Chapter 29

Clark went back Lana's house. He still did not feel comfortable with the fact that he was supposed to live with 'Nell. He had to try and psych himself up to go face her. He also felt that he needed to talk to Lana about Chloe. He sensed that something wasn't quite right with Lana and Chloe's relationship, and by extension with his and Chloe's relationship.

They were up in the loft studying biology homework while they discussed the situation.

"I need to know what's going on with Chloe," Clark said. "I mean she kept avoiding me at school, was it because of what I said earlier."

"Probably," Lana replied. "She, I… she's probably feeling a bit jealous and thinks that I'm trying to turn you against her or something."

"Why would she think that?" Clark asked.

"Well you were supposed to go to the Spring Formal with her. You asked her out and everything, but that didn't go over so well when I ended up rescuing you from the tornado you got caught up in," Lana explained.

"Classic date stealing scenario," Clark mumbled. "I can see why she'd be jealous but this seems to have escalated a bit."

"Well I don't really know what's caused that," Lana said. "We had a situation with our biology teacher; she was controlling people with…"

"Pheromones," Clark interrupted. "I know I experienced something similar."

"Well she tried to seduce you but somehow you resisted, even with out your abilities," Lana said. "That one still has me wondering."

However Clark had a pretty good idea as to what the reason was. "I think I know," Clark said.

"Oh really?" Lana asked. "Well please enlighten me on the inner workings of Clark."

"It's actually pretty simple," Clark answered. "Love."

"Yeah but who was the other Clark in love with?" Lana asked.

"Well if he's anything like me, which he probably is…" Clark replied.

He let the answer hang, wondering if he should tell Lana or not. He mulled over the decision until Lana interrupted him.

"Who?" Lana asked anxiously.

"You," Clark told her.

Lana was completely speechless. She was completely overjoyed but at the same time she felt horrible for Chloe. Chloe had similar feelings for Clark as well.

"What about Chloe?" Lana inquired.

"Chloe is a really good friend," Clark answered. "But I don't have the same feelings for Chloe that I do for you Lana."

Clark suddenly stared a random spot on the floor of the loft, "I can't believe I just said that," he muttered to himself.

"Why?" Lana asked.

Clark shook his head snapping out of his sudden intense concentration on that spot on the floor. "I don't know, I've never been really open about sharing my feeling with anybody except my parents." Clark replied.

"Well I'm glad you were open with me," Lana said. "I have the same problem."

"I should talk to Chloe," Clark said. "I feel I need to smooth this situation over some how."

"It couldn't hurt," Lana agreed.

At that moment Martha Kent came up in the lodge, "Clark would you like to stay over for dinner?" she asked.

"Um yeah," Clark agreed. "That would be great."

Martha nodded and went back down to prepare dinner.

"I'm not used to this," Clark said. "I'm so used to having dinner with them every night. It's weird."

Lana wished she could sympathize with him but she couldn't. She had no idea what it was like. He still knew the same people and had the same friends, more or less, but everything in his life was different. Even his last name was different.

It must be so confusing and frightening for him, Lana thought to herself as she stared into Clark's eyes.

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Clark decided that he needed to talk to Chloe in person. He met up with her at the Talon. She didn't seem all that thrilled to see him though.

"What did you want to talk to me about Clark?" Chloe asked.

"Look, Chloe, I just wanted to apologize for this morning," Clark said. "The way Pete, Lana and I were behaving was totally inappropriate."

"You know I expect that kind of behaviour from Lana and Pete every now and then," Chloe said. "But never from you."

"Look, I was pressured into the situation a bit and I was acting a bit rash," Clark tried to explain. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings or anything."

"So are you going to let me in on the secret?" Chloe inquired.

Clark shook his head, "No," he answered. "I did promise them that I wouldn't tell anyone."

"This doesn't have anything to do with you seeing a lot more of Lana lately does it?" Chloe asked.

"What? Chloe it's not like we're going out or anything," Clark said. "I mean come on don't you think you're being a bit jealous."

"Answer the question Clark," Chloe said.

"I have been seeing her more lately," Clark admitted. "But it's not what you think."

"Oh so now you know how I think?" Chloe asked as she began get upset.

Clark looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He wanted to slap some sense into Chloe, she just wasn't thinking rationally.

"Chloe I'm sorry but," Clark began to apologize again.

"I don't need your apologies, just go back to Lana," Chloe said. "You seem to like her more anyway."

Before Clark could get in another word Chloe stood up and stormed out of the Talon. Clark banged his fists against his head and pulled on his hair. He was so angry with himself. Rather than defusing the bomb he just lit the fuse.

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The next day at school Clark had some rather interesting news for Lana and Pete, besides his tale of how he probably made things with Chloe worse.

"Your aunt is moving to Metropolis?" Pete repeated.

"That's what I just said," Clark confirmed. "But I don't want to move to Metropolis. She said I have a week to find a place to stay."

"Well I wish could help you," Pete said. "But there's no room at my place."

"Well maybe I could talk to my parents and see," Lana said. "We could always use more help around the farm. And besides it's already a lot like home for you."

"That would be great," Clark said. "Although I'm really considering trying to experiment with going back to my own reality."

"Clark, I really don't think it's worth the risk." Lana said.

Clark looked at her. He knew her real motivation, it was perhaps a bit selfish but he was understood it. All his life he'd wanted to be with someone just like him, now there was her. She was the one thing that made this reality worthwhile. She was yet to actually admit it to him, but Clark was pretty certain that she was in love with him.

"You're right," Clark agreed. "There are definitely some things here that I can get used to."

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Please Read Over:

Wow, this is developing into a romance – drama here. Hopefully I've written some action in the next chapter or I'm going to start boring myself. There's still the question of what's going to happen to Clark too and has Chloe been lost as a friend or is their still a hope for Lana to fix that. And what about Lex and Lionel Luthor? What have they done for the story lately? NOT MUCH! Will they do something? Will they even make an appearance? Maybe they'll bring some action. How do you find out? Easy, you keep on reading.

Just another one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum in the Smallville section of forums. Look forward to seeing some of you in either place.