Chapter 19

The large airplane touched down with a small bump and taxied down the runway before turning to come to a stop at the terminal. Passengers immediately started shuffling around, stretching, reaching for hand luggage, calling loved ones before making their way to the exit. One passenger already at the head of the queue; tall, shoulder-length brown hair, baggy jeans, black T-shirt and worn boots waited impatiently for the doors to open. Then with barely a glance at the stewardess as he passed, he made his way down the stairs. His long strides made quick work of the short distance required to enter the building. Finally he reached the baggage carousel, and waited impatiently – his fists clenched, his body stiff, and his tension glaringly obvious. His whole demeanour did not encourage anyone to come any closer, and as such he was given a wide berth.

Unaware of the stares and the wary looks directed his way, Michael Guerin ran his hand through his hair, continuing to mutter under his breath while glowering at the conveyor belt looking for his bag. He was beyond pissed; he should be in Roswell protecting his family and yet here he was, running after Miss Goody Two-Shoes. He didn't know what was going on, but once again it seemed that Elizabeth Parker was smack dab in the middle of it. When he got his hands on her…

And for the umpteenth time, he asked himself. Why in the hell did she even leave Roswell? Fucking Smallville! What the hell was here anyway?

His mind running a mile a minute, he tried to figure out how he should go about finding out what happened to Liz. He didn't know the local law enforcers, didn't know the area… How the fuck was he supposed to prepare an escape strategy? He didn't know what to expect; he was in uncharted territory, and that was making him antsy. What if it was the FBI? Had they found out about them? Did they follow her from Roswell? And now all of a sudden, Valenti is warning him about strangers asking questions, and fucking Liz Parker is once again the cause of all of this, and when he calls her to shit all over her, some stranger answers her phone. Who the fuck was Clark Kent? Why did he have Liz's phone?

He hadn't even known that she was leaving Roswell, until she was gone. Granted, they hadn't really been speaking then, but still…

When he had arrived home that afternoon, he had found Maria curled up on the sofa, her arms crossed over her stomach, tears running freely from her eyes. Immediately he had started to panic, thinking that something had happened. And then he remembered only feeling shock when she told him that Liz had left that day. She hadn't said a word, just disappeared. One day there, and then the next gone. And damned if that didn't piss him off all over again... How the fuck was he supposed to protect them if they didn't tell him what was going on?! She should have just stayed in Roswell then he wouldn't have to run all over creation trying to find her. And this Clark Kent? He hated strangers. And what did he mean that they couldn't find her?

"Fuck. How long does it take to get bags off the plane?" He muttered angrily, fighting the urge to kick something, watching as all around him people were pushing and shoving trying to get a spot next to the carousel.

He was going to get answers dammit, and when he found out what was going on with Liz he was going to kill her himself. And why in the hell was he here… Shit. It sucked being the protector… And why did Liz need protecting anyway? She wasn't part of the group anymore, she ran away, damnit!

He continued to focus on the anger, refusing to acknowledge the underlying panic that something bad had indeed happened to Liz. When Isabel had called, she had been freaking, screaming about how Liz had been completely out of it, something about how she was not lucid during the dream-walk. Which meant that she was probably drugged, and when he got his hands on the asshole, who did that, Lord help him…

That, on top of the fact that he couldn't reach her on her phone started the as yet unacknowledged panic that hadn't left Michael since. He had been on his way to the Sheriff's when finally someone, who was not Liz Parker, had answered the call. After that, things had moved pretty fast, and one day later, here he was in Metropolis, extremely thankful that they had set up that emergency fund instead of blowing all of that cash in Vegas.

Of course, only Isabel and Valenti knew that he was here. As far as everyone was concerned, Michael had behaved in a typical Michael-fashion and disappeared into the desert for a few days, which suited his purposes just fine. It was ridiculously easy to pick a fight with Maria; Kyle was avoiding the aliens as if they had the plague and as for Max and Tess… Well, he very rarely gave them excuses for his actions, why should he start now? Besides, they were so busy with the baby stuff and the decorating and the planning, and whatever the hell else was needed when one was expecting an alien baby… Yeah, so all in all, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them or rather him… Or at least irritate him so that he hurt them… Although… A wry grin appeared on his face. …A pregnant Tess might just give him a run for his money in the irritability stakes.

Finally spotting his bag, Michael reached for it before quickly making his way to the exit. He wouldn't have seen the sign with his name or the blonde holding it, if she hadn't called out.

"Clark Kent, where the hell are you going?"

Snapping his head up, he came to a dead stop and searched the crowd before finally seeing the short girl with the sign. She was a little taller than Maria, with straight blonde shoulder-length hair, a long nose and a mole that seemed to give her face character. Over her shoulder, she carried a large purse and was dressed in beige cargo pants, a white shirt and black jacket. Oblivious to his stare, she was frowning at someone who was moving away from her to a bank of telephones.

Transferring his attention to the infamous Clark Kent, his eyebrow lifted. The guy was big, muscular and taller than he was. He had the look of someone who could handle himself, but still had the pretty boy look, clean cut and shaven like Max but that's where the similarity stopped. This guy, he didn't know what it was about him, but his gut was telling him that there was more to this 'Clark Kent' than met the eye, and as far as Michael was concerned, that did not bode well for the future. He trusted his instincts implicitly, they had not let him down in the past as they had all learned, and he wasn't about to stop now. How did Liz fit in with him? Was she in danger from him? Did he really not know what had happened to her? Was it all an act? Should he identify himself? Or give them a wide berth and try to find out what was happening on his own? Realising that might not be a good plan, considering he did not know the area, he decided that he would just have to make sure to keep his guard up!

Turning back to the blonde, he was startled to find that she was watching him, and then before he could say anything she was in front of him.

"Hi. I'm Chloe." Holding her hand out, she continued. "Are you Michael? I guess you're wondering what we are doing here, right? Or, for that matter, how we knew which plane you were on? We actually didn't expect you so fast, but all of a sudden here you are…"

Slowly reaching out, he grasped her hand, silently wondering whether she and Maria were long-lost relatives. He didn't bother to say anything, because he knew that if she was anything like Maria, he wouldn't need to. And sure enough…

"And Roswell, huh? What is it like to live there? Met any aliens? I've never met anyone from… Well, Liz, of course. Oh -"

Michael watched impassively as she blushed.

"I'm sorry, you must be wondering about Liz as well, right. Well, we didn't have any ideas on how to go about finding her, and Clark is freaking out, big time. Which is really strange, because Clark doesn't normally freak out, you know?" She stopped then, and turned to look at Clark.

Looking in the same direction, he saw Clark on his way to them, but before he could say anything, Chloe had started again.

"So, how long have you known Liz? She really great, isn't she? I wanted to do an article on her, but then…"

Michael tuned her out and continued to watch as Clark walked closer. When he reached them, the two men took each other's measure, sizing up the other, faces impassive, looking for obvious weaknesses. Neither willing to give an inch…

"Um." Chloe interrupted their mini stand-off and unfortunately, drew their attention away from each other so that they were both focused on her. Not a little intimidated, she swallowed hard and spoke again. "Uh yeah… Not to interrupt or anything, but we really have to go and um… I'm sure we want to put our heads together to find Liz, cos it's really worrying that she just disappeared without a sign."

Both nodded reluctantly, and Clark turned to Michael and extended his hand. "Clark Kent."

Michael eyed it, before extending his own. "Michael Guerin."

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief, before drumming up a smile. "Come on guys, the car is this way, although I'm not sure how comfortable you two are going to be in my car. It is rather small." Turning to the exit, she called over her shoulder, "Don't worry, though. I'm sure we'll manage."

Bemused, Michael and Clark only followed, neither saying a word.

The drive to Smallville was conducted in silence. Michael wanted to wait until they were in a quiet area before asking questions. He needed to check everything and everyone's stories, and in the meantime, he hoped that Isabel managed to dream-walk her again to get some useful information like where she was…

But then, it might be a little difficult for him to find her considering he didn't know the area and doubted that Liz knew enough about it to identify her surroundings either, which meant that he would probably have to involve the two sitting in the front seat. Great, more strangers on the outskirts of the alien abyss…

"Fucking Liz Parker," He muttered under his breath, unaware of the glare he received from the front of the car.