Yeesh...I deeply apologize for how long this update took. And I'm even more sorry that this chapter isn't really worth the wait either...

I try not to make it more than a month in between updates, but this last particular month was full of all sorts of things. I won't bore you with the details, but I was crazy busy! So I know this chapter is short, boring, and pretty much nothing interesting happens, partially because my muse was dead for this one. Even watching the episode before writing, I knew this one was not going to be all that fun.

Some episodes are just like that unfortunately. I could skip them, but where's the challenge in that?

HOWEVER, I hope my ClarkxEm fans are remaining loyal even through this extremely painful slow burn. I love you all, and I love reading your beautiful shipper reviews. Sometimes, I'm afraid Emmeline is too Mary-Sue or unrealistic or just an uninteresting character, but I'm so glad you all love her so much!

With the end of the season drawing near, I hope to pump out more chapters very soon!


"Lionel's at my house constantly, acting like he belongs there," Clark lamented while visiting the Daily Planet.

"That sounds absolutely awful," Emmeline said.

"Well, from what you're telling us, it sounds like your mom kind of invited the wolf to come on in," Chloe told him. "I know we've tiptoed through these tulips before, but what if you're wrong? What if Lionel doesn't know?"

"The things he says to me, the look in his eye, Chloe, he knows," Clark said.

"Well, then he's probably using your mom to get closer to you."

"He's always there, helping her, offering advice. She's trusting him more and more."

"And she wouldn't if she knew the truth."

Clark sighed. "I know I need to tell her. I was going to right after I found out."

"So what stopped you?"

"She's been through so much. Since my dad died, I just…I didn't wanna give her one more thing to worry about."

"Well, by not telling her, you could be putting her at risk of a lot worse."

Emmeline put her hand to her head. "What are we even supposed to do if he really does know? And again, if he knows, why hasn't he done or said anything?"

"I…I don't know…" Clark said.


"I understand the whole acting-normal thing, but ferreting out the truth is acting normal for me."

"Chloe—"

"Clark, you're not the only one Lionel's been playing. He fed me information about Fine being in Honduras because he knew I'd come to you with it."

"But doesn't knowing that Fine's alive help us?" Emmeline asked. "I mean I'd sure like to know if that psycho is still up and running."

"Maybe, but we have no way of knowing why Lionel would want to give us this information in the first place. Why don't you let me use that as an in, you know? To find out what he's really up to?"

"What if he finds out what you're up to? It's too risky."

"Oh, and waiting for Darth Luthor to hatch his evil plan isn't?"

Clark's phone started ringing and he quickly answered it. "Hey, Lois." A pause. "No, she left hours ago. All right, I'll let you know if I hear anything." He hung up the phone and looked at Chloe and Emmeline with a grave expression.

"What is it?" Chloe asked.

"My mom never showed up at the fundraiser in Metropolis."

The two girls looked back at him with fear and concern.

Just when it looked like things couldn't get much worse.


The three friends headed to LuthorCorp to see if Lionel knew where Martha could be.

"It's okay," Lex said to his security when he saw who had come to the door. "Clark, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for your father," Clark answered.

"Where is he?" Chloe asked directly.

"I wish I knew," Lex told them. "He's missed a couple of meetings and never showed up for a fundraiser at the plaza."

Clark, Emmeline, and Chloe exchanged a worried glance.

"Neither did my mother," Clark said. "Lex, if you have any idea what's going on, you better tell me right now."

"Clark, earlier today my father accused me of orchestrating some bizarre attempt on his life."

"You think someone's giving it a second shot?" Chloe questioned.

"All I know is that he was taken from this office."

Clark looked at Lex disbelievingly. "How do you know?"

Lex walked over to his desk and picked up a small phone. "I found his cellphone on the floor. The last call he tried to make was to 911. The time stamp on it matches an unexplained gap in the building's security tapes."

Chloe narrowed her eyes and took several steps forward. "What about the cameras in here?"

"There aren't any. My father liked to have a place where he could conduct certain transactions without any electronic records."

"Would that be the less-than-legal kind?"

Clark slightly squinted and scanned the entirety of the room. Then he slowly walked over to two small statues. "Lex, has this always been chipped like that?"

Lex joined him and indeed noticed a very small chip on the corner of the base of the statue. "My father wouldn't tolerate a flaw in his prized collection. Nice catch."

He picked up the statue and slammed it onto the ground, much to the shock of everyone in the room.

Chloe's eyes widened and she knelt down to retrieve what had been inside the small statue. It was a small transmitting device. "Whoa. This isn't your standard issue. This was homemade by somebody who really knew what they were doing. High res, wireless carrier—"

"Is it transmitting?" Clark asked.

"No, it's powered down. But if we juice it up, I might be able to piggyback the transmission and trace where it's located."

Clark nodded.

"Let's try it," Lex added.

Chloe immediately got onto the computer in the office and hooked up the transmitter to it. "It's transmitting on a rotational code. I'll see if I can hack the sequence and locate the termination point."

"Hurry," Clark said desperately.

Emmeline looked over Chloe's shoulder, still incredibly impressed with what her best friend was capable of doing. It would be nice if she could find a hobby that was more legal though.

Her ears caught onto Lex's next words.

"It's a shame, isn't it?" he said quietly to Clark. "Takes a crisis like this to get us in the same room together. Look, Clark, maybe when this is all over, we can try to find our way back to some common ground."

Emmeline scoffed. She didn't doubt that Lex cared about Clark and cherished their friendship, but he cared about secrets and finding the truth more and he couldn't have it both ways.

His cellphone began ringing and he examined the caller ID. "Excuse me, I got to take this."

Clark looked after the retreating man then leaned against the desk. "Is there anything I can do to make this go faster?"

"Not unless computer skills are one of your abilities," Chloe told him. "Signal's strong, minimal degradation, which means it must be local." The screen zoomed in on a location. "Got it. 8320 Vermont Avenue. Five miles from here."

"Great."

Lex put his hand on Clark's shoulder. "Find something?"

Clark paused, wondering if he should tell the truth or not. "An address not far from here," he finally said.

"Great. Take my Porsche. It's a lot faster than your truck. Let's go."

Clark reluctantly left with Lex to go find their missing parents.

Emmeline ran her hand through her hair. "I understand taking Lionel, but who would ever want to kidnap Martha Kent?"

Chloe looked up at her nervously. "I don't know. But I have a feeling that if this person has a grudge against Lionel, he won't hesitate to do anything to cause him pain. Even hurting an innocent person."

"Geez, could someone really be that messed up?"

"I don't think I have to answer that one for you."

"…Do you think Lionel's changed?"

Chloe sighed. "I honestly have no idea. I mean, in some ways, he seems exactly the same, but in other ways, he seems like a completely different person. I don't want to get caught up in the spider's web that I nearly died in back in high school, but how can I just ignore him when my friend's biggest secret is on the line?"

"I guess we both need to make sure to tread extra carefully these next few days."

Chloe picked up her phone and put it on speaker. "Clark, how close are you?"

"We're in the building," Clark's voice answered. "I think we found it. Hold on."

"You want to wait for the security team?" Lex asked.

"No."

"Me neither."

There was the sound of a door banging open and then silence.

"Chloe, there's no one here," Clark finally said.

"They must have re-routed the signal in case we found the camera," Chloe told him in a panic.

"Clark," Lex said.

After several tense seconds of silence, Clark's voice whispered, "Mom."

Emmeline's eyes widened. "Did he find her?"

"…I don't think so," Chloe answered.

"I'm sorry, Martha. Please forgive me."

Emmeline leaned down to listen closer to the phone. "Wait a minute, that's Lionel's voice."

Chloe paused in her actions. "Yeah, but it sounds static-y, so they must be watching a video feed or something." She frantically resumed typing the keys. "I might be able to track where the feed is coming from."

"Only one of us is going to walk out of here," Lionel continued.

"Lionel—" Martha gasped shakily.

"No, don't talk. You take it. You're good, Martha. So many people depend on you. Especially Clark. And we both know that he…what a special boy he is."

Chloe and Emmeline nervously looked at each other. If they didn't think he knew Clark's secret before, they definitely knew he did now.

The huge problem was that Lex was hearing this too, and they really didn't need two Luthors in on this, especially when no one could possibly figure out which side either of them were on.

"And now, because Jonathan's gone, he's gonna need you more than ever. To become the man this world so desperately needs. Do it. And go home to your son."

"I can't," Martha's voice sobbed.

"I…I'd hoped that…I'd always hoped that things would end differently with us, Martha. Don't blame yourself. Your life is truly important."

"No!"

The two of them clearly heard the feed cut out.

"Chloe? What happened?" Clark asked sharply.

"The feed was terminated at the source," Chloe explained. "I'm trying to back-trace the location. The signal's just bouncing all over the place, trying to throw us off." With another few clicks of the keys, a blinking dot appeared on the computer screen. "I got it. They're somewhere across town."

"Where?"

"It's gonna take a minute to narrow it down. Start heading west. I'll guide you in."


Clark managed to save Martha and Lionel from the deranged man holding them captive who came to be revealed as Lincoln Cole, a man who had become collateral damage in Lionel and Lex's never-ending war.

After the whole whirlwind was over, they all could go back to figuring out what to do about Lionel knowing Clark's secret. Of course, that wasn't a much better problem.

Emmeline slowly ascended the steps in the loft to find Clark glaring at the opposite wall. "Hey. You look like you're about to go snap a tree in half."

"I doubt that would make me feel better."

"Would setting a bunch of things on fire help?"

Clark gave her a look.

Emmeline giggled as she held up her hands. "Sorry, guess that was too far. I take it this has to do with Lionel."

Clark sighed as his friend took a seat across from him. "Before…I was pretty sure he knew, but there was that small shred of doubt that maybe I was still in the clear. But after yesterday…"

"So he definitely knows."

"Yeah. And if that wasn't bad enough, he has a thing for my mother."

Emmeline grimaced. "That is pretty unfortunate. I wish I knew what to say to make things better, but this isn't one of those situations that can just be fixed with my psych studies."

Clark didn't answer.

"Did he say why hasn't he said anything to anyone?"

"He said it would 'change my destiny'. He sounds like Jor-El."

Emmeline sighed, knowing what a rocky relationship Clark had with his biological father or at least the spirit of him or whatever the heck he had been communicating with over the last few years.

"And even after knowing that he's kept my secret, how do I know he can be trusted?"

"You don't. You never really do, I guess. It's why you never told me or Chloe until you didn't have a choice."

Clark looked over at her. "Well, with Chloe and especially with you…there was that part of me that always wondered. Wondered what would happen and how you might react if you knew."

"Did I react the way you thought I would?"

"You apologized to me so I can safely say no, you didn't."

Emmeline laughed. "I'm still sorry about finding out that way."

For the first time in days, Clark smiled at her.

Now aware of her feelings for him, she forgot how much that small smile could send a torrent of butterflies flying around in her stomach.

"You know, Em, I don't know how things are going to turn out now that Lionel knows my secret, but…I'm really glad I know I can count on you. If it wasn't for you and Chloe…I don't know how I'd get through all of this."

Emmeline smiled back, praying she wasn't blushing. "We'll always have your back. That's what best friends are for."

The words hurt.

Best friends.

How she wished she could be more.