"How'd it go?" Chloe asked. The dark office was lit up with the glow of her computer.

"I blew it. I have Clark running from me now like a scared rabbit."

She looked away from the screen. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he literally jumped out of his own car and ran away."

She laughed.

"It's not funny."

"It's kind of funny. I would have paid good money to see that, and as you know, I'm currently down on my luck."

"We're all down on out luck until we find the perp."

"Has he been teaching you cop lingo?"

She ignored her as she sat down beside her for a better view of the screen. "Found anything interesting?"

She showed her one of the articles she'd pulled up, an account of the disaster of her wedding to Jimmy. "I assume you were originally there."

"I was not only there, I was your maid of honor. Who took my place in your dream world? Clark?"

She couldn't help smiling at that imagery. "Lana."

"Of course she did. She's taken over everything else in my life. Why not that too?"

"You realize none of this is real, right?"

"Let me gripe in peace," she said though the thought did cheer her. "But it's added proof that more's been messed with than memories. What do we do?"

"Continue to try and persuade Clark. It won't be fun for this person or entity if nobody believes the lies anymore. You can do it. Anybody who can convince him to pull back in the rage and grief he felt over Alicia's death can convince him of this. He felt your connection to each other even back then. How much more will he feel it now?"

"Maybe. And hey, I can always take him to see Jor-El, so he can hear the results of my paternity test. That's one thing this being forgot." She didn't think he'd forgot, however, as much as he'd left it to torture her.

sss

Eager to get this over with, Clark used his heat vision to make a steam pipe in the house burst. The steam poured under the cracks of the basement door, making the culprit think a fire was in process and that it was only a matter of time before he was blown sky high. He came running outside carrying a large box of cold pills with him.

And Clark was waiting for him. "An unusual amount of cold medicine and dead spots in the grass from toxic waste. That's enough evidence to take you in."

The man swore at him and tried to run, but he grabbed him and began reading him his rights. The neighbors had seen the steam as well, and now there was a fire truck and the local news team.

As he put the arrested man in the back of the car, he breathed a sigh of relief that Lois was gone as he fended off questions from the journalists.

sss

Lana was sitting up in the hospital bed with a very sour expression when he made it back to the hospital. Surely she didn't know. "I saw."

"Saw what?"

"The news. Tell me you didn't use your powers on that common criminal."

He sighed. She'd probably be less angry over what had happened with Lois. "No one saw anything or suspects anything."

That included the kiss he shared with Lois. For something so wrong as that kiss had been, it had felt so right. They had been so in sync with each other as if they had kissed a thousand times before.

He'd looked down on men who had affairs, but now he knew how they started with an emotional connection and a stolen kiss. You didn't necessarily set out to have one. You just dropped your guard at the wrong time with the wrong person.

If he thought he had been thinking too much about Lois before since she'd arrived in Smallville, now he was consumed by thoughts of what could be. Yet, he knew he couldn't and wouldn't act on it. It would be too selfish.

Why couldn't he keep his thoughts on Lana and remember the love they had shared? She had been so sweet and kind in high school and then her fears and insecurities had turned her into someone else or maybe he just hadn't seen her for who she was because he had been too blinded by puppy love.

"You can't take chances. It's not just about you and me anymore. Don't you care about your son?"

"Of course I care. You know I do. Have I ever exposed my powers yet?"

"I just want a normal life."

He was beginning to hate that word. Normal. "I'm going to check on the baby."

He ran into his mother in the hallway. "I don't suppose you heard that?"

"I did. I'm so sorry, Clark."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"This kind of life isn't what your dad and I wanted for you."

Now he was confused. He was living like every Kent before him had lived, keeping up the family farm to pass to the next generation. "It's not?"

"Maybe we did wrong by encouraging you to keep your secret so carefully guarded even from people you trusted and cared about. We hoped you would find a way to use your gifts one day, not keep them buried."

It had been a long time since they felt like gifts if they ever had. They felt like curses, and he was reminded of that every day with Lana. "You're sounding like Jor-El."

"I only wish you'd found a girl that would have accepted you for who you are. For every part of you. Not merely tolerated your differences."

"Someone like Lois?"

She smiled. "Yes. Possibly. I don't think she would have kept you back from being all you can be."

"No, she'd have been there right along side me getting into the thick of it." Why did that thought sound like paradise to him? This conversation wasn't helping him put aside thoughts of Lois.

He had to see his son. He had to ground himself and get his head out of the clouds and accept things as they were.