Part Two:

That same day – Clark's room, Smallville; 7.30 a.m.

'Lois get out of there…

faster Lois they're gaining on you

Hold on Lois I'm almost there…

BOOOOOMMMMM!

Lois? Lois? Please God no…

Lois… why? Why… did you do this for?

Lois… Lois?'

"LOIS!" Clark yelled as he awoke hurriedly, startled by the nightmare he had just had. He couldn't remember the exact details of it, as they were just flashes – yet they seemed to be very real, they even felt real. He could have sworn that he could smell the ashes that erupted as a result of the explosion. He wondered what this could mean.

As Clark washed up and got dressed he kept wondering why all of a sudden all these strange things have just started to happen. First with the "presence" he has been feeling for the past week or so and now this nightmare. But what surprises him most is that he felt pain and sorrow at the thought of losing Lois. It was a pain he hadn't felt since the death of Alicia, and even as he remembers the pain that he felt then it doesn't even measure up to what he felt in that nightmare. Why?

And what's up with this strange presence he's been feeling lately? It feels like someone's been watching him, someone that Clark doesn't know yet for some bizarre reason feels awfully familiar. It feels like…

"Clark honey, is everything alright?" his mother asked concerned.

Clark looked at his parents with a startled look.

"Son, is there something bothering you that you would like to tell your mother and I?"

"Umm no not really… actually yeah! There is."

"What is sweetie?"

"For a week or so now I feel like I'm being watched"

"Oh dear…"

"Watched by whom son?" The concern in Jonathan's voice starting to show.

"I don't know dad. I haven't even seen anybody suspicious – but every now and then I get this feeling that somebody I know very well is watching me from behind and when I turn around to see who it is – I don't see anyone and feeling is gone…"

"Who do you think it is Clark?..."

"Do you feel that this unknown person could be a threat?"

"I don't know if he's a threat…

"He?"

"Hold it there Clark you just said that you didn't see who it is. How do you know it's a 'he'?"

"I can feel it. And like I said I don't know if he's a threat – all I do know is that when he's around I feel like someone very close to me is around, like someone I've known since birth is close-by."

"Do you think that Jor-El has found out a way to inhabit a body for himself and know he's here for you, but he's just waiting for the right time to approach you?"

"I thought of that already dad, but I really don't think it's him."

"Why?"

"Well mom, because Jor-El isn't the type of person to just wait for the right time for me, if he wanted me he would have come to me already. Also it didn't feel like Jor-El it felt like someone else. And I'm really starting to get worried…"

With that Clark sat at the table and crossed his arms on it and buried his head in his arms.

"Son I can understand why you may be worried about all this but…"

"But there's something that's bothering you isn't there honey?"

Jonathan looked bewilderedly at his wife when Clark began to speak.

"Yeah there is… This morning I had a nightmare."

"Bad?" both Martha and Jonathan asked in unison.

"It was like the one that I had before second meteor shower hit two years ago. Only this time it was more clear and direct and felt even more real. And this time it was only about… it was only about Lois!"

"Lois?"

"What happened sweetheart?"

"All I saw were different images flashing with Lois running away from someone and I'm running as fast as I can to get to her. Then there's a big explosion and Lois is in my arms and I'm calling to her to wake up and…"

Clark trails off, Martha quickly runs to her son's side.

"What happened next honey?"

"I don't know that's when I woke up screaming her name. Mom, dad this felt like no other dream I ever had it was so real. And what confuses me even more is that I was in so much pain and sorrow just looking at her."

"Well son I know that you and Lois care about each other despite the fact you both are at each other's throat's most of the time but that doesn't mean that you don't care about her. So of course you would've felt some sort of pain at losing her…"

"No dad that's not what I meant, - the pain that I felt when I thought I lost Lois was far worse than the pain I felt when I lost Alicia. Come to think of it I would prefer to relive the pain I felt during Alicia's death for the rest of my life rather than relive that moment for a second. And that's what confuses me… I… I don't even like her… or do I? I don't know what this means…"

"I think I do!" Martha says quietly. Both Jonathan and Clark look up at her surprised.

"What mom?"

"Oh, nothing sweetie don't let it bother you for now. Why don't you get changed and go down to the Talon. Chloe and Lana should be there by now. You shouldn't keep the city dwellers waiting now should you? It'll be okay honey just forget what has happened for now."

With that Martha walks up and gives her son a hug. Clark returns this with a smile, then super-speeds to the Talon after changing. And Martha goes upstairs to get changed for work. Leaving behind a perplexed Jonathan downstairs, and leaving an unknown observer with a small smile on his face after seeing Clark super-speed out of the house.