Chapter 2

Lex watched the girl with the dark spiked hair and hard grey-green eyes for a moment, then turned to Lana. "Who was that?" he asked his business partner. "She looked a little like Jonathan Kent, if he were starving and homeless."

"Apparently she's Clark's cousin by Jonathan's estranged brother," Lana shrugged. "And apparently she's starving and homeless largely in thanks to your father."

Lex dropped his head, sighing. "What has my dear father done now?"

Lana quickly relayed the story that Harmony had told her, filling Lex's usual latte as she spoke. Lex listened attentively, thanked Lana for the latte, and hurried out of the busy coffee shop.

He paused for a moment on the sidewalk. He had two thoughts in mind: to either go meet this new Kent and see what he could see about her, or confront his father, based on what little he had gotten from Lana. He chose the former. Leaping into his silver Lexus, he peeled away from the curb in a squealing cloud of smoke.

Harmony came downstairs in some of Martha's clothes, feeling very refreshed and much more human after the first shower she'd taken in as long as she could remember. She scrubbed dry her short-cropped hair with a towel, then started when Clark snatched it from her before she could even ask what she was to do with it. He was gone in a flash and back in a second, grinning like a silly kid.

"So, uh, what should I do with the towel?" Harmony asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Clark. "You know, Little Cuz, you don't have to move quite so fast inside the house. I'm pretty sure I'm not going anywhere in the next two seconds."

Clark just laughed, dropping his arm across her shoulders, and she hugged him in return, then sat down on a stool at the counter.

"Thanks for letting me borrow your clothes, Auntie Em," Harmony said as she accepted a glass of lemonade from Clark.

"You're welcome, sweetie," Martha smiled. "That's a name I haven't heard in a very long time."

Harmony grinned around her glass. "You've always been my favorite aunt."

"I'm your only aunt," Martha smirked.

"Ergo, my favorite!"

Martha just laughed. It was good to see Harmony still had her sense of humor, even after all she'd been through. The poor child needed a proper meal and a good home, someplace safe to live. She would definitely try to talk Jonathan into letting Harmony stay with them on the farm. Martha could see that Clark was already taken with his older cousin. It would be good for him to have someone around for him to talk to, especially about his growing powers. And Jonathan could really use the extra help, even if he never admitted it.

Suddenly, Clark sat up straight. "Someone's coming," he said.

A minute later, they all heard the screech of tires skidding to a halt on the Kent's gravel driveway. Martha glanced out the window, then turned to Harmony. "Harmony, dear, please go get your uncle. Tell him we have company."

With a nod, she hopped up from the stool and trotted out the back door. Jonathan Kent was cutting lumber in the barn. Harmony watched him for a moment, taking note of his technique and the amount of force required to swing the axe, then cleared her throat. Jonathan looked up.

"Hello, Harmony," he smiled, wiping sweat from his forehead. "What can I do for you?"

"Auntie Em wanted me to tell you we have company and could you come inside, please?" she asked.

"Sure," Jonathan nodded as he removed his gloves, setting them next to the axe.

When the reached the back door of the house, Jonathan went first. His eyes widened for a moment when he saw their guest, then he turned around to Harmony. "Now Harmony, don't get excited."

"Excited?" Harmony said, looking up. "About what?"

Then her eyes fixed on Lex.

For a moment, she froze, just as she had in when she saw him in the coffee shop. Grey-green eyes met steely blue. He faced her square, hands shoved in his pockets. Then his chin lifted slightly, and she instinctively crouched, snarling. "You!" she growled. Then she lunged for him.

So quick was she that she got past Jonathan and halfway across the kitchen before Jonathan could react. He leapt for her, grabbing her arm and hoping he didn't simply yank her to the floor.

Clark moved as quickly as Harmony, though with no assistance from his powers. He stepped protectively in front of Lex, moving to sandwich Harmony's small frame between his and his father's much larger bodies. "Harmony, stop!" he tried to get through to her. "Lex isn't the one you should be mad at."

"Why not?" she fumed, never taking her eyes off of Lex.

Martha, having stepped closer to Lex, was the first to answer. "He's not the one that hurt you or took your children away from you. His father is."

"What did my father do to you?" Lex asked. He moved a little bit toward Harmony, who was calming down, but was still caught between elder and younger Kent. Still, he remained behind Martha. There was something distinctly dangerous about this young woman.

"He destroyed what semblance of a home I had managed to scrape together, after arranging to have my father knocked off, that's what!"

Jonathan jerked. Joseph Kent had been a gambler and a drunk, a poor father and a worse husband, but he had still been Jonathan's brother. He hadn't known how Joseph had died, only that not long after he had refused to give Joseph money when Harmony was 17, she had called him to tell him that Joseph had been killed.

Before he could respond, though, Lex continued the conversation. "How do you know my father was involved in your father's death? Not that it comes as much of a surprise," Lex added hurriedly.

"Men that we knew to be on Luthor's payroll showed up at the attic we were living in and took him away. Couple days later, some friends of mine found him. Or what was left of him," by this time, Harmony had calmed down and Clark had coaxed her into a chair. "So, I moved away from the attic, found an abandoned warehouse across town, and started up a sort of safe house for street kids. You know, some place for homeless kids to feel safe, get warm, and sometimes even get something to eat."

"Sometimes?" Clark asked. He had pulled a chair up next to Harmony when he realized she wasn't gonna let go of his arm. "How often did you have something to eat?"

"Whenever we could steal something," Harmony looked at him, sorry about the sad look in his eyes. "But that's Edge City for you, unfortunately."

Edge City? Something twitched at the edge of Lex's mind. He frowned. What is it that I'm trying to remember?