Part 1: Riding in the car with girls

Being human sucks. There was no other way to describe it. At first every new pain, every new sensation was amazing, fascinating. He couldn't get enough of it. He grinned the first time he burnt his hand on a muffin pan, forgetting the need for an oven mitt; he laughed out loud the first time he cut himself shaving, chuckling while he dabbed at the blood oozing on his chin. But it was around the time he finished a jumbo size tub of popcorn directly after polishing off two hot dogs while watching the new John Woo film in Granville that the whole new experience of being human began to lose some of its shine.

That night Clark learned what over-eating truly meant, and what humans like to call an "upset stomach" was. He laughed bitterly at the name. His stomach was more than upset it was raging at him. His mother forced him to drink some chalky pink liquid that made him gag, promising that he'd be fine after 10 doses or so. He was very doubtful something that tastes so horrible would do anything but make it worse, but he took it obediently, ignoring the glint of amusement in his mother's eyes—she was actually enjoying it. As if reading his mind she answered the question he hadn't uttered.

"Well I never got to coddle you and feed you chicken soup when you were growing up. Let me indulge a little."

He smiled at her then, but inside he called his mother a name he didn't think he was capable of conjuring. But his stomach really did hurt.

That's when he seriously began to question whether disobeying Jor-el to take Lana to the hospital was worth all of this. Surely one of Lex's security team would have found her eventually. But he quickly admonished himself for thinking such a terrible thing. He made the right choice, absolutely…no regrets.

And he definitely didn't regret the one amazing wonderful thing they shared, that he probably would have been too frightened to try when he had his powers. A broad grin stretched across his face in the mirror, and his cheeks brightened just a little beneath the dark stubble, thinking about last night, and how he'd slipped out of Lana's apartment above the Talon just after 2am. He peered at himself closely and noticed that late night romp produced two perfect dark circles under his eyes.

He shook his head roughly trying to come out of his sleepy haze. He'd been standing in front of the bathroom sink for almost five minutes, with disposable razor in hand. So far every time he shaved he'd cut himself. But yesterday he purchased a new razor with patented 'comfort strip' that was supposed to be full proof against any nicks or cuts. Clark stared at the new device encased in all its space-age looking plastic completely unconvinced.

He slapped extra lather on his face just in case. He didn't really want to shave, but Lana didn't like him with stubble, and today especially he knew she'd be disappointed if he showed up unshaven. They were spending the day in Metropolis. Chloe had freshman orientation at Met U, and after dropping her off; he and Lana were going to spend the day seeing all that Metropolis had to offer. He even saved up to take her to lunch at a nice restaurant. He smiled again, but it was stifled by a big yawn. He really needed to get this whole sleeping pattern thing figured out.

"I think we were supposed to turn back there."

"Lana, how many times have I driven to Metropolis? I think I know the way."

"Oh I know, I just heard this way was quicker..." Lana glanced down at the Thomas Road Atlas spread open on her lap.

Chloe leaned over the front seat, having been relegated to the back to give the lovebirds ample opportunity to touch and dazzle each other with cute smiles.

"If we turn around now it'll defeat the whole purpose of a short cut."

Lana seemed to consider that, while Clark waited patiently for her response, then smiled sweetly at Chloe, "You're right. Well next time we'll try it Ok Clark?"

She wrinkled her nose at him, and he took his eyes away from the road just long enough to give her a quick kiss on the forehead. Chloe settled in the back seat rolling her eyes, trying not to wonder where exactly Clark put his balls after he became human.

The three-hour trip to Metropolis was uneventful. The low hum of the wheels of Lana's mini-SUV against the paved road, and the steady stream of alt-rock tunes lowered to a respectable volume was only interrupted by the occasional giggle from the front seat, or Chloe remarking on random things to test if either of them was actually listening to her. When she only got a "That's nice" at the announcement of seeing an inside-out 3-headed calf, she picked up the Metropolis University brochure and tuned them out completely.

Clark kept one hand on the wheel and the other around Lana's shoulder, as she leaned against him, thumbing through a magazine she'd picked up when they last stopped for gas. Clark loved the feeling the warmth and closeness of Lana resting against his arm— it couldn't be more perfect. It was moments like that, that made him know he'd made the right decision two months ago. He pulled Lana closer as he turned onto the off-ramp that led to Metropolis. The shrill sound of her cell phone jarred him out of his idyllic reverie.

Clark tried not to let Lana's tone alarm him as she talked to what was obviously her Aunt Nell, whom they were all staying with that night (him on the couch, Chloe and Lana sharing the spare bedroom). He remained calm as she uttered the phrase "I can't believe I completely forgot!" and turned down University Street with Chloe holding a map, directing him to the right building. He didn't say a word as he pulled up to the Admissions building, and Lana clicked her cell phone shut, putting on her best pleading, 'I'm sorry' face.

"Clark..."

He sighed, and Chloe reached for the door, trying to make a quick, silent getaway.

"I'm really sorry, but you'll have to drop me at Nell's. I completely forgot she was planning this big surprise party for Bill next week, and I promised her I'd help her with everything this weekend."

Clark tried to keep his voice civil, but it came out a little terse. "I find it hard to believe she didn't mention it to you when she knew we were all coming this weekend."

Lana's angelic face immediately became tense and pointy. "She thought that's why we were coming, so that's probably why she didn't mention it to me. She thought I remembered. I really did forget Clark."

Chloe carefully pulled on the door handle, but stopped when she saw Clark's shoulders slump and the puppy pout forming on his lip. She fell back against the seat and waited.

He sighed more heavily this time, but pulled in his bottom lip. "Its ok...we can do this some other time."

Appeased Lana leaned over and gave him a kiss somewhere between a peck and porn, which released the Kent smile.

Chloe then leaned over the seat again. "I'm here guys, so I guess I'll see you later. Clark I'll be done around 1 if you want to meet me for lunch, and then we can hang out so you won't have to wander around all day by yourself."

He shook his head. "You said you wanted to use this time to get to know some of the other students so you wouldn't feel so lost on the first day, I'll be fine."

Lana stroked the hair that curled against the nape of his neck—he loved that. "Maybe you should come back to hang out with Chloe, then I wouldn't have to worry about you being bored all day."

"Besides Clark, I think I can manage to make new friends even with you tagging along...in fact." She eyed him carefully. "I think you may improve my chances of making new female friends."

Chloe ignored Lana, quick pointed look in her direction, and hopped out of the car.

Clark grinned. "She does have a point..."

Lana slapped him on the arm. "Very funny."

He laughed. "Like there's anyone out there who could even compare to you." He sealed the declaration with a kiss, and then leaned across Lana, poking his head out her window. "I'll see you at 1 then."

Chloe waved at him and walked towards the building. Clark shifted the car back into drive, not feeling at all the smile that was now planted on his face. It was going to be a very long day.

Clark was lost, but machismo dictated that he not admit it, and he refused to pull over and look at the Thomas guide that tempted him from the passenger seat. He'd been to Metropolis many times, and there was no reason he couldn't find a building as big as the Metropolis Museum of Modern Art on his own, especially since Lana insisted it was only ten blocks in this direction. He wasn't completely sure why he was going to the museum on his own anyway. Lana was the one who raved about the photography exhibit all week, and he was going only to placate her. But since he was in college now and the boyfriend of someone who liked such things, he wanted to try and expand his interests a little. Six wrong turns and thirty minutes later, he finally saw the asymmetrical white stucco roof of the art museum jutting out against the skyline.

Upon seeing the sign that said "Museum parking $8 for the first hour", Clark swerved in the opposite direction of the museum garage, and proceeded to look for street parking. Ten minutes later he returned, grumbling angrily as he retrieved the ticket from the garage machine that sealed his promise to hand over part of the money he'd saved for the special lunch with Lana. Suddenly this seemed like more trouble than it was worth. But he promised to go see the exhibit "for both of them". He sighed and made his way into the steel and stone foyer that reminded him of something from a Tim Burton nightmare.

After maneuvering his way through the confusing floor plan, he found the exhibit. The plan was to spend a few minutes there, taking enough mental notes to give Lana a good impression of what he'd seen, but he found himself pulled in by the photographs.

The exhibit was simply titled: Photojournalism: Our World through Their Eyes. The photographs started with scenes in everyday life in countries all over the world. Just people moving about their lives, insignificant moments snatched and immortalized, preserved for eternity—humanity at its finest. As he moved through the exhibit, the photographs became darker--visions of war, and hunger, children crying, or worse; finding moments of levity amidst desolate conditions. The one that made him stop in his tracks was an image of a man, who body was so severely starved he looked like a corpse, crawling on the ground in search of food. It was so horrific he wanted to turn away, but to see someone so emaciated still moving forward made him realize the power of hope. Before he realized it almost two hours had passed.

He walked out of the museum in a daze, and sat down on the expanse of curving steps leading to its façade. It'd been two months since he lost his powers and the newness and thrill of discovery was almost over. That fact that this was his life now, possibly forever finally began to dawn on him, and he needed to figure out what to do with it. His main goals hadn't changed, he still wanted to help people, and he needed to figure out how. Seeing those pictures and those people suffering brought that fact home, and he knew the first photos in the series represented everything he always wanted to protect. Whether or not he had his powers, he still wanted to help preserve the idea of the very life he'd been blessed with growing up on the farm.

His phone ringing (playing the tune he and Lana danced to in her Talon apartment recently) pulled him out of his thoughts. He quickly answered the phone before too many passersby could hear the strident sound of "Collide" by Howie Day. It was Chloe and a quick glance at his watch told him it was almost one o'clock.

"Hey Chloe"

"Hey Clark...what's wrong?"

Clark stood up and started walking towards the parking garage. "What? Nothing."

"Then why do you sound all sniffly."

He'd been so lost in his thoughts he didn't even realize there were tears in his eyes.

"I do not sound sniffly."

"You do, are you getting a cold? You've never had one have you, believe me it won't be pleasant, just wait til you can't even..."

"I'm not getting a cold Chloe."

"Well you sound like...wait, Clark, are you sure everything is—"

"Are you finished with Orientation?"

She decided to ignore being cut off so rudely. "Yes, it just let out. I don't understand why it took them three hours to tell us to basically go to class or we'd fail, and if you become a drunken crack addict you'll be asked to leave. But anyway, I did hit it off with a couple of people who shared my disdain for the obvious and we've all decided to have lunch together at the campus café. "

"Oh...well, that's fine, I'm sure I can find something to do until you or Lana are finished."

"Clark I actually want you to join us, it'll be fun, and it'll give me someone to talk to in case they all turn out to be psychotic clingy types."

"I don't know..."

"Please Clark, I really don't want to go on my own." She knew he couldn't resist a blatant plea.

"Ok, will I be able to find the café on the map you left?"

"I'll just meet you where you dropped me off and we can find it together. Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you still wearing that plaid shirt?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh no reason..."

He sighed. "I'm not changing clothes just to hang out with people you barely know."

He looked down at his attire that had seemed perfectly fine when he left Smallville this morning, but now he realized he looked very much out of place amongst the sea of dark colors walking by.

"I know...I'm sorry Clark, had a moment of shallowness Its passed, and I wouldn't trade my Country Clark for anything. See you in about 20 minutes?"

"Sure". He stood by the car and peeled off his plaid shirt, revealing a simple dark blue tee underneath, and tossed it in the back seat.

"...So what do you bench?"

Clark shook his leg hard that had fallen asleep again from being crammed under a tiny round table that wasn't really supposed to hold five people. He'd met Chloe in under twenty minutes, since he decided his male ego could withstand consulting the Thomas Guide for directions, and she'd already figured out where the University Café was by the time he arrived, and filled him in on everyone they would be meeting on the walk over.

There was a girl, and two boys—fraternal twins. "...and Mason is really nice, he's studying journalism too, but his brother is kind of...well, you'll see. I think he's mainly tagging along because he's trying to nail Casey—she's taking commercial design..."

He nodded along, trying to pay attention, and not get completely lost in his own thoughts.

The rest where there when they arrived, and somehow he managed to get relegated to the farthest corner, pressed up against the wall, even though he was sure his legs were longer that everyone else's, including one of the twins—the one that was on a football scholarship, and was now posing that ridiculous question that Clark was sure he didn't hear correctly.

"Um, What?"

"What do you bench? I've been working more with free weights lately. Coach says it's important for my throw."

Oh. Clark guessed he thought he worked out and had found a compadre that he could talk over the principles of protein versus carbs with. He never thought much about his physique before—it just...was.

"Oh, um, I don't...bench I mean. I don't work out with weights."

The guy, Trace he thought he said his name was (was that really a name?) eyed him suspiciously and a little hostilely. "Bullshit."

Clark, taken aback just looked at him like he'd grown another head out of his bicep.

"Bull...what?"

"That's bullshit you don't work out. Your arms are pretty big."

Clark tried to smile, because he really wanted to hit him, and drag Chloe out of there and go see if Lana needed help at her Aunt's place. "I work on a farm, so that keeps me in shape."

Trace leaned back in his chair eyeing him, flexing his arms as he folded them across his expansive chest. "Oh yeah, that works huh? That your summer job or something?"

"No, its my family's farm, its where I grew up."

He laughed openly now. "You're shitting me?"

His twin brother, who was the same height, but about forty pounds lighter in muscle, looked over at Clark apologetically. Everyone was suddenly listening to their conversation, and Clark could feel his cheeks getting redder, from a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance.

Clark just looked at him as coldly as he could manage. "No, I'm not shitting you. This is Kansas, you may see a farm or two."

Trace just laughed harder, slapping Clark on the arm in mock affection. "Whoa, relax. We're from outside Chicago, and I just don't meet many real live farm boys is all. No offense, guy."

Clark sat up taller in his chair, narrowed his eyes and was about to inform him all about what bailing hay all day can do for one's punching ability, when he felt a gentle hand on his forearm. He looked over at Chloe and she was giving him her best I'm so sorry, but please don't make this any worse than it is - look, so he just picked up his Coke and sipped it angrily, promising not to utter another word to jockstar.

Of course he just zeroed in on his discomfort and in true form decided to exploit it. "Awww..come on, don't be mad. Let me make it up to you, look I'll buy you a drink when we all go out tonight."

Casey chimed in, scooting her chair away from Trace, who kept getting dangerously close to her. "Oh, I forgot to mention, we were talking about it before you guys came. My brother is working at this new club on the west side tonight and says he'll get us in if we show up. He said I could bring anyone, so you're both welcome to come." She looked pointedly at Clark, which garnered a threatening look from Trace. There was no way he was going, and he didn't even have to entertain the idea because Lana would never want to go either. And he was about to declare just that, when Chloe surprised them both and said they'd love to go.

"What?"

"Come on Clark it'll be fun, and I'm sure we can both talk Lana into going." Clark couldn't help but notice that her eyes kept drifting over to Mason, who smiled at her appreciatively. Great, Lana and her level-headedness about underage drinking was now his only hope.

Casey arched an eyebrow at him. "Who's Lana?"

"Lana's my girlfriend."

Casey slumped a little further down in her seat. "Oh."

Trace practically beamed, and pushed his chair closer to Casey's "Oh yeah? So farmboy's got himself a girlfriend. I bet she's really good at milking cows huh?" He punched Clark in the arm and winked hard. Nope, there was absolutely no way he was spending an evening with this guy.