Chapter 3 [Kent Farm-Loft]

Sol's remaining light left the sky. Luna crested in her ebony backdrop. The stars twinkled around their luminescent mistress. Just off to the cluster's northeast, Rao blinked insistently…as if calling out…

Perhaps to a certain pair of eyes below….

Clark gulped from a lukewarm mug. Depression's lead cloak sagged across his shoulders. He stared up into the sky. His eyes met the pertinent celestial bodies to subsequently pass them by. Only his birth star stopped the odyssey.

Rao blinked at him. Akin to the ancient Siren, it called across distance and time. Whispers brushed across his mind. A call toward long destroyed Krypton far, the Caves close by and the paternal ghost therein…

Paradox grounded him on the other hand. It seemed to raise the floorboards underfoot. A breeze billowed through his dark locks. Matilda's mooing reached his ears. Memoria reminded him of the standoff with Edge's men a floor below. Survival exacted its price. His parents still looked over their shoulders. Lana lost her innocence.

Lana….

The thought of his former girlfriend now friend once again elicited a big mouthful from the mug. He rubbed his forehead. Maybe it's for the best. I can still be there for her. I saved her from Vann and Sara's uncle. We had fun at Crater Lake. We still talk at school and the Talon. At least she can be safe. Right? Regret filled his eyes with tears. At Lex's wedding, he heard his words within the toast. Affirmation brought him together with Lana not long after the reception.

It had seemed so right…before it all went wrong….

Sara Conroy, the most neutral of parties even if she could peer into the dreamscape, would not take his evasions in the hospital. "[I see] someone who's in love but resists it. Lana right? Clark, take it from someone who's been trapped for six years. If you love her that much then don't push her away…I may have been there but Lana's the girl of your dreams."

The girl of my dreams. Too bad reality won't give us any breathing room. I can't risk her knowing my secret. Could she take it? After what I put her through in Metropolis, do I have the right? She said it'd be okay if I had my gifts. Mom and Dad don't want me to tell anyone. He ground his teeth. "Why? WHY?" Frustration cut him off from his surroundings. He put his hand right through the Loft's wall.

He trembled. He slumped against the wall. His emotions overwhelmed him. Then his forehead burned. Crimson glowed in his eyes before twin heat vision beams shot through the open barn door and into the night beyond.

Then a sound…granted not much more than a whisper mind you…but a sound nonetheless reached his ears. Gasp broke through Pain. "Clark?"

Embarrassment and Fear stiffened him. He winced. "No…no…no…" His head turned inexorably…bit by bit…

…until he came face to face with the aforementioned dream girl rushing toward him. "L…Lana?"

Emotion's maelstrom buffeted her as well. Incredulity and Uncertainty numbed her. He still wore his plaid and looked the same. In that moment, Suspicion had confirmed its most off the wall theories. His eyes shot burning beams. His fist went through solid oak and sheet rock without a scratch. Her mind added those feats with the rescues. She also recalled the twisted pipes and frozen bees following Sasha's attack at the Talon. She deduced he'd started the fires a year earlier. She recalled him standing over Tina in the alley. She saw him floating up to save her during the tornado.

Forget Flight or Fight….it was Flight or Love….

She trembled. Her mind recalled her promise from not long before. "I believed him for a minute that you were bulletproof. It was comforting to hear. Everything made sense. All of the times you've been there. All of the things I've been through. What I don't understand is you're willing to take a bullet for me but you won't stand by my side…."

The Answer stared her right in the face.

Clark was more than the average meteor-enhanced metahuman. His abilities topped any of those folks by a mile or more.

Now she understood Secret's obscurity. She forced herself to his side. She kept her tone even and as relaxed as she could manage. Her heart beat like a jackhammer. But Truth had granted her grandest wish from Sara's hospital room. Now she saw him…the real Clark. "Clark, that's how you do it?"

He forced himself to sit up. "Don't hate me, Lana. Please…please don't hate me."

"Hate you? I'm feeling a lot of things right now, Clark. Hate isn't one of them. Not even close. I have a *lot* of questions." She stooped down to his level. "I told you that it's okay. Remember?"

He nodded. "I remember. Lana, that was great. I thought you'd run away once you found out."

She narrowed her eyes. Resentment flared at her. "I lectured you about standing together. Remember that as well?" She had to admit that the urge to run away appealed to her. Disbelief really numbed her mind at that point.

His head bobbed up and down again. Contrition burning at his heart and drooping his eyes toward the floorboards. Shock still paralyzed him. His vocal chords couldn't push sounds up his throat and over his tongue at that point.

Her lungs sucked in a jagged breath. "Have to say this blows my mind. I'm not sure what to think right now. We definitely need to talk." She took his hand. "Can you stand?"

He forced himself to his feet. He forced himself to swallow some saliva. "Thanks. I just needed a minute. I'm sorry you had to see that and…." He grimaced again.

"Clark, what happened?"

The two teens discovered Jonathan and Martha watching them in turn.

This would be some discussion….