"Hey Lana, what are you doing here?" Clark called down as Lana started to climb the steps up to the loft.

"Came to admire your stall mucking abilities," she said sarcastically, "but I guess you're not doing that today."

"No, I was just reading." He gestured with his book .

Lana took a deep breathe and launched into what she'd planned to say, scrunching up her face, "Clark, I want to know if we can be friends again. I know it sounds clich after all that's happened, but I really don't want to loose you entirely from my life."

Clark seemed to hesitate for a second, but then nodded his head. "I suppose we could. I mean I don't want to loose you from my life either."

They stared at each other awkwardly.

"So, what book?" Lana asked

"Huh?"

"What book are you reading?" She pointed to his hand.

"The Portrait of Dorian Grey"

Lana suddenly thought of something, "You know I've got copy of an updated version of that story. It's called 'A Face Without A Heart'. I could lend it to you."

"Okay...um"

"So..."

"So..."

"Have you talked to Lex lately?"

Clark visibly stiffened. "Um...no. Why?"

"I was just wondering how he's been dealing with the crazy stalker girl trying to burn him and his father being in prison, and then the nightmare virus thing that went around. He doesn't really talk to me about those kinds of things."

Clark stared blankly at her. "I wouldn't know."

"I just figured you'd be more concerned about your friend." Lana pressed on, trying to get a reaction out of him.

Clark sighed, "I don't think we're friends anymore."

"Don't you still care about him?" Lana feigned bewilderment.

"Yeah, but it's really complicated now." Clark seemed to draw in on himself physically.

"How so?"

"It's just..." He hesitated, but then looked into her eyes, "there are boundaries a person doesn't cross when you're their friend. You don't follow them around and keep track of their actions like there's something suspect about them. And you respect the fact that you can't know everything about them sometimes. And you don't lie to them repeatedly."

Lana nodded her head sympathetically, "Oh Clark, I'm sure he'll forgive you if you just ask."

"What?" Clark asked with a clearly confused look on his face.

"He called you on it, didn't he?"

"On what?"

"You know, the really blatant lies that you've been telling for years when anyone gets the least bit inquisitive about you. The way you've been following him around lately like you're trying to catch him at something. Breaking into private property to dig up evidence just because someone told you he might be doing questionable things instead of just asking him. Jumping to accusations when he's been the victim. Only going to him for favors now..."

"Uh, I, um...I didn't think I ..." Clark tried to protest.

Lana cut him off. "Although I did hear that you went to his father behind his back twice, and that might be a bit harder to get over."

"But, I had to! Lex was going to get himself hurt. And then he was going to go to jail and I needed the help."

"So you went to Lionel to protect and help Lex?"

"I had to! He was the only one powerful enough to help the first time and the second time, I didn't really go to him for help. It just worked out that way."

"Isn't that a bit like trying to help the little pigs by going to the big bad wolf?"

"I wouldn't put it that way" He said defensively.

"I mean I've always got the impression they were more enemies than family."

Clark grudgingly relented. "It may not have been my best idea."

"Probably not. Look Clark, I wish I could discuss this more, but I've got to pick up Chloe for dinner and a movie." She tried to put as much insinuation into her voice as she could, initiating the next part of her plan.

"Dinner and a movie?" Clark asked, echoing her tone back to her.

"Do you have a problem with two really close girlfriends going out together... to dinner and a movie?"

"Ah, no, it just sounded...um, never mind"

"What Clark?"

"Um...nothing Lana, have fun and tell Chloe I said hi." He blushed.

Lana smiled brightly. She got up from the edge of the couch where she'd sat to walk down the stairs.

"Sure Clark. Why don't we discuss this tomorrow? You could stop by the house sometime and I could give you that book."

"Ok, bye" He called back to her as she walked out of the barn.

"Bye"

"Well this is going to be awkward." Chloe paced, wringing her hands.

"I managed to get some amaretto and sour mix so we can have a few drinks beforehand." Lana said, pulling out a paper bag from the pantry closet.

Chloe eyed her warily, "You're turning into a regular slush, Lana."

Lana swallowed hard and looked up at her on again, off again friend. "It'll loosen us up so we can put on a good show."

"What kind of a show are we talking about here?" Chloe asked anxiously.

Lana busied herself with looking for two glasses. "We're going to make out in public."

"Make out? You mean kissing and touching and stuff?"

"Yes, the general definition of Making Out."

"In public?"

"Yes"

"For the first time ever?" Chloe couldn't believe those words actually left her mouth once she said them. That sentence couldn't possibly lead anywhere good.

Lana paused in opening the bottles to look up at Chloe. She kept mentally kicking herself about her ridiculous, Will & Grace meets I Love Lucy inspired plan, nevertheless she put on a mask of confidence that she in no way, shape, or form felt.. 'This better work and it better be worth it', she thought as she quickly shot down the idea flitting across her mind that maybe she was emerging herself in other people's private lives so she didn't have to think about her mess with Jason, her lack of a job and the college applications she was almost ritualistically avoiding.

"Well, we could practice before we go out so it doesn't look forced at all."

Chloe knew that Lana was going to say that. She knew those would be the words to come out of the other girl's mouth as soon as she had asked that ridiculous question. She felt herself start to hyperventilate just a little. "Lana...fix me a very, very large drink please."

Lana laughed sharply and poured the drinks.

"As you wish." She said, handing Chloe her glass and regretting her own words as memories of The Princess Bride surfaced.

Chloe drank what Lana had given her far too fast, then suddenly screwed her face up and closed her eyes. "Kiss me."

"What?" Lana asked weakly, getting a bit of cold feet.

"Just kiss me and get it over with." Chloe demanded.

Lana frowned. "I don't think it works that way."

"Oh I think it works exactly that way. It's like jumping into a cold lake in summer time. You just have to get in there and get the shock over with so you can get use to the water. Now hurry up and do it before I loose my nerve."

"Ok," Lana took a deep breathe. "Just keep your eyes closed."

"Believe me I'm not opening them."

Lana leaned in and brushed her lips tentatively over Chloe's who stayed absolutely still and incredibly tense. She pressed her lips to Chloe's a little more firmly as the lips under hers started to soften and then gradually respond. Raising her hands to cup the other girl's face, she could feel the kiss becoming charged and heated. She felt Chloe's hands came up to grasp her waist. Lana's own hands slid through Chloe's hair as she licked at Chloe's lips and closed her eyes. Chloe opened her mouth to caress Lana's tongue with her own as her hands slid to Lana's back to hold her close.

The phone rang and they jumped apart instantly.

"Sullivan residence, Chloe speaking." She cleared her throat and tried to make her voice as steady as possible.

"Hey honey, I just wanted to tell you that it looks like I'm going to be staying late at work tonight."

"That's Ok Dad. Lana and I were just going to go out to the movies tonight anyway."

"I'm so glad you two are getting along better. I have to go, but tell Lana I told both of you to let your hair down and have fun tonight."

"Okay, Bye Dad"

"Bye Sweetheart"

Chloe hung up the phone and noticed that Lana still looked flustered.

"We should probably get going so we can eat and make the movie." Lana suggested.

"Yeah, I'll just go grab my purse and meet you in the car."

"OK"

Chloe blushed and Lana walked out the front door.

"I'll be right there." Chloe called after her.

Going upstairs, Chloe noted that her hands were still trembling a bit.

"Ok, Chloe Sullivan, you can do this. It's for a good cause." She started to give herself a pep talk. "And you're going to get to kiss Lana some more. And your thinking this out loud. You're talking to yourself, responding and analyzing the fact that you're talking to yourself. You're most definitely going to end up in Belle Reve right beside Lex after Lana and Clark get done with you both. But hey, it'll be worth it and at least you'll be in good company."

"Here's how I see it." Lana launched right into her strategy as soon as Chloe got into the car and shut the door.

"See what?"

"Tonight. The Plan."

"Oh?"

"We'll go to the Pasta House, be discreet in the way that screams 'we're being discreet while doing something that we need to be discreet about'. We'll hold hands and sit way too close on the same side of the booth. For desert, we'll split something so we can appear more intimate. When we get to the movies, we'll go in holding hands. It should be fairly crowded. We'll find someone we know who'll recognize us and sit right in front of him or her. Then we'll make out in earnest."

Chloe gulped. "Sounds good. Not too bad."

"Right." Lana's voice seemed different to Chloe. Strained.

"Good." Her own voice was still shaky and she couldn't look at Lana.

Lana started the car. "And we're off"

Chloe gazed out of the passenger side window, trying to think of a way she could get a story out of what they were doing.

A very long and rather strenuous day working for LuthorCorp had completely warn Gabe Sullivan out. He stared a bit mindlessly at the flickering lights of the television while he mostly pushed around the contents of his microwaved dinner. The opening and closing of the front door startled him out of his trance.

"Hi girls."

"Hi Gabe," Lana responded and Chloe chimed in with a simple "Hey."

Gabe raised his eyebrow to their dampened moods. "Was it a good movie?"

"Sure" Chloe shrugged.

Lana responded in a weary tone. "It didn't seem as long as it should have been."

"Well, you know time just flies..." Gabe attempted to make a lame joke, but in his exhaustion, he couldn't bring himself to complete it.

Chloe groaned "Dad" right on cue.

"Right. Well it's late, so you both better get to bed."

"Bed sounds good. We'll go to bed." Chloe said, strangely enough adding, "Separately, of course."

Gabe raised an eyebrow again. "Uh-huh"

"Of course, separately." Lana bobbed her head. Gabe noticed that she looked a little traumatized.

"Goodnight" Chloe and Lana chorused together and then promptly ran upstairs.

Gabe raised the other eyebrow and answered "Goodnight" to an empty room.

"Chloe, get down here!" Lana yelled in a shrill voice, instantly setting off the beginnings of a migraine in Chloe.

"What?" Chloe yelled right back down. Things between her and Lana had become even more tense and weird since their little outing the other night.

"Clark's coming up the drive."

"And?" Chloe really did not want to deal with this right now. Or ever. But being honest with herself, she realized that she spent a lot of time dealing with stuff she didn't want to because she was a bit of a push-over when it came to people she cared about. So she caved in and stomped down the stairs.

"You're going to tell him I'm not here and be all bitchy with him."

"Cause I'm your new girlfriend?" Chloe's mood started to brighten with the prospect of having a 'good' excuse to be 'all bitchy' with Clark. She still owed him for messing with her emotions in the Torch a while back.

Lana smiled brightly, passing Chloe on the stairs. "Yep, and I'll be upstairs monitoring the situation."

"This is so weird." Chloe muttered.

Lana called down, "It's Smallville, you should be use to weird by now."

Clark knocked on the door.

Lana whispered loudly "Get the door."

"I kind of figured that out on my own." Chloe whispered back before opening the door with an annoyed look upon her face.

"Chloe, Hi." Clark gave her a big gril.

Chloe noted to herself that Clark never smiled like that unless it had something to do with Lana or Lex. Somehow she didn't seem to need to muster up the bitterness for her required scene with Clark, although after last night she was currently a little confused about whom she was bitter and jealous of.

"Hi Clark, what do you need?"

Clark's smile faltered. "Lana said I could stop by and borrow a book from her."

"You talked to Lana?"

"Yeah, yesterday"

"Oh."

"Yeah. We're going to try to be friends again." Clark said for what had to have been the millionth time in the last few years.

"Great, that's just great. But you and Lana were never really just friends were you?" Jealousy and anger in her voice, Chloe let her little green demon come out to play.

"Is there something wrong?" Clark's face was now twisted into the really confused puppy look he always used when he 'forgot' that he was suppose to meet Chloe somewhere or write a story for the Torch. 'That's OK.' Chloe thought, 'more fuel for the fire'.

"Wrong? What could be wrong?" The venom in her voice was worthy of a Luthor.

"Nothing I guess. Could you just tell Lana I'm here."

"She's not here."

"But her car's here." Clark pointed out.

"She went for a walk." Chloe countered.

"Alone? But isn't that dangerous?"

"In the middle of the afternoon? Listen Clark, don't go chasing her. She has a right to be alone if she wants to be alone." Chloe mentally derided him for his overactive hero-complex, while also acknowledging that yeah, they lived in Smallville.

"Could I wait here? She said I could borrow a book."

"Fine, wait here." Chloe shut the door in his face and went upstairs to see what Lana wanted to do.

Lana quickly handed her something and shoved her right back towards the stairs, "You're doing great, here's the book."

"Whatever you want oh girlfriend of mine."

Chloe went back downstairs, opened the door and handed Clark the book.

"Here's it is."

"I know Lana's here. You could have just said she didn't want to talk to me." Clark seemed really irritated and put out.

Chloe got an insanely cheap thrill at his anger. "I said she went for a walk."

"I heard her voice." Clark insisted.

"You heard wrong."

"I didn't tell you what book I wanted to borrow." Clark tried to poke holes in her logic.

"Did you stop to think she might have left it out with maybe a note attached." Chloe countered.

"Don't lie to me."

Chloe had to laugh at that. "You know, I don't think Clark Kent gets the right to call anyone else a liar."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"What do you think it's suppose to mean?"

"Whatever, I'll see you around Chloe."

"Whatever!" Chloe slammed the door.

Chloe went back upstairs again to find Lana jumping up and down with a big grin plastered on her face.

"That was perfect!"

Martha strolled down the snack isle as fast as she could while Jonathon lingered near the Doritos when she overheard some of the women from the PTO speaking in rather loud hushed tones.

"You know what I heard?" Glenda Roberts said with a leer in her voice while noisily chewing bubblegum.

"No what?" Callie Jones asked.

"Gabe Sullivan's daughter is, you know, like that comedian...Helen."

"Who?" Callie screwed up her face.

"That woman with the talk show."

"Ellen??" Both Callie's and Martha's eyes widened.

"Yep, that's right." Her mouth smacked on the gum.

"You don't say?"

Martha prepared herself to interrupt this little gossip fest when Glenda answered back, "Chris Parkinson told my husband that his son saw her with her hands all over that Talon girl that lives with her."

"Lana Lang?" Callie half yelled while Martha mouthed the name.

"Yes! They were kissing and everything. Such a pretty girl too, I imagine she could have any boy she wanted."

Jonathan finally came up next to Martha and 'snuck' a bag of chips into the cart. She motioned him to stay quiet.

"Well, she's been dating Clark Kent, hasn't she?" Callie said that as if it meant something.

"I don't know about that. Those Kents are so reclusive. One never knows what kind of stuff they really get up to."

Jonathon's cocked his head to listen right along with Martha.

"The Sheriff did say that she thought he was a bit odd. I suppose that she could have meant queer now that I think of it."

Martha watched as her husbands face turn bright red.

"Well that would make sense, wouldn't it. A young man of that persuasion dates a lesbian to try to cover it up." Glenda rationalized.

Martha had to put a hand on Jonathon's arm to stop him.

"He's always with that Lex Luthor too. And you know what the tabloids say about him!"

"Certainly! Been there and done it all, literally."

The two women giggled.

"You know I even heard that Luthor boy would drive up to the school and pick up young Mr. Kent and take him back to the castle. Alone if you get my meaning." Callie said in between sniggers.

Glenda looked scandalized. "The gall of some people to do such things right out in the open! I remember Martha telling me one day that Clark got in trouble for arriving late to school after Lex Luthor picked him up fifteen minutes before the bus even arrived to take him there, supposedly on his way to work."

"Uh-huh. Doesn't take much of an imagination to tell what took them so long." Callie made a sucking sound and Martha had to step on Jonathon's foot to keep him back.

"Oh, I can't even begin to imagine."

The women giggled, leaving Martha and Jonathon standing in the middle of aisle nine red faced and dumbstruck.

Martha set the shopping bags on the counter "Let's not overreact now Jonathan."

"I'm not overreacting."

Martha started to put away the groceries, "It's just gossip. The innuendos about Clark and Lex are probably not even true."

"Maybe." He hesitantly said, "but it sort of makes sense."

"I mean I thought something along those lines might be going on a few years ago." Martha concurred.

"We both did." Jonathan thought of the way he tried to warn Clark off Lex without having to actually explain his real concerns.

"Then he started dating Lana..." She handed him the can goods to put in the pantry.

Jonathan continued her thought, "...but something has seemed off ever since Belle Reve."

Martha agreed, "He's been overly protective of Lex, but at the same time more reproachful of him than ever. Whenever we talk about him, I can never predict if Clark's going to defend Lex or condemn him."

"Since then the tension between the two of them just seems to have grown by leaps and bounds. And that room Lex kept of Clark never really made sense to me." He put the cereal boxes away.

"I know. If Lex was studying him, why didn't he keep it all in a lab or somewhere more clinical. The way Clark described it, the room seemed more like a shrine."

"Maybe it was a shrine. It wouldn't be unlike a Luthor to become obsessed with the object of his affection." Jonathan thought out loud, "I wonder how Clark feels about him."

"There's only one way to find out." His wife looked at him knowingly.

"I...I don't know Martha." He didn't want to have to have that talk with Clark. "Clark might not even know himself, at least not consciously."

"I still think you should talk to him about it."

"You're probably right." Jonathan sighed and reluctantly agreed.

"So I'm at the plant, since I have my job back and all, and I hear what a great father I must be from some twenty year old, purple headed techie with a nose ring." Gabe said, sitting down for dinner.

"Well you are a great father." His daughter agreed a little too readily.

"Do you want to hear why I'm such a great father?"

"I'm sure I know."

"Apparently I'm incredibly understanding and progressive for not only allowing my daughter to date another girl, but taking said girl under my roof so that they could be together."

"You're a really great guy Gabe." Lana added in a saccharine voice, bobbing her head again.

"But the thing is that we live in a house built by Luthor Corp."

His daughter attempted to counter his reasoning by using distraction. "Could you pass the potatoes please?"

"Built with extremely thin walls." He passed her the dish without missing a beat and not the least bit detoured by the methods the girls were using.

"This roast beef is just excellent." Lana complimented Chloe while initiating the 'let's just ignore him' mode of defense.

"It did turn out really good didn't it?" Chloe caught on to Lana's tactic.

"And I've never heard a single thing. And after you two went to the movies the other night and were all weird, I made a point to listen. I also know for a fact you two sleep in different rooms, separately of course, and that my only daughter who believes in the truth above all things wouldn't keep such a secret from her poor, hard-working dad."

Chloe caved at the last part, "We're pretending to date in order to get the town use to same-sex couples."

"Chloe, don't deny our love!" Lana protested.

"Somehow this scenario I buy. But the question remains: Why exactly?"

"So that when we fix Clark and Lex up, they won't have to deal with so much of the community backlash." Chloe explained.

"We weren't going to tell anyone!" Lana groaned.

"Oh come on, we have to tell him! We live in the same house with him and he's not stupid."

Gabe tried to come to grasp with the logic of teenage girls, "Clark Kent's gay?"

"As the resident expert, I'd say there's a good chance." Lana answered.

"And you think Lex Luthor would be interested in another guy?"

"Oh come on? I've seen Lex flirt with Clark, flirt with Adam, do obscene things with water bottles and let's face it, he wears more silk and pastels than I do." Lana argued, "And I think I even caught him flirting with Jason once."

He stared in disbelief at the young lady currently living in his spare bedroom, "Obscene things with water bottles??"

"He sucks them." Chloe explained with a dazed look in her eye. She quickly realized what she said out loud to her father, blushed bright red and added "I could have sworn I've saw him check Clark out a few times."

Gabe schooled his features in to one of utter belief, "You know, I think you two girls are right...Come to think of it, when I first met Lex, he kept touching me."

"What???" Chloe looked suddenly ill.

"Yeah, he put his arm around me and everything. I think he was trying to cop a feel." Gabe ducked his head and tried not to laugh at the expression on his daughter's face.

"Oh ewww..." Chloe took her father entirely too seriously, "he was probably just trying to do that Luthor 'I'm getting all in your space' intimidation thing."

"No, he wanted me." He kept a straight face.

Lana looked like she was having a hard time not laughing, "It's possible. You're a very attractive and personable man Gabe."

"You're messing with me, aren't you?! Tell me you're messing with me." Chloe pleaded.

Gabe couldn't help himself and started to laugh, "Oh he wanted me. He wanted me bad."

"That was just cruel! And gross! And did I mention cruel?!"

"My daughter is pretending to be in love with the young lady I view as a second daughter while trying to set up my boss with her teenage ex-crush." Gabe managed to stop laughing and took a deep breath, "While I know from experience I can not stop you, I can make you pay."

"That wasn't punishment, that was grave mental trauma." She complained.

"Just a word of caution." Gabe got serious.

Chloe and Lana nodded solemnly.

"Please don't get me fired."

Clark couldn't help but think about what Lana had said regarding the way he had betrayed Lex's trust and friendship. It wasn't as if he hadn't felt guilt over his actions, but he had always been able to rationalize them to himself enough to push the guilt away. Lately it seemed as if the world had been conspiring to confuse Clark, and the more confused he got, the angrier he became. Chloe had also thrown him for a loop recently. First there was that god-awful, uncomfortable conversation about sex and Chloe's mystery boyfriend. And she basically told Clark he was her new best friend. Then the next time he saw her, she practically took his head off because he wanted to see Lana who was most definitely there. He could see her skeleton hiding in the upstairs hall.

And he still couldn't get where Chloe got the idea he was a judgmental prude or that he was angry with Lex for having sex. That was ridiculous. The increasingly frequent tension between him and Lex had nothing to do with anyone else. Like he told Lana, it was complicated. He cared for Lex. According to his parents, he cared entirely too much for Lex, but that was because he was a Luthor and Luthors are dangerous.

On the other hand, they had always taught him not to judge people over things for which they had no control. They told him that sons don't always have to become their fathers and for three years he stuck to that conviction. Then Lex began to betray that belief. And if Lex became just like Lionel, what would keep Clark from becoming the son Jor-El wanted. It wasn't the room that pushed Clark into going to the caves with Kara, it was the fact that Lex stopped fighting against becoming like Lionel and started using his own weapons against him.

And Lex had kept that room about him, like some kind of science experiment.

Clark shuddered at that thought. Almost every fear Clark had ever grown up with had been represented by that room.

Clark had bought into the 'friendship of legend' that Lex sold him. He was the only person Clark had ever met who seemed to genuinely get the loneliness and isolation of being an outsider. With Lex, Clark had felt less alone than with anyone else in his life. He had truly believed that no matter what happened, Lex would be his friend forever.

The idea that Lex really just thought of him as an object to be studied broke Clark's heart. Besides, he wasn't the only person Lex treated like an object. Clark sympathized with the women Lex had cast off with pretty trinkets after using them. Even if most, or all of them save one psycho, didn't mind the casualness of their relationships, it bothered Clark to think that Lex had a whole history of depersonalizing people.

Clark heard footsteps coming up the stairs and put down the book he wasn't really reading.

"Dad."

"Son, I wanted to come up here and see how you were doing."

"Fine, I'm just fine." Clark knew he wasn't very convincing.

"I saw Lana stop by here the other night."

"Yeah, we decided to try to just be friends."

"That's great."

"Yeah."

Their conversation wasn't progressing the way Jonathan had planned it. "So, how's Lex?"

"Why does everyone think I constantly know how Lex is?" Clark responded rather defensively.

"I don't know son. Perhaps because you two always seemed so close, even when you spent months apart."

Clark wasn't looking at him. "I don't know if we'll ever be really close again, not after what I found at the castle."

"The Room?" Jonathan could hear the capitalization in his own voice.

"He's been studying me Dad, like some sort of science project. I don't think he even thinks of me as a person. And I can't just let him hurt me, because I think if there's someone on this planet that ever could ever really destroy me, it would be him."

Jonathan sighed deeply at the thought of having to remotely defend a Luthor. He liked it much better when Clark defended Lex and all he had to do was sit in the corner with his little mental 'Beware of Luthors' sign firmly attached to his forehead. "Lex has been in the middle of all the strange happenings of Smallville from day one. And I don't just mean when his father sent him into exile here."

"The meteor shower?"

"Yes. Maybe Lex's curiosity is motivated by wanting to understand what's happened in his life, to his life, and not because he thinks you're a science project. You just happen to be right smack in the middle of all of it with him."

"But Dad, I think we're just destined to not be friends and not to be able to trust each other. Numan and Seget."

Jonathan hated that damned cave. "You think you're Numan and Lex is Seget?"

"Yes" Clark responded, barely above a whisper.

"Refresh my memory on the legend of Numan and Seget, Clark. Tell me the story."

"Numan will fall from the sky in a rain of fire. He'll have the strength of ten men and be able to start fire with his eyes. He'll protect the entire world one day. Seget is like a brother to Numan, but one day he'll turn against Numan and together they'll be the balance between good and evil."

"Well that certainly puts a damper on things if you believe in it."

"Lex thinks Seget is the hero, that he's the brave one who'll go up against the powerful Numan to keep him in check so he doesn't take over the world."

"It's a valid interpretation." Jonathan nodded his head and then added, "Or maybe, just maybe, they're both the heros of this story."

Clark looked up at Jonathan for the first time since he came up the stairs.

"What do you mean?"

"The legend says that Numan would one day save the world. He can't be all that bad since he saves the world. But then again, he could easily let his desire to see save the world and everyone in it get out of control. He could try to help humanity by controlling it, especially if through saving lives day in and day out he saw the very worst that people can be capable of. He might someday want to force people to be nice to each other or to do what's best for them, and with all that power left unchecked he could probably pull it off. But in the process of helping humanity obtain peace, he would be stripping it of its own free-will, the part which makes people human in the first place. If Seget balances out Numan and puts him into check, I would think he's also a hero. The prophesy says that together they'll be the balance between good and evil, not that one is good and the other is evil."

Clark looked a little more hopeful. "But that still means we'll be enemies."

"Two people can oppose one another and not be enemies Clark."

"So you think there's more than one way this could play out?"

Jonathan put his hand on his son's shoulder. "Yes. I think that you and Lex have a choice in the matter."

"I like that interpretation a whole lot better than loosing Lex."

Jonathan sighed again at the pain he heard in Clark's voice with that last statement. "One thing I've heard consistently with the whole Numan and Seget things is that they are together, in one way, shape or form, no matter what. Also Clark, the picture on the cave wall depicts them sharing the same body. They're two halves of the same whole and they're only complete together. I suppose that's something for you to think about."

Lana looked up and caught the image of Clark heading her way in her locker mirror. She quickly gathered her things, shut the locker and took off down the hall.

He predictably enough jogged right behind her. "Lana, wait up."

"I've got to get to class Clark." Truthfully she was standing not ten feet from the door and had three minutes till the bell rang.

He looked like a kicked puppy. "I came by yesterday."

Lana fiddled with something she didn't need to while avoiding eye contact with him. "Yeah, Chloe mentioned it."

"Are you angry with me, I thought you wanted to be friends?" He did that flarey thing with his nostriles.

Lana did her best to looked very put upon. "It's not always about you Clark."

"Then why are you avoiding me? You had Chloe send me away yesterday and then you didn't even go to lunch today."

"Maybe I'm just avoiding everyone. Things have gotten complicated lately."

"What things?"

Lana mentally laughed as he played right along with her script. "Fine, you're probably going to hear about it anyway soon. I'm in love with Chloe."

Clark burst out laughing.

Lana looked hurt and teary eyed. If art didn't pan out for her, someday she'd be a great Soap Opera actress.

Clark stopped laughing. "You're serious?"

"Yes I'm serious. That dinner and a movie thing we went on Saturday night was a date and Julie Peters and Chad Martin saw us together at the movies and now everyone knows!"

"A date." He stated with that adorable 'I don't understand' look on his face.

Lana added for effect, "and we were sort of ... making out at the time."

"You and Chloe were making out at the movies?" Clark practically yelled as three people, including her English Lit teacher, turned to stare at them.

Lana lowered her voice and practically whispered. "Yes Clark! Chloe and I made out at the movies."

"Sorry Lana, it's just a bit...wow." He was definitely in shock.

Lana got dramatically defensive. "I'm not sorry about it and I'm not going to be sorry, no matter what the small minded people of this town say or do."

"Um, Ok."

Lana blinked her teary eyes and looked up at him pleadingly. "You're fine with this, right Clark?"

"Well, I..." She could see the mental light bulb flip on as he seemed to suddenly get his brain back from wherever her news had sent it, "what about Jason?"

"We're over."

"Oh."

"You know, I meant what I said before, I don't want to loose you from my life Clark, but the truth is I love Chloe."

The bell rang.

"I, ah ... I need to get class now."

Lana called at him as he retreated down the hall, "Clark?"

"Sorry Lana, I just...I really have to go."

Gabe tried not to look any differently at his boss since he found out about the girls' ridiculous plan. He really, really tried. Unfortunately he was failing miserably.

"With last quarter's projections well above the predicted expectations, I want to increase the lower level hourly salaries. Could you send out a memo to the departmental managers notifying them to prepare for evaluation of employee performance before the end of the week?"

"Sure." Gabe scribbled a note to himself and then promptly returned to his internal evaluation of Lex Luthor.

The young man wore impossibly shiny shoes whose makers Gabe Sullivan most likely couldn't pronounce, neat black dress pants and a pink silk shirt rather reminiscent of Lana's former wardrobe. And between requests and cost-estimating Lex Luthor was currently, oh my god, engaged in obscene acts against a blue water bottle.

Gabe chided himself for thinking such thoughts. Lots of people had oral fixations which had nothing to do with sucking on other things belonging to the same sex.

Gabe immediately stopped chewing on the end of his pen.

'It's nothing', he thought to himself. He could of sworn he remember something from his college psych class about oral fixations being related to breast feeding. And love of breasts was definitely a manly, heterosexual trait.

"Are you alright Gabe?" Lex seemed genuinely concerned, "You seem a bit...red".

"I'm...it's just that...it's hot in here."

"It feels fine to me. Are you sure you're feeling well?"

"I'm fine." Gabe summed up his courage, "It's just something the girls were talking about last night."

"Lana and Chloe?"

Gabe nodded his head. "Yes. Chloe and Lana. They're interested...er...worried, no that's not the right word. Concerned. Yes. They're concerned about you."

"About me?" He looked visibly upset at someone being concerned about him.

"Yes." Gabe suddenly felt a pang of compassion for Lex. The boy wasn't much old than Chloe or Lana, just a handful of years above Lois. With Lionel Luthor as his main role model where human interaction was concerned, he was obviously stunted. "How have you been?"

"Um, I'm fine."

"So. What have you been doing lately? Besides work?" That couldn't have come out any more awkward.

"I don't think this is really an appropriate conversation for the work place."

"Fine. Let's take a break from work. Go for a walk?"

Lex leaned back on the front of his desk. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"No." He simply stated.

"I've been busy running Luthor Corp and dealing with the curve balls my father keeps throwing my way. There hasn't been much time for anything else."

"Ok, um...any romantic prospects?"

"Besides the ones that keep trying to kill me? No."

"Alright...um...so, what have you been doing to relax?"

Lex snorted, "Well spreadsheets usually put me to sleep, but I don't think that's what you mean."

"What about friends?"

Lex visibly stiffened, "Business associates only I'm afraid."

"Lex" Gabe practically sighed his name, "You've got to take some time for yourself. If you don't you'll just burn out. You won't have the energy to deal with the company, Lionel ...or anything else this town likes to produce."

"Brandy helps sometimes." Lex remarked sarcastically.

"Alcohol is not the solution," Gabe paused thoughtfully, "and I did not just go after school special with you."

The younger man laughed, "You rather reminded me of Jonathan Kent for a moment."

"Well, I wouldn't know. Barring football games and produce deliveries, the Kents generally don't socialize with the rest of us, not that there's a lot to do around here besides football and farms."

"Maybe I could...well, I have been going to some of the football games. Clark's playing now."

"That's a good idea. When's the next game?"

"It's next Sunday. Are you going?"

"Well, yeah. Chloe mentioned something about wanting me to be more active with school stuff." Gabe smirked mischievously to himself. He had never actually been to one, and the prospect of torturing his daughter by appearing at a school function held a strange appeal. "I think the girls mentioned something about a party at the Talon afterwards. We should attend that too."

"Alright, Since it's on a Sunday I guess it won't interfere with business too much."

Gabe smiled, "It's a date."

Lex looked at him inquisitively.

He blushed bright red again and stammered, "I didn't mean...not like that of course."

Lex laughed again, "Of course."

Lana and Chloe couldn't help but stand and gawk at the "backlash" they were now on the receiving end of.

"So we were thinking of forming a Smallville pride group for the school." Dan Cormier, the very burly ex-quarterback, finished pledging his support for their 'true love' and equal rights everywhere. A rather interesting group of football players, chess geeks, track runners, and loners had squeezed themselves into the Torch office also offering encouragement and praise for them, relating their stories of 'being in the closet', and making Chloe feel quite a bit guilty for their subterfuge.

"That's great, that you guys feel so comfortable talking about your experiences now." Lana gave her best smile, looking for all the world like she had won some kind of award.

"We just like figured if you two can do it, and be so public about it all, so can we." Jenny, a rather cute bleach blond girl with a page boy cut chimed in.

"Power in numbers, right." Ali, Jenny's girlfriend and Smallville High's last African American since the departure of the Rosses, said as she squeezed the other girl's hand.

"How are your parents handling this?" Chloe couldn't help but ask.

"Mine totally flipped of course, but I'm an adult now so they can't really do much." Fitz offered.

"My dad doesn't really notice anything unless you tell him directly, and I didn't. But my mom said that she had already figured it out, and not to bring it up to my dad until I'm out of the house." Ali answered.

"My mom thinks it's a phase, but she's glad I can't get pregnant this way." Jenny said shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm not actually gay, I'm just here to support you guys," Chad 'The Goth' declared.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Chad." Lana started to take over and organize them all in her own way, "I can talk to the principle about making it official and we can come up with some signs and stuff for the football game this weekend. It'll be both nicely public and small enough to test the waters as far as the rest of the town is concerned."

"I can get some t-shirts screen printed for us through my sister." Jack, the reigning tri-state chess champion suggested.

"That would be perfect."

Chloe watched as Lana spent the next half an hour turning her charm onto each of the people gathered in the cramped room enough to make the guys turn straight again and the girls drool. Her 'girlfriend' managed to come up with plans quick enough to implement within the week and volunteered the Torch's advertising for their group.

Half paying attention to Lana and half mentally planning the layout for the next paper, Chloe looked up just in time to see Clark standing in the doorway and staring dazedly at the first gathering of the Smallville Gay, Bisexual, and Lesbian Coalition (SGBLC), as Lana had coined them.

"Well that should be it for now, unless anyone has anything else to contribute." Lana dismissed the group and gathered her own stuff to head home.

Everyone except for Chloe and Lana filtered out of the office and around Clark who seemed to have become an unmovable object.

Chloe cleared her throat, "Hey Clark, what's up?"

Upon hearing his name, he seemed to snap out of his daze. "Oh, um, I just came in to deliver that article you wanted."

"Are you ok?" Lana asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Clark responded while setting his book bag on a desk and digging through it.

Lana gave Chloe a questioning look and Chloe did her best to nonverbally convey the message that Lana should just go. Surprisingly enough Lana got it, picked her own bag up and caught Chloe a little off-guard by kissing her quickly on the lips before she left the office.

The door shut with a very loud click slicing through the silence of the office.

"Here." Clark shoved a disk towards Chloe.

"Clark, we should talk." Chloe accepted the disk and put it down next to her keyboard.

"If it's about sex, I'm going to be out of here before you can blink."

"Literally?" Her joke didn't quite cut the tension. "So you know? About Lana and me?"

He looked at her sharply, "Kind of hard not to, with all the talk going around."

"Um...I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this, us, before you heard it somewhere else." Chloe presumed she would say something like that if she really was dating Lana. The whole thing made her head hurt.

He snorted, "Lana told me, actually. Right in the middle of the hall before fourth period."

Chloe winced. "Are you ok?"

Clark looked her straight in the eye, "No. I'm really not ok right now, but I don't hate you. I'm just confused and I need to sort some things out."

She raised her eyebrows inquisitively, "So you what? Need time?"

He nodded his head, "That would be good."

"Clark, before you go...you know that if you need to talk about this or anything else, you can call me anytime, right?"

"Sure"

Clark grabbed his stuff and left without looking back.

Clark speeded through his afternoon chores, trying not to throw anything too hard and dwelling on how messed up his love life seemed to be despite the fact he hadn't actually done much dating recently. Deranged seventeenth century witches didn't count. Neither did cheerleaders.

"Clark," his mother greeted him as he walked through the door, "how are you?"

He took a moment to marvel on how everyone seemed to be asking him the same questions lately. "Ok. You know don't you?"

Martha smiled falsely, "Know what?"

"About Lana and Chloe, that's why you're looking at me like that isn't it?"

Martha seemed to sag in both relief and concern. "I overheard something about it at the market the other day. Is it true? Are they...," she made some kind of a gesture with her hands Clark didn't quite recognize.

"Together?" He guessed, "yeah, it's true. Lana told me herself and I...um...I saw her kiss Chloe this afternoon."

Her eyebrows raised at the last part, "Wow. So how are you doing with all this?"

"I'm not sure. I mean, I keep thinking it's not really different from Lana and Jason, except that it's Chloe. And I know that doesn't really make sense, but I guess it'd be more like if Lana were to ever date Pete. It's weird."

"Just because Chloe's your friend and you've had feelings for Lana? Or is it because...you know?" Martha was back to gesturing again.

"What? Because they're both girls? No, I think I'm fine with that." Clark looked up at his mother, "Are you alright with it?"

"Yes! Your father and I have always encouraged you to keep an open mind about alternative lifestyles, so obviously I'd be perfectly fine with it." She declared.

"You've always seemed more liberal, but I bet Dad's weirded out by it."

"You'd be surprised what your father's fine with. I bet you if you brought home a boyfriend for dinner Jonathan would be perfectly accepting of him." Martha felt partially proud that she managed to say that out loud and partially mortified that she did it.

"He would?!" Clark exclaimed skeptically and then blushed bright red, "I mean, I didn't...I"

"Of course he'd be perfectly fine with it, as would I." Martha grabbed his hand, cutting off her son's stammering.

Clark stood speechless until he glanced down to their hands and realized that his were still filthy.

"I should wash up for dinner," he said before bolting upstairs as fast as he could go without using his powers.

"Smallville's first pride group has officially been formed." Chloe announced to her father at the dinner table.

Gabe groaned, "You two are still going through with that?"

"Sure." Lana smiled brightly. "We're even going to organize some stuff for this weekend's football game. You'd be surprised how many other people came out of the closet when we did."

"But we didn't come out of the closet." Chloe argued, "We just lied and pretended to come out of it."

"Whatever. You know what I mean." She countered.

"What exactly are you going to do at the game?" Gabe asked cautiously.

"We're not completely sure yet, we've just started to get stuff together." Lana replied.

"It's just that I don't want you girls doing anything too drastic. My boss is going to be there."

"Of course he is, Clark's playing." Chloe stated, noticing the over joyous expression that came over Lana's face with her father's statement.

"That's perfect!!" The other girl seemed to almost squeal.

"What's perfect?" Both Chloe and Gabe asked simultaneously in dread.

"I've been looking for a way to approach Lex about all this. Sunday will be perfect!" Lana ignored the warning expression that appeared on Gabe's face.

"Now Lana, this is about Lex relaxing away from work, not hooking him up with a high school quarterback." He told her sternly.

"I won't do anything to make him feel uncomfortable." Lana declared, slightly abashed. "But this will be the ideal opportunity to subtly nudge him towards the possibility."

"Subtly?" Chloe asked doubtfully.

"Yes, subtly." Lana scrunched her face up, "Quit looking at me like that. I can do 'subtle'."

Chloe snorted and then speared another piece of broccoli on her fork.

"I mean it Lana. Don't harass him about this. He's not in a good place right now." Gabe cautioned.

"That's why I'm doing this. To help Lex." Lana looked imploringly at Gabe, "I just think that he shouldn't be alone and Clark could be a really good match for him. They're both flawed and strange in their own way, but they seem like they would go together. Then neither one of them would have to be alone anymore."

Lana closed her bedroom door while cradling the portable phone to her ear.

"Hey, how've you been?" Jason's voice sounded strained on the other end of the line.

"I've been fine, been keeping busy."

"School and stuff? Look, I know the separation was my idea, but I've been thinking that maybe I could come back to Smallville this weekend. Maybe for the football game?"

"The football game?" Lana echoed back at him.

"Yeah. I could see you and see how the team's doing."

"How the team's doing?" Lana asked stiffly.

"Sure. I was their coach."

"No, it's fine. As a matter of fact I just spoke to some of them this afternoon. They're good. Things have changed around here a bit since you left, but everyone's fine." She informed him.

"That's good." He said with a sigh. Lana could hear a some people giggling in the background and a female voice telling the others to shut up.

"Anything else?"

"Listen Lana, no matter what happens with us, I'd really would like to be friends. I still don't think that we should keep being involved romantically, but I miss you."

"I've got to go."

"Lana..." He sighed so softly she almost didn't hear him say her name.

"We can discuss it this weekend. Goodnight Jason."

"Goodnight then." Lana listened until she heard the click, then hung up her receiver.

Sunday afternoon found an expensively, yet casually dressed bald billionaire meeting one of his subordinates and some teenagers for a high school football game. His father would be rolling over in his jail cell, had he not somehow conned his way out. Lex still couldn't figure out how he managed that one, but he would once again have to face the grim task of informing the Sullivans that they wouldn't be safe from the senior Luthor.

The things he did for Clark. If he wanted to relax, sitting out in the cold surrounded by screaming hicks wouldn't be the way to do it. He only agreed to spend the football game with the Sullivans in order to kill two birds with one stone.

Lex spent countless sleepless nights wondering why exactly he continued to tolerate the younger man's behavior towards him of late or the innumerable lies which had become both quite obvious and ridiculous.

'No Lex! I have no idea who stole your car. Yes, I had asked for $20,000 just minutes before because a friend - cough, Pete Ross, cough - got mixed up in something.'

'Oh, the car was put back neatly covered,' the likely actions of a guilty homegrown Midwest farm boy, 'I bet it was just some really considerate joy riders.'

'No Lex! I just came over in the middle of the night to admire your newest acquisition. I swear I have no idea how it just disappeared right under my nose' and then when Lex tracked down the culprit, the boy just happened to be a friend of Clark and Clark managed to miraculously show up in the nick of time to save everyone.

And that just bugged Lex to death. Clark comes off the hero repeatedly despite his lies, sneaky behavior, dangerous actions and questionable friends. Things Lex has continuously been verbally stoned for ever since he arrived in Smallville.

Adding salt to the wound, just a few weeks later Lex winds up the bad guy because a crazed one night stand decided to stalk him, frame him for murder and try to kill him. He still couldn't figure out how he ended up apologizing to Clark like some kind of guilty, wayward husband.

Of course it wouldn't be the first time he had taken the blame for some event which was clearly not his fault...not that Clark would ever admit that going to his father to get Lex to stop his memory treatments was the bad idea that landed him in green goo.

And sure Lex sometimes got in over his head. His father's left over projects for example. But in all honesty, he didn't start them, he didn't like them and he couldn't get out of the government contracts without shutting down the entire company. The other messes he wound up involved in occurred due to his admittedly overactive curiosity or his real concern for someone else.

Furthermore, had Clark not become involved in his own sordid web of events on occasion? Lex seemed to remember reports of the Kents' blown up storm cellar preceding a three month hiatus taken by Clark, which incredulously turned out to be enough to almost double the family debt. Not to mention Clark's most recent disappearance which just happened to coincide with a crooked FBI agent, last reported to be watching the Kent Farm, practically vanishing into thin air. And hadn't that been a fun situation to take care of? Though the Kents would never guess Lex had handled the official inquiry behind their backs. Granted he didn't do it on quite so official terms. But he had done it because he felt he owed it to Clark for the admittedly questionable room which Lex had since dismantled.

He truly couldn't understand why he seemed to cling to the vestiges of what might have been an actual friendship once upon a time. He suppose he should just chalk it up to his obvious masochistic streak.

"Lex!" A whirlwind of pink and black knocked him out of his brooding thoughts when one overly bubbly Lana Lang decided to run up and throw her arms about him in a very enthusiastic hug.

Ever since he made the mistake of initiating an embrace when he thought she was leaving Kansas forever, he had suffered for it. She seemed to think that she had a right to touch him, ask favors, harp on him and hang about as if he was her 'best friend forever' when truthfully, he had just wanted to make sure she got on the plane.

It was the primary reason he had to get her the hell out of his house, despite the dangers that had become apparent with Lana living above the Talon. He felt a tinge of guilt about inflicting the ex-cheerleader upon the Sullivans, but he soothed his remorse by telling himself that they were more than happy to have her live with them - which he was sure they were.

"Lana" He tried to sound enthusiastic. "Hello."

"I'm just so happy to see you here!" She exclaimed.

He wanted to ask why, but settled on a decidedly more diplomatic "Thank You".

"Lex. How are you?" A more subdued Gabe greeted him with a handshake.

"Well not that great. There's actually something I have to talk to you about, but that can wait till later." He answered honestly.

Gabe gave him a weary look and Lex instantly regretted telling the truth. He wasn't always the best in figuring out when to lie and when not to.

"Well, you can tell us later," Lana volunteered. "But right now, why don't we go get seated."

"Alright." Lex agreed. He noted that Gabe had been watching Lana with a suspicious wariness during their conversation and couldn't help but wonder if he owed the man more than just bonuses for his generosity. Maybe a small country would do.

Lana steered them towards a section of the stands of which the bottom front was covered with a large paper sign proclaiming the support of a winning game by the SGBLC. Whatever the SGBLC was, the obviously blind artist had decided to decorate it in an ghastly array of pinks against a black background. The thing had massive amounts of glitter on it.

"You like the sign? I did it myself." Lana admitted proudly.

While noticing that Lana and about ten or so odd students were wearing matching t-shirts, Lex managed to smile and respond, "It's very...distinct."

He wondered why on earth he ever thought she might flourish as an artist. Before her abysmal failure in Paris, and he had seen the progress reports which must have been what sent Lana flying back to Smallville, he had just figured she could have hidden depths.

Everyone had hidden depths, didn't they? Maybe Lana's just weren't in art.

She led him up the bleachers with Gabe trailing behind them.

"So Lana, I'm curious," Lex said as he sat on the cold metal bleachers, "what does the SGBLC stand for?"

Lex faintly heard an almost whispered "Oh God" come from Gabe's direction.

Lana turned to him with a preternaturally bright smile, "We're the Smallville Gay, Bisexual and Lesbian Coalition."

He honestly didn't know what to say. For the first time in a long while, Lex's mind went completely blank.

Lex's silence, however, didn't phase Lana.

"We're dedicated to both the support of our members and educating the community in tolerance. While it's not an 'official' school organization just yet, it'll be one after I have a meeting with Principle Reynolds tomorrow afternoon."

"That's...nice." Lex started to quickly regain his equilibrium. Curiosity about Lana's own preference promptly flowed through him. "Can anyone join or are all the members homosexually inclined highschoolers?"

It shouldn't have been possible, but Lana smile widened. "Of course you can join. Most of our members are either homosexual or bisexual and still in high school, but we have Fitz who graduated last year and Chad who's completely straight. Just let me go grab a form from Chloe."

Lana patted him on the knee and then jumped up from her seat, hurriedly wedging herself past Lex and Gabe out into the aisle before the bewildered billionaire could say anything.

"You know, I see Jonathan Kent sitting way over there." Gabe pointed to a part of the bleachers occupied predominantly by adults.

"We should go say hello." Lex suggested.

"It would be rude not to." Gabe agreed.

The two men quickly disappeared into the crowd, making their way towards the relative safety of the Kents.

"Lex! How are you?" For the second time that day, Lex found his arms full of a suspiciously cheerful female. Martha was quite a bit easier to take than Lana.

"Lex, Gabe." Jonathan stood up and promptly hugged Gabe. Lex was amused to notice that Gabe seemed utterly bewildered until he remembered Gabe mentioning that the Kents generally didn't associate with anyone else in Smallville. "How ya holding up?"

Jonathan was looking at Gabe like someone just died.

Martha loosened her hold on Lex and looked over at Gabe. "We heard...well...you know. How's everyone doing?"

'Oh shit', Lex thought. 'They've found out about Lionel's release.'

"You know?" Lex exclaimed.

"Well it's all over town Lex." Martha informed him.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't stop it. By the time I even found out they had already gone through with it. I was planned on telling you after the game." He apologized and mentally listed the people who could have possibly leaked out the information before the official press release.

Gabe and the Kents just stared at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"How could you have stopped Chloe and Lana from dating?" Martha asked.

"Chloe and Lana dating?" Light dawned and Lex realized they were discussing two different things. "Actually, I thought you were talking about..."

"About what?" Gabe asked.

"Well there's no easy way to tell you this, but I think maybe we should wait until we're in private."

"You're starting to freak me out. Just tell us what it is." Gabe insisted.

Lex looked at the three worried faces before him and gave in. "My father's been released from prison. His conviction was overthrown on some kind of made up technicality. It's more likely that he somehow found a way to pay off or intimidate someone in power...or got somebody else to do it for him. Though I haven't been able to figure out how it was done just yet."

Martha put her hands up to her face and just sat back down. Both Gabe and Jonathan seemed to be frozen in shock.

"I'm sorry." Lex reiterated.

Jonathan just shook his head while Gabe mumbled that it wasn't Lex's fault.

"Hey who died?" Chloe walked up from behind with Lana at her side.

"No one." Gabe answered quickly.

"What's going on then?" The blonde asked.

"We'll tell you both later. You should just enjoy the game right now." Gabe shifted into his father mode.

The girls looked scared and confused, but chose to listen to Gabe and remain silent.

"I think that's a good idea for everyone at the moment." Jonathan added and sat down next to his wife.

Martha grabbed Lex's hand and pulled him next to her. "Come sit with us and watch the game."

Chloe, Gabe and Lana sat down in the row behind him and Martha didn't let go of Lex's hand throughout the match. Lex took a moment to reconsider his earlier thoughts maligning small town football games and settled in to watch Clark win.

Lana hadn't backed down from her plan, but decided to put it on hold for the meantime. Whatever happened, it had to be bad by the way Lex and the other adults were acting.

Chloe had volunteered them both for a beverage run and they were currently making their way through the crowd. Lana figured the other girl just needed a break from the morose tension that currently filled the stands.

"Lana."

She stopped and turned automatically towards the direction of the voice.

"Hey I was wondering where you were." Jason came over quickly to stand next to her.

"I've been here." She said and grabbing Chloe's hand, resumed her trek towards the concession stand.

"Hello Chloe." He greeted the other girl.

"Hey." She cautiously replied.

"I've been talking to some of the players and you'll never believe the rumors going around." Jason said as he walked beside her.

"Really?" She asked dryly.

"Yes." He continued to prod her for information as he eyed her and Chloe's hands suspiciously. "You haven't heard them?"

"I've heard a lot of things. I wasn't aware of anything especially outrageous." She answered him.

Chloe had apparently decided to remain silent and watch the interaction between Jason and Lana.

"How's your mother?" Lana decided to go on the offensive and cut off whatever Jason was about to say.

"I don't know. You know I don't talk to her."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry." She replied flippantly. "College going ok?"

"My classes are just fine. Listen Lana, I think we need to talk."

She stopped as the three of them got in line. "You know, I think we said everything we needed to say when you moved. Really Jason, I'm over it. You should move on."

"We're talking later." He proclaimed.

Lana didn't look, but she felt him move away from her.

Chloe yanked her hand. "You told me he knew" she whispered harshly.

"I lied." Lana admitted. "We were over anyway. It shouldn't matter."

"That didn't sound over to me!"

"Well it is. He walked out because he couldn't bare to open up to me." Lana insisted.

"So you're what? Getting revenge for him leaving you?"

"No." She insisted, lowering her voice. "I'm doing this for Lex and Clark. It has nothing to do with Jason."

Chloe looked at her skeptically, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Lana contended. "I'm absolutely sure."