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[Ryudo]

[Kent Farm]

Clark sat alone in the loft, thinking about what had transpired the evening before. He'd slept sparingly last night, and most of it had to do with how he'd dropped the ball in immense ways with many of his loved ones the day before.

He'd let Lois, Syd, Chloe, and Oliver be put in danger because of his weakness.

Chlo had an episode with her powers that was mystifying to him.

His Mom nearly died due to blood loss thanks to Choronzon's attack.

And now, there was a killer alien on the loose who had schooled Zod himself in the ways of being a dictator.

As he rattled off the days events in his head... Check on Chloe and Lois at the Planet, talk to Lionel about anything in the Kryptonian database about Choronzon, talk to Oliver about locating him, book Mom a flight back to DC... he clenched and unclenched his fists, wondering what could possibly come next. He sat for another couple of moments, procrastinating as to whether or not to leave right away. The chores were done, but he didn't want to leave too early.

[lauravforever]

[Kent Farm]

There was a WOOSH! and Kara appeared right next to him. "Hey, cuz." Kara said softly. She had been there by his side that past week and even though she had only known of Martha almost having died since she had been with her all that time, Clark had filled her in on everything else that had happened with Clark and the people around him in his life.

She always came up here to watch the sunset, for some reason it reminded her of the suns on Krypton. Or it could be that she just enjoyed watching the view of the sun setting. She sighed softly. She thought of Argo, her now dead betrothed on Krypton, and of Jan, who was in the Netherlands doing god knows what...

She put an arm around his shoulder. "We'll find a way to stop him. Together." Kara said and hugged her cousin.

[Senator_Kent]

[Kent Farm, House]


Martha Kent was feeling much better today after the events of yesterday. Clark had repaired the damage done to the house without a word too her. She wondered why he was so quite and kept pushing her away. Now he was in the loft or Fortress of Solitude as Jonathan used to call it. SHe let out a soft sigh wondering if she should try to get him to talk to her. Choosing against it she remained in the house doing some lite dusting around the livingroom. Once done she went about preparing something to eat for everyone. SHe was pretty sure neith Clark nor Kara had anything nutritious to eat yet today. SHe grabed bread, turkey lunchmeat,cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and some mustard and began to prepare sandwiches.

[Jade4813]

Lois brushed her hair off her forehead with one had as she jogged up the walk to the Kents' back door. As she approached the door, she took a second to glance towards the barn, wondering if Clark was there. He always did like to spend a lot of time in the barn, for whatever reason.

Her curiosity didn't put a hitch in her stride, though, because Clark wasn't the person she was coming to see. In fact, she wasn't entirely certain she really wanted to see him at present - not because she was avoiding him, by any means. It was simply that she had other things on her mind.

The evening before had been insanely hectic, and there had been so much for her to process at once. She was probably still working on digesting everything, in fact. Between Chloe and Clark and Martha's injury...she definitely needed to just take a few steps back at the moment.

The latter, however, was the reason she'd come to the Farm. Martha Kent was like a second mother to her; she always liked to see with her own eyes that the people she cared about were okay. At any rate, it had been a while since she'd had some genuine one-on-one time with Martha, and she was definitely overdue.

She wondered if Martha knew yet that Clark had confessed to her...That could make things a bit awkward...

Knock or just go in? she asked herself as she paused with a frown and stared at the door. She'd once lived at this house, it was true, but she didn't live there any longer.

Mrs. Kent's pie waits for no man, she reminded herself with a smile as she laid her hand on the latch. Ah, to hell with it.

Throwing the door open, she peeked her head inside and threw the woman at the counter a quirk of a smile. "Hey, Mrs. Kent. Mind if I come in?"

[Senator_Kent]

Martha had just finished making the last sandwich when she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Lois" she says happily as she turns to face the younger woman. "Of course you can come in, you don't have to ask, you're still part of this family" she smiled warmly at Lois and walked over to her. "It's goos to see you, how have you been?"

[Jade4813]

A half a smile and a jerky shrug of her shoulders, and Lois walked slowly into the room. "Oh, you know...pretty much the usual. How are you, after yesterday? I was really worried about you, you know." Pulling Martha in for a quick hug, she joked as she pulled away, "You know, you've gotta stop getting yourself hurt like that or I'm going to have to call in the National Guard to keep an eye on you."

With an assessing eye, she saw that Mrs. Kent was almost done preparing lunch and didn't seem to need help, so she walked to the coffee pot and poured herself a mug of coffee. Turning so she could lean against the counter, she sifted through all the things she wanted to say and the number of things she didn't know if she even could say and finally settled on, "So how are you doing, Mrs. Kent?"

[Senator_Kent]

Martha hugged Lois back and smiled at her as she pulled away. "I feel fine Lois....I really don't remember what happened, one minute I was .....gone and then I found myself in my room in my bed as if it was all just a bad dream. I don't know what brought me back....but I saw ....Jonathan for a short time, he kept telling me it wasn't my time. I thought I was dreaming....but it felt so real...I...I don't know" Martha confessed to Lois. She flashed Lois a small smile but the stress and confusion Martha felt was still evident on her facial features. "Are you hungry, there's plenty here to eat.....and before you can tell me no....I want you to stay, I've missed talking with you" Martha says in her usual motherly tone.

[Ryudo]

[The Loft]

Clark nodded at Kara, offering her a soft, polite smile. He still wasn't completely at ease with her; he wasn't sure if the Kara that came back from her "trip" with Brainiac was the same person.

All the same, though, he knew better than to sow discord where there was no reason to, and kept his suspicions to himself. Usually he was trusting, but not where Brainiac was concerned. He was anything but.

He started to think of something to say back to her, when a soft beep and a buzz in his pocket alerted him to a text message.

Saved by the bell, he thought, as he pulled away from Kara and checked his phone.

"I've got to go," Clark said. "Chloe might have something."

He walked down the stairs and then across the barn, checking to make sure that the animals were okay, and then headed into...

[Farm House - Kitchen]

"Morning ladies," Clark said as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing a glass out of the cabinet and filling it with milk, drinking it in one long gulp. He rinsed the glass out in the sink and then placed it into the dishwasher.

"I'm headed into Metropolis; Chloe said she might have something on our bad guy." He turned to Lois. "Do you want a 'ride' to work?"

[lauravforever]

[The Loft]

I'm going to kill whoever it was that created cellphones... Kara thought annoyed as she heard the ring of Clark's cellphone. She knew he was about to say something to her, but that sound interrupted it all. No matter how many times she tried to help, it just wasn't going to be accepted. SHE wasn't going to be accepted.

"Maybe I should get a job at the Daily Planet... that'd probably mean I would be around Jimmy a lot more..." Kara spoke up to herself... The image of what she had done with Jan flashed in her mind, how he had made her feel.... by Rao, did she miss him.

[Farm House]

Kara walked downstairs, normally, for a change and joined up with the others, not saying anything, not even to Martha whom she had found. If they hadn't been there sooner, then Martha might not have even made it in the first place. Then Kal-El might have had to bury another person he held dear. She had heard him say that he had something on Choronzon. Of course! Why share it with Kara, hmm? She only happened to hear it as she had walked downstairs. Thanks so much for that superhearing lesson, Kal-El. she thought with a grin.

[Jade4813]

Lois looked up at Clark in surprise when he offered her a ride to work, wondering at the odd emphasis in the word 'ride'. Did he mean a lift in his truck or something involving the powers of his that she'd recently discovered? Or had there been no emphasis at all, the question perfectly innocuous, and she was just being paranoid and reading too much into a simple word? Was there any way she could work out some sort of signal with him when he DID mean something powers-related so that she didn't go crazy in the future with trying to figure it out?

Realizing he was still waiting for an answer, Lois reached around Martha and grabbed a sandwich off the plate. "Ah....sure," she said brightly before gulping down what seemed to be still-hot coffee. With a squeak of dismay, she crammed a huge bite of her sandwich into her mouth and chewed, hoping it would help the burning in her mouth. Though she'd burned off most of her taste buds, those few that remained made it very clear that Martha's lunch was, as always, absolutely delicious.

As she swallowed hastily, she gestured to Clark with a wave of her hand. "Let me just...ah..." Scooting towards the other end of the counter, she poured some more coffee into a travel cup that was standing nearby; she'd return it the next time she came to the farm (or, more likely, it would just join her growing collection of absconded cups she had at home). Then, with a grin, she darted forward scooped up another sandwich to join the half-eaten one in her hand.

Eying the purse she'd apparently dropped to the ground (though she didn't remember doing so) when she'd hugged Mrs. Kent, Lois pondered whether she dared stick a sandwich inside it but eventually decided against it. The last thing she needed was that pocket of subspace inside said purse to steal her food, only to return the sandwich to Lois's questing fingers in a week or so when it had gone well past its expiration date.

Better not to risk it. Instead, she darted a quick glance between all of her items and decided it was time for a jugging act of sorts. Lifting the cup to her mouth, she clenched the brim tightly between her teeth as she transferred both sandwiches to her left hand and grabbed her bag with her right. She figured she had about three minutes - if she was lucky - before something catastrophic happened. So, wanting to move quickly, she turned back to Clark and asked around the object in her mouth, "Jooreadgo?"

Though her question was garbled, she decided that if he hadn't spent enough time with her to know that this was Lois-speak for "Are you ready to go?" then he was probably a lost cause.

[Ryudo]

Clark watched Lois' actions with some amusement at first, barely hiding the affectionate smirk that crossed his face as she began to wolf food down. He crossed over to his mother and gave her a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Glad to see you back to normal, Mom. Don't work too hard around here; that's my job. I'll get you a ticket back to DC while I'm in town."

He walked over to Kara and looked at her. "Please behave yourself while I'm gone. If you need me, just call my cell. I'll be at the Planet most of the time I'm in town, but I might have to run by Oliver's."

He took a look at Lois, noticing she was almost done, and went into superspeed, wolfing down a couple of the sandwiches. He grinned as he figured Lois and his mom just probably watched them disappear of the plate, but by the time he moved back into normal speed, Lois regarded him, looking harried, but impossibly adorable.

Whoa.

Did I just think that?

He downplayed his mental reaction into a sort of smirk that was an offshoot of the one he generally reserved for her, and moved closer to her, careful of her tenuous grip on things as he picked her up.

"All items need to be stowed before taking off, ma'am," he said as he pulled her coffee cup out of her mouth and held onto it with the hand attached to the arm that was supporting her legs. He glanced one final time at Martha and Kara. "See you."

He sped off with Lois in tow, and enjoyed the run, allowing his perceptions to slow slightly as the rest of him moved at super-speed, and noting with amusement that Lois' eyes had grown as big as the dinner plates he normally broke out for the fancy guests.

As they came to a halt in an alley about a block from the Planet, he put her down, keeping a slight hold on her in case she lost her balance.

"At least with me around, you won't be late to work anymore," he said with a grin.

[lauravforever]

Kara just looked ahead and listened to Clark. Yes, daddy Kal-El. She thought, sighing softly, what was she, like 5 years old?? She was never allowed to do anything. Her thoughts strayed off to Jan, wondering how he was doing on the boat with his dad Paul. If only there was a way to get him to Smallville, that way Kara wouldn't need to fly over continents to see him. As she was staying alone with Martha, she didn't notice the tears falling out of her eyes, probably alerting Martha that something was wrong.... while the tears fell on the tablecloth. "I'm going to make some coffee. Want some too, Martha?" Kara asked and stood up, slowly walking over to the kitchen counter to make herself some coffee. She would happily make some for Martha, all she had to do was ask.

What's that? Kara thought as she looked down at her wrist and saw teardrops. "Oh." she said softly, wiping her eyes slowly. She sighed softly. Kara turned around, went over to the fridge to grab the bottle of milk. She poured a bit into the cup and then added one spoon of sugar, grabbed a spoon and swirled it around. She then leaned against the counter and took a sip. "Hmm... any ideas what you want to do, Martha?"

[Jade4813]

Lois was shocked when Clark picked her up, and she might have actually demanded he put her down, but she didn't want to cause a scene in front of his mom. At least, that's what she told herself to salve the ego sting that came with the realization that she'd been struck rather speechless when he'd scooped her into his arms. It was from shock, she told herself firmly. Not, you know, some sort of uncharacteristic girly emotion.

Unfortunately for her dignity, she was pretty sure she'd let out a very high pitched and not particularly brave yelp when Clark had started to run. She could only hope that he'd run so fast that he hadn't heard it. Was it possible that he might have run faster than the speed of sound? Let's see...sonic booms occur when an object moves past the sound barrier, and I didn't hear a sonic boom. But if I'm in front of the barrier, would I hear the boom? Maybe I should ask the General the next time I talk to him. And when he asks me why, I'll tell him that my tall, handsome, mysteriously sexy fri...oh, holy god. What the hell am I saying??? Are we running so fast that my brains are leaking out or something???

As she clutched tightly to the man holding her in his arms that she was firmly NOT thinking such thoughts about, her brain tried to work out her latest quandry in an effort to get over the fact that he was running so fast that it was entirely possible she'd be sick if she concentrated on looking at the passing scenery. At least she was reasonably comforted by the thought that, if she did mar her dignity in such a fashion, they were likely faster than the speed of vomit.

Oh, man, that sandwich was a bad idea...and the coffee...the donut this morning...the pizza last night...maybe everything I've eaten since 1993. Don't think about it, Lane.

Finally, he stopped, and probably a lot sooner than it felt like he did. She cleared her throat and raised her chin arrogantly as he began to put her on her feet, but her portrayal of unperturbed self-confidence was marred just a little when her knees buckled as soon as she asked them to support her weight and she had to clutch onto Clark again so she didn't fall to the ground.

"Ahhhh..." she began lamely as she furiously tried to mentally command her knees to get their act together. They didn't seem inclined to listen, if the jello in her joints was any indication. "I think I...um...twisted my ankle there or...or something. Just...give me a minute," she said, knowing she probably wasn't fooling the rats scurrying around the corner, let alone the man still supporting her weight.

Knowing her cheeks were growing an impossibly crimson color, Lois cleared her throat again and managed to finally get her legs to obey long enough that she could start prying her fingers out of Clark's shirt. "So...um...does this program come with frequent flier miles? Because I'm wanting to save up enough points to buy some shiny new toys," she teased with a grin and a firm hold on what little dignity remained.

[Ryudo]

Clark's smirk turned into a grin as he continued to keep a soft but firm grip on her, telling himself it was completely and totally for her safety, considering it was her first time "riding" with him, and not at all the fact that he wanted to touch her.

Among other things.

His brain momentarily fried, and a beat passed as he had to re-think a comeback. Aha! "I'm afraid that benefits are only available when redeemed through the airline itself, ma'am. For example..."

And he whooshed away and whooshed back, the only physical sign that he'd been gone a small burst of wind.

"... as an introductory offer, Clark Kent Express would like to present you with a rose from the Rose Garden." He held the flower up before her, and he winked as he watched the morning dew drop from the red flower's petals.

He hadn't realized that his hands had left her person until the pause after the offering of the rose, but he'd been far too preoccupied with impressing her to notice until that point. He took the opportunity to make sure her bag was slung around her shoulder and then pressed the rose into her now-free hand, making sure that the thorns didn't stick her.

His mind returning to the task at hand, he met her eyes again and smiled, making sure she was okay before they began the inevitable walk back to reality and her workplace.

"Everything working okay now?" he asked softly.

[Senator_Kent]

Martha had hoped Lois would stay a little longer. She really wanted to talk more with Lois but Clark whisked her away. The only good thing abut that was the look the two had when they eyed each other. It spoke volumes, one that a mother understood loud and clear. Those two were destined for something great and only time would tell if Martha's perception was right. She had smiled as the two left and was brought back to reality when Kara suddenly spoke. "Coffee sure sweetie.....Kara?" she paused not wanting to upset the young girl anymore. "What's wrong sweetie?" she asked with general concern.