My only caveat is that we don't know how long Jor-El's training for Clark is supposed to be--wasn't it something like 12 years in the Christopher Reeve movies?
Good point, but if we go by Covenant/Crusade, it does appear that Jor-El could take care of his business in the space of approximately three months. I see no good reason why that can't be the actual length of the training since Jor-El doesn't know he's on a TV show with a roughly three-month hiatus. He clearly sent Kal-El back when he thought Kal-El was ready. Although I suppose it could be argued that wasn't the full training but was, instead, just the training Kal-El needed to collect the stones. But for the purposes of my AU, let's say the training can be done in three to six months.
But it's not just that Martha doesn't lose the baby; Jonathan also doesn't get the heart condition that came from having to take on Kryptonian powers to bring Clark home after he ran away.
I hadn't thought of that effect, but you're absolutely right. Clark put on the red K ring and ran away because he'd hurt Martha; Jon made that deal with Jor-El to bring him back because he was out there wreaking havoc. If Clark never hurts Martha, there's no reason to run away and no reason for Jon to make that deal with Jor-El.
I wonder if Clark would have embraced the training even if he wasn't afraid of Jor-El; hadn't he and Lana just hooked up again? I think part of his reluctance was that he didn't want to leave his life at that particular moment. You may need to add into Jor-El's message a particular save-the-world/potential threat to Clark's family emphasis to make sure he actually goes.
True. I think it was a mistake on Jor-El's part to tell Clark he didn't need his human connections any more, so I do think Jor-El's invitation to training message would need to finesse that part of things. Acknowledge their importance to Clark but impress upon him that what lies ahead is bigger than him or his immediate/inner circle.
What do you think the effect of this scenario would be on Clark and Lex's relationship, though? Would Clark/Kal-El be more suspicious of Lex, and create the rift earlier?
I'm not sure. One thing I will give Jor-El is that he never once fell into that annoying trap of warning Clark against Lex for no good reason (it's one thing if people actually have knowledge of bad shit Lex has done, but the show's had an irritating habit over the seasons of using guest characters as a Greek Chorus possessed of meta-textual foreknowledge in a way that sometimes set my teeth on edge: don't tell me Lex is evil and people should be wary of him because that's how the story ends; show it to me based on stuff he's doing in the current timeline). I suspect that a more biological heritage-influenced Clark would still have been suspicious of Lex when Lex acted suspiciously, but might have tempered it in a more mature way than Clark did during the back half of S3 and most of S4. Alternatively, he might have tried to dialogue more with Lex than canon!Clark ever has over why Lex does things the way he does. He might have communicated with Lex better than canon!Clark did, but I don't think it necessarily would have forestalled the rift or sped it up. Of course, I think a biollogical heritage-influenced Clark would also have been smarter about dissembling with Lex/throwing Lex off the scent of Clark's specialness. That might have altered their dynamic, too.
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Good point, but if we go by Covenant/Crusade, it does appear that Jor-El could take care of his business in the space of approximately three months. I see no good reason why that can't be the actual length of the training since Jor-El doesn't know he's on a TV show with a roughly three-month hiatus. He clearly sent Kal-El back when he thought Kal-El was ready. Although I suppose it could be argued that wasn't the full training but was, instead, just the training Kal-El needed to collect the stones. But for the purposes of my AU, let's say the training can be done in three to six months.
But it's not just that Martha doesn't lose the baby; Jonathan also doesn't get the heart condition that came from having to take on Kryptonian powers to bring Clark home after he ran away.
I hadn't thought of that effect, but you're absolutely right. Clark put on the red K ring and ran away because he'd hurt Martha; Jon made that deal with Jor-El to bring him back because he was out there wreaking havoc. If Clark never hurts Martha, there's no reason to run away and no reason for Jon to make that deal with Jor-El.
I wonder if Clark would have embraced the training even if he wasn't afraid of Jor-El; hadn't he and Lana just hooked up again? I think part of his reluctance was that he didn't want to leave his life at that particular moment. You may need to add into Jor-El's message a particular save-the-world/potential threat to Clark's family emphasis to make sure he actually goes.
True. I think it was a mistake on Jor-El's part to tell Clark he didn't need his human connections any more, so I do think Jor-El's invitation to training message would need to finesse that part of things. Acknowledge their importance to Clark but impress upon him that what lies ahead is bigger than him or his immediate/inner circle.
What do you think the effect of this scenario would be on Clark and Lex's relationship, though? Would Clark/Kal-El be more suspicious of Lex, and create the rift earlier?
I'm not sure. One thing I will give Jor-El is that he never once fell into that annoying trap of warning Clark against Lex for no good reason (it's one thing if people actually have knowledge of bad shit Lex has done, but the show's had an irritating habit over the seasons of using guest characters as a Greek Chorus possessed of meta-textual foreknowledge in a way that sometimes set my teeth on edge: don't tell me Lex is evil and people should be wary of him because that's how the story ends; show it to me based on stuff he's doing in the current timeline). I suspect that a more biological heritage-influenced Clark would still have been suspicious of Lex when Lex acted suspiciously, but might have tempered it in a more mature way than Clark did during the back half of S3 and most of S4. Alternatively, he might have tried to dialogue more with Lex than canon!Clark ever has over why Lex does things the way he does. He might have communicated with Lex better than canon!Clark did, but I don't think it necessarily would have forestalled the rift or sped it up. Of course, I think a biollogical heritage-influenced Clark would also have been smarter about dissembling with Lex/throwing Lex off the scent of Clark's specialness. That might have altered their dynamic, too.