"Chloe Sullivan! Lana Lang!" Gabe yelled up the stairs. "I want you both down here right this minute!"

Gabe Sullivan wasn't what anyone would call a strict parent. He often thought he should be a little tougher on his daughter, but frankly he didn't know how to. Every time she would look up at him with the tiniest bit of hurt in her eyes, he simply wanted to hold her and make the tears go away.

However, Chloe and Lana had gone too far this time.

They came running down the stairs shortly after he called for them.

"What's wrong Dad?" Chloe was dressed for school, but still hadn't put her shoes on.

He tossed the Monday morning edition of the Inquisitor towards her.

"Lex Luthor has Wild Party with Gay High school Students." She read the headline aloud.

"What?!" Lana tugged on the newspaper so she could read the story over Chloe's shoulder. "Sources report that a group of teenagers from Smallville High School spent Saturday night in Lex Luthor's penthouse."

"Oh my god! Dad, none of this happened."

"I know. The Inquisitor has a nasty habit of finding out a few facts and then constructing stories around them." Gabe stated. "However, I just thought you might want to see what your meddling has produced."

"We didn't mean to do this." Lana protested. "It's not our fault they wrote this story."

"What are we going to do?" Chloe asked.

"Nothing." Gabe replied. "You two are going to do absolutely nothing but go to school today. There will be no meddling, no plots and NO matchmaking. Do I make myself understood!"

The girls looked up at him with wide, teary eyes and simultaneously apologized.

"But I just want to help. I feel really bad about this." Lana offered.

"No." He stood firm.

"Did you guys see the paper today?" Chad asked as Chloe and Lana approached the front doors of the school.

The nodded glumly.

"Why are you so sad?" Joan asked. "It's great."

Chloe's eyebrows shot up. "What's so great about the Inquisitor making up stories about Lex?"

"Not the Inquisitor." Chad answered. "The Ledger. A sex video with four of those jerks was e-mailed to everyone in the school over the weekend. They've got a whole two pages of articles about it and 'The Decline of Morals in America'. Didn't you see it?"

"No." Chloe admitted, taking the newspaper he handed her. She had almost forgotten about the whole thing over the weekend.

"What article about Lex Luthor?" Joan asked.

"Um... the Inquisitor did an article about us staying at the penthouse Saturday." Lana answered her. "It's horrible and completely made up."

"They've been dismissed from the football team and cheerleading squad. Scholarships have been withdrawn." Chloe stated, paraphrasing the newspaper and looking pointedly at Lana who just shrugged.

"Hey." Clark said as he walked up to the group. "What are you guys looking at?"

Whatever Clark and Lex had been arguing about Sunday must have been resolved because he had a smile a mile wide plastered on his face and was practically floating.

"Have you seen the newspaper this morning?" Chad asked.

"Which one?"

"Any of them?" Lana replied.

"No. Why?" Clark must have forgotten about Lana's little revenge also.

"Well there's good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?" Lana asked him.

Chloe didn't really consider either one to be good news, but she could see how other people could be happy about the Ledger.

"Good news." Clark responded.

"Some cheerleaders and jocks were caught on a sex video. They've been kicked off of the teams and got their scholarships dropped." Chad happily told him.

Clark deflated. "And the bad news?"

"The Inquisitor found out we spent the night this weekend in Metropolis and made up a whole story about Lex and a gay high school orgy." Lana replied glumly.

Clark didn't really blush, but got very red in the face none the less. "What?"

"It's really bad." Chloe said. "But Dad wants us to stay out of it and let Lex and his PR staff handle it."

"But it's not true." He protested.

"Of course it's not true. And if there was an orgy, I'd like to know why I wasn't invited."

Joan promptly smacked Chad upside the head for that comment.

"I feel like we should do something to help him." Lana said.

Clark nodded in agreement.

"Look, Lex Luthor's a nice enough guy and all, but what do you think we could do to help him?" Joan asked.

'That was not the question to ask Lana', Chloe thought as she cringed and waited for the inevitable reply.

"I have a plan."

"This is a disaster Lex." Claire Simmons, his head of PR, had been lecturing him on and off for the entire day. "I can't believe you did this without so much as a warning my way."

He glanced up when she took a breath to see if he had a chance to say something before she started ranting again. "I didn't do anything wrong and I want them sued for libel."

"It doesn't matter if you did anything wrong. It matters that they made it look wrong. If I believed you did anything like what they said you did, I wouldn't be here. I don't represent scum, remember? And we're going to sue them, don't doubt that."

"Did you find out who leaked the story?"

She nodded. "The doorman. He was fired this morning."

"What else are we going to do?" He asked.

"I've set up an interview with one of the Daily Planet reporters. We're going to give them your side of the story and sell the whole mess as you being a good, but persecuted, Samaritan."

"Sounds good."

Lex looked at the clock. Clark would have gotten out of school twenty minutes ago and he wanted to talk to him personally about this. If he could escape the rabid press camped out in front of the gates and the watchful eyes of his staff.

"I just need to know that there isn't anything else you haven't told me about these kids and your relationships with them."

Lex looked her in the eye and lied. "No, I can't think of anything else."

"Good. Then we'll get you through this and make those rags wish they'd never printed such a story."

"Oh I have no doubt Lex will get through this...Ms. Simmons, is it?" The devil himself had returned. "He's a survivor."

"Dad." Lex stood up in shock.

Claire looked back and forth between the two Luthors, indecision painted on her face. Lex paged security.

"Is that anyway to greet your father?"

"When he's a murdering psychopath, yes." Lex stated. "Why are you here."

"Lex, I came because you've been looking so hard for me," his father proclaimed. "And I thought you should have some familial support in this hour of need."

He snorted. "Believe me Dad, your support's the last thing I need or want now."

"Are you sure about that?" Whatever else his father was going to say was sharply interrupted by the arrival of Lex's new head of security and three other hired hands.

"Mr. Luthor." Jacob Benson nodded his head at Lex, then looked appraisingly at Lionel out of the corner of his eye.

"I want to know how he got through security and if anyone saw him enter the grounds." Lex ordered.

"I'll look into it at once, sir. What would you..."

The entrance of two other people halted whatever Jacob was about to ask. Clark had absolutely the worst timing sometimes.

"Mr. Kent, how nice to see you." Lionel greeted him. "And you brought the lovely Ms. Lang with you."

"Jacob." Lex caught the other man's attention while pointedly not looking the towards Clark. He didn't want anything to give him away.

"I'm sorry sir, but I don't know how they got past us either."

His father chuckled. "You must be new. Young Clark here has had free reign of this house since he was fifteen."

Lex inwardly winced as Clark blushed and Claire looked at him with renewed suspicion. While he had only ever contemplated patricide, he wasn't above acting on it. "Please escort my father to a guest room and keep an eye on him."

As soon as his security left with his father, Claire pounced. "Is that true?"

He sighed. "Clark's my friend and has always been welcome in my home."

"Fifteen?" She asked incredulously. "How did they get around security anyway?"

"We went around to the side and jumped the fence." Clark answered her. "We just wanted to avoid the press."

"That was a good idea. You know what would have been better? If you'd stayed away altogether."

"Claire." Lex addressed her with a warning tone. "It's alright."

"We came because of the article. We wanted to help." Lana explained.

His head of PR looked at them shrewdly. "Did anyone see either of you come here?"

"Just the kitchen staff." Clark answered.

Claire turned to speak to Lex. "I don't want to have to involve any of these kids."

"Neither do I." He agreed.

"Good, then I'm going to find out if anyone else saw them or your father enter the grounds. And we'll talk about this later." She excused herself and left the room.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked.

"We wanted to see if you were ok." Clark stated. Lex could see his hands fidgeting with the ends of his jacket, like he didn't quite know what to do with them.

"And we also wanted to tell you how sorry we are about this. If I hadn't asked you to chaperone us this weekend, none of this would have happened." Lana looked truly apologetic...too apologetic. He thought back to his earlier suspicions about her.

"It's not your fault. I didn't even consider the press issues when I agreed and I know you wouldn't ever plan for something like this to happen."

"Of course not. And we really do want to help." She insisted.

Lex thought she sounded sincere and believed her. Whatever Lana had been up to, this wasn't it. "That's nice, but there's nothing you can do now."

A knock sounded on his office door.

"Come in." Lex said, silently amazed someone bothered to knock.

"Sir, Lionel Luthor's secure on the third floor." Jacob announced.

"Thank you. I want you to make sure Clark and Lana leave discreetly." He directed. "Try taking them out the same way they came in."

"Yes sir."

Clark looked like he wanted to protest.

"I'll talk to you later." Lex cut him off. "And tell your parents that my father has resurfaced."

"You're just trying to avoid Gabe, aren't you?" Clark asked Lana as they both climbed out of her car.

"No" She replied. "He already knows. Gabe's the one who showed me and Chloe the article this morning. I figured you'd want someone to act as a buffer in case your father freaks out."

"Did he yell?"

"Not that much. He knows Lex, so he didn't believe it." Lana fumbled with her keys, dropping them and picking them up again. "Do your parents still think all things Luthor are evil?"

"Um...they're kind of weird about that." Clark purposely slowed down, putting off the inevitable. "If I'm mad at Lex they defend him, but if I defend him about something, they'll give me the whole 'you can't trust a Luthor' spiel."

"Great," Lana half smiled. "All we have to do is go in there griping about how this is all Lex's fault and they'll be ok."

Clark considered it for a moment. "I think I'll just keep quiet and play it by ear. They don't read the Inquisitor, so maybe they won't have even heard about it."

"Right." Lana look like she believed that about as much as Clark did.

"Right." Clark panicked a little as he opened the door. "So you're staying for dinner?"

"Sure." She was braver than he gave her credit for...or really stupid.

No one was in the kitchen when they first went in, despite the food simmering on the stove. Clark heard Lana yelp and quickly looked over to where she was staring. The television was on, but muted. A report on the Inquisitor's article was playing and his Dad's shotgun was sitting on the living room table.

"Clark." He actually jumped when his father entered through the hall door off of the kitchen.

"Hey Dad. Where's Mom?" He didn't think he sounded that flustered.

"She's upstairs talking to your Grandfather. Are you alright son?"

"Fine." He managed to say.

"Hello Mr. Kent."

Clark had almost forgot Lana was there for a moment.

"Lana. You staying for dinner?" His father was entirely too calm. It was scaring him more than all the yelling in the world.

"If you don't mind." She answered.

"Of course not. We'd love to have you." He smiled. Maybe he hadn't actually seen the news. He could have been watching something else and left the room before the story came on. But it didn't explain the shotgun.

"You have the shotgun out." Clark mentally kicked himself for just blurting it out that way.

His Dad stirred the vegetables and looked towards the coffee table. "I was cleaning it."

"Oh."

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah...it's just that..." Clark gulped. "Have you seen the news?"

"That thing about you guys staying over in Lex's penthouse? Is that what's got you so jumpy?"

"It's not true!" Clark said. "They made all that junk up."

Lana was staying quiet and looking at him like he'd grown another head. So much for playing it cool.

"I know," his father agreed.

"Your not upset about it?"

"I'm sure Lex will sort it out." He looked at Clark like he could see right through him. "Unless there's something I should be upset about..."

"No." Clark shook his head. "Nothing."

"Alright." He didn't look entirely convinced. "Why don't you two clean up for dinner, your mother will be down soon."

"Ok. I'll just go clean up now." Clark turned and practically jogged up the stairs.

Lana followed close behind him. "Great performance Clark. It's a good thing nothing did happen with the way you acted down there."

"I was just nervous." He turned on the faucet and washed his hands. "I didn't think he'd be that calm about it."

"Nothing did happen, right?" She looked suspiciously at him.

He shook his head and she let the subject drop.

"Now just let me do all the talking." Lana instructed her as they entered the offices of the Daily Planet.

Chloe sighed. "I've had a lot more experience with this than you have. I should be the one to talk to the interviewer."

"How do you have more experience?"

"Lana! I'm a reporter. I run the school newspaper. I had a column at the Daily Planet once."

"But you're never on the other end of it all, are you?" Lana punched the elevator button. "I've actually had more experience getting around your little investigations."

"My little investigations?" She raised her eyebrows. "Do you mind rephrasing that?"

Lana waved her off. "You know what I mean. Besides, I've rehearsed."

"They can tell when it's rehearsed."

Lana pouted.

Chloe huffed. "Fine. You can do it, but be careful not to go off on a tangent or say anything without really thinking about it first."

"I won't." She smiled and before Chloe knew it, Lana kissed her...in an elevator where they were completely alone. Her stomach flipped a little. As the other girl pulled away the elevator doors opened, rescuing her from having to say something.

Lana grabbed her hand and pulled her through the maze of desks where Chloe had once worked, stopping only once they had reached the end of the third row.

"Matt Jones?" Lana asked.

He looked up quickly and then did a double take, right past Lana. "Chloe Sullivan," he stood up, knocking his chair back, and hugged her. Chloe pulled her hand from Lana's and returned the embrace. "How you doing kid?"

"I'm ok."

He pulled back with a smile that shone even from his dark blue eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Lana grabbed her hand back and yanked Chloe next to her. "We're here to give you an interview."

He looked at them questioningly.

"You see..." She started to explain.

Lana cut her off. "Chloe said you were a fair reporter, so we've come to give you our side of the story about last weekend."

Matt still looked hopelessly confused.

"The Lex Luthor Scandal." Chloe elaborated.

"The one about the teenagers up at his penthouse?" Realization dawned upon him. "You're the teenagers?"

"Two of them." Lana answered. "Will you write a story about what we have to say?"

"Yeah, sure." He grabbed some supplies from his desk. "Let's do this somewhere private."

Two days had passed since Lex kicked him out of the castle without so much as a phone call for Clark. He did everything in his power to resist sneaking back in to talk to Lex, most of which included staring off at nothing and brooding.

The sound of the barn door opening and closing broke him out of his morose daze.

"Dad?" He called out when after a few seconds, no one announced their presence.

"No." Lex's voice answered from the staircase. "I hope you don't mind me stopping by like this, but I wanted to..." Clark speeded over and kissed him soundly, interrupting him in mid-speech. "...see you"

"Why haven't you called?" Oh god, he sounded whiney even to himself.

Lex didn't seem to mind and smiled affectionately up at him. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Clark picked him up from where he stood on the last step, turned around and set him down on the loft floor as an answer.

"I've had a problem with the phone lines being tapped and for a castle, it's been surprisingly crowded at home with my staff and father hovering."

He nodded and then frowned. "What's going on with Lionel?"

"I don't know." Lex withdrew from his arms. "He's acting even stranger and more unpredictable than usual. He claims he's changed."

"He didn't seem different the other day."

"No...but he's been odd. I don't know how else to describe it. Personally, I can throw him farther than I trust him." He made his way over to the desk and lent against it.

"I can throw him a lot farther..." Clark trailed off when he caught a full smile on Lex's lips, brightening his entire face. He smiled back and walked over to stand closer to the other man. "How did you get here? I didn't hear a car drive up."

"I used your truck to sneak out of the castle and blend in with the locals, then parked on the other side of the field and walked across."

"Reporters?"

Lex nodded his head and shifted forward a little.

Clark moved even closer until he could feel gentle puffs of breath on his skin. "I'm glad you came."

"I missed you," he admitted, bringing his right hand up to thread through Clark's hair.

Clark pressed into his touch. Putting one hand on the desk behind Lex, he leaned down until his face touched the other man's and whispered in his ear. "I missed you too."

Lex shifted until their lips brushed. He rested his other hand on Clark's hip, squeezing lightly when their kiss deepened.

A quiet peace, not unlike the moment before their first kiss, settled over Clark. He took the opportunity to memorize the feeling of the other man in his arms. Lex smelled of cologne and something more subtle, something uniquely Lex.

Clark found the firmness of his lips broken only by a thin scar which he couldn't help but lick. He quickly grew addicted to the heat and the smooth feeling of the pale skin his hands found themselves itching to explore.

He started to pull back when his heat vision activated, only to be startled by someone loudly clearing their throat from behind them.

"Clark, dinner's ready. Why don't you bring Lex down so we can have a little talk?" His mother's voice instructed from the top of the stairs.

Clark went completely still and the burning from behind his eyelids instantly let up.

The interview went fairly well. Lana told the bare minimum of facts and managed to appear only mildly rehearsed. She also made sure to let Matt know how she felt guilty for the mess their little field trip had caused for Lex. The sole snag for Chloe had been Lana's fierce clasp on her hand underneath the table. She felt it was time to revisit Lana's motives in their relationship, but also felt extremely reluctant regarding the confrontation ahead.

Chloe had gone into the whole situation under the impression that the plan was brought on by an interest in fixing Clark and Lex up. Later, she suspected Lana's problems with Jason had a great deal to do with it, but after the kiss in the elevator and the obvious display of jealousy over Matt, doubts surfaced.

The problem was that she had no one to really talk to about it since nobody knew the truth except for her father and Pete.

Chloe chose the lesser of two evils and dialed the phone from the privacy of her bedroom.

"Hello."

"Hey Pete, it's Chloe. How are you?"

"Fine." He sounded suspicious. "What's up?"

"I...I need to talk?"

"It's blowing up in your face isn't it." He didn't have to sound so smug about it.

"No...well just a little...I think," she admitted.

"I read the Inquisitor. Did Clark and Lex find out about your scheming?"

"No." Chloe took a deep breath. "It's Lana."

"uh huh," he signaled for her to continue.

"Things have gotten weird. Well...weirder."

"How?"

Chloe hesitated. "I think she might actually like me."

"Like you, like you."

"Yes." She exclaimed. "What? Are we in the fifth grade?"

"I was just clarifying." He had the nerve to laugh. "So why do you think she has the hots for you?"

"It's not funny! She kissed me for no good reason when no one was around and then got all jealous when a guy I know hugged me."

He burst into laughter again. "Are you sure nobody was around?"

"We were alone in an elevator."

More laughter greeted her.

"Pete?!"

"Ok, ok...just give me a second."

She waited patiently.

"Have you talked to her about it?"

"No, and I don't really want to."

"Well that's a good way to get an answer." He replied sarcastically.

"You think I should talk to her about it? What do I say?"

"You're allergic to pink." He giggled.

"Seriously."

"Tell her you're not a lesbian...you're not, are you?"

"I don't think so."

"You don't think so?"

"Well, I've never really tried it out." She twirled the phone cord around her hand and laid down on her bed.

"It's not something you try out."

"How do you know?"

"I just know." He sighed. "Do find other girls attractive?"

"Aesthetically." She admitted. "Have you ever checked another guy out?"

"No. No. No. Absolutely Not."

"So you've never done anything with another guy?"

"What part of those no's did you not get? I'm strictly into girls." He stated vehemently.

"The kissing's kind of hot," she admitted. "I mean it was awkward at first, but now it's just kind of nice."

Pete went silent for a minute. "How much have you two been kissing?"

Chloe felt herself blush. "A few times a day."

"Do you hold hands?"

"Sometimes," she confessed.

"Do you talk about your feelings?"

"We talk about everything."

"Do you miss her when she's not around?"

"A little."

"Oh yeah, you've definitely got yourself confused. You need to break it off and date a guy."

"But...I'm not sure I want to."

He became quiet again.

"Then why are you talking to me? Go talk to Lana."

"What if she isn't really into it and I'm just imagining things?"

"Well, don't just go into the conversation laying it all out." He advised. "Play it cool. Ask her why she kissed you when she didn't need to."

"Thanks Pete"

"You know, I can't believe what's happened since I left. It's all turned upside down. Clark's kissing Lex Luthor and I'm giving you advise on dating Lana." He ranted. "And what happened to all the mutants?"

"I don't know...wait a minute, Clark kissed Lex?" She sat bolt upright in bed.

"Um...I wasn't suppose to say that."

"Well you did. When did this happen? Where? How do you know? Give me the details." She demanded.

Pete groaned, but gave in. "You didn't hear it from me."

"Ok, I didn't hear it from you. Now spit it out."

"I walked in on them at the penthouse. They were going at it pretty well."

"Do they know that you know?" Chloe asked.

"Uh huh. Clark made me swear not to tell anyone, which means that you can't tell him I told you."

"I'll play it cool," she promised. "You're a really good friend."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Now go talk to your girlfriend."

Clark's protective stance over Lex gave him a warm feeling in his chest. It also unsettled him to think he might need physical protection from Clark's parents.

Truthfully, he was more afraid of Martha than Jonathan.

They exchanged awkward and stiff pleasantries when he entered the house, appearing entirely too civil in Lex's opinion, and proceeded to go about dinner as if nothing happened. Lex started wondering about just how functional the Kents really were under the nuclear family facade.

"So how long have you two been in a relationship?" Martha asked half way through the meal, apparently having tried to lull them into a false sense of security.

Clark froze with his fork in mid-air.

Jonathan continued eating as if he was purposely tuning out the entire conversation.

"Since this weekend." Lex answered for them both.

"Uh huh." She replied, still freakishly calm. "Why weren't we told?"

Clark still looked shell shocked and hopelessly panicked. "I was going to tell you...it's just that it's new."

Lex thought that was a perfectly viable excuse. "Also, with the whole press scandal and my father, it's been a little hectic. I just haven't found the time," he added.

Martha wore an expression which clearly said she knew they wouldn't have said a word until they had to. "Clark's had plenty of time," she said accusingly.

Clark ducked his head, abashed.

"We don't keep secrets from each other in this house." She continued. Lex thought that was a pretty rich statement considering the amount of secrecy which surrounded the Kents. "I'll let it go this time because I know it can be difficult to talk to your parents about this kind of stuff, but there are going to be some rules enforced."

Lex nodded his head.

"First, no more overnight visits until Clark's eighteen." She spoke, looking directly at Clark. "Second, Lex will announce himself when he comes over for a visit. Third, I hope you'll be a little better at keeping this a secret from others because I do not want you to have to deal with the public backlash until absolutely necessary."

"I completely agree." Lex put himself back into the conversation.

Martha redirected her gaze over to him. "Lex, you know I like you." She smiled. "I think of you as one of the family. But if you do anything unacceptable, I'll let Jonathan hurt you."

Clark's father perked up at her last remark and Lex gulped. "I won't," he promised.

"Good." She relaxed a little. "Now, is there anything else that we should know?"

Clark looked a little scared at her question for some reason. "There's um..."

"What?" Martha asked.

"Lex knows."

Jonathan stiffened up. "Knows what?" He looked back and forth between Clark and Lex.

"That I'm...not human."

Jonathan looked like he was thinking of where to hid the body. "You told him?"

"No," Lex answered for Clark. "I guessed."

"I suppose on some level I always figured you'd put all the pieces together, but you've got to understand how dangerous it is for Clark...people like your father would..." Martha trailed off, somewhat panicky.

"I know what my father's capable of, but I think you should know by now that I would do anything to protect Clark."

"Do you think Lionel's figured it out too?" She asked worriedly.

"Unfortunately, yes," he replied. "I've done what I could to neutralize him, but..."

"Short of killing the bastard, there's not much we can do." Jonathan voice held a frightening amount of venom.

"Jonathan!" Martha chastised her husband.

"It's true," Lex admitted. "But I'm not ready to consider that an option."

"You're not seriously talking about killing your father?" Clark exclaimed.

"No, I'm just agreeing with Jonathan that he's a real threat." Lex rubbed his tired eyes and decided to come clean about his suspicions, "I think he's working with someone else on this now...someone even more powerful than him."

"Whoever got him out of jail?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes, and I don't know who it is."

"I don't like this. Is there anyone else who might have guessed about Clark?" Martha asked.

"Chloe," Clark answered. "She pretty much told me that she knows."

"I'm more worried about her safety than what she would do." Lex responded. "I've had security watching the Sullivans since my father got out." He decided not to mention the two women he currently had watching the Kents also. He'd cross that bridge when he had to. "But like Jonathan said, there's not much else we can do."

The Kents nodded in agreement, then the dinner table fell silent.

"Clark, can you help me clear these dishes and get desert?" Martha asked, surprising Lex. No one had yet to finish their dinner. "I think we could all do with a little comfort food."

"Pie?" The dark mood cleared to some extent with Clark's innocently hopeful expression, making Lex smile.

Martha smiled affectionately also, "Yes, pie."

Monsters, freaky mutants with tentacles and mind control powers, were things that Chloe Sullivan understood and could handle. Lana Lang, despite some rumors, was not one of them. Thus although it required her to leave the house before the sun rose and to subsist on candy bars and bagels from the Talon, she had managed to avoid all but the briefest contact with the other girl for a whole day.

She had enough to distract herself with anyway since the disappearance of a girl from Smallville High and that of Lex Luthor seemed to correlate with sightings of strange lights in the sky and dead cattle.

When Chloe left the scene of the last abduction, Clark had been frantically searching in and around the sight where one of Lex's cars had been found abandoned despite warnings from the local Sheriff.

"Have you found anything yet?" He asked her, appearing next to her computer from out of nowhere.

Chloe practically jumped out of her chair. "Shit Clark! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," he said unapologetically. "Have you found anything?"

"Um...yeah." She calmed her breathing and looked up at his worried face. "We have three possibilities, el chupacabra,...UFO's, or both."

Clark swallowed. "What are chupacadres?"

"Chupacabras," she corrected him. "They're some kind of vampire like animal commonly seen in Mexico. I know we're in the middle of Kansas, but it fits with the livestock found drained of blood. Did you find anything else around the area?"

"Well..." he hesitated. "About 50 yard away from the car, there was a flattened area in the middle of John Fallow's field. It could have been from something landing."

"Ok....the third option, about it being both Chupacabras and UFO's?" Clark nodded his head, indicating that he was following her train of thought. "Some people think that Chupacabras are like pets...for aliens."

"Like a dog or something?"

She nodded her head.

"Who brings their dog to a different planet?"

Chloe shrugged, "I don't know. Is it possible you...um...know who these aliens are?"

"No," he barked out defensively. "I don't know any other...you know."

"So you're like, on your own? The only one here?"

Clark got real quiet and he cast his eyes down towards the floor. "The only one," he practically whispered.

"The..." she started.

"I don't want to talk about it," he stopped her.

"Alright," Chloe agreed, surprised she managed to get him to admit what he did. "I haven't been able to put a pattern to the sightings and stuff yet. It all seems pretty scattered, but I'm continuing to monitor the police channels for more information."

Clark sat down next to her and looked at the information Chloe managed to uncover about such abductions for about five minutes before the phone rang. She picked it up. "The Torch, Chloe Sullivan speaking."

"Hi sweetheart, have you seen Lana tonight?" Gabe asked her anxiously.

"No."

"I don't want to worry you unnecessarily, but someone named Jenny called looking for her and said that Lana was supposed to meet her at the Talon, but never showed. I wouldn't worry, but with Lex Luthor missing and everything..." he trailed off.

"Have you tried her cell?"

"It says she's out of the service area."

"I think we should call the police and report her missing. I know a person has to be missing 24 hours, but with Lex and the other girl gone, they might want to know."

He sighed, "I'll do it. Are you alone there?"

"Clark's with me."

"Well, stay with him until you get home. I don't want anything happening to you."

"Ok, bye Dad."

"See you soon," he said before hanging up.

"Lana's missing too?" Clark asked her.

"Yeah."

"I'm going to go back out and search along the main roads." He stood up and the chair scraped along the floor as he pushed it under one of the tables.

She stood up also and grabbed her purse. "I'm going with you."

"You should probably go home."

"I'm going with you," she repeated. "Besides you don't have a car, unless you were planning on running all over the county."

He looked at her blankly.

"Oh, right." She put on her best determined face. "I'm still going with you."

He reluctantly nodded in agreement. "At least I'll be able to keep an eye on you this way."

Lana had been hanging in a glowing orange room for a few hours and her wrists were badly chafed. She tugged on the vine-like things wrapped around her arms, legs and torso, holding her to some kind of squishy wall. It was more out of irritation than an actual effort to get free.

Lex sighed in annoyance next to her.

"What?" She demanded.

"Nothing." Lana could have sworn he rolled his eyes.

"This isn't fair!" She screamed in frustration. "It's always me."

He snorted. "Not everything is always you."

"I get kidnapped all the time." She pointed out.

"I get kidnapped too."

"By crazy ex-girlfriends and stuff, not by freaky monsters."

Lex chuckled. "Same difference."

She pouted in silence for a little while.

"What were those things with the little gray aliens anyway?" The small red-haired girl on Lana's other side asked.

"Chupacabras, I think. They fit the description." Lex answered.

Lana moaned. "I think one of them drooled on me."

"They sort of remind me of Stitch with smaller ears, and gray skin." The other girl commented.

"Stitch?" Lex asked confused.

"Lilo and Stitch. It's a Disney movie." The redhead explained.

"Who are you, anyway?" Lana asked her, wanting to put a name to her face.

"Kayla Anderson. I'm a freshman at Smallville High." She revealed. "And you're Lana Lang, the lesbian, right?."

Lex laughed quietly and she could have kicked him if she were free. "Yes," she bit out. "My name is Lana Lang and I'm a lesbian."

He laughed harder.

"Oh will you shut up!" She snapped at him.

"Sorry, it just sounded like you were at a Lesbian's Anonymous meeting." He didn't sound very apologetic.

Kayla started to speak and then hesitated.

"Yes?" Lana encouraged her.

"How did you know you were a lesbian?" She asked.

Lex started laughing again.

"Lex!" Lana whined.

"I'm sorry," he choked out, "but this is getting surreal. I'm hanging in a spaceship after being caught by something out of a Disney movie, next to you while you discuss your sexuality. I don't know how else to respond."

"Fine," she huffed. "Let's discuss your love life then, shall we? I'm sure it's just as entertaining."

"Let's not." He sobered up.

"Oh come on Lex," she responded sarcastically. "After all, you might get lucky tonight, an alien could probe you."

His face and ears went pink. It was the first time she had ever seen him blush.

"Lana."

"Yes?"

"Shut up!"

After two hours of driving all over Smallville and the surrounding area, Clark and Chloe finally decided to head home.

"Is it alright if I use your phone?" She asked as they pulled up in front of his house. "My battery went dead twenty minutes ago."

"Sure, Mom and Dad won't mind," Clark said as he got out of the car.

She shut her door and walked up on the porch after him. "You know, it's too bad you don't have a ship or something you could use to send out a signal and flag other aliens down."

Clark stopped and turned around. "Get into the house, I'll be back in a bit." He blurred a little as he ran off in a haze of dust.

Clark had been treating this new Smallville crisis how he did every other one, except he wasn't dealing with mutants or crooked villains. If she was right, he was dealing with other aliens. He hadn't even thought about it until Chloe suggested it, but Clark had something better than a ship. He had a whole alien cave...if he could only get it to cooperate.

"Jor-El!" He shouted at the wall with the octagonal whole in it.

The Kryptonian signals sprang to life with colors cascading around the room. "Kal-El. Are you ready to fulfill your destiny?"

"No. I need you to do something for me."

The disembodied voice answered with a hesitant "Yes?"

"Can you tell if there are any alien ships around Smallville?"

"One moment." Clark waited patiently. "There is one non-Terran ship hovering approximately 498 meters above Smallville."

"Can you contact it?" He asked hopefully.

"Why?"

"They took some friends of mine."

"I see no need to encourage your continued dependency upon the humans in your life. If they are taken away from this planet, it may do you some good," Jor-El proclaimed.

"What?" Clark yelled at the wall. "You can't do that!"

"Yes I can."

"No! I need them back! I love them."

A sound vaguely reminiscent of a snort issued from the wall, shattering all of his hopes of getting to Lex and Lana. He needed to find them and rescue them. Panic well up inside his chest. "I'll make you a deal."

"I'm listening."

"I could...come here more often...and you could teach me about Krypton."

"And?"

"I'll try to listen to you more about my destiny." Clark agreed. "But if you let them get taken away from me I'll never, ever, listen to you again. You'll loose me forever."

The cave went quiet as Jor-El weighed his options. "Alright, I can contact them and persuade them to meet you. However, they can't land here. The area isn't nearly flat enough."

"Tell them to land by my house," Clark directed. "What kind of aliens are these?"

"The ship bares the signature of the Lascosaextrana, a mostly harmless species from a planet a few galaxies away. They range from 1.3 to 1.5 meters in height, have gray skin and large oval eyes. They are not a conquering species and offer no threat to you."

"What are they doing here?" Clark asked anxiously.

"Most likely vacationing."

"They killed a bunch of livestock," Clark exclaimed. "Is that their idea of a vacation?"

"Any death of Terran animals was most likely the result of their own animals' need for food." His biological father's voice explained patiently.

"They took Lex and Lana!"

"The Lascosaextrana enjoy watching other species in strange circumstances. It is similar to the human fascination regarding 'Reality Television' and they often take a few specimens away from their natural habitat as souvenirs. They do not harm them, but rather keep them as pets."

Clark stood speechless.

"A signal has been sent in reply to your message. They are landing Kal-El and you will have the opportunity to negotiate for the release of your humans."

"How? What do I offer them?"

"I do not know."

Jor-El gave no further information and Clark sped away back home to meet the ship.

Chloe had just hung up the phone and Martha was about to walk her to her car when the house suddenly flooded with blinding light. The light receded and disappeared in a matter of moments. She rushed to the kitchen window, but couldn't see anything out in the darkness. Martha heard clomping on the upstairs floor and down the staircase as Jonathan rushed down the stairs, clothes thrown on, with his shotgun in hand.

"Stay inside. I'll go see what's out there." He said before the door slammed shut behind him.

"I hate when guys tell me stuff like that," Chloe said as she followed him out the door.

"Well then, I'm going too." Martha spoke to herself, going after Chloe and Jonathan.

Besides the sound of their footsteps, it was eerily quiet outside.

"I don't see anything." Chloe said, looking at the field where Jonathan had stopped to stare.

"It's the grass. Look at it." He pointing, using the gun.

"It's all flat," she said understanding. "Like something landed on it."

A wind whipped around Martha before Clark appeared in front of Jonathan and Chloe. "Clark!" Both Martha and Jonathan yelled at the exact same time, horrified to see him use his powers so casually around his friend, even if she did suspect.

"It's alright. I know." Chloe defended him.

Clark ignored what was being said in favor of the spot of flattened grass. Suddenly the air shimmered before them and a large ship revealed itself, coming into focus. Two lights came on, not nearly as bright as before, and part of the ship lowered itself to the ground to form a ramp. It was like something out of a movie.

"Clark?" Jonathan called their son's name questioningly and cocked the shotgun.

"They're not Kryptonian," he explained, keeping an eye on the ramp. "And they've got Lex and Lana."

Lex's head throbbed as he silently prayed for Clark to figure out a way to find them. Lana quit whining after he yelled at her and he couldn't quite bring himself to feel guilty about it considering the circumstances. He'd done his fair share of bondage back in his wilder days, but this was going to far. His entire body felt numb except for the parts that were cut into by his restraints.

He tensed as part of the wall separated to allow two of the aliens and two of their creatures to come through. One of them spoke in a strange language, making clicking sounds and whatever held him and the other two girls to the wall unwrapped quickly and dropped them to the floor. Luckily it was just as soft and padded as the wall to which they were bound.

Pins and needles shot through his limbs as he forced himself to stand. Lana got to her feet shakily and Kayla took three attempts before she pulled herself from the floor.

"What do you want?" He asked.

The one who spoke before stepped forward. "Follow me."

The chupacabras hissed as they bounded around the three of them. One of them pawed at Lana's leg which shot out to kick the creature away. The silent alien responded immediately by firing some kind of weapon at Lana which knocked her out cold. Kayla jerked away and backed up towards the wall. It fired on her too.

It then made some more clicking sounds at the chupacabras. The creatures picked the girls up quite easily, despite being a good foot shorter, and carried their still forms out of the room. The gray alien that spoke turned to follow with Lex reluctantly going along, the other bringing up the rear.

"What are you going to do with us?" Lex attempted to engage them in conversation.

"That is still not certain." The alien behind him responded. "Do not speak further."

Lex looked at Lana's limp body with one arm dragging on the ground. The creature that carried her was indeed drooling. He decided to remain quiet.

Clark awaited the appearance of these Lascosaextranans anxiously. When they finally did appear, they brought Lex, Lana and the other missing girl with them. Both girls were unconscious and one of the Lascosaextranans seemed to be carrying a small gun like weapon. Clark decided to play this coolly, not wanting to see if their weapons worked on Kryptonians as well as humans.

"You contacted us?" One of the alien's asked in Kryptonian. It sounded strange to Clark's ears. Jor-El had always spoke English to him.

He tried to focus on how the language sounded in order to reply back. "I want them released." He succeeded, but the words felt foreign on his tongue.

"You have a different accent than one I've ever heard from your race," it stated. "What is your name?"

"Kal-El."

"The Els, yes I've heard of your family. I was not aware any Kryptonians survived the death of your planet?" It spoke in a way which reminded Clark strongly of Lionel Luthor.

Something in the back of his mind warned him to phrase his response vaguely. "How many survived is not of concern."

"Yes, I suppose you're right." It looked away from him, towards his parents and Chloe. "Do you wish to exchange these humans for the ones in my possession?"

"No," he replied quickly. "I wish them released."

It moved it's calculating gaze back to Clark. "I wish no confrontation with you or your people, but you must understand that I will need to be compensated."

Clark's mind raced to come up with something to offer in exchange. "You want a souvenir?"

"That was one of the goals for my visit to this planet," it answered.

He bit back bile at what he was about to offer. "There are others more interesting than the three you have. They have been mutated and possess special abilities."

This seem to catch the interest of the Lascosaextranan. "I have heard tales of such, however I've not been able to locate one. Can you help me with this?"

He thought about the drought of mutants Smallville had been gratefully experiencing for the past month and back over the one's he had fought and was able to come up with three that had been institutionalized.

Surely being with the Lascosaextranans wouldn't be that much different from a padded cell, he tried to rationalize to himself.

"There is one with unusual telekinetic abilities and two who can influence others through pheromones. They are already in confinement and I can tell you where they are being kept."

"Agreed." It turned towards Lex and the other girls and spoke in English. "You may go."

The things carrying Lana and the other girls bounded up next to Clark and dropped them on the ground in front of him, then rejoined the other Lascosaextranan by the ship. Lex quickly walked over and behind Clark.

"Where are they?" The one which had been speaking with him asked.

Clark reluctantly gave it the details it wanted.

Chloe sat anxiously by Lana's hospital bed, holding her hand and waiting for her to wake up. She felt guilty for avoiding her the day before just because she didn't know what to say. She decided to turn on the television to break the silence in the room.

"Sources have been unable to confirm whether or not last night's chaotic breakout of three inmates at Belle Reve had anything to do with the newly released and convicted killer Lionel Luthor, but they have confirmed that Luthor Corp did sponsor the treatment for Desiree Atkins, Justin Gaines and Sasha Spencer. This incident also may or may not be related to the brief disappearance of Lex Luthor yesterday. The Luthor Corp heir's personal assistant notified authorities of his absence and police later tracked down his car where it had been abandoned on a rural road. Further investigation is pending."

Chloe used the remote to click the TV set back off.

"Chloe?"

"Hey. You're awake." She smoothed Lana's hair off of her face. "How are you feeling?"

Lana blinked sleepily up at her. "I had the weirdest dream."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," she spoke softly. "There were aliens and a spaceship. I got kidnapped along with Lex and another girl. Lex yelled at me."

"Um...I don't know how to tell you this, but it wasn't a dream."

Lana looked down at the bed as if noticing that she was indeed in a hospital. "But there were aliens?"

Chloe nodded her head.

"How? What?"

"I'll explain everything later, but I'm going to go get the doctor now. Alright?"

"Ok."

Chloe pulled her hand away and left the room.

Lex walked into his bedroom completely exhausted. He had spent the majority of the night coming up with a suitable cover story, making sure Chloe and Clark remembered it word for word and giving it to the police. They were instructed to fill Lana and Kayla in on what they were suppose to say before the police had a chance to ask them any questions. The early morning hours had been spent in an emergency meeting with his personal assistant and his head of PR, giving the same story and getting an account of what happened at Belle Reve.

The reports of strange lights and claims of some of the psych ward residents of little gray men had him questioning what exactly Clark told those aliens to get them to let their hostages go. The upside to it all was that the bad press he received last weekend had been refuted with an interview Chloe and Lana gave the Daily Planet, making the Inquisitor look like the muckraking rag it really was. Furthermore, this weekend's events were sure to dwarf the other story.

He toed off his shoes and started to unbutton his shirt when he felt a presence in the room. Clark was sitting on the edge of his bed.

"I just wanted to make sure you were still alright," Clark said.

Lex nodded his head and walked over into his walk-in closet where he could change into some pajamas. "I'm tired, but fine. Did Lana and Kayla wake up?"

"Yeah," Clark answered him from the other side of the door. "They both agreed to tell the police your story. Kayla said it'll keep people from thinking she's crazy."

Lex pulled on his pajama bottoms. "Clark?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you get them to release us?"

Silence answered him.

Lex sighed as he buttoned up his top. He walked out of the closet to stand in front of Clark and tilted the other man's head up to look him in the eye.

"I made a trade." Clark confessed.

"Belle Reve?" He asked.

"Yeah."

Lex nodded his head in acceptance.

"Are you angry with me?"

"No," he responded immediately. "You did what you thought you had to do. It was a difficult decision to make."

Clark took his hand and traced the fading bruises along his wrist. "I couldn't let them take you." Clark's eyes teared up. "I was so scared and they wouldn't have just let you go."

Lex leaned down and kissed him gently on the forehead. "I understand."

Clark grabbed him and held him tight as he silently cried. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Lex petted his head and whispered words of comfort, but he knew Clark was more upset over the guilt he felt for having traded in three other lives for theirs.

When Clark calmed down, Lex drew back and wiped his face. "You haven't slept all night, have you?"

"No," he croaked in reply.

"Take off your shoes and get under the covers," Lex directed him.

Clark followed without question and Lex climbed into the bed next to him. The younger man wrapped himself around him and fell asleep almost instantly.

When he was sure Clark was sleeping deeply, Lex closed his eyes and followed.

Chloe's cell phone rang shortly after she had turned it back on after powering it up all day. "Chloe Sullivan," she answered.

"Hey Chloe, what's up?" Pete asked.

"Did you see the news today?"

"Oh yeah. A breakout at Belle Reve and Lex disappeared."

"I suppose you called to get the inside scoop?" She asked amused.

"Hey, I rub your back, you give me the juicy details." He laughed. "So what really happened?"

"Aliens, Pete. Little gray men and their dogs."

"Your kidding me?"

"Nope. They kidnapped Lex, Lana and some other girl from high school, but Clark managed to rescue them as per usual."

"Man..." he exclaimed, "and they kidnapped both Lex and Lana? It's usually one or the other."

She giggled at the absurdity of it all. "Yep, they landed and everything. You picked the wrong weekend to come back to Smallville."

"I can't believe I missed this! So what happened at Belle Reve?"

"I don't know," she replied. "But I have a feeling this had something to do with our missing mutant population."

"What? You think they went into hiding or something?"

"I think they sensed the danger and scattered."

"So, are you going to write a story about it?"

She snorted. "Mutants are one thing, Pete, but aliens? Come on, no one would believe me? I'd probably be committed to Belle Reve myself if I wrote that story."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Aliens are pretty unbelievable," he conceded.

"Listen, I've got to go and get back to Lana. I'll fill you in on all the juicy details later."

They said their goodbyes and she clicked off the phone.

Martha turned off the news when Jonathan came in from doing the morning chores.

"The cows are fed," he informed her. She smiled at how simple and normal he managed to make their lives feel when they were anything but.

"Good, you should probably take a nap. I know you didn't get much sleep after Clark and Lex left to take the girls to the hospital," she said, yawning at the end.

"You look like you could use one yourself"

She nodded, took his hand and stood up to follow him to their bedroom.

"What do you think Clark said to those aliens?" Jonathan asked her as they climbed the stairs.

Martha thought about it. "I have my suspicions, but I don't think we should ask him."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"He'll come to us if he needs to," she assured him.

Chloe yawned and sipped the coffee she had bought in the hospital cafeteria as she opened the door to Lana's room.

"Hey."

"Hi yourself," she replied. "How are you feeling?"

Lana grimaced. "I wish people would quit asking me that, but otherwise I'm fine."

Chloe smiled. "Good. I wanted to talk to you before this all happened."

"About what?" Lana asked as Chloe sat next to her on the edge of the bed.

"About us...is there an us?" She asked tentatively.

"You mean for real?"

"Yeah. I mean, I know we started out pretending, but it's been confusing me lately," Chloe admitted. "When you kissed me in the elevator in Metropolis, it got me thinking."

"Yeah?"

"It's been nice between us...dating."

Lana gave her one of her genuine smiles. "It has," she agreed. "It's probably the most healthy relationship I've ever been in."

She couldn't help but chuckle. "So do you want to try it? For real this time?"

The other girl gazed into her eyes with a look Chloe couldn't quite place, but which made her feel alive in every fiber of her being. "I'd like that."

Chloe grabbed Lana's hand with her free one, not caring if she looked dopey with the large grin on her face.

Lana sat up further in the bed, until they were at eye level. "But you know, we still have to find a way to get Lex and Clark together."

"Actually, they already are," Chloe informed her. "I have a source willing to swear that he saw them kissing at the penthouse last Saturday."

"Really? Do you think it was because of the plan?" Lana asked hopefully.

She nodded her head. "How could it not be? After all, you came up with it."

Lana pushed a stray lock of hair behind Chloe's ear, leaned in and kissed her.

Chloe didn't know whether or not she should blame the lack of sleep or the massive amounts of caffeine she had consumed that day, but when Lana's lips touched hers they set off fireworks behind her closed eyes and something that felt like true happiness in heart.