Emmeline always thought it would be nice to get a love letter. But of course, it was Lana who got one, not her.

"Ah, the sentiment's nice. But the fact that you found this in a graveyard seems a little Amityville," Chloe told her as she finished reading the letter.

"I think it's kind of romantic," Lana smiled. "I haven't had a love letter since third grade. It seems like a lost art."

"Not true, not true. This morning in Trig, I intercepted a note from a wrestler to a cheerleader. It wasn't exactly poetic, but, um, he definitely got his point across."

"Who do you think wrote it?" Pete asked Lana.

"I have no idea," Lana answered.

They all walked into the Torch office, and Clark ended up coming in behind them.

"Hey, guys," he greeted. "So, what's going on?"

"Lana has a secret admirer," Chloe said teasingly.

"It's nothing," Lana insisted.

"What do you mean nothing? What happened to romantic?"

Pete took the letter and handed it to Clark. "Just let the boy read it."

Clark looked it over uneasily. "It's a little mushy."

"I almost forgot. Clark Kent, the man of steel," Lana said with an icy tone in her voice. The room silenced for a little bit as the tension between Clark and Lana became painfully obvious. "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," everyone said as she left the room.

"If you ask me, it sounds more like a stalker than a secret admirer," Clark told the others.

"Careful, Clark," Emmeline said with a playful smile. "You're starting to sound a little jealous."


The phone rang at Emmeline's house very late at night. Emmeline drowsily got up and answered it before her parents woke up.

"Hello?" she said into the receiver.

"Emmeline?"

"Yes, it's her."

"It's Nell."

"Hey. Is something wrong?"

"Lana hasn't come home yet. I was wondering if you knew where she was."

"Uh, no, but I'll go look for her. Smallville's only so big."

"You're a lifesaver, Emmeline."

"Don't worry about it."

Being careful not to wake her parents, Emmeline grabbed the keys and took the car around Smallville. Eventually, she was able to find Lana near her parents' gravesite. Clark was there with another boy who appeared to be unconscious.

"Lana?" she called.

"Emmeline, what are you doing here?" Lana asked.

"Nell called. She was looking for you, and I figured I'd find you here. What's going on?"

"We need to get him out of here. We'll take him to the Talon. Do you have a car?"

"Yeah, I brought Mom's. Get him inside."

Clark carefully lifted the boy up and placed him in the backseat of Emmeline's car. Lana sat with him while Clark was in the passenger's seat and Emmeline drove them all to the Talon. Once there, they got the boy conscious again and treated his wound.

"Who are you?" the boy asked Emmeline shyly.

"I'm Emmeline," she answered just as shy. "I'm the one who drove you here."

"Byron."

She handed him a cold pack and he placed it on the back of his head. Meanwhile, Lana made him some coffee and gave him a couple slices of cake, both of which he scarfed down as if he had been in the desert for years.

"I can't believe I passed out," Byron said.

"I'm sorry I scared you," Clark apologized.

"It's okay, Clark. You were protecting a beautiful young lady. It was chivalrous." He looked over at Lana. "You're lucky to have a boyfriend who cares so much about you."

The tension in the room started to rise again. "Clark—Clark's just a friend," Lana said quickly. "Uh, an overprotective one."

"'If I could write the beauty of your eyes, and number all your graces, the age to come would say this poet lies. Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces'."

"That was beautiful."

"Which poet wrote that?" Clark asked, trying to hide his annoyance.

"Shakespeare," Emmeline smiled. She looked over at Byron. "What about this one? 'Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all'."

Byron smiled at her. "Emily Dickinson. 'A thing of beauty is a joy forever'."

"John Keats."

"Wow, Em," Clark said. "I didn't know you were such a poetry fan."

"You have to remember, Clark, that I didn't talk to anyone at all prior to meeting you. I had to fill all that time with something."

"I can't imagine being home schooled and never seeing anybody," Lana changed the subject. If Emmeline didn't know any better, she'd say Lana was getting a little jealous of her. That was a switch.

"You don't miss what you never had," Byron said sadly.

"It seems like you don't get out much. Uh, your parents pretty strict?" Clark asked.

"They only want what's best for me."

The sound of a car parking outside broke the silence in the room.

"That's our milk delivery," Lana said, surprised so much time had passed.

Byron sprang up from his seat. "What time is it?"

"Quarter to five," Clark answered.

"If my parents wake up…"

He ran out of the Talon and Emmeline drove as fast as she could to where he lived. As soon as she pulled in, he hurriedly unbuckled his seatbelt.

"You want us to come in and tell your parents what happened?" Clark asked.

"No, I'll be fine." Byron bolted out of the car and ran up to the house. His mom came out looking panicked, followed by his father pointing a shotgun at him.

Clark, Lana, and Emmeline got out of the car and went up to his father.

"Byron!" Clark called.

"Go away!" Byron yelled.

His father pointed his shotgun at the three of them. "I better not catch you around my son again! Now get out before I shoot you for trespassing!"

The three of them hurriedly left the property and drove to Clark's house. They entered in on what appeared to be a heated discussion between his parents.

"Clark? Lana? Emmeline? You three been out all night?" Jonathon asked suspiciously.

"No, it's not what you think," Clark said. "Um, we met this kid and we think that his parents are abusing him."

The Kents called Sheriff Ethan and they all went back over to Byron's house. Ethan knocked on the door and his parents answered.

"Mrs. Moore?" Ethan said. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I'd like to speak to your son."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, sheriff," his father said.

"Where is he?" Clark demanded.

"Clark, let the sheriff handle this, please," Jonathon told his son sternly.

"He's not in any trouble," Ethan insisted.

"Look, I don't know what's going on here sheriff, but our son is dead," Mr. Moore told them.

"He drowned out in Crater Lake eight years ago," Mrs. Moore added.

Lana frowned. "We just met him last night."

"My son says that you threatened him," Jonathon said.

"I've never seen these kids before in my life," Mr. Moore yelled. "Look, it's taken all these years to get past this, and then you show up and pull a prank like this. What kind of parent would raise a child to do a wicked thing like that?"

"We're awfully sorry," Ethan apologized. "Look, Jonathan, I think we should go."

The Moores closed the door and everyone started to leave.

"They're lying," Lana said.

"We saw him go in that house," Clark added.

Ethan sighed. "This is a very awkward situation, Jonathan."

"I know it is, Ethan, but if there's even a chance that young man's in trouble, we wouldn't want that on our conscience."

"I'll get a warrant."


Emmeline drove home to some very angry parents. It took some time, but she was able to explain the whole situation to them, and eventually they understood what was going on.

Emmeline then booked it to school and met up with Clark, Lana, and Chloe in the Torch office. Chloe had just finished printing out what looked to be like a death certificate.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked.

"It looks like your tortured artist is an unfortunate member of the 'dead poets' society'," Chloe explained. "The certificate of death was signed by Dr. Emil Jenkins."

"It's got to be fake," Clark said.

"Not that I don't trust your judgment, but could it be possible that goth boy maybe is—"

"I don't think a ghost could polish off three pieces of cake and two cappuccinos," Lana interrupted with a smile.

"I was just checking, I mean this is Smallville. Well, I ran Dr. Jenkins' name through the computer and found out something very interesting. Eight years ago, he supervised a medical file over at Metron Pharmaceuticals."

"Let me guess. Byron was a participant?" Clark put together.

"Yeah, they were all kids who had exhibited antisocial behavior."

Everyone grabbed their things and started heading to their class.

"But it doesn't sound like Byron. He's so gentle," Lana said.

"Could it be that our new Shakespeare has a-stirred the heart of our young Juliet?" Chloe joked.

"It's just nice to meet someone who's so honest with their feelings. I don't have to guess what they're thinking. We have to start looking for Byron."

"No, we should wait to see what the sheriff finds," Clark said from behind them.

From the look on Lana's face, she didn't really care for that idea.


Later that day, Emmeline learned that Clark and Pete went to find Byron, they took him out in the sun, he turned into a beast, Pete got injured in the process and was in the hospital, and Byron was missing.

Emmeline was more weirded out by the fact that she wasn't weirded out.

Chloe grabbed her and they all went to the Talon to find Lana and Clark.

"Okay, so I think I figured out why our would-be Shakespeare went all pro-wrestler on you." Lana continued glaring over at Clark. "Jeez, is it just me, or did it get cold in here?"

Clark took the papers from her. "What'd you find?"

"Um, well, the drug that Byron was given during the medical trials targeted his adrenal system."

"It says here they were looking for a cure. We need to track down the company."

"It's too late. Metron Pharmaceuticals was shut down before they even finished their research."

"Why would they do that?" Lana asked.

"I don't know, but maybe Clark should ask his mom's new boss."

"Lionel Luthor owns Metron," Clark said as more of a statement than a question.

"Just one of the many LuthorCorp subsidiaries that promise us a brighter future."

"I'll talk to Lex."

"Um, we'd love to help you, but Pete just sent out an S.O.S. for his Playstation 2, so good luck."

Chloe and Emmeline drove down to the hospital and went to Pete's room.

"How are you feeling?" Emmeline asked.

"I've been better," he answered.

"Maybe this will help." She and Chloe pulled out his Playstation and began hooking it up to the hospital TV.

"You guys are the best."

"I know!"

Chloe handed him one of the controllers and he immediately began playing one of his games.

"Anyone figure out Byron yet?" Pete asked, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Clark's working on something," Chloe told him. "I just hope he can deal with Beast enough to get Beauty back."

"Beauty and the Beast," Emmeline mumbled. "That's it."

"What?"

She looked up at them. "I have to go."

"Em!"

Emmeline booked it out of the hospital and tried to find Byron. She went to the cemetery and found Lana knocked out on the ground.

"Lana!" She ran over to her and carefully got her awake again. "Are you alright?"

Lana sighed. "Clark was right."

"Can you get to the hospital?"

"Yes, I'll be fine."

"Where did Byron go?"

"I don't know. I told him about LuthorCorp and the experiments, and that Clark was going to talk with Lex."

"He's going after Lionel. Get to the hospital before you get hurt."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"I know how to stop this."

Emmeline drove down to the Luthor mansion where Lionel was sure to be. She heard commotion coming from the back and quickly ran back.

There she saw Martha, Clark, and Lionel on the ground, Byron getting ready to attack them.

"Byron!" Emmeline called.

He turned around to face her. He looked really scary because of his transformation, but she held her ground.

"It's okay! It's just me, Emmeline!"

"Em, get out of here!" Clark said.

"No, I know what I'm doing." She started slowly walking towards him. "We're not so different. I know what it's like to be locked away from the world. To feel like you have no one out there to call friend. But unlike you, I did it by choice. I locked myself away, and I had no one to call friend. I understand you, Byron. More than anyone else can."

By now, she was close enough to him. She went up to him and embraced him tightly. He tensed up a lot, and for a moment, she thought he was going to toss her off him. She lightly kissed his cheek and squeezed her arms around him once more. Then finally, she felt his arms tighten around her back. It hurt a little because of the fact that he wasn't human and was therefore stronger, but she couldn't get over the fact that this was the first time she had ever embraced someone of the opposite sex like this who wasn't a family member. Sure, he was a beast, but it counted.

Clark used this time to get Byron back into the darkness.

"Emmeline?" Byron said, having changed back into himself.

Emmeline released him and smiled broadly. She couldn't believe that had actually worked.


Byron was taken to the hospital, and Emmeline went to his room to go see him.

"Byron?" she said as she stepped in. Clark and Lana were already inside.

"Hey, Emmeline."

"How are you feeling?"

"Not bad."

"Lana, how's your wrist?"

"Uh, it'll be better in a couple of days," Lana answered.

"I can't believe I…" Byron started.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I know it wasn't you."

"You were brave to come and find me."

"A friend warned me to be careful. I should have listened to him. And I think Emmeline was braver. She's the one who actually helped."

Emmeline smiled shyly and walked up next to Byron's hospital bed. "Actually, it was something Chloe said. I kinda just pieced together what would help."

"Thanks," Byron smiled. "You didn't have to do that. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. A couple bruises, but nothing serious."

Lana and Clark discreetly left, but neither Byron nor Emmeline really noticed.

"How'd you know what to do?" Byron asked her.

"I figured that you may have changed, but you still wanted someone who loved you, despite that. I thought I would give you what you wanted until we could get you back to normal." She laughed lightly. "You know, that was the first…well, bold thing I've done pretty much ever. It felt good."

"Thank you, Emmeline."

"You can call me Em. All my good friends do."

"Em. It's pretty."

"Thanks."