Clark took a deep breath. He'd gone too far to back peddle now. It was time to tell Lana the truth and worry about the consequences later. If they were meant to be, they'd get through it. "Lana, I wasn't born in Smallville..."
"Okay, that's...not exactly a big surprise Clark. I mean, you were adopted and..."
"Lana! I'm wasn't born in Smallville...and I wasn't born on Earth."
Lana stepped back with a curious look in her eye. "What? Are you trying to tell me, that you're some kind of Alien?" Lana started to laugh. "Clark, that's insane! You look perfectly human and I have seen how human you are!" She started to blush, then recovered. "Come on! Don't tell me that's your big secret!"
Clark's expression hadn't changed. "Lana, I am an alien. I have certain abilities that I've developed that allow me to do some incredible things."
Lana's face dropped. Everything started to make sense as she thought about all the times he'd saved her life. "Like flying into a tornado and ripping the door off a truck?"
Clark had to grin. "Yeah. Amongst other things. I can move faster than most people. I'm pretty strong. I have extremely enhanced hearing and I can shoot heat from my eyes!" Lana backed away a bit. That last bit frightening her slightly. "Lana, I wanted to tell you. But I knew that anyone who knew about me could get hurt. There are only two people found out about my secret and they did so by accident without me telling them. Pete found out a couple of years ago, and Chloe found out when I used my abilities without making sure I wasn't seen. Their lives have been put in jeopardy too many times ever since! That's why Pete left town. Lex...and Lionel have been pursuing me for years and anyone who might know something about me. They suspect something, but have never been able to prove it. Please understand! I never meant to hurt you or lie to you. I was just taught from childhood to hide this part of myself and to try to be normal like everyone else. Anyone who finds out about me is putting themselves in harms way. I couldn't do that to you!"
Lana appeared lost in thought. "I guess I can accept that. But Clark, you've obviously done a great job of protecting me. I trust you! I kind of envy Pete and Chloe, getting to share that with you. But I understand why you didn't volunteer it." As she thought, she started to smile. She moved closer to him. "And I'm touched that you finally decided to share it with me. Without me having to discover it for myself. Now, we can move on in our relationship without any secrets!" She lifted his chin with her finger and kissed him lightly on the lips. This time, it was Clark who backed away.
"Lana, as much as I wish that was the end of what I need to tell you, there's still more. Remember those stones that Jason and Lex were hunting for? They were from my home planet. They were meant for me and to be combined. But they weren't, not in time. That caused the second meteor shower!"
"That ship I saw! I really did see it!"
"Yes you did! It was a prison ship. My real father had banished the two people who appeard to some sort of prison. The combination of those stones would have been the only thing to keep them from coming to earth. But I didn't manage to do it in time, and when I did, one was stained with blood, which made it worse."
Lana started to appear overwhelmed. She was hearing all the truth she'd ever wanted to know. It all made sense now, sort of. She'd been partly responsible. "Clark, I'm sorry. I didn't know! But I got knocked out, and when I woke up, they were gone!"
"They had some other device that they wanted to use to entrap me. It backfired on them." Lana hung her head. "It's okay Lana, I didn't tell you. But you did bring me that last stone!"
Lana's facial expression didn't change. The research she'd done about the first meteor shower tugged at her. There'd been a spacecraft with that one too. She'd told Clark as much. It was time for him to tell her what he knew. "Clark, what about the first meteor shower?" Her eyes were wide. She seemed almost anxious to hear the answers to questions she'd had since she was a little girl.
Clark hesitated, but forced himself to keep going. "A couple of years ago, I found out where I was from. Dr. Virgil Swan interpreted a message sent by my home planet to Earth. It detailed that their planet was about to explode and that they wanted earth to take care of their last son...of the planet Krypton. I was that child." This was going to be the hardest thing he'd ever have to tell her. "Lana, the meteors that destroyed half of Smallville and killed your parents, were what was left of my home planet. The ship I was travelling in must have been moving so fast that it brought some of the planet's remains with it. To anyone from that planet, they're radioactive. That's why I can't go near them, and why they've had the effect they have on Smallville." Lana stepped back even further, like she'd been punched in the gutt. Tears threatend to flow. "Lana...I'm so sorry!" Clark moved to comfort her, but she pulled away.
"Sorry Clark, it's just...all the meteor freaks! My parents! I'd finally accepted my parents death and now I know that it wasn't just some freak accident!" There was an angry bitterness in her tone now. "You're alive, and they're not...they died because your people sent you here! All this time..." Lana turned towards the stairs.
"Lana, wait!" Lana kept walking and didn't look back. "Lana!" Clark yelled, but she didn't respond and continued out of the barn, into her car and drove away leaving Clark standing alone in his loft. He was tempted to run after her. But before he could take off he heard her voice.
"I don't know if you can hear me Clark, but don't come after me! I know I said I could accept all this and I know I wanted to know the truth, but now that those questions are answered, I...NEED...TIME!" Lana said it so forcefully that Clark almost wished he didn't have the superhearing. His worst nightmare had come true, he'd told Lana the truth and she'd run away.
Just then Clark heard footsteps. "Clark, son?" It was Jonathan with Martha following close behind.
"I'm up here dad." Clark said with resignation. Tears danced in his eyes. The only girl he'd ever loved had rejected him because of his origins and who he really was.
"We just saw Lana leave in a hurry." Martha said. "Honey? Is everything all right with you two?" Seeing the look in her son's eye, she realized something wasn't right. "Clark, what's wrong?" She went and stood by his side, wrapping a motherly arm around his waist and leading him to sit down on the couch.
Clark hesitated. He knew his parents weren't keen on him telling anyone, even Lana, but he knew they would stand with him. "I told Lana...everything. About me...Krypton...and the meteor showers."
Jonathan and Martha gave each other a knowing look. Martha was the first to speak. "Clark, honey, I'm so sorry. I know how hard that was. But at least now she knows. She wanted the truth, now it's up to her what she does with it."
"But mom, you didn't see the look in her eye. She wanted to accept it. She didn't want it to be connected to me, but it was and she couldn't deny it. I knew this would happen!" Clark shot up and began to pace. "I should never have told her!"
"Clark," Jonathan got up and put his hand on Clark's shoulder to stop him from pacing. "I'm not about to tell you that telling Lana was the best thing, but son, what if you two had made it? When else would you have told her? After the wedding? Maybe it's better that she know now. At least if she does stay with you it will be for all the right reasons. She knows everything now. Just, give her time."
Clark shook his head in frustration. Too much had happened this week. It was all happening so fast. "I need to get some air." Clark sped out of the loft and returned in the Superman outfit Jerry had left.
Jonathan chuckled a bit at the sight of his son in the tights. "Clark, I don't think you want to go out for a walk in that."
Clark kept a serious look on his face. "I'm not going for a walk dad." Clark rose above the floor and floated to the window. "Jerry taught me how to control my flight. I'm going to get some real air. I'm not the biggest fan of the suit, but at least it will allow me to hide my identity if I'm seen. I just need to think.
Jonathan nodded. "Okay son, just be careful. Try and fly high and fast enough so that you're not seen okay?"
"Don't worry dad, I'll be careful." With that, Clark shot up into the sky and soared above the clouds. He had to fight the urge to fly faster, remembering that Jerry had told him about how flying to fast could cause a sonic boom that could shatter windows.
Clark began to think about what had happened. Would Lana come back to him? How could she? If he hadn't come to Earth, Her parents would still be alive. It wasn't his fault. He didn't ask to come here. And yet, he almost wished he hadn't. He loved her so much and hated to see her suffer. Maybe he should leave. How could she stand to look at him knowing what she knew, knowing that his life meant her parent's death. He had to know how she felt. He decided to wait until the next day and make his final decision, but leaving for a year or two was looking more and more like his only option.
Having come up with a remote plan of action, Clark turned around and headed home. He'd been gone a few hours and night had fallen. As he approached his loft he noticed someone standing at the window. It was Chloe. Clark floated into his loft and landed next to a very bright and smiling Chloe who gave him the "once over".
"Wow! They don't call them tights for nothing!" Chloe's jaw hung there for a second, before she realized what she was doing.
Clark blushed a bit at the insinuation. "I better go change." He was out and back in a matter of seconds. "So, I take it Lana talked to you? How is she?"
"Getting to the point I see. Well, yes, Lana did talk to me. She's angry Clark. Not necessarily at you, but at the situation. She cares about you, she wonders why it had to be you and not someone else. She feels bad because she can't think of you and not think that if you weren't here, her parents would be."
Clark wasn't hearing anything he didn't already know. "I know. I think I'll let her sleep on it and go see her tomorrow."
Chloe closed her eyes. "Clark...that's kind of why I'm here. Okay, here it goes, Lana's...leaving tomorrow...for Paris."