Sam didn't sleep much that night. He wanted to seek out Madison and see if she was okay, but he had no way of beginning to guess where she might be. Meanwhile, if he knew anything about Lex, he knew Lex would find her.

Fear for Madison's safety was a part of what kept Sam awake. Lex's state of mind if he found her, dead or alive, bitten or not, weighed on Sam as well. But what really kept him awake, heart racing, was worrying about his test result.

Between Kryptonite mutants that Sam and Dean had encountered personally, and ones they'd heard stories about from Clark and Chloe, there had been those who had been able to live fairly normal lives, but they were few and far between. Most went insane and became murderers. Some died before they got the chance.

Sam wasn't sure what to fear more: the idea that he was a Kryptonite mutant, or that he was something else. Maybe even something the test wouldn't be able to detect.

Even if the anxiety hadn't been keeping him awake, he was fairly certain he wouldn't have been able to sleep. The residual pain from the headache was far too distracting.

His phone buzzed at seven in the morning. It was Lex. Sam picked it up and did his best not to sound groggy. "Hey."

"Thought you'd wanna know, I found Madison."

Sam sat straight up in bed. "Is she okay?"

"She will be."

"Was—" Sam's voice cracked. "Was the vision true?"

"Afraid so."

"So . . . isn't she . . ."

"Chloe and I are working on a cure for lycanthropy."

Sam wasn't sure whether Lex had any idea what he was risking. "In the meantime?"

"I know of a community of werewolves that live in peace without killing anyone. Madison hasn't fed. She'll have to be locked up at night for a little while, but she'll live."

Sam swallowed hard and chose his words carefully. "Lex, if she gets out, even once—"

"She's ready to do what needs to be done. But right now, Madison is a victim, nothing more. She's never harmed anyone."

Sam breathed in to plead with him, but his words tangled. He knew Lex often worked to protect strangers, but there was something in Lex's voice that was more than that. Sam knew Lex had really loved Helen, and Helen and Madison weren't the same person, but Sam had to wonder if Lex's mind couldn't quite separate the two. Sam couldn't even imagine discovering that Jess had been possessed the entire time he'd known her. Could he simply turn off everything he felt for her? Even if he could, Sam couldn't help but feel sorry for Madison herself—possessed for long enough to have lost all of her friends and family, traumatized by all she'd done and seen, and then, only a couple of years later, turned into a werewolf and made to fear herself again.

Sam and Lex had never been incredibly close. But in this moment, desperately wishing he could go back to the way things used to be with Jess, Sam felt like he understood better what Lex was going through than Dean or Clark would.

"Okay," Sam said. "You're right."

"Don't worry," Lex said. "This won't keep me from getting your test results back to you. It just might slow things down a little."

"I understand," Sam said. "Let me know if I can help."

"You take care of yourself."

"You too."

Lex hung up then, and Sam stared down at his phone. It was only a little after seven. Dean would be asleep, if he hadn't been woken up by Sam's conversation, but the Kents would be awake—farm chores had to be done early.

Sam changed into some work clothes, and he went out to find Clark.

As expected, Clark was out in the barn, but he wasn't working on chores. He was in the loft, reading a book. As Sam got closer, he realized it was actually a notebook, filled with hand writing.

"Hey," Sam said.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Hey." Clark put aside the book and stood up. "Are you okay?"

"I take it you heard?"

"Chloe texted me. But she didn't have the test results yet. I was just reading up on some of her research, trying to see if I could help."

"I appreciate that, Clark."

"Have you heard from Lex? Is Madison okay?"

"Madison is okay, kind of. I'll let him tell you about it."

Clark frowned. "What's wrong?"

"It's just a lot, I guess. Never thought I'd be hunting again in the first place, you know? I thought I was out. Now, having . . . visions, and turns out they're true? Madison's back, I'm still waiting on my test results, and meanwhile . . . we got nothing on Lionel, we got nothing on the thing that killed my mom, and my head's killing me."

"Didn't you guys have a lead on Lionel?"

Sam shrugged. "Rumors hitting the streets about some serum that lets you visit with your dead loved ones. Lex thinks it's Lionel's doing, but even if it is, we're not sure how to trace it to him."

"Well, why don't you let me in on the case?"

"What if it's Kryptonite-based?" Sam knew Clark was mostly staying out of the Smallville cases these days, because it was too common for his powers to be rendered useless by the meteors that seemed to be everywhere in this town.

"I don't have to take the serum or even be near it."

"I don't know, Clark."

"I'm just thinking, if it's a chance to get to Lionel . . . we can't pass that up, and you and Dean have enough to worry about, with these visions."

Sam let his breath out slowly. He didn't like admitting his weakness; he was pretty sure Dean wouldn't have done it. But his head felt like it was going to implode. "Okay," he said. "I'll have Dean pass on everything we know."

"Great." Clark winced. "You should lie down."

Sam nodded. He didn't have much of a choice. He went over to lean on the hand railing, and he started making his way down the stairs.

"Hey, Sam?"

Sam looked back at him.

"Even if you're infected . . . you're going to be fine."

"How do you know?"

"Because all those other people, they had no idea what was going on, and they had no one to help them."

Sam smiled in spite of everything. "Thanks Clark."

Clark smiled back.

----------------------------------------

Lex had called Bobby at least once a month since the weekend he'd stayed at Bobby's house, and he'd hosted him at the mansion twice since then. The first few calls were specifically to ask research questions, based on monsters he'd encountered. Once, they'd gotten to chatting, and ever since then, their calls had been longer. From the hints Bobby dropped, Lex got the impression that Sam and Dean had a tendency to ignore Bobby unless they needed something from him, and that it wore on him—Lex was determined not to be the same way.

He'd invited Bobby to come out to visit and maybe chat about lore, look over some recent research, but this time they'd have more to discuss. Bobby had agreed to house Helen for a few days while Lex was working on making contact with that family of non-violent werewolves.

Lex greeted Bobby in his study when he arrived, and offered him a drink.

"You look like hell," Bobby said.

"It's good to see you, too."

"I'm serious. How long since you got a full night of sleep?"

"About fourteen years."

"Smart ass." Bobby knocked back a shot. "How's everyone?"

"Same as always, mostly." Lex figured Sam's visions weren't his story to share about. "Dean and Sam are working the local cases, Chloe's investigating for me, Clark's saving lives and collecting the specimen."

"Sounds like you've got everything running like clockwork."

Lex shook his head. "Can't shake the feeling they're . . ."

"They're what?"

"Not satisfied."

Bobby scoffed. "Oh, I wonder why."

Lex wasn't expecting the sarcasm. "Care to elaborate?"

Bobby shook his head. "What you've done, it's a good thing, Lex. But has it ever occurred to you how awkward it must be for them to work for their friend?"

"None of them have to work for me."

"Well, duh, but you've given them all offers they can't turn down."

Lex swallowed. "I want them to be safe."

"Yeah, and what about what they want?"

Lex's jaw pulsed. He didn't like the implication that he was trying to control what his friends did. That was the kind of thing his father was always trying to do. The worst part was that he couldn't exactly deny it. He could tell himself all he wanted that it was for a good cause, that he was giving them honest work an a comfortable living, but on some level, he knew what he was doing was bribery, plain and simple.

"Don't get me wrong, Lex, it's admirable. And it makes sense. The five of you are saving lives out here, more so than any other hunters I know of."

"Why isn't that enough for them?"

Bobby shrugged. "Is it enough for you?"

Lex looked down. He knew he wouldn't be satisfied until his father was stopped. Someday, everything they were doing might build up to that, but in the meantime, he had to admit he wasn't satisfied, either. But he didn't want to admit it out loud. "What do we do?"

Bobby sighed. "Right now, you focus on what's in front of you. You've got a hell of a team."

Lex half smiled to himself. Two researchers, an alien superhero, and two hunters, one of whom had psychic visions. And finally, they had a chance to make some real progress toward their personal goals—at least, some of them did. Madison had a lead on Helen. Sam and Dean had learned about a new serum Lex's father was working on, and they thought it might be something. The five of them working together would be able to get somewhere. The fact that Lex was employing his friends and funding the mission might have made the dynamic a little awkward, if Dean were the type to be intimidated by considering Lex his boss.

And there was a lot to do. He had to find a way to get in contact with the werewolf family, he had to ramp up his research on lycanthropy, and he had Sam's tests to get to. That was on top of the more-than-full time job that was routine management of his labs, though much of those responsibilities could be delegated—but even that delegation would take some time and thought.

"I'm sensing you've got a lot on your mind," Bobby said after a long silence.

"I'm sorry, Bobby," Lex said. "This isn't what I had in mind when I asked you to visit."

"Don't worry about me. Why don't you introduce me to Madison, and she and I can have a chat while you get back to work?"

Lex smiled. "Sounds good."