Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all.
Norman Vincent Peale

Chloe continued to stare at the two men. She hadn't known either very long but felt she was pretty good at judging people. She knew from what had just happened that neither one was surprised at her discovery. Her old friend Clark Kent was actually Superman. Seeing the glasses on Superman for only a second hadn't been the final confirmation in her mind. It was the reaction it caused from the men now staring at her. They had known.

Chloe had heard the stories of Superman and his possible involvement with Lois Lane. She had also heard all the rumors about Clark and Lois in the office the last few days. She just had never put two and two together. Having never met Superman she had no reason to think about it. That is till now.

Clearing her throat she finally said, "Well that was fun. So, both of you already knew huh?" Shaking her head in disbelief, "I was a bridesmaid at Superman's wedding."

Richard took a deep breath looking at his uncle. "Does Clark know you know? I saw you talking to him just before he and Lois left. He didn't seem too happy afterwards. In fact, just before you two were together I told him I would keep and eye on you. He suspected then that you knew."

Shaking his head as he looked down at his feet. "Yes, he knows and you're right, I'm not his favorite person right now. As a matter of fact I got the feeling he was quite annoyed with me. I was just trying to keep him from quitting. I even told him he could have complete freedom, on his terms. I asked him to get back to me when they get back. Richard, I also told him the conversation was off the record. I'm not dumb enough to try and expose him."

Richard had stared at Perry the whole time he had spoken satisfied with what his uncle had said. Now he turned to look at Chloe with the same intensity. "Chloe, you know this can go no farther. You can't tell anyone what you just discovered."

"Do you think I'm stupid? Of course I won't tell but if I can find this information others can too. All they have to do is make a connection between Clark and Superman."

"Clark said you were a wizard on the computer. Can you make that story go away? Do you know if there are any other stories like this that someone might find?"

"Actually, there are. Things like this started happening a lot. I don't remember Clark ever being mentioned again but he disappeared a lot. I can go in and tamper with the files so the code will get lost." She worked her magic pulling up files and records that meant nothing to Richard and Perry who were watching the screen as she worked. She stopped, looking at one screen in particular. "We may be too late. This file has been accessed recently."

"Can you tell who accessed it or when? Wait is that the date there?" Richard said pointing to a date on the entry, "Perry see that! That was the day after Superman made is reappearance. Oh this is not good!"

Chloe typed in a search on the paper's site on the words: unexplained, miracle, weird, unsolved, strange, mysterious along with several other similar words along with a date range starting in 1974 then hit enter.

The computer worked for a short time and finally displayed 3,538 entries.

Looking at the first few they realized just how bad the situation was. Several of the first stories had clear indications someone or something had intervened in an unexplained manner preventing something from happening or helping in the aftermath of a catastrophe of some kind. To make matters worse the files had also been recently accessed.

"Chloe do whatever you can to delete all of these files? Wait, first can you download them for us. We need to know what someone else has already seen. We also need to find a way to make it so they are gone period. We don't want them just reloading the files."

"On it. It'll take a little while though. I never thought I would actually want to be a malicious hacker. But here goes. I guess it is for a good cause." Turning back to Richard before she started, "Don't you think we better alert Clark?"

"Sheesh, they're just starting their honeymoon. Let me think for minute." Richard paced the floor as Perry took out a new cigar and chewed the tip to help him think.

Chloe went to work. "Hey, I think someone is in one of the files right now. It won't let me access." Richard and Perry leaned in over her shoulder as if they could see who it was.

"Can you trace the user?" Richard asked urgently.

"I can give it a good try but it depends how he's accessing the file. Here goes…" She typed away for several minutes with the screen changing, often showing information only she understood. After several minutes, "Ahh, I almost had 'em. Damn, whoever it was just got away."

"Download and then do whatever you can to delete all the files. The whole site if you must. Perry, we need to pay a visit to the paper early tomorrow, um I guess it's actually this morning. Whether they're open on Sunday morning or not."

Taking out his phone he hesitated momentarily, it was 4 AM. He placed a call. "Ben, sorry to wake you, can you get Martha and put the phone on speaker so you both can hear. It's important and it would be easier to explain it only once."

"Is everyone alright, I don't want to scare her like you just did me."

"Yes everyone's alright. I just want to make sure it says that way."

"What is it Richard, I'm listening?" Martha spoke into the phone.

"To keep it short, Chloe figured out the secret, in the process she uncovered evidence someone else is snooping into odd occurrences here in Smallville. We are working together to stop the leak. You need to be on alert. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but…."

"I'll tell you more as we know more. I'm trying to decide weather to alert Clark. I was thinking of waiting for now. At least till we know more of what we're dealing with. What do you think I should do, call them now or wait?"

"Without all the facts I really don't know. I would hate to spoil their time together if you're not sure there is a real threat. Richard, I'm sure Clark would trust your judgment. Do what you would want him to do if your positions were reversed," Martha advised.

Smiling into the phone Richard said, "Martha, I can see why Clark loves and respects you so much. Thank you for the valuable advice. I'll keep you informed, and you do likewise." As he closed the phone he leaned over Chloe looking back at the computer screen.

"How are you doing, Chloe?"

"Just about done. I can't believe I'm doing this. I'll go with you to the paper. I worked there on summer vacations while I went to college. I can help there too, more than you know. Are you going to call them?"

"Not yet. Let's give them just a little more time. We need to find out just what the heck we're dealing with first. If we can."

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Trask As written by SHADOLibrarian

Trask watched the computer technician as he went through his paces. After a few moments the younger man swore.

"What's wrong?" Trask demanded.

"They're good, I'll give 'em that," the younger man complained.

"What?"

"I was downloading the files you wanted from the Smallville Ledger. Somebody put a trace on me."

"So, what did they find out?" Trask demanded.

"I don't know. But I'll tell you this, somebody doesn't want us looking."

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A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.
Chinese Proverb

Superman flew over Metropolis in the early morning light. He had already prevented two drunken drivers from causing major accidents across town from each other. In both cases he had taken the cars, occupants included to the closest police station dropping them off as he alerted the police inside.

After preventing a freight train from crashing that was in the process of derailing he decided to return home. He wanted to be there before Lois woke up. "Just one stop to make first…"

Creeping in quietly he went over to the bed with a tray in his arms. He set it on the bed stand as he leaned over and kissed Lois. She yawned and stretched before coming to her senses. "I thought after that workout last night you might just need breakfast in bed." He said softly still leaning close.

"I don't know about that, what I need is you in this bed. I'm cold." She pulled him into the bed easily since he made no objection. As he settled beside her their lips met.

Coming up for air Lois asked, "What time is it? Do we have time for some more fun before getting ready? I want to see just how super you really are!"

"Oh, I'm sure I can rise to the occasion if that's what you mean." he said raising his eyebrows and smiling. "We still have almost three hours before the cab will be here to pick us up for the airport."

He leaned back in for another kiss as Lois unbuttoned his shirt. Finding the suit she stopped. "What do we do with this?"

"Oh, I'll take it off." He started to get up and she stopped him.

"Not so fast, I want to see how you get out of that thing for once. Do you mind?"

Blushing slightly he said, "Of course not Lois." Then, at a speed she could follow, he removed the cape, took off the boots, the Speedo, then the shirt and finally the tights. "See, nothing unusual. I normally do it a lot faster though."

Jumping back in bed he said wryly, "I thought you said you were cold. Did that view warm you up or do you need me close like this."

"The view was spectacular but I definitely need you closer." Lois whispered as his lips crushed against hers.

"Better?" he whispered in her ear just before nibbling on the lobe.

"Much!" she said breathlessly as their hands freely roamed each other's bodies building up new desire with each movement.

Afterwards, once again cuddling up next to Clark, Lois said, "I never knew it could be like this. I've never been like this. I…I can't get enough of you…close to me like this. I guess I'm making up for all that lost time."

"I feel the same way and we do have a lot to make up for don't we?"

"Hmmm, yes we do, about that breakfast. I really am hungry now. Can we nuke it to heat it back up? I think we let it get a little cold while we were otherwise occupied." She said smiling coyly.

"Nuke…oh microwave, sure but why bother I can warm it up right here." Looking at the plates he shot a ray of heat vision for a few seconds and both plates were steaming. "Here you go breakfast in bed."

"When did you have time or ingredients to make an omelet? Did you really make this, it's fantastic?"

"Yes I made it, as I said I require very little sleep. I got the ingredients this morning after I did a quick tour around the city as…you know," he said arching his eyebrows and making a small flying movement with his hands. "That's why I had the suit on."

Finishing their breakfast they decided they had better shower and separately in order to get ready. The cab would be there in just over an hour.

Arriving at the airport they checked in and proceeded to the security area. As they got in line, Clark was told to get in a separate line.

"Uh, excuse me, but we're traveling together, why are we being sent to different lines?" Clark asked as he saw Lois looking back at him shrugging her shoulders.

"Sir, just stay in line you'll be processed shortly. It seems you have been chosen for special security processing. Don't worry, people are all chosen by computer many at random, nothing to worry about."

"Just what do you mean, special security processing?" He asked pushing his glasses up.

"Just stay in line, you'll find out soon enough."

Clark watched as the person in front of him was "processed." Shaking his head, he thought to himself, Glad I decided to not wear the suit. Definitely a good idea!

As Clark's turn came he was put through the entire process having a complete pat down, wanded, made to take his shoes off and open up his shirt.

"So you do this to just randomly selected people for no cause, huh?"

"What? Oh, that's right mister," the guy was chewing gum as he worked.

"What if you see someone looking suspicious, say acting nervous or anxious? Do you run them through here too?"

"Huh? Oh, no Mister. Like I said, we just do what we're told. Whoever is singled out we search. You're ok. You may put yourself back together and be on your way. Have a nice day."

Clark just shook his head and looked in disbelief at the other people who had been singled out just as he had. He tucked in his shirt and put his shoes back on thinking there had to be a better way. He rejoined Lois who was still laughing at the thought of who they had just put through special security screening.

As he approached her he said, "Are we there yet? I don't think I like flying commercially."

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I wish to thank my Beta reader SHADOLibrarian once again for her valuable input and editing

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Please Review SHADO and I will both appreciate it THANKS To Those Who Do! ; )