Sorry this took me so long. This is just the beginning of the story anyway. For those who are curious "quid pro quo" means "something in exchange for something else". I'm taking Latin and I thought that it might be interesting to try to work that in here. It will make more sense in later chapters. Enjoy the story!

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He stood before me and there was no mistaking him. "Clark...you look so...different."

And he did. His hair was a dirty blond and he had contacts that made his eyes blue. But I'd know that face anywhere-At least I'd thought that I had. "Surprised to see me?" His voice was cold and it scared me.

"I've got you to thank for it, Chloe."

I gulped. He certainly did. "Clark, I'm sorry. That's all I can say."

"You killed Clark Kent, you know that right?" he asked softly.

"What are you going by now?"

He laughed and it held none of the farm boy warmth that I remembered. "Now? What you mean since you revealed Clark Kent and Superman were one to the world? Before you destroyed Clark Kent's normal life so that he had to become someone else? Now? Now, I'm going by Kal Tnek."

"Kent backwards," I mumbled.

"It's good to see that you haven't lost your grip on the obvious, Chloe," he said, anger rumbling in his voice. "Although I do have one question: Why did you sell me out?"

Tears were in my eyes now. "I swear, Clark, it wasn't supposed to happen."

"No? Those words printed themselves?"

The tears began to fall. "Clark, I'm sorry. I-you-when you proposed to Lana I couldn't take it!"

He looked livid and ready to kill. "So what?" he screamed in my face. "You thought that you'd shatter my life? Well, you succeeded in keeping me and Lana apart because the frickin' day after your article was written all my enemies went after her." His face held a helpless quality now. "I couldn't stop them all and they killed her."

He straightened up and regained his composure. "But you already know that," he said quietly. "It probably makes you delighted. Was it hard to pretend all those years that you were her friend?"

"I wasn't pretending," I whispered.

His eyes turned hateful. "No? Then explain why she's dead."

"Clark, I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to kill her!"

There was no denying his hatred now. He grabbed my arm and tossed me against my desk. "Then why is she dead!" he yelled into her face.

I was full out sobbing now. "Clark, I'm sorry! I didn't think! It was a spur of the moment thing derived from my emotions and...I'm so sorry." It was all I could offer him and I knew it was no where near enough.

"Sorry won't bring her back." His eyes were cold and I felt as though his stare was turning me to ice. "Were you really that obsessed with me?"

"Clark-,"

"Shut up!" he screamed. "I can't stand to hear more of your pathetic lies and excuses!"

"Then why did you come?" he asked timidly.

I regretted asking the question as soon as it left my mouth. "I can't kill you, Chloe. It's just not in me. I can, however, destroy your life just as you've destroyed mine."

I began to shake. He certainly could. If only I could take that article back. I don't know why I ever wrote it. All I remember is seeing the man I loved about to marry someone else and I couldn't take it so in my madness I did the only thing I could. What a mistake it was. "Clark, please-,"

"How did you feel when Clark Kent disappeared after Lana's death, but Superman remained?"

"Clark-,"

Anger radiated off him in waves. "Superman has the power of the respect of the public, Chloe."

"Clark I-,"

"Superman can turn this whole city against you."

"No, Clark-"

"You're job, your house, your existence; I can make it all go away, like that." He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't blame him for wanting to destroy me. I'd destroyed what he loved. Why shouldn't it go both ways?

His eyes glowed with fire. "But you know what, Chloe?" He had moved uncomfortably close now. I shook my head to show that I didn't understand. "I won't."

Slowly, as if time had stopped, he leaned down and placed a kiss, light and soft as the spring breeze, on my lips. "Congratulations, Chloe, I hope it was worth it."

I could only watch in a daze as he moved to the door. An instant later he was gone. I wouldn't see him again, that much I knew.

I stumbled over to my desk, an emotional wreck. What had happened here? Memories began to flood my mind.

TBC…