Part 8
I also wanted to note that I added several paragraphs to Part 7 so check that out, too.
From part 7
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Zared was determined and had again forgotten about the dressing. He took Danny by the hand - with the hand that had been cut and bruised coming in contact with the Kryptonite in the Mutilator's pocket - pulling him towards the small chapel that was at the end of the hall. Danny wasn't saying a thing. That's odd. Zared just shrugged.
Danny was just staring at his hand. When they were both waiting for Jenni to get out of surgery, he had seen Zared's bloodied hand. It should not be healed. No, not at all. And not even one scar.
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Part 8
Zared realized that he had to do something to quell Danny's suspicions about him. Zared had been careless and let Danny see his healed hand, and Danny knew that it should not have healed that fast. And then a groggy Jenni had told her dad that she had heard the doctors say if he, referring to Zared, hadn't gotten her to the hospital when he did that she probably would have died. Zared hoped that Danny just thought she wasn't making any sense and was actually speaking about his alter ego. Since Zared did *not* want Danny to figure out his secret something needed to done.
So, the next day, he called Bernie asking for a favor. And, of course, Bernie was happy to help him. Bernie graciously called Jenni's room when Zared wasn't there so that Danny would most likely answer the phone. When he 'found out' that Zared wasn't there, he asked Danny if Zared's hand had healed and told him that he had used a new treatment on his it.
Since Jenni's father was somewhat of a fan of Dr. Bernard Klein's, he had been thrilled to talk to him. He actually smiled most of the rest of that day.
Zared fervently hoped that this ruse would work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 days later...
Jenni was recovering well. She suspected but still didn't know what was going on. She did know her dad wouldn't talk about the baby. Over the past days, Jenni and Zared had discussed their plans to marry as well as their other plans for the future.
The only comment Danny made was, "You're going to live with Clark?" He had said that flatly and without belief.
The doctors told her she could go home but with lots of restrictions on her activities. She was given prescriptions and discharge instructions. Danny signed the papers for her to leave and said, "Zared can drive you home. I have to go." He turned to walk out. Zared was angry with him. He wouldn't even tell his daughter she could not come home. Zared would be left with this duty.
"Daddy, wait." He turned back towards his daughter. "Why have you been treating Zared the way you have? You have always liked him."
"That was before I knew you were pregnant. I'm having a hard time believing he didn't force you. I believe you would never have consented to sexual relations at your age unless you were forced."
"Daddy, you can't mean that." She knew it was true though. "I wasn't expecting to get pregnant, but I am now, and I... we want this baby. And, daddy, Zared did not force me. Not in any shape, form, or fashion. If anyone is at 'fault' then it would be me. I..." She stopped thinking that her dad didn't need to know the details. Then she looked directly at her dad, "*I* wanted to have sex. So get over it."
Danny started to leave and then stopped. "I'll sign the papers if you don't want to wait til after your birthday." He turned and walked out.
"Zared, I know you have been keeping something from me. I haven't pushed because I've felt so rotten, but now I want to know. What is it? Daddy told you I couldn't come home didn't he?"
Zared just nodded. "I'm sorry, honey. I can't believe he'd do that. I guess I can understand now why you waited so long to do a pregnancy test. You felt like you *couldn't* be pregnant. I don't understand your dad's feelings at all."
"His father was the same. I don't know. It seems very strange to me. Daddy is really wonderful except when it comes to 'certain rules'. I think it may have had something to do with his childhood."
"He was abused? He never hurt you, did he?"
"I don't know if he was abused. He's never talked about it. And no, he never hurt any of us. He does have a temper sometimes, but he always apologizes. His temper is usually turned toward himself, though, not us. I have heard a few kids at school talking about their parents getting angry and saying terrible things to them. So I've been lucky. I know that there are kids out there that are abused, too. I can only hope they always get removed from the home. It's hard to believe things like that still happen."
"There will always be evil, in one form or the other, in the world. That's why dad has never tried to destroy all the weapons in the world - that kind of thing. People would just build more and make them harder to find."
"Oh, Zared, I love you so much and I'm glad you are so wonderful. I've watched your dad, so I know what kind of man you are and always will be."
He grinned, "Yeah, you've watched alright, in more ways than one."
She giggled. "Now I have *you* to watch. I can't wait to see the outfit up close." She giggled again, "Better yet, I can't wait to take it off."
He smacked at her arm. "Oh, Jenni..." He was blushing.
"Well, we are getting married," she flirted. Then she became more serious. "How ever will I face your dad? He's okay isn't he?"
"You'll manage, Jenni, you'll manage. And yes, he's much better. He's had a rough couple of days but has improved."
"Oh, Zared, I don't know. You wouldn't believe some of the fantasies I've had about him." Then she put her hand to her mouth, and said, blushing, "I can't believe I just said that. Don't you dare tell him I said that. Don't you dare."
Zared just smiled....
~~~~~~~~~~~~
After they left the hospital, they went straight to Star Labs. There were still a few reporters hanging around but after his dad had issued an official statement that morning most had left. No one paid much attention to them when they walked in. Dr. Klein had wanted to see Jenni at the hospital, but her father's permission would have been needed and they didn't know how to explain why a doctor from Star Labs, especially Bernie Klein, needed to see her.
They were escorted to Dr. Klein's lab by a guard, even though Zared knew the way. Bernie greeted them, "You must be Jenni. I'm glad to see you are doing well. Come, come with me." He looked at Zared, ""Do you think Mr. Green believes the story about your hand?"
Zared answered, "He seems to. Thanks for doing that."
He then spoke to Jenni, "Do you want Zared to come with you?"
She nodded. "We were hoping to see, umm, uhh,.... " She just couldn't decide what to call Clark, so finally said, "umm, *him* first." She could feel herself blushing again.
Bernie giggled. Bernie actually giggled. "He's asleep right now, so let's take care of you first."
Jenni was a bit frightened. She'd never had this done before, but Bernie had been great. After he was finished examining her, she said, "Thank you, Dr. Klein, for being so patient and taking the time to explain everything."
Bernie smiled, "Always Jenni, always. And you are welcome. Call me Bernie, okay?" Then he said, "You are doing very well, especially considering what you have been through. The baby is very healthy. I am pleased. I still want to monitor you, but you'll need to see an obstetrician, also. You won't need to tell him or her that there is anything unusual about this pregnancy." He gave them an ultrasound picture of the baby sucking it's thumb. The pictures were so good it was almost as if it was an actual photograph. They both smiled. "You want to know the sex?"
Jenni said yes and Zared said no. After a short discussion, they agreed they wanted to know the sex.
"Well, it's a little girl. I'm sure she will be as beautiful as her mother."
Jenni blushed. She looked at Zared and he leaned over and kissed her.
"Get dressed and I'll check on *him*." He looked at Jenni with a smile. Clark had told Bernie of her obsession.
Zared grinned, "Hey, Jenni, I imagine dad already knows about your fanta... 'feelings'." He laughed.
Jenni glared at him. "If you told him...."
Zared just shook his head no. "I haven't talked to him since you told me that, but my dad is *very* perceptive."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few minutes later they went in to see *him*. Jenni immediately blushed and turned to leave. She muttered, "Oh, I don't know if I can do this. I'm such a silly."
Clark was sitting in a room with a wonderful overhead sunlight that was letting in lots of sunshine. He didn't have a thing on and was only covered with a bath towel. He laughed. "Come on Jenni. You can't get out of it. Now, come here." She walked over to him and Clark gave her a hug. "I'm so glad you are okay."
"I'm glad you're okay, too." She paused thinking how bad he really did look and she noticed his dressings. He still had bruising, too. He'd evidently been hurt worse than the media knew. He'd definitely been more injured than she had been. Between the time he'd spent at the hospital and at Star Labs, he'd spent far more time under direct medical care than she had and *he* healed faster than humans. "Has anyone told you how crappy you look?" She looked at the towel that was barely keeping Clark decent. "Ummm... Shouldn't you have a gown or something on? I mean not that I've never dreamed of seeing like this, but..." Jenni was surprised she was able to joke about being such a long time Superman 'fan'. Clark had a way of putting people at ease, even when he didn't have any clothes on.
Clark smiled, "Thanks, I know look crappy. You look pretty good considering. I'm glad you can laugh about your little obsession." He smiled broadly. "I'm dressed...err... undressed so I can get maximum exposure to the sun."
Zared said, "You should have seen him a week ago. You look better. A lot better. When ya' coming home? You need a shave.. again. You want me to do it?"
Clark just sighed and indicated he didn't know when he was coming home. "Yeah, a shave would be nice."
"Still can't do it yourself, huh?" Clark shook his head no. Zared made sure Jenni was in a comfortable chair, propping up her legs and giving her a pillow to hold to her abdomen in case she coughed.
She asked him to get her something to drink, sweetly saying, "Zared, can you get me a coke to drink?"
"No and no. You only have one kidney now. Your soda days are over. Thought you'd try to trick me, didn't you?"
She just looked at him batting her eyelashes. "Well, you can't blame a girl for trying. It's kind of hard to go cold turkey, you, know."
He handed her a bottle of juice. "You haven't had any coke since you were admitted to the hospital." With that he turned back to his dad, and Jenni watched in utter fascination as he 'shaved' his dad.
During the shave, Clark looked at Zared. <Yup, she's totally got you under her spell.> He winked at Zared and Zared blushed. Jenni could only wonder what had happened between father and son. Clark noticed her look. <You might want to think about telling her about the telepathy 'thingy'.>
<She's had enough excitement. Later, dad. Later.>
Dr. Kira walked in. "Oh, sorry, I didn't realize you had company." She was obviously admiring Clark's body, but only Jenni noticed.
"Oh, that's okay, Caitlin. This is Zared and this is Jenni, my umm... my friends."
"Nice to meet you. I'll talk to you later, Kal." Someone called her name and she turned to leave.
Zared said, "Caitlin? Kal? What's that all about?"
"Ummm..." Clark shrugged. "She asked me to call her by her first name."
Jenni wondered if 'Dr. Kira' was really one of Clark's doctors.
Then Zared said the same. "Isn't she one of your doctors? She seemed a bit... friendly to me."
Clark nodded. "She's one of my surgeons. I.."
Jenni noticed his discomfiture and changed the subject, but not before Clark saw her wink at him. Clark blushed slightly. That was the first time Jenni had ever seen Clark blush. Zared was looking towards the door and didn't notice his dad's blush. Jenni just smiled, then began to tell Clark of all that had happened with her dad. Zared had to take over when she teared up.
Clark was appalled that Jenni's father had acted in the manner that he had. He shook his head.
"So, dad. Jenni's coming home with me."
"So I gather. She might be pregnant, but you aren't sharing a room unless you are married."
Zared actually liked it because his dad was old fashioned. He smiled and nodded, "Yeah, that might usually be the case, but she just had surgery."
"You don't need to be in the same room with her." He said it with finality.
Then they spoke of Zared's and Jenni's plans. Jenni said, "Dad said he would sign the papers for us to get married. I'm surprised. I thought we would have to wait til my birthday or maybe I'd have to go to court to become an emancipated minor."
Clark nodded. "Good, I'm glad he'll sign the papers. You are both young, but I think with a baby on the way, everything will be easier if you are married."
Zared grinned then, and said, "So, dad, when are you going to tell us about *Caitlin*."
Clark took a deep breath and said, "Uhhh... I.."
Right then, Bernie walked in and said, "Time for you to go to bed."
Clark started to protest but decided this was a good thing. He was thankful for Bernie's interruption. No one knew anything about Caitlin, yet.
~~~~~~~~~
Jenni and Zared said bye and as they were walking out, Zared looked at Jenni. "What do you think is going on with," he paused, "Caitlin?"
She just shrugged. "I don't know Zared, I don't know."
Zared said, "For some reason she seems familiar, but I don't know why."
Then they drove to his, no *their*, house, where he made Jenni comfortable in bed.
Zared said, "Jenni, you get some rest. I'm going to go get your stuff."
"Okay, Zared, but before you go, I've been wanting to ask you something. What happened in the barn?"
More to come... =}
