Chapter 11

Early the next morning Barbara wakes up and drags herself up off the couch. She stretches out her muscles. The familiar dull ache of her body soon hits her. That was common after a night out being Batgirl. She slowly walks to the bedroom and pokes her head in the door to see Clark still asleep. Good. That gives her time to get a shower and wake herself up properly. She always needs a shower after a night out because the costume was heavy and hot making her sweat and leaving her kind of ripe...and her current clothing choices aren't helping. She had changed last night into a rather dirty pair of sweats she kept lying around before she crashed down on the couch.

Mental note; Remember to leave a clean change of clothes in secret base.

Barbara wanders to the shower in what almost could be considered a second home for her she guesses but one thing she learned from Bruce is that it is always vital to plan ahead and therefore a second place she could hold up from is a good idea for the worst case scenario. She strips down, runs the water and checks it is hot enough before ducking under it and letting the hot water soothe her aches.

Barbara closes her eyes and tries to work out everything she needs to do in order this morning after last night and that at some point includes what her feelings relating to Clark are now. God she can't believe he is an alien. You would never have guessed but then again her interactions with aliens is minimal. She has met the Martian Manhunter what? A handful of times at most. There is Hawkgirl and Hawkman too but again she can count those interactions on one hand and that was strictly business.

Big difference is that it is obvious they are aliens. You can't say that about Clark. She has so many questions. How much of what he told her about himself was a lie? She is not going to jump to the immediate conclusion that all of it was. She leaves that kind of paranoia to Bruce. Still when she said she found Clark's contradictions interesting she never thought the solution to the puzzle of him was this.

Barbara finishes her shower, dries herself off, gets changed and goes to check on Clark again. She promised she wouldn't leave but as she recalls there is nothing to eat here. They could reconvene at her apartment she decides. She pokes her head in once more and is forced to look twice. Clark is floating above the bed. She quietly steps into the room and as she gets closer she notices something. The bruises that weren't covered up by the bandages on his torso and the marks and bruises on his face were gone. They had completely healed overnight or so it looks like.

Barbara gently runs her hand over his side trying to get a judgement on the state of his ribs.

"They still hurt if you want to know."

Barbara jumps in surprise and she finds herself locked in a penetrating gaze from his cerulean blue eyes. She watches him turn in the air and drift above the floor where he lowers himself gently down. "Is it as bad as last night? The pain?" she asks him.

Clark shakes his head. "No. It's more of a dull ache...I think you describe it as."

Barbara arches an eyebrow. "You think?"

"I've never been hurt like this. I told you that. I don't know what the applicable terms for pain are."

Barbara rubs her right temple. This is one strange situation and considering everything she has seen and done that really is saying something. "Well if the pain is lessened I guess that means they're healing. Bones do take longer to heal...on humans at least."

Clark rubs the back of his neck completely uncertain where any of this leaves him and Babs. "Is there anything to eat?" he asks totally avoiding the issue although he would love something to eat.

"Not really," she admits. "I guess you could come over to my apartment. Not sure there's much there either...but I'm sure I can find something." Then she suddenly remembers he is stuck in his costume. "Of course how to get you there without being seen is another question."

"Not really. I can move so fast I cannot be followed by the human eye," he points out and to illustrate his point one second he is there in front of her and the next second he is gone with a gust of wind. There is a loud cough from directly behind Barbara who spins on the spot. "I could easily just go home first and get changed," he says if she is really worried about him being seen.

"No!" she shouts and she spots his brow furrowing in confusion at her veracity. "I mean it's not necessary. I leave the skylight open. That's how I get in and out. You can use that." Really she just doesn't want him to go. If he goes will he come back ? Barbara can't be certain can she? Everything she thought she knew about Clark doesn't hold water any longer. She needs to be in control of the situation. That is what Bruce taught her. Always be the one in control.

The asking for something to eat was just a flimsy excuse on Clark's part so he and Babs can do what he knows they have to do and talk although he is hungry. He nods in agreement to her suggestion. "Ok. I'll meet you there," he says and then with another gust of wind he is gone.

Barbara blinks and stares at the empty space for a moment before she strides back out into the larger open space and finds his t-shirt and hoodie gone from where she left them last night. That's really quite impressive speed. She wonders how Clark compares to the Flash from a purely scientific perspective in a comparison of their related speeds.

Barbara shakes her head. This is not the time to be having idiotic thoughts like that...or maybe she is simply trying to distract herself from the talk she knows she and Clark have to have. Although she does have to wonder about one thing. The person she was sent here to find turn out to be the guy she is dating. What are the odds?


Lex Luthor's assistant Mercy Graves is always kind of nervous when she has to deliver bad news to Lex and the fact Solomon Grundy got caught and arrested last night counts as bad news.

"Details," Lex states simply from his position sitting behind his desk what he wants to know.

Mercy places the morning edition of the Daily Planet down in front of Lex. They had a surprisingly detailed account of the story...up to a point. "It was that new character they've been reporting on. The one they call the Blur. If what Ms Lane wrote is to be believed he simply out-powered Grundy in a fist fight," Mercy reiterates what she read in the paper in this monring.

Lex's eyebrows drop low. He had dismissed the Blur last night as a small time player but anyone who can take Grundy out definitely has the potential to be in the big leagues. Note he said potential. Just because one has the power doesn't mean they know how to use it properly. However it does increase the possibility that Lex could use the Blur in his plans. Lex could certainly ensure that the Blur's powers are used to their full potential. Their full potential in aiding Lex in his agenda.

Patience. It comes back to patience. He'll watch these next few days. See what the Blur does. He'll put some resources into trying to find the Blur and observe him. Every man had a price someone once said. Lex interprets that somewhat differently to mean that every man has some method through which he can be controlled. Lex simply has to discover what it is that can control the Blur.


When Barbara gets back to her apartment she finds Clark puttering about her kitchen, hood pulled down, putting it to use to a degree she rarely manages. Ok so she lives on take-out. Sue her. "You're cooking?" she queries with a mixture of puzzlement and surprise. A small smile tugs at the corner of her lips at the sight of him.

Clark looks at her and smiles lopsidedly. "Seems only fair. After all you took care of me last night. The least I can do is cook."

The least? He got quite badly beaten up last night. Anyone else would be looking for the excuse to just lie there. Seems she still has a lot to learn about Clark. "So...um...you found actual food in my home?" she asks him sounding genuinely surprised that there is any.

"Toast and egg...not the green type I'm afraid although a few more days and they would have been," he jests.

Barbara finds her lips twitching upward at his humour.

"I'm not the world's greatest chef," Clark admits. "That was my mother but she taught me enough to pass as adequate."

In seemingly no time at all Barbara finds herself tucking into a surprisingly tasty toast and eggs. Did they always taste this good? She slowly chews it in her mouth. He had added something? Is that cinnamon? Does she even own cinnamon?

Clark joins her and they both eat in silence. When it is over Clark breaks the silence because he has been through this twice with Lana and Lori and learnt it is best not to prolong the torment. "So where do you want to start?" he asks.

"Well how about the bit where how you know I'm Batgirl when you claim you didn't 'x-ray' me."

Clark frowns a bit at the accusatory tone. "First off I didn't lie about that," sounding a little miffed his word is being doubted. "And second I know..." he rubs the back of his neck in that nervous gesture again. "I know by your scent."

"By my what!" Barbara exclaims.

"Your scent. When I used my body to protect you from being shot I had time to pick up your scent. The same one Barbara Gordon has. You can't change your scent and it is unique to every person."

Barbara blinks. That is a new way for someone to work out a secret identity. Mental Note; Devise method to hide scent.

"Once I got that inkling in my head it wasn't hard to link it all together," Clark explains. "Same red hair. Same blue eyes...contacts?"

"Huh?"

"You wear glasses normally so when you're Batgirl..."

"I wear contacts," she confirms.

"Well anyway like I said once I got the inkling in my head it wasn't hard to see that Batgirl is Barbara Gordon."

"I know many people who would disagree with that sentiment."

Clark shrugs. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. I never imagined getting into this situation."

"Which one? Where you find out the guy your dating is a guy flying around in a red and blue costume or an alien?"

"Uh...the second one more than the first. My ex is..."

"Oh," Clark says. "He's out there helping people?"

"Yeah. I mean it's not exactly the same. It's..."

"Complicated?" Clark guesses. If it is to do with a relationship it is always complicated.

"Yeah."

"I never really imagined getting to this so soon," Clark admits.

"What does that mean?"

"Well if you and I...us dating...if that had gone well...I would have told you the truth about me...eventually."

"When?"

"When I thought I could trust you. You must have had at least some thought about doing the same with telling me you're Batgirl."

"I hadn't thought that far ahead."

'Oh ouch.' "Well when you're an alien you have to think these things through."

"Not really. You could just..."

"What? Not tell the person you want to have a serious honest open relationship with? Can you see that working out?" Clark asks, his expression almost daring her to contradict that.

She can't. "Probably not," she says.

"So what do you want to know?"

A sensible place to start it seems to Barbara would be to ask, "Where do you come from?"

"A planet called Krypton."

"Never heard of it."

"You wouldn't. It no longer exists."

"What?"

"It's gone. It's just rocks and dust floating in space."

"Then that means everything you told me about who you are was a lie," Barbara surmises, trying not to sound angry about it...and failing.

"No. It was not," Clark states clearly. "Krypton blew up when I was a baby. I was raised on Earth just as I said I was."

'Blew up? Can planets even do that?' Barbara asks herself. The forces involved to do that must be enormous like one planet colliding with another or something. She pushes that to the back of her mind and simply listens as Clark explains how the Kents found him, took him in and raised them as if he was their son. "If you were a baby how do you know what happened?" Barbara wonders.

Clark sighs. He really doesn't want to reopen this festering wound but seems he has no choice. "My parents...my biological parents sent a message along with me where they told me who I was and why they shot me into space. Krypton's core had become unstable and would under go a chain reaction shattering the planet."

"And to save you they shot you into space in a ship," Barbara can easily follow the logic. "But what about your parents...your people? Why couldn't they save themselves?"

Clark shrugs. "Don't know. The message never really said so I don't know why they couldn't save themselves. Something about there being not enough time...I don't know."

And he doesn't really seem to want to know or to talk about it either for that matter. Barbara can see from a mile off how uncomfortable he is talking about it. This is obviously one emotional trauma he hasn't come to terms with. "So you're on your own," Barbara supposes.

"Yep," he says with a bitter pain-filled sardonic smile.

"And you're powers?" Barbara asks allowing the subject to move on.

Again Clark shrugs. "Don't know how they work. I guess it's just natural for my species."

Again something relating to Krypton he isn't comfortable talking about. He tries to play it off as if it doesn't hurt or doesn't matter but it obviously does hurt. Barbara can tell having spent a lot of the last few years hanging around men who are almost defined by the loss of their parents.

"As for the rest I can only suppose it was chance that my parents found me," Clark gives as the only explanation he can as to why his ship crashed down near the truck his parents were driving in at the time.

Barbara takes a minute and tries to imagine what she would have done if she had found a baby in a spaceship. Obviously the Kents never told anyone about Clark. She thinks she can understand why.

"So I have to ask what does this change?" Clark wonders. "You said you wanted to help me, teach me things I needed to know..."

"I still want to do that," Barbara says emphatically. That hasn't changed.

"And us? You and I?"

"Clark..." she starts to say.

"It's ok if you say you need time. I understand. I've heard it before."

Barbara looks at him curiously. "You have?"

"As I said about having an open honest relationship and you're not the first person I've dated. I understand it can take time to sink in."

Well Barbara doesn't think she is like any of the other girls he has dated. She's Batgirl and that means she has seen a lot of things. "Well I do need time but it's not just that. There is a lot for us to go through and don't take this the wrong way but someone needs to teach you how to fight."

"What?"

"Grundy is strong Clark but he's just a thug. With your strength and speed he shouldn't have been able to land a blow on you. You can't fight."

Clark would love to say something in his defence but he can't because she's right. He can't fight.

"I'll teach you," she decides.

Ok now that is something Clark can see having a problem with. "I'm not sure," he says hesitantly.

"Why?"

Clark rubs the back of his neck nervously. "Well...um...because...err...you're..."

Barbara's eyes narrow. "You're about to say because I'm a girl aren't you," she says with anger under lacing her voice.

"Yes...no...I mean..." Clark takes a moment to gather himself. He tries to express himself again. "I was brought up to be respectful to women. I hate the idea of any kind of violence against them. I am really uncomfortable with the idea of hitting you which I assume training will involve."

Well ok Barbara will accept he was brought up that way. However she feels she needs to make a small joke. "You will try to hit me. After seeing how you fought I doubt you could manage it."

"Funny," Clark says dryly at her humorous expression.

"I try."

"Barbara there is also the issue of what I could do to you if I slip. You must realise that I can crush bone with a movement as simple as an involuntary twitch of my fingers."

"There are ways round it," she argues weakly because she hadn't thought of that to be honest.

"You really feel I need to learn?"

"Yes," she says insistently because learning to fight is about learning to control your body and that is what she feels he needs to ensure he doesn't hurt anyone accidentally.

Clark sighs. "I might know of a way," he reluctantly confesses.

"How?"

"I'm going to trust you to keep this secret. I know of a way to suppress my powers. Although even then I'm still stronger than a human. I have a denser body."

"How much stronger?"

"Not sure. A third at least. Would that work?"

It should do Barbara muses to herself. It would only put him up there with an exceptionally large and strong human like a body builder. "That would work," she confirms for him.

Clark checks the time. "I really need to get home and get changed. I have to work today. Can we pick this up tonight? I'll answer any questions you want then."

"Promise?" she asks because she has to make sure he actually does come back.

"Promise," he assures her.

Barbara decides she can take his word at face value. "That'll be fine," she agrees to that. "Where shall we meet?"

"How about here?"

"Here?"

"Here as in Clark Kent will come round."

"Oh right," she says catching on what he means. "That'll be fine."

Clark smiles slightly and stands up. He moves over to under her skylight and pulls his hood back up. Neither he nor Barbara move to give each other a quick kiss of hug or anything. Too soon and too awkward. "I'll see you about 7," he tells her.

Barbara smiles and nods.

Then in a gust of wind Clark is gone in a blur up through the open skylight and off across Metropolis' skyline with a sonic boom.

Questions? Where does Barbara start? She has a lot. Maybe that is why a break is good so she can take the time to work out exactly what it is she wants to ask. She really wishes she could talk to someone about this but she can't without betraying Clark's trust and she doesn't want to do that. That would destroy what trust she has managed to build up so far and she'll need that trust if she is to help him. Just then there is a knock on her door. Who can that be?

Barbara goes over and opens it to find...Bruce Wayne standing there in one of his no doubt ridiculously expensive suits. She puts one hand on her hip looking mildly annoyed. "Let me guess. Hal told you about last night and you're here to interrogate me. Am I close?"

She gets the legendary bat scowl without the suit to complete it. Essentially that is why Bruce is here. That and the only way he could assuage Diana's anger at being 'out of the loop' to coin a phrase about what was going on was that he agreed to go see Barbara immediately and then inform Diana what he found. Bruce normally is very private but Diana is one of the rare few people he trusts so she is one of the few he will actually keep in the loop. Barbara steps back and gestures for him to come in. Bruce does just that as Barbara closes the door behind him when he spots two plates on the kitchen table. "Company?"

Barbara spots what he is looking at. "He's gone and it is not what you are thinking."

"What am I thinking?"

"We were having breakfast and talking and that's it. Accuse me of anything else and I'll throw you out," she warns him sounding ill-tempered and rude and probably over-reactive but she isn't in the mood for Bruce's paranoid thinking.

Bruce decides to accept Barbara on her word. "By him I'm going to assume you mean the Blur."

"Yes I found him. That's what you came here to confirm wasn't it."

"Yes." Bruce looks her up and down dressed in sweats. "And he's earned your trust to know who you are already?" he asks and Barbara can hear the disapproving tone in his voice.

"It's complicated."

"I'm sure it is," he says sounding very condescending.

"It's fine. Trust me," she says although she doubts Bruce will take that on faith.

"Why are you protecting him by avoiding giving the details?"

"Going with the direct approach I see," she remarks.

"That always seems to work best on you."

"Actually that's Helena," she corrects him.

"Last time I tried that she tried to shoot me," he says not sounding very happy about it. Huntress was too violent and too unpredictable. He barely tolerated her in his city.

Barbara smiles. "Yeah. That was a good day."

The bat-glare comes into full effect.

Barbara answers his question. "Because I'm trying to earn his trust and spilling all his secrets to you would undermine that."

"What has he done to earn any kind of privileges?"

"Oh good god Bruce give this a rest. I agreed to find him. I have. How I deal with him is my own choice and I'll thank you to leave it there."

"This isn't what we agreed."

"This is precisely what we agreed. All you asked of me was to find him. Nothing more. Now if you want more how about you ask for it in a polite civilised manner."

"Have you asked him about joining the Justice League?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know him well enough yet to know his opinion," she says without a trace of irony present in her tone despite the fact she has known him for weeks but at no point can she say they ever talked about the Justice League.

"How long?" he asks as in how long until he is ready to be asked.

"As long as it takes. I have no plans to push him. I have a lot to teach him."

"You're planning to become his mentor," Bruce takes from her words.

Barbara hadn't thought of using that term. "I suppose so," she concedes.

"We will not wait forever," he warns her.

"You can do what you whatever the hell you want. I'll do what I think is best."

"We'll be in touch," he tells her as he walks to the door. He opens it and stops for a second. "Barbara."

"What?"

"You'll make an excellent teacher," he compliments her before leaving shutting the door behind him leaving Barbara standing there her mouth hanging loose in total shock. Bruce just said something nice about her!


Clark returns to Lana's apartment to find her, arms crossed in front of her, looking stern faced and holding a copy of the Planet whose headline is 'The Blur stomps Grundy in bank throwdown!'. "So Clark. Anything you want to tell me," Lana says in falsely sweet tone of voice.

This is a reason he needs to start looking for his own place to live. "It's pretty self explanatory Lana. I fought Grundy last night."

"And almost demolished a building in the process."

Clark's brow furrows and he takes the paper from Lana and skims through it. It seems he caused a lot of damage...just like the Justice League do and like them he ran off without even as much as an apology. That's not what he intended at all. He'll have to do something to make it up. At least come up with some way to apologise to the bank owners.

Clark moves to sit down on Lana's couch and as he does so Lana notices him wince in pain slightly which is something she has never seen do. His hand come up to his side. "Clark. Are you alright?" Lana asks with instant concern.

Clark sighs. He doesn't want to worry her but he doesn't want to lie to her either. "Sit down. I'll tell you what happened last night," he says and he means up to a point. He feels he can't spill Barbara's secret about being Batgirl although he would love to be able to talk about it with Lana and let her help him sort out what it means and where do he and Babs go from here.

Lana sits and listens to Clark tell the story of last night ending in his fight with Grundy. "He hurt you?" Lana says with just not worry about Clark but utter confusion. "Clark apart from kryptonite I thought nothing could hurt you."

"Yes well tell Solomon Grundy that but really I'm fine Lana. I hurt a lot more last night. I guess I must heal fast," he tries to reassure her about his well-being.

"So where were you last night?"

"Um...Batgirl volunteered to take care of me," he speaks the truth but avoids the details.

Well Lana feels a little relief to know he wasn't alone when he was hurt. "So I'm guessing your meeting with Batgirl went well before the fight with Grundy," Lana supposes.

"We talked a little. We'll talk more tonight. I'm not rushing into it." All completely true statements. He's just missing out the complication that Batgirl turned out to be his girlfriend.


Approaching 5 o'clock and Lois Lane is frowning at all the red squiggly lines on her computer. She can't have made that many spelling mistakes. This computer is obviously faulty.

"Someone dropped off a letter for you Ms Lane," a voice off to her side says.

"Just put it on my desk," she tells whoever it is as she is too busy to deal with that or to even look at the person who brought it. It is half an hour later when she leans back and stretches out her muscles after insulting her computer several dozen times over but she finally has finished her latest article.

Lois' eyes drop on to the white envelope in her desk. 'Now who put that there?' she wonders having no recall of it being brought to her.

Lois picks it up, rips it open and pulls out what turns out to be a small note on a piece of card inside.

IF YOU STILL WANT THAT STATEMENT MEET ME ON THE ROOF AT 5.30.

THE BLUR.

Lois checks her watch. Crap! She has about 60 seconds to get up there. She grabs her recorder and runs for the elevator. She taps the button impatiently. God why do these things take forever when you really need them. The elevator doors open. Lois steps inside and hits the button for the top floor. The doors close and the elevator starts to rise. "Come on," she mutters impatiently as she checks her watch. If he is gone by the time she gets up there she is going to give someone hell.

The doors open and Lois runs out and then up the single flight of stairs leading to the roof from the top floor. Lois looks around and sees nothing. She takes a few strides out towards the edge as you can't see the whole roof from the stairwell. That is when she spots him in the red hoodie perched, for lack of a better term, standing right on the roof ledge looking incredibly comfortable and at ease.

"Thank you for meeting me," Clark says politely as Lois walks towards him. He had spent all day thinking about how to apologise for the mess he caused last night. The best solution he could come up with is to agree to what he refused to do last night and give a statement.

"Sure. That's no problem," Lois says cursing herself for how high pitched and nervous her voice is sounding. Why it is high-pitched and nervous sounding Lois couldn't tell you. She has met tons of superheroes and stared down supervillains so what it is about this guy that seems to set it off Lois can't explain. Lois then watches him pace a little along the ledge. "You know you should be careful," she ends up saying.

Clark smiles a little goofily. "In case I fall?"

Lois nods.

"Like this?" he queries one second before he steps off the ledge and...floats there. A chuckle rumbles from deep in his chest at the expression on Lois' face. "I thought someone would have reported I could fly," he mentions.

"Well those were only unsubstantiated rumours," Lois explains.

Clark lands gently back on the ledge. "So shall we begin?"

"Yes. Right. Let me find my recorder," she says as she searches her pockets.

"Front left," Clark helps her. "And you really shouldn't smoke," he adds spotting the packet of cigarettes in there as well.

"I'm down to 3 a day," Lois defends her habit and explains she is trying to quit. "And how the hell did you do that?" she asks as in how did he know where her recorder was and about her smoking habit.

"I call it x-ray vision. I can see through objects."

"Like clothes?"

Clark's cheeks blush a little. "As a gentleman I would never do such a thing I can assure you."

Lois is too sceptical to take that completely on face value but she lets it drop. She can get back to it later. She gets her recorder and starts it. "There is a lot for us to get through but how about you simply start with who you are and where do you get your powers from."

"I'm afraid Ms Lane I am not prepared to reveal everything about who I am. What I will say is that my sole intention is to use my powers to help people which is why I ask you to publish an apology from me for last night."

Lois is completely befuddled and caught out. "Apology?"

"I read this morning I did a lot of damage to that bank. That was never my intention therefore it is only right that I apologise."

"You stopped it from getting robbed and thanks to you Grundy is locked up," she points out.

"Those things may be true. It does not change the damage I caused."

"I...you're serious aren't you?"

Clark's brow under his hood furrows in confusion at her questioning of his intention. "Why would I say something if I didn't mean it?"

Lois chortles. "You have obviously never spent any time around politicians."

"No. How is that relevant?"

"It's just an example of a group of people who never say something they mean."

"I cannot speak for other people but for myself I always try to speak the truth."

"Ok. Then speak the truth about what happened last night."

"I was simply out helping when I picked up the police reports about a bank being broken into. I arrived and found Solomon Grundy cleaning out the vault and I stopped him."

"And Batgirl?"

"She is an ally. We were assisting each other," is what Clark comes up with to explain that and it is the truth.

"You said you won't reveal who you are or where you get your powers but what are your powers? I think people have a right to know what you can do."

"People can see what I can do every time I go out and help them. I don't hide my powers. I use them when necessary and I will use them to help the people of this city and to protect the innocent."

"You're being very guarded like you have something to hide."

Clark glares at her from behind his shades but he refrains from saying something rude and cutting in return. "I am a private person Ms Lane. I know that may sound odd to some people but that is who I am. Listing my powers does not tell you anything people cannot see for themselves every day I am out in this city. I came here so I could express my apologies and I have done so. If you will now excuse me there are many others that need my help. A good day to you Ms Lane."

Clark then soars off upward and out over the city with a sonic boom leaving a slightly annoyed Lois Lane behind. He is definitely hiding something she concludes and Lois is determined she will get to the bottom of whatever it is.


7 o'clock.

Almost to the second there is the knock on the door and Barbara answers it, greets Clark with an almost sad looking smile and ushers him in.

"So where were we?" Clark asks her.

"Talking," she answers with a small nervous laugh. "There really is a lot to go through but first off I want to say something about an issue I've been thinking about all day."

"Which is?"

"Us."

"Oh."

"I need time."

"Of course. I understand."

"Clark I'm not sure this is the right word but in a sense I'm going to be mentoring you...training you and I would like us to keep a solely professional relationship for now."

Pain and hurt flashes across Clark's features. He searches Barbara's face and can see she means what she says. "Professional. I can do that," he says, his voice suddenly a lot colder.

Barbara doesn't miss the flash of pain but she had thought about it all day and in her opinion this was what was best for both of them.


Author's Note: I'll give an explanation for Barbara's decision to keep her and Clark's relationship professional later. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews. Next up: Red means trouble...or is that redheads are trouble?