Chapter 5

The Second Time Around

Friday night - Lana's house

Lana paused for a second and then said, "Of course you've changed history, Clark. You save peoples' lives all of the time. If that isn't changing what would have happened, then I don't know what is."

"That's not what I mean by 'changing history,' Lana. Only one timehave I been able to go back into the past to save someone. Out of all the people I've saved from injury, and even death, only one person can claim to have been saved after she died."

Clark watched Lana carefully, wanting to see how she reacted to what he was about to say.

"Only you, Lana."

The pan Lana had been filling with water clattered to the bottom of the sink. She reached out and turned off the faucet, and turned slowly toward Clark.

"Excuse me?" she said, "I could swear I just heard you say that you went back in time to save me."

"You heard correctly."

Lana stepped over to the kitchen table and took a seat. Clark turned off the burners on the stove and sat down across the corner from her.

"I'm just guessing here," Lana said, "but this seems to be one of those stories that I'll need to be sitting down for."

"Yeah," Clark said softly, as he reached across the table to take her hands in his, lightly rubbing his thumbs across the backs of her fingers, "you just might. There's one thing I need from you, though."

"What's that?"

"Weeeellllll…this is a long story and you're not going to be happy with large parts of it, but I need you to not pass judgment until I complete the whole story." Clark broke eye contact with Lana, instead looking over her shoulder, not really seeing the cabinets beyond her. "It's entirely possible that you won't want to talk to me for a long time, maybe forever, after I let you know what you should have been told so many years ago."

If Lana hadn't been already convinced of the gravity of the story Clark was about to tell, his attitude would have done the job. "Okay," she said, "I promise."

Silence reigned as Clark searched for the words to say what he had done, what he had given up, in order to safeguard her life. How to explain the choice he had made for both of them? How to say why he had never come back, even after Lex died in that 'car wreck.' How? How? Why? How? The questions cascaded in on Clark until he thought he'd never be able to answer them all.

Finally, Clark said, "It was the day Dad…was elected to the state senate There are two sets of events, two different timelines, that happened that night. The first timeline that I'll relate, you already know, mostly anyway, because these are the events that happened after I went back in time to save you. The second timeline is what happened originally. You won't remember anything I tell you about that, because for you, it never happened.

"It all started that morning. You might remember I had asked you to meet me in the loft and had told you to bring a scarf and gloves."

"Yeah," Lana said, "I remember. I thought it was a weird request."

"You thought a 'mystery date' wasn't what our relationship needed at that time. And you were right. You needed me to come clean and…that was what I intended to do when I invited you over. I was going to tell you everything."

"But you just gave me more of your lame excuses, Clark."

"Yeah, when you came up the stairs is the point when the two stories began to diverge. I had already decided to do anything in my power to save you from dying a second time. If it meant I had to give you up, that was a price I was willing to pay.

"Instead of telling you my secrets, I, as you said, came up with more lame excuses and you understandably became angry and told me you needed a break from us. I don't know what you did all day, but I went to Metropolis and talked to Chloe at the Daily Planet."

Clark paused, and then, with some trepidation, continued his story. "Due to some interference from Alicia Baker during senior year at Smallville High, Chloe had found out what I could do. When she confronted me with it the day of the meteor shower, I told her the parts of my story she hadn't figured out yet."

Clark could feel Lana's fingers tighten around his and saw the distress on her face as she heard this unexpected news.

He told Chloe? was Lana's immediate thought, followed by, I won Clark's heart, but it looks like Chloe won his trust! Then guilt began to set in. Chloe's been gone for a long time, nearly 18 years, and I'm still capable of being jealous of her? How petty can I be? I need to let this go. Just like I told Clark, I can't let the past destroy me…or destroy us.

Lana made her best effort at giving Clark a reassuring smile and squeezed his hands again, only this time it was a warm, comforting gesture instead of an instinctual reaction to pain. "Keep going, Clark. I'm a big girl now. You had your reasons for telling her, I'm sure. The important thing is, you're telling me now."

"Thanks, Lana. There's more to why I told her, and not you, than you can even guess at right now, but I'll come back to it at the end of my story. Hopefully you won't be quite as mad at me then."

"Who said I am mad?"

"You did," Clark said. "You smiled, but the smile never reached your eyes. Your eyes were so hot, they would've burned a hole in the wall if my face hadn't been in the way."

"Okay, so maybe I'm a little mad, but I'm not as mad as you think I am."

Shooting her a dubious look, Clark continued his story. "In both timelines, a unique series of events happened in Chloe's office. First, a secretary received a bouquet of flowers, then, her boss fired someone, finally, while we were at her desk, she answered a phone call that was a wrong number looking for a Chinese restaurant.

"I was trying to convince Chloe that I had gone back in time twenty-four hours and was reliving the same day. I used my knowledge of those three events by predicting they would happen. By the time Chloe had hung up on the wrong number, she was a believer. I asked her to be your shadow, to stay by you every second and keep you away from the scene of the fatal event…which in your case was a car wreck at 11:02 p.m. You and Chloe came to the watch party at the Talon together, but somehow, you slipped away from her and headed to Lex's."

Thinking back to what she could remember of the events of that night, Lana remembered her near miss. A miss made possible by the school bus unaccountably slowing down just in the nick of time. "This…this wreck, wouldn't happen to have been with a yellow school bus, would it?"

"Yes, it was."

"Clark," Lana asked, her voice somewhat shaky, "did you slow the bus to keep it from hitting me?"

Quietly, almost inaudibly, Clark said, "Yeah. That time I was on time. A second later and I would have been too late again…I gave up the world for that second. To think that after all the trouble I went through and all the pain I put you through, Lex still almost got you killed again…had I not been in time, I would have gone insane."

"I thought I had seen you standing in the shadows after I pulled over, but that didn't make any sense. Then, Lex was there, apologizing for what happened at the mansion."

Knowing he had not told Lana anything about himself this time around, a new thought entered Clark's mind. "You know, Lana, I never did learn what happened at Lex's the second time to make you run from him again."

Lana began to glow red with embarrassment. "Lex…umm, well…Lex kissed me. I was mad at you, but I wasn't ready for that. He chased me, trying to apologize, and I was almost hit by the bus."

"Lex," Clark said, his voice dripping with contempt. "At least we don't have to worry about him anymore."

"I know you two weren't friendly after you and I broke up, Clark, but I think you're being a little bit melodramatic, don't you? What exactly happened to you two?"

"There's much about my relationship with Lex you never knew. Now's not the time to tell that story though, it'll just confuse what I have to say about this story.

"Anyway, after the wreck-that-never-was, you know the rest of the story and we don't need to rehash that right now. Instead, I'll now tell you what happened the first time you came to meet me in the loft on election day. This is a happier story…strangely, that will likely make it much harder for you to hear. I hope you'll bear with me."

"I've waited a while to learn all about you, Clark," Lana said, "I'm not going to ruin my chance now."

"Remember you said that, it may be the thought that saves my life."

Once again, Clark went silent as he tried to sum up what was, to paraphrase the words of Charles Dickens, "the best of times and the worst of times." In short, the best and worst day of his life.

"I was going to tell you what we did, but I think it will be better if I just show you. Are you ready for a quick trip up north?"

"How quick and how far up north?" Lana asked.

"We'll be back fairly quickly, and as far north as you can go. So, if you want to go, you'll need to dress warmly while I go collect a few belongings of mine."

"Aren't you forgetting something, Clark?"

"What?" he asked.

"We still haven't eaten dinner."

Clark grinned sheepishly as they stood up. Lana went back to preparing dinner, while Clark offered his services and made quick work of things like peeling potatoes, shredding the lettuce for salads, and slicing the other veggies he found in her crisper to add to the salads.

A short time after they started, a dinner of salads, steaks, and new potatoes was ready. As they ate, not much was said. Clark, being Clark, was seeing the glass half empty and was sad about all the dinners with Lana he had missed over the years. Lana, being a glass is half full kind of person, was enjoying this chance to spend time with the man she had never been able to let go and was hoping this might be the first of many quiet dinners.

Clark volunteered to clean up and Lana allowed it as she thought he was just going to load the dishwasher. Clark filled the sink with hot, soapy water and had the dishes, glasses, utensils, and cookware cleaned and dried in seconds. After closing her gaping mouth, Lana said, "All this time that I've known about SuperClark, I never once considered how useful those abilities could be around the house. I might just have to keep you around a little longer, Clark."

"Don't make any promises yet, Lana, I still have the rest of the story to tell you. It's time for us to get ready." Clark was halfway out the kitchen door before he turned to say, "Oh, and remember, you'll want to bring a scarf and gloves."