"Clark? Are you awake?"
Clark pulled the blanket off his face. He'd woken up to find himself burrowed in a sea of covers, but had decided to enjoy the cozy warmth for a bit longer before trying to get out of bed. He sat up at the sound of his father's knock, and was pleased to notice the room didn't spin when he moved.
"Yeah, Dad, c'mon in."
Jonathan opened the door with one hand, balancing a tray with his other.
He nodded approvingly at his son.
"You look a lot better this morning."
"At least I'm not dizzy any more. I guess sleeping in my own bed helped."
He glanced down as his father set the tray on the bed.
"Oatmeal? Dad, I'm not a baby."
Jonathan sat down as well.
"I know you're not, but you need to eat something. And oatmeal's good for you, so eat up."
Clark shook his head, but picked up a spoon. His was a little chagrined to see someone-his mother, probably-had decorated the lumpy gray surface with raisins in the shape of a smiley face. He rolled his eyes, but kept his comments to himself.
His father watched him eat in silence for a few minutes.
"Have any of your powers returned yet?"
"I don't think so. I still don't feel right. It's weird, Dad-my powers make me different, but without them."
"You feel strange, too. I know, son. You've had them all you life-of course it seems strange without them."
Clark nodded and rubbed his shoulder. He wondered if the wound had healed yet, if his body would be able to purge itself of the meteor rocks, or if he'd always be like this. Being without powers was one thing, but being so weak and tired he didn't want to get out of bed.he couldn't imagine staying like that for very long.
"You mother and I had a long talk last night," his father continued. "We think it would be all right if Jenna says for a few days, just until you're up and around."
Clark licked the back of his spoon and tossed it back in the empty bowl.
"Good. I'd go crazy if something happened to you or Mom and I couldn't help either of you."
At the sound of a car engine Jonathan glanced out Clark's bedroom window, and smiled.
"Looks like you have visitors, son. It's Pete's car."
Clark stuffed another pillow behind his back so he could sit up straighter.
"Pete's a good friend."
His father, still looking out the window, grinned at him. "You might not think so in a minute-he's brought Lana with him."
"What?" Clark tried to get out of bed and promptly lost his balance. His father caught him before he hit the floor.
"Easy, son, easy." Jonathan helped Clark back into bed. "I won't let them come up here if it bothers you so much."
"I just don't want Lana to see me like this." But after a moment he sighed. "Still, she came all this way to see me."
"And it would be rude to disappoint her." Clark could tell his father was trying hard not to laugh.
He glanced down at his boxers. "Dad, hand me some sweatpants or something, would you?"
Clark hastily pulled on a t-shirt and sweats as his father went downstairs to greet his friends. He smoothed his hair, hoping he didn't look as bad as he felt. If he did, Lana would probably run screaming in the other direction.
He pulled the blankets back up to his chest just as he heard their footsteps on the stairs.
"Hey, man." Pete's smiling face appeared around the edge of the half- open door. "Can we come in?"
"Sure, Pete." Clark tried to look cool and nonchalant-hard to do when he was grungy and sick, but he did his best.
"Hi, Clark." Lana appeared behind Pete. "We thought we would drop in before class."
Lana glanced around at the room.
"I've never been up here before. This is nice."
Pete winked at Clark, who shifted uncomfortably. He'd thought of a couple scenarios in which Lana Lang was in his room, but this wasn't one of them.
"Pete says you were in Metropolis when you got sick." Lana looked at him sympathetically. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Yeah, better, I guess. Although I probably won't be in school this week."
Pete laughed. "Lucky you."
"I can get your assignments, if you want," Lana offered.
"Thanks, that's really nice of you."
Lana blushed slightly. "No big deal. I do the same thing for Chloe all the time."
Clark frowned slightly. "Chloe didn't want to come with you guys?"
Pete opened his mouth, but Lana jumped in first.
"She had to go into the Torch offices really early. She said she hopes you're feeling better and she'll bring you some CDs if you get really bored."
"Oh. OK." Clark was a little puzzled-Chloe was usually the first one over at his house when anything happened. He would have thought she would have at least dropped in to see if he was all right.
"Hey, listen I need to ask your mom something before Lana and I head off to school," Pete said rather abruptly. "I'll come back after classes and keep you company, man."
"You don't have to do that."
"Nah, it'll give me a chance to brush up my Playstation skills." Pete winked again as he left the room.
"I'll be with you in a second," Lana called after him. She shot Clark a knowing look.
"You know, Clark, it seems a little weird that you would go to Metropolis and not tell anyone. I mean, you don't have to tell me, but you usually tell Chloe everything."
"No I don't," he protested.
Lana sighed. "Clark, I didn't come here to fight, really. I was worried about you."
For the first time Clark felt genuinely embarrassed about what he had done. He knew he'd frightened his parents, and risked his own life, and probably Jenna's as well. But he really hadn't thought about the worry he'd caused his friends.
"I'm sorry," he said honestly. "I guess I didn't think, huh?"
"Yeah, well, I guess we didn't need to worry. Clark Kent always knows what he's doing, right?"
Clark winced slightly at Lana's tone.
"Uh, yeah. Right. Always."
***********************************
"So who do you work for?"
Jenna glanced up from the pail of chicken feed in her hand. Even though she'd insisted that eggs came from the store and that was all she wanted to know about them, Mrs. Kent had shown her how to gather them. She had to admit chickens were kind of cute, in a beady-eyed kind of way. She'd even, to her great surprise, volunteered to feed them.
The young man on the other side of the fence was looking at her with an expression of open curiosity.
"So, who is it? FBI? CIA? STAR Labs?"
Jenna dumped out the rest of the feed on the ground and stepped back though the wire mesh door of the enclosure. She made sure to lock it securely, just as Mrs. Kent had admonished.
"You must be Pete Ross," she said as she started walking back to the house.
"I am." The kid grinned widely as he followed.
"Look, I don't know what Clark told you, but I don't 'work' for anyone."
"Oh, c'mon, you must. I mean, you rescued Clark, right?"
"Only because he got himself into trouble." She shot him a warning glance. "I don't want to talk about this with you."
She sat down on the porch steps.
The boy actually looked disappointed. "Geez, I was just wondering. That seems kind of a waste. People like you and Clark should team up, don't you think?"
"No, I don't think." Jenna knew Pete didn't mean any harm, but the conversation was making her more uncomfortable by the minute. He seemed to think she should have some kind of special outfit and a decoder ring or something. And she found that really annoying.
"No good deed goes unpunished," she muttered to herself under her breath.
The screen door behind them opened and closed with a squeak, and Jenna glanced over her shoulder. She was a bit surprised to see a beautiful girl with long dark hair standing there, mainly because the girl was looking daggers at her and Jenna didn't know why.
Pete jumped to his feet.
"Hey, Lana, this is Jenna Iverson. I told you about her, remember? The friend who brought Clark home? This is Lana Lang. She and Clark go way back."
Pete was looking at her rather pointedly, so Jenna cleared her throat and smiled.
"Uh, yeah. Brought him home. Right. He's a nice kid."
"Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise." Jenna wasn't fooled: she could tell Lana Lang was about as happy to meet her as she had been earlier to meet the chickens.
"Well, we'd better get going if we're going to be in time for homeroom," Pete said cheerfully, steering the girl back towards his blue Camaro.
Jenna couldn't help but feel relieved when the car drove off, taking the irritated Miss Lang with it. In Jenna's experience, Lana's expression had been that of a jealous girlfriend, but surely Pete would have mentioned that.
She'd have to ask Clark what was going on between him and Lana Lang. But first she's promised to help Mr. Kent stack hay bales in the barn. He hadn't asked for her help, actually-seeing the size of the bales Jenna had volunteered. Mr. Kent had seemed reluctant to accept, but since they'd put her up for the night she'd insisted it was the least she could do. Especially since Clark would be out of commission for a while.
"No," Jenna said again to herself as she crossed the grass separating the house from the barn, "good deeds definitely do NOT go unpunished." ****************************************
Chloe poked at the macaroni and cheese on her lunch tray. It looked almost edible today, but she really wasn't in the mood to eat anything.
"Feeling guilty?"
She glanced across the table at Pete and frowned.
"What should I feel guilty about?"
Pete set down his sandwich. "Oh, I dunno. Refusing to see your old buddy Clark this morning, for starters."
"Look, like I told Lana, I had to come in early. I had work to do."
Pete just grinned. "Uh huh."
Chloe sighed and pushed away the uneaten entrée. All around them the cafeteria buzzed with laughter, but Chloe didn't feel much like laughing, either. Although she would never in a million years have admitted it, even to Pete, she did feel guilty. But the last thing she had been willing to do was rush to Clark's side. Again. No, she'd been down that road, and she wasn't about to go down it again.
"I'll call Clark when I get home tonight, ok? Besides, he isn't really that sick. Right?"
"His mom said he'll probably be out of school all week. But he seemed ok. Walking wounded, I'd say."
"Well, then there was no reason to rush over there, was there?"
Pete shook his head, and turned his attention back to lunch.
Chloe grabbed the tray and stalked over to the trashcan. She dumped her uneaten lunch and then snatched her bag off the chair.
"I'm going to get back to work," she told Pete firmly.
Yes, work. Work was good.
Clark would be fine; Pete had said so.
And Clark had gotten to see Lana. That was more important to him anyway. And never mind that Chloe had done all that background work on Jenna Iverson for him-no, Clark had run off to Metropolis without her.
She wasn't really sure which bothered her more.
Since the halls were still empty, Chloe took the opportunity to slam the door to her office extra hard.
***********************************
Lana refilled the small bucket with hot water and carefully poured it into the espresso machine. Technically the expensive piece of Italian equipment was self-cleaning, but Lana liked to be sure. The last thing her business needed was to be accused of serving stale-tasting coffee.
Besides, the work made her feel a little bit better. As the machine cycled through the clean water, Lana attacked the counter with a damp, soapy sponge.
She'd sat through her own classes, collected all of Clark's homework, as she'd promised, and even sat through a meeting about possible yearbook themes before going in to work. But she still felt troubled.
As she scrubbed hard at a sticky spot, she had to admit the whole thing was kind of stupid. So Clark had a girl at his house. So what? So what if she was pretty and tall and Pete said she'd been taking care of Clark.
That is so none of your business, Lana, she scolded herself. He's not your boyfriend. Besides, Clark's parents are there, and there's no way Mr. and Mrs. Kent would let any hanky-panky go on under their roof.
Hanky panky. Lana shook her head. Great. Now she sounded like Aunt Nell.
"Careful, Lana-you'll scrub right through that imported tile if you're not careful."
She looked up to find Lex standing there.
"Oh, hey, Lex. Just doing a little spring cleaning."
"This time of year?" Lex's smiled was bemused.
Lana grabbed the carafe full of water from the espresso machine and dumped it into the sink.
"It's a good way to work out my frustrations."
"Really. Considering my father showed up this morning I'll have to remember that."
Lana had to smile. The whole town knew about Lex's problems with his father. But she knew perfectly well her boss had never picked up a sponge in his life, and that he wasn't about to start now.
"Can I get you anything? The espresso machine's being cleaned but I could make you an iced latte. Or some tea."
Lex shuddered slightly. "Tea is a little too reminiscent of my boarding school days. Iced coffee would be fine, though. Actually, I was wondering if you've heard from Clark lately. I haven't seen him around."
"Pete and I saw him this morning. He's been out sick all week."
"Really. I didn't think Clark got sick."
"No, he got really sick last month, remember? When Mrs. Kent was in the hospital?"
"Besides that, I mean."
Lana got the pitcher of iced coffee out the minifridge under the counter and filled two mugs halfway with milk. Then she added the coffee and pushed one across the clean counter to Lex.
"It's the dumbest thing, really," Lana told him as she poured sugar into her own drink. "Apparently he went in to Metropolis with telling anyone. He got sick there, and some friend of his had to take care of him."
Lex sipped his drink thoughtfully. "I didn't know Clark knew anyone in Metropolis."
"I didn't either," Lana sighed, as bit more wistfully than she'd intended.
Lex picked up on her tone instantly. "I take it this 'friend' of Clark's is female?"
Lana immediately corrected herself. "I don't think Jenna's that kind of friend. The Kent's are letting her stay with them."
Lex raised his eyebrows.
"Jenna?"
"Yeah, Jenna, uh," Lana laughed. "Sorry, I forgot her last name. Robertson, or something like that."
"Iverson?"
It was Lana's turn to raise her eyebrows. "That's it. Do you know her?"
"I know of her." He smiled sympathetically at her. "I wouldn't worry about it, Lana-you're probably right that she's not his girlfriend."
Lana quickly turned to put the milk away.
"Of course she's not. She's twenty-one if she's a day. Besides, it isn't any of my business."
"If you say so, Lana," Lex shrugged.
Lana rolled her eyes. Lex had always had a thing about trying to push her and Clark together. Granted, there had been a few moments where she'd thought she'd really connected with Clark, but the timing had just never worked out.
Her boss was still watching her with that knowing look of his, so she made sure to smile.
"I'm going to go back to the kitchen and get to work on refrigerator. There's some things in there the Department of Health probably shouldn't see. Holler if you need anything else."
She left Lex standing at the counter.
**********************************
"Clark, are you sure you don't want more soup? Or I can fix you a grilled cheese if you'd like."
"Mom, stop fussing: I'm not that hungry," Clark protested feebily.
After spending most of the morning in bed he'd gotten bored enough to haul himself downstairs. Fortunately Jenna had been there to support his weight as he moved so he didn't fall. Clark had camped out on the couch in front of the television until Pete had gotten out of classes: then the two of them had played cards and video games to kill time.
Clark could tell Pete wanted to see Jenna again, maybe grill her some more about her abilities. But fortunately for her right after lunch Jenna had driven into Metropolis for a change of clothes and her toothbrush. Jonathan had gone with her to finally retrieve the family truck from the impound lot.
Clark still found it a little surprising his parents were willing to let her stay, but he had to admit he was more relieved than he had let on. All night he'd had these vague, menacing nightmares about dark figures chasing him down long corridors.
He didn't want to admit it, but he was afraid. Afraid of what was going to happen to him. Afraid of what might happen to his family if those men showed up again. Did regular people feel like this all the time? How did they get on with their lives? The one time he's temporarily lost his powers he'd actually kind of enjoyed being a normal teenager for a change. But being sick? What Pete had always said about it was true--it really sucked.
Now with his parents and Jenna at the dinner table Clark tried hard to push all of those feelings away and be cheerful.
"Anyway, I went back to my apartment to check my messages and everything looked normal there. And my Jeep was where I had left it," Jenna was explaining, "so I don't think whoever went after Clark is on to me."
"Are you sure those two men won't suddenly remember you?" Martha asked as she passed the salad.
"Nope. That's how it works. They're probably still trying to figure out what they were doing in that part of town in the pouring rain."
"It's like that old radio show," Jonathan nodded.
Clark looked at his father. "Uh, care to enlighten the rest of us?"
"Your grandfather loved it when he was a kid, so one Christmas I bought him the series on tape. 'Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.' That was his power-clouding men's minds. Like Jenna here can do."
"I like to think I'm not so melodramatic about it," she protested.
"Wasn't that a crappy movie with Alec Baldwin?" Clark asked.
"One of the Baldwins, anyway," Jenna nodded.
Headlight swept through the darkened windows, and Jonathan stood up to look out the kitchen window.
"Who is it, honey?" Martha asked.
Jonathan frowned. "I don't know-I don't recognize the car." He shot his son a stern look. "Clark, you and your mother stay here."
He opened the screen door and flipped on the porch light, stepping out into the near dark.
The other three people in the room quickly stood up and followed him. Clark had to admit his heart was beating faster, but whether that was from the exertion or from fear he wasn't sure.
Jonathan looked exasperated when all three of them crowded around him, but he gestured to the silver sedan in the driveway. They all watched as a man in a suit got out and approached the porch.
"Hold it right there, friend." Jonathan Kent sounded casual, but Clark knew the calmer his father sounded the more dangerous he was. "Can I help you?"
The man was middle-aged, medium height, medium build-definitely not a hired goon. But he certainly looked like someone who might be working for Summerholt in some other capacity. The man squinted into the light from the doorway as if his eyesight wasn't very good.
Behind Clark Jenna chuckled. She laid a hand on his arm.
"It's all right, Clark. We can trust him."
Martha looked over at the young woman.
"How do you know that?"
Jenna smiled.
"Because he's my father."
Clark pulled the blanket off his face. He'd woken up to find himself burrowed in a sea of covers, but had decided to enjoy the cozy warmth for a bit longer before trying to get out of bed. He sat up at the sound of his father's knock, and was pleased to notice the room didn't spin when he moved.
"Yeah, Dad, c'mon in."
Jonathan opened the door with one hand, balancing a tray with his other.
He nodded approvingly at his son.
"You look a lot better this morning."
"At least I'm not dizzy any more. I guess sleeping in my own bed helped."
He glanced down as his father set the tray on the bed.
"Oatmeal? Dad, I'm not a baby."
Jonathan sat down as well.
"I know you're not, but you need to eat something. And oatmeal's good for you, so eat up."
Clark shook his head, but picked up a spoon. His was a little chagrined to see someone-his mother, probably-had decorated the lumpy gray surface with raisins in the shape of a smiley face. He rolled his eyes, but kept his comments to himself.
His father watched him eat in silence for a few minutes.
"Have any of your powers returned yet?"
"I don't think so. I still don't feel right. It's weird, Dad-my powers make me different, but without them."
"You feel strange, too. I know, son. You've had them all you life-of course it seems strange without them."
Clark nodded and rubbed his shoulder. He wondered if the wound had healed yet, if his body would be able to purge itself of the meteor rocks, or if he'd always be like this. Being without powers was one thing, but being so weak and tired he didn't want to get out of bed.he couldn't imagine staying like that for very long.
"You mother and I had a long talk last night," his father continued. "We think it would be all right if Jenna says for a few days, just until you're up and around."
Clark licked the back of his spoon and tossed it back in the empty bowl.
"Good. I'd go crazy if something happened to you or Mom and I couldn't help either of you."
At the sound of a car engine Jonathan glanced out Clark's bedroom window, and smiled.
"Looks like you have visitors, son. It's Pete's car."
Clark stuffed another pillow behind his back so he could sit up straighter.
"Pete's a good friend."
His father, still looking out the window, grinned at him. "You might not think so in a minute-he's brought Lana with him."
"What?" Clark tried to get out of bed and promptly lost his balance. His father caught him before he hit the floor.
"Easy, son, easy." Jonathan helped Clark back into bed. "I won't let them come up here if it bothers you so much."
"I just don't want Lana to see me like this." But after a moment he sighed. "Still, she came all this way to see me."
"And it would be rude to disappoint her." Clark could tell his father was trying hard not to laugh.
He glanced down at his boxers. "Dad, hand me some sweatpants or something, would you?"
Clark hastily pulled on a t-shirt and sweats as his father went downstairs to greet his friends. He smoothed his hair, hoping he didn't look as bad as he felt. If he did, Lana would probably run screaming in the other direction.
He pulled the blankets back up to his chest just as he heard their footsteps on the stairs.
"Hey, man." Pete's smiling face appeared around the edge of the half- open door. "Can we come in?"
"Sure, Pete." Clark tried to look cool and nonchalant-hard to do when he was grungy and sick, but he did his best.
"Hi, Clark." Lana appeared behind Pete. "We thought we would drop in before class."
Lana glanced around at the room.
"I've never been up here before. This is nice."
Pete winked at Clark, who shifted uncomfortably. He'd thought of a couple scenarios in which Lana Lang was in his room, but this wasn't one of them.
"Pete says you were in Metropolis when you got sick." Lana looked at him sympathetically. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Yeah, better, I guess. Although I probably won't be in school this week."
Pete laughed. "Lucky you."
"I can get your assignments, if you want," Lana offered.
"Thanks, that's really nice of you."
Lana blushed slightly. "No big deal. I do the same thing for Chloe all the time."
Clark frowned slightly. "Chloe didn't want to come with you guys?"
Pete opened his mouth, but Lana jumped in first.
"She had to go into the Torch offices really early. She said she hopes you're feeling better and she'll bring you some CDs if you get really bored."
"Oh. OK." Clark was a little puzzled-Chloe was usually the first one over at his house when anything happened. He would have thought she would have at least dropped in to see if he was all right.
"Hey, listen I need to ask your mom something before Lana and I head off to school," Pete said rather abruptly. "I'll come back after classes and keep you company, man."
"You don't have to do that."
"Nah, it'll give me a chance to brush up my Playstation skills." Pete winked again as he left the room.
"I'll be with you in a second," Lana called after him. She shot Clark a knowing look.
"You know, Clark, it seems a little weird that you would go to Metropolis and not tell anyone. I mean, you don't have to tell me, but you usually tell Chloe everything."
"No I don't," he protested.
Lana sighed. "Clark, I didn't come here to fight, really. I was worried about you."
For the first time Clark felt genuinely embarrassed about what he had done. He knew he'd frightened his parents, and risked his own life, and probably Jenna's as well. But he really hadn't thought about the worry he'd caused his friends.
"I'm sorry," he said honestly. "I guess I didn't think, huh?"
"Yeah, well, I guess we didn't need to worry. Clark Kent always knows what he's doing, right?"
Clark winced slightly at Lana's tone.
"Uh, yeah. Right. Always."
***********************************
"So who do you work for?"
Jenna glanced up from the pail of chicken feed in her hand. Even though she'd insisted that eggs came from the store and that was all she wanted to know about them, Mrs. Kent had shown her how to gather them. She had to admit chickens were kind of cute, in a beady-eyed kind of way. She'd even, to her great surprise, volunteered to feed them.
The young man on the other side of the fence was looking at her with an expression of open curiosity.
"So, who is it? FBI? CIA? STAR Labs?"
Jenna dumped out the rest of the feed on the ground and stepped back though the wire mesh door of the enclosure. She made sure to lock it securely, just as Mrs. Kent had admonished.
"You must be Pete Ross," she said as she started walking back to the house.
"I am." The kid grinned widely as he followed.
"Look, I don't know what Clark told you, but I don't 'work' for anyone."
"Oh, c'mon, you must. I mean, you rescued Clark, right?"
"Only because he got himself into trouble." She shot him a warning glance. "I don't want to talk about this with you."
She sat down on the porch steps.
The boy actually looked disappointed. "Geez, I was just wondering. That seems kind of a waste. People like you and Clark should team up, don't you think?"
"No, I don't think." Jenna knew Pete didn't mean any harm, but the conversation was making her more uncomfortable by the minute. He seemed to think she should have some kind of special outfit and a decoder ring or something. And she found that really annoying.
"No good deed goes unpunished," she muttered to herself under her breath.
The screen door behind them opened and closed with a squeak, and Jenna glanced over her shoulder. She was a bit surprised to see a beautiful girl with long dark hair standing there, mainly because the girl was looking daggers at her and Jenna didn't know why.
Pete jumped to his feet.
"Hey, Lana, this is Jenna Iverson. I told you about her, remember? The friend who brought Clark home? This is Lana Lang. She and Clark go way back."
Pete was looking at her rather pointedly, so Jenna cleared her throat and smiled.
"Uh, yeah. Brought him home. Right. He's a nice kid."
"Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise." Jenna wasn't fooled: she could tell Lana Lang was about as happy to meet her as she had been earlier to meet the chickens.
"Well, we'd better get going if we're going to be in time for homeroom," Pete said cheerfully, steering the girl back towards his blue Camaro.
Jenna couldn't help but feel relieved when the car drove off, taking the irritated Miss Lang with it. In Jenna's experience, Lana's expression had been that of a jealous girlfriend, but surely Pete would have mentioned that.
She'd have to ask Clark what was going on between him and Lana Lang. But first she's promised to help Mr. Kent stack hay bales in the barn. He hadn't asked for her help, actually-seeing the size of the bales Jenna had volunteered. Mr. Kent had seemed reluctant to accept, but since they'd put her up for the night she'd insisted it was the least she could do. Especially since Clark would be out of commission for a while.
"No," Jenna said again to herself as she crossed the grass separating the house from the barn, "good deeds definitely do NOT go unpunished." ****************************************
Chloe poked at the macaroni and cheese on her lunch tray. It looked almost edible today, but she really wasn't in the mood to eat anything.
"Feeling guilty?"
She glanced across the table at Pete and frowned.
"What should I feel guilty about?"
Pete set down his sandwich. "Oh, I dunno. Refusing to see your old buddy Clark this morning, for starters."
"Look, like I told Lana, I had to come in early. I had work to do."
Pete just grinned. "Uh huh."
Chloe sighed and pushed away the uneaten entrée. All around them the cafeteria buzzed with laughter, but Chloe didn't feel much like laughing, either. Although she would never in a million years have admitted it, even to Pete, she did feel guilty. But the last thing she had been willing to do was rush to Clark's side. Again. No, she'd been down that road, and she wasn't about to go down it again.
"I'll call Clark when I get home tonight, ok? Besides, he isn't really that sick. Right?"
"His mom said he'll probably be out of school all week. But he seemed ok. Walking wounded, I'd say."
"Well, then there was no reason to rush over there, was there?"
Pete shook his head, and turned his attention back to lunch.
Chloe grabbed the tray and stalked over to the trashcan. She dumped her uneaten lunch and then snatched her bag off the chair.
"I'm going to get back to work," she told Pete firmly.
Yes, work. Work was good.
Clark would be fine; Pete had said so.
And Clark had gotten to see Lana. That was more important to him anyway. And never mind that Chloe had done all that background work on Jenna Iverson for him-no, Clark had run off to Metropolis without her.
She wasn't really sure which bothered her more.
Since the halls were still empty, Chloe took the opportunity to slam the door to her office extra hard.
***********************************
Lana refilled the small bucket with hot water and carefully poured it into the espresso machine. Technically the expensive piece of Italian equipment was self-cleaning, but Lana liked to be sure. The last thing her business needed was to be accused of serving stale-tasting coffee.
Besides, the work made her feel a little bit better. As the machine cycled through the clean water, Lana attacked the counter with a damp, soapy sponge.
She'd sat through her own classes, collected all of Clark's homework, as she'd promised, and even sat through a meeting about possible yearbook themes before going in to work. But she still felt troubled.
As she scrubbed hard at a sticky spot, she had to admit the whole thing was kind of stupid. So Clark had a girl at his house. So what? So what if she was pretty and tall and Pete said she'd been taking care of Clark.
That is so none of your business, Lana, she scolded herself. He's not your boyfriend. Besides, Clark's parents are there, and there's no way Mr. and Mrs. Kent would let any hanky-panky go on under their roof.
Hanky panky. Lana shook her head. Great. Now she sounded like Aunt Nell.
"Careful, Lana-you'll scrub right through that imported tile if you're not careful."
She looked up to find Lex standing there.
"Oh, hey, Lex. Just doing a little spring cleaning."
"This time of year?" Lex's smiled was bemused.
Lana grabbed the carafe full of water from the espresso machine and dumped it into the sink.
"It's a good way to work out my frustrations."
"Really. Considering my father showed up this morning I'll have to remember that."
Lana had to smile. The whole town knew about Lex's problems with his father. But she knew perfectly well her boss had never picked up a sponge in his life, and that he wasn't about to start now.
"Can I get you anything? The espresso machine's being cleaned but I could make you an iced latte. Or some tea."
Lex shuddered slightly. "Tea is a little too reminiscent of my boarding school days. Iced coffee would be fine, though. Actually, I was wondering if you've heard from Clark lately. I haven't seen him around."
"Pete and I saw him this morning. He's been out sick all week."
"Really. I didn't think Clark got sick."
"No, he got really sick last month, remember? When Mrs. Kent was in the hospital?"
"Besides that, I mean."
Lana got the pitcher of iced coffee out the minifridge under the counter and filled two mugs halfway with milk. Then she added the coffee and pushed one across the clean counter to Lex.
"It's the dumbest thing, really," Lana told him as she poured sugar into her own drink. "Apparently he went in to Metropolis with telling anyone. He got sick there, and some friend of his had to take care of him."
Lex sipped his drink thoughtfully. "I didn't know Clark knew anyone in Metropolis."
"I didn't either," Lana sighed, as bit more wistfully than she'd intended.
Lex picked up on her tone instantly. "I take it this 'friend' of Clark's is female?"
Lana immediately corrected herself. "I don't think Jenna's that kind of friend. The Kent's are letting her stay with them."
Lex raised his eyebrows.
"Jenna?"
"Yeah, Jenna, uh," Lana laughed. "Sorry, I forgot her last name. Robertson, or something like that."
"Iverson?"
It was Lana's turn to raise her eyebrows. "That's it. Do you know her?"
"I know of her." He smiled sympathetically at her. "I wouldn't worry about it, Lana-you're probably right that she's not his girlfriend."
Lana quickly turned to put the milk away.
"Of course she's not. She's twenty-one if she's a day. Besides, it isn't any of my business."
"If you say so, Lana," Lex shrugged.
Lana rolled her eyes. Lex had always had a thing about trying to push her and Clark together. Granted, there had been a few moments where she'd thought she'd really connected with Clark, but the timing had just never worked out.
Her boss was still watching her with that knowing look of his, so she made sure to smile.
"I'm going to go back to the kitchen and get to work on refrigerator. There's some things in there the Department of Health probably shouldn't see. Holler if you need anything else."
She left Lex standing at the counter.
**********************************
"Clark, are you sure you don't want more soup? Or I can fix you a grilled cheese if you'd like."
"Mom, stop fussing: I'm not that hungry," Clark protested feebily.
After spending most of the morning in bed he'd gotten bored enough to haul himself downstairs. Fortunately Jenna had been there to support his weight as he moved so he didn't fall. Clark had camped out on the couch in front of the television until Pete had gotten out of classes: then the two of them had played cards and video games to kill time.
Clark could tell Pete wanted to see Jenna again, maybe grill her some more about her abilities. But fortunately for her right after lunch Jenna had driven into Metropolis for a change of clothes and her toothbrush. Jonathan had gone with her to finally retrieve the family truck from the impound lot.
Clark still found it a little surprising his parents were willing to let her stay, but he had to admit he was more relieved than he had let on. All night he'd had these vague, menacing nightmares about dark figures chasing him down long corridors.
He didn't want to admit it, but he was afraid. Afraid of what was going to happen to him. Afraid of what might happen to his family if those men showed up again. Did regular people feel like this all the time? How did they get on with their lives? The one time he's temporarily lost his powers he'd actually kind of enjoyed being a normal teenager for a change. But being sick? What Pete had always said about it was true--it really sucked.
Now with his parents and Jenna at the dinner table Clark tried hard to push all of those feelings away and be cheerful.
"Anyway, I went back to my apartment to check my messages and everything looked normal there. And my Jeep was where I had left it," Jenna was explaining, "so I don't think whoever went after Clark is on to me."
"Are you sure those two men won't suddenly remember you?" Martha asked as she passed the salad.
"Nope. That's how it works. They're probably still trying to figure out what they were doing in that part of town in the pouring rain."
"It's like that old radio show," Jonathan nodded.
Clark looked at his father. "Uh, care to enlighten the rest of us?"
"Your grandfather loved it when he was a kid, so one Christmas I bought him the series on tape. 'Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.' That was his power-clouding men's minds. Like Jenna here can do."
"I like to think I'm not so melodramatic about it," she protested.
"Wasn't that a crappy movie with Alec Baldwin?" Clark asked.
"One of the Baldwins, anyway," Jenna nodded.
Headlight swept through the darkened windows, and Jonathan stood up to look out the kitchen window.
"Who is it, honey?" Martha asked.
Jonathan frowned. "I don't know-I don't recognize the car." He shot his son a stern look. "Clark, you and your mother stay here."
He opened the screen door and flipped on the porch light, stepping out into the near dark.
The other three people in the room quickly stood up and followed him. Clark had to admit his heart was beating faster, but whether that was from the exertion or from fear he wasn't sure.
Jonathan looked exasperated when all three of them crowded around him, but he gestured to the silver sedan in the driveway. They all watched as a man in a suit got out and approached the porch.
"Hold it right there, friend." Jonathan Kent sounded casual, but Clark knew the calmer his father sounded the more dangerous he was. "Can I help you?"
The man was middle-aged, medium height, medium build-definitely not a hired goon. But he certainly looked like someone who might be working for Summerholt in some other capacity. The man squinted into the light from the doorway as if his eyesight wasn't very good.
Behind Clark Jenna chuckled. She laid a hand on his arm.
"It's all right, Clark. We can trust him."
Martha looked over at the young woman.
"How do you know that?"
Jenna smiled.
"Because he's my father."