Title: Easter Egg (Nourishment: Second Helpings 22)
Author: Janet F. Caires-Lesgold
Feedback to: jfc@freeshell.org
Archive: Mailing list archives only--others please ask permission!
Category: Story, angst, Martha POV
Spoilers: None ever anymore
Rating: T (Teens and up due to references to sexual behavior)
Pairing: Clark/Lex/Chloe established relationship
Summary: Consequences

DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to me. Smallville is the property of Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Tollin-Robbins Productions, and Warner Bros. Television, and based upon characters originally created by Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster. This story is just for the entertainment of my online friends and myself, not for any profit.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: All parts of "The Nourishment Series" and "Second Helpings", which precede this story, can be found elsewhere on this archive - Enjoy!

AUTHOR'S ADDENDUM: The show as we knew it no longer exists--we've gotta write it ourselves now.

DEDICATION: For Planned Parenthood of America.

COPYRIGHT: (C) Janet F. Caires-Lesgold, June 25, 2006, jfc@freeshell.org

Please don't redistribute or alter this story in any way without the express permission of the author. Thank you very much.

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Clark is in so much trouble.

He and Chloe sit at the kitchen table with Jonathan glowering at them while I pour coffee and get out some cookies, because I don't know what else to do. For a moment all I can hear is a robin outside the window and the clock ticking in the hall.

"Pregnant?" Jon eventually bellows.

"Yes," Clark pronounces clearly, looking like he might jump in front of Chloe to protect her from his father if necessary. She shrinks down in her chair as if she wishes she could disappear.

"And...?" Jon prompts, making his voice as deep and intimidating as he can.

Clark squares his jaw before he speaks. "And we think it's mine."

I set the platter of cookies on the table and sit beside my husband to present a united front. "You 'think'?"

Jon wrinkles his brow. "I thought you were with Lex..."

My son manages to blush a little, hesitating just a moment when he answers, "I am, but we have sort of been including Chloe lately..."

Before my mouth drops open in shock, I stammer, "Sort of...?"

"You mean it could be Lex's?" Jon offers.

"Maybe, but I'm pretty sure it isn't."

He ponders this for a few heartbeats. "Don't you always use protection?" he asks, his eyebrow twitching down hard so his eyeball doesn't pop out of his head in anger.

"Yeah, except for this once..."

The girl finally speaks up for herself. "That was probably my fault. I'd taken Clark down to the caves to rehearse his number for the musicale, and stuck my class ring on him to bring him out of his shell, since I remember something about that working before. Well, he came out of his shell, all right, and was kind of a force to be reckoned with. We didn't really have time to find anything." After this lengthy speech, the first words she's said since she arrived at the house, she goes deathly pale. "Be right back!" she announces, bolting out of her chair and running for the downstairs bathroom.

We all gawk after her. "I was going to ask if she was sure, but I guess that answers my question..."

"Oh, she's sure," Clark replies. "She got one of those test kits at the drugstore when she missed her second period. She said that the first was right after the musicale, and she thought she'd just miscounted..."

Jon is fuming silently until he erupts with, "You let her drug you with red kryptonite?"

"I didn't know!" he wails in self-defense. "This is the first I've heard about it! I know she keeps her ring on a string hung from her rear-view mirror, but it doesn't bother me unless I touch it. She must have snuck it over my head beforehand and stole it back afterwards without my noticing. I really had no idea she'd done that."

"You didn't notice that your entire personality changed? I'm surprised at you!" I scold.

"I didn't know what was going on! I guess I thought I was really getting into the character or something..."

Jon scowls menacingly. "So you couldn't control yourself and knocked her up right there in the cave?"

Clark gives him an irritated frown and explains, "It was nicer than that. Look--I'm not expecting sympathy here. I screwed up. But don't assume I took advantage of her. We're friends, and it's just something we've decided to do sometimes..."

"You mean Lex decided..." Jon threatens.

"No--it was a mutual thing. She was interested, he was interested, and I was curious. We've always been really careful to take precautions before now. I am really sorry."

More calmly, Jon adds, "Son, you've gotta understand--this 'mutual thing' sounds pretty stupid to your mother and me."

"You couldn't possibly have thought that this was a good idea!" I exclaim. Startled by the volume of my own voice, I modulate it down to add, "Somebody could have just gotten hurt, or left heartbroken. I'm sure you never thought that something like this could happen..."

"Okay," Clark agrees petulantly, "it was a mistake, and we didn't mean for it to happen."

I reach across and pat his hand. "That's fine, Clark, but now you have to decide what you're going to do to fix it."

He takes a sip of his coffee, obviously arranging the words in his head. "Do you think I ought to marry her?" he asks, completely honestly.

This takes Jon so much by surprise that his head of steam breaks and he lets out a small laugh. "You've been hanging around Lex too long. Trouble with a woman? Marry her."

Shaking my head in amused dismay at my husband, I push the cookie plate over to Clark. "You're too young to get married. You're not even finished with high school yet. You're both too young to be parents."

"So you think she should get an abortion," our boy states bluntly.

Both of us old grownups pause like the air has been let out of us. "I hate to think about it, but maybe it is the best thing..." I begin.

"It had better come out of your pocket, young man!" Jon insists.

"We checked--it's going to be like $350..." he answers, crestfallen.

I take pity on my careless son at last. "I'm glad you at least looked into it before you came to us. Now, maybe we can help, and you can pay us back out of your allowance..."

"Thanks, Mom. We won't let it happen again," he swears, relief flooding his face.

Jon begrudgingly gives him a smile. "I guess it's good to know that your alien genes work like that, I mean, if you wanted them to in the future..."

He falls silent when the bathroom door opens, and the sound of Chloe's footsteps precede her back into the kitchen. She looks terrified, and sick, and alone.

Clark stands from the table and goes to her. "Good news, Chloe. It's gonna be okay..."

Clark may be in trouble, and know it, but Chloe is in more trouble, so it's the right thing to do to help her now...

THE END