Before Sunset (Part Thirty-Four)

(Banner by selene2)

PART 34

"Take these and go, Hide them. I'll find you later." 

"He just better," Chloe muttered as she faced the sunset, then counted ten paces west of the gnarled, hacked up tree. "Or I'll find him." It was the only tree in the woods that bordered Crater Lake that didn't look like pretty much every other to her. It had been over-zealously trimmed when its branches were interfering with the Crater Lake's bait and tackle shop's phone lines and now it looked kind of like The Cat in the Hat carrying a fish bowl. But Clark had thought it looked like a wizard with a crystal ball. And Pete thought it looked like a warrior holding a severed head. They'd spent the entire summer after eighth grade arguing about it, calling each other childish, dorky, and homicidal respectively. So she figured Clark would know which when she told him where she put them, though she might let him sweat it out a little, pretend not to remember how many paces, watch him dig hole after hole. It was only fair, since he was leaving her to wonder what the hell was going on with him.

She stopped at the end of her paces and then decided to take ten more paces, north this time, hoping it was the right place. It was the only place she could think of to hide the damned things. She didn't want them anywhere on the Kent farm or near the caves. Both of those had too many ties back to Clark, should Lex find them. And she definitely didn't want them near her. Not so much the disc, but the crystal -- mostly because it was warm. She'd held meteor rocks before. They were always cool. This thing gave off a sort of low-grade heat. On the way here, amid her frantic mutterings of where the hell to hide this little gift Clark shoved at her, before unceromoniously shoving her face down in a field, this thing had stayed warm. Even when she blasted her AC on high, held the dark crystal right in front of the vent and willed it to behave like any normal crystalline thing and cool down, there was no change in it. It felt almost hot by now and she tried to tell herself that it was just the last rays of sunlight. Then it started to pulse and she dropped it with a muffled shriek.

"Close enough," she said aloud, mostly just to hear her voice, shaky as it was. And to reassure herself she was alone. Because she hadn't felt alone since she left Lex's warehouse. She'd looked around several times since getting to this clearing and there was no one in any direction, though. She figured it just had to be paranoia, that no matter where she was, she'd feel jumpy after what she just saw, feel like she was being watched or followed even if she wasn't. She'd feel better after she found Clark, when they could discuss all this, put it in some kind of perspective. 

For now, this was the spot. It would have to be. She knelt down and brandished the crow bar from her trunk of tricks, figuring it was as close to a shovel as she could get. She hacked at the dry dirt quickly, knowing she didn't want to be out here alone after dark, placed the key in, then gave the crsytal a nudge with the crowbar, not wanting to touch it again. By the time she'd kicked the dirt over them and stomped it down hard, she was still shaky. As she backed away, she nearly tripped over a root and fell right into a puddle of deep black sludge -- but just nearly. 

"Gross," she gasped, getting up and making sure none of it had got on her, though maybe it wouldn't matter. She was dirty enough. As she ran back to her car, she vaguely wondered what a large puddle of oil was doing in the middle of the woods. Maybe leakage from a dirt bike, but it seemed like an awful lot for... Who cared? She had more important things to wonder about. Like what the hell was happening to Clark right now.

******************************

"I have to wonder, Clark, what you think gives you the right to be here."

Clark didn't answer, just kept his eyes on the hands folded in his lap. There was nothing he could say and, really, he'd done all he knew to do today, removing the crystal that he suspected was the ship's power source. It wasn't as if this ship could be carted off to his mother's storm cellar. The only thing to do was neautralize it then. And getting out as quickly as possible was the only thing he could do now. So he let Lex pace the small, cramped office, let him be self-righteous and angry, let him have this moment. He suspected Lex was almost enjoying this on some level, while on another...

"You talked about how violated you felt when I was investigating you, how sickened you felt when you found that chamber. So imagine how I feel right now."

He thought now might be a time to try for a humbled excuse. "I was only..."

"What were you looking for Clark?"

He met Lex's eyes, then, knowing they were coming to that other level. Conversations between them were never so straightforward, after all. "I was worried. I know you started to carry on some of your father's experiments."

"And I told you that, after the toxins, that..."

"Well, I couldn't be sure," he cut in. "I followed you here some time ago, but I didn't go in," he said, having had some time to mull it over, he'd come up with what he thought was the most harmless version of events. "I figured I might stay out of it this time."

Lex gave a hollow laugh. "And is this you staying out of it?"

"I just wanted to know for sure," Clark said, endeavoring to sound cowed. "Your father liked to fool with otherworldly things and look where it got him."

"So this is all some kind of concern for me?"

In some ways, it was. "We were friends once."

"Once," Lex repeated, his eyes leaving Clark's. "Well, maybe this will help you sleep at night." He strode to a file cabinet and pulled out a folder, tossed it on the desk. "This warehouse isn't some hidden project. It's part of Luthorcorp's research into sustainable energy."

Clark scooted his chair closer to the desk. "Sustainable energy?"

"The meteor rocks from both showers give off some kind of power and we are looking into green energy."

"Green energy," Clark echoed. it was complete bullsh*t, obviously. But believable enough.

"Do you want a copy of all the paperwork?" Lex snapped. "You might have to rent a U-Haul to cart it away, but..."

"No. I believe you." At least that's how he believed this project was being explained to Luthorcorp. The trick was to make sure Lex believed he was as duped as that board must be. He sighed and glanced up. "You know, you could at least admit that I wasn't crazy to think you were doing something more."

Lex's eyes narrowed. "And you could at least admit that I was justified in most of the things I've done." He gestured around him. "Clark, we live in a small town with a death rate that rivals most cities. And you always..." He sucked in a shaky breath. "You were always at the center of everything! And your little friend. Let's not forget her."

Clark clenched his fists, wanted to growl at Lex to leave her out of it, but that might just bring her further into this. "I've only ever helped people that needed it," he said. And, damn it, it was the truth.

"No. I commend you, Clark. You're definitely up there with the volunteer fireman and good samaritans of the world. But then... then you turn around and act as if f*cking nothing is going on." Lex seemed to calm himself down, taking several deep breaths. "So maybe you can see why I focus on you. And, I'm not gonna lie, Clark. It's hard to stop."

And Clark kind of understood what he was saying, what it meant then and now. He might always be under Lex's scrutiny, powers or not. "I'm not gonna lie either, Lex. I'm worried about you."

"I told you this warehouse..."

"Are you even happy? Focusing on me or... fooling with things any sane person would leave alone?" He really wanted to know. "Look at all the damage the meteor rocks have done. They should be taken away or..."

"And there you go! Burying your head in the sand. Just ignore everything and never look deeper."

"And what about you? Poking at everything until you end up just like your father," Clark yelled.

"Get out."

"Gladly." Clark moved to the door. He hadn't wanted to leave like this, but at least he was leaving.

"Just a moment," Lex said.

Clark's hand froze on the doorknob. 

"My men will escort you back to your truck."

"No, thank you," he said stiffly.

Lex's voice was shaky. "I'm not going to have you lumbering through my facility, ruining everything." 

Or seeing your spaceship. Underneath everything, Lex was afraid, as afraid as Clark was, afraid the other knew too much. He took a deep breath and turned back to Lex. "They can escort me to the road, but I'm not walking all the way back to the freeway with an armed man at my back." That was where his truck supposedly was. Because he definitely hadn't come here in Chloe's car.

"So you think I'm going to have you shot? Really?" To his credit, Lex did look genuinely hurt.

"No. I know you well enough for that." He pulled open the door and gestured to the men lined up beyond. "But I don't know them. So no, thank you."

Of course, by the time he was halfway down a dirt road in the growing dark with a cellphone drained from trying and failing to find a signal for hours, he'd rather like a gun somewhere near, with the rustlings in the brush. He just kept his head down and walked faster, hoping to get to that freeway before sunset.

*************************************

"No calls, no texts no..." Martha glanced from her phone to Jonathon at the window.

"No sign of him," Jonathon finished. He turned to Chloe. "How serious was this break in?"

"It wasn't a break in," Chloe mumbled. "At least not as far as Lex knows."

"We don't know what Lex knows," Jonathon said, pacing away from the window. "What if he's had him arrested?"

"I can be pretty sure that didn't happen," Chloe said. "Lex won't want any special attention on this..."

"This spaceship," Jonathon cut in, "which the two of you took into your heads to go looking for without telling us."

"Oh, Jonathon. Of course they wouldn't tell us." Martha sighed. "We'd only..."

"Stop them," he finished, eyes on Chloe. "Which we would have because it's foolish and dangerous. Like half the stuff you two get up to. And maybe it's about time your father was let in on some of this."

"Jonathon, you know he can't..."

"No, Martha." He kept his eyes on Chloe. "You've been walking a dangerous line for years, Chloe. Now, I can't tell you what to do. But maybe your father..."

"He can't tell her what to do, either," Martha said tiredly. "She's an adult now."

She almost smiled. At least Mrs. Kent was on her side.

"Though she doesn't think like one," Martha added, advancing on her. "Neither of you do, hiding things like children..."

"We weren't hiding, we just... Listen, Clark and I have been doing this for years."

Jonathon let out a harsh laugh as he moved to the window. "It's about time that stopped."

"Mr. Kent, we couldn't just sit by while Lex toys with alien technology."

"Why not?" Jonathon snapped. "What does it have to do with Clark now? He can just be..."

"Normal?" Martha moved to him. "Jonathon, even if he has no powers, this still had everything to do with Clark. It's no wonder he feels some kind of..."

"Clark is not responsible for this. This all happened to him."

"Yes, but he feels that way. And, honestly, it's a good thing that he cares, as worrying as it is." She moved to the window herself, then turned to Chloe. "No answer at all? Even when you called?"

"Well, I waited a while. I wanted to give him time, but... maybe he turned his phone off," Chloe said sheepishly. She hadn't told them about the key or the crystal. She wasn't sure Clark would want them to know. Honestly, she wasn't sure Clark would want them to know about this whole endeavor. But when the sun went down with no Clark, she got desperate. "I still have the coordinates. We can go there."

"Damned right we can," Martha said lowly, "Lex has no legal right to hold my son."

"I should have stayed behind," Chloe found herself saying aloud. She glanced up at them. "Lex is used to me snooping by now. It would have been just another..."

"Like hell," Jonathon cut in. "Taking the fall was the only thing Clark did right today. However things stand now, Lex isn't going to get Clark locked up if only..."

"If only so he can still keep an eye on him," Martha finished.

Chloe glanced from one to the other, seeing that shorthand of theirs again. She'd noticed it in Whitehorse and, of course, over the years. Yet, for some reason, it nagged at her right now. As if there was something she was missing, something she was supposed to know. Maybe it was just that Clark wasn't here. She stood. "I say we go to the warehouse and..." The shrill ring of the house phone, right at her elbow, cut her off. She answered it without thinking. "Yes, hello?"

"Chloe? Did I dial your number. I didn't think I knew it."

"Clark!"

Jonathon and Martha both rushed over.

"No. I called my parents' house. I'm sure of it. It's the only number I actually know with cell phones and all."

"Is that all you have to say? I've been going crazy waiitng for you!"

"Well, why are you there?" He gasped. "Did you tell them?"

"Of course I told them! It's been more than six hours and you weren't back."

Jonathon strode over and pressed a button, putting Clark on speaker. "What happened? What did he do?"

"Dad, it's really no big deal. Please..."

"We'll decide what is and isn't a big deal," Martha said over him. "You couldn't even call?"

"My cell was long dead by the time I got out. And it wasn't like I could ask Lex to use the phone to call for a ride. He'd have to wonder how I got there in the first place. Had to walk three miles and hitch hike from the stupid freeway."

"WHAT?" both of his parents said in near-perfect unison.

"Relax. I wasn't about to get in with some homicidal maniac. I ended up catching Dunlop's pig truck on the way back from... you know, where he takes the pigs."

"He's debatable," Jonathon muttered. 

"I told him my truck's engine blew. But with his farm being on the other side of town, I only got as far as town."

Chloe groaned. "Well, why didn't you use his phone and at least tell us Lex wasn't strapping you to an operating table?" 

"Because he doesn't have one. He thinks Russian satellites listen in all cell phone calls. He told me all about it while he drove twenty miles an hour practically on the shoulder."

"Damned Dunlop," Jonathon growled.

Chloe suspected there was some kind of history there, but didn't exactly care to know what at the moment. "Where are you?" 

"Just outside The Talon. I didn't want to go in just now. I just... I can't walk another step. Could someone..."

"PLEASE DEPOSIT AN ADDITIONAL TWENTY-FIVE CENTS."

"Darn it. Hold on. I've got another quarter in here somewhere..."

"Don't bother," Chloe cut in. "I'm coming to get you." 

"Chloe, did you..."

"I got away just fine," she said quickly, knowing what he was about to ask. "Everything went... just like you wanted."

"CALL DISCONNECTING."

"Good. And don't worry. Lex doesn't know that..."

That we saw, she finished for him as the dial tone cut his words off, almost smiling in relief.

She hung up and turned to the Kents, trying to look contrite, though something in her was fighting to smile still. "His truck's at my house. And I need to go home, anyway. He'll... he'll be home soon," she managed to get out before rushing to the door, letting herself smile wide as she pushed open the door. She was almost laughing by the time she started her car. Because that was it, that was the thing that had been nagging at her. That shorthand, that person that finishes your sentences, that person that knows what your saying without you having to say it loud... She had that and she should damned well know it by now.

And they did more than that. They worked side by side. They saved the day. They saved each other time after time. Did she think something like that came along every day? Why was she waiting? To spare Lana's feelings? If the shoe were on the other foot, Lana wouldn't hesitate and she knew that from experience. And maybe that was a petty thought. But that wasn't why she was done waiting. She was done waiting because this was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. It wasn't that he consumed her thoughts and sped up her heartbeat, though he did a pretty good job at that. It was that this worked. They worked in a way nothing else had ever come close to working for her. And she suspected it was the same for him. He'd been saying it for two weeks and it was time she started listening. Lana was in the past. 

And Lana might get hurt, but so had she all these years. She survived it and Lana would, too. In the end, this was just a break up. People did this between high school and college all the time, it was almost a required part of growing up. Lana was in the past and she... Well, she'd make damned sure she was in the future.

She shoved her car into park in the first spot, possibly over the first two, she saw, practically running down Main until she neared The Talon. He wasn't outside. He must have ended up going in, along with half the town as it was packed for karaoke night. She moved in as some guy butchered A-ha's "Take On Me." She didn't know if it was the off-key warblings or the synthesized drum beat, but she felt strangely frantic as she pushed past person after person that wasn't Clark. She was shaking with frustration by the time she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to find Clark, dirty and wide-eyed and trying to say something over the loud noise resembling music.

She didn't hear him. She didn't say a word. She didn't even think. She just grabbed the lapels of his awful red jacket and pulled, meeting his slightly parted lips again and again until they softened and his arms folded around her and crushed her to him until her toes dragged on the floor. She pulled away just slightly. 

"God, you smell terrible," she gasped, but she met his lips again.

"Pig truck," he breathed, then kissed her back. And even if those were the least sexy words ever, she couldn't stop kissing him, not after more than two weeks wasted not kissing him. She wasn't sure if there was a thing that could make her stop.

Then there was a muffled crash and a gasp. And it was as if the universe wanted to test that theory. 

Because Lana Lang was two feet away with a tilted tray and a look of hurt and horror. It was a mood-killer if there ever was one.

PREVIOUS PART
PART THIRTY-FIVE

More coming as soon as I can type it out!


And I nearly forgot, but...

And...

So lovely to be noticed!