On some level, she must have known. It was so painfully obvious, now that she looked back on it. But in retrospect, life is always so much more clear.

Lana lay unmoving on top of her bed, still made up from that morning. She made no effort to get undressed, or brush her hair, or even pull back the covers. She'd been home precisely an hour. Chloe was in her room studying, and Gabe was cooking a late dinner for himself in the kitchen. She'd yelled a greeting of some sort when she came in, but she could not recall if anyone had acknowledged it. She didn't care. No one would be disturbing her thoughts tonight. Which was good, because she had a lot to think about.

The walk home from the Kents' had been the longest one of her life. But when it was over, she could hardly remember if she'd thought about anything at all. Each time she recalled what had transpired at their house that evening she felt as if she was processing the information for the first time again.

'Clark is an alien,' she repeated again.

The bewilderment of those first few moments of enlightenment had not subsided yet.

It just wasn't possible. Except that it was. If it had been anyone else but Clark Kent, Lana would have found it utterly insane. But it was Clark, and it seemed to explain a lot of things. Like the twister, and all the other times he'd been there at just the right moment to save her. And all the secrets and lies.

She wanted to scream or cry or go out and do something crazy like get drunk or go sky-diving. Lana laughed out loud just thinking about it. She wasn't that person. She was calm and composed, no matter what. Wasn't she? All she knew was that she was done crying. She'd cried more in the last few weeks than she ever had before. It was starting to seem pathetic. 'Sure, my boyfriend's been lying to me for years, obviously doesn't trust me at all, and hasn't been seen or heard from in weeks, but whatever.' Suddenly, everything seemed so crazy it was almost funny. Lana sighed. 'If I don't deal with this, there won't be anything left of me when Clark gets back. If he gets back.' Lana shrugged away the thought.

She knew she should be more upset. 'I just found out my boyfriend's an extraterrestrial. Hmm, maybe I'm going into shock.' Or maybe, the whole point it's just not that shocking when you really think about it.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling deep in the pit of her stomach that something bad was going to happen.

Lana sat, lost inside her own head. She was trying to make sense of something she could not explain rationally. Normally, if she had a problem she needed help with, she'd go to Clark. But this time, this was not an option. Finally, she closed her eyes, forced herself to turn off her mind and slept.