HER eyes were swollen and teary. Her hair was long, uncombed, and disheveled and she had obviously been crying much of the day.
Clark stood up, concerned. "Lana, are you o.k.?"
She forced a smile. "Not really. I…."
Clark was worried. Lana rarely raised force alarm. He walked up to Lana and put his hands on her shoulders, "If there's something you want me to do," he said, "I'll do it. Please tell me what it is. I'm here for you."
"Yes, I know." Lana looked down at the table, seeing all the books strewn all over the place. Then she looked back up. "Listen, if you're doing something, I really didn't mean to intrude."
"Lana, you're not intruding. Just, please, feel comfortable."
"Thanks, Clark." She dropped in to a sofa, elbows on knees, hands covering her eyes.
"Would you like a glass of water?" He asked.
"Yeah. Ummm, I would really appreciate that."
"Alright." He smiled.
"Thank you."
Clark walked slowly out of the loft, thinking about what had just happened. What could have happened to Lana to have caused her so much grief. It probably had to do with Jason, Clark concluded. He nodded. Yeah, Jason's condition. He entered the kitchen and got a pitcher of water out of the fridge. Clark got two glasses and headed back to the loft. He entered. Lana's face was still in her hands.
Clark poured them both glasses. "Here you go." He said, handing it out to Lana.
"Thanks." She said in a hoarse voice.
They sat there as she sipped the water.
"You must be wondering what's wrong with me." Lana said.
"It has crossed my mind." Clark said.
"It's just…. Jason.
"What's wrong with Jason?" Clark stood up a little alarmed.
"Apart form the fact that he's in critical condition?"
"Yeah." Clark blushed.
"I don't know how I feel about him anymore, Clark?"
"What do you mean, Lana."
"Well, since we went to China, Jason's been hiding so much from me. You know?"
"I know how you feel."
"You should, Clark." She said with a bitter tone.
"What are you talking about?" He asked.
"C'mon, Clark." She said, "You're like…..the king of keeping secrets."
Clark shook his head, a little uncomfortable.
Lana shook her head, "I'm sorry."
"No, no, you're right." Clark said.
"I didn't have a right, Clark. I'm sorry."
He nodded.
"You know, in Paris, everything was so great between us. It was like, I could tell him anything, and he could tell me anything. We were so close." Lana noticed Clark looked a little bit uncomfortable. "Are you o.k., Clark?"
"Yeah," he said dryly, "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know, why wouldn't you be?"
He smiled awkwardly. "How d you know Jason is hiding something from you?"
"I don't know, I just have this...like, gut feeling."
"So you….just know."
"Something like that."
"That's….very interesting, Lana."
"You think I'm nuts, don't you?"
"You're not regularly one to seem insecure."
"You have no idea." She said.
"So…this has been going on since China."
She nodded.
"So….you think it has to do with the stones?"
"That's just it….. I know it has to do with the stones."
"Why?"
"Because, I never found it. I don't have it, you don't have it, and Lex doesn't have it."
"But that doesn't mean Jason has it."
Lana stood up, frustrated. "I know, I know."
"It's not that I don't believe you, Lana."
"It's o.k., Clark. I wouldn't believe it if I were you either."
"That's just it, Lana. I'm not disproving you."
"You're just skeptical."
"No, Lana. Please, just listen to me."
"Go ahead."
"We can't just, bring these allegations up against Jason. I mean….look at his condition. We don't want him hurt."
"Yeah. I know. Thanks for listening, Clark."
He nodded, looking straight at her with loving eyes. He's got such beautiful eyes, she thought again. A girl could get lost in them.
MIAMI, FLORIDA
They hadn't known where to go. They had known they couldn't stay at Chloe's house for fear of another team coming after them. Bart had simply super sped her to Miami. They had rented a cheap hotel room. Chloe wanted to call her father before he got home.
He picked up on the 3rd ring. "Hello, Gabe Sullivan."
Chloe's hands shook on her cell phone. "Umm, hi, Dad."
"Oh, Chloe, what's wrong?" He asked, noticing her shaky tone.
"I…Dad, someone tried to kill me."
"This is really not the time."
Chloe began to sob. "No, Dad. I'm not joking. Please."
Gabe started to notice her scared tone. "You're serious?"
"Yeah." Chloe said, barely audible.
Gabe yelled, "Where tha hell are you?"
"Dad, I'll ummm, explain later."
"No! You'll explain to me now why somebody was trying to kill you!"
"Dad, please calm down."
"Are you serious? Somebody tried to kill my little girl and you're telling me to calm down! What's going on in that little head of yours?"
"Dad, please, I'm fine."
"Where are you?"
"Dad, I'm in…..Florida."
"What, how tha hell did you get to Florida?"
"I can't explain it right now?"
"Jesus Christ, Chloe! You almost got killed today."
"Daddy, I swear, I'm fine."
"How are you fine? You just got shot at!"
"Daddy, I swear, please, I don't have time to explain."
"You better make time, then."
"Dad, they tried to kill me in the house."
"They what? They came after by little girl in my goddamned house?"
"Yeah, Dad. The house, it's wrecked. I'm really sorry. It was all my fault-''
"I don't care about the house, Chloe. Are you hurt?"
"No, Dad," she lied, "Not at all."
"Good, Tell me where you are. I'm coming for you, Chloe."
"No, Dad. I'm sorry. I can't."
"Chloe Sullivan, you tell me where you are right now or else, I'll-''
"I'm sorry, dad, I love you." And with that, Chloe hung up. She leaned against the wall breathing hard.
"That wasn't easy for you." Bart observed.
"No," Chloe breathed out, "It wasn't."
Bart shook his head and continued watching the Skateboarding competition that was going on the broke down TV.
"So," Chloe said, "What happened?"
"Where?" Bart asked, still absorbed in the TV.
"How'd you get your…."
"Abilities?" Bart finished, a little amused."
Chloe gulped, "Yeah."
"All right, well, a couple of years ago there was, like, this accident, right? There was this huge flash of light, and my body went into overdrive."
"Yeah? So….that channeled the speed in to you?"
Bart appeared behind her. "Affirmative."
She jumped back and yelped. Then she smoothed over he clothes, embarrassed. "That's something you really need to keep on wraps."
Bart nodded, "I know. If I had, I really wouldn't be in this mess."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean….they saw me super speeding. And they wanted to do some kind of test on me."
"Did they kidnap you?"
"No." Bart sighed unhappily.
"Threaten you?"
"No."
Chloe sat down puzzled.
"What did they do then?" She asked.
"They offered me money." Bart said, a little ashamed.
"So…you just like……sold yourself."
"Not something I'm proud of." Bart said.
"That wasn't very smart." Chloe said.
"I know that now." Bart said.
Chloe started to pace. "So, how fast exactly can you go?" She pulled a blanket around her shoulders. He just smirked.
"What?" She asked.
He pointed. She looked down. The blanket was gone.
Chloe stood up, scared. "But… I was looking at you. You were like….right there."
"I'm faster than the eye can see, Chloe." Bart stated matter of factly.
"The speed of sound?"
"Obviously."
"Wow." Chloe said, backing up. "Back in the alley, why didn't you just run when that guy came after you."
"At that particular moment, I didn't really have my powers." Bart said.
"What do you mean?" Chloe asked.
"They took something out of my blood tissues. My flesh."
"How grisly." Chloe winced.
"Yeah." Bart said.
"So how exactly did you get your….abilities back?"
"Well…I….thought about you."
Chloe raised an eyebrow, "No, seriously, Junior."
"That's the honest truth."
"So….all you had to do was think about me and you could just…?"
"Run?"
"Running? That's quite an understatement."
"I'm flattered, Junior."
"You should be."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "You and that ego, Junior."
"I prefer to call it, Bartitude."
"Very original."
"I know."
"So," She began, "Can you go faster than Clark?"
"What are you talking about?" Bart drew back, a little worried now.
"C'mon, Bart. Don't waste both our times, I know Clark's secret."
"What secret?" Bart asked.
"That he's faster than a speeding bullet. What do you think?"
Bart gulped. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Save it, Junior," She said, "I saw catch a freaking car."
Bart relaxed. There was no point in this anymore. "So you do know his secret."
"That's what I've been saying, Junior."
"Would you please stop calling me that?"
"Why, I think it's cute."
"Cute? The Bart man isn't cute."
Chloe playfully pinched his cheeks. He playfully slapped her hands away.
"So….what's the answer."
"The answer to what?" Bart asked.
"Well….Can you go faster than Clark?"
Bart nodded.
Chloe smiled, "Just as I thought."
Bart grabbed a nearby Pepsi and began to sip it slowly. "How long have you known?"
"Well….one of his girlfriends showed me?"
Bart almost spit out his drink. "Lana knows?"
"Nah, it was…." Chloe stuttered, "A friend."
"Who?"
"A friend."
Bart nodded, taking a clue. They silently watched the TV for a few moments.
"So….what do we do now?" Chloe asked, unsure of herself for once.
"I don't know, but I wish that I had never been so stupid."
"Come on, Bart, you can't blame yourself."
"How can you say that? I could have gotten you killed."
"But you didn't did you?"
"No, but I could have."
"Why are you being so hard on yourself?" She asked.
"Clark was right," He said, "I should really start taking responsibility for my actions."
"Everybody makes mistakes, Bart. You just need to learn from them."
Bart sighed and was silent. He turned to Chloe, "Should we call Clark?"
"Maybe later on. I have quite a few questions I want to ask."
"Obviously," He teased. "It's Chloe Sullivan we're talking about."
"You know," she said teasingly, "You may be faster than the speed of light, but I can still get a punch in once in a while."
"Try away, Sullivan." She yelped again when she realized he had appeared behind her. She stumbled back just in time to fall in to his arms. She pushed off playfully. "You want some of this Allen?" She said.
"Bring it on, slow poke," He sneered jokingly.
She dove at him and he let her tackle him on to the bed. She lay on top of him for a moment, savoring the feeling of having him on her. She tipped her head forward for a moment and brushed her lips with his. He answered by sticking his tongue through her lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she rubbed her tongue against his teeth. He rolled over so he was on top of her. He tipped his head forward and licked her lips softly. Chloe was lost in ecstacy. Suddenly, she realized where she was. She managed to push him off her. He rolled off and on to the floor.
"Ummm, I'm sorry." Chloe said, straightening her clothes, "But we should really call Clark." They stood up awkwardly. She turned to him. "Listen, Bart, It's not really necessary that Clark knows that I know his secret o.k.?"
He nodded awkwardly. She took out her cell phone. Her heart thudded with fear. She faced her greatest fear ever. That She, Chloe Sullivan, was falling in love again.