Chapter Seven: Clark Kent is an Onion

Callie watched as Clark broke an egg and emptied it into the frying pan. Adding bacon, cheese, onions, peppers and smelling the fresh brewed coffee Callie's mouth started to water. While Lois had been upstairs Clark had quickly sped out and brought back all the ingredients for a breakfast that was making Callie's stomach do back flips.

"What?" Clark asked as he continued to cook.

"Nothing. It's just its actual food. I figured if some evil super-villain wasn't going to kill me first then I'd probably die of starvation here instead." She smiled wide at him.

"Yeah, I haven't been around much lately to fill the refrigerator." He said, throwing a dish towel over his shoulder and adding another egg to the pan.

"So, where have you been?"

"Metropolis at first, then I started going other places."

Callie eyed him carefully and racked her brain as to where he could have been. 'The Fortress?' she thought to herself.

Catching another whiff of the heavenly scents filling the kitchen Callie's mind traveled elsewhere. She was still sleepy but nothing, not even sleep, was going to keep her away from her first real meal since falling from the sky. Blinking her eyes fervently to stay awake Callie yawned but continued to stare lovingly at the food.

"You look tired." Clark commented.

"Yeah, well, I would have gotten a good night's sleep if someone called to say he wasn't coming home." She replied, obviously still miffed from the events that transpired only hours before. However, it was a lie. Even if she had gotten some sleep it would have most likely been interrupted by a nightmare.

"Wow, Clark, you really do stand up every woman in your life. Should I be happy I wasn't the only one or was it like some kind of initiation process?" Lois said walking down the stairs her hair wet from her shower and wearing Clark's red plaid shirt and barely visible shorts. "And also omit information, like how you already had a house guest before you dragged me out here?"

Callie watched as Clark's mouth gaped open then closed as he swallowed back hard. Unable to keep back a chuckle Callie placed her hand over her mouth. Then she saw Clark move his eyes from Lois to her, giving her a stern warning to stop laughing, but that only made her want to laugh more.

"What's so funny?" Lois asked clueless.

"Nothing," Callie said, composing herself. "I'm just overtired. Makes me a little hysterical. And there's plenty of room for you here."

Shaking off Callie's comment she turned to Clark as she dried her hair with her towel. "Smells good," she said, referring to the breakfast, "but I'm going to have to get a rain check on it."

"Why?" Clark asked, evidently confused.

"Well, while you may have all the time in the world apparently, some of us still have to organize our time so we can get to a little thing called 'work', which we're going to be late for, that is if I still have my job after being M.I.A. If I can just get my clothes, a hair dryer, and find you a decent outfit then we can go."

"Lois…"

"What?" She asked annoyed.

Taking a deep breath he said quietly, "I don't work at the Daily Planet anymore."

"What? What do you mean you don't work there anymore?"

"I quit about a month ago."

Callie looked from Clark to Lois then back again. She'd seen those looks before. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"You quit!? Getting fired by Tess is one thing, but you quit?" She exclaimed.

"Yes, but Lois… besides, you got home from the hospital only a few hours ago and now you plan to go to work?"

'Ah, the changing of the subject move. Crafty but will she go for it?' Callie thought watching Clark and Lois was like a tennis match at Wimbledon.

"Oh don't try and change the subject, Smallville. Coffee was invented for times such as these. What I want to know is why you quit."

'Nope. Didn't bite.'

Callie watched as Clark was silent to her question of quitting. She could answer that one easily for him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that Clark wouldn't be able to work with an empty desk across from him, especially if that desk was none other than that of Lois Lane.

"Fine, you know what, whatever!" She said going over and getting herself a cup of coffee.

A knock at the door further prolonged Clark's response, if he even was able to find one. Watching the stalemate that was the battle of Lois and Clark, Callie got up and answered the door, resuming her adopted butler duties. The woman on the other side had her red hair pulled back in a tight bun and black sleeveless dress on. Callie recognized her face. She recalled it from the photo she had printed out with Chloe, but still thought she knew it in the future somehow. 'Tess.' Callie thought.

"Can I help you?" She asked her.

"I'm here to see Clark." She said, her blue eyes examining her.

Callie narrowed her eyes. She turned her head to Clark who was already making his way to the door. She watched in the corner of her eye as Lois sat down at the counter and inched her head to the side trying to see what was going on.

"What do you want, Tess?" Clark's voice rang with detest.

"A little birdie told me you were at the hospital last night with none other than Lois Lane. I found that piece of information intriguing seeing as what our last conversation was about. Just came here to see for myself if it was true."

Clark opened the door wider to reveal Lois sitting at the counter.

"Tess." Lois said with the same detest in her voice as Clark.

"Lois, good to see that you're okay." She said eyeing Clark.

"What? Hoping for a different outcome?"

"What I'm hoping for is to see you at work in a few hours."

"I still have my job?" Lois questioned, figuring there would be more of a fight.

"If you want it," she replied. As Tess was about to leave she turned to Clark. "What about you, Clark? Willing to come back to the Daily Planet?"

"I'm fine where I am."

Callie watched as Tess watched Clark. She could tell that Tess too was sensing that Clark was acting different than normal.

"Very well then. Lois…Clark." Tess said then turned to Callie and extended her hand. "I'm sorry I don't think I introduced myself earlier. I'm Tess Mercer."

She reluctantly shook it and supplied, "Callie."

Tess smiled at her. It was alarming how wide and artificial it looked.

"Goodbye…Callie." They were both on each other's radar.

Callie watched as Tess walked out the door and toward her limo parked in the muddy driveway. During the conversation with Tess, Chloe had pulled up in her car. She hauled a bunch of bags from her car and while passing by each other Tess acknowledged Chloe but Chloe looked at her with contempt. Walking into the kitchen lugging with what looked to be Lois' stuff she asked, "What was that about?"

"Work stuff." Lois said, bringing a mug of coffee to her mouth.

As they started to chatter in the background Callie tuned them out and found herself curious by the limo and whatever its contents were. Using her x-ray vision she saw Tess next to a male whose face she couldn't see. As she was about to use her super hearing to eavesdrop on their conversation she was pulled out of her concentration by Chloe's voice.

"Callie—are you okay?"

Blinking a few times to get her eyes in check she closed the door. "Yeah." Turning to everyone in the room she added sarcastically, "Tess seemed pleasant."

"Oh yeah, a real joy to call my boss." Lois replied, hopping off of the stool. She picked up one of the duffle bags that Chloe brought and headed to the stairs. "And here I am getting ready for an awesome day of work with her hovering over me. I wonder what everyone is going to say when they see me…" She said dramatically, bringing her free hand to her chest and looking upward.

"'Welcome Back Lois' parade at five?" Callie commented, smiling at her.

"Better be. " She said with a wink as she jogged up the stairs.

The wink. The legendary wink. Callie honestly didn't know how much more she could take of this. She was keeping all this information to herself and was ready to burst. The glimpses of her future life made her long for home, but she couldn't leave just yet. As much as she wanted to get home she couldn't leave this place without setting things right, and the main thing was getting Clark back to being Clark.

Hearing the hairdryer go on upstairs Chloe, Clark, and Callie all deemed it safe enough to talk.

"What do you think she really wanted?" Chloe asked.

"She wants to know what happened to Lois as much as we do." Clark replied.

"She's up to something. I don't trust her." Callie said matter of factly.

"Well, that's nothing new." Chloe said.

Expressing his worry Clark said, "I don't think Lois should go to the Daily Planet."

"And how are you going to stop her?" Callie challenged.

"I have to side with Callie on this." Chloe added. "I think we're better off just letting Lois go. Not only will we save ourselves a huge argument but whatever Tess is up to, we have a foot in the door."

'Yeah since you don't work there anymore, Einstein.' Callie thought to Clark.

"Fine." Clark said as he stalked his way out of the kitchen and headed to the barn.

Chloe turned to Callie. "Still no luck getting to him?"

Callie shrugged. "He has his moments. At times I see Clark and other times…"

"I think Clark just needs time."

"Time that we don't have. I don't know how long I've got here and if Zod is in the picture we better hope that Clark finds himself quicker than later."

Chloe sighed heavily as she gazed at the door Clark left through. Turning back to Callie she changed the subject. "Aside from that, how have you been? You must be happy that the search for Lois ended on a happy note."

"It takes some of the edge off, but tension has filled the Kent house so that's fun." She said trying to hide her smile, "But, I think that look on Lois' face when she saw me was priceless."

"How did you explain yourself being here?"

"I came up with an awful excuse of being Clark's cousin."

"I think we'll have to make a complete history for you. If Tess is going to be looking into you, like I know she will be, we better make sure all the bases are covered."

"Well, I'll give you the rundown right now. I'm 18, just finished high school, and enrolled at Met U in the fall."

"Sounds believable."

'Of course it does, that's because it's true.' Callie thought.

"And I'm assuming that you're a Kent?"

Callie's blue eyes widened at the comment, for a second forgetting what they were conspiring. "Yup"

"Well, that's a good start. Welcome to Smallville, Callie Kent," she smiled.

Callie smiled back awkwardly. 'Callie Kent…' She thought. 'You don't know how right you are.'

~\~

Clark moved around the barn and tried to think of every job possible to do that would occupy his time and take his mind off of everything. He ended up standing by the window in the loft and watching as Lois got into Chloe's car and drove off toward Metropolis.

Sighing deeply he leaned his head against the wood. Callie and Chloe had had a point: there was nothing he could have done to stop her from going. No matter how much he wanted to protect her, the truth was that she did have a life that she needed to get back to. He couldn't lock her up on the Kent farm all day. It was amazing that he got her on the property in the first place. Heading to the couch he sat down and put his head into his hands. For someone with such strong stamina he was feeling very tired.

"Uh oh, are you back to playing 'Mopey Opie' now?" Callie's voice rang from the stairs.

He kept silent.

"Alright, getting straight to the point …I think you need to get your act together. Lois is going into the lion's den. You need to be prepared."

Lifting his head from his hand he turned to her. "I get it, but shouldn't you be focusing on getting home now since Lois is back. I can take care of everything else."

"Trying to get rid of me already? I'm touched."

"That's not what I meant."

"Whether you want it or not you have an ally here. You're going to need it if Zod shows his ugly face."

"I battled him before."

"Clark, you should know better than anyone that once you go against someone if they come back they don't use the same strategy that got them beaten before. Rule number one, never underestimate the enemy."

"Don't tell me, this is part of Callie's Rules of Battle?"

"Something like that, but I can't take credit for them." She said eying him.

Clark turned his head and stared at the floor. He wasn't going to stay here and have Callie lecture him all day. Making his face expressionless he stood up ready to leave.

"Oooh no you don't. Don't do the whole stoic poker face thing again. What happened to the guy that came home this morning with Lois? When you looked at her you had this look in your eye that… I don't know, it was nice to see it. Plus, you came back without the stupid trench coat."

"What about the coat?"

"Seriously? I guess I was the only one who caught the metaphor on that one. And, also, luck for you that opted out of wearing your logo when you found her."

'Yeah, I didn't make enough of those yet,' thinking about how he had just decided to wear his family's symbol. To be honest, he hadn't felt comfortable wearing it just yet. He then thought about her comment about the coat and looked at her quizzically. "All I did was take it off," he said, not seeing its significance.

"Okay, if all you did was take it off what was the reason behind it?" She asked, leaning on the banister of the stairs and folding her arms across her chest.

"I took it off to super jump to Lois' apartment." He explained.

"Exactly," She said pointing her index finger at him. "You did it to save someone close to you who you care about deeply. That's really weird for someone who swore off feeling anything for the people he cared about. Hell, if you knew something was wrong you could have called 911, but you didn't. That jacket is just one of the many layers of you that need to be peeled away. I was hoping that the 'shedding of the coat' was a sign of progression, but instead I got regression a short time later."

Clark looked straight into her blue eyes. "I'm trying," he said truthfully.

He had been trying. A part of himself had woken up when he found Lois, but the fact was that Jimmy, his friend, was dead and Davis, someone he believed was a victim turned out to be a murderer without Doomsday in his body. He was haunted by it and thinking about it filled him up with the feelings of denying humanity and determination to stop that from ever happening again. While on patrol he had come across criminals and had tweaked his method of dealing with them, becoming a little darker in his approach. He remembered feeling something close to it when he went up against Titan a few years before. He felt powerful without any distractions weighing him down, but he also felt like he was losing a part of himself. With Callie nagging at him it started to make him rethink his attitude. 'But you have to do this to keep everyone safe,' a voice said in his head. 'Why mess with something that has been working?'

Watching the conflict on his face empathy had washed over Callie's.

"I know you are." She replied softly. Plastering a smile on her face and chippering up her voice she said, "How about we go back to the house and finish the amazing breakfast you started before I keel over from malnourishment?"

Clark half smiled at her. In the last month he had been avoiding everyone and reveling in being alone. Suddenly, he was glad for Callie being there and understanding him without him actually saying anything. It was what he needed in that instant.

"Come on." She said waving him to the stairs. "When we finish we'll do some chores and then you can go and check up on Lois because I know you're dying to."

Clark stood up and did as she asked. In that moment he felt like Clark once more. He just wondered how long it would last before he felt like retreating again.

~\~

Lois Lane walked down the stairs that she had just walked up the night before. She had been upstairs with human resources and with Tess for over an hour discussing getting her position back. She had also been inundated with old newspapers that had stories written about her disappearance. It was overwhelming and after getting a few breaths of fresh air and a fresh cup of coffee she had made her way to the job she loved minus the person she—'Don't go there,' Lois said to herself. 'He obviously made his choice.' Focusing back on the basement she watched as people looked on with amazement. People who were on the stairs parted like the Red Sea in order to make room for her to make it to the landing.

"Lane. I can't believe it." She heard a voice said.

"We thought you were dead." Another voice said.

"Great to have you back, Lane."

"At the end of the world it'll be Lane and the cockroaches."

She made her way through the crowd to her desk or what was formally her desk. She placed her hand on it and noticed it was empty. She had been informed that someone had taken her desk but they would quickly be relocated so she could have it back. Suddenly, she wondered where all her stuff had gone to. 'I'll have to ask Chloe.' She thought.

"Miss Lane, it's a pleasure to meet you." A voice rang out.

She looked up to see a man occupying the spot next to hers. Fury rapidly came over her. She wanted to scream at the man and tell him that wasn't his desk. That particular feeling of anger was new to her. 'Who knew that Smallville not being across from me would affect me this much?'she thought.

"And you are?" She asked, crossing her arms on her chest and raising her eyebrow to him.

"Corben. John Corben."

She eyed him carefully. He was dressed in a dark blue shirt and a red tie. 'Looks better on Clark.' She thought. 'Wait, did I just think that? Get your mind off of him, Lane!'

"Nice to meet you." She mumbled, sitting down on her chair and starting up her computer.

"So, everyone wants to know where you were this entire time." He said, pulling his pad and pen towards him.

"Ha. Nice try, rookie. If anyone is writing the story of my 'excellent adventure' that person will be me."

"Of course." He said.

Lois smiled slyly with an affirmative nod, "So, how about letting me get to my story now."

"Or we could get to know each other better." He offered with a grin.

Lois slowly turned her head to him. She was stunned by his boldness and was in no mood to be hit on. "Look, I get the whole wanting to suck up to me thing, but I think you should lay off," she warned.

"Come on. How about we grab lunch? I'm new in town and since you're back I'm sure there must be a place you're dying to go to."

'Yeah, back to the Kent Farmhouse,' she thought.

"Gee, lunch? Sorry, but I already have plans." She lied.

"Like what?" he asked, not believing her.

"Like none of your business."

"You see the trick to being a good reporter is being able to get to the truth and spot when someone is lying."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, obviously you're playing hard to get. You know, making up a story about having plans and making me try even harder until you eventually break and go out with me."

'Who the hell does this guy think he is?'

"You know you're really starting to bug me."

He leaned back in his chair and it started to squeak, which reminded her of Clark and heightened her annoyance with the new guy. Her visible irritation made him smile wider. "See, I'm already starting to grow on you. So how about that lunch?"

"Did you go temporarily deaf before? I said I have plans. And they are with my boyfriend so back off."

Turning her chair toward the exit she saw a familiar figure come walking down the stairs.

'Thank god!' she thought.

She got up and made her way to him, linking her arm with his. At his stunned look she said, "Don't ask any questions just follow my lead, okay?" and pulled him into the bullpen.

She reached for her purse as she pulled him to her desk. Turning to Corben she said, "I'll be taking my lunch now."

Before she could get out of there he pushed himself out of his chair and extended his hand to the man next to her.

"John Corben."

Her fictitious date extended his hand to his and shook it. "Clark Kent."

"Kent? Kent?" He said rubbing his chin. "I know that name. "

"That was my desk." He said firmly, almost as if he were marking his territory to Corben.

"That's right." He said pointing his finger at Clark. "Wow, this must be awkward right now, huh?"

Not wanting anymore chit-chat to go on, Lois tugged Clark in the direction of the exit. "Well, we're going to be late, so let's go."

"Wait, I was just getting to know your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Clark asked, turning to Lois.

"That's right, pookey. The jig is up. I told him I had a significant other. I mean what was I supposed to do? He kept on asking me to lunch." Lois said with a fake smile, subtly informing Clark her reason for this sudden contrivance.

"Is it true? Are you guys actually going out?" Corben asked.

Clark looked to her and she stared into his sparkling blue eyes, pleading with him to agree.

"Yes, it's true." Clark confirmed.

"Huh, guess the rumor mill was right."

"Rumor mill?" Lois asked.

"Yeah, everyone thought you were dead and then Kent here quit. When I took the desk people told me that the guy who used to sit here had a deep relationship with you. They all surmised that he couldn't take sitting across an empty desk and that's why he quit."

Lois looked to Clark's face to see if any of that was true. 'Could it really have been that painful for him to work without me here?'

Clark cleared his throat and turned to Lois. "We are going to be late so we should go."

'Of course, when would I ever get a clear answer from him?''

Lois let Clark pull her up the basement stairs and to the street. Once they reached the top they just stopped.

"Clark?" She asked, wondering if he was mad or something.

He turned to her but his face didn't reveal anything. He was his usual mysterious self.

"Yeah?"

"Look, I'm sorry about in there. I couldn't get him to leave me alone so I fed him a line about having a boyfriend and then, poof, you appeared so I figured 'why the hell not'." Studying his face she asked, "Are you mad?"

"No."

"Good. Now what brought you here anyway?"

Clark dug into his pocket and pulled out her press pass. "Lois Lane certainly wouldn't be Lois Lane without this."

She grabbed it and smiled at his kind gesture,"You came all the way here just to give me this?"

"Well…I…" He stumbled. "I also wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Of course you did." She said, trying to fake annoyance when she was actually enjoying his protective nature a bit. Hiding her face from him she began walking down the street. When she felt composed enough, she turned back to see that he wasn't following her. "You coming, Smallville? I'm starving."

"Actually…" He said, his attention seeming to be elsewhere.

"Let me guess, you need to head home and feed the horses or something."

"Lois…"

"No, it's fine." She opened her bag and put her press pass in there. She faintly heard him say he was sorry, but she didn't want to look at him. She was too furious. Instead she kept her head down for a couple more seconds and then when she thought he deserved her attention back she lifted her head to look at him. Feeling a gust of wind hit her she looked up to see that he was gone and she was alone in front of the Daily Planet.

"Typical."

~\~

After watching Clark speed off the check on Lois, Callie sat down at the counter with a pen and pad of paper. She titled it "How the hell do I get home?"at the top. Tapping her pen she thought long and hard. She first wrote 'find the Delorean from Back to the Future' but then crossed it out.

"Think serious." She said to herself.

Picking up the pen again she wrote down, 'Legion Ring,' but getting that ring now would be a long shot and she knew that.

"Why does he always have to hide things in the stupidest places?" She asked, shaking her head.

Biting her bottom lip she thought, 'I wish I could just wish myself home.' Then her eyes widened. "Of course." She said.

Picking up the pen again she wrote down ZATANNA and circled it.

Satisfied that she had found a possible answer she decided that she could finally rest for a little while. Turning her attention to the television she said, "T.V. on," but nothing happened. "T.V. on," she commanded again. Getting a little frustrated she was about to say it again when it dawned on her that this wasn't her T.V.

"Right, have to do it the other way."

Picking up the remote off the coffee table she hit the 'on' button. As the picture got clearer Callie flipped through the channels and gasped as recognized a show she hadn't seen since she was younger. "Awesome!" She said sitting on her feet and getting comfortable on the couch.

Just as she was really getting into the show the program cut to the newsroom where reporters were standing by on breaking news in Metropolis. The words on the bottom scrolled 'Bank Robbery in Progress' as they cut to a helicopter shot of the Metropolis Savings and Loan.

Staring at the screen she listened as the television reporter explained the hostage situation in the bank. As the police got into position she watched as everyone became startled when two men wearing black ski masks were tossed out of the glass window of the bank, shattered pieces of glass and debris falling all over the sidewalk. The police then stormed the building and brought out the remaining hostages.

The two offenders were picked up by the police and looked like they were mumbling something. Suspicious of the events Callie decided to use her super hearing to see if she could pick up anything they were saying.

"He…he…came out of nowhere. He picked us up and tossed us like we weighed nothing. He would have killed us…"

Callie leaned back into the couch and whispered, "I hope you know what you're doing, Clark."

~\~

Shutting the door to her car Lois stared at the farmhouse. She had been tempted to go straight to her apartment to pass out after the work day she had just finished, but she had decided against it saying to herself that she didn't want to be flung over Clark's shoulder again. As she walked to the front door she recounted the events that had occurred after Clark's disappearance in the afternoon. For starters she didn't get to enjoy her lunch as she was whisked away to a bank robbery a few blocks over. To make matters worse John Corben had shown up as well and still wouldn't leave her alone. Then when she got back to the Planet she went over the witness statements and her mind drifted off to thinking about the Red Blue Blur and if he was behind the apprehension of the armed men . However, going through the archives there had been no sightings of the Red Blue Blur in over a month. She suddenly became worried that he hadn't made it after all. Without her there his letter was never published which filled her with guilt and put a major damper on her mood even more, if that was possible.

Giving the story of the robbery to Corben, which was no easy task, she immersed herself in looking into all the mysterious events over the past month. The methods of catching the criminals were different than the methods of the Red Blue Blur. After sorting through what seemed to be dozens of papers she called it a day on her search for her hero. Instead she searched for the whereabouts of her car. Leaving work a bit early, she finally managed to find the location of her car and was able to pick it up with the keys Chloe had been holding for her. After waiting in traffic for hours because of some car accident, she had finally made it home, for lack of a better term.

"Smallville?" She called out walking through the front door.

Ever since his disappearance earlier in the day she had been annoyed. She tried to call him, but he wouldn't answer. She didn't know what she was going to say to Clark when she saw him, but it wasn't going to be nice.

"Smallville!" She called out again.

"Clark isn't here." A voice rang from the top of the stairs. She watched Callie walk down adjusting her watch then placing her wet hair in a messy bun. "Last time I saw him he was on his way to Metropolis. He hasn't been back since."

"Well that's Smallville for ya." She said with aggravation.

"You okay?"

"No, I just had the work day from hell and Clark added to it by being his usually charming self and displaying his inability to finish anything he starts."

She watched as Callie intently listened to every word she was saying. It felt nice to be able to vent to someone. She did have Chloe, she knew that, but Chloe was also dealing with a lot of personal stuff at the moment. To vent out to Chloe would make her feel guilty. She didn't want Chloe worrying about anything at the moment.

"You know what, enough about me and my crappy day. Chloe tells me that you're on your way to Met U in the fall."

Callie nodded in confirmation.

"Know what you want to study?"

"I'm interested in all sorts of things but I was thinking about history, criminal justice, or journalism."

"Journalism?" Lois asked, amused. "Big dreams of becoming an intrepid reporter?"

Callie smiled, "Maybe."

"Well, then you should stop by the Daily Planet. I can show you the lay of the land. Plus, you can be my excuse when it comes to dodging certain people."

"Sounds like a plan."

They stood there in awkward silence for a few moments before Lois decided to break it.

"So, you're Clark's cousin…" She began. She knew she shouldn't be asking about Clark, but she couldn't help it. She hoped that maybe she could get some insight on him from someone who has known him a lot longer than she has.

"Yeah, me and Clark…cousins!" She said, emphasizing the word 'cousins' in a higher pitch.

"So…" Lois said tipping her head in the direction of the kitchen, indicating Callie to follow her. "How has he been lately?" Lois asked sinking onto a stool.

"Well, for that," Callie began, grabbing two spoons from the silverware drawer. "We're going to need ice cream."

Pulling out a giant tub of ice cream from the freezer she placed in between the both of them. 'Clinking' their spoons together they dug in.

"Clark has been different lately. I know that after losing someone you tend to put things in perspective, but I think that he's just really conflicted over what happened to his friend. He's just been real un-Clark-like." Callie said, taking a spoonful of ice cream.

"Like the wardrobe for starters…" Lois added.

"Exactly! It's sad what happened and I understand that he needs to cope, but I thought that I could talk some sense into him. I thought it was working, but I don't know. I've kind of just let him be for now."

"Clark Kent is complex." Lois said putting the spoon in her mouth.

"No, Clark Kent is an onion."

"An onion?" Lois questioned.

"Yeah, Clark has all these layers like an onion. To get to the core of Clark Kent you have to go through the process of peeling back the layers, which is difficult and may produce tears along the way…" she trailed off. Her eyes began to dart back and forth like she lost her train of thought. "Okay, I know I had a good point in this analogy."

"I think I get what you're going." Lois said pointing her spoon at her. "Clark makes us cry."

Callie chuckled, "No. What I mean is…is that in order for us to get to 'Clark' we have to get rid of whatever layers he's placed on himself. It's going to be difficult because he's so stubborn, but I think the problem has been not being able to metaphorically… 'find the sharpest tool to use' if that makes sense." She shook her head, "Chloe has tried, and while I'm sharp with my tongue and wits, I didn't get much further. I think what we needed was you."

Lois snapped her head up. "Me?"

"He's different when he's around you. What do you say? Are you game in trying to bring Clark Kent back from the dead?"

Lois took another scoop and ice cream and shoved it into her mouth. Ever since she reappeared from wherever she was she'd been around Clark. She had seen some change in him but… 'Why is that he's been the most normal with me? Is Callie right?' Hopefully, if Clark got some sense back into him he would come back to the Daily Planet and back to her. She looked at Callie whose eyes were pleading with Lois, just like hers had been pleading with Clark earlier in the day.

"I'm in, but what exactly am I supposed to do that's going to create this miraculous change?"

"Nothing. All you have to do is be yourself." Lois wasn't sure if she believed her and her face showed that. Reacting to her facial expression Callie said, "Trust me."

Weird thing was…she did.