Chapter 20

"Keeping A Secret"

"Okay. I guess I'll see you guys on Monday night," Clark said closing the back door of the car and turning to Chloe and Pete.

"Yeah," Chloe said. Clark looked at Pete a little worried.

"Sorry I have to take off on you," Clark said sounding convicted.

"Clark, man, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Chloe and I are gonna have dinner together later today, and tonight her and Jimmy are gonna give me a tour of Metropolis. We're all gonna go see a movie tomorrow. I'll be fine. You and Lois have fun while you're gone."

"Fun? In Smallville? Very unlikely," Lois butt in.

"Just get in the car," Clark turned to Lois who was leaning over the top of the open car door with her arms folded.

"Hurry up," Lois said climbing into the car.

"Is she always that bossy?" Pete asked.

"No, she's usually ten times worse than this," Clark responded.

"She's trying to be on her best behavior," Chloe input.

Lois looked out the passenger door window. Her cell phone began to ring from the back seat. Lois turned around grabbing her bag and digging through it until she found her phone.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Daddy?"

"Daddy, I told you, I don't know."

"I don't think I'm going to go."

"If I change my mind I'll let you know," Lois said as Clark go in the car.

"I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye," Lois hung up the phone.

Clark examined the look on Lois' face. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Ah... Yeah. I'm fine. It was just my Dad on the phone."

"Oh"

"Let's go."

"Are you sure you're okay."

"Clark, I'm fine. Just go," Lois said aggravated, not by Clark but by her father.

"Okay," Clark said. He started the ignition and began to drive toward the highway to Smallville.

Three hours later Lois and Clark were pulling into the 'Kent Farm'. Once the car was stopped both got out to be greeted by Shelby who ran to Lois and jumped up on her.

Lois sneezed. "Great. I swear he knows I'm allergic to him. That or you have him trained to torture me." Clark smiled at Lois.

"Shelby, down boy," Clark called to the golden dog. Shelby got down off Lois and trotted to Clark. "Why aren't you tied up?" Clark asked taking the chain Shelby was dragging behind him in his hand. "Come on, let's go into the house."

The second the words were out of Clark's mouth Shelby began to run toward the house. Clark realized he was still holding Shelby's chain so he acted like the dog jerked him forward to fool Lois, then he dropped the chain, letting Shelby drag it behind himself. Clark and Lois grabbed their bags out of the car and followed.

Shelby entered the house and barked as Lois and Clark stepped inside, this gained the attention of Martha and Lionel who were just in the next room.

"Shelby? What's wrong boy?" Martha asked rounding the corner to see Clark and Lois in the doorway. "Clark, Lois, I wasn't expecting you so soon," Martha said when she saw them.

"We decided to stop by here first and leave our luggage," Clark replied.

"Luggage?" Martha asked. I thought you were only staying for a few days?"

"We are only staying a few days, but 'somebody'," Clark looked at Lois, "doesn't know the meaning of pack lightly," Clark said.

"What?" Lois shrugged. "You can never be too prepared. The General taught me that."

"You'd think he'd teach you something a little more useful, like packing lightly. After all, you grew up on an army base."

"I can pack light."

"Sure," Clark said doubtfully as he headed toward the stairs.

"I can pack light. Oh don't you walk away from me in the middle of an argument!" Lois called as Clark continued to go up the stairs. Lois bolted after him. "Hey! Are you listening to me?! Smallville! Where do you think you're going?"

"To 'my' room."

"Oh no! You want a room, go to the barn. I'm sure there's more than one bail of hay out there you can sleep on. And we all know you spend enough time out there anyway," Lois said running past Clark into the bedroom and shutting the door in his face.

"Lois!" Clark banged on the door.

"The door flew open. "Yes, Clark?"

"Let me in my room."

"No. There's a couch downstairs with your name on it. the room is mine, I already claimed it."

"What?! When?"

"Now!" Lois said grabbing her backpack and pouring her clothes on the floor. Clark looked at her in disbelief. "There. It's claimed."

"Lois," Clark wined.

"Sorry, Clarky. You can lay your backpack in here if you want, but I'm sleeping in here."

"Alright you two!" Martha called. "Come down here. Clark, Lois gets to sleep in your room!" Lois turned to Clark and smiled after what Martha had said.

"I love 'your' mom," Lois teased.

"Ha," Clark said sarcastically.

"It's entertaining to watch the two of them," Lionel commented. "They act like they're married."

"Sometimes I think they are, then I remember it's Clark and Lois," Martha replied as she picked up Shelby's chain. Clark and Lois came down the stairs. "Clark can you tie Shelby up on the porch?" Martha asked.

"Sure," Clark said taking the chain from his mother. "Come on boy," Clark said leading Shelby to the porch to tie him up.

"Hurry up Smallville! We have to head into town and find some sponsors for the carnival and ball," Lois called.

"Perry agreed to help?" Martha turned to Lois.

"Yeah. Isn't that great," Lois commented.

"That's great honey," Martha agreed.

"So that's why you and Clark are in town for a few days," Lionel inquired.

"Yeah. We have to find a place to host the event, the shelter has already agreed to let us raise money for them, but we need to find four more sponsors or else Perry pulls his funding and we lose the carnival," Lois explained.

"Well, you already have the support of the Senator," Martha smiled.

"Yeah, and 'The Talon's' new manager said she'd be glad to support us, we're going to go confirm that today. Plus this is Smallville. Everybody likes to help others around here."

"The good news is you only have to find one more sponsor, because you now have the support of LuthorCorp too," Lionel said.

"Really?" Lois asked. "Thank-you Mr. Luthor."

"You're welcome, I'm honored to support such a cause."

"What's going on?" Clark the door.

"Clark, we have the support of 'LuthorCorp'."

"Great. Thank-you Lionel."

"Come on, we have to go to 'The Talon'," Lois said grabbing Clark and dragging him off.

Jimmy glanced at the clock that hung on the wall. Lunch was almost over so Chloe would soon returning to 'The Daily Planet' from her lunch with Pete, and Jimmy had to soon start looking for Superman.

Perry had asked Jimmy to get some pictures of Superman, although he already had a bunch. Perry said it was important to keep Superman's face in the paper, because he was what people wanted to see. The only problem with this was Superman had not been seen all day, but the police had been busy all day. Since Superman's arrival in Metropolis whenever a person saw a police car they were sure to see Superman, but where he was today, no one knew.

Jimmy looked at the papers on his desk and noticed something he hadn't noticed before. It was an envelope with his name on it. Chloe must have left it for him before she went to lunch, Jimmy thought.

He reached out and grabbed the envelope and tore it open. He pulled out what was inside.

As he read through the note his face fell. This had to be some kind of sick joke. He read through the note again. This couldn't be happening. He grabbed the pictures off his desk and started flicking through them until he found the one he was looking for. Then he grabbed a newspaper and found the article about the picture. What was he going to do now? How would this effect Chloe? He had to keep this a secret.

"Okay. So 'The Talon' and the video store are offering their support. We have all our sponsors now, but I bet we could get a few more. Perry can't say no if we have a lot of sponsors," Lois said.

"How about we ask the Hardware Store? The owner, Mr. Anderson, was good friends with my dad. I'm sure he'd help."

"Good idea, Clarky. Then we can find a place to hold the carnival and the ball."

"I know where we can have the charity ball."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we can find out about renting it today."

"Where?"

"The recreational hall in the middle of town. It's a great place. It's definitely big enough."

"Yeah actually, that place might work. It's not as luxurious as I pictured, but we could make it look the part."

"There you go, that's the kind of spirit we need to get this thing off the ground. You know, I bet we could use 'Evan's Field' for the carnival. We could stop into 'Town Hall' today and ask."

"Yeah. That would be a great spot. It's one of the biggest fields in Smallville.'

"Tomorrow we can call to rent the rides and stuff for the carnival. We could probably set up a local farmers market at the carnival too. We could donate half the money we make at the market to the shelter, if the farmers will agree to it."

"Where do you keep coming up with all these ideas? Are you keeping a secret from me?" Lois asked Clark who smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"What would it be?"

"Do you already have the carnival planned?"

"No. Lois I'm just trying to help make the carnival better. I know how much this means to you."

Pete had just got back to the apartment. He closed the door and hung his sweat shirt. He headed to the living room to play some X-Box 360 when the phone began to ring. He decided to answer it, just in case it was Chloe, Clark, Lois or his girlfriend. They were the only ones who knew he was there.

"Hello?"

"Lana?"

"I didn't expect to hear your voice."

"Yeah. It's me, Pete."

"I'm great. How are you?"

"That's great."

"I'm just staying here with Clark, Lois and Chloe for awhile."

"Yeah. I got her last night, I flew in from Wichita and my girlfriend is coming next weekend."

"No I can't tell you who she is. You'll just have to wait and meet her like everybody else."

"Oh, yeah. Actually Clark and Chloe mentioned that to me."

"They said you and Lex were together."

"Actually, no. Clark isn't here right now."

"No. He's in Smallville with Lois."

"They won't be back until Monday night."

"If I speak to him before then, I'll tell him you called."

"Yeah, bye," Pete hung up the phone. He decided to call Clark later tonight and tell him Lana called.

"Martha, what's the matter?" Lionel asked.

"Nothing. I have to make dinner. Excuse me," Martha said heading into the kitchen.

"Martha, wait. I know something is bothering you. You've been regarding me strangely since I came back from seeing Lex in Metropolis. Did I do something to offend you?"

"Yes, Lionel, because I feel that you're lying to me about Lex, and for that I don't trust you. It offends me that you would lie to me."

"So you don't trust me. Why would you doubt me?"

"Lionel, you're hiding things from me regarding the safety of my son. You know something about what Lex is doing and you're not telling me what it is. You are one of the only people who knows Clark's secret and you're acting so secretive. I'm having a hard time putting my faith in you. And to be perfectly honest, I don't know that I'm comfortable with you in my home."

"Martha I would never betray you and Clark. I love you, Martha."

"You haven't done anything to prove it."

Lionel stepped toward Martha, grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a kiss.

"Lionel," was the only word Martha could form.

"Martha, you can trust me. I want what's best for you and Clark. I didn't tell you what Lex said because I didn't want to worry you. When I went to see Lex he implied that he knows Clark is hiding an amazing gift and he intends to uncover it."

"What?"

"Clark has to watch out for Lex. Nothing can stop him when he sets his sights on something. Nothing."

"Okay, I understand that you believe nothing can be done about Lex, but what do we do about the kiss we just shared?"

"Martha, I don't regret my actions."

"Lionel, I didn't say that I didn't like it. I'm beginning to develop feelings for you."

"You already know how I feel about you. I love you."

"I know. We can't let Clark find out about this. Not yet. Not until we find out where this is going. Until then, we keep this a secret."

"Sounds fair enough."

Chloe arrived back at 'The Daily Planet' from her lunch with Pete.

"Hey, Jimmy," Chloe said once she reached his desk. Chloe looked at Jimmy who hadn't responded. "Jimmy?" She asked.

"Oh, hey, Chloe," Jimmy continued to look at the note he held in his hand.

"Are you okay, Jimmy? You're acting odder than usual. Did someone spike your coffee or something?"

"No!" Jimmy snapped.

"What are you reading?" Chloe tried to grab the note from Jimmy's hand.

"Nothing," Jimmy pulled away quickly, making Chloe more suspicious of the piece of paper he held in his hand. "How was you lunch with Pete?" Jimmy asked.

"Our lunch was good. We had a good time, now let me see that," Chloe grabbed the note and began reading it.

"No, Chloe," Jimmy tried to retrieve the note from Chloe's grasp, but this time Chloe pulled away.

"Jimmy, what is this?" Chloe asked waving the note in front of Jimmy.

"I don't know. Just, don't worry about it."

"Jimmy, did you read this?"

"Yeah, but it's probably just a joke, so there's no need to worry about it."

"Then, do you know who sent this?"

"No."

"Then it is something to worry about. Jimmy go to the police."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"I just can't."

"Then what are you going to do?"