The four drove back to Smallville, Clark grateful for the extended cab of his pickup that allowed all of them to ride comfortably. True to his word, at the first pay phone they encountered, Mike reported seeing a body by a limo on the road to Reeves Dam. He quickly hung up when the 911 operator tried to get additional information.
Chloe's phone rang again after that, and this time she answered it.
"James!" she said.
"Chloe, where have you been?" Clark heard the young lawyer on the other end of the line. "Are Mike and Rachel with you? I waited for a long time, then I tried calling, and I couldn't get hold of you—"
"It's my fault," Chloe interrupted. Staying close to the truth, but being deliberately misleading again, she said, "I took him to meet a friend of mine. I thought it would only be a few minutes, but it turned a lot longer. And then I forgot I had my phone turned off!" Gosh, she sounded ditzy, she thought. "I'm sorry, James."
"Well, if everyone's OK, that's good, but I just got some urgent news from the office. I have to get back to Metropolis right away, and unless I can meet you in the next few minutes here in downtown Smallville, I won't be able to take Mike and Rachel."
Chloe looked at Clark, knowing he'd heard the conversation. He shook his head.
"No, that's OK, James," Chloe said. "We can get them to Metropolis. Can they meet you in your office tomorrow morning about eleven?"
"That's great, Chloe," James replied. "I'll leave an envelope with papers and money for Mike at the Kent Farm. I'll drop it off on the way. Take care." He ended the call.
"Gosh, it must be urgent," Chloe said. "He couldn't wait to get going." She told Mike and Rachel about the conversation.
"Probably Caselli arranged that too," Mike grumbled.
Chloe cast him a startled look.
"Kidnap me and Rachel, get my lawyer distracted…"
"You're being paranoid," Chloe said weakly.
"Am I?" Mike challenged her.
Chloe said nothing. She was beginning to think she'd underestimated Dr. Caselli. She wondered what the urgent news was that James Cooney had gotten from his office. What could make him basically abandon a client? She hoped it didn't involve a fatality in his family or office mates.
"Let's get to your house, Clark," Chloe urged. "I'm sure James will have left contact info in that envelope he was talking about. Once we know where to go, we can take Mike and Rachel to Metropolis."
Clark nodded and kept the truck moving down the sparsely traveled county roads. No one said anything all the rest of the way to the Kent Farm.
The battered red truck pulled into the long farm driveway, dust fuming up in its wake. Clark parked the truck in its usual position not far from the house, and the passengers piled out. He frowned at the sight of an unfamiliar sedan nearby. It wasn't his mother's car.
"Good to see the farm," Chloe murmured. Clark shot her a look. She looked back, gratitude on her face. "For a minute there, I thought I would never see this place again." Her quick smile broke out. "Did I thank you, Clark?"
"Yes," he muttered, uncomfortable.
"Well, thanks again," she said, dropping back behind Mike and Rachel to take his hand and squeeze it. "My hero."
"Um…it's getting close to the time to do the afternoon milking…" Clark mumbled.
Chloe just grinned at him, well aware of his aversion to being recognized and thanked for using his superhuman abilities. We need a support group, she thought. Shy Aliens and the People They Have Saved. Or maybe that could be our rock band name. It was funny. Clark could do all these wonderful things, he'd saved her life more times than she could count, and it seemed like some days he just moped, moped about not being human.
Then the grin left her face as Chloe thought about what she'd been through since discovering that she herself was a meteor freak. The queasiness, the notion that one had…powers…beyond those of mortal men, even if one didn't yet know what those powers were. And the fear. The fear that she would use her power (whatever it was) to hurt someone.
Chloe remembered a line from the "Star Wars" movie. Alec Guinness as Obi-wan Kenobi, saying to Luke Skywalker: "Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force." She didn't want that to happen to her. So, lately, she'd had a small taste of what Clark Kent went through every day. Every day, he had to make a choice. Good or Evil? Or, less dramatic but more insidious, Good or Apathy?
Chloe slowed her steps as she considered the numerous times that Clark had used his abilities to help someone, when it would have been easier and more convenient just to do nothing. This hero business was more of a hassle than it looked.
She tossed her head, then noticed that the others had all entered the house. Clark patiently (although exaggeratedly) was holding the front door open for her. Chloe diverted her mind from superhero thoughts and moved quickly up the porch steps. Clark followed her inside.
They entered the living room, and Chloe stopped in surprise at the sight of Mary Daugherty. Clark, following behind, almost ran into her. Mike and Rachel were already in the room, standing stiffly.
"Oh, there you are, Clark!" Martha Kent said cheerily. "Mrs. Daugherty from the courthouse came to see you."
Clark's gaze moved to Mary; she looked back at him. Was it desperation on her face?
"She's been waiting a half-hour," Mrs. Kent continued, smoothing over the awkward tension in the room. "We've had some cookies." Martha looked around at the four newcomers, each semi-frozen in surprise. "Um, would you like some cookies, Rachel, Mike?"
Mike broke out of the spell, said, "Certainly, Mrs. Kent."
"Well, let's go to the kitchen for the cookies, then? And we'll have some milk with them, Rachel? Or maybe you'd like lemonade, Mr. Reilly?" Martha burbled as she gently chivvied them down the hallway.
Chloe stayed and Mary Daugherty made no efforts to ask her to leave, looking once at Chloe and then dismissing Chloe from her attention.
"Clark," Mary said.
"Yes?" he replied.
"Did anything happen with Perdita while I was getting coffee? In the hospital?"
"Why?" Clark asked warily.
"She moved. She moved, Clark." Mary's voice had come out of the flat deadness he'd heard earlier today when they sat together in Perdita's room, looking at the comatose girl. "It's the first time she's moved in twelve months." Now there was a terrible hope in the words. "So I was wondering if you saw anything, or heard anything different…" she trailed off.
Clark paused just a moment, not wanting to talk about Mike's astral visitation. "Um, no, Mrs. Daugherty."
Her eyes narrowed. Clark had an uneasy feeling she saw through his prevarication. Chloe had often told him he couldn't lie worth a darn.
Clark couldn't resist the naked plea in her eyes. "Well…"
"What?" Mary pounced.
Clark said slowly, "Well, I am a big believer in the power of prayer, and I did say a prayer for Perdita there while I was holding her hand." All true, but not quite the whole story.
"Would you come back and do it again?" Mary asked eagerly.
Clark felt like a heel. He didn't dare look at Chloe. Probably she'd interpret this as evidence of some more Kryptonian powers. But he didn't have the power to heal. If he had, he thought bitterly, Jonathan Kent would be alive today.
"Please?" Mary asked. She lowered her eyes, said quietly, "Please, Clark. That's the only thing…no one else has ever…it's been so long."
How could he say no? "Of course, Mrs. Daugherty."
Chloe interjected. "Clark, don't you have to do your chores first?" Clark and Mary both jumped.
"Um, yes, Chloe," he replied. Chloe was giving him a Significant Look again. If he knew what was good for him, Clark would follow her lead. "Um, Mrs. Daugherty, maybe I can come by tonight."
She sighed. Obviously Mary would prefer that he drop everything and rush to the hospital right away, but she was too polite to say so. "Oh, thanks so much, Clark. But I have Altar Society tonight and I won't be there after 7:00 pm. And my husband has a meeting too."
Clark held down the smile that wanted to break out. The last thing he wanted was witnesses. "Please be sure to let the nursing staff know I'll be coming," he said, straightening to his full height. Unconsciously, his voice dropped to a slightly lower register. "I'll be there tonight. Unless you want me to wait and come later on with you?"
Mary relaxed at the promise. Somehow, when Clark Kent spoke like that, you knew he would do what he said. "No, Clark," she said. "I'd prefer that you come as soon as possible. Thank you," she said. Mary gathered her purse and made her good-byes to Martha. Fortunately, Mike and Rachel had retreated upstairs.
Clark turned back to see Chloe staring at him, an amused expression on her face.
"What?" he asked, defensively.
"You know, Clark," she said, "when you think someone needs you, it's like you're a whole different person."
"What?" he asked again, this time confused.
"It's like suddenly you're not a geeky farm boy," Chloe said. "You're somebody who knows what he wants to do and isn't going to let anyone stop him from doing it."
"Oh." Clark never realized he was like that. It was disconcerting – who was he, really? Did he have a whole other identity?