Thanks to all you that have reviewed my story so far. :)

Chapter Seven: Forgiven or just Forgotten?

Clark walked in the front door of the Kent house and looked around. "Annie? Where are you?" No answer. The house was silent.

"Mom! Dad!" he hurried out the door and walked over to the barn. Still, he found no one. That worried him.

Suddenly a car horn honked outside. Clark hurried out of the barn to find Martha, Jonathan and Annie getting of the car, carrying large store bags. "Where have you guys been?" asked Clark.

"We took Annie shopping for clothes." Martha said, smiling. "And a hair cut."

Annie twirled around Clark, showing off her new jeans and light blue t-shirt. "Well? What do you think?" Her once tangled light blondish/brown hair was now cut in a stylish, shoulder length bob.

"You look nice." Clark said. "Um, could I talk to you in private?"

"Sure." Annie replied. She followed him to the barn while Martha and Jonathan went into the house. "Is something wrong?"

Clark held out the copy of the 'Daily Planet' to her. "Here. Read this."

"Read what? Clark, what are you..." her voice trailed off as her eyes landed on the 'Staten Labs' murder and the picture of Ben Johnson. "That's the guy from..." she looked up at Clark, who was staring at her intently. "I don't understand."

"Look how he died." Clark pointed to the paper. "By electrocution. Can you explain that?"

Annie shook her head. "Clark, I didn't do this."

"How do you know? You can't remember, so you say." Clark said.

Annie looked at the picture again. "Your right. I can't remember. I wish I did! What if I did kill him?"

"Well, I sure we'll learn as soon as you get your memory back." Clark said. He looked at her, unsure.

"You don't believe me do you?" Annie asked. "No, I can tell by your eyes that you think I'm lying." she tucked the paper in her back pocket and started toward the house.

Clark followed her. "Are you?" he asked.

"No! I really can't remember much of anything."

"All right. Then I believe you."

Annie looked at him. "Do you?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah, I do. Anyway, you don't look like a killer."

"I don't? And just what does a killer look like, Clark?" she looked at him. "Did you ever talk to that friend of yours about 'Staten Labs'?"

"Chloe? Yeah, she said that-." he stopped talking. "Oh, no! Chloe! I was suppose to meet her at the 'Talon' but I left before she got there. I did it again!" he hurried into the house and went straight to the phone to call Chloe.

Annie went to the kitchen where Martha and Jonathan were getting lunch ready. "Can I help with anything?"

Martha shook her head. "No. We have it all taken care of. Just sit down and lunch will be ready in a minute."

Annie pulled the paper from her pocket and sat down at the kitchen table. "I-um..." she started. Martha and Jonathan turned around.

"What the matter?" asked Jonathan. "Are you remembering something?"

Annie shook her head. "No. I...have to show you something." she handed the paper to Jonathan. Martha read over his shoulder. "Now, I don't remember anything about this. I don't know if I killed him or not." Annie added.

Martha sat down in the chair beside her. "Well..." she really didn't know what to say. "If you did do it..." her voice trailed off as Clark came into the kitchen.

"I going over to Chloe's. She said she had some information about 'Staten Labs'." he said.

"But Clark, what about your lunch?" asked Martha. She pointed to the plate of sandwiches on the table.

"I'll take it with me. I really have to get to Chloe's now. I owe it to her to get there as fast as I can."

"Can I go?" asked Annie.

"Not today, Annie. Let me see what I can find out first. But I promise I'll introduce you to my friends soon." he grabbed a sandwich and hurried out the door.

"If you ask me that was..." Annie's voice trailed off as something flashed into her mind. "A room." she muttered.

"What?" Jonathan asked.

"I'm in a small locked room with only a bed. It's almost completely dark. I knock and knock on the door to get out. But no one comes. I can't get out." she looked at Martha and Jonathan. "Nobody will let me out."

"Hey Clark." Chloe said as she opened her front door. "Come in."

"Thanks." Clark stepped inside and into the bare living room. "Wow. You've really cleaned this place out."

"Yeah. My dad's upstairs, working on his room now. We are leaving in four days you know." Chloe lead Clark upstairs to her room. "Pete's here. His in my room which, thankfully, is still intact."

Pete was sitting at Chloe's desk, typing on her computer. He glanced up as they came in. "Hey Clark. I haven't seen you all week."

"I called over to your house several times but your mom said you were asleep every time." Clark smiled. "Are you feeling better?"

Pete nodded. "I'm doing great. I've never been so glad to get out of my house in my life. I thought my mom would run me crazy! Every five minutes she was in my room, shoving a thermometer in my mouth."

Clark laughed. "Well, I'm glad your better."

Chloe reached over her desk and pulled some papers out of the drawer. "Here's what I received so far about 'Staten Labs'." she thumbed through them. "It was closed down about a month ago for cruelty to animals. They apparently were doing all sorts of experiments and things to dogs, mice and horses." Chloe handed Clark the articles her friend had emailed her.

"Do you know what kind of experiments?" Clark asked.

Chloe shook her head. "I asked my friend the same question but he didn't know. So he's going to do some more research and email me as soon as he has any news. But 'Staten Labs' is known for doing weird things, like time travel, what kind of pressures animal kind can survive, and they even been experimenting with the meteor rocks."

Clark looked up from his reading. "Really? Interesting."

Clark opened the door to his house about an hour later to find Lana and Annie sitting in the living room, talking. "Lana? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the Talon?"

Lana stood up. "Nell took over for me. I wanted to see if you were okay. You left the Talon in such a hurry I knew something was up. But I've been talking to Annie and she's assured me everything was fine."

Clark looked at Annie who was looking from Lana to him. "Um, everything is fine. I just remembered something, that's all."

Lana smiled. "I'm glad."

Annie suddenly stood up. "I'll leave you two alone." she winked at Clark and left the room.

"I see you've gotten the farm almost fixed up." Lana said, sitting back down on the sofa.

Clark sat down beside her. "Yeah. It didn't take long once we cleaned up the front yard and replaced some boards."

"I've been thinking about what you said to me the other day." Lana said, suddenly. "About me not meant to die young. And I realized that you were right. I never thought how silly it was to think of you as my savoir and defender. Your always saving my life, after all."

Clark laughed. "Is that what thought of me? As your savior? Lana, I wish I was as great as you think I am. If I was, I could change the world."

Lana smiled. "I know how you feel. There are a lot of things I would change. Whitney for example."

"What would you change about Whitney?" asked Clark.

Lana thought about it a moment. "Well, I don't know if I would change Whitney exactly. Just our relationship."

Clark raised his eye brow. "Really?"

"Yes. I just wish I had told him how I feel before he left. I was going to but, somehow, I couldn't get the words out."

"I know how that feels." Clark said.

They looked at each other for a minute, then dropped their eyes to the floor.

"I better go," Lana stood up. "If I don't get back to the Talon, Nell will kill me. Bye Clark."

Clark followed her to the door and opened it for her. "Bye." he watched as Lana got into her car and drove away.

Annie snuck up beside Clark. "Did Lana leave?"

Clark nodded. "Yeah."

"So," Annie grinned. "You know what it feels like not to tell someone something, huh?"

Clark's eyes widened. "You were listening?"

Annie grinned a little wider. "Only the last parts. You like Lana, don't you?"

Clark walked past her so she wouldn't see the expression on his face. "We're just friends."

"You wouldn't be if you just opened your mouth." Annie crossed her arms over her chest. "You don't seem to have trouble opening your mouth any other time."

Clark just looked at her then turned and hurried up to his room.