Chloe rushed over to the main reception in the airport and found out which terminal Rikki would be coming in from. Without anymore delay Clark and Chloe were rushing through the many tourists walking through the airport, until they finally reached their destination and was happy to find that they were just in time, people were just starting to exit the terminal.
"So what does she look like?" Clark asked, as he watched Chloe trying to catch her breath after running through practically the entire airport.
"I don't know"
"What? So how are we supposed to know who she is?" Clark responded as he began to panic as he saw more and more people exit the doors.
"Excuse me I am trying to carry luggage through here you know…wait your turn!"
Clark's super hearing automatically picked up a young girl yelling inside the terminal tunnel and could tell that she was a Lane.
"There she is" He simply stated pointing towards a young girl with a large black suitcase and bright blonde curly hair.
"How do you know that's her?" Chloe cautiously questioned.
"Trust me I've known Lois long enough to know how she treats people and this girl is exactly the same, she has to be a Lane" Clark proudly explained as he moved closer to the exit.
"Thank god that's over, that flight took ages…I hate planes" Cleo wined as she gathered her belongings and started her way through the terminal tunnel.
"So Rikki are you excited about seeing your sister after all these years?" Emma asked trying to change the subject.
"Yer I spose, I mean I don't remember her much, but what I do remember is being with her and dad on a military base and then the last time I saw her was at moms fun-" Rikki couldn't bring herself to say it, so she just looked at her friends and smiled.
"We get it Rikki, it must be hard seeing her again this far down the line after such circumstances…but we are all here with you and this is going to be a blast…I wonder what their beaches are like, I'm dying for a swim" Cleo continued, day dreaming back to South Coast beaches and their daily swims in the clear, warm ocean.
"Thanks guys, what would I do without you? Cleo I don't know if they even have beaches here, but don't worry, we'll find somewhere to swim, I'll make sure of it"
"Look on the bright side; I hear this is where Superman tends to appear…this is his city after all…if we're lucky we might get to see him in action" Cleo cheerfully proclaimed, practically bouncing with excitement.
"Oh yer, I forgot about that…you never know maybe we could ask Lois if she has ever met him…or not" Emma quickly added when both Cleo and Rikki looked at her as though she were talking crazy.
Before Emma could respond, Rikki was almost pushed off her feet as a middle aged man came pummelling past with his luggage swinging in all directions.
"Excuse me I am trying to carry luggage through here you know…wait your turn!" Rikki yelled, shoving the man in the back as he stumbled past.
The three girls finally managed to reach the exit and scanned the area for god knows who, they didn't know who they were looking for, they were just told that someone would be there to pick them up.
"Emma my god, look at him…over there…he's huge...and cute" Cleo whispered pointing over to a man stood behind the crowd, dressed in jeans and a blue jacket, which obviously covered a perfectly built body.
"Hay, don't let Lewis hear you say that, but they sure do grow em big in Kansas don't they?" Emma replied, as she was left staring into his bright blue eyes…then without another thought Rikki was making her way over to someone…it was him.
"Is that…"
"…who's picking us up?" Cleo finished as she suddenly found it incredibly difficult to breath.
"RIKKI! Over here" Clark called, relieved when the young girl did indeed respond to the name Rikki and he watched as she struggled to make her way over with her luggage. It was then that he noticed two more young girls following from behind and he was sure they were- yep they were also heading his way.
"Hay…" was all she could bring herself to say as she stood looking way up into Clarks eyes. they really do grow em big in Kansas
"Sorry am I supposed to know you?" she managed to ask after taking a couple of seconds to compose herself.
"No, I'm Clark and this is Chloe. Your sister, Lois sent us here to pick you up…she had to work" Clark quickly added to his sentence.
"Cool, so Chloe, you look so familiar but…" Rikki stood obviously deep in thought as she tried to picture where she had seen Chloe before.
"Yer, we used to play together before…well, long story short…I'm your cousin, Uncle Gabe's daughter"
"Oh that's rights I remember now, a little anyway"
"Hi…Hey…" came two more greetings from behind Rikki.
"So you brought some friends…I thought you were coming alone?" Clark queried, now hating Lois even more, because this now meant three teenagers in his house with a broken bathroom door lock.
"Yer we er…well we had some pretty stressin stuff goin on back home, so we decided to take a little break…a vacation if you like, its not a problem is it?" Rikki innocently asked, pouting slightly as her friends joined her at her side.
"No…I suppose not" Clark could tell this was definitely Lois's sister; he couldn't find it in himself to say no to her either.
"Maybe we should have called and asked first Rikki" Cleo nervously pointed out, wrapping her arms around herself, still trying to adjust to the slight yet noticeable change in temperature after coming off of the plane.
"No really, it's fine" Chloe reassured the poor girl as she watched her composure relax slightly at her acceptance.
"Great…well this is Cleo Sertori…and this is Emma Gilbert" Rikki introduced her friends as Emma placed all of her luggage to the floor with a loud thud, receiving strange looks from Clark and Chloe "I'm a heavy traveller" Emma sheepishly answered to their looks.
"She likes to be prepared" Cleo chimed in, laughing slightly at Emma and the colour her face was turning.
"Hello nice to meet you both" Chloe replied shaking each of their hands, then returning to place her hand in Clark's feeling slightly protective of her boyfriend.
"Well shall we get out of here and head back to my place?" Clark suggested as he grabbed hold of not only Rikki's but Emma and Cleo's luggage without so much as straining.
"WHOA! How'd you do that?" Rikki asked her mouth wide open in amazement.
"I work out" Clark answered immediately aware that he had just lifted an immense weight of luggage, I've got to be more careful.
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The three girls sat tightly packed into the back of Clark's pickup, watching the strange scenery pass by them at speed.
"Where's the Daily Planet?" Emma questioned Chloe, leaning forward through the gap in the middle.
"Oh that's not here, it's in Metropolis, this is Smallville…it's about an hour away by car" Chloe answered, looking towards Clark, knowing too well that he would understand her double meaning…advantages of being Superman sure did come in handy when they want to get to Metropolis and could easily do it in less than three seconds.
"Oh" was all Emma said as she sat back and continued to stare out the window with her friends. Every now and again, either Cleo or Rikki would tap her shoulder and make her look out of their side of the window at a new landmark passed or just to see something so simple yet so rare to them…a windmill…a tractor…even 'small' shops.
As they pulled up outside of the Kent's farm, all three girls were completely amazed at the amount of land surrounding them. They had never seen a real farm, the down side of living in South Coast Australia; all they ever saw was the beach.
"Wow! It's so, so…"
"…different" Cleo finished for Rikki as she climbed out of the truck and circled herself, taking in the scene of a traditional Kansas farm, then chocking on the good old traditional smell of horse dun.
"Well at least it's warm in the summer here, I don't think I could have handled cold weather as well" Emma mentioned as she stood with her eyes closed looking up to the sky, her hands firmly placed on her hips, bathing in the warmth that is Kansas summer.
"C'mon" Rikki said linking arms with her best friends as she climbed the stairs towards the front door.
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"Right girls make your self at home…and try not to break anything, this is my mothers house and she is currently living in Washington, but I don't want the house to have anything wrong with it, when she decides to drop by for a visit…got it?" Clark shouted as he began to take the girls luggage upstairs.
"Yes sir!" Rikki shouted back as Clark disappeared from view up the stairs.
Cleo and Emma giggled and made their way into the living room and slumped themselves onto the sofa. Chloe followed them in and sat in a chair opposite and watched the three girls chatter amongst themselves.
"So girls I suppose you would all prefer to stay together while you're here so we have put you all in the spare room, which is up the stairs and on your left, is that ok with you?" Chloe clarified joining the girls in living room.
"Yer…sure…great" all three girls answered simultaneously.
"So…how do you think you are going to like it here?" Chloe asked trying to break the ice.
"Looks ok…hope it aint gunna be too borin though" Rikki immediately responded, sticking her nose up as she looked out the window at the nothingness before them.
"What she means is that it's just different to back home. We're used to beautiful weather, endless beaches and well the Juice-Net Café" Emma corrected nudging Rikki, reminding her to be more polite.
"The Juice what?" Chloe asked thankful for something to talk about.
"Oh it's a café back home, kinda like a place where we all hang out, its basically our second home" Cleo explained, immediately warming to Chloe, she liked her, she didn't know why, there was just something about her that Cleo liked.
"Cool, we have something like that here, The Talon. A friend of mine owns it, Lana. It's basically a coffee house but their drinks are to die for…mind you my opinion might be biased, I'm a renowned coffaholic" Chloe stated shaking her head thoughtfully.
"You got that right; I've never seen anyone drink as much coffee as this woman here" Clark added as he entered the living room and sat besides Chloe placing his arm around her shoulders.
"We'll have to check it out some time" Emma said smiling enthusiastically.
"Oh I'll be right back, I forgot Lois wanted me to call when we got back" Before Chloe could say anything Clark was up and already making his way to the kitchen.
As Clark left the room, Rikki stood from her spot on the sofa and walked round to the fire place, looking at the multiple pictures stood upon it.
"So many pictures, wish I had loads of family pictures around my house, all Uncle Mark has around the house is stuffed fish and old newspapers" Rikki explained picking up one the photographs for closer inspection.
"Yer that's all down to Martha, Clark's mother. She always loved to fill the house with pictures; she didn't want to forget all the good times she had with Clark and his dad"
"Where is Clark's dad?" Rikki asked swapping the photo in her hands for another of a young Clark in the arms of his father, which looked like it had been taken outside by the barn she noticed on the way in"
"He's gone…he died over ten years ago" Chloe quietly explained, joining Rikki at the fireplace.
"Sorry…I didn't realise" Rikki quickly apologised seeing that it obviously was a sore subject around here.
"It's ok, Clark's accepted it now, he understands that everything happens for a reason…look at this one, Martha took this one of us when we came back from our first 'official' date" Chloe said smiling one of her smiles that could light up the whole room.
"It's beautiful, you look amazing together"
"We'll get loads of pictures while you're here, I'm sure Lois will want plenty to put in her apartment" Chloe suggested enthusiastically.
"Yer…I'm sorry I haven't been around well at all to have met Lois, you and Clark before now, it still bothers me how my father just decided what was best for me without even really considering what I wanted to do…Lois is the lucky one, she got away…the best he could do for me was send me away again, at least it was to a family member that time…Uncle Mark was great to me don't get me wrong, but it's the little things that I missed out on that I'll never get back, like growing up with my sister…with you" Rikki explained finding she just couldn't help herself once she started she couldn't stop.
"Well that's all going to change now, you're here and Lois is dying to meet you…but don't tell I told you that, she'll kill me" Chloe giggled off watching Rikki relax.
"Emma and Cleo sat patiently on the couch, giving Rikki time to chat with her cousin, they understood what she was deprived of in her childhood and they were on board 100 in helping Rikki gain that back…better late than never.
"God where are my manners, would you girls like some lemonade, freshly made by Clark's mum when she came to visit a couple of days ago, believe me you will never have had any lemonade as good as Martha Kent's" Chloe encouraged, regarding Rikki's friends on the sofa, as she moved towards the kitchen.
"Sure that'll be great, we'll give you a hand" Emma offered, pulling Cleo off the couch with her.
The three girls stood arranged around the island table in the centre of the kitchen as Chloe brought the pitcher of lemonade from the fridge. As she poured the lemonade, she spilled some on the counter, which also covered the outside of the glasses, the girls hadn't noticed until it was too late.
Chloe handed the glass over to Cleo and with that Rikki and Emma looked towards Cleo, with horrified looks on their faces. Cleo immediately dropped the glass as it crashed to the floor. Chloe jumped back in shock, as she turned around to grab a cloth, Cleo run up stairs without as much as a word.
"What the hell…where has Cleo gone? What's going on?" Chloe ordered, as the two girls were scrutinized under her gaze. Clark came rushing into the kitchen at the sound of the crash, promptly checking that Chloe wasn't hurt he turned back towards the girls.
"Nothing, she's fine really, she just doesn't like to get wet…we'll go check on her" Emma quickly covered as she began to back away to the stairs along with Rikki.
Before anyone could protest, Emma and Rikki were gone and had retreated upstairs to deal with Cleo.
"There is definitely something going on with them girls" Chloe stated as she started to clean up the mess.
"Chloe let me…" Within seconds Clark had super sped around the kitchen and there was nothing to be seen of the broken glass.
Cleo had rushed into the bathroom just in time. She had managed to lock the door just as she flopped to the floor, with a glistening tail trailed behind her. Looking around she found a towel, trying desperately to dry herself, continuously trying to come up with a genuine excuse to tell Chloe, although from the mere time she had been here, she found it hard to believe that Chloe would believe anything she said, this must come across as too weird to be discarded.
"Cleo! It's us, let us in" Emma whispered as she leant closer to the bathroom door. Soon after, the door unlocked, Rikki and she slipped through careful not to let the door open to wide…just in case.
"This is just great, I can't believe I didn't see this coming, I have to be more careful" Cleo groaned to her friends, now rubbing the towel more vigorously as her anger grew.
"Cleo don't worry about it, it could have happened to any of us. Rikki dry her before anyone comes up to check what's going on" Emma suggested, careful not to touch Cleo's wet tail, in prevention of growing one herself.
"What did you tell Chloe?" Cleo asked as Rikki held her hand above her tail and used her powers steam dry her entire body, until the tail was no where to be seen. "That's better" Rikki muttered as she looked up to regard her friends.
"We just…well…we told her that you didn't like to get wet" Emma answered as she joined Cleo on the floor of the bathroom.
"Maybe we should just tell her the truth? She is family, she's your cousin and I don't know why, but I have this feeling that she won't judge us, I'm pretty sure she will accept the truth for what it is" Cleo explained, her trust and fondness for Chloe supporting her opinion of her reaction.
"Absolutely not, telling her is not an option, we can't risk her telling people and exposing our secret, our lives could depend on it!" Rikki demanded as Emma nodded in agreement.
"She's right Cleo, we can't risk it, not after everything that happened with Charlotte, and we don't want the same thing to happen again…or worse" Emma added standing and looking down at the girls before her.
"Fine, I'm sure there's no better excuse to use as a way to get her off my case and to stop suspicions about my water problem, but what about you guys?" Cleo questioned, as Rikki and she joined Emma and started their way out of the bathroom.
"We'll think of something if the time comes, as for now, the less of us that seem to have a problem with water the better" Emma confidently clarified as she motioned for them to stop their conversation as they came to the top of the stairs.
Hope everyone is enoying it so far...hope i have managed to combine H20: Just add water with Smallville well...
Don't forget i luv comments, if you have any suggestions let me know...i'm here to write for you guys :D