Chapter 7

The Loft

Clark relaxed on the couch reading, when his sister frolicked up the stairs in the loft. "Somebody's happy" he said, "what's going on. You were all depressed this morning."

"Yeah well I'm getting over that. Whatcha reading?" Chelsea asked. Clark held up the book Treasure Island. "Oh gosh I haven't seen that in a while."

"You used to get all excited when mom would read it to you and do all of the voices." Clark teased.

"Not just me." Chelsea said falling on to the couch next to her brother. "You liked it too. That is until you went to middle school and were far too cool to be seen with your mom and little sister." They both laughed.

Clark looked at his sister. "And here we are years later and you still can't even keep yourself clean."

"What?" Chelsea asked confused.

"Look at your legs. They're all dirty." Clark pointed.

"Oh that." Chelsea said looking down at herself. "I went for a walk in the woods."

"Chelsea," he said "I'm glad you're dealing with this whole thing so well, but you still have to be careful. I would think you would be more careful now."

"I'm careful, I-"

"Running around the woods by yourself isn't being careful." Clark said, sounding a bit too much like Jonathan for Chelsea's comfort.

"I wasn't alone Tyler was with me." She said without thinking.

"Oh good Tyler was with you." Clark said. Then he put the pieces together. "Tyler was with you, alone, in the woods. You came back looking like you were rolling in the dirt and grinning from ear to ear. Midget, did you two…what I mean to say is did you and Tyler…" Clark couldn't bring himself to say it, but he could tell the answer from the look on her face. "You had sex!"

"Okay so I had sex." Chelsea said.

"OH MY GOD! WHY DID YOU TELL ME THAT!" Clark screamed trying to keep his lunch down.

"You already knew."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to tell me!" he yelled.

"Well I did so would you PLEASE keep your voice down." Chelsea sighed.

There was about 2 minutes of silence before Clark said "This is so wrong." And put his head in his hands.

"Okay, I know what you're thinking. I was upset and not ready and we were stupid. And hey if that were the case, yeah, it would be wrong. But it wasn't anything like that. We love each other and we felt mature enough to show it. I know it's hard for you to understand, but please don't call it wrong."

"What I meant was it's so wrong that my baby sister lost her virginity before I did."

Chelsea smiled and hugged Clark "Oh God, thank you for not being a judgmental, disapproving, overprotective, critical, jerk about this. I really thought you were gonna kill us when you found out."

"Kiddo, I'm not gonna kill you. You might wanna keep Tyler away from me but I wont kill you. Mom and dad on the other hand…"

"Mom and dad don't have to know right now. Okay?"

"Well usually I wouldn't say keeping things from them was smart, but in this case I agree." The two Kent kids stayed up in the loft talking until dinner.

School the next day

Tyler left Chelsea a note in her locker to meet him in the storeroom during lunch. "Hello" she called through the musty air.

"Boo!" Tyler jumped up behind. He planted one sweet kiss on her cheek.

"Hey." She said returning the favor.

"So I was thinking maybe after school we could…go for another walk in the woods." Chelsea nodded and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck. Within seconds they were so into each other they barely heard the announced over the loudspeaker.

"Attention students: Today is the mandatory vision and hearing test given by the health service staff." Chelsea made up an excuse and rushed to the health office where she found Pete, Lana and yes Clark on online to get oral cotton swab tests.

"Clark?" she asked. He gave her a look as if to say "NOT NOW" and she backed off.

After he was tested he privately explained to Chelsea.

"What the hell are you thinking?" she asked. "You can't just take a test like that. Why would you…"

"I had no choice!" Clark interrupted. "There were teachers all around and if I would have skipped out they would have been suspicious. Not to mention the fact that Luther Corp "generously" donated all of the equipment. I don't need another reason for Lex and Lionel to pick me out of a crowd."

"Well I think that'll happen anyway when they test your DNA and its all… different."

"Don't you think I know that." Clark snapped "I'm sorry. It's just… now I have to break into Luther Corp and switch the tests and there's just a lot to think about."

"Well I'm coming with you." Clark looked at Chelsea and was about to protest, but changed his mind when he saw her eyes.

Luther Corp. that night

They plan was a success and Clark was able to switch the test. As he and Chelsea walked around the lab they noticed several familiar items. Chelsea looked over at one point to a flower on the edge of a table. As she breathed in the flowers aroma she felt a tingling sensation.

"Come on," she heard Clark whisper and she followed him out of the building. When they got in the car the tingles began to spread until it felt like a liberating fire. Tired Clark didn't even notice the spark in his sisters eye. If he had he would have remembered it as one of the many traits associated with the perfumes of the Nicodemus flower.