"Clark, why are you going through your dad's toolbox?"

"There's something in here I wanna show you."

"Couldn't you just tell me instead?"

"And ruin the mystique?" Clark grinned impishly. "Besides, you wouldn't believe me unless I showed it to you."

"I dunno, Clark. I'm pretty open-minded."

"Let's see if you remember that in about a minute," he muttered. Finding what he was looking for, he hid it in his palm and walked back over to Chloe so that he was standing right in front of her.

"What's in your hand?"

For once in their entire relationship, he obliged her. When he opened his hand, she saw a small octagonal disk with strange hieroglyphics resting in his palm.

"Those are the same symbols from the caves," she observed. "But since when did the Kawatchee make paperweights?"

"They're not Kawatchee," Clark corrected. "They're not even from this planet."

Before Chloe had a chance to respond, he continued: "Do you remember the legend of Niman?"

"The one about the guy who comes down in a rain of fire, has the strength of ten men and shoots fire from his eyes?"

"Yeah, that one. Do you ever wonder who it's referring to?"

"Constantly. Why?"

Instead of answering, he strode over to where a bale of hay sat on the floor of the barn. Seemingly without effort, he tossed it up to the rafters.

Chloe wasn't sure what to make of the display. "Okay, so you've apparently been drinking your milk, but what—"

Her next words caught in her throat as the bale of hay spontaneously combusted in mid-air. Before it landed, Clark caught it. She didn't even see him move; it was like he'd teleported. If she'd been confused before, her bewilderment went into overdrive when he stopped the fire by snuffing it out with his bare hand.

It was several moments before she could even speak. "Y-you're…."

"Yes," Clark finished for her. "I'm Niman."

"But you're not Kawatchee."

"Neither is the language on the cave walls."

Her eyes grew wide, not with terror, but with the awe of witnessing a discovery so immense that it had the ability to render one speechless. "So when the legend talked about the rain of fire, it really meant…."

"The meteor shower."

"But… how…?"

"Chloe, do you know why my birth certificate and my adoption papers are forged? Do you know why you can't find any information about me from before the meteor shower?"

She gasped. "But that would mean you're an…."

"Alien," he finished. He held up the disk. "This is the key that opened my spaceship. It also allows me to interact with the caves."

Chloe threw up her hands. "Whoa, whoa, back up! Did you just say spaceship?! Why didn't you just show me that?!"

He sighed. "Do you remember the day of Lex's wedding? When we had that big fight?"

"Painfully," she answered, really wishing he hadn't brought that up right now.

"I was on my way to destroy the ship."

"What?!"

He started to pace. "The ship contained an AI programmed to act as the will of my biological father. His name is Jor-El, by the way."

"And what was your name on wherever you come from?"

"Kal-El," he answered. "The planet I come from is called Krypton."

"As in element number thirty-six on the Periodic Table?"

"As in a planet from a distant solar system. Apparently the sunsets there lasted for hours."

"Okay, so if the place had such a spankin' view, why'd they send you here? And why with all those meteors?"

He frowned. "The planet was destroyed, Chloe. I'm the last of my kind."

The journalistic intrigue that had danced in her eyes mere moments ago was replaced by a look of heartfelt compassion. "I'm so sorry, Clark," she whispered.

"It's fine," he said, brushing it off and heading for the stairs that led to his loft. Chloe followed.

"So what'd the ship say that made you wanna destroy it?"

"Jor-El told me to leave Smallville," he said, taking a seat on the couch. Chloe did likewise. "He burned this symbol," he pointed to one of the markings on the octagonal disk, the one that looked like the number eight inside an inverted pentagon, "into my chest."

"That must've hurt."

He smirked. "You have no idea. Anyway, he told me that if I didn't leave Smallville by noon the next day, everyone I loved would pay the price."

"And I'm guessing you didn't like that ultimatum."

He shook his head. "Pete helped me to steal a copy of the key that Lionel made out of Kryptonite—that's what the green meteor rocks are—to destroy the ship."

"Okay, slow down!" Chloe demanded, rocketing to her feet. "First, why was Pete helping you?"

"He knows my secret," answered Clark. "I told him a year ago."

Chloe looked hurt. "Why him and not me?"

"He kinda found my ship after it flew out of the storm cellar when the tornadoes hit," Clark admitted sheepishly. "It was either tell him or lose him as a friend. And even when I told him, I almost did."

"But everything apparently worked out great between the two of you, right?"

Clark nodded.

"So now it's time for you to answer part two of my question," she continued. "Why would a key made out of… what'd you call it?"

"Kryptonite."

"…Kryptonite, be enough to destroy the ship?"

"Because it's the only thing that can kill me," Clark said.

"Wait, what?"

"Chloe, you saw me put out that fire with my bare hands. I'm more than just thick-skinned; I'm bulletproof."

Remembering all the times that Clark had come into contact with small-arms fire, Chloe was wiling to bet that statement was true. "But Kryptonite weakens you?"

"And it negates all my powers. It's like my blood starts boiling and I lose the ability to even stand when I'm near it. If I'm exposed to it long enough, I'll die."

"Hence the reason why you couldn't get within ten feet of Lana Lang without tripping over yourself for as long as she wore that necklace," Chloe observed.

"Exactly," said Clark. "It's also the reason I got sick that one time. Irradiated spores."

"Gross," she commented. "Your mom came down with the same thing. What cured you?"

"The ship," he answered. When she raised an eyebrow, he explained: "Whenever the ship opened, it emitted some sort of pulse that apparently negated the effects of any Kryptonite in the area. It also helped my mother become pregnant."

Chloe was beyond stunned. "How?"

"The pulse acted as some sort of miracle-healer. It corrected whatever condition she had and made her able to bear children."

"So what happened when you put in the Kryptonite key?" she asked with trepidation.

Clark frowned. "The opposite," he said in a low, regretful tone. "It made her lose the baby."

And for the hundredth time in the last ten minutes, she was floored. "Clark, I'm so sorry that happened," she whispered, sitting down next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault," he said, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, he continued: "It was the reason I left. I'd never seen my dad so afraid of me. I didn't feel like I belonged here. So I ran away."

"Wow," she whispered, suddenly understanding what had driven him to abandon Smallville. "But if you were really that depressed, why'd you act like such a jerk when I found you in Metropolis a month later?"

"I actually have your class ring to blame for that," he said, his tone the very definition of regret.

"Why?"

"You remember how the school cheaped out and made the gems out of red meteor rock?"

"Definitely. I wrote an exposé on it, remember?"

"Well, think about it. If green Kryptonite affects me physically…."

"…then the red Kryptonite has to do with your emotions," she finished for him.

He nodded. "It removes my inhibitions and makes me say and do things I wouldn't even think of otherwise."

"Like a drug?"

"Well I don't like to think of what I did in Metropolis as getting high, but yeah, basically."

"Huh," she said. "So what else can you do?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, so far you're super-strong, you can shoot fire from your eyes, you're physically invulnerable, and you apparently teleport?"

"Actually I just move faster than you can see me," he corrected.

"I wondered how you always beat Pete and me to school even though you regularly missed the bus," she mused. "Anything else?"

"I have heightened senses too. Just the other day I discovered I have the ability to hear someone whispering on the other side of the planet."

Her eyes grew wide and she gasped. "That's how you knew about me and Lionel!"

Clark nodded. "Apparently it was my other senses trying to compensate for my loss of sight," he said. "I couldn't quite control it at that point."

"Well you mastered it pretty quickly," she noted. "What else ya got?"

"One more," he answered, taking a deep breath. "I can see through solid objects."

Chloe's eyes immediately bugged out and she scurried back to the other side of the couch, self-consciously crossing her arms over her chest.

He rolled his eyes. "I don't use it to do that," he said, and Chloe relaxed. "I call it X-Ray vision because most of the time that's literally what it is. Everything goes photonegative and I can see people's skeletons."

"That's how you ID'ed Tina Greer," she realized.

"Yeah," he said.

She was quiet for the next several minutes. Clark watched her the whole time. He didn't mean to stare, but he was very anxious about her reaction now that he'd finally told her the truth. "Well?" he asked finally.

"Well what?"

"Do you see me any differently now?"

She laughed. He was so self-conscious it was hilarious to look at. "Of course I do, silly," she answered, elbowing him. For the first time, she realized the true reason why he flinched: he didn't want to hurt her.

He was apparently more than willing to heap pain and suffering upon himself, though, because she saw him frown. "I see."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Do you see me running for the hills?" she asked. "It's not like you're the first person with extraordinary abilities that I've come across. Just the first one who didn't get them from the meteor rocks."

In that moment she saw the weight of the world disappear from Clark's shoulders. He looked up at her, unable to believe that she could be so accepting. "You really mean that?"

She nodded. "I do. You're still the same Clark Kent I fell in love with, just with added benefits. You're like my own personal superhero."

Clark, having heard those words from her before, grinned. "You're really okay with this?" he asked one more time.

"Yes," she answered, slightly annoyed. "I'll prove it to you," she said before making the distance between their faces disappear.

This was new territory for both of them. They'd kissed before, but never with Chloe half-lying on top of him. It was… stimulating, to say the least. Not that Clark would even acknowledge that thought short of being on red Kryptonite, which he definitely wasn't. Still, it wasn't like he was putting up much of a struggle.

He felt a sudden pressure on his lips, not realizing until a few seconds later that it was actually Chloe's tongue seeking access to his mouth. He granted it, parting his lips and letting her inside. She wasted no time exploring. He wondered why his tongue was suddenly overwhelmed with pleasure until he realized that the blonde not-quite-temptress was stroking its underside with hers. It was all too much for him to process—which said a lot considering his superior brain power—and he moaned in response to her expert ministrations.

Clark suddenly became aware of a growing itch in his eyes. Somewhere beneath his hormone-induced fugue, he remembered what would happen next. He broke the kiss, shoving Chloe to the other side of the couch.

"Clark, what the hell?!" she screeched.

"Chloe, get down!"

She barely had time to duck before the wall behind her caught fire. Clark went into superspeed and ran by the flames, trusting that the wind he generated would be enough to extinguish them. He was back on the couch before Chloe could even raise her head.

"Chloe, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but what the hell was that?!"

Clark chuckled sheepishly. "I… uh… never told you what triggers my heat vision, did I?"

She blinked. "Sexual arousal? You're kidding me. And here I thought it'd be anger."

"That does it too," he admitted. "But mostly it's just the thinking about sex part."

"Okay that is so not going to bode well for future make-out sessions," Chloe said.

"It only happens when I lose control of myself," he explained. "I can suppress it if I have time to warm up first." She giggled at the pun. "If you don't wanna get fried, we're gonna have to take this physical stuff slow."

"And here I thought I'd be the one putting a speed limit on the romantic activities. At least now I know why you never dated much. Aside from the Lana obsession, that is."

Clark frowned. "Can we please not talk about that?"

"Say, you didn't ever tell her your secret, did you?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid of how she might react."

"Why? I took it well, as you can see."

"Because you're apparently a xenophile," he quipped. Chloe resisted the urge to punch him, knowing that it would be like trying to hit steel.

"So then why?"

"Her parents were killed by one of the meteors," he answered. "And she's had so many meteor mutants try and kill her that I'm starting to think she got infected too and her power is attracting psychos. Everything that's happened in Smallville is related to me. If I hadn't come, neither would the meteor shower, and this town would be a hell of a lot more normal."

"Now that would be a tragedy," she remarked. "Still, why blame yourself? It's not like your home planet blew up because of you. Correlation isn't causation, Clark. Just because you happened to come with those meteors doesn't mean you're responsible for the effects."

"Lana wouldn't see it that way," said Clark. "That's why I can't tell her."

"She does have a tendency to jump to even worse conclusions than I do," Chloe mused. "But you still owe her a chance."

"Even though me telling her might ruin yours?"

Chloe didn't even flinch. "Yes, Clark. I'm not gonna force you to tell her or anything—that's your choice. Just know that if you don't, you two will never be more than friends."

"I'm not sure that's such a bad thing anymore," he replied, looking at her. She smiled.

"Well you can rest assured that I'm not going to tell anybody who doesn't already know," Chloe promised. "It's not my place."

"Whatever happened to 'the people have a right to the truth?'"

"Not when that truth involves one of my best friends. There's no such thing as impartial journalism."

"Well then I'm glad we've decided to be even more than friends," said Clark. "Even more security that way."

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about pillow talk if you're the only one I'm having it with."

"That better be true."

"Ooh, is Clark getting jealous?" she teased.

"Is there anything I should be jealous of?"

She shook her head.

He grinned. "Thanks, Chloe."

"For what?"

"For accepting me in spite of what I am."

Chloe actually laughed out loud. "In spite of it? Hell, now I love you even more! You were honest with me, Clark. That took guts."

"It was worth the risk," he said, beaming.

She glanced at the clock. "Don't you guys usually have dinner around this time?"

Clark looked at his watch. "Actually we're already late," he said, standing up and extending his hand. "C'mon, I'll get us there in less than a second."

"You'd better not give me whiplash, Kent."

"I'll try my best," he said, grinning.

And the next thing she knew, she was having dinner with the Kents.

"So you never told me what the symbols mean," Chloe said as she sat down beside Clark. "I assume that was you who burned that into your barn last year, correct?"

Clark nodded, chewing on a large piece of his chicken. Swallowing, he replied: "That was the symbol for Hope."

"Prophetic," she said. "So how'd you learn to read them?"

"When I put the key into the cave wall, it downloaded me with all the knowledge of my planet's language," answered Clark. "I literally became fluent overnight."

"Wow," Chloe breathed. "So you're saying I could learn to read them?"

"Not like that," he replied, shaking his head. "The last person to try it was Dr. Walden, and he wound up in Belle-Reve in a catatonic state."

"So he suffered information overload?"

He nodded. "Apparently it was too much for any brain except mine to handle."

"So what happened that made him wind up like an overcooked chicken fritter?"

"He regained consciousness the night before Lex's wedding, as well as gaining the ability to emit energy from his hand using the key. He almost killed me."

Chloe looked confused. "But I thought Kryptonite was the only thing that could do that."

"There are other things that can hurt Clark," said Martha. "Anything Kryptonian, for instance. He may be bulletproof, but he's not immortal."

"Still, having a kid with a dermis that's harder than diamonds must do a lot to ease your worrying," she volunteered.

"Actually it's just as bad," said Jonathan. "We may not have to worry about Clark getting hurt, but powers like his come with an enormous responsibility. If he's not careful, he could severely injure or even kill someone when he uses them."

"Hence why you're not on the football team," noted Chloe, understanding. "Though I must say I'm not entirely ungrateful for your lack of other extracurriculars. The lunch menu isn't gonna type itself," she teased.

Clark just smiled.

"So who told you that you're from Krypton?" she asked him. "How do you know they're not just making stuff up?"

"Because the person who told me is Dr. Virgil Swann."

"The billionaire supergenius? No way!"

"Way," he replied, grinning. "One of his receiving stations picked up a transmission on the day of the meteor shower. It took him years to decrypt it, but he knows how to read Kryptonian. He's the one who told me my real name and where I come from. He also…." He looked away.

"Also what?"

"He's also the one who showed me where Krypton used to be, before it was destroyed. He tracked the signal all the way to a distant solar system, but all he found was empty space. He told me I'm the last of my kind."

"But there's gotta be others like you," she insisted.

Clark smiled bitterly. "That's what I said too. He told me there was only one message. I'm all that's left of my planet."

There was silence for a few minutes before Chloe decided to change the subject to Clark's childhood. "So I'll bet having a super-powered kid around the farm must have been a handful."

Martha smiled. "There were times when we wondered just what exactly we'd signed on for. The majority of Clark's abilities were present when we found him, like his strength, his speed and his durability, all of which grew in power as he developed. The others just sort of emerged over the last two and a half years. We only discovered his super-hearing yesterday."

"Which worked out great for me," Chloe deadpanned. She looked at Clark. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Lionel sooner. I turned to him in a moment of weakness, and the only reason I'm still in is because I can't seem to get out."

"It's fine," he said, reaching over and rubbing her arm to show his support. She closed her eyes and tried to convince herself that she and Clark were the only two people in the world at that moment.

The illusion was shattered when Jonathan said: "I hope you're not planning on telling any of this to Lionel, Chloe."

She smirked. "After the way he threatened me and my dad? He'll be lucky if he gets a 'screw you' out of me. I'd sooner live in a cardboard box and eat Spam for the rest of my life than tell him what I know. Your secret's safe with me."

"And you won't tell anyone else?"

Chloe shook her head. "I promise."

"Well that's good to hear," said Martha. "Welcome to the family, Chloe."

She smiled.

"I'm gonna swing by Lex's tomorrow," said Clark. "See if he can do anything to help against his father."

"Just be careful, Clark," his mother cautioned. "We don't know much control Lionel has over him after what happened at Belle-Reve. It could be dangerous."

"It's worth a shot," he said. "And I will be careful."

Chloe smiled at him. "Thanks, Clark."

"Anytime."

The rest of the dinner conversation was devoted to tales of Clark's early childhood, from lifting a five hundred pound bed when he was only three years old to stripping off all his clothes and climbing inside the oven trying to imitate the turkey they'd just had the night before. Fortunately Clark's invulnerability had developed to the point where all he did was sweat in response to the heat, which had climbed to over four hundred degrees by the time the Kents found him. Martha recounted the tale with a healthy dose of laughter, although Chloe did detect signs of worrying in her voice. But then again, worrying was what mothers did.

When the last of their meal was done, Clark did the dishes in under a second, which drew a round of applause from Chloe and his parents.

"It may seem like a time-saver to you, but Einstein's Theory of Relativity is true to the point where doing them at superspeed feels like it takes just as long as doing them the normal way," he mock-complained. "I think I at least deserve a 'thank you.'"

Chloe giggled at his mock display of not feeling appreciated, giving him a kiss on the lips as his reward. "Thank you, Clark," she said before glancing at her watch. "I'd better get home."

"Want me to run you there?" Clark offered, but Chloe shook her head.

"Even though I'm sure you could carry both me and my car all the way to my house without breaking a sweat, you nearly gave me serious whiplash just carrying me here from your barn," she explained. "Besides, a nice drive will give me the chance to think over some things I need to deal with by myself."

"Alright then," he said, giving her a kiss goodbye. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye. Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Kent!" she called before disappearing out the back door.

Clark stood there for a moment, smiling like he had all evening. Things would be so much easier with Chloe now that she knew the truth. He was sure of it.

He turned around to see his parents smiling at him. "We are so proud of you, Clark," his mother said. "That was very brave of you to take such a risk. Your father and I are glad that everything worked out so well."

"Just be careful from now on, son," said Jonathan. "Now that Chloe knows your secret, someone might try to get it out of her. Now if you trust her not to tell anyone then so do your mother and I, but she's in great danger of someone trying to force it from her against her will."

Clark's eyes narrowed. "That's not going to happen. I'll make sure of it."

"You can't watch over her twenty-four hours a day, Clark," Martha pointed out. "You barely rescued Pete from danger just yesterday. You're putting them at risk."

"So you're saying I shouldn't have told them?"

Jonathan shook his head. "No Clark, what we're saying is that you need to be careful. Be on the look out for anything. We never know what Lionel might try."

"I will," promised Clark, giving each of his parents a hug.

"Now go to bed, son," ordered Jonathan "You've got school tomorrow."

"Sure thing, dad," he said, climbing the stairs to his room. "Good night."

"Good night," they called out in unison.

After Clark left, Jonathan turned to his wife. "Do you think he made the right decision?" he asked.

"Only time will tell. But he feels good about it. That's all that matters right now."

"I just don't want him putting his friends in danger," he explained. "Anyone who knows his secret is liable to be a target."

"Chloe was already a target," Martha pointed out. "Now she knows that she can turn to us for help. It's best that she knows. And now Clark can be himself around her. She could be the one for him."

"Like you said, sweetheart, only time will tell. Now let's go to bed. This farm's not gonna run itself."

"Alright," she agreed. "Just let Clark do the difficult stuff. Your heart isn't what it used to be."

"I refuse to be handicapped, Martha. I'm perfectly capable of running this farm the way I always have."

"Let's talk about it later, Jonathan. When Clark's not listening." Looking up, she whispered: "Go to bed, son."

Deciding that he would ponder his mother's seeming ability to know everything he did in the morning, Clark obeyed, returning his hearing to normal and closing his eyes.

And for the first time ever, Lana wasn't the girl of his dreams.