Chapter 40

When Lana got home her parents were so thankful to see her. They were even more thankful of Clark for bring her home.

"It so good to have you back," Jonathon said hugging his daughter extremely tightly. "Your mother and I were so worried about you."

"I'm sorry I ran away," Lana apologized. "I wasn't thinking right."

"How can we ever repay you?" Martha asked Clark.

"Well Mrs. Kent," Clark said getting down on one knee. "The one thing that would make me happier than anything in the world, is if Lana would marry me."

Clark pulled a ring case out of his back pocket and flipped it open, presenting the ring to Lana. Both Lana and her parents were completely stunned. The ring was absolutely beautiful with five exquisite looking diamonds.

"Clark how could you afford this?" Martha asked.

"I've been saving up," Clark replied. "Apparently for quite sometime. So, Lana, what is your answer?"

Lana was completely stunned. After all that she had done Clark loved her so much that he still wanted to marry her. The only thing stopping her was the fact that she was only 16.

"It's not like we're going to get married immediately," Clark said. "We'll finish high school first and do the college thing."

Lana looked first at her mother and then at her father. Jonathon was in a state nobody had ever seen him in. He was so shocked that he had no idea what to say. Lana looked back to her mother seeking advice.

"It's your decision Lana," Martha said. "And we'll respect whatever choice you make."

Lana turned back to Clark who was looking up in anticipation at her. "Yes," Lana finally answered. "I will."

Clark sprang to his feet as quick as a hiccup and then gently slid the ring on to Lana's ring finger and then romantically kissed her hand.

"What are we going to tell everybody though?" Lana asked.

"The truth," Clark replied. "We can't keep everything a secret."

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One morning about three weeks into the new school year, Lana was heading up to the loft to get a book. A she picked it up she noticed the top of a familiar bald head barely poking up over the top of the desk.

"Lex?" Lana asked.

Lex slowly pulled himself to his feet. Lana could see that he was injured. He had a cut above his eye and he seemed to have some kind of injury to his one leg that didn't let him put a lot of weight on it.

"Are you alone?" Lex asked.

"Yeah, what happened to you?" Lana inquired.

"Somebody tried to kill me last night," Lex replied limping over to the window.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Lana said. "And call the police."

"No, no hospitals, no police," Lex cut her off. "These people are professionals. They killed my security guard Darius, they tried to finish me off too. I just need time to think."

Lana stood there completely confused, she didn't feel that Lex was lying. Something had definitely happened to him, but she wasn't sure what.

"Who would want to kill you?" Lana asked feeling that if she could learn why this was happening she might be able to help.

"The less you know the better." Lex answered.

"Lex, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on," Lana said angrily.

"It was probably my father," Lex told her.

"Look I know you guys have had your problems but do you really think he'd try to kill you?" Lana asked.

"It was either him or Morgan Edge," Lex said.

"Morgan Edge? Isn't he the crime boss that killed a few months ago?" Lana asked.

"He survived," Lex explained. "He went underground and got some hack plastic surgeon to alter his appearance."

"Well what does he have against you?" Lana inquired.

"I have evidence link both him and my father to a crime that could get them both the death penalty," Lex said. "That evidence was supposed to be delivered to the US attorney this morning."

"Lana is that you?" Jonathon called from the barn entrance.

"But it's in my safe Lana, I can't go back there." Lex said.

He then ducked behind the desk again as the sound of Jonathon Kent's feet coming up the stairs grew louder.

"Lana?" Jonathon called out.

Lana turned around to face her father.

"I thought I heard somebody up here." Jonathon said. "Listen since you're up with the cows why don't you come down and give me a hand with the milking?"

"Sorry dad I got some last minute cramming to do," Lana lied.

"Alright," Jonathon said. "But I expect you to get an A."

"Yes sir," Lana agreed.

Jonathon went back down the stairs to get to his chores for the day.

"Alright I'll go get what's in your safe," Lana said to Lex once her father was gone.

"No Lana it's too dangerous." Lex argued. "The people in the mansion could be in on this."

"No, if anyone asks I'll just play dumb," Lana replied. "Tell them I was there to meet you. So tell me exactly what happened."

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Lana walked into Lex's office. The mansion was empty since it was still rather early in the morning. Lana looked around the room, it didn't look like anything had happened, but Lex said that they were professionals. They had probably cleaned up the place to make it look like nothing had happened. Lana went over to the safe and inserted the key that Lex had given her. She then put in the code and opened it up. She was surprised to find the safe completely empty. Lana wondered if Lex was telling her the truth or if this was all some crazy scheme of his. She closed the safe and walked out of the office. As she was leaving she was seen by one of Lex's staff.

"Miss Kent can I help you?" the staff member asked.

"I'm here to see Lex," Lana replied.

"Well most of the house hold is still asleep," the staff member told her.

"Is Darius on duty?" Lana inquired out of the blue.

"He had the night on," the staff member answered.

"He got stuck with the graveyard shift," Lana commented.

She meanwhile scanned the hallways with her X-ray vision to see if she could find any clues that would corroborate Lex's story. She notice a single shard of glass stuck behind a stand holding a vase.

"Anything unusual happen?" Lana asked.

"Not until you arrived," the staff member replied.

"Well I know how to take a hint, so uh," Lana said.

She then dropped her keys beside the stand. She bent down to pick them up and at the same time grabbed the shard of glass.

"Tell Darius I was asking for him," Lana said as she continued on her way out of the mansion.

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"I'm telling you Lex, it was like being in the Twilight Zone," Lana said. "Like there was nothing wrong,"

"I didn't imagine getting shot at Lana," Lex said. "They must have had cleaners come in there to cover their tracks."

"Yeah well they missed a spot," Lana said pulling out the shard of glass that she had found. "I found this in the hallway. I called Darius' house to see if anyone knew he was missing. But according to his answering machine his wife and his kids are off visiting their grandparents."

"Darius is probably at the bottom of Crater Lake by now," Lex commented taking the shard of glass from Lana and staring at it intently.

"Maybe we should call the US attorney," Lana suggested.

"And tell him what? He was nervous going after someone as powerful as Lionel Luthor to begin with. I don't think he'll be issuing any warrants based on a shard of glass."

Lana sighed, "Is there anyone who can corroborate any part of your story?" she asked.

Lex just stared back her.

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I'm sure that you all wanted to know if Lex was going to go crazy. Well he certainly looks like he's on that path or maybe Lana will be able to save him just like Clark was able to bring her home? There's only one way to know for certain just what is going to happen, and that is to keep on reading. Believe me, the story is about to get good. Thanks to anybody who has offered up some suggestions, I'll take them into consideration.

Check out the C2 group Lana Fans Unite! There are some good stories in there

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; we've got a diverse culture of Americans, Brits and Canadians in there on a regular basis and it'd be nice to diversify that further. If you're having problems getting on send me a message and I'll do what I can to help. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.