or we'd know! And he'd have killed Jake by now-"
"Hey!" Jake protested. His ears were starting to turn pink.
"So where are you hiding him? Does he go to St. Francis?" she smirked. "Ooh, private school boys."
Kon had a sudden and distressing image of Tim in the St. Francis uniform, which had a blazer and everything. Hadn't Tim gone to a boy's school, back in Gotham? "He's not, uh. I mean, he doesn't live in Smallville."
"Oh that's no fun! If we don't know him, how are we going to tease you? Oh, look at how he's blushing! Is he coming? To the dance?"
Kon swallowed. "Yeah."
Delilah's eyes lit up.
"What about you," Clarence asked Jake in what had to be a bid to rescue Kon. "Do you have a date?"
Jake shrugged and looked down at his food again. "I guess I'm stag."
Delilah finally turned her attention away from Kon. "Oh, no, we can't have that. Hm...How do you feel about college boys?"
Jake looked kind of panicked.
Clarence rolled his eyes and dropped his hand, hard, onto the top of her head. He used it to turn her around to look at him. "Lilah, no."
"But Carson has this friend-"
"No."
"Who's Carson?" Kon asked, hoping blindly for a successful change of subject.
"My boyfriend," Delilah said, offhandedly. She opened her mouth, and then seemed to notice that everyone was staring at her. "What?"
"Wait," Chase said, "back up."
Clarence dropped his head to his folded arms and started laughing.
"You like the dick?" Chase asked. "Really?"
Delilah tossed her hair. "Why? Are you interested?"
"Ew, no. But you're the biggest dyke at this table! No offence, Katie."
Katie snorted. "She doesn't even play softball."
"He's up at state," Delilah said, as she pulled out her phone. "But he's got lots of queer friends. Some of them are really cute, too. We can totally fix you up, Jake." She started texting.
"Um. Thanks? I guess."
Clarence looked up and aimed a loud whisper across the table at Jake. "Run away, man. While you can!"
Mel was frowning. "I suppose it's good to bring dates in from out of school. Potentially we could double our numbers..."
"Oh, no," Katie said. "I wanna dance with you."
"God save us from codependent lesbians," Chase muttered as they kissed.
"Well, we know you've got like ten 'boyfriends'," Clarence said, dismissively. "Hamilton, you got a date?"
Hamilton coughed.
"Yes," Chase said, smugly.
Clarence laughed and reached out to bump fists with him. Hamilton just rolled his eyes. When Kon looked at Clarence quizzically, he laughed again and said, "never enough of you jock types to go around."
"Amen," Chase said, turning his eyes heavenward for a moment. He leaned across the table suddenly and turned to Kon. "So tell us about your mystery boytoy, then. Is he all buff and manly too?"
Kon shrugged. "He's in pretty good shape."
Chase raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
"Got a picture?" Katie asked.
"Not on me."
Chase grinned. "Is he hot?"
Kon...had to pause. He'd really spent years training himself not to notice that most of his friends were pretty attractive - Tim, especially. Kon'd had a... well, crush was too soft a word. A fascination with the other boy that had taken him a long time to get over. Once they'd finally been friends, though, he'd pushed those thoughts aside. "Yeah," he said after a moment. In his mind, he was seeing Tim they way he'd looked Tuesday night in Gotham - his legs piked as he swung through the air, then tucking, twisting as he let go to tumble and land crouched, one leg under him and the other extended for the next move, the next turn and kick and punch, the gloved fingers of one hand braced on the filthy pavement. "Yeah... he really kind of is."
"Smile!" Delilah said brightly. Kon turned reflexively, but she wasn't aiming her phone at him.
Jake was blinking at her from across the table. "What the hell?" he asked.
"Well, if he's finding you a date, he needs your picture," Delilah said, as if she were explaining the idea to a small child. "You're a hottie! That's incentive!"
*
Kon and Delilah walked to English together after lunch in what he was amazed to realize was beginning to become a habit. When they got to the end of the hall, she stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Don't mention Carson to Pete, okay?"
Kon frowned. Pete Miller was not exactly on his short list of confidants. "Why would I?"
"I don't know," Delilah said, sounding frustrated. She shook her head and turned away to watch the students across the hall at their lockers. "It's more hassle than I need, is all. I don't know why I even care. I haven't been home since you hauled me off him - not even to get clothes and shit. I had some stuff at the Moores' already, and some at Mrs. Rebecca's, and Ms. Charlotte took me shopping... But." She sighed. "I told my family I woudn't see Carson anymore."
"Your family?" Kon asked. "Wait-"
Delilah gave him a sad smile, one without much amusement to it at all. "You really need to work on your small-town gossip, Cowboy."
"You're related? To Miller?
"No," she said quickly. "No, he's my stepbrother. Well, not technically, but as good as. Mostly his dad likes to smack my mom around, and I can't get her sober long enough to throw his ass out." She sighed, bitterly. "Imagine Pete at fifty, only worse."
Kon's mental picture looked an awful lot like Patrick Stephens.
"So, they don't like my fag friends, or that I'm seeing Clarence's cousin..." Her mouth twisted. "Three years older than me, but that's not the part that matters, right?" She kicked a locker. "I fucking hate this backward, podunk town." She kicked it again, harder. "Lou - that's Pete's dad - he said he'd kill Carson if he kept coming around, and Pete was right there to back him up." She cursed and turned around, resting her shoulders against the lockers behind her. When she saw the look on Kon's face, she smiled. "But enough about those assholes. Tell me about this boyfriend!"
Kon scratched the back of his neck. They really should have decided on a story. "We'll be late," he protested.
Delilah made a fondly exasperated sound and grabbed his arm again, this time to start him moving toward their classroom. "You're such a fucking heartbreaker," she teased. "Poor Jake's practically pining, you big jerk. You better hope Carson finds him a good one."
*
After class, Kon flew back to the hospital. He hadn't gotten a call, so he was cautiously optimistic, but probably if something had gone wrong, he wouldn't be the first thought in Justine's mind. When he got there, though, Dalton was lying just as he'd left him, still as a rock except for the artificial inflation of his chest. Justine was awake, but he decided not to bother her. She had her daughter in her lap, and they were sitting together by the bed, reading out loud from a picture-book.
Instead, he zipped off to the nearest Sundollars and came back with a couple of travel cups for the nurses. He waited until Lucille came back to the station from her rounds, and started passing them around. She patted his arm fondly when he presented her with the first choice - latte or regular - and then sat down for a few minutes to fill him in.
There was no real change. He'd fought the ventilator for a bit, late that morning, but he was breathing steady, now, with help. Other than that, and the general passage of time, his prognosis was the same. Justine seemed to be holding up well, considering, especially now that her daughter was with her. Kon repeated his request to be kept informed, and then took off again.
He buzzed by the farm. The pot on the burner was cold, but full. He drank it down and then escaped before Martha could come downstairs and scold him. He knew she meant well - he knew - but every minute he spent here was a chance for the killer to strike again. This would all be worth it when he caught the bastard. It was worth it every moment those kids were safe.
It was easiest while they were mostly still in school. Everyone was on campus, except for Daniel, who was lying on the grass at the park by the feet of a boy on a bench that Kon didn't know. He was close enough to the school that Kon could sit down for a while - settle on the flat roof of the gym and soak up a little sun to keep himself awake.
School let out, and everyone scattered. Hamilton didn't stay with the team, again, wandering off instead with Mel and Katie. Clarence went home, but Delilah walked to Rebecca Martin's house alone and knocked on the door, looking nervous. Jake went to work. Chase took a nap. Caroline went shopping with three other cheerleaders.
A man came and brought Justine some clothes. He stayed for a while, and then took the little girl with him when he left. Daniel walked home from the park with his headphones on. Mel ate dinner with her family and argued cheerfully in Korean at high volume. Hamilton stayed over at Katie's, apparently to critique her dress. Chase slept through a family dinner and then climbed out onto the roof to smoke. Jake poured truly excellent coffee for Gina and Lisa, and when Nell prodded him, took off his apron and slid into their booth.
The sun went down, and Kon started thinking longingly of joining them. He was well aware that he'd been running on coffee and sunlight, and now the sunlight was gone. He flew over the farm and saw Martha sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the two plates she'd laid out, with two, tall glasses of iced tea. It made Kon's throat clench and his stomach rumble but what could he do? There were more than a dozen kids down there in that town that needed his protection, and Dalton, and Rebecca... If he went home now, he wouldn't be able to eat, let alone sleep.
It was kind of crazy, but the longer he flew in circles through the darkness, the more sense Tim and his family started to make. Gotham was theirs, like Smallville was his, only they didn't have x-ray vision and super-hearing. They couldn't fly, or cross miles in an instant. They had to be everywhere, all the time. If they didn't work almost exclusively at night, they'd never sleep. Except - well, Tim had told him once, late one night, just after his father had been killed, alone in the dark kitchen of the tower over cups of cocoa - told him that he really shouldn't be concerned that he'd woken up to the sound of Tim screaming in his sleep, because it just meant his hearing was getting better.
No wonder they were all fucking crazy if they lived like that all the time. If every crime they couldn't prevent felt they way it did to look at Dalton's chest rise and fall... It was a wonder Tim ever left the city at all.
Kon made a wide loop. Most of the town was in bed. Beth was up with her laptop. Jake was painting. Chase was eating leftovers while his family slept. Martha still hadn't touched her dinner. She was leaning against the counter, talking on the phone. Justine was eating take-out in a plastic chair the color of a pumpkin, sharing her fried rice and wontons with two of the nurses. Caroline's friends dropped her off at her house. She had a garment bag slung over one shoulder.
Something was approaching at high velocity, just under the speed of sound. Kon stopped when he heard the air whistle and braced himself.
"Conner," Superman said, when he arrived. "Go home."
Kon balled his hands up into fists and bit his tongue. He couldn't be serious.
"You're exhausting yourself. Ma's worried about you, and I can see it's with good reason. Go home."
"I can't!" Kon shouted. "They're defenseless down there! A kid is dead. My teacher is dying. Someone is hunting them down like animals and I'm supposed to just-" he broke off, because shouting at Clark was one thing, but there was no way in hell he was going to cry in front of him. "I made a promise," he managed. If he whispered, it was easier not to choke up, even though the sound caught in his throat. "I promised my teacher - no one else is getting hurt."
Clark sighed heavily and drifted close enough to touch his arm. "You're hurting yourself, Conner. You're hurting Ma."
Kon spun away from the touch. "Maybe," he said, angrily. "But we'll survive, okay? These kids-" He finally looked up at Clark's face. He'd expected to see anger or Clark's usual vague, benign condescension. Instead, he looked sad, and maybe a little proud.
"Go home, Conner," he said again, softer this time. "I've got this shift."
*
Ma was warming their plates up when he walked through the door. She didn't say much, but she smiled at him, and when he sat down, she patted his neck.
Kon managed not to fall asleep in his mashed potatoes, but it was a near thing.
Index | 13