And now for the moment we have all been waiting for...

Ch. 15. Every 15th a Holiday, right?

Chloe and Lana walked in the Torch first. Clark looked around while to make sure no one else was around, then he closed the door. He turned around and had to stop. Here were his two best friends. The two people left in his life he could trust. The two people who had been through everything with him, without realizing what they were doing. Now they would know. Clark could hardly believe it—now was the time he would tell them everything.

He should have been scared. He should have paused for a while, remembering this moment forever. This was the most important day of his life. Nothing would ever be the same again. But he didn't pause. He didn't really want to spend time cherishing it.
He had kept this secret for so long, he just wanted them to know, and know as fast as they could.

Chloe was beginning to get scared. If Clark did this to her again… she wasn't sure how she could get through that. "Clark?" was all that she could say, hoping it would give him the courage he would need. But today he didn't need courage. Today all he needed was his friends.

"You were right," Clark began. Chloe and Lana looked at him. "You were both right. I am different than most people." Clark smiled. He was confident. It was like this was the right place, the right time. Now all he would have to do it find the right way. Clark's smile turned a little sad. "I guess I'm different from everybody."

"You were infected by the meteor rocks." Chloe suddenly wished she hadn't asked that question. She wanted him to tell her. She had to hear him said it to her—not just answer a yes or no question.

Clark looked down, suddenly feeling less confident. "Let's just say the meteor rocks and I aren't friends." Lana and Chloe both looked like they wanted an explanation. "When I was little my parents realized I was strong for my age. Stronger than most."

"Or stronger than all," Lana finished for him. Surprisingly it didn't scare her.

Clark looked at them as he talked, hoping to read their emotions. "When I got older, I realized I was also faster than most. Faster than anyone I knew."

Chloe tried not to cry. It was as if she could will all the anger she was feeling towards him away. It was really happening—Clark Kent was telling her his secret.

Clark tried to remain calm. "And then even later I learned I could start fires with my eyes."

That got Chloe and Lana's attention. They didn't expect to hear that one. "Starting fires with your eyes?" Chloe asked.

Clark did his best not to smile. He was so happy he was finally coming clean. It's weird when you can be happy and terrified at the same time, but Clark didn't care. "And I can hear things other people can't hear."

Chloe smiled. "Well, we pretty much had that one figured out."

Lana, however, was not smiling. She wasn't scared, but still she had a serious look on her face. Part of her thought that if she laughed, Clark might stop. She didn't want him to stop. She thought about that for a moment. Why did she know he had more to tell her?

"And I can see through things. Most things." Clark felt a huge wave of relief. He thought for a second. Yes… I think that's all I can do…

Chloe looked down. She pretty much could guess Clark was different, but that wasn't what was bothering her. That's not really what she wanted to know. A question still stuck out in her mind, more than most. "Clark, why do you think the meteor rocks gave you more than one ability?" Lana looked up—first at Chloe, then at Clark. She had tried not to think about that question. Why did she try not to think about that question…

Clark looked scared. He didn't know why—he was telling them after all, not having them discover it on their own—but still, the question scared him. This was the moment. For now on it was before and after. They would never have the relationship they had now again. They would never look at him the same way again.

Chloe knew that look he had—the hesitation. "Every other…" Chloe almost said "infected", but she stopped. "…Changed person we know only had one power. You have more than one." Chloe watched Clark's face. Just tell me, Clark… "Any idea why that might have happened?"

Close your eyes, Clark. Close them and tell them, so maybe you won't notice they're there. But he had to keep them open. If he was going to tell them, he wanted to see their expressions. He had to see their first expressions. "Chloe—I'm adopted."

Chloe waited for the rest of the explanation, but he stopped, as if that was supposed to explain it all. "I think we've covered that sometime in the past 5 years since I've known you."

Lana looked over at Clark, wondering where he was getting at with this. The biggest news was yet to come—she could tell.

"I'm not from America."

Lana closed her eyes, and fought the urge to cry. Hold on… just a little longer.

Chloe, however, was mad. You could tell it, too. She didn't say anything for a second, being so mad she couldn't think straight. "Clark Kent—do you mean to tell me that you have freaked me and Lana and everyone who cares about you for over 4 years because you—what—were born in Iraq! That's what you were hiding!"

Clark's head snapped up. He had hoped, if nothing else, to confuse them—not to have them draw their own conclusions from that sentence alone. "Chloe, I wasn't born in Iraq."

"China then, whatever…"

"No—Chl…" Clark calmed down. He knew this was going to be hard on them—he didn't want to give them a reason to be mad at him after all was said and done. "Chloe—I wasn't born anywhere that you would have heard of."

Chloe stopped, not really sure where he was going with this again, but her mind was beginning to let things connect. She looked at Clark, confused. Clark just looked up slightly, hoping to get a point across. Chloe's confused look suddenly melted away. She just stared at Clark for a moment—hoping that was not the direction he was going with this conversation. "No…"

Clark looked down, but Lana looked up. Clark spoke first. "Yes."

Lana looked from Chloe to Clark, afraid not to ask. "What?"

"No…" Clark nodded his head harder, but now Chloe was mad. "No—Clark, do you seriously think you'd talk me into believing you were from another planet!"

Lana's head snapped around to see Clark. "What?"

"Chloe… I know it sounds crazy, but it's true."

Lana's couldn't believe what she had heard. "What!"

Clark looked at Lana. This was his greatest fear. This was what he regretted most. His family had taken the lives of hers—had changed it forever, and now he alone was left to take the responsibility. "Lana…" Lana looked like she was in a daze. "I can explain." Lana's look turned into one of disgust without her knowing. "Lana… I'm so sorry. For everything. For…" Clark stopped. "For your parents… for lying to you…"

Lana froze. "My parents?" Chloe's head snapped up, too. "What do my parents have to do with any…"

Chloe's eyes became really wide. "Oh my stars…"

Clark looked back up at her. "I didn't mean to…"

"Oh my stars!" That's all that Chloe could say. For some reason she sounded like she was almost crying.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Clark turned back to Lana, who did have tears starting to fall slowly down her face. "Lana…"

"Clark… what… what happened?"

Clark stopped. He was so preoccupied in the fact that he was an alien that he didn't think about no one knowing how he got there. "It was…" He looked at Lana. She looked like she was going to faint. Chloe just looked like… well, he didn't know how to read her face, but it was also one of shock. "Maybe you both should sit down."

Lana sunk into a chair, but Chloe was strong enough to pull one out for herself. Clark sat down, too. It was good to be eye-level when he told them the story. "It was the day of the meteor shower. My parents found me next to my…" Clark stopped. He knew how this was going to sound. He knew how it sounded to him when he first learned about it. "My ship…"

Lana closed her eyes at that word and started crying more.
Chloe looked at her sympathetically. She knew what it was like to loose one parent, and how much it hurt to learn why. Now it was Lana's turn—and Lana and she both had asked for it.

Clark began again. "They took me home an adopted me. They hid the ship in our storm cellar. I destroyed it about a year and a half ago."

Chloe was coming back to her senses. "Clark, you don't really believe…"

"Chloe, why would I lie about this? You asked me—you asked me, Chloe, why Lionel was so interested in me. And Dr. Swann—come on, and those caves! Don't tell me this didn't sound a little bit weird to you that everything—everyone kept coming back to us. And how protect my parents are—what—did you think I just didn't want to tell you? You were okay with everyone else having abilities—did you think I was just scared that you weren't going to like me anymore?" Clark stopped. He had always thought that was the reason he didn't tell anyone, but maybe it wasn't. Or maybe it wasn't the biggest reason. "Chloe— I went to your grave. I saw the name Chloe Sullivan edged into a tombstone—born the year 1987… how do you think that made me feel? And Lana…" Clark looked at Lana, who was just looking down, hoping to make sense of something. But when she heard her name, she looked up. "Lana saw it, too. You weren't there when Lois saw that site for the first time. You didn't see that "safe house" after there was nothing left. Thought you were dead, Chloe. And Lana—Lana was kidnapped more than once and her life has been threatened for just knowing me." He stopped and looked at them. He hoped once they knew everything they would know where his point of view was coming from. "People call me invincible, but I am scared all the time, because I know Lionel Luther, and I know what Lex is capable of, and I know that he isn't going to stop until…" Clark stopped again. "I didn't want you guys to be hurt, but I was hurting you anyway. I couldn't go on that way. You couldn't go on that way. You were both right—you had the right to know. All I can say now is…" Clark turned around, looking at the clock, hoping that somehow that would give him a deadline—a time when he had to be finished. It didn't.

"Clark…" Clark was glad that Chloe was at least talking to him. "Your… your planet…"

Clark answered calmly. "Krypton. It was called Krypton."

"Was?" Lana asked, coming out of her daze.

Chloe didn't understand. "What happened to it?"

Clark shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

"How do you know what it was called then?" Lana asked.

"Dr. Swann told me. Everything I know about it I had learned from him."

Chloe spoke again. This was still a little hard for her to believe. "So, you mean that at any moment a bunch of space aliens could come to Smallville and take you back with them…"

Now it was hard for Clark. He felt he had to feel for everyone on Krypton. If he didn't remember them, who would? "No. No one's going to come, Chloe. No one's ever going to come back."

"Where are they?"

Clark stopped. "They're dead. Every one of them." Clark suddenly felt like a knife was cutting at his heart. First his family and entire planet were killed, then his father had heart problems, and now his Grandfather. It seemed like a curse they got from being around him. He didn't want to hurt anyone ever again.

"Everyone is gone?" Chloe asked, suddenly feeling bad for Clark again.

Clark shrugged, trying to hide how much he was hurting. "That's what Dr. Swann told me."

"Clark—the meteor shower…" Clark looked back up at Lana, who wasn't looking at him back. "Everything that it has changed here. Everyone that it has infected."

"I know." He looked at Chloe. "I know how interested you are in the meteor shower, and all it's caused. It was hard to…" Clark didn't know how to finish. "I'm sorry. Lana—Chloe—you both; I'm sorry."

Jason appeared from the hallway. "Lana—I've been looking for you everywhere." He stopped when he saw her expression. "Are you okay?" Land looked down and wiped away the tears from her eyes. "What happened?"

"I'm fine, Jason. I just…" She looked up at Clark. It surprised her what she was feeling. "I just need to go."

Clark stood up after her. "Lana…"

"Clark—please," was all she could make out. "Please, just let me go."

Chloe stood up, too. She wanted to make sure Lana was okay, but Jason was with her. And she wanted to know more, but she didn't want to be in the room with Clark alone. It wasn't that she was scared of him, it was just…

"Clark… I'm going to…" Chloe pointed towards Lana. "I'll…" She stopped. She finally just left the room, leaving Clark alone, in the dark. He finally realized that they hadn't turned on the lights when they came in. The only light that showed were the ones security ones in the room. He waited about 30 seconds after they left until he sunk down onto the floor —missing the chair— and for the first time since he had learned his secret started crying.