Chapter Two
Findings
When Clark and Lara were brought home, they were nearly smothered by their mother before they were even two feet from the car door. Her worry for the safety of her only two children had begun the moment the Kent Farm had received a call from the sheriff concerning a car accident out on Lake Bridge and had yet to subside even with the two of them home safe and sound. Martha had both her children in a hug at the same time, which was rather remarkable considering the fact that both of them were much taller than her. "Oh god, I was so worried about the two of you." Martha stated while finally releasing her children to look them over. "Are you okay?" she asked noting that they were both still a little wet.
"The sheriff said they jumped in to save Lex Luthor after the accident happened." Jonathan explained while coming around to the passenger side of the truck where his family stood, and gave Clark and Lara a look that was both proud and yet a bit stern at the same time as he wasn't exactly thrilled to know that they had jumped into a river to save someone like Lex Luthor. Then again, he wasn't the type of father to raise his children to pick and choose who it was they helped or saved, and it didn't matter who they were. So he was more relieved that they were without injury and proud that they had done something so selfless.
Martha looked between both Clark and Lara with a somewhat shocked look on her face that held a sense of pride even though it was hidden under all the worry, concern, and now shock. Clark gave his mom a weak smile in response to this while then jabbing his sister with his elbow to get her to say something for them. Whenever there was an awkward situation, Clark always looked to Lara to do something or in this case say something. After receiving the jab to her side, Lara shot a glare over at him quickly only to have him give her an urgent look while indicating towards their mother with a gesture of his eyes. Looking back to her mom, Lara lost her glare and gave her a small smile.
"Well, the water was nice." Lara said as she tried to ease the mood but only received a stern look from both her mom and dad for this. Sighing, Lara's shoulders dropped a bit before she straightened herself and tried to explain their side of the story. "What were we supposed to do? He would have more than likely died down there if we didn't do something." Lara pointed out while defending herself and Clark at the same time. But the look on her parent's faces still wasn't changing in response to this. "He didn't see us do anything since he was unconscious." She added in quickly while hoping this would at least settle some their worries.
For once, it actually worked, as both Martha and Jonathan seemed a bit more relieved now knowing that their son and daughter's secrets weren't exposed while doing the right thing in saving Lex Luthor. Martha only sighed and shook her head a bit at them before giving them another hug. "Come on, let's get you two inside and out of those wet clothes." She suggested while then turning her family about and guided them towards the farmhouse.
That night after the whole event at the bridge, Clark headed out to the barn after dinner and went straight up to the loft his father had built for him and Lara back when they were still little. Jonathan now called it their 'Fortress of Solitude', since both would retreat there to be alone by themselves or be alone together when life just got to be too much for them. Clark had taken to the loft first since it was Lara's turn to do the dishes that night anyways, and went straight for his telescope to gaze out at the stars. For a time he stared up at the celestial bodies, watching them, spotting the various constellations, but then Clark found his telescope drifting away from the stars and down towards the home of Lana Lang. His telescope came down just in time to see Lana come outside the front door and sit down on the porch bench with a cup in her hands. A smile started to grow on Clark's face as he watched her, but the smile soon disappeared as Whitney suddenly showed up out of nowhere and bent down to kiss Lana on the cheek.
"I didn't know stars were this low."
Clark nearly jumped at the sound of his sister's voice talking to him from behind and then turned away from his telescope quickly while trying to act natural. "Hey, Lara. Done with the dishes already?" he asked while stepping away from the telescope and going over to the old desk that was set up there for them to use when doing homework.
Lara raised a brow at her brother's reaction to her appearance and walked across the floor of the loft towards him in a casual manner. "Yeah." She replied to his question while then switching directions quickly to run over to the telescope. Seeing his sister run for the telescope, Clark panicked and ran after her, only to arrive too late as she had already set her eye upon the lens and looked to see what it was he had been looking at. "Hey, did you know you can see Lana's house from here?" Lara asked in a sarcastic manner that was in more of a tease as she glanced over at her brother who was at her side looking a bit nervous. "Clark, it is no big secret from me that you like Lana. So why do you keep trying to hide it?" she asked while standing up straight and held a puzzled look on her face.
Shrugging his shoulders, Clark shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans while stepping around his sister to come and sit upon the sill of the hay door's closed bottom half. "I don't know. I just didn't want you to think I was some hopeless lovesick idiot or something like that." He answered while looking out at the night sky. It was a really clear night and you could see the stars even without the aid of a telescope, but it helped to have one when you wanted to see them really close.
Shaking her head in slight amusement to this, Lara sighed and came over to sit opposite of her brother on the sill. "Clark I'm your sister, I'm supposed to tease you about stuff like this every once in a while." She stated while giving a smile. "But I would never do anything intentionally to hurt your feelings, and there's nothing that you could do that would make me think less of you." Lara explained while staring over at him with a smile still on her face. It was true, Lara had always looked up to her big brother and probably always would even when they were adults, and aside from their dad, Clark was the only other man in her life she admired and adored. And it showed through the bond that she had with her brother ever since childhood.
Clark looked away from the stars and over at his sister with a smile on his face. Somehow she managed to say the right things when they needed to be said in almost any situation. "I hate it when you do that." He teased. "I feel like I have to say something back every time."
"Clark I don't love you for the praise and appreciation." Lara stated with half serious look on her face as she stood up. "I love you because you're my brother and it is really hard to try and not to." She added in with good humor to try and get him to laugh, which she succeeded in doing as he laughed in response to her ending comment.
Grinning up at her, Clark stood up as well and tussled her hair with his hand. "And it's hard on my part to do the same." He restated the comment as he meant it for her.
While Lara ducked out from under Clark's hand to free her hair of his self-imposed styling, she pointed over at the telescope with her finger. "Go spy on Lana and leave my hair alone." She stated while turning on her heel and started towards the stairs to take herself back down to the barn floor. She stopped at the top the stairs and looked back over her shoulder at Clark just as he was stepping over towards the telescope again. "Oh yeah, mom sent me out here to tell you that there's desert if you want it." Lara grinned impishly after this. "But since you're too busy staring at Lana, I'll just let her know you said I could have yours." And with that Lara zipped down the stairs and out the barn door with that super speed of hers.
"Lara Jean Kent!" Clark called after her and then followed in the same fashion only to come up on her just seconds after she set foot back inside the house. "Do not even try it." He warned while coming up from behind and grabbed her in a bear hug that was meant more for restraining her than anything else.
"I wasn't going to do anything." She protested in defense while trying to act innocent as their mother had turned away from the coffee pot with a mug in her hand and a raised eyebrow at the two of them standing just inside the doorway. Seeing her mother's look, Lara raised her hands in a defensive manner at her sides since Clark had her arms clamped down. "Honest." She stated in response to the look on her mother's face.
Martha only shook her head while grinning a bit as she passed by them to head out to the porch and sit down on the bench. "Just don't break anything." She reminded them while walking out the door and let it close behind her.
Clark looked down at his sister with a warning look on his face that was beyond from being serious. "Yeah Lara, don't break anything." To which he had his sister looking up at him with a glare before he released her finally.
"I haven't broken anything in nearly two months Clark Joseph Kent." Lara retorted, while also getting back for him using her full name the first time around. "And I was only kidding about the whole desert thing." She added in while heading over to the fridge and pulling the door open to get the cherry pie out their mom had baked earlier that day. Bringing it over to the kitchen island; Lara set it down and then reached back over to shut the refrigerator.
"Uh-hu." Clark gave her a speculative look while grabbing the pie server out of the drawer near the coffee pot and then came over to the island to cut out their pieces. Both had similar appetites in the sense that they could eat a big meal and still have room for desert later on, and then they burned it all off rather quickly. Something they figured was a result of the fact that they were able to move so fast and strong enough to lift tractors. So the pieces that Clark cut for the both of them were slightly bigger than what most people would take for desert even when they had saved room after a meal.
Lara took her piece after setting out plates for them to use and then grabbed a fork out of the same drawer Clark had gotten the pie server from. Both brother and sister sat at the island and ate their desert while not really exchanging words between each other. It was a little weird not to be talking about something, but the day had ended on such a rather freaky event that was still bothering them both. Lex had hit them at sixty miles an hour and yet they hadn't received a scratch or anything, and this worried them more than anything else. Lara looked over at the door to see if anyone was coming in, and then set her fork down on her plate and looked over at Clark "What happened out on that bridge?" she asked in a hushed tone of voice while leaning a bit closer to him so that way their conversation stayed out of their mother's hearing.
The question was something that Clark was trying to avoid for the rest of the night, but when Lara brought it up like that, he only set his own fork down and looked over at her to see the small amount of fear in her eyes. He didn't blame her for being freaked out, but now it looked more like she was scared over it all. "I don't know." He replied in the same quiet manner while shaking his head. "But whatever happened, happened to the both of us." He pointed out while setting a hand on his sister's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "We'll figure it out, or try to." Clark assured the best he could and offered a half-hearted smile as well. "At least we're not alone in all of this. I don't think it would be any easier for either one of us if we weren't here for each other."
Lara tried to smile at this, but it came rather weakly and Clark only gave her shoulder another squeeze before removing it. "I guess you're right." She agreed while picking her fork up and cut a small piece of her pie with its edge.
It was around three in the morning when Lara Kent woke with a start to find she was staring down at her bed, after which her eyes became rather wide for a moment before she came crashing down on to the mattress. After her landing, the bed somehow managed to stay in tacked while Lara found her face buried within her pillow and then pushed her upper body up off the bed with her arms. Waiting for a moment, her body having gone entirely still and not even moving in a slight tremble, Lara breathed a sigh of relief five minutes later when her dad or Clark didn't come in looking to see what was wrong. Sighing to herself, Lara flopped down while rolling on to her back and then looked over at her alarm clock. The glowing red numbers stared back at her with 3:45am glaring in the darkness of the wee morning hours when even the sun wasn't up. Shaking her head, Lara stared up at the ceiling and with a confused look crossing her face as she was trying to figure out what had just happened. Was she just floating over the bed not but a few minutes ago? How was that even possible? "Just a weird dream." Lara murmured to herself while rubbing a hand over her eyes and then sat up in bed.
There was something else that still bothered her and it was about what happened the other day at the bridge. It still didn't make any sense as to how both she and Clark survived being hit dead on by a car going at least sixty when it struck them. Not only that, they were pushed through steel railing before hitting the water. Well, whatever the reason, Lara knew she wasn't going to be falling asleep any time soon before she had to get up at six to get ready for school. Tossing aside the bed spread, Lara quietly got out of bed and tip toed over to her closet, which was standing open. Reaching in she grabbed the red sweatshirt hanging off the door hook and pulled it on over her white pajama tank top, and then located a pair of jeans she quickly changed into out of the flannel pajama pants she was wearing. Grabbing a pair of shoes on her way out of the bedroom, Lara snuck down the stairs successfully and headed into the kitchen. No one was up yet, not even her parents. Pulling her shoes on, Lara then managed to somehow make it out of the house through the kitchen door and then jumped off the porch without even using the steps, something that had sort become her trademark when she wanted to get moving. Looking back at the house, Lara only hope she wouldn't freak her parents out too bad if they woke up and found her missing, and then raced off across the farm and through the cornfield across the way as she headed out to Lake Bridge.
In only a minute flat, Lara came to a stop at the same bridge that the car accident had occurred upon. It was still dark out, but not so dark she couldn't see anything, as the sky was a bit grey rather than pitch black. Looking around just to confirm the fact that there was no one else out there as well, Lara walked over to the bent out busted gap in the guard railing and stopped. Standing just a few feet back from it, Lara stared at the hole and studied it for a moment in silence. Something just didn't seem right about all of this. There was no way they should have survived being hit like that, not that Lara wasn't grateful that they had and all. As she continued to stare at the scene of the accident, Lara was unaware of the approaching footsteps that were coming up behind her at that moment until a voice spoke up.
"I didn't think anyone else would be out here at this time of the morning."
Lara jumped as she had been completely caught off guard, and spun about to see who it was that was talking to her after showing up out of nowhere. Her eyes had that whole 'deer-caught-in-the-headlights' look to them as she stared at the same man she had a hand in saving the other day. Lex Luthor was standing about five feet from her, dressed in a suit of sorts with a long black coat covering him, and hands casual placed within the pockets of his dress pants. A bit of a smile was on his face as he stared at the girl he had just about frightened completely. Lara gave him a sheepish smile and then out of nervous reaction crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, well, I could say the same thing about you. Where did you come from?" She replied while trying the best she could in not sounding completely spent of nerve.
"Down on the river bank." Lex only smirked a bit while now walking closer towards her and then stopped just at her side to look over the edge of the railing down at the dark water below. "That was a long fall." He commented while then looking up and over at Lara. "I don't think I would have willing jumped in without second thought to save someone." Lex stated while studying the look on Lara's face, as she appeared to still be a bit startled from his sudden appearance.
"Oh well, you know, adrenaline is a funny thing." Lara stated in return while looking away from Lex and over at the gaping hole in the railing again. His gaze wasn't uncomfortable to be under or anything, it was just that Lara wasn't sure on how she should act around someone with the last name of Luthor attached to the first. After a fleeting moment of silence passed between them, Lara looked over at Lex from the corner of her eye. "So, what are you doing out here anyways?" she asked.
"Most likely for the same reasons as yourself." Lex answered while walking around behind Lara to come and stand at her other side to look at the break from a different angle. "I've been here for a while. I wanted to see what I could find here concerning the accident yesterday, before traffic started up." He looked away from the railing and back over at the teen beside him. "It's Lara, right?" he asked to confirm what he figured was right, but wanted be sure of it before saying anything else. When she nodded a 'yes' in return, Lex only smiled. "Lara, I don't know how I could ever thank you or your brother for what you did. You saved my life and put your own in danger to do so. I don't think anyone has ever done that for me." Lex stated while stepping a bit closer to her.
Lara swallowed a bit hard as she wasn't entirely sure what to say. "I don't think that's true." She replied while finding a way to somehow to start talking to him without acting so nervous. "I'm sure you have personal security that put themselves in harms way to protect you when you're out and about." Lara pointed out not really knowing if this was entirely true or not for the most part. But since he was Lex Luthor, she had to assume there was the possibility that she could be right.
However, Lex only laughed a bit in response to this. "I see the reputation of the Luthor name proceeds me even here in Smallville." He stated while grinning at Lara. "I suppose you would be right, but I think from what happened yesterday you can safely assume that I'm not surrounded twenty-four seven with security."
Lara smiled at this while running a hand through her dark hair and then refolded her arms across her chest again. "Yeah I guess." She agreed slightly while looking out towards the horizon for a moment before looking over at Lex again. "Can I ask you question?" she asked while holding a passive look on her face, but she could feel her cheeks starting to warm a bit when she turned to see that Lex was staring at her even when the conversation had dropped for a moment.
"You already have been for the past twenty minutes." Lex pointed while again grinning at her. "I don't see why you couldn't ask one more."
A small-embarrassed laugh was kept trapped behind Lara's lips before she spoke up again. "What brings someone like you out a place like Smallville anyways?" she asked hoping it didn't sound too nosey for the most part.
Lex only smiled at her before turning his own gaze away, and out towards the horizon like Lara had done a moment ago. "Business, I guess you could call it." He answered. "But I'm sure my father as another term or title to be used." He added in while looking over at Lara again. "And it's safe to assume that you're a Smallville native yourself?" A nod from Lara confirmed this to which only Lex smiled at. "Well, if you don't mind me asking a question now, how did you get here? I didn't hear or see a car pull up." He stated while looking around just to make sure he was right in this statement following the question.
At this Lara went a bit rigid for a moment and all thought left her brain as she uttered a small "uh" to stall for time to think this over quickly. "I ran." She finally answered while uncrossing her arms and sticking her hands within the front pouch of her sweatshirt.
An amused brow was raised as Lex took this answer in. "You ran?" he asked in restatement to make sure he heard her right, and when she again nodded, his brow wrinkled a bit as this was rather perplexing to say the least since she didn't seem to be out of breath when he found her. "You must live pretty close to have run here." He commented while also waiting to see how she would further explain this to him.
"Sort of." Lara replied while now trying to hide how nervous she was becoming at that moment in trying to explain away how she got there while not having Lex become suspicious of her any further than already ways after yesterday. "I live on Hickory Lane."
Both Lexs' brows rose upon hearing this. He wasn't too familiar with the area yet, but he did know that Lake Bridge was a good long distance from Hickory Lane from his own understanding. Either Lara was a really fast runner of some kind, or she wasn't telling him the whole truth as to how she got there. "Hickory Lane? Isn't that a good ten miles or so from here?" he asked, now trying to get a further explanation out of this girl he only knew by name for a little over a half hour now.
Lara bit the inside of her bottom lip before answering. She knew that this was starting to become a sticky situation. "I think so. But I try and get up in the early morning to go out and run." She stated to save herself, and apparently Lex seem to be buying into it for the moment as he nodded his head at this. "Well, uh, I think I better head back home or my parents are going to wake up and start wondering what happened to me." Lara said while she went to turn to start leaving, only to stop when Lex called her name to get her attention.
"Lara, why don't I give you a ride? It's the least I can do." Lex stated while nodding over towards the other side of the bridge where a silver sports car sat in park.
A brow was raised in Lara's part as she looked over at the car, as she couldn't seem to figure out why she hadn't seen it when she first got there. Looking over at Lex as she tried to hide her confusion about the car, Lara only nodded her head shortly. "Yeah, sure, thanks."
Lex only nodded in response before taking the lead towards the parked vehicle and pulled out a set of keys from his coat pocket. Pushing a button on the small remote that was connected to his key chain, Lex unlocked the car and disabled the alarm as Lara followed after him and came around to the passenger side to get in. With Lara giving him directions, Lex sped off towards the Kent Farm. It took about ten minutes before Lara had Lex stop a good thirty feet from the driveway itself. "I can take you all the way up to the house." Lex stated even though he complied with Lara's request and put the car into park for the moment.
"I know, it's just that, if my dad is awake and working, I don't think he'd be too thrilled to see me getting out of your car." She explained while unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the door. "Thanks for the ride Lex."
"No problem." He stated while watching her get out and shut the door. Once she was out of the car, Lara gave him a small wave in gesture of 'good-bye' and Lex did the same before turning his car around and headed back to turn back onto the main road.
As soon as his car was starting to turn onto the main road, Lara sped off towards the farmhouse, disappearing from sight faster than a blink of an eye and reappearing in the yard between the house and the barn. Walking up the porch steps, Lara was just about to grab the handle of the screen door when she heard name called out by her father's voice as he was emerging from the barn. Cringing a bit, Lara slowly turned around and smiled weakly at her dad as he neared the porch steps. "Morning dad." She stated while hoping he wasn't angry at her for having taken off so early in the morning.
"Lara, where have you been?" he asked while coming up the steps of the porch and then stopped to stand before her with a stern look on his face. He was waiting for an explanation from her and it showed in how he stood there staring at his teen daughter.
"I went for a run." She answered, but when her dad gave her an even sterner look than before she finished her reply all the way. "To the bridge."
Jonathan Kent sighed while dropping the look a degree and shook his head. "Why?" he asked while gesturing for her to go inside and then held the screen door after she opened it and entered.
Lara pushed open the wooden door next and then answered his question. "I wanted to check something out." She stated while entering the kitchen and then stopped to turn and face her dad as he came in after her. "That's all."
"Lara," Jonathan started while going over to the coffee pot and turned it on to start the morning's brew before turning back around to look at his daughter who staring after him. Seeing the down look on her face, Jonathan could tell she was sorry for having left like that and just sighed while coming over and setting his hands on her shoulders. "The next time you decided to take off in the morning before the rest of us are up, make sure you leave a note behind so we know where you are. Okay?"
"Okay." Lara replied while giving her dad a small smile. "I'm sorry I took off and made you worry." She apologized and then gave him a hug.
Jonathan hugged her back with a smile on his face. "I know you are." He stated while then pulling back from her a bit to kiss her forehead. "Now, come on outside and help your old man with the tractor."
Lara grinned at him as they broke their hug and headed outside. "What's wrong with it this time?" she asked while actually using the porch steps for once.
"Not sure. The old girl won't start up." He stated while walking beside Lara across the yard and into the barn itself where the tractor was kept when not in use. "I checked the spark plugs, the oscillator, the fan belt, and everything else that would keep the tractor from starting. Nothing looks like its needs to be fixed."
The two stopped just before the giant piece of machinery and stared at it for a moment as if judging what to do. After a few minutes of thoughtful silence between them, Lara went around to the front of the tractor and lifted up the right side hood to look in at the engine. Reaching a hand in while looking about with her eyes, Lara touched a few things to make sure they were in place and secured, and then dropped the hood to go around to the other side. Lifting the left hood up, Lara looked things over on that side too, but then paused a moment as her eyes came to rest on something that looked to be a bit loose. Reaching in, Lara used her fingers to tighten a wire and then dropped the hood. Getting up on the tractor seat, Lara turned the key and the tractor started up. A triumphant smile came across her face at this before turning the tractor off and then hoped down. Jonathan laughed while shaking his head. Whenever there was a probably with a piece of machinery on the farm it was always Lara who was able to fix it somehow and get it working right.
"Thanks sweetie." Jonathan stated while giving his daughter a sideways hug. "I don't know what we'd do without you." He commented while smiling at her.
"Not very much I'll tell you that." Lara teased in response. "And Clark would never get to the school on time no matter how fast he can run." She added in as a joke towards her brother's habit of being late for the school bus and even at times for school itself even though neither one of them had ever missed a day of school in their life.
Jonathan only laughed again before telling Lara to go get her chores done before getting ready for school. It took her maybe a few minutes to get several of them done before Clark finally joined her out on the farm to get his done as well. The two worked side by side for a good hour and a half before stopping and headed back to the house to get ready for school as it was now going on seven thirty. The bus was going to show up soon and as luck would more than likely have it, they were going to miss the bus all over again. And they did. Again the two were off and running across Smallville to make on time before the first bell rang. The second day of school wasn't as bad as the first, without any bridge accidents occurring on the way home.
Clark and Lara were walking up the long driveway, talking about an assignment handed to them by their English teacher when Lara stopped walking all together and just stared ahead of them. Clark stopped next and looked back at his sister with a raised brow. "What are you doing?" he asked while then having her just point ahead in response. Clark followed her gaze and point of direction to see what it was that had stopped her like that.
Sitting in the driveway was a brand new red pickup truck. Clark's eyes widened a bit in a sense of excitement as he started walking forward again with a faster pace than before while Lara just kept still and stared at the truck a moment longer before chasing after Clark. Just as the two of them were coming up around the truck, Martha was climbing up onto the tractor. Clark kept walking towards his mom, but cast one last glance back over his shoulder at the truck. "Hey mom, whose truck?" he asked while coming up to the tractor.
"Yours." Martha stated while looking at both Clark and Lara as she sat down on the tractor seat and pulled the card in her front shirt pocket out. "It's a gift from Lex Luthor to the two of you." She said while handing the card over to Clark.
Lara's brow was a bit wrinkled as she came up beside her brother as he pulled the card out of the envelope it was in started reading it aloud. "Dear Clark and Lara, drive safe. Always in your debt, a maniac in a Porsche." Clark finished reading and looked over at his sister with a huge grin on his face before turning to look back at the truck behind them. "I don't believe it." He murmured in a sort of awe while that large grin remained on his face. "Where are the keys?" he asked while looking towards his mother again.
"Bet I know." Lara muttered while adjusting the strap of the backpack on her shoulder and looking towards the barn where she heard the wood chipper humming. If their mom hadn't hand them the keys at the same time with the card, then there was only one other person who could have them. Lara sighed while turning about and headed towards the house.
Clark raised a brow in response to his sister's statement and then looked at his mom again, who had stepped off the tractor and now placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your father has them." She answered while gesturing with her head towards the barn.
The look on Clark's face fell a bit as he now realized why Lara had said what she had said and then just went straight for the house without really waiting for an answer. Sighing to himself, Clark headed for the barn where his dad was pushing branches into the wood chipper at that moment. Lara had reached the stairs of the back porch when she heard the chipper turn off, and tossed her backpack up onto the swing bench before looking over her shoulder suddenly as she heard the chipper turn back on with gears and grinding saws suddenly groaning and straining. A sense of fear that something bad had happened came over Lara, and within a split second she was at the door of the barn causing her mother to become concerned at her daughter's sudden use of her incredible speed. Both mother and daughter stared in as Jonathan pulled Clark's hand out the chipper and turned the machine off.
"Is this normal!" Clark demanded in a loud voice as his dad looked over the unscathed arm he was holding. "Lara and I didn't jump in after Lex, the car hit us at sixty." He stated in explanation while yanking his arm back. "I'd give anything to be normal." Clark added in while then leaving his dad and running up the stairs to the loft.
Lara watched her brother with concerned look on her face and then looked over at her mom. "Mom, Clark's right. Lex's car hit us doing sixty." She stated while holding a look of both fear and concern on her face. Martha looked at her daughter with a look on her face that that was almost an exact copy of the one she had. But there was something else on her mother's face that Lara was starting to see now and then furrowed her brow. "Mom, what have you and dad been keeping from us?"
Martha blinked a few times at this. Sometimes it was a little scary how intuitive Lara was, and this was just one of those times. Jonathan looked over to where his wife and daughter were standing with a worried look on his face that showed he was at a loss on how to handle this. Martha only gave him a look that suggested something, and Lara's brow furrowed a bit to this as she looked between her parents. Before either one of them could say anything to her, Lara was gone and up the stairs of the loft to check on Clark in only a split second. Lara appeared up on the top of the landing and looked over at the couch, and there was Clark sitting on the old worn couch bent over with his arms resting atop his legs and staring down at the floor beneath his feet. A small sigh left her as she went over to the couch and sat down next to her brother. Putting a hand on his back, Lara didn't say anything but just rested her head on his shoulder.
It wasn't long before Jonathan appeared in the loft holding something in his hand wrapped up in a cloth. His gaze fell upon his son first who was sitting on the couch and then drifted over to the hay door where his daughter was sitting up on the sill and staring out across the farm property. Both were quiet and neither looked like they were ready to talk, but there was something that needed to said and explained to them now after everything that happened the day before. "Guys I think it's we had a talk." Jonathan stated while walking further into the loft.
Clark looked up from staring intently at the floor and glanced over at their dad. "Talk about what?" he asked, but knew it was about the whole arm into wood chipper thing along with the incident at the bridge yesterday. So the question was sort of redundant.
Lara glanced over from her position on the hay door with a passive look on her face for the most part while various thoughts and emotions were running through her. Jonathan sat down on the couch next to Clark and looked over at his daughter. "Come on sweetheart, you too." He nodded his head towards the empty space on Clark's right (the left from Lara's position).
Getting up from the sill, Lara made her way to the couch and sat down next to her brother while leaning forward to look over at what their dad had in his hands. "What is that?" she asked while raising a curious brow.
"Your mother and I found this when we found the two of you." Jonathan explained while unwrapping the object he had in his hand. Once the last fold dropped away, what was held in Jonathan's hand was a rectangular piece of polished metal that seemed to be solid with engraving running down either side of the face, while at the end of the piece was something that resembled something like a computer chip-like grid panel. "I think it's from your parents. Your real parents." Jonathan handed the metal object over to Clark who took it and looked it over. As Lara studied it as well, Jonathan only watched and waited for their first questions.
"What does it say?" Clark asked while looking over at his dad as Lara took the object from him.
Jonathan shrugged slightly while shaking his head right after. "I've tried to decipher it for years, but it's not written any language known to man." He stated while taking notice of the look on his daughter's face now.
When Lara had taken the object from Clark to look over, her fingers traced the engravings along the side as she stared at them, her blue eyes were starting to focus upon them in an intense gaze. As she stared, a sudden ache began to build up on either temple for a brief moment and then something flashed across the front of her mind like the recall of a photograph or scene from a movie. A red 'S', cornstalks, a Luthor Corp fertilizer plant sign, and then that was it as this odd scene ended causing Lara to snap to attention in a sort of sudden fright while dropping the metal panel she was holding. The panel hit the floor with a clatter causing Clark and Jonathan to look over at her with a few concerned looks on their faces. "Lara? Are you okay?" Jonathan asked while reaching over and putting a hand against her rather pale cheek.
Lara looked over at her dad and brother, a weak smile crossing her face as she nodded. "Yeah, it just slipped." She replied while reaching down and picking up the metal panel and then handed back over to her dad as she sat up.
Clark gave her speculative look but then just pushed it aside for the moment as he looked over at his dad. "So dad, what do you mean about the whole language thing?" he asked while handing the piece back over to him.
"Your real parents weren't exactly from around here." Jonathan stated slowly as he hoped this wouldn't go over badly with the two.
Both Clark and Lara raised their brows to this as they were beginning to take their dad's statements as some sort of joke or something now by the way he was talking. The color in Lara's face had returned and now she was giving her dad a somewhat unamused look to this whole beating around the bush thing, even though she knew he was trying to break something to them as gently as possible. It was definitely about their real parents so far, and now it looked like it was going to come around as to where the two of them were from. "Then where are they from?" Lara asked, only to have her answer come back with their dad looking up and out the hay door towards the sky.
Clark and Lara exchanged looks with each other before following their dad's gaze. Clark gave a small laugh and then looked over at their dad. "What are you trying to tell us dad? That we're from another planet?" he asked in a joke, only to have their dad look back at them with a look that said nothing against what had just been voiced. Even though this was starting to weird him out, Clark decided to play along in hopes that the next thing their dad would say was that he was just kidding. "And I suppose our spaceship is stored in the attic."
The next look off their dad's face wasn't what either one of them wanted to see, or what he said next. "Actually, it's in the storm cellar." The looks on his son and daughter's faces had fallen completely after his correction as to where the spaceship was stored. Jonathan got up off the couch and looked down at the two of them. "Come on." Was all said to them before heading down the stairs of the loft to the barn floor.
For a moment both Clark and Lara sat on the couch as sudden stupor had come over them at that moment as they stared after their dad as he disappeared down the steps of the lost. Both brother and sister looked at each other in an exchanged of looks before scrambling to their feet and running down the stairs after their dad to see if this was all really true or not. Jonathan led his children towards the storm cellar around the side of the house and then stopped a moment to unlock the large padlock keeping the chains wrapped around two metal handles bound there. Pulling the left door open, Jonathan descended down the steps of the cellar with Clark and Lara following after him. At the bottom of the cellar Jonathan brought towards a large object with a huge tarp covering it completely. Looking over his shoulder at the two behind him, Jonathan gave them a reassuring smile before looking back around and grabbed the tarp. Yanking the tarp off the large object, Jonathan revealed to them a large metal object that was shaped like an egg and then elongated with two fins sticking out at the main part of the body that was larger and rounder like a bubble.
Jonathan stepped towards the spaceship and placed a hand on it gently. "This is how the two of you came into our lives." He stated while looking at the spaceship and remembering that fateful day when the pickup he and Martha had been driving flipped after hitting a newly carved ditch in the middle of the road. "It was the day of the meteor shower."
Lara stared at the spaceship with a confused look on her face and a wrinkled brow as tried to understand that this thing before them was the real deal. Clark on the other hand looked over at their dad with a disturbed look on his face. "This is a joke, right?" he asked while stepping backwards and turning away from the spaceship. A hundred different types of emotions were running through both him and Lara, but Clark was expressing his more openly. Turning about, Clark came to his dad's side and held a somewhat angry look on his face. "Why didn't you tell us?" he demanded while pointing at the spaceship.
Jumping a bit at Clark's sudden outburst, Lara looked over at him and their father. A panic was starting to set in on her as she stared down at the spaceship that she had just learned brought her and her brother to her parents. Jonathan looked at Clark with a look of concern and want for his son to understand why they had kept the truth from him and his sister for so long. "Clark, we were only trying to protect you and Lara." He explained while also looking over at his daughter and saw the confused look on her face as she continued to stare at the spaceship.
"Protect us from what!" Clark asked angrily. "You should have told us!" he stated before taking off suddenly using his incredible speed to leave the storm cellar to wherever it was he wanted to run away to and from all of this.
Lara turned away from the spaceship and watched her brother take off. "Clark!" she called after him and made to follow, only her arm was quickly grabbed by her father to stop her own departure. Looking over at him, Lara had a look of pleading on her face for him to let her go and follow Clark.
"Lara, I know you want to go after Clark, but you can't." Jonathan stated. "Let him have some time alone to think about this." He gave her a small smile. "Ever since you two were little, you followed after him wherever he went and he did the same after you, but this time you just can't follow him sweetie." Jonathan gently explained while releasing his hold on her arm.
For a moment Lara stared at her father with look on her face that was mixed with emotion before she stepped towards him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug as she sought comfort against all the confusion coursing through her. Jonathan wrapped his arms about his daughter's frame and kissed the crown of her head. "Dad, I'm scared." She whispered almost too quiet for him to hear as her eyes started to glass over.
Jonathan tightened the hold he had on his daughter after hearing her statement. "It's okay Lara. We'll figure this all out together."