Clark got into the car, muttering to himself. Lois was being more than pigheaded, she was being irrational. She cared about her father more than she wanted to admit, and she was scared. Hell, Clark was scared. He had all but promised Lois, and himself, that he would share his secret. He was confident that she would be able to handle it. But his old fears and doubts lingered, made more intense by his emerging feelings. Clark turned the key to start the engine. His super-hearing picked up a faint beep, coming from under the car. His super speed reactions slowed time down. He looked down at the floorboards on the passenger side. The metal and plastic was beginning to deform and burn, metal splitting from the force of an explosion beginning. He looked back at Lois. Almost without thinking, he launched himself up through the roof as the car disintegrated in fire.

Lois ran to the burning shell, dimly aware that the annoying manager was following her. She got thirty feet away and could get no closer, due to the intense heat. She squinted through the tears streaming freely, trying to see any sign of Clark. Lois wept. He was gone. A grief and crushing realization of loss overwhelmed her, and she fell to her knees, screaming out her heartbreak. The annoying manager grabbed her, babbling at her to get back. She stood, fully intending to knock the bastard senseless. That is when she saw the two men approach. They were unremarkable, ordinary men. Except for the silenced pistols they pulled out of shoulder holsters. She gasped as they shot the manager in the back of the head.

"Come with us, Miss Lane. We do not wish to hurt you." said one of them.

Lois put her hands up and let the men approach. One lowered his weapon, the other put his away and produced plastic zip ties to bind her hands. When they got close enough, Lois struck. She kicked the one with the gun in the knee then drove her elbow into his temple. She spun to the second, punching him in the nose. Lois ran down the street as the men got up and gave chase.

Lucy was finally enjoying her tea. She was on her third cup when a knock sounded at the door. Lucy got up and checked the peephole. She saw a Major in dress green uniform standing outside. She checked his nametag. Preston. Sighing with relief, she opened the door. "Major Preston, thank God!"

"Lucy, hello" said Major Preston. "Are you okay?" he asked, stepping into the room.

"Yes" Lucy took a sip of tea. "Lois and Clark went out for a minute, but they should be back soon."

Major Preston nodded. Lucy turned around, "I have some more tea, if you want some."

Major Preston's hand went to the small of his back, under his uniform coat. With Lucy's back turned, he brought out a small black stun gun. He swiftly moved behind Lucy, jamming it into her back. "I'm sorry, kid. It's nothing personal" he said as he activated the stun gun. Fifty-thousand volts surged through Lucy, dropping her to the floor. The cup fell out of her hand, breaking and sending tea over the carpet.

Clark was on the roof of a nearby building, looking in the street for Lois. He couldn't see her anywhere. Clark began to panic. Where was she. He saw the manager lying in the street, with blood and gore coming out of the back of his head. Clark forced himself to take deep breaths, calming his racing heart. Heart. Of course. Clark had listened to Lois' heart for hours on the plane ride. He listened, focusing his hearing. He heard everything all at once, slowly blocking out sounds, until he heard the one thing that he wanted to hear. Lois' heartbeat was fast. He could hear her breathing, and it was labored. She was running, and she was close. Clark focused his vision this time, seeing her running through a nearby building, coming onto the roof. Two men with guns were close behind. Clark vaulted into the air.

Lois ran, with her pursuers close behind. She ran with an animal fear, like what a deer feels when the wolf is chasing it. Clark was gone, no one could help her. She had never been so afraid. She blindly ran up stairs, reaching the roof. The door to the roof banged open behind her, and her two attackers emerged onto the roof.

"Nowhere to go, Miss Lane" said one. He paused, his phone ringing. Lois backed up to the low wall edging the roof, trapped. The man answered his phone as they kept their weapons trained on her. "Yes? I see. We will take care of it." He closed his phone and looked at Lois with an evil glance. "Change of plans. We only need one of you." Lois stared at the men as they opened fire.

Lois knew she should be dead. Something impossible had happened. A man appeared between her and the assassin's bullets, hitting the roof so hard and fast he cracked the surface. He was tall, well built with unruly dark hair. The silenced shots were drowned out by the sound of bullets striking him and bouncing off! The man became a blur and the assassins flew back, unconscious. The man turned, and Lois saw what her brain was unable to process. Clark's eyes looked at her, full of concern. "Are you alright?"

Lois shook uncontrollably. She was hyperventilating. Her knees were getting weak and she started to collapse. Clark became a blur again and was holding her tight. "Lois! Lois, calm down!"

"Calm down!" shouted Lois. "CALM DOWN! How can you tell me to calm down!" Lois began to cry. "Damn it, Clark! I saw you die! I thought you were gone forever. What the hell happened?"

Clark held her close. "Lois, its time for that talk I promised you."

Lois laughed bitterly, sobbing, "do you think?"

Clark released Lois and turned, hanging his head. Lois bit her lip. "Clark, look, just answer this…are you some kind of ghost?"

Clark laughed bitterly. "No, nothing so easily explained."

Lois approached Clark and laid a hand on his back. "Look, Clark, you can tell me. I just have to understand how all this is possible."

Clark sighed again and turned to face her. "Lois, I'm very different from humans."

Lois frowned. Clark had said 'from humans'. "What do you mean, 'from humans'?"

Clark looked down. "The first meteor shower that hit Smallville was designed to hide my ship."

Lois looked at Clark with wide eyes. "That would make you a…"

"Yeah, an alien."

Lois looked him up and down. "You seem, uh, human to me."

"Well, Kryptonian and human DNA are essentially the same. A few hundred thousand years ago, we were a lot like humans. We evolved."

Lois started to tremble again. "How many, whatever you called yourself, are there?"

Clark looked down, "Kryptonians, and I'm the last. Krypton was destroyed, a long time ago. My biological parents put me in an escape vehicle just after I was born. They sent me here to give me a chance at life."

Lois sat on the edge of the low wall circling the roof. "Wow. I guess this explains the mystery that is Clark Kent. But it still doesn't explain how you were able to survive the bomb, the bullets or how you can move so fast."

"Like I said, Kryptonians evolved. I'm like a big solar battery. I soak up the sun's energy and it gives me certain abilities" said Clark. "I wanted to tell you so many times, but I was afraid. Afraid that you would see me as a freak or be afraid of me." He hung his head.

Lois got up suddenly. She went to him and embraced him, burying her face in his chest. "Clark, please. I could never hate you or think that you are anything less than wonderful."

Clark had unshed tears in his eyes. "Thank you, Lois. You mean more to me than anything."

Lois blinked. "Huh?" she asked, looking up.

Clark smiled. "I'm falling for you, Lane. Why else would I follow you half way around the world on a crazy, half-baked mission?"

Lois was shocked at Clark's newfound confidence. There was no more fear or hesitancy in his eyes anymore. Clark went on, "at least you're safe. I can't understand why they didn't try to blow you up too. It would have been easier than chasing you all over town."

Lois frowned. "They were trying to kidnap me. That is, until one of them got a phone call. That's when you showed up."

"What did they say?" asked Clark.

"I dunno," said Lois. "Something about only needing one."

Clark started, "Lucy!"

Lois jumped, realization setting in. "We need to get back! The car!"

Clark scooped her into his arms. "We don't need a car" he said, rocketing into the sky.