A New Beginning
By Christy Landrum <iwoohooo@cs.com>
Rated: PG 13
Submitted: February 2001

_______________

This is my first L&C fanfic, but I hope you'll enjoy it.  The 
premises are slightly different than in the real Superman 
universe since I don't believe in Clark/Lana relationships.<g>  
I made Lois grow up in Smallville.

I want to think everyone on Zoomway's boards who helped and 
motivated me while I was writing, and those who left feedback 
on the listserv. Everyone was such a big help; I never would 
have finished without them!

If you want to send (greatly appreciated)feedback, e-mail to: 
iwoohooo@cs.com

______________

PROLOGUE: Late May, 1966

Jonathan and Martha Kent were on their way to their home in 
Smallville, Kansas, when Martha suddenly grabbed her husband's 
arm, motioning for him to pull their pickup truck over.

"What is it?" Jonathan asked, following his wife's gaze across 
Shuster's Field.

"I don't know.  I saw something fly across the sky.  Maybe it's 
a meteorite!"  Martha pushed her door open and ran to the 
fence. Jonathan put the truck into park and followed her, 
slightly less enthusiastically.  He glanced up at the darkening 
sky.  The sun had already set, and twilight was fading quickly 
into night.  He still had chores to do at the house, and he 
wasn't really in the mood to go dashing over the countryside.  
But Martha was already running through the field towards the 
woods.  He smiled slightly and followed her.

The young couple entered the woods where it was even darker 
than in the open field.  "What is it exactly that we're looking 
for?" he asked, examining the field anxiously.

"I don't know, something out of the ordinary."  They walked 
through the trees, scanning their surroundings.

"How about that for out of the ordinary?" Jonathan asked, 
pointing to the left of him.  Several small trees had been 
knocked over.  Martha hurried past him, stepping carefully over 
the fallen trunks.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, pointing towards the clearing 
which they had come upon.  A trail of dirt and grass had been 
upturned, leaving a long path across the ground.  The two 
followed it, both of them now curious.

"What is it?" Martha asked, stopping when they came to an 
object in the mud. Jonathan kneeled in front of it, with Martha 
looking over his shoulder.  He ran his hands along the smooth 
sides of the... thing that they had discovered.  Without 
warning, the top half of it suddenly popped up.  Martha gasped, 
putting her hand over her mouth. Jonathan sat back on his 
heels, looking up at his wife.  She reached down and lifted the 
small child from the dark blue blankets of the craft.

The child gurgled with delight and, reaching up, placed one 
small hand in Martha's hair.  Martha looked at Jonathan with 
pleading eyes. It hadn't been too long before that night that 
the couple had realized that they couldn't have children.  And 
now, as if in answer to their prayers, a child had literally 
fallen from the sky for them.

"Oh boy," Jonathan said after several moments.  The dark-
haired, fair-skinned child that Martha now held in her arms 
stopped giggling and looked over at Jonathan with a solemn 
expression.  However, after several moments, he smiled again 
and stuck his tongue out from between his lips.

"We have to keep him," Martha said, holding the small boy close 
to her.

* * *

Early September, 1978

Clark and his father were leading two of the horses in from the 
field to the barn.  The sky overhead was growing increasingly 
dark with anticipation for the upcoming storm.  The wind 
whipped Clark's longish dark hair around his face while the 
horses pranced, excited by the spooky sounds the wind made 
while blowing over the field.

Clark spoke soothingly to the colt that he held by the halter. 
Jonathan had promised that by the time the colt was old enough 
to be trained, Clark could have the responsibility of taking 
care of him, so Clark was extra careful with the young horse.  
They were nearly to the barn when Clark heard his mother 
screaming from the front porch. Clark snapped his head towards 
her, noticing Jonathan doing the same from the corner of his 
eye.  Martha was too far away to be heard clearly, but she 
pointed towards the barn.  Jonathan and Clark looked in the 
direction she pointed.

"Oh my God!" Clark yelled in fright.  An immense dark funnel in 
the sky was making its destructive path towards the Kents' 
farm.

"Let go of the horses!" Jonathan yelled.  "The cellar!"

Clark let go of his colt and followed his father towards the 
cellar they had behind their house, where Martha already stood, 
holding the door open.  The family dove underground, and 
moments later they could feel the ground shaking around them.  
Clark fell to the floor with his hands over his ears, trying to 
block out the never-ending roar of the tornado.  Then, just as 
quickly as it started, the horrible sounds stopped.  Timidly, 
Clark timidly stood up, while Jonathan unbolted the door and 
pushed it open.  Clark followed him, anxious to see the 
aftermath of the storm.

The fields were demolished, flattened or sucked away.  Rubble 
that had fallen from the tornado lay strewn about on the 
ground.  The horse that Jonathan had been leading galloped 
around in fright, but Clark couldn't see his colt anywhere.  He 
looked up at his father and then at his mother, his lower lip 
trembling.  He leaned back into his mother's embrace, staring 
at the destruction around him.  Then he turned around, and 
wrapped his arms tightly around his mother, just now beginning 
to be afraid of what had happened, and what was to come.

* * *

3 Months Later

Clark watched, determined not to start crying again, as the 
girl loaded his colt onto her horse trailer.  They had found 
the horse deep in the woods the day after the tornado, and now 
Clark was losing him again.  He knew that the young horse would 
have a good home.  The girl had said she wanted to train him to 
ride instead of using him as a workhorse.  And he was glad that 
his parents were getting a good price for the horse.  But he 
just couldn't help but feel discouraged as he watched yet 
another piece of his past and future leave his life.  His 
mother stood behind Clark and gave him an encouraging squeeze 
on his shoulder, as if to say everything would be all right. 
But for some reason, Clark didn't think it would be.

The girl talked with his father for a few minutes before 
climbing into the cab of her truck and pulling out of their 
driveway with a friendly wave.  Clark let out the long breath 
that he had been holding as his father accompanied the 
remaining two members of the Kent family to the door of the 
barn.  Clark gave Jonathan a small smile, trying to convince 
his father and himself that he was okay.

"Well, hello," Martha said, and Clark looked up.

Standing a few yards in front of Clark was a boy a few years 
older than he was.  The boy had shaggy blond hair, wore baggy 
tan pants and a loose black shirt, and carried a small 
backpack.

"I'm Tuck," the boy said abruptly in a strong southern accent.  
He moved his backpack to his other shoulder and stared back at 
the Kents.  There was a short pause before Jonathan spoke.

"Well, what can we do for you, Tuck?" he asked kindly.

"Got any work that needs done?" Tuck asked in the same short 
tone. Jonathan exchanged a glance with Martha over Clark's 
head.  "'Cause I can work for you if you need something, if you 
let me stay at your house for a while."

Clark scrutinized the teenager.  He wasn't sure what he wanted 
his parents to say.  It wasn't very fair of the boy to just 
drop in on them right now, when they were having problems.  But 
then, Clark thought it might be fun to have someone live with 
them.  It would be like having a big brother.  And maybe Tuck 
could help his father start the farm up again.  He smiled 
hesitantly at Tuck when their eyes met, but Tuck only raised an 
eyebrow at Clark.

"Well, I suppose if you need somewhere to stay, we could use 
the help for a while," Jonathan said slowly.  Clark smiled up 
at his father. He was hoping his father would approve.  
Inheriting a friend helped ease the pain of losing his horse.

* * *

A NEW BEGINNING Late August, 1983

Clark Kent stood beside the pond, leaning against the huge 
willow tree.  He waited for the crunch of footsteps as he did 
every night. The moon made the pond sparkle, and he glumly 
kicked dirt out into the water, making small splashes and 
ripples spread outward.  Lois wasn't coming.  Yet again, she 
hadn't showed up.  Clark kept coming, late night after late 
night, hoping that she might be there to meet him.  But she was 
never there.  He turned around and walked back onto the path 
that led to his small Kansas farmhouse.  He shut his eyes 
tight, unwilling to let the tears fall that desperately needed 
to. He swiped his hands across his eyes once, wiping away the 
moisture, and then jogged back to his house.

He slid in through the kitchen door silently, and made his way 
to his room.  He passed his parents' room, pausing for a second 
to hear their rhythmic breathing, then continued on down the 
hallway.  He passed Tuck's room, and unconsciously quickened 
his steps.  Clark had spent his most recent years growing up 
with Tuck, who was the Kents' stablehand.  Tuck, at twenty, was 
only three years older than Clark, but Clark still felt uneasy 
around him.  Tuck had shown on too many occasions that he 
couldn't be trusted.

Clark slid into his room quietly, slipped out of his boots, and 
sunk into bed.  He was tired, yes, but the real reason he 
wanted to get to sleep was for morning to come.  Morning held 
no surprises, it was the same day after day.  Night was when 
Clark had to worry.

* * *

Lois Lane and her sister Lucy walked down the busy Metropolitan 
sidewalk towards their hotel.  Lois' knee-length skirt swished 
back and forth as the two girls hurried through the crowds of 
people.

"I'm going to miss this when we leave," Lois said sadly, 
stopping to look around at the scenery: tall buildings, lots of 
cars crowding the streets, people everywhere you looked.  To 
Lois, it was heaven.

"So am I," Lucy said, pulling Lois to the side so her sister 
could have a better view, then pointed across the street.  
"Look at that guy!"

Lois rolled her eyes and started walking again until she saw a 
building across the street with a huge globe in front of it.  
"Hey, isn't that..."

"The Daily Planet building," Lucy supplied.  "You know, the big 
newspaper."

"Of course I know what it is," Lois said.  She had always loved 
writing, and her dream was to be an author of romance novels. 
However, standing right in front of the building that produced 
the best newspaper in the world, she thought that maybe she 
could have a career as a journalist.

"Come on," Lucy said, pulling Lois' arm and breaking her out of 
her daydream.  "Daddy said we needed to be back at the hotel by 
6:00, and it's already 6:10."  Lois threw one last longing 
glance at the Daily Planet building, then followed her sister.

* * *

Sunlight was already streaming into Clark's bedroom window when 
he woke up the next morning.  The clock on his bedside said it 
was already 11:30.  Clark sighed and swung his legs over the 
side of the bed.  Instead of feeling refreshed, he felt even 
more discouraged. If it was already 11:30, than that meant that 
no one else was awake yet, and Clark would have to yet again 
take care of the morning chores.  He pulled on his boots and 
grabbed a flannel coat out of his closet.  He walked down the 
hallway, careful not to disturb anyone. He walked down the 
stairs and through the empty kitchen.  He wistfully remembered 
the mornings when his mother had had pancakes and eggs ready 
for him when he woke up.  He pushed those memories away and 
stepped out the door.

The afternoon sun was beginning to disappear behind dark clouds 
that hung to the east of the Kents' ranch.  Clark made his way 
through the yard, overgrown with weeds, and into the barn.  
Their old workhorse kicked his stall door impatiently as Clark 
came in, and he quickly threw a pad of hay into the stall.  He 
then picked up a tin can of corn and threw its contents around 
in the dirt outside the barn for the few chickens that were 
left.  After letting the horse out in its field, Clark came 
back into the barn and sat down on a bale of dusty hay.

The barn used to be filled with several different cows, a 
couple horses, a mule, and some goats.  But now, all that was 
left of that was their old and tired workhorse, who they kept 
around only because they were afraid to sell it.  Cobwebs hung 
down from the ceiling, and dust covered nearly everything in 
the large barn.  Clark remembered how this barn had once been 
his father's pride and joy, but after they had lost all their 
crops five years before in a tornado, and the bank had stopped 
funding them, his father had practically let the barn, and the 
farm, go to waste.

Clark picked up a rusted rake and began to clean out the 
horse's stall, wondering why life has taken such a devastating 
nose dive. His parents didn't even try to put things back 
together; they had both fallen into a depression after what 
they'd worked for had suddenly disappeared.

Clark remembered the night of the tornado well.  He had been 
helping his father bring in the livestock because the forecast 
had called for a bad thunderstorm that night.  They had been 
about halfway to the barn from the field when they saw the 
funnel in the sky, about a mile away.  Martha had screamed from 
the front porch.  The three ran for the cellar, barely making 
it before the wind began to pick up at a terrifying pace.  They 
huddled together underneath the ground as the tornado went 
right over their heads.

When they finally made their way out of the cellar, the land 
was in ruins.  The crops had been completely blown away or 
flattened, and the roof had been torn off the barn.  Amazingly, 
the tornado hadn't bothered the house, and Clark wondered what 
would have happened to them if the house had been picked up or 
blown away.  The only animals that were left after the tornado 
were the horse and the mule, and the Kents' had sold the mule a 
few months later.

Around that time, Tuck had wandered to their house.  He had 
been fifteen and looking for work, and since Jonathan needed 
help around the farm, he agreed to let him stay.  The deal they 
made was work in exchange for food and a room.  After settling 
in, however, Tuck began to drink, and he was always causing 
trouble and never helping.  The Kents, however, didn't have the 
heart to tell him he had to leave.

Clark was torn from his thoughts as he felt icy hands on his 
bare neck.  He jumped and turned around, and saw Tuck standing 
behind him.

"Oh, good morning, Tuck," Clark said nervously, inconspicuously 
moving away from Tuck across the horse's stall.

"Mornin', Clark," Tuck answered, taking a swig out of the 
bottle in his hand.  Clark made a face, but quickly masked it 
by coughing. Tuck was drinking again, as he had nearly every 
day for the past two or three years, and it made Clark sick.  
It seemed like the man was always walking around with a can or 
bottle in his hand.

"What're ya doin' there?" Tuck asked, leaning against the stall 
door.

"I'm uh... I'm cleaning the stall," Clark answered, hoping that 
Tuck hadn't heard the nervousness in his voice.  Tuck had been 
known to get angry very easily.

"I coulda told ya that, whatdya think I am, dumb?  I'm 
wonderin' why you don't get your pa to do it.  You gotta take 
care of your pa, Clark, make sure he keeps hisself busy, huh?"

"Uh-huh," Clark answered, trying to scope out an escape route.  
Tuck was standing in the doorway to the stall, and if Clark 
tried to get past him, he knew he wouldn't make it.

Tuck took another drink of his liquor, and then threw it at 
Clark's feet.  Clark obediently picked it up with his rake and 
put it in the wheelbarrow to be thrown away.

"Your pa's a lazy guy, ain't he, Clark?  He don't never do 
anything no more, I might as well be runnin' this farm."

Clark held his breath and counted to ten in his head.  He knew 
Tuck was just trying to get to him, so that Clark would get 
mad.  Tuck had played this game with Clark as long as he'd 
known him.  Tuck would work Clark up until Clark yelled back, 
and then...  Clark shuddered to think of what had happened the 
first few times that had happened. Clark had ended refusing to 
leave the house for quite some time, because of the gruesome 
marks on his face.  The only reason Tuck hung around was 
because he had no where else to go, and Clark's parents had no 
one else to help farm.

"Your pa and ma both, huh?  Your ma's still asleep at the 
house, the lazy woman.  You're the only one that works around 
here, same as me. But I don't know how you do it, you're always 
runnin' out in the middle of the night, and don't get no sleep.  
Where you always goin', anyway?  Bet you go out and drink, huh?  
You a big boy now, and you think you wanna drink."

Clark shut his eyes tight and Tuck laughed, as he opened 
another bottle of beer.  "You want some of this Clark?"  Tuck 
walked into the stall, and the waft of alcohol filled Clark's 
nostrils.

"Stay away from me, Tuck," Clark said in a low, threatening 
voice.

"You think you are a big boy, dontcha?" Tuck said nastily.  
Clark darted around him towards the door, and then he felt the 
glass bottle make contact with his head.  Shards of glass fell 
all around him, and the liquor drenched his head and back.  
Spots danced in front of his eyes for a moment.  He gasped and 
ran faster for the barn exit, then out into the drizzling rain.  
He didn't stop until he was in the house.  His mom was in the 
kitchen, half-heartedly going through the process of making 
some scrambled eggs.  She turned off the stove, looked up, and 
began to ask him to get a plate for the eggs, before she saw 
his face.

"Clark, honey, what happened?" she asked softly, and pulled him 
towards her.  She stroked his cheek, where blood was trickling 
down from the cuts.  Clark was breathing heavily, and tears 
were welling up in his eyes.  He sat down at the table and put 
his head down into his arms.  Martha stroked his alcohol-soaked 
hair and his trembling shoulders.

"Was it Tuck, honey?" she asked, even more softly than before.  
Clark nodded, and Martha glared out at the barn.  "I'm so 
sorry," she said, barely loud enough to be audible.

* * *

Lois and Lucy finally made it to their hotel room, after making 
a few more stops for sightseeing.  They entered their hotel 
room, laughing at a joke Lucy had just made pertaining to the 
cute male that occupied the room next door to theirs.  Sam Lane 
held up his hand for silence as they entered, and they 
immediately quieted down after sharing a few more die-hard 
giggles.  Sam was on the phone, and he hung up a few minutes 
later.  He looked apologetically at Lois and Lucy.

"I'm sorry, girls, but it looks like I've got to go meet a 
potential client for dinner."

Lois rolled her eyes, but she couldn't really complain.  The 
only reason she and Lucy had been able to come to Metropolis in 
the first place was because their father had had business in 
the city.

"It's ok, Daddy," Lucy said.

"But how about this.  I'll give you two some money, and then 
you can go catch some dinner and do a little sightseeing.  What 
do you think about that?"

Lois smiled at her father.  She knew he was trying his hardest 
to be a good father, even though he didn't have much 
experience, and she loved him for that.

"Thanks, Daddy," she said as she took the money.

Sam stood up and wrapped his lightweight jacket around his 
shoulders. "Well, then, I'll see you later.  Don't be out too 
late," he stopped to check his watch, "and I'll be home by 
10:00 at the latest."

He exited the room, and the two girls were quiet for nearly 
fifteen seconds before looking at each other with a grin.  
"What do you say we go see if the boy next door has a brother?" 
Lois asked, her eyes twinkling mischievously.  Lucy nodded her 
agreement, and so they set off.

* * *

"Jonathan, we have to do something.  We can't let that man 
continue to beat up on our son!  What if...  what if he loses 
his temper and...  and Clark is killed!  It will only take one 
time, and then..."  Martha sunk down into the couch in their 
living room.  It was later that afternoon, and after cleaning 
his glass wounds and washing his hair, Clark had gone back to 
sleep.  The rain poured outside.  Jonathan paced around the 
room.

"I know, Martha, I know.  But Tuck's been with us for so long, 
how can we just all of the sudden tell him that he has to 
leave?  There's no way he'll ever be able to survive on his own 
anywhere."

"You didn't see Clark's face when he came in.  There was glass 
stuck to him, all over him.  His face was bleeding, and he was 
crying!" She looked down at her hands and lowered her voice 
before continuing. "This isn't how a seventeen year old boy 
should live."

Jonathan sat down on the couch beside Martha and put his arm 
around her shoulder.  "I know he's not being raised in the best 
of homes. But I'm trying my hardest to make him turn out right, 
and I know you are too.  Things will get better, I promise.  I 
even put in an application at the hardware store in town 
yesterday.  Things are going to get better."

Martha sighed and looked up at her husband.  "Oh Jonathan, I 
wish you were right.  It's just been so long, I think I've lost 
hope."

* * *

Lois woke early the next morning, and immediately her mind 
projected the memories from the night before.  She smiled 
sleepily and threw her arm out to the side, landing with a 
thump on Lucy's back, who was still asleep on her other side.  
Lucy muttered something about going to bed too late and getting 
up too early before turning onto her side, facing away from 
Lois.  Lois sighed as she remembered the night before.

The two girls had gone out to a cafZ outside the hotel to get 
some dinner, and to their delight were joined by two young men, 
who afterwards treated them to a nearby ice cream parlor.  Then 
the boys gave them an unnecessary but very much wanted tour of 
a part of Metropolis, and the night ended with Lois getting a 
quick kiss on the lips by the older of the two.  It was too bad 
the Lanes had to return home that night.  Lois groaned.  Back 
to boring Smallville, and the boring farmhouse, and the boring 
school, and the boring...

Clark!  To her embarrassment, Lois had completely forgotten 
about Clark.  She hoped he still wasn't going out to that pond, 
or else he would be angry at her.  She had been gone for nearly 
2 weeks now... poor guy.  Lois almost felt sorry for him 
sometimes.  He always seemed so sad and depressed.  But she 
still enjoyed being with him; he was a good friend and someone 
she could talk to.  He was also quite attractive, Lois thought 
with an inward grin.  She really did hope she hadn't hurt him 
by forgetting to tell him she would be gone.

* * *

Clark didn't wake up until much later that night.  The rain was 
still pouring down against his window, and he lay in bed for 
several moments.  He really didn't want to go out in the rain, 
but what if Lois showed up and Clark didn't?  The more he 
thought about if, the surer he was that this would be the night 
that Lois met him at the pond.  He knew it.  So he slowly swung 
his legs over the bed, slipped on his boots, and pulled on a 
plaid jacket.

He tiptoed silently out of the house and within a matter of 
moments the pouring rain drenched him.  He ran through the 
backyard and into their field that once held rows and rows of 
different crops.  Now it was just brown mud, with a few 
flattened weeds poking out here and there.  He made his way 
into the woods, where the rain was barely able to seep through 
the heavy canopy of trees.  He shook the water off his head, 
then continued running through the woods, his boots sinking 
into the soft mud.  He finally came to the clearing that held 
the pond, but his heart sank when he saw Lois wasn't there.

Who am I kidding? he thought.  Of course she's not here.  Why 
would she want to see me?  He stood in the pouring rain for a 
few minutes, his face up to the sky and his eyes closed.  He 
could barely tell when his tears mixed with the rain that fell 
down his face.  He didn't return to the house until much later.

* * *

The Lanes returned to their house in Smallville late that 
night. Lois stumbled out of their Dodge and waited for her 
father to unpack the bags from the trunk, barely able to keep 
her eyes open.  When she finally made it into the house, loaded 
with her bags, she saw that it was already past 1:00.  She 
walked into their dark living room and found her mother, asleep 
in the recliner, with their small TV on mute.

"Mom," she whispered, causing Ellen to stir and then slowly 
open her eyes.  "We're home," Lois said.  Her mother closed her 
eyes again.

"All right," she said, her voice thick with sleep.  Lois stood 
there for a few more moments.

"Mother, why don't you go get in your bed to sleep?"

"I'm fine here.  Go on to bed."

Lois stood there silently for a long time, watching her mother.  
She knew she and her father weren't on good terms at the 
moment, and Lois had thought if her mother had gotten a couple 
weeks to herself, then she would be more relaxed and refreshed 
when the rest of the family got home.  It appeared that that 
wasn't the case.

Lois jumped when Lucy touched her arm from behind.  They shared 
a silent look, then they both walked to their room.

"I thought that maybe she would be happy to see us, you know?" 
Lois said as she sat her suitcase down beside the bed and 
pulled out her toothbrush.

"Well, wait'll she sees what we brought her," Lucy said 
mischievously, holding up the bag of hotel soaps they had 
collected to bring home.  "You know she'll be thrilled."

Lois smiled slightly, then walked into the bathroom that joined 
their room.  "But really, Lucy.  She didn't change a bit."

Lucy shrugged and joined her in the bathroom.  "It's her loss.  
If she doesn't want to rebuild our family..."  She trailed off.  
"But you're right.  You'd think she would at least want to give 
it a try."

Lois stopped her brushing for a minute to talk through 
toothpaste. "Well, maybe we would get back together if anything 
in this world actually went right."

* * *

"Clark?  Clark, honey, wake up."  Clark opened his eyes slowly 
and saw his mother standing over his bed.

"Hi, Mom," he said softly, then cleared his throat.

"How are you feeling?  It's almost amazing how much better your 
face looks.  You can barely see the scratches..." she trailed 
off, running her hand slowly down his cheek.

Clark sat up and ran a hand through his hair.  It was still 
damp from the night before.

"I'm feeling fine Mom, much better."  He looked at his clock 
and saw it was already 1:00.  "Have the animals been fed?" he 
asked.

Martha smiled.  "Yes, Tuck is out taking care of chores and 
your dad went into town."  She stared at him for a second.  
"It's really... amazing.  There's hardly any scratches left on 
your face except for where that deep gash was.  And even it's 
just a little line."

Clark shrugged.  They were silent for a moment.

"Clark, I don't really know how to say this.  I know that Tuck 
is abusive to you, and your father and I haven't been the 
best..."

"Mom, don't," Clark said sharply.  His tone softened, and he 
put a hand on his mother's.  "I'm fine.  And you and Dad are 
the only parents I would ever want.  You're doing your best, 
and that's all anyone can do."  He stood up then and walked 
slowly out of the room and down the stairs.

Martha stood silently, lost in her thoughts.  She knew Clark 
was just trying to be nice, but he had always been so 
wonderful.  He was a gift to their family, and if he hadn't 
been there, she knew both her and Jonathan might have just 
given up on their lives long ago.  She silently thanked God for 
sending Clark into their life: he really was a gift from above.  
Then she slowly followed Clark down into the kitchen.

Martha found him sitting at the kitchen table, silently 
drinking a cup of buttermilk.  She put her hand on his 
shoulder.  "Buttermilk's the cure for what ails you, that's 
what your father used to say." She smiled at him, but when he 
didn't respond, she patted his shoulder and walked to the 
refrigerator.  "How about I fix us some pancakes?  I know we 
haven't had any in a long time, and that's mostly my fault."

Clark smiled half-heartedly up at her.  "Sure Mom, that'd be 
great." His attention then turned back to the window, where he 
was watching Tuck out in the yard, sweeping the sidewalk to the 
barn.  Clark realized that the man really wasn't so bad when he 
wasn't drunk, but when he was...

Martha noticed the direction of Clark's vision and followed it 
out the window.  He was watching Tuck.  She squeezed his 
shoulder silently as she passed him, and glared out at Tuck.  
As she mixed the batter for the pancakes, she wished life could 
be normal like it once was.

* * *

It was midnight, and Clark was walking slowly down the trail 
through the woods.  He didn't truly think Lois would be there; 
he was going more out of habit than anything else.  But as he 
made his way into the clearing, what he saw made his heart 
leap.  Her silhouette against the sparkling pond made him stop 
and watch her for a moment. She sat on one of the large rocks 
that bordered the pond, and she was staring out across the 
water.  Her dark hair fell past her shoulders, and she had one 
leg crossed over the other one.

"Lois," he breathed.  She turned her head, and Clark could see 
her dark, sparkling eyes.  His knees threatened to buckle on 
him, and he put a hand against the willow tree to steady 
himself.  Lois stood up and walked over to him.

"Hi, Clark," she said softly, staring down at the ground.

"Why haven't you been here?" Clark asked, then wished he could 
take it back.  It was rude, and if he weren't careful, he would 
make her not want to come back.  And Clark couldn't stand that.

"I've been busy.  We just got back from a trip to Metropolis.  
Daddy liked it there a lot.  So did I."  She turned around and 
walked back to the edge of the pond.

Clark didn't quite know what to do.  All this time he had 
waited for her to meet him here, and now that she had, he 
didn't know what to say.  So, he just tried to make 
conversation.  "Metropolis... wow. That's... that's a pretty 
big city, huh?"

"Yeah, it's great.  It's so much more exciting than being here 
in Smallville." Clark nodded, awkwardly standing beside her.

Lois sat down on the rock again.  Clark lowered himself onto 
the ground across from her.  They sat silently for a moment.

"So, how have you been?" Lois finally asked.

"Pretty good, I guess," Clark answered.  Lois didn't know about 
Tuck, so Clark couldn't tell her about the day before.  "You?"

"Good," she answered.  That sat silently again, before Clark 
took Lois' hand and looked shyly up at her.

"Would you like me to tell you your future?" he asked, turning 
her hand over so her palm faced up.  Lois laughed lightly.

"Sure."  Clark pretended to study her hand intently for several 
moments before tracing his finger along the top of her palm.

"Let's see... you're going to have a long life, and lots of 
kids." He looked up at her again, looking for her reaction, and 
when he saw none except for a smile, looked back down at her 
hand.  "And you're going to have a... well, I can't tell if it 
says adventurous life or... big house."

Lois laughed and pushed his head back softly with her other 
hand.  "I think you need to get your eyes checked.  That or 
your palm reading skills."

Clark laughed too, then held her hand between both of his and 
looked up into her dark eyes.  "It also says that you'll find 
your true love sitting right in front of you."

Lois was silent for a moment as they looked at each other.  
Then she stood up, gently pulling her hand from between 
Clark's.

"Clark, I... it's late.  We should be getting home."  Clark sat 
back on his knees, dumbstruck.  What had just happened?  He 
hadn't meant to say that.  It had just slipped out.  But... he 
thought Lois loved him, like he loved her.  As she started to 
walk off into the woods, Clark jumped up and followed her.

"Lois... I... I'm sorry.  If I did anything..." he started.

Lois looked over at him and gave him a half-smile.  "You didn't 
do anything, Clark.  It's just late."  Clark followed her until 
she turned to go to her house.

"Goodnight, Clark.  I'll see you later."

"Goodnight, Lois," Clark said as he watched her retreating 
back. Then, inaudibly, he mouthed, "I love you."

He made his way back to the house, but he was wide-awake, so he 
decided to sit in the barn for a while and think.  He walked up 
to the horse's stall and made a clicking noise with his tongue.  
The horse jumped slightly, waking up, then turned slowly around 
to stick his head over the door.  Clark rubbed the chestnut's 
wide forehead and sighed.

"I wish she could love me too," he said, barely over a whisper.

"I know where you go these nights now."

Clark jumped and turned around.  Tuck stood in the doorway of 
the barn, his figure casting a long shadow through the aisle.  
He carried a can of beer, from which he took a long swig, then 
threw it against the horse's stall beside Clark.  The horse 
jumped back in surprise.

Clark was frozen in place.  As Tuck walked slowly closer to 
him, Clark noticed he couldn't keep his teeth from chattering.

"You go out to see that girl, Lois, huh?  Why didn't you tell 
me Clark?  I could have given you some advice, ya know?  Kinda 
a guy to guy thing."  Tuck was getting closer and closer to 
Clark, and Clark couldn't move.  He couldn't remember ever 
being so scared.  He was alone with a dangerous, drunk man in 
the middle of the night in a barn.

"Tuck, please..." Clark said, his voice coming out almost in a 
squeak.

"Whatsa matter, Clark?  I just wanna talk to you about Lois."  
Clark started to move away, but Tuck was in front of him in a 
flash, and suddenly had his vice-like grip around Clark's 
wrist.

"Please don't do anything, Tuck," Clark begged, his whole body 
trembling.

"Whadya think I'm gonna do, Clark?"

"I don't know - please let me go."  His voice was shaking.

Tuck grabbed his other wrist and held them both up before 
pushing Clark back against the wall of the barn.  "Listen, 
Clark.  I just wanna talk to you."  Clark could feel tears 
running down his cheeks that he couldn't stop.  Tuck leaned his 
face so close to Clark's that their noses almost touched.  The 
sharp smell of alcohol hit Clark's nostrils, and he coughed.  
He turned his face away from Tuck and closed his eyes.

"Look at me, Clark.  Open your eyes.  Ya need to listen to what 
I gotta tell you."  Clark shook his head and desperately tried 
to wrestle free of Tuck's grasp, but the older man was much 
stronger than Clark.

"You think Lois wants you for your personality or looks, huh?  
That's not what she wants at all."  Tuck moved closer to Clark, 
until his whole body was holding Clark against the wall.

"No, no, no, please no," Clark was murmuring through his tears.

"She don't want you at all.  She just wants what you come 
with." Tuck moved his hips up against Clark, and Clark gasped 
and twisted his body away from Tuck.  Tuck got a better hold on 
Clark's wrists again and slammed him back up against the wall.  
The air rushed out of Clark in a WOOSH of air.

Clark tried to cover his ears as Tuck continued talking, but he 
couldn't.  He was saying terrible things, things that Clark 
wouldn't have ever thought.  Then he grabbed Clark's chin and 
made him look at his face.  "You wanna know how I know all 
this?  All those nights she didn't meet you, I know where she 
was.  I know all this stuff..." Tuck moved his face closer to 
Clark's until their noses touched.  "I know all this stuff 
because she told me."

In a rush, Clark wrenched his hand away from Tuck.  "No!" he 
yelled, swung back, and hit Tuck across the face.  Tuck flew 
back against the wall all the way across the room and hit his 
head, then crumpled to the ground.  Clark was frozen again, 
still trembling.  How had he done that?  How had he just sent 
Tuck, a two hundred pound man, flying across the room?  
Everything grew silent again, and Clark backed up against the 
wall, horrified.  Questions were running through his mind, but 
he didn't have answers for any of them.

"Mom!" he screamed through the night.  "Dad!"  He slipped down 
the wall and onto the barn floor.

* * *

Martha woke with a start.  "Jonathan!" she whispered fervently, 
nudging her husband's shoulder.

"What?" he said, his voice heavy with sleep.

"Did you hear that?" Martha asked.  She sat up and slid out of 
bed, slipping on her robe.

"Martha, what is it?" Jonathan asked.  Martha didn't answer him 
as she ran out of the room, but when she came back, Jonathan 
could see the look of fear on her face.

"Something's happened to Clark.  He's not in his room."  She 
paused for a moment, catching her breath.  "Neither is Tuck."

This made Jonathan jump up, and together they ran out of their 
house and onto the porch.  "Where could they be?" Martha asked, 
her eyes darting around the yard.

"Check the barn," Jonathan said, and they both flew across the 
yard and through the wide barn doors.  The first thing Martha 
saw was Clark curled up in a ball against the wall, his 
shoulders shaking.

"Clark!" she exclaimed and ran over to him.  She kneeled down 
beside him, Jonathan right beside her.  "Clark," she repeated, 
softly. "Clark, honey, look at me."  She gently pried his arms 
away from him, and the moonlight that shone in through the 
doors illuminated his tear-stained face.  He leaned forward and 
wrapped his arms around Martha's back, burrowing his face into 
her shoulder.  She rubbed his back soothingly.

"Martha," Jonathan called from the other side of the barn.  
Martha and Clark both looked over to him.  He was standing 
above Tuck's crumpled figure.

"I... I don't... I didn't..." Clark stammered, a whole new 
batch of tears threatening to spill out of his eyes.

"Clark, just tell us what happened," Martha said gently, still 
holding him.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then pulled 
himself out of Martha's grasp.  He leaned back against the barn 
wall, his eyes closed.

"I was out with Lois," he said, then let that sink in.  His 
parents hadn't known he went out to see her every night.  
Neither of them said anything.

"Then, I came back here.  He... Tuck... he attacked me.  He was 
holding me against the wall, and he was drunk.  And he was 
telling me all these things..."  A tear slipped out from 
underneath his tightly shut eyelids, but he wiped it away with 
the back of his hand.

"And then... I punched him.  And somehow, he ended up all the 
way across the barn."

Clark opened his eyes and looked for his parents' reaction.  
The two elder Kents looked at each other for a few moments, 
letting all of this sink in.  Jonathan was finally the first to 
speak.

"Son, are you sure you didn't pull him over here?  Or maybe he 
walked over here before he collapsed?"

"Dad... no.  I hit him, with my bare fist, and he flew across 
the room."

"I don't understand this," Jonathan said, running a hand 
through his hair.  He bent down beside Tuck and felt for his 
pulse.  "He's alive, just unconscious."

Clark let out a sigh of relief.  If he had killed someone, even 
in self-defense, he could never have lived with the guilt.

"Why were you out with Lois?" Martha asked, standing up.

"I just went to see her.  We met in the woods beside the pond.  
We just talked."

Martha took a deep breath, and then softly said, "Can you tell 
us what Tuck said?"

Clark shut his eyes again.  "No."

* * *

Once Clark was back in his bed, he couldn't go to sleep.  His 
father had taken Tuck to the emergency room, and Clark felt 
awful, because he knew his parents didn't have extra money to 
use for a hospital visit.  Martha had stayed with Clark beside 
his bed, saying she would wait for him to go to sleep, and he 
finally pretended he had gone to sleep, because he needed time 
alone to think.  His mind raced, all his thoughts on that 
night.  First, there was Lois.  But then he pushed her out of 
his mind.  He would save those thoughts for later. He couldn't 
deal with them right now.  His more immediate concern was how, 
how, HOW had he sent Tuck flying twenty feet through the air. 
And then when he thought of what Tuck had said...  He shivered 
and pulled the blanket more tightly around him, even though he 
wasn't cold.

He didn't have answers for any of the questions that bounced 
back and forth through his head.  He just wished that 
everything could be normal again.  Finally, his mind settled 
long enough for him to fall asleep.  And then it started up 
again in his dreams.

* * *

School started in Smallville a week later.  Clark felt the 
anxiety that comes with the first day of school as he woke up, 
making sure it was early enough to have enough time to get 
ready.  After getting dressed, he walked out across the hallway 
to the bathroom.  The door was locked.  He raised his hand to 
knock, but the door swung open before he could and Tuck stepped 
out.  He gave Clark the same sneer that had been pasted on his 
face since the week before, then continued out into the 
hallway, after making sure to push Clark backwards out of his 
way.  Clark shook his head slightly, sighed, and then continued 
on into the bathroom.

He was pleasantly surprised to find his parents both awake and 
busy as he entered the kitchen, especially since, after looking 
at the clock, he found it was only 6:10 in the morning.  For 
the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Clark thought 
that maybe things would start looking up.

He supposed that his parents had decided that it was better to 
leave things as they were, for the time being anyway.  They 
hadn't spoken anymore to Clark about the incident in the barn, 
and ever since Jonathan had brought Tuck back from the 
hospital, Tuck had stayed up in his room, coming down only for 
meals.  There had been no more signs of Clark's inhuman 
strength, and Clark had come to blame it on a serious 
adrenaline rush.

Clark also hadn't seen Lois since that night, but he had only 
been out to the pond once in the past week.  He supposed he 
could have gone out more, but as much as he hated to admit it 
even to himself, what Tuck had said had had an effect on Clark.  
He knew, in his heart, that it wasn't true, but his mind 
couldn't help but thinking that Lois was taking advantage of 
him.  He pushed these negative thoughts out of his mind as fast 
as they came, but he knew they were there, and he felt the fear 
that ate away at him, that maybe Lois didn't love him.

Martha seemed excited as she sat Clark down at the table and 
served him a big platter of assorted breakfast foods.

"Special occasion?" Clark asked mildly.  Martha poured him a 
glass of orange juice, and then, with her own breakfast, sat 
across from him.

"It's your first day of school!  Of course it's a special 
occasion."

"It depends on your point of view I guess," Clark said with a 
smile as he nibbled at his toast.  The whole mood of the 
morning and his and his mom's friendly conversation was enough 
to make him cheerful. He didn't feel quite as on edge as he'd 
felt lately.

At that moment Jonathan walked in from outside.  Clark could 
smell the country perfume of horses, hay, and the general 
outdoor scent as he passed him.

"Mornin' son," Jonathan said as he pulled his jacket off and 
laid it across the back of one of the chairs.

"Morning," Clark replied.  Jonathan left the kitchen, only to 
stick his head back through the door.

"I'll give you a ride to school on my way to town if you'd 
like," he offered, and Clark nodded.

"Sure."  Jonathan nodded and then turned around.  Clark 
finished his breakfast a few minutes later, then went upstairs 
to get ready.

* * *

Lois stepped off the bus and stopped for a second, soaking in 
the atmosphere.  It was her second year at Smallville High 
School, and she was looking forward to not being on the bottom 
of the food chain. She spotted one of her friends, Wendy, and 
trotted over to her.

"Hey Lois!" Wendy said enthusiastically, brushing her long 
bangs out of her eyes.

"Hey," Lois replied, glancing around at her surroundings.  They 
were standing outside the door of the school.  Lois nodded her 
head towards the door and they walked in, comparing schedules.  
They found they had first period Advanced Literature together, 
so they made their way to the classroom, Lois inconspicuously 
looking around for a tall, dark, and handsome senior whom she 
hadn't seen for a week. But, after no sign of Clark, she 
followed Wendy into the classroom and sat at a desk near the 
back.  She greeted other friends that she hadn't seen over the 
summer and they chatted lightly until the PA system crackled 
on.  She listened to the announcements and jotted down a few 
notes about when the yearbook and newspaper staff would start 
meeting while the principal droned on in an over-zealous voice.

Lois spotted a note on the blackboard written in big white 
chalk letters.  It read: ANNUAL SMALLVILLE HIGH SCHOOL KICK-OFF 
COUNTRY DANCE-SEPTEMBER 12.

She grinned as she remembered her experience from last year.  
She had gone with her boyfriend, with whom she'd had a very 
short-term relationship.  She had dumped him when she found out 
that he really liked her friend Beth more than her, and was 
just using her.  Typical guy.  She thought about who she'd like 
to go with this year.  The first person that came to her mind 
was Clark.  He really wasn't a typical guy, she concluded after 
thinking about it for a moment.  He was caring and patient, 
unlike any other boy Lois had known.  But she didn't know if 
she really wanted to be more than friends with him, because if 
something happened between them, then their close friendship 
would be ruined.  Not like Clark would go to the dance with her 
anyway... he was a senior, after all.  However, she really 
wouldn't mind going with him, even if it was just as friends...

"Hello?  Earth to Lois."  Lois jerked her head up and realized 
she had been daydreaming.  She grinned sheepishly, which 
quickly turned to a blush when she saw who was trying to get 
her attention.  Troy Wilson, the most popular boy in her class, 
was standing beside her. She had long since developed a crush 
on him, like most of the girls. His soft, golden hair.  His 
bright blue eyes.  His cute little dimples.  Lois had to keep 
herself from sighing.

"Hi Troy," she said, scooting over to leave him enough room to 
pull a chair up beside her desk.

"So, uh, how was your summer?" he asked, spinning a pencil 
around in between his fingers.  Nervousness? Lois thought 
vaguely.

"It was great, we just got back from Metropolis."

"Oh.  You have relatives there or something?"

"No, we were just visiting."

"Oh."  Troy cleared his throat and looked down at the desk.  
"So, uh, you got a date to the dance yet?"

Lois nearly choked.  She started coughing and Troy looked at 
her worriedly.

"You ok?" he asked, touching her arm lightly.  She nodded, her 
eyes watering.  Troy Wilson had just asked HER to the dance!  
She was nearly ready to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't 
dreaming when he repeated his question, in a slightly more 
forward form.

"You wanna go to the dance with me?"

Lois nodded, not trusting herself to speak.  Troy smiled.  
"Great," he said, getting up and walking back to his seat.  As 
she relaxed, she was a bit surprised at her lack of self-
control.

* * *

"Hey Clark," a voice sang into Clark's ear.  He turned around 
and smiled pleasantly at the girl behind him.

"Hi, Lana," he answered.  She immediately broke into a long 
spiel about her summer, and Clark tuned her out, smiling and 
nodding at the appropriate times, as he looked through the 
crowded hallway.  It was the end of the day, and for school, it 
had been relatively fun.  The perky spirits of everybody helped 
him relax a little, and he was actually mildly disappointed 
that it was time to go home.  But he hoped maybe the mood that 
had been present in his parents' personalities that morning had 
lasted throughout the day.  Clark heard Lois' voice and turned 
around, expecting to find her nearby. He scanned the hallway, 
looking for her.  He frowned slightly; that was weird.  He was 
sure he had heard her talking, but he couldn't see her 
anywhere.

"Clark!  Are you listening?" Lana asked, pulling his shoulder.

"Um, yeah.  Something about a boat," he answered.  He returned 
to his search and finally found Lois turning a corner, coming 
towards him. She was talking with a group of friends.  "Um, 
will you excuse me for a moment, Lana?" he asked, and before 
getting her permission, he walked towards Lois and pulled her 
away slightly from the rest of her group.  He took a deep 
breath.  This was it.  He was going to ask her to the dance.

"Lois, um, you know the dance on Friday?"  He was a little 
shocked to see her face fall when he said that, and he wasn't 
sure whether to continue or not.  He swallowed the lump of 
nervousness in his throat and continued.  "Uh, do you want to 
go with me?"  She turned her head away from him.

"I can't, Clark."  Clark looked at her, confused, and waited 
for her to continue.  "I'm going with someone else."  He felt 
the color drain from his face.  She... was going with 
someone... else.  At first he was hurt, but hurt quickly gave 
way to anger.

"Ok," he said coolly and walked back over to Lana.  "Do you 
want to go to the dance with me?" he asked her defiantly, 
keeping an eye on Lois.  Lois looked crestfallen, which was the 
total opposite of Lana.

"I'd love to!" Lana said excitedly, slipping her arm through 
Clark's. "Now, we have to match.  I have this great purple 
dress..."  As his anger subsided for the moment, Clark wondered 
what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

Lois rode the bus home in silence, staring out the window.  Her 
mind was a mix of emotions.  Somewhere, in some tiny crevice in 
the back of her mind, she felt guilty hurting Clark like that, 
but, for the moment, she felt more anger than guilt.  Clark had 
asked Lana Lang, one of the most popular cheerleaders in the 
whole school, to the dance right in front of her!  Sure, she 
HAD just turned him down, but still... the nerve!  She was glad 
that Troy had already asked her; she sure didn't want to go 
anywhere with that Kent guy.

Lois arrived home and stormed up the path to her house, 
slamming the door as she walked into the kitchen.  Lucy, who 
had arrived home earlier from the junior high school, was 
sitting at the kitchen table reading through the newspaper.  
When Lois stomped in with a scowl on her face, Lucy grinned and 
made a hissing noise to demonstrate Lois' anger.  Lois ignored 
her and made her way up to her room.  She lay in bed for a long 
time, and much to her dismay, she started to silently cry.  She 
didn't like to admit to anyone, even herself, that she had been 
hurt.

* * *

Clark walked into the crowded gymnasium four days later with 
Lana clinging to his arm.  He wore the classic country garb: a 
plaid shirt, blue jeans, and boots, as most of the other young 
men wore. And like most of the other girls, Lana wore a simple 
dress that was purple with tiny pink flowers covering it.  The 
two were perfectly normal together, but Clark felt strangely 
awkward.  He had known Lana for most of his life, growing up 
around her, and he normally felt at least slightly comfortable 
with her.  Tonight, however, he was anxious, looking for Lois, 
even though he kept telling himself he was definitely NOT 
looking for Lois.

Actually, he wasn't angry at Lois anymore, and if she had 
wanted to make up, he would have, because he missed her.  And 
he would have been glad to shed Lana onto some other hopeful 
male.  She chattered on and on constantly, and Clark's rational 
mind told him that he wouldn't last the night.

While sitting out after a few group dances, Clark finally saw 
Lois for the first time.  She had the same defiant look on her 
face that Clark guessed was on his.  She was with Troy Wilson.  
Clark knew him because they both were on the football team.  
Clark didn't know him too well, but he had heard vague rumors 
that he didn't have very good luck with girls, in spite of his 
popularity.  Clark didn't know any details, though.

"Clark, come on.  It's a slow dance," Lana said, pulling him 
back towards the dance floor.  He sighed inwardly.  If he could 
handle everything else, he was sure he could handle Lana Lang.

* * *

Lois was having fun in spite of herself.  Troy was actually a 
pretty nice guy.  He was friendly, funny, and a good dancer.  
Lois still kept her eye on Clark though, making sure he was 
seeing how much fun she was having, and paying close attention 
to how he acted around Lana.  By his expressions and actions, 
Lois could tell that he wasn't enjoying himself nearly as much 
as she was.  So it was with a smug smile of satisfaction that 
Lois walked past Clark, holding Troy's hand.  Troy was leading 
her out the door of the gymnasium and into the hallways of the 
school.

"Where are we going?" Lois asked.  She wasn't worried, just 
curious.

"You'll see," Troy said with a mysterious smile.  Lois smiled 
back, but she was starting to wonder exactly where Troy was 
taking her.  He pushed open double doors that led into a 
darkened hallway, the overhead lights dimmed.

"Troy..." Lois started.  Troy made a 'Shhhh' noise.

"They'll hear us," he said softly.  Lois didn't like the 
direction this seemed to be going in, and she stopped.

"Let's go back to the gym," she said firmly, starting to turn 
around. But Troy clutched her hand more tightly.

"Not yet," he said.  Lois could feel her heart starting to beat 
faster.  She knew exactly what Troy wanted to do, and what he 
was going to do, and she frantically began to think of escape 
routes.  He was a lot bigger and stronger than she was, and she 
knew no type of self-defense.  He was in charge here, and she 
couldn't do anything but follow.  And during all this, the same 
thought kept going over and over in her mind.  Clark would 
never have done this.

* * *

Clark and Lana were dancing to the last slow dance of the 
night. Clark had his head resting on Lana's, and as much as he 
tried to concentrate on her, his thoughts kept straying to 
Lois.  He had seen her leave with Troy, and she had seemed 
happy enough.  Clark knew there was pretty much only one reason 
why they would leave early, and unwanted visions of the two 
together were filling Clark's head.   In spite of those, Clark 
thought he could almost hear Lois.

In fact, the more he concentrated on it, the more sure he was 
that he COULD hear her.  But he hadn't seen her come back into 
the gym, and he'd been watching for her.  Something very 
strange was going on.  He lifted his head from Lana's and 
concentrated on the sound of Lois' voice.  He could tell it was 
her, but he couldn't understand what she was saying.  It 
reminded him of when two people behind him would whisper: he 
could hear them, but he couldn't make out what they said.

And that's when he realized that Lois was in distress.  He had 
no idea HOW he could hear her, or why, but he could, and there 
was a reason for it.  She needed him.  For a moment, he thought 
that perhaps they had formed some type of mental link, but he 
quickly dismissed that idea.  Things like that only happened in 
the movies.

Luckily, the song was going off, so Clark moved away from Lana. 
"I'll be back later," he said quickly, walking out the door 
into the hallway.  He moved away from the loud country music 
that blasted out of the gym into the eerie silence of the empty 
hall.  The farther away from the gym, the better he could make 
out Lois' voice.  And she was definitely in distress.  Clark 
picked up his pace and jogged through the hall, following the 
direction of her voice.  He didn't know how this was happening, 
but at the moment, he didn't care.  All his previous thoughts 
about Lois were long gone; he cared only for her safety.

He pushed his way through two double doors that led to the 
freshman hallway.  Now, he could hear another voice too.  A 
man's.  He could feel fear building up inside him as he 
cautiously made his way through the hallway, now slowed down to 
a walk.  He was afraid of what he would find when he arrived at 
the scene of...  whatever was going on.  The door of one of the 
dark classrooms was ajar, and Clark could hear the voices 
coming from inside.

With a start, he realized that Lois was crying.  He moved his 
head silently around the corner of the door to see and plan 
what he was going to do.  He was unprepared for the scene that 
lay in front of him.  Troy had Lois pinned down against one of 
the desks.  He was kissing her neck and unbuttoning her dress 
at the same time, without passion, only desire.  Lois was 
crying and kept telling him to stop. Clark recoiled in shock.  
He had never imagined...

He burst into the room in a flash of rage and grabbed Troy's 
shoulder, pulling him up.  Troy looked confused for a moment, 
and then he recognized Clark in the near-pitch black of the 
room.  He reeled back and punched Clark across the face.  
Before Clark even realized what was happening, he felt the fist 
slam against his jaw, and a small trickle of blood began to 
trail out of the corner of his mouth.  He prepared to send a 
blow back at Troy, but he hesitated, remembering what had 
happened to Tuck.  Troy used his hesitation against him and 
kicked Clark in the stomach.  The air was knocked out of Clark 
and he doubled over in pain, clutching his stomach.  But when 
he looked up, he could see Lois sitting on the desk, buttoning 
her dress up with trembling fingers and giving Troy a dauntless 
look even though he was making his way back toward her.  This 
gave Clark a new burst of energy, and forgetting his pain, he 
jumped up and tackled Troy to the ground.  He lay on top of 
him, holding him down.

"Go get help!" he yelled at Lois, but she had already run out 
the door.  Moments later, she arrived with a few teachers who 
had served as chaperones.  Clark stood up slowly and backed 
away from the action.  He walked over to Lois, who was standing 
in the hallway. She wrapped her arms around him.  He held her 
tightly, almost afraid to let her go.  He could feel her 
trembling against him.

"Thank you," she murmured into his shoulder.  "Thank you so 
much. You shouldn't have helped me, after how I treated you 
this past week. I'm so sorry for how I acted."

"Me too," Clark said, running his hand slowly through her hair.  
He didn't know how it had happened, but he thanked whatever 
forces had made it possible for him to hear Lois that night.

* * *

"Oh honey!"  Ellen Lane ran through the hallway, her hair 
across one side of her head, and her house slippers poking out 
from under her long trench coat.  Lois raised her head from 
Clark's shoulder and let herself fall into her mother's 
outstretched arms.


"I got here as fast as I could..."  She stopped mid-sentence as 
she eyed Clark suspiciously.  "Is this the boy...?"

"No, mom," Lois said at the same time that Clark shook his head 
and held out his hands innocently.  "He's the one that stopped 
Troy." Her mother nodded, as if remembering.

"I'm so sorry, Lois," Ellen said.  Lois nuzzled her head 
against her shoulder.

"I'm ok, Mom," Lois said reassuringly.  She was incredibly 
relieved to see her mom arrive, even though Ellen must have 
been asleep.  It was already close to midnight.  "Where's 
Daddy?" Lois asked, and then regretted it when she felt her mom 
tense.  Her mood had changed when she answered.

"He's at work," Ellen said flatly.  "He's not even around for 
his family."

"Mom, he had no idea this was going to happen..."  She was 
interrupted by a man who gently touched her shoulder.

"Miss, if we could just check you out over here..."  He 
directed Lois to a group of paramedics that had been called to 
the scene.  Lois looked back over her shoulder and saw that 
Clark had left.  She felt like she hadn't thanked him enough.

* * *

Clark hurried out the doors of the school into the cool fall 
night. His head was a swirl of emotions, and he needed to calm 
his mind down.  He felt slightly guilty for leaving Lois, but 
he knew she was in good care now that her mother had arrived.

He was surprised at how much anger and hate he had felt when he 
saw Troy in the dark classroom.  His head kept playing the 
scene over and over, and he wished it would go away, leave him 
alone.  He felt horrible that he had shown such contempt to 
Lois the past week.  He vowed that he wouldn't hurt her again.  
In the mean time, he had other things to think about.

He looked up and saw that he was already at his farmhouse.  The 
walk had seemed shorter than it normally took.  He walked 
through the backdoor and found the house dark and still.  
Everyone was already asleep, but he really needed to talk to 
his parents.  He sauntered up the stairs and stopped outside 
their door.  He stood there for a long time, contemplating if 
he should or shouldn't wake them.  He could hear their 
breathing, slow and regular, so he decided it could wait until 
morning.  But he was wide-awake, so he changed into more 
comfortable clothes and walked out into the night.  He made his 
way to the huge oak tree in the middle of their backyard.  He 
slowly climbed up the ladder that led into his old treehouse 
and sat for an unknown length of time.

* * *

Clark woke up the next morning with a sore neck and covered 
with dew. He opened his eyes slowly to find himself sitting up 
against the wall of his treehouse.  He groaned inwardly at his 
sore muscles and he stood up as well as he could, even though 
he had long since grown too tall to stand up straight.  He 
jumped down the short distance from the wooden floor to the 
ground and jogged up to the house.  It was very early; the sun 
hadn't risen and the fog still hung low over the ground.  Clark 
made a detour on his way to the house to take care of the 
horse, and then made his way into the kitchen.  It was silent 
and dark, as it had been the night before, and Clark slid into 
a chair behind the kitchen table.  He sat for a moment, 
listening to nothing but the slow ticking of the clock.  With a 
sigh, he stood up and washed some dishes that had been left in 
the sink the night before.

The lights flicked on over his head, and he turned around to 
see his mom standing in the doorway.  He smiled quickly at her 
and turned back to the sink.

"I didn't hear you come in last night.  Was it late?"

Clark nodded, and tried to decide where he should start.  He 
heard his mom put a pot of coffee on to boil.  Finally, after 
his mom had sat down with her cup of coffee, he turned around 
and sat across from her at the table.  He took a deep breath.

"Something... weird is happening," he said.  Martha watched 
him, slowly sipping from the hot mug.

"Like what?" she asked.  Clark filled her in on the events of 
the night before.  Martha was very sympathetic and worried 
about Lois, and Clark was once again reminded of how thankful 
he should be to have such loving parents.

"But the weird thing is... I could hear her," Clark said 
slowly. Martha looked at him blankly.  "What I mean is, I could 
hear her from the cafeteria.  She should have been way too far 
away for me to hear her.  But I could.  And it... it's worrying 
me I guess.  I don't think it's normal.  Is it?"

"I don't really understand..." Martha said slowly, not knowing 
how to answer.  No, it wasn't normal.  And that other day, 
Clark had thrown Tuck across the barn...

"Clark, has anything else... unusual happened?" she asked.

"I don't think so," he answered after thinking for a while.  
"Not that I can remember."

Martha remembered the evening seventeen years ago clearly.  It 
seemed like it hadn't been nearly that long.  She and Jonathan 
had been a new couple, having only been married a few years.  
They had been driving home - Martha couldn't remember where 
they had been coming from.  They had seen the streak of light 
across the sky, and thinking it was a meteorite, had gone to 
investigate.  That's when they had found the small spaceship 
that carried their son.

Clark Jerome Kent had grown up in a normal home, surrounded by 
normal things, and he had shown no signs of being of any 
species but human. Therefore, Martha and Jonathan had decided 
that Clark needn't know he was not from Earth.  It would only 
leave too many questions unanswered, and they didn't want him 
to grow up knowing he was different from everyone else.  
However, Martha and Jonathan had been waiting for the day when 
something happened to their boy that was inhuman.  Maybe this 
was what they had been waiting for.  Martha took a deep breath.  
How could she possibly tell her son that he was an alien?

* * *

Lois woke the morning after the dance to the angry voices of 
her parents from downstairs.  She rolled over and pulled the 
blanket over her head.  Why did they always have to fight?  She 
lay in her bed, listening to the voices that were continually 
growing louder and more violent.  She felt a tear slip down her 
cheek, but wiped it away quickly.  Her parents hadn't been 
getting along very well lately: her father was more interested 
in his job than his family, and her mom drank far more alcohol 
than was normal.  Ellen said she drank it to wash away the 
pain, but Lois wondered if she knew what it was really doing to 
her.

Lois jumped as the front door slammed.  She cringed, then 
rolled out of bed.  She made a bet with herself as to which 
parent had left, and figured she would put her money on her 
mom.  She was probably going to "wash away the pain," Lois 
thought harshly.

* * *

"Well, son, this is... I'm not sure how to explain this," 
Jonathan said slowly.  Martha had explained to him what was 
happening with Clark, and now all three were sitting in the 
living room.  It was barely 7:00 in the morning, but Clark was 
wide-awake.  He didn't understand what was going on; he hadn't 
thought his parents would take this so seriously.  They sat 
across from him solemnly, and Clark was afraid to know what 
they were going to tell him.  Was he dying? He didn't know what 
to think.

"Explain... what?" Clark asked.

"You know you're adopted," Martha said, and at Clark's nod, 
gave a quick glance at Jonathan.  "We... don't know who your 
parents are. We found you."

Clark waited for her to continue.  He knew all this already; 
his parents had explained it to him long ago.  He didn't like 
where this conversation was going, though.

Martha shifted nervously on the couch, and Clark subconsciously 
soaked in his parents' mood.  He could feel the sweat on his 
clenched fists, and he tapped his foot restlessly.

"I wish you would tell me what was going on," he said, then 
laughed nervously, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"We found you in a spaceship," Jonathan said in one breath.  
Clark looked at them blankly, trying to absorb this new 
information, but his mind couldn't comprehend it.

"Wha... what?" he asked, then laughed harshly.  "What are you 
talking about?"

"You were in a spaceship, over in Shuster's field," Martha said 
as Clark stood up and walked across the room.  "We thought you 
were a meteorite..."

Clark cut her off.  "This is crazy!" he said, his voice high.  
He walked back to them.  "You can't be serious."

Jonathan nodded solemnly.  "We hadn't planned on telling you.  
We thought that maybe nothing would ever come of it.  But, it 
looks like maybe there's something..."

"So... so I'm an alien.  That CAN'T be!"  He sat back down in 
the chair and watched his parents silently.

"Ok, where's the punchline?" he asked.  This was a nightmare, 
and it was going wildly out of control.  He didn't want to 
believe them, but somehow, he knew they were serious.  He just 
couldn't take that for an answer.  He was normal.  He was 
human.

"We... we're not joking, Clark," Martha said gently.

"You are!  You're lying!"  He jumped up and ran to the 
backdoor.  He felt hysterical; his mind was out of control.  He 
stomped into the kitchen and grabbed his father's car keys from 
their hook on the wall.

"Clark, wait!"  His parents were running towards him.  "We need 
to find out what's happening..."

"I hate you!" he exploded.  "I hate you for doing this to me!"  
He ran out the door and jumped into Jonathan's pickup truck.  
He turned the key in the ignition and slammed the car into 
reverse, zooming out the driveway.  He was out of sight by the 
time the elder Kents got to the end of the driveway.

Tuck watched the Kent family from his upstairs bedroom window.  
He narrowed his eyes at the pickup truck that soon vanished 
from his view.

* * *

Clark sat cross-legged at the edge of the cliff, looking out 
into the valley.  The sun was just beginning to rise, and he 
watched the brilliant oranges, pinks, and yellows as the great 
ball of fire rose over the horizon.  For the first time in his 
whole life, he realized this wasn't his sun.  And this wasn't 
his hill.  That farm he'd lived on his whole life?  Wasn't his.  
And those weren't his parents.  He felt like an outsider, 
unwanted, on this planet of people to which he didn't belong.  
It was a deep feeling of loneliness like he had never felt 
before.  It was like starving, but never being able to satisfy 
the hunger.

His anger had faded away with the rising of the sun, and he 
felt terrible for yelling at his parents.  No, they weren't his 
parents. They were just... people.  But people that had always 
been kind to him.  They had taken him in, knowing that he was 
not even of the Earth, and they had taken care of him, even 
though they had been going through hard times.  Now he felt 
guilty, too.  They had had no reason to let him stay with them, 
but they had.  And they cared for him.  He knew they didn't 
love him; it must be hard to love an alien, but they did care 
for him.  And that was more than he deserved.

He wanted to go back and apologize to them, but he couldn't.  
Not yet, anyway.  He couldn't grasp the full picture that was 
now painted for him.  This would change his life forever.  All 
the problems that he had had before were laughable.  Imagine, 
just a week earlier, he had felt depressed because Lois hadn't 
wanted to go to a dance with him!  Now he knew she wasn't even 
the same species as him.  And who knew what happened now?  
Maybe the people on his... home planet died at a young age.  
Maybe he would grow another head.  How was there any possible 
way to know?  He had a thousand questions, and no answers. 
Maybe his parents, his real parents, were going to come back 
for him. Or maybe they were already here.  It would probably be 
best if he went with them.  After all, he didn't belong on 
Earth.

He stood up mechanically and walked closer to the edge of the 
cliff. He looked down at the steep drop, and he felt the crazy 
urge to jump. The valley beneath him was spinning madly, and 
the colors all seemed to meld together into one.  His mind was 
fogging up.  He couldn't think straight, or even breathe.

He backed up very slowly.  He backed up until his hands touched 
a tree, and he clung on to the trunk, as if it would hold him 
up.  He was scared.  He was so scared he had almost flung 
himself over a cliff.  He turned around and dug his fingernails 
into the bark.  His dark hair was damp with perspiration and it 
clung to his forehead. He took deep breaths, trying to calm his 
rapid heartbeat.  He felt the tears fall down his face, but 
this time, he didn't try to stop them.  He slid to the ground, 
holding on to the tree as if it were the only steadfastness in 
his life, which was spinning wildly out of control.

* * *

Tuck lay in his bed for what seemed like an eternity until he 
was sure that all three Kents had left.  Jonathan and Martha 
had gone out in search of Clark a while ago, but Tuck had to be 
certain they were gone before he left his room.  He had been on 
his way downstairs for breakfast when he had heard the angry 
voice of Clark.  He had overheard... something, but he wasn't 
exactly sure what that something was yet.  And what he had 
heard, he couldn't believe. Clark?  An alien?  This thought 
triggered a memory stored away in the crevices of Tuck's mind.  
A few years earlier, Tuck had stumbled upon something in the 
Kents' shed, which had made no sense at the time. But with this 
newfound information, Tuck felt the need to investigate more 
thoroughly the object in the shed.

He slipped out of the house quickly, and jogged to the barn.  
He hadn't been outside much in the past few weeks, and the 
strange feeling of the wind over his still bruised face brought 
back the painful memories of that night.  If this whole thing 
about Clark being an alien turned out to be true... well, Tuck 
couldn't think of a more perfect revenge.

He opened the door to the old shed, and the rusted hinges 
groaned in response.  Tuck walked to the center of the room and 
lifted up the old dust covered rug.  He ran the toe of his boot 
over the ground until it hit the large iron ring.  He grinned 
devilishly.  Just like he remembered.  He kneeled down on one 
knee and grasped the ring with both hands.  He heaved upwards, 
and in spite of the protesting moan the hinges let out, the 
door lifted up.  Tuck half smiled to himself. There it was, 
untouched over all these seventeen years.  Tuck reached down 
inside the hole and ran his fingers over the dust covered S 
that adorned the front of the small spacecraft.  Revenge would 
be sweet.

* * *

"Princess?" Sam Lane said as he knocked on Lois' door.  "Can I 
come in?"

"Sure," Lois' voice answered from the other side.  Sam pushed 
open the door and stepped onto the plush pink carpet of Lois' 
and Lucy's room.  Lois was sprawled out on her bed, her pencil 
poised over a sheet of notebook paper and her schoolbooks 
spread open around her. Sam sat on the corner of her mattress, 
clasping his hands in his lap. Lois looked up thoughtfully at 
him.

"Do you think this last sentence makes sense?" she asked him, 
handing him the piece of paper.

"What's this?  My Lois doing her homework on a Saturday?"  He 
chuckled as he took the paper and began to read.  Lois knew he 
was being especially cheerful to her because of the events of 
the night before, and his lack of participation in them, but it 
still made her feel... special.  Loved.

"It's actually an entry for the school paper.  I felt like I 
needed to... you know, expound on why girls should always be 
certain that the boy they're with is... worthy."  She paused 
for a moment, as if thinking, then continued, "And I have a 
personal experience to include now."  Sam looked at her with 
sympathy, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Lois began 
talking first.  "Finish reading."  She didn't want to deal with 
sympathy right now.  After all, nothing had really happened to 
her.  However, if Clark hadn't shown up... Lois shuddered at 
the thought.

Sam put the paper back down on her bed.  "That's really good, 
Princess.  You're so talented in writing; you're talented in 
everything.  I'm so proud of you - you and Lucy both..." he 
trailed off.  Lois lifted her eyebrow at him and poked his hand 
with her pencil.

"Are you ok, Daddy?" she asked with humor in her voice.  Her 
father wasn't one to just flush out compliments.  He looked 
down at her with a new sense of determination.

"How would you feel about being an intern for a reporter at the 
Daily Planet?"

* * *

"Is that the truck?" Martha asked, looking out the passenger 
side window of the borrowed car.  After Clark had run, or 
driven, away, Jonathan had run over to their closest neighbor's 
house and asked for the use of their small car.  He hadn't had 
time to give them a reason, but luckily trust builds a strong 
bond between Smallville residents.

"Looks like it," Jonathan muttered.  Their old pickup was 
parked under a grove of apple trees.  A boy in near hysterics 
had obviously tried to hide it.  He parked the car beside the 
truck and the two climbed out quickly.

"Reckon he went up to Heaven's Hill," Jonathan said, eyeing the 
gravel path that led upwards to the top of one of the highest 
hills in Smallville.  It wasn't too uncommon for Clark to go up 
there and sit for hours on end, so that was the obvious place 
for him to go.

"Oh my," Martha said softly.  What if Clark had... taken 
drastic measures?  He had been terribly upset, and Martha 
couldn't blame him, but... he was probably standing at the edge 
of the highest hill around.

"Come on," Jonathan said, sensing Martha's anxiety and pulling 
her towards the path.  The climb wasn't too difficult, but the 
incline did take its toll on the older couple, and by the time 
they could see the top, they were panting.

"Almost there," Martha said with a new persistence.

"Yup," Jonathan agreed.  When they were finally able to see the 
flat top of the hill, Jonathan lightly touched Martha's arm and 
put one finger on his lips, then pointed towards a tree near 
the edge. Martha crept up behind a picnic table and watched 
Clark silently.  He sat with his back against the tree.  He was 
staring out to no particular point, and two fingers constantly 
twirled a long piece of grass in between them.  Martha looked 
at Jonathan for his consent, and, at his nod, she stood up 
straight and walked towards her son.

"Clark, sweetie..." she started.  Clark jerked his head up at 
her, taken by surprise.  He jumped up, and Martha was almost 
afraid that he was going to run away from them, but then he ran 
to her, and she wrapped her arms around him.  She felt 
Jonathan's presence behind her, then saw his hand Clark's 
shoulder.

"I'm really sorry," Clark said into Martha's shoulder.

"It's ok, honey, we're just so glad that you're ok," she said, 
looking up at Jonathan.  This was going to be a very rough time 
for all of them.

* * *

"Now, Clark, if you're sure you're ready to see this..." 
Jonathan said, stopping outside of the door of the shed.  He 
didn't want to upset Clark anymore than he already was, but 
Jonathan also didn't want Clark to think his father didn't 
trust in him.

Clark nodded slowly, feeling the same apprehension he had felt 
earlier that morning while he had waited in suspense for what 
his parents had had to tell him.  However, he thought bitterly, 
there was probably nothing more surprising than finding out 
you're an alien. He had a feeling that whatever his father was 
so apprehensive about telling him couldn't possibly be any 
worse than what he'd already learned.  He felt matured in a way 
he had never before, as if he had already seen the worst life 
had to throw at him.  He hoped this was the case, anyway.

"Ok, then," Jonathan said, opening the shed door.  The inside 
was dark, the only dim light coming from the dust covered 
window. Jonathan pulled the chain to turn on the light, but the 
bulb only flickered for a split second before sparking and 
burning out. Jonathan made an indefinable noise, but he 
motioned for Clark and Martha to follow him in.  He walked to 
the window and heaved it open. Light immediately flooded the 
shed and made it appear less like a cave to Clark.

"Martha," Jonathan said shortly as he surveyed the room.  
Leading from the door to the center of the room were very 
definable, very recent footprints on the dust and dirt coated 
floor.  Clark glanced from one parent's horrified look to the 
other.  What was happening now?

Jonathan kneeled down beside the iron ring and pulled the door 
up.

"Ohmygod," Martha said in one breath.

"It's gone," Jonathan said slowly.

"What?  What's gone?" Clark asked, wishing they would explain 
to him. They seemed to keep him in the dark too long, too 
often.

Jonathan took a slow breath, "The ship.  The space ship that we 
found you in.  It's..."

"Gone," Martha finished.

"Well, who took it?  Who else knows?" Clark demanded.

Martha and Jonathan shared a worried glance.

* * *

Lois lay on her bed, unmoving for an indefinable amount of time 
after her father left her room.  He had told her that the 
client he had met with during their stay in Metropolis was 
offering him a job.  It was at a place called Star Labs, and he 
would be able to study robots and cyborgs, something that had 
always been his dream.  He said that she could come with him, 
and Lucy could stay in Smallville with their mother.

He was asking her to leave her home, and move to Metropolis, 
which was quite a contrast from Smallville.  He was asking her 
to leave her life, and everything she'd come to know.  But what 
a glamorous life would be in her future!  Sam had arranged with 
a Perry White, who was the editor of the Daily Planet, that if 
Lois was truly interested in journalism, and would be willing 
to put her heart and soul into it, then he could make an intern 
out of her.  There was a reporter who was willing to take her 
on until she graduated from high school, when she could go to 
the Metropolis School of Journalism.  It was her dream, and 
there was now a very large possibility that it could be her 
reality.

She would give anything to go with her father.  At least that's 
what her first thoughts had been.  Besides leaving 
Nowheresville, she could get away from the school that she had 
just been horribly humiliated in the night before.  And she 
could become a reporter for one of the biggest newspapers in 
the world!

Yes, it would be wonderful.  But, there were some things in 
Smallville that she would hate to leave.  Her mother, her 
sister, Clark...  Could she just drop everything and run to the 
big city? And leave them all behind?  She wasn't sure.  She had 
questioned at first why her mother and Lucy couldn't come with 
them, but Sam had said that Ellen had already made it clear 
that she didn't want to move to the city.  And one of the girls 
had to stay with her, to take care of her.  Sam had thought 
that Lois would appreciate the move more than Lucy, especially 
since he had already made plans for her. And Clark... she 
didn't know what to think about him.  She liked to think that 
he had saved her life the night before and she certainly knew 
that he cared for her.  And she cared for him.  But he was just 
a guy... right?  She would meet plenty of guys in Metropolis, 
who would be much more upbeat than the hicks in Smallville.  
But she didn't, and had never, thought of Clark as a hick.  He 
had always been kind and gentle, and he had never, ever pushed 
her into a situation in which she was uncomfortable.  She loved 
him.  But she doubted whether she could ever have a future with 
him.  In spite of her attempts to push these thoughts out of 
her head, she knew that he would be going nowhere in life.  He 
was in his last year in high school, and she doubted quite 
seriously that he would be going to college.  His family was 
destitute and she had made the assumption that he suffered from 
personal problems.  He was destined to be a farmer for the rest 
of his life.  But Lois had the chance to change her life 
forever.

She could see the papers now.  An article on the front page of 
the Daily Planet, with a byline of Lois Lane.  Or maybe she 
would be married by the time she had a front page story, and 
her name would be different.  She grinned mischievously at the 
thought.


"This isn't a dream, is it?" she asked herself, flopping onto 
her back on the bed.

* * *

"Swear to God it's real," Tuck said as he leaned on the counter 
of the local newspaper, pointing to the ship that he had 
carried to the receptionist in the lobby.  She eyed the ship 
warily.

"Mr..."

"Tuck," he answered.

"Mr. Tuck, I don't know about this.  We don't run a Dirt Digger 
here, just a paper."  She ran her hand over the ship.

"Got it from the Kents.  I reckon they're hidin' an alien."  
The receptionist narrowed her eyes at him.

"You," she pointed at him, then at the door, "get outta here, 
and take your spaceship.  You leave the Kents alone.  They 
don't need this mess."  Tuck shrugged his shoulders and picked 
up the ship.  It was surprisingly light, in spite of its bulk.  
He didn't really need it in the paper; that was just going to 
be an added glory.  He would hit the kid where it hurt.  He 
placed the ship carefully in the back of the pickup truck and 
headed towards Smallville High School.

* * *

Sunday passed very slowly, with the whole Kent household on 
edge. Clark stayed in his room for most of the day, thinking 
over the weekend's events.  He had now gotten over the initial 
surprise of finding out that he was not of earthly origin.  He 
was still feeling the loneliness that he had felt the day 
before, but it was more like a gentle hum in his head instead 
of an electrifying fear.  And he found, after a day of 
contemplation, that he didn't feel any different.  He still 
felt like Clark Kent, instead of the alien that he was.

'Alien' had now become like a curse word in his mind, and he 
mentally kicked himself whenever he referred to himself as one.  
He still felt, looked, and thought like a human.  The only 
difference now was that he had the information that he was 
indeed not.  Not for the first time, he thought what his peers 
would think when they knew that he wasn't like them.  
Especially Lois.  His parents had been terribly afraid of 
letting anyone else know, and that was why they had been 
brooding all day over the fact that the spaceship was gone.  
Clark, however, didn't think anything really bad would happen.  
They would probably treat him differently than they had before.  
Would they be afraid?  He hoped not.  He decided that the 
safest way to protect his friends, and himself, would be to 
just not tell them.  But could he live a lie his whole life?  
Clark had figured that Lois would have come by his house 
sometime during the weekend to talk about Friday, but now he 
was glad she hadn't.  He was too much of a wreck.  He wondered 
if she would come to school the next day.  She must have been 
terribly embarrassed, and it would be hard, even if Troy 
wouldn't be there.

Clark heard the heavy, slow footsteps of his father coming up 
the stairs.  He turned over onto his side on the bed and pulled 
the blanket up around him.  "Dad?" he called.

Jonathan turned his head around the corner of Clark's room.  
Clark could see the lines of worry on his father's face.  "What 
is it, Clark?" he said wearily.

Clark raised himself from his pillow.  "Ok, I know that it 
would be weird if anyone found out about... you know, me, but 
how can it be so horrible that you and Mom have been stressing 
over it all day long?" he asked slowly, carefully trying to 
choose the best words.  His father sighed deeply and sat down 
on the edge of the bed.

"Clark, if anyone, like... the government, found out about you, 
do you think they would just leave you alone?  No, they would 
capture you and take you away to some lab, somewhere, and study 
you.  You would live in a cage forever, if they didn't kill you 
right away so they could dissect you!"

Clark stared at him.  This thought had never crossed his mind. 
Images of himself, strapped to a table in a white room with 
sharp metal objects probing into him filled his head.

"Why would they do that?" he asked in a strangled voice.  
Jonathan took on a gentler tone.

"The majority of the people in the world don't like people that 
are different.  But being different is what makes you special.  
And don't you worry about anything - we won't let anything 
happen to you.  All right?"

Clark nodded, falling back onto his pillow.  Jonathan rubbed 
his back for a few seconds before standing up.  "Are you going 
to feel up to going to school tomorrow?" he asked before 
leaving.  Clark nodded. Jonathan turned out the light and shut 
the door.  Clark, however, didn't fall asleep until much later, 
and when he did, his dreams only filled his mind with terror.

* * *

Clark woke the next morning, feeling as if he hadn't slept at 
all. He groaned and turned over away from the window, thinking 
that he could tell his father that he did indeed feel too bad 
to go to school.  But then he thought that if Lois did come to 
school, he needed to be there for her, if she liked it or not.  
So he slowly made his way off his bed, pulled on a T-shirt and 
jeans, and left the room, giving the bed one final, longing 
glance.

His father had offered to give him another ride to school since 
he again had to go into town, and Clark graciously accepted.  
It was better than walking, which was how he got to the 
building most mornings.  So as he stepped out of the truck and 
onto the school grounds, he felt more cheerful than most 
mornings.  But as he neared the building, he began to feel 
nervous.  What if someone could tell that he was different than 
he had been the last time they saw him? He scolded himself for 
thinking that.  He wasn't different, at least not on the 
outside.  .  He climbed the steps and entered the hallway. A 
few girls turned to look at him, then they turned and giggled, 
their faces away from him.  Clark frowned.  What was that 
about?

A girl that he didn't know very well walked up beside him.  
"Hey, space-boy," she said, then laughed as she turned back to 
her boyfriend.  Clark stopped walking and stared back at her, 
wide-eyed. How did she, a girl Clark didn't even know, know 
about him?


As he started walking, more slowly this time, he noticed that 
people were indeed looking at him with amusement.  They knew.  
They all knew.  Now he was going to be put into a secret lab 
somewhere and be dissected.  He saw Lois at her locker and 
sighed gratefully.  He walked up beside her and she turned to 
look at him.  He thought he could almost see the laughter in 
her eyes as well.

"What's going on?" he asked.  "Why's everyone looking at me 
funny?"

"You haven't been to the cafeteria, have you?" she asked, her 
amusement now gone as she saw how upset he was.

"No..." Clark said slowly.

Lois closed her locker and linked her arm through his, guiding 
him to the cafeteria.  He was so worried he didn't even notice 
her gesture. He could see a mass of people crowding around the 
doors, trying to get inside.  Lois pushed her way through, 
pulling Clark behind her. They broke through the mass of people 
and what Clark saw nearly made him faint.  There was a huge 
poster of him, almost covering an entire wall.  It had his 
school picture from the last year blown up, but it had been 
edited so that he now had two very long antennas sticking out.  
It was made to look as if he were driving a spaceship.  At the 
top, the poster read 'CLARK KENT, TEENAGE ALIEN'.  Then at the 
bottom, it said, 'WE HAVE PROOF.' Clark could almost feel the 
earth collapse beneath him, and his legs threatened to turn 
into jelly.  He backed up through the crowd very slowly at 
first, then he turned around and ran through the hallways and 
out of the building.  He stopped running when he got to the 
parking lot and sat down, leaning against someone's car.  He 
heard footsteps running towards him.

"Clark?"  It was Lois.  He groaned, not wanting to talk to 
anyone at the moment.

"Where are you?" she asked.  He stood up and caught her eye for 
a split second before turning away.  "That's a bunch of 
garbage," she said fiercely, but she got no response from 
Clark.  She cleared her throat.  "Do you know who did that?"

"I'm not sure," he said glumly.  There was a long silence, and 
Lois moved one step closer to Clark.

"The principal was trying to take it down.  So it's probably 
gone by now."  She reached out and took his hand.  "Let's go 
back inside. You can't just let them win."

"You're right," he agreed and followed her back up to the 
school building.  Just as they walked through the door, Clark 
was pushed from the side and he slammed into the wall.  He 
looked up in a daze. There was a group of guys standing a few 
feet away.

"Hey, alien-freak, watch where you're going," one of them said, 
and they all laughed.  They walked away, and Lois ran over to 
Clark.  He had turned white.

Alien-freak.  The words kept replaying themselves in his head. 
That's what he was.  A freak.  It had suddenly all become so 
simple, everything had been put into black and white.  He was a 
freak.  He didn't belong among the humans.  He felt tears prick 
the back of his eyes, but he wiped at them fiercely.  He was 
such a baby.  If that's what aliens called their young.

"Lois, I better go," he said, shaking free of her.  She would 
think he was a freak, too, if she knew the truth.  She would 
never talk to him.  He had to get out of there before he gave 
himself away.

"Go?  Where?"

He almost said home, but caught himself in time.  It wasn't his 
home. "The house."

"What?  You can't just leave..." she trailed off as he ran out 
of the school.  He ran as fast as he could through the parking 
lot, then down the road.  It seemed like the trees and 
surrounding landscape were just a blur.  All he could feel were 
his feet pounding on the pavement, faster than they'd ever 
before.

Funny, he thought vaguely.  My feet are beating faster than my 
heart.

* * *

Lois stared after Clark.  Where was he going?  She knew the 
poster had upset him, but was it really THAT bad?  And then 
that group of guys had pushed him, but come on!  He was acting 
pretty pathetic in her opinion.  She watched a few 
authoritative figures march past her angrily, one of them 
carrying the poster.  She heard the bell ring signaling that 
school was now starting, but the whole of the student body was 
still milling around in the hallway.  All because of the 
poster.  She began to understand why Clark had been so upset.  
But she wished he hadn't left because, besides this whole alien 
thing, she needed to talk to him about her moving to 
Metropolis.

"Lois," she heard her friend, Wendy, calling her.  "I heard 
what happened on Friday.  I'm so sorry."  Lois suddenly found 
herself enveloped in a hug.

"I'm fine, really.  Nothing happened."  She almost said that 
Clark had saved her in time, but bringing him up would probably 
only result in Wendy saying something about the poster, and 
Lois was just about sick of everyone being so rude.  Didn't 
they understand that Clark had feelings too?  He was a normal 
human being, just like everyone else!

* * *

"Hey, Jon," the hardware store owner called out as Jonathan 
entered through the door.

"Hey, Hank," Jonathan greeted.

"So'd ya get my message?" Hank asked, coming around the counter 
and walking over to pack flashlights on a shelf.

Jonathan nodded and helped him stack the boxes.

"I'd be happy to give ya a job as a clerk, but frankly, I been 
wondering why you stopped farming."

"Well, after the tornado flattened all our crops, I just didn't 
have the heart to start over.  I'm getting older, so I figured 
I should try to find a safer job.  Especially since I got that 
back injury when I was repairing the barn.  My body just don't 
work like it used to."

"I understand, and if you'd like, I'll start you out working 4 
days a week for about 4 hours a day.  How's that sound?"

"It sounds great.  I can't think you enough for this, Hank."

"Don't mention it.  I'm getting too old to work as much as I 
do, too. I wouldn't mind a little help around here.  I have the 
high school boys, but they're not too reliable.  They always 
have a date to make and have to cancel their hours."

"I know how it is.  I have one of them."

"Well, I'll make you up a schedule and call you when I have it 
made."

"Thanks again," Jonathan said as he left.  He headed down the 
sidewalk towards the grocery store, greeting familiar faces 
cheerfully as he passed.  Things were starting to look up.

He quickly grabbed the items he needed from the shelves and 
headed to the checkout line.  He unloaded the contents of his 
shopping cart onto the scanner when something on the magazine 
rack made him take a double look.  And when he did, he was 
afraid that his heart would stop beating.  There was Clark on 
the front page of the Dirt Digger. The same picture that was 
hanging in a frame in his living room. Except it had been 
edited.  Clark now had antenna sticking out from under his 
mussed black hair, and he appeared to be driving a spaceship.  
The same spaceship that he arrived to earth in.  Jonathan 
quickly grabbed the paper and lay it face down with his other 
items.

This was what he had feared would happen ever since he and 
Martha had first found Clark.  That something would happen to 
their boy.  And now something was happening.  Someone had found 
out, and now it was on the front page of a newspaper that was 
sent all over the country.

He exited the store and jumped in the pickup where he 
immediately pulled the newspaper out from the bags.  He quickly 
scanned the article on the inside cover.  It explained that 
Clark Kent was actually an alien, with a load of phony facts to 
back that statement up.  Except for the one that said they had 
the spaceship that he arrived in, which was true.  Jonathan 
gave a silent prayer, thankful that the article hadn't been put 
into a REAL magazine or newspaper, but still... even this was 
too much publicity.

Jonathan sped home, needing to get there and show his family 
what was now happening.  But as he pulled onto the long and 
normally deserted road that his house was located on, he could 
tell something was wrong.  Right before he came to the lane 
that led to his driveway, he saw several large, black sedans 
parked on the side of the road.  This made him slightly nervous 
because there was normally no one anywhere around, and 
especially not in a mass like this.  He turned down the lane 
and into his driveway.  He couldn't see anyone outside, but he 
knew that meant nothing.  He would never forgive himself if 
they had done something to Martha.  Thank God that Clark was 
still at school...

* * *

Clark's memories of his run home from school were hazy, as it 
passed so quickly.  As he zoomed, for lack of a better word, 
towards his front porch, he tried to slow himself down before 
he hurt himself, but found that it was a rather difficult thing 
to do.  He managed to do so without much disaster, but he had 
been forced to trip himself over the first step of the porch.  
He stood up shakily, holding onto the railing.  He could hear 
his heart thudding wildly in his chest, and he gulped in air.  
It was such a strange feeling: for a few moments, it had 
actually felt as if he hadn't even been touching the ground.

"Mom," he called as he stepped into the house.  There was a 
silence before Martha stepped into the kitchen to find Clark 
leaning against the counter, his face red and his hair wind 
swept.

"What are you doing here so early?" she asked, feeling a small 
flicker of anger.  If Clark was skipping school...

"I'm a freak," he said flatly, his face emotionless.

"Where'd you get that idea?  You are not a freak, Clark, and if 
anyone says otherwise..."

Clark cut her off.  "There was a poster at school.  Someone had 
edited my picture to make me look like an alien."  He had been 
trying to keep his attitude impassive, but his voice cracked as 
he continued.  "Everyone was looking at me weird and calling me 
'alien' and 'space boy' and... 'freak'.  And they think it's 
just a scam. What would they think if they knew the truth?"

Martha put her arms around Clark, because he looked in dire 
need of a hug.  "So you came home?  Why don't we go back to 
school and if anyone says anything to you, you tell them your 
mother will never let them forget it."

"M-om," Clark sighed, "this isn't a joke."

"I know, honey.  But they'll get over it.  Kids do.  They'll 
never know-"

"But what if they find out?  I won't be welcome anywhere."

"They WON'T find out.  Don't worry."

Clark broke away from her.  "I'm not going back to school."

"You can't run away from your problems," Martha protested.

"Watch me," Clark said stonily, walking into the living room, 
then pounding up the stairs.  Martha rolled her eyes at him.  
He was so stubborn.  She intended to follow him up the stairs, 
but there was a knock at the front door.  She sighed and walked 
through the living room to the door.  She opened the door to 
find two men in suits standing on her porch.

"Yes?" she asked, as pleasantly as possible.  She had a hunch 
that these were salesmen, but that idea quickly dissolved as 
they pushed brusquely past her into the hallway.  She narrowed 
her eyes at them as they looked around.

"What ARE you doing?" she asked, the annoyance now clearly 
evident in your voice.

"Are you Mrs. Kent?" the smaller man asked.

"Yes..." she answered slowly.

"We've come to talk to your son.  Is he here?"

Martha folded her arms across her chest.  What was this?  "No, 
he's at school."

"Well, then, we'll wait for him to get home."

"You most certainly will not.  I don't know who you are, or 
what you want, but you will not stay in my house any longer.  
Now, please..." She motioned towards the door.

"Mrs. Kent, this is quite important.  I'm Henry Richards, and 
this is my colleague, Mr. Norman.  We're from the National 
Inquiry."

Martha interrupted him with a snort of disapproval.  A tabloid 
reporter.  She wasn't sure why they were here, but she wasn't 
going to allow them to stay any longer.

"I really don't care who you are, and my husband will be home 
any moment, so if you don't leave, he'll make you leave."  
Richards smiled and spoke as if he were explaining something to 
a child. "Mrs. Kent, we have an offer for your son.  I 
understand you aren't financially secure."  This earned a 
disapproving look from Martha. "And we are prepared to pay your 
son a rather large amount of money to use his story."

"What story?" Martha asked, clearly confused.

"Don't play dumb, Ma'am.  You know exactly what I'm talking 
about. The Clark Kent alien story."

"That's it.  Get out of here."  Martha opened the door and was 
prepared to push them out when a voice came from behind them.

"Wait, Mom.  How much money?"  Three heads swiveled around to 
see Clark standing at the bottom of the stairs.  His face 
showed weariness, sadness, anger, but most of all, defeat.

* * *

Clark sat on the couch, beside his mother and across from the 
two men.  Martha continuously fixed Clark with her disappointed 
glare, but he ignored her; instead, he waited for the men to 
explain what they wanted.  After the introductions, Clark had 
instructed them to all sit in the living room, and Martha 
grudgingly brought the men iced tea.

"What is it exactly that you want?" Clark asked.  He kept his 
voice as flat and emotionless as he could.  His previous 
thoughts and worries had been pushed out of his mind.

"All we want is your approval to use your story.  After the 
Dirt Digger made that front page article-"

Clark cut him off.  "What article?  What are you talking 
about?"

Someone cleared his throat loudly from the hallway, and Clark 
looked up to see Jonathan leaning against the doorframe, grimly 
holding up the newspaper that he had brought home.  "What is 
that?" Clark asked his father.  Jonathan came to sit beside 
Clark and Martha, showing them the paper.  Clark thought he 
could feel his face flush as he read the article about him.  It 
was a bunch of trash, saying how he had come here to lead an 
alien invasion.  He laughed harshly.

"What is this?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

"That's exactly what we'd like to know," Richards said 
excitedly, leaning forward with his hand folded together in 
front of him.

"Who are these people?" Jonathan asked Martha.

Martha explained the situation to him softly.

"I'm still not sure what you want," Clark said slowly.  He 
needed to think about what he said before he said it, or he 
might get himself into trouble.  "This is all a bunch of 
trash."

"Ah, the joys of working for a paper like the Inquiry.  All you 
need to do is give us permission to use you so you can't sue 
us, maybe feed us some information, we write an exclusive 
interview with you, and that's it."

"Why would I do that?" Clark asked.

"Because you need the money.  We're prepared to pay quite a 
large sum for your consent.  Think of it as... an easy and sure 
way to win the lottery."

"How much money?" Clark asked.

"Well, I can't be sure, but...  how does $10,000 sound?"

Clark sucked in his breath quickly.  Ten thousand dollars!  He 
could pay for the house to be fixed.  He could get his parents 
back on their feet.  They could buy a newer car.  After all, 
their pickup truck was older than Clark.

Then Clark remembered how he had, vainly but maybe out of 
curiosity, sent in his applications to the Metropolis School of 
Journalism and Wichita U., two large, and expensive, colleges.  
He knew he wouldn't get accepted, but with this money, he might 
be able to pay to go to the community college for a few years.

Clark looked over at his parents and could see the surprise and 
shock on their faces too.  Frankly, he didn't see why he 
shouldn't do this; after all, the rumors were already flying 
around if his picture was on the cover of a newspaper.  All he 
would be doing would be feeding the fire, not starting it.

Jonathan finally cleared his throat.  "We really need to 
discuss this, but I believe our answer will still be 'no'," he 
said, glancing at Martha, but deliberately diverting his eyes 
from Clark's face.

"Dad!" Clark protested, but Jonathan stood up and directed the 
men to the door.

"Here's our card," Richards said cheerfully to Clark, handing 
him a small business card.  "Get in touch with us soon with 
your decision." Clark nodded slowly, still in shock.  Then he 
nodded more surely.

"Yeah, ok, I'll call you," he said decidedly.

"Good!  Then we'll await your call."  Clark nodded again.

Martha closed the door behind her and then twirled around to 
face Clark.  "Clark Jer-" she started before Clark interrupted 
her.

"Don't.  This is my decision."  He turned and thudded up the 
stairs, taking them two at a time, before he reached his 
bedroom.  He jumped onto his bed.  He didn't know what to 
think.  His brain was blank as he tried to understand all this 
new information.  He could have a lot of money.  More than he 
had ever hoped for.  All he had to do was sell his life.  He 
felt like he was dealing with the devil.  Riches for his soul.  
But no, this wasn't like that.  Not really.  He was just giving 
them permission to write a phony story about him that no one 
would believe anyway.  And those words kept repeating in his 
mind.  "...how does $10,000 sound?"

If he didn't take the money, wouldn't they write about him 
anyway? They must have known that the Kents couldn't afford an 
attorney to actually sue them, so what were they trying to 
pull?  Clark certainly didn't trust the reporters, but what 
other choice did he have than take the money?  His life was 
going nowhere fast, and he doubted seriously that he would ever 
be more than a farmer.  Unless, that little voice in his head 
nagged, your real people come back to get you.  Which raised 
another question.  What would Clark tell the reporters?  He 
couldn't tell them the truth of what he really was, of course; 
he had to make something up.  The easy part, however, would be 
that he needed to make it sound like it was pretend, so they 
wouldn't suspect he was really an alien.  He doubted rather 
seriously that the National Inquiry reporters actually believed 
that he was an alien, or they probably would have decided not 
to mess with him. They just wanted a scoop.

He still needed to think it over more, when he wasn't so wound 
up, and think it through rationally, but he felt that he had 
already decided what he would do.  Take the money, give them 
their story, and say goodbye to his life.  Or maybe find the 
truth in it.

* * *

Lois came home from school to the sound of her parents yelling.

"Big surprise," she muttered as she dropped her book bag with a 
clunk in the foyer.  She wasn't in the mood to deal with her 
parents right now, so she went around the living room that they 
currently inhabited and stormed up the stairs.  For a moment, 
the thought crossed her mind that she was glad that her mother 
wasn't coming with her and her father to Metropolis, but she 
pushed it away quickly.  That wasn't fair.  She knew her 
parents wanted to separate.  The fighting wasn't healthy for 
anyone.  But moving away seemed so... permanent.  When they 
moved, she knew her family would most likely never get back 
together.

On top of all this, her day at school had been horrible.  
Everyone had finally settled down enough to start classes 
twenty minutes after Clark had left.  And Lois still felt 
horrible for just letting the poor guy just run away.  She 
wondered how he was feeling now.  She knew he must have been 
horribly embarrassed, and everyone would probably make cracks 
about it for a long time until something else happened and they 
could pick on someone else.  That was just how it was in high 
school.  Lois just wished that Clark hadn't had to get so hurt.

"Lois?"  She looked up to see Lucy standing in the doorway, her 
eyes red from crying.  At first sight, Lois felt annoyed with 
her sister. She just needed to grow up.  This was how life was.  
Lois had already decided that she wouldn't humor her parents by 
being depressed.

But when Lucy came to her bed and sat down, leaning her head 
against Lois, she felt her heart go out to her younger sister.  
This was one of the rare moments when the two sisters could 
just find comfort in each other, and Lois treasured this 
because it happened so infrequently.  And after she moved...  
would she ever feel close to her sister again?  "I don't want 
to stay here with Mom," Lucy said quietly.  "I don't want you 
to leave.  Please don't go."

"Lucy, I don't want to leave you here.  Or Mom.  But, this is 
the opportunity of a lifetime!  And it's not like I'll never 
see you again or anything.  We just gotta be strong.  You gotta 
be strong for you and Mom both.  Anyway, you don't want to 
leave your home and your friends and everything do you?"

"Do you?" Lucy countered.

"No... but I'm trying to look at the big picture.  I'll be 
starting my career!  The thing I want to do for the rest of my 
life.  What's more important than getting a jumpstart on the 
rest or your life?"

Lucy pulled away from her.  "I don't know - your friends?  Your 
family?" she asked in a harshly sarcastic tone.  "Fine.  Go off 
and leave everyone else.  You just want to be able to say that 
you're better than the rest of us."  She stood up and stormed 
towards the door.

"Lucy!  That's not true.  You know it."  Her sister ignored 
her, and Lois was left sitting on her bed with a terrible 
feeling of guilt.

* * *

That night, Clark again found himself in his tree house.  He 
sat with his arms crossed and resting on the windowsill, his 
chin having found a place to rest in the crook of his elbow.  
He looked out over the fields.  The moon gave the normally 
brown and dead grass of the fields a turquoise shine, seemingly 
filling them with life.  Clark could almost remember what his 
life had been like before the tornado. He could remember 
sitting in this same position, looking out over the fields that 
really were alive.  Through his younger eyes, he could see his 
father out planting seeds, and every once in a while, he would 
turn to wave at the tree house.  Clark could imagine his nine 
year old sized hand poking out through the window, waving back 
with so much energy and innocence.  The horses were out in the 
pasture, the mare and her colt.  A dozen chickens pecked the 
ground near the barn for any food that might have been left.  
The sunlight streamed through the leaves of the tree that held 
the tree house.

Suddenly, Clark was given a forceful yank back into reality.  
There was a figure out in the field.  No, more than one figure.  
He squinted to see better, wishing he had a pair of binoculars 
handy. Then suddenly, it was like he had been pulled a hundred 
yards closer. For a split second, he had a magnified view of 
the people.  Then he leapt back in fright, away from the 
windowsill, his eyes wide with shock.  He lost his balance as, 
instead of finding the floor, one of his feet found the hole 
which he climbed into and out of the tree house.  He fell 
through the hole, unable to find anything to hold on to, and 
landed on his back on the hard, dirt-packed ground.  Then he 
waited for the pain.

And waited.  Was he in shock?  Had he fainted?  Was he dead?  
Was that why he felt no pain?  He cracked his eyes open slowly.  
He found himself lying on his back, looking up through the hole 
in the tree house.  Just where he thought he was.  So he wasn't 
dead.  He groaned.  Everything would have been a lot less 
complicated if he had died.

He rose very slowly, waiting for the shocking pain that should 
have been coursing through his body.  But it didn't come.  He 
climbed to his feet, holding onto the ladder for support.  
Maybe he really had died.  That was the only reasonable 
explanation.

"Maybe I'm already in Hell," he muttered to himself.  "Or maybe 
I'd rather be there."  That was when he remembered the figures 
out in the field.  For that split second, he had gotten a close 
up view of the people, which still boggled his mind.  But he 
had seen them.  Tuck and the two guys that had been at his 
house.

"Of course!" he whispered to himself.  Tuck was the one that 
had set this up.  He knew about Clark.  Clark didn't know 
whether to be glad that he had figured out who was behind this, 
or even more upset. Tuck was dangerous; Clark already knew 
that.  Having him know his secret, well... he had already seen 
what had happened in this short time.  He put his head in his 
hands, then looked up into the clear night sky.

"Kill me now," he begged the stars.

* * *

Clark didn't return to school the next day, nor the next.  On 
his third day of absence, Lois was beginning to worry.  That 
added to everything else that was going on in her life was 
almost enough to make her go insane.  She had a feeling that 
the rumors and gossip that she was now hearing around the 
school were worse than they would have been if Clark had showed 
up.  Everyone was saying that Clark was really an alien, and he 
wasn't attending school because he was preparing an invasion.

All the kids at the school were so naive.  Didn't they 
understand what they were doing to Clark?  Could they even 
comprehend what he was going through?

And this wasn't even her biggest concern.  She was moving in 
only two weeks, and she was still a little tentative on her 
decision to leave Smallville.  It seemed like there were so 
many things she had left undone.  She felt like a quitter since 
she was just running away from everything.  From the hard life 
to the perfect life.   But it wouldn't be perfect, because 
after much thought, she realized that she would probably be 
alone most of the time, especially when she first moved there.  
Her father would be busy with his new job, and she wouldn't 
know anyone in that huge city.  She hoped for her sake that 
this Mr. White would let her start her internship right away. 
At least she would meet people.

She was in her room on that Thursday, trying to decide what she 
wanted to take with her to Metropolis.  She would only be able 
to take a few things, besides the necessities, on the plane 
with her, and then her mom would ship the rest of her things in 
boxes through the mail.  Her father was currently in 
Metropolis, looking for an apartment.  This would be another 
huge change for Lois.  She had lived in this huge, old 
farmhouse her whole life, and she would be moving into a small 
and modern apartment.

This wasn't to say that she really didn't want to go anymore.  
She was still brimming with excitement at the prospect of 
getting to live in a big and busy city.  She was just having 
second, and third, and fourth, thoughts about leaving.  Before 
he had left, her father had notified the school that Lois would 
be leaving.  And she had told all her friends at school as 
well.  It had been hard to tell them that she was moving 
because, since no one hardly ever moved into Smallville, she 
had known most of her classmates her whole life.  But she knew 
that the hardest was yet to come.  She needed to go see Clark 
and, besides telling him that she would be moving, she needed 
to see why he had been avoiding school lately.  It seemed easy 
enough as she thought about it, but when she started to stand 
up to go to his house, she sat back down abruptly.  It wasn't 
easy.  He was one of the most complicated humans she had ever 
known.  He normally tried to wear such a brave mask to hide his 
emotions, but Lois knew on the inside he was hurting.  She 
didn't know any details about his home life because, whenever 
she tried to talk about it, he withdrew himself and wouldn't 
talk anymore.  But she had heard rumors from her parents and 
various other sources that Clark had it pretty rough. She 
wondered what he would do when he found she was moving.  I'm 
being too egotistical, she then realized.  Clark wasn't that 
infatuated with her.  He might be gloomy for a little while, 
but he would move on, probably faster than she would.

This was another reason why it was so hard to tell him.  Their 
relationship was undefined.  Lois didn't know exactly how Clark 
thought of her.  He'd said a few bold things every once in a 
while, but they had never gone any farther than flirtatious 
talk.  This was mostly her fault, Lois realized.  She had 
always shied away when Clark tried to do...  well, anything.  
Her fear of being involved in a real relationship had 
multiplied a hundred times after the incident with Troy, as 
much as she told herself that Clark wasn't like that. Lois 
considered Clark as a dear friend, but she wasn't sure what 
else.

Still, she had to tell him.  She couldn't just leave without 
Clark knowing.  And she was worried about where he had been the 
past few days.  So she reluctantly left her bedroom, rummaged 
through her mother's purse to find the car keys, and headed out 
the door.

* * *

Clark was out in the barn that afternoon.  He had buried 
himself in doing house and yard work ever since the night he 
had seen Tuck with the newspapermen in the field.  He still 
hadn't called them back, and he also hadn't seen Tuck since 
then.  Clark wondered where he was, but then decided that it 
was probably better that Tuck was staying away from the Kents.  
Except for the fact that Clark couldn't keep track of his 
activities.

Clark still hadn't decided fully what he wanted to do about the 
newspaper.  The $10,000 still shined like a neon sign in his 
head, but it seemed too good to be true.  There had to be some 
sort of catch that Clark wasn't seeing, and he intended to find 
it if there was one.  And the bigger, more important reason 
that Clark was reluctant to give himself up was because, after 
having enough time to think about it, he realized that he could 
still continue his life. If he didn't give newspapers 
information to feed on, they would eventually leave him alone 
and everyone would forget about him.

This idea had been sparked by the thought of Lois.  If people 
found out that he was really an alien, then Lois wouldn't ever 
talk to him again.  That was what Clark was most afraid of.  He 
didn't want to lose Lois.  Even though they had only been close 
for hardly over a year, which wasn't very long by Smallville 
standards, Clark felt that he really and truly loved her.  Even 
if they were of different species.

He remembered the first time they had met, at a newspaper 
meeting at the high school.  Lois had been a freshman, and 
Clark a junior. Saying they hadn't exactly hit it off was a 
rather large understatement.  Well, actually, for the first few 
weeks they had practically ignored each other, because Clark 
was older than Lois and he already had friends on the staff.  
But then the editor had the idea to pair up a less experienced 
staff member with one that had experience to get some human 
interest stories.  That was when they had started to not get 
along.  Lois felt that she didn't need Clark's help, and Clark 
felt that if Lois felt that she didn't need his help, he 
certainly wasn't going to offer it.

Clark was able to smile ruefully back upon the memory now, but 
at the time, it hadn't been a joking matter.  Luckily, things 
settled down between the two after working together for a 
while, and their relationship became one of friendship, until 
finally Clark was beginning to think that perhaps there was 
something more than friendship.  After all, it had been Lois' 
idea to meet at the pond on those summer nights.

It was funny in a sick way, Clark thought, that the summer 
seemed to have taken place years ago, when Clark had been much 
younger and much less intelligent than he was now.  If only 
things had happened differently.  If only his powers hadn't 
started showing up.  If only his parents hadn't told him the 
truth.  If only Tuck hadn't been in earshot.  If only he had 
never come to earth to begin with.  But he didn't have the 
heart for 'if only's' because they only dug deeper the hole 
that Clark was slowly burying himself in.  He had already 
stopped going to school.  What measures would he take next?  
Besides, would he have really rather not have known the truth 
about himself? No, he decided.  It was better for him to know.  
He would get through this somehow, he and his loved ones.  They 
would all work their way through this, and eventually, if they 
were lucky, they could continue on with life.  If Clark wasn't 
captured and taken to a lab and cut open and experimented upon.  
He shuddered involuntarily.  The thought sickened him.  He 
could picture himself lying there, in a bright room, his skin 
pale from no sunlight, metal objects being sharpened...  He 
tore his mind away from the image.  He couldn't think that way.  
Not until there was no hope left.

He forced himself back to reality in order to stop his 
thoughts. This was why he had buried himself in work, so he 
wouldn't have time to think about... anything.  He grabbed a 
broom and the ladder, and walked out the barn door into the 
bright sunlight.  He propped the ladder against the side of the 
barn and then climbed up to the top, broom in tow.  He was 
going to give his best shot at making the farm look decent, he 
thought fiercely as he brushed away dirt and cobwebs from the 
barn wall with the broom, precariously balancing himself on the 
ladder.  He could feel the warm rays of sunlight beating down 
on his T-shirted back as he brushed down dirt and cobwebs from 
the wall, and he wondered why the day had to be so beautiful in 
spite of his mood.

"Clark?"

Clark had been so intent on not thinking about anything that he 
was caught off-guard when someone called his name from the 
ground.  He jumped in surprise and the ladder lurched 
perilously underneath him, but he caught himself before he fell 
backwards.  He clung onto the ladder for a few moments before 
he twirled his head around to send a glare towards whomever had 
startled him.  But he found himself in a much more precarious 
position when he saw Lois standing on the ground, looking up at 
him.

"Lois!" he exclaimed, clambering down the ladder.  Once he 
landed safely in the dirt, he looked himself over.  His boots 
were mud-covered, much like the bottom half of his jeans.  A 
fine layer of sandy colored dirt covered the other half.  
Cobwebs and other unidentifiable matter clung to his dark T-
shirt.  He could only imagine what his face and hair looked 
like.

Lois, on the other hand, was the apotheosis of a woman.  She 
looked neat and petite, as always.  Her long dark hair fell 
past her shoulders and rested on her mid-back.  She wore dark 
blue jeans and a tight sweater that perfectly accented her... 
her...

Clark flushed and yanked his gaze up towards her face quickly.  
I still feel human, he thought ruefully as he shifted his 
weight from one foot to the other nervously.

"What are you doing here?" he asked bluntly.  He felt a bit 
perturbed with her for coming to his house without any warning.  
He always felt very self-conscious to let anyone see how he 
lived, and, when he hadn't even had any time to prepare himself 
for her arrival, it made him feel trapped.  Lois had never been 
to his house before; she didn't know anything about his home 
life.  She didn't know about any of his problems, about Tuck.

"I... I... was worried.  You haven't been at school, so I 
thought I would come and check on you," Lois answered, sounding 
as uneasy as Clark felt.

"I haven't been feeling very well," Clark lied.

"I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't about the poster 
because, Clark, it's worse since you haven't been there and..."

"It's not about the poster.  Believe me."

Lois studied him quizzically for a moment, and Clark ran a hand 
through his hair self-consciously.

"What?" he asked.

"If you're not feeling well, why are you outside working?" Lois 
asked slowly.

"Is it really any of your business?" Clark snapped and turned 
away. Seconds later, he turned back to Lois.  "I'm sorry, I 
don't know where that came from.  There's just a lot of pent up 
stress and... and anger, and I had to let it out some way.  I'm 
really sorry, Lois."

"It's ok," Lois answered, more carefully.  There was a long 
pause, before she continued.  "Look, Clark, the real reason I 
came here was to tell you that I'm moving.  To Metropolis," she 
said quickly.

Clark could almost feel the color drain from his face as the 
earth opened up at his feet.  He placed a hand on the barn wall 
for balance.  He couldn't have really just heard her say that, 
could he have?  She was just joking.  Right?  He looked at her 
with pleading eyes, but she refused to meet his gaze.

"Right, well, we're leaving in two weeks, and I just thought 
you should know before we left because I didn't know if you 
would be back at school or not."  Clark finally caught her eye 
as she finished talking.  He thought he could almost see tears.  
He hoped she didn't see any in his eyes.

"You're... moving?  Forever?" he asked in a daze.

"Yes, I'm moving," Lois said, almost impatiently.

"But... why?" Clark asked.

"My dad got a new job there, in Metropolis, and he got me a job 
working at the Daily Planet.  Can you believe that?  From lowly 
sophomore staff member to intern at the biggest newspaper in 
the world.  And I'm going to go to the Metropolis School of 
Journalism when I graduate from high school..."  As she trailed 
off, Clark looked away from her again.  He felt another emotion 
well up in him, one that he didn't feel too often.  Jealousy.

He hoped Lois realized how lucky she was.  The Metropolis 
School of Journalism, one of the most prestigious, and 
expensive, journalism schools in the United States.  His dream, 
or what his dream had once been.  Now his dream was to stay 
alive long enough to graduate from Smallville Community 
College.

"That's... amazing," Clark said wistfully; then he met Lois' 
eye again.  They were silent again.  "Do you have to go?"

"I want to go.  Don't you know what this means?  I'll be a 
reporter at the Daily Planet!"

"Yes, Lois, I understand what it means," he said, taking two 
steps closer to her.  "I just... I don't know if I'll be able 
to stand it if you leave."

"Clark, I wish there was some way... ," Lois said, her gaze 
never wavering from Clark's.

"Lois..." Clark said huskily, stepping closer still until there 
were barely inches between their noses.  Clark reached up with 
his dirt-covered hand to cradle Lois' head.  He leaned closer, 
watching her, hoping she couldn't hear his heavy thudding 
heart.

He fluttered his eyes closed as he brushed his lips across 
hers.

"Clark, don't give me a reason to stay," Lois breathed against 
his cheek.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he softly kissed her forehead.  He 
slowly pulled away, still holding her cheek in his palm.  
"You're really going to go?" he asked softly, his voice now 
barely above a whisper.

Lois nodded, then moments later, Clark found himself engulfed 
in a hug.  Lois had her arms wrapped around his back, and Clark 
did the same.  They stayed that way for some time, neither 
saying anything. Clark thought he felt Lois shiver underneath 
him a few times, and he wondered what she had to be scared 
about.

* * *

Clark was up late again that night, wandering around the yard.  
The reason for his restless behavior was that he couldn't 
sleep, couldn't get his mind calmed down enough for him to 
sleep.  After Lois had left, he had decided that he would call 
the newspapermen.  He would give them their story and take 
their money.  After all, hadn't he just earlier that day 
decided that Lois was his only steadfastness? And now... she 
was leaving.  Leaving him.  The tight clenching in his throat 
returned as he remembered the day's events.  For the most part, 
he had gone through the day in a haze, not letting any emotions 
leak out from the heavily guarded wall that he had mentally 
built around himself.

In the direct opposite way of thinking, his other reason for 
being up was that he was so wired.  He had been afraid to eat 
or drink anything in fear that the electric sizzling that had 
settled on his lips after their kiss would disappear.  It 
hadn't been the longest or deepest kiss that Clark had ever 
shared, but it had been the only one that had ever left him 
feeling as if he were walking on air.  The only one that had 
ever kept him up at night.  The only one that left him wishing 
the g