Hamilton's a liability.

A talented liability, to be certain, but a liability all the same.

I just wish I'd seen it sooner.

I cleared out his laboratory, and shipped everything over to the Cadmus Labs building outside of Metropolis. I hope it was the right decision, that there won't be any more disasters from Hamilton that I'll be left to clean up.

Something tells me there will be.

Hamilton showed up in my office a week ago to tell me that one of his experiments, a flower, had been stolen by a member of LuthorCorp he'd called in for assistance. I'm positive the man he called worked for my father, and, much as I hate to say it, it's a good thing for me he's not alive to report back.

He was alive when Hamilton showed up, however, although he was in the hospital after a car accident. Jonathan Kent managed to save his life... I guess it runs in the family. I felt obliged to drop by and pay my respects to the man.

I shouldn't have... especially after what happened with Amanda's brother.

Still, if I'd been paying more attention to the elder Kent's behavior, instead of nursing my own hurt feelings, I might have caught on sooner to what was actually going on. I might have been able to save Clark and everyone he cares about a lot of grief.

Instead I allowed myself to respond as the injured party after Clark's father went on what can only be described as a rant against me and my family. I wish I'd been able to uncover the connection between him and my father, it would probably answer a lot of questions as to the nature of Mr. Kent's very obvious, very personal grudge against my family.

I've never wished any harm on Clark's father, though. I never wanted any of this to happen.

That night I received a call from a source at the hospital, informing me that Mr. Kent had been brought in, that he'd apparently lapsed into a coma. And his strange behavior had all started after he'd saved my father's employee.

I went to the library to find out more about the flower Hamilton had brought back to life. And of course, he couldn't have chosen something innocuous. He had to chose a flower with a history, a detailed history of causing behavior changes, comas, and eventually death. I didn't hire him to bring death flowers back to life, I hired him to look into the meteor rocks. Just because he resurrected the flower using meteor rocks doesn't make it an authorized experiment.

Just because I'm backing him financially doesn't make his indiscretions my fault.

I drove out to Hamilton's research facility, and informed him that if he didn't find a cure, he'd have a hell of a lot more to worry about than my blackmailing him.

I was exhausted the next morning, having spent the night researching the Nicodemus flower. So I went to the (now fully operational) Talon for some coffee, and wound up staying there until the afternoon, arguing with the Metropolis doctors by phone.

That's when things got even worse.

Lana showed up, dressed as though she were heading out to one of the more exclusive Metropolitan clubs. She informed the restaurant's patrons that we'd be closing down for the day, and perched on a stool to chide one of our employees. I went to speak with her about professionalism in the workplace.

And I believe she actually tried to seduce me.

To be fair, I'm not certain. I've been seduced before, and have definitely done my share as well... but, well, Lana is from Smallville. What she knows of the art of seduction wouldn't fill one of the Talon's napkins. She did give it her best shot, though.

Once she moved on to whispering huskily in my ear, I knew her behavior was more than a typical teenage personality shift. I asked her where she'd been, certain it was somewhere near the accident scene.

That's when she chose to throw a glass at me and steal my car keys.

Almost as soon as I made it home (after finding coverage for Lana's shift) I found a message on my machine from my source at the hospital. Lana had been admitted.

I knew I couldn't avoid Clark any longer.

I went by the hospital and found him staring into his father's room. I watched him for at least an hour before I managed to work up the courage to approach him and apologize. He immediately assured me that it wasn't my fault.

But it was. And I was too much of a coward to tell him.

I had a second chance to admit it that night, though. He confronted me outside of the Talon, and somehow he knew I'd checked out the Nicodemus Diary from the local library. Chloe Sullivan told him, I suppose. I made up some story about hearing of the flower and grasping at straws in hopes of finding a connection.

The worst thing about it is I actually think he believed me.

I had another message on my machine when I got home, this one from Hamilton, wanting to meet with me. I called him back and invited him to the mansion, and he arrived triumphantly clutching an old Indian book. He created the problem, yes, but in the end he did manage to find the cure.

It's the only reason he's still employed.

We didn't make it to the hospital, however. Clark's other friend, Pete Ross, showed up waving a gun and giving the tired 'Luthors Suck' speech. Is there any family in this town my father hasn't screwed over?

Hamilton escaped with the book, barely, leaving me to deal with Ross. Then Clark showed up.

I wish like hell he'd given me a nice, memory-clouding concussion, instead of just a bruise.

I don't mean to jump ahead, it's just... I really don't care to relive those few moments of time. Suffice it to say that Clark convinced Pete that he hated me. And he managed to convince me, too.

Before Clark threw me against the wall, as the icing for his act, Pete mentioned that Hamilton had showed up. After I woke up, sore, but double-vision free, Clark asked me if what he'd said was true. I neither denied, nor confirmed, simply asked him what he believed.

I deserved to be thrown against the wall.

I stayed at the hospital overnight, out of sight, to make sure the cure worked. And I watched through the window as Clark's father woke up. I watched as Clark's mother joined her husband and son in another one of their heart-warming family hugs.

I wonder what that feels like.

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