Four Careers Clark Kent Never Had

by legendarytobes

A selection of four AUs of jobs (and significant others) Clark Kent never had. Includes slash with Clark Kent/Lex Luthor and Clark Kent/Davis Bloome snippets as well as Clark/Tess and Clark/Alicia.

Four Jobs Clark Kent Never Had

Biologist

Clark knocked on door and waited. He knew that his new partner here at STAR labs, Tess Mercer, was on the other side of the door. He could see her. She was just extremely involved in whatever slide she was pouring over. Frustrated, Clark knocked again and then called out:

"Hello, Ms. Mercer?"

The redhead stood and walked over to the door. As she did it, her goggles slipped off the top of her head and over her eyes, and Clark found it sexy as Hell. He sighed and forced thoughts like that away. He knew better than that. Not only was she a coworker, but he never…he'd tried in high school and he and his girlfriend then had broken up over the big alien secret thing. He'd never told anyone since and just pretty much never dated since then. It was too hard to get rejected, and he still would have nightmares replaying the revulsion on Lana's face. It was too much. Besides, grad student and monk were basically synonyms anyway.

Still, his new office mate was going to make things, uh, more difficult.

Finally the door opened and he adjusted his glasses on his nose and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Kent, uh, Clark Kent. I'm working here this summer because you all have a reciprocal arrangement with Met U. Professor Millan said everyone knew I was coming."

The woman regarded him and took his hand. "Tess Mercer, but you knew that. You're not going to slow me down, are you? Sometimes the grad students don't work out."

Clark frowned. "Like you're that much older."

"I've been a full time employee here for four years, junior, so just try and keep up and don't touch anything unless I say touch. I'm making great progress on my enhanced seed germination research and…just don't break anything."

"I won't," he said crossing into the lab and wondering if maybe he should have picked a different summer thesis project after all.

"I think I might have been wrong about you, Kent," Tess said as she leaned back from her microscope. "You've kept up great all month and the thoughts you had on seed lot 175 were helpful."

"Thanks, I think," he replied copying her posture at his own chair. "I think that's the nicest thing you've said to me."

"Oh, it is. Don't get a swelled head."

"I doubt it," he said.

"Look, I had an intern last year ruin six weeks' of research by spilling Coke all over everything. He didn't respect the lab rules so having you here made me nervous at first, but you're really dedicated and incredibly smart. I should know."

He snorted and slid off his glasses. He didn't need them but his parents insisted it was helpful in differentiating him from the rumored Blur running around and helping people in Metropolis. Clark wasn't completely sold on it, but he couldn't wear a mask and use heat vision at the same time. This was the best option he head.

"Thanks, that's modest."

"I'm smart, and I don't apologize for it. I need to let people know it. I'm going to be a lead investigator by the time I'm thirty if it kills me."

"I just want to graduate, and I have four more years at least," he replied.

Tess nodded. "You'll get there, Clark."

He blinked back at her. He couldn't remember any time beyond the first day that she'd even said his name. Mostly she barked orders. "Thanks, that's good. Mostly I feel like I never sleep and I'm always stressed and it's pretty much the worst."

"Then you know you're doing fine," she replied. "I…you know, it gets boring in labs all day. Would you like to get a drink? Wait, you're over twenty-one right?"

"I'm twenty-three," he clarified. "I'm not that much younger than you. I just…what?"

"A drink. You know, after work tonight we go to The Ace of Clubs and just hang out. I'm told coworkers do that sometimes."

"I…" he hesitated.

He had dated a little in college, which boiled down more to a few blind dates his friend Pete insisted he go on. But no more than a first date to get his best friend off his back. Doing something social with someone who shared his cubicle was a terrible idea even if he were normal. Considering he knew right away that this wasn't going anywhere, Clark knew it was an even more terrible idea.

Tess narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I assumed wrong I guess."

"No, it's not that. I just I'd love to."

"Great then seven right?"

"No, I just, Tess I can't."

"Why not? Are you dating someone else? Or is it me?"

Clark sighed. He was just so lonely and it had been almost eight years since Lana had stomped all over him. Maybe a drink and bitching about their supervisor for an hour wouldn't hurt. That was all.

"No, eight's better," he said.

God, his parents were going to kill him

Clark almost set the bar on fire.

That was the worst start to a date he'd had in a long time. He couldn't help it. He'd never seen Tess in more than a sweater and jeans and in a lab coat. He did not expect her to change into a purple silk dress that hugged every curve or to have her long auburn hair down around her shoulders. His eyes itched and he drank two glasses of cold water and recited Wolverines statistics to himself until his eyes stopped itching.

She frowned back at him. "So did I get your best red t-shirt?"

He groaned. Clark had expected everything to be a lot more casual, and no he felt stupid in just a t-shirt and jeans. Nervously, he adjusted his glasses and stammered a little. "I'm sorry. I didn't know we were going to do a look nice thing."

"It's fine, Clark, I was just kidding," she said, as she sat and ordered a wine for herself.

Clark just nursed his beer. It was the cheapest thing on tap they had. He was his father's son and wouldn't even have bothered-it was a waste of money if he couldn't even feel it-but he didn't want Tess to ask questions.

"So," he said. "What did you do all day?"

"Oh, ha-ha," she said. "Obviously, I wasn't thinking about talking about work. Tell me about you."

"Shouldn't you go first?"

"I would but I set the rules already," she said. "Hit me. What's your life story?"

Clark sighed and decided he'd settle on the version he gave everyone. Frankly, the alien version wasn't all that interesting. Okay, scratch that. It was fascinating and scary and he knew if someone ever found out he'd be in a lab of his very own as the guest. Still, all he had was a ship that he couldn't open and a tablet he couldn't read. Sure, he had about a half dozen powers, including this floating thing he was hopeless at, but that's all he knew. He didn't even have a name for what he was.

"I'm from Smallville, you know, uh, where they had the meteor shower back in 1989? I grew up on a farm with my mom and dad and I have a dog named Shelby but he's getting pretty old now. I worked on the school paper in high school but it shut down after a year cause there was no interest so I got into science club stuff and then I'm at Met U so there's that," he finished.

Tess nodded. "That sounds nice."

He blinked. Most people thought that farm meant Amish and the other guys in his dorm in undergrad had made a lot of fun of him for it, called him Opey and other crap and made jokes about him and the cows.

"Really?"

Tess offered him a small smile and he blinked back the heat vision again. God he was from a weird planet. "I was in foster care for a while as a kid. This home at first but I don't remember it much and then I was adopted but my adopted father was…I saw the E.R. a lot. So I got into academics and got my own scholarship to Harvard and ended up at STAR labs fresh out of graduate school."

Clark frowned. "What do you mean you saw the E.R.?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like. I…let's just say I walked into doors, a lot, as a teenager."

Clark reached out and grabbed her hands, holding them in his own. "That's just horrible."

"I guess that's adoption. Why they wanted me so badly if they were just going to…it seems nuts now. I haven't talked to them since I graduated high school and I don't intend to."

"I'm sorry."

"You didn't do it."

"But you…it's not always a bad thing!" he said. "My parents adopted me after the shower. I, uh, guess my real parents got hurt that day." It was close enough to the truth really. "I was so glad they took me home, and now I think even more. I'm sorry that you got a raw deal."

She shrugged. "I have myself and that's all I need."

"Then you have more than that," he said, squeezing her hand. Her smile was the best thing he'd seen all month.

"You're happy," his mom said when he came home one weekend for rest. The Fourth of July holiday meant he had time to come home for the show as well as time to just relax away from endless tests and, frankly, some serious failures.

He wasn't allowed to know the exact nature of what they were using but it made the seeds grow into full flowering fruit inside of three days. That was great. The problem was the food died as fast and the tests on mice weren't encouraging. Whatever they were using to jump start the growth, and he suspected it was radiation, made the mice sick and violent after they ate it. Tess said they were going back to the drawing board, trying something slightly different next week.

So Clark was enjoying a relaxing time before he went back to the drawing board.

"I'm very happy," he said.

"It's a girl," she finished for him.

"How do you know?"

"Clark, I know this grin on you. It was the look you had when you first started with Lana." His mom sighed and set down a slice of pie for him. "Honey, I thought you decided that dating was problematic."

"I know, Mom, I do. I'm not going to tell her anything." Hell, Tess was a biologist and she'd be excited as Hell to probably take a scalpel to him, if those would cut. Still, it was fun for a while. She was smart and incisive and ridiculously sarcastic, and he enjoyed her company. It wouldn't last, but nothing ever did. "I just wanted something nice for a few months until she breaks up with me, okay?"

"You know that-"

"I can never tell her. Believe me, I know that," he said, shoving his pie away. "I…I'll be in the loft until it's time to go to Evan's Field. Is that okay?"

His mom frowned and it marred her normal pretty features. "Honey, I just worry. Lana was so cruel about everything and if your secret got out…"

"Mom I know, okay," he said before blurring off to his fortress of solitude.

"You look bummed. Going home to Ozzie and Harriet not go so well?" Tess asked, her brow furrowed with concern. "Are you okay?"

Clark shook his head. "Stupid stuff, so what are we using this time to fix the plant problem?"

Tess's eyes glittered and she patted the top of the lead case. "Well, LuthorCorp funds the research, all these grants that Lex is super interested in us pursuing."

"Uh-huh?"

"Anyway, the green meteorites had amazing growth potential but it's unstable. They've decided we're going to try the kind that runs off of the red frequency."

Clark gasped and started inching to the doors. The meteor rocks were the only things he knew of that affected him. The green like from Greg Arkin's tree house made him really sick. The red had been used in his class rings and Smallville and that had been a freaking disaster. Those got him drunk, and, well, made him a flaming asshole on top of it.

"Clark, are you okay?"

He backed up faster but he couldn't run as fast as he wanted. Blurring out of here would do him no good. "I didn't realize we were doing meteor rock research."

"Where did you think the compounds came from? You had to know they weren't like anything else on Earth."

"I didn't know. I thought synthetics or radiation or I don't know. Please don't open that box."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be paranoid, the radiation is safe for people," Tess finished by pulling up the top.

He flinched, expecting the rush of the class ring all over again. But he felt nothing. Huh, that was unexpected.

"Are you okay, Kent? You're being weird."

She had no idea.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but, uh, let's let you handle it from here on out. In case the EPA is wrong, I don't want to glow red at night."

"Thanks, Clark, way to take one for the team," Tess said, smirking back at him.

"You could stay," she said, as he walked her back to her brownstone. They'd had a good time snickering their way at the back corner of a symposium where the researcher's math had been a joke. "We never have done that before."

He sighed. "Tess, I just can't."

"You don't have an early morning tomorrow, Clark. I know your whole schedule. We've been dating for four months so why don't we ever do more than exchange a good night kiss. Is it me?"

"No, believe me," he said, swallowing hard. "It's not about you at all."

"So it's related to why you won't touch the meteorites or how I know you do the computations without a computer."

"I use the computer," he hedged. It was just it was slower and when he wanted to get the stats done, he was better at it. He had some weird alien savant brain. Math was like breathing, always had been. Why bother punching numbers and formulae into grid? "That's stupid."

Tess didn't answer right away. "You know that you grip the side of the desk when you're nervous, right?"

"Huh?"

"You get really stressed on something and you dig your fingers into the metal. These desks are from the fifties, real steel and you leave fingerprints in them."

"I…"

"Have you ever heard of Chloe Sullivan?"

"Should I have?" he asked, and now his heart was hammering super hard against his chest.

"She's a Planet reporter, did this little series two years ago about Smallville and how weird the rocks can be. Frankly, based on what we've seen with our seeds and the mice, I'm inclined to believe it. The rocks do a lot of things."

"Tess, really, I don't understand where you're going with this."

"You're not like everyone else, are you? You're really strong at the very least. I noticed it, okay, and that's why…you're afraid to touch me."

Clark shook his head so fiercely that it felt like it might fly off. "I'm just like everyone else, I swear."

She shook her head. "A normal person can't leave indents in steel without even realizing it. It's okay, alright? I'm not going to tell anyone."

Clark swallowed hard. "You can't!"

Great so much for cover.

"I said I wouldn't, but someone with abilities like yours…why would you ever go into science at all?"

Clark sighed and sat down on the steps, not caring much if Tess followed his actions or not. "Mom and Dad asked me that all the time. I don't know. The rocks never affected me, or, at least, not the way you think. I don't like to talk about it, but I'm different yeah. I'm too strong and a lot of other stuff and I guess I thought if I knew more about biology that one day I'd understand my own. It was stupid. I don't have any of the answers I want."

She sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around him and he wished he could give her more. "I wish you'd told me this earlier. Clark, you don't have to explain things."

"I don't really think I could," he said, honestly. He didn't know why he had the powers or how to channel them all the time. He just knew that he was an alien and all of it went with his weird Clark Kent package. "All I know is that my only other girlfriend wasn't happy when I told her. We never…" He blushed then and clenched his fist at his side.

"You're a virgin."

"Yeah, I can't, well I could try, but I'm awfully scared to. I'm sorry. It was cruel to date you when we can't…I was just very lonely and you're smart and funny and determined and it was nice, for a while."

Tess smirked back at him and surprised him totally by kissing him. They stayed like that for a long time before his eyes started to annoy him again and Clark had to pull away. Tess was unfazed. "We can be nice now. It's okay. You can do things, and we'll just do what we can."

"I…"

"Trust me, Kent," she said, standing up and opening her door wide. "Now are you coming up or what?"

The small velvet box was heavier in his pocket than he could have ever imagined. He'd been dating Tess for a year. Eventually, with time, they'd figured a lot of stuff out about him. He could do a lot of things he could before, and there were even side perks to his powers they'd figured out how to play with as well. He wasn't quite flying yet, unfortunately, but he floated all the time now in his sleep and Tess always joked they never needed a mattress for them either.

He'd never thought he could be this happy, but she could still say no and that terrified him.

As they made their way home from the movies, he took a short cut through Central Park.

"Scenic, but not what I had in mind," she said, her tone impatient. "We have an eight a.m. presentation to the LuthorCorp board tomorrow and I just…what's up, Clark?"

He rubbed his palms on his jacket, wishing they weren't so sweaty. Taking a deep breath, he got to one knee and it was almost worth it to see Tess's composure leave her. Her eyes were wide and he'd rarely seen her at a loss for words.

"Tess," Clark said, pulling out the box. "Would you-"

She stilled and he did too. His sensitive hearing catching something wrong, like something sharp slicing through tree bark.

The Hell?

He stood fast and shoved Tess behind him, she peered over his shoulder once she realized what he'd done.

"What do you hear?"

"I…I don't know," he said and then they both blinked as an older woman stepped out from the nearest copse of trees.

That wasn't so odd, but the two women trailing behind her, including one with honest to God knives or blades tied encapsulating her fingers were.

Clark activated his heat vision just a little, wanted to be as intimidating as he could. "Who are you?"

The older woman smiled and it chilled him worse than anything he'd seen in his life. Clark didn't know how he knew, but he felt it right then in his bones. This woman was no more human than he was, and she was far more powerful.

"Lutessa, Kal-El, how nice to find you both. This saves me so much time."

"Huh?" they both echoed.

She laughed again. "Neither of you remember? Well that complicates things, but not by much," she said as something noxious and red arced between her fingers. "I'm afraid this is going to hurt. A lot."

Clark grabbed Tess and would have run but one of the two women was already on him, faster than he'd have realized and her whip was trimmed in green meteor rock. He screamed as he went to his knees and started swearing at all of them when the girl with the knife gauntlets held Tess still, her blades pressing to his girlfriend's throat, causing blood to well.

"Now, now, Harriet, be nice to your sister. We're happy she's home," the woman said, stepping forward and touching Tess. She screamed and fell limp in the other girl's grasp.

Clark was terrified but at least he could still hear her heartbeat. Whatever the red light had done, she wasn't hurt, at least not that he could tell.

"What did you do to her? Hell, who are you?"

The old woman smiled and turned to him. "I'm Granny Goodness, and I gave her back her memories. My Lutessa has a great destiny ahead of her, Kal-El, and you're going to make a fine vessel."

"For what? What the Hell is going on?"

She touched him then and he remembered, oh God, so much. Everything was burning and the ground was shaking and a woman with long blonde hair and eyes he'd only seen in dreams before was crying.

Kal-El, you'll be alright, I promise.

"Darkseid is coming," Granny said as he sank to the snow below him. "And you're going to help."

Paramedic

Clark hated Davis Bloome.

He didn't like him one damn bit. He didn't like the way the other man talked, too fast and direct, like being machine gunned to death. He didn't like the smug smirk on his face or the way he was never honest about anything. They'd been on the same ambulance for six months, and it was the worst assignment Clark had had since joining the paramedics of Metropolis three years earlier.

Besides, and he'd complained to his supervisors before, the guy ran off.

He just left.

Clark resented the Hell out of that.

Not that he hadn't accrued the same kind of complaints. To be fair, it was probably why they were paired now. He was always having to rush off before to save people in a way only The Blur could and coming back with lame excuses. Davis often did the same, but Clark felt deep down that the other man wasn't helping anyone, that he'd come back smelling even more of blood and death than they usually did after a long night in the city.

Hell, the bastard hadn't even shown up for work tonight, which left Clark to troll through the utter chaos that was the Ace of Clubs by himself. There was carnage everywhere. The building had been torn apart and people were screaming everywhere. Some were crushed and others had been stabbed through with spikes unlike anything Clark had seen before, and he'd been to the Phantom Zone twice before.

Something terrible was loose. Before, he'd just heard whispers of it in the city, but something even more alien than he was had started tearing through the city, and he had to find it, stop it. As the other EMTs arrived on the scene, Clark felt more relieved. He still had a few more hours on his shift, but then he could start hunting for this monster, talk with J'onn and figure out what the Hell was out there.

At least he thought he could.

As he got to the far corner of the club, Clark looked over his shoulder and made sure that no one else was watching him. There was a huge collection of girders that had fallen but, underneath all of it, he could hear a muffled heartbeat. Making sure no one would notice him being inhumanly strong, Clark worked fast and pulled the mass of metal off of the body below.

What he didn't expect was for the person below all of it to be Davis, both naked and mangled and with the last of the strangest grey bone spikes sucking back into his skin.

His rig partner blinked up at him with wide, scared eyes. "Clark…I don't know what happened."

Clark looked over his shoulder. So far, the rest of the EMTs were with the civilians, but there wouldn't be much time left before they found Davis like this. But whatever the Hell Davis was, it wasn't something the EMTs should be dealing with.

"I've got this," Clark said, before slinging the other man over his shoulder and rushing back to the farm.

"Uh, thanks," Davis said, unusually quiet. Clark couldn't blame him. He'd gone through a phase of waking up all over Lowell County before he'd activated the caves. It was disorienting and scary as Hell. If that kept the usual motor mouth at bay, then Clark wasn't surprised. "I don't know what's going on."

Clark sighed and offered him a blanket. The loft could get cold in winter, and he tended to forget it. It was only him on the farm now. His mom was a senator in D.C., and his cousin Kara was in National City, patrolling the city on her own as Supergirl. She came by on the weekends, but she hadn't lived with him in about two years. Still, he forgot that things could feel overwhelming to humans, especially in December.

He just wasn't sure "human" was exactly what Davis was.

The other man's teeth were chattering, though, and Clark's old sweats weren't doing much to help him. Davis accepted the blanket and offered a shy smile. "Thanks, my knight in shining flannel."

Clark rolled his eyes and sat down on his old steamer trunk. Inside of it were the last relics of an alien race, well, the ones outside of what Kara had saved for herself. There among them was the key to the Fortress, but it no longer worked. About three years ago, Lex Luthor had pulled the whole thing down himself. It left Clark powerless for a time, although he'd recovered thanks to J'onn's help and own sacrifices, and had killed the other man entirely. He'd always hated Jor-El with all its edicts and the way it had killed his father, but Clark wished he had that option now. Davis was something else, something over Clark's head, and he wasn't sure yet what to do about that.

"What the Hell is going on?"

"I could ask the same about you. You're the Blur, aren't you? It explains all your disappearing acts and, damn, are you strong and fast."

"Yes," Clark said, shrugging. "But you're one to talk. If I'm not gone you are."

"I guess we deserve each other there, partner," Davis replied. "What are you?"

Clark narrowed his eyes. "What are you?"

"I asked first and I don't have an answer anyway. All I know is that I spent most of my damn life in foster care and that I black out and end up in the middle of carnage. I know it's not normal but until three years ago, that never happened. I was just a guy, then a switch got flipped and I have walkabouts."

"It's more than that," Clark said. "You're whatever that Beast they talk about is. I saw the bones and the spikes. So I repeat, what the Hell are you?"

Davis blinked, confused. Clark could hear the other man's heart speed up, smell his sweat. If this was all an act, then it was a damn good one. "What? I don't…I can't!"

He didn't know.

"When I found you, you had spikes receding into your body. They were large, grey spines. Didn't you know?"

"Why would I know? I just told you that I black out and wake up and people are dead. I do what I can when I don't black out to help others because I can't control whatever happens when I have my spells or that I'm hurting people."

Clark frowned. "You don't know what you are or how you do it?"

"Until three Mays ago I was a normal guy, Clark, I swear it."

Things were pinging quickly now for Clark, filtering through his brain. "What day?"

"Huh?"

"What date? When did the spells start?"

"May 21, 2008. Why?"

It was the date the Fortress came down, the date that Lex had unleashed the power of the orb. Somehow, Clark didn't think it was a coincidence.

"And you're an orphan too."

"Too? I thought your mom is a senator."

"She is but I'm adopted," Clark said. "I was adopted a few days after the meteor shower."

"Huh," Davis said. "Small world. I went into the system about a week after that one back in '89. If we actually liked each other, then we might have found out we had a lot in common. I mean, I guess we already do. I'm a weird guy with secrets and you might be weirder."

"I'm not a guy," Clark said.

"Could have fooled me, boy scout."

"No, I mean that I'm not human. Well, laying cards out on the table, I'm from a planet called Krypton. It was destroyed years ago and all that's left of it came down during the showers, those meteor rocks are what were left, and I thought just two ships. One for me and one for my cousin Kara."

Davis burst out laughing. Then he stood and started to pace. "That's hysterical. I'm going nuts and I think murdering people and my annoying partner is actually The Blur but of course there are also aliens and Cracktanians."

"Kryptonian," Clark corrected. "I always thought Kara and I were the only survivors. Hell, I never thought that anyone else was still out there after so long."

Davis stopped and glared at him and Clark noticed the small boney spines erupting from his forehead already. "I'm not an alien! Hell, you can't be an alien. You're insane."

Clark shrugged and set a few candles on his desk on fire with a look. "There's a lot I can do, and I always assumed after so much that if anyone else was left, they'd be like me and Kara. I never ever asked anyone if there were other species on Krypton, if they could have escaped as well. I guess that was dumb."

"Are you listening to yourself?" Davis asked and now his eyes were red and jaw was shifting a little. His skin had gone grey. "Aliens don't exist."

Clark sighed and blurred to his mom's bedroom and grabbed the small mirror there. He was back before Davis even realized he'd left and handed the other man the compact. "You need to see this."

Davis growled a little. "I'll humor you." Then he turned the mirror around, stared at it, and dropped it just as fast. It shattered to the ground between them. "What did you do to me?"

"I didn't. This is what happens when you black out, when you get angry. I think something set you off, something like activated you, and it's kind of my fault."

"I'd like to see how. I didn't know you until six months ago!" Davis said and Clark put a hand on his shoulder.

"You have to calm down. If you go full spiny here, well, I'm not sure that I can control you."

That was a sobering thought. He'd fought Brainiac and the Phantoms but he'd never felt the kind of power radiating from anything that was pouring from Davis now. No, Clark wasn't sure he could take that at all in a fight. Hell, he wasn't sure all of Justice could.

Davis stilled and took long breaths, following Clark's lead. Finally, soft brown eyes were looking back at him and Clark breath caught in his throat. He hadn't ever noticed how handsome Davis was; he'd always been so annoyed by the smaller man. And yet, he hadn't felt this way about anyone since things had gone so wrong with Lex.

Davis's eyes flashed red once more before fading to brown and settling there. His nostrils flared and his breath grew slow and deliberate. "I don't understand anything."

"I'll call my cousin, Kara, and she can be here soon. I hate to interrupt her patrols. I just…she can explain more, knew a lot more about Krypton than I do. If there were others or other species."

"Hey!"

"I'm no more human than you are, it's not…I think you're from the same place is all, okay?"

"It's not! I grow spikes and red eyes and kill nuns and you're the goddamned Blur how is any of this okay?" He was getting agitated again, starting to grow and his skin was growing grey and rough like a rhinoceros.

Clark had to call Kara, had to get her here and J'onn too. They'd know what to do, but he had to calm Davis first before he had a giant spiked mess on his hands. So he didn't think, just reacted, putting his lips against Davis's, relaxing as the skin beneath him went pink and supple again, as Davis responded in kind.

They both pulled back panting, but Davis was himself, and the Beast was gone.

"What was that about?"

"I was trying to keep you human, uh, as far as we get," Clark defended, blushing.

Davis smirked and kissed him back. "Well, Clark, maybe being just human is starting to seem overrated."

Quiz Bowl Champion

"I'm the captain," she said, glaring at him one day at the Quiz Bowl Team house.

That was something Met U had set up for them. Although the team was co-ed, the university though the team that lived, ate, and crammed together all the time would do better. So Clark lived with the four other team members. His parents had told him not to join the team, that his encyclopedic memory was too abnormal, would be too obvious if people really saw what he could do and how much he could remember.

But he was tired of hiding all the time. He'd never been allowed to play sports or be in Boy Scouts. He'd proposed majoring in astronomy and his parents had shot him down and threatened to stop paying his tuition period if he didn't pick anything else. So he was in physics, but he promised he was only working in stuff that could work for engineering, not studying the secrets of the universe as he actually longed to do.

Still, after twenty-one years of saying no. He was saying yes to one thing for himself. He just was beginning to regret it. The three sophomore guys on the team spent their time hazing him-short sheeting his bed, mixing his tooth paste with other gross things, and stealing his food out of the fridge. But they were easy compared to Alicia Baker.

The girl glaring at him now.

She was the only other team member from his grade (they were in a rebuilding year), and she was still bitter that Met U had lost to Gotham City College last year in the final round. She'd been the one to miss the math problem and screw them over and she was taking it out on everyone since.

Especially him.

Clark sighed and twisted his spoon around in his bowl of Mini-Wheats. "I know you are. I didn't say you weren't. I always listen to you."

"I'm just saying, just because you have some freak savant brain and Coach Morrissey loves you, well, I'm still the captain and the best player the school's ever had."

He dropped his spoon, his stomach heavy and roiling. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You're like a novelty. Morrissey thinks you're amazing because he's never seen anyone memorize like you do. We had to memorize Pi and even I only got a few hundred digits. I got the feeling you could go all night!"

He could. His brain could actually do the division and if he had to list the decimal points from now until graduation, he could without fail.

"I'm not a novelty."

"Oh, yeah, you're totally Coach's pet."

"So? I work hard and I'm smart. If we really supported each other more, then we'd be better team. I can't help that I'm smart, okay? I thought that I'd found a place that was okay," he said, setting his bowl in the sink and starting for his room. He'd finally taken up in the attic and it was easy to lock himself for hours in the dormer. No one would harass him there.

"It's just, if you think you're going to replace me as the captain, you're not, Clark."

He shook his head. "You don't understand anything about me. I just want to fit in and I thought…never mind. It's always a dead end anyway. Now, we don't have practice for another four hours and I can actually be away from you-"

There was a concussion then and the earth started to shake. Clark frowned, Metropolis wasn't California, but there were problems occasionally. The small brass chandelier overhead started to shake and then fall. Clark panicked and rushed to grab onto Alicia before it could clobber her. But when he reached out for her, she went insubstantial and it was like passing his hands through a fine green mist.

The chandelier came down anyway and shattered on him.

When the quakes stopped, he was standing there in the middle of a huge mess. The damn arms of the chandelier had been bent all to Hell on him and plaster was everywhere. However, it was the sight of Alicia apparating back before him, forming out of green mist that threw him worse than anything before ever had.

"What are you?" echoed out from both of them.

Clark blushed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Is there some place more private? I…what is it you do?"

She chuckled and, for once, her soft doe eyes really were the most appealing thing he'd ever seen. "I teleport. But you're fast and seem pretty damn invulnerable. I…let's see how fast you are. Do you know the planetarium in Granville?"

"I used to love it as a kid!"

"Cool, then we'll race. See who can get to the observatory tower first."

With that, she was gone.

Clark didn't get there faster than she did, and he wasn't surprised. Superspeed was fast but it wasn't instantaneous. He couldn't just be wherever he imagined in a blink, at least not literally, even if to humans it looked that way. She was grinning broadly at him when he showed up.

"Beat you, but you're amazing!"

He sighed and stayed standing at the other end of the observation deck. He'd tried dating before. There'd been Lana who had rejected him and Chloe, who'd eventually become frustrated with his half truths. Then there was Kyla Willowbrook and things had seemed so possible. After all, she was as bizarre as he was, but she'd been a murderer, driven nuts by her own gift of shifting. He wasn't right for humans period, but he wasn't sure that metas were much better, and, as his mother had pointed out long ago, there were no girls exactly like him. After meeting Dr. Swan and then, ugh, Jor-El, Clark knew there never would be a girl like him either.

"Thanks, I think."

"You're scared? Look, I don't want anyone but my parents to know I can teleport. I mean, we've worked to hide it since the meteor shower. Did you think I wanted to end up in Belle Reve?"

Clark shook his head. "You're from Smallville?"

"I was, but we moved when kids started being relocated pretty fast to Belle Reve in middle school. It wasn't worth it so I went to Metropolis and learned to hide," she said, walking half way toward him. "I know you're from there. The guys always make fun of you being from a Cowtown and stuff. So the meteors did a number on you too?"

"The shower changed my life," he said, and that much was honest. If he hadn't landed here, after all, he'd be dead. He also wouldn't have had the best parents ever. "And you're right. I am fast and invulnerable. I'm pretty strong too."

"How strong?"

"I can make diamonds into coal."

"That's not possible. It takes tectonic plates thousands of years to…"

Clark sighed and looked down at his hands. "I said I was strong, okay? I meant it. I'm really different okay? And no one but my mom and dad know. I was trying to keep it that way."

That wasn't completely true. Lana and Pete knew but she was too grossed out to talk to him, and Pete had been tortured by a rogue FBI agent in junior year and hated Clark's guts. It was probably more realistic to say the only people who knew and would still communicate with him were his parents, and they'd always known.

Alicia kept walking to him and she reminded him just a little of Chloe. She never backed down from anything either. When it came to his secret, that had been the deal breaker. Except Alicia had one too, didn't she? In Smallville, it was a dime a dozen to be a meteor mutant, but it was still unsafe. People had been murdered in hate crimes before or sent away to institutions to never come back. It wasn't as bad as being dissected by the proverbial Uncle Sam, but it wasn't safe for her either.

"I understand that, but it's been a long time since I've seen anyone else with powers. Hell, you're the first person I've ever met who could keep up with me. I…is the savant stuff because of the shower too?"

"No," he said. "I was born that way." His powers and his mind were different things. On Krypton the memory and intelligence, his heightened perception, would have been there. It was only under the yellow sun that he was such a physical freak show. "I'm just very smart."

"I've never known anyone smarter than me either," she admitted. "I kind of hate that about you."

He laughed and, for the first time, took a few steps toward her. "I think I noticed that. I really don't want to be captain. I don't want people to notice me that much. I just wanted to belong anywhere but with how jealous you are and how much the other guys crap on me, I think I made a mistake. We have a few more weeks to finish the competition circuit. After that, I'm going to quit."

"Why? You're amazing. You should go on Jeopardy too! You could win so much money."

He figured his parents would have kittens if he went on national game shows. That was so not happening.

"You hate me."

"I didn't know you."

Clark shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm more than my powers. Alicia, frankly, I'd rather you hate me and harass me more than just decide I'm cool because we're kind of alike."

"Who said I only liked you for your powers?"

"The 180 you've done in the last twenty minutes helped clarify it," he huffed. "Look, you're captain and this was a mistake, and please never tell anyone. Please, you just can't."

"Do you think I'd land someone like me in a lab or in a mental hospital? I'd never do that."

"Well that's a relief. Uh, you don't have a wall of clippings either do you?"

"Huh?"

"That last girl I dated…um, I mean I had someone who was a reporter and that didn't work at all."

"No, there's no wall or me reporting on you or calling in men in white coats," she said and now she'd closed all the distance between them.

"Meteor mutants aren't stable," he said. God knew he'd fought dozens of them.

"I'm stable," she corrected, her tone wounded. "I've never hurt anyone in my life."

"I've had a lot of bad luck with dating."

She smiled and licked her lips. "I'm beginning to notice that. So there was someone else besides the Ace Reporter?"

He nodded. "She could shift into a wolf because of the rocks, basically. It wasn't good for her and she became a man eater. I loved her very much, but then she hurt people. I haven't dated since."

"That's awful."

"It was like she was fine or I thought she was and then she got violent. I…what if you did that?"

Alicia nodded. "I see, so even another meteor freak won't have me."

Clark shook his head. "No, I just…there's no guarantee things won't explode."

"Two normal people have that risk. It's called a 'relationship,' Clark, not a guarantee."

"I know, but I'm really different and…"

Her lips were on his then, so soft and she smelled amazing, like jasmine and oranges. He could have held her forever but then she flickered out of his grasp.

She apparated back behind him and tapped his shoulder. "Whoa what was the big idea?"

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry, but I had to move out of there. You were holding on very strong."

Panic bloomed in his chest and Clark rolled up her sweater sleeves. Already he could make out the fingerprints he'd left there, the bruises already forming. "I'm so sorry. I haven't dated anyone in four years and when it gets so intense, sometimes I forget."

Alicia laughed. "It's okay. I'm fast, after all. I mean, it's an adjustment, but we can learn. I tell you what," she said, kissing his cheek. "Let's play a game."

"What kind?"

"If you can catch me, then we'll see exactly how compatible we are." With that, she kissed his cheek and was off in a fade of green mist.

Clark perked up his hearing and picked up her heartbeat easily. Oh this would be a fun game and he was definitely going along for the ride.

Nanny

Lex Luthor thought the agency was joking when it had sent the applicant before him. Of course, he was frantic and Lena had gone through three nannies in the past month. A daughter with his fierce intellect but that black widow, Lana's, moral compass and, frankly, mutant powers of persuasion and lovability was a dangerous combination. The first nanny, well, Lena might have set off a smoke bomb in her car. The second one Lena had almost made into an acolyte of sorts (and he was really going to have to explain to her how not to exploit her love me powers, at least not until politics). The third woman hadn't even stayed an hour before her cat mysteriously started vomiting and Lex had been so sure all the rat poison had been removed from the mansion

So here he was with a company to run, an ex-wife occasionally plotting to kill him, and his father's usual brewing evil and a seven year old who was taking up way too much time. He loved Lena, but he couldn't watch her twenty-four hours a day and still run LuthorCorp. So far, though, none of the nannies had been helpful at all.

Hell, none of them had stayed long enough for him to remember their names.

When the tall guy with the wavy black hair and shy green eyes had shown up in his office. Well, forgive him, if Lex assumed that he was the new pool boy or gardener instead at first.

"Well, Mr. Kent, you're the next nanny?"

"Well, it's Clark and I'm the applicant that they sent, sir. It's really up to you if I get the job or not."

Lex considered that. "That's a very polite answer."

"My mom would be mad if I weren't, sir."

He chuckled. "You're twenty-five, you can't still be worried about your mom."

"Actually, she runs a pretty tight ship," he said, grinning.

Lex's breath caught in his throat. There was nothing more radiant than the kid's smile. It was easy, affable, and about a thousand times more impressive than anything Lana had ever offered him. Suddenly, Lex was glad there was a desk between them and certain views were obstructed.

"Do tell."

"Um, Mom and Dad have a farm with organic produce in town. Kent Farm? They supply your house anyway."

"Yes, Martha. She's lovely and her pies at The Talon are legendary. It says here you went to Met U for a while but quit as a sophomore. May I ask why?"

Clark sighed. "I have a little sister. She was kind of this massive surprise because my mom didn't think she could."

"A late in life thing. My brother Julian was like that," Lex admitted.

"No, I'm adopted. The doctors always said Mom couldn't. There was, uh, extenuating circumstances and she did but my sister had some pretty special needs so I dropped college to help her. Dad was sick too and had had a heart attack by then, and it was just better. Now, though, they have things handled and I started looking for jobs and, frankly, after six years looking after little kids is kind of what I do best."

"Then I suppose Martha would be a character reference?"

Clark nodded. "I also sat for a family before, the Wilsons. Their daughter has some considerations as well. I guess I just work really well with special kids."

Lex narrowed his eyes at Clark. In Smallville, "special" was an extremely loaded word. He wondered if Clark actually meant meteor mutant, the way that he and Lena both were affected from the fallout from the 1989 meteor shower. He could heal from almost anything, especially poisons. Considering his ex and his father, that was fortunate for him. Lena, of course, could charm anyone. Still, he wasn't sure how to express his suspicions to Clark. After all, people didn't ever speak about the Smallville weirdness out loud.

"What?" Clark asked, eyes wide.

"Pardon me, but when you say that the Wilson girl."

"Maddie."

"Yes, Maddie, was special did you mean she had intellectual needs? Or was it something, frankly, more Smallvillian?"

Clark sighed. "It's not really a secret about Maddie. She can move anything glass with her mind. My sister's normal, just sickly. So, yes, I have experience with sick kids and mutant kids if that's what you're asking. Is that a good thing?"

Lex nodded. "Then I suppose the agency sent you as a last resort. Lena's a brilliant girl and I love her dearly but she's not like everyone else."

"Is she bald?" Clark asked and then he clamped his hands over his mouth. "Oh Mr. Luthor, I'm sorry! That was so rude and I'll see myself out."

Lex laughed and rubbed his hand over his scalp. "I'm not much of a secret either. I've been bald since I was nine, Clark. I'm used to the stares and attention."

"I'm sorry," Clark said.

Lex had heard that too from nurses and specialists mostly, but the way Clark said it, well, it almost sounded like the other man meant it, as if he felt personally responsible for a freak storm. How sincere. "It's alright, but no. Lena's more like her mother. She has a certain charm over people, can get them to love her and do what she wants. I'm trying to teach her how not to abuse such a thing but she's seven and, well, it's run some of the other nannies off."

Clark sighed. "I don't think that's going to be a problem."

"You don't?"

"Well now that I know, I'll just be on the lookout for it, that's all," he said. "May I meet Lena?"

Lex nodded. "Your resume is solid but I'll call your mother and the Wilsons to double check and, frankly, I'm at the end of my rope. I might even consider Ted Bundy at this point."

"She's not that bad is she?"

"Lena's an angel," Lex purred. "She's just got slightly sooty wings. The point is that why don't we do a trial period starting tomorrow, pending phone calls. Be here at six. Lena's an early riser, up with the sun."

Clark grinned again and Lex had to remind himself that he was not his father and he didn't diddle the help. "That sounds great, thank you."

"No, Clark," his father said. "You cannot work for Lex Luthor."

Clark sighed and was glad that Megan was up in the loft playing with his old telescope. "He's paying me a lot, Dad. It's over a thousand dollars a week after taxes, and that's going to add up. It'll help keep the farm running and the hands paid. I…it helps keep us in furniture."

His father shook his head and then slammed his fist on the table. It would have worked better, been more fearsome, if he wasn't also wearing an oxygen tank. When Clark was seventeen, Jor-El caused his father's first heart attack. By now, his dad had had two more. It had made him weak and unable to till the land he loved. That ate into Clark a lot, especially since his father was only sick because he'd gone to drag Clark's ass home that awful Metropolis summer.

Luthors are dangerous. You saw what a wasteland Lionel made of this town, and they own controlling interest in tons of labs in the city and have military contracts."

"Lex isn't his father," Clark said patiently. "I'm going to watch his daughter, not show off my powers or my ship, okay? We need the money. The farm and The Talon aren't enough, and I can't just fence diamonds without suspicion and you and Megan have lots of bills. Please, just let me help."

"Son, you shouldn't put yourself on the Luthors' radar like that. Any other job, Clark."

"I don't have a lot of options with no college degree and nothing that I've done but help Megan and then Maddie. Please, I'm the reasons things are so bad, so you have to let me help."

His father sighed but didn't deny the truth of what Clark had said either. Why would he? Everything was hard because they'd taken him in, taken in a child alien with a horrible legacy following him.

"Be careful, Clark. Don't you dare let Lex know anything about you, not ever."

Clark snorted as he grabbed an apple for himself. "I don't let anyone know so why would I start now?"

Clark smiled as Megan zoomed up next to him.

"Did you get it?" she said, beaming back at him.

He reached out and rubbed his hand through her sandy blonde hair so much like his dad's. "I did. So guess who's going to be working at a real mansion?"

"Like on TV?" she asked, blue eyes sparkling.

"Maybe," he said. "It has a pool and horses and a greenhouse and a million rooms."

Megan's eyes were huge then. "Wow, you're so lucky!"

"Maybe, but it's good because we'll have lots of money for things now so you don't have to worry as much."

She chewed on her lower lip a little. "You mean so when I break things we can replace them, right?"

Clark sighed and led her to the couch. She sat on his lap and she was getting so tall already. Megan should have been in fifth grade by now and she was well over five feet tall and lanky. Her feet almost touched the floor as her legs dangled over his own. Still, she didn't go to school. Had mostly been homeschooled by him or his mom.

Clark hated it, but they didn't have any better ideas.

Megan was like him.

Almost.

He wasn't sure why, just that while Megan was his mom and dad's, and should have been a normal human, she wasn't. The ship that had healed his mom had done a number on her too and Megan had all the same powers Clark had.

Every single one.

Except she had developed them all by the time she was three, even the heat vision. That's why he'd had to come home so fast. His parents had no hope of helping her control her powers or of keeping her safe. She'd been yanked out of preschool and he'd worked with her ever since. He did the best he could but she was still unpredictable, even now. Megan could control her strength most of the time, but she broke things still with regularity. It was why they really needed the extra funds to buy new furniture or, well, sometimes car parts or, okay, cars like those two times. She could be hugged, but they'd learned early on after rushing Mom to the E.R. with cracked ribs, that the only person she could hug safely was Clark.

She wasn't as powerful as he was, not yet, but he wondered what she'd be like in fifteen years and why his ship had done this to her. It was unfair. He'd at least been able to hide well enough to be around other kids, to go to high school and college (at least for a while). But she was his sister, and he'd promised from the day she was born to take care of her as best he could. Besides, not all of it sucked. It was neat to have someone around with his speed or to play tag with or football or just who understood how fragile everything was, how hard.

"You didn't tell me what you were up to," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"I read a lot. Today, I'm reading Alice in Wonderland then tomorrow I'm going to read Through the Looking Glass. Mom and I are doing a lot of literature things right now."

"Do you like it?"

"It's kind of weird, and I don't think I get it."

"Well, Mom can tell you the lit parts, but there's actually a lot of math in it."

"Really?" she asked, frowning up at him. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah, it's based around logic puzzles. It's very fascinating," he said. "I work from six to four but when I get back, I can keep doing math with you. You'd like that right?"

She nodded. "Clark?"

"Yes?"

"When do I get to go to regular school? You and Mom and Dad said I could talk about it later, that maybe for middle school I could try."

He sighed and it kicked up such a breeze that it ruffled her hair. Huh, he usually had more control. "We'll see, but you did break the sofa arm last week and other kids are so fragile, sis."

"You went to school. You have yearbooks."

Clark nodded and hugged her tight. It was a grip that he knew could shatter bone. She didn't even feel it. "When you're finally stopped with growth spurts and as big as you're gonna get, then I think we can get the strength really controlled the way I am. When it's finally safe, I'll take you down to Smallville Middle School myself but not now, okay?"

She sniffled a little before she spoke. "Thanks. That means a lot to me."

"I'm sorry you're like me," he said, holding her closer. "But how about, we go race, and then whoever wins picks the ice cream flavor while we're out?"

"I like bubble gum, Clark, and I'm a lot faster," she said, hopping up.

Clark winked at her. "Prove it, squirt."

And then they were off.

"I want Belgian Waffles," Lena demanded, and Clark almost laughed at the way she stomped her foot. As if that would make him hop-to.

She was a pretty little girl with Lex's pale skin and blue-grey eye color but he'd seen a few pictures of Lana. Lena had her mother's long, dark hair and her eyes were just a bit larger than normal, more luminous. And if she was an angel, Clark was a human being.

He seriously doubted that, whether Lex was susceptible to Lena's powers or not, that this was a seven year old who had never wanted for anything in her entire life. Well, tough. Clark was a man of steel, and he could say no to her all day if he needed to.

"Your dad's already at the plant, and I made pancakes. That's all you're getting."

"I want waffles," she repeated slowly as if he were mentally impaired.

Clark smirked and pushed the plate toward her. "If you don't have pancakes, then you don't eat."

Lena stared at him and twirled her hair over her finger. "I want waffles."

"I don't care."

She frowned. "That always works, well, not on Daddy but he listens to me anyway."

Clark crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not like everybody else."

"I hate you."

"Clark! Clark!" she screamed, and he checked over his shoulder to make sure none of the other staff were around before he rushed to her room. Clark stopped before he actually blurred in. After all, he promised his parents he'd be careful.

He opened the door, hopeful she was okay.

Then a smoke bomb exploded in his face and he rolled his eyes at her.

"Lena Thorul Luthor, that was not alright. I have to tell your father about this," he said, waving his hands in front of his face, making the smoke dissipate.

She frowned up at him all over again. "Your eyes aren't red or watery and you're not coughing. My other nannies coughed and then they left."

Clark took deep, relaxing breaths, and then reminded himself he needed the money, that Megan and Dad really needed it. "Well, I'm not like the other nannies and I'm not leaving."

"Oh, I can make you leave," she said, as she stomped back out of her room.

Lex had to give Clark credit. He was the first candidate he'd had who hadn't called him mid-day to quit. Having called his butler, Enrique, Lex also knew that it wasn't because Lena had knocked Clark out or in some way incapacitated him. Overall, that was definitely progress. However, when he came into his office, he found Clark asleep on the sofa. The other man had been technically off-duty for half an hour and Lex was surprised that he waited.

Lex was almost ashamed to wake him. Ten hours with Lena was a trying experience, and clearly Mr. Kent would need his sleep for tomorrow and the days after. Still, he was a beautiful sight, like something out of Botticelli and, again, Lex poured himself a Scotch, drank it in one gulp, and reminded himself that he didn't mix business and pleasure. That got messy.

And resulted often in Dad shuttling off surprise siblings to Metropolis United Charities.

After he'd finished, Lex shook Clark on the shoulder.

The other man jolted awake. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Lex, that was rude."

"I wasn't paying you for the last half hour so if you sleep, that's fine with me," Lex said, sitting on the couch opposite to him. "How was Lena?"

"She tried to use her power against me so that I'd get her the breakfast she wanted and that was deliberate, by the way. Then she exploded a smoke bomb in my face. Then while I was helping get her lunch she shaved the cat, and as a final capper to the day, tried to trick me into drinking something I think laced with Tylenol PM. In short, Lex, she's a spoiled rotten brat."

"Now, that's not fair."

"No," Clark said, his tone stern. "Frankly, you've given her everything she ever wanted, and she's a terror. I'd like permission to fix that."

"Corporal?"

"God no," he said. "I'd never do that. Why would you say that?"

Lex shrugged and admitted something not even Lana knew. "That's a relief. I doubted the Wilsons would have been so glowing about you if you had. "My point is that my father was abusive in all the ways one could be."

"I'm sorry. I know what that's like," he said. "I met my biological father, tracked him down, and he did some pretty awful things to me."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so I get it and I'd never, but I'd appreciate it if you'd make it clear to Lena that I'm in charge when I'm here and that you agree with me on the discipline. I can help her be a better kid, but I'm going to need you on my team. I can't have her playing the 'well my daddy will let me' game."

"Lana's an orphan and my childhood sucked. I think we both take turns overcompensating. It was so hard to say no to her because that was all Lionel ever did to me."

"I get that, but never hearing no is as big a problem as hearing it all the time," Clark said. "I'll be back tomorrow bright and early, promise."

"That's actually a relief. You must be very special because everyone else would have quit by now."

"Well, Lex, I'm not like anyone else."

Lena knew that something was off about her new babysitter Clark. She'd put in half the bottle of the Tylenol into his tea and let it dissolve. It wouldn't kill anyone. Her calculations were very accurate on that, taking into account his estimated weight. However, he should have passed out. It was just like his eyes should have been watering all yesterday too or how he didn't listen to her.

Everyone listened to her except Mommy and Daddy. They were immune, but she knew other people who were infected could be persuaded too.

So Clark wasn't normal and he wasn't a mutant. He was a something else, and Lena was going to prove it. Today, before he came, she started mapping out her plan. She knew exactly what she was going to do. She had a great idea at breakfast or the start of her investigation. She even had a huge notebook to take down her ideas and observations. Daddy was going to be so proud.

Clark was as polite as yesterday when he entered the kitchen.

"Wow, you're up early. It's not even six."

"I was thirsty," she said, eyeing him closely. He certainly looked normal. "So I made myself some cocoa. I actually made some for you too, would you like some?"

Clark narrowed his eyes at her. "Did you put Tylenol in it? Because I didn't appreciate that."

"Nope, it's normal," she said, sipping her own cup.

That was true. But she'd heated up his extra extra long. She had a theory from how immune he seemed to other stuff.

Lena smiled her most brilliant smile and pushed the mug by its hand to him. "It's really good!"

Clark hesitated but then took a big gulp.

And Lena waited.

And waited.

And then he took another one and nodded. "Hey, it is. Would you like to help me cook then today? I was thinking omelettes?"

She smiled but took notes down already.

Subject doesn't get burned.

The next thing Lena set up, well, she knew she shouldn't do it. If her guesses were wrong then it could land Clark in the hospital. Of course, Daddy did have a lot of money so he could pay to make it better so it wasn't all bad. Besides, Lena was pretty smart and she was certain that Clark wasn't normal so this wouldn't be a problem.

Even if it was kind of mean.

But Daddy always said to explore every scientific option and Mommy said that secrets and lies were the worst thing ever so, really, she was only setting this up because Clark was lying. It was all his fault.

Anyway, after he was done helping her practice piano in her room (Daddy insisted), Lena asked him to wait their while she went to grab something from her dad's room. While she was out, she set up a trip wire across the stairs. The internet could be very useful.

Then she asked Clark to take her downstairs so they could get lunch before she had to study Latin. She stepped over the wire first, very carefully and yanked on Clark's hand and started talking a lot to distract him. Everything worked just how she wanted. Actually, it was even better. He fell over the wire and ended up rolling down the whole spiral staircase to the marble below. When he crashed at the bottom, the back of his head hit so hard that it cracked through the marble.

Lena rushed down after him, but Clark was already standing up again and looking scared at the dent he'd made. He wasn't even bleeding.

Lena got to the first floor and took her notebook and set it on her lap.

Subject is strong, can hurt marble. Subject doesn't bleed.

"What just happened?" he asked. "And are you writing this down?"

Lena nodded and regarded him. Clark was way more interesting than she realized, way better than her other nannies. "I'm making observations!"

"What?" he asked and now Clark did look sick or possibly like he wanted to scream at her. He didn't, but his expression was still weird. "You're doing what?"

"Observations, silly," she said. "You can drink tons of Tylenol and not get sick, and the smoke bomb didn't make your eyes hurt and it always makes people's eyes hurt. Then you drank super, super hot cocoa and didn't get burned and now you fell down a flight of stairs and you didn't get hurt but you did break marble. Thus, I think you're a mutant like me or like Mommy and Daddy."

"You can't tell your dad about this or your grandpa. God, especially not your grandpa."

"Daddy doesn't let me visit grandpa ever. He just sends me really big presents at Christmas," she said.

"Oh, well you can't tell your dad!"

"No, I really should. I told him I was getting good at science, and I am. You're strong and resilient, Clark, and I proved it really well."

Clark looked back to the stop of the stairs, squinted a bit, and then his jaw hung open. "You set up a wire? What is wrong with you?"

"Huh? We were trying to figure out what was wrong with you and now we know. See, progress!"

Clark didn't yell. That confused Lena. By now? If one of the few sitters or nannies she'd ever had made it to day two, they were either compliant or would get to about now, scream at her, and quit. Clark just looked extremely sad. His shoulders slumped and he shook his head.

"That was cruel, Lena, and it was wrong. My secrets are mine to have, and I'm not an experiment either. Maybe no one's ever told you this but you're not a very nice person and I don't like you at all."

She dropped her notebook. "Everyone likes me."

"Would they if you couldn't make them?"

"But I can so they do."

"I guess it's good that you can," Clark said, tiredly. "Because if you couldn't I really don't think they would. Now go upstairs and get your Latin book. I have to clean up this mess."

She frowned. No one talked to her like that. No one. "I don't want to."

Clark pointed to her bedroom door. "Now, Lena, or I'll have your father take your internet away. Go!"

Well she never Lena thought to herself as she hurried up the stairs.

"Lex, I'm very sorry, but this isn't going to work out," Clark said.

Lex blinked. He was actually really happy with the arrangement. Lena had done all her homework, practiced her piano and actually said thank you to Cook when she'd walked into the dining room. He wasn't even sure Lena knew the word "thank you."

"But you're the best sitter she's ever had. Is it the money because you can set your price."

Clark frowned. "I think my dad was right and money is a huge problem. It's not that you're rude. You've actually been very nice to me, Lex, but Lena hasn't and I don't like the way she treats me."

"Well she does that to everyone."

"She shouldn't," Clark said. "But no, she was worse than that and I don't want to discuss it. I just am giving you notice that I won't be back tomorrow. I'm sorry."

"Clark, please. I'm dead serious. She's never been this good to anyone. You're getting her to cooperate and be nice and it's like a damn miracle."

"It's just rules and boundaries," Clark said. "Those are really important, trust me. I'm sorry, but I can't."

With that he walked out the door.

Lex spared no time walking up to his daughter's room. He slunk in and sat at the foot of her bed. Everything in her room was a pale, cool lilac and currently his angel was curled under her purple comforter and writing excitedly in a speckled notebook.

"Lena, we need to talk."

She scowled back at him. "Clark doesn't like me."

"Clark quit."

"Well get him back. I like him!"

"Apparently, Clark thinks you have a funny way of showing it."

"Then give him money, that's what you do."

Lex frowned. "I may have to stop letting you spend so much time with Lana. Sweetheart," he said leaning forward and stroking her hair. He was ever so envious of it. "You do know that's not always how money works. You can't buy everyone."

"If you have enough, you can."

"No, and I'm sorry I made you think that. I just wanted you to be happy."

"I am happy but Clark doesn't like me!"

"That's my point, angel. Clark's someone you can't bribe. If you want him back, you have to tell me what you did, and then we have to make it up to him."

"I didn't do anything that hurt him."

"Lena, that's not reassuring, what did you do?"

She sighed and handed over the notebook. "I had some experiments to run."

"You what?" Lex asked, both mortified and impressed with his daughter's schemes. "What is this?"

"Clark's like us, at least I think he is. But he's really strong and can't get hurt."

"Wait, how do you…you tripped him down the stairs?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh, and he broke the marble!"

"Lena Thorul, that was wrong. You experimented on someone without their consent and humiliated him and that's not okay. What if someone did that to you? You're very lucky because I can protect you and hide your ability so people don't experiment on you."

To be fair, he'd experimented with the meteor infected but only ones, who like himself, wanted to know more about their powers. He wasn't like Lana and her damn ISIS sham or his father and 33.1. How could Lena be so off-base about everything?

"I'm sorry. I didn't think about it that way." Then Lena did something that Lex had never seen. She started to cry. Not those big crocodile tears she (and Lana) specialized in to get what they wanted. No, she started to tear up. "I made him feel really bad, didn't I?"

"Yes, and now we have to make it right."

"I'd like that."

Lex replayed the footage from his main entrance hall on a loop. He'd never seen anyone like Clark before, not someone as strong or as resilient. He was going to keep this, even if what Lena had done was wrong, but he was going to make extra sure none of Lana's or Lionel's spies had piggy backed this footage. That wouldn't do. Clark was special, and Lex was going to protect that.

"I'm glad you quit," Megan said, eating another handful of popcorn. Her mom and dad were at the heart doctor in Metropolis checking on her dad's stent. So, actually, it was good that her older brother wasn't working anymore.

They were camped out in the living room watching a marathon of Despicable Me movies. Megan loved her some minions.

Clark nodded and leaned back against the couch. "I'm sure the agency me can find me another family anyway."

"The money would have been nice," Megan conceded.

"True, but you're getting better at not breaking things, I think."

She sighed. This morning she'd accidentally ripped the handle off the shower in her bathroom. "No I'm not, but I hope I'll get better, that I can go to school someday."

"You will. We'll just keep practicing."

"I know, but I just wish you all didn't have to work so hard to help me."

He shrugged and ruffled her hair. Her brother was such a doofus sometimes. "Mom and Dad always had to do that with me too. It's not so bad."

"Thanks, ooh this scene's great," she said, turning up the volume as if they hadn't watched the movie a million times.

Sometimes, okay, a lot of the time, she felt bad about even existing. She knew her family loved her, but she was always breaking things, and Clark worked the hardest of all to take care of her. He really did. If she were normal or even better at stuff like him, then he would have a real job and probably a girlfriend or even kids of his own and be a lot happier. He couldn't be but so happy hanging out all the time with a ten year old. She wasn't stupid. She was, however, lucky, and glad she had him on her side. Burrowing a little into Clark's side, she said:

"Lena missed out. You're the best babysitter ever."

"Oh I know."

"You're also the best big brother."

"I try," he said, sighing.

"After this, I'll let you even watch some football."

"Then you're the best sister."

They were about to turn back to the movie when there was a knock on the door. Clark frowned but stood up in normal people speed and walked to the door. Curious, Megan activated her X-Ray vision.

"Wow, it's some bald guy and a little girl. Oh! Is that Lex and Lena and I thought you quit?"

"I did," Clark said, opening the door. "Lex? It's a work day."

Megan came to stand by her brother and glared down at Lena for good measure. The other girl had been a royal bitch and done very clumsy experiments on Clark. That was wrong. She and Clark couldn't help that they were special; it just was. Besides, her brother was the nicest person she knew, even Maddie said so. If Lena was going to abuse that to fool with him, then she didn't deserve to be his charge.

"I know," he said. "But…"

Lena handed Clark an envelope. "Here Clark."

"I don't want money."

Lena nodded. "It's not. I made something for you."

"Did you put anthrax on it as a test?"

"No and what's anthrax?"

Lex shook his head. "Let's not give Lena ideas. It's safe Clark."

Her brother sighed and opened the envelope. Inside was a very beautiful sketch actually, that had been done in soft pastels. It was of Lena playing piano while Clark watched. Frankly, it was better than anything Clark could have made (he sucked), and way too good for the average seven year old.

"You drew this?"

"Mommy studied at the Sorbonne. I'm good at drawing!"

Clark turned the letter over, and Megan peeked over his shoulder to see what it said:

Dear Clark,

I'm sorry that I experimented on you. It was wrong, and I didn't realize how scared it would make me too. I want you to come back and I promise I won't trick you again.

Love,

Lena.

Megan sighed and then looked up at Clark. "I have to go to the loft now. I…I can't."

She walked off then slowly and out to the barn. Her brother was going to cave and cave hard, and it was making her so mad that she was scared she'd set someone on fire. Lena was mean, and she just didn't deserve him. Even if she seemed to be trying. Megan made it to the loft just in time before she set a hay bale on fire. When her eyes felt normal again, she patted it out and tried not to cry. That was the most interaction she'd had with non-family members and it had lasted a whole three minutes before she got weird.

What was she going to do?

"Lena?" Clark asked. "Would you like to keep watching the minion movie? Your dad and I have to talk."

"Sure Clark," she said, and wow she must have been sorry because she didn't back talk once.

He sighed and stepped out onto the porch. "Lex I really need to stay here."

"Look, let me speak for a minute, Clark, alright?"

"Okay, but it's not about the money or the apology."

"It's not?"

"My Dad's health sucks and my sister's condition isn't really getting better, and she needs me and I shouldn't even get a job outside of switching off with mom at The Talon."

Lex considered that. "Then bring your sister."

"Megan," Clark corrected. Great, right, like billionaires liked being told stuff like that.

"Bring Megan."

"I can't."

"Because she can break through marble like you can?"

Clark's heart stopped, and he couldn't remember how to breathe. No. His parents had warned him, and now the damn head of LuthorCorp knew that both he and Megan were very strong. "I don't understand," he croaked out.

"You're a terrible liar, Clark," Lex said as he came to stand next to him while looking out over the porch railing and to the barn. "I have security feeds in the mansion. I saw what Lena staged. I deleted what I could and made sure none of that leaked to Lionel or Lana. They have their own spy network on me, always have, but I don't believe they know what you can do. No harm will come to you or yours because of me. If Megan wants to come and you can tutor and sit both girls anywhere on the mansion grounds you like."

"I can't," Clark said, his heart still hammering in his chest.

He shouldn't be talking this candidly at all. But his family had been treading water so long, something had to change and he believed Lex. If Lex wanted to hurt him or Megan, he could have by now. He'd waited a whole week before even coming over.

"Lie to your parents. They don't have to know Lena and I know you're special."

"No, you don't understand," Clark said, voice wavering. "Megan's not like me. I can control this and she can't. I don't know why. I mean, I suspect why, but I don't know how to fix it. She can't even hug mom or dad. The reason she ran to the damn barn was to avoid setting you and Lena on fire."

Lex laughed. "That's a bit hyperbolic, Clark."

"That's actually true. I'm not even like you or Lena or the other Smallville mutants. I wasn't exposed to the shower. I was the damn shower."

"But that was in 1989. There's no way Megan was too."

"My ship contaminated her," Clark said. "I…Mom was sick and it healed her but it did things to Megan. She's human but she has my powers and I don't think she was supposed to because her control is awful. She got them all by the time she was three. It took me years to get mine. I still can't fly."

Lex blinked and opened his mouth as if to speak then stopped.

Oh crap, Clark had now just up and broken his brain.

"I'm sorry. I…don't tell anyone. Don't even tell Lena. Mom and Dad are gonna kill me. I just am so tired. The only idea we have is for me to work with her on control and she's better but not good enough for the outside world and I'm so scared she's never going to be that this is all there is for her. I just hate it."

Lex surprised him by squeezing his shoulder. "Bring her. I don't care if things get ruined. I can replace them. She'll have to be careful around Lena and the staff, but let her go some place else once in a while. I have doctors, if you ever need her to work with specialists and not as an experiment, but if she needs help, I can provide it privately."

"Why would you do that and did you hear what I just said? I'm an alien, my sister has weird powers because of me and we go around sometimes shattering bone. We're really not people you want around your seven year old."

Lex shocked the Hell out of him by kissing him. Clark stilled for a moment but gave in. He'd never actually kissed anyone. He'd had thoughts, of course. He wasn't a damn monk, but first he was living in Smallville and it wasn't a real option and then he was in college but never quite worked up the college to ask the cute sophomore guy in his journalism ethics class out. By then, Megan and his parents had needed him.

Lex was beyond talented and Clark had to pull away fairly soon or risk flash frying the poor guy.

"Well, the fire eyes thing, that's a new one," Lex said, smirking.

Clark blushed. "I call it heat vision. Wait is this so you can sleep with me?"

"No, it's because I've never seen Lena genuinely this worried about anyone or ever sorry for something she did wrong. You're good at what you do, Clark, and Lena needs you because I'm terrible as a father."

"No, you care about her and that's great. She just needs more rules."

"I can assume you had so many."

He nodded. "Megan and I…we have so much power. If there aren't rules, then things go badly." He'd met the A.I. and, in the fall of his freshman year of college, had to fight off some psychotic Kryptonian robot called Brainiac. He knew what that type of power could do unbridled.

"I can see that."

"I just…this is because you need help for Lena. It's not to get into my pants?"

Lex kissed his throat, near his pulse point, and Clark moaned a little. Maybe it wouldn't be but so bad being used for sex if that was what Lex was angling for. If he kept doing that thing with his tongue…

"No, but that's a bonus."
**

Lena's Log, Day 145

Today was quite eventful. Clark learned to fly today. It started when Megan and he came over on a Saturday for a picnic. He and father went off and, of course, things progressed a little. Clark was floating. Then father had an idea about how to motivate him without the cuddling first and he took off like a rocket. Megan's very jealous but we'll probably figure out a way to help her do that in time.

I like Megan a lot. She's nice and she doesn't mind when we try experiments together. I can't really affect her either, and I think that's neat. When I hang out with her and Clark and Daddy, I know they're being nice to me because they actually like me.

Tomorrow, we're going to work more on her strength. Father ordered these super heavy trucks and she's going to practice stacking them. It should be interesting. I would say that Clark's the best nanny I've ever had, but I don't know if that's what he is anymore. I think he and Megan are family.

And that's fine by me. After all, now I have tons of time for my experiments with permission, of course. Hmm, that reminds me. I need to get this week's consent forms ready for Megan to sign. I don't want to take advantage of either of them ever again.

Friends don't do that to each other, and now that I have some, I don't want to drive them off.

They still haven't taken me flying yet!