Thank you for the reviews!! I hope you like this one…

Stars and Water

Chapter 18

Maria woke up first, and that alone told her how tired Clark was. She looked at him as he slept; his face relaxed and innocent, his body taking up most of the space in the bed with his long limbs sprawled out. She resisted the temptation to wake him, and slid out of bed very quietly. Getting dressed in her jeans and another of Clark's flannel shirts, she snuck down to the kitchen to try to make coffee and maybe even breakfast before Clark got up.

Maria looked up from pulling a coffeecake out of the oven to see Clark standing in the kitchen grinning at her. He had on jeans and a white T shirt along with his usual work boots. His face glowed from recent washing and his hair was a tousled, sexy mess. "Good morning sleepy. You're just in time." She said proudly, setting the cake on the counter and reaching for a cup to pour him some coffee.

"Good morning Maria." He gratefully took the coffee. "I'll just take a minute to do my chores and be back in time for breakfast." Before she had a chance to respond he had disappeared with a breeze and by the time breakfast was on the table he was back washing his hands, ready to eat.

After they ate a quiet meal and cleaned up Clark said, "We should get to Star City as soon as possible. I know your Mom wants to see with her own eyes that you're okay, and we have a lot of work and planning to do if Lex is actually going to pay for this. Especially while keeping your family safe at the same time."

Maria looked up at Clark, moved next to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm ready." She said.

Clark looked down at her and grinned, "What am I, a taxi?"

"I tip really well." She replied in a low, provocative voice, quirking one eyebrow and grinning wickedly up at him.

Clark laughed, scooped her up and sped to Oliver's place.

The first person they met as they were shown in by Oliver's butler was Bart. He leaped to his feet, put down the donut he was eating and wrapped Clark in an enthusiastic hug. Then he turned to Maria,

"Whoa Clark, another hot senorita? You know more beautiful women than a Hollywood agent!"

"Hi I'm Bart" He said to Maria while taking her hand and pulling her close to look into her eyes. "I'm the next love of your life." Maria giggled helplessly, trying not to laugh outright in his face. He was so cute and daring.

He turned back to Clark, "Please, tell me she's just a friend too? Cousin? Long lost sister?"

Maria answered, "Girlfriend, I'm afraid."

Bart looked at her in surprise, "Seriously?"

"Very serious Bart," she replied, "I suggest you let go of me before Clark gets jealous and you get airborne."

Clark did his best to scowl and look menacing, standing with his arms folded across his chest, but he lost it in laughter at Bart's expression.

"Well if he ever breaks your heart, sweetness, I'm your doctor." said the ever persistent Bart.

"Who needs a doctor?" said Oliver, striding into the room. "Clark! Man it's good to see you!" and Oliver shook Clark's hand and grinned at him. When he turned to Maria, Clark was surprised to feel a little jolt of jealousy at her wide eyed reaction.

"This is my girlfriend, Maria Desantis." stated Clark, stepping over to her and slipping his hand around her waist. Maria glanced up at him, a little surprised at his tone and then she smiled and leaned into him as if to say, yes, I'm his and he's mine. "Maria this is my friend, Oliver Queen."

Maria held out her hand, smiling warmly "I'm very happy to meet you. I've heard wonderful things about you from Clark and my Mom."

Oliver took her hand and found himself gazing into those warm brown eyes a little too long. He cleared his throat, "It's nice to meet you too Maria. I'm so glad you're safe." He turned to Clark, "Nice save, by the way."

They were interrupted by a yell "Catch him!" yelled Victor, followed by a thunder of feet upstairs and a thump. "He's getting away!"

Clark tensed for action, and then looked surprised as Oliver and Bart seemed completely unworried. Suddenly Nickolas came fleeing down the stairs closely followed by AC and Victor. "Grab the alien!" yelled AC as Victor swung Nickolas off his feet and twirled him in the air.

"I've got you now you little invader and I'm going to keep you from taking over the…Oh… Hi Clark!" said Victor breathlessly, still holding Nicky.

"Clark!" yelled Nicky struggling out of Victor's arms and running over to Clark. "We're playing space invaders and I'm an alien, come be an alien with me and we'll beat these silly old humans," and he grabbed Clark's hand to drag him into the game.

The room fell silent as everyone watched for Clark's reaction. Clark had an odd expression on his face and didn't seem to know what to say so Maria bent down "Nicky! Don't I get a hug?"

"Maria!" shrieked Nicky, throwing himself at her. "I missed you! I'm having fun! Come be an alien too!"

"How about I'm the alien's friend and we can work together with the humans?" she asked, glancing at Clark.

"Naw, that's boring." said Nicky, turning from Maria back to Victor and AC, "You can't catch me." He said and he darted away back up the stairs.

Victor reached out and shook Clark's hand, "Good to see you, man!" he said, then he looked to Maria, "She knows?"

Clark smiled back at Victor, "She knows about me." He stated clearly, he hadn't told Maria about everyone's secret, only his own. "Victor this is Maria Desantis. Maria this is my good friend Victor."

They shook hands warmly and Victor said, "So you're cool with Clark's situation?" it was important for him to know there were women who could accept people who were very different.

"Yes," Maria said softly, and the look she gave Clark completed her answer.

AC stepped forward and wrapped Clark in a bear hug that made his ribs creak. "Clark, it's been a long time!" He said, then he turned to Maria, "I'm AC." and he gently took her hand "How are you Maria?"

"I'm good," She replied, then she looked up at Clark again and felt his arm settle back around her waist as he looked into her eyes. Really good, she thought, wrapping her arm around his waist as well.

She was looking at him with such open love in her gaze that it brought a lump to Victor's throat, made Oliver look away, AC just smiled and Bart said "Okay guys, geez, get a room."

"Maria!" called a familiar voice on the stairs, and Kate came hurrying down as Maria raced to meet her. Both women had tears flowing down their faces as they hugged in a long embrace. "Thank God you're safe." said Kate in a choked voice.

"Now that we're all here I think we need to do some planning." said Kate, switching from loving Mom to analytical scientist. "We all know that things have been set in motion to take down Lex Luthor. Now we need to finish the job."

Lex was awakened by a frantic phone call from the security guy in charge of holding Maria. The idiot was barely able to keep his voice steady as he told his boss all he knew. It wasn't much. Someone he hadn't seen had knocked him out and taken the girl. The fact that Stan was in police custody didn't make Lex any happier and he expressed his displeasure in a cold and biting tone.

Brooding on the significance of Maria's disappearance and weighing options in his head on what to do about it he poured himself a cup of coffee. Taking a drink he shook open his morning paper. There on the front page of the Daily Planet, above the fold, was an article about 33.1 and human experimentation at Luthor corps. The author was Chloe Sullivan. Lex choked on his coffee and reached for his phone. Then a horrible thought occurred to him and he flipped open his laptop. There it was, just as she had said it would be, splashed across the internet for the world to view. He groaned as he saw how many people had already watched the video.

Lex grabbed the remote and turned on his television. Channel after channel was talking about the latest Luthorcorps scandal, with lines like "Using people as unwilling human lab rats" and "profiting from the misery of helpless children." Then Lex saw the latest Dow-Jones stock report and groaned. Luthorcorps stock was bottoming out.

Lex's cell phone rang. He looked at the display and braced himself before answering. "Hi Dad." He really didn't think things could get any worse. If he had seen Clark and Maria walking into a detective's office and Martha Kent meeting with selected colleagues in the Department of Justice he would have realized that things had only started to go bad.

Clark was walking out of the detective's office with Maria when he got a call from Chloe. "Clark, I know you're really busy right now but I think I've found a phantom. I mean I've found something that is killing people by the boatload and has unearthly powers."

"You have to go don't you?" Maria asked, seeing Clark's face told her everything. "I'll be okay. I'll be safe here with my family and your friends around me."

Still Clark hesitated; he hated to just leave her like this. "Maria, I'm sorry, you're right, I have to go. It's a phantom and, like I told you the other day, I'm responsible for them being here and I'm the only one who can deal with them." Maria pulled him into a passionate embrace and he held her for a long moment. Her kiss was demanding and hungry, he could feel the fear she didn't want to voice in it, the fear something would happen to him and he wouldn't return. She was shaking as he pulled gently away, stroking her face with his hand before he turned and walked quickly down an alley before disappearing completely.

To be continued…