Clark's POV:

"Hey Dad, we made the front page," I said from my seat at the table the next morning. I held up the paper which had a picture of our little reunion last night in front of the LuthorCorp plant. Next to that was a picture of Lex going into the plant with the bullet proof vest on. The headline read - "Kids Taken Hostage at LuthorCorp Plant" and underneath that "Lex Luthor Saves the Day".

My Dad reached out and took the paper from me scanning the front page.

"Lionel Luthor is going to love that article," my Dad said sarcastically. I looked at him questionly.

"Why do you say that Dad?"

"Because not only is there no picture of him but the only mention of him is that he denies the existent of any projects down on level three while Lex is made out as the hero."

"Well, he was Dad. He did get us all out of the plant."

"Yeah, but if it wasn't for whatever secret project they were conducting down there, there would have never been the need to save anyone. He saved you guys from a situation he created. I hardly think that's worth being called a hero," my Dad said sitting down at the table with a cup of coffee.

"Lex, said he didn't know anything about Level 3 Dad."

"And you believe him."

"Yes Dad, I do. Lex isn't his father. I thought maybe yesterday had shown you that."

"Let's not argue about this now Clark," my Dad said looking down at the table. "Clark, where are you going?" he asked as I pushed my chair back and stood up.

"I got school," I told him simply even though I had fifteen minutes before the bus would come by.

As I headed for the front door I saw my Mom come out of the guest room.

"How's Lex?" I asked her my hand on the door knob.

"Very sore and tired but he's doing okay considering everything that has taken place," she said. "I told him that he's welcome to stay a few days if he wants too,"she continued looking at my Dad.

"What are you looking at me like that for. It's fine if he stays for a couple of days."

"Its just, you've never made you dislike for the Luthor' a secret Jonathan."

"I know, but Lex is Clark's friend. Whether I like his family or not, Clark's friends are always welcomed here."

"Nice try, Dad," I said opening the front door and walking out.

"What did I say," I heard my Dad say to my mother.

Sometimes I wondered if my Dad would ever even give Lex a chance. I knew there was a lot about the Luthors that wasn't great. I knew that Lex's Dad had betrayed a lot of people in this town. That people blamed LuthorCorp for the weird things that went on around here.

Despite that though, LuthorCorp did a lot for the town. The plant employed a lot of people, Chloe's Dad being just one of many. If the plant wasn't here a lot of people would be out of work.

And then there was this Level three business.

Level three did exist but I also believed Lex when he said he didn't know about Level three. I had heard what he said to his father when we had come out of the plant last night and those words came back to me as I put my backpack down on the ground and leaned against the fence waiting for the school bus.

"You lied to me," Lex had told his father.

"No, no I didn't. I said level three wasn't on any plans. It wasn't. It's plausible deniability."

"What were you doing down there."

"I doesn't matter. It was a failure. We closed the door and moved on."

"You almost got me killed."

"No, you almost got yourself killed. It was your call."

Despite the fact that we saw things differently, I knew my Dad loved me. From what I heard last night I had to wonder if Lionel Luthor loved his son. There was a lot of things about Lex that I envied but I was starting to see just how lucky I was. My father loved me and he made sure I knew that, every day. I knew my life would be empty without that.

The sound of the school bus approaching brought me out of my thoughts. I picked up the backpack and waited for the bus to come to a stop in front of me.

I got on and looked for Pete or Chloe, hoping that at least one of them had come to school today after what had happened. I know my mother had told me I could stay home if I wanted to but I had to go. I knew I couldn't hang around the house all day.

To my relief both of them were on the bus. I sat down in the seat next to Chloe.

"Couldn't stand a day at home with your mom fussing over you either, huh Clark," Pete said from the seat behind us, which told me why Pete was here.

"Something like that," I told him. "What about you Chloe?"

"Well, I figured if my Dad could go back to work at the place it happened then I could go back to school."

"You mean LuthorCorp wouldn't give your Dad the day off after what he went through yesterday," Pete said in disbelief.

I knew Pete was jumping to the wrong conclusion. I had been with Lex when he had made the phone calls, one to Mr. Sullivan and the second to the assistant plant manager. He had told Mr. Sullivan that if he needed a few days off to go ahead and take them with pay. The call to the assistant plant manager had been to let her know that he was granting paid time off to any worker directly effected by the hostage situation and asked her to call those employees.

Before I had a chance to defend Lex though Chloe spoke up.

"No, he could have taken some time off with pay," she told him. "My Dad wanted to go back though. He thought the longer he put it off the harder it would be when he did go back. Lex is even brining in a counselor for any plant employee to talk to if they so wish." There was a slight pause and then she said, "besides I needed to go to school to start my story for the torch about what happened."

"We should've figured," I said with a smile.

"Hey I've got some great inspiration," she said holding up the daily Smallville paper. The same paper I had been looking at in my kitchen a short time ago. "None of these reporters were inside. I think it will make a great story to report from the inside. I just wish I had my camera yesterday."

"I still don't think you could have outdone the pictures they printed in the Smallville Daily," Pete commented from behind us.

"That's a little harsh isn't it Pete. I mean as much as I like being on the front page those pictures aren't all that great."

"Those weren't the pictures I was talking about," Pete told me.

I looked over my shoulder at Pete questionly.

"You mean you didn't see the editorial page?" he asked me. I shook my head. "Chloe show him."

I looked over at Chloe as she flipped the pages of the newspaper. She found what she was looking for and opened it up.

There were tow pictures on the page Chloe had opened. The one was of Lex and his father. Lionel had his arms around Lex in a fake hug. A clear attempt to make people think he was a caring father.

The other picture was from later in the night, when Lex had fainted and my Dad had caught him. The picture showed my Dad kneeling on the ground with Lex in his arms. The picture clearly showed the worry on my Dad's face. Worry that was lacking on Lionel Luthor's face.

The two pictures looked out of place side by side like that. My eyes drifted up to the headline -"Lionel Luthor's Fatherly Concern All a PR Trick."

"That's going to go over great if Lionel Luthor reads it," I commented.

"But it's the truth isn't it," Peter said. "I mean we all heard what Lex told Earl about his father. He said he didn't care about anyone in that room which would have included Lex."

"And my Dad said he didn't seem all that concerned about Lex when he called him last night from the hospital."

"Seems you two know more than I do," I said. I wasn't about to tell them about my suspicions about Lex's family life. It wasn't my place to do so.

"How is Lex?" Chloe asked. "My Dad said he was staying with your family last night."

"He's doing okay considering everything that happened," I told her.

"That's good to hear," she said.

Jonathan's POV:

"There you are," I heard Martha say as she approached me. I was standing by one of the fields just looking at the land. Our land. The land we were about to lose. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to give Lex a ride home."

"I thought he'd stay at least until Clark came home."

"Yeah, well I'm not sure he feels exactly comfortable around here," she said. We both knew what she meant by that comment.

I didn't say anything though. I was tired of defending myself to my wife and son. Besides that wasn't what was on my mind right now.

"Jonathan, what's wrong?"Martha asked picking up on my mood.

"I've been going over our finances Martha and even with that loan we took out I don't think we're going to make it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," I told her. "I've been over it what seems like a million times." I told her. I felt her arms go around me. "There is one other option," I told her looking down at her. She tilted her head to look up into my eyes. "Lex's offer."

"Do you think he'd still be willing to help us."

"He told me when I changed my mind that the offer would still stand," I told her. "Trouble is, can we trust him.

"What's the worse that could happen, Jonathan. We'd lose the farm. From what you tell me that is going to happen anyway."

I nodded she had a point. But still, I would almost rather lose the farm to the bank than to lose it to the Luthors.

"Look, Jonathan I know you don't like the Luthors and I understand why. I don't like what Lionel did to our friends and neighbors either but you have to remember something - that was Lionel not Lex. We saw yesterday that Lex isn't exactly like his father. Maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Its not as if we have much to lose."

"Martha, let me ask you something," I said pulling away and holding her at arm's length. I looked down at her wanting to see her reaction as much as hear her words. "Do you trust Lex?"

"Yes Jonathan, I do," she told me without hesitation. "He's been a good friend to Clark. I really do think he just wants to help us."

I nodded but didn't say anything. As well as I knew Martha though she knew me just as well though.

"Jonathan what is it?"

"I don't think its just his friendship with Clark that makes Lex so interested in this family. You saw those two pictures on the editorial page of the paper," I said to which she nodded. "Well, I saw him looking over at us last night when his father was hugging him. I saw the longing in his eyes Martha. Despite all he has Clark has the one thing that I think Lex wants most of all - a family that loves him."

"I think everyone wants that Jonathan. You can hardly hold that against him."

"I don't hold it against him Martha. That's why I went after him last night. But as much as I try not to when I see him all I can think about is that he's a Luthor and he'll stab anyone in the back if it will benefit him."

"He's still very young Jonathan. Young enough to need a role model."

"Are you trying to tell me I should try to be that role model."

"It couldn't hurt. And if what you think is true than you might already be whether you know it or not. Whether you want to be or not."

I had to admit, she had a point.

"Well, I think for starters I need to go and try saving our farm," I told her. "He still up at the house?"

"Yeah, he was waiting in the living room when I came looking for you," Martha told me.

I nodded and headed toward the house. Never in a million years did I imagine that I would ever be doing what I was about to do.

"I was starting to wonder if . . ." Lex started saying as I walked into the living room, slowly standing up. I could see he was still in pain by the way he moved. He stopped when he saw it was me. "Mr. Kent, I'm sorry I was expecting your wife."

"I know," I told him. "Look Lex, maybe this isn't the best time to bring this up but I'm kind of running out of time. You once made me a proposal to save this farm and I was wondering if possibly . . ." I was starting to fumble over the words. Asking for help had never been my strong suit. Asking a Luthor for help was even harder.

"Mr. Kent I told you wen you changed your mind that the offer still stands. I meant that."

"Then I guess I'm changing my mind," I told him.

"Then I'll have a new contract drawn up for you to sign."

"A new contract?" I said questionly immediately on guard.

"Relax Mr. Kent, its standard procedure. Things have changed since the original proposal was made, the other loan you took out for starters. The new contract will be basically the same as the first, but if it will make you feel better I'll get it drawn up today, have a copy of it to you by tonight and you can go over it at your leisure."

"Okay," I said still not liking the idea at all. I would be going over the new contract very carefully before signing it. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was making a pact with the devil.

"Did you still want that ride home, Lex," Martha said from behind me.

"Yes, thank-you Mrs. Kent. I'll get those papers to you tonight Mr. Kent and then you call me when you've had enough time to go over them," he said holding out his hand.

"I will," I told him as I took his hand.

I watched as he and Martha headed out of the house and toward the pick-up truck. I just hoped I wasn't making a mistake by trusting Lex Luthor.