A/N: A few notes, first, getting into season 2, things for Kelly and her friends are taking place around the same time as the events of the September 11th attacks. I did a bit of research into it and found that a lot of soldiers were sent overseas following the tragedy, so that's more what I'm following timeline-wise for some of the characters mentioned.

Second (for now), Quinn is from Boston, MA and has a bit of a Boston accent.

Letters weren't enough. Not this time. Sure, Lex and Lana wrote to her almost every day, but she still had that longing feeling of wanting to be back in Smallville. Lana kept her up to date on everything going on, including a letter or two from Clark and his family now and then, and Lex would open up to her about the goings-on in his life, promising that he still wanted to give them a chance when she returned.

Until his letters stopped coming.

Kelly didn't think much of it at first. But after a few days, the truth hit her in the face.

"Hey, Doc, I think you should see this," Davis told her, handing her a newspaper.

The front-page headline telling of Lex's sudden marriage took Kelly's breath away.

"I'm sorry, Kell. But this is everywhere and I'd rather you hear it from a friend. I know how much you liked him," Davis says, trying to be reassuring.

Kelly shakes her head and hands him back the paper, "It's ok. He has no obligation to me. It wasn't like we were together or anything. Everything he said… just words on paper."

"Kelly-"

"Davis. Don't."

Kelly got up and walked back to her bunk. She was trying to get sent back home for a few days on an assignment. A stupid one, really, but a reason to be home and to see Lana. They wouldn't be deciding on who'd be going for another few weeks. Kelly was sure it would be a last-minute decision since it seemed like every other day, someone was being sent out overseas. Parker had gone a week ago. Jaqueline, a few days later. Everyone else was walking on eggshells, praying that the ax wouldn't fall on them.

In the end, Kelly was chosen to go with Davis and Quinn back to Smallville, along with someone from another unit, to even things out. They were only going to be there for the weekend, so she didn't bother letting Lana know just yet. The trio sat on the bus going from Metropolis to Smallville, a thickness in the air.

"We're all that's left," Quinn mumbled.

"Jackie's not dead," Davis reminded him.

"But she's gone. Adam's dead. Parker's dead. We're the only ones with both feet on the ground," explained Kelly.

Quinn gave a wry laugh, "Bad joke, Doc."

The bus finally pulled into the station, the doors swinging open. The three got up and made their way off the bus. A cab took them to their hotel, where they were able to shower and sleep before their assignment began the next day.

At the crack of dawn, Kelly got up and joined the other soldiers for a run. There were 20 of them in total, including Kelly. By the time they were making their way back, most of the town was up and awake, the large group of soldiers running through town gaining attention. They went back to the hotel to shower and change, reporting over to Smallville High, where they were broken up into groups of five and shown to their stations. Kelly and Quinn ended up in the med station with the other medics from different units. Quinn technically wasn't a medic, but he knew his stuff and was a great teacher.

"So, what exactly are we doing here?" Quinn asked.

"Teaching the kids some basic first aid, give them a taste of the army life I guess," she replied.

"Recruiting them early, I suppose."

"Lambs to the slaughter."

Kids began filing into the gym, looking around, and chatting. Kelly spotted Clark first, then his friends, and Lana at the back of the crowd. She wanted to move over to her, stopping by not only the reminder she was technically working, but the Sergeant First Class had approached her. They saluted one another, Kelly standing straight with her arms behind her back.

"Sergeant Lang, I understand this is your hometown, correct?" he inquired.

"Yes, sir. That's correct," she nodded.

"Good. SSG DeLuca mentioned it, said it might be best for you to give the opening speech."

"I can do that. Um, di-did you say, DeLuca? John?"

He gave a short nod, "That's right. He's waiting on the stage to give you a rundown of what you'll be saying."

She nodded and went to move toward the stage, her stomach twisting in knots. It would be her luck that her ex-husband, if that's even what you'd call him, would be in Smallville for the weekend at the same time as she was. She found him talking to a few people, pointing them in different directions and she couldn't help but to think that he was just as handsome as the last time she saw him.

"John," she called.

He looked at her and smiled, "Hey, I heard you were here."

"Yeah, our SFC told me you talked to him."

"Once I found out you were here too, I figured it might be nice for them to hear from one of their own."

"A bunch of kids who probably don't even know me?"

"Well, actually, we're opening it up to the whole town. All classes are canceled for today, and we're moving some of the stations into the classrooms. The physical stuff is going to be outside."

"That's pretty smart. This town needs some sense of control after that tornado. Better late than never, I guess."

He cleared his throat, "Speaking of late…"

"What?"

"I never signed the papers."

"What do you mean you never signed the papers?" she said, her voice rising a bit.

"I never signed them. I didn't want to, so I didn't," he replied with a shrug.

Kelly took a deep breath in and held it, trying to calm herself down.

"Kell, I'm sorry. But I think we rushed into splitting up and never gave us a chance."

She choked out a laugh, "John, we rushed into getting married in the first place! We barely knew each other for a few months before we did what we did."

"And in just a few weeks, you get to decide that it's not working?"

"No, in those few weeks, I figured out what a huge mistake it was!"

Lana watched as her sister argued with the unknown man, her cheeks turning red and her hands gesturing wildly.

"So, who's the guy on the receiving end?" Chloe questioned.

Lana pursed her lips and shook her head, "I don't know. But, seeing Kelly with most of her ex-boyfriends, I'd say if he isn't, he will be."

"I think we'd be inclined to agree with you," said a soldier from beside Lana.

The kids all turned, seeing a man about Kelly's age with thick, curly hair tied back, cocoa skin, and a short beard and a tall man that looked a few years older than the other, with short brown hair and a clean-shaven face.

"You have to be Kelly's little sister," the tall one said, a hint of an accent in his voice.

Lana gave them a nervous look, "Yeah, I'm-"

"Lana," the dark-skinned man finished, "We know. Doc talks about you all the time."

"I'm Quinn. This is Davis," Quinn told her.

"This is Clark, Chloe, and Pete," Lana introduced, "How do you know my sister?"

"We've been together since basic training," Davis explained.

They watched as Kelly threw her hands down and stomped away, the boys letting out a collective 'Ooh.'

"See, she wanted to push him off that stage. But she resisted," whispered Quinn.

"Johnny boy's an SSG now. They'd both get in trouble if she did," Davis replied.

"What are you talking about? Who is that?" Chloe badgered.

Davis tossed his arm around Lana and steered her away, "We're gonna take a walk."

He brought her away from the crowd into the hall, where they'd be able to speak freely.

"Kelly's going to kill me if she finds out I told you," he started.

"Tell me what?" Lana pressed.

"John, the guy she was just fighting with. That's her husband. Or, well, ex-husband now."

"What?"

"They dated for a bit about a year after she joined, then out of the blue, they decided to elope. She annulled it a few weeks later. She said it was such a mistake."

"I can't believe she never told me."

"I have a little sister too. And I can tell you from experience, there's a lot I don't tell her either."

"Why? Why hide things from her?"

"Well, I want to protect her. We see a lot of bad stuff, your sister especially. People dying and we can't stop it. So we hide it from the people we care about who've never experienced something like it before. We don't want those kinds of horrors in their heads."

"She's said something like that before."

"Because she loves you. You're the main thing she talks about. How proud she is of Lana taking charge of her own life, Lana becoming a businesswoman. It's most of what I hear day to day."

Lana laughed, "Does she?"

He nodded with a smile, "Yup. But I don't mind, it's nice seeing her happy."

"The only time I saw her happy was when Lex came into the picture."

Davis's smile quickly disappeared, "Until he broke her heart."

"She heard about the wedding?"

"It was in all the papers. I decided that if I didn't tell her, it wouldn't have ended well."

"Well, does she know that it's over?"

"What?"

"Yeah, Desiree was conning Lex into marrying her. He annulled the marriage."

"I don't think Kelly knows. She said he hasn't written to her or anything."

The intercom crackled to life, reporting everyone to the field.

"Hey, Lana," Davis called, stopping her from leaving, "Just one more thing. You don't have to worry about her so much. She isn't without family. Neither are you."

Lana nodded with a smile and left to catch up to her friends.

Kelly stood on the stage, chatting absently with a few other people, waiting to get started. She looked out into the crowd, finding the kids again, Nell, Mr. and Mrs. Kent, and to her surprise, Lex. She caught his eye and looked away quickly. She wanted to look back to see if he was still looking or to see if his wife was there too but knew it wasn't a good idea.

Finally, the microphone gave a bit of feedback, the school's principal leaning into it,

"Good morning, everyone. As some of you know, my name is Principal Reynolds. I know many of you are curious as to what's going on here, and I won't keep you in suspense much longer. After the recent tornado, the community decided that we needed to be more prepared for natural disasters. So we reached out to the Army and National Guard for help. Here to explain further is Smallville High Alumni, Sergeant Kelly Lang," Mr. Reynolds explained.

Everyone applauded and cheered as Kelly walked across the stage, shaking Principal Reynolds's hand.

She stood in front of the microphone and cleared her throat, "Hello, everyone. I want to start by thanking you all for coming. I know you probably have other things to do, so we appreciate you being here. Some of you may remember me from my time here in Smallville. I remember most of you. I, uh, I wasn't here during the tornado. But my family was. The people I care about. And you all told us what you felt was the problem during the aftermath of it all. We heard you. I hear you. You told us that there wasn't enough medical personnel to go around and tend to the wounded. People were searching for other people and getting lost, or finding the wounded and not knowing what to do."

She took a deep breath before continuing,

"Starting today, lasting the weekend, The United States Army and National Guard are setting up different stations, teaching different medical techniques that will be useful in the event of any emergency. We also have, with the help of the volunteer fire department, an outdoor station for search, rescue, and recovery. I encourage everyone to attend and learn something. Classes are canceled for today, and we will provide documentation of participation for work. Thank you all."

She turned and walked back to Davis and Quinn, hearing the applause from behind her.

The day was going smoothly, her station getting plenty of people, cops, nurses, and doctors alike. She hadn't seen Lex, which she was grateful for, but got to spend some time with Lana. During their lunch break, Davis came running up to Kelly and Quinn in a slight panic,

"Hey, there's been a fight. I need your help," he told them.

"What? Who?" she asked.

"A couple of kids. Lex and Mr. Kent got involved trying to break it up," Davis answered, "One of the kids pulled out brass knuckles."

Kelly got up and followed Davis into the hall of the school in a sprint.

A/N (again): Ope... One of Kelly's secrets has been revealed, to Lana at least. I did stick with the Lex getting tricked into marrying Desiree plotline, I felt it added something to the beginning of Lex and Kelly. Also, I will eventually get into what happened to the friends Kelly and the boys mention in this chapter and were mentioned in the last chapter. What happened to them has an effect on Kelly later on in the story.

Enough of my rambling, please R&R because I always appreciate your feedback.