Chapter Eight: There Goes My (Guitar) Hero, Watch Him As He Goes
Clark walked onto the porch of the farmhouse, leaned over the railing, and stared at the stars. The sky was so clear and the stars seemed to shine exceptionally bright. As he stared at all the different constellations the events of the day were repeated in his mind. He had spent part of his day stopping a bank robbery a few blocks away from the Daily Planet, before that he had been with Lois in the basement of the newspaper. On his way to the robbery feelings inside of him had started to stir. He hadn't liked that John Corben guy that he met and in just thinking about him certain emotions started to swell within him. When he made it to the site of the robbery to stop the thieves his feelings burst out of him in his action to immobilize them. He didn't know what it was that came out of him. He was sincerely trying to not be as aggressive as he had been for the last month, but after meeting that guy and the way he had been looking at Lois…
Unexpectedly, Clark was feeling the same emotion rise in his body again.
'Am I jealous?' He thought.
He shook his head trying to purge the thought. He couldn't be jealous, no, he wouldn't be jealous. It was feelings like that which invaded his mind and created weakness. If his feelings for Lois escalated, he knew that it would change everything forever. After the bank incident he had stopped other petty crimes around Metropolis then passed by a car accident, but no victims were at the scene. It bothered him, but since no one was there there was nothing he could do.
Opening the front door he saw flashes of light from the television screen illuminate the living room. He walked further in to see Callie and Lois snuggled together giggling under a red blanket watching a movie.
"And…she's going up the stairs." Lois remarked, slapping her thigh in annoyance.
"What-a-dummy!" Callie sang as she hit the back of her head on the top of the couch.
He thought he should have felt strange or weirded out by the scene before him. Instead what he saw almost seemed like a natural occurrence. The way Callie and Lois were together in that moment-if anyone but him had walked in they would most likely assume that Callie and Lois had known each other a lot longer than just a day. It was actually nice to be a witness to the comfortable scene.
Breaking out of the trace he was under he made his way to the television only to suddenly have popcorn thrown at him.
"Booooo!" Callie said hurling the popcorn in his direction.
"Move it, Smallville, we're in the middle of a movie right now." Lois said, flinging popcorn at him as well.
His right shoulder and arm lifted into the air to try and shield himself from the popcorn attack.
"There are college kids in a really unrealistic dorm situation being hunted down by a crazed doctor who has been dead for decades. Move!" Callie expertly explained, using her hands to shoo him away.
Clark quickly got out of the way and sat down in the only available seat on the couch and it was the one next to Lois. Then the comfort level dropped and the discomfort began to slither up. He looked from Lois to Callie and then turned his attention to the movie. As a particular gory scene played across the screen, he felt Lois turn her head into his shoulder. That in itself was weird because he never pegged Lois to be scared of anything, particularly a cheesy movie like the one they were watching.
Slowly she picked her head up and looked up at him. He stared into her eyes. For the longest time he had missed those eyes staring back at him. "Sorry there, Smallville." She said wiping his shoulder where her face just landed and bringing him back to reality. "Guess that was too gruesome for these eyes to handle."
"That's o-kay," he slowly replied.
Lois slightly smiled and turned away from him. Getting his mind back on track he tried to pull his attention to the movie, but he caught a glance of Callie's face and saw a smirk on it.
'What does she know?' He thought to himself.
Getting back to the movie he tried to follow the plot. The camera panned into a kitchen and followed as one of the female characters talked on the phone and began to chop vegetables on the countertop.
"Look, Callie," she said pointing to the onion on the counter next to the girl.
Callie snorted as she burst out into laughter and Lois soon followed. He, of course, didn't understand what they were laughing about.
"What?" he asked, clearly clueless.
Lois said catching her breath and giving him a mild sympathetic look. "It's an inside joke between us girls."
He turned to Callie and she just shrugged in his direction.
As soon as the movie was over, Callie got up and switched the lights on. "Well, that was the best movie in cinematic history."
"Yeah, I liked that only six characters were seen to live in an entire dorm building and each had an entire room to themselves. Very realistic. It's like they turned my college experience into a movie." She said sarcastically.
"Wouldn't your college experience be called 'The Hangover'?" Clark smirked.
"Ha. Ha." She retorted. Looking at her watch, "Well, It's pretty late," Lois said stretching her arms. "That was nice though, made me forget about my hellish day."
"Yeah, it was nice." Callie agreed.
Lois smiled and climbed off the couch. Clark could see that she was again dressed in the same red plaid shirt as she had been wearing in that morning. Waving to both of them and stifling a yawn, she traveled up the stairs to the spare room.
Clark watched Lois go up the stairs. He knew she was okay, but he still felt compelled to watch her to make sure that nothing happened. Satisfied that she was completely alright he turned to Callie hoping to get some questions answered.
"Inside joke?" He asked.
"What?" She asked, innocently. Then she smiled, "We bonded."
"Yeah, I'm sure." He grinned.
"So what happened this afternoon?" Callie asked.
"What do you mean?"
It was a stupid thing to ask because he knew full well what she was asking about.
"I mean two men mysteriously thrown out of a window at a bank robbery today."
"What about it?" he asked, avoiding her gaze and moving to the kitchen.
"You think you threw them hard enough? Did you say 'alley oop' as you did it?"
"I admit that it was a little more forceful than I intended, but they were fine." He defended even though he knew that it was a lame defense.
"Okay," was all she said.
"Okay?" he questioned. "What, no lecture?"
"Nope. I trust that you know what you're doing. That doesn't mean I won't have a clever comment on hand, but like you said, you're trying." She smiled assuring, repeating the words he had said that morning.
"Thank you," rolled off his lips.
He had predicted that Callie would remark about his save, but her comment was unexpected and amazed him. He was tired of the lectures and the constant sermon that he was a hero, or was destined for greatness, and that he needed to watch what he was doing. After he had admitted to her this morning that he honestly had been trying to change his ways she accepted it and listened to him. She trusted him and he hadn't felt trusted in a while.
"Night, Clark." She said slumping on the couch and pulling the blanket over her.
"Night Callie." He said traveling to the stairs. He turned back once more to glance at her on the couch then turned back. As he walked up the staircase he heard Lois sneeze and then yell, "Shelby!" The dog then dashed out of the room, past him, and down the set of steps.
"Ugh! That dog!" He heard her complain.
Clark opened the door, "Everything okay?"
"I just have doggy drool all over my pillow. So, yeah, everything is peachy," she said, throwing her pillow down and wiping her hand on the red plaid shirt she was wearing.
Clark couldn't hold back a smile as he watched her reaction. "I'll get you another one," he said opening the closet and pulling out an extra pillow. "Here," he chuckled, throwing it at her.
"Thanks."
"No problem."
As he was about to turn to leave Lois said, "Callie's a good kid. I like her."
"Really?"
"Yeah, where have you been hiding her? I never heard you mention her before."
"Well, she and I…" he said, but stopped. "Well, we never…" he trailed trying to find the right words to use as he was caught on the spot.
Lois put her hand up to stop him, "Say no more, Clark. No one has to get along with their family one hundred percent of the time. Sometimes it's really difficult to get along with one another even if you share the same DNA. I'm the poster child for that one."
Clark nodded recalling being a bystander to Lois and the other members of the Lane family. Lois loved her family, he knew that, but getting along with Lucy and her General father was difficult for her.
"So, how did you and Callie hit it off so well?" He asked, desperately wanting to know how they became so close that they were already sharing inside jokes.
"Lest we forget, I do have a sister," she said, throwing the pillow she was still holding on the bed. "Besides," she continued, "I see a lot of myself in her."
"Maybe that's why we don't get along so well," Clark snarked, getting closer to her.
"Probably, too much woman for you to handle," Lois smirked, her ponytail swaying behind her as she inched closer to him.
Clark felt like an invisible force was reeling him in closer to Lois. He wanted nothing more than to continue their banter until it ended up in a….
'No,' Clark commanded in his thoughts. 'This is Lois. You don't feel that way about Lois.' His head tried to convince him, but the way his body was responding rebelled against those orders. However, his mind began to win. Noticing that they were getting dangerously close to each other, Clark started to pull back toward the door. "Good night, Lois."
"Night, Onion." She laughed.
He cringed, confirming that their inside joke had been about him. "I think I prefer 'Smallville' to 'Onion'."
Lois nodded, "I think you're right. Night, Smallville."
Their eyes met one last time before he closed the door. As he walked into his room and fell into his bed he planned to fall asleep quickly, but his plans were soon dashed. No matter what he did, from counting sheep to counting whatever was around, Clark couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes he'd see images of Jimmy or Doomsday or Lois disappearing again. As he tossed and turned and tried desperately to get some sleep, a scratching at his door ended any chance of that. Getting up he opened the door to find Shelby sitting in front of him, a soft whine coming from him.
"What is it, buddy?" he asked as he pet the head of the golden retriever. "Is it Lois?" he asked as he darted to her room.
He opened the door to reveal her peaceful sleeping form. Clark let out a breath of relief. Suddenly, feeling a tug at his pant leg, he looked down to see Shelby trying to pull him toward the stairs. After closing Lois' door he heard a faint crash come from the living room. Rushing down the stairs he made it around the couch to witness Callie in a violent dream, the coffee table knocked over. She was whimpering as her head shot from side to side.
"Callie," he whispered to her, hoping it would wake her up.
To his dismay, she seemed to still be struggling in whatever dream she was having. As he was about to try and hold her still to calm her down Callie shot up, still asleep, and grabbed him crying out, "Dad!"
~\~
Callie rubbed her eyes as she slowly opened them. Sitting up on the couch she looked around her surroundings to find that she was home, in her time. Hopping off the couch she ran through the house searching all the rooms calling out "Dad! Mom!" but no one seemed to be home.
Faintly hearing a rumbling she walked into the kitchen and shielded her eyes as a bright light pierced through the cracks in the door. Walking toward the door she opened it and was suddenly transported to the middle of the corn field on the farm. Whipping her head in every direction, she had a bad feeling come over her. Hearing something approach her from behind she turned around only to be forcefully pushed back in the field a few hundred yards. Hitting the ground hard she pushed herself up and searched for whatever did that to her.
"Show yourself." Her voice demanded in a seething tone.
Another hit came at her, she was again flung into the air, and landed on the ground hard on her back. Staring at the clear blue sky above her she saw a black figure fly whip over her.
"It's you again," she said.
Getting up again she shouted, "Is that all you got? You have to resort to cheap shots to get me down?"
Hearing someone land beside her Callie's lips curved into a smirk. Seeing the woman out of the corner of her eye she used all her strength and round-house kicked her straight into the side of the barn.
"Two can play that game." Callie said as she flew after her.
Landing in the barn the woman was nowhere to be seen in the debris. "You've got to be kidding me. That should have knocked her out for sure." Callie commented, clearly confused.
"Don't underestimate your enemy, remember?" A voice rang above her.
Callie looked up and the woman jumped down on her and placed a piece of kryptonite on her chest. The pain in Callie's head was overwhelming.
"You really should know better than go up against someone as dangerous as me, little girl."
"Who you calling little?" She managed to say through the pain.
The woman smirked and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. Callie turned away from her touch.
"It's so sad. You're all alone now." She said in a soothing voice.
"What do you mean?"
"They're all gone. I made sure of that." She wickedly smiled.
"You bitch." She breathed out in pain.
"Tsk. Tsk. I don't condone that type of language."
Callie mustered all the strength she had and pushed the woman off of her, the kryptonite rolling away from her and losing its power over her.
As the woman landed against one of the wooden posts Callie quickly sped to her. She raised her leg up and positioned her foot on the woman's neck. She pressed down hard enough that the women couldn't move, but could still breathe.
"Where are they? And who are you?" She demanded.
"Tempus neminem manet" she said as blood dribbled out of her mouth. With a maniacal laugh she smiled and looked straight behind Callie.
As Callie turned her head she saw her father strung up, his face bloody and beaten, his costume torn at the chest with an 'S' painted in blood there instead.
"No!" She cried.
Slowly his head lifted weakly. In a strained voice he said, "Callie…help…me…"
"DAD!" She screamed, reaching out for him and grabbing the body in front of her.
Opening her eyes and taking in her surroundings she soon realized she wasn't home. Slowly pulling back she saw the face of the person holding her so comfortingly. Sadness overcame her as she noticed, yet again, that he too was like everything else in this place, the same but different.
"Sorry." She whispered.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I just need some fresh air." She said, throwing the blanket off of her and pushing herself away from him. She opened the front door, walked out onto the porch, sat on the swing and brought her knees to her chest.
There was a a breeze in the air and Callie welcomed it on her hot skin. She didn't even realize she was sweating. She extended her hand out before her face and watched as it shook. Her body was evidently still in shock from the dream.
'What if it was real? What if he's helpless right now and needs my help?'
She wrapped her arms around her knees and stared out into the darkness and unconsciously tugged at the long chain hidden underneath her shirt. Hearing a squeak in the boards on the porch she knew Clark had come out to see her. Standing in front of her she could see the look of panic in his eyes and noticed he came out with a glass of water. She took the glass offered to her and thanked him.
"You want to tell me what that dream was about?"
'Or more importantly why I called you 'dad'?' she thought.
"I was dreaming about my family…" She said honestly.
"And what happened before you got here?"
"Yeah," she breathed out, reliving the dream again in her head.
She looked at his face and had an image from her dream flash in her head. She turned away from him and continued to stare into the darkness. Her bottom lip started to tremble as tears filled her eyes, but she quickly bit down on it and blinked her tears away. Clark must have witnessed how hard she was trying to keep herself together because he enveloped her in a hug.
He placed his hand behind her and began to rub her back. "It's going to be okay. We'll find you a way home."
Callie closed her eyes to the familiar motion and just listened to his voice as he talked.
"I used to have nightmares, too. They happened frequently when I was younger."
'I already knew that. I inherited the Elmer Fudd nightlight,' she thought.
"My mom and dad tried all sorts of things to help me with them. But when my mom would hold me and rub my back in such a gentle way that I would just forget I had even had a nightmare…"
'And you would fall asleep and not have a nightmare for the rest of the night,' she finished.
"And I would fall asleep and not have a nightmare for the rest of the night."
Slowly she leaned into his side and placed her head on his shoulder. It was a moment like this that she forgot she traveled back to the past. How they were interacting in that moment was so natural and had happened countless times before. She didn't want it to end because once it did it would mean she really was stuck in the past and she would have to wait and hope to find her ticket home.
~\~
After a few moments Clark realized that Callie was asleep again. He took the cup from her hands and placed it on the table next to the swing. She had looked so frightened when she woke up. He was startled when she grabbed him, but one look of her face and all he wanted to do was protect her. She tried really hard to keep herself together, but he knew all she had wanted to do was unleash her emotions. Looking at her now all he could see was this fragile being asleep on the porch.
Gently scooping her into his arms he carried her up the stairs and into his room, placing her in the bed. He knew the couch wasn't the best place to sleep, he'd slept there while Lois occupied his room during her initial stay at the farm, so letting Callie get a good night's sleep in the bed seemed to be the best thing to do for her. Placing the blanket on her he watched as Shelby snuck in the room and hopped in the bed.
"Are you keeping an eye on her too, boy?" he asked, petting the top of the dog's head. "Thanks for letting me know about her before."
The dog licked his hand then laid his head on his paws in Callie's direction.
As Clark was about to leave he found it hard to walk through the door. He remembered when he was a kid that he'd have all sorts of nightmares. He'd become incredibly afraid of the dark and his Elmer Fudd nightlight became his best friend. At times when his mother or father came to comfort him he didn't want them to leave and they would just stay by his bedside as he slept. Strangely he had the feeling that he should stay and watch over her. Though she may be quite a bit older than he was when he received that treatment, she was so far away from home and her parents that he thought she needed some kind of support.
This was against everything that he had been trying to achieve for himself in the past month, but there was no denying what he was feeling inside. He silently walked over to the closet and opened the door. He reached up into a box on the high shelf. When he felt the object he intended to grab, he pulled it out and plugged it into the outlet outside the door.
'Hello, old friend,' he thought, looking at the illuminated face of Elmer Fudd.
He closed the closet door and placed his back against the wall. He watched Callie as she slept and hoped that this time her sleep was filled with only pleasant dreams.
~\~
As the sun began to rise in the distance its bright rays shined through the curtains onto Lois' face. Feeling the warmth she proceeded to hide her face in her pillow, hoping to keep sleeping just a little bit longer. The rooster, however, was fully awake and the sound of its crow woke her up completely.
"Stupid bird," she said into her pillow.
Lifting her head up slightly she caught a glimpse of the time. 5 A.M.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
Placing the pillow over her head she tried, but was unable, to mask the cry of the rooster. Throwing her pillow to the ground she got up in a bad mood and exited her room. Walking into the hallway she saw that Clark's door was ajar and peered in to view his body next to the door. Worried she opened the door further to see Callie asleep in his bed and him asleep sitting next to the doorway.
"Clark," she whispered as she bent down next to him.
Clark awoke startled and looked at Lois. "Lois?" he asked.
"What happened?"
She watched as Clark looked to Callie and then tilted his head toward the stairs, informing her to move out of the room with him. Traveling down the stairs they walked into the kitchen and Clark headed straight for the coffee maker to put coffee on.
'Thank god. I'm so going to need that,' she thought.
"What happened?" She asked again.
"Callie is suffering from nightmares. I figured she might have a better night sleep in a nice bed, but I didn't want to leave her so I slept by the door."
Lois nodded as he explained and concluded, "She's homesick."
Clark's head snapped up and looked into her eyes. "How do you know that?"
"Come on, Clark, she's suddenly plopped here in the middle of nowhere away from her friends and family. I had nightmares when I stayed here, too." She smirked, "I remember one about a guy in a red cape…"
"Very funny, Lois, but you didn't see her. It was pretty bad."
"Just make her feel at home. And by feel at home you actually have to be here with her and not vanish off or whatever you do. Spend time with her."
"And do what?" he questioned, plopping down on a stool and resting his head on his hand.
He looked lost. She actually started to feel bad for him. He probably hadn't asked for a new houseguest, especially one that was a teenage girl that he hardly knew, to move in with him. She knew it was hard, though hard was an understatement. If bringing up Lucy had taught her anything it was that.
"Look, Smallville, I don't have time to handhold. Do something she wants to do," she said leaning against the counter.
"I really don't know her that well." He admitted.
"Well, then ask her. Do whatever will take her mind off her homesickness. I don't know. Just make it fun. You do know what fun is right?"
Clark made a face at her saying, "Yes, I know what fun is," and Lois just laughed.
Walking behind him she pulled out two bowls and opened up the refrigerator to get the milk and pulled the cereal off the shelf. She placed it all on the counter and pulled two spoons from the drawer. Clark got up and pulled out two mugs and poured them coffee. They both sat down at the island across from one another.
"How was your first day back at the Daily Planet?" Clark asked, grabbing a bowl and the cereal box.
"Before or after you deserted me yet again?" She asked, grabbing her own bowl and the box of cereal from him.
"Sorry about that."
"Don't even. I'm past it now." She said, not making eye contact with him and missing the hurt look that came across his face.
She was still angry at him, but she coughed up his actions to some kind of Peter Pan syndrome a long time ago.
"It didn't really matter anyway; by the time you left I had to get to a bank robbery." She said, grabbing the milk.
"Sounds like a good story." He commented.
"Yeah, it did…" she said softly.
"What do you mean did?" He questioned, his facial expression displaying shock as he put a spoonful of cereal in his mouth.
"I gave it up." She said, nonchalantly and taking a sip of her coffee and making a bitter face at the taste of it.
Clark stopped mid bite. "You gave it up? That doesn't sound like you, Lois."
"Maybe I gave it up to work on something bigger." She said getting up to get some sugar.
"What could be bigger than that?"
"You wouldn't understand." She said, shaking her head. She looked at the counter and suddenly couldn't remember why she had gone over there in the first place.
"Try me."
Taking a deep breath she turned to him and said, "I'm looking for the Red-Blue-Blur."
"Really?" He said in disbelief.
"See, I knew you would look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like I'm crazy."
"I'm not looking at you like you're crazy. Any luck finding him?" He asked, not making eye contact.
"No," she sighed. "After Doomsday he's nowhere to be found …" she trailed off looking sad and sitting back down.
"What's wrong?"
"I feel guilty." She said picking up her spoon and poking at her cereal.
"Guilty about what?" He asked, intrigued.
'I guess I should just tell him. I've poured everything else out so far, what difference would this make?' she thought.
"He left me a letter and he wanted me to publish it in case he didn't…make it." She said, the last part she had a hard time getting out. She shuddered trying to rid the thought of him not making it but it kept creeping up in her head. "I've checked all the archives. There's no sign of the Red-Blue-Blur." She sighed, defeated. "Just someone else trying to be him."
"And you feel guilty that you weren't able to publish the letter." He stated, but it came out more like a question.
"Even if I wanted to, I don't even know where it is. My stuff is unaccounted for."
"I think I might be able to help with that." He said getting up and walking over to the closet. Opening it up he pulled out a box and and walked back over, placing it on the dining room table.
"You had my stuff? Why?" She asked, following him.
She couldn't believe he had her things, though she should've guessed when he brought her her press pass. She touched all the items at the top of the box and looked up at him.
'Why did you have this stuff, Clark? Was it because you missed me? Was it because you were searching for me?'
"Chloe dropped it off right before you reappeared. She wanted to see if I could find some clue about what had happened to you, but I never really had a chance to go through it because…there you were…." He tried to explain.
'Right. It's not like you're at the top of his priority list, Lois.'
"Oh." She uttered, with a hint of disappointment. "You know what, I should probably start to get ready for work."
Clark simply nodded at her. Trekking back up the stairs she walked back into her room and sat on the edge of the bed. Being with Clark and feeling her affection for him and then worrying over the Red-Blue-Blur took its toll on her.
Balling her hands in to fists she held them tight and let out a deep breath. Once she did that she opened up the closet and searched for her work clothes. In the process she accidently tipped over a box of Clark's and tried to pick up the spilled contents. When she started to pick them up she noticed that they were all newspaper clippings. Sorting through them she saw headlines like "Daily Planet Reporter Missing" and "Search and Recover: DP Reporter Lois Lane on the List" among others regarding Doomsday. She also picked up several maps that had cross-outs in red pen all over them.
She looked up from the stuff in amazement.
'Maybe he had been looking for me after all.'
~\~
Callie kicked her blanket off of her and pulled her pillow closer to her body. Breathing in the scent of the pillow a wide smile materialized across her face. The scent conjured up all sorts of memories. A memory of her at five-years-old beat out all the others.
She could see herself opening the door to her parents' room holding on tightly to her stuffed bunny. She climbed up onto the bed and wedged herself between her parents quietly. Putting her arms around her daddy, she breathed in the way he smelled and felt safety wash over her. She felt him stir under her grasp and he opened his eyes slightly.
"Callie?" he asked.
"Hi, daddy," she whispered with a toothy grin.
"What are you doing in here?"
"I had a bad dream, can I sleep with you and mommy?"
A small grin appeared on his face as he nodded gently.
"Sure" he said, placing the comforter over her, tucking her in the best he could. His hand moved to her tiny back and he began to rub it as she hugged him tight.
"I love you, daddy…"she breathed into his chest.
"I love you, too sweetie."
"You're my hero…"
The word 'hero' echoed in her mind as the scene disappeared. Suddenly, she became very unpleasant as she felt hot breath on her. Opening one eye and still very sleepy she saw a dog panting in her face. "Ugh, Krypto," she groaned, pushing his face away from hers. Trying to get back to sleep she sprung up realizing she was not at her home nor was she on the couch where she previously was asleep. Taking in the environment she concluded that Clark had put her up there.
Getting up, she walked down the stairs to an empty house. "Lois? Clark?" She called out, but no one answered. "Awesome. Alone again," she said rolling her eyes.
Going over to the shelf in the kitchen she pulled down the cereal and jumped a bit when the door opened.
"Hey." Clark said, walking in.
"Hey…you're…uh…home." She said in disbelief.
"Yeah, I know I haven't been around so I thought we could spend the day together."
"Spend the day together?" She questioned.
'This is odd,' she thought.
"This doesn't have anything to do with what happened last night does it?" She asked.
Clark hesitated before he spoke and pressed his lips together. "I'm going to find you a way home, but I don't know how long it will take. " Callie nodded as he spoke. "We should get to know each other better in the meantime."
"Get to know each other better…" She repeated softly.
"So, what would you like to do?"
She stood silently, still stunned by his suggestion of...hanging out? If he was willing to do something like that, she wasn't going to deny the opportunity. While it would take her mind off of the dead end of possibilities of getting home at that moment, Clark was opening up. She had to get him to continue on that path. She could come up with some activities if he was up for them.
"Uh, well, now that I think of it there are a couple things that I want to do."
"Great. What are they?"
Callie smiled as she thought of the perfect thing.
Soon Callie and Clark were galloping on horses on one of the many trails near the farm. Callie turned around to see Clark far behind her. "Come on slowpoke, keep up!" She yelled, riding further ahead of him. Once she had proved how awesome she was on horseback she stopped the horse and let Clark catch up.
"You're really good." He said.
"I know." She said as she looked at his face and laughed.
She was starting to feel more comfortable. She always loved riding her horse around the farm. Ever since she was little she would ride horses or play with all the different animals, especially the bunnies that would come around. It was always a place where her problems could melt away, where she could just enjoy nature and the quiet that came along with it.
"I've been riding ever since I was a little kid. When most kids ask for a pony they never get one. I, however, was born into a family that had access to them," she smiled. "I was one lucky kid. I even wanted to be a jockey once, but that dream faded when I figured out what a jockey actually did…" she rambled.
She couldn't believe she just said all of that. Granted it wasn't anything that revealed who she actually was, but the fact that she just let all that information out was both scary and releasing at the same time.
'As long as I don't reveal any names I should be fine. What's the harm in telling a few stories?' She thought to herself.
"Did you take lessons?"
"No, I just rode with my dad. Kind of like how we are now." Callie's eyes popped out of her head after she realized what she had just said.
'Okay, that might have been too much'
"Race you back to the stalls!" She called out as she raced away from him trying desperately to leave behind what she had just spilled and hoped that Clark wouldn't connect that comment to him.
~/~
Arriving back at the house Clark had a hard time keeping up to Callie. When she brought him to the stalls he figured that he'd have to teach her how to ride, but to his surprise she could probably teach him some things. Watching her ride actually made him happy because he could see how at ease she was. She even threw in a few tidbits of her life, which he had hoped for but certainly didn't expect. The thing that touched him most was when she revealed that she rode with her father and that it was like what they had just been doing. Ever since she had called out for her father from her nightmare he could see how worried she was about him and how he must be on her mind.
'Maybe she's seeing me in place of him since she's here' he thought.
Following her into the house he asked, "So what now?"
She smiled at him and skipped into the living room. "I think I know what we can do next."
"What's that?"
"Well, it concerns me kicking your butt in a musical fashion."
Clark eyed her confused. Her eyes moved over to the television console. Still confused she strained her eyes further in the direction until he saw the guitar.
"Ah. So you think you can beat me?"
"Oh. I know I can beat you."
Both of them smiled at each other at the challenge.
Heading over to the television he picked up one of the guitars he had and handed it to her. He watched as she examined the buttons and placed the strap around her shoulders. Searching in the back of the console he found the second guitar, one Lois had purchased a while back. He loaded the game and the both of them stood side by side as they waited for the graphics of the game to load up.
Once they did Clark turned to Callie and said, "You're the guest so you get first pick."
He watched Callie bite her bottom lip as she searched through the catalog of songs. "Here, this one."
"Are you sure? That's pretty hard."
"I didn't mean for me," she slyly smirked. "I want you to play this since you're so good at this game."
"Oh, so that's how we're playing this, huh? Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you." He stated playfully.
She smiled at him as he got his hand in position and waited for the song to start. As his fingers went from green, to red, to yellow, to blue, he could see out of the corner of his eye that Callie was studying his movements. He figured that she was doing it just to figure out how to play the game, but something inside him whispered that it was something else she was looking at. Placing his mind back on the screen and he played the notes to the song and as the difficult solo came up his fingers moved rapidly to keep up to the colors on the screen.
When the song finished he scored even higher than he had when he had previously played the song. Turning to an invisible audience he bowed and said, "Thank you. Thank you."
"Yuck it up. I'm next."
Clark snapped his head to Callie. It was like déjà vu. Lois had said those same exact words to him, minus a "Smallville" when they had played this before. 'Weird' he thought.
He focused on Callie's playing as the same song began again. From the grimace on her face he could see that she knew she wasn't going to beat him. She was missing some notes, but was doing fairly well. That is, until the solo came about and her fingers were all over the place and she was fumbling. When the song ended she sighed as she turned to him.
"Are you sure this is calibrated right to the television?"
"Worked for me," he shrugged.
She narrowed her eyes at him. She inspected her fingers then glanced at his. "You cheated didn't you? That solo was way too hard. I saw you when you were playing. I thought your fingers were moving way too fast. I try to play fair and you go and cheat…"
"I did not cheat."
Callie wrinkled her nose up as she said, "I don't know if I trust you anymore…"
~\~
Lois slammed her car door in frustration as she headed toward the porch of the farmhouse. It seemed that was her routine when she came back from the Daily Planet. In the morning she had gotten to work and was met with an empty desk across from her. Hoping her wish had finally come true, she sat at her desk and got to work only to have her hopes dashed when John Corben stumbled into the Daily Planet completely disoriented and what appeared to her as hung over. The thing that amazed her the most was that when he had gotten up to get himself a cup of coffee he dropped his cup all over himself. A cup of scalding hot coffee soaked his clothes and he didn't make a peep as to the intensity of the heat or that he had been burned. Then she hoped he'd go home, but no, even through his disorientation and second degree burns he still managed to stare at her.
Her lunch with Chloe had been a reprieve, but when she got back she rearranged her whole desk just to create some kind of blockade. She almost got as far as putting up a Daily Planet folder on her desk like she used to in school when students would take a test. She couldn't stay any longer so she left early and brought her work home with her, which included a few copies of the day's paper, where printed on page three an article of her being returning alive and well to the Planet could be found. She was just happy to be away from Googly-Eyes McGee and debated whether or not to take the next day off just to recuperate.
Walking into the house she heard loud voices coming from the living room.
"I don't know if I trust you anymore… I think you cheated. You totally cheated!" She heard Callie's voice say.
"I did not." She heard Clark call back.
Walking in further, she saw both of them with guitars in their hands playing Guitar Hero. A smile crept on her face as she watched the both of them interact. She looked down at her bags and had almost forgotten what she had bought during her lunch break for Callie.
"Hey, guys." She said.
The both of them looked back and took their guitars off.
"Hey Lois!" Callie smiled.
"I bought something for you." Lois said holding up the shopping bag.
"You bought something for me?" Callie asked, pointing to herself.
"Yup. I passed by this store with Chloe and I knew you just had to have it," She said pulling out a blue shirt and tossing it to Callie.
Callie placed it against her chest revealing the words 'Metropolis University' in yellow letters. "Wow, thank you," she breathed, genuinely touched.
"If you're going to be going to school there you mind as well show some type of school spirit."
"I love it." She said softly and stared at it, her mind clearly elsewhere.
'I hope I didn't make her feel worse. Nice going, Lois.' She thought rolling her eyes inwardly to herself.
"What are you doing back so early?" Clark asked, worry lines starting to appear on his face.
"Rest easy, Smallville. All is well in Whoville." She said, regarding herself. "The guy who took your job," she said with distaste, "wouldn't stop staring at me for two seconds. It was irritating the hell out of me. So, I decided to cut my day short and bring the rest of my work here. So," She began as she tried to change the subject, "what have you guys been doing all day?"
"We went horseback riding…" Clark started to say.
"Then we came back and I'm sad to say that I officially suck at this version of Guitar Hero." Callie interjected. "But Clark totally cheated…" She whispered to Lois, her moving her hand to the side of her mouth so Clark couldn't see it.
"Well, we'll just have to do something about that, won't we?" Lois said, as she walked over with determination and picked up the guitar that Callie had been using.
"Lois, what are you doing?" Clark asked.
"I'm not going to let Callie lose to you, Smallville. I'm taking the reins now." She said in a low playful voice and smirked at him.
Clark snorted, "Should I be scared?"
She raised an eyebrow to him, "What do you think?"
"Alright, let's do this." Clark said, putting his strap to the guitar back over his shoulder.
Lois turned back and winked at Callie. Turning back to the screen she let Clark choose the song. She smiled wide at his choice.
'Oh, he's going to get it now.'
~\~
Chloe drove up the driveway of the Kent farm and parked her car next to Lois' vehicle.
'I wonder why she's back so early' Chloe thought to herself.
Though she could garner three guesses and probably get it in one. John Corben. Lois couldn't stand the guy. At first she was reminded of the way Lois used to talk about Clark, but as their lunch went on she could sense the repugnance she had for the guy. It took Chloe only a couple moments to realize the real reason she didn't like him… he wasn't Clark.
Exiting her car she went over to the side door. When she opened it she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Callie screamed as her arms went straight into the air, "We win!"
Lois high-fived her saying, "We are the champions." She turned to Clark. "In your face, Smallville."
Then she saw it. It was something she hadn't seen in the longest time: a smile on Clark Kent's face. A real, genuine, happy smile. Her heart warmed as she witnessed the interaction between the three of them.
"We are the champions my friend…" Lois began to sing as she put her arm around Callie's shoulders.
"And we'll keep on fighting till the end." They sang together. Their arms flailed out from their bodies as they continued to sing, "WE are the champions…No time for LOSERS…" they sang as they pointed at Clark who just kept on smiling and shaking his head at them. Both jumped on the couch and bellowed, "Cause we are the champions…of the world!"
Callie and Lois both looked at each other and laughed. In that moment the smile that was plastered on Chloe's face fell. Out of nowhere, oodles of information started flying rapidly through her head.
"You know that was pretty good for someone who has only known Clark for, how long was it, 2.5 seconds?"
"What can I say, I can read people."
"… the way you talked to him, it reminded me of someone."
"Because I'm looking for Lois Lane."
"Well, I found out that she's from the future… and possibly Kyrptonian."
When Clark had first said that a thought had passed through her mind, but she had quickly swatted it away as fast as it had come. Then the events of the previous morning came creeping back. When she had asked Callie about what to write about when it came to making up a past for herself she quickly replied, "Well, I'll give you the rundown right now. I'm 18, just finished high school, and enrolled at Met U in the fall."
"And I'm assuming that you're a Kent?"
And then there it was. The image of Callie's blue eyes widening at the comment and then recovering with a simple reply of "Yup."
"Welcome to Smallville, Callie Kent."
An image of Callie smiling back awkwardly entered her brain. Her eyes enlarged as the same thought that had been circling her mind only a few days before came to the forefront.
"No. Freaking. Way." She whispered.