《Monsters & Meteors》Ep 4, Chapter 4: Burgers, Fries, and Concrete

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"So they can really make us anything we want?"

Lex grinned at his youngest brother. Of all the luxuries on the island, he should have realized that this one would be the most impressive to this group. "Literally anything."

"Pizza?"

"Sure."

"Ice cream?"

"If that's what you want."

"Candy? Any candy in the world?"

"It might take a little time, but they can approximate whatever you want."

"Pies better than my mom's?"

Lex sighed. "Well, maybe not everything."

"I don't even know what to order." Sam's eyes had been wide since he heard about the kitchens at the suite. "What do you recommend?"

Lex didn't usually order the most decadent foods available. He couldn't afford to; it would destroy his health. But this wasn't a business trip, and it wasn't an attempt to get his father's attention. This was a true vacation, a unique experience. "The surf and turf is amazing," he said. "They have this lemon garlic aioli . . . I also highly recommend the creme brulee. But really, you can't go wrong. If you can think of a food, they can make it better than you've ever had it in your life."

"Cheeseburger," Dean said.

Lex raised an eyebrow. "I bring you out to a private island suite, with your own personal chef who can make you anything you want in the world, and you order—"

"You said they could make any food I have ever had better than I have ever had it in my entire life." Dean crossed his arms. "Let's find out. You tell them to make me the best cheeseburger, fries, and shake I have ever had in my entire life."

Lex rolled his eyes. "Fine. Sam?"

"I'll have whatever you're having."

Dean coughed. "Suck up."

"How is that sucking up? He's not the boss of us or a teacher or anything."

Lex ignored them. "Clark?"

"What you're having, and also the cheeseburger, and the fries, and the milkshake, and ice cream, and pizza, and the . . . what did you call it? Creme something?"

"Creme brulee," Lex said, "But Clark, you're going to be here for a week. You don't have to eat everything tonight."

Clark's brow furrowed. "But I can't decide."

Lex smirked. "Fine. I'll have them bring you a sampler." It shouldn't be a problem. They could work out a way to bring him a little of everything. Lex was pretty sure there were at least a couple of buffets in the area, so if his kitchen staff needed to borrow from someone else, they could.

Lex made quick work of the order, and the four of them clicked through channels on the big TV while they waited. "Even here, there's nothing on," Dean said.

"They can't control what gets broadcasted, Dean," Sam said. "It's still the middle of the day."

Within a half an hour, an attendant had brought their food to them. Sam and Lex's plates matched, while Clark's was sampling of a variety of foods. Dean's looked the least impressive.

Sam and Clark were immediately raving upon trying the food, but Dean took one bite and put down his burger. "Every diner I have ever been to in my entire life has been able to make a burger that is better than that one."

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Sam groaned. "Dean—"

"Every. Single. One."

"It's gourmet food. You know, like, rich people food. Not diner food." Sam's cheeks turned a bit pink. "No offense, Lex."

"None taken." Lex shrugged. He was used to those kind of comments from people who really were trying to offend him; Sam really didn't mean anything by it.

Sam looked back at Dean. "You have to order something nicer."

Dean grunted. "Too late to get what you're having?" he asked Lex.

Lex let himself smile.

An hour later, the four of them lay strewn out on the couches, Clark on his back on the carpet. Lex felt like he might be sick, but a smile still lingered on his lips after the meal.

"That was the best dinner I have ever had in my entire life," Sam said in a voice that was almost dreamy.

"It was so good!" Clark pulled himself to sit up. "Can I order more? Maybe a cake?"

Everyone else groaned.

-------

Once the food had settled a little, Sam and Clark retreated to the private indoor pool in their suite. Sam did invite Dean and Lex to come with them, but they were both tired from dinner, and said to go along without them.

It had been a while since Sam had been swimming for fun. There had been a time when his father had made him do some swimming as part of his daily training, but even though many of the motels they stayed at had pools, Sam and Dean were never allowed to go there just for fun. Their dad said all sorts of things about monsters that might be waiting, in the pipes or in the filters or hiding in the depths of the pool, so Sam and Dean usually had to wait in the hotel room.

And this one was way better than any pool Sam had ever seen in a hotel before, not that they usually stayed in a nice hotel. There were little waterfalls on each side, and two big water slides leading into the deep end. It almost seemed unfair that this was the private pool; there was plenty enough room to share with the other guests at the resort.

But it was perfect that Sam and Clark were getting to use this pool on their own, because Sam had some things he wanted to try, if Clark was willing. Sam never wanted to make Clark feel like a spectacle because of his abilities. He figured that was probably one of the reasons why his parents were so insistent that he keep his secret from everyone. But Sam doubted that Clark had gotten to use a pool very often, either. Maybe Clark was curious about some of the same things that Sam was.

"So," Sam said, trying to be casual, "do you think you have any water powers?"

"I haven't really tried," Clark admitted. "But when I was in second grade, we played this game in an after school daycare, called scream and run. You were supposed to take a deep breath, and start running, and scream for as long as you could, and when you ran out of breath, you had to stop running, and whoever got the farthest, won."

Sam laughed. "That game sounds ridiculous," he said.

"My dad didn't want me to play," Clark said, frowning. "Because of my speed, you know? But later on, I went and asked Pete if he would compete with me to see who could hold their breath for longer."

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"And?"

"I had to let him win," Clark said. "I could have held my breath a lot longer, but I could tell he was having a hard time."

"Well, let's see what you can do here."

They began by having Sam time himself holding his breath. It had been a while since Sam had tried to hold his breath for a long period of time, but he found he could still hold it for about forty seconds. Clark dove down under the water, and he didn't come back up. Sam tread water in the deep end until his arms and legs are starting to get tired, and then he finally dove underneath and tapped Clark on the shoulder.

Clark didn't even seem to be out of breath when he came back up. "How long was that?"

"I don't even know. I got bored and stopped counting."

"Cool! I would be awesome at water sports! If I didn't have to let everyone else win."

"Do you always let everyone else when at sports?"

Clark sighed. "Usually, I'm not allowed to play sports at all. Some years, I'm not even allowed to do PE in school. My parents get an exemption for me, saying that I get enough exercise doing chores around the farm."

"Wow. I would love to get out of PE at school."

"It just makes me feel like a freak."

Sam nodded solemnly. Somehow, he knew exactly what that was like.

"But the few times I have gotten to play sports with friends, or race or whatever, I usually let them win. Not always. But usually."

"So, do you have any idea how fast you can swim?"

Clark grinned.

Sam wasn't really an experienced swimmer, and it had been a long time since his dad had made him do any swimming exercises, but he was able to get across the pool in about thirty seconds. When Clark first tried getting across the pool, it took him almost twenty seconds, but Sam taught him how to do a couple of swim strokes, and after Clark practiced them for a few minutes, he was able to get across the pool in about six seconds.

"This is amazing!" Clark jumped up from the deep end, nearly coming all the way out of the water as he did. "I wish I had a pool at home."

Sam smiled back as he sat at the deep end with his feet in the water. He had quickly learned that it was better to stay out of the pool while Clark was using it; he tended to make pretty big waves. "You just almost jumped out of the water," Sam observed. "Do you think you could run across it? If you ran fast enough?"

"Probably!"

"Let's see it."

Clark jumped up onto the side, took a few steps back from the pool, and started to run. It never cease to amaze Sam's that Clark didn't need any time to speed up; he just seemed to be able to hit his top speed almost instantly. It took Clark so little time to get across the pool that Sam didn't notice him sinking into the water at all.

Until he crashed into the side. Clark's foot caught on the edge of the pool, and he face-planted into the concrete.

Sam jumped up and ran over to him. "Clark!" Sam knelt down beside him. "Are you okay?"

"Ow."

Sam winced. He had thought of Clark as invulnerable, but the kid definitely still had limitations. And that fall had been more than enough to crack a human's head open. "Can I see?"

Clark pulled himself onto all fours, then set back, rubbing his forehead. "I'm okay."

Sam looked a little closer and looked at Clark's head. He wasn't bleeding, and nothing seem to be broken. "Let's not do that again," he said. "Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"Well, my foot has felt better." Clark pulled his knee into his chest to look at his foot better, and brushed bits of broken concrete off of it. Then his eyes went wide. "Oh, no."

Sam followed his eyes down to the edge of the pool, which had a huge chunk taken out of it now. "I don't care about the pool," he said. "I'm just glad you're alright."

"How are we going to explain this?" Clark had jumped up to his feet and was pacing back and forth. "I can't tell anyone my secret!"

Sam swallowed hard. "You might not be able to avoid it."

"Sam—"

"I think you can trust Lex. He's like a brother to you, isn't he?"

"It doesn't matter. My dad would already kill me if he knew that I told you my secret. I can't tell anyone else. It's too dangerous, for me and for anyone else who knows."

That sounded way too much like a rehearsed line to Sam, but it wasn't his right to say anything about it. "Okay, maybe we can figure something out." He began to glance around the pool area, but he didn't see anything that was hard enough that it could have caused that kind of damage to the concrete. He stood up and went out into the hallway, and begin to glance in each storage cabinet along the way. Finally, he came across what he was looking for: a tool closet. He dug around in the different tools until he found a hammer.

When he got back into the pool room, Clark just raised an eyebrow. "So, what, you're going to tell him that I hit the side of the pool with a hammer?"

"I'll take the fall, if you're scared to."

"No, you shouldn't have to do that. It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, but it was my idea to have you run across the pool."

"But—"

"We'll say we found a bug or something. And we couldn't find anything else to try to kill it with."

Clark let out a short laugh. "We broke the pool trying to kill a bug?"

"Unless you can think of something better," Sam said.

Clark sighed. "I can't."

Sam shifted uncomfortably. "We're never going to hear the end of this, are we?"

"Lex will probably tease me a little. But yeah, you're never going to hear the end from Dean."

Sam set down the hammer beside the damaged concrete. He guessed he deserved that.

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