Chapter Eleven
Lana parked the car in the Kents' driveway and got out. She entered the kitchen to see Clark, his parents, and a man in the kitchen. Clark turned to look at her; he looked flustered.
"Lana," said Clark as he kissed her.
"Ah, Miss Lang," said the man. "Clark's future wife; you must know some skeletons in the closet."
Lana looked at him strangely. "Who are you?"
"This is a reporter from the Daily Planet," said Jonathan. "And we've already told him to beat it."
"Miss Lang," said the reporter. "You must know some deep, dark secrets."
"Leave her out of this," threatened Clark.
"It must intrigue you that the thing that brought your son back was the same thing that had destroyed so many lives," said the reporter as he brought a meteor rock out of his pocket. It glowed green as Clark moaned in pain. "Huh, it's never glowed before…"
Clark doubled over as he groaned.
"Is he okay?" asked the reporter.
"Just a stomachache," covered Martha.
Clark's parents grew panicked as Clark quickly stumbled into the dining room. Lana joined him.
"Clark, are you okay?" Lana asked, concerned as Clark grew pale.
He looked at her and nodded. "Kryptonite…"
"The meteor rock," supplied Lana.
Clark's parents quickly hustled the man out of there, and came over.
"Clark, you alright?" asked Jonathan.
"Yeah," Clark gasped as the color returned to his face. "I'll be fine."
"Okay, well…" said Lana. "I came here to talk about the cake."
"And I have to get to the church," said Clark. He walked to the door, and took off. Lana walked over to the kitchen island with Martha.
"So I was thinking about helping you bake the cake," Lana told her.
"Why?" asked Martha.
"Because it's a five-layered cake," Lana replied.
"Oh," said Martha. "Well, I'm making it tomorrow and Friday morning, so stop by around ten."
"Will do."
"What were you thinking of?"
"Uh…traditional vanilla cake with white icing…purple lilacs…black ribbons…and a plastic archway with bells on the top over the plastic figurines."
Lana took two figurines out of her purse and gave them to Martha. The girl was slender with long black hair and a wedding gown, and the boy was tall, dark and handsome with black hair and a tuxedo.
"Oh," said Martha. "These are beautiful, Lana."
"You're lucky I was choosing the cake options," said Lana. "Chloe's first choice for a groom figurine was a superhero action figure."
Martha and Lana laughed as Lana headed for the door.
"Well, I gotta head to the church and help Clark," Lana said. "Not that he needs any."
Clark placed the last lilac bouquet on the final pew, and surveyed his handiwork. It looked like a dream…except for one thing…
Clark grabbed the lilac bouquet that had streamers hanging from it. He squatted down, and jumped up to the ceiling of the church. He fused the bouquet there with his heat vision and fell to the floor.
"Wow," a voice said behind him. He turned, startled to see Lana staring at the auditorium. Clark breathed a sigh of relief.
"I thought you might be someone else," said Clark.
"Sorry to startle you," she said. She looked around at the decorations. "You know, you didn't have to do it all by yourself."
"I wanted to surprise you," said Clark. He dashed around real quick, pinning the ends of the streamers to the corners of the ceiling. He stopped beside Lana. "Do you like it?"
"Oh," breathed Lana. "It's just like I imagined; it's perfect!"
She kissed Clark, and hugged him.
"Well, Miss Lang, it looks like we have the day off," Clark told her. "What would you like to do?"
"Well, I've always wanted to see Niagara Falls," Lana led on. Clark smiled, came forward, and lifted her into his arms. He took off in superspeed towards Canada.
"That's a good look for you, Lana," said Martha.
Lana looked up at Martha, confused. She glanced at herself in a mirror on the wall; she had cake batter on her nose. She and Martha started laughing as Martha wiped it off. They were doing the second and third layers because Martha had already baked the first.
"What's Clark doing today?" asked Lana.
"Just some chores," said Martha.
Jonathan lifted the last hay bale as Clark dug another fence post into the ground. He stood there, and watched his son, thinking about the wedding in two days. Clark picked another post up and jammed it into the ground. Jonathan was about to go back to work when he saw a limb on the tree above Clark start to fall. He wasn't really worried…until he saw a glitter of green falling with it.
"Clark!" Jonathan yelled. Clark spun around and looked up at the falling branch. He reached up and caught it, but then seemed to stumble. He dropped the branch as he slowly turned to face his father. There was a hole in his shirt and blood was coming from it. Clark collapsed as Jonathan ran towards him.
Martha and Lana placed their two finished layers into the oven to bake.
"There," said Martha.
"Now we only need two more," said Lana.
"Martha!" they heard Jonathan yell. "Come quick!"
They both ran out the kitchen door to see Jonathan dragging a bleeding Clark down the walkway.
"Oh, my gosh," said Martha. "What happened?"
"A limb from a tree fell and brought pieces of meteor rock with it," said Jonathan as Martha and Lana helped carry Clark up the stairs. "He couldn't see them."
"Will he be alright?" asked Lana as they set Clark on the floor.
"I don't know, Lana," said Martha. "We need to get that kryptonite out."
Jonathan ripped open Clark's shirt to reveal a stab wound on his chest. Clark moaned in pain as he clenched his fists.
"It hurts…" muttered Clark.
"I know, son, I know," said Jonathan. "Martha, get a knife. Lana, stay with him."
Jonathan took off to get a towel as Lana knelt next to Clark.
"It's going to be alright," said Lana. She grabbed his hand, and held it. "You're going to be alright."
Clark squeezed her hand as he looked into her eyes. Lana looked down at his wound. There were green veins spreading form the wound. Jonathan came back, and handed the towels to Lana. Lana started wiping blood up as Martha came back with a knife and pliers. Jonathan took them and dipped the knife into the hole on Clark's chest. Clark cried out in pain as Lana stroked his head.
"Sorry, Clark," said Jonathan. He took the knife out and grabbed the pliers. He pushed them into the wound as Clark moaned in pain. Jonathan kept pushing until he finally stopped.
"I think I got it," said Jonathan as he started pulling it out. He pulled the pliers free as Clark relaxed. At the end of the pliers was a good sized piece of glowing rock. Martha took it and ran for the door. She tossed the rock out as Chloe walked up the stairs.
"What's going on?" asked Chloe. "I saw blood…" Chloe saw Clark lying on the floor and ran in. "What happened?"
"There was some falling meteor rock," Lana told her.
Right before their eyes, the wound closed up as the green veins faded away. Clark sat up as Lana relaxed.
"You okay?" asked Lana.
"I'll be fine," said Clark.
"Not for long," said Chloe. Everyone looked at her. "Lex is pulling up right now."
Martha looked out the window. "She's right. He's getting out now."
Clark looked down at his bloody shirt, and he rushed upstairs in superspeed and changed his shirt. He was back downstairs in two seconds, and he rushed around, cleaning up. He grabbed the bloody towels and dashed upstairs. There was a knock on the door, and Lex opened the door.
"How goes the wedding preparations?" asked Lex.
"Great," said Martha. "We were just making the cakes."
"Great," said Lex. "Where's Clark?"
Everybody was silent, but Lana looked out the window and saw Clark dashing into the barn.
"He's in the loft," said Lana.
"Thanks," said Lex. He left for the barn as Chloe turned to Lana.
"And you are coming with me," said Chloe.
"Why?" asked Lana.
"I'm kidnapping you," Chloe teased with a smile. "Come on."
"But what about—"
"Oh, I have Jonathan to help me now," Martha told her. "Go."
Lana left with Chloe as Lex entered the barn.
"Clark?" he called out. "You in here?"
"Lex?" Clark called from the loft. He bounded down the stairs to meet Lex. "What're you doing here?"
"I came to borrow you," said Lex. "I need your opinion on rehearsal preparations."
"Okay, I'll get Lana," said Clark.
"She's already seen them," said Lex. "Now it's your turn."
"Okay." Clark and Lex walked out to his Porsche and got in, driving off for Lex's mansion.
"Chloe, is this necessary?" asked Lana. Chloe was putting a blindfold on Lana. They were stopped at the edge of town.
"Hey, you don't wanna ruin the surprise, do you?" said Chloe as she tightened the blindfold. "Besides, it goes along with the whole kidnapping thing."
Lana felt Chloe wave a hand in front of her face.
"No peaking," said Chloe.
Lana sat in the passenger's seat while Chloe drove to their destination.
"This isn't gonna be something like you drive us off a cliff and Clark saves us, is it?" teased Lana.
Chloe laughed. "No. Been there, done that." They drove for several minutes before parking. "Okay, we're here."
Chloe got out and came around to Lana's door. It opened, and Chloe helped Lana get out. They approached a door that Chloe held open for Lana. They walked in together and stopped. Chloe pulled the blindfold off, and Lana saw a pitch-black room.
"Chloe, where are we?" asked Lana.
"Surprise!" came a shout as the lights turned on. They were in the Talon, and it was decorated for a party. There were streamers, refreshments, and lots of girls…including Lois.
"Welcome to your bachelorette party!" Chloe shouted over the noise. She hugged Lana as Lois came forward and did the same thing.
"Wow," said Lana. "Thanks, you guys!" She frowned. "How did you know if Clark and I wouldn't have plans?"
"Because Lex and Pete are throwing Clark a bachelor party right now," said Chloe.
"Oh, really?" said Lana. "I wonder how he's gonna handle that."
"Come on, this is your night to forget about Clark, and have fun," said Lois as they headed for the snack bar.
"Lex, I thought we were having the rehearsal dinner on the second floor," said Clark.
"Oh, we are," said Lex. "I just need your opinion on one other thing."
They rounded the corner, and entered a large room filled with people.
"Surprise!" everyone shouted. Pete came forward and hugged Clark. Clark looked at Lex.
"Did you…" he began.
"No," Lex replied. "No strippers."
They smiled as Clark went into the throng, accepting congratulations.
Lex parked outside the Talon as Clark opened the door.
"Thanks, Lex," said Clark. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Okay, Clark," Lex replied as Clark closed the door. Clark walked in to find the clean-up crew at work in the lobby.
"Huh…the bachelorette party…" Clark told himself as he looked for Lana. "She must be in the apartment with Lois and Chloe.
He walked up to the apartment door. There was laughter inside, and Clark could hear them talking.
"And then he shows up the next day on a motorcycle," Chloe said.
"A motorcycle?" Lois exclaimed as she laughed.
"Complete with a leather jacket and the new girl in town," Lana said.
Clark smiled. My red kryptonite episode, he thought.
"Clark Kent in black leather…" Lois wondered, then they all burst out laughing again. Clark raised his hand and knocked on the door. There were footsteps and Chloe opened the door. Clark smiled at her.
"Speaking of the leather-clad biker," Chloe said as she opened the door wider. "Lana, you have a visitor."
Lana got up and came towards him. "Hey…" They kissed and Lana wrapped her arms around him. "What's the occasion?"
"I wanted to see you," Clark said.
"Uh, we'll go downstairs," said Lois.
"Actually, I would like to take Lana on a walk," said Clark.
"It's a beautiful night," Lana observed. She turned to Clark. "Our last night as single teenagers."
Clark smiled. "Our last kiss as single teenagers."
They kissed as the stars shone over them.