Chapter 16: Recovery
Sunlight pressed against my eyelids like warm hands.
I blinked awake slowly, disoriented. The ceiling above me was unfamiliar—wood beams, painted white, a small crack running from one corner. Not my apartment. Not the hospital. Somewhere else.
The Kent farm. The guest room.
Memory returned in fragments. Sean Kelvin. The reactor. Ice spreading up my arms. Kara's face, terrified and furious. Her lips on my forehead.
How long was I out?
Movement to my left. I turned my head—carefully, muscles protesting—and found Kara asleep in a chair beside the bed.
She looked terrible. Dark circles under her eyes, hair tangled, the same clothes I remembered from the reactor fight. Her hand rested on the mattress near mine, fingers curled slightly, as if she'd been holding on and only let go in sleep.
[RECOVERY STATUS: 72%. CORE TEMPERATURE NORMALIZED. TISSUE REGENERATION PROCEEDING.]
The bedroom door opened softly. Martha Kent stepped in, carrying a tray with soup and bread.
"You're awake." Her smile was warm but tired. "How do you feel?"
"Like I got hit by a truck made of ice cream."
She laughed quietly, set the tray on the bedside table.
"The frostbite was severe. Clark and Jonathan carried you in—you were barely breathing." Her eyes drifted to Kara's sleeping form. "She hasn't left. Not once. We tried to get her to eat, to sleep in a proper bed. She refused."
My chest tightened.
"How long?"
"Two days."
Two days. Kara had sat in that chair for two days, waiting for me to wake up.
"The soup is chicken noodle," Martha said, her voice deliberately light. "Old family recipe. Jonathan says it could wake the dead."
"Thank you, Mrs. Kent."
"Martha." She touched my shoulder gently. "Anyone who almost dies protecting my family gets to call me Martha."
She left, closing the door behind her with a soft click.
I lay there for a moment, watching Kara sleep. The rise and fall of her chest. The way her eyebrows drew together slightly, even in rest. The faint line of worry between them that I wanted to smooth away.
She stayed. She stayed for two days.
I reached out and touched her hand.
Kara's eyes snapped open instantly—alert, defensive, then flooding with something else entirely as she registered my face.
"Cole." Her voice cracked. "You're awake."
"Hey."
She launched herself from the chair, arms wrapping around me with a force that would have been crushing if she'd had her full powers. As it was, it was just tight. Perfect.
"Don't do that again," she said into my shoulder. "Don't ever do that again."
"I can't promise—"
"I know." She pulled back, eyes wet. "I know you can't. But let me be angry about it anyway."
I reached up, wiped a tear from her cheek.
"You look terrible."
She laughed—a broken, relieved sound.
"You should see yourself."
The soup was exactly as good as Martha promised.
I ate two bowls while Kara watched, her chair pulled up to the bedside, her hand never far from mine. The color had returned to her face now that she wasn't holding vigil over my unconscious body, but the exhaustion remained.
"You should sleep," I said. "Really sleep. In a bed."
"Later."
"Kara—"
"I will." Her jaw set stubbornly. "But first we need to talk."
The words hung between us. Heavy with meaning.
"About what happened," she continued. "About what you did. About... what we are."
I set down my spoon.
"Okay."
Kara took a breath. Held it. Let it out slowly.
"I'm not human," she said. "You already knew that. I could tell from the way you looked at me—like you understood something nobody else did."
"I suspected."
"I'm from a place called Krypton. A planet that doesn't exist anymore." Her voice was steady, practiced. She'd said these words before, maybe to herself in the mirror, preparing for this moment. "I came here to protect someone. To watch over him as he grew up. But my ship was damaged, and I was... delayed. By the time I arrived, he didn't need protecting anymore."
"Clark."
Her eyes widened.
"You—"
"I figured it out." Not entirely a lie. "The way you two interact. The 'cousin from Minnesota' story that doesn't quite hold together. The fact that you both look at the stars like you miss something I can't see."
Kara was quiet for a long moment.
"He doesn't know," she said finally. "What he is. Who he is. The Kents have protected him from that truth, and I... I've honored their choice. But it's hard, watching him struggle with powers he doesn't understand, knowing I can't help."
"Because yours aren't working."
"They're coming back. Slowly. But yes." She looked down at her hands. "On Krypton, I was strong. Fast. I could do things no human can do. Here, I'm... recovering. The journey damaged me in ways I'm still healing from."
I reached out, took her hands in mine.
"Thank you for telling me."
"You nearly died for me. You deserved the truth." Her grip tightened. "Now it's your turn."
Fair enough.
"The meteor crash changed me," I said. "My body, my abilities. I'm stronger than I should be. Faster. I can take damage that would kill a normal person." I paused, choosing my next words carefully. "I don't know why it happened. I don't know what I'm becoming. But I know that I'm not dangerous—not to you, not to the people I care about."
"I never thought you were dangerous." Her eyes met mine. "I thought you were brave. And stubborn. And probably insane for throwing yourself in front of a man made of ice."
"He was going to hurt you."
"I know." She leaned forward, pressed her forehead against mine. "That's what terrifies me. You keep risking yourself for me, and I can't—I can't lose anyone else, Cole. I've lost too much already."
"Then we'll have to keep each other safe."
She pulled back, studied my face.
"You make it sound simple."
"It's not." I managed a weak smile. "But neither is anything else worth doing."
Kara was silent for a moment. Then she leaned in and kissed me.
Not the forehead kiss from before. This was real—lips meeting lips, soft and careful and full of everything neither of us had said out loud. She tasted like coffee and tears and something I couldn't name.
When she pulled away, her eyes were bright.
"Get some rest," she said. "I'll be here when you wake up."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Want more? The story continues on Patreon!
If you can't wait for the weekly release, you can grab +10, +15, or +20 chapters ahead of time on my Patreon page. Your support helps me keep this System running!
Read ahead here: [ patreon.com/system_enjoyer ]