Ghost From the Past
Folc4evernaday
Part 14
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. Hope you enjoy part 14.
Comments go here ***
Present Day…“What is that???” Lois asked as she watched Martha pull out what looked like a long green glowing bullet from Clark’s shoulder. She’d been shocked when Martha had come back with a small surgical kit from Masie’s. She’d been even more shocked when Martha had instructed her to hold Clark down. Then when she began cutting his shoulder where the green glowing was coming from she’d been terrified. He wasn’t supposed to bleed. That was what they’d said. Why was he bleeding?
“I don’t know,” Martha said as Clark groaned in pain. “Whatever it is it seems to be hurting him…”
“Then get rid of it!” Lois yelled frantically, wincing as Clark withered in pain next to her.
“No, no, no…” Clark moaned in pain.
Martha nodded, handing her a damp cloth covered in alcohol, “Here, keep the pressure on his shoulder. I’ll be back,”
Lois watched as Clark’s face seemed to relax as the green glowing…whatever it was was removed from the car.
***
Five Years Ago…“So, did this Wayne guy say where he was going?” Lois asked as she and Clark drove up the driveway to the Kent farmhouse.
“No, and dad hasn’t been able to get a hold of him,” Clark sighed, turning the engine off and opening the door for Lois to get out.
“Maybe he went out of town?” Lois suggested.
“Wayne doesn’t have any family or friends outside of Smallville…He wouldn’t leave town without telling someone,” Clark said worried as he followed Lois up to the farmhouse with their bags.
The door to the farmhouse opened and Jonathan walked out to meet them halfway with a smile on his face, “Back so soon, Lois?”
“Wherever the wind blows,” She smiled back as he took their bags.
“Here, let me help you with that,” Jonathan took the small bag off Lois’ shoulder. “Martha’s already got everything set up for you,”
“Thanks,” Lois smiled as she headed into the farmhouse to greet Martha.
Jonathan and Clark hung back, watching as the door closed behind her, “We, uh, we’ve got to talk…”
Clark nodded, “Yeah, we do,”
***
Lois sighed happily as she walked into the farmhouse, smelling the heavenly smells that were coming from the kitchen. “That smells wonderful,” She beamed, stepping into the kitchen to see Martha pulling a pie out of the oven.
“Just something sweet to go along with dinner,” Martha winked. “How was the ride in?”
“Long and bumpy,” Lois said.
“Well, I’m glad you two were able to come out to the festival this year. I’m sorry you missed it last year,” Martha said.
“Yeah, just wish this wasn’t a business trip,” Lois said.
Martha shook her head, “I hate what they did to Wayne. He came over here the other night and gave Jonathan a fright then just disappeared….”
“And no one’s heard from him since?” Lois asked.
“Nope,” Martha shook her head, “Those EPA guys showed up the other day and no one’s seen him since….It's ridiculous how the government can just kick someone off their property like that…I don’t understand why after all these years they decided to do soil testing for ‘pesticides’ from the fifties on Wayne’s property. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Well, that’s what we’re here to find out,” Lois said, patting Martha on the arm.
Martha turned toward the door, “I wonder what is taking those two so long…”
***
“I’m gonna tell her, dad,” Clark said shoving his hands in his pocket as they walked toward the barn.
“Clark…” Jonathan began, following Clark to the barn, “we talked about this,”
“We’re engaged,” Clark cut his dad off.
“What?” Jonathan asked, surprised.
“I can’t take the lying anymore. The secrets. There’s a lot we don’t know about me, but …. Who’s to say that’s a bad thing? Maybe it’s a good thing. I just want to have a normal life with Lois…working at the Planet…She’s the one. I know it.” Clark said turning to face his dad.
Jonathan sighed in defeat, realizing from the expression on his son’s face he was right. “I know. We just spent so many years trying to…”
“I know,” Clark nodded, “but you don’t need to protect me anymore. I’m invulnerable, remember? I wanted to tell you guys in person.”
“You really love her, don’t you son?” Jonathan asked.
“Yeah, I do,” Clark beamed happily. “I can’t explain it. She makes me so…happy…so complete. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life making her as happy as she’s made me,”
“I know you will,” Jonathan said, hugging his son, “Congratulations!”
“Thanks, dad,” Clark smiled softly.
“Well, I guess it’s time to pull out your Grandmother Clarke’s ring, huh?” Jonathan asked.
“I’d like that,” Clark said. “What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Uh,” Jonathan looked around, “It can wait till after dark,”
***
Present Day…Trask stood with the various agents, looking on the screen in front of them, “Any progress?”
“Sir, we haven’t been able to get the computer system up and running yet,” One of the technicians explained, “but once we’re up and running we should be able to track the alien with the tracking device we implanted on him,”
“Hurry up,” Trask ordered, “the longer he’s out there the longer it's going to take us to reprogram him,”
“Sir, the programming was never…” one of the technicians began but was cut off by Trask’s glare.
“I know it was never completed. That’s why I want you to fix this…” He gestured to the damaged computer system around them, “so I can finish programming him.”
***
Green. Everything was green.
<<“You will hand over the alien. You will release it from your mind. You will hand over the alien…. ”>>The green glowing around him grew as the pain increased.
<<“You will hand over the alien. You will release it from your mind. You will hand over the alien…. ”>>“No!” He cried out in a panic.
***
“Clark, it’s okay,” The reassuring hand of Jonathan Kent rested on Clark’s shoulder as he awoke from his nightmare in a cold sweat.
Clark looked around the room, unsure of his surroundings. It felt oddly familiar but not. Where was he?
“Where am I?” He rasped out in confusion.
“The Harris farm,” Jonathan explained. “We couldn’t risk those agents finding you ….whatever it was that they put in you….” He shook his head in disgust.
“The green…” He mumbled incoherently.
“Are you starting to remember anything?” Jonathan asked.
“I…” Clark shook his head in a daze, “I don’t know. I remember a room and a weird green glow….being in pain…I…feel like I should know you. Who are you?”
Jonathan’s jaw tightened and he took a deep breath as he recounted the same speech he’d given Clark yesterday when he’d gotten the call from Martha outside of town. “I’m your dad, Jonathan Kent,”
“I’m sorry,” He croaked out, looking around at the strange surroundings, “Where’s Lois?”
“Uh, she’s back at the farm, sleeping. The last twenty-four hours have really done a number on her and your mother…” Jonathan explained.
“Yeah,” Clark nodded, “The asteroid,”
“Clark, are you sure you don’t remember anything?”
Clark shook his head, “Pieces…it's choppy…I remember some kind of festival....a dance....maybe? I don't know. This is just really frustrating...”
Jonathan sighed, “Well, we’ve got to figure out something….” He looked at Clark bemused and Clark looked down, noticing he was floating in the air, “I, uh, see the powers are still in working order…”
“I guess,” Clark shrugged. “They just kinda …. Happen…”
“That’s how it happened when you were younger too,” Jonathan explained.
“At least something hasn’t changed,” Clark said.
“You’ve been through a traumatic experience….we’re not even sure what exactly you went through…” Jonathan said shakily. “Five years of…not knowing…”
Clark reached out to pat Jonathan on the arm, “I’m sorry. I know if I could have…I would have…I remember trying to escape…I just…”
“I know you wouldn’t have stayed away unless something was keeping you. I just hate myself….It’s all my fault,”
“What is?” Clark asked.
“I never should have taken that damn meteorite from Wayne in the first place. It’s the whole reason you didn’t have your powers that day. The whole reason they were able to…” Jonathan began to ramble, holding back the tears that were threatening to overflow.
“The green glow,” Clark seemed to fit the pieces together.
“Yeah,” Jonathan nodded, “It was a meteorite,”
***
Five Years Ago…Lois smiled as she walked back from the town square hand in hand with Clark. Seeing Smallville in full Corn Festival swing was surreal. It brought back a lot of memories from her first visit to Smallville the previous year, “It’s nice out tonight,” she commented.
“Yeah,” He smiled, intertwining his fingers with hers as they walked towards the pond behind the farmhouse.
They’d caught up with Pete and Rachel earlier and he’d been surprised to find out Rachel was now Sheriff Harris. Pete was working on building his own photography business after traveling with missionaries over the past year photographing the hardships endured in third world countries. Many of his photographs had landed in National Geographic and Time Magazine.
“I still can’t believe Pete is MOVING to California,” Clark shook his head in disbelief.
“I think it’s great. He’s found something he’s good at and he’s pursuing something he loves…like someone else I know,” Lois said softly, giving his hand a squeeze. He nodded, giving her a quick peck on the cheek as they turned the corner where the gazebo above the pond was lit up with white Christmas lights and greenery. “What is all this?” She asked looking around at the lights.
Clark wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to him, “I wanted this to be perfect,” They walked up the steps to the gazebo and Clark traced the outline of her jaw with his hand as if he was mesmerizing the shape of her face. “I love you,” He whispered.
She smiled back at him, “I love you too,” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
He slowly broke off the kiss and rested his head against hers, “I know technically we’re already engaged, but I wanted to do this right…I’m not sure if I’m supposed to get down on one knee, but…” He said, pulling a small velvet box out of his pocket as he dropped to one knee.
“Oh, my God…Clark,” She gasped when she saw the antique diamond ring with a ¾ karat diamond in the center and a white gold setting in the jewelry box he held up to her. “Is that for me?”
“Yes,” He said softly with a smile. “Do you like it?”
“It’s beautiful,” She whispered.
He smiled broadly, placing the ring on her hand as he stood up, “You’re beautiful. Lois, I love you and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,”
She reached up to kiss him, “I love you, Clark Kent,” She murmured against his lips. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you,”
***
From the porch of the farmhouse, Jonathan and Martha watched as Clark slipped the ring on Lois’ hand. “Our boy’s getting married,” Jonathan said emotionally.
“He loves her,” Martha said softly, “I knew she was the one when he first started talking about her,”
“What happens when she finds out he’s not just an ordinary guy?” Jonathan asked worriedly.
“There has never been anything ‘ordinary’ about Clark. They’ll work through it,” Martha reasoned. “They love each other. Honestly, I think she loves him too much to walk away. You’ll see,”
***
Wayne Irig sat at a long table across from three men in army camo. One of the men with the nametag of ‘Trask’ on his uniform seemed to be taking orders from a man named ‘Newcomb’ while the other man named ‘Thomas’ seemed to be taking everything in. “I…I don’t know what you want from me…” Wayne stammered.
“You sent a sample of an alien substance to our lab. It picked up the presence of live organisms….live ALIEN organisms…” Trask said irritably, “Do you have any idea what that means, Mr. Irig?”
“No, I…” Wayne shook his head in confusion.
Newcomb interrupted, “It means we have a possibility of an alien life form here on Earth. Now, did this life form die upon arrival or is it just a meteorite that passed by this life form upon its arrival to Earth? We don’t know. What we do know is you’re not being honest with us about where you found this meteorite,”
“I told you…” Wayne began but was interrupted by Trask.
“It seems to me, General, that we have two possibilities. Either he buried it somewhere on his farm or he gave it to someone.” He then turned to Wayne with a menacing smile, “Now which is it?”
“There wasn’t anymore. That’s it,” Wayne stammered.
Newcomb sighed, rubbing his temple with his hands, “I guess we’re going to have to do this the hard way. Agent Trask, activate ‘code terrorist’ on Mr. Irig here and show him what we do with traitors…”
“Yes, General,” Trask said, standing to attention as General Newcomb and the man named ‘Thompson’ left the tent.
“What’s ‘code terrorist?’” Wayne asked nervously.
“You’re about to find out,” Trask said, pulling out a syringe from a cooler across from him.
***
Clark followed Jonathan out to the barn and watched as his dad closed the door, “What’s up?”
Jonathan pulled a large white cloth up from the corner of the barn and pointed, “I dug this up after Wayne came by. I didn’t want anyone finding it,”
Clark gasped when he saw the small spacecraft covered in dirt and clay. It was no bigger than the size of a bassinet with silver and blue engravings on the side along with what looked like some sort of emblem on the end of it. “What is it?” Clark asked.
“It’s the ship we found you in,” Jonathan said shakily.
“What?” Clark croaked.
“Now, look,” Jonathan began, “I had buried it a few days after we found you when we had some federal agents show up asking about ‘debris from a Russian satellite’…It seemed fishy so your mom told me to destroy the ship….”
“But….” Clark began.
“Your mom and I didn’t want people who’d shoot you into space to get their hands on you. We figured even if you were a Russian you were only a Russian baby…” Jonathan continued.
“Is that what you think I am?” Clark asked cautiously, “A Russian experiment?”
“Son, we don’t care if you’re a Russian or a martian. You know that. Anyway, your mom wanted the ship destroyed because she was afraid of those men coming back and trying to take you. We figured that the spaceship had to be destroyed so nobody’d ever have any evidence on how you got here…I planned to burn it, but I couldn’t…I never told your mother. Didn’t want to worry her...”
“So, this…” Clark began cautiously fingering the emblem on the ship.
“Is everything we found you in….except for the blanket you were wrapped up in. Your mom has that in your baby box,” Jonathan sighed, “With those guys tearing up Wayne’s property not too far from Schuster’s Field I figured it was best to dig it up for now…”
Clark nodded, “What are they looking for? You said something about a rock…” He said turning back to his dad.
Jonathan motioned for Clark to follow him to the tool box where he had a large lead metal box sitting on the workbench. “Wayne Irig found this rock and sent a sample to Wichita for analysis thinking it would be worth something…Then the Feds showed up.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Clark said, “Why go to all this trouble for a rock?”
Jonathan sighed, “Because the preliminary report said it was some kind of meteorite. Wayne was scared when the feds showed up so he gave it to me for safekeeping.” He unlocked the box and lifted it up, revealing a large green glowing crystal-like rock. As soon as the box was opened Clark felt a strange sensation wash over him. “I figured since it was found a few miles from where we found you it could be related…”
He couldn’t really describe it. It was uncomfortable and….painful. His stomach was turning in knots as he backed away from the workbench slowly. “Dad, I’m feeling kinda…strange…” He managed as he took another step back. It hurt. It definitely hurt. This was what pain felt like.
“My God you think it could be this?” Jonathan asked, not turning to look at him. Clark wasn’t able to answer as he fell back against the bags of seed behind him. Jonathan looked back as he fell and shouted, “Clark! What is it?” He knelt down next to him, cradling his head but Clark was unable to answer in anything but a painful groan. “Martha!!!” Jonathan yelled before turning back to Clark, holding him close, “Oh, my boy…my boy….” Clark struggled to speak but was unable to as darkness fell over him.
***
Present Day…Lois looked out at the pond on the old farmhouse nervously, recalling the events that had happened there so many years ago. “Do you think it’s safe to be here?”
Martha nodded, “I think as long as we don’t bring Clark here …until we can figure out what’s going on …. It’ll be fine.” Martha was quiet looking up at the sky, “Two days until Nightfall hits….”
“Unless some miracle happens,” Lois said quietly.
Martha nodded, “Maybe Clark coming back IS our miracle...”
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around this,” Lois said cautiously. “I mean…everything I thought was….”
She began to cry and Martha placed an arm around her shoulder, “I know, I know,” Martha sighed, “Jonathan is trying his best to try and jog Clark’s memory so we can figure out what happened…Maybe if he remembers…”
“What?” Lois asked.
“Lois, there’s an asteroid headed for Earth in two days…” Martha began slowly.
“So?” Lois shrugged, “We’ll have to make the most of our time together I guess,” Lois sighed, “I just got him back. I’m not going to lose him again…”
“Would you rather have two days or a lifetime?” Martha asked. Lois turned away and she continued, “I know my boy. He is always helping…even when he shouldn’t…even when he’s told not to…he is there to help. It’s what he was born to do.”
“What happens when he flies up there and can’t breathe…or…or something goes wrong and ….he gets hurt….” Lois fumed. “No, I am not talking about this…”
Martha folded her arms over her chest and gave Lois a look, “Lois, I know you’re scared. I am too, but I can’t think of any other way. Do you think I want to send him up there like that? Of course not, but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to lose him again anymore than you do. If that asteroid hits us we could all die.”
“So could he,” Lois said shakily. “What happens if it does work and …and then he’s exposed? That is not the kind of life he would want….He doesn’t even know who he is!”
“No, he doesn’t.” Martha said softly, “but we can ask him if he wants to try…What do we have to lose?”
“Everything,” Lois said tearfully.
***
Lois stood in the corner of the Harris farmhouse living room watching as Jonathan patted Clark on the shoulder, worry written all over his face. “I know this is a lot to take in…”
“You’re saying I could stop this ….Nightfall?” Clark began.
Martha nodded, taking a seat next to him, “Clark, you have no idea how powerful you are….You could stop this. I know you could. Anytime you put your mind to something you make sure it happens…” She gave a smile and looked toward Lois.
Lois looked away nervously and Jonathan continued, “The world needs you now, son. More than it ever has I expect,”
“Flying into space to stop an asteroid doesn’t exactly come naturally does it?” Clark asked, worry written all over his face.
“You’re the only one that could do it,” Martha said softly.
“I don’t’ even remember how to use most of my powers….The flying just sort of ….happens…” Clark shrugged nervously then looked over at Lois, “What do you think, Lois?”
***
Five Years Ago…“Well close the box, Jonathan!” Martha snapped angrily as she slammed the lid to the metal box that held the meteorite Jonathan had shown Clark. “You said it was what made him sick…” She knelt down next to Clark, feeling his head. “He’s burning up,” She said with worry.
“I didn’t think…” Jonathan began to say.
Martha cut him off, “You didn’t THINK…period. Why didn’t you tell me about this?” She pointed to the box on Jonathan’s workbench, then pointed to the spacecraft in the corner of the barn, “or that?”
“I didn’t want to worry you,” Jonathan said quietly.
Clark’s groaning caught Martha’s attention and she muttered “Too late,” Before moving closer to check on Clark. “Clark, honey, can you hear me?”
“Ugh…” He let out another groan, “Lois…”
“He’s starting to come to…” Martha said. “Let’s get him out of here,”
***
Trask watched as Wayne collapsed against the table in front of him, “Won’t be long now. Mr. Irig, until you’re singing like a canary. Are you ready to tell me where the rest of that meteorite is?”
“No…” Wayne moaned in pain.
“A broken hand, dislocated shoulder, and sodium pentothal….” Trask smiled. “You can’t last much longer without medical attention…”
“No…,” Wayne growled.
***
Lois looked at Clark cautiously as he sunk back onto the full-size bed in his childhood bedroom. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” He said shakily. “Just…”
“Allergies?” Lois looked at him skeptically. “I don’t know. Maybe you need to see a doctor…”
“I’ll be fine,” He murmured incoherently, drifting off to sleep once more.
Lois sighed, pushing him back further on the bed. “You’re not fine,” She whispered, taking his glasses off and putting them on the night stand before climbing into bed with him.
***
The next morning they drove up to the roadblock on Wayne Irig’s property and parked. Lois grabbed her pursed and notepad, “You coming?”
Clark nodded, “Go on. I’ll just be a minute,”
Lois placed a hand on his head, “You feel normal,”
He shrugged, “I am…normal,”
She looked at him cautiously, “So everything’s okay, right?”
He nodded, “Yeah, of course,”
“Then let’s go…” She said stepping out of the truck with Clark behind her.
The same man that had been helping Trask and Newcomb interrogate Wayne Irig was dressed in a business suit with a clipboard at the roadblock calling out, “Sorry off limits to the public.”
“We’re not the public,” Lois said pulling out her press badge, “We’re the press,”
“We’ve already issued a statement to the local paper,” Thompson said writing on his clipboard.
“I’m Clark Kent,” Clark offered his hand, “This is my partner, Lois Lane. We’re here with the Daily Planet.”
Thompson took his hand to shake, eying him skeptically. “I’m Agent George Thompson. Field Liason for the EPA.” He said gruffly. “What’s a newspaper like the Daily Planet doing here?”
Lois shrugged, “Well, Agent Thompson, that’s why we’re called the ‘Daily Planet.’ We cover the world,”
Thompson nodded then turned behind him to point out, “What you’re seeing here is an ecological risk assessment. During the fifties and sixties, the owner used a lot of pesticides and we’re concerned about seepage into the local ground water.” Thompson gave a smile, “That’s it. Public safety. No big story I’m afraid.”
Lois arched an eyebrow, “Well, we’ll need to speak to the property owner.”
“Mr. Irig’s been given relocation money during the testing. He didn’t say where he went.” Thompson explained.
“I’m sure you’ve got that information….somewhere…” Clark interjected pointedly.
“No, I’m afraid not,” Thompson shrugged. “He’s probably holed up in one of the local motels somewhere.”
“I don’t think so,” Clark laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Thompson asked with a bite to his tone.
Lois crossed her arms over her chest and smirked, “The fact that you’d think there’d be a motel available during the famous Smallville Corn Festival. Most of the rooms around here book up months in advance.”
“The government has pull!” Thompson snapped.
“Fine,” Lois said narrowing her eyes, “We’ll be back for the name of that motel,”
“I’ll see what I can find,” Thompson smiled back as they walked away.
Lois climbed back in the truck and looked at Clark, “There is no way that guy is with the EPA,” Lois said slamming the door behind her. “I mean seriously, ‘the government has pull?’ Give me a break!”
Clark nodded, “Let’s head into town and see what we can find out,”
***
Present Day…“A disguise?” Lois asked skeptically as she watched Clark pace around the room, floating in the air as he did so.
“Well, a costume of some sort…something I could wear so I won’t be recognized. I want to help. I really do, but I don’t think there’s a way I can do that without being seen…” He pointed at the television coverage of the asteroid. “They’ve got constant coverage on it.”
“So, you’re going to do it?” Lois asked nervously.
He nodded, “I have to. I can’t let people die…knowing I could have done something to prevent it…It’ll work. It has to. If I have an effective disguise then we don’t have to worry about those agents finding me….or anyone else finding out about me.”
Lois sighed, “Okay, so you want some sort of costume….”
***
That afternoon, Martha brought her sewing kit along with stacks and stacks of different types of fabric. Clark tried on different ones. Some looked like they belonged in the ‘scary costume’ section of the Halloween costume stores while others were colorful and bright.
Martha was exhausted. The worry lines on her face were evident as she paced the living room, waiting for Clark to come out, “What about that one?”
“I don’t know…” Clark said from the bedroom where he was changing.
Lois tapped on the door, “Come on, Clark, let’s see,”
He opened the door and Lois smiled, admiring his physique underneath the blue spandex with a yellow belt, red boots, and cape. “Wow…”
He turned around, walking in front of the full-length mirror and Lois followed him in, admiring the suit on him. She could see every muscle move with him in the suit and glanced at the tight red briefs then smirked, “One thing’s for sure,” she slipped her hand over his buttocks and whispered, “Nobody’s gonna be looking at your face…”
“Lo-is!” He hissed, jumping back slightly and she laughed,
Martha knocked at the door frame, entering with a smile, “Well, Clark, they don’t call ‘em tights for nothing.” She walked over, circling him for a minute. “I don’t know. Something’s missing…Something…” She snapped her fingers and poked her head out to Jonathan, “Jonathan, go grab that box from the barn…”
***
Five Years Ago…Newcomb slammed Trask against the floor with a swift kick, “Are you out of your mind? You are going to blow this entire operation!”
“He didn’t know anything…” Trask argued. “I gave him…” Another kick in the ribs and Trask groaned in pain.
Newcomb reached down and grabbed Trask by the collar so that he was a few millimeters from his face, “You listen to me you maggot! You find that traitor and you bring him and anyone he’s with back here now!!!”
***
Lois sighed as she took a seat with Clark at one of the picnic tables outside Masie’s. “I feel like my feet are going to fall off….”
Clark smiled, taking a seat next to her and wrapped an arm around her. “Sorry. I know it’s a lot of walking.” He gently massaged her shoulders and she leaned back against him, enjoying the feeling of his hands massaging her tense muscles.
“Okay, so four hours at City Hall. What do we know?” Lois asked, leaning back against him as he continued to work his magic on her shoulders.
“We know that in twenty years, here were no permits and no citations on the Irig property,” Clark said.
“No activity that would attract the attention of the federal government anyway,” Lois said, rolling her shoulders. “That feels good,”
He leaned down to kiss her, “I aim to please,”
“Yes you do,” She whispered with a wicked grin. He laughed, slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her to him. She laughed, pulling out of his grasp, “Nope, remember what happened last time? We’re here to work. There’ll be time for that later.”
“I hope so,” He whispered, giving her a soft kiss on her collarbone.
“Clark…” She laughed, wrapping an arm around his neck from behind. “Focus!”
“I am…” He teased.
She laughed, leaning back in his arms as she enjoyed the feeling of being in his arms. A familiar voice brought them back to the present and Clark reluctantly pulled away.
“Lois, Clark, what are you two doing in Smallville?” They turned to see Maisie with her serving tray and notepad.
Lois smiled up at her, “We’re here with the Planet on a story…um, working…” She managed to say with a slight blush.
Maisie winked at her, “I see,” Lois blushed a bit brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. The sparkle from her engagement ring caught Maisie’s eye and she gasped, “Is that what I think it is?”
Clark nodded, wrapping his arms around her from behind happily, “Yes,”
Maisie took Lois’ hand examining the ring with a smile, “Congratulations you two…Whatever you want…it’s on the house!” She leaned over to hug both of them, “I’m so happy for you…”
***
Jonathan stared at the metal box in front of him angrily. Martha opened the door to the barn, closing the door behind her, “Jonathan?”
“In here,” He muttered gruffly.
“I’ve been looking all over for you. What are you doing in here?” Martha asked.
“I need to get rid of it,” Jonathan said, shaking his head.
“Get rid of what?” Martha asked.
Jonathan pointed at the box on the workbench, “That….poison….Whatever it is. It’s dangerous.”
“Jonathan, there’s no way you could have known…” Martha began, “We don’t even know what it is.”
“It's poison is what it is.” Jonathan snapped.
“All his life Clark’s wanted to be normal…now he is,” Martha said, trying to rationalize what had happened.
“You don’t go all your life with powers and then poof they just disappear…” Jonathan said. “Being normal for Clark is being ‘super’….until I opened that box.”
“What do you want to do with it?” Martha asked.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what to do with it. I can’t give it to anybody, but I sure as heck don’t want to keep this anywhere near Clark…”
The tapping at the door caught Jonathan and Martha’s attention as they heard Wayne Irig outside, “Jonathan! It’s Wayne! Open up!”
***
<<“The government has pull!”>>
<<“Do you want to dance?”>>
<<“Clark, look out!”>>
<<“Lois, get down!”>>
<<“There’s men at my house. Men with guns…”>>
<<“We’ve got to destroy it, Wayne!”>>
<<“What’s happening? Clark!!”>>Lois groggily came to as pieces of the evening started coming back to her. She tried to move but she couldn’t. Something was restraining her. “Cl…” Her eyes fluttered and the bright yellow light that was shining in her eyes caused her blink back tears from the brightness. Her head felt foggy. Something was wrong. She looked around and saw she was tied with a large rope. On either side was Jonathan and Martha. “Clar..k..” She rasped out. Her throat was dry. Her heart began racing as she looked around. “Where’s Clark?” She whimpered.
“Shhh,” Jonathan whispered. “Pretend like you’re still sleeping, Lois….”
“But…” Lois began to argue but the noise behind her….the familiar noise of a gun being cocked made her rethink her argument.
“Any luck?” a man’s voice asked.
“No, he’s still not cooperating…” another voice said.
“I guess we’ll have to take extreme measures with Mr. Kent then…” the man’s voice from before said.
***
Present Day…Martha took the large brown box from Jonathan and smiled as she began pulling out the little knick-knacks inside. “Let’s see….your first finger painting….the little romper we found you in…” She held up a dark blue romper with a small ‘s’ emblem on the waist of it and Clark smiled, “…the baby blanket we found you in so long ago…” She held it close to her. “..and this,” She held up a large ‘S’ emblem similar to the one on the romper she’d held up before.
“Let’s see…” Lois held it up against Clark’s chest and smiled, “Looks good,”
“I still don’t know about this…” Clark said looking down at the cape on the outfit, “Are you sure about the cape?”
“I think it’ll be great when you’re flying…” Martha said. “It’ll be perfect with the disguise…you can take off the glasses and do your thing….”
Clark eyed his reflection in the mirror skeptically, “I don’t know…”
***
TBC...
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