Chapter VII
Lana sat on the windowsill, gazing out at the bustling city of Metropolis. She had talked to Chloe and Pete about her daughter's powers, trying to figure out how she had acquired them. Chloe, as usual, had come up with one of her old trademark "Wall of Weird" explanations.
Apparently, since Isobel was her ancestor, which had meant that each generation after her had magic powers, even if they hadn't known about them. So, Lana had passed down whatever powers she had, to her daughter.
That had been enough new information for one night. She was a witch, and her little daughter was a witch. The only difference was that Kyla had been able to access her abilities.
She sighed, closing her eyes and lightly pressing her forehead against the glass, thinking with a small frown on her lips. Her thoughts changed quickly from the witch-factor, to the bruises Kyla had gotten after staying with Mike for a day. An angry growl escaped her throat, remembering the extent of said bruises.
The young mother almost fell backwards after a couple of indigo sparks leapt from the tip of her fingers at the extremely violent thoughts she was having about her ex-husband. Well, she obviously still had her powers. She yawned and glanced down at her watch to check the time. 6:47 A.M.
Lana was immensely surprised when there was a rustling outside and the door opened, revealing Clark. She smiled genuinely, rubbing her eyes again in an attempt to wake herself up. Lana had given Chloe, Clark and even Lois, keys to her apartment, because she knew that now that they had reconnected, they would be around her a lot.
"Hey Clark." She welcomed her high-school friend with a tired smile. He went to stand by her with a small nod of greeting. He sat on the floor, legs stretched out in front of him as he looked up at her warmly.
"Perry had Chloe, Lois and I working on a story. We only just got off about three hours ago. He would've made us stay longer, but Chloe was demanding that he let them off so she could go see her daughter and husband." The both shared a quiet laugh at this, because they could both just picture Chloe Sullivan demanding things of her boss.
"Lana," Clark broke the comfortable silence that had settled there. The raven-haired girl looked him in the eye. "How is Kyla doing? How are her—her bruises healing up? Anything get broken?" Clark asked. He had had trouble finishing his question, feeling his fury rise up in his chest at the thought of the little girl's injuries.
"Kyla's been having nightmares on and off since then. The bruises are still pretty sore, and there's this one place on her ribs where it's s-still kinda of green and purple. But no, there weren't a-any serious problems." Lana felt really queasy as she thought of that one rather bad bruise that had failed to fade as much as the other ones did.
Both adults fell silent, trying to figure out what they were going to do about Mike. Then there was a knock on the door. Lana and Clark traded hesitant looks, before Lana stood up and went to answer the door. A stiff-looking man in a suit stood with papers in his hand.
"Miss Lang?"
"Y-yes?" Lana managed to stutter out, recognizing the man as Mike's lawyer. She saw his eyes flit to look over her shoulder, resting on Clark for a few seconds before moving back to her face.
"Mr. Bennett wants your daughter out of your care. He is suing to have your child placed in foster care, on the terms that neither of you is a fit guardian." The lawyer informed her, handing her the papers. "We'll see you in court."
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Lana numbly stood beside her lawyer, apprehensively awaiting the judge's verdict. Lois, Chloe and Clark sat behind the fence in the section of seats on her side. Kyla was sitting between Chloe and Clark. Mike had a smug smirk on his disgusting face.
"Mr. Bennett and Ms. Lang," The judge paused, his eyes flickering over to Mike for a split-second. Lana narrowed her eyes at the judge's behavior. Something was very wrong with this hearing.
"Your daughter, Kyla Danielle Lang Bennett, will be placed into Social Services immediately. You will have contact with her only if her foster family allows it. Court dismissed."
Lana stared at the judge, Judge McAdams, her blood running cold. No. 'Nononononono!' was the only thought racing through her mind. A majority of the people on Mike's side started clapping and others were beginning to leave. A woman, Social Services worker Lana assumed, stood and strode over to where Clark and the others were standing with her daughter.
The young mother had shot over to her little girl without realizing it. She wanted to cry, to scream. But she was too stricken and shocked to cry. Kyla immediately hugged her mother the moment she saw her, smiling happily. Chloe and Lois seemed to be in the same grief-stricken, stunned state she was in.
"Ms. Lang." The Social Services worker stood there expectantly. Kyla looked up at the woman curious, and then back to Lana. "Ms. Lang, I need to take her."
"Mommy?" Kyla stared at her mother uncertainly, her face clearly showing her confusion. Lana glanced up at the hovering woman before turning her full attention to her young daughter.
"Kyla, listen to me. I love you. You did absolutely nothing wrong. I will always love you, Kyla. Understand?" The Social Services woman took Kyla's upper arm, lightly but forcefully leading her away. Kyla tugged her arm out of the woman's grasp, trying to get back to Lana. The woman lifted the small girl into her arms, and headed out of the court room. Kyla kicked and screamed, struggling to get out of her grasp.
"No, Mommy! Mommy!" The moment Lana felt Clark wrap his arms around her; she broke down sobbing, with her daughter's heart-wrenching cries echoing in her head. Lois felt tears rolling down her cheeks, her cousin keeping a death grip on her hand.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mike watching them, the triumphant smirk obvious even from where she was standing.
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"Jess, I'm assuming you have the kid from the Lang case?" Derek Robson, one of her colleagues, asked as he looked through a one-way window and into one of the play-rooms. The little girl sat in a corner, staring blankly at a wall. Jessica Adams was a social worker.
"She's been like that for about thirty minutes. She stopped crying on the way here, and then," Jessica broke off nodding to the girl. The woman ran her fingers through her dirty-blonde hair, sighing.
"Kyla Bennett, right?" Derek kept her eyes on the small child, taking in her appearance swiftly. She really was a very adorable kid. Dark brown hair, green-hazel eyes, lightly tanned skin. "Has she been examined by Lila?"
"When we got here, that was the first thing I did." Jess tore her brown eyes from Kyla, looking up at her co-worker. "We found a hell of lot of bruising on her arms and ribs. There was this one greenish bruise that hasn't faded as much as the others, but other than that, she's perfectly healthy."
"I guess she's just stressed from being taken away from her parents." Derek suggested as she went back to watching her charge.
"Parent." Jess corrected quietly.
"Huh?"
"She was living with her mother, Lana Lang. You should've seen her when I tried to take her away. Kyla was screaming and really putting up a fight. I have the feeling she wouldn't have wanted to get back to someone who hurt her. Her father is a different matter. I'm positive that he's the abuser, even if his lawyer claimed that the mother was responsible for Kyla's injuries." Jess told him, her mind going over the hearing again, checking everything. "All the signs are there."
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Chapter VIII
Mike Bennett was in a very good mood. He had successfully bribed the judge into making sure to separate his ex-wife and her little freak of a kid. Good thing too. If that kid had stayed with Lana for much longer, she might have begun to learn about her abilities, and he just couldn't have that now, could he? If she learned how to control her powers, she might try to fight back.
The first time he had figured out what his daughter could do was one time when Lana had been at work while they were married. Kyla had been playing with some clay, and then 'poof' sparks flew from her hand and a tiny plastic container of green clay that was out of her reach had floated over to her.
He had ignored Lana taking care of Kyla for a couple of months, but then he had spotted her playing outside the Daily Planet building a week or so ago with a dark haired man. When the man had turned away for a few seconds, Kyla had pointed to a tiny, rubber ball that was nestled by the curb of the street in a pile of leaves and junk. The ball had vanished and then reappeared in her hands. It was then that Mike found that his daughter was realizing that she had the power to control her abilities.
Now that the brat was in Social Services, she would be to traumatized and distressed to focus on nurturing her control. He smirked as she sat in his ragged recliner with a beer bottle in his left hand. Ah, yes, now life was truly good for him.
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Jess was nervous.
She had taken the little Lang girl to several potential foster parents, but none of them had clicked. Kyla had been extremely tense and uncomfortable with each set of parents, always cringing away whenever they tried to touch her. Jess had to find her foster parents; the judge had been on her back since the young child had arrived five days earlier.
"You get to see your mother again today, kid." Jess whispered as she watched Kyla playing around with clay. Lana Lang had called her a few hours earlier. She had heard the underlying sadness in her voice even though she was attempting to be cheerful and pleasant.
"Her mum's coming today, right Jess?" Derek asked, one of his hands resting on her shoulder. She nodded, feeling a pang in her chest at the obvious despair on the little girl's face.
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Clark and Chloe flanked a nervous Lana as they walked into the Social Services building as planned. It had been killing Lana not to see her daughter almost every second of the day. She was glad that Clark and Chloe had been able to take the time to go with her to see her precious little girl. Lois was busy investigating the suspicious Custody hearing and the judge. She had told Perry that it was a huge story, and he had agreed and had her working on a couple of minutes after she suggested it.
"Hello, we're here to see Jessica Adams." Clark said a man who was sorting through various folders and papers. The man examined them for a couple of seconds before turning and calling "Jess, people are here to see you!"
The same woman who had taken Kyla from her in the courtroom what seemed like weeks earlier approached them. She held out her hand and introduced herself.
"I'm Jessica, you're daughter is back in our playroom." Jess motioned for the trio to follow her. The moment she opened the door to the playroom, Lana shot in to her daughter. Chloe and Clark followed, but were much more subtle and quiet. Kyla stared at her mother for a second, seeming surprised, before she shot over to her mother. Lana picked her daughter up into her arms securely.
"Mommy!" Kyla clung onto her mom for dear life, crying. "Mommy! I thought you hated me! You left me…" The girl said in a small, gut-wrenching voice, her entire body trembling. Lana felt her heart break at the sound of her little daughter's voice. She gently shushed the child, rocking her in her arms.
Chloe felt tears prick at the corner of her eyes, but hurriedly forced them back. She didn't want this to be any harder than it already was for Lana and Kyla. The intrepid reporter glanced sideways at her coworker.
Chloe's cell phone started vibrating in her jeans pocket. She slipped it out of her pocket and slipped it open. "Chloe Sullivan."
"Hey, Chlo, I have some dirt on that judge." Lois told her cousin, her voice clearly giving away her smugness. "Somebody saw Mike and the judge, Christopher McAdams; get together at a café two days before the hearing. Mike gave McAdams a manila envelope, and then they went their separate ways."
"Suspicious. Keep me posted."
"Will do."
Chloe closed her phone and dropped it back into her pocket. Lana and Clark were sitting with Kyla, talking to her as she played with clay. If all went well, Mike would be put in jail for child-abuse and bribery, Kyla would be returned to her mother where she belonged, and Judge McAdams would hopefully be properly, uh, disciplined or whatever.
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A couple of hours after Kyla's visit with her mother and friends, Jessica had finally found what she thought was the perfect foster home. Kyla had reacted well when she had told them about them. So now it was time to meet them. If they clicked, then Kyla would stay there for a twenty-four hours, she would check in again, and then they would officially be Kyla's foster parents.
"Hello, this is Kyla." Jess introduced the girl to her prospective foster parents, the James's. "Kyla this is Mr. Andrew James and Mrs. Heather James."
Kyla examined them warily and then followed them quietly when they led her into the living room. Jess smiled to herself, pleased with the ways things were going.
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Lana narrowed her eyes and concentrating on a candle, her fingers splayed in the air, palms facing the candle. She was attempting to teach herself how to develop her powers without going all psycho-bitch Isobel. So far…she hadn't even been able to use them.
'Burn…burn…do something….' She thought, willing something to happen. Her thoughts trailed to Mike, and immediately indigo sparks slammed into the candle, knocking it over.
"Okay, anger equals trigger. Got it." She muttered under her breath. The phone started ringing and her hand shot out, picking it up. "Hello?"
"Miss Lang, its Jessica Adams from Social Services. I have good news." Jessica sounded very happy.
"Yes? How's Kyla?"
"We've placed her with a foster family."
Okay, in her head. That didn't count as good news. Her daughter had a new family.