"Clark, hey, and who's this?" Lana greeted Clark and Ginny from behind the counter as they made their way through the Talon.

"This is Ginny." Clark laid his hand on Ginny's shoulder, which was an easy task since she was about a foot shorter than him. "She's a….." Clark took a breath, thinking. "A friend."

"Well, nice to meet you Ginny, I'm Lana." Lana smiled and held out her hand. Ginny smiled back and pulled at the blue wrap before grasping Lana's hand.

"Hi."

Lana let go and nodded. "Is there anything I can get you two?'

Clark gave a half smile. "Uh, a coffee and some clothes would be great." Lana looked up at Clark confused. Clark cleared his throat still smiling. "Ginny is kind of short on clothes at the moment. We were wondering if she could borrow some." Lana glanced at Ginny then back at Clark who gave her a meaningful look. Lana still looked confused but took her cue and smiled again at Ginny.

"Sure. The pants might be a little long but no problem. Clark, you can get the coffee yourself and Ginny and I will go upstairs." Lana motion for Ginny to follow her. "Stephanie, will you cover for me?" A girl with blonde hair looked up from the table she was serving and nodded.

Clark watched the two girls disappear up the stairs before moving behind the counter and pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Clark!" Clark looked up to see Pete walking towards him. "Hey, I called your house, your parents said you were over here with Ginny?" Pete looked around as he walked over to lean on the counter.

"So?" Clark questioned taking a drink from his cup.

"So,…" Pete looked incredulously at Clark. "So, who's Ginny? Is she some one a should know about." Pete grinned wickedly and looked around again.

Clark looked at Pete for a minute, wondering what he was talking about. "What..?" realization dawned on Clarks face. "No, Ginny is a fifteen year old girl." Clark explained. "She showed up at the barn last night."

Pete looked slightly put out. "How'd she get there?"

Clark shook his head. "I think she's hiding from someone but she wont say who."

Pete laughed slightly. "Well she must not be from Smallville." Clark studied Pete quizzically. "If she was from Smallville and had anything to hide she wouldn't have chosen your barn as a safe haven,"

"Why not?" Clark asked.

Pete grinned. "Come on Clark, you are in the middle of the Sheriffs radar, she has visited your house more than anybody else. If this Ginny has a secret that's worth anything, she would know better than to show up at your place."

The door to the apartment opened and Clark looked up. Lana appeared laughing, holding the door open for Ginny who was holding 2 pairs of jeans and a few shirts and was also laughing. They tried to contain their laughter as they headed down the stairs. Clark looked slightly alarmed at the pair.

"What's so funny?" He questioned tilting his head slightly as the girls reached the bottom of the stairs. Ginny and Lana looked at Clark then burst out laughing again. Clark gave them a side ways glance and took another swig of his coffee. Ginny and Lana sure have made friends quickly.

Lana stifled her laughter once again and looked abruptly at Clark with a mock serious look on her face. "Do you have any cheetos? Lana questioned with concern then let out a laugh and turned to face Ginny who had also started laughing again. Clark looked at the two of them like they had definitely gone insane. He had to admit though, it was a funny sight, and a good one. He hadn't seen Lana laugh like that in a long time.

"Are you ok? Clark questioned, determined not to laugh himself. Lana and Ginny let out a fresh laugh and Clark smiled in spite of himself. He decided to wait until they had stopped laughing before trying to resume conversation.

"ok…" Pete looked at all of them like they were mental. "Well, Chloe sent me out to find you, and I did, but since I have no idea what she wanted me to do with you when I did that, I will see you all later." Pete bid them goodbye and departed.

Lana and Ginny finally got themselves under control and Clark felt it was safe to speak again. "ok, well we better head home, is there anything you want before we go? Clark looked towards Ginny. Ginny shook her head still smiling. Clark nodded. "thanks Lana. See you later."

"Thanks for the clothes." Ginny lifted up the pile in her arms.

Lana cracked a smile. "No problem, see you around." Lana giggled and shook her head, turning around to clean the counter behind her.

"What was that about?" Clark stepped into the drivers seat of the car. Ginny sat down next to him in the passengers chair.

"I don't know what you're talking about.." Ginny mimed confusion but the look on her face told Clark otherwise.

"Well either Lana has gone insane or… what did you say to her?" Clark ran through all the possible thing that living in his house might entitle Ginny to say.

"Oh that. Well," Ginny grinned wickedly "I was just wondering who had given you those rather bright pair of cheeto boxers." she said, glancing at Clark.

Clark looked around at Ginny in alarm then remembered to look at the road. "I'm going to kill Lois." Clark grumbled.

"Who's Lois?" Ginny questioned still smirking.

"Well, I don't actually know her." Clark explained "But I'm sure if I did I wouldn't like her. She's my friend Chloe's cousin. She's the one who convinced Chloe to get those for my birthday as a joke."

Ginny giggled. "I saw them in the laundry. I think they're cute." Ginny quipped. Clark sidled another glance at her.

"I'm sure Lana appreciated her new found knowledge of my boxers." Clark answer sarcastically.

"I think she did." Ginny smiled broadly at Clark. There was a moment of silence as the car moved down a dirt road. "You really like her don't you?" Ginny asked.

"Lana?" Clark kept his eyes on the road. "What gave you that idea?"

Ginny shrugged. "I saw the way you looked at her. It's the way people look when they're in love."

Clark swallowed but didn't answer. The car pulled to a stop and both of them got out. Ginny walked over to Clark's side of the car. "Look, I don't know anything about your relationship, but I do know that there is nothing worse than a missed opportunity." She looked at him sincerely for a second then turned around and headed for the house. Clark stood on the spot thinking. What did a 15 year old girl know about love? He asked himself. She hadn't said anything about love, just missed opportunities. Was yet another window into this girls past? Clark shrugged to himself and decided to drop it for now. Clark took a step towards the house but stopped when he heard a car coming up the drive way. It stopped and Chloe got out.

"Clark, I've been trying to reach you all day. I heard about …Ginny right? Another stray huh?"

Clark smiled. "It seem to be a gift of ours."

Chloe smiled back. "Ok, getting to the reason I tracked you down, they identified the fourth body. His name was Evan Cortesse, he worked at Cadmus labs."

"Why would he be interested in robbery." Clark contorted his face in confusion.

"I don't know, but before he died he was working on a top secret project which to my best guess-"

"Was a way to kill people without a trace." Clark finished.

"Exactly." Chloe said with excitement.

"But that still doesn't solve how the alarm got pressed." Clark continued.

"No, but it gave me a clue. This person might have been part of the lab project, and that would mean now that the police are investigating the project, however it is will be on the run."

Clark stared abruptly at Chloe. "Ginny." Chloe stared back, now it was her turn to be confused.

"What?"

"Chloe, I have to go, I'll talk to you tomorrow." Clark turned and jogged back to the house leaving Chloe looking jostled.

"Is there anything I can do?" Ginny stood in front of Martha Kent who had just finished clearing the table.

"Well, if you want you can help Clark clean stalls out in the barn." Martha said with a smile. Clark however gave his mother a meaningful look. Ginny didn't seem to notice.

"Great, I lived on a farm when I was little, I used to help my mom out." Ginny smiled and headed for the open front door.

When Clark was sure she was out of ear shot he turned to his mom. "Mom, I can't do the stalls at super speed while she's there."

Martha gave Clark a blank look. "Well I thought that it would be safer to not use your powers when there's any chance of Ginny seeing so you could use some help to make it go faster."

Clark sighed but nodded and headed out to the barn after Ginny. When he got out there Ginny already had a wheel barrow standing in front of a stall. She had rolled up the sleeve of Lana's lavender shirt and was forking dirty hay when Clark entered. "Looks like you know what you're doing." Clark marveled at her progress.

Ginny nodded. "At the barn my parents worked at there were 50 stalls so you had to work fast."

Clark let out a small laugh. "Hey, Ginny-" Clark started to asked the girl about Cadmus labs but stopped. Ginny had a look of terror on her face. Clark looked at her with concern. "Are you ok Ginny?" Ginny let the pitchfork she was holding drop to the ground. Her hands flung to her head and she doubled over letting out a scream of pain. Still bent over she brought her hand from her face and stared at it. So did Clark and as he did a faint green light started to shine from under Ginny's blue wrap. Ginny looked from her hand to Clark in alarm then let out another scream. She ran from the stall and past Clark out into the yard. Clark stood horror struck then followed her. He ran out into the yard and looked around. He couldn't see her but then his eyes fell on the open door of the storm cellar. Clark sped to the door and started to take a step down the stairs but a green light blinded him and he was thrown back a few feet. Clark sat up staring at the cellar doors. He stumbled to his feet and ran down the steps. "Ginny!" he yell. Please let her be alright. Clarks eyes adjusted to light and he looked around frantically. His eyes stopped on the ship who's cover must have been blown off and then to Ginny. Ginny stood just feet away from the uncovered ship staring at it in disbelief. Clark tried to move forward but it seemed like his legs had forgotten how to carry him. Ginny turned slowly to face Clark, blood dripped from her nose.

"I thought that there must be something different about you Clark." She talked just as slowly as she had turned. "You do things too fast, like earlier when you went to fix the fence. It didn't take as long as it should have, and how fast I got to the hospital." Ginny turned her head slightly and squinted. "Your not even human…are you?"

Clark stood stunned. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He tried again "you- you can't tell anyone. Please, it's important that you don't." Clark pleaded. Ginny didn't say anything but just kept staring at Clark.

After a few minutes in waiting silence Ginny nodded. "You can trust me Clark." She kept staring at him. "I wont tell anyone. I know what it's like to have a secret." She turned her back on Clark to look at the ship. "That's why I'm going to have to ask you to do the same for me." Ginny turned back around to face Clark again. At this moment she looked much older than Clark new to be true. When she spoke she spoke with a weary voice. "When I was eleven my parents were driving me home from school and we got in a car crash. They were killed." Ginny paused. "My little sister and I were sent to an orphanage were we spent the next three years. Then a year ago I was running around the orphanage yard with one of my friends and I put up my hand." Ginny paused again taking a deep breath. "I got his headache and I couldn't put down my arm and then she was….dead." Ginny looked down, a tear ran down her cheek. "they couldn't find any reason why but I knew that some how I had done it. Then it happened again. I've tried to control it but I can't, not really." more tears slipped down her face.

Clark's eyes widened. "It was you who killed those people." Ginny looked up tears now falling consistently from her eyes.

"I was so afraid." she continued, shaking now. "I couldn't touch anyone, or be around anyone without there being a chance of someone ending up dead. Then he came. His name was Cortesse, he said he could help me control it. I was so scared…..so I went with him. He brought me to this place called Cadmus labs." Ginny broke and shuddered, looking down once more. "Instead of helping me control it he some how gained control over my powers. Cortesse told me that if I didn't help him he would kill my sister….and that there was no way to escape him. He made me kill for money." she gave a sob " But his control over my powers came with a price and he began to deteriorate. So he needed more money, and more people died. I tried to get him, but my powers couldn't harm him." Ginny's voice filled with hatred. "I finally took my chance, I killed him in Grandville…with a knife." Ginny sobbed harder. "For revenge, for all those people he killed ...for using me." She backed into the wall and slunk to the floor, her feet unable to hold her. Before speaking again she took a steadying breath. "I went back to Cadmus labs, if anything could help me it would be there. That's were I found this." Ginny indicated to the blue wrap. "It's lined with iron, and that's the one thing that my…power," She scoffed at the word. "can't penetrate." She finally fell silent. Clark who had not said anything the whole time looked down at the girl on the floor with sadness in his eyes. He walked over to Ginny and knelt beside her pulling her small body into his embrace. "I never wanted to hurt anybody." her cries were muffled by Clark's chest.

"I know." Clark sighed. "I know." He held her and told her it was ok. When Ginny had stopped crying he loosened his embrace and she looked up at him. "You alright?" Clark brushed the tangled hair from her face. She shook when she took a deep breath.

"I will be." She wiped the blood from her face with the sleeve of her shirt then looked down at it. "I'm not sure Lana will want this back though." Ginny gave a weak laugh then pulled away from Clark and shivered. "It's cold." She said pulling the fabric of her shirt over her hands as she stood up. Clark mimicked her and stood as well.

"Yeah." Clark said in agreement even though he was in a t-shirt and wasn't cold at all. Ginny seemed to notice this and smiled.

"So, have you figured out what you're going to wear at the party tomorrow?" Ginny asked as they headed back to the house. Clark could tell that she preferred to put their conversation behind her. Clark looked up at the now dark sky and shrugged.

"I don't think costumes are for me."

"But you're still gonna go right?" Ginny questioned.

Clark shrugged once again. "I haven't had a chance to ask Lana."

"It's never to late." Ginny walked in front of Clark through the door of the house and disappeared up to the 2nd floor.

A half an hour later Clark sat down at the kitchen table and took a deep breath before picking up the phone. Ginny was right, it wasn't to late.

"Hello?" Lana's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Hi, it's Clark."

"Hey, what's up?" Lana sounded curious, after all Clark didn't call her much since they saw each other almost every day.

"Um…" Clark gathered his courage. "I was thinking that, I know it's last minute but do you have a date to the Halloween dance?"

"No."

"Well, I was thinking that we could go together." there was silence on the other end. "Lana?"

"As dates?"

"well, yeah." Silence again. "If you don't want to that's ok."

"No," Lana interrupted. "I would love to go to the dance with you."

Clarks heart skipped a beat. "Great! See you then." Clark said goodbye and put down the phone. Clark felt like he was walking on air as he made his way over to the couch which he flopped down on. Clark smiled and closed his eyes.

"That's my bed remember." A voice came from above him. Clark opened his eyes to see Ginny looking down at him.

"I know." Clark sat up.

"You haven't told your parents have you?" Ginny sat down next to him. She was referring to their conversation in the cellar.

"No. I don't want to worry them." Clark said shaking his head.

Ginny sighed. "So…what's going to happen to me now? Can I stay here?'

Clark thought. "I wish it were as easy as that but my parents aren't your legal guardians. We'll have to tell child services and they'll probably send you back to the orphanage." He looked over at Ginny.

She sat still, then nodded. "I should be with my sister. I wish I could stay though. It's the closest I've been to having a family since…." She broke off.

Clark nodded understanding. "You should get to sleep." He rose and smiled faintly at Ginny before heading up the stairs. The days events reeled around in his head as he climbed into bed.