Trixie waited in the kitchen, listening to the others decided what was going to happen to her. She wondered how she had actually got there. All she'd heard was some voice in her head and it had taken her there... All Rebecca saw was how crazy she was, and for a moment she couldn't believe she'd thought that she might actually be able to find a place there. Besides, who'd believe a little kid?
Rebecca came in the room. Trixie turned around, expecting the worst.
"We've gotta go home, Annie. You can't just show up at other people's doorsteps like this. What's wrong with being at home?"
"Nothing." Trixie mumbled. "I don't want to leave my brother. We're both be alone again. I hate being alone."
"Sweetheart..." Rebecca tried to say, reaching out her hand to touch Trixie's arm.
"No." Trixie pulled away. "You don't want me to be happy with my brother?"
"He's not your brother." said Rebecca firmly.
"Then how do you explain it, huh? The similarities... We even look alike!"
"I'm getting tired of this. That voice in your head isn't real. You need help."
"I don't need help." Trixie glared. "Don't you trust me?"
"You're thirteen. Don't make this about trust, Annie."
Trixie's hands curled into fists. "That's not my name. And you're not my mom."
Rebecca stopped as tears shone in her eyes. All she'd ever done was try to look after Trixie and now she was throwing it back in her face.
"How dare you!" Rebecca slapped her adoptive daughter's cheek.
Trixie put her hand to her face. "If you love me so much, why can't you let me be happy?"
Rebecca stopped again, unable to believe what had just happened and what she'd just done.
"Annie, I don't want to fight with you. Please, just come home."
Trixie's eyes caught sight of Clark and his family in the doorway. She didn't know what to say or do, so she waited.
"Annie." Rebecca repeated hopelessly.
"I think we should all just calm down for a minute." interrupted Jonathan. Martha nodded.
"Wait." said Rebecca. "There is one way to see if Annie is telling the truth."
Trixie closed her eyes, knowing what was coming already. She didn't even need some voice to know.
"A DNA test."
. . .
Trixie pulled Clark away into another room where the others hopefully wouldn't hear them.
"Clark, I'm so sorry, you know we can't... and I don't know..."
"It's okay." Clark replied hurriedly. "Just go through with it."
"What?" Trixie breathed. "No, you know we can't – if they find out... will our DNA even match – how does it even work?"
"I don't know. But I know what to do. Just go home with Rebecca, and I'll sort everything out."
"What – what are you going to do?" Trixie asked, panicking.
Clark gripped her shoulders. "I'm going to swap the samples."
Trixie's mouth gaped slightly. "You – you really believe me?"
"Yes." said Clark, without even hesitating.
Trixie didn't know whether to be happy or worried, but somehow she still smiled through. "Thank you." She whispered.
"Annie. Come on." Rebecca stalked into the room.
Clark let go of Trixie. She let Rebecca drag her out of the house and down the steps.
"Thank you for everything!" yelled Trixie, hoping that Clark would stay true to his word.
She tried to see through the window after Rebecca pushed her in the car and locked it securely behind her. Clark started to walk towards the car until Rebecca started I quickly and drove down the drive. Trixie touched the glass delicately with her fingers, as if hoping that she might be able to get back out and stay, but it was no use. Clark slowed down to a stand still, letting her be taken.
Clark would be right – if Rebecca and himself both did like they said they would. For now she would just have to trust them. After all, it wasn't like they had ever betrayed her before, right?
. . .
Martha came out of the house then, along with Jonathan over to where Clark stood.
"She's gone... Trixie may have been the only person in my family still alive and I just let her get taken away." said Clark softly.
Martha touched his arm. "But you will probably see her again someday. Her mother can't keep her away forever."
"I don't know how we all got mixed up in this – but it's for the best. Maybe it would be better if she stayed out of our lives."
"How can you say that?" Clark raised his voice, angrily. "She's my sister."
"You don't know that!" Jonathan retorted. "She lied about her name, what else could she be lying about?"
"What if it really was her nickname? There's no way to find out, but she knows so much how can we not believe her?"
"She could have just pieced together little pieces of information – even guessed some of it. But, Clark's right. A lot of the things she knows is too co incidental to be wild guesses. And she doesn't seem to be yelling around the information either." Martha pointed out.
Jonathan sighed. "Well, of course not. If she's claiming to be Clark's sister, then she knows that if she spreads the secret then she'll be at risk, too."
"Then why would she lie?" asked Clark. "What's the point in lying about something like that?"
"To get more information. Maybe Luthor Corp. is behind all this." Jonathan said.
"Dad. Luthor Corp. isn't always behind everything that goes on in Smallville."
"Even so, she doesn't seem to have any powers right now. Someone could easily get words out of her, being so vulnerable." Martha mused.
"She's not going to tell anyone!" Clark yelled. "She's just a kid."
Clark turned away from his parents and headed round the corner into the barn. Martha hopelessly looked away, going back into the house leaving Jonathan where Clark had just been standing by himself as Trixie and her adoptive mother had drove away.
Strange, since someone who'd barely stepped into their lives had already caused quite a few arguments in less than a day.
. . .
Lana was still working in the Talon that evening. She carried a tray full of used mugs over to the counter and put it down before tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Chloe came up behind her. "Hey, Lana." She said.
Lana turned around and smiled. "Hey, Chloe – I was actually wanting to talk to you."
"Let me guess – this is about that new friend of his, isn't it?" asked Chloe.
Lana paused, letting Chloe figure out she was right.
"It just seems a little strange. He's never talked about her before."
Chloe shrugged. "It's not like Clark keeping secrets is anything new."
"But why would he want to hide something like that?"
"I found something out, too." said Chloe. "Both of them are adopted."
"There's nothing weird about that, though."
"I don't know." She continued. "There seems to be more too it than that."
"It's probably nothing." Lana leaned on the counter. "They just seem to be friends. And Clark seems to call a lot of people his friends."
Chloe paused. "You know what – you're right. I was just being paranoid." She smiled. "See you later, Lana."
Chloe turned around and headed out of the Talon. Lana furrowed her brow, waiting for a moment, wondering if perhaps what Chloe had been talking about could be true, but she shook her head and decided to think nothing of it. If Clark had never talked about her before then it was likely that they had met recently...
Lana picked up the tray again and carried on with her work, clearing her mind of it.
Although, a story had already been told to Chloe that they had known each other for years.
. . .
Rebecca walked through the front door of her house. Trixie was behind her, not even putting up a fight.
"That was a very bad thing for you to do, Annie. And I don't' want you doing anything like that again."
"Maybe you won't have to stop me." Trixie replied coldly.
"I'm serious. No more running around after people you don't even know. Did you walk all the way there?" Rebecca yelled.
Trixie folded her arms, leaning against the wall in the hallway. "I didn't know what else to do. I just did what..." she trailed off, not wanting to repeat the reason why she went there.
"The voice told you?" finished Rebecca. "Well, I've had enough of you and your stupid voice!"
"What are you saying?" Trixie hissed.
"I'm saying that in the morning I'm going to get you to see someone. You need help, Annie."
Trixie pushed Rebecca away from her. "Don't call me that."
"Why, Annie? Why shouldn't I call you by your name?"
"Because I hate that name!" Trixie cried.
"But it's always been your name..." replied Rebecca. "Why!"
"No. It's not my name. It was your baby's." Trixie whispered. "The voice told me... you had a miscarriage."
Tears welled up in Rebecca's eyes. "How did you... how could you...?" she tried to ask.
"The voce told me."
"The voice doesn't know anything!" Rebecca tore away, sobbing. "You must of..."
"Think about it. There aren't any papers about it around the house, are there? You've never said anything about it before."
Trixie followed her into the kitchen. "Rebecca, I'm sorry." She touched her arm delicately.
Rebecca turned around tearfully. "You will call me mom." She said angrily.
Trixie nodded slowly, knowing that Rebecca just needed some time alone before she would come around, and headed out of the room.
She got to the hallway and sighed, leaning her head on the wooden banister, listening to her adoptive mother's sobs in the kitchen before heading upstairs.
. . .
Clark was in the loft watching the stars but not really seeing them. Jonathan came up the steps and he turned around but saw who it was and turned back, not changing his troubled expression.
"Son." Jonathan started sadly. "I'm sorry I don't' have a very open mind about this."
"Well, it's too late now." Clark replied, hopelessly.
"No, it's not." Jonathan said quickly, coming up to Clark's side. "I guess it won't hurt to see her again."
"Dad, it's not like that. I told her I would..." he trailed off, hoping his father wasn't going to react too badly. "I told her I would switch the DNA samples with two people who are siblings... so we would match."
Jonathan looked away, trying to get around what Clark had just told him. "What do you want to do?"
Clark, surprised at his father's words didn't reply for a minute.
"You really seem to believe her. And you seem to be stuck on your decision."
"Dad...what-?" Clark started to ask.
"If this is what you really want... I guess I can't stop you." Jonathan turned around and started to walk away. "Besides, like you said. She's just a kid."
Jonathan stopped and turned back to his son again. "Since she knows your secret it's going to be much easier if she's around you so you can keep an eye on her."
Clark didn't like the idea of that, but he knew it would be the only way for Jonathan to agree about Trixie, so it was better than nothing. He smiled. "Thanks, Dad."
"Yeah, yeah."
Clark laughed as Jonathan left the barn.
. . .
The next day at school Chloe was in the Torch office, like usual. Clark came inside, looking for her.
"Chloe? You told Pete to tell me to meet you here?"
Chloe stood up from her chair and nodded. "Yes, it's about Trixie."
Clark looked at her confused. "What about her?"
"I was just wondering about her – it's funny. It just seems like she's the mysterious other side to you."
Clark walked into the office slowly. "What do you mean? There's nothing strange about her. She's just my... friend."
Chloe shook her head, disbelievingly. "It's more than that. If you've known her for so long then why haven't you ever said anything about her?"
"You never tell me everything that goes on with you." pointed out Clark.
"This is different." insisted Chloe, making her expression that showed she wasn't going to give up on this.
Clark knew he would have to tell her the truth – it just didn't have to be the whole truth. "Alright." He said. "She said she has this feeling that we might be related. Because we kind of look similar. That's all."
"That's all?" Chloe gasped. "That's great!" Her eyes lit up. "You could have found your cousin or something! She could be like... your long lost relative that came to Smallville to find you!" She clapped her hands together. "This is a perfect story for The Torch! Could I interview her?"
Clark gave her a look.
Chloe sighed. "I take it from that expression you don't want this made public?"
"Sorry, Chloe. I don't even know if she really is related yet. And something happened last night."
"Uh oh." Chloe sat down.
"Her adoptive mother came and took her back home." finished Clark.
Chloe tried to give him a reassuring smile. "Sorry, Clark."
Clark smiled slightly. "Actually, I think it's okay. They're going to do a DNA test. So maybe it will work out. I don't know – but for now, we're just friends."
Chloe nodded. "But even so that's quite a huge discovery." She ginned. "I'm very happy for you, Clark."
"Thanks, Chloe."
The bell rung. "Come on – we'd better get to class." Chloe started gathering her books on the desk.
. . .
Rebecca walked slowly into the office. Her heels tapped on the silver, reflective floor. She stopped in front of a large silver desk with someone sitting behind it. It may have been silver and shiny, but it wasn't expensive. It was old and worn.
The guy had been watching her since she first entered the room and he stood up. "Yes?" he asked, irritated.
"We had a deal." said Rebecca, folding her arms, just as irritated as he was.
"We did. I take it you've come to get your end?" he raised an eyebrow.
Rebecca looked at him, bored, knowing he knew the answer to that.
"You're going to set everything back the way it was. My daughter is not going to go off with her so called 'brother'."
The guy smirked. "What brother?" he played along.
Rebecca smiled, satisfied.
. . .
"Okay." Clark put down the phone.
Martha came into the room. "Is everything okay?" she asked.
"That was Trixie." Clark answered. "She wants me to come down to her house outside Metropolis."
He turned round so he had his back against the table, leaning on it slightly.
"You don't know if you should go?" Martha guessed.
"She just sounded a little reluctant when she asked me. Like she wanted me to come, but at the same time thought it was a bad idea."
"You should go." Martha smiled reassuringly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Did she say why?"
Clark shook his head. "No, she said something about needing to talk to me and that it had to be face to face."
"Maybe she's just worried about what's going to happen?" she suggested.
"I'd better go and see what's going on."
"Take as long as you need." Martha smiled.
Clark ran out the door.
. . .
"Mom, don't do this. Please." Trixie tried to get her to change her mind. The guy did not lower the gun.
"It's for your own good, Annie." She whispered. "He's going to take you away from me. And I can't let that happen – I love you."
Trixie swallowed, giving up on trying to get out of the ropes around her wrists. She was bound to a chair.
"I'm not your daughter. Didn't you think you were going to loose me at some point?"
"No." Rebecca shook her head. "No, you will stay with me. Even if it means I have to go to desperate measures to stop anyone taking you away from me. We can be a family again, Annie."
"When's he gunna get here?" interrupted the guy.
"Soon. Lower the gun – it's not her you need to shoot." ordered Rebecca irritably.
"Just in case she makes any sudden-,"
"You will lower the gun." Rebecca yelled at him.
The guy smiled. "Oh, you really didn't think this through, did you?"
"What?" Rebecca breathed, fearing the worst.
"You see, I've already been paid. There's not really any reason for me to do what you say. I've even got some ideas in all this time you've made me stand here."
Rebecca took some deep breaths, quickly terrified. Trixie moved her eyes to each of them, hopelessly. She pressed her lips together as pain seared through her wrists as she tried to quietly untie herself. Neither of them noticed.
"I want to add a few more zero's onto the figure you gave me or I shoot the girl."
Rebecca gasped. "No, not Annie."
"Give me the money and I might reconsider."
Trixie untied the first knot of the rope and silently her hopes rose. She knew that Clark would be there any second if he was coming as fast as she thought he would.
The guy's gaze shot straight at Trixie and he pointed the gun at her head. She immediately stopped struggling for fear of getting caught. She looked up at Rebecca, who probably thought it was her own fault. It wasn't.
Right on cue, the door burst open and Clark was standing outside the room. Trixie didn't let out any relief – they weren't out of the woods yet.
All three heads turned to Clark.
"What's going on?"
His eyes followed down to where Trixie was tied up.
"This is the guy?" asked the man with the gun.
Rebecca nodded. "Yes, do it!" she cried.
"Clark, run!" Trixie screamed, knowing exactly what was coming next.
The guy pointed his gun at Clark but didn't shoot. Rebecca, excited lost her hope as he pointed it back at Trixie.
"I won't do it unless you give me more money!" he yelled. "I'll shoot the girl instead!"
"Wait!" said Clark, stepping into the room, closer.
Trixie pulled at the ropes again and to her surprise they loosened.
"You don't need to do this." Clark continued.
Trixie stood up quickly, tripping the guy up and he fell backwards, shooting the gun but fortunately no one got hit. The small lead box she had fell from her pocket and onto the floor where it opened revealing the meteor rock.
Clark stepped backwards away form the rock, as he instantly began to feel sick.
Rebecca went for the weapon lying on the floor but didn't snatch it in time for the guy, who stood up and pushed Trixie against the wall. Trixie pushed at his shoulders but he bought the gun up and pointed it at her once more.
Rebecca came up from behind him and pulled him backwards, trying to secure his hands. Clark looked up helplessly from the floor as the guy pulled the trigger and shot straight at Trixie's shoulder.
Trixie was so shocked she couldn't even scream, and Rebecca was too as she let go of the guy and he jumped to his feet, pointing the gun at her now.
Trixie slowly got to her feet, determined to stop him. She pushed him over, weakly and he fell just to the side of Rebecca, who grabbed the chair from behind her and bought it down onto the guy's head. His eyes finally closed as he was knocked unconscious.
Trixie and Rebecca stared at him for a moment before Trixie crawled over to Clark. She saw the meteor rock on the ground and quickly pressed it back into it's box and she slid it over a few feet away.
"Clark?" she breathed through deep breaths. "Are you okay?"
Clark recovered quickly and sat up, ignoring the question. "Trixie, your-,"
"Yeah." She whispered, falling onto the floor, unable to sit up any longer. She shut her eyes tightly in pain but when she opened them again she saw Rebecca leaning over the guy's body with blood dripping from her blouse onto the floor.
"Rebecca!" she cried.
Rebecca glanced up, pulling her bloody fingers away from the wound. "I love you, Annie." She whispered, only just loud enough for her to hear it.
"Rebecca!" Trixie cried, as her vision started to blur.
Rebecca fell forwards onto the unconscious guy, not breathing.
. . .
Martha and Jonathan rushed down the hospital corridor to where Clark was standing outside a room. He looked up as they reached him.
"Clark, are you alright?" asked Martha, hugging him.
"I'm fine, mom. It was just Trixie, and she's gunna be okay." Clark replied.
"What happened?" Jonathan said quickly.
"I was hoping Trixie could tell us when she wakes up, but I think I have a pretty good idea."
Martha looked up at him worriedly.
"I think her mother was convinced she was going to loose Trixie if we were really related and she must have thought I was going to take her away from her unless I was dead."
Martha gasped and Clark went into detail about what happened.
"You did your best." said Jonathan "And she's going to be okay."
Clark nodded. "Yeah but if I didn't let her go…"
"You can't blame yourself." Martha said softly. "I'm sure she's happy you got there in time."
Clark paused. "I think I'm going to stay with her for a while."
Martha nodded. "Okay."
Jonathan was about to say something but thought better of it.
. . .
Trixie slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times, trying to get used to the hospital lighting.
Clark noticed and stood up to come over to her side. "Trixie, are you okay?"
She took a few breaths and her eyes flickered up to where Clark stood.
"I- I didn't want to call you." She said slowly. "She told me she just wanted to talk… and then that guy came out."
"Don't think about that right now." Clark replied. "Just get some rest."
"Clark." Trixie said, on the verge of tears. "Rebecca really died – didn't she?"
Clark didn't answer, not wanting to give her false hope or make her feel even worse. All he could do was look sorrowfully at her.
Trixie sniffed. "Thank you for coming to save me." She whispered.
Clark sat down and took her hand as he watched his little sister cry herself to sleep.
. . .
Clark was just leaving the hospital when Lex caught up with him down the corridor. Clark didn't stop walking as Lex joined him along side.
"Hey, Clark, I heard about your friend. I'm sorry." He said apologetically.
"Thanks." said Clark shortly.
Lex stopped in front of his friend. "Listen, Clark, if there's anything I can do."
"It's okay, Lex. She's gunna be fine." Clark stopped walking.
"Okay, but I have some information."
Clark looked at him curiously. "About Trixie?"
"No, about her 'mother'. I was quite surprised to find her in Smallville, actually. A few hours ago Rebecca Turner came to me at the mansion."
"What did she want?"
"She wanted to borrow quite a large amount of money."
"From you?"
"She seemed pretty insistent that no one knew about it."
"I know what that money was for. But you're not going to get it back."
"I didn't give her any, but why?" asked Lex.
Clark paused. "Because she's dead." He said painfully.
"Then doesn't that make your friend…" Lex started.
Clark nodded, cutting him off.
"I would have told you sooner if you'd told me about her." said Lex.
Clark smiled sadly. "Well, it's too late now."
"What was-?" Lex started to ask.
"The money was to pay someone to kill me." Clark said bluntly.
"That's quite a big trap. How did you get out of it?"
Clark shrugged. "Luck, I guess."
"You're a pretty lucky guy, Clark." Lex replied.
. . .
When Trixie opened her eyes again it was morning. She moved her hand, feeling someone else holding it but wasn't sure who because Clark's hand felt different to that one.
She glanced over the room to see Martha sitting next to the bed.
"Hey." Martha smiled comfortingly. "How do you feel?"
"I'd like to say I've had worse." replied Trixie, returning the smile.
"I'm really sorry, about what's happened. I'd really like for all of us to start again on the right foot."
"Don't worry about it." Trixie sighed peacefully. "I didn't exactly start things in the most human way. I just thought you guys would understand because Clark and I… are kind of different. I thought you'd be used to this kind of thing but I guess I was wrong."
"Hey, don't worry yourself about that now. What's done is done."
Trixie sniffed, trying to swallow back tears.
"The doctors said they can let you go tomorrow, so maybe you'd like to come and stay with us for a few days – as a proper guest this time."
Trixie sniffed again. "I'd like that very much. Thank you."
Martha reached out and moved some of Trixie's light brown strands of hair from her face, motherly.
. . .
Clark walked into the Talon. There was no one around since it had already closed but he knew Lana would be hanging around. She came into the main part of the coffee shop, surprised to see Clark there.
"Oh, hey Clark. I didn't get a chance to talk to you since the accident. I'm really sorry."
Clark smiled sadly. "Thanks, Lana."
"How's Trixie doing?" she asked, coming over to Clark in the middle of the store.
"She's better."
Lana looked up at him sadly, knowing what was wrong. "Don't beat yourself up about it. Didn't you save her?"
"Actually I was pretty useless." Clark replied. "Her mom didn't make it. I was too late."
"It wasn't your fault, Clark." said Lana, shaking her head slightly.
Clark paused, making eye contact with Lana and for a few moments they just stood there before Clark realised what he had come there in the first place for.
"Lana, I was going to go see her and I was wondering if you wanted to come… you know, so she has some company?"
Lana nodded. "Yeah – sure. I'll just grab my coat."
"Thanks, Lana."
Lana smiled, happy to help out a friend.
. . .
The next day it was raining. Trixie was already back at the farm and it was just after lunch when she couldn't sit around any more. She wasn't really tired anymore from the accident. She'd always been a fast healer. So she'd decided to do what she usually loved doing when it was raining – sit outside in it.
So she'd found her spot on the fence with her back to the house and just sat there staring at the ground, holding her hands around each other as the rain came down on her, soaking her clothes and her hair. The rain went right through to her skin. She shut her eyes, tightly, trying to feel numb. At least then, it wouldn't hurt.
Inside the house Martha was watching her from the window, sadly. She'd tried to get Trixie back inside earlier, but she hadn't listened, not wanting to sit inside any longer. She'd insisted that she was alright, and thinking that there was something making her shoulder not hurt as much anymore.
Clark came inside the house, back from school.
"Mom?" he asked, coming into the living room to see Martha at the window. "What's wrong?"
"Trixie won't come inside."
"What?" Clark looked through the window to see her sitting on the fence outside.
"I tried to get her back in, but she won't budge. She's going to get sick or something…" Martha came away from the window, worriedly.
"I'll go." Clark said quickly, heading back out the door.
He came down the steps. "Trixie!" he called out to her, but she didn't move from the fence, not even looking up.
"Trixie?" he asked again, heading over to her.
The fence wasn't tall enough to make Trixie taller than Clark so they were about the same level.
"Trixie?" Clark asked again.
"It's all my fault." Trixie whispered almost incoherently.
Clark shook his head. "No."
"It is." Trixie disagreed. "Rebecca's dead because of me. All she ever did was love me and take care of me. I don't even remember the last time I told her I loved her, and she told me all the time. That guy should have shot me instead."
Clark paused. The rain had already soaked his hair so it was flat. "It's not your fault she's dead, Trixie."
Trixie sniffed and looked at Clark. "This is why… people like us can't care. Because I don't even know how long we're going to live for while we watch the people we love die. If we care, Clark… then it hurts." Her tears mingled with the rain. She swallowed, trying not to give in to crying.
Clark watched her, sadly. "If we don't care, then there's no point to anything. Then there's no point to existing. We need a reason to live."
Trixie sniffed. "You're right." She whispered. "Of course you are."
"Come inside." said Clark.
Trixie nodded slowly and slid off the wet fence. "Alright then."
Clark put an arm around her comfortingly, leading her back to the house where Martha was waiting with a towel.
Trixie smiled sadly at her, sniffing.
"Thanks, Clark." She said to him, before wrapping the towel around Trixie's shoulders.
Trixie, shivering, brought the towel closely around herself, trying to wipe the water from her face.
Clark shut the door and Martha hugged Trixie.
"Trixie, are you okay? You want to talk about it?" she asked.
Trixie shook her head. "No, thank you, I'll be fine."
Martha nodded. "Alright, but whenever you wanna talk…"
She smiled. "Yeah."
So, how was that? Good, bad? Tell me your thoughts, please!
Next episode - "Emotional": Trixie tries to deal with being powerless for now after Clark saves an ordinary student. Although how ordinary can she really be? And she doesn't just want to get up and walk away...