Emmeline was willing to believe a lot of things after everything she had experienced in the last five years, but what Lois was saying to her and Chloe was just downright impossible.

"Okay, Em and I are the first two people to concede that anything is possible in this universe, but Clark Kent lip-locked with another girl?" Chloe asked in disbelief.

"I'm telling you, it was The Last Tango at the Talon," Lois explained. "Unfortunately, I had front row seats."

"Well…something must have happened to him because he wouldn't just do this."

"Look, I know you have this whole hero-worship thing with the guy, but face it, Clark is no different than any other red-blooded male. His brain? It's not his commanding officer."

"No, Lois, you don't know him like we do. He is different. He wouldn't do this to Lana."

"He already has."

"No, I agree with Chloe," Emmeline said. "Clark has talked about wanting to be with her for years. And now that he is, he's not going to give it up just like that because some blonde waltzed by. Something else has to be going on."

"Okay, you guys, clearly you didn't see what I did, and if you had, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Clark made out with another girl, end of story. And if Lana's our friend, we need to shoot off a warning flare before—"

"Now, hold your fire," Chloe interrupted as she put on her jacket. "Now, before you utter one word to Lana about this, I just want to—"

She was cut off when the very person in question stepped through the door. All three of them turned to look at her.

"One word about what?" Lana asked. "What's going on?"

"Um, Lois needs a place to stay," Chloe made up quickly. "Um, she needs to stay at our dorm room for a couple of nights."

"Right, uh, the heater's on the fritz," Lois added to the lie.

"And I just wanted to make sure I brought it up to you before she said anything."

"Okay," Lana smiled. "Lois, you are always welcome here."

"Great."

"Great," Lois repeated.

Lana looked over at Chloe. "I thought you were going to pull an all-nighter."

"Yeah, well, as much as I enjoy a good dose of sleep deprivation, my deadline was pushed."

"Nice." Lana's phone began ringing and she quickly fished it out of her purse before she missed the call. "Hello," she answered into the phone. "Hi…Oh, is everything all right? Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I can." She hung up the phone and threw her purse over her shoulder.

"Who was that?" Chloe asked.

"That was Clark. He said he needs to talk to me. Seems really urgent. I'll see you guys later."

Lana hurried out of the dorm room.

"Uh, Lois, wanna go grab me a Snickers from the vending machine?" Emmeline asked. "I could use some chocolate."

"Fine. Got any quarters because I'm fresh out of change."

Emmeline grabbed her purse and picked some quarters out of one of the pockets before handing them to Lois.

"Thanks. Be back in a bit."

While Lois was gone, Emmeline turned to Chloe. "Do you think it's red kryptonite?"

"I mean, that's the only thing that makes sense to me," Chloe answered. "But even if he was, wouldn't he still want to be with Lana?"

"I don't know. But there's no way Clark would do this without something supernatural being involved. What I'm worried about is why Clark wanted to see Lana."


The next day, Chloe and Emmeline went to the barn to find Clark.

After Lana had called Chloe on the phone crying her eyes out, the two girls knew they needed to find out what was going on and fast.

"Oh, thank God you're fully clothed," Chloe said sarcastically as they found Clark doing chores. "I was afraid we'd be walking in on some sort of dangerous liaison."

"I take it you both talked to Lana."

"Well, we could barely hear her through the sobs, but yeah. She called to tell me that she was spending the night at Aunt Nell's. So where's the hottie?"

"If you're talking about Simone, she's in the house."

Chloe looked at him in confusion. "I don't get it. I mean, if it was Red K, you wouldn't be doing chores. If it was Silver K, you'd be afraid that that pitchfork over there was gonna turn you into a shish kebab. What happened to you, Clark?"

"I fell in love."

"I don't think you fell. I think you were pushed…off a cliff."

"You expect us to believe that after five years of constantly trying to be with Lana, you just 'fall in love with someone else'?" Emmeline asked. "My great-great-grandmother coming back from the dead is more likely."

"You know, just because you guys know my secret doesn't mean you know how I feel," Clark bit out.

"Yeah, but I do know that you'd never intentionally hurt Lana like this," Chloe told him.

"Both of you said my relationship with Lana would never go anywhere as long as I have to lie about who I am. And you know what? You guys were right."

"So how are things gonna be any different with Simone?"

"I told Simone about my powers."

Both girls froze. Something was definitely wrong. Clark never told anyone about his powers unless he had no other choice. It had taken him five years to tell both Chloe and Emmeline and they were both his closest friends.

"Wait a minute, Clark," Chloe said firmly. "You may think you're madly in love with this girl, but you need to stay away from her."

"You haven't met her. You don't even know Simone."

"No, but I know you well enough to know when you're being manipulated."

"You're crossing a line here. I've always trusted you guys. So how about this time, you both trust me? Let me live my life. Back off."

Chloe and Emmeline looked at one another helplessly.

"I'm gonna go see what I can find in the house," Chloe said quietly. "See if you can talk some sense into Mr. Lovestruck over there."

"I'll try my best," Emmeline replied.

Chloe left the barn and went up to the house, careful to avoid the hypnotic seductress.

Emmeline tried to think of some way to get through to Clark. What was she supposed to do when she didn't even know the root of the problem?

Her mind took her back to early in their senior year when she had been possessed by a 17th century witch. While she didn't remember it, Clark had told her that she had snapped out of it for a few seconds when he called for her.

Maybe…something like that would work now.

"Clark," Emmeline called.

She went over to him and pushed him up against one of the wooden beams.

"Em, what are you doing?"

"Look at me. You need to remember. Remember who you are. Remember Lana and how you feel about her."

Clark scoffed and looked away from her.

"No, look at my eyes."

Clark smirked but looked straight at her, not understanding what exactly she hoped to accomplish with all this. He hadn't forgotten anything. He just fell in love with someone else. Why couldn't anyone see that?

"Please. Remember me. Remember everything we've been through."

The smirk on Clark's face faded the longer he looked in her eyes.

Suddenly, Emmeline's face began to warm when she realized the position they were in. She quickly became aware of every little thing, like Clark's warm green eyes looking directly at her, his large muscles beneath her hands, the incredible height difference between them, how difficult it was becoming to breathe…

"Clark!" a woman's voice called. "I need you! Clark?"

The sound of Simone's voice shook Clark out of the moment. He firmly pushed Emmeline away from him. "I told you, I'm in love with Simone. If you can't accept that, well, then maybe we shouldn't be friends anymore."

Emmeline knew that wasn't really Clark speaking, but his words still hurt. She numbly walked out of the barn, her mind replaying that one moment over and over again.

She couldn't be thinking or feeling this way. It was wrong. She could never do that to Lana, and she was sure that Clark would never want her as long as he had Lana in his life…well, once this whole thing with Simone blew over.

But despite knowing all of that, a part of her kept wondering what it might be like…to be with Clark.

"Hey, any luck?" Chloe asked as they went to her car.

"No," Emmeline said, attempting to come back to the present. "You?"

"I got her ID so it's a start. You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

Suddenly, all of her mother's teasing about her and Clark wasn't so funny anymore.


Chloe and Emmeline met up with Lois at the Daily Planet so they could explain just who exactly Simone was and how she had managed to sink her skinny little nails into Clark's heart.

"So I think Clark's bizarre behavior might be some form of supercharged hypnosis," Chloe explained.

"I've heard of hypnotism being used to stop smoking or lose weight but to reduce Clark to some goo-goo-eyed love slave?" Lois asked.

"This isn't over-the-counter hypnosis, it's prescription strength. And it never wears off. Check this out. Simone's dad was world-renowned for curing his patients of all kinds of inflictions, everything from cravings to cancer."

"Maybe I can talk to him about my nail-biting issue."

"I'm afraid it's a little late for that. Last month, he died during a botched burglary." She pulled up an article on her computer detailing the famous hypnotist's death. Around his neck, he wore a beautiful large blue jewel.

"Wait a second, I've seen that jewel."

"So have I, around Simone's scrawny little neck. It's an ancient family heirloom that dates back to the great alchemists in medieval England. It was also the only thing stolen."

"Are you saying Simone's responsible for her own father's death?"

"I don't know. If it meant getting daddy's hyper-hypno powers, maybe. I just think it's a tad bit cocky to be wearing it around your neck like a medal."

"Not if you can make any cop believe that you're innocent. What I don't understand is, of all people, why go after Clark?"

"I don't know. But we definitely need to snap him out of it soon before he does something he can't ever come back from."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's move."

"Yeah, you know, I, uh, Em and I just need to grab something. We'll meet you there."

"Okay."

Lois left the Daily Planet to see if she could have any luck avoiding Simone's ability and getting the Clark they all knew and loved back.

Chloe nervously opened her desk and unlocked a small silver box. Inside sat a green kryptonite rock. She pulled the rock out and shut the case.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Emmeline asked.

"You've seen the hold Simone has over him. It's not unlikely she'll ask him to do something crazy, especially since he told her about his powers."

Emmeline nodded a little in understanding.

Chloe stood up from her desk and faced the brunette. "Okay, you've been quiet even for you ever since we left the farm. Did Clark say or do something to upset you?"

Emmeline smiled nervously. "No, no, I'm fine, I promise."

"Okay, if you're sure. Come on, we have to hurry and find Clark."

The two girls quickly exited the Daily Planet and headed back to the Kent farm.


What Chloe and Emmeline certainly were not expecting to find when they entered through the back door was Martha aiming a shotgun at Lois.

It didn't take a genius to figure out Simone had gotten to her.

Chloe discreetly grabbed a rolling pin off the counter. Then she snuck down the hallway out of Martha's sight before coming around the wall and whacking her on the side of the head. Martha fell down to the floor unconscious.

Chloe stared at her for a moment, unwilling to believe what she had just done. "Holy crap, I just knocked out Martha Kent."

"Hello?" Lois exclaimed. "The woman was about to wallpaper her living room with my brain matter."

"Right. Where's Clark?"

"Well, while I was seeing stars, I think his girlfriend said she wanted to go to the Luthor mansion or something."

The two girls didn't wait for Lois to finish that thought. There were only two options why Simone would want Clark at the Luthor mansion: either to get him to reveal his powers to Lex or have Clark kill Lex. There could be some other option, but there was no time to think about what that might be. Whatever the real reason, Clark at the Luthor mansion under Simone's influence would not end well.

They rushed over as fast as they could and walked in on Clark about to snap Lex's neck. Chloe quickly took the rock out of her purse and it began to glow with power.

Clark felt the familiar feeling of his blood boiling inside him and his bones disintegrating. His grip on Lex's neck faltered and the two men fell to the ground, Lex gasping for breath and Clark writhing in pain.

Chloe put the rock in Clark's pocket to keep him down.

"No," Clark groaned in agony. "Chloe, no."

Simone looked at Clark in confusion, not realizing there was something capable of rendering him powerless.

Emmeline went to Clark's side and put his head in her lap. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "It's only for a few minutes. Just bear through it for only a little bit, okay?"

Simone glared at everyone in the room for interfering with her plan. "Get away from him," she said icily at Emmeline.

Emmeline made the mistake of looking up at the gem, but to Simone's surprise, she didn't immediately walk away from Clark. Instead, she put her hands to her head and groaned in obvious pain. She felt as if her skull was going to split directly in two.

"Em?" Chloe exclaimed. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"My…my head…" Emmeline mustered out.

Lex bolted upright with a gun in his hand and aimed it at Simone.

"Lex!" Simone shouted keeping a tight hold on her gem. "Kill them and then kill yourself."

Lex turned and aimed the gun directly at Chloe. Chloe frantically grabbed his hand and attempted to point it away from her. Lex fired the gun just as Chloe shoved his hand in Simone's direction. The bullet went straight for her, shattering the gem and entering her chest. Simone flew back onto the ground, dead.

The searing pain pounding Emmeline's skull slowly dissipated. When she realized what had happened and that the gem's power was gone forever, she quickly took the deadly rock out of Clark's pocket and tossed it out of the room so he would no longer feel the effects of it.

Clark slowly stood up as he regained his strength.

"Are you all right, Clark?" Chloe asked.

Clark looked over at Simone's dead body. "I think so."

Chloe knelt down next to Emmeline who was still holding her head. "You okay, Em?"

Her head still throbbed from the gem's power. "I'll be fine."

"What happened?" she asked as she and Clark helped her stand back up.

"I'm not sure. Simone ordered me to get away from Clark, and I looked right at her necklace, but this small part of me didn't want to do what she said. That's when I thought my brain was going to rip in half."

"I guess the hypnotic order and your own free will really got into a fierce battle there."

Emmeline didn't tell her that her desire to protect Clark was the main reason for the power struggle.


"I feel like I just woke up from a bad dream except I remember all the gory details," Clark lamented to Chloe and Emmeline at the Daily Planet.

"Yeah, um, did you and Simone ever actually…?" Chloe started.

"No!" Clark answered quickly. "Thank God."

Chloe laughed. "Okay. So the moral of the story is to never gaze into the eyes of a seductive woman wearing a sparkling gemstone around her neck. Unless, of course, her name is Lana Lang. Have you talked to her yet? You guys kiss and make up?"

Clark didn't answer as he awkwardly looked away from her and rubbed his hands together.

"You haven't talked to her, have you?"

"No."

"What are you waiting for? I mean, she knows that you were hypnotized. Besides, like, every single one of us has gone through some sort of an identity crisis at one point or another. It's like a rite of passage in Smallville. She'll understand."

"Maybe I don't want her to understand."

Chloe and Emmeline looked at him in surprise.

"See, as horrible as all this was, it did accomplish one thing that I didn't have the guts to do myself. It broke me and Lana up."

"What? Wait a minute." Chloe quickly ushered him into the copy room. "Are you still hypno'd?"

"That's what I was about to ask," Emmeline put in. "You've wanted to be with this girl ever since I met you. Now you finally are and you want to end it?"

"How many times can I break someone's heart before it crumbles completely?" Clark asked them.

"Yeah, but it wasn't your fault," Chloe said. "You were hypnotized."

"Lana wasn't. Chloe, her feelings were real. The look of pain in her eye when she walked in on Simone and I…it made me realize that my power to hurt Lana is stronger than all my powers put together."

"Well, it's not like meeting a girl with hocus-pocus jewelry is an everyday occurrence."

"Yeah, but hurting Lana has become one. And as long as I have to lie to her about who I really am, I'm gonna cause her pain."

"And as long as you don't set the record straight, she's gonna hate you."

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing. Maybe it'll help her move on with her life, forget I ever existed and find someone who can give her what she deserves."

"You just need to know that if you do this, that's it, game over, there's no more quarters left. I mean, you're saying goodbye forever. It will crush her, Clark. Please just think long and hard before you end this for good."

"I don't understand," Emmeline said. "Why can't you tell her the truth about you? You love her and you trust her, don't you?"

Chloe and Clark made very quick eye contact that Emmeline didn't notice. What they both knew but were never going to tell her was that Clark had seen what had happened when he told Lana his secret and it had cost his best friend her life.

Clark looked at her sadly. "I don't know. Ever since I found out she was working together with Lex, I didn't know if she would be able to keep the secret. If she kept secrets like that from me, how can I trust her with mine?"

Emmeline sighed, not knowing what she could say to him. This was one situation she didn't have any answers for.

She had decided not to tell anyone, not even Chloe, about the startling realization she had come to the day before in the barn.

She had feelings for Clark.

Her mind had gone back to that one day in freshman year when she and Chloe agreed to be happy for whoever ended up with Clark. They had both happily confided in each other about their feelings for him, lamented together when he only saw Lana, and rejoiced when one of them got a moment with him.

But they were just young high schoolers at the time. Now they were adults and things were different.

Ever since she had started falling for Pete, she had never even considered once again falling for Clark.

But she had.

And she didn't know what to do or who to talk to. She obviously couldn't talk about this with Lana considering she and Clark were about to end things and that was going to be a very sore wound.

And she couldn't tell Chloe because despite being her best friend, she felt it best that Chloe still believed everything between her and Clark was strictly platonic. Maybe it was because she knew her best friend still had feelings for him and she didn't want to get it in the way.

In the end, it didn't matter how she felt. Clark could break things off with Lana, but his heart would still be devoted to her.

It was times like these she especially missed her mother. She always knew what to say.