Pacing in the family kitchen, Clark swings around and knocks the phone off the counter. He half pounces on the handset and checks to make sure the phone has a dial tone. He doesn't want his dad to stay a full night in jail.

Then he hears keys turning in the lock.

"Dad?"

He rushes over and throws open the door.

Martha smiles at her son. "Clark." She knows immediately something is wrong. "Clark, what's happened?"

"Nothing."

"Where's your father?"

"Out checking on the cows." Clark is not a good liar but this one comes naturally. He shuts the door and squirms a little under his mother's gaze before asking, "How was Metropolis?"

"The meeting went well."

Just then there is a scraping sound and Clark slings open the door. Jonathan Kent, clutching his stomach with one arm, leans against the door facing.

"Jonathan!" Martha rushes toward him as he stumbles inside. Exhausted, he tries to smile at her but all she notices are the angry red and blue bruises on his throat. "What happened?"

"Nothing." He drags himself inside and with a great deal of effort straightens.

"Nothing? Clark, what happened?" Martha turns on her son who merely blinks at her. Shaking her head, she steps back and notices a pair of women's panties caught in Jonathan's boot. "Nothing?" She reaches around her husband and retrieves the undergarments. "These are nothing?"

"Those are Chloe's." Clark offers none too helpfully.

Martha tries to process the information. "What?"

Clark rambles, "Chloe gotta hold of tapes that Nixon had of me. And I went to talk to her at The Torch while Dad broke into her house to get the tapes."

Martha's jaw drops. "Did Gabe know it was you?"

"Ahm, no lights were on. And Gabe wasn't home."

"Chloe beat you up?" Clark asks.

"It's not like I could fight back." Jonathan immediately changes the subject. "You promised me Clark that you'd keep her at the school for an hour."

"I know, but she…" Clark trails off. He stands there studying both his parents. "She said she was taking the tapes to Lex."

"What?"

"Why would she give the tapes to Lex?" Martha touches Clark's arm. "It's Chloe. She'd go straight to the newspapers with her story. Why go through the Luthor's?"

"I don't know, Mom. That's what she told me. She gave me a chance to tell Lex first." Clark falters. "I think I should."

"No!" Jonathan almost doubles over.

"Help me get your father up to bed Clark. We'll talk about this in the morning."

Clark moves around his father and half-carries him toward the stairs.