Title: Settling in Smallville
Author: Glamourcat, Glamourcat@lycos.com
Date: Started 2/3/02 Finished 8/25/02
Author's Notes: This is a crossover between Smallville and Forever Knight. For the main reason that the last season of Knight sucked eggs, I refuse to acknowledge its existence. The Sensitive Anna and her daughter Jodi are my own original characters. Emma's based on my real life Siamese cat. She's also secretly plotting world domination, no really, she is! This story overlaps my earlier work A Dragon and A Meezer. Same plotline – told from a different character's point of view. I recommend that you read both to understand what's going on.
Aimless, I'm perfectly aimless. My family's curse, I guess. Both of my families. Just lucky that way. Jodi Ramona LaCroix put the last of her precious cargo-her cat, into her truck and got in. Starting the engine, she pulled away from the curb, happy to be able to kiss this place good-bye. She had a new home, completely renovated in preparation for her arrival, waiting for her.
She was defiantly happy to be leaving this place behind. The "college town" thing wasn't for her. It wore on her nerves very fast. She'd gotten her masters degree and booked out of there as soon as she could.
"MA-OW!"
Jodi's Siamese cat, Emma, with her distinctive voice, pulled the twenty something woman's attention back to the road from her daydreams.
"I know you don't like being in the carrier, baby, but it's a long drive to Smallville and we just have to take it in stride."
"N-Oooo" Emma wailed.
She snorted; I have a werewolf for a father, a Sensitive for a mother, and vampires for an aunt, uncle, and grandfather. It shouldn't surprise me one bit that my cat has mastered a command of basic words in the English language.
Smallville. Her current destination was about as far away from Ontario or Stamford as she could get. It was specifically chosen for the simple fact that it was too far away for her Uncle Nick or Grandfather to fly in a single night. At least Aunt Jannette had the decency to wish the young woman good luck and leave it at that.
She just hoped that Smallville was as devoid of the supernatural and preternatural as Toronto was full of it. She needed time to be herself – find out who she was when she's not busy being whatever else was nearby.
"Being a Sensitive sucks, Emma," Jodi told her cat.
"Perow?" Emma asked.
"Well, you know, being able to read the states of being of people, and well things and take on their traits can be useful, I suppose. But when you're surrounded by those things and never get a chance to re-humanize… that sucks."
"N-n-Ooo-ow!" Emma rattled the door of her carrier with a paw, clearly protesting her captivity.
"Sorry, sweetie. Can't open the door. It's just you, the highway between here and Kansas, and me. I'll let you out when we get to our first motel."
"Merup."
Jodi took that to be agreement, and settled in to drive.
A week on the road in a pickup truck carrying a priceless antique Chinese Dragon statue and a vocal Siamese cat was not the most pleasant way to pass time. Fortunately, Jodi survived with no incidents. Emma on the other hand, expanded her vocabulary to include all of the major vowel sounds, including Y.
So far Smallville looked to be everything Jodi had hoped, quiet, sleepy and completely lacking in supernatural or preternatural phenomenon. Toronto had been crawling with psychics and vampires. This place didn't seem to have a single blip on Jodi's Sensitive Radar.
She stopped first at the realtor's, to pick up her keys. Jodi had talked her grandfather into purchasing a building for sale that had a storefront, backroom, and an owner's apartment on the floor above. Lucien LaCroix had agreed to fix the place up for her and convert the backroom into a kiln room; providing she could prove that there was a profit to be made from her ceramic works. Jodi had one year to make a go of it. After that, if her shop was in the red, Lucien would pay off her debt and she would go home. He didn't really like having any of his children - even his grandchild - too far away from his reach.
"Here you go, Miss LaCroix. Per your contact's instructions, I had the electricity, gas, phone and cable hooked up a few days ago. Everything's all set for you to take over." The mild-aged man handling her account passed her the two copies of the keys he had. "Might I inquire what type of store is going into the place? The name you had painted on the front window was most intriguing."
"Then let it intrigue you right into the shop once I open it." Jodi smiled, belatedly realizing that in a town this small, she was going to be its primary source of entertainment until the natives got used to her.
She took both sets of keys and went back out to the truck and her waiting cat.
"Maow-om?"
"Yes, Emma. We're going home. And we can put the carrier away for a whole year. How does that sound?"
"Na-OW!"
"As you command, my dear," Jodi laughed, reaching through the bars of the carrier to scratch Emma's chocolate colored ears.
Jodi followed the directions to her new building and pulled up alongside the curb out front. It wasn't that hard to find, actually. There weren't many places in the town that you could get lost. Every street eventually ran out into the main road.
She sat in her truck and stared at the front window. The painter had followed her design perfectly.
Gold metallic lettering declared the name she'd chosen for her ceramics shop. A Dragon and A Meezer. Her grandfather thought she was nuts for naming the store after one of her ex's and her cat. She thought it appropriately fitting somehow. The ex in question had been the ruthless business type but had also been the one to give her Emma, the Meezer, the store's other window sported in silver paint.
He did a good job. I should have the guy back to help with the interior of the place. Jodi examined the painting on the right window. A silver winged dragon cuddled up to a silver-pointed Siamese cat. Both of them had the Meezer trademark blue eyes.
"Ouu?" Emma asked pitifully.
"Yes, sorry sweetie. Out," Jodi said, climbing from the truck and walking around to the other side. She took the carrier and another bag out of the front seat and went inside. "I'll let you free upstairs. We're home kitten."
After setting up the litter box, feeding and watering her cat, and letting Emma loose, Jodi went back outside. The cat for her part spent five minutes growling at the unfamiliar apartment before discovering the top of the fridge as a lookout post.
Jodi grabbed her two luggage bags from the back of the pickup, glancing briefly at the Chinese Dragon. It was five and a half feet tall-exactly her own height, but weighed more than she could carry. It had taken her Uncle Nick's supernatural strength to get it into the truck in the first place. How was she supposed to get it down? She went back inside, thinking that, perhaps, she could call the realtor and have him send over a set of movers or something.
She made one more trip back outside for her last bag, tucked in next to the dragon. Jodi lowered the tailgate on her truck and reached over for her bag. It caught on one of the dragon's bungee cords. She lifted it up and over the cord with a sharp tug and turned to head back inside.
*SNAP* *CRACK*
Jodi whirled, wide-eyed, in time to see a bungee cord holding the statue upright had frayed and with her tugging on it, snapped, the impact taking out two more. The statue teetered and pulled loose, falling.
"MERDE!"
The young woman dove, twisting as she moved because being smacked in the face with an ancient Chinese artifact wasn't her idea of a good thing. She got under it before it toppled out of the truck to certain ruin. Bent double underneath it with her back bracing it up at an awkward angle, Jodi realized it was too heavy for her to move.
Great. Now what am I supposed to do?
For lack of a better idea, Jodi explored her vocabulary of French curses her Aunt Janette had taught her.
"Holy cow!"
She heard the shout coming from somewhere off to her right, on the other side of the street.
Someone was picking up the heavy statue! More startling, she was starting to "read" him. She stole a quick glance at the young man who'd run to her rescue. He was strong. Jodi couldn't believe how much strength her ability was funneling into her as she synchronized with his capabilities. She didn't need his help moving the statue anymore! She'd lifted enough power to move the sculpture herself. Doing so however, wouldn't be the smartest thing in the world.
"Merci," she said, moving to the other side of the statue. "On the count of three, could you help me pull it out of the truck?"
"Sure."
"One, two, three – lift!"
Together they were able to pick up the heavy statue and carefully set it upright on the ground.
"Merci-thanks," She said when the Chinese Dragon was safe.
"No problem. Anything to help a damsel in distress," the teenager answered.
He was definitely a teenager. His height had fooled her at first. Black hair, tanned skin, blue eyes, and sparkling white smile, this teen reminded her exactly of the mid-west, farm boy stereotype - strong and stupid.
Jodi looked up at him, laughter in her brown eyes. "And are you Smallville's official knight in shining armor?"
"No, just Clark Kent," he said modestly.
"J.R. LaCroix, your newest shopkeeper." She leaned on the dragon and offered her hand for shaking.
Two other people pounded across the street to them. Jodi was still leaning on a statue, the same height as her and didn't get a clear view of them. One was an older woman, the other a bald man.
"Clark! Are you all right?" the older woman asked.
"You should know better than to ask. Your boy's practically indestructible," the other person joked. His voice was surprisingly youthful for someone old enough to be bald… and naggingly familiar.
"I'm fine Mom," Clark said.
"Could I borrow your son long enough to get this inside?" Jodi asked.
"Of course."
"Clark? Grab the top and tip it towards you. I'll grab the bottom and lift it up," she instructed.
"Right." The young man did as he was told.
With Clark blocking her view as she backed into the building, Jodi still didn't get a clear look at the people. Where had she heard that voice before?
"So where do you want this thing?" Clark asked.
"There." Jodi nodded her head towards the checkout counter along the right wall of the shop. "I made sure that the builders left room for it on the left side of the counter."
"Gottcha."
Between the two of them, they managed to settle the dragon into his new home without so much as one piece of cracked glaze. Jodi made sure of that, going over every inch of her prize, before being satisfied that it had survived the move intact.
As Clark and Jodi left the shop, the man outside turned to them and started to speak.
"Clark, what say we take our new resident to the parlor for a welcome to Smallville milk… shake…"
That was why the voice sounded familiar. Jodi stood stock still as she confronted the very last person on earth she wanted to see. Lex Luthor. The Dragon had been his nickname in college. Her roommate Tracey had tried to warn her. Lex was called the Dragon because he had a way of burning up and tossing aside people who cared about him, especially the women. Yet, Jodi had been with him for a year and two months and thought that she knew who he was under the public persona. This was why she was still burning three years later when he'd suddenly left without a single warning.
Lex and Jodi just stared at each other, trying to figure out what the protocols for running into an old flame in the middle of Nowheresville, U.S.A. were.
Jodi recovered from her shock first.
"Lex! What a surprise."
"Jodi, well. It certainly is."
His voice was flat and neutral, betraying absolutely no emotion whatsoever.
"I take it you two know each other?" Clark's mother asked.
That burned feeling Jodi carried from her hurt by Lex suddenly mutated. It became not hurt, but anger – most of it directed at herself. She'd been warned about him after all, and she was having a hard time adjusting to the idea that she'd ever been stupid enough to sleep with this man.
Jodi answered her, voice flat and expressionless. "We used to date. Right up until someone transferred schools without saying goodbye or leaving an explanation." She smiled with false sweetness at Lex, as if daring him to salvage the situation.
"Jodi, I am sorry about that. I should have gotten in touch with you after Dad made me transfer…"
"No loss, Lex. I managed to survive without the grace of your presence."
Seeing Lex flinch, rewarded Jodi.
"So, er… Jodi. This used to be an antique shop. What are your plans for it?" Clark's mother was trying to defuse the scene.
Jodi gratefully took the opportunity to recover her composure.
"Oh! Let me show you!" Jodi dismissed Lex's being there and focused her attention on the older woman. "I'm setting up a ceramist shop for my artwork. I also sell hand-made jewelery. I have my sample bag inside on the counter. Come look!"
The older woman allowed herself to be led into the shop. Jodi had left her sample bag behind the counter when she had brought her cat in on her first trip.
She opened the bag and pulled out a rolled up velvet cloth. Pinned to the fabric were six necklaces, each in a different type of glaze. Blue, yellow, rose, green, Raku metallic, and Raku crackled green.
"With your auburn hair, I think the blue glazed one would match you best – it's almost a perfect equivalent to your own eyes. It'd be guaranteed to call attention to them," Jodi said as she unpinned the necklace and fastened it around the other woman's neck.
"Do you think so?" Taken with the flattery, she looked down and examined the necklace.
"I've got a knack for knowing people. This suits you, Mrs…" Jodi trailed off as she became conscious of the fact that she did not know the woman's name.
"Martha Kent."
"Mrs. Kent," Jodi repeated.
"Let me show it to my son and get a second opinion first," Mrs. Kent suggested.
"After you." Jodi bowed.
Martha and Jodi exited the store in time to see Lex getting into his silver convertible parked near the opposite corner and take off down the road.
Martha recovered first.
"Oh Clark! Look what Jodi picked out for me! Isn't it gorgeous?"
Clark dutifully looked at the necklace his mother was now sporting. It was a lovely piece, large, oval-shaped, clay beads, glazed a brilliant sapphire blue alternated with small, round, golden spacer beads.
"It's great, Mom. Suits you well."
"How much?" Martha asked Jodi.
"For you nothing…" Jodi grinned. "Except wearing it all the time and mentioning where you got it to your friends – frequently."
Jodi winked conspiratorially; all traces of the hostile person she had been around Lex were gone.
"Agreed." Martha shook on it with her and then turned back to their truck. "Come on Clark. We've got to get our groceries home before the frozen stuff starts to thaw."
"Right, Mom. Nice meeting you Jodi!" he called as he followed his parent.
"Thanks for your help Clark," she shouted back before slamming the tailgate of her own truck shut and going back inside her store.
She almost flew up the stairs to the apartment. Opening the door, she tripped over her cat as she entered.
"Damnit Emma!"
"Er-row!" The Siamese chirped cheerfully.
"Emma, you won't believe what's happened!" Jodi shut her apartment door, locking it.
"Ma-ow?"
"Lex Luthor is in Smallville, and what the hell was with that kid?" Jodi wondered aloud.
Her furniture had been moved in the week before. Not everything was where she wanted it but, right now, that was the last thing on her mind. Flopping down onto the couch, she almost reached for the phone to call one of her family members.
She stopped, halfway to the receiver.
What the hell would I tell them? Hi Grandpa, remember that guy who trampled my heart about 3 years ago? He lives in this town too! Oh and there's some teenager running around who gives me the strength to lift small buildings when I "read" him.
Lucien would want her to come home. Hell, he didn't really want her to leave in the first place. Uncle Nick had actually been her biggest supporter in her bid for independence. She didn't come this far to be sent back with her tail between her legs. Lex Luthor was not going to be an issue and that kid…
Wonder what his story is? Not a werewolf – no heightened sense of smell came with that strength. Not a vampire – he wouldn't be walking around in the daylight. Not a changeling – Fairy Folk always have spill over glamour magic on them. Not a wizard or witch or whatever the pc thing to call them today is. No way he was anything undead.
The last thing Jodi needed was an unknown power registering on her Sensitive Radar. She'd just have to avoid him until she could isolate just WHAT he was.
Emma settled onto her owner's stomach and started to purr.
"Well," Jodi said as she scratched the cat's ears. "I'm glad one of us is happy."
Jodi spent the first week and a half of her time in Smallville, getting her things unpacked and setting up the store. Her kilns still hadn't arrived yet and that was starting to worry her. She couldn't support herself without them. There would be no way to replace what she sold without a kiln to bake the new pieces she made. The new potter's wheel she wanted hadn't arrived yet either and that was REALLY freaking her out. She could mold and coil some decent pots, but she was so much better at throwing them on the wheel.
Wheel, kilns or not, she needed to open the shop for business. Bidding Emma a farewell for the day (who didn't acknowledge her owner leaving as she was sunbathing in the front window), Jodi headed downstairs. Jodi peeled the butcher's paper off the store's windows. She had put it up to keep people from peeking while she was setting up. Opening the door, and hanging her hours sign up Jodi stood back and smiled. Her store was now open for business. The ceramics shop she had always dreamed of was a reality.
Smiling, she walked back to her counter, took her seat behind it on a high barstool and started sketching some new vase designs in her book.
She did not have to wait long for her first curious customers to enter. It seemed like the whole of Smallville (or at least the Garden club) had been waiting for A Dragon and A Meezer to open.
The bell to the door rang as one woman's tall garden hat brushed it when she entered. The group of women hovered in the doorway for a moment to observe the setting. The shop was arranged with the register counter on the right of the entranceway and a display case on either side of it. To the left were two tables of tall sculptures or vases, behind those, two rows of bookcases with dishes, cups, bowls, and more pots and vases. In the center of the shop was the space where Jodi's potter's wheel would go when it arrived. It sat next to a card table with drying clay works and Jodi's radio. Behind the table were the staircase to the owner's apartment and a door to the kiln room in back. The infamous Chinese Dragon statue sat nestled against the register counter's left side.
"My, this certainly is an interesting place."
The leader of the group spoke first and wandered further inside. She walked up and down the rows of pottery, occasionally exclaiming over a piece. Her followers trailed her, remarking about this or that.
Jodi let them explore for a bit before asking, "Hi! Is there anything I can help you find?"
"No, no not today I think," the leader said. "Though I would like to see some of that jewelery you sold to Martha Kent. That necklace seemed so… exotic for someone like her."
Jodi caught the implied slur towards Mrs. Kent in the woman's voice. Bad vibes there, most definitely.
"I try to make every piece of jewelery unique and flattering so that it will suit anyone in… any outfit." Jodi paused in her speech and gave the woman a quick glance up and down. Returning her gaze back to the stranger's eyes, Jodi lifted a brow before continuing. "A LaCroix original is worth wearing; you can see for yourself. The cases just to this side of the counter hold the jewelled pieces."
"Uh-huh." She answered. "Oh, how rude of me, I didn't get your name! Is LaCroix your last name?"
"It most certainly is," Jodi answered, not liking what she was reading off this woman as far as personality. It disturbed the Sensitive that the other women in this gathering – even the older ones – deferred to her. "My name is Jodi LaCroix, of the Toronto LaCroixs."
"Toronto? As in Canada?"
"Yes, that would be where Toronto is," Jodi replied. "You know, with your eyes, I'd recommend something in green, Mrs…?"
She trailed her voice to let the woman supply the information.
"Oh, you can just call me Nell."
"Well, that's neighbourly of you, thanks," Jodi replied.
Nell wandered over to the display case and involuntarily sucked her breath in. Jodi smiled, arrogant or not, this woman liked what she saw.
"So, can I interest you in anything, Nell?"
"You know, I think I will take this green bracelet – for my niece, Lana." Nell tapped the glass, pointing.
"Certainly."
Jodi got up, walked over, and unlocked the cabinet. She pulled the requested bracelet out of the case and handed it to her customer for inspection.
"It is lovely, and it will match the necklace I had made for her," Nell said. "I will take this. Do you wrap gifts?"
"Of course I do." Jodi took back the bauble and went back to her counter to wrap it and ring out her first official sale. She noted with some amusement that as soon as Nell purchased her item, the other women started buzzing about the store gathering the things they saw that appealed to them. In her first fifteen minutes of her shop was open, she sold roughly one hundred dollars worth of her ceramics.
She closed shop that day reluctantly. Once the public realised A Dragon and A Meezer was open for business just about everyone and their cousins came in to snoop.
Walking upstairs, she was greeted by an enthusiastic cat, who swore blindly that Jodi had been gone forever and had forgotten to feed her before she left.
After feeding Emma and settling in to eat her own dinner, Jodi's phone rang, scaring her right out of her skin.
"Hello?"
"Bonjour Mademoiselle," a familiar voice greeted her.
"Uncle Nick? How the hell did you get this number?" Jodi asked. "I don't even have this number!"
"I've got my contacts," Nicholas Knight answered cryptically.
"Bullshit, you had that creepy computer vamp find me. I asked for this number to be unlisted and protected."
"Don't use that kind of language with me young lady, though I do confess to taking advantage of Aristotle's skills."
"So what was so important you had to have a hacker track down my number?" Jodi sighed.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing. It's been a few weeks…"
"It's been two. Can we say separation anxiety?"
"…And I wanted to make sure that you didn't need anything," Nick continued as if she hadn't interrupted.
"Well, outside of not having my kilns or my potter's wheel, the store's doing fine," Jodi told him and then hesitated.
"And what else? Something's wrong, I can tell."
"I wish you wouldn't try that hypno stuff over the phone-it doesn't work well, and I tell you everything anyway."
"Sorry. I promise I won't try it again."
"During this conversation, you mean," his niece snorted.
"Just tell me what's bothering you."
"Honestly, it's not bothering me. It's just sort of a weird co-incidence," Jodi said. "You know that the Luthor's own a fertilizer plant here in Smallville?"
"Yeah, I remember something to that effect."
"Well guess who lives here and runs it?"
"I take it Lex Luthor, from your tone of voice," Nick surmised.
"Bingo! I ran into my ex my first ten minutes here. How's that for luck?"
"You okay with this?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, Uncle Nick. It's not a big deal really. He avoids me like the plague and I let him. It's a working relationship," Jodi responded with false lightness in her voice.
"Well, let me know if I can be of any help, Jodi. Don't you hesitate to ask – I know you, you never want to admit you need help," her uncle admonished.
"Yeah, sounds familiar, doesn't it, Uncle Nick?" she teased. "There's something else too…I'm not sure how important it is though."
"What?"
"Well, my first day here, I met this kid… a teenager, but this guy was strong enough to lift a house."
"And?"
"And so was I! I could read him. He registered on my Sensitive Radar but I couldn't figure out what he was."
"Do you think he's dangerous?"
"No… no, I didn't get that at all from him. I just don't know what he could be with all that brute strength and none of the other symptoms that go along with were-creatures or vampires or anything else that has that kind of might. Do you think you could do some research for me?"
"That's not a lot to go on, Jodi, but I'll try. What's this kid's name?"
"Clark Kent."
"Right, I'll look into it."
"Take care, Uncle Nick… and if you could, don't mention Lex to grandfather. I don't think he'd take it well."
"I'll do my best, Jodi. Take care."
The twenty-four year old heard the click on the other end letting her know that her uncle had hung up the phone.
"Should I have told him all that?" Jodi asked her cat. "You know how much Uncle Nick and Grandpa like meddling."
Emma replied with a "Mer-up?" before going back to her food.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. I talk to my cat too much."
Uncle Nick's phone call did have one bonus side effect. Barely a week later, the kilns finally showed up. As Jodi supervised their installation, she idly wondered who Uncle Nick and Grandpa Lucien threatened to get the machines here. Once the delivery truck left with the installers, Jodi went back out into the main area of the shop and hung a sign in the window.
"Ceramic Lessons by the hour – see Jodi if interested."
She didn't have to wait long. The delivery truck had brought a few curiosity seekers and the sign dragged them in. Jodi's rates were high, but more to weed out the non-serious from the interested students.
Among her first clients, much to her own surprise was Nell who signed up for lessons along with her niece, Lana. Another woman from Nell's garden club followed suit. Unfortunately, for the next few days, it seemed like that was all she was going to get.
When her business had started to slow down, Jodi got a surprise visit.
Jodi looked up at the bell when Clark entered. The door was open; Clark was just so tall that he hit the bell tied to the top of the frame anyway.
"Hi! Clark right? Thank your mom! She's brought me lots of business." Jodi greeted him from her roost on a bar stool behind the counter. She forced herself into a cheerful voice and expression. The last person she wanted to see was Clark - at least until she figured out what he was.
Already, she could feel his strength pouring into her…and something else too…Jodi's Sensitive abilities started acclimating her for not only super-strength but super-speed as well. Whoa! That's something she'd have to control!
"I think it's your own skill that's done that, but I'll make sure I tell her." Clark smiled.
"So, can I help you find something?" the shopkeeper asked.
Clark looked like he was trying to work up the nerve to say something, as another one of his abilities came through on Jodi's radar. Suddenly, she was seeing an X-Ray image of the teenager in front of her.
She blinked to cover her surprise and found her vision restored to normal. Did he even know about these powers? Did he know what she was?
"Uh… my friend Chloe's been in the dumps, I thought I'd get her a bracelet to cheer her up," he stammered.
"Ah, girl trouble. You're too young for that," Jodi teased, realizing that he was telling the truth. Clark was just there to buy something.
"She's just a friend."
"Uh-huh, so blonde, brunette or red?"
"What?" Clark was caught off guard by her question.
"Your 'just a friend' is she blonde, brunette, or red-haired?" Jodi expanded her question. A sale she could deal with.
"Blonde," Clark answered, understanding.
"Tall or short?"
"Short."
"Short haired or long haired?" was the next question.
"Short."
"Eyes?"
"Um…"
"You don't know what color her eyes are?" Jodi made a tsking noise with her tongue. "And you call yourself her friend?"
"Blue!" Clark exclaimed.
"What's her favourite color?"
"How am I supposed to know that?"
More tsking noises. "Clark, Clark, Clark… for shame. What does she wear all the time?"
He thought about it. "Yellow, I guess."
"Great! I think I've got the perfect thing then."
She got up and walked to the locked glass case to the right of the counter. Digging her keys out of her jeans pocket, she unlocked the case and looked through her arrangement of bracelets until she found what she was looking for.
"AH-HA…" she exclaimed, "…here it is."
She untangled one from the rest, and relocked the case. Turning, she walked to Clark handing it to him for inspection.
She'd handed him a finely wrought bracelet of glossy, sky blue clay beads, strung on fine gold wire with small, yellow sunflowers painted on the beads. A gold lobster claw clasp held the whole thing together.
"This is perfect! Chloe would love this." Clark had to admire it. "How much?"
"Fifteen dollars," she replied, "But for you, I'll knock it down to ten."
"Deal," Clark said. "Could you wrap it?"
"Sure thing." Jodi took the gift back and headed to her counter, rooting around under it until she found an appropriately sized box. She placed the bracelet inside carefully, wrapped the box with a gold ribbon and rang out the purchase.
"There you go." She handed it back to him as he pulled the money out of his wallet and passed it to her.
"I hope your 'just a friend' likes it," Jodi said.
"She really is…" Clark started to protest and then shut up as three girls from the junior class entered the store laughing over their own conversation.
"Hi!" Jodi said to the new customers. "Can I help you find something?"
Clearly dismissed, Clark left the store as Jodi approached her new clients. The Sensitive breathed a sigh of relief as Clark moved out of her range and she returned to normal. She could deal with the strength and speed – that, she had been used to just being around her own family. The X-Ray Vision, however, had seriously been creeping her out.
As soon as it was feasible, Jodi closed her shop early and ran upstairs to pick up the phone.
"Hi, you've reached Nick Knight. I'm either not home or sleeping, don't take it personally. Leave a message."
Jodi hated that damned answering machine message. "Uncle Nick? Uncle Nick? I know you're there. I'll resort to singing the theme song from Lambchop's Play-along if I have to. Uncle Nick? Okay, you asked for it…"
Jodi gathered air into her lungs and started to belt out, "This is the song that doesn't end/ yes it goes on and on my friend/ some people started…"
"I'm up! I'm up! I'm here. Just stop that, please." Her uncle's voice came on the phone, groggy and half panicked.
"I really am sorry about waking you up like that," Jodi said, "but I really need to know what you found out about Clark Kent."
"What? Why?"
"Because he was in my shop today and I not only read super-strength from him, but super-speed and get this – X-ray vision. It's like he stepped out of a comic book or something."
"X-ray vision? What do you mean?" Nick was fully awake now.
"I mean when I looked at him I could see a perfect x-ray image – skeleton, outlines of his lungs, brain, everything!" Jodi exclaimed. "It really freaked me out! I've never encountered anything like it before."
"Neither have I. What about…"
"They're silent. Not a single one of them has anything to tell me," Jodi said, speaking of the spirits of the previous Sensitives. The ghosts of those who held her gift before her normally plagued her, following her everywhere and offering unsolicited advice on a situation. Since moving to Smallville, they'd fallen strangely silent.
"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad one."
"Me neither," Jodi said in a small voice.
"Do you feel like you're in any danger? Should I come down?" Nick asked.
"No, and no. I just want to know what he is. I want to make sure that I know what I'm in for while he's around – strengths, weaknesses, you know - the usual."
"Are you sure?" her uncle pressed, concerned.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"All right then, I'll finish my checking tonight and send you the results. Got your computer hooked up yet?"
"Yeah, and the Internet is up and running."
"Good. Call me if you need anything, Jodi."
"I will. Promise. Good night, Uncle Nick."
"Good… afternoon actually." Nick chuckled and hung up.
Three days later there was still no word from Uncle Nick, and Jodi ceased to worry about the mystery that was Clark Kent as he never reappeared in her shop. However, she did get a visit from one of Clark's friends. A very nice, very sweet, young girl who introduced herself as Chloe.
Jodi had been in the kiln room taking a new bag of moist red clay out of her storage closet when the girl came in. Jodi flopped the bag down onto the card table next to her wheel, wiped her hands on a towel and greeted the customer.
"Hi there! Haven't seen you in here before. Can I help you find something?"
"Um, yeah actually. My friend bought this bracelet here, and I was wondering if there were earrings to match it?" the girl answered shyly.
"Well, let me see the bracelet and I can tell you if I made it as part of a set or not." Jodi walked over to the teenager.
The small blond held out her arm for inspection.
"AH! The Sunflowers! So you're Clark's friend!"
For some reason, the tone of her voice made the girl blush.
"Yeah, it was a gift. Pretty cool of him. You know, he didn't have a reason. It wasn't my birthday or anything."
"No reason is the best reason, dear." Jodi winked at her. "Clark mentioned your name but I'm afraid I forgot it."
"Chloe. And you are?"
"Jodi LaCroix. Call me Jodi though. I'm not hung up on last names," the older woman replied. "And it just so happens that that bracelet not only has earrings but also a matching necklace. Come see."
She walked over to the display case and unlocked it, pulling out the items for Chloe's inspection.
"The earrings are fifteen, but the necklace, twenty-five. I inlaid the center bead with fused iridescent glass for the sunflower so that drives the price up."
"It's wonderful but higher than my allowance right now." Chloe inspected but handed back the necklace. "But these I'll take!"
"Good, I'm glad. They suit you. The blue sets off your eyes." Jodi beamed at her.
"Really?" Chloe blushed. "Could I wear them now?"
"Just pay first." Jodi winked, locked the cabinet and went to the register.
Chloe paid her and pulled her old earrings out, pocketing them. As she fixed the new ones in, she idly commented, "I saw a sign in the window for Ceramic Lessons. Do you teach jewellery making?"
Jodi laughed. "No, I don't. Wouldn't want to put myself out of business. That's most of what I sell. I can show you the finer points of throwing a pot and glazing though. Are you interested?"
"YEAH!" Chloe almost shouted. She winced at her own over-eager voice. "Sorry, I mean yes, I am."
"Going rate's twenty an hour. That's actually ten for my services, and ten to cover the cost of the materials you're using." Jodi held her hands out apologetically. "I know it's steep considering the economy in this town, so that's why I've only got three students so far. On the other hand, the lessons are private, so you get my full attention."
"Who are your other students?" the blonde-haired woman asked.
"Lana Lang and her aunt and Margaret Henning."
"I go to school with Lana," Chloe said. "I didn't think she was into art."
"Truthfully, neither does she." Jodi grinned. "But her aunt feels it's something every cultured young woman should know about."
"THAT sounds more like it," Chloe said. "So when can I take my first lesson?"
"When can you give me twenty dollars?" Jodi grinned widely.
It didn't take Chloe long to drag her father into the shop to pay in advance for the lessons. Chloe was set until the end of summer with weekly ceramic lessons.
Chloe, as Jodi found out, ran the school newspaper and was a horrible snoop. The girl was always asking her questions and not always related to ceramics or art. Like everyone else in this town, the teen seemed to have heard about Jodi's meeting with Lex on her first day in Smallville. Jodi could only smile politely and plead the fifth in the face of the bulk of Chloe's questioning. Some topics of discussion were all right – like what her aunt, uncle, and grandfather did for a living. Or what her parents' names had been. Her mother's rescue by Uncle Nick and subsequent adoption by Lucien LaCroix made for a great story and kept Chloe entertained for two whole lessons.
Jodi's mother Anna was a homeless 16-year-old runaway who had the misfortune of being attacked by a rapist. Luckily, Detective Nick Knight was close by and heard her scream. He was able to prevent the rape before it happened. Anna not wanting to return to her foster home, managed to worm her way into the heart of Nick's father, Lucien, who adopted her, giving her the last name LaCroix.
Of course, there were details Jodi left out – how her mother had been the Sensitive of her time and had known Nick and his "father" were vampires. She agreed to keep their secrets in exchange for Lucien's protection from other super and preternatural creatures that traditionally sought the Sensitive as a servant. Ideally, the simplest thing would be to have brought Anna over, but something about a Sensitive's blood made them resist the transformation – they would always revert to what they were before. When Anna eventually met and married her werewolf husband and gave birth to Jodi the powers of the Sensitive passed to the daughter. There could only be one Sensitive at a time. With Jodi born, Anna died in childbirth. Her father, Oz, in true wolf form pinned for his mate and died a mere three days later. Lucien adopted her as his granddaughter and raised her as his own.
Still, despite Chloe's meddling, she genuinely liked the girl and thought of her as a kid sister. Chloe was the only one of her four students who would stay past their lesson time and work on her pieces or help clean up the shop. It was a great time saver for Jodi who had to drop whatever she was doing to attend to whatever business drifted in and out of the store. It also gave her some free time to work on new ideas.
One afternoon after Chloe's lesson as the girl was cleaning up, she noticed Jodi working on something new.
"What's that?" Chloe asked.
"The very latest LaCroix original that no girl or guy of Smallville High will be able to live without," Jodi said, holding up the small, flat strip of clay she was working on.
About two inches long and two-thirds of an inch wide, she was carefully carving the Sagittarius zodiac symbol in a repeated pattern across it.
"I plan to do tons of these for each of the signs. I'm going to use a myalica glaze on them to create a watercolor effect. The men's bracelets, I'm just going to string on a nice masculine silver bead chain - I'll get fancier for the ladies. I'll market them in the local paper as the perfect friendship gift for male and female alike."
"Cool," Chloe said. "Maybe I should put in an advance order for Clark and Pete."
"Just let me know what sign they are and I can set aside two for you."
"Cool," she repeated.
"You said that; now finish cleaning my wheel. And don't forget to take the platform off and clean out under it this time!"
"Yes boss!"
Jodi couldn't help herself. She snickered as the teenager saluted her.
"And just because I like you, I'll do one free of charge for you – just don't salute anymore, okay?" Jodi requested.
"Deal," Chloe answered.
The teen was silent for the rest of the afternoon, which in and of itself, should have set off the warning bells in Jodi's head.
Her Uncle Nick called her back that very night, frustrated with the lack of information he'd found.
"I swear Jodi – it's like before the adoption he didn't exist," Nick exclaimed.
Jodi held the phone away from her ear and winced. She'd rarely ever heard him so flustered.
"You never know, Uncle Nick – he might not have! What if he's a golem?"
"Created from stone or clay and given life through magic?" Nick mused. "Possible I suppose, but X-ray vision's a damned strange thing to give a golem. Who would have even thought of it? And how does that account for his growth? A golem stays whatever shape you make it."
Jodi shrugged and then realized he couldn't see her action. "I don't know. And look, I'm not going to worry about it. One of Clark's friends is a student of mine – and she's very nice and very honest, bluntly so. I think I've heard all of Clark's life that she knows. No one around here seems to realize he's even got powers. I'm not going to pursue this as long as I'm left alone."
"All right – but you call me if you need me. And don't wait, okay?"
"Okay, I promise Uncle Nick. Give my best to Aunt Janette and Grampa."
"I will sweetie, take care."
Jodi hung up the phone and jumped, as, simultaneously, there was a knock on her door. Her apartment's front door opened into the store itself. The back door she heard the knock from headed onto a stairwell that lead down to the alley behind the store where she had taken to parking her truck.
Untangling herself from the phone cord, Jodi rose and went to the door. Chloe stood on the landing outside when Jodi opened the door.
"Hi, sorry to bother you," Chloe asked. She seemed nervous, her eyes darting about.
"No bother, what's up?" Jodi moved aside and let the girl in.
"I was wondering if I could have those bracelets. There's a rumor floating around that Christie Johnson might be having a party and I thought it would be cool if Clark, Pete and I got a jump on the latest trend?" Chloe ended her speech with the upward lilt that meant she was asking a question. "That doesn't sound so superficial does it?"
"Not at all." Jodi smiled, remembering what it was like for her in high school. Not easy being low on the totem pole when you're in high school – she could imagine what it was like in a town as small as this one. Cliques must be tight.
"Follow me downstairs. You're lucky you caught me now. I just finished making fifty even of each sign. I was planning to set them out tomorrow. I'll wait 'til after you've had a chance to show them off though," Jodi said, making her way downstairs.
"You are too good of a friend, Jodi." Chloe breathed gratefully as she followed the older woman.
"Not a problem. This way you and your friends become my free advertising."
Jodi unlocked her kiln room and held the door open for Chloe.
"The tray's over there," she pointed to a table. "Take the ones you want – no charge."
"You sure?" Chloe's eyes widened.
"I'm sure." Jodi smiled.
Chloe picked out her three bracelets carefully. Even though there were so many of each Zodiac sign – each one had been painted differently. No two were alike. It'd taken constant hours of work to complete the number that she had. Jodi was only hoping that they sold well. She'd hate to think she'd done all that work for nothing.
"These are the ones I want," Chloe said finally, holding up her choices.
"Good ones, if I do say so myself."
"Well, you are the artist; I guess you're entitled to say that about all your work." Chloe answered.
"You can leave from the shop front. I'll lock up after you."
The visit was just one more average event in Jodi's life in Smallville and blipped in and out of her memory in an instant.
As it was, Chloe had two more weeks' worth of lessons from Jodi before she got a brand new customer.
Jodi was working on a new creation, completely oblivious to the world around her as she sang along to her Melissa Etheridge CD and worked the clay on the wheel. She heard the bell on the door ring as someone came in but ignored it. If the person needed her help he or she would interrupt her. It was usually best to give a customer time to browse anyway.
"~Don't ask me to stay/My Love is Only Skin Deep~" Jodi finished the line of the song before realizing the sound had been killed. She slowed the wheel down and stopped it, looking for the reason her music had died.
She looked up and found herself staring at Lex Luthor. His hand was resting on her CD player's off button.
Lex half waved and gave her a small smile. It was awkward for a moment, neither really knowing what to say.
"Can I help you find something you'd like?" Jodi fell back on her standard shopkeeper greeting.
"Maybe later. I'm not exactly in here to browse." Lex grabbed one of the old chairs Jodi kept around for her students and sat down across from her.
"Jodi, I wanted to…"
"Lex, look…"
They stopped, stared and then laughed nervously because they were speaking in unison.
Lex politely motioned for the lady to speak first.
Always the gentleman – and he's nervous. That's unlike him. It was usually hard for her to read normal people with her gifts but she'd spent so much time with Lex back in college that she could read him without help from her powers. He looks like a puppy afraid of being whipped.
That body posture helped make up her mind. She felt ten pounds lighter as her hurt and anger rolled away from her like a fog burned off by the sun.
Jodi told him, "Look, we're miles away from who we were in college. Whatever else happened, why don't we forget it, and start over? Clean slate?"
She offered a hand to him. He took it, belatedly realizing she was covered in white clay. She grinned sheepishly and handed him a towel to wipe his hand off. Lex just laughed at himself, and agreed to her terms.
"I still feel bad about…" Lex began, wanting to make his apology.
"Don't. In the past. Clean Slate, remember Lex?" Jodi reaffirmed.
"But…"
"Do I have to fling clay at you?" Jodi threatened playfully.
"So what have you been doing with yourself since graduation?" Lex asked, diverting her from mud slinging - literally.
"Sponging off my Grandfather and Uncle Nick. I finally got tired of them and decided to set up this shop so I could declare myself an independent woman," Jodi said.
"Where'd you get the money for everything? This place was almost completely rebuilt." Lex wondered.
Jodi sighed. "Grandfather. We've got a deal. Either I show I can support myself for a year or I have to go home."
"There are better places than Smallville to be a success. Why here?"
"How many miles are between Smallville and Ontario, Lex?"
"I would not know."
"Enough that I'm out from under Grandpa Lucien's thumb. He can have quite a – um - forceful personality."
Lex laughed. "I know the feeling."
"So how about you? Why are you in this backwater?"
"I wish it was as noble a reason as yours, but my Dad exiled me here for bad behavior."
"You? The great Lex Luthor got in trouble for bad behavior? I don't believe it!" Jodi's tone of voice indicating anything but.
"You know, I have to ask…" Lex trailed off.
"What?" Jodi asked.
"The name of the store. How'd you come up with that?"
"A Dragon and A Meezer?" Jodi said. "Well, the Meezer after my Emma-cat. …And me I guess, I do so much with the Siamese likeness on it that the Meezer is associated with my art. And the dragon – after your old college nickname."
"I don't remember being called the dragon in college," Lex answered, honestly confused.
"Oh right, like any of us would call you that to your face – but that's what you were known as." Jodi snickered.
"Why?"
"A girl's allowed to have some secrets, Lex, and I plan on keeping that one of mine." No point in dragging out old laundry now. Not when it was starting to look like her move to Smallville was truly a chance at a fresh start.
The Dragon laughed with the Meezer and continued to exchange gossip and catch up on old times, happy to be able to pick up where they left off.