The Emergence

Chapter 2

Jonathan lazed on the couch, watching the tv. His throat hurt, his whole body ached, and he had a pressing headache right behind his eyes.

In other words, he was miserable. Very miserable.

He also had a pestering cough and was sneezing non-stop. Every time he did either thing, it felt as if his throat were being ripped to shreds, or being lit on fire.

He realized that he hadn't felt or been this sick in a very long time.

He paused the tv with less than 2 minutes left and got up, grabbing his notebook and pen. Then he headed off in the direction of his mother's home office. He knocked on the doorframe before leaning on it. His mother looked up, glasses perched on her nose.

"What do you need sweetie?" She asked. He handed her his notebook. "Of course you can have some pain medication." He smiled in response and followed her into the kitchen. She popped 2 pills out of a blister pack and handed them to him with a glass of water. He chucked them into the back of his throat and took a swig of water, wincing as the tablets went down.

"Why don't you go back to sleep Jon, you kinda look like you need it." She offered, placing a warm hand on his shoulder. He considered what she said. He was tired and could use the rest. He nodded at her and she smile. "Okay. Do you need me to tuck you in?" She mocked jokingly. Jonathon rolled his eyes and shook his head.

As she headed back into her office, Jonathan went through to the living room and grabbed his water bottle before going upstairs to his room. The lights were still off and his blinds were still shut. The only light coming through was through the cracks in-between the wall and the blind, and there was nothing he could do about that, so he ignored it and got into bed. He pulled up his covers and leaned back into this pillow, adjusting it several times before finally shutting his eyes and falling asleep.

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The first thing Jonathan realized when he woke up was that he was sweaty, very, very sweaty. The second thing was that he felt absolutely fine. He swallowed several times just to make sure and stretched several times as well. There were no aches, no pains, no nothing. He craned his neck to look at his clock. It was just past noon. He had slept nearly 4 hours.

He got out of his bed and raced down the stairs, rounding the corner at the bottom and racing into his mother's office. The first thing he noticed was that his father was back from wherever he'd been saving lives, and the second being that he was looking at him very strangely.

"Mom, dad, something is wrong." He panted.

"What do you mean?" They both replied in unison.

"I mean that I feel completely and utterly fine." He responded, leaning on the doorframe to catch his breath. As he leaned down, something irritated his nose and he sneezed.

Papers on Lois's desk went flying. Everywhere.

Clark sped around the office and grabbed them all, putting them into a stack before placing them back onto Lois' desk. Then he turned to look at Jonathan with uncertainty. Just like Lois was.

"What?" He asked, completely oblivious to what he had just done.

"That's not normal Jonathan," Clark responded. "Normal people don't go around blowing their mother's papers all over the place when they sneeze," Clark spoke. Jonathan's mouth fell into a small 'o' shape.

"Are you sure you are feeling alright through?" Lois butted in. She walked up to him and placed her hand on his forehead. "Your fever, it's gone." She sounded faltered.

"I should get him to the fortress. For tests." Clark responded. Jonathan just stood there, a blank expression plastered onto his face. He was still stunned by what he had done. They all were. Clark walked up to Jonathan and placed his arms on his shoulders, steadying him and pulling him out of his daze. "I'm going to take you to the fortress Jonathan." He spoke. Jonathan stuttered.

"Um, alright, that's okay, but can I shower first?" Clark nodded, and let go of Jonathan's shoulders.

Jonathan ran back out of the room and both Lois and Clark heard him run up the stairs. They heard the shower turn on 5 minutes later.

"So it really was just a matter of time," Clark spoke, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, I guess," Lois responded. "It could just be a fluke though. Like a one-time thing."

"How do you explain the fact that he healed so quickly from that bug then?" Clark asked.

"I don't know Clark." She sounded annoyed, but Clark could tell that it wasn't directed at him.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see what the tests say." He uttered, sitting back down.

"Yeah, I guess." She followed suit, opening her laptop as she continued to write her story. Clark opened his phone and browsed the news.

When Jonathan came down half an hour later, he was dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved shirt.

"Ready to go?" Clark questioned, having already grabbed winter coats and hats for both of them from the closet.

"Yeah, I guess," Jonathan spoke skeptically.

"Alright then," Clark responded, clapping his hands once. He handed Jonathan his jacket and beanie, and the teenager put them on. Clark also put his garments on before walking towards the door. Lois and Jonathan followed him. Jonathan followed him down the porch stairs and onto the grass. Lois stayed on the porch.

"Have fun, you guys." She called, waving her hand. Clark waved back and Jonathan smiled. And then they were gone, leaving Lois standing on the porch staring at a piece of grass. "Really never gonna get used to that." She muttered, looking to the sky where she could just make out Clark's movement. Once he had disappeared, she went back inside.