Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They are the property of the writers, creators, and producers of the Smallville television series.

Story Note: Jonathan and Martha Kent have taken in Martha's sister's child. Martha's sister and her husband died in a car accident soon after Jessie was born and the 9 year old girl has been raised by her paternal grandmother. It's sometime during the second season and Clark is in the 10th grade.

Outside, Clark helped his mother pick some vegetables from the garden for dinner.

"I have corn and beans. Why don't you get some broccoli?" Martha suggested.

Clark froze. "Broccoli? Mom, are you sure? After last time…"

"Right. Of course. Forget the broccoli. I think corn and beans will be enough."

They could faintly hear what was going on inside the house and Clark could see that his mother was having a hard time.

"You know he had to, Mom," he said softly.

"Of course I know that, Sweetheart. It's just… hard to hear, you know?"

"So did you come running out here to the garden every time I got a spanking?"

Martha smiled. "Thank goodness that didn't happen very often but, yes, actually, I did."

They were quiet for a few moments and then Martha stopped and looked at Clark.

"Clark, when you were little and Dad spanked you, could you even feel it?"

Clark nodded. "Oh, yeah. I didn't start becoming impervious to pain until I was 10 or 12. Believe me, until then I felt…" He hesitated. "Almost every one."

Martha squinted slightly at him. "Almost?"

Clark looked at her with a sly smile. "Promise not to tell Dad?"

Not making any such commitment, Martha prompted, "Go on."

"Remember that time in 7th grade when Pete and I decided to take that camping trip without telling anyone?"

"Do I remember? That was the longest 14 hours of my life. Your dad and I were frantic. All I could think of was that whoever left you here had finally come back to claim you. Seeing that pick-up coming down the driveway with you and Pete in the back was the most glorious sight I had ever seen."

"I think Dad let you hug me for about 15 seconds before he and Mr. Ross bent Pete and me over the tailgate of the truck."

Martha nodded. "I remember. There wasn't a place on this farm far enough away that day to drown out the sound of you and Pete yelling."

"It was the worst spanking I ever got," Clark admitted.

She looked at him carefully then. "And you never felt a thing. Did you?"

Clark didn't say anything, but she had her answer.

"Clark Kent! Your father felt horrible. He walked around here for days feeling guilty that he had been too hard on you!"

Clark got playfully defensive. "What was I supposed to do, Mom? Pete was bawling his head off. It would have looked pretty weird if I wasn't, don't you think?"

A little more serious now, he added, "Besides, I think he would have felt a lot worse if he thought he couldn't really be my father in that way anymore. I did feel bad about faking it, though. That's why I tried to make sure he never had to do it again."

Martha smiled and touched his face. "And he never did, did he? You're a good boy, Clark."

Clark smiled broadly. "Thanks." Glancing towards the house, he added, "Let's hope it rubs off on Jessie or I have a feeling you and I are going to be spending a lot of time out here in the garden."

By the time Martha and Clark got back with the vegetables Jessie had stopped crying and was sitting in Jonathan's lap on the couch talking quietly with him.

"Jessie, would you like to help me with dinner?" Martha asked pleasantly.

Everyone was surprised when Jessie got up and cheerfully said, "Sure."

Martha held out a basket of corn. "Why don't you take this outside and shuck it."

"Take it outside and what?"

Clark took the basket. "Never mind. I'll show her."

Once they were outside, Martha leaned over to Jonathan. "That's quite a change. What exactly went on in here?"

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "I think you know what went on in here."

Martha looked confused. "But she seems so, I don't know…happy."

Jonathan reached out and took his wife's hand. "That little girl has been carrying quite a load around with her. She told me that's the first time she's cried since her grandmother had the stroke."

"That poor baby." Martha said with tears in her own eyes.

"Everything she's been through. She just kept bottling it all up. Once she finally let go it just all came spilling out."

Martha squeezed his hand. "I keep thinking how different things might have been for her if we had taken her when Rachel died."

Jonathan nodded. "I know. But Clark was so little then and his abilities were so unpredictable. I was too afraid, I guess. Besides, Robert's mother was so set on having her. Who's to say she would have let us take her even if we had wanted to."

"And now? Jonathan, what happens if she finds out about Clark now?"

"Well, then I guess we just do what we always do. We deal with it the best we can."

The evening was full of surprises from Jessie. It was like she was a totally different little girl. The sadness that had been hiding just behind her eyes since she had arrived was gone.

After dinner the four of them sat together in the living room and watched one of Jessie's movies. Martha popped some popcorn and Clark occasionally threw pieces at Jessie when she wasn't looking. She pretended to be annoyed but Clark knew she really wasn't. When the movie was over he offered her a piggyback ride upstairs, which she accepted.

The next morning Clark drove the Porsche back to the mansion. He found Lex in the study having coffee.

"Come in, Clark. Can I get you a cup of coffee?"

"No, thanks. I'm running a little behind. I just wanted to drop off the car. I left your keys on the table. Thanks again."

"You're welcome. So, don't keep me in suspense. What happened when you got home."

"Pretty much what you'd expect, I guess. Dad yelled at Jessie. Jessie yelled at Dad."

"I'm guessing that wasn't a good move."

Clark smiled and shook his head. "Definitely not."

"Poor kid."

"Yeah, I felt pretty bad for her but now I think maybe it might not have been such a bad thing after all. She seemed to turn some sort of a corner. Like this big weight was lifted off of her."

"Your dad is an amazing father. You and Jessie are very lucky, Clark."

"I couldn't agree more. I'd better get to school. Thanks again for the car," he said as he walked to the door.

"Anytime."

The next Friday afternoon when school was out Clark and Pete picked up Jessie and Pete's little sister Angie from the elementary school. They spent an hour or so at the Arcade next to the Talon. Pete and Clark decided to go next door for some coffee and left the younger girls to play a little longer.

"We'll pick you up here in a little while, " Clark told Jessie as they left.

Jessie wished she was going with them. It turned out that Pete's little sister who Clark had said was "about her age" was actually only 8. Now, for some kids the difference between 8 and 9 might not have been that big a deal. But in Angie's case, it might as well have been decades. The kid still believed in Santa Claus for crying out loud. But, Clark had given them money to play and free video games were free video games, even if it did mean enduring Angie.

On Saturday afternoon, Jessie was in the barn loft with Clark. He let her hang out there sometimes but only when he was home and only if she didn't pester him.

"Hey, Clark! You up there?" It was Pete.

"Hey, Pete. Come on up," Clark called back.

As Pete reached the top of the stairs, Jessie noticed that he had Angie with him. She was carrying some sort of little suitcase.

"What are you guys up to?" Pete asked.

"Not much, just hangin', you know." Clark said as he got up from the couch. "Hi, Angie."

"Hey."

"I hope you don't mind me bringing her. When I said I was coming over here, she asked if she could come and play with Jessie," Pete explained.

Clark smiled down at Angie. "Not at all. Jessie, why don't you take Angie up to your room."

"Why?"

"To play."

"Play what?"

Clark was getting irritated. "I don't know. Whatever."

"I don't want to," Jessie said rudely.

"I bet if you asked Mom she'd get you guys some cookies or something."

"I'm not hungry," Jessie told him.

"Well, maybe Angie is," Clark said, motioning with his eyes to the stairs.

Deliberately not taking the hint, Jessie looked icily at Angie. "Do you want me to go get you some food?" she asked, making it clear that the answer had better be no.

Angie shook her head slightly. "No, that's okay."

Clark was embarrassed by the way Jessie was acting but wasn't sure what to do about it without making an already awkward situation even more awkward. Thankfully, Pete spoke up.

"Roscoe's got his dirt bike up for sale. My dad said if I could get a decent price for mine he might chip in the difference on Roscoe's. I thought you might like to go with me to check it out."

"Sure," Clark said eagerly. "Beats sitting around here."

"Do you think it would be okay with your mom if Angie stayed here and played with Jessie."

"I'm sure it's fine. Let me just go tell her we're going," Clark said as he started down the steps.

Angie took a hesitant step towards Jessie. "Wanna play?" she asked, holding up her little Barbie case for Jessie to see.

Jessie's eyes got wide. "Clark! Wait a minute!" she called, rushing after him.

"What?" he said, turning around.

"I want to go with you and Pete," she declared.

"You have to stay here and play with Angie," he whispered.

"I don't want to play with Angie," she said, a little too loud.

"Shhh! She'll hear you," Clark cautioned.

"So what?"

"So, you'll hurt her feelings."

"Hey, it's not my fault she came over here uninvited."

Clark leaned down so that he could talk to Jessie quietly. "Look, invited or not, she's your guest and you have to be nice to her."

"You like her so much you go be nice to her!" Jessie told him, still too loud.

Clark was getting angry. "Jessie, knock it off," he said through clenched teeth. "It won't kill you to play with her for a little while. Look, I'll even let you guys play in the loft. What do you say?"

Jessie thought it over. "Five bucks."

Clark couldn't believe it. "I'm not giving you five dollars to play in MY loft," he hissed.

Jessie was practically yelling now. "You're lucky I'm not charging you 10! That stupid little twerp's got Barbie dolls up there for crissakes!"

Clark looked up and saw that Pete and Angie had heard pretty much the entire exchange. Pete had his arm around his sister and Clark could see that she was crying.

Angie looked up at her brother. "I wanna go home."

Pete nodded and they made their way down the stairs.

Clark looked miserable. "Pete, I'm sorry. Angie…"

"Guess we'd better check out that bike another day, Clark."

"Sure. Whenever you want. I'm so sorry."

Pete looked directly at Jessie as he said, "Not your fault, man."

Angie walked behind him to the car, sniffling as she walked. Clark followed them out and as Pete's car pulled away he stomped back up the stairs to find Jessie casually sitting on the couch flipping through her magazine.

"How could you be so mean?" he yelled.

"Leave me alone."

He walked over and snatched the magazine she was reading out of her hands. "Answer me! How could you be so mean to Angie?"

"I wasn't mean! I just said I didn't want to play with her, that's all!" she yelled back.

"Did you miss the part where she was crying?" Clark shouted.

"I told you she's a baby."

Clark threw up his hands. "I can't believe you don't know how rotten you were."

Still nothing from Jessie.

"Fine. Maybe we should just see what Dad thinks about it."

Jessie jerked her head up to look at him. "You're going tell on me?"

"Maybe."

Jessie got up and stood in front of him, shaking her head. "I knew you were a goody-goody, Clark. But I never took you for a tattletale."

Clark had to admit that he had never taken himself for a tattletale, either. But he wanted her to see that she could just walk all over peoples feelings like that.

"Fine," he said, walking over to the couch and sitting down. "Come over here, Jessie."

Jessie looked at him cautiously. "What for?"

"I want to talk to you."

Jessie flipped her hand up in his direction. "Talk to the hand," she said glibly.

Clark stood back up and started toward the stairs. "Suit yourself. I guess I'll just have to tell Dad, then. What do you think he's going to do?"

Jessie quickly thought it over. One the one hand, she didn't want Clark thinking he could boss her around. She had enough people doing that lately, thank you very much. On the other hand, she'd been getting closer and closer to her Aunt and Uncle. Just this morning Uncle Jonathan had told her how proud he was of the way she's been behaving lately. She hated the thought of disappointing him.

"Clark, wait."

He turned around and waited.

"Okay. I'll listen."

Clark came back and sat back down on the couch.

"Sit," he ordered.

Jessie sat.

"The way you treated Pete's sister was selfish and rude."

"But I didn't ask her to come over here," Jessie whined.

"That's not the point and you know it," Clark said. "Look, I know Angie acts a little younger than you…"

Jessie gaped at him. "A little!"

Clark rolled his eyes. "Okay, a lot. But you can't always just think about your feelings, Jessie. Sometimes younger kids look up to older kids and they want to hang out with them, because they think they're cool. And the older kid just has to be sensitive to their feelings and make the best of it, you know?"

Jessie suddenly realized why Clark seemed to be such an expert on the subject.

"You mean like letting the younger kid hang around their loft sometimes when they'd really rather be alone?" she asked sheepishly.

Clark smiled, happy she had made the connection. "Yeah. Like that."

"Okay, okay, I get it. But, be fair, it's not like I dragged all my dolls up here to play with or anything."

"No, just…" he picked up the magazine she had been reading. "Hottest Teen Hunks of the Summer. You're right. That's not the same thing at all," he said sarcastically.

"Point taken," she said, standing up. "And listen, anytime I'm hanging around and you wish I wasn't, you can tell me to get lost. I won't mind. I guess I kind of know how it feels now."

"Thanks. I appreciate that," Clark said.

Just as she reached the stairs, she turned back. "Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you could take me over to Angie's house tomorrow. I think I'd like to tell her I'm sorry."

"I could do that," he said.

"And Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for not telling Uncle Jonathan on me."

"Just don't make me regret it."

"I won't," she promised. "Enjoy your solitude," she called as she left.

He did.