Chapter 12- Mistake
Clark woke up the next morning when he heard someone in the kitchen. He lifted Chloe off of himself before getting up.
"Did I wake you up?" Lex asked pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"No, I was awake," Clark replied.
"Can I talk to you?"
"Of course. Let me put Chloe in my bed so we don't wake her up."
"Why don't you put her in her bed?"
"We used her sheets for the couch," Clark explained. He walked to Chloe and slid his arms under her sleeping form. He lifted her easily and carried her to his room. He shut his bedroom door before walking back to the kitchen.
"It wasn't hard for you to pick her up?" Lex asked.
"No. I don't know of anything that is hard for me to lift."
"Why weren't you floating just now when you were sleeping?"
"I only float every once in a while. Maybe twice a month, although it's becoming more frequent now."
"Nothing can hurt you?"
"Nothing except the meteors. Do you want me to show you?" Clark asked hesitantly. When Lex didn't answer Clark reached into a drawer and pulled out a knife. He pressed it to his arm and slid it to his wrist. When he removed the knife there was no mark on his skin.
"How long have you been like this?"
"When my parents found me I already had my strength…"Clark started.
"What do you mean found?"
"After the meteor shower they found me wandering around the corn field. The found a small spaceship nearby. They took me home and waited to see if anyone reported a missing child. No one did, so they adopted me," Clark explained.
"Keep going," Lex asked.
"When I was seven I was playing in the kitchen. My mom was frying some onions and I accidentally pulled the skillet on top of myself. My mom screamed for my dad, but when he got to me my skin wasn't burned. It wasn't even red. That's when I found out that I couldn't be hurt," Clark said.
Lex nodded for Clark to continue.
"When I was eleven I developed my speed. Every once in a while I would be running and start going very fast. This kept happening and I finally learned to control it. I was twelve when I floated for the first time. Then, it was happening maybe once or twice a year. I think that it may be a power that is just developing very slowly," Clark said.
"Chloe said flying."
"Yes. I don't know what it is, but Chloe thinks it may be the ability to fly. I developed my x-ray vision when I was fifteen. It started out with a headache followed by flashes of x-ray. I had to teach myself to learn how to turn it on and off at will," Clark explained.
"Can you show me?" Lex asked hesitantly.
"Yes."
Lex put his hand in his pocket and then pulled it out. "What's in my hand?"
Clark concentrated on Lex's hand, his jaw getting taut. After a few moments he said, "A paperclip, a key, and a lighter."
Lex nodded again and put the items back in his pocket. "How did Chloe feel when you told her?"
"Well, I told her I had a secret that she may not like. She told me that no matter what it was that she would still love me. So, I showed her. She called me her own personal Superman."
"Do you do things for her, now that she knows about your powers?"
"Well, if you mean like help her with jobs and things, no. She won't let me. She thinks of it as her taking advantage of my powers. Every once in a while I can get away with helping her with something, but not frequently. But, I do use my powers around her. Mainly just to do things like pick her up, or when we're goofing off," Clark explained.
"She didn't put you on her 'Wall of Weird'?"
"No, she wouldn't do that. To tell you the truth that's the reason I was nervous about telling her, but she's kept it to herself."
"Do we still have our original plans for today?"
"Yes. Proposing," Clark clarified. "Are we okay?"
"Yes, I'll have to get used to it, but yes," Lex answered. "I thought we could spend the day with the girls, then meet back here around five to pack up and go home."
"Good plan. Do you know where you're taking Lana?"
"I'm going to take her to the botanical gardens where all four of us went last year. I know you remember it. I'm going to take a picnic lunch like they girls did for us."
"Another good plan. I'm going to go wake Chloe up and while she's getting ready I'll pack our picnic," Clark said going to his room.
"Chlo? Wake up. We need to leave soon," Clark said gently.
"How did I get in here?" Chloe asked rubbing her eyes.
"Lex wanted to talk, so I moved you in here so that we wouldn't wake you up."
"Is he…?" Chloe started.
"We're fine. Wear a bathing suit under your clothes, okay?"
"Okay, she said as she left the room.
Lana and Chloe opened the bathroom door at the same time.
"Shower?" Chloe asked sleepily.
"Shower," Lana replied with a yawn.
"Let's compromise. You take a shower while I brush my teeth and wash my face. Then, we'll switch."
"Sounds good to me. I'll call you when I'm in," Lana said grabbing her robe.
Chloe walked out of the bathroom. She slipped into her robe before Lana called her back in.
"This is our last day," Lana called.
"And what an interesting time it has been," Chloe responded.
"Interesting to say the least. What are you wearing today?"
"Clark said to wear a swim suit, so I'm going to wear my orange tankini. I'll use the top as a shirt and pull some white shorts over the bottoms. You?"
"Lex said to wear something comfortable. I'll wear shorts and my green spaghetti strap top. The top matches my necklace perfectly," Lana said.
"That will be cute," Chloe said not realizing that Lana meant to wear her meteor necklace. "By the way, happy anniversary."
"I totally forgot! Same to you," Lana said turning off the water. She wrapped herself in her robe before pulling back the curtain. Chloe immediately stepped into the shower pulling the curtain closed behind her. She hung her robe on the hook on the wall and turned on the water.
"Don't let Lex know that you forgot," Chloe warned.
"I won't, believe me."
Chloe laughed. "We have certainly gotten to know each other better."
"Kind of scary, huh?" When Chloe didn't respond Lana realized how it sounded. "I didn't mean about Clark. I was just joking. I'm sorry," she rushed her words trying to find an apology.
"Don't worry about it. I knew what you meant," Chloe assured her.
"I'll have to pay more attention to what I'm saying," Lana said.
"Don't Lana, please? That would break Clark's heart. I felt like I had to watch what I said when I first found out, but it's not necessary. Sometimes I slip and say something that doesn't come out right, but Clark understands. Trust me," Chloe assured her.
"Okay," Lana agreed as Chloe stepped out of the shower. "Will you do my hair?"
"Yeah. I'm going to get dressed first, though," Chloe said walking to her room. Lana took her chance to get ready, also.
"What do you want me to do with it?" Chloe asked when they were back in the bathroom.
"Surprise me," Lana replied sitting on a stool in front of Chloe. "Can I ask you a question about Clark?"
"You can ask as many as you want. Just be warned that I might tell you to talk to Clark for a few of them," Chloe said.
"Okay. How many times has he saved you?"
"Meaning?"
"How many times has he saved your life?"
"How did you come up with that question?"
"Well, I know that there are times that he's saved me. I just brushed it off as being in the right place at the right time. Now I know that it was because of his powers. I was just wondering if you would tell me about a few times when he has saved you," Lana said as Chloe plugged in their curling irons.
"Well, the one that stands out the most in my head was in eleventh grade. Do you remember when Sean Kelvin was flirting with me? Well, I flirted back to make Clark jealous. It turns out that Sean had been infected by the meteors. He couldn't get warm no matter how hard he tried. Well, I didn't know that something was wrong with him. I was working at the Torch late one night when I heard a noise. I opened the door to find a trail of yellow rose petals from the Torch office to the pool. There was a sign on the door that said 'come in please.' When I got in there Sean was there and he looked icy. We talked for a second before he pushed me into the pool. I swam to the other side and started to climb out, but he was sucking the heat out of the pool. My foot got stuck in the water," Chloe explained.
"Oh no," Lana exclaimed.
"By then Clark had figured out what was wrong with Sean and knew he was coming after me. So he burst into the pool and smashed through the ice to get my foot out," Chloe finished curling Lana's hair into spiral ringlets.
"Wow," Lana said in reply.
"Any other questions?" Chloe asked piling all of Lana's hair on top of her head and securing it with bobby pins.
"How long have you known?"
"One year ago today. When I told Clark how I felt about him he showed me his powers. He wanted me to know who he truly was before I got into a relationship with him."
"Would he show me one of his powers some time?" Lana asked standing up and trading places with Chloe so she could do Chloe's hair.
"You'll have to ask him, but I don't see why not. He's pretty open about it when you know," Chloe said.
"Does he do things for you? I mean does he use his powers to help you with stuff?"
"No, but only because I won't let him. He's my boyfriend and he might have powers, but that doesn't mean I want him to do everything for me. He would gladly do things for me, but it makes me feel like I am taking advantage of him."
"Has he ever hurt you?"
"I take it you mean other than the six years he was in love with you?" Chloe teased. "No, he hasn't. He's very careful with me. He knows that he's invincible, but he also understands that I'm not."
"What about his real parents?"
"That would be a subject I would ask you to please not bring up with him," Chloe said.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay, it's just a tough subject for him. Well, he doesn't know where his parents are. He knows that he isn't from Earth, so there is no way to find them. He loves Martha and Jonathan, he just wants to know where he came from and who he is. He hopes that maybe he'll find a clue to that someday."
"I hope so. There, I'm done," Lana said. She had pulled half of Chloe's hair into a ponytail, then flipped all the layers out with a curling iron. "I'll meet you in the living room. Thank you for answering my questions."
"You're welcome. Don't be afraid to ask Clark questions. It would make him very happy. If you aren't sure if it is a sore subject, feel free to ask me, okay?"
"Okay," Lana said walking into her room. Lana fastened her necklace around her neck and slid on her watch before meeting the other three in the living room.
When she stepped into the room Clark stumbled. Chloe put an arm around his waist and her hand on his shoulder to steady him. "Clark, what is it?"
As she said it Clark's veins turned green and started to pulse. Chloe glanced at Lana and noticed something that was glowing green. Clark stumbled again.
"Lana, take your necklace off. It's your necklace. Put it away," Chloe told her friend sternly.
Lana's eyes got wide when she realized what she had done. She quickly undid her necklace and ran back into her room. By the time she got back Clark was back to normal.
"I'm so sorry, Clark," Lana said rushing to him. "I forgot. I'm so sorry," she said on the verge of tears.
"Lana, it's okay. Look, I'm fine now. It's okay," Clark reassured her.
"So, that what you meant by getting sick?" Lex asked a little shocked by the recent scene.
"Yes. The degree of sickness depends on how much of the meteor is around. With the small amount on Lana's necklace I lose my balance and feel short of breath. If there is great quantities around it can make it so that I can't even move," Clark explained.
"Well, that was fun. Now that my boyfriend has just confessed the one thing that makes him vulnerable, I think we can go now," Chloe said.
Clark put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "Let me grab some things and we can leave."
Clark woke up the next morning when he heard someone in the kitchen. He lifted Chloe off of himself before getting up.
"Did I wake you up?" Lex asked pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"No, I was awake," Clark replied.
"Can I talk to you?"
"Of course. Let me put Chloe in my bed so we don't wake her up."
"Why don't you put her in her bed?"
"We used her sheets for the couch," Clark explained. He walked to Chloe and slid his arms under her sleeping form. He lifted her easily and carried her to his room. He shut his bedroom door before walking back to the kitchen.
"It wasn't hard for you to pick her up?" Lex asked.
"No. I don't know of anything that is hard for me to lift."
"Why weren't you floating just now when you were sleeping?"
"I only float every once in a while. Maybe twice a month, although it's becoming more frequent now."
"Nothing can hurt you?"
"Nothing except the meteors. Do you want me to show you?" Clark asked hesitantly. When Lex didn't answer Clark reached into a drawer and pulled out a knife. He pressed it to his arm and slid it to his wrist. When he removed the knife there was no mark on his skin.
"How long have you been like this?"
"When my parents found me I already had my strength…"Clark started.
"What do you mean found?"
"After the meteor shower they found me wandering around the corn field. The found a small spaceship nearby. They took me home and waited to see if anyone reported a missing child. No one did, so they adopted me," Clark explained.
"Keep going," Lex asked.
"When I was seven I was playing in the kitchen. My mom was frying some onions and I accidentally pulled the skillet on top of myself. My mom screamed for my dad, but when he got to me my skin wasn't burned. It wasn't even red. That's when I found out that I couldn't be hurt," Clark said.
Lex nodded for Clark to continue.
"When I was eleven I developed my speed. Every once in a while I would be running and start going very fast. This kept happening and I finally learned to control it. I was twelve when I floated for the first time. Then, it was happening maybe once or twice a year. I think that it may be a power that is just developing very slowly," Clark said.
"Chloe said flying."
"Yes. I don't know what it is, but Chloe thinks it may be the ability to fly. I developed my x-ray vision when I was fifteen. It started out with a headache followed by flashes of x-ray. I had to teach myself to learn how to turn it on and off at will," Clark explained.
"Can you show me?" Lex asked hesitantly.
"Yes."
Lex put his hand in his pocket and then pulled it out. "What's in my hand?"
Clark concentrated on Lex's hand, his jaw getting taut. After a few moments he said, "A paperclip, a key, and a lighter."
Lex nodded again and put the items back in his pocket. "How did Chloe feel when you told her?"
"Well, I told her I had a secret that she may not like. She told me that no matter what it was that she would still love me. So, I showed her. She called me her own personal Superman."
"Do you do things for her, now that she knows about your powers?"
"Well, if you mean like help her with jobs and things, no. She won't let me. She thinks of it as her taking advantage of my powers. Every once in a while I can get away with helping her with something, but not frequently. But, I do use my powers around her. Mainly just to do things like pick her up, or when we're goofing off," Clark explained.
"She didn't put you on her 'Wall of Weird'?"
"No, she wouldn't do that. To tell you the truth that's the reason I was nervous about telling her, but she's kept it to herself."
"Do we still have our original plans for today?"
"Yes. Proposing," Clark clarified. "Are we okay?"
"Yes, I'll have to get used to it, but yes," Lex answered. "I thought we could spend the day with the girls, then meet back here around five to pack up and go home."
"Good plan. Do you know where you're taking Lana?"
"I'm going to take her to the botanical gardens where all four of us went last year. I know you remember it. I'm going to take a picnic lunch like they girls did for us."
"Another good plan. I'm going to go wake Chloe up and while she's getting ready I'll pack our picnic," Clark said going to his room.
"Chlo? Wake up. We need to leave soon," Clark said gently.
"How did I get in here?" Chloe asked rubbing her eyes.
"Lex wanted to talk, so I moved you in here so that we wouldn't wake you up."
"Is he…?" Chloe started.
"We're fine. Wear a bathing suit under your clothes, okay?"
"Okay, she said as she left the room.
Lana and Chloe opened the bathroom door at the same time.
"Shower?" Chloe asked sleepily.
"Shower," Lana replied with a yawn.
"Let's compromise. You take a shower while I brush my teeth and wash my face. Then, we'll switch."
"Sounds good to me. I'll call you when I'm in," Lana said grabbing her robe.
Chloe walked out of the bathroom. She slipped into her robe before Lana called her back in.
"This is our last day," Lana called.
"And what an interesting time it has been," Chloe responded.
"Interesting to say the least. What are you wearing today?"
"Clark said to wear a swim suit, so I'm going to wear my orange tankini. I'll use the top as a shirt and pull some white shorts over the bottoms. You?"
"Lex said to wear something comfortable. I'll wear shorts and my green spaghetti strap top. The top matches my necklace perfectly," Lana said.
"That will be cute," Chloe said not realizing that Lana meant to wear her meteor necklace. "By the way, happy anniversary."
"I totally forgot! Same to you," Lana said turning off the water. She wrapped herself in her robe before pulling back the curtain. Chloe immediately stepped into the shower pulling the curtain closed behind her. She hung her robe on the hook on the wall and turned on the water.
"Don't let Lex know that you forgot," Chloe warned.
"I won't, believe me."
Chloe laughed. "We have certainly gotten to know each other better."
"Kind of scary, huh?" When Chloe didn't respond Lana realized how it sounded. "I didn't mean about Clark. I was just joking. I'm sorry," she rushed her words trying to find an apology.
"Don't worry about it. I knew what you meant," Chloe assured her.
"I'll have to pay more attention to what I'm saying," Lana said.
"Don't Lana, please? That would break Clark's heart. I felt like I had to watch what I said when I first found out, but it's not necessary. Sometimes I slip and say something that doesn't come out right, but Clark understands. Trust me," Chloe assured her.
"Okay," Lana agreed as Chloe stepped out of the shower. "Will you do my hair?"
"Yeah. I'm going to get dressed first, though," Chloe said walking to her room. Lana took her chance to get ready, also.
"What do you want me to do with it?" Chloe asked when they were back in the bathroom.
"Surprise me," Lana replied sitting on a stool in front of Chloe. "Can I ask you a question about Clark?"
"You can ask as many as you want. Just be warned that I might tell you to talk to Clark for a few of them," Chloe said.
"Okay. How many times has he saved you?"
"Meaning?"
"How many times has he saved your life?"
"How did you come up with that question?"
"Well, I know that there are times that he's saved me. I just brushed it off as being in the right place at the right time. Now I know that it was because of his powers. I was just wondering if you would tell me about a few times when he has saved you," Lana said as Chloe plugged in their curling irons.
"Well, the one that stands out the most in my head was in eleventh grade. Do you remember when Sean Kelvin was flirting with me? Well, I flirted back to make Clark jealous. It turns out that Sean had been infected by the meteors. He couldn't get warm no matter how hard he tried. Well, I didn't know that something was wrong with him. I was working at the Torch late one night when I heard a noise. I opened the door to find a trail of yellow rose petals from the Torch office to the pool. There was a sign on the door that said 'come in please.' When I got in there Sean was there and he looked icy. We talked for a second before he pushed me into the pool. I swam to the other side and started to climb out, but he was sucking the heat out of the pool. My foot got stuck in the water," Chloe explained.
"Oh no," Lana exclaimed.
"By then Clark had figured out what was wrong with Sean and knew he was coming after me. So he burst into the pool and smashed through the ice to get my foot out," Chloe finished curling Lana's hair into spiral ringlets.
"Wow," Lana said in reply.
"Any other questions?" Chloe asked piling all of Lana's hair on top of her head and securing it with bobby pins.
"How long have you known?"
"One year ago today. When I told Clark how I felt about him he showed me his powers. He wanted me to know who he truly was before I got into a relationship with him."
"Would he show me one of his powers some time?" Lana asked standing up and trading places with Chloe so she could do Chloe's hair.
"You'll have to ask him, but I don't see why not. He's pretty open about it when you know," Chloe said.
"Does he do things for you? I mean does he use his powers to help you with stuff?"
"No, but only because I won't let him. He's my boyfriend and he might have powers, but that doesn't mean I want him to do everything for me. He would gladly do things for me, but it makes me feel like I am taking advantage of him."
"Has he ever hurt you?"
"I take it you mean other than the six years he was in love with you?" Chloe teased. "No, he hasn't. He's very careful with me. He knows that he's invincible, but he also understands that I'm not."
"What about his real parents?"
"That would be a subject I would ask you to please not bring up with him," Chloe said.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay, it's just a tough subject for him. Well, he doesn't know where his parents are. He knows that he isn't from Earth, so there is no way to find them. He loves Martha and Jonathan, he just wants to know where he came from and who he is. He hopes that maybe he'll find a clue to that someday."
"I hope so. There, I'm done," Lana said. She had pulled half of Chloe's hair into a ponytail, then flipped all the layers out with a curling iron. "I'll meet you in the living room. Thank you for answering my questions."
"You're welcome. Don't be afraid to ask Clark questions. It would make him very happy. If you aren't sure if it is a sore subject, feel free to ask me, okay?"
"Okay," Lana said walking into her room. Lana fastened her necklace around her neck and slid on her watch before meeting the other three in the living room.
When she stepped into the room Clark stumbled. Chloe put an arm around his waist and her hand on his shoulder to steady him. "Clark, what is it?"
As she said it Clark's veins turned green and started to pulse. Chloe glanced at Lana and noticed something that was glowing green. Clark stumbled again.
"Lana, take your necklace off. It's your necklace. Put it away," Chloe told her friend sternly.
Lana's eyes got wide when she realized what she had done. She quickly undid her necklace and ran back into her room. By the time she got back Clark was back to normal.
"I'm so sorry, Clark," Lana said rushing to him. "I forgot. I'm so sorry," she said on the verge of tears.
"Lana, it's okay. Look, I'm fine now. It's okay," Clark reassured her.
"So, that what you meant by getting sick?" Lex asked a little shocked by the recent scene.
"Yes. The degree of sickness depends on how much of the meteor is around. With the small amount on Lana's necklace I lose my balance and feel short of breath. If there is great quantities around it can make it so that I can't even move," Clark explained.
"Well, that was fun. Now that my boyfriend has just confessed the one thing that makes him vulnerable, I think we can go now," Chloe said.
Clark put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "Let me grab some things and we can leave."