Atomic Consequences

Chapter 4

When Clark had come home from the DoD after being arrested, he had expected to have a relaxing night at home with his family. He did not expect to hear that one of his kids, specifically the one that didn't have mental health issues, was caught selling, and using drugs.

Jon had always been the laid-back, easy-going kid. He didn't have problems, or need help like Jordan did, he just got on with life. And he definitely knew what was right and what was wrong. So naturally, he was absolutely fuming when he heard.

He'd gone upstairs to talk about it, and even though he was generally the nicer, calmer parent when it came to disciplining his kids, he had ended up completely losing it at Jon. The boy had shrunk back in fear, and by the time he had finished, was shaking like a leaf on a windy day. He knew that he should have been calmer with Jon, but he was so pissed that he couldn't. His son hadn't gotten into a fight, his son was selling and using drugs. They were two completely different things and Clark didn't know how to handle it properly. He hadn't been around his kids enough to know.

As he'd left the room, feeling somewhat better because he knew that he'd made his points, his ears had picked up on something. He hadn't meant to, considering the promise he had made to Jon and Jordan, but due to his tiredness, and the fact that the sound was so unusual, Clark found himself stopping in his tracks and listening in.

Jon was crying, and not the crying a kid would do when they fell over, he was sobbing. He had only seen Jon cry once or twice since moving to Smallville. Once had been after Clark had told him who he was, and the other was right after the RV incident when Lois was shouting at him. He had sobbed after the incident, when he had spoken to Clark about how he had thought he was going to die, but even that wasn't as brutal as what he was hearing now.

Right now, Jon was sobbing horrendously, crying like his life depended on it. Like he had just lost everything good and important in his life. Which he practically had.

Clark hated hearing, or seeing, his kids cry. It was one of the hardest things that he had to endure as a parent. But, despite that, Clark had absolutely no idea what would possess Jon to do such a thing, and because Jon was secretive and didn't give him any answers, he felt like Jon deserved to feel like that.

He stopped listening in, even though he didn't need to use his hearing to hear Jon, his crying was perfectly audible from where he was standing, and left to go downstairs. For most of the evening he sat with Lois or Jordan, talking or watching tv with them. When it was time for dinner, they ordered Chinese take-out. It was their usual order and there was enough for all 4 of them, but Jon never appeared. The 3 of them ate dinner in silence. It had been weird, Clark couldn't deny that. Jon had always been the talkative one, so having him missing meant that the family dynamic was off.

He tried so hard to enjoy the dinner, but all he could think about was Jon, and how he had taken drugs. What had the boy been thinking? And why would he misrepresent his family? Clark couldn't believe Jon, had he taught the boy nothing? Clark surely felt like he had. By his bedtime, the overwhelming anger and rage that Clark felt towards Jon hadn't gone down in the slightest.

He hopped into bed, Lois snuggling up next to him and falling asleep very quickly. He didn't fall asleep, instead, he tossed and turned all night. When someone started calling out for superman, he almost cried, being so thankful that he had something to take his mind off of the stressful events that had happened that day.

He flew off to help people in Nepal, where there had been a massive avalanche, which had been caused by a landslide. He helped cleanup the destruction that it had caused, and when he made it home, it was nearly 2 o'clock in the morning. He wandered around the house for a couple of minutes, trying to figure out what he should do with Jon and how he should punish him. He hadn't figured anything out yet when Lois came rushing down the stairs, extremely flustered. He'd asked her what was wrong and she'd said that she was grabbing medicine. He'd followed up the question with who it was for, and had been shocked when she had said it was for Jon. It seemed like she had been just as mad as he was less than 10 hours ago. Why had she let it go all of a sudden?