I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for weeks :)
When Lana brought an old newspaper article to Clark, he couldn't believe his eyes. The article was all about how Lana's great-aunt had been shot years ago, and the police sketch of the supposed murderer looked exactly like Clark. But what was really shocking was the medallion around his neck. There was a Kryptonian symbol on it.
When he went down to the caves, he had put his hand to the cave wall where the same symbol was, and a hole opened up in the cave wall…and he received that same medallion along with several images that he couldn't process.
Since Emmeline was busy with Hannah, he and Pete were walking along the sidewalk as he tried to explain to his friend what had happened to him in the caves.
"The images I saw must've been from the past," he told him.
"Clark, you really need to lay off the late night television," Pete joked.
"I'm not kidding, Pete. I had all these flashes, but they went by so fast, I really couldn't make sense of them."
Clark put his hand on a nearby mailbox and suddenly, there was a bright flash.
A young man walked down the sidewalk in Smallville, suavely looking around him at the small town. He looked across the street at a woman in a green dress reading a magazine as she walked. Suddenly, an old man pulled out a gun and aimed it at her.
"Give it over!" the old man ordered.
"Get away from me!" the woman fired back.
The old man pushed her down to the ground, backing her up against the doors to the theater.
"Give me the money! I know you've got it! Give it!"
The man on the other side of the street sped over to the fight and grabbed the old man from behind before flinging him against a pole. He knelt down and helped the young woman up off the ground.
"My hero," she smiled.
"You don't strike me as someone who usually needs saving," the man said to her.
"Thank you." The man picked up her magazine and handed it to her. "Thanks. I'm Louise."
"You can call me Joe."
"Well, Joe, you're the most excitement we've had all year."
"Louise?!"
Another girl around Louise's age ran up to the young woman from behind Joe so he couldn't see her face.
"Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine," Louise said with a small laugh. "I had someone watching out for me."
The girl turned around and Joe felt his breath catch in his throat. She was beautiful. More than beautiful. She was the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen.
"Thank you for helping my best friend," the girl said to him. "We need more people like you around here."
The sheriff walked over to the three of them and shook Joe's hand. "Well, I guess we owe you our gratitude. Hi, I'm Sheriff Billy Tate. Some reflexes you got there."
"They kinda surprised me, too," Joe answered a bit nervously.
"I haven't seen you around Smallville before."
"I'm just passing through on my way home."
"Lucky you," Louise smiled.
"Forgive Louise," Sheriff Tate said. "She's got stars in her eyes. Both of these girls do really. Always have."
"There's nothing wrong with that," Joe said as he looked at both of the girls.
A car pulled up and Louise's husband quickly got out. "Louise? Everything all right?"
"You go on home, Louise," Sheriff Tate said. "I know how Dex hates to miss his bridge game. I'll drop by and get your statement."
"See you around," Louise said to Joe.
"I'll come with you," the girl told her friend. "Keep you company."
The two of them began to walk over to Dex. "Hey," Joe called to the girl. "I didn't catch your name."
The girl gave him the most radiant smile he had ever seen before. "Emily."
There was another flash and Clark looked up to find Pete staring at him.
"Clark, what's going on?" his friend asked concerned.
"It's like I was back in the 50s. I was standing right here where Joe was."
"Joe?"
"That's the name of the drifter. Pete, do you remember when I was in the cave and I got all those flashes?" He took the medallion out of his pocket. "I think this medallion downloaded me with all his memories. When I touch something of his it triggers one."
"Right."
"Louise was here too. The drifter, he saved her."
"Well, of course he did! Clark, back here in the 21st century, we call that a daydream."
"There's got to be a way to find out if what I saw really happened."
"Since when can you take police records out of City Hall?" Clark asked as he, Chloe, and Emmeline all walked down the halls.
"Since Em and I caught the clerk and his girlfriend playing cops and robbers while on the job," Chloe laughed.
Clark opened up the book Chloe had nabbed for him. "Well, the robbery should be around June 1961. That's when the movie was playing at the Talon."
"Okay, I don't mean to give you the third degree, but how do you know all of these—"
"Chloe, I told you it was just a hunch that the drifter was there."
"Yeah, I get that." The three of them entered the Torch office. "But 'It's the robbery outside the Talon with the Natalie Wood movie playing', that's a little more detailed than your average hunch."
"Well, as curator of the Wall of Weird, just go with me on this one."
"He's got a point," Emmeline put in. "Besides, now I'm curious."
Clark sat down at his desk. "There's some pages missing, all from the day of Louise's murder."
"Someone gets a D in subtlety," Chloe remarked.
"All right, here's the robbery."
"You see our heroic drifter anywhere?"
"No, but look at the name of the robber."
"Lachlan Luthor," Chloe read. "That's—that's Lex's grandpa." Clark looked up at her suspiciously. "Oh, come on, I had a 3 megabyte file on Lex. I know his favorite cereal. Maybe he knows something."
"Well, you're gonna have to find out. I gotta meet Lana. Nell found some of Louise's things in the attic."
"Wait, Clark, this is where I'm gonna have to bail. The last time I researched the Luthors, Lex almost got killed."
"Please. You're gonna have to deal with him sooner or later."
Clark left the office to go see Lana as Chloe sighed heavily.
"Hey, don't worry," Emmeline said to her friend. "I'll come with you for moral support."
The two girls headed over to Lex's mansion and Chloe quickly explained the situation to him.
"I always assumed my father's knack for taking people's money was inherited, but I hardly think petty crime runs in the family," Lex said smoothly.
"Well, Smallville wasn't exactly teeming with Lachlan Luthors," Chloe responded. "Your grandfather has to be the one who was arrested."
"Chloe, no one in my family set foot in this town until my father bought the cream corn factory." Emmeline really wanted to insert a comment about how that act ruined her boyfriend's family, but he intimidated her too much for her to speak. "Isn't an age-old robbery a little off your usual teen beat?"
"Well, this one's pro bono. Lana's really worried about her great-uncle."
"Something tells me the both of you aren't here because of Lana."
"Anyway, we think Lachlan met the drifter, and we were just hoping that—"
"What? That my family sat around at Thanksgiving sharing old crime stories?"
"Your family isn't exactly a Norman Rockwell painting. Look, Lex, we're just trying to find what we can."
"I wish I could help you, girls, but I'm afraid you've met a dead end."
Clark went up to the loft and found Lana waiting for him.
"Hey," Lana smiled.
"Hi, Lana. Look, I'm really sorry about being so defensive this morning."
"You don't have to apologize. I kinda dumped a lot on you all at once."
"I guess it's just when you're adopted, you dream about where you came from and what your birth parents were like. The biggest nightmare is that they were criminals."
"With all the strange surprises I've had in my family, I know it's not easy." She gestured over to a box lying on a small table. "There are only a few of Louise's things. But I think we'll be able to find something."
The two of them sat on the couch and began pulling out various photos and trinkets from the box. Lana smiled as she pulled out a piece of paper.
"It's a love letter. Dexter must have written this." Her eyes widened a little as she read over its contents. "Wow. Who knew he could be so, um…"
"Passionate?"
She looked at the bottom and saw a cursive letter that looked like a J. "Only an initial?"
She put the letter away again and then pulled out a locket. When she opened it, there was a picture of Louise and the girl Clark had seen from his vision.
"This was a present from her to her best friend," Lana said. "After she died, it must've been too painful so she put it in here with the rest of her things."
Clark took the necklace and then there was a flash.
Joe gently rubbed his hands against Emily's shoulders as he pressed a kiss to her neck, feeling the metal of the chain around her neck. Emily turned around and smiled at him broadly then lightly kissed him.
"What if we get caught?" Joe asked her.
"Dex is out and Louise is with him. Besides, it's not like I'm married."
The two of them began to kiss with more passion.
"I've never felt this way about anyone," Joe whispered. "All I know is I want to be with you."
Emily smiled again as they resumed kissing passionately. Joe lightly pressed her against a wooden beam and pressed his lips to her neck as he undid the buttons on her shirt. She shrugged it off, tossing it aside and leaving her white slip on underneath. Then as they kissed each other, Joe's shirt was also unbuttoned and came off as well. Joe ran his hands through Emily's long brown hair and his fingers grazed across her soft cheeks.
Joe laid her down on a blanket in the hay as he continued to kiss her.
"This is crazy," Emily breathed in between kisses.
"I agree."
"We've only known each other for a couple weeks."
"Does it matter?"
Emily smiled up at him and put her hand to his cheek. "No."
Joe kissed her with more vigor as her hands gently slid across his toned back and chest.
There was a flash, and Clark dropped the necklace.
"Clark?" Lana asked quickly.
Clark stood up from the couch. "Lana, Louise's best friend, Emily? She and the drifter were in love."
Lana looked up at him in confusion, wondering how he possibly knew her best friend's name or the fact that she was in love with the drifter.
The next day, Clark and Lana traveled to the old barn that Dexter used to own before he went to prison.
"This is the barn where Louise was shot," Clark said as they walked in.
"Clark, it's been over 40 years," Lana told him. "What do you expect to find here?"
Clark went around the barn, touching various items in the hopes of triggering another vision. After touching several items with no luck, he looked up to find a car covered by a tarp. He slowly went over to it and removed the tarp.
He touched the car and there was a bright flash.
Joe and Emily leaned against the car kissing each other. It was nighttime and from the fact that they were wearing the same clothes, it was the same day as the previous vision.
Joe pulled away from Emily. "I have to leave tonight."
Emily's smile faded. "You can't. Not now."
"I have to."
"Why?"
"It's…complicated."
"We could run away together. See the world."
"I have to return to my home."
"Couldn't I go with you?"
"Where I'm from, we wouldn't be accepted."
"Then don't go home. We can go somewhere they'll never find us. We can be together forever."
"You don't understand, Emily. This wasn't supposed to happen."
"You mean you wish you had never met me?"
"No! You are the best thing that's ever happened to me. But it's my destiny, and I can't change it. Emily, as much as I want this, I can't have it. My father told me that someday I'd understand…that my actions have consequences. I guess this is what he meant."
"Joe, I love you. And I can't just let you go now."
"I love you too."
He gently kissed her as he pulled her close to him.
"Emily?"
The two of them quickly looked over to the entrance of the barn to find Louise standing there.
"Louise…" Emily said slowly. "Please…I can explain."
Louise gave her a small smile. "No need. I know."
"You do?"
"You're my best friend. Of course I do." She began to walk over to her. "You have what I've always wanted. Don't lose it now. Go with him." Louise looked over at Joe. "You're lucky to have her. Take her with you."
Joe was about to say something more, but the same man who had tried to rob Louise walked into the barn and aimed a gun at him. He quickly pushed the two girls out of the way just as the man fired several bullets directly at Joe.
"Joe!" Emily screamed.
When the man saw that the bullets made no impact, he ran out of the barn as fast as he could. Emily ran up to him and looked at his chest. Not a single mark. She looked at him in disbelief.
"Emily…"
Emily looked at Louise and saw a steady stream of red blood tainting her white blouse where a bullet had hit her.
"No, no, no, no, no, no! No!"
Emily and Joe ran over to the young woman and caught her as she sank down to the ground.
"Louise," Emily cried. "Don't go."
"I'll never go."
Louise closed her eyes and her body stilled. Tears streamed down Emily's face as she watched the life leave her best friend. Joe gently squeezed her shoulders, knowing there were no words he could say to comfort her.
"Louise?!" Dex's voice called out.
"Dex is coming," Emily said urgently.
"We have to go," Joe told her.
"No, I can't just leave her here."
"You can't be seen with the body and the gun, especially not with me. Come on!"
Reluctantly, Emily got up and ran out of the barn with Joe. They ran quite a distance before Emily stopped him.
"I have to stay," she said quietly.
"No. You can come with me. We'll make it work. I know we can."
"I want to. But with Louise dead, things have changed. If I go with you, they'll never stop looking for us. I'll only put you in danger."
"No. Emily…"
"I'm so sorry, Joe." She gently kissed him and hugged him tightly. "Go see the world for me. All of them. I love you." She kissed him again and then Joe took off.
Emily's heart broke in half as she watched the man she loved disappear from her life forever.
Clark stared at Lana as he touched her cheek with trembling hands. Everything had felt so real…
"Clark?" she said softly.
Clark took a step back and looked at her with wide eyes. "I know who killed her."
Lana's eyes widened. First he claimed that the drifter was in love with her great-aunt's best friend and now this?
Clark and Lana rushed off to school, and reported his findings to Chloe and Emmeline.
"I don't mean to rain on your parade, Clark, but Lachlan Luthor was in the jail at the time of the murder," Chloe explained.
"I know it was him," Clark said firmly.
"How?" Lana asked. "You can't expect us to keep following these weird hunches without telling us what's going on."
Clark stopped at the Torch office entrance. "It's crazy."
"You passed crazy about four random clues ago," Chloe said.
Clark turned to face them. "Ever since I read that newspaper article, I've been having memories from 1961."
The three girls all looked at each other with confusion. Clark shrugged his shoulders and entered the office.
"What?" Lana exclaimed as they followed him.
"It's like some weird déjà vu thing."
"Well, could it be like reincarnation?" Chloe posed. "You know, like past lives?"
"Chloe," Lana said skeptically.
"Or, uh, genetic memory. Science has theorized that we store our ancestors' memories in our DNA. Anyway…" Chloe went over to her computer and pulled up one of her emails. "Well, wherever your hunches are coming from, they're eerily accurate. Look at this. I asked the Ledger to email me the newspaper's police blotter from the day that was missing in the logbook."
Clark looked at the document on the screen. "Lachlan was released from jail the morning Louise was murdered."
"He only spent a few nights in jail for armed robbery?" Lana asked in disbelief.
Chloe went over to her file cabinet and pulled out one of the files. "Yeah, and look at the name of the deputy who released him."
"Billy Tate," Clark confirmed.
"More affectionately known now as our honorable Mayor William Tate."
Clark started to leave the office, but Emmeline chased after him. "Hey, Clark!" Clark turned around to face her. "These memories or visions or whatever that you've been having…what are you seeing?"
"Why?"
"Because you've been looking at me strange ever since they supposedly started."
"Just…ask your mom to tell you more about your grandmother."
Clark and Lana went to the mayor's office after school so Clark could see if he could get any more answers from the man.
Mayor Tate showed them a picture from Louise's wedding. "Dex and Louise were my best friends. Arresting him was the hardest thing I ever had to do. The whole thing just destroyed her friend, Emily." Mayor Tate looked over at Lana with a small smile. "You bear a striking resemblance to your great-aunt. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"Mayor Tate, can you remember booking someone named Lachlan Luthor?" Clark asked. "He was released the same day Louise was killed."
"It's hard to keep track of all the arrests that I've made."
"We think your friend Dexter is innocent," Lana said bluntly.
Mayor Tate chuckled dryly. "Trust me, of all people, I wanted to believe that more than anyone. But finally I had to admit there was no drifter. He made up the story to cover his own guilt."
Clark looked at one of the shelves in the office. When he looked at a certificate, his eyes widened. The initial on the love letter hadn't been a J at all. It was a T. As in Tate.
"Careful with that, young man," Mayor Tate said to Clark.
He put his hand on Clark's shoulder which was followed by another flash.
Billy Tate approached a car parked next to a cornfield and touched the shoulder of the man inside. "Hey, you two lovebirds." His expression hardened when he saw Joe with Emily.
"Billy, it's okay," Emily said quickly. "He's just—"
"Sure. Okay, big shot, out of the car."
Joe sighed as he hopped out of the car. "I don't know what business this is of yours, but—"
Billy grabbed Joe by the shirt. "I think you've overstayed your welcome. You better move along before you cause any more trouble."
Emily quickly got of the car and grabbed Billy's arm. "Billy, stop it. He's been a perfect gentleman to me. Just back off."
"Suit yourself, Emily."
Billy got into his police car and drove off. Emily sighed as she watched him go.
"It's Brian," she said softly.
"Who's Brian?" Joe asked.
"We're not even engaged, but we may as well be married. Our parents have been planning the wedding ever since I can remember. He's a nice guy, I just…don't love him. Louise and I always wanted to get out of Smallville together someday. Unfortunately, our fathers didn't see it that way. So she married Dex, and I'm expected to marry Brian."
"I think our fathers would get along. See, I'm not what you'd call a model son. My father sent me here as sort of a lesson. I didn't want to come here. Now I'd give anything to stay." Emily smiled at him. "But I can't."
Emily walked over to him. "Yes, you can. You control your own future. If you want to stay, stay. And if you really can't stay, then take me with you so I can get out of here like I've always wanted to."
"I don't think you understand. When I said I wasn't from here, I wasn't talking about Smallville."
"What do you mean?"
"Where I'm from we have colors that you've never seen. Our moons are so close they fill up half the sky. We have sunsets that last for hours."
Emily gasped a little. "Really?" She looked up at the stars above her. "For years, I've looked up at the stars and wondered if there's anybody like us out there. Other worlds that we can only imagine. But…not everyone really appreciates my daydreams. They constantly tell me to get my head out of the clouds and back on Earth where it belongs. Dex and Louise call it my curse."
Joe slowly walked over to her. "No, Emily. That's a gift."
He gently lifted her up into his arms. Emily smiled at him as he held her close. Then she realized that she felt…weightless. When she looked down, neither of them were on the ground any longer.
Emily instinctively grabbed onto Joe a little tighter, but she couldn't help but smile. "So it's true. You're from another world."
She smiled broadly as she kissed him fifteen feet in the air.
Clark and Lana went to Sheriff Adams with their claim that Mayor Tate striked up a deal with Lachlan Luthor to kill the drifter and then pin the whole thing on Dex so that Mayor Tate could have Louise. They guessed that because Emily was in love with the drifter, no one allowed her to testify.
Unfortunately, Sheriff Adams didn't take that very well.
"Clark," Martha said as he stepped inside the house. "Have you had any more of the visions?"
"No," Clark said uneasily.
Jonathon slowly went over to his son. "Listen, son, I'm, uh, I'm sorry I doubted you. If you'd like, we can go over to McCallum's barn, see if you missed anything."
Clark smiled and then looked over Jonathon's shoulder.
"What is it?" Martha asked.
"That's grandpa's gun," Clark answered. "I saw it in the cave when I had my first vision."
Jonathon pulled the gun off the wall and held it out for Clark. Clark touched it and there was another flash.
Joe was leaning over a barrel when he was hit with the butt of a rifle. He quickly knocked the man to the ground before taking the rifle and pointing it at its owner.
"I don't want any trouble," he told the man. "I'm just cutting through your field."
"Easy there, son," the man said firmly. "You already got one murder on your hands if you're the one the whole town's looking for."
"I didn't do it." He tossed the rifle back to the man. "I'm not a killer. I loved her best friend. I'd never hurt either of them. You got—you gotta trust me."
The man slowly stood up to his feet. "I'm Hiram. Hiram Kent."
He held his hand out to shake and Joe took it.
"What is it?" Jonathon asked his son as he took his hand off the gun.
"The drifter was here," Clark told him. "He was here on the farm with Grandpa Kent."
Martha and Jonathon exchanged a surprised look. Jonathon knew what he had to do. He led Clark up to the loft and they pulled out an old trunk.
"I haven't opened this…since the day my father passed away," Jonathon said sadly.
"Maybe something in here will trigger another memory," Martha told Clark.
Jonathon took out a belt with a large buckle. "Clark, your grandfather wore this old thing every single day of his life." Clark smiled a little as he took the belt from him. "It was his favorite belt."
"I wish you could've met him. Do recognize anything from your visions?"
Clark looked at a brown leather jacket and gently picked it up which was followed by a flash.
Hiram's wife put a denim jacket on Joe's shoulders as he and Hiram prepared to leave.
"At least you won't stand out as much if they stop you," she told him.
"I know all the back roads," Hiram stated. "We'll take them."
"I appreciate your help, but I'll find my way on my own," Joe said.
"I am not sending you out alone. Are you sure these friends of yours are gonna show up?"
"They'll be there." He stepped past him and began to leave the house.
"You're welcome to stay and try to clear this thing up."
Joe thought back to what Emily had told him. She was right. It was too dangerous for them. "I've got no reason to stay anymore."
Hiram's wife looked at him. "Be careful."
Hiram placed his hand on her stomach. "Bye, Gene."
"His name is Jonathan."
Hiram smiled up at Joe. "We're still deciding." He kissed his wife on the cheek. "Come on, let's go."
"Thank you," Joe said to his wife.
"Grandpa helped him escape," Clark told his parents.
Jonathon stood up and looked at him. "Now, look, I-I'd like to believe you, Clark but—"
"He wanted to name you Gene."
"…After Gene Autry. We had all of his old records, but…Mom finally won out."
"Hiram was a pretty good judge of character, Jonathan," Martha said to her husband. "I don't think he would've helped a guilty man."
"Well, I don't think that an old bomber jacket's gonna prove anything."
Clark smiled knowingly. "I'm not too sure about that."
Using the jacket, the medallion, and some hair gel, Clark dressed up as the drifter and paid a visit to Mayor Tate. The mayor was so freaked out by the sight of a supposed dead man that he confessed to conspiring to kill the drifter.
Now that justice was served, Clark and Jonathon headed down to the caves again.
"What is it, Clark?" Jonathon asked. "What are we doing here?"
Clark looked at the medallion in his hand. "I'm not sure."
He touched the symbol on the wall and was met with another flash.
Joe and Hiram were in the caves as Joe looked at his medallion.
"What are you doing with that thing?" Hiram asked.
Joe turned to face him. "I was supposed to return it to my father, but there's too many bad memories attached. Thank you, Hiram." He shook the older man's hand.
"I can usually tell an honest man when I see one. I'm sorry you ran into trouble here. There's plenty of good folks in Smallville."
"I'll remember that. Congratulations on the baby. He's lucky to have you as parents."
"If there's anything you ever need, you know where to find me."
"Just…if you ever see Emily, tell her I love her. And that I'm sorry."
Hiram nodded. "Will do."
He left the caves and Joe turned back to the cave wall. He held up an octagonal disc towards the cave. The symbol on his medallion appeared and opened up to show a hole. Joe stuck the medallion inside the hole.
"I love you, Emily…"
"Clark, what did you see?" Jonathon asked.
"He buried this here because he didn't want his father to have it. It acts as some sort of journal. I think Jor-El was sent here as some kind of rite of passage. Grandpa Kent was down here too. He told Joe that if there was anything he needed…"
Jonathon took a step towards him. "What is it, Clark?"
"I don't think you and Mom found me by accident. I think you were chosen."
"Hi, Emmeline," Hannah greeted as the girl sat across from her at the Talon. "How are you doing?"
"Uh, I wanted to ask you something."
"Okay, what is it?"
"Can you tell me about my grandmother?"
Hannah paused for a while before giving her daughter a sad smile. "She was a free spirit, that's for sure. She grew up here, but she always wanted to get out of Smallville. When you were born, we all decided to leave the city. It was too painful for us. She died a few years later."
"Were there any…interesting stories about her?"
Hannah smiled fondly. "You know, there was one that she told me. She loved your grandfather, but he wasn't her first love. When she was young, a drifter by the name of Joe came through Smallville…"
