The tornadoes left a devastating path in their wake as they ripped through Smallville. When they dissipated, the damage left behind was like the meteor shower all over again.

Chloe and Emmeline met up and went to the hospital to see Lana.

"Hey, Dorothy. Back from Oz?" Chloe smiled when they found Lana in a room packing up her things.

"Chloe, Emmeline," Lana smiled.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be in bed for, like, a month?"

"I'm okay. The doctor said it's just a mild concussion. Besides, a lot of people need this bed a lot more than I do."

"Well, we're just glad you're okay. What happened?"

Lana exited the room and the three of them began walking through the halls to leave the hospital. "Well, um, I was driving back after dropping Whitney off when the wind picked up. This, um, mailbox slammed against my windshield and I went off the road. That's when I saw the twisters. Before I knew it, the truck was being sucked up."

"And you walked away with a small bump on your head. That's amazing even by Smallville standards."

"No, it's impossible," Lana muttered.

"What?" Chloe asked.

"Nothing. The next thing I knew, I was waking up here."

"So you clicked your heels, said there's no place like home, and ended up in Smallville Medical Center."

"Apparently, Clark brought me in."

Emmeline silenced and Chloe's face turned expressionless. "Clark," Chloe said.

"Yeah, um, have you seen him?"

"No. Not since he vanished from the dance. Em and I spent like three hours looking for him."

"I guess the Spring Formal was kind of a bust, huh?"

"Yeah, well, at least now I know where he disappeared to."

"If it's any consolation, you guys looked great together."

"It's not. But thanks."

Emmeline looked at her friend sadly. Everything with Clark was hard enough on her, and Lana had really just put salt in the wound. Unintentionally, yes, but pain resulted all the same.


The next day, Clark called up Chloe, Emmeline, and Pete, and they all started looking for Clark's dad who had gone missing during the storm.

"Mr. Kent!" Pete and Emmeline yelled.

"Dad!"

Chloe looked at the map Lex had given them with a grid that told them where Clark's dad had to be. "Well, this is the edge of the grid."

"And there are no structures marked on the map," Pete said. "Sorry, Clark."

"Wait. What's that?"

They all looked over and saw a pink motor home in complete disarray.

"The twister must have dropped it here!" Pete exclaimed.

Clark looked at the house, but his face dropped after a second. "He's not in here."

"What are you, part bloodhound?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, how do you know?" Pete added. "Mr. Kent!"

Chloe looked down and picked up a video camera.

"Who's do you suppose that is?" Emmeline asked her.

"No idea. I mean debris is everywhere. It could be anybody's and could've come from anywhere." Chloe froze for a second. "Did you guys hear something?"

"Come on," Clark said after a pause. "Let's start again."

They all kept looking for their friend when Clark and Chloe ended up next to each other. She knew she shouldn't, but Emmeline couldn't help but eavesdrop in on their conversation, curious to see what was going to happen as far as their relationship went.

"Uh, Chloe?" Clark stuttered. "I've been wanting to apologize for leaving you at the Formal."

"Oh, didn't I tell you that leaving in the middle of a tornado to save a friend totally gets you off the hook?" Chloe laughed, attempting to hide her hurt. "Besides, I mean, I know you'd do the same thing for me."

"Oh, in a heartbeat. So, how can I make it up to you?"

"Actually, you know, I've been thinking. It's funny how a natural disaster puts your life in perspective, but I think that it might be better if we just stayed really good friends. Anything other than that just gets too complicated."

Emmeline's heart sank. What in the world was Chloe doing? Clark was at least trying to make amends, but she was pushing him away again. And she had a pretty good feeling why. Chloe was afraid to get hurt again.

"Uh…yeah," Clark said. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea."

"You do?"

Clark's face looked confused, like he wasn't prepared for how to deal with this. "Yeah. Yeah, uh, our friendship is so important to me. The last thing I want to do is screw it up."

"Good. Great. Perfect. I'm really glad we got that straightened out."

"I'm going to go check over here."

"Okay. I'll catch up in a sec. My feet are throbbing."

Clark walked away and Chloe began crying as she leaned against a tree. Emmeline ran up to her best friend and put her hand on her shoulder while her other comfortingly rubbed up and down her arm.

"I'm so sorry," she said quietly.

"Mr. Kent!" Pete called. He looked over and saw the two girls. "Hey."

"Hey," Chloe said, her voice cracking.

"What's up with the fake smile and the friend hug?"

"Nothing." She sighed when she saw that lying was pointless. "Clark and I just reaffirmed that we're really good friends. And nothing else."

"Pulled the friends card on you, huh?"

"No, I did. Defense mechanism."

"Listen, Chloe, it's okay to feel bummed out. Last night was supposed to be special and it got ruined."

"He's right," Emmeline agreed. "It's completely natural for you to feel this way, especially when Clark's involved."

"It was just so close to being perfect," Chloe cried. She laughed and wiped her eyes. "Oh, listen to me. I sound so pathetic! A tornado hit. People are in real trouble and I'm upset because Clark didn't fulfill my wish fulfillment fantasy. You guys must think I'm an awful person."

"Yeah. You're a real monster," Pete joked.

The three of them walked away to continue helping find Clark's father.


"Clark?" Emmeline called as she walked up the loft steps.

"Hey, Em," Clark smiled.

"I heard you found your dad. Is he alright?"

"Just a cracked rib."

"I'm glad you found him. I'm sorry we weren't more help."

"The fact that you guys were all out there in the first place was good enough for me." There was a slight pause before Clark asked, "Hey, Em? Chloe…does she really want to be just friends?"

Emmeline looked at him with sadness in her eyes that she managed to hide from him well. "I think…that if you want that question answered, you should ask her yourself."

Emmeline went down to the Torch office where Chloe sat, sadly looking at her computer. She paused in the doorway as she saw Chloe deleting all the pictures of her and Clark at the dance. Then a window popped open asking if she wanted to permanently delete everything.

"Chloe, what are you doing?" she asked, deciding to make her presence known.

Chloe sniffed. "I pulled the friend card. How am I supposed to keep these now?"

Emmeline handed Chloe a tissue. "Just because you're friends doesn't mean you have to completely erase those times from your memory. Cherish the good part of the night. The part where Clark did everything he could to make sure you had a good time. The part where he specifically requested the band to play your favorite song. The part where he showed you how much he cared for you."

Chloe sighed and hit the 'Cancel' button on the window, leaving the pictures on her computer.

"Remember, Chloe, no matter what, I'll always be here for you."