Chapter 15

[Talon—8:00 PM]

Lana stuffed the day's receipts into an envelope. She wrote the last figures on the appropriate form. Then she put that paper with the envelope and dropped it in the safe. Impatience pushed her to hustle through those procedures. Her mind spun with questions. Almost like a little girl early on Christmas morning, she wanted that ultimate bundle…

…truth and revelations from within the Kent household….

She recalled the recent tease in that direction. In the days following the twisters, Martha seemed open to including her in their inner circle. Jonathan had seemed friendlier. Clark actually asked her out. It seemed so great….

…that is before Disappointment threw the proverbial rock through her window….

They seemed to be opening up. What happened? Was it tied to Clark's behavior on our date? I didn't do anything. She frowned. Then again can I really blame them? She glanced around the area. How would everyone take it? She dropped the envelope through the safe's top slot. "Guess it's time to find out." She saw Miranda lock the door. "All set?"

"Pretty much. Are you going to be okay? You seem out of it," Miranda pointed out. She pulled her coat on.

"Sure. Just got a lot to think about. Your aunt and uncle are waiting at Lex's. Go on. You all have waited long enough to talk." Lana's face brightened. "We both have our things tonight."

"Captain Plaid's finally going to open up? For your sake, I hope so, Boss." Miranda watched Lana put her coat on. Then she unlocked the door again and let them both out. "Good luck with that."

"Thanks, Miri. You too." Lana secured the door. Then she headed for her blazer. Let's hope they're willing to share. Pete's right. This is a big secret.

[Kent Farm—Twenty Minutes Later]

Clark stared out the kitchen window. He paced about the floor crossing between the dining and living rooms. He clenched and then unclenched his hands. He winced and grimaced. His heart beat faster than a jackrabbit's pace. What do I say to Lana? Will she believe that I wanted her to know?

"It'll be all right, Clark. You'll see," Martha tried to assure him. "At least Pete and I could answer her questions."

"So she knows. Question is what will she say? She won't trust me again, Mom," he doubted.

She shook her head. "She seemed happy to see you today. At least you're all right. Now you can be open with her. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

"Yeah." He ran his hands through his hair. "I just want her to accept me."

"A relationship has to be open, Clark. All you can do is be honest now. The rest is up to her." She rubbed his arm. "Have faith." I wish Jonathan weren't at the Grange tonight. Will he let him open up to Lana that much? She glanced up and saw a pair of headlights coming up the driveway. "Who would come now?"

"Dad's gone for the evening." He opened the door to see the blazer ease its way into view. "It's Lana!" Excitement and Nerves both played a tune on his feelings. He tensed. Doubt unsteadied his pace.

"Seems she wants to talk as much as you do." She patted his arm. "That's a good sign."

I can hope. I just don't want her to run away yelling 'freak' or worse! He watched as his brunette barista got out of her blazer. "Hi, Lana! How was your shift?" For her sake, he put on his best grin.

"Kind of busy at the beginning. It died at the end." She shut the car door. He's nervous. He doesn't seem to want to hide anything. She sucked in a deep breath to compose herself. Her own heart skipped a beat from being in his presence. "I know this is kind of sudden. I wanted to talk about things."

"Sure." He glanced at Martha.

"Come in, Lana. Mr. Kent's not here. Would you like something? I was about to put some coffee on," Martha invited. She led them both inside and toward the dining room table.

"Thanks, Mrs. Kent. Coffee would be great." Lana took a deep breath. Relief washed over her. At least she wasn't being cast out. Not that she expected to be…

…but then again, hardly anyone had a secret like this on their hands either….

He cleared his throat. He'd dreamt of this moment. He'd both fantasized about and dreaded it as long as he could remember. He thought he'd had it all worked out. Now looking into Lana's eyes and seeing the questions lurking therein, he knew he was out of his league.

Enhanced abilities…meet Love of your Life….no contest….

"Lana…I'm sorry I wasn't here to talk to you before. You have questions," he apologized.

Lana sighed. "Clark, there are so many times I wish you could've told me. The other night wasn't one of them. It would've been hard considering Mr. Arighatto hurt you as badly as he did. Pete filled me in on some things."

"Pete?" He looked at both women.

"I called him, Clark. It's all right," Martha assured him. She filled three mugs and set them all out. "I wanted him to relate some things."

"He explained why you're so secretive. He gave me some idea of how big of a secret this is. I still wish you'd shared it with me sooner," Lana clarified.

"It's really big, Lana. I wanted to tell you especially after the twisters last Spring. Then things kind of came up. Lex had a reporter, Roger Nelson, who was trying to find out about me. Before the twisters, he blew up a truck with me in it. Then he nearly got my Dad and me killed. Dr. Hamilton kidnapped Pete trying to find out more about me. Lex has had me investigated after I saved his life. Who knows what Mr. Luthor's up to? There was a rogue cop from Metropolis, Phelan, who tried to blackmail me. And now we find out that Miri's stepdad knew about me all along? He would have killed both of us, Lana. I was trying to protect you by not telling you," he explained.

Lana frowned. She folded her arms across her chest. "I'm not a China doll, Clark. I can protect myself."

"Pete's already been hurt a couple of times because he knows, Lana," Martha added. "As he said, Clark wanted to tell you. His Dad and I asked him not to. Remember what Pete said? He found out by accident as well." She set the three mugs down on the table. "As long as you keep the Secret, you can talk with Pete or us."

"Or Byron. He knows," he offered.

Lana fixed her coffee. Her head spun over this account. She'd always known him to be an outstanding clean cut guy. Good things seemed to happen around him. Now she dealt with the other part of his life. First there were the abilities. Then came the reason behind the lies and evasions. She had to deal with Arighatto's attacks in the barn outside and at the Talon. And now he was telling her that others had threatened him. She could clearly see why Paranoia was so omnipresent around him. "I'll definitely talk to them. So, Clark, Pete didn't tell me this. Why did you act out during our date?"

He rolled his eyes. He drank deeply from his mug. Then he set it down on the table. "You know those class rings that came in right before that?"

"Yeah I do. Chloe had one. I have mine at home." Lana considered him for a minute. She noted Apprehension clearly weighing down on him. "Why? What's that got to do with it?"

He exchanged looks with his mother. Then he continued, "The red stones do to me what the Nicodemus flower's pollen did to my Dad, Pete, Mr. Beals and you, Lana. It brought out my Alpha personality. I wanted to tell you but you wouldn't talk to me. Yeah I deserved to be yelled at. Still I deserved a better chance to explain."

"And that's why you came with the pizza?" Lana supposed.

He nodded.

"Clark, why didn't you just tell me? You could've just dealt with it," Lana told him.

"At least you don't remember what happened with the pollen. Some of us do," Martha cut in. She motioned to him. "Tell her."

"Tell me what?" Lana turned to him. "Clark, I asked you if I did anything to embarrass you. You said everything was fine."

He winced again. "Well…I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable, Lana. You kind of got me in trouble."

Lana squirmed. "So…what did I do?"

"You know how you dressed and acted?" He cleared his throat. "You kind of…well…you led me to the school pool. Then you dove in and pulled me in after you. After that, you took off and left me there. I kind of ended up getting caught by Principal Kwan."

"I…dove in?" Lana stared wide eyed at him. "In all of that leather and…?"

He glanced at Martha feeling glad that Jonathan wasn't there. "Not…exactly…" He bit his lip.

"Not…exactly?" Martha considered the two teens. "Define not exactly."

"Yes, Clark. I'd like to know too," Lana pressed.

He sucked in another efforted breath. "Well, Lana, you…weren't yourself…I…"

"Clark, we didn't! We…"

"What? NO! I'd never try that." He rolled his eyes. Granted it's not that he didn't want that. He just wouldn't hurt her.

Martha sipped on her coffee. "Tell her, Clark."

"Clark, please." Lana's eyes burned into his psyche. "Tell me."

"Well…you…you…" He tried to hedge. Really he didn't want to embarrass her. "At least the leather didn't get wet." He shrug not wanting to go any further.

"The leather didn't….?" Lana swallowed hard. "If it didn't get wet, I took it off?"

"Uh yeah. You did," he conceded.

Incredulity seized her brain. She blinked. "Clark, what else did I….? Please tell me."

"Umm…well…you…." He tried to stop for her benefit. Seeing them motioning him onward with their eyes, he dragged himself forward. "You…" He cleared his throat yet again. "You stripped down to your underwear and dove in. Lana, you weren't yourself. Okay? Then you did this perfect dive. After that you pulled me in. When I came up, you were gone and Principal Kwan was there."

Lana grimaced. Now Discomfort shifted its attention to her. She still didn't want to believe how she'd acted toward Whitney and the Talon staff. She'd tried to seduce Lex. And now she heard that she'd hurt Clark too. "What happened with Principal Kwan?"

"I ended up with Saturday detention. It wasn't that bad. I actually did some reading," he assured her. "And I was out by noon."

"Clark, why didn't you tell me?" Lana pressed.

"You were dealing with enough stuff. I'm okay with everything. I hope you can forgive me for how I acted around you," he explained.

Lana looked to Martha. "He really has that allergy to the red stones?"

"He reacted to that one. We're still trying to figure that all out, Lana," Martha affirmed. "Again, I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner. It is a big secret. We're trying to protect Clark and those of you who do know."

Lana nodded. "It's big all right. I'm just trying to get my head around it." She sighed heavily. "This is a lot to process." She coughed. "The meteor freaks just have one ability each. You have several. How much exposure did you get to the meteors?" She shook her head. "Pete said something about you having a space ship."

"He did?" He glanced at his mother and then back at Lana.

"I mean that's ridiculous. Right? You're human not an alien." Lana gulped from her coffee. "Right?"

"Umm well, Lana. I…"

"Right?" Lana insisted. She could feel Insecurity welling up in the room. She could see the effort to press ahead and not lie. "There really is a ship?"

"Yeah, Lana. There is." He shrugged. "I came here during the meteor shower. My ship crashed in Chandler's Field."

Lana stiffened. "You're an alien?" She looked him over. "You look so…so…" Aliens were supposed to be little, green and nonhuman looking. Apparently that wasn't the truth. To her, Clark seemed so human. He acted human. He did everything everyone else did.

Even so he wasn't human.

"Normal?" he supposed.

"That's one way of putting it. Clark, I can't believe this!" Lana protested.

"Lana, Clark's the same as he's always been. Maybe he came from somewhere else. We don't know where that is. The point is that Mr. Kent and I raised Clark as a normal human being. We've had to be extremely careful. That's why he never had any birthday parties or allowed him to play sports or be in relationships. He's trying to fit in," Martha explained.

"I get that. Wow." Lana drained the rest of her mug. She set it down. She studied him. Everything seemed so jumbled. He still seemed as he always had to her. He really was the same. Still now she knew….

She knew the Truth….

"Lana, I've dreamed of telling you. I still care," he insisted. Desperation showed in his eyes and paled his face.

"I can see that." Lana set her jaw. "I need to do some thinking. Clark, I'll respect your secret. I get why you need to keep this all under wraps. I think we need to be more careful around things…both of us. I am your friend. Before I can be involved however, I need to put this together. I have to think about who and what you are." She put her hands up to stop his retort. "I really need to think on this."

He conceded a nod. Reluctance and Regret weighed on him.

"I was just telling Clark that love has to be unconditional on both sides. You need to consider everything. So does he. You're learning about this. I'm glad you're taking your time with this and really thinking about it," Martha noted.

"Really?" Lana was taken aback.

"Really. You both need to think about this. If you have questions, you can ask Mr. Kent or me. Okay?" Martha assured her.

"Thanks, Mrs. Kent." Lana stood. She put her coat back on. "Clark, this isn't good bye or no. It's a 'I need to think about it'. I just need time."

"Okay." Even if he didn't believe the word, he allowed her that space. "Just remember that I'm your friend."

"Always." She embraced him. "I just need to put this together for myself." With that she walked back out the door and toward her blazer. She drove off toward Nell's house just next door.

Meantime he watched her lights disappear down the road. Fear seized him. He glanced toward Martha.

"Unconditional, Clark. That's how it has to be," Martha reminded him.

"I'll be in the Fortress. I need to think." With that he walked toward the barn.

Martha felt her heart breaking. She wanted to just wave a magic wand or something. She wanted the mess to just resolve itself. She wanted Jonathan to be onboard with this whole thing. Clark had to understand that not everyone would deal with things as they did.

The universe, it seemed, was more complex than it seemed even an hour earlier….