Sometimes I get really excited to work on a chapter, and then when I sit down to write it, I soon realize that it turns out there's really no place for Emmeline to go...

I had so much fun writing this one regardless!


"Your wonderful best friend has arrived with lunch!" Emmeline announced with a smile as she approached Chloe's desk holding up some takeout from their favorite restaurant. Her smile faltered when she caught the look on Chloe's face. "What's wrong?"

"Uh, Clark was just here."

"Yeah, I thought I saw him on my way in. He looked pretty ticked."

"He read through my emails on my computer and blatantly accused me of sharing private information about him with Lionel Luthor."

Emmeline was silent for a few moments before she asked, "Did you?" When she saw that Chloe was about to protest, she quickly added, "I only ask that because it's happened before."

Chloe sighed, knowing she had a point. "No. I would never get into that web again. I mean, I'll admit that I've been in communication with Lionel, but it was just for work purposes. I never even mentioned Clark's name."

"So what would make him think you've betrayed him?"

"I don't know. My latest email isn't even from Lionel, it was from you. I'm gonna go to the Kent farm and see if I can talk a little sense into him. I know Clark has a temper when it comes to his personal secrets, but usually he's willing to hear me out after blowing off some steam."

"Well, at least eat the burger and fries first. No one can confront friends on an empty stomach."


Later that day while Emmeline sat in her living room doing some of her psychology homework and some prep work for her internship, furious knocking sounded on her door. She took her computer off her lap and went to look through the peephole.

When she saw it was Clark, she opened the door for him.

"Whoa," she said quietly. "You look terrible."

His entire face was extremely pale and he had dark shadows beneath his eyes. He was also covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

"What happened to you?" She placed a hand to his forehead. "Geez, you're on fire. You must be running a pretty high fever."

"I…I can't trust anyone," Clark said breathlessly as he frantically looked around her home.

"What are you talking about?"

"Chloe, my parents, they're all out to get me."

"I take it the talk didn't go so well. Look, Clark, Chloe would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. She cares about you way too much for that."

"No, she…she's talking with Lionel Luthor about me. They all are. How…how do I know that you aren't?"

"I'm not the kind of person who communicates with Lionel Luthor. People in positions of authority terrify me, and he's pretty high up. Clark, I seriously doubt there's anyone out there with a closer relationship than us…well, barring Lana, I guess. You can talk to me."

Before she could stop him, Clark hurried over to her open laptop and scanned the document she had been typing up.

"What is this?" he demanded.

"Well, in addition to working on my practice psych evaluation, I had to write a paper about my findings."

"No, no, this…this is about me."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is, right here…you're talking about how I deserve to be locked away and studied. Like some kind of lab animal."

"Clark, I would never do that. For one thing, you have no reason to be in a lab, and I'm against animal testing anyway. Why would I recommend a human be tested on?"

"Chloe told you, didn't she?"

Emmeline held her hands up cautiously. "I know what you're thinking, but no. I'm aware that there's some secret between you two, but she never told me, and I never pestered her about it. Whatever the secret is, it's not hers to tell and I want to hear it from you anyway."

"I knew I couldn't trust you."

"Clark, what else do you want me to say?"

Clark flipped the computer around so she could see the screen. It was on the part where she recommended that the imaginary patient she was studying be given further counseling and possibly some anti-depressants (which meant he/she would have to go to a psychiatrist following the evaluation). "Right here! It says you were never my friend, just some means to an end. And now that you've figured it out, I'm no use to you anymore."

"Figured what out? Do you honestly believe that I would say something like that?"

"I don't know, Em. How much would you make by selling me?"

"Selling you?! I don't know what you're reading on that computer, but I promise you that I would never even think about selling you or giving you to a lab or whatever it is you think I'm going to do!"

Before her eyes, Clark smashed the laptop with his bare hands.

Emmeline's mouth dropped open, too upset that she had just lost all her work to question how exactly he had managed that. "Are you insane?! Do you know how hard I worked on that?!"

"Now there's no proof. What will you do without your little exposé?"

"Exposé?! Chloe's the one who writes those things, not me! It was an assignment for my internship, and now they're going to regret giving it to me if I don't have a paper to hand in!"

"Your little internship is worth more than our friendship then, isn't it?"

"For the last time, that paper was not about you!"

Clark dropped the remains of her laptop on the floor and headed towards the door.

"Clark—" Emmeline started as she grabbed his arm.

"Don't touch me!" Clark roared.

He backhanded her and sent her flying halfway across the room where she slammed into the opposite wall. She landed painfully on her shoulder as she fell to the ground.

Clark stared back at her with a mixture of fear and anger.

Then to her utter shock, he sped out of the room in a blur.

Trying to calm her racing heart, she winced as she put her hand to her aching shoulder and stared out the open door.

How in the world had Clark Kent been able to toss her so far and run so fast?!


"Em?" Chloe called as she banged on the door, ready to do some serious damage control. "Em, are you in there?"

Emmeline frantically opened the door. "Chloe, something just happened. Clark—"

"Wait, Clark was here?"

"Yes, and he—"

"Did he hurt you?"

"Well, kind of, but he-he—"

"Em, calm down, I can explain whatever you saw. Clark got infected with a piece of silver meteor rock. It gave him severe paranoia and he thought that everyone was out to get him. And the crazy part is that it also gave him temporary powers."

"…Temporary?"

"Yeah."

"So the crazy strength and the fast running…that was all just an effect of this meteor rock?"

"Well, if green ones can give people powers, it makes sense that silver can too even if they're only short-term."

"Right…"

Chloe noticed the look in her eye. She wanted to believe that it wasn't true. She wanted Clark's powers to be real.

She wished she could tell her that they were.


"Hey, Em!"

Emmeline turned around while walking on the university campus to see Clark sheepishly walking up to her.

Still rather wary after their last encounter, she kept a bit of space between them.

Clark held his hands up. "I'm meteor rock free, I promise. And, uh, I wanted to apologize for everything that happened."

"You weren't yourself."

"Maybe not, but that's no excuse for what I did to you."

"Well, Chloe was able to salvage my hard drive, so my paper got recovered at least. I have to use the campus computers though."

Clark winced. "About that, I got you something."

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a new laptop.

Emmeline's eyes widened. "Clark, I…I can't accept this."

"It's the least I could do after I smashed your other one and nearly gave you a concussion."

"But this must've cost you a lot of money."

"It wasn't that much."

"Liar, this thing is brand new. There's no way it was cheap."

"Em, you're going to hurt my feelings if you don't accept my present."

Emmeline sighed and took the laptop from him. "Fine."

"Look…I need you to know that…I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you. And I really am sorry about everything that happened."

She smiled a little. "I know. For the record, it was kinda cool to see you run away so fast. It'd be pretty awesome if it was permanent."

As she walked off, Clark closed his eyes and sighed. If only she knew…


"Hey, Chloe, thanks again for helping me out with Lana and Em," Clark said when he visited Chloe at the Daily Planet.

"Yeah, what are friends for?"

"And thanks for saving Em's hard drive from her…smashed computer."

"Oh, please, it was child's play. But…speaking of Em…I saw the way she looked at me when I tried to explain away what happened. And she bought it for now, but we both know that she's really good at connecting the dots. It's only a matter of time before she figures out what you can really do. I think you need to consider that…you might have to tell her soon."