Bloodlines

Chapter 2

Lois walked up behind Clark and wrapped her arms around his waist, her cheek resting on his back.

"The railing on this balcony has seven thousand, two hundred eight crystalline fragments. Of those fragments, five thousand six hundred forty-eight are quartz, one thousand nine hundred thirty-three are ground garnet and the remaining are plain silica. I figure if I count every grain component on this balcony, I won't fly out of my skin," he said. "There's five muggings going on right now within a three mile radius. Fire trucks are rushing out eleven miles northwest."

"The League can take care of it," said Lois.

"I don't want the League to take care of it," said Clark. "I want to be out there. Not here. I can't fix this, Lois, I want--" His head sank. "This is why Chloe kept him a secret. She knew I wouldn't be able to commit to raising a child with the kind of life I've chosen. I can barely find the time to be with you and --"

Lois rubbed circles on his stomach. "Shut up, Smallville. I declare a kibosh on your angst for the next hour."

"But I--"

She slapped a hand over his mouth. Considering he stood a good six inches above her, one of her fingers nearly spelunked up one of his nostrils but they'd been together long enough to be intimate in even the most non-romantic manner. "Chloe had her reasons but I'm sure your inability to parent was way, way down the list. With your dad as an example, how bad could you be at it?"

Clark stilled her hands, caressing the skin between her thumb and forefinger. "I'd say something but there's a dang kibosh."

"Boutboul isn't coming back until tonight," said Lois. "I have a feeling that we're going to be in for a lot more revelations including what Lana knows about this whole thing--"

"Lana with a secret. There's a huge turn-around."

"--and whether or not Junior inherited more from you than your stunning good looks and sad lack of fashion sense."

"What's wrong with my fashion sense these days? Nary a strip of plaid in sight, Lane."

"That's because I'm the one who buys your clothes these days, honey buns."

"I sincerely hope you don't really call him honey buns," Pete said, holding the balcony door open. "Sorry for interrupting but Conner's getting twitchy and Lana wants to get something off her chest before the kid bolts."

"I'd better head him off," said Clark. Regretfully disengaging Lois' arms from around his waist, he dropped a kiss on her lips, whispered "I love you" around her earring and set himself to interacting with Conner.

Pete took up his position on the balustrade. Handing Lois one of the drinks in his hand, he said, "There was a time I thought I'd have to cut off both my arms before I saw Clark be that openly affectionate with someone. His parents, sure, but everyone else had to stay out of the ten foot personal space he set up for himself."

"What's in this drink?" asked Lois.

"It's lemon fizz. Kind of like Sprite or 7-Up at ten times the price." He raised his own glass in a little toast. "You're stalling."

"You're a good diplomat."

"Yet another talent for which I have Clark to thank. Reading anyone's body language is easy when you grow up with the Boy Scout over there."

Lois took a sip of her drink. "Did you figure it out or did he tell you?"

"A bit of both. Weird things always happened around Clark but I guess I just chalked it up to your average Smallville weirdness. Clark told me when we were fifteen; I figured out his second job around 2011 especially after I saw what was on his uniform." Pete drew an "S" on his chest.

Nodding, Lois said, "It's funny seeing him like that. He turns into a completely different person. He has this... presence that makes me want to stay away."

"Does he scare you?"

"No," Lois immediately denied. "It's not like when he's hit with Red or Black K. The best I can explain it is like looking into an alternate universe. He's not my Clark even though he hasn't put on a mask or changed any of his personality traits."

"Body language," Pete said.

"I guess." Uncomfortable with the conversation-- she knew about Pete Ross but had never really known him-- Lois turned the line of questioning over. "So what's with you and Lana? You don't have to be an investigative reporter to see that there's something going on there."

Pete chuckled and it was almost convincing. He raised his left hand; an etched gold band circled his ring finger. "Married."

Lois' jaw dropped. "Wow. She's--" Like the town bicycle, her brain wickedly supplied but she held back-- "She's really something to get all the boys in her yard so to speak. Do kids still say 'in the yard'? I have a feeling I dated myself."

This time Pete's laughter was genuine. "Clark never talks and you can't seem to stop. I'm beginning to see why this relationship works."

"Yeah. We're a dynamic duo all right." Lois watched Clark through the glass doors, her hand on her stomach to cup the feeling of joy that always warmed her when she thought of her lover.

When he stepped inside, Clark found the common room empty. A quick aural and visual scan showed Lana in one of the bedrooms, rummaging through a large bag. Conner lay on the floor with his feet up on the couch and his headphones blaring. Obviously, he didn't inherit Clark's super hearing, at least not yet.

Hands in his pocket, he walked casually over. "Hi."

The boy lifted an eyebrow but didn't remove his headphones.

"Uh, who're you listening to? It's... it's got a good beat."

He didn't answer for such a long time that Clark almost repeated the question. "Rhadasquat," Conner said curtly. Closing his eyes, he pressed the volume up on his player.

Clark was torn. He wanted to drink in the sight of him but at the same time, he knew he wouldn't be welcome. In the other room, Lana's pain also called out to his knight-in-shining-spandex complex, as Lois called it. He took a moment to mentally smack himself in the face. Here he was, supposedly the greatest hero in the world in terms of sheer number of powers, and he was scared stiff of confronting his first love and a teenage boy.

The more things change, huh, Kent?

She was on the phone, speaking in a sing-song French to an obviously young audience. "Darling, I know. Mommy and Daddy miss you too but we promise we'll be back as soon as possible. We're just... very, very sad right now. Of course I want your hugs, darling. I'll always want your hugs. As soon as we come home, I'm going to hug you and never let go, okay?"

Lana was a mother. Was everyone else in the world having kids? Even Ollie's apprentice, Roy, had a sweet little girl named Lian. Not for the first time, an ache blossomed in Clark's chest but, with the ease of practice, he tamped it down. He would have still been standing there if Lana hadn't re-entered the room. She only paused for a moment upon seeing him, her smile quickly flashing into place. A little too quickly considering the way they parted before she disappeared.

"I needed some props for my big reveal," she said, holding up a small digital album. "You're looking well, Clark."

"So are you," he said politely. He saw the ring on her finger. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear your phone call. Lana Lang's a mommy."

She inclined her head toward the balcony where Lois and Pete were laughing, probably about him or Lana or both. "A couple times over, actually. And Pete's the daddy." She showed him a picture on the album. Their daughters-- hardly more than babies-- grinned toothlessly in matching velvet dresses and curly pigtails.

"Pete? Really?" Clark hugged her without reservation this time. "Congratulations. I'm happy for you. Pete's a great guy."

"He's the best." Lana smiled but it never really reached her eyes. "He wanted to invite you for the wedding but... well, that's another story."

"So why don't we get started?" said Pete. He closed the balcony door behind Lois who held their two empty glasses.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Clark said to Pete, "I heard I owe you a very belated congratulations on your marriage."

He looked surprised. "Thanks. It was pretty simple: Just Lana, me and a judge and a witness. It was the dinner that the consulate threw us afterwards that was the big deal."

"Where's the kid?" said Lois. She dropped the glasses on an ornately carved side buffet before spotting Conner on the floor.

"I don't think he wants to--" Clark began.

"Let me deal with him, Smallville. I speak Teen-Angst." She nudged his side with the tip of her shoe. "Want to take those off, Junior?"

Conner glared.

Lois tapped her ears. "The headphones go," she enunciated, miming the removal of the headphones.

Sighing hurriedly, Conner complied. "I'm not a junior," he muttered as she got to his feet.

"It's either that or Mini Me, kid."

"Who?"

Lois gaped. "You've never seen the Austin Powers trilogy? Obviously your upbringing is lacking."

Whirling around, his fists clenched, Conner said, "There's nothing wrong with my upbringing! You take that back!" In his hurry, his hand smacked against the Louis XVI sofa. A fist-sized chunk of the carved wood and upholstery came away in his hand. As he watched, horrified, the rest of the backrest shuddered and fell off.

And Clark thought it couldn't get any more awkward.

As always, Lois broke the silence. "Okay, so that answers a lot of my questions."

"And it's a pretty good segue into mine," said Lana. Pointedly, she sat on the broken sofa, her hand resting on one of the splintered ends. With a faraway look on her face, she started to talk.

Fifteen years ago...

Lana hugged her purse to her stomach as though the overstuffed hunk of leather could shield her body. An abandoned car, a train and two cabs in a circular route through Missouri and back to Kansas left her with weariness to battle against, not Lex's bodyguards. Metropolis' bright lights hurt her eyes, increasing her nausea.

"Stop here," she told the cab driver.

"You sure, ma'am?" The cabbie eyed her pregnant stomach with alarm. "It's not safe to be walking around at night these days, especially in your condition."

"I'll be fine. I'm meeting a friend."

"Want me to wait until your friend comes? Only half price."

"I'll be fine, really." Handing him fare with too much tip, she hurried to the closest residential tower. All the shops underneath it except for an internet café were closed. Lana slipped into the café, for once pleased with the disinterest of the graveyard shift.

She slipped into one of the booths and brought up a free email service. Within minutes, she used her brand new email address to contact Chloe's cell phone.

CK in danger. Meet LL in 20 min where we got the freesias.

After signing off, she paid the yawning cashier and left. Her slacks were too conspicuous-- not many people went around in pinstripes at two in the morning. Lana slipped into a fast food place to change into another outfit, her third clothing change since leaving the house. Lex would be horrified to see her in second-hand sweats but the drawstring pants and over-sized sweatshirt hid her stomach.

When she exited the restaurant, Lana passed by the dumpster in the alleyway. Retrieving only her phone, wallet and passport, she threw the rest of the bag into the open bin. That bag cost seven hundred dollars; the lucky dumpster diver who found it would be warm for weeks pawning that thing and all its contents.

Lana caught another cab to the posh residential neighbourhood, walked two blocks and hailed a new one to take her back to the tourist district. The flower boutique she'd specified was closed, of course, but it was housed in a neo-classical building with a row of thick Corinthian columns, perfect for hiding.

She recognized Chloe's jacket right away. Stepping out of the shadows, Lana called out her name.

Chloe spun around, a can of mace held stiff-armed in front of her. "Lana?" Lana motioned for quiet so Chloe continued in a whisper. "Okay, I've never seen you in baggy sweats in... ever. How do I know you're you?"

"On my wedding day, you got locked in the meat freezer looking for Lex's present which I forgot in all the stress."

Chloe relaxed. "When I got the text, I wasn't sure which 'LL' I was supposed to meet."

"You've been to other weddings recently?" An uncharacteristic urge overcame her and Lana swept Chloe up in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you came. I really need your help."

"Of course. That's what maid of honours are for."

Lana let out a sharp sound that might have been a laugh. "I should've followed my first impulse and asked you to drive the getaway car."

Chloe's eyes widened.

"I'm leaving Lex," Lana confirmed. "I have to go right now, tonight, but I need someone to help me cover my tracks and cut all my ties."

Perceptive as always, Chloe's eyes dropped to Lana's stomach. At seven months, she barely showed but the baby pressed heavily on her spine for such a little thing.

"Look, I'm as feminist as they come but are you really going to get rid--"

"No," Lana said. "Not that I haven't thought of it but he's too much of a person in my head already. None of this is his fault."

"So what do you need me for?"

"I have two flights reserved under my name. One goes to Australia, the other one's for Stockholm."

"Lex can trace those purchases."

"I took the cash out of the Talon." At Chloe's shocked look-- her eyes were going to pop out of her head soon-- Lana said, "I know it's wrong but trust me it would be even more awful if Lex gets his hands on this baby."

"He won't be getting any father of the year awards," said Chloe.

"It's worse than that." Lana swallowed the bile rising up her throat.

"We should get Clark to help."

"No! That's the first person Lex would suspect. Whatever happens, Clark can't get involved in this. His life depends on it." She gripped Chloe's hand in a vice-like hold.

"Clark isn't as helpless as he looks--" Chloe began but Lana interrupted.

"I know about Clark's powers but Lionel has a way around it. He showed it to me and showed me... he had these videos of their effect."

"Let me guess," said Chloe. "It's shiny and green?"

Lana nodded. "And the size of a basketball. They've been synthesizing them for years now and--" Her watch beeped. "I have to go to the airport. Take this." She gave Chloe an envelope. "It has the plane ticket to Australia, one of my debit cards, three credit cards and PINs. Lex thinks I'm on a business trip that stops over there--"

"At seven months?"

Lana smiled, not bothering to hide her bitterness this time. "I'm a Luthor now. I can do whatever I damn well want."

Chloe's expression went soft.

"Once you get to Australia, leave him a text message with this cell phone. And then buy as many tickets to anywhere with the money and the cards. The flight comes back to Metropolis International in three hours."

"I'm not going to abandon you pregnant and alone in Stockholm," Chloe protested.

"Lex will find us if we travel together. I don't want you or your dad to get hurt."

"Believe me, if it means hurting the Luthors, my dad will be all for it."

Still, Lana hesitated. "It's dangerous."

"Please! I've had intimate relations with danger since I turned fourteen." Seemingly on impulse, Chloe rooted through her purse and came out with what looked like a wireless headset for a phone. "Take this. When you're safe, press the top button. It'll call me on a very secure line. If you don't get me, just tell the other person that Watchtower gave it to you."

"Where did you get this?"

"Let's just say that the Luthors aren't the only ones who have cutting edge technology." Chloe winked and hugged her again, quickly and hard. "Okay, so you have enough money? Go grab a cab. I'll go back to my place and take one from there."

Lana hesitated. "I just realised you're going to miss work because of this."

"Are you kidding me? Do you know what I could write from this adventure? Now shoo. If I don't hear from you in a week, I'm calling the troops."

Lana knew she was being selfish again by putting Chloe in danger but she eagerly did as she was told. All that mattered now was getting away from Lex. With Metropolis International only thirty minutes away, she was in the air within an hour. The flight itself, including a stop-over in Chicago, took half a day, twelve of the most excruciating hours in Lana's life. The baby squashed her bladder, her lower spine and all the nerves and blood vessels to her feet. When she wasn't in pain, she kept expecting Lex or a Luthor bodyguard to pop out of the bathroom.

From Stockholm, she withdrew as much money as she could out of her credit cards. Some she kept in dollars, others she traded for euros and a little bit into Swedish krona. Then she bought several tickets to random cities using all three types of currencies. By luck of the draw, Lana hopped on another plane to Japan where she repeated her travelling obfuscation. An exhausting two flights later, she found herself collapsing in a hotel room in Barcelona, hungry with no sense of time and a broken internal clock.

That was where Chloe met up with her a month later.

"How do you manage to look like you but still very much a part of the city?" asked Lana as she waddled to their table.

"Omigosh, look at you!" Chloe stood to give her a hug and a kiss which Lana accepted. Until this moment, she didn't realise how much she missed her Smallville friends. "You exploded. Not in a bad way but your tummy's huge!"

Lana patted her stomach. "Spanish food agrees with him," she said. "You should see how many potato omelettes I can put away."

A server came by to serve their drinks and tapas. "You don't seem to be doing half-bad blending in either," Chloe noted.

"I guess high school Spanish is actually useful," said Lana. "Besides, I just work at a call centre. Most of us are British or American expats so it's easy to communicate. Enough about me though; you need plausible deniability."

Chloe's forehead wrinkled. "Lex has gone slightly postal if by 'slightly', you mean 'completely'. He's turning over the whole country looking for you. You're on every milk carton and newspaper in every major city. He even tried to shake down your Aunt Nell. Clark has his hands full dealing with him." Chloe took her hands, staring earnestly into her eyes. "Lana, you have to let me in on some of this. I stalled as much as possible by buying two dozen tickets for all over the States but he's going to start looking overseas soon and I only have a week's vacation. You don't have anyone here to help if he comes for you."

Looking away, Lana extricated one of her hands to rub her stomach.

"Is it the baby?" Chloe persisted. "I can see why someone like Lex would want to father an empire of megalomaniacs so maybe you're pouring salt into that particular wound?" When Lana didn't answer, she kept on guessing. "Did he hit you? Or threaten you? Did you find out something grossly illegal?"

"All of the above," Lana said finally. "Well, he hasn't hit me but he came close."

"Omigosh, Lana, I'm going to kill that bastard!"

She shook her head. "I'm beginning to think he's part cat; nine lives all of them lying and--" She broke off, biting her lip in an effort to keep it from trembling. "He had cameras everywhere in the house, watching me. When I found out, I turned it around. I watched him for a while. I overheard him talking with Dr. Langston."

Chloe squeezed Lana's hand as she swallowed down her sobs.

"Lex implanted an embryo in me," said Lana, spitting out the scientific word. "I don't know when or how but they were talking about the baby like it was an experiment. Like he isn't even human."

"Do you know what they did to the baby?" Chloe asked softly.

"They were vague about it so I broke into Dr. Langston's files later."

Grinning, Chloe said, "All right, Lana."

Lana couldn't help but return the smile even as she weighed the wisdom of telling Chloe everything. In the end, she didn't have a choice. "Outside of a few genetic stabilizers, they cloned the baby from Clark."

Chloe's jaw dropped. She fell back against the chair, her face bloodless. "Oh no. How did he get any of Clark's DNA?"

"I don't know. But the whole--" Lana searched for a better word than "experiment"-- "process had a ninety-five percent failure rate. He was the first embryo to make it past the five-week stage. They've been giving me all these drugs and even after I found out, I kept taking them 'cause I'm afraid of what might happen to me or the baby if I don't. But then again, what if the drugs are making the baby worse, making him mutate more? I've gained eighty pounds but only look like I've added thirty. I'm due any week now but I haven't had anything remotely like false labour. I think I've developed some sort of seasonal depression, too; when it's cloudy, I can barely make it out of bed but when the sun's out, I'm get hyper. I eat like a cow!"

"Lana, calm down!" Chloe shoved a glass of water into her hands. Lana took it gratefully, gulping the contents down.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You're the first person-- the only person-- I've been able to unload all of this to. I just feel... I thought I could trust Lex. I thought he of all people wouldn't keep secrets from me and I... God I hate him!" She uttered the word viciously. "He's been lying to me all this time but not only that, he's been lying about using me! About loving me. At least with... at least before it was only a matter of trust. This is... when I think about how he manipulated my weaknesses, I could just..."

"Wow," said Chloe. "I've never seen you this worked up."

Lana took a deep breath. "I've never been this worked up. Sometimes... You're going to think I'm horrible, but sometimes I wish I'd miscarry so I wouldn't have anything left of Lex tied to me. Then the baby kicks and I remember that I want to name him Lewis Henry and that you and me spent a whole day shopping for one measly pair of baby booties. I just... he's just a baby. He hasn't even been born yet and he's already been manipulated." She dropped her head in her hands. "The worst part is that I know Lex will find me and the baby. Can you imagine Lex as a father? Or Lionel as a grandfather? I wouldn't want those two to raise a gerbil never mind a child."

"Put that way, death is preferable," Chloe said. She sat back, munching on an olive. "Lex would consider the baby his property especially if he's Clark's clone. I'm not sure if you've noticed but your hubby is creepily obsessed with our mutual tall, dark and covert friend."

"Believe me, I have. That's part of the reason why he'll never give up looking for us. So I thought..." Lana drew out the second word. "What if there was no baby?"

Chloe gasped. "I thought you said that you weren't aborting him. It's too late any way, he's almost to term. And besides, isn't abortion illegal in Spain?"

"No, no, of course not! I meant, what if I give the baby away? I could tell Lex that while I was trying to get away, I miscarried. Meanwhile, a nice, childless, Spanish couple could have a little surprise on their doorstep."

Gulping down her sangria, Chloe shook her head. "Look, this isn't my story to tell but Clark is... well, you know how Smallville is weird? Well, Clark is one hundred percent Smallville. I can't explain--"

"I know about Clark," Lana said slowly.

"You... do?"

"I know he has powers. I spied on you on my wedding day when he rescued you from the freezer. He's a meteor mutant, isn't he?"

Shaking her head even more violently, Chloe said, "I plead my rights as a secret keeper. I honestly can neither confirm nor deny anything. Hey, did you trap me in that freezer on purpose?"

Lana only offered a tight-lipped smile. "So leaving a mutant baby with unsuspecting strangers may not be a go?"

"For one thing, how do you know they won't freak out and tell all the tabloids?" asked Chloe. "Then Lex would know you lied to him and he'll get the baby then declare you an unfit parent so you can't get custody. Or they could just hand him over to the state to be an experiment for the Spanish government. The best case scenario is that they don't tell anyone but they won't be able to deal with a mutant baby."

"So what do I do?" Lana demanded. "I won't roll over and give up on him."

"Give him to me," Chloe said promptly.

Now it was Lana's turn to gape.

Forging through the silence, Chloe said, "You know you can trust me. I know Clark's powers so I should be able to handle a kid with the same abilities. I have friends who can help out, not-quite-legal friends who can protect me if Lex comes snooping around."

"But Lex knows you're my friend and Clark's," Lana pointed out. "He'll track down every available avenue. You're probably in the top five."

Chloe swatted the problem away. "How long since your marriage have we talked? Maybe once over the phone? You can tell him that we fought and aren't friends any more. As for Clark, if I relocate to a different country-- say, Barcelona-- I'll lose touch with him, too. We did have a whole year where we were incommunicado. Besides, I'm a journalist. Travelling is part of the job."

The idea had its merits but Lana didn't want to let her mercenary streak take advantage of Chloe. "I can't ask you to leave a life you've made for yourself. You have the Planet, a boyfriend, school..."

"I offered," said Chloe. From that point on, she was immovable.

Brow wrinkled and eyes narrowed, Conner said, "I call bullshit. My birth certificate says 'Chloe Sullivan' under 'mother'. She carried me for almost thirty weeks; you can't fake that to a doctor."

"Actually, we bribed the doctor to lie," said Lana. "I was pregnant for twelve months, more than enough time for Chloe to fake a preemie birth especially since you were so small. You were barely five pounds." She smiled wistfully. "A pound of it must've been hair; you had so much of it. Your eyes were already open and so light a blue the nurses thought you had something wrong with them. When I poked your tummy, you..."

Lana's hands trembled. She looked down then to Pete. His expression was unfathomable. "I couldn't tell anyone," she said more for his benefit than anyone else's. "It would've put Chloe and Conner in danger. Sometimes I even... I even thought I imagined it all. Chloe never sent pictures or wrote me. We agreed to absolutely no contact and we stuck to it until five months ago."

She stroked the digital album. "I got this from a Margaret Thoreaux supposedly from India. I was about to send it back but I saw this."

On the drive cover was the insignia of the Smallville Torch.

"I knew Chloe wouldn't send anything unless it was an emergency so I opened it right away. When I did, I... well, take a look." After switching the album on, Lana turned the screen around so that everyone could see. Twenty-four video thumbnails lay in six rows, each numbered and titled.

"Baa Baa Black Sheep," Lois read out. "Monday's Child. This Old Man."

"Those are nursery rhymes," said Pete.

Nodding, Lana clicked one of the files open. After a short period of blank space, Chloe came on screen and recited, "Monday's child is fair of face. Tuesday's child is full of grace. Wednesday's child is full of woe. Thursday's child has far to go. Friday's child is loving and giving. Saturday's child works hard for a living. But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day is bonny and blithe and good in every way."

"They're all like that," Lana said. She clicked on a file titled "How Does the Little Crocodile" which played in a similar format: Chloe sitting behind a desk, saying nursery rhyme.

"Code," said both Clark and Lois.

"Talk about masters of the obvious," said Conner. "Mom was always doing stuff like that. It was her hobby."

"She wouldn't send anything by code if it wasn't important," said Clark.

"Obviously, this is about her big story. That's the reason why she sent me to boarding school. If we decode it, we can give it to some hotshot reporter and totally blow the bad guys out of the water."

Grinning, Lois said, "Junior, you're looking at two of the hottest shots in the world."

Conner didn't look too impressed.

"Lana, do you know who the other genetic donor was?" Pete asked, abruptly changing the room's focus.

Shaking her head, Lana said, "To be honest, I didn't do any research after that. At first I was just too furious but later... I didn't want to alert anyone by digging for information."

"You mean you wanted to forget me," Conner said.

"Of course not!" Clark answered for Lana.

She straightened, meeting Conner's accusation straight on. "That's true. I did want to forget you. It was the best way I could protect you."

"Like. Hell." Conner's tone made the word fouler. "You wanted to forget that you had a freak for a kid."

"You're not a freak," said Clark. He used his Superman voice, demanding to be heard and believed. "You have special abilities that make you different but there's nothing freakish about it."

"What do you know about it?"

"Considerably more than you think." Plucking a pond rock from a flower arrangement on yet another side table, Clark placed it in his fist and squeezed. Dust puffed out from between his fingers. When he opened his hand again, blue-grey sand fell to the floor.

Physically and emotionally exhausted, they decided to order room service.

"I'll take the bill," Lana said as she lifted the phone. "What does everyone want?"

"One from every section," Conner said promptly. Pete started to laugh but, seeing Clark nod, his eyes widened.

"You never ate that much when we were at school," he said to Clark.

"I had food in my bag," said Clark, half-apologetically.

"Why? You could have just gotten more."

"I could have cleaned the entire cafeteria and still be hungry especially when the heat vision came. The sun helps but it's been so cloudy lately... Our grocery bill around Christmas is kind of ridiculous."

"Heat vision," Conner repeated. His eyes narrowed at Clark.

"I'll order two of everything for both of you then," said Lana. "What about everyone else?"

"What are the chances that they'd have thin-crust pepperoni here?" asked Lois.

Lana smiled. "This is the 41. They'll ship it in from Italy."

"Manhattan's just fine. Oh, but I guess Italy's closer, huh?" She nudged Clark's knee. "Tell me you wouldn't just about kill for Fatih's Heart-Clogger with the cheese in the crust and the garlic dipping sauce with a nice cold beer. I'm getting full just thinking about it." Sighing, she leaned back and stretched. "Speaking of which, we should call Perry for updates on our stories."

"Perry would hang up on us. He's a little forcefully fatherly and sometimes Lois wishes he was more the absentee type of... uh... I mean," Clark darkened when he realised the white elephant he'd unknowingly spotlighted.

Predictably, Conner's expression twisted but he didn't say anything. He just popped his headphones back on and pumped the volume up on his player. Clark dropped his head into his hands.

Pete grinned, punching his arm. "Same old Clark."

"I hope it's not hereditary," Clark muttered into his hands. "Conner shouldn't have to face the rest of his life a social pariah because his genes compel a magnetic attraction between his foot and his mouth."

"I don't know," said Lana. "At least everyone knows that what comes out of your mouth was unvarnished truth. I find it cute."

"I'm sure you do." Lois squeezed Clark's thigh in a blatantly sexual way. She smiled and if it was the tiniest bit feral, she chalked it up to being her normal Mad Dog Lane self. Clark went an even deeper red. The room's ambient temperature went up.

"S-So Chloe's code." Clark nodded at the DVD. "Any ideas on the code breaker?"

"Maybe it's in the will," said Pete. "Boutboul's still coming back in about five hours. I bet he comes in with the code book."

"So what are we supposed to do in the mean time?" asked Lana.

Turning the DVD player back on, Clark said, "Let's go through all the videos. We might still see a pattern in--" He stopped abruptly.

Lois knew that expression. Somewhere in the world was a disaster that only Superman could prevent. Still, Clark pressed his hands on his thighs, willing himself to stay put just this once. She nudged his leg.

"I have to go," he said softly, desperately. "I wouldn't but even the League is calling."

"So go already, Flyboy." Lois patted his arm. "We're not going anywhere."

"But Conner and the will--"

"--are going to be here when you come back. Earthquake or tornado?"

"Hurricane." Smiling apologetically at the company as he stood, Clark spun off his clothes, revealing his colours underneath. Before they could even register the change, he'd already flown out the balcony. Seconds later, a sonic boom filtered down to the cityscape.

Wide-eyed, Conner pulled his headphones off. "Wait a tic. He's Superm--"

Lois lunged over to cover his mouth. "Ix-nay on the odename-cay." She removed her hand when he nodded.

"Did my mom know this?"

Shrugging, Lois said, "I don't know. But Chloe was pretty smart and she knew about Clark's abilities before all of us with the exception of Pete." Then, curiously, she asked, "What can you do?"

He ducked his head down, a very Clark-like mannerism that she had to hide a smile. "I break things. I can run fast. I don't get sick or hurt. But I can't do any of the cool stuff like heat vision or x-rays and stuff. I can't fly." He twisted his fingers around each other.

"Those things came slowly for him too," said Lois. "There was this one time he got sick-- which in and of itself was rare-- and he sneezed so hard he blew the barn door out into Acre 51."

"He grew up on a farm?" Interest lit Conner's eyes up for a moment then, blinking, he extinguished it. "That's totally gimped. People who grow up on farms are nuts. Totally explains the costume."

Stung on Clark's behalf, Lois demanded, "What's wrong with his uniform?"

"For one thing, there's nothing hiding his face. All his enemies could figure his identity out in, like, two seconds."

"He doesn't wear a mask because a mask implies lack of trust."

"Masks protect you and they scare bad guys. Batman is totally a badass."

"Batman is a psycho with a death wish," Lois shot back. "He's got more issues than Lex Luthor and that's saying a lot."

"You know Batman?" Pete asked.

"By reputation only," Lois lied easily. "It's not hard to psychoanalyse him once you hear his press."

"We should work on the code until he comes back," said Lana. "The sooner we can figure this out, the sooner we can find out who did this to Chloe."

Pete nodded and sidled closer to Lana and the DVD player. Lois hung back, watching Conner.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm sorry you have to hear this, Junior, but I have to know: How did Chloe die?" She posed the question to the other adults in the room but they both shrugged.

"No one told us even when we begged," said Lana.

Lois darted a look at Conner again but, deciding it was too soon to push him, she turned her attention to the video file playing.

"She got knifed," Conner said. His outburst, incongruously in the middle of a lullabye, made the adults jump. "They made it look like a mugging and knifed her in the stomach. I had to ID her body." His expression wavered, jaw trembling childishly until he gritted his teeth.

Lois only had to think about it for a second before she flew to his side. She'd comforted Clark too many times not to understand that break in silent stoicism. Hell, she had solid experience in the emotion herself. Ignoring his frenzied "No, no, go away" and the grip that would surely leave bruises in a few hours, Lois wrapped Conner in an embrace. She squeezed him as hard as she could, tucking his head onto her shoulder and patting his back. He fought hard but he couldn't stop his sobs, painfully silent, slamming against her chest.

She didn't know when Lana and Pete left. Her concentration stayed with Conner. This was her nephew and, if Lana's story was true, her lover's son, making him family by choice and by blood. And someone had hurt him. That someone would get their asses handed to them and Lois wanted to do the carving herself.

Lana couldn't stand to see Conner break down. Quietly, she slipped away to the balcony. She heard Pete close the door and draw up a chair.

"Some night, huh?" he said when she turned to face him.

She nodded. Goosebumps rose on her skin. She rubbed her arms for warmth.

"You talked to the girls?" asked Pete.

"Yes. They miss you."

"I miss them."

"Helene lost a tooth."

"Already? Dang, where does the time go?"

Lana lifted her shoulders. "It slips by between meetings, red-eye flights and conference calls."

"And fashion shows, openings and business lunches," Pete shot back.

Lana rubbed her forehead. "Do we have to fight tonight, too?"

"I just asked about the girls. You're the one who--" Pete broke off.

"Sorry. We're not here for that." She attempted a smile but it wobbled off when he didn't return it.

Lana stared out into the landscaped gardens. The hazy sunset turned buildings and trees into purple silhouettes that loomed protectively over the skittering pedestrians.

"I should be in there," Lana said. "I should be the one comforting him."

"Lois is doing a fine job," said Pete.

"Lois isn't his mother," snapped Lana. She unclenched her fists. "What if he's right?" Pete looked at her in askance so she elaborated. "What if I actually didn't want him because he has powers?"

"That's not true."

"It might be! Pete, metahumans scare me. Do you remember what it was like growing up in Smallville?"

"It's not something that you forget."

Closing her eyes, Lana exhaled deeply. "Every week, someone else developed powers or disappeared or died. Every time someone missed class, people wondered if they were missing because they'd been eaten by a fat-sucking cheerleader or turned into a human torch. So many people's lives turned upside-down because of kryptonite."

"Not every meta is evil," said Pete.

"I know that," Lana said. "I know that Superman and the rest of the League are good. The sun gives us life but I don't want to be near it. What if subconsciously, I forgot about Conner because..."

Pete rested his hands on her shoulders. His breath ruffled her hair. "You didn't. I wouldn't fall in love with a woman that frightened, that selfish."

Lana savoured his warmth for a moment. Then: "But you aren't in love with me any more, are you?"

Pete's hands dropped away.