AN- I got something of a flame, which I deleted, last time and that's ok. Just if you want to say "Mary Sue" at least tell me which character you think is a Mary Sue and why. I deleted it for the lack of effort. :D Everyone else, totally have fun and enjoy!

Chapter 14- Hearing the Wolf

"If we do not know ourselves to be full of pride, ambition, lust, weakness, misery, and injustice, we are indeed blind. And if, knowing this, we do not desire deliverance, what can we say of a man...?"
Blaise Pascal

As she was driving away from Lex's mansion, Chloe took a moment to think about what she had just witnessed. Mercy had thoroughly deflated what ego Lana may have had in regards to Lex. It was at that point that Chloe could almost feel her mind stutter to a stop and ponder the meaning of what she had witnessed. No one had done that to Lana before. Chloe thought back to every moment, every negative thought she had ever had about Lana Lang. She came to a very grim conclusion.

She went home, showered, ate and changed clothes. Chloe took a few moments to call Lois. She spent half and hour convincing Lois that everything was okay and that she would not appreciate a visit. Lois also bullied her into discussing her feelings about her father's departure. Chloe let Lois do this because she knew that Lois cared and she was grateful.

With those things done, Chloe got into her car and drove to the Kent farm. She got there in record time because she didn't bother with the speed limit. It was important that she speak with Clark because on the heels of her Lana revelation, Chloe had another. Clark Kent had vastly superior senses than everyone else. That was an obvious statement and only an idiot would think it was important; but Chloe came to find that only an idiot would disregard the direct ramifications of it. Every person who knew what Clark was, including Clark himself, took his senses for granted. That meant that the things he could do were taken for granted, and Chloe could've kicked herself for being such a blind fool.

Clark dealt with sensory input that no one else would need to deal with; even animals. In addition to the vast amount of input he processed, he also processed it differently. He was an alien and there was no way that he processed information the same way as a human. There were moments when his differences and how he interpreted a situation were jolting. The problem that every person dealt with when interacting with Clark was that he wouldn't think to ask certain questions.

Clark was so used to things that he honestly would not get or understand that something was amiss because he had already noted and seen the problem. It was like telling a blind person that the storm had cut the power and there were no lights. What would it matter to that person? They dealt with darkness all the time and the way they reacted to any given situation would not change in its absence for everyone else. It was time to ask Clark some very pointed questions because he had answers. He just didn't know he did.

It was with urgency and a renewed sense of purpose that Chloe bolted from her car in search of Clark as soon as she stopped. She tracked his scent to the barn. In the back of her mind, Chloe took note of the fact that she didn't try to pinpoint a heart beat. She pinpointed his scent.

Striding brusquely to his barn, Chloe yelled for him, "CLARK!"

Chloe saw him quickly come down the stairs to meet her. He seemed mildly irritated, "Why are you yelling?"

"You've never cared before."

Clark looked at her for a moment before he answered, "There's a weird undertone to your voice now and it hurts my ears."

And that right there validated every realization that she'd had on the way to him. He had only looked irritated because of her heightened senses.

Chloe took a deep breath, "How long will your mother be gone?"

He looked puzzled for a moment, "She and her friends decided to see the new exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in Metropolis and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. Why?"

"Because we need to talk."

Clark did not like those words. The last time she had said that, she had made him promise to let her do things her way. Chloe was his best friend and he loved her. To honor her request hurt him because he wanted to be there for her.

Chloe read the dread in his face and quickly tried to alleviate his concerns, "It's not like that. I've realized a few things and I think you and I need to seriously talk about what we can do. You might get mad during some of it, but I want you to remember that there is a reason for everything I'm gonna ask you. Just…trust me and go with it, okay?"

He nodded once and stepped aside so that they could sit on the couch.

Chloe started small. She'd work her way up to her real question, but he had to be at ease first, "What do I smell like?"

Clark took so long to answer that she didn't think he would, "You smell like chamomile. The same body wash set that your dad gave you for your sixteenth birthday."

She remembered that birthday. It was more special than most others she'd had.

"Do I smell like kryptonite? Because everyone in this town smells like it to me except for you."

Clark jaw tightened and then relaxed, "Yes, you do. And yeah, everyone in this town smells like kryptonite to me too," Clark looked away from her for a moment, "Actually, the kryptonite smell isn't strong on you anymore."

He let out an exasperated breath, "I'm not explaining this well. Everyone smells like kryptonite and you smell less of it than you used to."

Chloe nodded, "Ever since I was kidnapped, right?"

"Yeah."

Chloe firmed her resolve. It was going to get trickier because her next questions involved Lana, "And Lana? What does she smell like? Her kryptonite scent is stronger to you, isn't it?"

Clark genuinely looked taken aback, as if he couldn't understand a riddle, but he knew he should. His voice was soft in contemplation when he answered her, "Yeah. Yeah, it got really strong after she got pregnant."

And that lead to an even trickier question that wasn't so much a question as it was a statement of fact, "Clark, she isn't pregnant."

The silence after her revelation was so damning and oppressive that the wolf inside didn't just want to fight or growl. It wanted to run and cower and it had everything to do with the sudden spike in Clark's heartbeat. It was the conflict that she had with him before she changed in front of him; except it was magnified by one thousand.

Clark abruptly stood and glared down at her. She wanted so much to run away or to rip his throat out, but she couldn't do that. "It's okay. Clark wouldn't hurt you. He's just upset." Chloe felt the claws rip from her hands and the gold of her eyes. She tried to get her voice to work, but wolves didn't have the necessary equipment to speak. Chloe forced some of the change back.

Her voice was frantic to her own ears, but she had to get him to see, "Think, Clark. Think about the heartbeat of a baby. It's not there in Lana. Is it?"

Clark took stock of the situation. He realized that he wasn't the most intuitive of people; but when he heard Chloe's voice on the edge of panic and rage, he knew that he had just done something stupid. He could not forget that Chloe was now closer to the baser instincts of a predatory animal and that moving as he had done would result in injury. Hers since he was stronger and invincible. He relaxed and sat back down. Clark watched as she unclenched her hands. Her body visibly shuddered.

He made sure his voice was soft and non-threatening, "I'm sorry. I…hadn't noticed about Lana. Even before her pregnancy I couldn't tell much about her. She wore that necklace for so long and it's like she's always surrounded by this barrier of kryptonite," he seemed to deflate and then his voice firmed, "Lex. It has to be Lex. He's tricking her."

Before Clark could move again, Chloe braced her hands on his chest and looked him in his eyes, "No, Clark. He's not. Lex thinks she's pregnant just like everyone else. And before you ask, no, I don't think she's deliberately faking."

Clark swallowed thickly, "Is this why you came over?"

Chloe sighed, "Yeah, but that isn't everything. I just…needed to know, Clark. You know things and it wouldn't occur to you to tell someone because you take it for granted and assume that what you know, everyone knows."

He looked like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop; and it was. If he thought the previous reveal was shattering then he was going to be destroyed when she dropped the next. It wasn't something that Chloe wanted to do, but if she had any hope of figuring out what was going on, then it needed to be done.

Chloe cleared her throat, "Do you remember the first time you looked at Lana and knew that she was the one for you?"

Clark looked at her like she was crazy. How could that be important? She had just told him that Lana wasn't pregnant and had probably been a kidnap victim just like she was. At least, that's the conclusion he came to and he figured it was the same one Chloe came to as well. He thought about the first time he knew that Lana was the one for him and came up blank. There wasn't a singular moment in time when he knew he wanted her. Clark just knew that he wanted her and loved her.

Chloe watched his face. Clark was expressive in unguarded moments. It was what originally drew her to him. But she knew that he wasn't finding what he thought he would. A million romantic moments and thoughts were flitting through his head; but none of them would satisfy the question she asked.

She gave him a knowing look, "You can't tell me, can you? You can't even tell yourself, can you?"

He gave her an irritated look, "What does it matter? I love her."

Chloe knew it would be a battle, but she was going to continue to fight it, "I know the exact moment that I decided to like Lana, Clark. I would be civil to her because you and she were together, but I didn't like her. I didn't hate her either. Sure, she was the girl that took you away from me, but that was your decision and I couldn't hate her for what you felt. But I decided to like her about two months after Lionel's trial. She came up to me and wanted to be friends. And I could find nothing wrong with that. It had nothing to do with you, Clark. I just wanted to be her friend because she wanted it; but not because I actually wanted it."

"But you had done so much together. You even hung out together."

Chloe looked down at the ground, "You're right, but I never actually thought we were friends. And I only did that because you cared for her. If left to my own devices, I probably wouldn't have," she looked at him again, "I stopped faking it at that moment and honestly wanted to be her friend. It wasn't a gradual thing. It was a complete 180."

The implications were clear. Clark had to see what she was getting at. She couldn't force feed him this one. He would hate her and react badly if he thought she was pushing this issue.

Chloe could tell from the way his throat worked that he needed one more push to see what she saw, "I can count on my hands the number of people who have actively disliked her. You remember Adrian Harwick? She was on the dance squad and we shared a class. She once told me that she couldn't understand why people liked Lana. I shrugged and played it off, but I couldn't either and I thought it was because of my jealousy," Chloe caught his eyes before she continued, "The only people who have ever actively not liked her were people who moved into this town. You and I both know that Lex went for her because he wanted to get back at you; but out of the blue, he's declaring his love? That isn't the way he works. The only person who has ever reacted naturally to Lana was Jason Teague—"

Chloe would've continued and said what it meant, but Clark did it for her, "And he was slightly imbalance, but not so much that you could actually call him crazy."

Clark blew out a harsh breath and raked his hand through his hair, "You're telling me that everything I feel is because Lana is some kind of meteor freak?"

All he could hear in his head was Chloe's question: Do you remember the first time you looked at Lana and knew that she was the one for you?

His voice was so defeated…so confused. It hurt her because he was hurting. Chloe moved closer to him and touched him. Her voice was gentle…soothing, "People who aren't from Smallville don't feel the need to like her; and if they don't like her, the dislike might actually be heightened. Adrian was indifferent to her and then started actively not liking her. Tobias smelled strongly of kryptonite too, didn't he? Just like me and Eric Summers. Just like Lana."

Left unspoken were the words: Just like every other meteor freak.

The knowledge that he had a way to refine his ability to smell the meteor infected in no way made the revelation easier to handle. Clark didn't know if anything he felt for Lana was real. If maybe he genuinely came to care for her; or if it was the result of her mutation. He didn't think it was something she was doing on purpose either. Chloe would've mentioned if she thought so.

Clark put his head in his hands. He'd ruined a friendship over her. His father was lost to him because of her. The thought that he had wasted so much for her was a crushing blow. He had immense power. His life would always be about helping others and he had chosen to forsake all of that for her. For her love. Clark wasn't sure he could forgive himself.

His voice cracked like it hadn't since he first reached puberty, "What do I do now?"

He felt Chloe kneel in front of him and force his hand from his face, "Clark, you can't wallow in this. It hurts now and will probably always hurt, but you can only make it better by being the man you can be. That you need to be. Not for the world, or for your father or for me; you need to be him for yourself. You have the opportunity to be more than anyone thought possible."

Clark hugged her close to his body and kissed her forehead, "I need to be alone. I'll call you later."

The Clark of an hour ago would've made that last statement a question. Some life changes happened in the space of a heartbeat and Clark was learning a harsh lesson. Chloe would've protested, but she knew that he wasn't going to wallow in futility. Clark was honestly going to sort out this new fact of life. He may not have been intuitive, but he had time to be.

It was with a markedly different stride that Chloe exited the barn. She sat at the wheel of her car for five minutes before she left. Her friend would never be the same and she hated the fact that she was the messenger.

He wished that he had never gotten involved in the Luthor muck. He wished that he had never decided that Serena Edgler might be the gateway to bigger and better things. But most of all, Ryan Langston wished that he was smart enough and capable enough to get himself out of the situation. As it was, he was waiting for a phone call from Serena's man. Langston wasn't privy to his name, but the mere sight of Serena's hire was enough to make him break into a cold sweat.

The private phone rang and broke the silence. The sound was as ominous and as deadly as the cocking of a gun. Langston knew who was on the other end of the line. He knew and he wished with his entire being that he was wrong. All hope was dashed when he heard the even tones of Serena's man.

Samuel Kale knew fear. He knew the signs. He also knew that Dr. Langston was probably pissing his pants at the moment.

"Did she take the pills?"

Langston's gulp was audible to Kale. "What a pathetic waste of space."

"She did, but it doesn't matter. I don't know what's been done to her. An amniocentesis would give me more information on her condition."

Kale let his irritation seep through, "Then why haven't you done so?"

For the first time in a long time, Langston found the courage that had been missing since he became hopelessly entangled in a game that he was ill equipped to play, "Because Luthor was standing there. There's no reason to have the procedure done."

Kale was silent on the phone, "My good doctor, be ready to perform the procedure at any moment. I think I might know a way," he hung up the phone without saying anything further. Langston wished he had the courage to leave, but he had family and he knew that everything would be done as Serena's man ordered.

Lana's phone was ringing. It was her special phone that Anthony Burner gave her. She had recognized the serious nature of the situation. Taking down Lex was not going to be easy.

"Let no one see this phone. I got it to look exactly like your normal phone, except there's a chip on the side so that you'll know it's special. Don't let it out of your sight. It's the only way I can contact you."

She was snapped out of her reverie by the phone's continued ringing.

"Hello?"

Kale had to change his mindset completely. What worked for Langston, intimidation, would not get him what he wanted from Lana. It was important that she be afraid of Lex Luthor, but not so much so that she actually started thinking about her decisions.

He made sure to soften his voice and affect a fatherly tone, "Lana, we need to meet. Can you get away?"

Lana could hear the urgency in his voice even as he tried to disguise it, "I don't know. Lex's new bodyguard is suspicious of me."

Kale sighed, "Do you trust me?"

She hated when she was asked that question. It inevitably came with a betrayal or a disappointment.

"Lana, I promise that I'll take care of it. Just meet me at the clothing district in Metropolis. Give me a call when you get there."

If there was one thing that irritated her most about Anthony, it was that he hung up without warning.

Samuel Kale strategically placed his look-outs. They would know when and where Lana appeared. More importantly, they would know if she was being followed. The Morse code beeps in his ear piece told him that she was being followed by a blue minivan. He had to hand it to whomever it was that Lex Luthor had hired. No one would ever suspect that a blue minivan would be a tail. It was ingenious. Kale would love to meet the mind that decided on that course of action.

It was a mind that should be nurtured and allowed to grow. Of course, he also thought it was ridiculous. The last thing that Samuel Kale, hit-man for hire, wanted was for this entire job to descend into a spy vs. spy scenario. No good ever came of such things. Although, it did get pretty entertaining at times.

Kale used his cell phone to dial the phone he had given her with the express instructions on what to do. By the end of it he had wanted to ram her head into the table. It wasn't that she had asked stupid questions. It was just the way she had looked at him as if he was being unnecessarily cautious. She wanted to take down Lex Luthor, second only to Lionel Luthor in terms of ability to be paranoid; but he had taken a deep breath and plowed ever onward and forward.

He heard her soft voice over the line, "Lana, I'm at Macy's. Meet me there and relax. I've got everything covered."

Kale had people and cars in place to slow her trackers down. Not obvious and it wouldn't halt them, but he didn't need them stopped. Just delayed. He saw Lana and ushered her towards the fitting rooms.

When they got to the fitting rooms, Lana was surprised to see a girl that looked remarkably like herself.

Kale turned to Lana, "This is Janine; she's going to be your stunt double today. She'll buy a few things on Luthor's card. Don't worry she won't steal your credit card numbers. Will you, Janine?"

Janine was not actually her real name. Her real name was Gabrielle Simons. Serena had taken her in and she knew the consequences of not following directions. Gabrielle was an odd one. She could subtly shift the bones in her face so that a close inspection would reveal a fake; but from afar, she could pass as whoever she wanted. Only luck had given her to Serena.

"Lana, switch clothes with Janine. We'll be back in no time."

He waited patiently. There was going to be a battle ahead and he might as well be rested for it. Kale waited until they were comfortable at the table before he began, "How was your doctor's appointment?"

Her brows furrowed, "It was fine, why?"

Kale stirred his coffee before answering, "I hacked into—"

Lana interrupted him, "I wasn't able to get into Lex's computer. I think he changed all of his passwords. Your instructions also didn't work."

He gritted his teeth and vowed not to kill her. "She still has uses. Can't kill her yet."

"That's okay, Lana. We'll figure it out later. But as I was saying. I hacked into one of Lionel's database and it mentioned your pregnancy. There weren't any details, but something could be wrong. Normal tests don't catch everything," Kale waited a moment before continuing, "An amniocentesis would catch whatever problems there might be."

"But…isn't it dangerous?"

Kale leaned forward in his seat to lend his words more gravitas, "What if Lex has done something? Don't you have a right to know?"

Lana was uncertain. Her baby may have been unplanned, but she accepted and looked forward to bringing a new life into the world. If she knew what was wrong then she could plan. Lana harbored serious doubts that Lex would do something to his own child, but Lionel would. Even dead his deeds were felt.

"Lex is always around; and I don't think I can get away from his new guard."

Kale sat back in his seat, "You can go now. Your doctor isn't too far away, right? Janine is fine. She'll keep them off the trail."

The indecision was plain to see, but they needed to know what the hell was going on with her baby, or lack thereof. As much as he wanted to pressure her, Kale knew that he couldn't. So he waited and let her stew. For once in her life, no one was going to make the decision for her. This was a step she had to take for herself. Kale could spare a moment of pity for this girl, but he couldn't actually bring himself to care about her.

Contrary to popular belief, he didn't think that Lana had gotten a free ride. Free just meant that you've already paid for it or you will pay. The universe eventually took notice and collected. Something would eventually come collecting from Lana. The only thing a person could do was hope for mercy. Lana motioned for the check; and he knew that she was going to do it.

When they got to Langston's office, Kale was glad to know that it wouldn't take long. He politely asked her if she wanted him in the room; but Lana declined. To be honest, he was glad. He would've played the part of a supporter, but it wasn't something he wanted to witness. She seemed slightly subdued, but there was an air of resolve about her when she exited the exam room. In another life where she was allowed to be a human and not some cut-out, Lana Lang could've been someone special or at least mildly interesting. Kale shook his head on the inside. "What a waste."

Lana went home with a lot of new maternity clothes. It was to be expected with a new mother. As soon as he left Lana, Kale dialed Langston.

"Do we have what we need?"

Langston rubbed his forehead, "Yes, we do."

Samuel Kale hung up the phone and called Serena, "Langston has gotten the sample from Lana. It should get to you soon or I'll know the reason it hasn't."

Serena's voice was soft, "You ever get the feeling that something's coming that gives you everything you want in one hand and destroys everything else in the other?"

Samuel nodded to himself, "Too many damn times, Serena."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and her sample will open the keys to the kingdom."

She hung up the phone and Kale got into his car. Not for one minute did Kale think that it would be that easy and neither did Serena; but people had to have hope that maybe they weren't the bad people they knew themselves to be. Serena still cared and it cast a dead and sickening pall on every choice she made. But none of that mattered because now was the time to wait and waiting was a bitch even on the best of days.

"Hurry up and wait."