Calls

Clark walked into the farm house. He was waiting for the familiar brush of Evelyn running past him, but not this time. Lana had taken her. Clark trudged up the stairs, his heart was weighing him down. He opened the door to his bedroom and sat there with the phone in his hand. He desperately longed to talk to someone, but who? Everyone who could think of were either busy or they wouldn't understand. Everyone except for her.

Clark dialed the number that he had begun to memorize. The familiar voice answered. "Hello?"

Clark froze. What the heck was he thinking calling her? She was probably busy. "Hellooo? Is anyone there?" came her persistent voice.

"Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call you, Margaret." Clark muttered into the phone. He was about to hang up, but her voice stopped him.

"Clark? Hey what's going on? How did it go at court?"

Clark closed his eyes and swallowed. "Lana has custody. I get visitation every second week of the month."

Margaret was stunned. "What?! Are you serious? Did the judge take a bribe? No sane person would leave Evelyn with her forever."

"Well, she has custody now."

"What did Evelyn say?"

"In the courtroom, she said that she wanted to live with Lana, but when we came out, it was like she completely forgot what had happened inside. She came running to me and said she didn't want to stay with Lana."

"What did you do?"

"I had to let her go. There were several security guards right there and Lana was already making a scene by yelling at her for crying."

Clark head Margaret scoff. "How could they not tell that Evelyn didn't want to stay with Lana?"

"I don't know." Clark said.

"No matter what happens though, I do not want you to go moping around everywhere. You need to get her back."

"But how? They used my record as an excuse."

"But you don't even have a criminal record! You just put the criminals in jail."

Clark paused. He and Margaret were still getting to know each other. How could she know something like that? Clark just brushed it under the rug.

Margaret seemed to notice her slip up and she grew very quiet. "There has to be someway to get her back. I know a few people who could try." Margaret finally said, trying to cover up.

"Thanks Margaret. I just feel like there's something about this whole thing that I'm missing…"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Evelyn was acting out of character." Clark heard a beeping on his line. "Margaret, could you hang on for a second?"

"Sure."

Clark put her on hold and answered the waiting call. "Hello?"

"Clark! Thank goodness I found you!" Oliver said. He sounded out of breath and was whispering.

"Oliver? What's wrong? Where are you?"

"Nothings wrong, well, at least not yet. We're in a sort of meeting right now, but I had to slip away to make sure some things were okay."

"Like what?" Clark was beginning to get suspicious.

"Has anyone come to your place in the last week? Like, I don't know, the police or maybe some reporters?"

"No…Oliver what's going on?"

"I'll explain things later. But if you see a reporter, stay away from them."

"Oliver!"

"And be careful Clark. I found out something really bad."

"What is it?"

"Just be careful. Talk to you later." Oliver hung up the phone before Clark could get another word in.

Clark didn't like the way Oliver was acting. Something big was definitely up and he was going to find out soon.

Clark went ahead and got back on the same line as Margaret. "Hey, sorry about that. It was…uh, business."

"Business? What do you do, Kent? Try and single-handedly bring down corporate monsters?" Margaret said with a familiar playfulness in her voice.

Clark chuckled. Her voice sounded so familiar over the phone. "I just can't shake away the feeling that I know you somehow." Clark said as he tried to figure out why he felt that way.

He heard Margaret laugh nervously into the phone. "Well, of course you know me. I am your kid's teacher."

"No. It's something else."

"I can assure you that we have never met anywhere else." Margaret needed to change the subject fast. "I don't mean to be nosy, but what actually caused you to get a divorce."

Clark sighed. "I found out that Lana had an abortion."

Margaret had to remind herself to breathe. She wanted to yell at him for even considering having a child with that witch! But she calmed herself. "An abortion?" she said keeping her voice steady.

"Yeah. She didn't…" Clark heard the other line beeping again. "I've got another call. Hang on." Clark switched lines. "Hello?"

"Clark, I've been very patient. I have waited a week for you to call me back, but you never have!"

Clark winced as Lucy yelled into the phone. "Hey, Lucy. I've been really busy lately."

"Obviously." Lucy said. Clark pictured her rolling her eyes at this moment. "I want an explanation now."

Clark really didn't want to do this right now. "Can I talk to you later?"

"No. I bet that you have been putting this off. We are going to do it now."

Clark groaned. Fine. If they we're going to do this right now, then she was going to get the short version. "I married Lana. We adopted Evelyn from the Philippines. We've been arguing. Our divorce was finalized today and Lana now has custody of her." Clark said in one breath.

Lucy didn't say anything for a few heartbeats. "What?! How could you do that?!"

"I don't know, Lucy. I've got to go already, okay."

"Fine. I'll talk to you later Clark."

"Bye." Clark ended the phone call and began changing back to Margaret's line. But he stopped as he began remembering something. He hadn't slept with Lana in almost a year. It was impossible for the child to be his. She had cheated on him. But he didn't really care about that. The baby wasn't his. She never killed his child!

"Clark, are you still there?" Margaret asked. She could hear him breathing over the phone, but he wouldn't say anything.

Clark quickly replied. "Lana never aborted my child! It wasn't even my child! It was someone else's!" he exclaimed.

Margaret smiled. "That is the greatest thing I have heard in a while!" Margaret shared his enthusiasm.

"I can't believe that I believed it was mine." Clark said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I can't see you having a kid with her anyways. You should be with someone, I don't know, more wild."

Clark smiled. But his smile faded as he thought about the facts. Why did Lana tell him it was his? She obviously didn't want any part in giving birth to a child of his. Something was going on. "Margaret, I've got to go."

"Okay. I'll talk with you later, Clark."

"Thanks for listening."

"No problem."

They said their good byes and hung up. Clark still felt as if he should know who Margaret was.

Oliver looked at his closed phone. He had just gotten off with Clark. Oliver desperately wanted to tell Clark what he had found out. It just wasn't fair to him to keep believing what he was believing.

Oliver turned around and looked at the large computer screen. One side had a large profile picture of Lois. On the other side, it had another profile picture of her, except she had black hair, brown eyes and glasses. Underneath the picture it had the name 'Margaret Kidance.'

It was Monday morning and Evelyn was late for school. Lana had completely forgotten about it. She dropped her off at nine thirty. School had started at eight. Evelyn slowly turned the door handle to 2C. She opened it. Everyone in the classroom turned their eyes to Evelyn. Ms. Kidance was at the chalk board.

Evelyn quickly walked over to her and whispered her excuse. Ms. Kidance nodded her understanding and continued writing on the chalkboard. Evelyn sat down at the table with Ella and Love. They both turned their heads to her when she sat down.

"Why were you late?" Ella whispered.

"My mommy forgot to wake up early."

"I thought you lived with your daddy?" Love said.

Evelyn sighed sadly. "The people at court said that I had to live with my mommy."

"But you don't even like her." Ella responded.

Evelyn just shrugged her shoulders. She really didn't want to talk about it. Every time she would even think about it, she'd get upset and wanted to start crying.

Clark wiped his brow as he put down the pitchfork. He wasn't sweating or anything, it just helped keep up the appearance of being human. He had been up all night trying to understand what may have cause the judge to give custody rights to Lana. There was nothing that he could find wrong with Judge Bennett except for the fact that he was always grumpy. He didn't call Oliver back, though. It seemed like that was a good place to pick up again.

Clark sat down on a bale of hay and pulled out his cell. He dialed Oliver's phone and waited four rings. "Oliver, this is Clark."

"Clark, hey." Oliver sounded very nervous. "Uh, what do you need?"

"Something happened at court Saturday."

"Oh yeah." Oliver's tone lightened. "How did that go?"

"Lana has custody."

"Wait, say that again?"

"It was weird. Evelyn kept saying that she wanted to stay with Lana the entire time we were in the courtroom, but once we exited, she ran to me and said she wanted to stay with me. She didn't remember anything that had happened in the court room."

"Hmm, that is weird."

"I think that something might have happened to her. Somebody influenced her or maybe she was drugged."

"Was this change all of a sudden?"

"Yeah."

"Try and give me a blood sample. I think I may know what it is, but I want to be sure."

"Okay. I'll give it to you as soon as I can."

"All right."

"Thanks Oliver."

"Sure no problem."

Clark hung up. He stayed seated on the hay. The barn felt even emptier without Evelyn with him.

Evelyn, Ella, and Love were sitting on the blacktop during recess. They had gathered several rocks that could mark the cement and they began drawing pictures. The entire time, Ella and Love were trying to make Evelyn smile.

Brian, the biggest fifth grader in the school, walked up to them. He was the meanest kid in school. Even some of the sixth graders were afraid of him. "Hey, you're in my spot."

The three girls looked up at him confused. "No we're not. This spot is for everyone." Love said. Ella and Evelyn looked at Love in shock. Did she want to get beaten up?

"You better move before I pound some sense into you!" Brian said as he made his hands into fists.

Ella slowly crept away and ran inside, but Evelyn was frozen into place. Love continued to appear unfazed. "We aren't going to move." she said. Love stood up and crossed her arms.

Brian narrowed his eyes and looked down at Evelyn. "Guess what Evelyn?"

Evelyn gulped.

"I said guess what?!" Brian said more forcibly.

"What?" Evelyn said in a small shaky voice.

"No one in the Philippines likes you! That's why they had to get someone from Kansas to adopt you. And no one would do it except for a stupid farmer!"

"My daddy isn't a stupid farmer!" Evelyn yelled as she stood up alongside Love.

"Yes he is! And you're a stupid foreigner!"

That was it for Love. "Stop saying mean things!"

"And what if I don't want to?"

"Then you'll be very sorry."

Brian growled. He lifted his fist and punched Love in the face. Evelyn screamed and so did Brian. He began nursing his fist and he looked at Love in fear. Love didn't even flinch when his fist connected with her face. She smirked down at him. "I told you that you'd be sorry."

"What are you? Some kind of freak?" Brian asked in his pain.

Love's smirk faded. Her hand was wrapped around Brian's throat in a flash. She began to slowly raise him above the ground, choking him little by little. "I am not a freak. You're the freak. You keep picking on people that are smaller than you! Why don't you pick on someone your own size!"

"Martha Love Ken…iddance! You had better drop that boy now!"

Evelyn and Love turned their attention to the doors. Ms. Kidance was there looking furious and Ella was standing behind her looking a bit guilty.

Love began breathing in short breaths and immediately dropped Brian. Love ran to Ms. Kidance and hugged her. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! He was being mean to us! You always told me to stand up for myself!" Love was already crying.

Evelyn ran to them. "It wasn't her fault, Ms. Kidance. Brain was being mean to us. He even punched Love!"

Ms. Kidance looked at Love then to Brian. "I'm sorry, Love, but you're going to have to go to the principles office." Ms. Kidance pulled her arms off of her and she began walking to Brian to make sure he was all right.

Clark sat at the table trying to figure out how he was going to come up with all the money for the bills. Now, he understood why his parents were so worried.

The shrill ringing of the phone interrupted his thoughts. Clark got up to answer it. "Kent household."

"Clark, it's Margaret."

Clark looked at the clock on the wall. "Hey, Margaret. Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Yeah, but there's sort of been a problem here…"

"What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"Sort of. Love got into a fight. The school's giving her home-suspension for four days."

"Is she all right?"

"Yeah, she'll live. But since there's not going to be anyone home, I was wondering if you could watch her for me."

"Sure. But why won't the school give her in-school suspension?"

"I don't know. These people don't know how to run a system properly." Margaret grumbled into the phone.

"Am I going to need to pick her up right now?"

"Yes. Clark, I'm really sorry. I didn't know who else to call."

"Don't worry, Margaret. It's perfectly fine."

"Thank you so much, Clark."

"I'll be there in a minute." Clark said. He hung up the phone. And grabbed his keys. He stopped at the doorway. If he was going to be going to the school, he could have the chance to get a small sample of Evelyn's blood.

Clark walked into the office. Margaret was talking with the secretary and Love was sitting down in one of the chairs looking at her feet in complete shame. Clark walked up behind Margaret.

Margaret felt his presence and turned around. "Thank goodness you finally made it." she breathed out.

"I came as soon as I could. Is everyone all right?"

Margaret looked around and pulled him out of the office into the hallway. She looked up and down to make sure no one was listening in. "Love seriously injured the boy. From what I heard from Evelyn and Ella, it was Brian that started it. Love was just standing up to him."

"Is Evelyn all right?"

"Yeah, she's just a little freaked out."

"How did Love do it? Wouldn't this boy have to be bigger than her?"

"Uh, I guess it was just a lot of adrenaline. Don't tell me that you haven't had rushes like those."

Clark offered an empty half-smile. "I've got a favor to ask you."

Margaret looked at him with inquisitive eyes.

"I need a blood sample from Evelyn."

Margaret raised her left eyebrow. "Why? Do you think she's taking drugs?" she said with a chuckle.

Clark smirked at her smart response. "No, I just need it. I have this friend that's going to check it out for me."

"All right. I'll give it to you when I come pick up Love."

"Thanks."

Margaret smiled back at him. Why did lying to him have to be so difficult?

Clark walked inside the house with Love trailing behind him. She seemed really glum the entire way home and it didn't look like she was going to improve. "Love, sit down." Clark said as he pulled out one of the stools.

Love sat down obediently and Clark took the spot next to her. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Not really."

"Well, you're going to have to tell me eventually."

Love looked up at him then looked back to the table. "Brian came up to me and Evelyn and Ella and told us to move because we were in his spot. I told him no. He got mad and then he called Evelyn a stupid foreigner and he call you a stupid farmer. I got really mad at him and told him to leave us alone. He punched me, but something happened to his hand when he punched me. He called me a freak and I got really angry so I grabbed his neck and lifted him up. Then my mommy came out and that's when I got in trouble."

"Wait, Brian punched you?" Clark couldn't see any sign of injury on her face.

"Yeah, but it didn't hurt. It just tickled a little." Love said it as if it was a commonly known fact.

Clark looked at her closely. Her hazel eyes, black hair. It was just all too familiar for him. "Well, you are still going to get punished here and with your mom. First punishment, you are going to learn how to muck a stall."

Love sat on the couch watching the news while Clark sat next to her, but worked on his laptop. "Clark?"

"Hmm?" Clark tried to make himself pay attention to what she was sure to say next.

"How come I was able to do those things?"

"What things?" Clark saved his work and began to really pay attention to Love.

"When I started running really fast and when I was able to pick up Brian with just one hand. And how come he didn't leave a small bruise on my face when he hit me?"

Clark ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, Love, a lot of people can do extraordinary things."

"Like you and me?"

"Uh, yeah, like me and you."

"So does that make us freaks? Because that's what Brian called me."

"No, no of course not! It does not make you, me, or anyone else a freak. We're just different. Like Evelyn is a Filipino and you're an American."

Love's eyes became big and watery. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Clark said. He pulled Love into a hug. "Don't let anyone call you a freak."

They heard someone clearing their throat from behind them. They both looked and saw Margaret. Love smiled at her, but didn't make a move to get up from the couch. But Clark did. "Hey, Margaret."

"Hey, Clark. The screen door was open so I just thought that it might be okay to come in."

"Of course. You're always welcome to just walk in."

"You ready to go, Lovely?" Margaret asked Love.

"Not really." Love said making herself more comfortable on the couch.

Clark chuckled as Margaret sighed. "Well, we are going to be leaving whether you want to or not." Margaret said sternly.

Clark heard Love muttering her complaints under her breath. He smiled. Love walked over to them. "Okay, let's go."

"Go wait in the car. I have to talk with Clark."

Love frowned but obediently listened to her mom. She didn't want to get into anymore trouble.

Margaret looked out the window to make sure Love was walking to the care. "I got Evelyn's blood sample." she pulled out a vial from her purse filled with the red liquid. "Is she all right?"

"She should be. Thank you so much."

"Yeah, you owe me big time."

"Well, I think we're even since I'm watching Love while you work."

Margaret offered him a smirk. "Whatever lets you sleep at night." she turned around and started walking to the door.

"Margaret, wait." Clark said before she could leave.

Margaret turned around. Clark grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the door. Margaret wanted to melt in his arms. He didn't understand how much his touch was killing her. "What's wrong?" Margaret asked as she swallowed down her boiling emotions.

"It's about Love."

Margaret furrowed her brows. "Is she okay? Did something happen?"

"Has Chloe told you about her theory of the meteor rocks here in Smallville?"

"She mentioned it. Why?"

"I think something may have happened to Love to make her be able to pick up Brian like that. Maybe she was infected."

Margaret looked at Clark stunned. "Infected?" Margaret tried to play dumb. "But she can't be infected."

"Look, it's okay if she's…infected. She's still a normal kid."

"I guess she is isn't she?" Margaret looked out the window and saw Love sitting in the front seat impatiently waiting for Margaret.

Clark was a little surprised at how good she had taken it. "You're okay with that?"

"Of course. She's my girl, and I would never reject anyone just because they're different. They're still the same person. Their powers just make them even better."

Clark thought about what she said. Only one other person had told him that and it had been Lois. It was amazing how much Margaret reminded him of Lois. "You're right."

They stood there in the kitchen stuck in a trance. It was interrupted by the car horn. Margaret jumped slightly and Clark stood back a little. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Count on it farm boy." Margaret said as she exited.

Clark shook his head and laughed. He laughed his heart out.

Oliver paced around his loft at Metropolis. Clark had called five minutes earlier and said that he had the blood sample and that he was on his way. Clark should've been there within two minutes. He heard the elevator coming up. Clark stepped off of it.

"Clark. What took you so long?" Oliver asked as he walked towards him.

"There was almost a deadly car accident. I had to stop it really quick."

Oliver nodded in understanding. He had been so happy that Clark finally decided to rejoin the force, but he wanted to know what had changed his mind. He knew that part of the reason was because Evelyn got hurt, but he believed that there was something more. "So do you have the blood?"

Clark pulled out the vial from his pocket. "Here." he tossed it to Oliver.

Oliver examined it for a minute before he put it away.

Clark lingered a bit longer. Oliver knew that he wanted something else. "Was there anything else I could help you with?"

"Yeah. What's going on, Oliver? Why are you warning me to watch my back?"

Oliver sighed. He knew Bruce would be furious if he found out that he had told Clark. "Along with some computer problems we've been having, I found something that I wasn't supposed to."

"What is it?"

"You have to promise me not to get upset."

"What's going on?"

"Our computers were hacked into. All of the information that we had was copied and deleted. They went to our hometowns including Smallville."

Clark looked at him incredulously, "Everything. Even about…"

"Even about you and Kara."

Clark scoffed. "Are you serious?"

"I wish I wasn't."

"Oliver, do you know how dangerous that information could be!"

"Yes, Clark. I do know. But nothing seems to have happened, yet."

Clark eyed Oliver. "How long has it been since the information leak?"

Oliver grimaced and looked away from Clark. "About a week."

"A week! And no one told me?!"

"Nothing has happened, Clark. Besides, Victor and Chloe are already trying to get it back."

"Oliver, you are unbelievable! I trusted you with all of that information!" "It wasn't my fault, Clark! We'll get it back!"

Clark clenched his teeth. "For your sake, I hope so." Clark turned and began walking out.

Oliver sighed as the elevator carrying Clark went down. At least he didn't tell him about Lex and Lois.

Beth opened the door to their room. She hated the putrid smell that always filled her nostrils when she walked in. Alex was sitting at the small desk the motel provided. He had his laptop open and was looking intently at the screen. "Is everything all right Alex?"

He looked up at her and smiled. "You can call me Lex now."

Beth smiled back at him. Her mother had always warned her to stay away from bad men, but Lex was just so wonderful and bad. She couldn't help her feelings. But Lex didn't return any of them. He only had eyes for Lana Lang. From what she heard, every man who had come across Lana fell madly in love with her. "Well, Lex, is everything going according to plan?"

Lex looked back to the computer. "It's going rather smoothly. With Oliver and his friends preoccupied with their information leak, it's as if they're on a wild goose chase."

Beth looked at him puzzled. "You mean, they didn't have an actual computer leak?"

"No, of course not." he said as he grinned sinisterly.

a/n: so, after this chapter, things start going downhill for the poor characters. next chapter is when clark finally starts making connections. i know it's taking him forever, but that's how men are. ;D thank you guys so much for the reviews. i just love reading them all. continue posting reviews for me to enjoy and i'll post chapters for you to enjoy.