Previously…"Thank you…for helping me," Clark managed to say in between breaths. It was hard for him to get a deep breath and he realized his ribs were wrapped tight.

She squeezed his hand. "You got hurt saving our Sarah from a bear. We owe you so much, patching you up is the least we can do."

Stars and Water

Chapter 20

She started to stand up, "Will you be okay alone for a minute while I get the soup?"

Clark nodded and winced as the pain swept over him and slowly faded. A little hand slipped into his and he heard the girl, Sarah, say "I'll stay with him Mommy. I'll watch over him." And he recognized wide blue eyes set in a heart shaped face, topped with a nearly white mess of blond curls. The girl looked solemnly at him. "I'm glad you came back." She said.

When the woman returned the man came with her. "Paul is going to help you try to sit up, if you want to. If anything hurts, you let us know right away. Sarah sweetie, you need to move so Daddy can help him." Sarah reluctantly moved from Clark's side and watched intently as though still feeling protective of him.

Clark was a little unsure about sitting up but he was starving and eating lying down didn't sound too good. "Okay," he breathed. Paul eased his arm around behind Clark's shoulders and lifted him up slowly. Clark tried to help and was pleasantly surprised at the strength that he could feel flowing back into his body. His head hurt as he sat upright but it wasn't unbearable. The woman held the soup bowl out to him and he managed to take it without his hand trembling too much.

Clark looked into her eyes and smiled. "Thank you," he said quietly. As he ate he could feel energy entering his body and by the time he was done he felt almost normal. He wondered at that. A few hours without food shouldn't have weakened him so much. "How long was I unconscious?" he asked.

"What's your name?" the woman asked.

"Clark Kent," he answered, wondering what that had to do with it.

"My name is Rebecca and this is my husband Paul, you already met our daughter Sarah." She paused as if hesitant to answer his question. "Clark, you saved her life ten days ago."

"Ten days?" Clark was shocked, "Ten days, oh God, I need to call home."

"Phones won't work down here." said Paul, "Sometimes up the mountain you can get a brief signal but that's a good day's hike away and when I tried earlier I couldn't get a thing." He smiled apologetically at Clark, "I've been trying to get you a doctor, but the way you're healing by the time he gets here you won't need one."

A flash of fear swept through Clark. What reason could he give for his amazing healing abilities? He looked at them closely but they didn't seem to feel anything other than gratitude, compassion, and mild curiosity. He looked down at himself for the first time and gasped. His shirt hung in tatters over a chest and stomach completely swathed in bandages; his jeans were also more holes than denim, and what was left of his clothes was entirely soaked with his blood. "Wow, I guess you had a lot of patching to do." he said, touching the bandage on his chest.

"Yeah," Paul said, "We did at that. We were pretty sure you were going to… um, I mean you were pretty bad so we didn't move you, we moved camp.

Clark looked around with new eyes; it was obvious the camp was arranged with him as its center. He felt odd accepting help like this from people he didn't know. Let's face it, he thought, he had a hard time accepting help from the people he knew.

Chloe stared at the map Clark had studied before he left. Not for the first time she wished she had super speed. "Clark, where are you." She murmured. Suddenly with a familiar breeze and a shower of paperwork, Bart appeared by her side. Glancing around to see if anyone had seen him Chloe reprimanded him. "You need to be more careful."

"Good to see you too, Chloeliscious." And he gave her his impish grin. "I'm off to look for our Boy Scout who seems to be lost in the wilderness. Any hints on where I should start?"

Chloe shocked him with a fierce hug.

Lex sat facing his fifth lawyer in as many days, listening to the idiot discussing plea bargaining and trying for a shorter sentence. Didn't any of these incompetent fools know how to plead innocent and get a man to walk free? For crying out loud he had enough money to buy them a jury, a judge and life time vacation. At least he would if the IRS would release his assets. Surely they knew he'd pay them well … eventually.

The rain spattered on the window and slid down the glass in front of Maria's vacant gaze. She had been sitting there for hours staring at nothing and too tired to think. She had been forced to give up her job at the Talon when her family had accepted Oliver's offer and moved to Star City. There was nothing to occupy her time anymore, with the moving finished, Nicky happy at his new preschool, and her Mother setting up her lab at Queen Industries.

She knew she should probably eat something but she felt frozen in place, the effort to choose what to eat, much less move from the couch to prepare it, was too much for her at the moment. Somehow she felt if she just thought hard enough she could bring Clark back. She looked out the window and willed him to call, to show up at her door, to be standing behind her when she turned her head. He wasn't, and her breath caught in a sob as she rested her forehead against the cool glass and let the tears come.

Bart felt sick as he stared at the chaos around him. " Sh Clark, what have you been fighting, a tornado?" He saw the path of destruction leading north and followed cautiously, seriously worried about his friend for the first time. When he came to the cabins and saw the mangled vehicles he slowed to look around, calling nervously for Clark. The piles of bones and pools of blood that had once been human beings caught him by surprise and Bart had to cover his mouth and run to keep from being sick. He slowed to a stop and wiped his face with his hands, taking deep breaths to calm down. He was shaking and felt dizzy. On top of everything else Bart wasn't used to wilderness and the quiet bothered him. He looked at the crushed and tumbled trees that marked the path he needed to follow. "Clark, I sure hope you're alive because this place scares me and I could use your company about now."

"Clark is BIG." said Sarah looking up at her new friend. After a meal and more rest he had managed to stand, leaning on Paul for support and balance. He looked down with a smile at Sarah, a tiny and delicate child, reaching a little above his knees. She looked up at him in awe a moment and then grinned and hugged his leg. "You'll be able to fly again soon." She said.

"Sarah," her father said, "Remember what we told you?"

Sarah sighed, grown-ups could be so blind. "Clark is a normal man." she said, but her tone of voice clearly showed she didn't believe it.

"I want to try walking a little," Clark said to Paul. Paul nodded and wrapped his arm around Clark's waist, letting Clark drape his arm across his narrow shoulders and slowly guided him around the camp.

Sarah walked with them after having been convinced to let go of his leg. She seemed satisfied with leading the way and moving anything she thought might be an obstacle to her hero.

Clark was frustrated with his weakness, although He was healing fast and his strength was returning, his head still ached and sometimes he got so dizzy he nearly collapsed. He also got easily tired, a rare occurrence for Clark. He was determined to push himself hard until he was back to normal and could go home. He couldn't imagine how worried the people he loved must be. Thinking of the pain he was putting them through made him try again and again to stand, to walk, pushing through the weakness until his body betrayed him and he sagged in Paul's arms.

Paul looked at his face and saw the exhaustion and pain Clark was fighting. "You'd better rest man, or you'll be back at square one." he said, and when Clark reluctantly agreed he led him back to his bed by the fire and eased him onto the air mattress. "Sarah, will you please get Clark some water?" Paul asked the eager child. She sprinted to the cooler and returned with two bottles.

"One for you, and one for Daddy because he's tired too." She said, beaming proudly while she handed Clark his water. Clark thanked her and her smile blazed even brighter. Unable to stand still while so happy, she scampered over to her mother and chattered happily to her about Clark.

Bart walked into camp in time to see Paul helping Clark lie back down carefully so he didn't hurt his head. Bart's eyes opened wide at the condition of Clark's clothes and the amount of bandaging he saw covering his friend. "Wow Clark, what happened to you, man?" he asked loudly.

Clark sat up quickly "Bart!" he yelled and then he moaned and grabbed his head in his hands.

"Are you a friend of Clark's" asked Paul with his arm still wrapped protectively around Clark's shoulders.

"You betcha!" said Bart, approaching, "Been looking all over for the big guy." He looked closely at Clark. "Dude, everybody is going nuts with worry. Maybe they were right, you look pretty awful."

"Thanks Bart," mumbled Clark through his hands. He looked up at Bart and managed a weak smile, "Nice bedside manner. I feel so much better now."

"He's pretty badly hurt but he's a lot better than he was. He's lucky to be alive. " Paul spoke up "A bear mauled him when he got in between it and our girl Sarah."

"A bear huh?" said Bart looking thoughtful, then he caught Clark's eye and said, "Oh, a bear! Yeah, must have been a big one."

"Chloe, where the hell is Smallville?" Lois burst out as she strode up to Chloe at her desk at the Planet, "He's always around underfoot and I haven't seen him in days." Lois looked worried even though she tried to just look annoyed.

Think fast, Chloe thought, "Ummm, he went camping ummm, backpacking actually."

Lois narrowed her eyes and looked at Chloe. "And you are freaking out because our favorite Prince of Plaid is hiking? I don't buy it Chloe."

"He's late getting back and I don't know why…" began Chloe but Lois interrupted.

"He's lost! How late is he? Chloe, we should be looking for him. He could be hurt or, well we need to call out some help and go find him! Knowing Clark he tripped and fell down some cliff." Lois was really getting worked up and Chloe was surprised at her intensity, she also noticed Lois had called him Clark. Well this was interesting. She filed it all away for future thought.

"Lois, he has people looking for him." Said Chloe calmly, "I'm sure they'll find him and when they do I'll be sure to let you know. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Lois stammered as she tried to backtrack. "It's not that I'm worried or anything. It's just that he's fun to pick on. He's one of the very few men who seem to actually enjoy my mouth. Wait, that didn't come out right."

To be continued…

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