oh mary i&#39;m not coming home too soon

Never in her life has April been in a lab this huge, or this shiny. Then again the only lab she has access to consists of a few test tubes in the library. So she is obviously impressed.

And speechless. And amazed at the connections of Victor.

"Oh wow. Wow..."

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"It's big," Clark says in agreement. They only did his tests in the barn at home, someplace he knew he would be comfortable, and he thinks there's a very good chance he might've freaked out if something went wrong and he found himself in one of these sorts of labs. But there are no other people, and that helps, because Victor by herself isn't very threatening.

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The mystique is fully broken by one Doctor Jonathan Crane wandering by the open door in perfectly pressed and ironed Batman pajamas and for people who don't know the Scarecrow, he is a beautiful specimen of man. Lanky, pale, very nearly skeletal with blue eyes and glasses with rectangle lenses, meticulous and well-kept, with delicate hands. The kinds of hands that could probably play the piano like a freaking rockstar. A rockstar that... plays the piano. There are plenty of those.

He does a double take, narrowing his eyes at her. "What on earth are you doing in my lab, Mr. Allen."

"James said I could," Victor says.

"Right. Fine." He walks past the door, and it's a few more beats before he yells out, "James!"

"He's okay with it," Victor says to April and Clark, self-assured.

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While having to take the time to learn about the Superman mythos (well because she is dating an alternate) — April has yet to dwelve into the Batman mythos. The only thing she recognizes about the tall and interesting man is the symbol on his PJs.

She also notes how he called Victor Mr. Allen.

The self-assurance from Victor makes April a little more at ease. "Its an amazing place."

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Clark has no idea who this guy is, but the Batman pajamas. Does everyone Victor associate with obsess about the guy?

"Are we, um, going to have people walking in and out while we're doing this?" Because even if she trusts these folks, Clark has no idea who they are, and the possibility of one of them being in the middle of a test or something and having strangers around makes him nervous.

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Not everyone, but Scarecrow was Batman's first baddie, and there's a connection. A deep, spiritual connection. They both use fear to get what they want, they're both closely familiar with the corrupt Gotham city, the underbelly, the darkest corners.

"We shouldn't have people walking in. Here, I'll get the door."

As soon as she makes a move forward, James pops his head into the lab, a midthirties blonde with a terribly expressive forehead. "Why is Jonny yelling at me?"

"I dunno," Victor says. "You'd have to ask him."

Something muffled from the other end of the door. People with superhearing might pick it up as: "I didn't realize we were having company."

A sigh, James's head disappears again. "Sweetheart, I didn't think you would wander past the lab at ass-o'-clock." James that is not a time. He closes the door. And they should have no interruptions, at least for a while.

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Seeing Clark's interest in the PJs has April plotting for future gifts. Sure he can't wear Superman-themed PJs at home... but there are still things she could get him that would have the familiar symbol and could be hidden away.

It is a relief to hear they won't be disturbed. Mostly as April is mentally prepare to tune into her vampire side for the majority of the testing.

With the door closed, she looks around at every machine with eye-wide wonder. "Where do you figure out where to start and where to end?"

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Clark is at least grateful that the other two people don't seem interested in interfering, and though he would be okay with meeting new people under normal circumstances, medical stuff makes him a bit more uneasy than he would be normally.

But he knows April hasn't had this sort of thing done ever, so he keeps that part of his worries locked down and puts on his interested face. "It'd probably make sense to get your baselines first, like she did with me."

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"That's actually exactly what I'm thinking." Victor starts to get the right equipment out, and resanitizes it. She knows this lab better than she knows her own kitchen.

"That was James. The other guy I'm marrying. And the guy from the start is Cranium. Um, rather, Doctor Jonathan Crane, I don't think I'm supposed to call him Cranium. Actually, pretty sure I shouldn't. Crane the brain, is another nickname that he shouldn't be called, probably. He was my criminal psychology teacher." He made her miserable in class, always going out of his way to embarrass her and prove her wrong, always failing her papers and she writes good papers. It was bad to the point that she had to talk to the dean with her portfolio, because Victor, a model student, every other teacher's dream, was failing his class. She puts the stethoscope on, and says, "I'm gonna put this round bit on you so I can listen for a heartbeat, is that okay?"

It occurs to her that she doesn't even know if April has a pulse.

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Listening to Victor describe the men they passed, April was interested.

She sits quietly while Victor uses the stethoscope to listen to her heart. Right now, April does indeed have a heartbeat. It pretty much sounds like a normal human.

After Victor makes her notations on that baseline, April takes a breath. "Ready for the next baseline?" And by that, she means that by shifting to the vampire that her heart rate will be much different. As she can slow it down. And practically stop it.

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Clark sits next to her, and he can listen too without a stethoscope. He likes listening to her heartbeat, the steady thump-thump that sometimes fills his ears when she sleeps next to him, letting him know that she's okay. He likes it a little less when that sound stops, but he knows that it's okay, that she's fine, and he hasn't lost her.

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"First, I wanna get your blood pressure and your temperature," she says, thinking that switching back and forth from states of being would elevate that blood pressure. Not to a dangerous level but enough to skew their tests.

Not to worry, though, these are things that Vic will talk her through. First, that cuff. Then the squeezy-thing, then her watch, and the stethoscope. "I'm gonna squeeze this, it's going to tighten. If it's painful for you, let me know and I'll let it out right away."

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Waiting to change, April's human state reads normal in both blood pressure and temperature.

When she does change over, of course the next tests are much different. It is basically like doing tests on a dead body. There is no detectable blood pressure. And her temperature is very low.

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Clark keeps his hand on her arm throughout the tests, trying not to get worried when she goes into her vampire state. He's been learning to accept that part of her, since they've been dating, but it's still worrying to him to see her that way. And especially her vital signs dropping, with the worries he has over Jor-El's consequence for bringing Clark back to life.

"How you doing?" he asks her quietly.

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That's a little bit unnerving, and she marks it down on her list, and she gives Clark a smile that she hopes is comforting. "Perfect. Now... in this vampiric state, your vital signs drop to nothing. Which is interesting, because I'm not sure how that works. It points to something greater than the body, keeping the mind at work. Keeping you in motion, physically. Since, I mean, there's a reason we breathe and our hearts beat, and there's a reason why when they don't it's usually a problem. The speed that your body lost temperature is also fascinating, since usually it takes much longer for a body to go from normal temperature to... what yours did, and I wonder what would prompt such a drastic change in such a short time."

"May I have a swab from you, in this state, too? So I can see if there's any marked difference?"

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"Must be the Demonic blood working." April states. Her voice cool and collected in this form. "Various Demonic traits allow special traits to their possessors."

She notes Clarks concern with a small smile. Squeezing his hand to reassure him. Even as the vampire, she knows that he worries about her.

"Go ahead. Swab away."

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"Her mental state is different, too," Clark adds, because that's not something that can be measured, and it's an important change too. "I mean, it's still her, not like... with Kal. Not usually." He squeezes her hand back, rubs his thumb lightly over the backs of her fingers.

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"It doesn't make rational sense, the thermodynamic shift. That energy has to go somewhere. If anything, I'd think the temperature change would be a slow leak, eventually fading into room-temp over the course of hours." She swabs, and starts to prepare a slide, with new gloves on, goggles, under a ventilation hood.

She opens one of the laboratory refrigerators (the one for chemicals, not the one for blood). "Sorry, you two. Testing this is gonna take forever."

Thankfully, she's already mixed the fixative (formaldehyde plus glutaraldehyde in an Eppendorf tube, and it sounds made up but it really isn't). The staining solution is ready, too. Suspending. Actually, rather a lot of things are going on right now, and it's going to take more than a few minutes, so they should probably all talk while she prepares the slide.

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"Technically, my existence doesn't make rational sense. I should either be a vampire, with all the traits that comes with that mind set. Or a human."

Her eyes watch Clark's touch against her hand. And chuckles at his comparison. As they have time for idle chit-chat while Victor prepares, the vampire decides to comment. "I have not had the pleasure of meeting Kal. But from the shared memories, I would safely judge that he and I think in similar ways. Especially in doing what needs to be done to acquire our goals."

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"Yeah, you two would be scary together," he says, knowing that they've come damn close on a few occasions, like that time Alicia put that red kryptonite necklace on him and he tried to seduce her. "But your goals might not be the same, so be careful around him if you ever do, okay?" He knows that she can usually handle herself, and that her vampire side is relatively cunning, but Kal is dangerous and she's still April underneath, and he would never forgive himself if he hurt her.

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Victor wonders if she's the only one who isn't too worried about Kal. She probably is. That's probably a problem. This registers, as her hands mix, replug test tubes.

She doesn't want to mention that she doesn't have a problem with Kal and possibly hurt Clark's feelings and give him the wrong idea. If Clark and Kal had separate bodies, and Kal didn't kill people, Vic would have very little issue with him. Maybe that's the big issue. Vic is a protector of people, she cares, she'll help people, but she's so morally vague. She'd patch up a serial killer with the same tenderness that she'd patch up a friend with.

So after a while, she says, "I'd imagine so, yes." There's the scary of two people who don't care together, and then there's the scary of realizing that you don't fully care about the threat.

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In an almost callous tone, the vampire speaks. "I am well aware that my goals are much different than those of Kal's. I don't seek opportunities with him, nor do I have a reason to do so."

The only thing that saves the vampire from being offended is that she senses Clark's faith in her ability to handle herself.

She flickers a glance at Victor. "After all, it seems that he prefers the company of others over me. And I prefer being first choice."

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It's himself that Clark doesn't trust, when he's on red kryptonite. But all the same, he hates seeing April like this, and his only consolation is that it's voluntary this time.

"Are we done with the baselines?" he asks Victor.

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"Sure are," she says, using filter paper to spread the solution across the slide, a thin layer. Time for it to dry.

Victor isn't so bothered by April like this. There's contemptuous apathy, and then there's what Victor has, which is entirely the opposite. She's just unbothered. She puts the 'palpable fun' in unflappable. The only thing that really upsets her is seeing people in pain, or treated unfairly, and other than that it takes a lot to get under Victor's skin.

She cares in that she doesn't want people upset, but April is neither better nor worse for being different in this form. She's still deserving of respect, and acknowledgement, the same as anyone else is.

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