fandomtownies | Aereopagitica: Monday [6-12]

Clark entered the bookstore hoping to find Lana.

Lana grinned when she saw him. "Clark! I'm so happy to see you. You always remind me of home in a good way." Oh God, there she went again!

Clark smiled. "Really because I kind of got the impression last time i saw you that it was awkward having me here." What?

"Actually that's sort of what I wanted to talk about. Home I mean."

"No," Lana said. "I think it felt awkward for me because it *didn't* feel at all awkward, if that makes any sense. I just felt so comfortable with you that it made me feel a little embarrasssed."

"Home?" she asked with a smile, forgetting for a moment that they weren't exactly *from* the same home.

"I'm, I'm going back. Probably to stay. I haven't been able to find work here, well work that I'd like doing. Everything's retail and I just don't see me doing that. And I'm about to run out of money here. So, I'm going back home to Smallville." He sighed.

"i came in to say goodbye." he said.

"I don't want you to leave," Lana said, then put her hands over her mouth. But she couldn't seem to stop herself. "Everybody leaves me and I didn't want you to be like everyone else, but I understand if you can't stay."

Clark looked aghast. "I, I'm sorry Lana. I really can't afford to stay, and ever since Jor 'El removed my powers I can't help but be like everyone else."

Whoah! Why did he say that?! "Though, that's probably not what you meant."

"Jor'El? Powers? What are you talking about?"

"Jor'El is my biological father." Clark said. "I was born on a planet called Krypton, but it was destroyed and my father sent me to earth, where the Kents adopted me. The environment on earth interacted with my physiology in such a way that I had super powers for most of my life."

Lana looked at him strangely. "I guess you're not very much like my Clark, after all. I mean, yes, he's adopted, but he doesn't have any super powers or anything."

"I think you're wrong about that." Clark said, before looking absolutely horrified as he continued to speak. "Chloe hinted that he did, and she talked about a meteor shower that I think could have brought more than just meteors, and you said he'd been secretive. I, I really shouldn't have told you that."

Lana looked utterly stunned. "I... Everything about him is a lie? Why didn't he...?"

She ran a shaking hand over her face. "I don't know what to do. He's never trusted me at all. And all the times I asked him... I can't believe he lied to me like this."

"I shouldn't have told you that." Clark said. "He might not have told you because he might feel responsible for those meteor freaks, if he did come with the shower. Telling a secret like that is nearly impossible. I never would have told Lois if she hadn't figured it out for herself. And then I lost her.

"Came with the... he came with the meteor shower that killed my parents?" Lana felt faint. She couldn't stand any longer, had to sit before she fell.

She found a chair and collapsed into it, hiding her face in her hands. "Secrets. So many secrets. I hate them."

"Killed your-" Clark's heart sank to his feet. "Oh God Lana I'm so sorry."
He tried to help her to the chair, but she got there before he'd recovered enough to do so.

"I, I imagine Clark's terrified that if you find out his secret you'll blame him for your parents' deaths." Clark said.

"Then he doesn't know me at all," Lana murmured into her hands. "And that's even worse. He was just a child, like me. How could it be his fault? But to hide all this - and claim to have feelings for me?"

She couldn't manage to lift her head. "How can you care about someone and still hide everything you are from them?"

"Everyone hides something. Like I said when we first met, maybe Clark literally can't make himself tell you."

That's when Chloe came in. Oh Good, this needed to be more complicated.

Chloe came into the store, hoping to find at least one book that she could use in her workshop in the next few weeks, and she had to stop and stare for a second when she saw Lana and Clark together. "Hey," she said, frowning softly when she saw Lana. "Is everything all right?"

"Chloe? Clark - this Clark - says that our Clark... that they both have some sort of super powers. That he came down with the meteor shower that killed..." Lana broke off and buried her face in her hands again.

Chloe looked back and forth between Clark and Lana. "He told you about our Clark's powers?" she asked, then clasped her hand over her mouth.

"You knew?" Lana looked horrified. "Chloe?"

She felt like her whole world was falling apart. "Clark... I almost expect Clark to lie to me, but you? How could you not say anything to me?"

"I couldn't help it," Clark said. "It just sort of came out, though I guess technically I told her about my powers and said that Clark probably had them too."

"Lana, I'm sorry. But Clark...he was so worried about who knew about his powers, about who might try to abuse them or turn him into some kind of labrat." Chloe winced a little, unsure of why she was admitting all of this. "I don't think he would have even told me. I found out about them accidentally."

"Then all those times he saved me..." Lana shook her head. "And the tornado the day Whitney left... He was there in the truck with me. He told me I was imagining things, but I wasn't, was I?"

She thought she was going to be sick. "Boy, you guys must have thought I was pretty naive and stupid to just take all of his lies."

Clark took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "God what have I done?" he muttered. "I came to say goodbye and wound up betraying...myself."

Chloe looked at Clark sadly before glancing back at Lana. "We never thought you were naive. I certainly didn't. I bought all the same lies you did before I found out."

"What am I supposed to do now?" Lana asked. "Confront him, pretend I don't know? God, I just... I feel sick. I'm furious and scared and hurt... Does Lex know too? Is that why he's always asking those pointed questions about Clark?"

"No, Lex doesn't know. Lex can't know," Chloe said sharply. "I think he suspects something, which is where the questions come from. Lana, you should know how much it's been killing Clark to keep this from you. I think if there's one person he would have chosen to tell, it would have been you, and not me. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault, Chloe. I just.. I just don't know what to do about all this information. I wouldn't tell Lex, of course, I wouldn't. But what do I do about Clark? Do I tell him I know his secret? Do I pretend I never found out?"

"Lex Luthor?" Clark asked. "He's, a friend of yours?"

Lana nodded. "He's my guardian. And yes, I suppose I'd call him a friend."

Clark looked very uncomfortable. "In my world Lex Luthor tried to send half of california into the ocean so his desert property would be beachfront property." Clark said, looking like he really didn't want to say it. Or at least not that bluntly. "He uhm, then collaborated with a Kryptonian named General Zod to take over the world. But your Lex might not be like that." he added hurriedly.

Lana shook her head ~~like the poor deluded and naive thing she is~~. "My Lex isn't like that. He would never do something like that. He might be a little... questionable in some of his business tactics, but nothing like that."

Clark looked relieved. "I hope so, i really do. the Luthor I knew was a brilliant man, he could have done a lot of good if he had used his powers for good. I only barely stopped him. in time."

Aereopagitica: Monday [6-12]

Saying Goodbye

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