The Memory Remains

[tygershot]

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[LetMeGo]

Thanks for the comments! I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to get this together. The holidays really knocked me off schedule. Hopefully you won’t have to wait nearly as long for the next one. Word of warning, the end is drawing near…
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Lana drove away from the Luthor mansion with a sense of triumph. Both Luthors had used and manipulated her for their own twisted ends, getting them to do her bidding without them suspecting a thing was rather gratifying. Even so, she spent little time dwelling on her victory.

There was something far more important occupying her thoughts, thoughts that were responsible for the smile that was spread across her face.

Nothing was standing in the way of Clark telling her his secret tonight. With his confession her entire future would change; she could hardly wait. According to the clock on her dashboard she still had a couple hours before she was suppose to meet him, more than enough time to go home and wash off the Luthor stench she’d acquired.

This was the first night of the rest of her life and it was going to be perfect.



While Lionel’s heavily armed containment team made it’s way to the Talon and Lex made a few well placed phone calls, confirming his suspicions over the identity of the overtly curious mystery agent, a completely oblivious Clark walked into his mother’s kitchen carrying a bag of groceries.

“Does this mean I’m off the hook for dinner?” Martha asked curiously, it wasn’t every day her teenaged son came home with all the ingredients for a nice dinner.

“I invited Lana over,” he told her in explanation.

“It must be hard to say goodbye,” she said sympathetically, knowing how difficult it was for him to see her go.

“Well, if this works I might not have to,” he said, avoiding his mom’s gaze as he went to the refrigerator.

“Clark, do you think it’s fair to keep doing this to her?” Martha sighed, she hated seeing the painful back and forth between the two of them.

“No,” Clark agreed with her and hesitated for a second, afraid of what she’d say once she knew his plans for the evening, “which is why I’ve decided to tell her tonight.”

“Tell her?” her eyebrows shot up.

“Everything,” he said, venturing a glance in her direction as he went back to unloading his groceries.

“Clark, asking someone to keep your secret is a big responsibility,” she reminded him. “Look at Pete, it hasn’t been easy for him.”

“I know Pete has had some close calls,” he admitted with a twinge of guilt, “but I’m still glad I told him and so is he. It’s made us better friends.”

“Are you sure Lana is ready?” she asked giving him a searching look.

“She keeps asking me to be honest. I owe her the chance to decide for herself.”

“I guess it’s not fair to raise you as one of us and then try to keep you from experiencing one of the best parts of life.”

“So you’re okay with this,” he asked, hardly believing she’d support his choice on the matter.

“I trust you to make your own decision,” Martha told him, any doubts she had over him telling Lana pushed aside. Above anything else she wanted him to be happy. “So, what are you making for dinner?”

“Lasagna,” he answered with a worried grin. He’d never actually made lasagna before, though he’d seen his mom make it plenty of times and he had her recipe, it couldn’t be that hard to figure out.

She smiled at his ambitious menu, most of what he cooked came out of a can and required nothing more than reheating. “Well, I better let you get to it then…if you need anything let me know.”

“Thanks, Mom, for everything,” he smiled, relieved to have her faith in his decision making as well as her backup on dinner, which he’d probably need. He wanted everything to be perfect.

Tonight he was going to put everything on the line and he hoped that the truth would keep her in Smallville and not drive her away.



Pulling up to the Kent farm brought on a wave of homesickness, something she hadn’t experienced on this trip into the past until now but there were few places that held as many memories as this one did.

From her earlier recollections of coming over to see Clark, whether to study or hang out or beg for answers, to the year she‘d lived with him, to the last few weeks they’d spent together before being forced apart, this farm was a major backdrop from her life.

Getting out of her car she saw Clark’s parents coming out of the house. Seeing them again, especially Mr. Kent, pulled at her heartstrings. Losing him had been a huge blow to both Clark and his mom, it was a loss that Clark always carried with him.

Lana waved and waited for them to get closer before calling out a greeting, “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Kent.”

“Lana,” Martha smiled while Jonathan nodded hello, “how are you? All ready for your trip?”

“Almost,” she answered lightly then asked, “How are you?”

“We’re just on our way to dinner, Clark kicked us out,” Martha told her with amusement.

“You’re awfully brave to sample Clark’s cooking,” Jonathan gave her a sympathetic look.

“Don’t listen to him,” Martha said giving her husband the evil eye, “Clark is very capable in the kitchen.”

“That’s reassuring,” Lana laughed.

“Enjoy your dinner, sweetie,” Martha smiled warmly, though something in her gaze seemed concerned and Lana figured she knew what Clark was planning to do.

“You too,” Lana replied, smiling in return.

“He’s up in the loft,” Martha said before giving her a hug and telling her goodbye.

Walking into the barn as the Kents drove away Lana had a fleeting thought of the last time she’d been in Clark’s loft. She pushed it away, not wanting to get caught up in the memory, and started up the stairs.

She was half way up the staircase when Clark appeared at the top, a nervous smile on his face.

“You’re here,” he said, letting out a deep breath, looking absolutely terrified.

It was adorable.

She smiled even as she ached for him, for the innocence he’d lost along the way. Their eyes met and she melted.

“I’ve missed you,” she said aloud, startling herself.

Clark regarded her curiously, still smiling, “You haven’t even left yet.”

Much to his surprise, Lana threw her arms around him and buried her head in his chest. This certainly wasn’t bad for his cause, he decided, more than happy to accommodate her sudden need for a hug. It was, however, unexpected.

“Sorry,” she mumbled after a moment, “it’s… just… I’m really going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you too,” he replied as she pulled away from their embrace.

“So…” she started clearing her throat awkwardly, “what’s for dinner?”

“Lasagna,” he answered, perfectly happy to change the subject, not quite ready to share his secret, “it’s my mom’s recipe.”

Behind him she saw the table set for two, a single candle, a piping hot pan of lasagna, a tossed salad, and a basket of rolls. He’d obviously put a lot of effort into this night. “It looks great, Clark. What other secret talents are you hiding?”

“Maybe you should reserve judgment until you’ve tasted it,” he warned, sidestepping her question. It was rhetorical anyway, right?

“I’m sure it’s delicious,” she smiled as they made their way to the table.

Clark waited for her to take her seat before joining her, “I hope you’re hungry.”

“Starving,” she assured him, realizing that she’d hadn’t eaten anything substantial all day.

He offered to serve her, she gladly accepted and soon they were sampling his first major foray into the culinary arts. Relieved that Lana seemed to like it, Clark managed to relax enough to make small talk.

“You must be getting excited,” he finally ventured onto the topic he‘d been avoiding, “Paris is a pretty big deal.”

“Yeah… it is,” she said, thinking of how the time she’d spent in the city of lights had changed her life. “You know, when you first asked me to come tonight I was reluctant to take you up on the offer. I figured you would try to talk me out of leaving.”

“Lana…” he began to protest but the guilty look on his face betrayed him.

“The reason that bothered me so much,” she continued, remembering how she’d felt during junior year and her motivations for wanting to leave, “was because you are the only one that could change my mind.”

“So, if I ask you to stay…” he said, hardly believing he was hearing her right.

“I wish it were that simple,” she said, not about to let him off the hook. In hindsight she understood why it took him so long to tell her but for their future to change he’d have to share his secret with her. “Earlier you said you had something you wanted to tell me.”

“Yeah,” he swallowed nervously now that the moment of truth was upon him, “I did say that.”

“I know you have your reasons for keeping things to yourself,” she said, holding his eyes with her own, “ I can’t really blame you for that, but I’d always hoped that you’d trust me enough to let me in.”

“I trust you,” he told her, hating that he’d made her feel that he didn’t, “I’ve always trusted you.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she sighed with a slight shake of her head, not wanting him to feel guilty.

“You’re wrong, I do have to do this” he said, a determined look replacing the nervous expression he’d been sporting all during dinner. “I’ve come up with a lot of excuses to keep you at arm’s length but not trusting you was never one of them. I need you to know that.”

She nodded, swallowing the lump of emotion that had filled her throat. She knew.

“I‘m done with excuses,” he said, his jaw set, “and secrets, and lies…”

She held her breath, waiting for his next words.

“Lana, it’s time you know the truth.”

[QueenClana]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! That was the most horrible cliffy ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, no, no, don't leave now. Update as soon as possible or my rip apart my laptop.

[Seaspray]

If Clark doesn't tell her for some lameass reason - she should tell him she knows and then see him try and squirm his way out of it LOL

More and more and more !

[LetMeGo]

Sorry it took so long but here it is… the update and the conclusion of the fic. I hope you like it. Thanks for reading and commenting!
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Lana woke up gasping for breath, her heart racing wildly. Disoriented, she strained her eyes in the darkness, trying to place where she was.

“Are you alright,” came a concerned, yet sleepy, murmur.

The sound of his familiar voice had an immediate soothing effect on her. With a sigh she relaxed back into her pillow, “Yeah, everything’s fine, I just had a really strange… dream…”

“Oh,” he yawned, “what was it about?”

“I was living in Gotham, teamed up with Batman.”

“Teamed up?”

“I had superpowers and we were…together.”

“Wait a second,” he suddenly sounded more awake. “Was this some kind of sex dream?”

She snorted at his jealous tone. “Not specifically.”

“So you’re saying there was sex…” he accused. “You can not tell Chloe about this. If Bruce ever caught wind of my wife having sex dreams about him I’d never hear the end of it.”

Clark and Bruce were close friends, almost brothers really, and any opportunity to goad the other was never ignored by either. Since Bruce knew all about how Chloe -whom he’d been dating for a few years now- had once had a major thing for Clark he’d definitely have a field day with this information.

“Please, like Chloe hasn’t dreamt about you,” Lana said dismissively, remembering one night back in college when they‘d had a little too much to drink and Chloe had let that one slip.

“Really?” He asked and she could hear the smirk that was undoubtedly plastered across his face.

“Clark…” she began in warning.

“I won’t say anything, give me a little credit,” he said, knowing exactly what she was about to say. Deciding a change of subject would serve him well he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer, “So, in this dream, what powers did you have?”

“Strength, speed, invulnerability,” she listed, just as happy as he was to get off their current subject. “They called me The Huntress.”

“The Huntress… that fits you perfectly,” he smiled, thinking of her tough as nails reputation in the courtroom. Lana was a rising star in the prosecutor’s office. Often accused of being out for blood by opposing council, no one wanted to hear that she was on their case. “Where did your powers come from?”

“I stole the technology- some kind of nano-tech imbedded just beneath the skin- from Lex, who happened to be my ex husband.”

“Lex…” he laughed at the thought of Lana being with him, “I didn’t realize you were into bald guys.”

“It’s the way the light reflects off a freshly waxed scalp…” she said humorously, “I can’t resist it.”

“Does this mean I need to start shaving my head?”

“Don’t you dare,” she warned laughingly as she turned to face him. “I love you just the way you are.”

He sighed in contentment when she combed her fingers through his hair and murmured, “That feels nice…”

She smiled as he practically purred beneath her touch. “Back to my dream…”

“Yeah, this dream of yours… both Bruce and Lex… was I even in it?”

“You were in Metropolis, splitting your time between working at the Planet and saving the world. Just like real life, except you looked like something out of The Matrix.”

“I love that movie.”

“I know,” she replied in monotone, thinking of the countless times she’d been forced to watch it with him.

“Did I look cool?”

“Very,” she gave the dutiful wife answer. “You also had a cool name to go with your Neo-esc look.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mmmhmm,” she affirmed, trying to keep a straight face, “you were called The Blur.”

He laughed out loud, “The Blur?”

“Lois gave you that moniker,” she said with a snort.

“Lois,” he shook his head, the woman was the bane of his existence. “It sounds like something she’d come up with.”

“Superman fits you so much better,” she said snuggling up to him, “same goes for the primary colors. All that black is just depressing, but I guess that fit the dream you.”

“I was depressed?”

“Well, you were dating Lois,” she said, knowing he’d just love hearing that.

He grimaced, “This is sounding more and more like a nightmare.”

“She’s not that bad,” Lana chided him. She knew Lois could be difficult but Lana maintained that her heart was usually in the right place.

“You don’t have to work with her,” he argued stubbornly. She was rude and degrading to those around her, so caught up in herself she didn’t even realizing what she was doing. Plus she had a knack for getting herself into trouble. Trouble he routinely had to get her out of. “Of all people for you to dream I was with…”

“You were only with her because you couldn’t be with me,” she told, trying to get him off the dreaded Lois topic. “After I took Lex’s suit from him we, you and me, were Metropolis’ newest super couple, patrolling the streets of the city, fighting crime side by side. It was like we were finally going to have our happy ending after everything we’d been through, and trust me, we’d been through a lot.”

A heaviness filled her heart. She didn’t understand why her dream would have such an overwhelming effect on her but the surprisingly detailed and painful past of their dream counterparts pushed her near tears.

“But Lex,” she continued, glad he couldn’t see her teary eyes in the dark, “couldn’t let us walk away happily into the sunset. He’d planted a kryptonite bomb on the roof of the Daily Planet. We had to make a choice and there was only one we could make.

“You couldn’t get near enough to it to defuse it or toss it into space and I… well the suit I’d put on had another function. Besides superpowers, it absorbed kryptonite. So,” she paused to swallow the inexplicable lump of emotion that filled her throat, “after I defused it, we couldn’t be in the same room together without you withering in pain.”

“Hey,” his voice was soft, having picked up on her distress, “it was just a dream.”

“I know,” she sniffled, “it just felt so real.”

He kissed her temple and tried to sooth her but her silence was unnerving him so he prompted her to continue. “Was that it or was there more?”

“There was more,” she answered, sounding more composed. “Because we couldn’t be together I left and ended up in Gotham.”

“With Bruce.”

“Yes, I was there for a few years before I started having seizures and hallucinations. It turned out that Lex’s nano technology was slowly killing me.

“Emil threw together an experimental procedure in a matter of months in a last ditch effort to remove the suit and save my life. It was all set up and ready to go when you came to stop me. You claimed it was too dangerous, that Emil needed more time.”

“Did I talk you out of it?”

“No, I had my mind made up.”

“And you call me stubborn.”

“You are,” she said smiling at his comment. She’d given him plenty of grief over the years about being stubborn but they both knew she could be equally hardheaded when the occasion called for it.

“Hmm,” was his noncommittal response.

“Anyway,” she said, returning to her narrative, “we had another painful parting, not knowing if I was going to live or die.”

Once again a scene from her dream replayed in her head, the agony of the moment so tangible she almost believed she’d actually lived through it.

“Emil’s plan was to push me to my limits using massive amounts of electricity.”

“One point one gigawatts?” Clark asked jokingly.

“Maybe,” she said, a small smile finding it’s way to her lips at his reference, “because one moment I‘m in this tank of liquid and the next I‘m waking up and I‘m back in high school, though there was no DeLorean involved.”

“You went back in time?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, thinking of how crazy it all sounded, “I was determined to change the future.”

“Did you?”

“I don’t know, I woke up too soon to tell,” Lana replied distractedly, going over the ending of her dream in her mind. “Do you remember when you told me where you came from?”

“Like it was yesterday,” he easily answered her seemingly random question. “I was terrified that the truth was only going to make you more bent on leaving Smallville.”

“I’m not sure what was more shocking, that you were an alien or that you were actually telling me your secret,” she said, joining him in his reminiscing.

That night Clark had laid it all out for her to hear and instead of being astounded by his revelation she was flooded with relief. Her reaction had been a always been a bit of a mystery to herself.

“It was an act of desperation,” he said, remembering how distraught he was at the idea of her leaving.

“I found it incredibly brave.”

“You were the brave one,” he told her, “eating my very first attempt at lasagna. That could have been a disaster.”

“But it wasn’t. Don’t tell your mom this, but it was the best lasagna I’ve ever had.”

He laughed, “I’ll have to take your word on that. I was so nervous that night that I didn’t taste anything I put into my mouth.”

“Which only goes to prove I‘m right,” she insisted. “It took a lot of courage to go through with telling me.”

“Have you ever regretted it, not going to Paris?”

“Not once,” she answered him, meeting his gaze in the pale moonlight. “When I finally did see Paris it was with the love of my life. Which is, by far, the best way to see it.”

“You do have a point,” he couldn’t deny what she’d said. When they’d gone it had been truly romantic and unforgettable for them both.

They’d forgone a honeymoon when they married. Both being poor college students, they spent the weekend of their marriage moving into their first apartment and Monday it was back to classes at MetU. While that weekend had been memorable in many, many, ways it had bothered him that he hadn’t given his bride a proper honeymoon. So, he started quietly socking money away and two years later he’d surprised her with a pair of tickets to the city of lights.

“Maybe it was selfish of me but I’m glad you didn’t go,” he told her with a gentle caress, “I’d be a lost and empty man without you.”

With slow deliberateness she snaked her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes, “Staying in Smallville was the best decision I’ve ever made. You, Clark Kent, have brought me greater happiness than I ever dared wish for.”

Her lips met his softly, sweetly, savoring the taste of him. However, with the last desperate moments of her dream still resonating inside of her a taste wasn’t going to be nearly enough. While trying to maneuver herself into a more suitable position for accessing his lips Clark seemingly read her mind and pulled her on top of him.

Now straddling her husband, Lana found it much easier to savage him with her kisses. Her mouth traveled from his lips, down his jaw to his neck. Clark’s hands, which were on her hips, made their way down her thighs to the hem of the t-shirt -his t-shirt- that served as her nightgown. Sexy and alluring had long been abandoned for comfy and convenient. Even though her sleep ware had changed from silk to cotton he still found her irresistible.

Clark’s fingers had found bare skin, much to their mutual delight, and was about to free her of her night shirt when a small whimper stopped his progress. They both froze, Clark focusing on a point beyond Lana and Lana focusing on the baby monitor sitting on their nightstand.

Leigh, at five months old, had recently started sleeping through the night, and her parents had rejoiced. Lana was especially happy about the solid six hours of sleep she was getting on a regular basis these days, a feat she’d nearly forgotten since bringing their little bundle of joy home.

She had been a surprise, their own little miracle baby. When they first married Clark had sadly told Lana that while it wasn’t completely impossible it was highly unlikely that they’d be able to have children. So, eight years later, finding she was pregnant was a very unexpected but welcome turn of events.

They waited a moment, neither of them moving, trying to determine if Leigh was waking up or only making noises in her sleep. Just when Lana thought they were in the clear a sad little sniffle broke the silence.

Lana slid off Clark, who sighed in disappointment, and started to get out of bed.

“I’ll do it,” he said, beating her out of the bed. “You should try to go back to sleep.”

In the morning they were heading out to the farm to visit his parents for the weekend, something they rarely got to do due to their work schedules.

“Are you sure?”

“We have to get moving early tomorrow if we want to beat the traffic,” he answered easily, knowing he could get by on much less sleep than she could.

“I’ll make it up to you, promise,” she said smiling up at him.

“Promise?” His eyebrow arched up questioningly, wanting to get something more specific if he could.

“I’m sure Grandma and Grandpa wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on Leigh for a couple hours tomorrow afternoon…”

“I like the sound of that,” he gave her a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

“I love you,” she told him, settling back into the sheets.

“Love you too,” he said, leaning over to give her a quick kiss.

Adjusting her pillow she closed her eyes and sighed. Over the baby monitor she could hear Clark’s gentle voice as he soothed their daughter. She smiled when he started singing Lifehouse’s Everything.

Listening to Clark she started drifting toward sleep and her thoughts went back to her dream, though she wasn’t sure she should call it that. She’d never had a dream as detailed or vivid as this had been… it felt more like a memory, but that couldn’t be possible.

Teetering between wakefulness and slumber she ignored any lingering doubt, telling herself it must have been a dream.


The End

[QueenClana]

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, what a totally perfect ending. So sweet, so much wonderful Clana. And thank god that Prometheus suit never even happened. Beautiful, beautiful story.

[Seaspray]

If only it were that simple, and we could wake up and find the last two seasons of SV especially were "only" a dream, and that the seasons after the time reversal were full of the wonderful events you portray. I would love to see that.

Thank you for a great story.

[Nick of kandor]

That was such a sweet ending to an awesome fic. It was neat how in reality Clark and Lana were presently married with a baby girl. I also truly wish that the last two seasons of Smallville were just a bad dream and that Clana was still there. Fortunately, they and their incredible bond still live on in our hearts and of course in fan fiction!!

[sgmanclanafan]

Fantastic story, nice tidy ending wrapping up all the things in the SV story line we have all objected to for a long time. Thanks for sharing your story with us, what a great story!