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.

Clark took Jessie over to the Angie's house the next day so that she could apologize to her. Angie was incredibly nice about it, which made Jessie feel even worse for being mean to her. Jessie had taken along a large box of Barbie things that she never played with anymore and Angie was thrilled when Jessie gave them to her. Jessie even promised to come over and play with them with her sometime.

Clark was proud of his little cousin and offered to take her for an ice cream cone. On the way, they passed three giant moving vans.

"That must be our new neighbors," he remarked.

"What new neighbors?" Jessie asked.

"The ones who bought Lana's house. Mom said they were moving in this month."

"Let's go up in the loft and spy on them," Jessie suggested wickedly.

"What about your ice cream?"

"This is better," she said with en evil grin.

"That's terrible," Clark told her, but turned the truck around.

Up in the loft, it took only seconds for Clark to focus the telescope on the front porch of Lana's old house. He'd had plenty of practice.

"See anything?" Jessie asked.

"Nah. Just the moving men so far. Wait. There's a kid."

"Let me see!" Jessie crowed next to Clark, who stepped aside.

"It's a girl. And that must be her mom. Or her sister."

"Shove over," Clark said, curious himself now.

"Definitely her mom," Clark observed, not totally hiding his disappointment.

"Let's go meet them," Jessie suggested.

Clark thought it over. "Mom made cookies this morning. We could take some of those."

"Let's go," Jessie said, darting down the stairs.

The new family was named Peterson. There was a mom, a dad, and one child, a girl named Claudia. Claudia was 11 but was in the same grade as Jessie. They were from Metropolis and both Mr. and Mrs. Peterson were writers who were planning to work from home.

By the end of the week Jessie and Claudia had become friends. Each afternoon Jessie hurried through her homework and chores to rush over to Claudia's house. Claudia was as unhappy about being isolated from civilization as Jessie was and their common misery bound them like glue.

Martha encouraged Jessie to invite Claudia over to their house, but the Peterson house was clearly where the action was. Over there, the girls were free to watch TV, play the stereo loud, eat junk food, and basically do whatever they wanted. The Petersons were what was known as permissive parents.

Their permissive parenting was obvious to Martha and Jonathan in just the limited amount of time they had spent with Claudia. On the few occasions she had come over, they found her to be impertinent and rude. They weren't sure Claudia was a very good influence, but Jessie seemed to like her so much and she desperately needed a friend. They decided to give it some time.

Jessie was thrilled when Claudia was put in Mrs. Bremmer's class with her. However, within two days the girls had to be separated to opposite sides of the room. Oh, well. They still had lunch and recess.

The good thing about Jessie's new friendship with Claudia was that she had become diligent about her homework and chores. She didn't want to risk not getting to go to Claudia's house. She averaged four afternoons there a week and slept over almost every Friday night. Martha continued to invite Claudia to stay at their house, but her offer was usually politely (and sometimes not so politely) declined.

One weekend however, Mrs. Peterson stopped by and asked if Claudia could spend the weekend with the Kents. She and her husband had some business in the city and would be gone for three days. Happy to finally repay all the hospitality that had been extended to Jessie, Martha eagerly agreed.

She went all out. Friday afternoon, she made pizza dough from scratch along with every imaginable topping so that the girls could make their own pizzas. With her recent attention to her homework and chores, Jessie had managed to earn her television set back and Martha and Jonathan had said she and Claudia could have unlimited access for Friday night. Jessie was planning a horror film festival.

The evening was a big hit. Martha was a little ashamed to admit how glad she was that the kids were finally having a good time at their house for a change. She realized she must have secretly been jealous of how much Jessie liked being at the Petersons.

On Saturday, the family made a day of it at Crater Lake. Jonathan and Clark took the girls out in the rowboat in the morning for some fishing, although neither girl was interested in touching worms or fish. Clark and Jonathan managed to catch a few, however, and by noon they met Martha for a picnic.

Jonathan delegated fish cleaning duty to Clark while he found some wood for a fire. Once the cleaning was done, Clark had some fun chasing Claudia and Jessie around with fish heads until his mother scolded him to stop.

Martha got the rest of the food ready while Jonathan showed the girls how to cook fish over the fire. Everyone had a wonderful lunch and afterward Jonathan and Martha stretched out on a blanket for an afternoon nap.

Jessie and Claudia begged to go swimming in the lake and Clark agreed to take them. The girls took turns climbing on Clark's shoulders so that he could throw them off and he had to constantly remind himself not to toss too hard.

Once they were home, Jessie and Claudia took a shower and Jessie asked her guest what she would like to do next.

"I don't know. Where's Clark?" she asked.

"Out in the barn, probably. Why?"

"Let's go see him," Claudia suggested.

"Why? We just saw him all day."

"Promise you won't tell him?" Claudia asked.

Jessie nodded.

"I think he's hot," Claudia confessed.

Jessie raised her eyebrows. "Clark?"

"Clark," Claudia confirmed.

"Really."

"Let's go say hi, just for a sec. Please?"

Jessie shrugged. "Okay."

In the loft Clark was busy working on a paper that was due for school on Monday.

"Knock. Knock," Jessie said as they came up the steps.

"Hey, guys. What's up?"

Jessie came to the point. "Claudia wanted to say hi."

Looking confused, Clark said, "O…kay. Hi, Claudia."

"Hi," Claudia returned.

Walking over to the telescope, she asked, "What's this for?"

"Clark likes to look at the stars," Jessie explained. "He was an alien in another life," she joked.

Clark smiled nervously.

"Looks to me like it's pointed at my house," Jessie observed.

"It must have gotten bumped," Clark said, tilting it slightly upward, not wanting to be busted for spying on her family on moving day.

Claudia looked through the viewfinder and adjusted it back down again.

"Well, if you get tired of looking at stars, Clark, there are other heavenly bodies to admire."

Done adjusting the telescope, she held her shoulders back, accentuating her fairly ample chest and said in her most flirtatious voice, "My room's the one on the right. Feel free to look at anything you like."

Clark raised his eyebrows in surprise. Not knowing what to say, he shot a questioning look at Jessie, who shrugged.

Claudia was on a roll. She walked over to where Clark was standing and leaned close to him. "I think tall men are sexy, don't you, Jessie?" she asked as she touched Clark's shoulder.

"What men?" Jessie asked.

Clearly uncomfortable, Clark gently pushed past Claudia and walked to the other side of the loft.

"Aren't you supposed to be helping Mom with dinner?" he asked Jessie, his voice cracking a bit.

Jessie tried to take the hint. "Sure. Come on, Claudia."

"Go ahead. I'll be there in a sec."

Not knowing what else to do, Jessie shrugged and left them alone.

Once she was sure she was alone with Clark, Claudia became even more bold.

"You know, Clark, any night you wanted some company up here, all you'd have to do is send me a signal. Say, put a red handkerchief over this lamp," she said walking over to his desk.

"Actually, I usually come up here to be alone. No offense."

"Alone is boring," she said nuzzling close again. "We could have a lot of fun together, Clark."

Clark took her hands off of his shoulders and gently pushed her away.

"That's never ever going to happen, Claudia."

"What's the matter, Clark? You aren't afraid of a little girl, are you?"

Not wanting to hurt her feelings, but clearly uncomfortable, Clark said, "I kind of like someone else."

Jessie started towards the stairs. "That's okay, Clark. I can wait," she promised. "And one of these days you're going to be glad I did."

She left and Clark stared after her. That kid was way too mature for Jessie.

Claudia's parents came home on Sunday and Jessie was sad for her to leave. But Monday afternoon found them together again. Martha and Jonathan had picked them up from school and were letting them hang out at the record store while they ran errands.

Clark walked by the record store and noticed Jessie and Claudia through the window.

"Hey. What are you two up to?" he asked, coming inside.

"Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Martha had some stuff to do so we're just hanging out."

"Cool. I was about to head home. You guys want to catch a ride with me or do you want to stay here?"

Jessie deferred to Claudia, who said she'd rather stay.

"Okay. Well, I'll be at the Talon for a few more minutes if you change your minds," Clark said and started out of the store.

"Hey, that's the new band Pete was telling me about," he said as a CD on display caught his eye.

"You should get it," Jessie told him.

"Not for $18," he said. "I'll just listen to Pete's."

After Clark left, Claudia walked over to Jessie.

"Clark really wanted that CD," she said.

"Yeah, but he's really tight with money," Jessie explained.

"Why don't you get it for him?" Claudia suggested.

"With what? My good looks?"

"In a way," Jessie said mysteriously.

"I don't get it," Jessie admitted.

"You just have to use your innocent looks," Claudia told her, still not totally clear.

Jessie was about to ask for a further explanation when she felt Claudia push something into the waistband of her jeans. Things were becoming clearer now.

"You want me to steal it?" she whispered.

Claudia smiled at her.

"I can't do that," Jessie whispered. "What if Mr. Knox sees me?"

"I've already done the hard part for you. It's in your pants. All you have to do is walk out."

Jessie looked around. There was no one else in the store. She was pretty sure Mr. Knox hadn't seen anything. She really didn't want to steal from him. He'd always been nice to her when she came in. But she didn't want Claudia to think she was chicken.

"Okay. If we're going to do it, let's just go," Jessie said and headed for the door.

"Didn't find anything today, Ladies?"

"Not today, Mr. Knox," Jessie said, feeling totally guilty.

"Well, you come back anytime," he said.

Jessie thanked him and quickly hurried out the door. Unfortunately in her haste, she neglected to see her aunt and uncle about to come in and she ran right into her Uncle Jonathan.

"Whoa, there, Sweetheart. Are you okay?" he asked, catching her as she nearly fell backward.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered.

"What's this?" he asked as he pulled the CD from underneath her jacket.

Jessie could only stare at the CD in his hand and wish she were dead.

"Jessica? I asked you a question. Where did you get this?"

"From the record store," she said quietly.

"I don't seem to see a receipt," he said sternly. "Is there a reason for that?"

Jessie was silent.

Jonathan knelt down to Jessie's level and held the CD in front of her. "Jessie, did you steal this?" he asked her quietly.

Jessie looked at the ground and nodded her head slightly. "Yes, sir."

Jonathan stood up and looked at Claudia. "What do you know about this?" he asked her.

Claudia held her hands up in the air. "Hey, I'm just as shocked as you are Mr. Kent."

Jonathan gave her a doubtful look, but decided not to push it.

"Martha, why don't you take Claudia over to the Talon and get a ride home with Clark?"

"What are you going to do?" she asked, as if she didn't know.

"Jessie and I need to have a talk with Mr. Knox and then we'll take the car home."

"Come on, Claudia," Martha said and they headed down the street.

Jonathan gestured toward the door of the record shop. "Let's go," he said to Jessie.

Mr. Knox smiled as they came through the door. "Well, back so soon?" he greeted them.

"Jessie has something she needs to talk to you about, Ray."

"What is it, Little Lady?" he said, leaning over the counter.

Jessie held out the CD, but couldn't look at him. "I stole this. I'm sorry."

Mr. Knox was surprised. He straightened up and looked down at her. "Well. I have to say I'm mighty disappointed about that."

"Ray, if you'd like to call the Sheriff, we'll wait," Jonathan offered.

Mr. Knox shook his head. "Ain't no need for that, Jonathan. I'm sure you can handle this at home." He raised an eyebrow and looked down at Jessie. "I don't reckon you'll be trying anything like this again," he said

Still too ashamed to look at him but feeling his eyes on her, Jessie answered, "No, sir."

"Thank you, Ray," Jonathan said, as the two men shook hands.

A little while later, Jonathan stood in the hallway outside Jessica's room. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on her door.

"Come in," came the small voice from inside.

Jessica was sitting in the window seat looking out. Jonathan walked over and sat down on the bed across from her. Jessica shifted around to look at him.

Jonathan sat for a moment, not saying anything. He laced his fingers together and stared down at his hands. Finally, he spoke in a quiet voice.

"Jessie, years from now when you look back on your childhood, I imagine that what's about to happen here is one of the things you'll probably always remember the most. So I want to be very clear."

Chills flooded over Jessie as the terror in her started to rise. She stared at her uncle, barely breathing.

Jonathan continued.

"One of the few things you'll ever have in this life that no one can take away from you is your integrity. It's up to you to build it, and it's up to you to protect it. And nothing is worth throwing it away."

He lifted his head and looked at Jessie hard. "My children don't lie. My children don't cheat. And my children don't steal."

Jessie swallowed hard and waited for him to continue.

"You're about to learn what happens in this house if you do. I hope you never forget it. Now, come over here," he said, holding out his hand.

Clark and Martha found Jonathan in the barn splitting wood when they returned home.

"Dad?"

Jonathan swung the axe and split a large log, then looked at the two of them.

"Did you drop Claudia off?" he asked.

Martha nodded. "Yes. I didn't tell her folks what happened in town, but I think they ought to know. Jonathan, you know Jessie didn't do this alone."

"I know."

"Don't you think we should tell her parents? I mean, I think we'd want to know, wouldn't we?"

Jonathan nodded in agreement. "Yes, Sweetheart, we would. But I don't think they do. Kids don't get to be like Claudia overnight. That takes years of looking the other way and ignoring bad behavior."

Clark spoke up. "That kid's a bad influence. I don't Jessie should hang around with her."

Martha agreed. "I think we should tell her she can't play with Claudia anymore."

Jonathan put his arm around his wife. "As much as I'd like to do that, I think it would be the wrong thing to do."

"But Jonathan, why? Claudia is just going to keep getting her into more and more trouble."

"Probably. But I think we have to allow Jessie to figure that out for herself. Maybe when she gets tired of getting in trouble, she'll do something about it."

"I'm going to go up and look in on her, then I'll start dinner," Martha said as she left.

When Martha got to Jessie's room, she was still lying on her bed. Martha came in and sat down next to her on the bed. She reached out and stroked her hair gently.

"You okay, Sweetheart?"

Claudia turned over and snuggled next to her Aunt.

"Uncle Jonathan spanked me really hard," she said, not crying but still decidedly whiney.

Martha continued patting her. "Your Uncle Jonathan and I have certain things that we feel very strongly about. We want you to grow up to be a person with morals and values that you can be proud of. I hope that when you grow up you'll be able to look back on the way we raised you and feel that we didn't let you down."

Martha stood up to leave. "I'd better get started on dinner. Your Uncle Jonathan is working up quite an appetite out in the barn chopping wood."

"How come? It's not even cold."

Martha crossed her arms and looked down at Jessica. "When he has to punish you it isn't just hard on you, Jess. It hurts him, too. I know that's a cliché, but it's true. I guess chopping wood helps him sort of work through those feelings."

Martha left, leaving Jessie to think over what she had said.

When dinner was ready, Martha called Clark and Jonathan in from the barn. As Clark passed through the kitchen, his mother asked him to tell Jessie that it was time to eat.

"Sure, Mom."

Clark knocked on her door.

"Come in," she told him.

"Dinner," he said, poking his head in the door.

"I don't want any," she said softly.

"Come on, Squirt, don't pout."

"I'm not pouting."

Clark opened the door and came in. "What wrong, then? If you're worried about sitting, I'll get you a pillow," he offered jokingly. "Not mine, of course," he added with a smile.

Jessie turned over and looked at him. "It's not that."

Clark sat down on the bed and waited.

"I can't look at him," Jessie confessed. "He's ashamed of me," she said sadly. "I'm ashamed of myself."

"Look. Nobody's perfect, Jess. Sometimes people make mistakes. They make bad choices. I know I have. But let me tell you something about my dad. He always forgives me. No matter what. Because he loves me. And he loves you, too, Jessie."

Jessie seemed to be thinking it over.

"So how 'bout it? Come have some dinner? I'll eat your broccoli when Mom's not looking."

Jessie looked alarmed. "We're having broccoli?"

"Gotcha," Clark said with a grin.