Lana POV

"Lana, remember that talk we needed to have?"

I looked down at my hands clenched in Clark's. I looked up into his face and saw a distinct change. What was different this time?

"Yes. It isn't something I'd likely forget anytime soon." My heart was thumping in nervousness. I just hoped he couldn't hear it. But that was silly right? I mean who could hear somebody else's heart beating?

Clark smiled slightly. "Stupid question. Sorry." Clark's face took on that red tint I was so used to seeing in him. "Well, my point was-."

"CLARK! Oh my God honey! Are you okay? Are you and Lana all right? What happened?"

Clark and I looked up and saw Mr. And Ms. Kent striding in our direction. Ms. Kent had a terrified look in her eyes. When she reached us she pulled us both into a hug.

"We couldn't get here fast enough!" She said breathlessly. "Lana sweetie, is everyone okay?"

I breathed in the scent of Martha Kent before she pulled away from her hug. Ms. Kent always had a distinct scent to her. Something like apples and cinnamon. Every time I smelled something similar to it I always associated it with Martha. She smelled like……….home. Somewhere where mom is cooking dinner when I come home from school and waiting for me so she can ask how my day was. Waiting for me so she can give me a kiss hello and a hug when she realizes I had a bad day. Someone who would never leave their child behind. Someone who cares. Someone who loves me. For the good and the bad.

But I digress.

I tried my best to smile at Ms. Kent reassuringly despite the disappointment that was lingering in me from the missed opportunity to speak to Clark about his big secret.
"Everyone's fine Ms. Kent. Alexa's been apprehended. She's over there by the Sheriffs' car." I pointed in the direction of the still crying Alexa. Mr. and Ms. Kent turned as one toward her.

Ms. Kent's face took on a sympathetic look and Mr. Kent frowned in dismay.

"Well she certainly doesn't look very dangerous." Mr. Kent said as he continued to stare in her direction.

"Trust me Mr. Kent. Looks can be deceiving." I bit my lip. "The only reason Alexa looks so helpless right now is because she has no powers. That necklace around her neck is blocking them."

Ms. Kent sighed. "I wish there was some way we could help her. She's only a teenager. She looks so lost."

Mr. Kent smiled and put an arm around his wife. "You and your big heart."

Martha looked sheepish. "I can't help it. I hate to see children suffer. She needs help not a stay in the penitentiary."

Clark smiled. "Only my mother." Clark's smile slowly disappeared. I looked in the direction he was staring at and saw the Sheriff heading toward us. "Great. Now for the third degree." He muttered under his breath.

I suppressed a smile and tried my best to look serious, as the Sheriff grew closer.

"Jonathan. Martha." The Sheriff nodded at them in acknowledgement. The Kents nodded back. "Well, it seems to me we have an unfortunate set of circumstances here once again. I'm going to have to ask your son and Ms. Lang some questions. So if you'll kindly follow me."

The sheriff led us to her vehicle where she took out a pad. As she shot her questions at us I noticed she distinctly kept a lot of her questions directed to Clark. Hmmmmm….it was almost as if she thought Clark was somehow responsible for all this. But why?

"Allright." The Sheriff snapped the pad shut. "I think I have all I need. I'll be in touch." The sheriff nodded at us as she walked away.

Mr. Kent put his arm around Martha and looked at all of us. "Why don't we all go inside? I'm sure we could all go for a piece of Martha's famous apple pie right now."

As we walked to the house, I looked back and saw the Sheriff put her hand on

Alexa's head and push her down into the squad car. I felt a small pang of regret as I realized in a way I had to thank Alexa. Without her crazy interference, Clark and I probably would not have reached this point in our relationship. I don't think I would have ever tried to approach Clark if it hadn't been for my jealousy.

I glanced up at Clark and stared at his profile. Clark must have sensed me because he looked down and smiled that dazzling smile. He put his arm around me and gave me a squeeze.

Yes, a definite thank you was in order.

The first thing we saw when we walked into the house was Pete staring into space slumped in one of the armchairs in the living room. He had a look of absolute misery painted on his face.

"Pete?" Clark said. "Hey man you okay?"

Pete jumped at the unexpected voice and sat up a little straighter. "Yeah, yeah of

course. Just waiting for you guys to get back." Pete attempted a small smile and failed.

I glanced back at the Kents. Ms. Kent took in the situation in about 30 seconds and motioned to Mr. Kent to follow her to the kitchen. "Come Jonathan. Help me prepare a little late night snack." Mr. Kent gave her a confused look but complied. I could hear him asking Ms. Kent what that was all about and smiled as I thought to myself how clueless men could be sometimes.

I strode across the room and sat across from Pete. I leaned toward him slightly and I took one of his hands in mine as he did his best not to meet my eyes. "Pete? Do you want to talk?"

Pete started to shake his head no but his shoulders slumped in defeat. "This is not how I wanted her to find out. I was such a jerk to her. How could I expect her to even talk to me after that?"

I stroked his hand for a second as I thought of a way to reply. Clark stood to one side letting me take control of the situation. "Pete, you know if you had done anything wrong, I would be the first to tell you. But in this particular case, you didn't do anything unjustified. You acted out of hurt and love. You didn't really say anything hurtful. Talk to her Pete. I'm sure she'll be more than willing to listen."

Pete looked at me with hope in his eyes. "Do you really think so?"

I smiled at Pete. "Of course. You two have been friends for a long time. Right now she's probably trying to figure out how to approach you about it. Go look for her Pete. Tell her how you feel. I think you'll be surprised how far honesty can get you."

I felt Clark stiffen next to me at my words. Oops. I was so not trying to give Clark a hint that time.

Pete smiled and stood up. "Your right Lana. I always seem to know how to give advice on girls but I never know how to help myself in that department. Right Clark?"

"I – uh. Right Pete." Clark stuttered. I gave him a curious look.

Pete gave me a quick hug. "I gotta go find Chloe. Thanks Lana."

"Bye." I said as I watched Pete practically run out of the house, such was his need to find Chloe.

Alone again. Or at least partially. I could hear Clark's parents talking low in the kitchen.

I gave Clark a curious look. "What did Pete mean by his giving advice on girls? You've talked about us with Pete?"

Clark looked down at the floor. "Well, yeah. He's my best friend. He just always seemed to know what to say to snap me back to reality. He was always pushing me to tell you."

I froze. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me that Pete knows all about your secret?"

Clark looked extremely uncomfortable. "Yes. But he found out by accident."

"By accident? Who else knows? Does…..Chloe know?" I don't know why this was so important to me but it was. If Chloe knew about this before me I don't know how I would react to it. It might seem unreasonable, but I wanted to be the first to know. I wanted to be the one Clark trusted with everything.

Clark ran a hand through his hair nervously. "No Chloe doesn't know. Listen, can we

talk about this in private?" Clark kept glancing nervously at the kitchen door.

"You haven't told your parents your going to tell me have you?"

"Well, no I haven't exactly gotten a chance to. With all that's been happening I never got to sit down with them. Would you rather I speak to them first?"

I thought about it for a full second before deciding against it. If they knew beforehand that he was going to reveal himself to me, they would try to talk him out of it. I couldn't let them do that.

"No. Let's go to your loft. We'll be able to talk in private there." I felt a tiny twinge of guilt. The Kents have been nothing but nice to me since day one and in a way I was going to deceive them but I couldn't risk it. I was done trying to play martyr. I was going to be selfish for once.

Clark nodded and led me to the kitchen. "Mom, Dad. Lana and I are going to take a walk to clear our heads. We'll be back."

Ms. Kent gave Clark a look of concern. "Clark it's so late. Shouldn't you drive Lana home instead? I'm sure you two must be exhausted after today's events."

Clark gave his mom a reassuring smile. "We're fine mom. We just want to relax for a couple of minutes."

Mr. Kent gave Clark a LOOK and he glanced at me. "Is everything okay son?"

"Dad, I'm fine, everything is fine. We'll be back soon." Clark gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and he took my hand. I smiled at the Kents and followed Clark out of the house.

The walk to the loft seemed to take forever and the silence on the way there didn't help matters. By the time we reached the top of the loft I was ready to pull my hair out.

"Clark, I don't mean to sound over anxious or to make you nervous we please get this over with? I'm so nervous I'm ready to jump off of a bridge." I paced the small space of the loft as Clark watched me. He had a strange expression on his face. He was nervous that was for sure, but there was also a look of acceptance. He had come to terms with this. He was ready for whatever happened. This was it. He leaned with his hands behind him against the window ledge.

"Lana, maybe you should sit down."

"I'm fine."

"No you should sit."

"Clark I'm fine."

"Lana I'm not human."

"No, really Clark I'm fi-What?"

The silence in the loft was unbearable but I couldn't bring myself to say anything more. What did he mean by 'not human'?

"Lana?"

"I don't understand. What do you mean 'not human'?" I whispered.

Clark's bravado faulted for a second and I began to see the fear again but he quickly got himself together, straightened his back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Lana, I'm different. I have abilities. I can do things no one else can do."

I swallowed visibly. "What kind of abilities?"

"Instead of telling you, why don't I show you?" Clark gave me a look, silently asking me for permission. All I could do was nod my head.

All of a sudden with one woosh Clark was standing right in front of me. Before I could contemplate what happened Clark was gone again but a split second later he was carrying flowers from his mom's garden.

I took the flowers from his hand. As I held the makeshift bouquet a million things were going through my head but only one thing seemed to be able to come out of my mouth. "Your mom is going to kill you once she finds out you picked her roses." I said softly.

Clark stood there dumbfounded for a second. Then he laughed nervously. "That's it? That's all you can say?"

I stood silent a moment not really knowing what else to say. I looked down at the roses on my hand and tried to come to terms with whatever had just happened. I guess a part of me always suspected Clark was different. Hell, on the car ride over to the barn earlier I had gone through all of the scenarios in my head and thought the impossible. But now….Clark was making the impossible……possible.

I finally looked up at Clark and gazed into his eyes. "Is this it? Is running really fast your only secret?"

Clark shook his head. "No Lana. Superspeed is only the beginning."

I stepped in front of Clark trying not to show any fear. "Then show me."

Clark took one of my hands and squeezed tightly. "Are you okay? I mean with this?"

"No." I shook my head. "But I'm willing to try to be."

Clark sighed in slight relief. "What do you want to know next?"

"Everything. I've been in the dark for so long I don't know what weird coincidence to start off with first. Why don't you tell me what other kind of "abilities" you have."

Clark nodded and let go of my hands. He crossed his arms and turned away for a second before turning back. All of a sudden he stared hard at the corner of his loft. The candle sitting there lit up, then the next one then the one next to that. Before I knew it the whole loft was lit up like a tree on Christmas. I put the flowers on one of Clark's tables and slowly walked to one of the candles mesmerized.

"How?" I whispered.

I felt Clark walking up behind me. "With my eyes. They, um, shoot fire."

"Your eyes shoot fire?"

"Yes."

"……"

Okay. Now what? Do I even want to know what else?

Yeah. Yeah I did.

Swiftly I turned to Clark as a thought occurred to me. "So you're a meteor freak? But that doesn't make you not human Clark."

Clark's eyes dropped. "No Lana. I'm not a meteor freak. But I am the cause of all the meteor freaks in Smallville."

I shook my head in confusion. "What do you mean? Clark, I don't get it. How could you be the cause?"

As the silence grew, I could hear the crickets, I could hear the soft wind, I could hear Clark breathing right in front of me. But in no way could I hear Clark's thoughts and that more than anything is what I wanted to hear right now. Now I knew the temptation involved in Alexa's power.

"Clark? We've gone this far. Just tell me."

"You don't get it Lana. This isn't easy. I – I don't want to lose you." His mouth twisted in suppressed emotion.

On instinct, I lifted my hand to his face knowing he needed to be touched. "I'm right here. I'm listening. So far I haven't run away right?" He nodded. "So, what are you waiting for?"

"Lana, I'm – on the day of the meteor shower I – I came to earth that day. In a spaceship….within the meteor rocks from my home planet…..that my biological parents sent me in."

I froze. If I expected anything, I don't think it was this. "What?"

Clark felt my withdrawal but continued anyway. "I'm an alien."

Slowly my hand dropped. My parents…that day…..ohmygod. Slowly I walked away. I looked at everything but Clark. "Are you telling me that, essentially, because of you……my parents died?"

Clark's shoulders slumped. Regret etched on every handsome feature. His eyes glittered. "Yes, Lana. Inadvertently I am the cause for your parent's death. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?"

"I don't know what else to say."

"I don't think sorry is the correct word to use." I'm speaking so softly I can barely even hear myself.

Silence again. But this time there is nothing I can do about it. It's my turn to talk, but I don't know what to say. A part of me wants to slap Clark senseless for lying to me all this time. But another part of me wants to hug him and let him know everything will be okay.

I touch my face and I realize I'm crying. In fact the tears won't stop. My heart hurts as a whole new wave of grief comes over me. Grief for my parents, grief for all the "What if's." shooting across my mind.

What if Clark had never come? What if my parents were still alive? What if I had never met him? How would my life be different?

Wait a minute.

I know how it would be different.

I would be dead. I wasn't meant to live long. I was destined to die young. Clark changed my destiny time after time.

Clark came up to me and tentatively touched my shoulder. "Lana?"

I shivered. I didn't know what to do, what to think. I didn't know if I should throw off his hand or caress it with my own. In the end I did neither. I just stood there, facing away from Clark, not daring to look at him. If I did my strength would crumble.

Finally I said, "I need to be alone Clark. I need some time to think."

Clark's hand dropped and he quickly turned me toward him. "Don't close up on me Lana. Please just tell me what your thinking. I need you."

I trembled at his words. Oh lord how I needed him too.

End of Part Eleven