Clark found himself strolling through the mansion in the early morning. Ever since he had woken up from his coma, he had been exhausted from having to accept how much of his reality was changed. Now, that he had accepted things were different, he was finding it hard to sleep. He had no chores or schoolwork to occupy himself. Combine that with having to remember to drive if he needed to go anywhere, left a superpowered being bored and without proper exercise.
He had woken up early in the morning and found he was unable to fall back asleep. Clark explored his bedroom a bit more, going over the titles of the books on the bookcase. Most were classics, but the majority were textbooks on various subjects, like anatomy and chemistry. There was one duplicate book of Gray's Anatomy. It was a reprint and seemed out of place with the hardcover editions, and opening the book revealed a cut out that had a leather-bound smaller book inside. Clark flipped through the pages and found it to be his diary. He tucked it back into its hiding spot wanting to come back to it later.
The desk was neat and organized. He tried getting into his laptop but couldn't remember the password. There were no pictures of friends or him with his family anywhere in the room. He walked into the hallway to take another look at the family portraits. His mother, Lillian, had been in the early ones that were at the beginning of the hall. She seemed kind and loving. Almost like Martha, with her red hair and kind smile. As Clark walked down the hallway, he watched as he and Lex had grown. Lillian eventually disappeared from the paintings, and without her, the looks of the Luthor men grew colder. Lex's face seemed familiar to Clark, but his own was that of a stranger. His head was held high, and it was as if he looked down on all that would pass through the hallway.
Clark felt himself shiver as his portrait self stared down on him.
The boy went on to explore the rest of the mansion. There were so many rooms he had never seen before. There was a ballroom, a library, a wine cellar, and a conservatory. That room was colder than the others, containing the crisp morning air. Clark settled into one of the chairs in the middle of the room and looked through the glass ceiling to watch the sunrise. He could only imagine how pretty it would be at night with the stars.
"Julian!" Clark heard Lex shout frantically, maybe hours later. "Julian! Julian!"
Clark raced to where he heard Lex calling from. He saw a panicked Lex running from room to room. "What?" As soon as Lex saw him, he rushed forward and hugged him, running his fingers through his hair.
"You weren't in your room. I thought I lost you."
"I'm sorry. I couldn't fall back asleep."
"No, no. You did nothing wrong." Lex took a moment to steady his breathing. "How about breakfast?"
"Sure." They both started walking towards Julian's room. It had become their routine to eat breakfast on the porch there. Lex sent a text informing Dominic they were ready to eat.
The butler came pushing a cart that had a canister of orange juice, coffee, and containers of sugar and cream. The chef rolled out a cart that was set up for him to make fresh omelettes. There was also plenty of hashbrowns and bacon.
"I can't remember if we met before." Clark walked over to the chef and held out his hand. "I'm Julian."
"Call me Benji. Pleased to meet you. And no, this would be the first time we've met. I started working here right after you moved back in."
"All of the foods been great. Thanks."
"My pleasure. Now you have seat and I'll have omelettes ready in no time. What would you like in yours?"
"Just cheese and ham, please." Clark took his seat as Dominic handed Lex a copy of the Daily Planet and placed the Inquisitor in front of him. "Thanks."
Dominic stared at Clark, long enough for Lex to notice. "Yes?" Lex asked. The butler pardoned himself and wheeled the cart off the porch.
"Classic omelette choice. Will you challenge me, Mr. Luthor?"
"Please, call me Lex. Mr. Luthor was my father. I don't eat breakfast."
"You have to eat something. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Clark insisted.
Lex sighed. "Very well. I entrust my palette to your instincts." Benji went on to prepare the omelettes and Lex watch Clark search through the paper. "Looking for something in particular?"
"Chloe's article should be in here."
"Ah, yes." Lex grinned widely. "How was your date?"
"It wasn't a date. And it was…nice."
"You don't sound too sure."
Clark sighed. "I sort of lied. I remember in Coma World, or Dreamland, asking her out on a date. I mentioned it to her yesterday, but I didn't tell her how it went. Which was terrible."
"But it never happened. That's not lying."
"That's what I thought. But I still feel guilty."
Benji came and placed a ham and cheese omelette in front of Clark, and then a masterpiece in front of Lex. It was a souffle omelette stuffed with cream cheese and bacon topped with jalapenos.
"Ooh, can I try some?" Clark took a big bite of Lex's omelette. "That is amazing, Benji."
Lex took a bite and nodded in his head in approval. He had picked his chef well. Benji had done a good job of complementing sweet, savory, and spicy flavors. "Very good. I hope you're settling in."
"Sure am. Do I need to make another?" Benji chuckled as he saw Clark's empty plate.
"Yes, please. Can I have what you made for Lex?"
Clark flipped through the pages as Benji continued cooking. Finally locating Chloe's article, his smile faded shortly after.
"What is it?" Lex leaned forward.
"This can't be right." Clark sped read the article repeatedly.
"Julian, what?"
"Chloe's hero is Deputy Watts."
Clark sat at the Torch office computer. Since he wasn't a student, Clark didn't have the standard password of last name and year of graduation, but he was able to log in under Lois'. Unlike most students who reset their passwords with something more secure, she hadn't gotten around to it yet. He wanted to look up the original article about Deputy Watts heroism.
As Clark remembered it, Deputy Watts had kidnapped Chloe and buried her alive. Watt's plan was to "rescue" her to get the credit. Chloe hadn't been the kidnapper's victim this time; a girl by the name of Alison had been missing for almost seventy-two hours, being buried for five. Like Clark remembered, she had been buried at Chandler's Field by the windmill. Deputy Watts found Alison and received recognition from the Sherriff.
Two days later, Watts arrested Kyle Tippet for the kidnapping. Kyle confessed and was now in prison awaiting trial for sentencing.
Two months later Watts was hired to be a part of the Metropolis Police Force as a detective.
Clark sighed. He remembered Kyle being a recluse and unwilling to get involved in the world. The meteor shower had given him, along with his sales partner, Bob Rickman, the gift of persuasion. Kyle was afraid of his powers, so he chose to hide in the woods.
But what was Clark supposed to do now? Chloe had been so proud of her article. It was a strong possibility that he was wrong. Still, if he was somehow right, Kyle was innocent and wrongfully imprisoned.
"You know, most people want to avoid school." Lois waltzed into the room. "Hi, Smallville. What's with the face?"
"Nothing. Everything's fine." Clark minimized the articles he had up but not before Lois got a look.
"You remember it being different, don't you?" The hugest grin was on her face.
"So what if I do? It doesn't mean anything."
"Just spill already." Lois sat down and took out her notebook.
"I don't know. I feel like if I tell anyone, Chloe should know about it first. It was her article."
"Oh, come on."
"After I tell Chloe."
"Fine." Lois relented. "I'm still waiting on your fingerprint results, but in the meantime, I'm thinking you can work on putting a timeline together. What you remember right before, during, and after the accident. That sort of thing. Then we can compare and see if there are any leads to go on."
"Sure, I can do that. If I haven't said so, thanks for doing all of this." Clark smiled.
"No, thank you. This is keeping me sane."