This was a very difficult chapter to write. Not only is it heart-wrenching, but everyone in the episode made me so frustrated.
I had to take a break in between writing this because I was getting too invested.
Emmeline smiled broadly as she watched Chloe and Lois onstage in the Talon singing "I Love Rock and Roll" at the Talon's Karaoke Night.
She personally wouldn't get up there if her life depended on it, but it was fun watching everyone else.
The two girls really got into the song, so much so, that Lois hopped down from the stage and sang flirtatiously to one of the guys sitting at the tables.
Emmeline recognized him as Tim Westcott. He wrote articles for the Torch every now and again.
And he looked extremely uncomfortable with Lois's advances.
The door opened and a couple walked in. And as soon as they did, almost all chatter in the Talon stopped at once.
Karaoke music continued in the background, oblivious to the intense awkwardness that filled the room.
Clark had walked in with Alicia.
"First he married the girl, now he's dating her?" Lois said sarcastically.
Emmeline closed her eyes and sighed.
She just had to say that into the microphone…
Alicia looked down in embarrassment as Clark looked over at her apologetically.
Chloe glared at her cousin. "That was subtle, Lois."
"Right," Lois grimaced.
"It was good."
An even more awkward silence stretched throughout the Talon at Lois's remark. Emmeline could feel the secondhand embarrassment radiating off Lois, Clark, Chloe, and Alicia. She suddenly wished she was anywhere else.
Lana gave a hard look to her boyfriend. "I think I've seen enough for one night."
She quickly got up and started to head up towards her apartment.
"Lana, wait," Alicia called.
Lana turned to face her with a very harsh glare.
"I just want to apologize."
"For what? Trying to kill me or not succeeding?"
"Look, all I want is a chance to prove to you who I really am."
"You already have."
Lana angrily went up the stairs to her apartment.
Clark came up next to Alicia, but Jason stood up defensively. "I can't believe you brought her here."
"Jason, listen—" Clark started.
"Listen to what? Another apology?"
Alicia sadly turned and walked out of the Talon, unwilling to listen to his hurtful remarks any longer.
"You think just 'cause she says she's better that everything's gonna be okay? Come on, man."
Emmeline angrily pursed her lips at Lana and Jason's words. She knew they both had a right to be angry at Alicia, but something about what they said and the way they said it boiled her insides.
She got up from her seat and followed Lana up to her apartment. For courtesy's sake, she knocked on the door before getting permission to enter.
Lana frowned when she saw who entered. "If you seriously think I'm going to go back down there and apologize for what just happened, you are so mistaken."
"I wasn't going to say that," Emmeline said quietly. "But I think the whole thing was a little uncalled for."
"Excuse me?! She tried to kill me!"
Emmeline glared at her a little. "Let's not forget she tried to kill me too! And I'm not exactly ready to forgive her either for everything she's done, but neither of us are going to get to that point if we don't give her a chance!"
Lana slowly walked up to her. "That freak doesn't deserve a chance."
Emmeline laughed quietly in disbelief.
Lana walked further into her apartment, leaving the iciness between them hanging in the air.
Emmeline returned downstairs, sure her blood pressure had just raised a few numbers.
Clark was at the counter getting some drinks while Alicia sat at one of the tables, looking like she wanted the earth to swallow her up.
"Hey, Alicia!" she called as she went over to the girl.
Alicia gave her an embarrassed smile as she sat down next to her. "Hi, Emmeline. Um…I know words aren't really going to be enough, but…I wanted to let you know how sorry I am about what happened the last time you saw me."
Emmeline nodded. "You're right. Words aren't enough."
Alicia put her head down in shame.
"That's why…I want to let you show me that you've changed."
Her eyes lit up for the first time all night. "Really?"
"It may take a while, but I'm willing to give you a chance. Don't waste it."
"I won't."
"How about we get some coffee tomorrow, and we just talk?"
"I'd like that."
"Great. I'll see you then."
"Emmeline? Thank you."
Later that night, Emmeline rushed to the hospital when she received the news that Lana had been attacked in her apartment by an unknown assailant.
She ended up getting there at the same time as Clark.
"How's Lana?" he asked Chloe and Lois who were waiting outside Lana's room. "Is she okay?"
"Hey, Clark," Chloe answered quickly. "Yeah, she's-she's fine. I mean, lucky for her, Jason pulled a T.J. Hooker and broke the bathroom door down."
"Only to discover Lana's mystery assailant had somehow flown the coop," Lois told him. "So, have they arrested your arm ornament yet?"
Emmeline glared at Lois for the thoughtless remark.
"What?" Clark asked in confusion.
"Sheriff Adams was just here, and she spent a lot of time focusing on the 'attacked inside a locked room' scenario," Chloe explained.
"And the name Alicia Baker came up more than once in a bunny-boiler kind of way," Lois added.
Clark looked at them sharply. "Alicia didn't do this. Ever since she was released from Belle Reve, she's been wearing her lead bracelet. It prevents her from using her abilities."
"And did she also happen to be wearing anything low-cut when she spun you that tale, 'cause I'm not sure you're thinking with your big brain here."
"Clark, just because Alicia says that the bracelet keeps her from teleporting doesn't mean that it's the truth," Chloe said.
"It could be the truth," Emmeline put in. "Not everything that comes out of that girl's mouth is a lie."
"Why are you even defending her?" Lois asked.
"I'm just looking at things from both sides."
"Look, she was with me when Lana got attacked," Clark told them. "I was saying good night in Granville."
"Yeah, but every second?" Chloe said disbelievingly. "You have to admit that she can transport easier than Captain Kirk."
Lois crossed her arms. "And she did try to carve herself a Jack-O-Lana before, cut-and-dry. Emphasis on the 'cut'."
"I'm telling you Alicia couldn't have done this," Clark said firmly. "I know her."
"Besides, she just got out of Belle Reve," Emmeline added. "And from what I know, that isn't a great place. Why would she do something that would put her right back in it? Is it so hard to believe that she might have changed?"
Chloe and Lois shared disbelieving looks.
Clark went over to the door to Lana's room.
Jason quickly stepped out and looked at him angrily. "Clark. Lana doesn't want to see you."
Emmeline glared up at him. "Mature."
Jason looked at her with a mixture of confusion, surprise, and annoyance.
Emmeline stormed away from the hospital.
Emmeline, Lois, and Chloe were inside the Torch office just finishing up and heading to class.
"Ever thought about getting out more?" Lois asked her cousin.
Chloe scoffed. "This coming from the hotshot college student who ran away from college this weekend."
"It's Greek Week."
"So?"
"So, they're wearing their letters on their shirts, they sing group songs, the fraternities are having a power puking contest."
"Oh, okay, enough said. I don't understand why you came out to Smallville though."
"Well, believe it or not, I like spending time with you, little cousin. Although that doesn't mean I'm ready to buy into your 'meteors-make-freaks' theory."
"Wait until you get attacked by one. It makes you change your opinion pretty quickly," Emmeline smiled.
Chloe opened up her locker. "It's not just a theory, Lois. Alicia Baker tried to kill my best friend twice, and it was because of her meteor-induced abilities that she was able to do that."
"And apparently, I am the only one who is willing to give her the benefit of the doubt."
"Yeah, and I still don't get that. She almost killed you. You should be against her more than any of us."
"Well, I'm not. We don't even have any proof that Alicia was the one who attacked Lana."
"Well, did you know that Lana's bathroom door was locked? Who else could've gotten in? Or out for that matter?"
"That's what I want to know," Clark said as he joined in on their conversation. "Chloe, we need to find out if there's anybody else in Smallville who has abilities similar to Alicia's."
"Clark, I'm sorry, but even if there was someone else like Alicia, what would they have against Lana?"
Tim walked up behind them with a folder in his hand. "Hey, I finished that op-ed piece, Chloe."
"Great."
Tim looked over at Lois. "Hey, Lois."
"Hey," Lois said quietly.
"I had a feeling I'd-I'd bump into you here. Um, I was wondering if, uh, you'd-you'd like to maybe have a cup of coffee or something with me, maybe."
"Coffee?"
Chloe smiled broadly. "You know, Lois was just saying she needs to get out more."
"I-I…look…
"Excellent," Tim finished for her. "It's a date."
Chloe smiled again and took the folder from him. Opening it, she took a look at the article. "'Smallville's Glory Days'. Sounds interesting."
Tim smiled at Lois. "I think it is, and I'll tell you about it over coffee."
Chloe handed the folder to Emmeline. "And I will hand this to you for you to proofread."
"Great," Emmeline smiled.
Clark quickly stopped Tim as he walked away. "Hey, Tim. Um, you were at the Talon last night. Did you see anything suspicious?"
"Um, no, nothing out of the ordinary. But your mother, she was there. She was cleaning up, and the blond girl that you were with was in the alley. Maybe they saw something."
Emmeline sighed and walked up to Clark. "Hey. You know that I'm an extremely good judge of character. And when I spoke to Alicia last night, she genuinely looked like she wanted to be a better person. So, I guess what I'm saying is…I believe you. I don't think she did it."
Clark smiled sadly. "Thanks, Em."
Emmeline nervously entered the Talon looking for Alicia.
Her heart panged a little when she saw her sitting at a table alone with no one in the vicinity. Everyone in the Talon had gone out of their way to make sure they weren't near her.
Emmeline quickly got a vanilla bean frappucino and made her way over to the table.
"Hi," she said quietly.
Alicia smiled. "Hey. So…I know this is really awkward. I don't even really know where to begin."
"Well, what happened between us, Belle Reve, and your powers are subjects that are off the table."
"Okay."
Emmeline looked around and saw everyone staring at them. They weren't going to get any good conversations going with the place treating them like a virus. "You know what? Let's get out of here and just walk down the sidewalk."
"Thank you."
Things did not get any better for Alicia when Jason was attacked inside his locked car that night. What made it worse was that he was attacked with Alicia's green scarf.
Emmeline exited the Talon after grabbing a drink when Lana decided to confront her.
"So how do you feel now?" she asked.
Emmeline turned to face her. "You give me one good reason Alicia would have for attacking Jason, and we'll talk."
Lana opened her mouth to retort but found that she couldn't answer.
"Think about it, Lana. The only reason Alicia went after either of us was because she believed that we were a threat to her relationship with Clark. Now, Jason is keeping you away from Clark. So if anything, he is helping her. What reason would she have to attack him?"
"I don't know! But that doesn't change the fact that he was attacked in a locked car with her green scarf."
"That's another thing! What idiot would attack someone and leave behind a piece of evidence that incriminating? I'm telling you, none of this makes any sense!"
"Why are you defending her?!"
"It's Smallville! It's not hard to believe that there's someone else who may have a similar ability that allows them to get in and out of locked places."
"Oh, so someone else in Smallville just happens to have the ability to teleport?!"
"I didn't say that, I said something similar."
"I can't believe you're even taking her side!"
"I'm just giving her a chance to see if she's changed. And I think she has! Why can't you give her a chance too?"
"If Greg Arkin walked in here right now and told you that he changed, would you give him a chance?"
Emmeline glared at her. "That is not fair."
"Why not?"
"Because what happened with Greg traumatized me! To the point where I had a panic attack almost every time I thought about it which was nearly every waking moment! And you know what? It would be hard, and it would take a while, but I would want to give him a chance!"
"Why?!"
"Why is it so hard for you to believe that maybe Alicia didn't do this?"
"Why is it so hard for you to believe that maybe she did?!"
"Because she didn't!"
"And how do you know that?!"
"I just…know!"
Lana glared fiercely at her. "Well, that's not good enough."
Emmeline sighed heavily. "You know what? Forget it. I don't know why I thought I could make you change your mind."
She turned around and headed down the sidewalk, leaving Lana alone stewing in anger.
That night, Lois hurriedly ran into the Torch office.
"Where's Chloe or Clark?" she asked.
"Uh, I don't know. Chloe was here an hour ago, but I haven't seen her since then. Maybe she's at the Talon. I haven't seen Clark all day. Why?"
"You may have been right."
Lois quickly left the office to go to the Talon.
"Wait, what?" Emmeline called as she ran after her. "Right about what?"
The two of them quickly headed to the Talon and saw Chloe sitting at the counter.
"Chloe, have you seen Clark?" Lois asked quickly.
"What?" Chloe said startled. "Have I seen Clark do what? What—Uh, oh, yeah, I've seen him."
"Where?"
"Why? Did something happen?"
"Bad date. I'm starting to think maybe Alicia isn't our resident psycho killer."
"What?" Emmeline asked in surprise. "How did you come to that conclusion?"
"It doesn't matter. I need to find Clark."
"He's probably zipping around looking for Alicia," Chloe said more to herself than to them.
"Are you all right?"
"Fine! Yeah, fine! Uh…he's probably out at Alicia's house."
"I'll swing by, see if he's there. Can you give me a call if he shows up here?"
"Okay."
"Okay."
"I'll come with you," Emmeline said.
"Fine."
Emmeline and Lois raced down to Alicia's house.
Nothing could prepare them for what they found.
They both could hear Clark screaming in agony as they pulled up. Alarmed, they ran out of the car and towards Alicia's barn.
"Clark!" Lois called.
Emmeline put her hand to her mouth at the sight that greeted them.
Clark held Alicia in his arms. There was a noose around her neck.
She had been killed.
"Clark, what happened?" Lois whispered.
Clark didn't answer her as he tearfully looked at Alicia's lifeless body.
"I think I know who did this. And where we can find him."
Clark's eyes hardened, and if Emmeline had been able to see his face, the look would've haunted her.
When Clark realized Tim Westcott was the real killer and he was at the Smallville Museum, he raced there before Lois and Emmeline had a chance to even process what happened.
Lois quickly drove the two of them to the museum before Clark did something he regretted.
Lois started to get out of the car, but Emmeline stopped her.
"Lois, let me handle this."
"What? Why?"
"Just trust me. It has to be me."
Lois paused before nodding. "Alright."
Emmeline quickly got out of the car and ran inside the museum. She saw Tim pressed up against a support beam and Clark's hand pressed to his throat effectively choking him. For reasons she didn't understand, Tim's face was red with burns.
"Clark, stop!" she cried as she ran up to him. "You can't do this!"
"You killed her," he growled at Tim.
"Clark, look at me. Alicia would not want you to do this. I promise you that he will face justice for what he has done."
Clark didn't look at her but kept his fury-filled eyes on Alicia's killer.
"Clark…I know you. You don't want to do this."
He wanted nothing more than to kill Tim, but Emmeline was right. He couldn't do it. He didn't want the blood of another human life on his hands.
Slowly, he took his hands away from Tim's neck and let him drop to the floor.
"Come here."
Emmeline hugged him tightly. After all the times he had given her a shoulder to cry on, it was her turn to do the same for him.
Emmeline knocked on the door to the Kent home.
"Hi, Emmeline," Martha greeted with a sad smile.
"I, um, I came to see Clark. Is he around?"
"Um, as much as I'm sure he'd appreciate you being here, he doesn't really want to see anyone right now."
"I know. And that's usually the times we need to see someone the most."
Martha sighed. "He's up in the loft."
"Thank you."
Emmeline once again headed up to the loft, mentally preparing herself for what was sure to be a sad conversation.
Her heart broke when she saw Clark sitting against the couch, aimlessly looking at the opposite wall of the loft.
"Hey," she said quietly. "I know you're probably not up for company, but as your best friend, I couldn't just sit in my house knowing that you're up here alone and heartbroken."
Clark didn't look at her. "She died believing I thought she was guilty."
"No, Clark, she knew how much you cared about her."
"I should've trusted her. Even you…after what she did to you…you still didn't think she did it."
Emmeline sighed. She didn't what she could say to that.
"She was the only one who really understood me."
"There's someone out there for you."
"I loved her. And now she's gone."
Clark put his hands to his face.
Emmeline rushed over to him and put her arms around him. "It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay."
She said that to him and over and over again as she rubbed her hands up and down his arms. She knew very well that it really wasn't okay, but maybe if she said it enough times, he would start to believe it.
Emmeline opened the folder with the article Tim had written that she was supposed to proofread for the next issue.
Anger filled her as tears stung her eyes.
She angrily picked up a pair of scissors and cut up the laminated article into tiny pieces and threw them all in the trash can. She put her hand to her face and took a pained deep breath.
At the sound of footsteps, she turned to see that Lana had walked into the office.
She turned back around. "You got your wish. You're never going to see Alicia again."
"I didn't want her to die, Em," Lana said quietly, surprised at her friend's harsh words.
Emmeline didn't respond.
"I was wrong about Alicia, okay? But…you have to admit that my paranoia about her was a little warranted."
Emmeline finally turned to face her. "Maybe if you'd taken the time to talk to her, you'd see that she was different. I got coffee with her, and it was that conversation that let me see that she wanted to change. She wanted to fix people's opinions of her."
Lana sighed heavily.
"Lana, you are one of my best friends. But sometimes when your mind is set, you refuse to look at things from another point of view. Sometimes, that can be a good thing. But it might end up costing you a friendship."
"Em…"
"Have you even apologized to Clark yet?"
Lana sighed again. These kinds of conversations with Emmeline always made her feel like everything she did was wrong. She didn't know what she hated more: the conversations or the fact that Emmeline was usually right.
"Emmeline, you have to understand…I don't see the world the way you do."
"I know. But you could at least try."
Lana sadly left the Torch office.
Emmeline released a large breath.
Then she sat down at her desk, put her hands over her face, and cried.
