Pete Ross sat at the bar of the Talon, surrounded by women. It was his favorite place to be.
"And that's the way I pulled myself out of the compactor and got away," he said to the crowd of fangirls. They all let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh my God. That's the bravest thing I've ever heard," said one of the girls.
"Well, you know, if I didn't do something fast, I'd be Spam in a can, so…." He let the sentence hang there.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay," another girl replied, kissing him on the cheek. "Call me," she said as the group started to walk away.
"I will do that," Pete said smokily.
"I have a feeling I'll be hearing this story for a long time."
Pete burst out laughing and spun around in his chair to face Clark, who stood behind him. "Busted," he said. "But, you know, what can I say? Chicks dig a hero."
"Uh huh."
"Hope you don't mind I'm bending the truth a little bit."
Clark chuckled. "Pete, look who you're talking to. The master truth-bender. Besides, after everything you've done for me, it's the least I can do." He grimaced, then took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"What's the matter?"
"My eyes are just adjusting. I think I need a new prescription."
"Almost back to normal, huh?"
He turned around to find Chloe standing there. She looked… well.
"Chloe," he said flatly before walking away.
Pete whistled after he left. "Wow," he said. "Cold shoulder much?"
"It's like he's from an ice planet," she nearly whimpered.
Pete put an arm around her shoulder. "You wanna talk?"
She sniffed and nodded. He led her to one of the tables and they both sat down. "What happened?"
Chloe was quiet for several moments. Finally she spoke: "Pete, you have to promise not to tell anybody."
"Scout's honor."
She laughed. "We both know Clark's the Big Blue Boy Scout," she said mirthfully. "But thanks." She took a deep breath before saying: "I made a deal with Lionel Luthor."
"Whoa!" Pete nearly shouted before saying, more quietly this time: "Is that why Clark's mad at you?"
"What do you think?" she snapped. "It happened last year, before Clark disappeared off to Metropolis all summer. We had this huge fight, and like every woman scorned I wanted to do the one thing that would hurt him the most." She looked down. "I've been trying to get out ever since."
"Sounds like you're in pretty heavy."
She nodded. "He's blackmailing me, using my column at the Planet and my dad's employment at his company to manipulate me into doing whatever he wants."
"Which is?"
"Researching Clark."
Pete's eyes grew wide, and he understood. "So Clark found out somehow, and he wasn't happy about it."
"I don't know how he found out," she said. "But we had this big blowout at his barn earlier today." She looked up at him fearfully. "I think this might be the end of our friendship, Pete."
"Don't say that," he insisted. "You two just need to talk now that everything's out in the open."
She looked down to where her hands were folded in her lap. "Not everything."
"What do you mean?"
"Okay, vow of secrecy time again. Do you promise not to tell anyone?"
"I swear."
"Do you remember all those photos of Clark and me that I supposedly got rid of after the Spring Formal?" she asked, and Pete nodded. "Well… the truth is that I still have them."
"What?!"
"Shhh!" she ordered. "Not so loud. Do you want everybody to know?"
"Sorry. So what's the big deal?"
"Lionel knows about them too. He's threatening to send them to Clark if I don't keep working for him."
"So why don't you just tell him?"
She blinked. "Say what?"
"Show Clark the pictures. That way Lionel can't hold them over you. The truth shall set you free, Chloe Sullivan."
"But there'd still be the issue of my Daily Planet column and my dad's job."
"You can cross that bridge when you come to it. If you just tell Clark about the pictures, it'll be one less thing to worry about."
"I don't know…."
"Now there's something I never thought I'd hear you say," Pete remarked. Ever since he'd met her, Chloe had always been after whatever source of information she could find. Even though she didn't actually know everything, that didn't stop her from wanting to.
"Look," he said. "You still love Clark, right? I mean obviously you do, or else you wouldn't have those pictures. Now you and I both know there's nothing sadder than unrequited love. You at least owe it to him to tell him how you feel."
She looked up. "You really think so?"
"Quit tryin' to make this my decision," Pete practically ordered her. "You got yourself into this mess, and you're the only one who can get yourself out. Now I may be your mechanic, but you've still gotta drive the car."
"You're right," said Chloe, her strength suddenly returning. "I'll show him tomorrow at school." She stood to leave, pausing long enough to say: "Thanks, Pete."
He smiled. "No problem. What are friends for?"
"Repeating that exact sentence apparently," she quipped, and they both laughed. "Later, Pete."
"See ya."
Clark was sitting in his loft, staring out at the sky. Out of all the things that had changed in the past two and a half years, this was one activity that remained constant. He no longer wondered why he found it so interesting—it was where he came from, after all. Looking at the vast expanse of tiny apertures that dotted the night sky made him feel at peace. After the ship had been destroyed last year, it was one of his few remaining connections to Krypton.
He was reluctant to call it home, however, even in his mind. Krypton was his place of birth, yes, but he had been raised on Earth. Jonathan and Martha Kent were the people who had seen him through fourteen years of growing up, so they were his real parents as far as he was concerned. Jor-El may have given him life, but that didn't grant him the right to control the way he lived it.
It was here, in this loft, gazing at the stars from which he had come, that Clark had made some of the biggest decisions in his life. It was here, in front of this window, just last year, that he had finally took a shot with Lana Lang, the girl of his dreams. He had been so excited at the time—but it wasn't meant to last. He didn't trust her to keep his secret. How could he, when he was the reason her parents were dead?
It was down there, in the driveway where his gaze had now shifted, that he and Chloe had gotten into a fight that had nearly destroyed their friendship. She had been so angry at him, and all he could offer her was more vague excuses and promises to get back to her later. It was that fight that had driven her to turn to Lionel Luthor. If he had only told her the truth about him and Lana, she wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.
It was here, in this barn, that he and Chloe had gotten into another fight just earlier today. He had confronted her with the truth, and she had met his righteous indignation with her own. She had turned the tables on him. She had reminded him that the guilt was his. It wasn't like she had outright accused him of putting her in a situation where her only choice was to turn to Lionel, but he didn't need X-Ray vision to see that he had broken her heart last year and that this whole thing was his fault.
His parents had raised him to always tell the truth. But people keep secrets for a reason. Even they understood that. The world wasn't ready for the truth. Neither was Lana.
But was Chloe? He had thought about telling her many times before—only to have her say something that reminded him why he was keeping this a secret in the first place. He had nearly lost Pete as a friend when he told him, and even though things were great between them now, he could tell that his best friend looked at him differently than he used to; part admiration, part envy. That was the look he saw on Pete's face every time the subject of his powers or his extraterrestrial heritage came up. Part of Pete was impressed by the fact that his best friend was an alien—he made that very obvious—but Clark knew that another part of his best friend was extremely jealous.
How would Chloe react if she knew that her research into him had not been in vain? That he was an alien from another planet, apparently sent here to conquer Earth? The part of her that had created the Wall of Weird would probably think it was unbelievably cool. But her investigative reporter side would want to share his secret with the world. He couldn't risk that.
Still, would she have gone to Lionel in the first place if she had known? He knew Chloe too well to think that she was researching him entirely against her will. If he had been honest with her—about everything—would she have betrayed him like that?
His thoughts were interrupted when his vision blurred and he took off his glasses to find his surroundings as clear as they'd always been. He smirked. Only a Kryptonian could recover from total blindness in less than twenty-four hours.
"Looks like you're back to normal."
Clark turned around, smiling when he saw Lana there.
"Hey, Lana. Um, I'm glad you're here." He stepped closer to her. "I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday in the truck."
"Right, I, uh, wanted to talk to you about that too."
"I was way out of line. I was feeling vulnerable, but I don't expect—"
She cut him off. "Clark, um… The reason I pulled away is that I… I met someone at the hospital."
He blinked. "Oh."
"And I'm not sure how I feel about him."
"Well, I mean, the fact you're telling me about him means you already know," he offered.
"Maybe you're right," she replied. "But if, um, if you and I are going to be friends, I-I didn't want you to find out from somebody else."
Clark nodded solemnly, resigning himself to his fate. "Yeah," he said, his voice low. "Yeah."
Sensing that Clark wanted to be alone right now, and feeling the same way herself, Lana said: "Well, uh, I should get back to the Talon." She turned and started to leave.
"Hey, Lana?"
She halted, then turned around slowly to face him.
"Thanks for being honest."
She nodded. "Well, it's the only way our relationship can last, right?" She moved down the stairs, and was soon out of sight.
He smiled, though it didn't last as he put his newly discovered power of super-hearing to use, only to hear the one thing other than Kryptonite that could cause him pain: the sound of another person's anguish. Lana was crying.
He was the one who had reduced her to this, he realized. He was the one who had broken her heart earlier that year, when he told her that, even though he had tried so hard to be the right guy for her, he could never make himself fit that role. He had told himself—and Lana—that he was protecting her, but the truth was that he was protecting himself. He was protecting his secret. People wear armor for a reason—and inside that armor, there's only room for one.
Could he have spared her this, if he had told her? The question was pointless now. The damage had already been done. He couldn't go back and rebuild a bridge that he himself had burned.
Was it too late for Chloe? Was he destined to lose each of the people he loved because he couldn't trust them to keep his secret? Would he eventually end up pushing them all away? He hoped that that wouldn't be the case, but he knew a sign of the future when he saw one. If he didn't tell Chloe the truth—about everything—he would lose her forever, just like he had lost Lana.
He sighed and looked back up at the stars. Even with powers as amazing as his, sometimes being an alien really sucked.
Chloe took a deep breath. This was it. Now or never. It was either tell him the truth, or lose him as a friend forever.
"Clark!" she called, rushing up to where he stood by his locker.
He didn't look quite so upset to see her as he had yesterday, but she did notice that his expression seemed to convey a feeling of thinly disguised guilt. 'He feels responsible for this,' she realized. That notion didn't make her feel any better.
"Uh, hi Chloe," he greeted awkwardly.
"Do you have a minute to talk?"
He didn't say anything, but nodded.
"I just wanted to say that… I'm sorry for everything," she told him. "I'm sorry I went to Lionel, I'm sorry I looked into your past in the first place, and I'm sorry that I let my feelings for you get in the way of being your friend."
He smiled, looking at the same time like he was trying to ignore a gaping hole in his chest. It was the smile of a wounded man who tries to deny the fact that he's dying. "I forgive you."
As much as she hated clichés, Chloe did indeed feel as though an incredible weight had been taken from her shoulders. But the knot in her stomach returned when she realized that the burden had somehow been transferred to Clark.
"How long before your next class?" she asked, even though the question was unnecessary as she had his entire schedule memorized. Hey, she was his best friend—it wasn't like she was stalking him or anything. Speaking of which….
"I have this period off," he answered. "Why?"
She inhaled, delaying her answer until her lungs were ready to explode. "I have something to show you."