Chapter 7 [Early the Next Morning]

[Smallville Cemetery]

[A/N: Okay, here I'm going to send one of my supernatural twists to introduce Lana to that last detail, as you put it, Nemu…sigh….Clark, you really should have told her the whole deal….]

The fog hung low over the Kansas countryside partially obscuring the bright crimson sunrise. A slight chill puffed through the air swaying the grasses therein. A nightingale sang its last note ere its daily rest.

Still for some, no rest was forthcoming on that night, it seemed…..

Lana pulled up in her blazer beside the necropolis' front gate. Despite Martha's exquisite dinner, apple tips and the refreshingly honest talk with Clark up in the Loft, she still remained unable to sleep that night. Her mind struggled to confirm the details admitted by the Kents and Pete.

Clark was super human…He really did have powers.

He was also a target for those in authority or wanted to be in authority….

He needed to keep those abilities and his feelings a secret.

A secret….

She sighed and sipped broodingly on the Javanese mocha brew in her mug. You did say that a relationship built on secrets and lies was doomed to fail. Right, Lana? She rolled her eyes. When I wanted the truth, I wish I'd be more careful of what I wished for…. She emerged from her vehicle and took the lilacs she'd gathered along the roadside. It's been too long since I've been here anyhow!

At her touch, the gate eased open with a loud creak as if alerting the residents therein to a rare visitor.

That shouldn't make me jump any more. It still does though! Makes me feel like I'm six all over again. She frowned. Get a grip on yourself, Lana. She slowly wove her way through the necropolis meandering on a carefully winding path through the graves. She remembered to wave hello to the sentinel angel just off to the left of her parents' site.

As she did, she could almost swear she saw Clark standing by it…as he had on that night two years earlier….

She had quailed anxiously as he'd caught her there late and in the dark. Can you keep a secret?

He smiled reassuringly. I'm the Fort Knox of Secrets.

And now he's entrusting his Secret to me. She exhaled sharply. How does Clark bear it and still act normally? She chuckled recalling the first question of their high school relationship…now ironic in full context….

Are you man or superman?

Guess we know the answer to that one now, don't we? She crossed the short remaining expanse to the stone in three broad steps. She carefully inspected the site plucking three squatting dandelions in the process. She set the lilacs beside her parents' names and dusted the stone's face. "Hi, Mom and Dad. Sorry that it's been a while since my last visit. Guess we could say it's been a Hell of a spring and summer, huh? I was dating Clark Kent…you know the guy who talked to you out here before? He and I were so close last spring before everything went nuts. He vanished for the entire summer before I chased him to Metropolis. Then he went completely crazy. We broke up. He rescues me from a shooter and then a controlling uncle trying to kill Sara Conroy and me. And then I find out how he did it."

She let that last bit hang for a minute as if building toward a dramatic operatic crescendo.

"He's like a super meteor person. I never would've guessed! After listening to him, Pete Ross and the Kents last night, I know Clark's still the same guy. I haven't changed my feelings for him. I just know that there's something else out there they didn't tell me. I wish I knew. I…." Lana continued.

For several heartbeats, the air remained still. The fog seemed to deepen around her. The dew dampened her skin and clothes.

Now what? She felt as if another pair of eyes watched her. "Hello? Hello out there!"

It's all right, Lana. You're never truly alone….

A woman's form approached her through the mists. The slight breeze ruffled her white robes. Her hair remained set in a beehive hairdo of an earlier generation. Yet in all other ways, she startled and yet comforted in a paradoxical fashion.

For the visitor, it was like staring into a weird distorted mirror…..

And yet one that connected the dots….from her own childhood…from the questions about her parents, her cousins and her great-aunt….

Her Great-Aunt Louise….

The spirit smiled invitingly. "Hello, Lana. I am your Great Aunt Louise. I am so glad to meet you at last!"

"Aunt Louise? But you're…you're…."

"I believe the word you're looking for is dead. Yes, Lana, I died a generation ago." Louise pointed toward the back of the cemetery. "I'm buried over there by the back fence and under the apple tree actually. I've been sent back to help you tonight."

"Help me?" Lana quirked her eyebrow and gulped nervously.

"Why yes! I wish to ease your doubts about that young man." Louise scratched her chin. "What was his name now? Oh yes! Clark Kent. He has a great deal to shoulder, Lana. If you pursue your feelings, it will not be easy. But it will be so worth it!" Her eyes twinkled. She allowed herself a dreamy smile.

"You know what it's like to love a meteor freak? I didn't think they were around before the meteors came," Lana assumed.

Louise coughed. "My Dear, Clark is not a meteor freak at all. He is an alien from another world called Krypton…far, far away across the universe."

"Alien? Clark is a….?" Lana stared in disbelief at Louise. "Look, Clark and I have known each other since we were five years old. Trust me. He's human."

"Is he? You've certainly seen that he's not like any other man on this planet at least," Louise supposed. "Nor was the other."

"Other? You've met others with abilities like his?" Lana queried while admittedly still dealing with her own skepticism.

"Yes indeed. I met a man who swept through Smallville in 1961. He was tall, dark haired and strong like your Clark. Bullets bounced off of him. He could run like the wind. I remember he took me high up in the air one night. The Moon seemed so close! I couldn't believe it!" Louise reminisced with a deep sigh colored with her love. "My Joe."

"Joe? He's not from around here. Was he?" Lana asked. She was genuinely intrigued and taken by Louise's love and deep-seated feelings for this mystery man from the stars.

"No, Lana. He too was from Krypton. He said his father sent him here for some test. We had our brief time together. Then he was called back to his world. I begged him to take me with him. He would not…not that it mattered," Louise continued.

"Not that it mattered? Why not, Aunt Louise?" Lana pursued. Her interest perked a great deal from that point.

"Because the world came between us. Your great-grandfather wanted me to marry a nice guy named Dexter. Joe went away and married well himself." Louise frowned. "It was an arranged marriage. At least Lara loved him in her own way. They had a son. Everything seemed all right until…."

"Until? Until what?" Lana pressed. "Aunt Louise, what happened?" The tale admittedly was drawing her under its spell.

"Until the planet, Krypton, blew up. They'd drilled too deeply. Their own wars had shaken the planet to its core. In one final burst, Krypton ceased to exist; its essence reduced to a streaming glowing green pile of rocks hurling across the universe," Louise told. "Hurling toward Earth."

"Earth. Here. That's why it's called Kryptonite!" Lana realized.

"Precisely. But that wasn't all. Joe built a special spaceship for his son. He'd wanted to send Lara with him but there was no time. They put their son into the craft and launched the baby, Kal, into the void. His ship just cleared orbit when the explosion destroyed the planet. Kal's ship arrived with the meteors, Lana. A kindly couple found him, adopted him and he's grown here all of these years," Louise continued.

"Wait! The baby's name was Kal? That's what Clark called himself when he…." Lana's eyes went wide.

"Yes. Clark was that baby. His birth name is Kal-El. Since the Kents raised him as a human boy, "Clark" is that persona. Kal is his latent Kryptonian persona on the other hand. Both contend for the fore. The red meteor gives Kal power. The Kents and you give Clark the ability to balance things." Louise revealed.

"He really cares like that then?" Lana queried; her heart seeking confirmation.

"Oh more than you will ever know." Louise saw Lana's face turning white as the whole scenario soaked into her brain. "Lana, please don't hold what happened with your parents against Joe or Clark. They had no control over it. Clark was as much a victim as you."

"I…I know. It's just that…it's almost like Clark's in my life but my parents died because of it," Lana insisted. She wiped her tears from her face.

"Yes and he's alive because of my sacrifice as well. Joe left after my death. His spirit though resides in the Cowache Caves. Clark, however, is now of both worlds. Both worlds lay claim to him now. He has to steer between the two. You, Lana, are the one. You were spared just as Clark was. You both were bonded by the experience. Assure each other. Grow together. Love each other."

"I wish he hadn't lied about all of this though," Lana griped.

Louise laughed. "Really, Lana? Should he just broadcast what he is? As he told you, people are hunting him for who and what he is…what he can do. Remember why you had to confront those men in the Kents' barn? It was your test. And you passed. You defended the Kents before yourself."

"But I…murdered that man," Lana doubted.

"It was self-defense. He was certainly to murder you in cold blood. You did what any loving family member would do. You saved those around you. You preserved your heart much as he has done for you in the past." Louise embraced her. "Oh you can do this! I have watched you. I'm so proud! I wish I could have been here for you, Dear One. But at least we know each other for this short time. Just remember me please." She glanced at the brightening sky. "I am sorry but I must go. You need to get to school. After that, go back to the Kents and ask your questions. Joe's full name is Jor-El. Assure the Kents once again that you will keep the Secret. Promise me."

"I will, Aunt Louise. I wish we could have known each other longer," Lana concurred.

"I will always watch you as do your parents. They wanted me to tell you that they love you," Louise concluded before fading away into the early morning light. Make your love count as I could not, Lana….

Lana shook her head while feeling entirely numb. As if dealing with Clark's abilities wasn't enough, now she had to deal with the fact that he was an alien….

an actual space alien….

and that his world sent the troublesome glowing green rocks….

or that his father, Jor-El, was the "Joe" that her initial research into her Great Aunt revealed…

After this, I wish I didn't have to go to school. Lana gulped and allowed herself to think for a minute. Then again, if I don't go, I'll be attracting attention. She rolled her eyes. School it is…as if I can concentrate on that. Then answers to these new questions. She squatted beside her parents' grave. "I love you both so much. Sorry I need to cut this short. I have to get to school. We will talk again soon." She smiled warmly for their benefit and patted the gravestone. She got up and headed toward the car.

That was going to be a long school day. That was for sure…..