Disclaimer:
Try as I might, I have been unable to wrestle control of ownership of Smallville out of the hands of the WB bigwigs, so all I can do for now borrow their characters and episodes for my own non-profiting purposes.Rating:
PG-13 for mild cussingAuthor's Notes:
No, this is not a hallucination people, I actually finally updated my story. Amazing, huh? I'm sorry for my ineptness, but my Smallville muse has been unhelpful and midway into this chapter I lost inspiration. However, little by little, I managed to finish it up. I hope the fact that this chapter was about 40 pages long in my word processor makes up for it. I had a lot of fun writing my take on the Shimmer episode, and I hope you enjoy reading it. I know I lost many more of my readers in my inhability to write quickly, however, I hope that by posting I will earn some new ones. Anyway, to my faithful readers, I again thank you for staying with me and putting up with my slowness.Mixer- I know my chapters are long. In every fic I write, there usually at least twenty pages long in the word processor. I can't help it, I like to write a lot of details, but I hope it's a good thing.
Suz- Thanks for reviewing again. Oh, I added a little to chapter 10 with a Clark, Chloe, Pete, and Nicola adventure. It's not much, but I hope it's enough to satisfy a little of what you wanted. Thank you for being understanding about the uncooperative muse.
Thestringbean- I have absolutely no clue how I write so much. I go into each chapter hoping it will be like five pages each, and the end up being at least five times that. I hope you were able to read some of this story. Anyway, I read your story. I really liked it. I hope you continue it soon.
Christina- Thank you for the compliments. I'm glad you liked Nicola sticking it to Lex. I enjoyed writing it. I went into writing this story planning on making Nicola and Chloe becoming good friends because I think Chloe really deserves one and God knows Lana isn't always a great one to have around. Anyway, I hope you like the developments I put in the Chloe and Nicola friendship in this chapter and I hope you enjoy my take on Shimmer.
Pippergurl- Thanks for the nice review. I know I will definitely put Chloe and Clark together, however, it might just be exactly how they put them together in the show. However, that may change, I haven't really decided yet. As to Lex and Nicola, I see a potential reconnection in the future, however, it may take awhile, possibly a long while. If you love long chapters, then I'm sure you'll love this one. I think it's the longest I have written so far.
Elementalsky- Thanks, I'm glad you love it. I know, I suck with my tenses. I think I'm getting a little better at though. Or at least, that's what I've been telling myself. Anyway, thank you for bearing the minor or major grammatical errors I may make. I guess that's what I get for writing most of my stuff when it's two in the morning.
Okay, now on with the story:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The weekend after the Phelan incident was fairly uneventful considering where they lived, but Nicola knew it was only a matter of time before the next freak of the week would emerge from the shadows and turn Smallville upside-down. As she strolled down the halls to the gym during forth period on Monday, her vision was assaulted by the onslaught of several posters promoting the blood drive that took place Wednesday. She had volunteered to help out with the drive, mainly because Lana had somehow managed to lure her into it. She had been able to get out of her forth-period photography class to help with the set-up.
When she got to the gym, there were a few people in there already setting up some of the stations. She glanced around the room and after a few seconds, she found the person she was looking for. She strolled up behind the brunette and nudged her in the back.
"So, what do you want me to do, chief?" she asked, waiting for her first task.
"Nicola, glad you made it."
"Well, you did kind of bamboozle me into volunteering, Lana."
"I didn't bamboozle you. I simple reminded that in order to graduate from Smallville High you have to do thirty hours of community service."
"Yeah, yeah. So, what do you need me to do?" she asked again.
"Well, we still need more people to donate blood."
"Okay, well, I can go to the bleachers where the people love to skip class at and ask them there."
"Terrific. Here's a sign-up sheet it already has some names on it, so just try to get as many you can for the available times."
"Will do. I'll even badger people at lunch, how's that?"
"Great. See you later then?"
"Yeah. See ya."
Nicola grabbed the clipboard that had the sign-up sheet on it from Lana then quickly left the gym to go outside. She walked over to the bleachers that were outside next to the track where several students were hanging out. Some were in the gym class that period, many others were just avoiding going to their classes. Nicola spent most of the period making her way across the bleachers talking to the students. The sight of Amy Palmer and her brother caught her eye and she decided she might as well try to get the two to sign up, even if Amy might not like her because she had gone out with the man of Amy's dreams.
"Hi Amy, how are you doing?" Nicola greeted the girl.
Amy slowly looked up from the notebook she was writing in.
"Hey," greeted Amy weakly, obviously not to thrilled at the prospect of talking to Nicola. "I haven't seen you around the mansion lately."
"Yeah, well if you didn't notice, I was kind of replaced by a haughty Brit.."
Amy smiled at the comment, but Nicola couldn't tell if it was because she said she was replaced or because she called Victoria a haughty Brit.
"Actually, I did kind of notice. So, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I'm trying to find some people who were willing to donate some blood for the blood drive on Wednesday and I was wondering if you would like to sign-up."
Amy contemplated it for a minute.
"Sure," she replied. "But I need to do it between 3 and 5."
"Okay. Well, I have an opening for 3:45, how's that?"
"That's fine."
Nicola jotted Amy's name down next to the 3:45 slot, then turned to face Amy's brother who was watching them from a couple bleacher seats down, quickly trying to remember his name,
"How about you, Jeff? Willing fork over a pint of your blood? There's a cookie in it for you."
"A cookie, huh? Sure, why not?"
"Great. What time works for you?"
"Anything after 4."
"How about 4:15?"
"Perfect."
"Wonderful. Thanks guys. I'll see you later then."
As she left the pair, Amy went back to writing whatever it was she was writing about in her notebook. She went a few rows up to ask a couple more kids, when Amy's voice caught her attention.
"Troy, give it back!"
"Whoa, Amy. Just hang on. I just want to see if you wrote anything about me, that's all," she heard a male voice say.
Nicola turned to see what was going on and saw some jock she didn't recognize have a hold of Amy's notebook. Another boy walks up next to Troy and peers at the notebook too.
"Oh, Jeff, did you know your sister's writing psycho love letters to Lex Luthor?" asked Troy. "It's always the quiet ones."
"Give it back to her," Jeff demanded.
"Hey, it's not my fault you have a weirdo for a sister."
"You're a child, Troy. It's because of boys like you that girls what a man like Lex Luthor."
'True that,' Nicola thought, then quickly rebuked herself. 'Lex isn't much better than boys like Troy, though.'
Amy snatched her notebook back from him.
"Keep dreaming Amy. Your parents clean his bathrooms. You may live there, but Luthor's not going to slum down to the help."
Ouch.
Jeff stood up and glared at Troy.
"Just leave her alone."
"What are you going to do about it?"
Jeff stares Troy down for a second before leaving.
"Losers," said Troy, the guy with him snickering at his comment.
Troy made his way up the bleachers and started to walk past Nicola. Nicola, displeased with the way the jock treated Amy, gave him a seething glare, which did not go unnoticed by the jock.
"You want something, sweetheart?"
"No. Just thought you should be reminded that karma's a bitch."
"I'll keep that in mind," replied Troy, giving her a self-satisfied smirk that made Nicola want to punch his lights out.
As he continued on his walk across the bleachers, Nicola decided to turn her attention back to the blood drive, so she continued on her search for volunteers.
A few hours passed, and Nicola managed to forget about the incident with Troy. The last bell of the day had rang, and Nicola made her way to the parking lot to her car so she could meet Chloe and Clark at the Beanery as they had planned at lunch. As she turned on last corner, she ran into a hard body who apparently wasn't paying attention.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" she snapped at the person's back as they slowly continued to move away from her.
As if suddenly realizing they bumped into someone, the blonde head turned sluggishly to face her, and she finally realized it was Whitney.
"Sorry, I was distracted for a minute," mumbled Whitney, his voice sounding tired.
Nicola frowned, something was obviously bothering the quarterback.
"You alright there, Fordman? You seem kind of out of it."
"Since when do you care about my well being, Lively?" asked Whitney obviously pulling out of his daze.
"Since I agreed to give you a chance during our ride from Metropolis."
Whitney let out a deep sigh and frowned.
"Right."
"You want to talk about it?" asked Nicola, truly concerned about her newfound almost-friend.
"Talk about what?"
"Whatever is obviously getting you down."
"Nothing's got me down. I'm fine."
"Really, then why were you walking down the hall in a zombie-like fashion?"
"I've got a lot on my mind, that's all."
Nicola's eyes bored into his as she was trying to figure out what was really wrong with him. Even though she could have easily read his mind, literally, to figure it out, she wanted him to reveal it on his own accord.
"Okay," said Nicola finally, deciding to drop it, for now. "If you ever want to talk, about anything, I'm willing to lend an ear."
"Sure, maybe. What was it you said you had? An acute ability to listen?"
Nicola grinned at the fact he remembered what she had said.
"Yep."
"Well, I'll take it into a consideration. See you around."
"See ya."
Nicola watched as Whitney walked away from her, less zombie-like than before. After a couple of seconds, Nicola turned to continue on her trek to her car. Thoughts of concern about Whitney loomed over her.
'And exactly why do you care about the well-being of Whitney Fordman?' her cynical subconscious asked herself.
Since Whitney and I came to an agreement.
Yeah, but that agreement was just that you'd give him a chance, not that you start caring about his problems.
'Oh, shut up,' she scowled at her subconscious.
"I'm not having an argument with myself," she said outloud.
Ignoring all thoughts about Whitney, she made it to her car and then started to drive to the Beanery. When she arrived to the Beanery, she found Clark and Chloe already inside walking away from the counter. As she approached them walking to the table, she heard Clark in mid-sentence.
"-around the corner, Troy was already on the floor."
'Troy?' thought Nicola. 'As in the Troy who was a jackass to Amy today?'
"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Nicola as she joined them on their walk to a free table.
"We're talking about the mysterious assault on Troy that happened today right before lunch," Chloe informed Nicola stopping to turn to face her.
"Mysterious assault?"
"You didn't hear?" Chloe asked as the three stopped for a second.
"Would I be asking if I did?"
"Touché. Anyway, Troy was attacked in the locker room today. Clark and Pete found him in a lump on the floor. Troy claims that he didn't see anyone attack him though, it just happened out of nowhere."
"Did you see anything, Clark?"
"As I was telling Chloe, when Pete and I got there, Troy was already on the floor."
"What about the voice he heard?" asked Chloe.
"Voice?" cut in Nicola.
"He said he heard someone talk to him before he was attacked."
"Oh."
"What are you thinking Chloe, that the locker room's haunted?" asked Clark.
"Not unless the meteor rocks can conjure up the ghost of dearly departed jock straps, which I seriously doubt."
The walked continued their walk to a just freed table that a waitress was clearing.
"Thank you," Clark said to the waitress as the three of them sat at the table. He turned back to Chloe. "Well, it's nice to see you still have standards."
"Yeah."
"I don't have time right now," they heard a masculine voice say from the front of the Beanery.
All three turn their heads and see that it was Whitney who was speaking to Lana.
"Look, if you don't want to help me with this blood drive, then just say so," Lana told Whitney.
"That's not it."
"That doesn't look pretty," Chloe said to Clark and Nicola who shook her head in agreement.
"Then what is it?" Lana asked, bringing the trio's attention back to the couple.
"I really don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"
"No, it's not okay! You have been avoiding me for a week! Every time I ask you what's wrong you push me away. I'm worried about you."
"Don't be. I just need some space."
"If that's what you want, fine. But if you can't even confide in me, I don't know why we're going out in the first place."
Lana walked away from Whitney and started to come toward Chloe, Clark, and Nicola.
"Oh, quick. Pretend we weren't watching," Chloe said.
As Lana approached, Nicola watched Whitney who had been watching Lana walk away from him with a hurt expression on his face. Whitney and Nicola made eye contact, but he quickly looked away before turning to walk out of the Beanery. Nicola frowned and wasn't paying attention to what the other three teens near her were talking about. She turned her attention back to her three friends as they talked about volunteering for the blood drive, but Nicola still found herself distracted. While Clark tried to get out of donating blood, Nicola quietly excused herself from the table, which earned strange looks from her friends. When she exited the Beanery, she looked around Main Street for signs of the blonde head she was looking for. Several shops down, she spotted the head in question, then started jog toward him to catch up.
"Hey, Fordman!" she yelled after him. "Fordman!"
He continued walking as if he didn't hear her.
"Yo Whitney," she yelled again, closer now. "Whit."
She finally was in arm's length of him and managed to pull him to a stop.
"Jeez, Fordman, I've been yelling your name like a crazy person for the last minute."
"I know. And I thought by ignoring you, you would go away, but alas, here you are."
"Alas? Your vocabulary's more extensive, I see."
"If you came to ridicule me, you can leave now."
"No, I didn't come for that. Look, I was just wondering if you were okay."
"Just peachy, thanks. Now if you don't mind"
Whitney turned and started to walk away from her.
"I overheard your conversation with Lana in the Beanery," she told his retreating, which caused him to stop and tense up.
"Yeah, well, so did a lot of people."
"Why have you been avoiding Lana?"
"It's none of your business."
"Whitney, I want to be your friend, but you're not really making this easy."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you want to be my friend?"
"Because I think you need one."
"I have friends," Whitney seethed, finally turning to face her.
"Yeah, but do you have the kind of friends who you can tell whatever it is that's got you soweighed down?"
Whitney's jaw tightened and Nicola could tell she pushed him far enough.
"Look, whether you realize it or not there are people who care about you, Fordman. You should stop pushing them away before they are all completely out of your reach."
Nicola turned and started to make her way back to the Beanery. She walked in to find that Lana was no longer at the table with Chloe and Clark. She ordered a white chocolate mocha before she moved back to her seat. As she sat down, she noticed that Clark and Chloe were looking expectantly at her, causing her to raise an eyebrow.
"What?"
"What was that about?" asked Chloe.
"What are you talking about?"
"I think she's talking about the sudden disappearing act," said Clark.
"Oh. It was nothing. I just saw someone I needed to talk about."
"Right," said Chloe, not believing her, but decided to not press matter further.
"So, what did I miss?"
"Clark here volunteered to help Lana with the blood drive."
"Did he? Oh good, one more person to endure the torture of volunteer work."
"Ah yes, you were getting people to sign-up for the blood drive at lunch, right?"
"Yep. And during forth period."
"Speaking of forth period, I heard you threatened Troy before it ended."
"And where exactly did you hear that piece of information?"
"I overhead some jocks during sixth talking about it. He said that he was with Troy at the time."
Nicola sighed, not surprised that piece of information circulated through the school.
"I didn't threaten him. I just simply reminded him that karma was a bitch."
Clark's eyes comically widened in surprise.
"Well, it appears that you could be a suspect in the assault on Troy," said Chloe.
"Yes, because I found a way to turn invisible and threw him around in the locker room. Oh, better yet, I used my telekinetic powers from a window to rough him up. Or, how about I used witchcraft and put a curse on him? Look, I was on the bleachers up until the bell rang, so I couldn't have been involved in Troy's accident."
Clark swallowed hard when Nicola said telekinetic powers and Chloe just chuckled.
"Okay, so maybe you didn't have anything to do with it. I'm curious as to why you had to remind Troy that karma is a bitch?"
"Troy was being a jerk to Amy Palmer, so I thought I should put him in his place," shrugged Nicola.
"Well, your choice words might make you look suspicious now, considering what happened to Troy," said Clark, finally able to get a word in.
"Look, no one is going to think I did anything to Troy. I have several witnesses who will be able to place me at the bleachers at the time of the incident, so they can't charge me of anything."
"I guess you're right."
The conversation of Troy dropped as a waitress brought Nicola's mocha to the table. For about the next hour, the trio hung out talking about everything and nothing before Clark announced that he had to go home to do some chores and homework, leaving Nicola and Chloe on their own.
"You know if I had a dime for every time Clark had to leave to do chores, I'd be a very rich woman," commented Chloe as Clark walked out of the Beanery.
"So true."
"Okay, now that it's just us two, did you really not have anything to do with Troy's accident?"
"Of course not. Like I told Clark, it's highly unlikely that I could have."
"Then what, was your threat like your psychic abilities kicking in?"
"I don't have psychic abilities, Chloe."
"Well, I find it a very big coincidence that right after you tell the guy karma's a bitch, he's assaulted by an invisible assailant."
"I don't know what to tell you Chloe, but your guess about what happened is as good as mine."
Chloe stared pensively at Nicola for a moment as if she was trying to figure out if she was telling the truth. Finally, Chloe let out a sigh, realizing her friend was really telling the truth.
"Okay, I believe you. I'm just really curious to find out what really happened."
"So am I, but I assure you I'm not the answer."
There was a pause of silence before Chloe decided to a change in subject was in order.
"When do you start your night school classes?"
"Next Monday. I have to take a two-hour Government class on Mondays and Wednesdays at Smallville High. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I take a two-hour senior English class at Smallville Community College. Fun stuff."
"Well, aren't you going to be busy."
"Yep. And if that's not bad enough, I have to change my schedule around when the next semester starts and drop one class to replace it with a Economics class."
"Which one are you going to drop?
"My first choice was my science class, but since I need at least three years to apply to some of the schools I'm considering, that's not really an option."
"So, it'll probably be a elective class?"
"Yep. My choices are my journalism class, photography, or theatre. Since I've really started getting into the journalism stuff and photography is out of the question, I'm pretty sure it will be theatre."
"Behold the wonders of process of elimination."
"Enough about me, how goes the Torch? Enjoying your renewed reign?"
"The Torch is great. Nothing like a full-fledged investigation to get the blood pumping, although, except for the Troy incident which only leads to dead ends, Smallville's currently lacking any stories that are actually worthy of investigation."
"Don't worry, it won't take long before something else strange pops on to the radar."
"So true."
A waitress came to their table to see if they need refills of their drinks, putting a short stint in their conversation. They turned down her offering of a refill, and as soon as she left them, Nicola moved the conversation to a new subject.
"You and Clark seem to have smoothly transitioned back on track."
"Yeah. Clark and I talked, if you can call it an actual conversation. It was more of Clark apologizing for seeming like he was taking sides and me apologizing for being a little short with him and making that comment about Lana. Basically everything was forgiven and hopefully forgotten."
"Well, I'm just glad it all worked out."
"Me too."
"As much as I'd like to stay and continue our chat, I gotta blaze. My mom asked me to pick up my sister after some school thing she had until four, which is quickly approaching. See ya."
"Later."
Nicola got up from her seat and left the Beanery to do her errand. The rest of her afternoon was uneventful until her cell phone rang later that night.
"Talk to me."
"I need a favor," a female voice announced.
"Hello to you, too, Chloe."
"Sorry for lack of formalities, but it really wasn't on the agenda of this call."
"Wow. Sounds urgent. So what's up?"
"I need a favor," Chloe repeated.
"Yeah that much I got. What exactly does this favor entail?"
"Well, first you got to swear to hear me out before you try to turn me down."
"Oh, now that sounds promising," Nicola said sarcastically.
"Just hear me out."
"Fine. But two questions, is it dangerous and is it legal?"
"No and yes."
"Damn. Well, that's no fun."
"Will you please just let me get on with it?"
"Sorry. Proceed."
"Anyway. I need you to go to the Luthor Manor and take pictures with your camera and possibly develop a couple if it's not too much too ask."
There was silence from Nicola's end, and after a few moments passed, Chloe thought something might have happened.
"Nicola?"
"Why?"
"Because my camera battery is currently dead, plus add to the fact I have a lovely English paper to write on top of a math assignment."
"No, not why can't you do it— although that was my next question. Why do you need pictures of the Luthor Manor?"
"Not the manor, per se. A certain room in the house. You see, Clark called me a few minutes ago to inform me that something weird happened at the manor and a room got vandalized. And you know me and weird, when he explained what happened, my interest was peaked. So, I asked him if he could see if you could come take pictures of the room so I could take a look, and he after he asked Lex, he said it was alright."
"You know that things are not exactly great between Lex and me."
"Yeah, I know it, you know it, and Lex knows it, but Clark doesn't. You know that Lex won't turn down any favors Clark asks for and Lex doesn't want Clark in on the relationship you and he had, so he won't turn Clark down on this one, otherwise it would look suspicious. Besides, I bet he would use any excuse to see you again if the flowers and the Beanery visit from last week are any indication."
"Right"
"So will you do it?"
There was a deep sigh from Nicola.
"Fine. But just so you know, you owe me big for this."
"I know. Thank you, you're the best."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll have the pictures for you tomorrow."
"Bye."
Nicola hung up the phone and put it into her purse. She searched the room for her camera, and after she located it, she ascended the stairs to the main floor of the house. She moved her way through the house to look for her mom, and when she entered the living room found her watching some movie with Brad. Out of the corner of her eye, Juliet saw her daughter enter the living room and her attention momentarily moved to her. She eyed the camera and purse that were in Nicola's hands and raised an eyebrow at the sight of them.
"Going somewhere?"
"Yeah. Chloe got some scoopage on a breaking story and needed pictures of it. Since she's unable to take them herself because she's boggled down with homework, she asked me if I could do it for her, and I told her I could."
"Where do you need to go for the pictures?"
"A house a couple of miles outside of town. Don't worry, I know the owner."
Juliet stared pensively at Nicola for a moment.
"Okay. But be careful, and don't stay out too late. It's a school night."
Nicola rolled her eyes then replied, "Yeah, cuz I really need to get in a lot of sleep every night."
"Regardless, you're a teenager that has a curfew, got it?" Juliet retorted sternly.
"Got it. Don't worry I won't take long. Good night."
Nicola strolled out of the living room and grabbed her keys from the foyer before exiting the house. It wasn't too long after she started her car that she found herself climbing the steps that led to the front door of the Luthor Manor. She knocked loudly, and after a few moments the door opened revealing a manservant she had met the few times she had come to the place.
"Hello Miss Lively," he greeted as he let her in.
"Hello Jackson. How are you doing this evening?" she asked friendly as he led her down the hallway to where she assumed the vandalized room was located.
"Quite well, thank you. How are you?"
"I'm good, thanks. I hear it was quite an eventful night here today."
"Yes, it was indeed. A room upstairs was vandalized about an hour ago. No one heard or saw anyone come in."
"Well, no offense Jackson, but the security here isn't exactly unbreachable."
"None taken."
The rest of the walk through the house was silent. They walked up a flight of stairs and as they approached the end of the hall, Nicola noticed some police tape was attached to one of the sides of the doorframe. When the two reached the door, Jackson gave Nicola a curt nod before turning to go back the way they came. Nicola thanked his retreating back before slowly walking through the doorway and into the room. As she entered, instead of taking sight to the damaged room, her sight came across three familiar bodies in the room. Her full attention, however, was more focused on two of the three figures that were observing the wreckage. She internally retched at the sight of a brunette clinging on to the side of her former flame. To the average observer it would have appeared that Lex was completely relaxed with the brunette attached at his side, but because of Nicola's second sight, she could tell by his aura that he was completely uncomfortable.
"You're here," said a male voice, breaking her from her train of thought.
She broke from her gaze of the couple and quickly moved it to Clark, hoping that she had moved her line of sight before the two had a chance to catch her watching them. Finally out of her daze, she replied to her tall friend who had noted she made it to the manor.
"Have I ever told you how much I loved your excellent observational skills, Clark?"
"Funny," Clark replied dryly.
"Oh, you know I'm just messing with you Clarkie-boy."
She finally moved her sights to the condition of the room, and for the first time noticed the writings on the wall. "Leave", "Get Out", and "Go Now" were scrawled in big letters with fluorescent spray paint. On top of the graffiti-clad walls, the room was also completely trashed.
"So, what happened here?" she asked breaking the short silence that had emerged while she had glanced over the room.
"Chloe didn't tell you?"
"She didn't really give details. All she said was that a room was vandalized under weird circumstances. So, what exactly happened?"
"Do you want the long version, or a trimmed version?" asked Lex, speaking for the first time.
"I'll take the long version."
"Well, we all heard a pounding noise from different parts of the house and we discovered at the same time it was coming from here. When we got to the door and find it rattling with bright light coming out its edges. I walked toward the door to open it, but as I reached for the doorknob, the rattling and bright light stopped. As I started to open the door, something blasted the door open and something bumped into me, making me lose my balance. Clark, Victoria, and I walked into this room, then turned on the lights to find the bulbs had been replaced with blacklights and the messages on the wall."
"Creepy."
"I thought so."
"From the yellow tape on the doorway, I gather you called the cops and they have come and gone?"
"Correct."
"So, what was their assessment?"
"That it was just some punk vandals and not ghosts as our run-away imaginations might have thought.."
"Makes sense. I mean, how many ghosts can get a hold of some blacklights and fluorescent spray paint?"
"That's what the officers said," replied Clark.
"And when you told them about the rattling door, bright lights, the sudden blast of the door opening, the feeling of someone brushing past you, and the fact there was no time for the vandals to disappear as quickly as they did?"
"They said we must have been imagining things," said Lex.
"Fear was causing your perception of reality to go awry?"
"Something like that."
"Well, I agree with the cops, definitely not poltergeist, but I wouldn't totally eliminate the possibility of it being supernatural related."
"Supernatural?" snickered Victoria.
Nicola turned to Victoria and glared at her.
"Yes, supernatural. As in attributed to a power that seems to violate or go beyond natural forces."
"I know what supernatural means."
"Coulda fooled me," she muttered to herself.
No one acted as if they heard her muttered words, but a smirk did appear on Lex's face at her comment. There was a couple of seconds of silence before Nicola realized she might as well get this situation over with as soon as possible.
"If you don't mind, I better hurry up and get some pictures taken so I can head home."
"Go right ahead," replied Lex.
Nicola started snapping photos of the room while Lex, Clark, and Victoria continued to do their own observations. Time passed, and soon she was approaching a satisfactory number of photos taken when a female voice from behind interrupted her photography.
"I don't believe we've met," she heard the women say in a haughty British accent, causing Nicola to turn face her with a raised eyebrow. "Victoria Hardwick."
Victoria outstretched her hand for Nicola to shake, but instead of shaking Victoria's hand and introducing herself, she stared blankly at the hand to Victoria's face then back to the hand before turning back around to finish taking her pictures.
"Pretending to play nice with me won't help you score points with Lex," she informed Victoria after a moment of silence passed.
"Excuse me?" said Victoria, her tone revealing her obvious offense at the comment. Nicola smirked to herself at the fact she had managed to crawl underneath the Brit's skin.
"You heard me."
There was a second of silence before Victoria's shrill voice filled the air, earning the attention of the two males in the room.
"I do not have to withstand such slander from the likes of you."
Nicola turned back around when she heard the phrase "likes of you" and found Victoria turning to walk away from her. Nicola took a step forward, grabbed Victoria's arm, and then turned the Brit back around to face her, keeping a tight grip on her wrist.
"First of all, in order for my statement to be considered slander, it has to be false. And secondly, just because my bank account isn't as large as yours does not mean I'm less than you," she said, her voice booming, alerting Lex and Clark to be ready to intervene if necessary. "So, next time you decide to try and demean me, you better rethink it, otherwise I will be forced to trounce your scrawny Brit ass."
During Nicola's tirade, Victoria had kept trying to get away from her, but her grip on the Brit was tight. When she was finished, she noticed that Victoria was looking down at her wrist where Nicola's hand was still gripping on it tightly. Nicola took in Victoria's aura and saw a mix of anger and fear blending into the rim of her deep red glow. She smiled slightly at the fact she got to the older female. She felt a pair of hands grab onto her sides to pull her away from Victoria, and gave little resistance to the pull after letting go of Victoria's wrist. She turned to find that the hands belonged to Clark and quickly pulled herself from his grip. She turned back to eye Victoria to find Victoria rubbing at her now red wrist and Lex at her side to comfort her. Nicola tried not to look affected by the sight, but she knew it wouldn't be long before she couldn't take it anymore. Deciding her departure was long overdue, she turned to Lex.
"Well, Luthor, thanks for allowing me access to your domain," she said finally, acting as though she hadn't threatened his companion moments before. "Chloe and I really appreciate it."
"Not a problem. It's always a pleasure to be in your acquaintance, Miss Lively."
Nicola internally shivered at the smooth tone in his voice, and she chided herself for letting him still affect her. She watched Lex smirk, obviously catching on to his affect on her, and she frowned.
"Well, I must be off, it is a school night, after all. Have a good night, Mr. Luthor."
"You too."
"And I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school Clark."
"Of course."
"Good night then."
Without another word she spun towards the door that led to the hallway and she casually strolled to the door. As soon as she knew she was out of sight, her pace quickened, and soon she found herself reaching her car again. However, before she had a chance to put her key into the door, a blur passed by her and slowed to form Clark blocking her from entering her car.
"Clark? What are you doing? What if someone saw you?"
"No one saw me."
"You want something, Clark?"
"What was with you in there?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about how you attacked Victoria."
Nicola snorted when Clark said attacked before replying, "I didn't attack her, Clark. Although I'll admit, the thought did cross my mind."
"Why? What did she do?"
"You should have heard her Clark. She totally tried to demean me in there, acting like just because she has money she's better than me. I was ready to rip off her head."
"I could tell."
"Look, Clark, I just lost my temper in there, alright? Nothing more. I'm not some freak of the week you have to stop from going on a killing spree."
"II didn't think that. I just was wondering what made you snap."
"There's something about her I just don't like, okay? It's like this weird vibe I get off her, something in her aura."
'Yeah, and it's so not the fact that she's sleeping with Lex, is it?'
her subconscious mocked her.'Shut up,'
she scolded herself.Clark stared at her pensively as if trying to see if she was lying, but soon the look of concentration left his face.
"To be honest with you, there's something about her I don't trust either. You didn't by chance connect with her when you had a hold of her wrist, did you?"
"No, why?"
"Well, before we heard the pounding, I was going to the study to look for a watch Lex was looking for and caught Victoria snooping on Lex's computer there."
"Interesting."
"Yeah. So, I was kind of hoping that maybe you were able to see what she was planning to do, kind of like you did with Phelan."
"Sorry, I've been getting better at controlling when I connect with people lately."
"Oh. Well, do you think you could try to connect with her?"
"That would require coming in contact with the Brit-bitch, and I have absolutely no intention of getting within a ten-mile radius of the little twit. Sorry Clark."
"That's okay, I understand," replied Clark with a slight frown on his face, obviously disappointed.
Nicola sighed, then chastised herself for letting Clark's puppy dog face get to her.
"But, I guess I can at least go into her dream tonight or tomorrow. You know, they say you can learn a lot about what's going on through a person's mind by looking into their dreams."
Clark's goofy smile decorated his face before he hugged her.
"Thanks. I really appreciate it."
"Not a problem Clark. Well, I need to get home. Need a ride?"
"No, I drove the truck here to deliver some flowers."
"Alright well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Yeah, see ya."
Clark sidestepped so he was no longer in her path, then Nicola unlocked her door to climb in. She started her car, and then gave Clark a wave before driving away from the mansion. Initially, she had planned to head straight home, but instead Nicola found herself headed to the place she frequently went to clear her head, Crater Lake Park. She quickly arrived to her spot at the park, but as soon as she got out of the car to crouch by the lake, she was assaulted by the fresh memories of the last time she had visited the lake. It had been almost a week before when she came her to meet Lex for their talk. Before she could stop it, a holographic replay of the events emerged around her. She saw an image of herself at her car talking to Lex, tears rolling down her face. She took a couple of deep breaths and closed her eyes, willing her powers to cease. After a couple of seconds, she opened her eyes to find the images gone. Letting out a deep sigh, she decided that this spot would be forever tainted by past events, and decided she would have to use her orbing power to find a nice, secluded spot to do her thinking from now on.
Realizing that over-thinking would occur instead of clearing her head, Nicola hopped back into her Jeep and determined that it would be best just to go home. The drive was short, but once she was home, she found comfort. She announced she was home before retreating to her room in the basement to distract herself with homework. Once in the security of her room, Nicola flopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. She glanced at her alarm clock to see it was only 9:30. It was way too early to do any dreamwalking as she had promised Clark she would do. She decided that she would take care of it way later after she herself got her own rest that would come later. As curious as she was to find out what was going on in that shallow little Brit's head, she wasn't exactly too excited about the idea of checking out her dreams.
Nicola got back from her bed and resolved that the best thing to do at that moment was keep herself busy. Her best option was to develop the pictures of the vandalized she had taken for Chloe. She slipped into her dark room then got to work on developing the film and later some of the photos. Time passed, and soon she found herself needing her usual couple hours of sleep.
When she awoke a few hours later, she felt refreshed, and no longer weighed down by the depressing feelings that had overcome her earlier that night. Unfortunately, that feeling of calmness vacated her thoughts when she remembered she still had to dreamwalk into Victoria's mind. She sat up in her bed and started to focus. Quickly she felt the buzz around her and then found herself on the dreamplane. The dream orbs whizzed around her, and Nicola realized she had no idea which orb belonged to Victoria. She decided, that she should concentrate on Victoria's vibe and aura. After a couple of seconds later, she called for Victoria's dream orb, hoping in vain that it would come to her. Shortly thereafter, an extremely high-pitched orb flew at her head, and she had to duck to dodge it.
Definitely Victoria's.
She called to the dream orb again and soon it came back to her, this time not trying to beam her. She outstretched her hands and hummed to the orb, causing it to spin and expand. Soon the orb was big enough to see through. Not wanting to go in, Nicola watched the dream from the outside hoping she would get an idea of what was going on by just watching. She could see that the dream took place in Lex's study and that Victoria, Lex, and Clark were all standing around the room.
Wait. Rewind. Clark? Why is Victoria having a dream with Clark in it?
Nicola sighed in defeat as she realized she couldn't tell a damn thing by watching things from the outside. She stepped through the filmy edge and walked into the dream. She stood at a side of the room, away from the three dream figures' line of sight. Quickly she was able to catch in on the conversation.
"Clark told me he saw you going through my computer files, Victoria. Do you mind giving me an explanation?"
"I wasn't going through your files," insisted Victoria. "I was just using your internet browser, that's all."
"Sure you were. Well, if you weren't going through my files, then why have you been giving your father information on what company he should consider buying out?"
"I haven't-"
"Don't lie to me, Victoria," Lex interrupted her. "I know for a fact it's true."
"Let me explain. My father-"
This time, it was a voice coming from the door that was opening that interrupted Victoria. A shiver went down through Nicola's spine as she heard a familiar voice ring into the room.
"Lexy-pie, are you ready yet?"
The voice sounded more than familiar. In fact, it sounded like a whiner version of her own voice. As the door slowly opened, a mantra floated through her head. Please don't be me. Please don't be me.
Unfortunately, her prayers were unanswered. When the door opened, she saw herself walking through the door. Well, it was almost an exact replica of Nicolaif she dressed in very short, tight leather skirts, showed off an excessive amount of cleavage and her mid-drift, and wore tons of make-up. She internally wretched at the sight of the skankier version of herself. Her doppelganger moved across the room and attached herself to Lex's side. He wrapped his arm around her back then kissed her forehead.
"In a minute, babe. I have a little more business to take care."
"Okay."
Nicola's double gave Lex a peck on the cheek, then moved to one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. Nicola wrinkled her nose when she watched herself twirl her hair.
I don't twirl my hair!!! I'm insulted. Stupid Brit's got me confused with herself. I will not be defamed like this, even if it is just a dream.
Making sure Victoria's attention was with Lex and not the double, Nicola made her replica disappear in the blink of an eye. She changed her sleeping attire to a knee length khaki skirt, a light blue shirt, and a pair of sneakers before making herself pop into the same spot her other self had been. She turned to look at Lex and Victoria who were still talking. She looked around for Clark, but found him missing.
Probably was asked to leave.
By now, Nicola was bored with the dream. She now knew why Victoria was back with Lex, so there really was no reason for her to stay in Victoria's dreamworld.
Since I'm here, though. Why don't I mess with Victoria's mind?
An evil smile graced her face as the wheels started to turn in her brain. She jumped up from her seat and then walked over to Lex and Victoria.
"Lexy, I'm bored," Nicola pouted, deciding it was best to play off Victoria's dream version of her. "I can think of more productive things you can do with your time then speak with the likes of her."
Dream Lex turned to Nicola and arched an eyebrow.
"Such as?"
"This."
Without a second thought, Nicola pounced on dream Lex and stated to kiss him. The point of it was to piss off Victoria, not to do something she wanted to do with the real Lex, and seriously, if she wanted to do that, she could have just gone to Lex's dream for that. Ignoring her conscience, she momentarily lost herself in this kiss. After a few seconds, dream Lex pulled away from her.
"What about her?" he asked, nudging his head towards Victoria.
"Oh, I can take care of that little problem for you."
Nicola moved her hand to her back and pulled out a gun from behind her. She cocked the gun, then pointed it at Victoria. The point of it was to scare Victoria, not to signify her killing the Brit. As she pulled the trigger, Nicola fully intended on stopping the bullet from hitting Victoria, but before the bullet got near Victoria, Nicola was catapulted back into the dreamplane.
She must have woken up. Hope you had a good scare, Victoria.
As Nicola was about to exit the dreamplane, an orb started to nudge her. She turned her attention towards the orb and reached out for it. The orb spun in her hands, and as the sound of the dream orb got louder, Nicola recognized the note coming off it.
Lex.
Curiosity got the better of her, and she hummed at the orb for it to expand. When it was big enough, Nicola stepped through the barrier and into the dream. After she entered the dream, she found that it took place in the place she had been hours before. Crater Lake Park. She looked around and quickly found Lex next to the lake. Upon realizing that another double of herself was in this dream, she realized what he was probably dreaming about. While her instincts told her to leave, she felt herself being pulled toward the flashback dream. Soon she was able to hear the familiar conversation she had a week before.
"So, you're willing to throw this," dream Nicola gestured between Lex and her. "All away?"
"It doesn't have to be that way," dream Lex insisted.
"Yes, yes it does."
"Why? Why does it have to be that way?"
"Because I'm not going to be in a relationship with a guy who's sleeping with another woman. Especially when that's the relationship that everyone will know about and mine is the one that's kept secret. I can't do it."
Nicola watched as dream Lex removed one of his hands from her dreamself's side then cupped her face with his newly freed hand. And even though it was the dream version of herself that was experiencing the touch, she could still feel the tingle of sparks that flew through her at his touch. Nicola saw dream Lex kiss dream Nicola for several seconds before her dreamself pushed him away from her.
"Stop. Don't do this."
Nicola remembered exactly what Lex said next. But the words that rolled through her head didn't come out as soon as they did in the real version. In fact, after a short pause, the next words to come out of dream Lex's mouth were entirely different.
"I love you," dream Lex said staring deep into dream Nicola's eyes.
Both Nicolas' eyes opened wide at dream Lex's admission.
There was silence before dream Nicola said, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I think I hallucinated for a second."
"I said, I love you.'"
Nicola watched her dreamself process the words he just said.
"Forget Victoria. Forget the good of the company. If it means losing you, it's not worth it."
Dream Nicola smiled brightly before she wrapped her arms around dream Lex and gave him a long kiss.
"I love you, too," dream Nicola said as they pulled apart.
Is this Lex's dream or mine? Because if I didn't know better, I'd think I fell asleep.
Not sure she could stomach the rest of the dream, Nicola made a quick exit. She opened her eyes to find herself back in her room. Lex's dream ran through her mind. If the fact wasn't obvious before, it was now; Lex still had feelings for her. Possibly even loved her.
This doesn't change anything. He made his decision. This doesn't change anything.
She said the mantra to herself over and over, trying to get herself to believe it. And by the time she had to get ready for school, she almost did. Pushing thoughts of her late-night excursions and all new findings aside, Nicola concentrated on getting to school on time.
The day passed slowly, but Nicola refused to use the time to over-think anything. She had left the pictures she had taken at the mansion the night before in her locker, so she hadn't remembered to give them to Chloe until after-school. So after the last bell rang, she stopped by the Torch office to see if Chloe was there. When she arrived at the Torch, she found Chloe and Clark sitting at the computers.
"I got your photos, Sull," Nicola announced as she entered the room.
"Sull?" repeated Chloe, raising an eyebrow.
"New thing I'm trying. Later I'll try Sully, then Van. What do you think?"
"I think I'd prefer Chloe, thanks."
"I'll try to remember that."
Nicola opened her bag then handed Chloe a handful of pictures. Chloe went through the photos and grabbed one with the 'Leave' message on it. Nicola and Clark followed Chloe as she went over to her wall to hang it up.
"So, what do you think?" asked Nicola.
"It doesn't leave much room for interpretation," replied Chloe.
"I was talking about the quality of the photo," she joked.
Chloe rolled her eyes at her friend's joke, but couldn't help but grin at the cheesy humor.
"It was pretty weird," said Clark, moving the subject back to the incident. "I mean, the door was shaking. When we got close, it blew open and Lex said he felt something brush past him."
"Maybe his Scottish castle came complete with a poltergeist."
"While I wouldn't doubt that some mysterious vortex of evil consumes the house, this doesn't really fit the poltergeist forte," inputted Nicola.
"Well, the police say it's vandals. They don't know many ghosts who write in spray paint and own a black light."
"I doubt we'll figure out what happened anytime soon. There really is nothing to go on right now," said Nicola. "I call for a new subject."
"How's the blood drive?" Chloe asked Clark.
"Actually, Lana and I are getting together tonight."
"At her place?"
"Yeah."
Nicola could sense the tension coming off of Chloe. She glanced at Clark to see if he noticed, but as usual, he was oblivious.
"That's very romantic," replied Chloe.
"Look at Clark, making the moves," chimed Nicola.
"Just remember, Clark, once you cross that line, you can't hide behind the cloak of friendship anymore. Proceed with caution."
Chloe turned and walked out of the Torch. Nicola knew it was because she couldn't handle continuing being the supportive best friend when in actuality her heart was breaking into a million pieces. Nicola frowned at her friend's retreating back, and instead of going after her right away like her instincts were telling her, she decided to giver her a little space for awhile.
"What was that about?" asked Clark, breaking Nicola from her thoughts.
Nicola forced herself not to roll her eyes at Clark's nature to be oblivious. As much as she loved the big lug, sometimes his naiveté was unbearable.
"She was just giving you some heed, Clark. And she's right."
"Right how?"
"Once you try to go in that direction, there's no turning back. All she's telling you to do is be careful."
Clark frowned slightly as he gave what his two female friends were saying some extra thought.
"As much as I'd love to stay and chat it up with you, I have to head out. See you later, Clarkie-boy. I hope everything goes well with Miss Lang tonight."
"Bye Nicola."
She strode to the parking lot hoping Chloe was still around, but found her Ford Falcon gone. Suddenly Nicola found herself in the mood for a carmel latte, and upon the whim that Chloe probably was in the mood for coffee, she decided to head to the Beanery. As she drove up the main street she saw the red Falcon parked in front of one of the shops. After she parked her car, Nicola walked into the Beanery and looked around for Chloe. She spotted her reporter friend sitting on one of the couches in the middle of the Beanery. She ordered her drink at the counter, and after receiving it, she headed over to where Chloe sat.
"Hey," she greeted her friend.
"Hey," replied Chloe with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"That was awfully big of you to set your feelings aside to encourage the boy of dreams to go after another girl."
"Yeah, well I've learned how to perfect the act."
"So it seems. You know you owe me big time for the pictures, right?"
"How big?"
"I'm talking 'the population of China and India combined' big."
"It couldn't have been that bad?"
"I was this close to throttling Miss Hardwick," she said, holding her index finger and thumb about a centimeter apart from each other to visualize how close she was talking.
"Wow, sounds intense. What happened?"
"Well, after I got to the mansion and found out what happened, I voiced my opinions on what could have happened. Victoria mocked my theories, but then later did that false niceness thing to try to score points with Lex, which I called her on. She made some comment about how she didn't have to 'take such slander from the likes of me,'" she quoted. "Then, I kind of just snapped, grabbed her wrist as she tried to walk away from me, and kinda threatened her."
"Wait, you threatened Victoria Hardwick, daughter of a multi-millionaire and the current girlfriend of your former boytoy?"
"Yes. In all honesty though, she deserved it, especially after I found out why she was really with Lex when I went into her dream."
Nicola's eyes widened at her slip-up. She usually had been so careful at not mention her powers, but after she told Clark about them, she supposed she had let her guard down a little too much.
"I'm sorry, did you just say you went into her dream?"
"No," said Nicola, trying to laugh it off as a ridiculous question.
"Yes, you did. What do mean you went into her dream?"
"I meant to say, after I had her in my dream."
"No, you didn't. I know what I heard."
"Look, can we just drop it? Please? It was just a slip of the tongue, okay?"
Chloe stared her down, trying to figure out her next move, but instead of further questioning about the dream thing, she decided to find out about the first part of what she said.
"Why do you think she's with Lex?"
"Her dad sent her to screw Lex and his company over."
"Ouch. Are you going tell him?"
"He already suspects. I'm pretty sure he knows for sure."
"Then why is he with her?"
"He claims it's basically like a business venture. Using her own plans to screw her over."
"Ah. So, is that why you two broke up?"
"Yeah, basically."
"Wow, that's some heavy stuff."
"Yeah, but I've come to deal with it," shrugged Nicola. "I better head home. I promised my sister I'd go riding with her this afternoon. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah. See you."
The next day, Nicola was walking down one of the stairwells at school with Pete and Clark as Clark told the two about his night with Lana. As Clark recalled the events, Nicola and Pete found themselves chuckling at their friend's wannabe-Casanova skills.
"Have you seen the sunset from my loft?" repeated Pete. "You actually said that?"
"Yep."
"That's so cute and cheesy all at the same time," commented Nicola.
"I bet your stomach was in knots the whole time."
"Yep."
"Clark, if I were you, I'd start what I was going to say now."
"No, I think I'll play it by ear. You know, fly by the seat of my pants."
"Clark you're not the flying type. I'll make notes."
"Yeah."
"Clark, don't listen to Cyrano, here," Nicola assured Clark before Pete walked away from the two. Nicola continued with Clark until they reached his locker. "From what it sounds, you did fine. In fact, if Nell didn't have such impeccable timing, I'm sure you would have a lot of juicer details to tell us."
"Right," Clark replied distractedly as he looked past her to see one of Smallville's guidance counselors come up to Whitney at his locker nearby.
"I just feel bad for Whitney," Nicola said to Clark, but she realized his attention was away from her. She turned to find his gaze was cast on the exact person she was speaking of. Using her acute ability to listen (i.e. eavesdrop) she watched Whitney and the guidance counselor talk.
"Whitney, your mother called and filled me in."
"She shouldn't have."
"Well, Whitney, she's just concerned. Look, I'm not here to push. If you need anything, my office is just down the hall. Okay?"
"Okay," replied Whitney, just to get the counselor to drop the subject.
After the guidance counselor walked away from Whitney, he closed his locker and Nicola and Clark started to walk in his direction.
"Okay, pretend you weren't just eavesdropping," whispered Nicola as they neared him.
It didn't matter though, because Whitney wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings, and as he turned from his locker, he lost a grip of his bag and the binder in his arm. A couple of books fell out of the bag, along with papers and other things. Clark quickly kneeled down to pick them up, while Nicola only grabbed the one book that skidded to her feet. A pharmaceutical bag caught Nicola's eye as Clark picked it up. Before Clark had a real hold on it, Whitney tore the bag out of his hand before tossing it and the books back into his bag, then promptly walked away from Clark.
"Sorryyou're welcome," Clark said lamely into the air.
As Whitney walked away, Clark turned to watched him retreat. A look of concentration appeared on his face that caused Nicola to raise an eyebrow.
"Amlodipine?" Clark said outloud.
"What are you talking about, Clark?"
Clark turned to Nicola realizing she was still there.
"The medicine in that Smallville Rx bag Whitney was Amlodipine."
"Using you're special powers to spy on people, eh?"
Clark shrugged, then realized he had forgotten to ask her about the Victoria dream thing.
"Speaking of special powers to spy on people, did you do your dream thing on Victoria?"
"It's called dreamwalking, Clark, and yes, I did."
"And?"
"She's up to no good. She's using the information on Lex's computer to benefit her dad's company."
"Interesting."
"But not surprising. Anyway, you probably should give the heads up to your millionaire bud, minus how you verified your suspicions."
"I will."
The bell rang signally the two aliens were late for their first period classes. As Nicola walked towards her class, she noticed the book in her hands was not her own. The realization dawned on her that Whitney walked away before she could return the book she picked up off the ground. Lucky for her though, her first class was trig with the quarterback so she didn't have to worry about going out of her way to return it. When she walked into her classroom, she found that the teacher was currently not in the room, so class hadn't started yet. She made her way to her desk that was behind Whitney and as she passed him, she placed his book on his desk.
"You know, a mumbled thanks would have been fine," she said to his back as she sat in her seat.
She heard Whitney mumble thanks and she rolled her eyes.
"I didn't mean for me."
Whitney turned to face her.
"What are you talking about?"
"When Clark helped you pick your stuff up, you could at least giving him a half-hearted thanks."
"Oh yeah, he's a regular boy scout," he replied dryly.
"All I'm saying is that you were just a tad ruder than necessary."
"Yeah, whatever."
Whitney turned back around and tried to ignore her, but she continued talking.
"You were awfully paranoid about the pharmacy bag. Afraid people would find out you're part of the Prozac nation?" she asked, trying to jar him, which it did.
"I'm not on Prozac," replied Whitney, turning back around to face her.
"Right, of course not, because if you were then you'd probably want your money back because it's obviously not working."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that you haven't exactly been the most chipper person on the block, you know?"
"No, I don't know. Why don't you further explain it to me?"
"It's just that in the last week you've been a little more down than usual. Kind of broody actually."
"I've just had a bad week, alright? Do me a favor and mind your business, okay?"
Nicola was about to argue, but before she could, their math teacher Mr. Paulson walked into the room apologizing for being late. As he started class, Nicola scribbled something down on a piece of paper and nudged Whitney's back. Whitney turned to face her and raised an eyebrow at her. She held out the note for him, which he took.
I don't give up easily.
Whitney frowned then gave Nicola one last look before turning his attention to trigonometry. Nicola fought the urge to use her telepathic abilities to pry through Whitney's mind and see what really was going on with the blonde. Whitney had to inform her on his own accord, and if Nicola had any say in it, he would soon. As her classes flew by, Nicola still couldn't get the Whitney situation off her mind. Curiosity getting the best of her, at the end of the lunch, she went to the Torch to use the internet to look up Amlodipine. After looking it up on a search engine, Nicola found a site that gave her information on the drug. As she read that it treats high blood pressure and chest pain, a frown marred her face.
Why would Whitney have heart medication? It's definitely not for himhe seems fine, well, except for the whole brooding act. Now I definitely have to find out what's up.
As she was about to read more, the bell rang, so she printed up the information so she could read the rest later. After she read all the information later that day, she was more determined to talk to Whitney. After school, she decided to wait by his locker so she could press him on the subject. When she made her way to his locker, she saw Clark at his own, so she decided to fill him on the situation.
"Hey Clark, what's up?"
"Nothing much. I was about to head to the Torch to get that information on the medicine that was in Whitney's bag."
"Oh. There's no need though, I already did it," she informed him.
She opened her bag and took a folded piece of paper out then handed it to Clark. She looked past him to see Whitney closing his locker and starting to walk in the opposite direction.
"I gotta blaze though, so we'll discuss it later?"
"Yeah, sure. Thanks for this."
"Not a problem. See ya."
Before Clark could get out a goodbye, Nicola was already rushing down the hall away from him. He glanced at the paper in his hand then tucked it into his pocket, deciding that he would look it over at the Beanery over a cup of coffee.
Meanwhile, Nicola had managed to almost catch up to Whitney as he walked out of the school and towards his truck in the parking lot. She called after him, but as he did the previous day, he ignored her shouting. As he unlocked the driver's side door, a hand caught his wrist and yanked him to turn around.
"I really don't like being ignored, Fordman."
"And I really don't like being stalked, Lively."
"I'm not stalking you. I'm concerned about you, that's all."
"Why?"
"Jeez Whitney, were you not paying attention to our conversation the other day? I'm trying to be your friend."
"Even after I've been rude to you these last two days?"
"So you admit it, you have been rude to people lately."
"Yeah, look, as much as I'd love to continue this conversation, I really have to go."
Whitney turned to get into his truck, but what Nicola said next stopped him in his tracks.
"Who's the medicine for? Really?"
He turned back around to face her.
"It's none-"
"Of my business," she finished for him. "I know. What I also know is that the medicine in the bag was heart medication."
"How"
"Clark got a peek of the name of the medicine," Nicola embellished the truth. "Amlodipine. For high blood pressure and chest pain."
Whitney was silent for a second before he let out a heavy sigh.
"There my dad's."
"Oh. Is he okay?"
"He's in Metropolis getting some tests run on him."
"Wow. I'm sorry."
Whitney looked down at his feet, not wanting to see the pity he thought would be on her face.
"If he's in Metropolis, why do you have the medication?"
"The local pharmacist is friends with my parents, so it's cheaper here than in Metropolis. Plus, I was planning on heading back to the city this afternoon, so I offered to bring it down for them."
"Oh, you're driving to Metropolis? When?"
"Like right now."
"Do you want some company?"
Her words caused him to look back up at her.
"What?"
"It's a long drive to Metropolis and back. I just thought you could use some company."
"Are you serious?"
"As a heart attack," joked Nicola, before realizing that considering the situation, it wasn't the best thing to say. "Sorry, bad choice of words. Look, I don't have anything to do today, and six hours is a long time to be by yourself. So, what do you say?"
Whitney contemplated the situation for a minute, then after a small sigh, gave his answer.
"Fine, but don't make me regret it."
"Terrific. I know this might be too much to ask, but I drove my car here, so can we first both drive to my house so I can drop off my car?"
"Sure."
"Great. I parked at the other end of the parking lot. You wait here, and I'll be right back."
"Alright."
Whitney climbed into his truck and started the engine as Nicola walked to her own vehicle. After she got her car, they drove to her house. When they arrived, she got out of her car and signaled Whitney to wait for her one second. She went inside to tell her mom about what was going on, and after a few minutes of discussion, Nicola's mom finally agreed to let her go to Metropolis. She hurried back outside, and as Whitney saw her descend the front stairs, he got out of the truck to open her door for her. Once she was inside, he closed the door, then went back around to his own side of the truck.
"What took so long?"
"I had to convince my mom to let me go to Metropolis on a school night with a boy she doesn't know."
"Oh."
"But it's fine. I told her it was really important and she finally relented."
"That was cool of her."
"Yeah."
The two fell into a semi-awkward silence, which lasted several minutes. When they finally arrived on the highway that would lead them to Metropolis, Nicola decided to speak.
"Am I correct in the assumption that Lana is unaware of what's going on?"
"I just figured she's gone through enough pain and loss in her life that she shouldn't have to go through this with me."
"That might be true, but Lana has a tendency to surprise you. Besides, she'd want to know about this and be there for you."
"Maybe. Look, can we just change the subject, please?"
"Sure. How about we use these three hours to get to know each other better?"
"Okaybut don't make me regret agreeing to it."
"Fine."
Nicola spent the next few hours drilling Whitney on information about him, asking any inane question she could think of. The mood had been incredibly lighter when they arrived in Metropolis, however the mood darkened as they rolled up to the entrance of the parking lot of the hospital. As they pulled up to the hospital, Nicola realized which hospital they had come to; Metropolis University Hospital. Whitney glanced over at Nicola after he parked the car and noticed she looked visibly pale.
"Are you okay? You're looking a little pale."
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure? Because, if you are going to continually badger me to be honest with you, I think it should go both ways."
Nicola was quiet for a few seconds as she contemplated if she should tell him why she paled at the sight of the hospital.
"Let's just say I don't have fond memories of this particular hospital."
"Care to elaborate?"
"My father died here," she said bluntly.
"I'm sorry."
"That makes two of us."
"You know, you don't have to go in if you don't want to. You could just stay in-"
"No, I'll be fine," she cut him off. "I'd like to think I've been getting better with visiting hospitals."
"Alright, if you say so."
They got out of the car and walked to the hospital's entrance together in silence. Whitney led the way to the elevators and they rode to the third floor where his father was roomed. As they walked through the hallways, Nicola concentrated on the fact that she was here to support Whitney, not to have a mental breakdown over a past event. By the time she felt calmer about her surroundings, Whitney stopped at a door and peered inside. Nicola slipped next to him then took a peek into room to see a middle aged man sitting up in his hospital bed watching something on the TV. Sensing his hesitation, Nicola placed a hand on his shoulder and upon his questioning look gave him a reassuring smile.
"I'm going to get something to drink from that vending machine we passed on the way here. Want anything?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Okay, I'll be right back."
She left Whitney at the doorway and started to walk down the hallway to where she saw the pop machine. A few paces away, she turned back to the room Whitney's dad was in and saw him going in to it. Deciding to give the two as much privacy as possible, Nicola decided to go down to the gift shop to browse for a little while. She was in the gift shop for a while before she opted to head back to Fordman. She wandered back to the elevators and went to the floor she had previously been. After making a stop at the pop machine to get a drink for herself and one for Whitney, she slowly made her way back to Mr. Fordman's room. When she arrived back outside of the room, she stood at the doorway and watched the father and son talk. Whitney sat in a chair next to the bed, his back to her. She heard the light conversation, but wasn't really listening to it. She felt a pang of jealousy hit her heart as she watched the interaction between the two men. It was times like this when she missed her own father most. She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice that the conversation stilled or see Mr. Fordman eye her questionably.
"Can we help you?" the gruff male voice asked breaking through her thoughts.
She blinked, then refocused her eyes on the elder Fordman. She noticed Whitney had turned and was looking at her curiously.
"Oh, sorry, I was just peeking my head in to see if Whitney wanted the root beer I bought for him, but I noticed you two talking, and I didn't want to interrupt."
"Thanks," said Whitney holding out his hand for the root beer.
She hesitantly walked into the room then tossed the drink to Whitney.
"I would have gotten you one, Mr. Fordman, but I wasn't sure what kind of drink you'd want."
"That's alright, I'm fine. I'm sorry, how do you know my son?"
"This is Nicola Lively," Whitney introduced his father to her. "I go to school with her."
"It's nice to meet you, sir," she said, outstretching her hand for him to shake.
"So, what brings you to Metropolis with my son?" he asked after receiving a firm handshake from her.
"I just thought he could use the company. Didn't want Smallville's star quarterback to fall asleep at the wheel on his way back from the big city."
"How thoughtful of you."
Nicola couldn't tell if the older Fordman was being sarcastic or not, but she decided it was best not to delve into it.
"Well, I'm going to go wait out in the hall. Nice meeting you Mr. Fordman."
"Same."
Nicola turned her heel, then quickly strode out of the room. From the chair she sat in outside of the room, she could still hear their conversation.
"What happened to you and Lana?" she heard Mr. Fordman inquire.
"Nothing. We're still dating."
"Then why did you bring this girl with you, and not Lana?"
"She's just my friend, Dad. She was around when I was about to leave for here, and she wanted to tag along. I figured I could use the company, so I let her."
"Oh. Well, next time you should bring Lana."
"I will. Look, I better head back to Smallville. It was good seeing you. I hope you get better."
"So do I, son."
Nicola heard movement, and then soon Whitney reappeared in the hallway. By looking at his aura, she could see his mood was slightly gloomy.
"Ready to go?" he asked her, trying to act slightly cheerful.
"Sure."
They silence that fell over them as they walked down the hallway to the elevators continued all they way to the car. Nicola searched for the right words to say as the two approached Whitney's truck.
"Are you okay?" she asked lamely as he unlocked the passenger door for her, finally breaking the silence.
"Truthfully?" he asked turning to face her.
"No, I want you to lie to me. Of course I want the truth."
"Then, no, I'm not okay. It's just I've never seen my father look sofragile. I mean, he's always been like this strong, tough-guy that I've looked up to my entire life. It's just really weird. And what's scary is that we don't know if he will get better or worse or how long he has on him."
Nicola saw the tears forming in his eyes and her heart went out to him. Before she knew what she was doing, she found her arms wrapped around his neck. Whitney first stiffened under her, but after a few short seconds, he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her waist. They stood like that for a few moments before Nicola realized they had been hugging for a little longer than necessary.
"Well, I guess we better head back to Smallville," she said as she pulled away from Whitney.
"Yeah. Right."
He opened the door for her then helped her in. When he started the engine, Nicola realized that the two of them hadn't eaten yet.
"You know, now that I think about it, we haven't had anything to eat yet. How about we get something to eat here in Metropolis."
"Sounds good. Got any place in mind?"
"There's this burger joint nearby that's pretty good."
"That works. How do we get there?"
Nicola instructed Whitney on how to get to the diner that was only a few blocks away from the hospital. It was another diner in Metropolis that Nicola had gone to a few times that had good burgers, but the deal breaker was that she knew she wouldn't run into anyone she knew there. It didn't take long for Whitney to locate the place, and after circling the blocks that surrounded the diner, he was finally able to find a parking spot. When they walked into the diner, they found it relatively busy. After waiting a while to be seated, they were ushered to a booth at one end of the diner. Service wasn't as slow as Nicola thought it would be considering how many people were eating there that night, so it wasn't too long before they had their dinners in front of them. The two ate in a comfortable silence, at ease with just being in each other's company.
Following filling their stomachs, they soon found themselves back on the road to home. There was a comfortable silence between the two. Nicola knew Whitney needed time to process all his thoughts, so she gave him that time. Nicola turned the radio on, and music from the local radio filled the car. At the speed Whitney had been driving, the three-hour drive had turned to two and a half hours. It was around 11 PM when the truck pulled into Nicola's driveway. The two sat in the truck in silence for a few moments as they both searched for the right words to say.
Finally Whitney spoke, "Thanks for coming with me today. I know I was a little apprehensive about it at first, but I'm glad you came. Plus, hospitals must be hard for you to visit, it must have been difficult to put that aside and want to be there for me."
"You learn, Fordman, that sometimes you have to go outside your comfort zone for your friends."
"So, you really consider us friends now?"
"I'd like to think so."
"Well, Lively, I'd be honored to call you my friend."
Nicola smiled at Whitney, then impulsively threw her arms around him for a hug, which he returned.
"See you tomorrow?"
"See you tomorrow."
Nicola hopped out of the car and walked towards her front steps. When she reached them, she turned to wave at Whitney before he drove back down the driveway to the main road. She was about to climb the steps of her house, when a voice startled her.
"How long have you two been going on?" the smooth voice asked her.
She turned to the source of the voice and Lex emerged from the nearby shadow.
"Fuck, Luthor," she cursed, clutching her heart. "You really know how to skin some years off a person's life."
"My apologizes."
"How long have you been here?"
"Not long. I pulled up your driveway just moments before you and the quarterback."
"Why are you here?"
"I tried calling your cell phone, but you weren't answering."
Nicola frowned. She hadn't heard her phone ring. She dug into her purse and discovered it missing.
"Shit. Where's my cell?" she muttered to herself.
Ignoring Lex, she quickly racked in her brain where her cell phone could be, then decided to check her car. As she walked to her Jeep, Lex followed her.
"So, I decided to come by your house to talk to you," continued Lex to her back while she opened her car and searched the interior for her cell phone.
"Aha," she said after a second at the discovery of her cell on the passenger seat. She tucked the phone into her purse then turned back to Lex. "Don't you think it's a little late for a visit? Couldn't this have waited until a more appropriate hour?"
"No, actually this really couldn't wait."
"If I wasn't answering my cell phone, what made you think I was going to talk to you? And what made you think I'd be up at this hour anyway? Plus, were you just expecting to knock on my front door at this ungodly hour?"
"I had good faith that you would listen to me about this. Regarding your second and third question; I remembered that you said you usually stayed up pretty late and I knew you had a door that led directly to your room."
"Alright, so you had all your bases covered. Just tell me whatever it is you came her to tell me, then leave."
"Fine. Victoria was attacked earlier tonight."
Nicola stared astonished at what Lex said, but not for the reasons one would think.
"You came all the way over here to tell me that your bimbo girlfriend was attacked?" Nicola laughed. "And I would care, why? I mean, I'm not happy she got hurt or anything, but, jeez Lex, what the hell's your malfunction?"
"Where were you at around ten o'clock?"
"You've got to be fucking kidding me. You think I did it? Did Victoria throw herself down some stairs and blame me for it?"
"Victoria can't really explain what happened."
"Okay, now, you've definitely got to elaborate on that one."
"She was taking a bath earlier tonight, when someone or something tried to drown her."
"I don't blame them," she muttered to herself, but Lex still heard her. "And she didn't see who did this?"
"She and Clark didn't actually see the assailant."
"Clark? Of course the resident hero came to her rescue, why am I not surprised. And what do mean by 'didn't see.'"
"They think the person was invisible."
"Invisible?" Nicola laughed again. "So, what you're telling me is that you think I found away to become invisible and attacked your new girlfriend?"
"It's Smallville; anything's possible."
A wave of anger washed over Nicola as she really comprehended that Lex actually thought she was capable of trying to kill someone.
"I can't believe you'd think I'd do something like that!"
"It's no secret you have ill feelings for Victoria."
"But I wouldn't try to kill her. Do me a favor and get the hell away from me."
She pushed past him and climbed the steps of her house.
"You never answered my question."
"What question?" she said, not stopping her ascending of the stairs.
"How long have you and the quarterback been sneaking around?"
She stopped dead in her tracks and whipped around to glare at him.
"We haven't. Not that it's any of your business."
"It is my business. You seeing other guys is my business."
"No, Lex, it's not. Because, see, last time I checked we don't go out anymore. Actually, we technically never even went out in the first place; that would require actually going out on dates, which we didn't. And, more importantly, I'm definitely not your property. So really, nothing I do concerns you anymore."
"I still care about you."
"Oh gee, Luthor, I'm so touched," she said sarcastically. "I'm sick of this, Lex. If you really cared about me, you would leave me alone. Go home to your girlfriend."
She turned back around before he could get another word in, then she slipped into her house and closed it behind her. As soon as the door separated her from Lex, she let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding and leaned back against the door. She took time to calm herself down, but was quickly interrupted by her mom's voice.
"Nicola, honey, is that you?"
"Yeah, ma. Just got back."
"Oh, good. I was getting worried. You weren't answering your cell."
"I accidentally forgot it in my car."
Her mom appeared in the foyer and frowned when she took in the distraught appearance of her daughter.
"Are you okay? You don't look too good."
"I'm fine. It's just that the hospital my friend's dad was staying was Metropolis University Hospital," replied Nicola, not giving her mom the whole truth.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie."
"It was fine. I just concentrated on being there for my friend."
Juliet smiled at her daughter.
"I better get on my homework," Nicola continued.
"Alright."
Nicola grabbed her bag that she a discarded in the foyer earlier that day and took it downstairs to do her homework.
The next day, she made sure not to dwell on her defunct love life or the woes of her ex. She tried to forget the accusation of attacking Victoria, but later she would discover that was easier said than done. When she got to her locker before school, Clark cornered her.
"Victoria was attacked yesterday."
"And you saved her. Yeah, I heard."
"Be honest with me. Was it you?"
She gaped at Clark, surprised he would accuse her of something like that.
"How could you even ask me that question?"
"Look, I remember when you attacking her that day the manor was vandalized. And you threatened that Troy kid before he was later attacked under almost the same circumstances. Plus, I know you have the abilities to do something like that without anyone noticing you."
"They're called coincidences Clark."
"They're awfully suspicious coincidences."
"If you really want to be sure I didn't do it, Clark, I have witnesses that can place me somewhere else during both attacks. But I would have thought that by now you would have known me well enough to know I wouldn't do something like that."
Clark was quiet for a moment before he realized what an idiot he was for suggesting one of his good friends was capable of attacking someone in cold blood.
"I'm sorry. I jumped to conclusions."
"You know what Clark, I suggest that before you confront your next suspect that you have more concrete evidence."
She slammed her locker door shut, then stormed away from Clark. She carried that anger she felt toward Clark for the rest of the day. Her other friends noticed the slight rift between the two during their sixth period class together when she ignored Clark the entire time. After school, she waited several minutes before going to the Torch's office in hopes that Clark would not be there by the time she arrived. Luckily, when she arrived at the Torch's office, she found only Chloe in the office talking on the phone at her computer. While Chloe wrapped up her conversation, Nicola picked up a small plastic snow globe off from Chloe's desk and played with it.
"Great, I really appreciate it," Nicola overheard Chloe say into the phone. "I'll be over in a half an hour. Thanks again."
She hung up the phone and looked intently at the object in her hand.
"Whatcha got there?"
"Clark retrieved this from the mansion. It's broken glass from the mirror in the bathroom Victoria was attacked in last night."
"And?"
"It has the blood who ever attacked her on it, plus this really weird green substance that explains why they weren't able to see the attacker."
"What do you mean?"
Chloe touches the glass then holds up her finger to show that the tips her fingers were invisible.
"Whoa, trippy."
Chloe regarded Nicola close, looking for any traces of prior knowledge of how the assailant turned invisible. Nicola noticed this, and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Nothing. I'm just wondering if this is the first time you've seen the whole invisibility trick."
"What are you talking about?"
"It's just, first Troy the boy you threatened gets attacked by some invisible person. Then later Victoria a woman who you obviously have contempt for is nearly drowned by some unseen force. I'm just curious as to whether or not the blood sample on here might match up to yours, is all."
At Chloe's words, the anger that was bubbling inside of Nicola met its boiling point.
"I'm sick of being everyone's prime suspect! I didn't attack anyone!" Nicola yelled, all the anger that had been building up inside of her from every accusation exploding. With out warning, the snow globe in her hand burst. All of its liquidy and sparkly contents oozed out of it and onto her hands. She stared wide-eyed at the remnants of the snow globe in her hand, in astonishment of what just happened. Somehow her telekinetic powers just went out of control.
"What the hell just happened?"
Chloe's inquisitive voice broke through her thoughts.
"What?"
"How did you do that?"
"II didn't," lied Nicola, hoping that Chloe would just think she was confused.
"Bullshit. You cannot just pull a Carrie 2 on me and expect me not to know it was you."
Her mind quickly searched for a smooth lie, but nothing came to her. Part of her wanted to tell the truth, but another part of her wasn't sure it was the best thing to do. Her common sense was telling her that it wasn't like either her or Chloe would be in danger if she told her the truth because it's not like there was a secret government searching for her specifically. She knew that even if she told Chloe that she doesn't know what happened, Chloe would still be curious and might investigate it, and if she discovered the truth on her own, the results would be far worse. She reached a resolve and made a decision.
"Alright, I'll tell you the truth, but not here."
"Okay," replied Chloe cautiously. Now she was even more curious as to what was going on.
"You were planning to meet someone in a half-hour, right?"
"Yeah. I'm having the blood on the mirror analyzed by one of my contacts, why?"
"That means you have time for a little drive before then."
"Sure, I guess."
"Good. Did you bring your car?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'll leave mine in the parking lot and come back for it later."
The two walked to the parking lot to Chloe's Falcon and got into the car.
"So, where did you want to go?" asked Chloe as she started up the car.
"Crater Lake Park? But the south side, not the north side."
"Why not the north side?"
"Let's just say that due to recent events, it's not one of my favorite spots anymore."
"Good enough."
They drove in silence the entire ten-minute ride to the park. Both of their minds were buzzing with thoughts. Chloe was going over possible scenarios of what Nicola's big secret was while Nicola was trying to figure out the best way to tell Chloe about her secret. Upon arriving at the park, they discovered that they were the only ones there, much to Nicola's relief because she didn't know how her friend was going to react. The two sat in the parked car for a few minutes in silence, before Nicola finally turned to face Chloe and decided to start talking.
"Have you ever seen the movie The Faculty?" Nicola asked, deciding that maybe pop-culture references would be the easiest way to go about this.
"Yeah, Josh Hartnett was a total hottie in that movie. But I don't see what that movie has to do with anything."
"Just bear with me. You know that part where Stokely and Casey were talking about how all those sci-fi books and movies might be based on actual stuff."
"You mean like aliens really exist and whatnot?"
"Exactly."
"What about it?"
"Well, let's just say I know for sure that at least one sci-fi book turned television show is based on actual facts."
"What are you talking about?"
"Ever read the Roswell High books or seen the TV show?"
"Yeah."
"The alien species that they're based on really exist."
Chloe gaped at Nicola like she was the craziest person on earth.
"Okay, did you bump your head before this discussion or something?"
"I'm of sound mind, believe me."
"Alright, then if you aren't crazy, exactly how do you know that the teen aliens in Roswell are based on actual aliens?"
Nicola was silent for a second and took a deep breath to build up the nerve she was trying to gain.
"Because I am one."
Chloe stared at Nicola with wide eyes for several seconds, then started laughing extremely hard.
"Right. You're a Roswell alien. Good one. You know you actually had me going for a second."
"You're right, I'm not a Roswell alien."
"Thank you."
"My spaceship landed in Savanna, Georgia."
Chloe choked on a laugh and started coughing.
"I'm sorry, did you just say your spaceship landed in Georgia?"
"Yeah," replied Nicola sheepishly, realizing how crazy that sounded.
"Usually I'm pretty open-minded about things weird things, but you have to understand that sounds pretty crazy."
"I know."
Chloe tried to wrap her mind around what her friend just told her.
"Okay, so what you're telling me is that you're an alien. On top of that, you're of the same alien species as the aliens in the Roswell series?"
"Yes."
"Prove it."
"Fine. What do you want me to do?"
The blonde racked her mind on powers that the aliens in the book and show had.
"Connect with me. Show me some of your memories," Chloe replied, deciding that would be the easiest way to prove it, and give her some insight to the alien thing.
"Alright. I need you to close your eyes and clear you mind, okay?"
"Okay"
Chloe shut her eyes and took some small breaths in order to clear her mind. She felt Nicola touch her wrist, then all of sudden a rush of images coursed through her. Chloe saw images of a spaceship soaring down to earth and later Nicola emerging from a pod. Images of Nicola discovering her abilities flew her mind and she felt all the emotions Nicola had felt when she learned about her origins. Nicola was careful not to give off any images of Clark and her discoveries of his powers, a skill she had been practicing with Clark over the weeks. Chloe didn't notice Nicola let go of her wrist, but right after Nicola let go, the connection was broken. Her eyes blinked opened and she found herself back in her car again. Chloe stared straight ahead for several minutes and didn't say a word.
Nicola watched Chloe carefully, trying to read her reaction. Chloe's aura was giving Nicola any hints since all she read was the obvious confusion her friend was feeling. She had no idea how her friend was handling the discovery, and she had no other experience to compare it with. Clark was a completely different case because he understood, with also being an alien and all. So all she could do was wait till Chloe reacted.
"Wow, that was so freaky."
Instead of the panicky tone she was expecting to hear, it was a voice of wonderment and excitement.
"Bad freaky or cool freaky?"
"Cool freaky. My best friend's an alien. Wow," she said again.
"So you're not completely freaked out?"
"Truthfully? Only a little."
"Okay, why aren't you freaked out? Because if I was in your shoes, I probably would be more than just a little freaked out."
"Let's just say living in Smallville for so long has made me immune to being severely freaked by anything out of the norm."
"I'll make a note of it."
"Does anyone else know about your otherworldly origins?"
"Nope, you're the first earthling I've told," Nicola said jokingly. It wasn't a total lie. Chloe was technically the first earthling she had told; Clark was an alien.
"I'm glad you've given me the privilege, even though it took you accidentally exposing yourself to me to do it."
"Well, if it's any consolation, I'm glad I told you."
A silence filled the car but was shortly ended by Chloe.
"So, do you think you can touch the glass and see who wants to axe off the Brit?"
"Chloe, I'm an alien, not a Charmed One. I can't get premonitions from touching objects."
"Too bad, that would be useful."
"Anyway, I don't need the premonition power to tell you who wants Victoria out of the picture, well, besides me."
"Who?"
"Amy Palmer."
Chloe's eyes widened as that was the second accusation against Amy in the span of an hour. Nicola noticed her expression.
"What?"
"Clark suspected her too."
"So he doesn't think I'm the prime suspect anymore? Nice to know."
"He accused you?"
"Yep."
"Does he know about-"
"Me and Lex? No, but he was there when I went all psycho on Victoria and he recalled the thing with Troy."
"Ah. Well, if it really is Amy, the blood on the glass should match her blood type that was recorded during the blood drive."
Nicola glanced at her watch and realized that they had to leave now if they wanted to meet with Chloe's contact in good time.
"We better get going if we want to meet your contact on time."
"Good idea."
Chloe started the car again and they soon were on their way to Smallville General Hospital. It wasn't long after that they found themselves pulling up into the parking lot of the hospital. Chloe grabbed the blood-covered glass from the backseat of the car then the two of them slipped out of the car and walked toward the entrance.
"Okay, now the easy part will be getting the blood analyzed to see which type it is. The hard part will be convincing the Red Cross Bank to hand over a copy of their donation records that they collected at Smallville High," Chloe informed Nicola as they stepped inside the hospital walls.
"I can take care of that," Nicola assured her.
"Great."
After a couple seconds of silence during their walk down the halls, Nicola felt compelled to pose a question to Chloe.
"How exactly did you plan on getting a hold of the records before I became involved?"
"I hadn't exactly thought that part out yet, but I'm sure I could have talked my way through it."
It wasn't too long before they were walking towards the entrance to the Red Cross offices. They stepped through the doors and as Chloe made her way to the lab to visit her friend, Nicola walked up to the reception desk. It didn't take too much concentration to start a mind warp on the unsuspecting receptionist that sat behind the counter. It required little convincing for the receptionist's mind to believe that her superior was asking for a copy of the Smallville High blood bank donation list. As soon as the copy was in her hand, Nicola backed away from the counter and casually took a seat while the reception believed she was watching her superior walk out of the office. A smug smile of satisfaction spread across her face when the woman went back to her work like nothing out of the ordinary happened.
A few minutes later, Chloe walked back into the waiting room where Nicola sat and looked pretty pleased with herself.
"Ready to go?" she asked Nicola.
"Yeah."
The two girls walked out of the Red Cross offices and moved in unison down the hospital halls.
"That went quicker than I thought it would. Did he already analyze the blood type for you?"
"They were kind of busy at the lab, but he said he would call me as soon as the results are in, which might take awhile."
"Great."
"So, did you complete your mission?"
"Yep. It wasn't hard to convince the receptionist's mind that she was watching her boss take the list from her."
"Cool."
"Now I guess all we have to do is wait."
"And the fun ensues."
"What should we do the pass the time?"
"I think I have some ideas."
Chloe and Nicola soon made it to Chloe's car and were soon back on the road. Chloe's idea to pass the time was for Nicola to explain more about her origins and later show her some of her powers. An hour later, they were in the Torch's office when Chloe's cell began to ring, but instead of it being her contact, it was Clark.
"Oh, hey Clark, what's up?" Nicola heard Chloe ask.
There was a long pause on Chloe's part as Nicola assumed Clark was filling her in on something.
"She had a what? A shrine? So, it was her? Okay. I'll talk to you later then. Bye."
After she hung up the phone, Chloe turned to find Nicola looking at her expectantly.
"That was Clark."
"Yeah, I got that much."
"He noticed that Amy had Lex's watch on her wrist. Since he was already suspicious of her, he told Lex and they went to Amy's room a little later to find that she had a shrine to Lex."
"So, they know for sure it was her?"
"Well, all signs point to Amy. Anyway, Lex asked her and her family to leave tonight."
"Wow. She really had a shrine?"
"That's what Clark said."
"What a freak. Didn't strike me as the violent type though."
Suddenly Chloe's cell phone rang and she answered it.
"HelloOh. Okay, thanks again. Bye."
"Who was that?'
"My contact. The blood type on the glass was type A. We might as well cross it against Amy's type so we have all the needed evidence if Clark or Lex needs it. Do you have the Red Cross sheet handy?"
"Yeah."
Nicola pulled the sheet out of her purse and skimmed through the names until she came across Amy's blood type.
"Crap. Amy's type O."
"Which means she wasn't the person who attacked Victoria."
"Great, now we're back to square one."
"We better go show Clark."
"I parked on the other side of the school, so, I'll meet you there okay?" Nicola said, handing the paper over to Chloe.
"Sure."
They both left the Torch's office then headed in different directions. It took Nicola a little longer to get to the Kent farm, and by the time she reached Clark's loft, she found Chloe sitting by herself on his couch.
"What happened and where's Clark?"
"I told him Amy wasn't the attacker, then showed him the paper and he noticed that Amy's brother Jeff was type A. Then he left."
"Did he say where he's going?"
"Nope, just that he'll catch up with me later."
"He must have gone to warn Lex."
"Must have."
"I have to go, too. I'll see you later, okay?"
"Yeah, sure. But fill me in on the details, okay?"
"Of course."
Instead of running out of the barn, Nicola orbed out, figuring that Chloe already knew her powers, so it wouldn't matter. Within seconds, she found herself inside the Luthor manor, in the library, which was empty. She exited the library and chose a route to go in, not even sure if Lex was in any danger anyway. As she got further down the hall, she heard faint yelling from Clark in the direction she was going in and the slightly louder yell from Lex from the direction she had come in. She turned around as the sound of something crashing filled her ears. She ran down the hall back in the direction towards the area she thought the noises came from. As she ran, she noticed a blur of yellow go past her and into one of the nearby rooms. Deciding the blur must be have been of Clark's aura, she hurried down to the room. Before peering inside, she listened in on Clark talking to Jeff.
"Jeff, what happened?"
"Chemistry, Kent. Some plants don't absorb light, they refract it. I found a weird green rose on the ground and I studied it. And then I used the oils to become what I've always beento Lex, to the people at school, everyone"
The next thing she heard was the sound of something shattering. Curious, she stuck her head in the doorway to see Clark up against the wall and Lex on the ground, but no sign of Jeff, not that she was surprised.
"That's right, I've heard Luthor talk about you like you're something special," she heard Jeff continue. "Well, I'm special too."
Suddenly Clark was pulling at some invisible force that was strangling him at his neck. Before Nicola even had a chance to intervene, Clark thrust his arm out and then something hit the beams of the platform riser that had paint on it. Paint dripped down from the top of the riser and started to form the outline of Jeff. Taking this as her cue, Nicola entered the room and started to walk towards Lex's lump form on the ground.
"You alright, Clark?" she asked as she crouched next to Lex.
"Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing here?"
"Figured you were coming here to warn Lex about invisible boy, so I wanted to make sure everything was copasetic."
She slowly turned Lex so he was on his back, then took his hand.
"What are you doing?" she heard Clark ask from behind.
"Making sure that he doesn't have a concussion."
"By holding his hand?"
"I'm going to connect with him to check out his vitals."
"Oh."
"While I make sure Luthor's okay, why don't you call an ambulance and the police for invisible boy over there?"
"Sure."
With that, Clark jogged out of the room to find the nearest phone. Nicole quickly checked over him, and saw no signs of a concussion, abrasion, or internal bleeding. Except for the external bruises and the cut on his lip, he was fine. She lightly brushed her hand over the bruise on his cheek and it slowly faded until it wasn't as visible.
"Lex," she said softly, but loud enough that she hoped to make him stir from his unconsciousness. She shook him gently on the shoulder before calling his name again. He slowly stirred, and his eyes opened gradually. His eyes focused on the figure that hovered above him.
"Nicola?"
He started to get up, but quickly laid back down. A groan escaped from his mouth as he reached for his head with one hand.
"Woah. Take it easy there. You had a pretty hard blow to the head. It's probably best to not try and get up yet."
"Good advice."
"How you feeling? Any nausea, memory loss, or abnormal pain?"
"Other than the pounding headache, I'm fine."
"Good."
"What happened?"
"What do you remember?"
"The last thing I remember is that Jeff was attacking me, although I couldn't see him, and then I heard Clark yelling my name."
"After that, Clark came in, Jeff attacked him, but Clark managed to throw him off into the beams over there, rendering Jeff unconscious."
"And how do you fit in the picture?"
"Well, Chloe and I had blood that was on a piece of glass Clark found in your manor when Victoria was attacked analyzed and we figured out it wasn't Amy who was the attacker, but Jeff. So Clark rushed over here and I followed him."
"You we're worried about me?"
"I may not like you very much right now, but I do still care about you and wouldn't want you to get killed by the freak of the week."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. And as soon as Clark gets back, I'm outta here."
"Where'd he go?"
"To call the police. He should be back in a moment."
"Good than that gives us some time to talk."
"Talk about what? Last time I checked, we didn't have anything more to discuss."
"That's because you did most of the talking."
"Which is best that way."
Lex was silent for a moment, and Nicola hoped that meant he wasn't going to press anything further. Unfortunately, his silence didn't last long.
"I'm sorry."
"You're sorry? Jeez, you might want start giving those out in bulk if you're going to apologize this often. What are you sorry for this time?"
"For a lot of things. But this time, I'm talking about accusing you of the attack on Victoria."
"Don't worry, you weren't the only one," she said bitterly. "Just forget about it."
"I-"
"Okay, an ambulance should be here in a little while," Clark's voice cut off Lex's sentence. Nicola turned to see Clark standing at the doorway, observing her and Lex. "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"
"Nope, just making sure Lex wasn't damaged too much," Nicola replied getting up from the ground. "You think you're well enough to stand, Luthor?"
"I think I can manage."
She extended her hand down to Lex who took it and used it to prop himself up slowly. Once Lex was on his two feet and seemed stable, Nicola walked over to Jeff who still laid unconscious on the ground. She crouched down next to him and stared pensively at him before brushing a finger across his collarbone. The paint transferred to her finger, and a piece of his flesh was revealed.
"What are you doing?" she heard Lex ask her from behind.
"Testing a theory," she replied. "Clark, why don't you drop off Lex in the kitchen to get his face iced before going outside to wait for the ambulance while I figure out how to make Jeff visible again for the police."
"I don't know if I feel comfortable leaving you with him by yourself," Lex said.
"I agree with Lex, I'm not sure that's safe," Clark said.
"Guys, I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. Besides, he's unconscious and shows no sign of waking up any time soon," she argued. She glanced back at them to notice they were both giving her a look of skepticism, causing her to glare at them. "Would you prefer I have a blunt object on hand in the off chance he does wake up so I can knock him out again?"
The guys throw each other a look, which she catches and scowls at them because.
"If you two continue to question my ability to take care of myself, you're going to wish that Jeff would wake up to take care of you before I have the chance," she said as she stood back up and walked over to the two males. She wrapped her arms around each other shoulders and ushered them to the door. "Now, Lex, go get your face iced and Clark, go wait for the ambulance and police? Okay? Good."
Before they could argue, she pushed them out the door and into the hallway. Clark and Lex stood in the hallway for a second, staring at each other in disbelief.
"Did we both just get over-powered by a girl three-fourths our size?" asked Lex.
"Yep."
"Should we feel undermined?"
"Probably."
"Huh. Should we go back in and reargue our position?"
"I definitely wouldn't recommend that."
"You're probably right."
Without another word, both males started to walk down the hall to do the tasks they were commanded to do. Meanwhile, Nicola found herself crouched next to Jeff again. She decided the best course of action would to get rid of any trace of the fact that Jeff had been invisible earlier that night or the oils covered on him that made him invisible. She glanced around the room for a towel, but didn't see one, so, she left the room in search for the nearest bathroom. It didn't take long before she found one and located a couple of towels to clean him up with. She went back into the room, half-expecting Jeff to suddenly be up and at them, but found him in the same spot she left him. By the time Lex returned with a pack of ice on his face, Jeff had completely returned to the land of the visible and any evidence of invisibility was gone. One thing that Nicola hadn't factored was that in order to be completely invisible, Jeff had to be completely naked. So, when Lex re-entered the room, he found Jeff clad in only a towel. Upon Lex's raised eyebrow, Nicola just shrugged and decided it was best not to provide an explanation. They sat in silence for a few moments before Nicola got uncomfortable and decided to break the ice.
"I told you she had the hots for you."
"What? Who?" asked Lex, surprised by the sudden non-hostile words from Nicola.
"Amy. I told you she had a crush on you. All-be-it, I didn't think she was obsessed enough to make a shrine, but for the most part my instincts were right."
Before Lex had a chance to respond, Clark returned with paramedics and a couple of officers. Nicola was about to slip out, but the police wanted her to give a short statement before she left the scene. After quickly talking to the police, telling them that she didn't see anything that went on that night and arrived after both Lex and Jeff were immobilized, she walked over to where Lex was being checked out by a medic with Clark nearby.
"Look, I've gotta jet. I'm glad you're still in one piece."
"Thanks."
"And I guess I'll see you later Clark."
"Yeah."
Without another word, Nicola left the room and rushed down the hall. As soon as she was sure she was out of sight, she orbed back to Clark's barn. Upon arrival, she found that Chloe was no longer in the spot she left her, not that she was surprised. She hustled down the stairs then made her way to her Jeep outside. Deciding that filling Chloe in on the details what happened was the best thing to do right now, she headed for Chloe's house to see if she was home. As she pulled up in front of Chloe's house, she saw Chloe's Ford Falcon parked in the driveway next to a Volvo. Nicola parked her car then headed for the front door. She knocked on the door, and shortly the door swung opened to reveal a middle-aged man.
"Hello Mr. Sullivan. Is Chloe home?"
"Yes she is. Come on in, Nicola."
He gestured for her to enter, which she did.
"So how are you tonight, Mr. Sullivan?"
"Just fine. How about you?"
"I'm good."
"That's good. Well, Chloe's up in her room."
"Thanks."
Nicola left the foyer and walked upstairs to Chloe's bedroom door. She rapped on the closed door until she heard Chloe call for her to enter. Nicola opened the door and as she walked in, Chloe turned from her desk to see her friend walk in.
"Oh, what's up? Is Lex in one piece?"
"Uh huh. Sorry for bailing on you, but I had to help if I could."
"I understand. So what happened?"
"Jeff did his invisible thing and attacked Lex. Clark did his hero thing and saved Lex. You know, same old, same old. I left before any arrests were made though."
"Nice. So, did Jeff reveal how he became invisible?"
"What makes you assume he revealed his secret?"
"The villain always reveals how they got their powers before their demise," shrugged Chloe.
"He found some strange green roses somewhere and used the oils to refract the light so he appears invisible."
"Which would explain the green goop on the mirror and why it smelled like roses."
"Yep. I wiped it off of him before the cops got there because I figured if someone was to find out that there was a formula to become invisible on him, they might try to replicate it."
"Good thinking."
"So, what did you do during my short time playing sidekick?" Nicola asked, changing the subject.
"I did some math that's do tomorrow. Exciting, huh?"
"Speaking of homework, I have some to attend to. Thank God tomorrow's Friday."
"Here, here."
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Yeah, see ya."
Nicola exited Chloe's room and made her way back to her car so she could head home. As she made her way to her house, she passed the Kent farm and she felt the sudden urge to check up on Clark. After going up the drive, she parked her car then slipped out of it before making her way to the loft in the barn. When she reached the top step, she found Clark sitting on a chair near his loft window in the darkness.
"Hey there, Clark. Brooding in the dark, I see. What's got you down?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing, huh?"
Nicola walked up to the telescope and peered into it to find it was focused on Lana Lang's front porch. The image of Whitney and Lana hugging filled her eyes.
"Fordman finally told Lana what was going on, eh?" she asked, turning away from the telescope and looking at Clark.
"Yeah," replied Clark disheartened.
"From your mood, I'm guessing sunset-watching with Lana was a bust?"
"Yup."
"Probably because you found out why Whitney had the heart medication and being the noble guy you are, you couldn't make a move on the guy's girlfriend."
"Uh huh."
"Any chance I'm going to get a reply longer than one word from you tonight?"
"Nope."
"Too bad. Well, I guess I'll just have to do all the talking then. Look, I know you were really looking forward to taking a chance with Lana tonight and I know it must have been hard to turn her back to Whitney, but you did the right thing."
"Then why do I feel like I made the wrong choice?"
"Wow, a whole sentence. Don't I feel special?"
Clark gave her a look, and her grin faded.
"The reason you feel like you made choice is that while your mind and morals are telling you made the right choice, your heart is muddying logic and telling you otherwise. I know your heart is telling you that you should have gone for it, but you know it wouldn't have been the right thing to do."
"I know."
"Don't worry Clark, tonight might not have been the night for you and Lana, but if it's meant to happen, it'll happen. And if it doesn't, there are a lot of other girls in Smallville who would die to have Lana's spot in your heart."
"Really? Like who?"
"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."
Nicola grinned at her friend, then gave him a small hug.
"Well, I've gotta head home. I'll see you at school, okay?"
"Okay."
"And chipper up, Clark. There're worse situations you could be in than in a played-out love triangle."
"Jeez, thanks for the pep-talk, coach," Clark said sarcastically.
"Not a problem, slugger."
She gave him a slap on the shoulder, and then bounded for the stairs. As she made her way home in her Jeep, she found herself looking forward to retreating to things that resembled normalcy, like homework. However, she knew, living in Smallville, that sense of normalcy wouldn't last long.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC- Although expect later rather than sooner.
So, what did you guys think? After writing this, I'm not sure if letting Chloe in on the "Nicola is an alien" thing was the right thing to do or even made sense, but my muse was telling me to go in that direction for some reason. So, was this better than my last chapter? Worse? Too long? Tell me, tell me, tell me. Feedback is always helpful. I'm not sure if I should make Hug the next chapter or skip it. I'm kind of going back and forth from the two options. What do you think? Tell me, please. Thank you.
