Chapter eight

Clark was smiling as he drove away, the effects of their last kiss a lingering dream. When he came back to reality he groaned. What was he doing? He was just setting himself up for the same problems he had with Lana. Maria was amazing and now he was going to have to lie to her as she got closer to him. Add to that he seriously desired her, but where could that go? He still didn't know what would happen with his powers. Besides he couldn't get physically intimate with someone and hide such a large part of who he was, it wouldn't be right.

He'd wanted to take her, right there on the couch. Of course he wouldn't have. He wasn't that kind of guy and he was pretty sure she would have stopped him; still, the feelings were there. What was with his heat vision acting up? That was just what he needed.

He couldn't do this. He would have to break things off with her now before they got any closer and it hurt more, not that it didn't hurt a lot, right now, just thinking about it. Maria made him so happy, it felt right being with her. He decided to call Chloe. Maybe she could think of something.

When Clark pulled out his cell phone he saw he had a lot of missed calls, two from Oliver and many more from Chloe. Uh oh, this couldn't be good. Clark pressed the speed dial for Chloe and she picked up on the first ring. He listened in appalled silence to what she told him then managed to choke out, "I'll be right there." Clark felt sick as he thought about what his former friend Lex had become.

Maria leaned on the door frame and let out a sigh. What a sweet, amazing, beautiful guy, she thought. I am so lucky. She floated back into the house to wait for her Mom. Concern brought her back to earth as she wondered what had made her usually tough Mother cry.

When Kate walked in the door Maria's concern grew into real fear. Her mother was pale and shaking. She walked into her own home as though she'd never seen it before and stood looking around, dazed. How could everything look so normal with such evil looming over them? She finally looked at Maria and her eyes filled with tears again. Kate blinked them back and let anger flow over her to replace the fear. How dare Lex threaten her family. Kate gave Maria a fierce hug. "Honey we need to talk about something really important."

When Kate finished telling Maria everything that had happened at the lab with Lex she went on to fill her in on her decision. "Mom, that's too dangerous. Can't we just go to the police?" Maria asked. Now she was as pale as her mother and she felt sick and angry. Surely the authorities should handle this.

"With his vast resources and connections Lex could easily evade the police." Said Kate "Maybe they could stop him eventually but by then who knows what would become of those children. Believe me Maria, I've thought this through and it's the only way. First the children need to be out of danger, and then we can see about the police."

"I'm going to help you." Said Maria, determined.

"No, I'm sending you with Nick to your aunt Nora's in Eugene. You'll be safer there." replied Kate, equally determined.

"Mom, I'm not a child and you need my help. Have Nora come get Nick and take him to safety but let me stay with you." Maria was not going to give up on this. "You can't do this alone, it'll never work."

They sat in silence a moment then Kate sighed. "Okay, I hate to admit it but you're right. I do need your help. Now, since I don't think either of us is going to fall asleep any time soon, let's sit down and plan this carefully. We should do this as soon as possible, tomorrow night hopefully, and we can't afford to overlook anything."

Clark and Chloe were bent over her laptop and talking to Oliver on speaker phone. "Okay, so we should do this tomorrow night. I've got my end arranged; can you handle yours Boy Scout?"

"Chloe and I have it under control." answered Clark looking to Chloe, who nodded. He severed the connection with Oliver and said to Chloe, who was rubbing her eyes, "We'd better get a little sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long night."

To be continued…

Yes, I know it's short but I promise to post more very soon! I'm just doing a little clean up on it.