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Close to Home - epilogue
Close to Home
Epilogue
Justine finished reading the article out loud and folded up the paper. She tucked it under the edge of Alex's lunch tray. "Poor kids," she said, her pretty face twisting into a frown. "Conner's so sweet. He came to check on you, and he was such a mess. He was trying to reassure me, though."
"He's a good kid," Alex agreed. They all were, really. He turned his head as far as the neck brace would allow and looked at the row of cards and vases that stretched along the window ledge. Funny thing, you never knew how popular you were until everybody thought you were dying. "I can't believe he's dating a celebrity," he said, and chuckled. "Small town boy made good, I guess."
"Hasn't sent a card, yet," Justine said. Lorelei tugged at her pant-leg, so she bent and lifted her up onto the bed to sit between Alex's feet. "There's one from that woman - his aunt, you said? She sent jam or something, too. Something in a jar."
Alex made a face. "Why didn't you tell me that before I ate that awful meatloaf? I'd have sent you down for extra rolls, or something."
"Hey."
Alex looked down the bed at the girl who was, for all intents and purposes, his stepdaughter. Her mother had pulled her hair back in a ponytail today, and it shone like copper in the sunlight. "Yes, sweetie?"
"Can I eat your jello?"
Justine snorted and pulled the rolling tray-table toward her daughter. "Have at, kid," she said, sticking a spork in her hand.
Lorelei's little face lit up, and she dug into the quivering green mass with great delight.
"You know what that's made of?" Alex said, smirking.
"Cow feet and pig bones," she said, sounding bored. "You told me already. But it still tastes good."
Alex chuckled, wincing a little at the pain in his ribs. "I find your pragmatism most admirable, young lady," he said.
Lorelei slurped jello through her teeth at him.
Someone knocked on the door, and then one of the nurses poked her head in. Alex hoped it wasn't a bad sign that he couldn't remember her name. "You've had another delivery," she said.
Justine exhaled and looked around. "I don't think there's room for more flowers. You think they're expecting bonus points in return, or what?"
"It's not flowers," the nurse said. She stepped into the room with a small, flat, brown box. "Little package."
"Maybe it's more cookies!" Lorelei said excitedly.
"You've already got jello," Justine said absently as she took the box. It was stamped 'FRAGILE', so she refrained from shaking it. "Want me to open it?"
Alex held up his hands, which were still loosely bandaged over his burns. "I think you'd better."
"No, me," Lorelei, said, reaching, but her mother pulled it out of her grasp.
"Honey, it says ‘fragile’. That means there's something in it that could break." She slid her nail under the packing tape, and then stopped, looking down at the box with a sardonic expression. "Alex? Have you been sending off letters to supermodels?"
To..."What?" he asked.
"The return address says ‘Kory Anders’."
Kory Anders? What? Alex tried to sit up, only to be fussed at by both his girlfriend and the nurse. Justine helped him raise the bed a little, and held the box out in front of him as she opened it. Inside, there was a card with a picture of a cartoon scientist on it, and a small, framed photo of Anders in a bikini under a waterfall, signed and bearing a lipstick print. Alex was already grinning at the thought of the comments he'd get from his students with that on his desk.
"Oh, that's tasteful," Justine said, dryly, and pulled the photo out to shove it under a blanket before Lorelei could see. The box rattled, and
Justine lifted them out for his inspection. One was full of thick, dark, vibrantly orange liquid, and the other contained a curl of reddish-brown hair.
"Oh my god," Alex said, his breath coming quick. "They're samples."
"What?" Justine asked. "Hold on!" she scolded as he fumbled for the card with his painfully swollen fingers. "I'll read it!"
The card didn't have a printed message in it. Instead, it bore a few lines of delicate, loopy script in purple ink.
"’Dear Alex’," Justine read out. "’I've heard an awful lot about you from a friend of mine, and I just wanted to express my wishes for your speedy recovery. My friend thought you might have enough flowers, so he asked me to send along something a little more personal, with his regards. Best of luck, Kory Anders. PS, I'd love a copy of the paper when you're done with these. You can pass it on to Conner.’ And then she kissed the paper. You'd think the picture would have been enough."
Alex's fingers twitched under the bandages. "Oh my god," he said again. He turned to the nurse quickly. "Was the package at the desk for long? I need to know how old that blood sample is." His heart sank. "The mail must have come hours ago."
"Didn't come with the mail," the nurse said, taking the card from Justine to look it over. "This kid delivered it to the station just now. I barely even saw him, he disappeared so fast."
"Can you get me some ice? Dry ice, I mean. And an insulated box. You've got to have them in the phlebotomy and histology labs-"
"Mr. Dalton," the nurse said suddenly. "Calm down. You're sending your monitor haywire."
Alex took a deep breath and forced himself back against the pillows. "But can you get the ice?"
"I've got a friend downstairs," she said. She stepped forward and adjusted his IV. "I'll go call him, but you've got to stay calm, okay?"
"Right," Alex said, trying very hard to control his breathing. "Calm. Okay. Honey, can you call Charles? Tell him he can co-author if he'll let me use his lab. Oh, fuck. I can't even use my hands."
"Alex!" Justine snapped, clapping her hands over her daughter's ears.
He fell silent, feeling suddenly sheepish.
Justine sighed and gave him a fondly exasperated look. "They won't let you out of here if you give yourself a heart attack. I'll call Charles. Just calm down, okay?"
"Yes, dear," Alex said, but his mind was racing.
Alien DNA. Alex grinned. Oh, that was much better than another potted mum. What a thoughtful boy!
Index
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The truth was I had no clue what I was in for. This story was more than I expected, more than I hoped for, it reached a quality and level of substance I feel is decidedly uncommon in fanfiction. In fact I would go so far as to say I think you might want to consider adapting this story into an original work and trying to get it published. I say this because not only do you demonstrate a clear and capable ability to keep cannon characters in character, but you actually made OC's that are organic to the story and have their own unique voices.
It didn't hurt that Jake and I share a name and he got Superboy kisses. I feel as though I ought to go on, only I wouldn't want to seem too gushy =P But seriously, there is a wonderful juggling of pace and plot and rhythm here and I fell in love with each of the characters without feeling like the story was in any way fluffy. And one of the more impressive feats in writing, or so I think, is keeping humor and drama in proportion without impugning upon the other, which you manage *very* well.
I've seen in comments you've hinted at more writing could be in store within this story 'verse. I would support such endeavors with my VERY SOUL, because to be completely honest I've read this story 3 times already over the course of this week and am probably going back for a fourth round tomorrow.
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It's been about a year since I posted this, and I guess I need to just suck it up and write the sequel soon so the boys can get some resolution of some kind. Canon's shifted under me quite a bit, and I'm going to have to just declare it AU - rather more drastically so than my nebulous near-future setting required.
Maybe once the holiday is over and I can get settled in my new apartment that I haven't even picked out yet. ^_^; Life, why do you get in the way of my fandom, so!
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