Chapter Four

The cousin façade

Clark pulled his truck into an open parking space in front of the Talon and placed the vehicle into park. After turning the engine off and pulling the key from the ignition, Clark looked over at the blonde sitting on the passenger side looking rather nervous as she fidgeted in her seat while staring out the window. Clark had to grin just a bit at this before reaching over and laying a hand on her shoulder so that her attention left the window and came to rest on him instead. "Nervous much?" he asked in a slight jest while removing his hand from her shoulder and unbuckling hi seatbelt.

"That obvious?" she asked while managing a weak smile in reply to his question.

Clark was still grinning as he nodded his head and opened the car door to get out, leaving the blonde to watch him come around the front of the truck after closing his door and coming to her side. Being the well mannered guy he was Clark had come around to open the passenger door for her. Still looking very nervous and unsure, Kara unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. Waiting for Clark on the sidewalk she looked up at the old theater now turned into a coffee house. The sound of men talking just down from her to the left had Kara looking to see what was going on. She winced as three guys in overalls carried a new sheet of glass to the window that had been broken the day before. Knowing the reason as to why the window had to be replaced wasn't resting easy on Kara as she watched them sit the new pane within the frame and then begin the process of adhering it in with a waterproof seal.

"That wasn't your fault." Clark stated as he came to stand beside Kara and watch the window being replaced. "You weren't the one who threw the car through the window."

Kara looked up at Clark, as he did stand a few inches taller than her at this point, and gave him a half hearted smile. "I know. It's just that, I still feel bad when it happens." She looked back over at the workers and sighed quietly as a bit of guilt was there on her for the trouble that the fight with Sinestro had caused for this part of the town.

Seeing as how Kara was going to continue to feel responsible for the mess unless her mind was distracted with something else, Clark took the initiative and gestured over to the doors of the Talon. "Why don't we go inside and get something to drink?" he suggested while looking at Kara's face to see if it had worked. It had, because she was now looking over at the doors and then returned her royal blue-eyed gaze back to him with that nervous smile coming across her face. Clark grinned at her and went to the doors first after seeing that she was going to be way to shy to go in first. Pushing open the door and going in first, Clark held the door open for Kara who timidly followed in after him.

There were quite a few customers inside sitting about with various types of coffee in hand while they were either seated at a table or on a couch talking with one another. Clark let the door close and came up behind Kara who was just standing there looking around at the coffee house. It had been one hell of job for the two of them to convince both Clark's parents and the older League members to allow Clark and Kara to go into town and visit the Talon so soon after the fight. That was, after Green Lantern had finally taken the Kents up on their offer to stay on their farm until they could figure out a way to both grab Sinestro and get home.

Flash came out the kitchen door on to the back porch looking for both Super Girl and Clark seeing as how they had both taken leave from the conversation inside. Neither teen was to be found on the porch or in the yard at that moment and this had Flash scratching his head. "Where'd you go to now S?" he asked quietly under his breath while stepping down the porch steps and coming to stand in the yard. Still looking around from his position, Flash was getting ready to jet around the entire farm to find the two teens until his attention was drawn to the barn from which he heard a girl's laugh emanate from at that moment.

Feeling relieved that he at least knew where Super Girl was, Flash just shook his head as he zipped across the yard and in through the barn doors, up the stairs, and came to stand right before Super Girl and Clark who were both laughing about something that they had been talking about. Flash held a rather amused look on his face with his arms crossed over his chest. His sudden arrival had both teens looking up at him from their seats on the couches with somewhat startled looks on their faces that were still cracking with suppressed laughter. "What's so funny?" Flash asked as a grin of his own was beginning to form on his masked face.

Super Girl managed to bring herself under control first so that she could speak without breaking into a laugh while she answered Flash. "Nothing, Clark was just telling me a funny story that happened to him awhile back ago. That's all." She replied while smiling up at Flash with a small laugh escaping her right afterwards.

"A funny story, uh? What happened?" Flash asked as he was now curious about this and wanted to hear it for himself.

Clark looked a tad embarrassed in having to retell the story again seeing as how the first time around wasn't that easy in the least. "Well, um, back about a year or so this pesticide company owned by Richmond Industries wanted to build one of their plants here in Smallville. The guy who owned the company wanted to buy the farm and build the plant here, and he somehow managed to get my dad to do it which I thought would have been near impossible but he did. I had my suspicions about the guy and went to do some investigating."

"My friend Chloe Sullivan from school helped me out with the investigation and found out that at one point the guy had been partners with a man named Kyle who lived alone in the woods selling some really abstract sculpture art. When we went to go ask Kyle some questions and found out what we needed to know. Apparently this guy who owned the pesticide company was using some sort of weird power of persuasion on everyone to get what he wanted. Chloe didn't believe it and in order for her to understand, Kyle used that same power on her to, uh," Clark started to become a bit uncomfortable as he was nearing the part that apparently Super Girl had found funny. "Well, he convinced her to confess hidden feelings for me, and to make a long story short Chloe ended up kissing me and not remembering it until about a minute after the affect ended, the end."

Super Girl had a hand over her mouth as she looked off over at the wall across from her trying desperately not to laugh again as she knew it had embarrassed Clark the first time 'round. Flash on the other hand was nodding his head while taking the story for himself and then was quiet for a moment before a rather large smile started to crack its way across his face as he was seeing what the teen super hero had found so funny with it. "Well, that's an interesting story to say the least." Flash stated while finding the humor in the situation Clark had been put in. "How did your friend take it when she realized what had happened?"

Clark glanced over at Super Girl and watched as the blonde heroine was ready to fall over sideways on the couch as she was near failing in keeping herself from laughing out loud. "Well, uh, she was embarrassed." Clark answered in partial truth as he wasn't too sure about how Chloe felt after the whole incident. He could only tell from the fact that she avoided eye contact with him for about two weeks that she was mortally embarrassed beyond belief.

Flash was of course maintaining a somewhat decent exposure on the outside, but inside he was cracking up. Even though it had to have been bad for the poor girl, for that weird reason when others heard the story later you couldn't help but laugh, and both Flash and Super Girl were experiencing this side affect at the moment. Clark had at been slightly embarrassed to retell the story twice, but since seeing as how neither super hero was poking fun at him or Chloe, he allowed a grin to find its way on to his face. Both Flash and Super Girl knew what it was like through personal experience to be placed in a situation like that and have someone else laugh about it later, so neither one meant any harm as they found the humor in it all.

After all three managed to regain some sort of composure on the different levels of laughter each were on, Flash looked over at Super Girl and held a smaller grin on his face. "That reminds me. I came out here to find the two of you, well mostly you S." he stated while dropping his arms from their crossed position on his chest and placing them on either side of his waist. "GL wants you inside so you can hear out what we've settled on for the time being."

Both Clark and Super Girl exchanged curious looks with one another and then shrugged as they got up off the couches and followed after Flash back towards the house. Inside the dinning room again with everyone seated around the table once more, Green Lantern took a moment before speaking to Super Girl and everyone at the same time. "After you left, myself, Flash and the Kents discussed the situation and have come to a conclusion that should work out for us until we can figure out a way back home and a way to grab Sinestro as well." GL stated while still holding that trademark expression of just blank emotion on his face so no one could read him correctly. "The Kents have offered to let us stay on their farm in their guest rooms until we have our plans straight."

Super Girl's eyes lit up for a moment after hearing this as she had already come to conclude that this Clark Kent was her cousin's past self at her age, and saw this now as an opportunity to get to know her cousin on a level similar to her age. Her reaction was noticed by Flash and barely caught by Green Lantern in which both noted this and made a mental reminder to confront Super Girl on the matter later on before she let anything slip that shouldn't be revealed. Clark on the other hand seemed to have a similar reaction as Super Girl but managed to keep his hidden a bit better from the adults. With that settled and one less thing to worry about, Martha took the trio up to the home's second floor and showed them their individual rooms. The rest of the night was spent settling the super heroes in and finding them some replacement clothes for the time being. Both Flash and Green Lantern borrowed some older clothes of Jonathan's that were found to fight their more muscular frames, while Martha dug around to find something for Super Girl that would fit her. However, seeing as how Super Girl was about the same height as Clark and not as petit as Martha was, that proved to be a bit more difficult.

In the end, Super Girl was given pieces of clothing from both Martha and Clark to wear. Later on after they were settled in and some of the essential things taken care of, Super Girl was able to corner both Flash and GL to talk about letting the Kents know their secret identities since it wouldn't do them any good if they were called by their super hero names the whole time when they weren't on active duty. After what seemed like a thirty-minute argument with Flash siding on the matter with Super Girl, Green Lantern finally caved. The Kents were then given the names of the heroes in which to call them by; John Stewart – The Green Lantern, Wally West – The Flash (which shocked Clark to say the least), and Kara Zor-El – Super Girl. After they were reintroduced to the small family, both Kara and Clark headed back out to the barn's loft to continue talking while the adults continued their conversations before turning in for the night.

Clark spotted a couple of open spots at the counter and ushered Kara over so that way they could get their drinks. While Clark already knew what he was going to have, Kara had no idea as she stared up at the menus hanging on the wall behind the counter reading over every offered item that they had to offer at the Talon. As her eyes read over the different types of drinks, Clark couldn't help but grin at this and then after she was still in a state of indecisiveness he nudged her arm with his elbow. Once her royal blue orbs were staring at him with a quizzical look within them, Clark's grin grew a bit brighter. "How about I just get you the same thing that I'm getting?" he suggested.

"You know, that sounds just a whole lot easier." Kara replied while a sheepish grin flooded across her face. While Clark made the order for two White Chocolate Lattes, Kara turned away from the counter and leaned back against it as she scanned the inside of the Talon. From the looks of it, it seemed as though that whole fight in the street yesterday hadn't even occurred as the patrons were so involved with their own on goings. As her gaze was coming back towards the left as she had started out from the right, her eyes came across a young man who looked to be a bit older than herself and Clark. Kara had just passed over him casual at first but something about the fact that the guy was coming towards them caused her to do a double take.

The guy approaching them had at least the same amount of height advantage on her as Clark did and maybe a bit more, and wore a very stylish business suit that Kara guessed to be maybe Armani or some other designer label as it was dark in color with lighter pin striping. The odd thing about him was, for some one so young, he was completely bald. Not that this caused Kara to think any different of him before even knowing who he was, it just caused the young Kryptonian to feel a sense of greater maturity to him that stood out from everyone else in the room. Like someone else she knew, but didn't hold in that much of a high respect. Kara silently choked as she noticed that he was staring rather intently at her for a moment before calling out Clark's name to gain his attention. "Clark." The guy stopped just before them and waited for Clark to turn around and face him.

Having finished ordering his and Kara's drinks, Clark turned around. After seeing who it was, Clark smiled and acknowledge him. "Hey Lex." Clark greeted while shaking hands with him as he did. "How's everything at the mansion?" he asked making small talk with Lex, and actually caring to hear what he had to say. After all, Lex was Clark's best friend.

"Quiet for the most part." Lex answered while his own blue-eyed gaze remained focused on the blonde beside his friend. "I don't believe we've met." He stated while holding out a hand to the girl and giving a rather charming smile. "Lex Luthor."

Mentally, Kara went wide-eyed and dropped her jaw in shock as she now realized why this guy looked so familiar to her, but on the outside she gave him a small smile and shook hands with him. "Kara." She introduced herself while maintaining her inner emotions in a controlled check the best she could at this point. Lex Luthor! How in the hell…? Just play it cool Kara and try not let anything slip up. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Luthor." At this the two ended their hand shake and Kara discreetly stepped closer to Clark's side as a plan was starting to form in her head as she knew what the next possible questions coming from Lex might be.

"Please, call me Lex." Lex insisted politely with that same smile gracing his face and his eyes remaining solely on her, which was now causing Clark to become a tad uncomfortable with. "So, is there a last name to that first one?" he asked while his charming smile turned to a rather jovial smirk as he hoped to get the young lady's full name, in which he might learn a bit more about her just through that.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's Kent." She stated with that same sweet smile on her face and reflecting in her eyes. Yup, still as smooth and charming as he is as a grown adult. God, Clark, if you only knew what this guy is going to be like when you've become the world's greatest hero.

After hearing Kara's answer, Clark looked at her with a rather startled expression on his face as he hadn't be expecting that at all. Lex too seemed a tad surprised by this and looked between the blonde and the brunette standing side by side before him. Before Lex could catch it in time, Clark had covered up his own personal confusion as to why Kara had named herself a Kent and watched her from the corner of his eye as she just seemed to be playing it way too cool. What the heck made her come up with that? Well, no duh. She wouldn't be going around and using the last name of Zor-El since that would cause trouble in every which way possible.

"Kent?" Lex looked at Kara with a rather amused look on his face. Something didn't seem right in the fact that the two of them could be brother and sister as Lex knew that Clark was an only child and that no one in his family was that blonde. Even Jonathan Kent wasn't that fair haired as Kara was.

Kara nodded to Lex in the assurance that she was a Kent. "Yeah. I'm Clark's cousin from his dad's side. I came down from Metropolis to visit for a while." She explained while looking over at Clark during the last part of her sentence and gave him a hidden wink with her left eye, cluing Clark in to play along with her before returning her attention back to Lex.

Satisfied with her answer as it did seem to fit together, and that Lex didn't really know anything about Jonathan Kent's side of the family, he gave Kara nod of his head and a bigger smile. "Well it's nice to meet you Kara Kent. I had no idea that Clark had such a beautiful cousin hidden from me." Lex turned his attention over to Clark who was at the moment still looking at Kara but caught that Lex was looking at him now. "And here I thought we were friends." He joked while taking the rolled up newspaper he had in hand and smacking Clark in a friendly way on his arm.

"Oh well, Kara and I haven't seen each other in a while so I guess it just must have slipped my mind." Clark replied while he was starting to get the hang of the cover story Kara had laid out for him to follow.

Lex laughed at this as it seemed just like Clark to forget about a cousin he hadn't seen in a while. Before Lex was able to make a reply to what Clark had said or talk with Kara further, his cell phone rang inside his coat pocket. Giving the two Kent teens an apologetic look he pulled his phone out and answered it on the third ring. After a few short words with who ever was on the other line, Lex hung up and then looked at the cousins with another apologetic look mixed with a sort of annoyance that he tried to keep hidden from them. "I need to get back to the mansion." He stated bluntly to the two of them and then turned his attention on Kara. "It was nice meeting you Kara. Maybe if the two of you aren't too busy later this afternoon, I would like to have you over for lunch."

Kara and Clark exchanged looks with one another before Clark answered for the both of them with a – "Yeah, sure."

"Good. Come by at around say, noon." Lex stated while his gaze stayed fixed on Kara, who was staring back with a passive expression and a glint of something in her eyes he couldn't read just yet. "I'll see you two later." He waved to them while heading towards the door and taking his leave finally.

After Lex left the Talon the two teens just stood there staring after him even long after he had sped off in his silver Porsche. They were snapped to attention when the waitress behind the counter called out Clark's name with his two drink orders ready to be claimed. Kara stayed where she was while Clark turned back around and grabbed the orders from the waitress and thanked her before turning back to Kara and handing her a large paper cup with steam coming through the drink hole on the lid. "So, that was an interesting cover up you used with Lex." Clark commented as he led the way towards an open couch, well love seat as it was called since it could seat two people comfortably.

Kara felt slightly nervous as she didn't think the real explanation behind why she had chosen that certain cover for her wasn't a wise idea to speak about until she confronted John and Wally about it later. "Uh yeah. Well I figured that it might seem believable." She replied while sitting down next to Clark on the couch and took a drink of her White Chocolate Latte.

"I guess it was believable. Lex usually would have pressed the subject even further, but I think he actually believes that we're cousins." Clark pointed out while leaning against the couch arm so he could look at Kara in more comfortable position for his head and neck. "Still, how did you come up with that so quickly?"

Shrugging at the question Kara tried her best to maintain a somewhat innocent exposure for herself without having to expose more than need be to Clark. "Eh, I've done it once or twice before." She lied while taking another drink from her latte. "This is pretty good." Kara stated while looking over at Clark in an attempt to change the subject without being found out as she did it.

Clark smiled at this. "I'm glad to hear it." He stated while taking another drink from his latte and then decided to continue on with a different conversation as it appeared Kara wanted to avoid the whole 'cousin' cover up story for the time. "I hope you don't mind the fact that I told Lex we would be there at the mansion for lunch."

Kara shook her blonde head, her hair having been pulled back into half bun with an elastic hair tie that Martha had given her before leaving the house. "No, it's fine. Just from talking to him I could tell he wasn't going to take 'No' for an answer from us." She answered with a small half hearted smile that at least showed she was somewhat okay with the whole lunch thing. That statement had Clark trying to keep a laugh down to a minimum and Kara found some humor in it. You have no idea how persuasive that man really can be. Kara thought bitterly to herself while keeping up the happy front outside for Clark to see.

"Yeah, that's Lex." Clark agreed before taking another sip of his drink. "One way or another he would have gotten us to agree and come anyways."

"Oh I see, you just decided not to beat the bush to death, so to speak." Kara mused as she was now starting to poke fun at him in good humor as an impish smile started to grow across her face at the same time.

Both teens laughed in amusement of their conversation, but where interrupted at the front door to the Talon opened a couple of more high school teens walked in together. Clark looked over and recognized who it was that had just walked in as his eyes lit up and caught Kara's attention to bring it over into the same direction he was staring in. The two teens who had walked in were a boy and a girl, and they were both now headed over towards Clark and Kara's direction after the girl spotted them and informed her friend beside her. Even before they had crossed the room entirely, Kara could already tell that the girl was one of those people who seemed to always have a smile on her face and a very positive attitude as well as a rather hyper personality. At least that was her take on the short haired blonde. The boy on the other hand, kind of reminded Kara of a teenaged Green Lantern. Just without the rough personality and stern look.

"Hey Clark!" the blonde greeted while both she and the boy came to a halt just before the couch that her friend and unknown female occupied. "Who's your new friend?" she asked with a pleasant smile on her face, although Kara could have sworn she had seen a flame of some other emotion flicker for a moment in her eyes.

"Guys, this is my cousin Kara." Clark stated while introducing her with same cover story they had told Lex. It only made sense to keep it up. If Kara had been introduced in some other way to his two friends, then somehow word would get back to Lex and things would get a bit hairy to say the least. "She's visiting from Metropolis for a while. Kara, these are my friends Chloe and Pete. We go to school together."

Kara smiled up at the two and held out a hand to them in show of friendly gesture. "It's nice to meet you both." She greeted while shaking hands first with Chloe, who seemed to have instantly lost whatever it was she had seen in her eyes, and then with Pete. Both took up a seat in the now free couch that sat at an angle facing the one the 'cousins' sat in together.

"So Clark Kent has a cousin." Chloe mused with a mischievous grin on her face as she looked between the two and noticed the rather odd resemblance in both of them that didn't seem to make sense for the moment to her. I know Clark was adopted. But why do they both look like they really are related to one another. I can see it in the face and the eyes. It's just weird, because it's almost like I see a blonde female version of Clark right there before me. "What other family members don't we know of?" she teased while keeping her one thousand and one questionnaire to herself for the time being.

Clark smiled nervously at Chloe's remark and avoided having to answer the question by taking a drink from his latte and hoped that Kara could do something to distract his friend. However, it wasn't Kara who spoke up first. "Geez, Chloe, you're acting like it's some star sighting." Pete stated while sitting back in his chair and grinning at his friend seated a space from him on the couch. "I mean, it's only Clark's cousin."

"I know, but I've never heard of a cousin before. So I'm just curious as to where Clark has been hiding her for the past sixteen, seventeen years from us all here in Smallville." Chloe grinned over at Kara. She wasn't trying to be rude in any way shape or form, it was just that her reporter's instinct had her sometimes sounding that way, and Chloe knew it.

Kara realized that Chloe was, in a way, apologizing for sounding so nosey just after meeting her and Kara nodded at her with an assuring smile that there weren't any problems between them. After all, super heroes needed to be understanding and forgiving. As quoted by my great cousin so many times. She laughed mentally so as not to receive odd stares from the others and have to explain herself so she didn't look like a total weird-o to them. "Oh well, I've been hiding out in Metropolis." Kara answered as she then took a drink from her cooling latte.

"If you don't mind me asking, what side of the Kent family are you related to?" Chloe asked while leaning forward and propping her elbow up on her knee and resting her chin within her hand. Her gaze was fixated upon Kara as she was trying to figure it out before the girl had a chance to answer.

"I'm Jonathan's niece." She answered which caught Chloe a little off guard. "That's where the blue eyes come from." Kara added while gesturing to the pair of royal blue orbs that sat within her face under long side sweeping bangs of corn silk blonde.

Pete nodded to this as he understood now the origin of this Kent family member and looked over to Chloe with a grin on his face. "Satisfied?" he asked knowing she wasn't in the least bit done with asking the girl a million more questions down to what her favorite color was and breed of dog.

Meeting Pete's gaze, Chloe pouted while sitting up. "And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked. "Can I help it if my reporter instinct kicks in every time someone interesting pops up in Smallville?" she asked while looking over at Clark for support. All she received was a shrug from him as he avoided answering this question as well in taking a drink from his latte and finishing it off finally.

"Now that's the first time someone has called me interesting." Kara stated while looking over at Clark as she was realizing his little scheme to avoid answering his friend. "At least out right." She added in as her mind clicked back to meeting Lex at the door.

Chloe's head snapped back to Kara as she had been spurred to pursue the small comment. "What do you mean by that?" she asked while scouching to the near edge of the couch so she could be at a better hearing range to catch Kara's answer.

This time Clark decided to step in and save Kara from any more questions. "I introduced Kara to Lex when we got here, and he invited us to the mansion for lunch this afternoon." He answered and gave Chloe a look that said 'enough questions'.

At the mention of Lex's name, Pete seemed to automatically tense up and Kara caught it out of the corner of her eye. I take it that Pete doesn't like Lex that much. I don't really blame him. Only, at this point in his life Lex actually seems like a decent person rather than an evil man bent on someday taking over the world and killing of my cousin. I wonder what happened to change him. "Should I be worried Pete?" Kara asked bringing both Clark and Chloe to look over at him with questioning looks written across their faces.

"Not really sense you have Clark with you. But I would suggest that you don't get to comfortable around him." Pete stated as casually as possible while glancing over at Clark, who just sighed and sat back in his seat on the couch. Somehow the fact that Clark reacted this way caused Pete to look a bit upset before shaking his head and changing the subject. "So Clark, what did your parents think about that whole incident with those super powered people yesterday?" Pete asked in a complete change of attitude as he seemed just as excited as a little kid over a brand new toy.

"Yeah that's right. You were both almost hit by a flying car." Chloe stated as she seemed to be smacking herself in the forehead mentally at completely forgetting the most odd event to occur yet in Smallville aside from the other oddities that occurred like almost regularly. "Pete said there was girl there who lifted a car up and tossed it like a toy, and then flew away afterwards." Chloe recounted the story she had heard and then looked over at Kara with a twinkle in her eyes. "Did you hear about that Kara?" she asked in the same excited way as Pete was acting.

Kara had been totally shocked when Pete started talking about what she had done the other day, as of course he didn't know it was her, and was now trying to hide both that and the nervousness running through her from Chloe. "Uh, yeah. Clark told me about it. Weird." Kara commented in a forced way of nonchalant acting that seemed to pass as Chloe nodded in agreement before jumping into the story again. As she was free from Chloe's sights, Kara exhaled and took another few sips of her now lukewarm latte.

"So, do you think these people are like vigilanties?" Chloe asked of all three people sitting around with her.

Pete shook his head. "No way. If they were vigilanties then they'd be like that dude in Gotham City I've been hearing about. They were more like…super heroes than anything else." Pete stated as he was starting to grow even more excited. "That one guy in green and black was really cool, I mean he could fly too like that girl. I wonder what name he goes by." At this Pete seemed to stare off into space as he was reminiscing about the previous day's events.

"Green Lantern."

All eyes were shot right upon Kara as she was taking another drink from her cup and hadn't realized what she had just said out loud. Clark on the other hand seemed to be near panic on the inside as it reflected in his eyes but was covered up as his face only showed shock like both Chloe and Pete. Kara looked up from what she had been occupied with and looked from each gawking face about her, slightly confused as to why they were looking at her like that. "What?"

"You just said Green Lantern." Chloe restated what she had heard Kara say in response to Pete's question. "Like you knew his name or something." A slender brow was raised in amusement to this as Chloe starting see that Kara knew more than she let on about what happened yesterday.

Realizing that she had let slip John's hero alias and no else knew of the black hero's name, Kara smacked herself mentally and quickly tried to come up with an answer while hoping to do so fast so that Chloe wouldn't get any further ideas. "Uh well, I heard someone saying the name when Clark and I arrived here…at the Talon…outside." Kara answered in attempt to save herself. Which for the most part seemed to work as Chloe just nodded to this and gave a suspicious – "uh-hu".

An unsettling silence fell upon the group and Clark took this as the possible cue for him and Kara to leave. Looking at his watch, Clark made the quick announcement. "Oh, hey, look at the time. We better head out so we were not late for lunch." Clark stated while standing up rather quickly.

Kara's brow furrowed in confusion as she looked up at Clark, who in turn gave her a look that her realizing what he was hinting at. Her eyes widen as she finally got what he was implying and then looked over at Pete and Chloe quickly before standing up as well. "Oh right." She stated in agreement with Clark.

"Aw, you guys have to leave now?" Chloe asked, as she apparently had seen or understood why Clark had jumped to his feet so quickly and was now urging Kara to do the same before anything else was pressed by the novice reporter in training. "It's only like…" Chloe looked at her own watch strapped to her wrist and then back up at the cousins. "Eleven-fifteen. Don't people usually eat lunch at like noon or does Lex dine earlier than that?" she joked half-heartedly.

"Actually, Lex wanted us to come over at noon but I have to run a few errands for my mom while I'm in town." Clark explained, as it was somewhat true, only he just had to drop off a few things at the post office and that was it.

Chloe and Pete both stood up to politely say good-bye to their friend and his cousin, as it would have been rude to remain seated while doing so. "It was nice meeting you Kara." Pete stated as he shook hands with her, noting this time that for such a lean looking girl her hand shake was rather firm. "How long are you staying in Smallville?" he asked after their hand shake ended.

I have no idea. "For a while. I haven't seen Clark and my aunt and uncle in a long time." Kara answered while looking to Chloe who was beaming at her. "Chloe, it was a pleasure to meet you." She grinned while shaking hands with the fellow blonde.

"Yeah, same here. I hope we can talk again sometime while you're visiting." Chloe stated as she was disappointed in the fact that the two of them were taking off right when she had just met the blonde Kent.

"Yeah, sure." Kara still grinned at Chloe as the peppy blonde was starting to grow on her. I just hope I can avoid any other questions that might get me in trouble with John later. That's the last thing I need. Having a Green Lantern mad at me and keeping me under supervision until we find Sinestro and a way home. Mentally cringing at this, Kara just continued to keep her grin up.

"I'll see you guys later." Clark stated to Chloe and Pete while now ushering his 'cousin' towards the door while waving back at his friends so he didn't seem that rude to them in the manner he was leaving. As they were now out of ear-shot and coming closer to the front door of the Talon, Clark exhaled in relief. "Man, Chloe gets way to close in finding out the truth sometimes."

Kara looked back at Clark as she was now leading the way to the door since he had pushed her before him to start their take of leave. "Sometimes? I think that's an understatement Clark." She pointed out while pushing the Talon door open to leave the coffee house and step out on to the sidewalk. "She kind of reminds me of someone I know." Kara muttered under her breath to herself while tossing her empty latte cup into a near by trash can.

Clark just nodded in agreement to what she said while also tossing in his empty cup as well as they were headed for his truck. Making a mental note, Clark needed to remember that when they got back to the farm later they would need to let his parents, John, and Wally know about the cover story they were going to be using from here on out concerning Kara since she had come to meet most of Clark's friends. Lana Lang was the only person who Clark had yet to introduce Kara to, and seeing as how she wasn't at the Talon that morning it was more than likely he would have to introduce her later some other time.