INT. KENT FARM – CLARK'S LOFT
Clark sits in the window of his loft staring out at the clear night sky. Chloe comes up behind him with a blanket, placing it over his shoulders. She kisses him on the cheek and rests her head on his shoulder, looking up at the stars with him.
CLARK I keep closing my eyes and hoping that if I try hard enough, if I really think about them and see them in my mind, maybe I'll open them up and see them walking down the driveway.
CHLOE
Me too.
CLARK One time it even worked. I was half way to him by the time I realized... by the time I woke up.
CHLOE
We're going to find them, Clark. We can't give up hope.
Clark shakes his head, knowing more than his hopeful counterpart.
CLARK I want to believe that Chloe. I really do. I just feel so...
CHLOE
Alone?
CLARK
Powerless.
Chloe nods.
CLARK Chloe... Do you believe in destiny?
CHLOE
Destiny?
She picks up her head and sits down in the window, facing him.
CLARK Do you believe that your life, everything you've done and everything you're going to do, has already been planned out, already set out in front of you?
CHLOE
I believe in choice. I believe in free will.
CLARK
But maybe choice, and free will, are just means to an end. Maybe...
He swallows.
CLARK
Maybe we all just have our roles that we were meant to play. Maybe our lives are just us playing our roles the way we're supposed to.
CHLOE
Would that be such a terrible thing?
Clark looks at her, confused.
CLARK
It would mean that we aren't really free, that our lives aren't really our own. If everything we do, every choice we make is predetermined, if we are destined to live our lives a certain way, then what control do we have over anything? We're just... slaves to fate.
Chloe looks at Clark, who appears utterly dejected and beaten. She take his hand in hers.
CHLOE
I did a story a few months back for The Torch. A firefighter stands in front of a burning building. He looks up at a thick cloud of black smoke pouring from the windows, but he knows there are people inside. He knows that if he stands there and does nothing, those people will die.
He looks up at her, listening carefully.
CHLOE
That firefighter takes a picture out of his pocket and looks at it. It's a picture of his wife and two little children. It was taken on a vacation they took together during the summer. They're on the beach, sitting on a blanket, eating bologna sandwiches and Doritos. He looks back up at the building and realizes that if he goes in, he might not come back out. He might never see them again, and that vacation will be the last that his wife and his two kids will have had with their husband and father. What does he do?
It was a rhetorical question. She continues.
CHLOE
He kisses the picture three times, once for each of them, and then puts it back in his pocket. He grits his teeth, takes one last breath of fresh air, and runs inside. He had a choice to make and he chose to run inside that building, putting his own life at risk, for the sake of others. Now, why did he do it? Did he have control over the choice? Was he destined to go inside? Was there really a choice at all? Was it his fate?
She moves closer to him.
CHLOE
The question you should be asking yourself is, does it matter? Let's say his choice was predetermined. Let's say it was his destiny to go into that building, to risk his life for those people trapped inside. Does that take away anything from his decision to do so? Does it change the man, or what had to be done? If we are here, on this planet, just to fulfill some kind of predestined karma... does it make us any less, or change who we are?
CLARK But if it's all just words on a page, words that we can't change, what's the point?
CHLOE
If I've learned one thing from being a reporter it's that the story doesn't end with the words on the page, Clark. There's more to life than just the story.
He nods and thinks about what she said. She kisses him on the cheek and stands up.
CHLOE
I'm gonna go to bed.
CLARK
Okay...
She takes a few steps towards the stairs, putting her hands in her robe pockets, then turns back around, pulling something out of her right pocket.
CHLOE Wait... I almost forgot. When the Sheriff came by today, she gave us this.
Clark turns around. Chloe hands him the clear crystal.
CLARK
What is it?
CHLOE
I thought you'd know. She said to give it to your father if we saw him. I guess it belongs to him.
Clark examines it.
CLARK
I've never seen it before.
CHLOE
Maybe your mom will know.
Clark nods and palms it. Chloe turns back toward the steps.
CHLOE
Good night, Clark.
CLARK
Good night.
As Chloe starts down the steps, she passes Martha on her way up. She's carrying a thermos with her.
CHLOE
Good night, Mrs. Kent.
MARTHA
Good night, Chloe.
Martha stops at the top of the steps, looking across the way at her dejected son.
MARTHA
Clark, honey, it's late.
CLARK
I know, Mom. I'm not tired.
She doesn't buy it. She checks to make sure Chloe has left the barn before walking towards him.
MARTHA
Clark Joseph Kent, you're not fooling anyone. You may be super-human but you're not impervious to sleep deprivation.
CLARK I'll go to bed soon, Mom.
She frowns, then walks the thermos over to him. She unscrews the top and pours some soup into it.
MARTHA
Fine, then you can at least have some soup. It's got all fresh vegetables in it from the market. I bought them this morning.
Clark manages to offer her a smile as he takes the top with the soup in it from her. Just as he's about to sip it, though, he sneezes, instantly freezing the top and the contents inside. He shakes his head, turning it upside down and shaking it a little.
MARTHA
Still sneezing I see.
CLARK
I really hate that.
Clark concentrates on the top in his hand and gently starts heating it back up with his heat vision.
MARTHA
Be careful, you don't want to melt the plastic.
CLARK Don't worry, Mom, I know what I'm...
Something out the window draws Martha's attention and she drops the thermos.
MARTHA
Oh my god.
Her eyes wide and her mouth open, she stares out the window. Clark looks up at her.
CLARK
Mom? What is it?
He turns his attention out the window and looks down the driveway where, as if torn right out of his dream, Jonathan Kent comes walking down the driveway pushing Gabe Sullivan's wheelchair.
MARTHA
Jonathan...
CLARK
Dad...
Martha turns and runs for the stairs, Clark right behind her. He leaves the crystal behind on the window sill.
EXT. KENT FARM – NIGHT
Clark runs out of the barn now with Martha right behind him.
CLARK
Dad!
MARTHA Jonathan!
As they run down the driveway, the door to the porch opens, Chloe hearing the commotion from inside the house.
CHLOE
What's going on?
Chloe looks down the driveway and sees Jonathan pushing Gabe in the wheelchair.
CHLOE
Daddy... Daddy!
She leaps off the porch, completely bypassing the steps, and follows Clark and Martha down the driveway.
Jonathan looks tired, but overjoyed to be home. He steps out from behind the wheelchair and stretches his arms out.
CLARK Dad!
JONATHAN
Clark!
Clark is the first one there, and immediately throws his arms around his father. They share a hug which Martha soon joins.
MARTHA
Jonathan... Oh, Jonathan.
Tears streak down Martha's face as she holds on to her husband. Clark moves to allow his mother and father to kiss. Meanwhile, Chloe all but tackles her poor father in the wheelchair. She is also crying.
CHLOE
Daddy!
GABE SULLIVAN Chloe, baby... Oh, I missed you so much.
Also crying, Gabe kisses his little girl a hundred time on her face.
Jonathan has one arm around Clark and the other around Martha as the small family share a group embrace.
MARTHA
I was so worried. Thank God you're home.
Even Clark sheds a tear. A single droplet escapes from his eye and runs down his cheek.
JONATHAN
It's good to be home.
CLARK I missed you, Dad.
JONATHAN I missed you too, son. I missed you too.
INT. LEXCORP PLANT – LABORATORY
Doctor Victor Fries studies the remains of his fried Static Life Chamber, paying close attention to the Kryptonite distribution compartment. Carefully, he removes a burnt data chip from the compartment with a pair of needle pliers. A dark streak of anger ripples through his jaw line.
VICTOR FRIES
Sabotage!
Clark sits in the window of his loft staring out at the clear night sky. Chloe comes up behind him with a blanket, placing it over his shoulders. She kisses him on the cheek and rests her head on his shoulder, looking up at the stars with him.
CLARK I keep closing my eyes and hoping that if I try hard enough, if I really think about them and see them in my mind, maybe I'll open them up and see them walking down the driveway.
CHLOE
Me too.
CLARK One time it even worked. I was half way to him by the time I realized... by the time I woke up.
CHLOE
We're going to find them, Clark. We can't give up hope.
Clark shakes his head, knowing more than his hopeful counterpart.
CLARK I want to believe that Chloe. I really do. I just feel so...
CHLOE
Alone?
CLARK
Powerless.
Chloe nods.
CLARK Chloe... Do you believe in destiny?
CHLOE
Destiny?
She picks up her head and sits down in the window, facing him.
CLARK Do you believe that your life, everything you've done and everything you're going to do, has already been planned out, already set out in front of you?
CHLOE
I believe in choice. I believe in free will.
CLARK
But maybe choice, and free will, are just means to an end. Maybe...
He swallows.
CLARK
Maybe we all just have our roles that we were meant to play. Maybe our lives are just us playing our roles the way we're supposed to.
CHLOE
Would that be such a terrible thing?
Clark looks at her, confused.
CLARK
It would mean that we aren't really free, that our lives aren't really our own. If everything we do, every choice we make is predetermined, if we are destined to live our lives a certain way, then what control do we have over anything? We're just... slaves to fate.
Chloe looks at Clark, who appears utterly dejected and beaten. She take his hand in hers.
CHLOE
I did a story a few months back for The Torch. A firefighter stands in front of a burning building. He looks up at a thick cloud of black smoke pouring from the windows, but he knows there are people inside. He knows that if he stands there and does nothing, those people will die.
He looks up at her, listening carefully.
CHLOE
That firefighter takes a picture out of his pocket and looks at it. It's a picture of his wife and two little children. It was taken on a vacation they took together during the summer. They're on the beach, sitting on a blanket, eating bologna sandwiches and Doritos. He looks back up at the building and realizes that if he goes in, he might not come back out. He might never see them again, and that vacation will be the last that his wife and his two kids will have had with their husband and father. What does he do?
It was a rhetorical question. She continues.
CHLOE
He kisses the picture three times, once for each of them, and then puts it back in his pocket. He grits his teeth, takes one last breath of fresh air, and runs inside. He had a choice to make and he chose to run inside that building, putting his own life at risk, for the sake of others. Now, why did he do it? Did he have control over the choice? Was he destined to go inside? Was there really a choice at all? Was it his fate?
She moves closer to him.
CHLOE
The question you should be asking yourself is, does it matter? Let's say his choice was predetermined. Let's say it was his destiny to go into that building, to risk his life for those people trapped inside. Does that take away anything from his decision to do so? Does it change the man, or what had to be done? If we are here, on this planet, just to fulfill some kind of predestined karma... does it make us any less, or change who we are?
CLARK But if it's all just words on a page, words that we can't change, what's the point?
CHLOE
If I've learned one thing from being a reporter it's that the story doesn't end with the words on the page, Clark. There's more to life than just the story.
He nods and thinks about what she said. She kisses him on the cheek and stands up.
CHLOE
I'm gonna go to bed.
CLARK
Okay...
She takes a few steps towards the stairs, putting her hands in her robe pockets, then turns back around, pulling something out of her right pocket.
CHLOE Wait... I almost forgot. When the Sheriff came by today, she gave us this.
Clark turns around. Chloe hands him the clear crystal.
CLARK
What is it?
CHLOE
I thought you'd know. She said to give it to your father if we saw him. I guess it belongs to him.
Clark examines it.
CLARK
I've never seen it before.
CHLOE
Maybe your mom will know.
Clark nods and palms it. Chloe turns back toward the steps.
CHLOE
Good night, Clark.
CLARK
Good night.
As Chloe starts down the steps, she passes Martha on her way up. She's carrying a thermos with her.
CHLOE
Good night, Mrs. Kent.
MARTHA
Good night, Chloe.
Martha stops at the top of the steps, looking across the way at her dejected son.
MARTHA
Clark, honey, it's late.
CLARK
I know, Mom. I'm not tired.
She doesn't buy it. She checks to make sure Chloe has left the barn before walking towards him.
MARTHA
Clark Joseph Kent, you're not fooling anyone. You may be super-human but you're not impervious to sleep deprivation.
CLARK I'll go to bed soon, Mom.
She frowns, then walks the thermos over to him. She unscrews the top and pours some soup into it.
MARTHA
Fine, then you can at least have some soup. It's got all fresh vegetables in it from the market. I bought them this morning.
Clark manages to offer her a smile as he takes the top with the soup in it from her. Just as he's about to sip it, though, he sneezes, instantly freezing the top and the contents inside. He shakes his head, turning it upside down and shaking it a little.
MARTHA
Still sneezing I see.
CLARK
I really hate that.
Clark concentrates on the top in his hand and gently starts heating it back up with his heat vision.
MARTHA
Be careful, you don't want to melt the plastic.
CLARK Don't worry, Mom, I know what I'm...
Something out the window draws Martha's attention and she drops the thermos.
MARTHA
Oh my god.
Her eyes wide and her mouth open, she stares out the window. Clark looks up at her.
CLARK
Mom? What is it?
He turns his attention out the window and looks down the driveway where, as if torn right out of his dream, Jonathan Kent comes walking down the driveway pushing Gabe Sullivan's wheelchair.
MARTHA
Jonathan...
CLARK
Dad...
Martha turns and runs for the stairs, Clark right behind her. He leaves the crystal behind on the window sill.
EXT. KENT FARM – NIGHT
Clark runs out of the barn now with Martha right behind him.
CLARK
Dad!
MARTHA Jonathan!
As they run down the driveway, the door to the porch opens, Chloe hearing the commotion from inside the house.
CHLOE
What's going on?
Chloe looks down the driveway and sees Jonathan pushing Gabe in the wheelchair.
CHLOE
Daddy... Daddy!
She leaps off the porch, completely bypassing the steps, and follows Clark and Martha down the driveway.
Jonathan looks tired, but overjoyed to be home. He steps out from behind the wheelchair and stretches his arms out.
CLARK Dad!
JONATHAN
Clark!
Clark is the first one there, and immediately throws his arms around his father. They share a hug which Martha soon joins.
MARTHA
Jonathan... Oh, Jonathan.
Tears streak down Martha's face as she holds on to her husband. Clark moves to allow his mother and father to kiss. Meanwhile, Chloe all but tackles her poor father in the wheelchair. She is also crying.
CHLOE
Daddy!
GABE SULLIVAN Chloe, baby... Oh, I missed you so much.
Also crying, Gabe kisses his little girl a hundred time on her face.
Jonathan has one arm around Clark and the other around Martha as the small family share a group embrace.
MARTHA
I was so worried. Thank God you're home.
Even Clark sheds a tear. A single droplet escapes from his eye and runs down his cheek.
JONATHAN
It's good to be home.
CLARK I missed you, Dad.
JONATHAN I missed you too, son. I missed you too.
INT. LEXCORP PLANT – LABORATORY
Doctor Victor Fries studies the remains of his fried Static Life Chamber, paying close attention to the Kryptonite distribution compartment. Carefully, he removes a burnt data chip from the compartment with a pair of needle pliers. A dark streak of anger ripples through his jaw line.
VICTOR FRIES
Sabotage!