Chapter Thirty-Five - Home Truths
Chloe Sullivan couldn't believe The Doctor would just let somebody of Clark's powers loose on 1961 Smallville, especially when he was accompanied by a pair of goth psychopaths with a rock that could control him. "Well, if you're not going to do anything about it," she threatened, "then I am. Somebody's got to look after Clark's best interests."
"There's no need, Chloe," said Clark, entering the Tardis as if on cue.
"You're back," exclaimed Chloe, pleased to see that Clark had decided to do the sensible thing after all.
"Yes, but just to say goodbye," said Clark.
"Goodbye?" said a crestfallen Chloe.
Clark averted his gaze from Chloe as he said what he had to say. "I'm going back to Krypton, going to change the future. Just imagine it - a Smallville without green rocks."
Chloe imagined it. "A Smallville without you."
"That's okay. Nobody will remember I was even there. Time will change things."
"It won't change me," said Chloe, as tears filled her eyes. "I'll always remember you."
"I'll always remember you, Chloe," said Clark, looking into her eyes. "You've been … a really good friend."
"You can't go," said Chloe, worried for her friend's safety. "Not with those two. You can't trust them."
"But I just want to get home, Chloe. That's all they want to do too."
"But they've got that kryptonite, Clark. They'll betray you."
"They need that kryptonite, Chloe," reasoned Clark. "What if Ultra Woman pays a return visit?"
"What if Zod and Ursa killed Lana?" asked Chloe, and then, when she saw the hurt look on Clark's face, wished she hadn't.
"How can you say that? Zod almost died protecting Lana."
"But you listened to Ursa's speech. You must know what she's like. Face it, she almost killed you."
"Yes, but she didn't," explained Clark patiently. "Chloe, they're Kryptonians just like me and just like me they know that they don't belong here."
"You belong," said Chloe.
"No, I've tried to belong here, and I've wished with all my heart that I could, but I'll always be an outsider."
"Don't leave," pleaded Chloe.
Lex put a hand on Chloe's shoulder. "Please, Chloe…"
"Take me with you," begged Chloe, ignoring Lex.
"No," said Clark, tears once again filling his eyes. "I know what it's like to be the sole alien on a planet you don't belong on. I can't put you through that, Chloe."
"Here, take this," said Lex, fishing in his pocket for something and pulling out a medallion. "So you can remember."
Clark was stunned as he took the medallion from Lex and looked at it. It was one that he'd seen before. "That medallion - the one Jor-El wore in 1961..."
Lex, hiding his surprise at this news, started to explain about the medallion. "This is an invention from the future, Clark, from LexCorp. It's the mem-O-random - a device for recording your memories, enhancing them, and then playing them back for the user later when you're trying to recall them."
"But its design," said a stunned Clark. "It's Kryptonian. It can't be from LexCorp."
"But it is," replied Lex. "With the popularity of Superman, Kryptonian chic is the latest fashion trend. The design of this is just an example."
"But when I touched it originally, there was a flash of images I saw."
"That would be the index. If you'd have thought about the images suitably hard then it would have played back the relevant section, enhanced to match your memories. As it was, it had to wait for some suitable stimulus to pass through your mind and trigger its search engine."
"So that Jor-El I saw in the medallion … it was me … here … now," said a stunned Clark.
Lex nodded. It certainly looked like that was the case. "You're wearing the same outfit you saw your father wear," he stated, hoping that he was right.
Clark nodded. "Yeah," he said, with a laugh. "I thought it would be a cool surprise for him if I was dressed the same."
Chloe's face broke into a half-smile. "So I guess that means you can't see your father and prevent Krypton exploding. I guess it changes everything."
"It changes nothing," said Clark, suddenly with a new gravitas in his voice as he put on the medallion. "Krypton's not exploded yet and those caves could provide the route home. With Zod and Ursa's help I might just manage it."
"I can't believe you're trusting Mickey and Mallory to help you get back to Krypton," said Chloe in despair.
"That's hardly a fair comparison," responded Clark. "Sure they both wear black but …"
"And I think you'll find she's called Minnie," added Lex, suddenly realizing that he'd been impersonating Clark for far too long.
"Yeah, that's right," nodded Clark appreciatively. "By the way, older self. You take good care of Chloe when I'm gone."
"I'll take care of her, Clark," replied Lex with a smile, as Clark sped away from in front of them and out of the Tardis. As Chloe looked forlornly at the place Clark had been standing, Lex pulled her towards him. "Don't worry, Chloe. I'll be back soon."
"Great, now that he's out of the way, we can get moving," said The Doctor, banging his hand on the Tardis' console. As the telltale hum of the Tardis filled the air, Rose asked "Where are we going this time, Jimmy?"
"It was chaos," recalled Jimmy. "Monsters all over the place."
"Brilliant!" exclaimed The Doctor, as the Tardis began its rematerialization. "And about time too, I've been waiting ages for a monster…"
And then The Doctor walked over and opened the Tardis door.
"And now tons of them come along at once," added Rose, looking at the many green reptilian sharp-teethed creatures gathered outside.
"I'm sorry," said Lana to Dexter McCallum and the Potters. "I never planned to do it. But I looked at Laura there, with her whole life ahead of her, and I just had to tell her the truth."
She looked at the faces around her, a mixture of anger and sorrow and disappointment. Somehow, it seemed Dexter knew she was really Lana. She wondered if he'd told her grandparents who she really was as well.
"We heard you call her Lana," said her grandmother accusingly.
"Call her what?" asked Lana, not believing that the whole of 1961 had managed to figure out her secret.
"Don't play the innocent, Louise," continued her grandmother. "You called our Laura Lana. She's not called Lana any more, and the sooner you realize that the better."
"Her name's Lana?" asked a confused Lana.
"Not any more," said her grandmother angrily. "She's called Laura now."
"I'm sorry," said Dexter. "I'll take her home."
As the confused Lana was ushered out of the Potters home, Dexter turned to her. "I know it's hard. You were young when you had Lana and you didn't want to be tied down with a family. I realize that your decision to give her to your sister to raise might not have been your best idea in retrospect, but Laura's happy there. It's too late to suddenly change your mind now."
"I, Louise, am Laura's mother," said Lana, struggling to believe what she was hearing.
Dexter looked at Lana with dismay. "That's right, but you've given her up now. Glad to see you've stopped calling her Lana now, anyway… Maybe we should just go home. Get an early night."
"No, that's not such a good idea," replied a panicked Lana. "Maybe we could take in a movie."
And so, half an hour later, they found themselves sitting in the back row of The Talon watching Splendor In The Grass. Having said that, Lana's mind wasn't particularly on the film, and it was actively trying to ignore Dexter's arm wrapped around her shoulders. No, Lana's mind was still coming to terms with the news that Louise was actually her grandmother. No wonder they looked so much alike. Now, thanks to Lana, her grandmother was dead and her grandfather would soon want to sleep with her. Lana was used to her life being a tragedy, but, up until now, it had never been a Greek one.
Suddenly Lana Lang remembered The Doctor's words on their arrival in 1961 about not becoming their own grandparents. Well, the least she could do now was to play out the cards destiny had dealt her - she owed the timeline that much. She turned her mind back to the movie, determined to follow the script for the final reels of her life. Of course she knew this life she was leading wouldn't have made a good movie - for one thing, she could see the ending coming a mile off, and for another, Lana much preferred happy endings.
