"No,you can sleep all you want."Jess said,standing.She flashed him a smile.

"Oh, okay..." Clark let out a big yawn and carefully reclined himself against the hospital bed. He piled his letters near the edge of the bed and closed his eyes.

Jess walked out of the room,making her rounds to see the other patients.

The next morning, someone woke up Clark. It was one of the war patients riding on a wheelchair. He greeted Clark as if they knew each other but didn't. The soldier asked if he was Tom and Greg's friends, which Clark answered yes, and gave him his condolences. Then he told Clark about a comic book that was mailed to him.

"A gift from my son," the soldier chuckled. "Childish, I know, but it's pretty decent. Not sure how big it'll be. I'm not much of a superhero fan."

"What's it about?" Clark asked. He was still lying down, but he could tell the thin comci book was lying on the soldier's lap.

"Some superhero from a planet, fights bad guys, stuff like that." The soldier laughed after glancing at the cover. "Hey, he looks a bit like you. Clark, right?"

"Yeah, that's my name," he answered. The soldier handed him the comic book so Clark could see it properly. An eyebrow of his shot up slightly as he flipped through the pages. "Superman...? I actually look like him? No, he looks more like my old man if he wore blue tights."

Jess was at her desk,drinking a coffee.She was there earlier than needed,but only because she wanted to see all of the patients earlier.She was flipping through Moby Dick,not really looking at the words.

Clark and the soldier had a small conversation. When Clark laughed at a joke they were talking about, he started coughing and covered his mouth. There was a painful squeeze somewhere on his chest that felt like a paper cut, but he wasn't sure what it was. He looked at his palm that he used to cover his mouth, and a wet red stain was on his skin.

His new friend was almost stunned and slowly backed away. "Should I get...?"

"G-go," Clark managed, and coughed again. He guessed the morphine was probably wearing off, but he didn't know much about medicine besides the basic first aid. His right arm started feeling like it was near a hot oven.

The soldier quickly rolled out of the room, calling any nurse for help.

Jess spun,her brows furrowing.She hurried over,and inside the room."What's going on?What happened?"She asked,starting over to Clark.

Clark showed her the blood on his hand as he covered his cough. "I...I think it's 'cause of that impact, from that explosion," he guessed. "And I think my right arm just went numb."

"Crap."Jess sighed,roughly.She ran and got more morphine,before she hooked him up to it.She poked her head out the door."I need to talk to his doctor,as soon as possible."

One of the nurses heard Jess's call and went over to Dr. Conners, who was Clark's doctor. He hurried to the room an glanced at Clark before turning to Jess. "What happened?"

Clark was starting to feel lightheaded even more, and the drums in his head were getting louder.

"He's coughing blood,and he says his arm is going numb."Jess said,biting her lip.

Dr. Conners took a quick check on Clark, who was starting to see black spots flying around in his eyes. "His arm should be just fine," the doctor stated, "probably need to fix the stitches. And....damn. I think his trauma's trying to come back. Unbelievable. Get him to the trauma center, now."

Jess nodded,kicking the stops out from the bed.She wheeled the bed toward the trauma center.

" 's this bad, doc?" Clark managed to mumble. He couldn't tell if everything around him was going fast or slow.

"Don't worry, Mr. Jules, you'll be just fine," Dr. Conners assured, rushing to the center with them.

Jess glanced up at the doctor,biting her lip.

Dr. Conners noticed the look on the head nurse. "Don't worry, he'll be okay. You can wait out if you don't want to witness the process," he told her.

"Yeah, Jess..." Clark used his good hand to reach for Jess's. He managed a small weak smile. "I'll feel like Superman again in no time," he said quietly.

Jess gave a weak smile and took Clark's hand,squeezing it."Okay."She whispered,quietly.

Clark wished he could kiss her hand to help her feel better, but he didn't have enough strength to bring her hand to his lips. Soon, his doctor pushed him inside the trauma center. A few more doctors and nurses followed them inside to treat the patient.

Jess sighed and squeezed her eyes shut,before she quickly went to check on the other patients.

About an hour later, Clark was sent back to his room safely. When he woke up again he tried not to move too much, for his own good. Dr. Conners told him he'd be able feel better properly later. The stitches on his right arm were fixed, which didn't bother him anymore. Conners asked if Clark needed anything, and Clark responded that he felt a little hungry.

After leaving the patient's room, Dr. Conners tapped on Jess's shoulder and told her Clark was back in his room.

Jess gave a slight nod,heading off to Clark's room.She poked her head in,flashing a smile."Hey."

Clark turned his head slightly and have Jess a small smile. "Now that's the angel smile I was expecting," he joked. "You doing fine?"

Jess gave a chuckle and blushed,walking inside of the room.She smiled at him."Shouldn't I be asking you that?""

Clark wanted to laugh, but he just smiled. "Doing better than earlier, I guess," he admitted. "You looked very worried when I went in that room."

"I was worried about you."Jess said,with a smile and a shrug.

"And I told you I'd be okay. I didn't scare you, did I?" he asked. "If I did, then I'm really sorry about that."

"A little,but it's okay."Jess shrugged.

Clark smiled at her. "Hey, did I miss lunch or dinner? I'm not sure how long I was out, but I feel pretty hungry."

"Dinner,yeah."Jess said,with a nod."I can get you something?"She offered,with a smile.

"Yeah, that'll be nice," he answered with a grin. "No alcohol, right? I know I can't have any. Trying to cut down on it."

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