Chapter 3: Make up or Break Up

As Johnathon Kent left the doctor's office he looked around for his son. It had been a hectic couple of days for the both of them. The Doctor had pronounced him fit as a fiddle though and he was anxious to get back to the farm. There wasn't a lot of damage caused by the storm and most of it had been fixed by Clark already. But he was not a man to leave work un-done and wanted to get to it.

"I still don't see why your mother sent you with me. I'm perfectly fine. I even I have a doctors note saying that very thing." Jonathon said as Clark walked up to meet him.

"Well you know Mom. She is a champion worrier and she wanted me to go with you. Probably more for her sake then anything else but when Mom "asks" me to do something like this its best to just say 'Sure thing' and get going." Clark loved his mother very much. He thought that if the woman he eventually married were to be like her then he would be a very happy man. That is assuming he ever did get married.

He knew Chloe was probably angry with him for leaving her at the dance and he knew that he had to make it up to her some how. The problem was that he couldn't find the right way to say it. He knew that with him leaving her there at the dance on their first date he had to do something special.

"Earth to Clark, Come in Clark. Do you read us?" His dad said from the other side of the truck. "Are you going to get in or are you going to just stare at the door for the rest of the afternoon?"

"Oh, right...sorry." He said quickly jumping into the truck along side his dad.

Johnathon didn't need to be psychic to tell that there was something bothering Clark. "Ok what is it? Maybe I can help."

"Its nothing really." Clark said, his gaze lingering out the window as his dad drove home. Even though he tried brushing it off he could feel his dad next to him, waiting.

"Its just that...I have just been trying to find a way to make it up to Chloe for leaving her at the dance. The fact that I left her there to go and help Lana just made the situation worse. I mean its not like I left her there to go date Lana. But how do I tell her that I knew a tornado was coming and had to pull Lana's truck out of the funnel cloud with her still in it? I don't think they make a Hallmark card for that." A frown creasing his forehead. "Plus with all that's been going on with Nixon over the last few days I haven't been able to see her all that much. School tomorrow is going to be the first time I have spent anytime with her for days"

"Speaking of which how did she take the story about Nixon we told her?" Jonathon asked with a small worry. He always got worried when they had to tell a lie to cover a situation that had to do with Clark's special nature. Even though he didn't want to, he worried about Chloe Sullivan. Her nature caused her to be naturally curious and doubtful. She definitely had a knack for getting to the truth. He knew that she would never intentionally hurt Clark if she did find out the truth, but there was more to it then that. Pete Ross had just found out about Clark and he was still trying to come to grips with that. He understood that Clark needed to have a friend outside of his parents that he could turn to but there was great danger in Pete knowing Clark's secret. Not just for Clark but for Pete as well.

"She seemed to believe it. I think the strain of the last few days may have clouded her judgment enough to let it slip past." Clark's mind was still on his current problem though.

"Well hopefully she wont press into it." He looked over at his son. "I know just the person to fix your situation Clark, your Mother. If ever there was a hopeless romantic she is it. I am sure she can help you find just the right way to say 'your sorry you left your date at the Spring Formal to go rescue another girl from inside a tornado.' Wow, you know son, when you actually say it out loud it sounds a lot worse." He said with a small chuckle

"Yeah thanks a lot." He replied as they drove to the outskirts of town. As they past the last few shops, Clark noticed a sign in one of the windows of Kensington Florists. An idea forming in his head.

The Torch

"I'm glad he's dead." Chloe said dropping her first period books on the desk. "He gave journalists everywhere a bad name." This day had finally come and she was still a little jittery about what she knew she had to do. Her movements a little over exaggerated.

"Whoa, calm down Chloe." Pete said slowly backing away with a grin on his face. He had had to go over in his head the last few days trying to reinforce the fake story of what happened to Nixon in his brain. Mostly for just this moment. He wanted to make sure he didn't get any detail wrong cause he knew that if he made a slip up he might find himself under the hot lights of Chloe Sullivan's interrogative gaze. He didn't like having to lie to her but he was starting to understand. He was getting a better appreciation of what it was like to be Clark Kent.

"Hey guys." Clark said as he rounded the corner coming into the Torch's office. "Whats going on?"

"Oh not much. Chloe's just speaking ill of the dead thats all." Pete replied while gathering his books into his bag.

"I am not." She said with a stern glare at Pete. Pete just kept grinning and looked at his bag.

"I was just telling Pete that I was glad Roger Nixon is dead. It comes as no surprise to me that he went crazy. He was probably mentally unstable for a long time, this probably just put him over the edge." It was getting harder and harder for her to stop her voice from cracking. She should just get this over with quickly.

"Speaking of which Clark, hows your Dad?" Pete asked as he zipped up his bag and threw it over his shoulder.

"He's fine. Doctors gave him a clean bill of health."

"Well thats great to hear. You coming Clark? We got like less then a minute to get to class." He said heading for the door.

"Right behind you." Clark replied grabbing his stuff.

"Hey, Clark hold up I want to talk to you a second." Chloe said hoping to at least be able to do this in private. She normally would have talked to Pete about something like this but she wanted to get it over with before she chickened out.

Clark turned and looked back at her. "Whats up?" He said coming to stand next to her. No sooner had the words left his mouth then the bell to first period rang. Clark involuntarily looked over his shoulder at the door.

"You know what it's not important, it'll wait till later. You better get to class, you don't want to be late." Her resolve crumbling to dust.

"You sure?" He said looking into her eyes. He thought he saw something there but wasn't sure.

"Yeah. Go on." She replied.

"Ok. I'll meet you here after class. Bye!" He leaned in, gave her a kiss on the cheek and was gone.

She almost fainted.

She was weak.

She was weak and she knew it.