Reunited Chapter 5: IX & X, a smallville fanfic

Chapter IX

"She has a new family, she has a new family, she has a new family-" Lana kept muttering under her breath, her mind only focused on her daughter. Clark sat on the couch, watching her pace back and forth in front of him. He wasn't really sure what he should do.

"Lana," The woman ignored him, still pacing around erratically. "Lana!" This caught her attention. She stopped in front of him, curious.

"Kyla would never accept this couple as your replacement. You're her mother. No one can replace you in her life." Clark assured her, sounding confident. Lana smiled weakly, nodding.

"Yeah, you—you're probably right, Clark. Thanks."

Kyla watched this new adult in her life closely. After the first few attempts Jessica had made to try and get her to like the other strange, new families, she had finally realized that the woman had no intention of taking her back to her mommy. Obviously, these people weren't returning her anytime soon.

So, she would simply have to get away from these adults and find her own way back to her rightful mommy, where she belonged. She had the perfect opportunity to put her plan into action since the new man, Mr. James, was taking her to the grocery store as she went over her plan in her young mind.

The car slowed to a halt in the parking lot and the man turned off the ignition, getting out of the car. He opened up her door and lifted her out of the seat, setting her carefully on the cement. Mr. James took her by the hand and led her into the store. Kyla followed with no complaint, knowing that she could get back to her mommy without this guy catching her.

The second the man became immersed in shopping and started forgetting about her presence, Kyla silently scurried down the aisle, out of sight. The moment she slipped out of the store she looked around. She had a little problem. She had no idea how to get around Metropolis. Deciding to go before Mr. James came searching for her, Kyla ran as fast as she could out into the unknown depths of the city.

Jessica had been having a good day. Placed two children into good foster families, and managed to save three others from abusive homes. She had finished a lot of paper work and had time to spare.

Then she got the phone call.

It was Mr. James, sounding panicky. Apparently, he had taken Kyla with him to go shopping, and at some point she just disappeared. He couldn't find her anywhere in or around the store.

The entire office was now buzzing with the news that a little girl had gone missing. She could have been kidnapped, gotten lost, or she had runaway. The last option seemed very unlikely, considering her age.

The judge who had been on the Lang/Bennett case had called her three times already to rant at her. She wondered why he cared so much about this particular case. It was rather suspicious.

Jess jerked her mind back to the task at hand, talking to Mr. James. She really, REALLY needed to find this kid. It was imperative. She suddenly thought about what Ms. Lang's response to this would be a felt like banging her head against her desk.

It was going to be a very long day.

Chloe, Clark and Lana were all sitting on the couch comfortably, watching TV. Clark yawned as the Lifetime movie, The Dive from Clausen's Pier, ended. Lana was snuggled up against him, sleepy and warm. Chloe was happy to be there with them, but even happier about the direction her two best friends were going in. If they continued on like this, they would be together in no time. Sadly, Lois had had to continue working on the Custody story for Perry.

Clark picked up the controller and flipped through the channels, only vaguely watching what was on.

"-Bulldogs are up by fifteen and-"

"-Buffy, no-"

"-Leo! Get your ass down here, now! -"

"-Pikachu-" Clark raised an eyebrow in disbelief as he passed this show. There were no kids up at this time of night to watch it.

"-Ooh, bagel hockey-"

"-Cheetah catches its prey-"

"-Cordelia, what are-"

"-Rory, it means they think you look like-"

"-In other news, a five year old girl has gone missing." Clark paused on this channel, listening closely. Lana was slowly started to drift off, and Chloe was watching with only mild interest. A picture of the girl appeared onscreen. "Kyla Bennett was shopping with her foster father at 2:30 this afternoon. A couple of minutes after entering the store, she vanished. If you have any information please call-"

By now Lana was staring at the screen in horror. Chloe and Clark were also gazing at the picture. First Lana had her daughter taken away from her, and now the family that the Social Services placed her little girl with had managed to lose her?

"Kyla…" Lana whispered staring at the television. Chloe pulled out her cell phone and hurriedly called her cousin. If she played her cards right, Kyla would be on the front page of the Daily Planet.

Kyla shivered, her clothes soaked from the ongoing downpour. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea, but she just had to get back to her mommy. Her abilities weren't really working at the moment, and she couldn't figure out why.

The tiny girl ran into an alley, hoping to find some kind of shelter. Luckily for her, there was a door to an abandoned apartment building. She scurried inside the dark and dank building, cold and completely lost.

She climbed onto the only piece of furniture in the room. An old, dark red couch that had many assorted tears. Kyla snuggled down and curled into a tiny ball for warmth. It only took her fifteen minutes to fall asleep. After all, she had been wandering around for at least seven hours straight.

Unknown to the sleeping child, a man in his early thirties with blonde-brown hair was standing in the doorway, watching her through light brown eyes. He walked over with a ragged blanket in his arms. After laying the blanket comfortably over her, he retreated back up the stairs.

Kyla continued sleeping, unconsciously gripping the blanket tightly in her tiny fist. She was in for a long day.

Chapter X

I'm turning thirteen tomorrow. Wow, so much has happened since that one night. Seems like a lifetime ago, thinking about it now. It turned out to be a blessing for me to run away like that. If I haven't explained it enough, let's add another notch to the tally. So, after the whole social services thing, I escaped from my foster father and somehow ended up here, with David. Best decision I've ever made. For the first three years, I tried to find my way back to my mother. David made me realize that it would be better for me if just stayed with him. He's looked out for me, taken care of me all these years. Turns out that David's really good with computers. He got a job about a year after I met him. We've even got a house in the suburbs. He taught me everything I'd ever need to know. Anyway, I finally realized that it would be better for my health, if I just stayed away from my mother and Mike. I wonder what would have happened if I had gone back? More abuse, more betrayal, etc. Right? Mum has probably given up on searching for me by now. I has, after all, been almost eight years. Well, eight years tomorrow. Something about the neighborhood we live in feels familiar. I don't go out much, David thinks someone will recognize me and take me away. I go to school, get good grades come home. That's about it, except for vacations. I wonder if I look like my mother. I don't know, I don't remember what she looks like. I don't even remember her name or anything else about that life, except for Mike. Anyway, I should be going, I'll write again tomorrow or something.

Kyla shut her notebook and slid it under her mattress. She checked the time on her clock. 7:10 A.M. The teen snatched up her backpack and headed down the stairs. True, she still had fifty more minutes until she had to get to the school, but she liked to get an early start.

"Early bird catches the worm." She sang quietly to herself as she touched down on the landing. Her black and white cat, Gaia, purred and rubbed up against her ankles, her way of saying that she was ready to eat.

"C'mon, Gaia, time for breakfast." She cooed to her cat as she led her into the kitchen.

Lana Lang sat on her windowsill, staring out at the cloudy, ominous sky. It mirrored how she was feeling. Tomorrow, September fifteenth, would be her daughter's thirteenth birthday. Almost eight years ago, those idiots at CFS had placed her daughter in the care of a couple that lost her. Lana was still searching for her little girl. She just wanted to know if she was alive.

The only good thing that had happened since then was she had gotten married to Clark Kent, one of the Daily Planet's ace reporters. Chloe and Pete, along with their daughter Maria, had been there at the wedding.

Kyla would be the same age as Maria. If she was alive and going to school, she would be in the same grade as the Ross' daughter, with the slim chance that they went to the same school. But…

Lana shook this thought away. It was hopeful thinking, which often led to disappointment. Also, another big thing that had happened, Mike was sent to jail.

The police finally realized that Mike has abused her daughter and bribed the judge. The judge had also been sent to prison, for accepting the bribe and endangering a child's life.

A little too late now, though, wasn't it?

Maria scurried into her Advanced Algebra class, only seconds before the bell rang. She glanced around, spotted her best friends, and slid into the seat between them. Seth Olsen and Caroline Rangel.

They had met in second grade and been thick as thieves ever since. Maria and Caroline were on the same soccer team, and Seth and she both wanted to be journalists. They did almost everything together.

"Rachel?"

"Here"

"James?"

"Here."

Their teacher, Mrs. Fortune, was taking attendance.

"Alyssa?"

"Here."

Maria flipped up her notebook open and started working on the math warm-up that was written on the board.

" Kyla?"

"Here."

Maria, as always, looked over at the girl in question. Everytime she heard that particular girl's name, she always looked up. There was just something oddly familiar about her, she just couldn't remember what and it annoyed her to no end. She also reminded her of someone, one of her mother's friends.

"It's your birthday tomorrow, right Kyla?" Mrs. Fortune asked, smiling. She was nearly everybody's favorite teacher. She was funny and she really, really made her class as fun as possible.

"Yes, ma'am. Thirteenth."

"Did I know anybody named Kyla?" Chloe's head jerked up to gaze at her daughter, curiosity etched on her face. She traded glances with her husband, shifting uncertainly.

"When you were, uhm, little. Yeah." Chloe stopped there, hoping the subject would be dropped.

"Where is she?" Maria's eyes flickered from her mother to her father. She wanted to know why they were so intent on avoiding this subject.

"She disappeared when she was five. No body even knows if she's alive." Pete answered so that Chloe wouldn't have to talk about it. "She was the daughter of one of your mother's friends, Lana."

"Why are you just asking about it now?" Chloe asked quietly.

"I--" She paused. "Are you sure she's gone?"

"Yeah, we're actually printing a story on her tomorrow. If she's alive, it's her thirteenth birthday."

Maria bit her lip, toying with her mashed potatoes for a couple of minutes before speaking. "I don't think she's dead." The teen looked up at her parents.

"I think—I think she's in my class."

"Oh my god."

Lana gaped at the picture in Maria's yearbook from her sixth grade year. She blinked and rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Above the name KYLA GREENE was an almost exact replica of herself at that age, except for a few slight differences.

The girl featured in the picture had a distinctly tomboyish look to her, mostly in what little she could see of the shirt she was wearing. Her dark chocolate hair was parted at the side. The top that she word had the name of some obscure band or other, Lana really couldn't tell what it was.

Chloe lightly squeezed her friend's hand comfortingly as she stared at the picture. It did look like Lana. Eerily so, in fact.

"Is it possible? I don't want to be-" Lana broke off, lifting her shining green eyes to look desperately at Clark and Chloe.

"We can find out."