Chapter 2 [Kent Farm]

Summer's warm breeze billowed across the countryside. Wheat billowed back and forth. Knee high stalks awaited Growth's next spurt. Clouds amassed promising rain at some point.

Meantime Seasons' cycles ran about the farm.

Clark rode Old Bessie around the Back Forty. Heat and Rain had crops and grass growing ahead of schedule. He tapped his fingers.

The tractor ambled its way around the fields. Backfires punctuated its forays in that regard. The attached mower trimmed the grass to stubble.

I could've run around the field with a hand sickle faster than this! He turned it for the last stretch.

Old Bessie wheezed and choked. Smoke billowed from the engine.

Dad really needs a new tractor! Why does he keep this one around? Frustration raised his hand to smack the machine's side.

You'd hit a poor machine, Clark? Lana raised an eyebrow. What did it do to you?

Other than aggravate me for the last eight years? He shrugged. Be right back. He sped to the barn. Then he came back with the sickle. Stand back. He finished the mowing at super speed. Then he pointed at the tractor. "Now see? That's how you do it."

Amusement sparkled in Lana's eye. A coy smirk spread across her face. "Now I see what I've been missing, Clark. Your hidden dark side." She grinned. Routine had its challenges. Still she fell in with the Kents' lifestyle fairly easily. Since school had ended, she'd learned how to help Martha in the kitchen. She remembered basic chores from watching her parents. She ran necessary errands.

He grinned. "Like the look on you."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not wrecking my good clothes out here, Clark. Around the farm, it's okay." She assessed her blue and red plaid shirt and blue jeans. "If Miri saw me like this, she'd never let me hear the end of it." She looked around the mowed field. "We pile this up?"

Caution urged a second look around. Dread still reminded him of Arighatto's ambush months earlier. "That's the idea. We rake this grass up into haystacks. Then it gets baled and you know the rest." He shrugged.

She wanted to sass him again. She knew better. Let's just get this over with. Shall we? She took a pitchfork and sped along the field's other side. Piles grew toward the sky from her rapid motions. Come on, Slow Poke. Don't make it THAT easy to win!

He bit his lip. Fine. He grabbed the rake and rushed along his side of the field. The rake's blurring motion gathered hay into piles on his side as well. He let a pile get to six feet. Then he start on another one. Over and over, Process repeated itself….

…until the couple met at midfield….

She pointed over her shoulder at her haystacks. "Mine are bigger than yours, Clark." Snark spread a smirk across her face worthy of Lex himself.

"I've created a monster." He shook his head. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Maybe a kiss?"

"That I can do." He embraced her. "I'm glad you have the bracelet, Lana. It's so nice to know that I'm not the only one anymore."

"Well there is Professor Dubois too." She cleared her throat. "But yes, Clark, I am here with you. Sam's happy with Chloe and her Dad. It's just one more year." She pressed her lips against his.

He returned the gesture. For a full minute, he allowed the contact and energies between them to continue. "And we're right down the hall from each other. I'm glad we have this at least. We can respect Mom and Dad that long."

"That's a good thing, Son." Jonathan walked toward them. He regarded the haystacks around themselves. "You two did a couple of days' work in just a couple of hours. Your Mom and I don't mind a kiss you know."

"We know, Mr. Kent." She sighed. "We just don't want to mess it up." She squeezed Clark's hand in hers.

"And we did get that work done first." Clark added a shrug for good measure.

Jonathan nodded. "Yes, Son, you certainly did that." He motioned toward Old Bessie. "What'd you do to her now? Clark, I keep telling you to be patient with the Old Girl." He lifted the folding hood.

"I didn't goose it or anything. Maybe it's time to break down and buy a new one?" Impatience grated through Clark's tone. He frowned.

"Maybe you might find a gold mine to pay for it? Money doesn't grow on trees." Jonathan quirked an eyebrow.

"Told you so." She rubbed Clark's arm. Her fleeting glance told him everything he needed to know.

Even she's turning against me. Nice. Clark sighed.

I can hear you, Mr. Kent. And I'm not taking sides. She shook her head at him.

"Well it's not too bad." Jonathan tightened a bolt with his wrench. "There!" He put the hood back down. "I owe you an apology, Clark."

"I wasn't horsing it, Dad. I took it really slow just like you told me to." Clark ran his hand along the back of his neck.

"Sometimes, Son, we just need to get as much use out of something as we can." Jonathan got up on the tractor. He turned the key. "There you are. Good girl!" He patted the tractor on its hood. "We'll get you looked at in the barn. I'll bring the baler back. Then we can get started on that." He drove Bessie back toward the barn.

"Good girl." Clark rubbed his forehead. "It's a tractor not a pet."

"Sometimes that's all it takes to keep old things going. Look at the Talon for instance. She's nearly a hundred and still going." She placed her hand on his arm. "Not everything needs to be at super speed, Clark. Patience goes a long way." She smiled. "Kind of like your teaching style."

He nodded. "I can relate to what you're going through. I just have to keep reminding myself of that."

"Setting the Talon on fire and landing face first in the manure pile were world-inspiring moments." She saw him bristle. "I'm teasing."

He relaxed. "Sorry. I just have to remember that we manage our abilities here in the real world. Look at you. You're doing so awesome and everything. You're coming along a lot faster than I did."

She sighed. "Clark, it's because your folks and you are right here for me. There are times where I'm scared stiff of this stuff. Then you're right there. It's so great to know you're right there to catch me. I can't believe how impatient I was being with you."

"Lana, you didn't know. I wasn't the greatest friend. And don't get me started on how bad of a boyfriend I was toward you. I just want you to be the best you can be. I need to make it up to you on so many levels." He bowed his head.

"And you're doing that right now." She pushed up on his chin with her hand. "I accepted the bracelet. I chose you and our Kryptonian heritage, Clark Kent. I love you." She rested her forehead against his. Don't ever forget that, my Star Traveler.

AND WELL YOU SHOULD NOT, KAL-EL! LANA HAS A POINT! Jor-El chimed in.

And now you get your two cents in. Why am I not surprised? Clark rolled his eyes.

He is part of the family, Clark. Kind of have to learn to deal with him. He's not so bad…. She started.

YOU SEE, KAL-EL?

…once he figures out how to respect both Earth and Krypton. She coughed.

Smugness spread a smirk across Clark's face now.

Jor-El said nothing. Telepathic Static however spoke volumes in its own right.

Clark looked around to make sure Jonathan wasn't back in earshot yet. "You ready to work on your flying?"

She shrugged. "I guess. I'm ready when you are. Maybe Jor-El can talk me through it too?"

OF COURSE I CAN, LANA. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING UNLIKE SOME OTHERS.

Clark sucked in a breath through his nose. I *can* hear you.

AND HE ACKNOWLEDGES ME TELEPATHICALLY? THERE MAY BE HOPE FOR YOU YET, KAL-EL.

"It's okay, Clark. We'll get there." Her lips whispered Support's notes across his cheek. "Here comes your Dad with the baler now. Time to earn that next kiss. Right?" Sauciness raised the eyebrow.

Clark shrugged. There was always something needing to be dealt with….