She was tired, oh so tired. After over a week of watching him each and every day, 24/7, she desperately wished she could go home. Martha rubbed her eyes and sipped out of a cup of STARBUCK's coffee a kind nurse had been generous enough to bring her. She'd lost about 7 pounds since she'd been here. The food wasn't terrible, she just didn't feel like eating or anything.

"Martha?"

Martha turned towards the voice and smiled. It was Janet, one of the nearby patient's relatives who came every day to bring her sick grandson some home cooking. She really lived in New Jersey, but she'd been here since the boy had gotten in a car accident.

"Hey, Janet." Martha smiled weakly at the older woman.

Janet grimaced and stared at the bruises on Jonathon's face. "Is he doing o.k.? He looks a little worse since yesterday." Motherly concern was written all over her face. She was 62, but looked ten years younger. She was just a little shorter than Martha, with full blonde hair that reached past her neck. Her face was tanned and sweet, with piercing green eyes and she had a quite lean and slender figure for her age. They had met in the cafeteria only a couple of days before.

"He's doing just fine," Martha said, shrugging, "At least that's what the doctor said."

Janet studied her newfound friend. Martha seemed paler than yesterday, and she had obviously lost a lot of weight, taking the color out of her smile. "You're not looking very well."

Martha sighed. "I know, but I can't help worrying about Jonathon."

Janet put a supporting hand on her shoulder. "You want to go down for lunch? I hear they're having fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Not even a hospital can mess up a good old southern meal."

Martha smiled, now noticing how hungry she was. "Sure, why not?"

They walked down the stairs and headed for the cafeteria, talking about the weather outside. Martha hadn't set a foot outside of the hospital since Jonathon's injury and she just nodded most of the time.

The cafeteria was nearly empty so they bought their food in no time and sat down at their own little spot. Janet dug in, and Martha tasted the spicy chicken. It wasn't half bad, though she proudly acknowledged she could make much better.

"How's Brad doing?" She asked.

Janet grinned now, her face lighting up when she talked about her grandson. "He's doing just great. The doctor said he'll be out of here in a week or two. He'll have to use a wheel chair for a little while. After a month, he'll be using crutches. Then a month after that, he'll be walking again."

"That's great." Martha said truthfully. The kid was sweet and bright, talkative and they played scrabble whenever she went with Janet to his room.

"Yeah," Janet said, the smile fading. "But the doctor said he'll never be able to play football again."

Martha sighed. "I'm sorry, Janet."

Janet wiped her eyes. "I must seem so ungrateful."

Martha shook her head. "Not at all."

"Well, at least he'll be able to walk again."

"That may be more than I can say for Jonathon." Martha muttered.

Janet grimaced. "Don't say that, Martha, Jonathon will be alright."

"I sure hope so," She sighed again.

They sat in the Loft, sipping glasses of milk and thinking to themselves. Bart sat on the couch, hunched over, chewing on his tongue. Clark stood at the window, staring out at the farm.

"Dammit," Bart suddenly yelled, "It's killing me."

"Calm down, Bart." Clark said, rubbing a knuckle underneath his chin, "We're all worried about Chloe."

"This is all my fault, I got her in to his. If it wasn't for me…."

"This isn't really the time to play the blame game."

"His right, you know," Donna said, just walking in. They both turned towards her, watching as she held a coffee mug with steam drifting out. Clark cleared his throat and noticed that she was staring at but he and Bart weirdly. She had been doing this for the past few hours. Bart notice it too.

"Where's Lois?" He asked.

"Oh, she went for a drive."

"Is there any reason why we can't take this to the police?" Clark asked.

"Yes, because they'd thoroughly investigate every aspect of the case," Donna said, staring pointedly at Bart.

Bart swallowed uncomfortably. "So why is that a bad thing?"

"We both know why." Donna now turned to Clark, studying him thoroughly.

"You've been acting really strangely," He said, "Is anything wrong?"

"Why don't we stop playing these games," Donna said, "You're one of them, Clark. I know this for a fact."

Clark almost choked. He swallowed nervously. "One of who?"

"The Meteor freaks. I know, Clark, there's no use in pretending."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Bart asked angrily, "Because it's not funny!"

"You're on of them too, Bart, I know. Just please, I won't tell Lois or anything. I saw you super speed in Eddie's office." She admitted.

"But how?" Bart asked, confused.

Clark said a profanity under his breath, then he looked up knowingly. "Surveillance cameras."

"How did you get access to his surveillance cameras?"

"I paid one of his aides, $300 for a check now and then. I suspected that he had some business deals with Eduardo. Fat Eddie is his own little business mogul in Metropolis. He knows everybody who's worth knowing and everybody knows him. All of his lucrative business make up about 7 of Metropolis. The Luthors make up about 25, so Eddie was living large."

"What was he doing in that dump, then?"

"One of his many warehouses. Eddie doesn't mind going to war, he's a real hothead. Some say his brave. But most know that he'll battle anybody as long as he doesn't retain any scars."

Clark rolled his eyes. "So he uses his foot soldiers."

She nodded. "Selfish bastard. He'll let anyone die just for his reputation. I knew so many kids with talent who worked for him. Now most of them are dead."

Clark was silent, "Where do we go from here?"

She shrugged and reached in to her jeans pockets and drew out a lighter and a cigarette. She notices Clark's eyes narrowing at the sight of the cigarette and smiled at him, "Nasty habit, I know, I developed it after I left Phillip."

Bart yawned and sat down heavily on the couch. "What do we do now?"

"I'm still trying to figure it out myself. We need to find a way to both stop Phillip and bring that little girlfriend of yours back home."

Clark asked, "Where's Lois?"

She shrugged again, "Said she needed to go for a little drive or something. Hellion that one. She'll kill anyone to get her cousin back."

"Well, that's Lois." Clark said, rolling his eyes.

"Do you have any idea where he might be keeping her?" Bart asked desperately, "Anything?"

She grimaced and shrugged, "There are a few locations I've been trying to get a hold of. There's this one in Paris. About 3 generations ago, Phillip's family lived there. I believe there's a research facility there."

"We could just run there and investigate." Bart said awkwardly.

"Bart!" Clark scolded him.

"She already knows, anyway." Bart replied hotly.

"How did you two get your….abilities?" Donna asked, puffing on the Camel and watching them intently.

Bart averted his eyes. "There was an accident. There was this blinding light. I don't remember that much about what happened. I was with my parents. We were in this lab, witnessing a demonstration. We were in the front row, it was amazing. Then, something exploded. My parents were thrown back, but I had been leaning forward or something got caught in my clothes so I flew forward, right in to the light. That's what I remember."

"So," she said, walking around him, "Is super speeding the only thing you can do?"

He smiled weakly, "You make it sound like a bad thing."

She dropped the cigarette and stomped on it. "No, actually, it seems kind of cool if I may say so myself."

"It's not that cool when you're different." Clark said.

"Why?" Donna asked, puzzled, "What wrong with being different?"

"Everything," Clark said, "Knowing I'm not the same as everyone else, having to keep my true identity a secret. Afraid that one day, I'll have to go back."

"Go back where?" Donna asked.

Clark stumbled over his words, he hadn't meant to reveal so much, "I'm, I don't know, it just…..kinda slipped out."
But she had gotten something and wasn't about to let it go. "Tell me, Clark, go back to where?"
Bart piped in, "It's a sour subject, he doesn't like to talk about it."

"Were you in some kind of lab?" She asked, with a horrified expression, "Like something Phillip had. You don't want to go back?"

Clark would have laughed if he wasn't so mad at himself. No, not a lab. More like another planet that he would never see again.

"Can we not talk about this?" He said.

She shrugged again, still curious, but willing to let it go. "Whatever."

There was an awkward silence in the room.

"What about you?" She asked, "How'd you get your powers?"

She saw his eyes widen briefly before he replied nonchalantly, "Just like everybody else, in the meteor shower."

She didn't believe him, but decided to let it go. "What else can you do, you know, besides super speed?"

"Um, that's it." He lied, not wanting to reveal too much. Then he remembered what he'd done to Eddie back there. "And super strength."

"Hmmmm," She smiled, "I thought you'd lie to me about the strength. I saw it on the surveillance video too. How much, exactly can you lift?"

He felt uncomfortable. "I don't know….a lot?"

She smiled. "You don't flaunt your powers a lot. Anybody else would. Why don't you rule this city. Why don't you use your abilities to give yourself an advantage?"

"Because it wouldn't be right." He said obviously.

"That wouldn't stop most people."

"Are you by any chance talking about the Luthors?" Bart asked.

Donna nodded, her eyes darkening, "Dirty bastards." She snarled harshly. "That son of a bitch Lionel ruined my life. If it wasn't for him, Phillip would still be with me.

"Lionel might have pushed him in the wrong path, but you can't change who a person is. If he is this way now, that's the way he's always been. Maybe you just didn't notice it." Clark said.

She glared at him for a minute. Then she relaxed. "You don't know him like I do. Nobody knows him like I do. He was the sweetest, smartest man in the world. If you've seen him, you'll know I didn't marry him for looks." She smiled to herself. "I met him in the college. He was a geek back then. Things don't change, huh? I was a cheerleader and he was a social outcast. I guess opposites really do attract."

They were interrupted by the purr of an engine. They all turned to see The SUV approaching, with Lois inside, it fingers thumping on her steering wheel. Clark was surprised to hear her saying a prayer from inside the car. He almost told Bart, but remembered that Donna was already suspicious.

"Don't worry," Donna winked at them, "Your secret is mine to keep. I guess we'll be continuing this conversation later." And with that, she walked out of the loft, whistling to herself.

"You think she'll tell Lois?" Bart asked.

"I don't know," Clark said, "But we'll have to watch her real carefully."

"I don't know, Clark, but I think I trust her."
"I think I trust her too," Clark admitted, "but we can never let our guard down. If we do, she'll probably leave us for the slaughter."

Jimmy "Slim Jim" Thornton flipped his cell phone shut and turned to his accomplice, smiling. "Boss says we can move in and get her. I'll make that stupid bitch sorry for the way they treated me after they left the lab."

They turned to the house that stood before them, where one of their victims now lived. They were part of a group of henchmen sent around North America to retrieve the hostages that the two freaks had rescued from the labs. This time, they'd be much better guarded. And they'd finish their experiments much more quickly so they'd eliminate them and bury their sorry asses. Mary, one of the hostages who had escaped, lived inside the house. Jim was going to make sure she paid for hitting him that day. The cops had been easy to bribe. Lionel Luthor had many connections. Now it was back to business. It was time to regain their property.

"And Janet?" Benny, the accomplice asked, "And the Kent woman?"
"Janet said she's getting closer to her, and very soon, she'll get an opening, and when she does, we'll be there to take the Kent kid's parents. Boss says not to kill them until he says. Just hurt them, very, very badly."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I HAVE DECIDED TO CONTINUE WITH THIS STORY BECAUSE OF SOME MAIL I HAVE RECEIVED FROM SOME OF THE READERS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT, AND HERE IS THE 26TH CHAPTER. I AM A LITTLE RAW SINCE I HAVEN'T WRITTEN IN A WHILE AND I APOLOGIZE FOR THE FEW WHO HAVE AWAITED THIS CHAPTER. THANK YOU, ENJOY.