EPISODE TWENTY

CHIMERA

Don't let go on us tonight
Love's not always black and white
Haven't I always loved you?

Almost Here (Brian McFadden/Delta Goodrem)

The envelope made it look as if it were official business that had to do with the Talon. Lex should have known better.

Dear Lex

He glared at the familiar scrawl across the paper that was marred with greasy fingerprints, and smelled as if it had spent at least one night in the trash. Common sense told him to crumple it up and throw it back into the trash where it belonged, but he and common sense had never gotten along very well. And curiosity had a way of overriding any other lingering arguments.

You won't return my calls, your staff tells me that you're out of the house every time that I come by to see you, my emails keep bouncing back to me, and now I've resorted to sending you mail. I hope I didn't freak you out with the whole official looking detail but I couldn't think of any other way to get you to read this. For all I know, it'll end up in the garbage anyway, but at least I know I tried one last time to get you to listen to me.

Look, I know you're angry and you have every right to be. I'm so sorry that I lied to you about 'you know what'. I've wanted to tell you for so long – ever since we first became friends. But there's more to this than just me and you, you know. My parents have never wanted me to share it with anyone, and maybe I've never totally agreed with them but, I had to obey them because, well, they're my parents. I know you and your dad don't share the same kind of relationship I do with my mom and dad, so maybe you can't really get what I'm trying to say here, but it wasn't like I was just going to ignore them. Maybe you've forgotten, but I was fifteen-years old when we met and I barely had a curfew that allowed me out past dark! A lot has changed since then – I've learned a lot more about life, and I'd like to attribute most of that to knowing you. I understand now that maybe the people around us don't always make the right decisions, no matter the reasons, especially when love is clouding that judgment. That goes for my parents, as well as you and me.

Yes, I've made mistakes and now I have to deal with that. But you've made mistakes, too, Lex. Maybe everything you and I have done regarding one another has been wrong, and maybe I started that with my lies but I don't see why we can't try again. Too much has happened between us to just let it go and I do believe we can at least approach this friendship with a new perspective on things. I'm willing to be honest, to tell you everything you could possibly want to know, if you feel that you're ready for it. I know you've said it's hard for you to give people second chances, but I'm asking you for that now. Please?

And no, to answer the question I know you're probably wondering – I'm not afraid of you. I'm not worried in the slightest that you would do anything to hurt me or my family, even if you aren't speaking to me. I know you care about me and I know you're just pissed off and I know we can get past this.

At least, I hope we can.

Anyway, I'd better stop before I compose a novel to you or something. I'm doing extra chores around the house because my parents are all freaked-out over your silence and I'm trying to reassure them that everything's okay. You know my father isn't going to sleep at night until he gets to talk to you. Besides, we have to put you through the whole initiation rights now that you know the truth. 

I'm kidding.

I still love you and I always will, even if you never speak to me again or anything.

Your Angel,
H.C. Kent

Lex folded up the letter and slipped it back into the envelope, frowning as he realized his fingertips now smelled like Mrs. Kent's fried chicken. Occasionally, when confronted with Hudson's less than hygienic habits, he found himself wondering what it was he saw in her in the first place. In the last few days, he'd asked that question repeatedly, wondering at that part of him that sporadically tugged him toward the door, whispered to him that he missed her, and he wanted to talk to her, that he wanted everything to be better between them. Lex mostly convinced himself that this was his weaker side speaking, the one he had best defeat if he ever planned on protecting himself from betrayal by those closest to him again.

Standing, Lex moved over to the bar to pour a drink. He picked up the decanter, thought better of it, and set it back down. He'd spent that first day, after hearing the truth spoken from her lips, in a drunken stupor. It was easier than dealing with the realization that the three people who should have loved him most, really cared very little about him at all. His father, he'd always expected it from, even if every next blow hurt more than the last. And there was Helen, and then Hudson. He'd trusted them both, loved them both…

It was difficult to ignore that voice telling him to take the revenge he was denied from his treacherous wife, and focus it instead on Hudson. He fought against it all that first day, and then the next. Lex knew that he could hurt her so easily, rip that perfect world right out from under the Kent family, and there would be nothing they could do about it.

Did not doing so make him a coward? Or, perhaps the question was, would doing so make him no better than they were?

Today, he was mostly numb. Even the tips of his fingers seemed to lack any sensation of touch. Lex wondered if this was what happened when one simply didn't care anymore? And then he silently cursed himself for being so maudlin, or, as his father would accuse, overly dramatic. After all, people went through these sorts of things all of the time, didn't they?

Deserted islands. Black widows. Deceitful best friends.

Lex grabbed the decanter once again; the scotch sloshed over the side of the glass as he hastily poured and lifted it to his mouth. He'd been putting this decision off for far too long. It was time to make a choice.

He was a Luthor, after all.


"So there's a party at the lake this weekend," Chloe commented as she glanced over at Hudson in the passenger seat. "Did you want to go… maybe?"

Hudson shrugged and gave her friend a quick smile. "Sure. It's been a while since I've been to a party. We don't exactly have a lot of party years left, do we?"

"Speak for yourself." Chloe grinned. "I've heard all about the parties my cousin attends on a regular basis."

"Oh? Yeah, well, I think your cousin is going to college more for the social life than he is for actual studying, anyway."

"True. He seems to think he's the Big Man on Campus or something." Chloe snorted.

Smiling at her comment, Hudson nibbled on her fingertip, staring out the window as they pulled up the drive on to the farm. AJ immediately raced around the corner of the barn, barking and chasing after the car, waiting at the passenger door with tail wagging as Hudson climbed out. She reached out to scratch him behind the ears before grabbing her backpack from the floor.

"Thanks for the ride, Chloe."

"Not a problem. I appreciate the help today on the paper." Chloe put the car in reverse before commenting, "H.C., it's… well, I'm glad you're back. I missed you."

"I missed you, too," she smiled in reply before closing the door.

She watched for a moment as her friend disappeared back toward the road, before turning and making her way along the back path to the kitchen door. The scent of Pinesol and chocolate chip cookies assailed Hudson's senses as she stepped inside the house, AJ scrambling in beside her to head for the living room.

"H.C.! Shoes! Now!" Her mom called out from the dining area where she was scrubbing the floor. She pointed toward AJ. "And he belongs outside, young lady."

"Sorry, he got past me before I could stop him," she replied as she slipped off her tennis shoes and kicked them to the corner next to the door.

Martha sat back on her heels and looked at her daughter in disbelief. "You can race past bullets, but you can't stop a dog from racing past you into the house?"

Hudson grinned sheepishly as she padded her way across the kitchen to grab AJ. "Something like that, yeah." She scooped the squirming dog into her arms and carried him back to the door, carefully setting him down on the porch. "I'll be back out in a moment," she whispered as she pat his head, and then closed the screen door.

"How was school?"

"Eh. Most of it was boring." Hudson moved over to the refrigerator where she pulled out a Coke and a plate of leftover fried chicken. "The boa in Mr. Miller's Science class got out of its cage last night and somehow made it into Mrs. Bramble's English class. So that made for an interesting morning. There were cheerleaders running down the hall, screaming like… well, girls."

"And I'm sure you rushed in, ever the gallant heroine?" Martha smiled as she dipped the wash rag into the bucket.

Hudson made a face. "Eww, Mom. Snake. Not."

Her mom laughed. "The things that scare you, H.C."

"Snakes don't scare me," Hudson answered as she bit into a cold chicken leg. "They're simply not right. I mean, no legs, you know? And they… slither." She gave a mock shudder. "And besides, it's your fault for ever letting me watch Disney's Robin Hood when I was little. Sir Hiss scarred me for life. Him and all his sssssssss-ing."

Martha rolled her eyes and laughed again.

The screen door slammed open loudly, causing them both to jump as her dad entered the kitchen. He frowned as he spied his daughter. "Where've you been? That gate needs to be fixed before feeding tonight."

Repressing a sigh that had been building up over the last five days, Hudson grabbed another piece of chicken before covering the plate and slipping it back into the refrigerator. "I stayed after school to help Chloe with the Torch. She gave me a ride home."

Jonathan eyed her briefly before pushing the door back open. "Well, after you're done with your excuses, you have chores to get caught up on."

Hudson pursed her lips as the door shut behind him. She looked over at her mother. "He really needs to get over this, Mom. I'm not sorry for what I did and his grumping at me isn't going to make me be sorry."

Martha stood and picked up the bucket of dirty water to carry over to the sink. "Honey, your father is just worried. As long as Lex's silence continues, we have no idea what he's going to do –"

"He's just thinking things over," she defended. "He wants to worry me to teach me a lesson. I'd probably do the same thing, you know?" She nibbled on the chicken for a moment before adding, "Mom, I know Lex. The last thing he would do is run to the authorities or the papers or anything like that – "

"So Roger Nixon was a fluke?" Martha asked with a raised eyebrow.

She shook her head. "That was different. He was searching for the truth then. Now, he doesn't have to."

Her mother sighed. "H.C., I know you want to believe in Lex. I know you love him and I know that what the both of you have been through scared you but… I just don't know if this was such a good idea."

"Give him a chance." She reached out and touched her mom's arm. "Mom, please?"

Looking up, Martha glanced out the window and forced a smile. "Well, it looks as if our questions will soon be answered."

Hudson's head snapped up, following her mother's gaze to see a Porsche pull up and park beside the house. She took a deep breath and realized she was a little more afraid than she had been pretending. The past week her stomach had been in knots constantly, but she had tried to blame that on being back in Smallville after everything that happened in Metropolis, completely disregarding the real reasons. She ignored the nightmares she had every night of Lex refusing to forgive her for her lies. She called him and left messages, stopped by his house every day in the hope that he'd want to see her, and resent her emails when they bounced back into her mailbox. Every rejection hurt a little more, and scared her with the silent implications. Each morning when she woke up, Hudson told herself that today would be the day that Lex forgave her.

And hopefully, that day had just arrived.

"You'd better get out there before your father does," Martha warned as she noticed Jonathan emerge from the barn.

"Hell."

She hurried out of the door before her mother could reprimand her for cursing, determined to make it to Lex's side before her dad did. She knew that the wrong word said would set them both off, and she couldn't allow that to happen when she was certain they were very close to getting everything worked out.

"Lex. Hi," she greeted as he climbed out of his car.

Instead of answering, he crouched down to pet AJ, scratching his belly as the dog rolled over in the dirt in the usual submissiveness he always offered to Lex. He whispered something about how good it was to see him again before standing and moving toward Hudson.

"What – " Hudson stopped herself from asking what he was doing there, and quickly changed her question. "How are you?"

Lex frowned slightly, and she realized it wasn't a very good question, either. He reached inside of his jacket and pulled out an envelope. "I received your letter."

She smiled, gaze glancing toward her dad as he hesitated on the other side of the car, watching them. "I'm glad. I mean, I thought you would have just thrown it away or something."

"I considered it," he answered honestly.

Nodding, she waved her hand to the side. "Want to… um, talk?"

Catching her hint, Lex moved past her, walking toward the fence behind the house as Hudson joined him. She looked over her shoulder to see her dad following them with his gaze before he finally turned and made his way into the house. She sighed with relief that he'd changed his mind about the confrontation, and turned her full attention to Lex.

"So… what do you think?" She finally asked as they stopped.

He leaned his elbows on the fence, staring out at the pasture. "I think you need to stop eating while writing letters." He shook the envelope at her, frowning. "It's the most disgusting missive I've ever received."

Hudson couldn't stop her grin at his teasing. It was a start. "Sorry. It took me a few days to write it, and I was always rereading it and stuff. Did it… did it work?" She asked hopefully.

"I honestly don't know," he replied, shrugging lightly.

Making a face, she dropped her gaze, kicking lightly at a rock beside her foot. "Once you told me you could only say you're sorry so many times."

"And you told me that I was supposed to keep saying it until I meant it."

She bit her lip. "You think I don't mean it?"

Lex looked over her, pinning her in place with his gaze. "Do you?"

Hudson let out a breath and kicked at the ground again. "If you think I don't meant it, what are you doing here?"

He raised an eyebrow in response, obviously surprised or impressed with her reply. "Very well, Hudson." He turned slightly to face her. "Where do you want to go from here?"

"Why must you be so difficult?"

"Difficult?" Lex's neutral expression turned to a glare. "Do you want me to throw a fucking parade because you told me the truth?"

She winced. "Do you want me to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness? I will, you know, if that's what you truly want."

He grew silent and looked away.

"If there's absolutely no way that we can work this out, if you don't want to forgive me then… well, I can't make you do it, Lex," Hudson told him. "So, I guess you might as well just leave. You obviously wasted your time in coming here."

Lex told himself to let her go. But he didn't.

"Hudson." He turned to her as she stopped. "I… have forgiven you."

She spun around, eyes widening with complete and utter surprise, her heart thrumming loudly in her chest with hope. "You… you have?"

He held up a hand. "Forgiven, Hudson," he told her pointedly. "I just… I don't know if I can ever forget."

"Well, it's a start."

She forced a small smile, even though her knees were shaking and she was just about certain she was going to throw up then and there. She realized that she truly hadn't believed he would forgive her, and her sudden lack of faith in Lex that she'd never known existed made her sick. That, combined with the relief sweeping over her that she was, at least, forgiven, was playing hell with her nerves. Hudson clasped her hands together tightly in front of her and took a deep breath.

"Anything you want to know? Questions, and stuff?"

Lex glanced at her in disbelief. "Just like that?"

"Well, it's not like there's a point in not getting it all out in the open," she replied with a shrug. "I know you, Lex. You probably have a file on your computer filled with questions that you've come up with over the last few days."

The blank expression on his face at her accusation was all she needed for her answer. Hudson nodded in triumph and she could have sworn she saw a ghost of a smile hover across his mouth.

"Actually, I should probably speak with your parents first, Hudson."

Her triumph was short-lived. She frowned. "Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, wouldn't you rather go on a quick trip to like, Malibu or something?"

Lex furrowed his brow at the suggestion. "As… intriguing as your offer sounds, Hudson, I really think your parents and I need to talk."


Hudson led Lex inside the house, softly warning him to watch his step since her mother had just washed the floor. He handed her his jacket to hang up before glancing to the front room where Martha and Jonathan were sitting on the couch, watching him, waiting. He gave them a short nod as he started toward them, Hudson suddenly appearing at his side.

"Lex." Jonathan stood, his manner defensive.

"Mr. Kent, Mrs. Kent."

"Can I get you anything, Lex?" Martha offered in her gentle voice, a hesitant smile appearing. "Water or tea?"

"No, thank you." He sat down across from the couch, without waiting for permission from Hudson's father.

Jonathan frowned slightly, and then turned to his daughter. "H.C., why don't you go get started on your chores?"

Lex watched in fascination as the unmistakable fire of rebellion immediately flickered in her eyes. It wasn't the usual teenage angst he was used to seeing from her, but something much more volatile and angry.

"This is about me, you know," she replied.

"I'm well aware of that, H.C." Jonathan stood his ground, staring down his daughter, the alien.

And god, now that the information was firmly ground into his mind as fact, Lex couldn't seem to get over it.

"But your presence will only make this conversation more difficult," Jonathan continued. "Your mother and I would like to have the chance to talk with Lex alone."

"I have a right to hear what you have to say to him," she responded stubbornly, the apparent anger fading slightly, as if she were making an attempt to control herself.

"Frankly, I think you've done quite enough already, H.C." Her father turned away to sit beside his wife on the couch. "Go do your chores."

"This isn't fair!"

Deciding that this was the time to intervene, Lex commented, "Nothing in life is fair, Hudson. I think you'd have realized that by now?"

She flashed him a glare but the fact of the matter was that Lex had stared Death in the eyes, and on more than one occasion. The beautiful young woman standing in front of him, alien or not, no matter what she was capable of, didn't frighten him all that much. He glared right back at her, the kind of expression he normally reserved for Board members and office toadies. Hudson's chin jutted out slightly in defiance and Lex found himself wondering if maybe he might have a real fight on his hands. Then, just as suddenly as it began, she huffed once and spun around. One minute she was there, the next the door was slamming in her wake.

Blinking, Lex turned back to the Kents. "Does she do that often? That speed thing?"

Martha nodded, another nervous smile appearing. "Unfortunately, yes."

Amazed, Lex glanced toward the door, pondering her exit as well as the one from his study after she had admitted the truth to him. How fast could she go? Had she ever clocked herself? If hers was the blurred image on the security tape from the exhibit hall at the Metropolis Museum as he suspected, then her speed was phenomenal. Faster than the human eye, faster than what could be caught on camera. Faster than bullets even?

What could one achieve with such speed?

"Lex," Jonathan began, interrupting his thoughts. "H.C. tells us that you… suspected the truth about her all along. Was that why you had Roger Nixon looking into us?"

Lex knew the questions would come around to this. He folded his hands together and leaned forward calmly to meet Jonathan's gaze. "Mr. Kent, when I hired Roger Nixon, it was only to investigate what happened the day on the bridge. I'm sorry if you're offended by my curiosity, but when you walk away from an assured death, it's impossible to ignore what happened. The roof of my car was ripped open like a sardine. Maybe you should have schooled Hudson in being more careful with her rescues."

"So now you're blaming us for this?" Jonathan snapped.

"No, Mr. Kent," he replied coolly. "All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be surprised by everything I discovered. Frankly, I'm amazed that more people haven't figured out Hudson's secret with her heroic feats talked spoken of all over town, and in the papers. I'm sorry, but I'm of the opinion that if you're trying to protect her? Your efforts have been adequate, at best."

"I don't remember asking for your opinion!" Jonathan stabbed a finger toward Lex. "And did you ever think that the best way for us to protect her is to keep her the hell away from you from now on?"

"Jonathan," Martha interrupted, reaching over to touch her husband's arm, silencing him. She looked at Lex. "We're all concerned for Hudson's safety. It's why we're here."

He didn't know how she did it, but Martha Kent had always possessed this calming affect about her that worked with everyone. Both he and Jonathan visibly relaxed, and Lex nodded in agreement.

"Look, I understand your concern," he told them. "But you have to know, I would never do anything to hurt Hudson – "

"We were never worried about that," Martha hastily reassured him, though Lex knew even if she wasn't concerned about such a thing, Jonathan certainly had been. "Lex, it's your father. The things that go on between the both of you, the games you play and the fighting. I worked for him, and I watched you both while I spent time in the mansion. If he ever found out about Hudson – "

"I'll protect her. I won't let him – "

"I don't need your protection, Lex." Hudson appeared out of nowhere and dropped into the opposite chair, tugging a piece of hay from her hair. "I don't need anyone to protect me."

Her father sighed. "H.C., I thought I told you – "

"I'm done," she replied with a shrug. "The gate is fixed, the animals are fed, stalls are cleaned, and everything is put away for the night."

Lex glanced at his watch in disbelief. "In five minutes!"

Hudson looked amused. "Oh, I stopped to play with AJ for a bit."

"She's showing off for you, Lex," Martha told him with a frown. "Ignore her."

In response to her mother's remark, Hudson's skin flushed a bright shade of red.

Martha got to her feet and inclined her head toward the kitchen. "H.C., why don't you help me start dinner? Lex, we would love for you to join us."

"Thank you, Mrs. Kent. But I really need to return to the mansion after I've finished my discussion with your husband."

He ignored the look of disappointment Hudson flashed at him. Surely she understood that just because he'd forgiven her didn't mean he was looking to spend every waking hour with her? They still had so much to discuss, questions that need to be answered, theories that needed to be validated. He still… he still wanted to scream and yell and throw a few things at her. It would never happen – he couldn't allow himself to lose control like that, not ever again – but that didn't mean he couldn't wish for it.

Nodding in understanding, Martha took Hudson's hand and forcibly dragged her into the kitchen. Lex returned his attention to Jonathan.

"Mr. Kent," he began. "We can't go back. I know you'd like to, but the fact of the matter is, your daughter was honest with me. She gave me the truth, and that's all I've ever wanted. I have no intention of harming her, or your family. Surely you must know that by now?"

Her father ran a hand over his face in apparent frustration. He let out a breath and met Lex's gaze. "Lex, I do know that. You've been more than generous with my family, even when you suspected all along that we've been lying to you. But I do hope you realize what a tremendous responsibility knowing this secret is? And believe me, it's not gonna get any easier."

"I never thought it would, Mr. Kent."

Actually, Lex believed that Jonathan Kent was going a little overboard when it came to the warnings regarding Hudson's secret. Maybe it was due to his upbringing being so different from anything the Kents would understand, but Lex really didn't believe his life would suddenly become all that more difficult and trying due to what he now knew for a certainty. If anything, he thought his life should be a little easier, given that there was no longer a need to seek out the answers to the questions that plagued him.

The man across from him still didn't seem convinced, seemed to hesitate slightly before finally nodding. It really wasn't much more than Lex expected.

Getting to his feet, Lex told him, "Thank you for speaking with me, Mr. Kent. It is my sincerest hope that one day I will prove myself worthy of your trust." He forced a brief smile for affect.

Jonathan gave a non-committal nod as he stood to walk Lex to the kitchen door. Hudson beat them to the coat rack, handing Lex his jacket and pulling the screen door open to allow Lex to move past her.

"Mom, I'm going to walk Lex to his car."

"All right, sweetheart."

Hudson hurried down the steps beside him, her expression curious and wide-eyed as she gazed up into his face. "I wish you would stay for dinner, Lex."

Lex shook his head. "I don't want to, Hudson."

"Oh."

She looked crushed, and Lex knew he should have felt badly for doing that to her. Unfortunately, he just couldn't bring himself to feel that kind of guilt at the moment. He opened the door to his car and turned to her. For a second, he was reminded of the countless times in the past when he'd made the exact same movement, turning to kiss the tip of her nose, gather her into his arms and hold her close, whisper a promise that he would see her soon into her ear. Now, he simply looked at her, hands tucked safely in his pockets, wondering when his anger and disappointment would eventually diminish. He tried to convince himself that he should concentrate on the miracle of her existence, but he couldn't stop remembering her betrayal.

"I'll make this up to you," she told him, as if reading his mind. "I promise." She leaned up and kissed his cheek.

"I hope so," he replied quietly before turning and climbing into his car to leave.


"I still can't believe Jake turned Swim Fan on Lana." Chloe made a face as she glanced over the article printed in the Torch, murmuring about a typo in the second paragraph. "I never pegged him as the poolside slasher type." She looked up at Hudson with a slight twinkle in her eyes. "But, I don't think Jake Pollen was exactly like your average teenager, either."

Just that morning, Hudson learned that Lana had been attacked the night before while taking a swim at the local gym. Apparently, she'd been alone in the pool when someone had pulled her under, attempting to drown her. Before her attacker could succeed, he was shot, and Lana escaped to call the police. Jake Pollen was a classmate of theirs, and the last person Hudson would have ever expected to commit murder.

She raised an eyebrow at Chloe as her friend ducked into the Torch office, and then followed her inside. "Why would you say that?"

"Other than the meteor rock labeled "FREAK" laid next to his body?"

Chloe tossed her bag onto the desk and sat down in front of her computer. "Do you remember that field trip we took down to Crater Lake, the one where I so gracefully dropped my keys off of the pier?"

Hudson laughed. "Yeah. I thought you were going to call in the Navy S.E.A.L.S. But then, Jake jumped in and fished them out for you."

"Right." Chloe nodded as she pulled a file up on her computer. "And he was under water for six minutes. Now, unless you're David Blaine or a Himalayan yoga master, that's impossible."

"What's the list for?"

She shrugged. "Oh, just some hunches of mine, sort of anything that's off the charts," she explained with a quick grin. "It's kind of a purgatory before you graduate to the Wall of Weird."

Hudson made a face but didn't say anything. She was on the Wall of Weird herself, more than anyone else, and didn't consider it much of a reason to celebrate. She began reading the list, stopping when she noticed Jake's name.

"You have a full file on Jake?"

Chloe nodded as she clicked on the file. "Well, I started suspecting a while ago that he had amphibious abilities due to the meteor rock exposure."

"You don't think you might be stretching with this one, Chloe?" Hudson leaned back, folding her arms across her chest. "I mean, I don't think Jake is the mysterious one. Don't you think it's a little strange? A rifle-wielding commando shows up right when Lana is getting attacked?"

Her friend smiled up at her. "Well, if you want to help track down the enigmatic vigilante, I would be willing to explore the Jake angle. After all, it's been a while since I've seen the name H.C. Kent in bold type face on the pages of the Torch."

Hudson contemplated the offer. So much had happened since the last school year that it seemed kind of childish to allow past grievances to keep her from working on the paper any longer. Besides, Chloe felt that their friendship was ending, and what better way to mend the rift between them than to begin working on stories together again?

"Look, H.C.," Chloe began, apparently taking Hudson's silence as a refusal. "I could say that I'm swamped with the Daily Planet column, but the truth is it would just be really nice to have you back."

"In that case, I accept." Hudson gave her a smart salute. "What's my first assignment, Chief?"

Rolling her eyes, Chloe handed her a file folder. She opened it to discover pictures and school information on Jake.

"You can write the human interest story on Jake. Gather together any tidbits you can get from classmates. From, uh, what I gather, he spoke to Lana the afternoon before the attack. So maybe she knows something?"

Hudson nodded. "She should be in the computer lab this period. I'll see if I can catch her."

"Great!" Chloe turned back to her computer. "Meanwhile, I'm going to contact my source at the morgue and see if there is any information from Jake's autopsy."

Shaking her head at her friend's gruesome task, Hudson slipped her backpack over her shoulder and headed back into the hallway. She stopped beside her locker to switch out some of her books, thinking over her discussion with Chloe and the trepidation she had over Jake's death. On the one hand, if someone hadn't shot him, then Lana would be dead, so that made the shooter a hero. On the other, the meteor rock labeled "FREAK" left beside Jake's body meant that there was intent behind the killing that had nothing to do with saving Lana's life. And that was what niggled in the back of Hudson's mind, no matter how pleased she was that Lana was safe. She needed to get to the bottom of who shot Jake, and why.

Slamming the locker door shut when done, Hudson turned and made her way through the crowd to the computer lab.

Lana was sitting in the back, away from the five other students that were huddled together, occasionally throwing glances her way. It was obvious they were discussing the events of the night before and Jake's attack on her. Having been the subject of more than a few of Chloe's stories, Hudson knew from experience that having your trials and tribulations plastered across the front of the paper for all to see wasn't easy to deal with. In all, she and Lana probably held the record for being featured the most on the front page of the Torch.

"Hey, Lana," she greeted quietly as she slipped into the chair beside her. "Feeling any better?"

"Tired." Lana gave her a weary smile. "I wish this day would end. I can't decide if I'm more fed up with the questions or the furtive glances in my direction."

Hudson bit her lip. "Oh. Well, then you probably don't want to see me." She took a breath at Lana's look and added, "I'm doing a story on Jake for the Torch."

Lana nodded in resignation. "That's great, Hudson. What do you want to know?"

Pulling out her folder and a piece of paper, Hudson grabbed a nearby abandoned pen and began, "Well, you told the police he had a friend with him when he approached you, and I was wondering if you knew who it was?"

"Van McNulty. You know, the quiet guy, kind of cute, wears a lot of camouflage."

"Oh, right." Hudson wrote his name down, brow creasing as she processed this information. "Van McNulty. Hmmm."

From what she knew of their reclusive classmate, the profile fit of rifle-wielding commando fit. She remembered seeing him at the fair grounds two years ago, where he had won a stuffed animal for every girl that wanted one in the duck shoot booth. Lex had been with her at the time, and commented that accuracy like that at such a young age was both impressive and dangerous. No kid should be that comfortable with a gun in his hands. She'd teased that maybe she should start wearing a bullet proof vest to school. Though Lex hadn't believed such prudence to be necessary, he did remark that the Army recruiters were likely salivating over the guy.

And Lana was right; he wore a lot of camouflage.

Still, those reasons weren't quite enough to convict him of Jake's murder just yet. Especially, when just about every male in Kansas had camouflage in their wardrobe. Minus the Luthors, of course.

"Why are you interested in Van?" Lana asked, glancing down at her folder.

Hudson shook her head. "No reason. Just …curious about something."

"Hey, so we can rule out the Himalayan yoga masters," Chloe called out from the doorway as she breezed into the computer lab. She moved over to Lana and Hudson, pushing her way between them to drop a folder onto the desk and flip it open. "Check out what my connection at the coroner's office just faxed over to me."

She laid out the printed photos before them from Jake's autopsy, each one clearly showing what appeared to be small slits behind his ears. "You're not gonna see any of this in Jake's official autopsy report." She stabbed a finger at one of the pictures and gave a visible shudder. "Believe it or not, they're gills."

"That's disgusting," Lana uttered, her shudder mimicking Chloe's.

Hudson made a face as she continued to look over the pictures. "Personally, I find the gaping bullet wound more disturbing."

Who could actually shoot another person? She wondered. Wouldn't their conscience simply tear them apart to take away someone's life like that?

"Okay, if that shooter hadn't shown up when he did, I'd be dead," Lana pointed out, flashing a quick look in Hudson's direction. "So forgive me if I don't have more sympathy for the gill boy who tried to drown me."

"Jake was exposed to the meteor rocks," Hudson replied quietly, fixing Lana pointedly with her gaze. "He didn't ask for them."

Lana appeared perturbed and unwilling to discuss it. "No, just like Greg Arkin didn't ask to become a bug boy and Tina Greer didn't ask to become a bone morpher. Look, the fact is when they got their powers they went psycho, and tried to kill me."

Sighing, Hudson dropped her gaze to her fingers. She kept waiting for that moment when Lana would turn her anger on her, blame her for bringing the rocks here in the first place and it really was her fault that all of these people had developed these abilities. They'd been down that road briefly when Lana learned the truth about her the year before. Though she'd taken it all back, claiming that Hudson was her friend, and that made her different from all of the others, that her abilities didn't matter. If the friendship between them had never developed, and Hudson had exhibited her abilities in front of Lana, she had no doubt her reaction would be no different to her as it was to discovering Jake's apparent mutation. And just maybe, Lana was experiencing a change of heart.

"Chloe's been attacked by more of these people than me," Lana added at Hudson's continued silence. She glanced up at the blonde who was remaining uncharacteristically silent. "You remember Justin Gaines and Sean Kelvin?"

Chloe raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, one tried to psychically impale me with farm implements and the other just wanted my body heat. Thanks for the memories."

"I'm just saying a shot in the head is a little more extreme," Hudson muttered.

"What about all the times that you've saved us from these people, Hudson?

What makes you so different from this shooter?" Lana asked, the expression in her gaze challenging.

"I've never intentionally killed anyone, Lana," Hudson replied. "I haven't been wandering around, leaving glowing green meteor rocks for the police to find with the word FREAK written on them."

"So that justifies your actions, then? Just because you don't see them any differently from anyone else. But if they end up in the hospital from the injuries you cause or dead, it's okay because you didn't target them as freaks?"

Hudson glared at Lana, her anger growing. Lana was using everything she knew about her and her abilities against her, and she knew it. And, of course, Chloe seemed to be eating the argument up between them.

"I've never meant to hurt anyone, Lana. I've only tried protecting everyone."

"Spoken like a true vigilante." Lana stood, grabbed her books and turned to leave the computer lab.


"I'm sure she didn't mean it, H.C.," Chloe commented softly when the silence in the Torch office apparently became too much for her. She turned in her chair to face Hudson. "She's just upset. It happens after being attacked so many times by meteor freaks. Buffy and the citizens of Sunnydale have nothing on us Smallville peeps, I tell ya."

Hudson forced a smile at her friend's comment. "I know she didn't mean it. It just… kind of hurt is all. It's not like I've ever had much choice in the matter. I mean you can either stand around and watch the people you love get hurt, or you can do something about it. And I hate that there isn't an easier way."

"Well, I for one am glad to have both you and your heroic tendencies around. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way." She turned back to her computer, clicking on her email and growing silent as she perused the contents.

Hudson doodled on the notebook in front of her, partially disturbed to realize that the majority of her doodling ended in the word FREAK. She scribbled those out and concentrated on something much more pleasing:

Hudson Clark Luthor

She always liked the sound of that, and she already had their wedding completely pictured in her mind's eye. Well, at least until she'd gathered up the courage to tell Lex the truth, and now she really wasn't certain he'd ever want to marry her, even under threat of torture. She had nightmares of him asking "But Hudson, what would the children look like!" and refusing to acknowledge the fact that future Luthors could trace their family tree a long time ago into galaxy far, far away. The entire situation should be hilarious. Except that it wasn't. And it wasn't like she had any After-School Specials to turn to for source material on how to handle it, either.

"Earth to Hudson Kent."

Hudson blinked at the voice and glanced over to see Chloe watching her with an amused expression. "Huh?"

"Wow. You were really out there. What were you thinking about, as if I couldn't guess?" She grinned.

"Nothing, School work."

"Yeah. Sure. That's if 'school work' is the code word for 'sexy, bald billionaires' nowadays."

Hudson felt her face warm at the teasing.

"Speaking of, I would think you wouldn't leave his side after everything that happened this summer." Chloe's brow furrowed as she stared over at Hudson. "That you'd be stuck to him like Lana on pink."

Rolling her eyes at Chloe's comment, she told her, "We just… we're taking things slowly. We still have a lot of issues to resolve between us before we can go back to what we used to have, Chloe. And that's if we can ever go back."

"Oh, I know all about 'issues'." Chloe waved a hand in dismissal. "Anyway, the reason I was trying to get your attention is my contact the sheriff's office just emailed me some information you might find interesting. Remember the rock that was tossed next to Jake's body with the word 'FREAK' written on it? It wasn't the first one the police found."

She pointed toward the monitor and waited for Hudson to join her. On the screen was the picture of a man. "Meet Leonard Wallace, a local mechanic gunned down two weeks ago. Someone put a similar rock next to his body."

"Why do you think he was killed?"

"I can't be sure about that, but last month when my VW Bug was in the shop, I swear I saw his arm reach for a wrench three-feet under my car. I started a file on him just in case he had some sort of stretching abilities. But unlike Jake, Wallace never went psycho."

Hudson frowned, thinking that over. "So Lana's mystery hero isn't out to save anyone, he's hunting them."

"Smallville's own version of a hate crime." Chloe sighed. "But why?"

"Revenge."

Hudson and Chloe looked up at the voice to find Lana standing in the doorway, books cradled in her arms.

"I was thinking over our conversation, H.C.," she explained as she stepped into the office. "And then I remembered something. Last year, Van's father was murdered. He was a Marine recruiter. Apparently, he turned down an application to join up by a young man who had a history of mental illness. I remember reading the article in the paper because a weapon was never discovered. A questionable witness stated that the young man's hand turned into a knife, and he stabbed Van's father through the chest ten times."

"Wait. I think I remember this… "Chloe typed some information into the Google search engine and pulled up an article on the case. "Yeah, it happened at the recruiting station in Metropolis, which is why it was never big news here. There's the guy – Stan Hall. He was sent to Belle Reve where he hung himself."

Hudson sighed. "Van never had the chance to get his revenge on Stan."

"Yeah." Chloe nodded. "So he decides to go Terminator on the rest."

"Van's fighting his own personal war." Hudson looked over at Lana and offered a grateful smile. "Thank you for mentioning this."

Lana nodded and moved closer, watching Chloe. "Ummm, Chloe? Do you think I could talk to Hudson alone for a moment?"

Chloe looked up at Hudson who gave her a quick nod and Chloe smiled. "Sure. I'm going to see what information I can find on Stan Hall, anyway."

Turning off her computer, she stood and gathered her research together, shoving it into her bag and slipping it over her shoulder. "See you guys later. And hey, H.C.? Don't forget about the party Friday night."

"I won't." She waved to her friend before returning her attention to Lana.

"I'm sorry about what I said in the computer lab, Hudson," Lana began, setting her books down and leaning against the desk. "It just… last night really scared me. I think I've become so used to you being there to protect me that I never thought there could be a time that you weren't. And no matter what Van might be out there doing, he still saved my life."

"I know. And I'm grateful for that reason." Hudson sat on the edge of the desk beside her. "But he did it for the wrong reasons, Lana. He would have killed Jake, had you been there or not, just because of what Jake is. And I… I have to stop him, because I'm the reason that Jake had gills. I'm the reason that Stan Hall could become a weapon. I'm responsible for Sean Kelvin and Justin Gaines and "

"No, you're not." Lana placed her hand over Hudson's and squeezed gently. "You can't take on the guilt for what these people decide to do. Remember Kyle Tippet? He was a good person. Maybe… it's just some people can handle acquiring that kind of power, and others can't. It has nothing to do with you or the meteor rocks. It has to do with their own nature."

"But they'd never have to fight off such temptations if the meteor rocks hadn't given them those abilities, Lana."

"Maybe." She shrugged. "But who's to say Tina Greer wouldn't have found a way to steal money and kill her mother in some other manner? Sean Kelvin had always been a dick, as long as I knew him, and was responsible for date raping two of the girl's on the cheerleading squad. You see? Just because the meteor rocks gave them the power doesn't mean they had to use it."

"I don't know… "

"Look at you. You're the most powerful person on this planet – no, seriously, Hudson. Don't interrupt. You're super strong, super fast and invulnerable. Your eyes can see through things and set them on fire! And yet, you use those abilities to help people, to do the right thing – "

"Like any good vigilante."

Lana's face fell. "I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean it. You know I didn't mean it, right?"

Hudson did know that, but it didn't mean that Lana's accusation didn't strike a chord within her. The past summer proved to her exactly what she was capable of, and if she could hurt people and take things with so little regard for anyone around her, who was to say that couldn't carry over into her desire to help others? What if the only reason she did it was for the attention, some selfish desire to be noticed for her abilities even if she couldn't flaunt the fact that she had them? What if, one day, she found herself enjoying the fight? It wasn't that far of a stretch.

"Hudson – "

"I know," she assured Lana quickly, forcing a smile. "I won't deny that what you said is causing me to think about things, and that's good because it's highly possible that what I do is walk a fine line. I don't ever want to find myself taking advantage of that."

"You won't." Lana leaned over and hugged her quickly. "So, we okay?"

Nodding, Hudson slid off of the desk and grabbed her backpack. "Are you up for a little investigation? I'd like to make certain Van doesn't have the chance to hurt anyone else, if he is indeed our guy."

"Sure." Lana picked up her books. "I just need to drop these off at home, and then we can go wherever you want."


"I'm not dressed for this," Lana commented as she followed Hudson through the dense foliage. "I just thought I'd mention that the next time you want to take me on a hike through the Kansas woodlands, warn me to wear proper shoes."

"Sorry." Hudson glanced back at her friend, moving a branch out of the way for her. "But Van used to come to a cabin out here with his father, and I'm hoping there might be some clues to give the police that will help track him down. It'll just take a minute."

Lana rolled her eyes. "Sure. That's what you said when we broke into his locker. And his car, and his house…"

"Jake was killed by a hunting rifle," she pointed out.

"Hudson, this is Kansas. Every male over the age of sixteen has one of those hanging in the back window of his pickup. I should know. I dated one of them."

Smiling, Hudson asked, "How is Whitney?"

"I think he's actually getting a little homesick," Lana replied, falling into Hudson as she tripped on a rock. She smiled her thanks as Hudson helped her back into step, and continued, "He's been sending me these long emails lately, being overly-friendly and reminiscent. I think his girlfriend dumped him and he won't admit it."

Hudson laughed. "And what have you replied?"

"That I'm far too busy to strike up a conversation with him right now and maybe the next time he's back in town, we can get together."

"Do you miss him?"

She titled her head slightly as she considered the question. "I guess lately I've had my mind on too many other things to think about it." She looked over at Hudson. "What about you? How're things with Lex, now that he knows?"

"Not too great." She flashed a small smile. "He's still really angry at me. He came over to talk to my parents, though, so I guess that's a start."

"Give him time, Hudson. If you recall, I wasn't exactly all that forgiving when I first learned the truth, and you and I had no where near the history that you and Lex do."

"I know. I just… miss him, I guess. It seems unfair that he was given back to me, only for me to push him away again." She made a face as she thought about it and then glanced ahead, eyes widening as she spotted the cabin they were looking for. "There! I told you we'd find it."

Snorting indelicately in response, Lana followed her down the tiny trail that led to the old cabin ahead of them. As they neared it, they realized that it had certainly seen better days. The roof needed repairing, one of the windows was cracked, and the porch seemed to be falling in on itself. It took barely a twist of the knob for Hudson to get the door open, and inside the floor and furniture were covered in a fine layer of dust.

"This place could seriously use a woman's touch," Lana remarked before sneezing. "Okay. My hay fever is taking off. Let's go. There's nothing here anyway. Well, aside from dust mites and probably a few rats the size of small dogs."

"But he was really close with his dad, Lana."

Lana sighed and reached out for her friend's hand, attempting to tug her toward the door. "The last time I checked, there's nothing wrong with a little father-son bonding."

Not ready to give up just yet, Hudson focused her gaze on the outer walls of the cabin, seeing through to the other side. She found nothing until she hit the fourth wall, behind which a locked door hid a small room packed with guns and ammunition. Switching back to normal vision, Hudson moved over to the door, reaching out to snap the lock apart and open it.

"There's a serious arsenal in here, Lana," she told her, stepping inside.

"It's a hunting cabin," her friend pointed out.

Hudson pulled out her flashlight and flicked it on, moving it over the room as Lana joined her. There were at least a dozen rifles and shotguns leaning up against the far wall, next to stacks of boxes of ammunition. On the wall beside it, painted in bright green was the word FREAKS, beneath which a group of profiles were posted, matching that Hudson remembered seeing in Chloe's file on Jake. She stopped on the first profile, which was of Leonard Wallace, the mechanic gunned down over two week's ago and, apparently, Van's first victim. Beside it, Jake's profile was nailed to the wall. Both had large green X's crossed over them. Hudson moved the light to the right and stopped, her heart pounding suddenly in her chest.

"Oh my god, Hudson," Lana breathed in shock beside her.

This profile was on Lex, and it too was crossed out with a large green X.

"Lana." Hudson shoved the flashlight into her hand and started for the door. "Call the sheriff."

Before her friend could reply, Hudson burst into superspeed from the cabin, heading for Metropolis. The landscape around her blurred as she ran, faster than ever before, silently praying that she would reach Lex in time. She had no idea how much of a start Van had ahead of her, if this were something he was planning on doing later in the day or if she might already be too late. God, what if she got there and Lex was shot, lying there, surrounded by paramedics, and she was too late and everything was ruined –

No. She wouldn't be too late. Not this time.

She sped across the interchange of I-70 and I-35, weaving between cars along the ramp into downtown Metropolis. Luthorcorp was located at the corner of Main and Grand, the gleaming towers rising up out of a neighborhood filled with skyscrapers, boutiques, theatres and expensive cafés. Everything happened instantaneously - just as Hudson spied Lex in the parking lot, preparing to open the door to his car, she heard the crack of the rifle and put on an extra burst of speed.

"Lex, get down!"

Hudson shouted as she threw herself toward him, catching one of the coming bullets in her hand. She slowed herself just as she reached him, knowing if she hit him too hard, she could smash him into the asphalt. Gently, she grabbed Lex and pushed him to the ground, out of the way of the next bullet as it exploded through the window of his Porsche.

"Hudson?" Lex gasped under her in shock.

She looked up to see Luthorcorp security swarming out of the building and she hauled Lex to his feet, pushing him forward. "Someone's trying to kill him! Get him inside! Go!" She told them before turning to look for Van.

There, she saw him, peering through the railing of the overpass a few hundred yards ahead. Hudson rolled the bullet between her fingers as she watched him before slipping the evidence into her jeans pocket and speeding toward the top of the overpass. She reached Van just as he was turning to look for her, and tackled him to the ground to wrestle the rifle from his hands. Unfortunately, moments after doing so, the familiar sensation of Kryptonite poisoning swept over her. She curled in on herself, forgetting about Van as she looked around for the source, only to find a couple of meteor rocks, just like the one found by Jake's body, lying on the cement beside her.

Van rolled away from her and jumped to his feet as he continued to stare down at Hudson. "You're one of them," he accused. "I saw you catch that slug. It was in your hand. What are you, some kind of bulletproof freak?"

Actually, I'm an alien and the reason all of the other freaks exist, Hudson thought briefly through her pain, wondering if such an admission would make things any better. For some reason, she didn't believe it would really matter much.

He was still watching her, silent for a moment, as if contemplating her sudden pain. His gaze flickered over to the rocks, and he grinned as he tapped her with the toe of his foot, nudging her over on to her back. Even his little touch echoed pain throughout her body, sending wave after wave of spasms down her spine.

"What's wrong, Hudson?" Van asked as he knelt beside her and picked up one of the rocks. "Does this stuff make you sick or something?"

Hudson was unable to suppress a groan of pain as he brought the rock closer to her. Her blood was on fire, she was certain of it, and her bones were melting, too. And she found herself thinking that if she could just get those damn rocks out of the way, she'd make certain Van knew exactly what this felt like, one way or another. As it was, she couldn't even find the strength to call him a few choice names.

"Look at you." Van chuckled and Hudson wondered if maybe he was the type of kid who used to set fire to bugs with his microscope, cackling gleefully as the wisps of smoke filtered upwards around the glass. "How about a nice big bite of meteor rock?" He asked, waving it over her face. "How's that feel?"

Sadist.

Hudson whimpered softly, sudden anger filling her at this one weakness she couldn't escape. What's the point of being invulnerable if all one has to do is whip out a piece of Kryptonite to cripple you?

The pain intensified as Van dropped the rock against her chest and jumped to his feet. He flashed her one quick glance before grabbing his back pack and running off. Hudson heard cars moving down the street past her, Van's fading footsteps, and then she was alone with the meteor rocks and her own ragged breathing. Gathering up the last ounces of strength she had reserved within her, she rolled over, the rock sliding from her chest to the cement. Once it was no longer touching her, the pain diminished slightly. It was just enough to give her a little more vigor needed to move away.

Slowly, painfully, she crawled along the sidewalk, one excruciating inch at a time. She couldn't decide if she was pleased or unpleased that it wasn't rush hour and the street was empty. On the one hand, there would be too many questions to answer; on the other, it would have been nice to have had a little help.

Once cleared far enough away from the rocks for the pain to finally cease, Hudson climbed to her feet and leaned against the railing to catch her breath. She glared at the rocks where they lay, taunting her, mocking her inability to beat them. Of course, leaving them there wasn't possible because anyone could come along and pick them up and weren't there enough people running around harmed by their affects? Being that she unable to do anything about the rocks herself, Hudson wasn't certain how to dispose of them. Unless…

Lex! Of course, now that he knew all about her, he could come out and collect the meteor rocks and take care of them for her. Having Lex and Lana as confidants helped Hudson to understand why Buffy made such an unbeatable vampire slayer with her family and friends around to offer help. She seriously doubted it would be possible to make it through life as an alien without at least a few people knowing her secret, offering their assistance when needed.

Decision made, Hudson hurried back to Luthorcorp. As she entered the lobby, she was immediately swarmed by security personnel demanding to see her identification. She dutifully handed over her driver's license as she spied Lex hovering near the stairs, surrounded by bodyguards.

"I'm just here to see if Lex is all right," Hudson told the man in front of her, moving to skirt past him.

"I don't think so, Miss." He placed his hand on her shoulder, halting her progress and glaring down at her from an unbelievable height of six and a half feet.

Hudson made a face at him, then craned her head over his shoulder and called out, "Lex! You wanna get your goons away from me?"

"It's all right. Let her through," Lex told the guards as he waved her over to him.

Snatching her license back from the man beside her, she pocketed it in her jacket and hurried down the steps to join Lex, who wore a familiar expression caught between amusement and aggravation. Placing his hand against her back, he led her away from curious ears to a quiet alcove near the elevators.

"Hudson, how did you know that someone was going to try to kill me?" He demanded.

"It's the same person who shot Lana's attacker," she replied, sitting down on one of the drab gray chairs. It didn't have any arm rests, so she just slumped back against it, still suffering from the effects of the Kryptonite.

Lex frowned. "What would he want with me?"

She chewed on her lower lip, realizing that they still hadn't had the chance to sit and talk about everything regarding her abilities and the meteor shower, or anything else of consequence. "The answer to that could take a while, Lex. How much time do you have?"

"Not much. My father will be back from his meeting soon." He ran a hand over his scalp impatiently, gaze flickering around the lobby and back to her. "Hudson, what's going on?"

"Okay, short version." She sighed and leaned forward, dropping her voice to a whisper. "My coming here caused the meteor shower."

She let that sink in for a moment, in case Lex wanted to rail at her about his hair loss. He only stared at her though, saying nothing, obviously having already worked this out in his mind.

"The meteors have been known to… well, cause mutations in some things." When Lex's brow furrowed, she added, "Like remember how Jeff was able to become invisible to attack you? He did that with some roses that had been altered by the meteor rocks. There have… been a lot of others, mostly people, affected. Anyway, Van is hunting down those he thinks have developed these different abilities.

"Lex, he had a hit list. I found it in his cabin, and you're on it."

"I don't have any special abilities, Hudson," he pointed out. "Beyond playing the market and falling for the wrong women."

Hudson winced at his comment and looked away. "Well, he's serious about what he's doing, Lex."

She felt his gaze on her, and then his fingers were under her chin, bringing her eyes back to his. "I wasn't including you in that comment. I hope you know that."

"Are you certain? I mean, this stuff – all of it is my fault."

Lex crouched down in front of her. "Unless you built your own spacecraft and set course for Earth by choice, Hudson, I don't see how you could possibly take on the guilt over everything that has happened."

"There's more."

"More?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Van is carrying a bag of meteor rocks – Kryptonite, around with him. They… they make me very sick when I'm near them. Don't ask me why – I can't explain it because I don't understand it. But when I saw him just now, some of the rocks fell out and he got away because I couldn't stop him."

"Are you all right?" Lex asked, frowning as his gaze moved over her.

Hudson nodded, warmed by his concern. "I am now. But, I wondered if you couldn't go up to the overpass and get the rocks? I'd hate for them to hurt anybody else."

"I'll send someone – "

"Lex. You have to do it yourself." Didn't he understand that?

Lex appeared ready to argue for a moment, but finally seemed to agree. "I should still have some time before my father gets back." He looked at his watch briefly. "What about you? Would you like to hang around a while? I can give you a ride back to Smallville."

"I'd like that," she began, knowing they needed a chance to talk. "Unfortunately, I need to get back now, and see what I can do to stop Van's next attack."

"Hudson, you're not the police, you know."

"I know." She stood and gave him a small smile. "And that's why I'm the only one who can stop him."


She paced behind Chloe, flashing an impatient look as her friend typed on the computer and told her:

"Think about it, H.C. Lex survived the meteor shower, a near-fatal car accident, and a plane crash. Even he doesn't have enough money to afford a guardian angel with that much clout. Check this out."

Stopping, Hudson leaned over and glanced at the profile she pulled up on the monitor. Anger swept through her at the familiar image, the same one that was nailed to the wall of the McNultys' cabin. If not for this file, for all of these files, she wouldn't have had to worry about Lex being a target for Van's personal war. The bullet she caught was still tucked safely in her jeans, the same bullet that would have pierced Lex's skull, tore through his brain, and ripped the life right out of him. It didn't matter how many near-fatal accidents he had survived - if Hudson hadn't made it there in time, if she'd been one second behind, she would have lost him. Lex would have died, and in the end, it would have been her fault.

"Lex's medical records show that he has a white blood cell count that is off the charts," Chloe continued. "I mean, it's more than enough to raise an eyebrow."

"You've been keeping a file on Lex, too. Chloe, didn't you learn your lesson about keeping your secret files?"

"They're my own private notes, H.C.," Chloe argued. "Since when is curiosity a crime?"

"Since someone took your database and turned it into a personal hit list!" Hudson snapped at her, turning away to pace again. "Van had a printout of the same file on his bulletin board. There was a big green X through it, just like Jake's and Leonard's. If I hadn't found it in time… " She trailed off.

Chloe grew silent, eyes widening as she stared at her screen in shock. "Van helped network half these computers. He must've cracked my password… Oh, God, H.C. This is all my fault." She turned in her seat to meet Hudson's gaze. "I can't imagine what you… what you must be feeling right now. Hudson, I almost got Lex killed!"

Sighing, Hudson shook her head and gave her friend a sympathetic glance. "Chloe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blame you. Lex is all right. And it's not like you pulled the trigger."

"No." She shook her head and turned back to face the monitor. "I just loaded the gun and pointed it in the right direction."

Hudson didn't know how to reply to that, since she was the one who had provided the gun in the first place. "Look, the only blame we should be placing anywhere is on Van." Knowing her pacing wasn't helping the situation, she pulled up a chair to sit beside Chloe. "Lex is fine and, hopefully, with the help of your list, we can protect the others before Van can hurt them."

"Anything I can do to make up for this." Chloe turned and immediately hit the print button on the list of names. "I should probably delete the files."

"I suppose. Then again, the damage has already been done. Maybe you should just be more careful about keeping them on such a public computer."

Chloe nodded. "You're right. From now on, all of my files stay on the computer at home." She handed the print out to Hudson, pallor still slightly pale. "Please tell Lex how sorry I am. I can't imagine – "

"Don't worry, Chloe." She smiled as she folded the list and slipped it into her pocket. "Knowing Lex, he's going to want to see his file for curiosity's sake."

"He's totally welcome to it!"

Nodding, Hudson picked up her backpack. "I need to go find Sheriff Adams. Hopefully, she'll listen to me about the list."

"Wait. Let me track her down for you."

Chloe pulled out her cell phone, glancing through the call list to find the number she needed. She hit the button and waited a moment before speaking, "Jeremy? It's Chloe… Hey. What's up? ... Cool. Look, I need to find Sheriff Adams. I have some information for her. Is she on patrol? ... Sure, I'll hang on…" She glanced up at Hudson and smiled. "Jeremy works in dispatch. He's calling her on the radio to find out where she – Yeah, I'm here… The Talon? ... Great! Thanks, hon!"

She tossed the phone to the desk. "She's on her way to the Talon for her favorite cappuccino."

"Thanks, Chloe."

Hudson headed out of the office and down the hall toward the back doors to the building. Once out of view, she broke into super speed toward downtown Smallville. Even if the sheriff didn't believe in the affects of the meteor rocks of Van's reasoning behind the murders, she couldn't deny the connection between Chloe's files with the profiles in the cabin. And, with the list of names, the police would be able to provide protection for those Van hadn't yet targeted.

Reaching the Talon only seconds after the phone call had ended, Hudson rand into the sheriff on her way out the door.

"Sheriff Adams, have you found any information on Van's whereabouts yet?" She queried as she pulled the paper from her pocket.

The tiny woman shook her head. "No. We're keeping an eye out, but there's no reason to think he's come back to Smallville."

"I think there is." She shook the list open and held it out to her. "Take a look at this."

Sighing in obvious annoyance, Sheriff Adams took the print out and glanced over it. "What is this?"

"One of the people on this list will be Van's next target."

"Are we in the psychic business now, Miss Kent?"

Hudson shook her head. "No. It's not… Just look at the first three names."

Pursing her lips, the sheriff frowned at her a moment before looking down and reading off, "Leonard Wallace, Jake Pollen, and Alexander Luthor." Her frown deepened. "Where'd you get this?"

"From a friend of mine who believes that these people are linked to a certain…" Hudson paused, wondering how to mention the meteor rocks in a way that wouldn't have the sheriff sending her in for a psyche evaluation. "Ummm… phenomenon in Smallville."

"A phenomenon, huh?" The sheriff grinned in amusement. "That's a little out of my jurisdiction."

"Well, you don't have to believe it's true," Hudson replied impatiently. "But Van McNulty does, and these people are in a lot of danger."

Shrugging, the sheriff tucked the list into her pocket and pushed against the door to leave. "It can't hurt to be cautious," she replied before heading outside.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Hudson realized all she could do now was wait, and hope that the other people on the list were provided with the protection they needed.


Lex stared at the screen of his monitor, watching as the computer simulation of his Porsche hitting Hudson before plunging into the river below played over and over again. Now that he knew for a certainty that he'd actually hit her, the scene was much clearer in his memory. He could see the look of shock and fear in her eyes as the car careened toward her, how their gazes had locked for just the briefest of seconds before everything went black. He remembered his last thought, his remorse at taking her life along with his own, and his self-hatred at that same moment.

And then he woke up, staring into her eyes again, at the halo of light that surrounded her dark hair, and his life had never been the same.

All this time, he believed his flight over Smallville had occurred during his death, that he'd been set free of the life he'd been born into. But now… now he wondered if maybe he had simply been dreaming. Hudson hadn't breathed life back into him; she'd merely awakened him from his sleep. It was entirely possible that Van McNulty was right – he was a freak. The meteor shower hadn't just stripped him of his hair; it had wiped out his asthma, and possibly built up his immune system and healing abilities far beyond that of any average human. His lungs may have repaired themselves on that riverbank without Hudson's help. How else does one explain his survival on a plane that crashed into the ocean? He had watched as the water rushed toward him, bursting through the window into the cockpit and then… everything went black. He woke up, pushing his way up through the water to the surface, swimming until he found the broken wing to climb on to.

That… wasn't normal. And Hudson hadn't been there to save him. So how else did one explain it?

"Lex?"

Breaking out of his thoughts, Lex glanced up to see Lana stepping into the study, a folder in her hand. He offered her a smile. "Lana, to what do I owe this late night visit?"

"I have the quarterly accounts for the Talon," she replied, walking up to the desk and holding the folder out to him. "I was on my way home and took the chance that you were still awake."

Lex nodded and opened the folder, glancing over the paperwork. "Looks good." He raised his gaze back to hers, and noted that she didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave. "I heard about the other night. Are you all right?"

"Fine. Thanks."

Turning off his monitor, Lex stood and walked over to the bar. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, I'm good. Thank you." She paused. "Lex, I wanted to talk to you about Hudson. Now that you… well, now that you know the truth about her."

The scotch sloshed over the edge of the glass as Lex's hand jumped at Lana's words. He set the decanter down with a loud slam and spun around to face her, shock reverberating through him. "You know?" He demanded.

Lana's eyes widened slightly and her expression took on a sympathetic light. "She didn't tell you."

The familiar feeling of betrayal tugged at his heart. Lex clenched his fists and turned back to the bar, needing a drink more than ever. "How many others are included in Hudson's Secret Alien Society? Am I the last to know in all of Kansas?"

"Lex, that isn't fair," Lana answered him quietly. "I forced Hudson into telling me – she didn't have a choice in the matter."

"Is that so?" Lex faced her with an angry smile, his glass clutched tightly in his hand. "I broke up with her, Lana, hoping she'd be honest with me. But even that wasn't enough. What did you do? Threaten not to let her play in your reindeer games?"

Lana's face flushed with a thread of anger at his taunting. "Actually, I discovered her ship. I was going to turn it in to the police."

"Her ship?"

She nodded. "Just down the road from here, in fact."

Lex didn't know if he should laugh or cry.

"Look, Lex." She sat down in the chair and leaned forward to hold his gaze. "I know some of what you're feeling. I've known Hudson for a long time, even though we didn't become close until our freshman year. But, still, I was so… angry when she told me her secret. I couldn't believe she could keep something like that from me, and all of the time still claim to be my friend. And then, well, I blamed her for my parents' deaths. It was petty and ugly of me to do, because she already carries that guilt around with her, but I said it anyway, just to hurt her. Just to show her how much I hurt."

Letting out a breath, Lex downed the scotch and set it aside. "It's not the same, Lana. Hell, I've suspected; I've practically begged her for the truth and she wasn't willing to give it to me until she thought I was dead."

"That's not true," Lana argued. "She wanted to tell you sooner. Lex, she's wanted to tell you for so long. And when you broke it off with her, she planned on telling you then. She told me so."

Lex glanced over at her. "Well, if you haven't noticed, she didn't."

"No, she didn't, because she saw you with Helen." Lana shrugged and offered a small smile. "People don't act rationally when they're hurt."

"Are you implying that I'm being irrational as well?" Lex glared at her before stalking over to the fireplace, feeling suddenly cold and bereft.

"Maybe." Lana watched him silently for the next few moments as he knelt beside the fire and prodded the wood with the fireplace poker.

"Lex, I found myself agreeing with her parents when it came to not telling you the truth." At his look, she hastily added, "Not because of you or your father or anything like that. I know you love Hudson. I know you'd never hurt her. But the truth is, no matter how vindicated you might feel in knowing the truth now? That's nothing compared to how scared you're going to be the moment Hudson's life is in your hands. I wake up every morning terrified that this will be the day I let something slip, that I won't carefully guard every word I speak, that I'll break the faith and trust Hudson has placed in my hands by allowing me into her world. I honestly wouldn't wish this kind of burden on anyone, Lex."

She paused to let that sink in before continuing, "You and I, we can't imagine what her parents have gone through in raising her and protecting her all of these years. Would you know automatically what to do with a child from another world, who couldn't even speak your language, who could lift your couch over their head? Mrs. Kent admitted to me once that having a child was the single most important thing they'd ever wanted, and Hudson was a gift handed to them at the moment she gave up ever being granted her wish. When something is that precious to someone, you can't blame them for wanting to protect it."

Lex sighed, his hand reaching behind his neck to rub at the tense muscles. "I understand why her parents guarded her secret so closely, Lana. I don't blame them. But I do blame Hudson. She made the decision to tell me the truth – a decision she could have made two years ago. Time doesn't matter – "

"But from Hudson's view it does, Lex. She'd never voluntarily shared her secret with anyone until me. And she had so much less to lose with me than she did you. What if you had reacted with horror or disgust? What do you think that would have done to her?" Lana scooted down the couch to be closer to Lex. She rested her elbows on her knees and told him, "Hudson's got a greater capacity to love and trust people inside of her than anyone I've ever met, and I know you see that, too."

Standing, Lex moved over to the chair across from her to sit down. He did see that; it was why he found himself comparing every other person he came across to his ideal, to Hudson. And it was why it hurt so much when she let him down. After all, if she had the capacity to betray him, then that meant there was truly no one in this world that he could trust.

"Lex," Lana pressed on. "If there is anything that you have the right to blame Hudson for, it's loving you too much, and wanting to protect you. She knows, better than any of us, how dangerous her secret is. If the wrong people caught a hint of it, they'd do anything to get the information, and that includes hurting me and you. Knowing this, Hudson is going to be more desperate to protect you and keep you safe than ever before. And sometimes, even that won't be enough."

"It seems like you've thought about this quite a bit," he remarked, his gaze drifting back to the fire.

She nodded. "I have. I've… never felt comfortable speaking with the Kents about it because they're so matter-of-fact with it all. She's their daughter, and that's the end of it. And Hudson can't begin to understand how it feels because she's so used to being the protector, she can't shake it. And she can't seem to understand that I'm as responsible for protecting her as she ever will be for me and anyone else. It's scary, Lex."

Lex remained silent as he considered her words. Since the night Hudson gave him the truth, he'd been focused on her lies. He hadn't been able to shake the realization that the person he trusted most in this world had been deceiving him all along. He worried that maybe he didn't know her at all. Self-absorbed in his own anger and feelings, Lex had overlooked the fact that Hudson hadn't told him to make her life easier. If anything, it made it more difficult. Her honesty only gained her his animosity, her parents' disappointment and one more person who could ultimately lead to her destruction. When he looked at it in that light, he realized that it was an incredibly courageous choice for a seventeen-year old girl to make.

Glancing up at Lana, he asked, "Do you think we should develop a secret handshake or something?"

She smiled with obvious relief. "I think if we got caught by Hudson, she'd break our fingers."

Smiling at the image, he found himself commenting, "She's amazing, isn't she?"

Lana laughed and looked at him, pleased. "Oh, Lex, you don't know the half of it."


Jonathan grabbed a bale of hay from the back of the truck, glancing over at his daughter as she picked up two and tossed them like pillows to the ground. It would be too easy to take advantage of his daughter's abilities, to never have to work another day in his life because she could so easily take care of everything on the farm for them. Every morning, Jonathan woke up and thanked the powers that be that he'd been the one to discover Hudson the day of the meteor shower, and not someone who would have been more inclined to use her.

"I've searched everywhere, from here to Metropolis," Hudson told him, voice tinged with frustration. "It's like Van just up and disappeared."

"Well, H.C., he can't hide forever. Every police officer in the state's looking for him. They'll find him," he reassured.

"I suppose. I just hope he doesn't find his next target first."

She paused to grab a few more bails, teeth worrying her lower lip as if she was in deep thought. Jonathan figured the conversation was over and began counting the bales they'd set out, calculating how many he needed to take to the south pasture, and how many for the barn.

"Dad, do you think I'm like Van?"

His eyebrows rose at the question as he stopped to lean against the truck and regard his daughter. She eyed him nervously before tapping the hay bale at her feet with the toe of her boot.

"I think you know my answer to that question, honey," he replied with a soft smile. "The real question is do you think you're like Van?"

She sighed as she tucked her hair behind her ears. "It's just I've come into contact with a lot of Kryptonite-infected people, and it never ends with us being friends and shaking hands and having pie or anything. I gave Lana this whole tolerance speech and then she accused me of being a vigilante. And I find myself wondering if maybe she's right because… well, I always assumed the worst about them, too."

Jonathan turned back to his work, pulling another bale from the back of the truck. "For all we know there could be lots of people out there who have been infected who lead perfectly normal lives, H.C. When the meteors hit, they covered a very wide area."

"They're forced to live with their secret, just like me," she commented quietly.

"And they could be using their abilities for good, too," he pointed out as he slipped off his gloves and tucked them into his pocket. "I'm sure there are more than a few out there who look at what they can do as a gift, and not a burden or a weapon."

Hudson gave a typical teenage shrug in reply.

Smiling, he started toward the cab. "I'm gonna head back to the house and get cleaned up. Lunch should be ready soon."

If there was one thing that should put his daughter in a better mood, it would be the mention of food. Martha had baked a few more batches of cookies and he knew they could always count on an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie putting a smile on Hudson's face faster than anything else. Then again, his wife's cookies did that for just about everybody.

Just as he was reaching out to open the driver's side door, Hudson screamed out in pain behind him.

Jonathan whirled around to see her hit the ground. "Hudson? Hudson!"

Running over to kneel beside her, he reached out and gently rolled her onto her back, wincing as she cried out, whimpering and clutching her chest in pain.

"Dad... ah... Dad... "

He tugged her hands away, fear racing through him at the sight of the blood seeping through her shoulder in an apparent bullet wound.

But that was impossible! She couldn't be shot, she couldn't –

Kryptonite. The bastard knew about her affliction to Kryptonite, and he'd used it to make bullets.

His daughter was crying, curling in on herself, fingers folding into his jacket, pulling. He gathered her into his arms, whispering an apology when every movement caused her to cry out louder. "H.C., I've got you. Hang on."

Lifting her up, he quickly carried her over to the truck and laid her inside, silently reminding himself to be calm, to hurry, to not panic, to take care of his little girl. Jonathan raced to the cab and climbed in, starting the truck up.

"Hang on, honey," he called through the window. "I'm going to get us to the house."

It was the longest two minutes of his life. Every bump the truck hit caused her to scream and her cries weren't something he was used to hearing. Hudson was never supposed to be hurt; she was his invulnerable little girl. She could fall out of trees when she climbed them and never break her arm or skin her knee. She could be thrown from a dozen horses and go head to head with the meanest bull and pick herself up off the ground, dust her jeans off and go right back to what she was doing. She wasn't supposed to be hurting.

The gate out of the pasture was locked. Jonathan put the truck in park and jumped out to get it open when he saw Lex pull up in front of the house.

"Lex! Help me!" He shouted across the yard. Then, "Martha!"

Moving around to the bed of the truck, Jonathan reached in and tenderly scooped Hudson back into his arms. "Hold on, H.C. Just a little bit further."

Lex reached the fence as Jonathan moved out from behind the truck. His eyes flew open in surprise and incomprehension at the scene before him. "Mr. Kent? What happened?"

"She's been shot, Lex," Jonathan told him as he lifted Hudson over the fence. "Here, take her. Careful."

Hudson whimpered softly as Lex took her into his arms. "But, how? I thought she can't – "

"Kryptonite." Jonathan scrambled over the fence as Martha emerged from the kitchen door. "Martha! Get a knife and pliers! Sterilize them, quickly!"

She paused for only a moment, expression paling as she seemed to piece together what had happened before ducking back inside.

Jonathan moved to take Hudson from Lex, saw how the man was cradling her so carefully in his arms and decided better of it. Hudson's whimpers had died down slightly, her face pressed into his neck where every cry was muffled. If she felt better in Lex's arms, Jonathan didn't want to ruin that. Instead, he took the man's elbow and guided him quickly toward the house.

"It was McNulty, wasn't it?" Lex almost growled as he took the steps two at a time up the porch.

"Probably." Jonathan pulled the door open, and refrained from pointing out that he could just as easily blame Lex for it, since he now knew her secret and had shown up at such a convenient time.

But Lex's pallor had whitened considerably, and he was whispering softly to Hudson, reassuring her, talking to her. And Jonathan knew that even though the man was a Luthor, Lex couldn't possibly be capable of hurting his daughter.

"Jonathan! What happened?" Martha was at the stove, knife in hand, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"She's been shot. Lex just lay her down here, gently. "

Jonathan pulled off his jacket to lay behind Hudson's head but Lex was already on the ground, cradling her head in his lap, her blood spilling onto his expensive wool slacks.

"You're going to be all right, Angel," he whispered, brushing her hair back from her face as she continued to whimper in pain. "Shhhhh. Your parents and I are here. Everything will be okay."

"How's that coming, sweetheart?" Jonathan asked Martha, his voice steady and strong in the hopes of reassuring and calming her.

"I got it."

Reaching out, Jonathan tore Hudson's shirt open, ignoring the gasp from Lex as the bloody hole in her shoulder was revealed. Dark, swollen veins stretched out in every direction from the wound, curling down her arm, across her chest and up around her neck. She squirmed beneath his touch, crying out again, sobbing and choking from the anguish it was obviously causing her.

Noting that Lex's hands were shaking as he petted her, Jonathan sought to calm them both. "It's going to be okay, honey. It's okay. Hang in there, H.C. We're going to take care of you."

His wife was suddenly kneeling beside him, with bowl, dishtowel and implements in hand. "Oh, Jonathan! She's dying! The poison is spreading so fast!"

Lex sucked in a sharp breath at her words as Jonathan reached out for the knife. He had to do this quickly. He had to dig into his little girl's shoulder and get that poison out of there or they were going to lose her. And how was he supposed to purposely cause her more pain? He took a deep breath and caught Lex's gaze, nodding to him. Jaw clenching slightly, Lex placed his hands over Hudson's shoulders, pressing against them to hold her down.

"Okay, H.C., I'm going to… " He took a deep breath, unable to explain that he was going to push this knife into her body. "I'm going to get it out."

The moment the tip of the blade pressed into the wound, Hudson cried out and shook, attempting to dislodge if from her shoulder. Jonathan fought to stay in place as Lex moved slightly for better hold, his hands slipping down to grip her upper arms.

"Hudson," Jonathan told her. "You've gotta stay still, honey."

She whimpered in reply, head tossing back and forth in Lex's lap. Martha reached out to brush her fingers through her hair and calm her.

"Hold on, baby, hold on. Daddy's going to get it out for you," she whispered.

"Uhn!" Hudson jolted against their hold again, eyes flickering upwards to Lex. She gasped loudly, body stiffening, and then her eyes fluttered closed.

"She's not breathing!" Lex cried out.

Jonathan ignored the terror he plainly heard in Lex's words. He put the knife down and calmly indicated the pliers. "All right. Hand me those."

None of them seemed to breathe for the next few seconds as Jonathan reached into Hudson's wound with the pliers. He muttered to himself softly, hands shaking as he continued to probe deeper, unable to locate the bullet. Beneath him, Hudson lay still, too still, her skin paling with each passing moment, the green-hued veins of her wound growing darker and more foreboding. Beside him, Martha sniffled and shook, her fear palpable while Lex had become stoic and silent, hands clenched and unmoving against Hudson's arms.

"Jonathan, do you have it?" Martha pressed nervously beside him.

"Martha, it's in there so far," he told her, the hope within him beginning to vanish.

He was beginning to think he'd never find it, that it would continue to burrow its way into his daughter's body until it stole her away from them completely. And then he felt it, the unexpected clink against the edge of the pliers. He tried not to get too excited, forced himself to remain calm, work slowly.

"Wait a second. I think I got it." And he did. He felt it secured tightly between the mouth of the pliers and then slowly, carefully began withdrawing it.

"Hold on, Angel," Lex whispered above him. "Hold on, baby. He's got it."

Carefully, Jonathan pulled the glowing Kryptonite bullet from the wound in Hudson's chest. Blood dripped from the tip, the deep red and bright green forming some bizarre holiday ornament. Jonathan glared at it in disgust before tossing it into the bowl beside him. Martha quickly covered it with her dishtowel and jumped to her feet to head for the door. Nothing was more important than getting that poison far, far away from their daughter.

As it slammed shut behind her, Jonathan reached out to touch Hudson's pale cheek. "Hudson? Come on, honey. Don't give up on us now."

"Mr. Kent," Lex spoke softly, voice filled with awe as he pointed toward Hudson's shoulder where the veins were quickly disappearing. Moments later, the wound closed up, vanishing before their eyes.

Jonathan nodded. "Her body is healing itself. Now, we just have to give her a little time." He glanced up at Lex and gave him a weary smile. "She's strong, Lex. Our little girl is strong."


When she came to, the first thing she expected was blinding pain. After all, it was the last thing she remembered so it followed that she should be feeling that all over again. Fortunately, she just felt very, very tired. Worn out, beaten, sluggish, exhausted, shattered – she laid there for as long as possible, thinking up different words and phrases for how she felt at the moment.

And then the exhaustion faded away to be replaced with anger. It swept over her fast, consuming her every thought so that her physical state no longer mattered. That bastard had shot her! He used the Kryptonite against her and tried to kill her! And damn, but it had hurt.

Hudson jumped to her feet, shaking off the blanket that had been placed over her and looked around, slightly disconcerted. Beside her, Lex was resting against the kitchen island when, apparently disturbed by her movement, he opened his eyes to look up at her in surprise.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kent!" He called out, climbing to his feet.

She stared at him. "Lex, what're you doing here?"

"Hey, H.C." Her dad entered the kitchen, relief apparent on his too-tired face. "How you feeling, sweetheart?"

"A little woozy," she admitted, glancing over at Lex again.

It was weird seeing him there after something like this. She liked it, but she just wasn't used to it. Self-consciously she grabbed at the tattered remains of her shirt, attempting to cover her bra, and Lex smiled at her.

"You need to lie down," Martha told her as she wrapped her in a hug. "Take it slowly."

Hudson sighed, wishing that it were so easy. "No, I need to find Van."

The look on her dad's face confirmed that he didn't agree with her. "H.C., listen, just because your wound is healed doesn't mean you don't need to rest."

"How can I rest knowing that Van's out there with a hit list in his hand?" She demanded, refusing to admit that she had the irrational desire in her head to smack him around a few times just for shooting her.

Moving past her parents and Lex, Hudson exited the kitchen, heading for the staircase.

"Hudson!" Her mom hurried after her. "This boy isn't like the others. He has Kryptonite bullets."

"He already tried to kill you once, Angel." Apparently, Lex was on their side. Great, just what Hudson needed – another parent. "I'm not going to let you give him a second chance."

She sighed and started up the steps. "I know what I'm up against now."

"Hudson – " Her dad began but a knock on the door interrupted him.

Hudson took the chance to hurry up the steps and into her room, pulling off what was left of her t-shirt. She yanked open the dresser drawer and grabbed a clean one, quickly slipping it over her head. Moving past her closet, she pulled out her blue flannel shirt and slid her arms into it, buttoning as she turned to leave.

Only to find Lex blocking her way.

"Hudson, you can't seriously mean to go after him! Not after what happened!"

"Lex, I know this is hard for you to understand but… this is something I have to do."

"Why?" He demanded. "Because you blame yourself for the meteor shower? Because you blame yourself for the deaths that he's been causing?"

She took a breath and cocked her head to the side, watching him. "Yes. Yes, that's it exactly. Stopping a thousand Van McNulty's won't begin to make up for the pain I've caused, Lex. And that's the honest truth. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Lex grabbed her arm as she tried to move past him. "I… Hudson, I thought you were dying down there. I can't lose you."

Hope flared within her at his words. Were they really going to make it?

"I know the feeling," she replied with a smile before leaning in to place a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth. "We'll talk later –"

"Hudson!"

She hurried down the steps, coming up short to find Sheriff Adams standing in the doorway. The woman looked up at her, frowning darkly as their eyes met.

"Well, rumors of your death have been greatly exaggerated, Miss Kent."

Hudson's brow furrowed. "What do you mean rumors of my death?"

"Dispatch received a call that you'd been murdered."

Glancing at her parents as Lex walked up behind her, Hudson looked back to the sheriff and asked, "Who'd make a call like that?"

"Beats the heck out of me. I don't appreciate crank calls, especially in the middle of a manhunt."

As Sheriff Adams turned away to announce into her radio that all was clear at the Kent Farm, Hudson flashed another quick look at her parents then sped out of the house. She made her way over to the police car parked in front, careful to make certain the sheriff was still busy speaking to her parents before reaching inside to grab the police radio. Van had bragged about having his own police scanner so that he could be the first to hear when they found Jake's killer. But Hudson realized he had it for one purpose only – to listen in on strange occurrences around town, to track down the meteor freaks more easily.

"Van, I know you're listening," she spoke into the microphone quietly. "You didn't get me. If you want to finish this, meet me by the trophy case. I'm on my way."

Knowing he would be well-prepared with a stock of Kryptonite bullets, Hudson made a quick stop at the Luthorcorp plant where she remembered seeing a large stock of lead in one of the storage rooms. She promised herself she'd admit to Lex what she did – after she broke in and took what she needed, quickly molding it into a vest-shaped shield with her fingers. Finding electrical tape in a nearby closet, she secured it to her body, taping it to her waist and shoulders, and then covering the entire thing beneath her shirt to hide it. Now, as long as Van didn't aim for her extremities, she'd be all right. If he decided to shoot her in the leg this time, she'd have to go to plan B.

And she didn't have a plan B.

Speeding her way to the high school, she paused outside the doors, checking to make certain the lead was in place. She broke the lock on the door handle and pushed her way inside, eyes adjusting to the darkness as the doors closed behind her. Scanning the area, she turned and made her way down the hall, heading toward the main trophy display. As she reached the corner, Van appeared in front of her, pushing Lana along in front of him, her hands tied behind her back.

He leveled his gun at Hudson. "You may have survived one bullet, but I'm not gonna make that mistake again!"

She glanced over at Lana, making certain that she was all right. "Let Lana go, Van. She has nothing to do with this."

"No? I don't agree. See, apparently she knows that you're a freak, and yet she still wants to be your friend. She still trusts you. But now I'm going to show her that freaks need to die!"

Grabbing Lana's neck, Van threw her against the wall behind him, watching as she toppled into a row of chairs and hit the ground. He turned back to Hudson, aiming his weapon at her and firing, bullet after bullet into her chest. The force of the volley was surprising, the nearness of the Kryptonite still affecting her enough to sap her strength with the attack, pushing her backwards.

"Hudson!" Lana shouted in fear.

Van stopped shooting and lowered his gun, staring at Hudson in rage as she looked back at him, unharmed. And not just a little cocky.

"I told you she was a freak!"

Sick of hearing that term, and still pissed off over being shot with a Kryptonite bullet in the first place, Hudson started forward, prepared to make Van feel just a little pain. She stopped short as she watched Lana quietly climb to her feet behind him. She kicked upwards quickly, catching him between the legs.

"You're the freak," she told him as he doubled over in pain, and then she spun around, boot heel slamming into his face. Van reeled backwards, crashing through the glass of the trophy case, unconscious.

"Wow," Hudson remarked, impressed. "I guess that's what's called 'Girl Power'. Buffy's got nothing on you!"

"Aunt Nell and her self-defense classes," Lana replied as she shook her head. "Hudson, I don't understand. Those bullets were made of Kryptonite. He said he killed you with one earlier and you were dead! I called the police but he caught me. And just now – "

"He did hit me, Lana. That's why I came dressed for the occasion this time." Grinning, she pulled up her shirt to reveal the breast plate beneath it, where the glowing bullets were firmly imbedded.

"Lead?" Lana rolled her eyes. "Jesus, Hudson. A little warning next time! You had me about scared to death!"

Chuckling, Hudson reached down to pull the shield away, wincing slightly when her hand neared the Kryptonite. She quickly changed her mind and moved behind Lana to rip the rope apart that bound her hands.

"Mind helping me out of this thing?" She suggested, more than a little impatient to get the meteor rock away from her. "Then we'd better get the sheriff called before Van wakes up. Something tells me he's not going to be a very happy little boy."

"Well, you know, it never sits well when the freak gets the upper hand."

"Or a girl kicks your ass."

Lana grinned. "That, too."


Lex climbed the stairs up to the loft slowly, trailing his hand along the wooden rail as if it were some treasured artifact he'd just discovered. Countless times he'd moved up these same steps, late in the evening, greeted by the warm lamplight and Hudson's glowing smile. He could make the trip in his sleep so familiar was he with each and every footstep, the sound of the stairs creaking beneath his feet, the heavy scent of fresh hay, motor oil and manure. It was like another world, and yet more comforting to him than any other place on Earth.

The trip tonight would be different, though. Different because this time they would be facing one another on even ground; he knew her secrets and now there was truth between them. How long it would last, Lex didn't know.

"I hear Van McNulty's been taken into custody," he announced as he reached the top step.

Hudson glanced up from her book at Lex's voice and gave him a welcoming smile. "Yeah. They put him in the psychiatric ward."

"I knew Van was misguided," he replied. "But I'm not so sure he's insane."

"What makes you say that?" She laid her book down and turned in her chair to face him.

"Churchill once said 'Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge'. I think maybe that kid was right about me."

"Lex, he's a fanatic."

"Oh, but Chloe Sullivan's not?" He flashed a sardonic look as he moved into the loft, skirting his way around the couch, and approaching the desk. "How many times have I come face to face with death and walked away without a scratch? I've practically lost count. And that's without you always being there to save me, Angel."

"Weirder things have happened."

Lex smiled at that, knowing she meant the fact of her existence. "All this time I thought the reason I survived that Porsche accident was because of you, Hudson. Now, I'm not so sure. See, I've always tried to explain everything by looking outside myself. But maybe the truth lies inside my own physiology. Maybe I am a freak."

Hudson dropped her gaze, kicking at the leg of her chair for a moment. When she looked back up at him, a deep frown marred her brow, her color heightened.

"If anyone is a freak on this world, Lex, it's me. And I think we both know that." She pursed her lips. "And who's to say what would have happened if I hadn't been there to pull you out of the car?"

He shrugged, mimicking her expression. "I made it out of the jet."

She opened her mouth to respond to that, seemed to think better of it and promptly closed it again.

"I'm simply providing myself other options, Hudson."

"You're looking for an excuse to negate my existence."

Lex blinked at her in surprise as she stood and walked away from him. "Is that what you think?"

"Don't worry about it." Hudson stopped at the window, arms wrapped around her waist, staring out into the darkness. "I do the same thing all of the time. It's a game I've played ever since my parents told me the truth; ever since I realized what my coming here caused. I picture what Lana's life would be like if her parents were alive today. I imagine Tina and Sean and Justin and Jeff and Greg and so many others all just… living the lives of normal teenagers. You'd still have your hair and – "

"Hudson, stop it!"

She glanced over her shoulder at him, as if surprised by his outburst.

"You have no more responsibility for what happened than I do for what my father did to this town in order to put his plant here. Do you blame me for the Ross' losing their creamed corn factory?"

"No, but that's diff – "

"It's not different," he replied, crossing the space between them to join her beside the telescope. "Your parents' chose your course, for whatever reason, and I sincerely doubt they sent along the meteors as some sort of 'house warming' gift."

"Your life wouldn't be better if the meteor shower had never happened?" She asked.

Lex shook his head. "Hudson, losing my hair taught me a lot of lessons about life and people. The stigma it placed on me forced me to be strong. I don't… " He trailed off and looked away for a moment, wondering how honest he could be with her; realizing that this was the time for them to be completely honest because it might never happen again. "I don't know what kind of person I would have been had it never happened. My father considered me weak because of my asthma, the friends I had were only there because of the money and power my father wielded, I was forced to spend the majority of my time with my father because I was his heir.

"But after I lost my hair, my father didn't want me around anymore. I grew closer to my mother because of it, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. And the kids that I called friends – well, they all went away because no amount of money in the world could force them to hang out with the bald boy. I learned then that friends were a rare commodity, and that the majority of people in this world only care about Number One, and no one else. This world I live in, Hudson? I would have been eaten alive by now if I hadn't found my strength when I did."

Hudson didn't appear convinced. "What about everything else, Lex? What of Desiree? I made her what she was, you know."

"You didn't make her a black widow, Hudson. She didn't have to use her ability to entrap rich men and have them murdered."

She snorted. "What else would you use that ability for?"

Lex didn't have a reply for that. He stared at Hudson, realizing that this was a side of her he'd never been allowed to glimpse before because of her need to keep the truth a secret. It was apparent that she had a guilt complex the size of the Wall of China, and while he understood it – god, did he ever understand guilt – this self-inflicted torture was a far cry from the bright and sunny girl he'd come to know. She'd become the light in his life, the person he needed when his life became far too much to deal with, when he needed to experience laughter and happiness. If all of that had been an act, where did that leave them?

There were so many adjustments to make suddenly that Lex didn't know where to begin.

"Hudson." He reached out and touched her arm. "This isn't like you. I understand that there was a side of you that I've never been allowed to see but this… there has to be more to it than what happened with Van."

She bit her lip and looked away, and Lex knew instantly that there was a lot more to it. He realized that the fact that she didn't appear willing to share it with him hurt more than he cared to admit to himself. He withdrew his hand, slipped it into his pocket and prepared to be disappointed again.

"If you ever want me to trust you again, Hudson, you'll start being honest with me, always."

"God, Lex." She shook her head and brought her gaze back to his. "How much honesty can you handle?"

"How much can you give?"

She seemed to consider the question, and then her chin rose in a defiant set and she fixed him with a glare. "Fine, you want to hear it all? Every little dirty secret?"

Pushing past him, she paced the confines of the loft, hands twitching in agitation. "You want to know how I spent my summer vacation, Lex? Let me tell you about it. See, there's this rock – Red Kryptonite. Like its cousin, Green, it has adverse affects on my physiology, except, instead of affecting me physically, it turns me into a psycho." She spun around to face him. "Remember last year when I was walking around in sheer tops and trying to give you a blow job? That's when we discovered it. The class rings were made out of the red meteor rock instead of rubies."

Lex was stunned by her confession. She'd originally blamed all of that behavior on his marriage to Desiree and her anger over the situation. Of course, her excuse had been flimsy at best, but there hadn't been any other explanation that he could come up with to justify it, so he'd let it go. He emitted a short laugh at his naivety.

"So, what? The red Kryptonite turns you into half the women I've dated."

Hudson snorted. "No, Lex. It turns me into a psychotic, greedy, uncaring, super-powered alien. What do you think I did alone in Metropolis for three months with one of those rings on my finger? I can move faster than the eye can see, Lex. I can rip metal apart with my bare hands. I can see through things – "

"You can see through things?" Lex interrupted, his momentary anger replaced with fascination. Imagine what he could do with that!

"I can shoot scalding heat from my eyes –"

"Hold on. What?" Okay, maybe Hudson had been right. This was far too much information.

But she didn't stop. "I robbed banks, cheated at high-stakes card games, took shopping trips through the most expensive boutiques in the city in the middle of the night. I hurt the people who got in my way, and I didn't look back. I… I slept with so many people, Lex."

She was losing her confidence suddenly, stumbling over words and taking long, deep breaths. "So many… I don't remember names or faces I just… I wanted…" She gasped, her hand covering her mouth. Lex saw a tear escape down her cheek. "I wanted to hurt you for leaving me. I wanted to hurt you for dying. I wanted… I wanted to forget you ever existed and I took it out on every person I met!"

"So, what you did was my fault?"

Her gaze flew to his and she shook her head wildly. "No. I… don't you understand, Lex? I didn't care about those people. I didn't care about anyone… any human. I used them and I threw them away and I didn't care if they were hurt, I didn't care if they were injured – hell, I wouldn't have cared if they died! I wanted… no, I needed to use and destroy everything around me because I just didn't care."

She waved her arm toward the farmhouse. "My parents were losing the farm, and I laughed at them, taunted them. I almost injured Chloe – I wanted so badly to harm her and…" Her eyes widened as she continued to stare at him, as if she realized she was about to say something she didn't want to say. "Your brother, Lex… "

Lex frowned. "Lucas? What about him?"

"I… we met at the club my first week in the city. We lived together, for a time. We – "

"You fucked my brother!"

"He was using me, to prove himself to you and your father. And… and I don't think he ever admitted to himself that I was using him and – "

"Goddammit, Hudson!"

Lex was furious. He thought he'd reached his limits on anger when it came to Hudson, but apparently he was wrong. Spinning around, he searched for something to throw or hit but unfortunately it would mean the destruction of the Kent's property and he couldn't bring himself to allow that kind of disregard. So instead, he moved away from her, placing a safe distance between them so he could rein in his rage, and control himself.

Lucas and Hudson had been together. He'd seen her, touched her and, if her behavior on the red meteor rock the year before had been any indication, Lucas had seen shades of Hudson that Lex had never been privy to. The jealousy that swept through him was both unimaginable, and unwelcome. It indicated quite clearly how deeply Lex's feelings for Hudson still ran, no matter how many lies she told him, how much she hurt him. Or how many people she fucked. But his brother… that one cut him deep. It was like seeing those pictures of his father and Victoria all over again, except his feelings for Victoria never wavered beyond casual lust.

"Lex, please understand. That rock – I don't think. I just… I just act on my feelings, I act on anger and hurt and I care about little else beyond my own superiority."

He turned back to face her. "And because of that, you feel you shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of your actions?"

"You think I'm not suffering?" She screamed at him. "You think I don't hate myself every single day? You think I'm not terrified that the person I was in Metropolis isn't lurking deep within me, just waiting to come out? That every decision I ever make again isn't colored by what happened? That I wasn't afraid that I would rip Van from limb to limb because I wanted to?" She snatched a small box from the desk and advanced on him with it, holding it out. "Here. Take it. If you think I haven't suffered enough, then take care of it!"

"Stop being so dramatic," he snapped, yanking the box from her hands and flipping the lid open. Inside the box lay a small green meteor rock, about the size of his fist. In front of him, Hudson visibly winced. He looked up at her. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Use it," she informed him, voice already tinged with pain as she took a step forward. "Go ahead. The affects of it are no worse than the fallout from the red Kryptonite."

Lex slammed the lid shut and set the box aside angrily. "I've seen what this shit does to you, Hudson. And no matter what you and your father may think of the Luthor name, the last thing I have any desire to do is hurt you."

"Why?"

He sighed. "Because, it's more than obvious to me that you're doing a damn fine job of it on your own."

She grew silent with his words, quiet tears still coursing down her face. She let out a breath and turned away, moving back to the telescope where she stopped and stared, fingers stroking restlessly against the eyepiece.

"I used to sit here and stare out at the stars for hours, wondering where I came from," she told him after a few minutes of silence between them. "I made up this entire story in my head that I was some princess and my parents had to hide me from some evil dark lord to protect me, so that one day I could return to my home and lead my people. But, the reality has turned out to be nothing like the fantasy. I have no home to return to – Krypton is gone. And those benevolent parents of mine," she laughed bitterly, "apparently see me as some kind of conqueror sent here to rule over the human race."

Lex watched at her in disbelief. "Hudson – "

"What if that monster is who I am, Lex?" She whispered brokenly, sobbing as she continued, "What if it had been better if that bullet today had killed me?"

"Jesus," Lex muttered, moving over to grab Hudson by the shoulders and turn her to face him. "Stop it, Hudson. This self-flagellation doesn't look good on you."

"Let me go!" Hudson told him angrily through her tears but didn't try to pull away.

"What you need to get through your head is that you are here, and you can't change that. Your arrival brought the meteor shower and Lana's parents died and the affects of the rocks are far-reaching and there is nothing you can do about that." Lex sighed and squeezed her shoulders gently. "But what you also need to accept is that there are two people in the house across from here that love you, and would give the world to keep you in their lives. And Lana loves you, even with everything that has happened – she's forgiven you."

She gazed up at him, and Lex knew what was coming. "And you?"

Shaking his head, Lex pulled her against him, wrapping his arms tightly around her and pressing his cheek against her hair. "I don't think I have to answer that," he replied softly.

Hudson trembled in his embrace, another volley of tears being released on his shoulder. Lex held her until the sobs subsided and her shaking ceased. He stroked her hair for its warmth, and the memories it invoked. He whispered soothing words because there was little else left to say. Regrettably, the actions he performed were all very automatic, with little forethought behind them. The pain still lingered, the shadows of betrayal lurked in the back of his mind. She was being honest with him now, sharing her life with him, but how long would it last?

When she finally pulled back, Lex reached up to help her wipe the traces of tears from her cheeks. "I feel like such a crybaby the last few weeks," she admitted with a rueful half-smile.

"We all fall apart sometimes, Hudson."

"You don't."

Lex shrugged lightly. "You'd be surprised."

Letting out a breath, she ran a hand through her hair with a soft laugh. "I'd like to hope that the worst is over. I feel like I'm running on automatic lately – never able to sleep, barely able to think."

"I've been the same way," Lex admitted. "I don't think I've slept more than an hour at a time since before the wedding. Amazing what one's body can become accustomed to."

Hudson regarded him quietly for a moment, and a hundred thoughts seemed to flit across her expression.

Lex frowned as he returned her stare. "What?"

"Would you… will you stay here with me tonight?"

"No, Hudson." He wasn't even going to begin to go there just yet. "We're talking, and that's a start. But you can't expect me to just pretend and go on as if nothing happened."

"No, I didn't mean that," she hastened to reassure him. "I mean, not like that. I just thought… Lex, I feel so safe with you. I don't care what's happened; that hasn't changed. And maybe, if just for tonight, we pretended that things are the way they used to be, and just held each other – "

"We can't go back, Hudson."

"I'm not asking for that. I'm asking… I'm asking you to let me try and win back your trust."

Lex wanted to tell her no, and it was on the tip of his tongue to do so. But he was tired, just as she claimed to be, and he knew it had little to do with physical exhaustion. He was tired of fighting everything and everyone around him. He was tired of being pushed aside, unwanted, betrayed, and left alone to die… he was tired of being cold, and maybe Hudson wouldn't be able to make that go away, maybe he would feel like this until the day he died, but he had to know. He had to prove to himself that he could beat this; that he was stronger than anyone around him believed him to be. The temptation to close himself off from the world at large was far too alluring. And maybe that's what Hudson meant when she spoke of her feelings on the red Kryptonite.

He wasn't ready for that; he wasn't ready to become his father.

And so, once more, he was placing his life in her hands. Could she be his Angel again?

"A few hours," he told her. "Until you're asleep. Just don't expect to find me here in the morning." He took off his coat and tossed it to the couch.

"I won't." Hudson shook her head and flashed him a tentative smile before moving over to the hammock.

"The hammock?" Lex shook his head. "I'm not sleeping in that, Hudson."

"It's really comfortable. I promise." She held out her hand to him. "Come on."

Sighing in annoyance over the fact that this seventeen-year old habitually lying alien female still had such power over him, Lex placed his hand in hers and allowed her to pull him down into the swinging contraption with her. Getting into a position that didn't include a twisted tangle of arms and limbs took a great deal of effort, some cuss words from him and a few giggles from an all-too-amused Hudson. When they were finally both lying on their sides, facing one another, the obnoxious swing settling, Lex realized that it wasn't as uncomfortable as he'd thought it would be.

"See? Not bad."

Lex grunted and closed his eyes.

Hudson moved a cautious inch closer to him, tucking her hands beneath her cheek. "Lex?"

"Hmmm?" Heat emanated from her body, soothing his nerves.

"Do you… do you remember how it used to be? Do you remember that first summer together?"

"I remember you used to whine a lot to get your way. Oh, wait. You still do that."

She snorted. "No, I meant – "

"I remember, Hudson."

He did. He remembered their first kiss and he remembered hot summer days spent at the pool or in the park or sequestered away in his study, making out on his couch like a couple of kids hiding away from their parents. Which, technically, they had been, himself included. And god, it seemed like an eternity ago.

"Do you think we'll ever be like that again?"

"No."

He opened his eyes to see the sadness that masked her face. Reaching out, he brushed his fingers through the silky strands of her hair. "We've changed, Hudson, both of us, and everything around us. We can't repeat the times we shared." Lex offered her a slight smile. "But that doesn't mean the future doesn't hold happier times for us. It doesn't mean we can't make new memories that are just as precious to us as the past."

She bit her lip and seemed to search his gaze. "Can we?"

Lex shrugged and closed his eyes. "We'll have to wait and see, Angel."

Moments after speaking, Lex was fast asleep.