It's not like Chloe to mesh notes for one story into another, but Clark had searched all of the most recent files and the only lead he could find was the name Jimmy. Since he's not familiar with any Jimmy's at Smallville High, he can only assume that Chloe had been multitasking, squeezing this one element of a freak story into her editorial on the sex assembly.

As big as a lead Clark feels Jimmy is, it's also a dead end. There's nothing else on the computer mentioning that name, which means for some reason Chloe is keeping the rest of her notes on the subject a secret. If he is going to find out any more information he would have to emulate Chloe; he would have to do some investigating.

x X x X x

Chloe's nervous hands clutch the wheel, pressing her foot hard against the gas pedal anxious to get to the place she fears arriving at. Biting her lip, she checks the rearview mirror, feeling as though her crime will soon be punished with flashing lights flying up behind her. Of course, her small time thievery is small potatoes in a town where meteor freaks run amuck, and the truth be told, if she simply would've asked Mr. Kent for the gas he would've given in cheerfully. However, that wouldn't help her anonymity, knowing this is a journey she must take by herself, one no one can know she's making.

Instinctively she reaches over to the passenger's seat for her bag, only finding an empty seat, leaving her nothing to cling to but the memory in her mind. Blinking away any worries that bring moisture to her eyes, she focuses on the road, not allowing herself to succumb to the fears plaguing her heart.

x X x X x

Clark stands at the base of the stairs to the Sullivan apartment peering up at the door whose chipped exterior leaves much to the imagination. Swallowing hard, he takes the steps towards the door, pausing as he sees Chloe's red butterfly bag upside down against the wall, its contents scattered to the wind.

Instantly his eyes widen with concern, fearing what may have happened to Chloe to make her leave her purse, her life, behind. Turning his head, he checks the parking lot for her Bug, beginning to panic when he does not find it.

Driven by adrenaline, his fist pounds against the door, both hoping and fearing she may be inside. His eyes long to see her, his heart needing to know she's safe. Yet, with her personal items littering the concrete lawn he stands upon, he can only fear what circumstances may have occurred to take her inside without her most precious belongings.

The worn door to the apartment quickly opens as though Gabe has been eagerly awaiting his daughter's return. His puffy eyes show defeat as he sees only Clark, saddened by the thought of just how far his daughter might have run to escape him.

"I need to see Chloe," Clark says, trying to be as polite as possible considering the pounding in his chest.

"She's not here," Gabe says, closing the door.

Clark shoves his size fourteen boot in the doorway, not allowing himself to be shut out so easily.

"Where is she?" Clark asks, becoming impatient, seeing in Gabe's appearance not all is well in the Sullivan home.

"I don't know," Gabe says, trying to push the door closed, not wanting an ounce of sunlight to penetrate the darkness he feels inside.

Clark forces his way into the apartment suddenly realizing how different he and Chloe's lives have become, feeling this is about so much more than finding a friend.

"What happened here?" Clark says, disbelieving the chaos in which Chloe calls home.

The sliver of journalist in him wants to get to the bottom of things, but it's another part of him that's become desperate, needing to make sure Chloe's all right, feeling he may never be all right again if she is not. Quickly he scans the room searching for an answer, finding only remnants of the alcohol that seems to have stolen away the life Chloe once had, the father she loved so much.

Blinking disgusted eyes, Clark wonders how he could've been so blind to what her world had become.

Driven by the feeling twisting in the pit of his stomach, Clark asks the important question again, this time his voice bordering on demanding. "Tell me what happened to her!"

"She left," Gabe says, breaking down at the admittance of his worst fear, his broken frame falling into the tattered chair. "I shook her. I shook her until...," he confesses, unable to go further.

"Until what?" Clark asks, pressing his hands against the arms of the chair, leaning into the bloodshot eyes of the one he knows caused Chloe pain.

"I didn't want to lose her like I lost my...," Gabe says, the words pouring out of his heart.

"Tell me where she is!" Clark demands, his firm grip tearing the arm off the chair, the urgency pulsing through him punctuating every word.

With wide, startled eyes Gabe can only tell him the truth, "I don't know."

Turning to fly down the stairs, the whipping wind sends one of the wayward pieces of Chloe's purse twirling towards him. Hoping to protect her in every possible way, even what may be an insignificant piece of scrap that she squirreled in her purse, he plucks the paper out of the air, holding it in his hand as he gathers all the other items from her bag, tossing them into it as he quickly descends the staircase.