"Thanks for the ride," Emmeline said as Clark gave her a ride home in his truck. "I'm sorry I had to pull you away from Lana. I'm sure it was very difficult for you."

Clark gave her a playful glare. "It's fine."

"It's just that Chloe was supposed to pick me up, but she got sidetracked bailing her cousin out of some kind of problem yet again. I'd call Dad, but he's with Mom at the hospital."

"Em, I'm serious, it's perfectly fine. I don't mind giving you a ride."

Emmeline looked ahead of her. "Clark, look out!"

A strange white glow flooded the road. Clark slammed on his brakes before the truck ran into the glow. He threw his arm across the passenger seat to protect Emmeline from the sudden propulsion.

"Are you okay?" Clark asked once the truck has stopped.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Emmeline answered. "What the heck was that?"

"I don't know. I think it came from Evan's field. Stay here, I'm gonna go look."

"Yeah, right. You are not leaving me by myself."

The two of them got out of the truck and went over to the field. There was a huge smoking crater which explained the weird glow in a sense but not why it happened.

"What could've caused this?" Emmeline asked more to herself. "Maybe another meteor?"

"I'm not sure."

The sound of crying suddenly sounded from inside the crater.

"Do you hear that?"

Emmeline tried to look past the smoke. Her stomach flipped when she realized what the cry was coming from.

"Clark, it's a baby!"

She went down into the crater as she quickly whipped off her jacket, ignoring the biting cold of the night. She gently wrapped the baby up in the warm fabric and held it in her arms.

"Who would leave their child out in a cold night like this?" she muttered. "He looks like nothing more than a newborn."

Clark looked at the baby in her arms. If he had been found in crater…it was quite possible that baby wasn't human.


Emmeline and Clark took the baby to the hospital where they met up with his parents. Sheriff Adams started an investigation to figure out who the baby's parents were and why he had been inside a crater.

Meanwhile, Emmeline sat on one of the hospital room beds with the baby in her arms, gently rocking him and lightly bouncing him up and down with Martha standing next to her. Ever since they had arrived at the hospital, he hadn't stopped crying once.

"Shh, it's okay," she said softly. "It's okay. Shh, shh."

Jonathon and Clark entered the room after speaking with the sheriff. Clark couldn't help but smile a little when he saw how Emmeline interacted with the crying infant. It was pretty cute.

"Hi," Jonathon greeted.

"Hi," Martha smiled. It didn't take much to see she adored the baby already.

Emmeline looked up at them. "He hasn't stopped crying at all. I don't know what else I can do."

"Is he okay?" Clark asked.

"If you can believe it, all this crying is a good sign," Martha told him. "The doctor said he's perfectly healthy."

"Maybe he's just hungry," Emmeline said. "I'll see if we can get some formula for him. Here, Clark, can you hold him?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Don't worry, he won't bite."

"Uh, Em, I don't really—"

Clark nervously took the baby from Emmeline's arms. Almost immediately, he stopped crying.

"Why am I not surprised?" Emmeline smiled. "Even babies love you. Maybe he doesn't need the formula after all."

Clark smiled down at the baby in his arms. He was absolutely adorable. "When does Child Services come and take him?"

"They're not," Martha replied. "They don't have room for him yet, so he's going to stay in the hospital until they do."

"He can't stay in the hospital. I mean, he…maybe he can come stay with us. Until they find room for him."

Emmeline smiled fondly. Clark always took in every stray he found. She wouldn't be surprised if he decided to adopt children in the future.

"Um, I'm gonna go visit my mom while I'm here. You'll be okay with the baby?"

Martha smiled at her. "We'll be fine. Go on ahead."

"Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow, Clark."

"Tell your mom I said hi."

Emmeline laughed to herself. Her matchmaking mother would eat that up.


"I found an arrowhead in Evans Field once, but never a baby in a crater," Chloe said in the Torch office as she poured coffee for herself, Lana, and Emmeline.

"No one has any explanation for it," Emmeline told her. "But then there's not an explanation for three-fourths of the things that happen in this town. You should see Clark holding him. It is one of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life."

"Of course he would be good with children. Clark is the true Renaissance man."

Clark quickly entered the Torch office. "Hey, sorry I'm late. I was up all night with the crying machine. Every time I put him down, he starts up again."

Emmeline laughed. "He just loves you so much. I'll come over and help you out with him tonight."

"Well, that would be great. Could you pick up some formula on the way?"

"Sure thing. Anything else you need? Blankets? Diapers?"

Clark released a short breath. "The diapers, pretty good."

Though neither Chloe nor Lana would ever admit it, both of them looked at their interaction with a sense of wishfulness, desiring that they could be the ones discussing baby plans with Clark.

"Okay," Chloe interrupted. "Before you guys start picking out schools for the little tyke, you might want to hear this." She took a seat at her computer. "I had my contact at emergency services run a check of all the 911 calls made around the time that you found the baby. This one kind of stuck out."

She pushed a button and played the recording.

"What's the matter with you people?" a man screamed. "This is an emergency!"

"It's too late!" a woman cried out in agony. "It's too late! It's coming! It's coming!" The woman began screaming in pain.

"She sounds so scared," Lana said quietly.

"No! No, don't leave me, please!"

"Wait, did he—did he just leave her there?"

"If he did, he might still be alive," Clark put in.

"From the sounds of this, the mother wasn't as lucky," Chloe said sadly.

Lana's eyes saddened. "She didn't even get to see her own baby."

"But the baby survived. How is that possible?"

"Can you trace this call back to the cell phone?" Clark asked.

"I can try."

"If this is the father, he might have some answers for us."


Emmeline walked up to the front door of the Kent farm but paused for a moment when she saw how Clark was handling the poor crying baby.

Clark gently put a warm bottle to his lips. "Here, try this, try this, try this. Try this. Huh? Yeah?"

The baby stopped crying and began drinking from the bottle.

"There you go. There you go."

Emmeline walked inside with a broad smile. "I had no idea you were so good with children."

"Hey, Em," Clark smiled.

"Clark, I could easily get Chelsea to cover for me at the Talon," Martha told her son. "You don't have to stay home."

"That's okay. I want to stay with him. And Em is here to help."

"Okay."

"It kind of changes your perspective when you have someone who depends on you for everything."

"Yeah."

Clark suddenly paused and grimaced. "And I mean everything. Could you hand me a diaper?"

"Oh, sure. Here you go."

Clark put the baby down on the counter and took the diaper Martha was holding out for him.

"Well, listen, you have my number at the Talon and your dad's out in the barn if you need him."

"Okay."

"All right? Have fun."

"Yeah."

Martha left, and Clark began to undo the diaper.

He and Emmeline grimaced when they saw the mess.

"Okay," Clark muttered as he started changing the diaper.

Emmeline couldn't help but laugh at the very uncomfortable look on his face. "I suddenly feel sorry for everything I put my parents through at this age."

"You were adopted as a baby?"

"Yeah. You weren't?"

"No, not until I was three. But they certainly still had a lot of problems of their own to deal with at that age."

"Do you remember your time in the orphanage at all?"

"Not exactly."

"It's probably better that way."

Clark smiled. "You know, this baby stuff is easier than people say. I think I pretty much got it under control."

Before he could even finish the sentence, the baby peed on the counter in one large and high stream.

Emmeline laughed again. "Are you sure?"

"Nice aim, little guy," Clark muttered.

"We should give him a name. He deserves one."

"Well, um, we found him in Evans Field. Why don't we call him Evan?"

Emmeline smiled as Clark picked up the baby. "It's perfect. I think it suits him." She gently played with his tiny hands. He happily smiled up at her. "He's so cute."

Clark's smile faded a little. "You know, Em, maybe we should take a step back."

"What do you mean?"

He went to the living room and put Evan in the crib. "Well, maybe we shouldn't get so attached."

Emmeline sighed. "I know. It's just…taking care of him…takes my mind off what's happening with Mom."

Clark looked at her sadly.

"I know he can't stay with us forever, but what if he doesn't up with a good family? His own father left him out there in the cold."

"Em, we don't know what happened. He could've gone for help. He could be looking for Evan right now."

"You're right. But we have to face the possibility that he isn't. Clark, you and I got adopted by amazing families. We couldn't ask for anyone better. What if that doesn't happen to him? What if they're mean to him? I could never live with myself."

Clark nodded his head. "I couldn't either. We'll try to talk to his father first, and then we'll go from there. I promise, we'll look out for him."

The lights began to flicker above them. Suddenly, to their astonishment, Evan's crib began to glow. The white glow got brighter and brighter until Emmeline had to shield her eyes.

When the glow finally faded, Clark and Emmeline's eyes widened.

Jonathon ran inside the house. "Clark, what—"

He stopped when he saw what they were looking at.

Evan had aged into a seven-year-old boy.


The next day, Emmeline headed up the loft where Evan sat surrounded by books while Clark discussed what to do with his parents back inside the house.

"'You must be very kind to him, to teach him all he needs to know in Rabbit Land, for he is going to live with us forever and ever'," Evan read from The Velveteen Rabbit.

Emmeline smiled a little. "When did you learn how to read?"

"I've been reading all night," Evan smiled. "I've read all of Clark's books, but this is my favorite. I also like the encyclopedia."

"You…you read the encyclopedia?"

"Yeah, but I stopped on 'W'. Windmills. Did you know they were invented in Persia?"

Emmeline raised her eyebrows in equal amazement and disbelief. "Uh, no, I did not. That's really interesting. I'm impressed you read so much in the span of a few hours."

"Is that bad?"

"No! No, it's amazing. It makes you very unique. And you know what? The great thing about reading is that there's always more for you to read. You could spend a whole lifetime reading books, and you wouldn't even make a dent in the amount of books available to you."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. And a lot of the things you read about, you can see for yourself one day. There are so many places you can visit and things that you can see."

"Even a real windmill?"

"Yes. You know, there's one right here in Smallville that you can actually climb right up to the top. See? You're already close to seeing one thing you've read about. I'm a little afraid of heights so I've never been able to get up to the top myself. But I have a feeling you're a lot braver than I am."

"Can we go? Right now?"

Clark came up the stairs to the loft. "Where are you going?"

Evan excitedly hopped off the couch and jumped up into Clark's arms. "Dad! Mom's taking me to see a real windmill!"

Emmeline looked down at the floor in slight embarrassment at being called the 'Mom' to Clark's 'Dad'.

Clark gently put Evan down on the table in front of the couch. "Um, Evan, listen. We're not your real parents."

Evan looked at him in confusion. "Everyone's supposed to have a mother and father, and they're supposed to love each other very much, just like you and Emmeline."

Emmeline's eyes widened for a second as she nervously cleared her throat. She felt even more embarrassed than before. She and Clark definitely didn't love each other. Currently, they didn't have any feelings further than friendship. She wondered why it seemed to Evan like they did.

She was painfully aware of how difficult this conversation was. Hearing these exact words from her own mother and father had been awful. It was a very bleak moment to know that her own parents had not wanted her. Since it had been a closed adoption, they did not know anything about her birth parents at all.

"You know, Evan, Clark and I? We don't know our real parents either. Both of us were raised by couples who couldn't have children of their own so they raised us. And they love us just as much as if we were their real children."

"If you're not my mom and dad, where are they?"

"We don't know. But we hope to somehow find out. And if we don't, we're going to make sure that you are raised by another family just as wonderful as ours. We'll look after you, okay?"

Clark sighed before smiling a little. "You want to go for a ride in the truck?"

Evan's face lit up. "Are we going to the windmill?"

"Uh, we will. But first, I want to take you to meet a friend of mine."

Clark and Emmeline took Evan to Lex's plant where they hoped Clark's friend could figure out what was happening with Evan.

The poor boy was taken away from them and placed on a table in a lab. One of the lab technicians put electrodes on his body to measure his heartbeat and EKG. Emmeline winced as he put a large needle into his arm and injected some kind of liquid.

"I hope we've done the right thing," Clark said as he and Emmeline watched from the other side of the glass.

The two of them waved to him when he looked over at them and smiled a little.

"I wish I could be in there with him," Emmeline told him. "I would never want to be alone in there with all that strange medical equipment. He would feel a lot better if he just had someone in there to hold his hand."

"I just hope it'll be over soon. Lex has his top scientists trying to figure out what's happening."

Lex started walking down the stairs to join them. "And they've already come up with some intriguing discoveries."

"Like what?" Emmeline asked.

"Tell us what's happening," Clark added.

"Well, the results are only preliminary, but the data indicates that Evan's body is storing energy like a battery charging," Lex explained.

"What do you mean?" Emmeline pressed.

"The theory we're working on is that once enough energy is stored, it's expended to fuel a burst of rapid cell division."

"That's how he was able to go from a baby to a seven-year-old in one day," Clark put together.

Emmeline's brow furrowed in concern. "Is there a way to fix this?"

"My team believes a bone marrow transplant might slow the growth and bring his metabolism back to normal," Lex told her.

"Does it have to be a specific bone marrow?"

"Unfortunately, yes. His genetic makeup is highly unusual. For this to work, we'll need an exact match with a living donor, which means a biological parent."

"Well, we think his mother died when he was born," Clark said. "We're still trying to find his father."

Emmeline took a small breath. "How soon does he need this transplant?"

Before Lex could answer, the lights began to flicker again just like they had last night.

Emmeline looked over at Clark. "It's happening again."

Suddenly, a blast from the laboratory burst the glass and sent the lab technician flying into the wall. Clark quickly blocked Emmeline with his body in an attempt to protect her from any flying shards of glass.

The three of them raced back into the room to find that Evan had once again aged. He was now a teenager.

"Unbelievable," Lex murmured.

Evan looked at his hands in fear. "What's wrong with me?"

Emmeline gently touched his arm. "It's okay."

"Prep the Level 3 facility," Lex ordered. "I want him transferred immediately."

"No," Clark said firmly. "You're not taking him anywhere." He took off his jacket and put it around Evan's shoulders.

"Clark, we need to isolate him while we run more tests."

Evan looked at Emmeline fearfully. "I just want to go home."

"I know," she answered gently. "It's okay."

"We understand you're trying to help, and we appreciate it," Clark told his friend. "He's been through enough. We're taking him home."

Clark and Emmeline helped the boy off the table and they all anxiously left the lab.


Back in the loft, Clark leant Evan some new clothes for him to wear since his old ones no longer were appropriate for his age.

Evan looked up at the two of them with tears in his eyes. "I'm dying, aren't I?"

Neither Clark nor Emmeline could think of a way to answer him.

"I read the average life span of a man is 74 years. I've aged from a newborn to a teenager in 48 hours. Do the math."

"Evan, we're not gonna give up," Clark said firmly. "Lex has got his team working on a cure right now."

"He's right," Emmeline added with a small smile. "We just need to find your father."

Evan quickly stood up. "Do you really think they're gonna find a cure for me overnight?" He sadly turned away from them. "It's like my life was just some sort of trick that was played on me. All that stuff I read in the books that I thought I was gonna see…I'm not. Am I?"

"Evan, there's always hope. No matter how bleak things might seem at the time, they can always get better. Hope is what keeps you going. It helps you stay strong."

"There's no hope left for me."

"Don't talk like that, all right?" Clark said gently. "We just have to keep trying."

"It's not fair."

Emmeline went to touch his shoulder. "Evan…"

"This whole thing…it's just not fair!"

The boy ran down the steps and out of the loft in frustration.

Emmeline sighed. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Would you go see if he's okay?" Clark told her. "I need to find his father."

"Okay. I'm sure Chloe will be able to help."

"That's where I'm headed."

While Clark went to talk to Chloe, Emmeline ran after Evan. She found him sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Evan, are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"I'm dying. How would you feel?"

"Like how I felt when I was told my mother is dying."

Evan looked up at her in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

Emmeline came around to sit next to him. "My mom was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. We thought she had healed, but it came back. Several months ago, I was told she only had a little less than a year to live."

The young boy looked away from her. "How…how did you manage?"

"It was very difficult. But you know what? I didn't waste any time mourning over something I couldn't change. Instead, you know what I did?"

Evan turned his head to look back at her. "What?"

Emmeline gently put her hand to the side of his head. "I made every moment count."


Later that day, Emmeline and Evan entered the loft, catching the tail end of Clark's conversation with Jonathon.

"Thanks, Dad, but I think I should tell him."

"Tell him what?" Evan asked, putting together they were talking about him. "Did you find my father?"

Clark and Jonathon awkwardly looked at each other. Emmeline knew that couldn't be a good sign.

"He works downtown," Clark finally said. "At Massey's Auto Garage. His name's Tanner Sutherland."

"When can I see him?"

Jonathon took a small step forward. "Look, Evan, um, sometimes, when you meet your biological father, it can be painful."

"Why? I don't understand."

"Evan, last year, my biological mother came back into my life," Emmeline told him. "It was really hard to see her because I had to face her knowing that she had given me up. And we didn't exactly get along for a while."

"What Em is trying to say is that biological parents don't always live up to your expectations," Clark added.

"But I want to see him," Evan insisted.

"And you will," Emmeline said. "But we need to prepare him for something really big like this. Two weeks ago, he didn't even know he was about to have a son."

"We don't have time!"

"Just calm down, okay?" Clark told him.

"Stop telling me what to do, Clark! You're not my father." Evan took off up the stairs to the loft.

"Evan!"

"Clark," Jonathon said gently, knowing the teenager needed some time alone.

The three of them looked up at the loft sadly, at a loss for what they could do for the boy they had just met.


Things got worse when Evan disappeared from the loft.

Clark went to Lex searching for the cure to Evan's condition while his parents went out to look for him. Emmeline remained at the farm in case he came back there.

She wished there was something more she could do. She felt awful that this young innocent boy was cursed to die after only three days just because two teenagers were looking for a good time at a silly party. It was ridiculous. And it was the exact same reason she had been given up for adoption at birth. After all these years, why hadn't anything changed?

The phone rang, and Emmeline quickly answered it, hoping that someone had found Evan.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Emmeline, it's Jonathon. Has Evan come back yet?"

"No. I take it then you haven't found him."

"No, but we'll keep looking."

"All right. Call if you find anything."

"We will."

Emmeline hung up the phone anxiously. She turned around and gasped heavily in surprise when none other than Evan stood before her.

Immediately, she knew something was wrong. His face was etched with fear and he was sweating and breathing heavily.

"Evan…what happened to you?" she asked cautiously. "Are you all right?"

"I don't know. I've done something bad."

"What are you talking about?"

He slowly turned away from her. "It was an accident. A mistake."

"Whatever it is, I can't help you unless I know what you did. It'll be okay. Just tell me what happened."

Evan groaned and leaned over in pain.

Emmeline quickly went over to him. "Hey, hey, it's okay. What's wrong?"

"It's happening again. I can feel it."

"Okay, I'm gonna call Clark and let him know what's going on, and we'll figure out how to help you, okay?"

She quickly ran over to the phone and attempted to dial Clark's number. Unfortunately, the phone was dead. She quickly pressed more buttons. Still nothing.

The lights started flickering above her.

"Oh, no…" she muttered.

"It's coming," Evan mustered out. "I can feel it."

Emmeline put her hand to her forehead. "Tell me what I can do for you."

Evan looked up at her after a small pause. "The windmill that you told me about, remember?"

"Yeah."

"I'd like to see it. Just once. Please, Emmeline, hurry."

Emmeline took a deep breath. Then she quickly grabbed his arm. "Okay, let's go."

She quickly drove him out to Chandler's Field where the windmill stood that she had mentioned to him when he was a child.

Her heart hurt as she listened to his pained cries next to her.

"Just hold on," she said softly.

She pulled up next to the field and stopped her car.

"There it is."

Evan's eyes widened a little as he looked up at the large windmill. "Wow…"

"Come on. You can climb it too."

"I thought you were afraid of heights."

"I am. But it won't be so scary if you're up there with me."

The two of them exited the car. Then Emmeline helped him climb up the long ladder all the way up to the top of the windmill and together, they stood on the wooden platform and looked out at the incredible skyline.

Evan let out a small breath in amazement. "The whole world is right there. It's beautiful."

"Very beautiful. I'm glad we were both able to see it. I don't think I ever would've gotten to see this if not for you."

"Thanks for bringing me here."

Evan groaned again and a strange white and green light began to emit from his body. The windmill platform rocked back and forth from the intense energy.

"Evan?!" Emmeline exclaimed.

Clark suddenly came up behind her. "Em, you have to go."

Emmeline looked back at Evan sadly. "But…"

"There's no time. You have to go now."

"Clark…" Evan groaned weakly.

"Go."

Emmeline gently touched Evan's arm and gave him a pained smile. Then she hurried down the ladder. Once on the ground, she ran as fast as she could away from the windmill.

Clark gently helped Evan lie down on the platform. "It's okay. I'm here."

"I'm sorry for what I said," Evan told him.

"It's okay, I know. It's all right."

"I'm glad it was you and Emmeline that found me."

"I think you found us."

Evan's pain intensified. "It's happening! I can feel it. You better go."

"No. Evan, I'm not leaving you."

"I wish you had been my father, Clark."

Clark's heart tore in half at the heartbroken words from the boy. "Evan. Evan."

Evan screamed in pain. Clark watched as his body morphed into a young man's then into an elderly man's in a matter of seconds.

In order to protect the city from the inevitable, Clark covered Evan's body with his own.

All of the energy from Evan's body expelled in one huge blast.

The force of it flung Emmeline forward, sending her landing on the grass in the field.

Once she got back up, she looked behind her at a huge cloud of smoke. Her eyes scanned the area looking for Clark and Evan.

Finally, Clark emerged from the smoke, his clothes singed and full of holes.

"What happened?" Emmeline asked softly.

"I got clear just before…"

"…Evan?"

Clark slowly shook his head. "He's gone."


Emmeline slowly ascended the steps to the loft. Her heart panged in her chest when she saw Clark packing away some of the toys Evan had played with as a child.

"It's hard to believe he's gone. It almost doesn't feel real."

"I know," Clark answered sadly without looking back at her.

"It's been so hard lately, dealing with everything with Mom. I thought that this was like some kind of sign to me. Like a whole 'one life ends, another begins' deal. But it wasn't like that at all. It was just another painful reminder that nobody lives forever."

"I guess we should make the most of the time we have before it's too late. No one knows that better than you. You've been doing that this whole year with your mom."

"It doesn't make it hurt any less."

"I know."

"I think it hurts so much because…he reminded me so much of Ryan."

Clark smiled fondly. "Yeah. I can see that."

Emmeline looked at The Velveteen Rabbit and gently picked it up. Admittedly, she had never read it prior to meeting Evan. "I found him reading this when he was a child. He said it was his favorite."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"It was my favorite book when I was a kid."

Emmeline smiled. "You guys were more alike than I thought."

"I, um, I used to pretend that I was the rabbit. I was just like him, and my parents had brought me to life with their love."

Emmeline sighed as she put down the book. "I know we're both thinking about it, so I'm just going to say it. What do you think Evan meant when…he said parents are supposed to love each other…like we do?"

Clark nervously cleared his throat. "Evan thought we were his parents at the time. He could see how close we are and naturally assumed we love each other as a mother and father would."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure that's it. After all, I could never compare to your undying love for Lana."

"Em…"

"Clark, it's fine. We're just friends, and we both know it. Extremely close friends, but just friends. I know how much you care about her and how much she cares about you, and I wouldn't want to get in the way of it."

"I do care a lot for her. But I can never really tell how she feels about me."

"She likes you way more than she lets on. The both of you just need to stop being so vague about your feelings and come out and say how you feel about each other."

"It's not that easy."

"Clark, if someone like me can confess to Pete how I felt about him, you and Lana can confess to each other."

"You still miss him, don't you?"

Emmeline nodded. "A lot."

Clark came up to her and hugged her. "I do too."

Emmeline felt tears come to her eyes as she thought about her lost first love, her dying mother, and the boy she had grown attached to who was no longer in the world.