AN: Here it is. To everyone who has read and reviewed, thank you so much!

Chapter 34:

Cassie slammed on her breaks directly in front of the Kent house. Her black sedan slid several feet on the loose gravel. Fighting off her seat belt she stumbled out of her car and rushed up the porch stairs. She still had no idea what to tell the Kent family once she found them. 'Someone broke into my apartment and stole my file on Clark, so a scientist may stop by the farm at any moment.' Yeah, that should go over smoothly. Deep down, she didn't care what the Kent's' reactions were, as long as they got off the farm and into safe hiding.

Not thinking twice about knocking, Cassie rushed through the door. "Clark?! Mrs. Ke-" Her screams died on her lips. Martha stood motionless in front of her, her blue eyes bright with tears. In front of the woman, a dressed down Robert Baum held her at gunpoint with a six cylinder pistol. Shocked beyond comprehension, the psychologist headed towards her colleague. "Robert, Wha-"

"Stop," he warned, aiming his gun at her.

Cassie halted next to the distressed mother. A soft groan from below stole her attention away from the gun. "Clark?!" she exclaimed as she started to move towards the boy.

Barely clinging to consciousness, Clark was lying on the floor next to Dr. Baum's feet. A thick kryptonite necklace was wrapped cruelly around his neck. He peered through his sweat dampened bangs, his blue-green eyes cloudy with confusion. "Cassie..." he slurred, his voice strangely rough.

"Don't worry, Clark, it's going to be okay," she reassured in the calmest voice she could muster.

His pale blue eyes practically glowing with fervor, Dr. Baum softly chuckled. "You have to excuse me...I'm not familiar with your field. Is it typical for psychologists to lie to their patients?"

Her usually kind eyes morphing into a bitter hazel, Cassie straighten her back and glared at the scientist. "What the hell do you think your doing, Robert?" she asked, venom dripping from her voice.

Taking pleasure in her disgust, the scientist stated, "Just claiming what's rightfully mine."

Martha had finally heard enough of the scientists' bickering. "My son belongs to no one!" she exclaimed. She glanced down at Clark, who had finally passed out from exposure to the poisonous rock. Her bottom lip quivered with frustration and fear. She did not know how much longer her son would last. Each passing second seemed like an hour to the distressed mother.

"Your son doesn't exist!" Dr. Baum cruelly replied, gesturing towards the fallen boy. "This thing is not human and it's appalling to compare it to one."

Cassie glanced between her colleague and her patient. She cursed the day she trusted the man in front of her. She should have known better than to trust a man who had been so savagely attached to Clark. Yet, through the deception and lies, one thing didn't quite add up. "Why now?" she asked, her voice high with confusion. "You knew I had him the whole time. Why wait three months?"

Robert sighed impatiently at the question, yet Cassie could tell he had been waiting for it to come. "It's finally regained it's level of intellect it lost throughout the past year. You saw it three moths ago, it could barely string a sentence together. Now it's back to where it was before it was captured…before those idiot scientists ruined it's mind with the 're-teaching' sessions." The man's face quickly turned into a hard scowl recalling the debate with his fellow scientists. "I voted against it, but all they were concerned with was it's physical potential, no one even thought of what it was capable of mentally."

"What the hell do you think is going to happen once you put him back in a cage?!" Cassie yelled incredulously. All scientists were worried about were the results, they never took into consideration the emotional aftermath.

"Oh, don't worry. I made sure it will be mentally stimulated. What do you think I've been doing the past two months? I've built a fully equipped workshop for it," he stated his chin raised high as if he had something to be proud of.

Hearing about the man's plans for her son, Martha could no long hold back her tears. "This isn't a pet this is a person!" she yelled, finally reaching her breaking point.

There were so many questions floating through Cassie's head it was hard to pinpoint one. Taking her attention away from the gun in Dr. Baum's hand, she looked down at Clark. Tremors started to wrack through his body. He had regained consciousness, and was lazily blinked at nothing in particular. The absent look in his eyes reminded Cassie of how she found him three months ago trapped inside his own mind.

He had come so far in such a short period of time. No one could have predicted his progress. She turned back towards Dr. Baum, an idea quickly forming. "How do you know he's reached the level you expect? You haven't seen him in three month. He's nowhere near to what you probably need to resume the experiments. The progress of the mind is very slow."

Robert raised his eyes in disbelief at her feeble attempt to trick him. "Correction: the human mind is very slow. It is not human. It's advanced far beyond our capabilities. And, don't mistake me for a fool, Dr. Harris. I've been watching your apartment. You started moving back in a couple days ago. You wouldn't have done that unless it's progress has reached it's goal."

"So the past three months you've been planning this? How to use his escape and the massacre at the lab to your advantage?!"

"Who the hell think caused the massacre?!" Robert yelled at the top of his lungs. He placed a shaky hand on his forehead. All of the incessant, stupid questions were starting to get on his nerves. He didn't realize he would have to spell everything out for the woman, yet, at the same time he felt she deserved the right to know. Switching the gun to his other hand, he explained very slowly, like talking to a small child, "Everybody has their price, even well-trained assassins. You should have really researched more before accepting this job. You were among the finest scientists in the world, myself included. We weren't doing it for the money or fame, it was for the progress of mankind."

Cassie jaw slightly dropped at the man's confession. She has spent the past ten years of her life helping and treating a large variety of people, yet she had never met anyone as twisted as the man in front of her. "And for that, you're willing to put a kid through a life of hell?" she softly asked, barely able to find her voice.

As if pleased with her question, Robert genuinely smiled. "You see, that's why I chose you Cassie. Out of thousands of psychologists to naively help me out, I chose you. You always had this nasty habit of letting your patients interfere with your personal life. Instead of seeing them as patients, you see them as people from your past. People you couldn't help." He paused for a moment to gaze down at the fallen boy. Thoughtfully stroking his graying goatee, he pompously stated, "Let me guess…instead of seeing Clark Kent, a alien from another planet, you see Jack Harris, a boy who ate a bullet at the tender age of nineteen. A boy who left his younger sister all alone in the world."

Martha's stifled gasp filled the room. The mother looked over at the young woman next to her, for the first time seeing just how young the psychologist truly is.

Unable to breathe, Cassie stared disbelievingly at the man in front of her, all of the sudden feeling seventeen years old again. Her eyes bright with the onslaught of tears, she screamed, "Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Oh please, you were emotionally involved with the subject from day one. I must say though stealing him from the facility after only a week was surprising. I mean, sure, I knew you were going to take him, but to do it so recklessly…that's arrogant even for you."

Cassie proudly raised her head. "I didn't get caught," she stated, still sounding like a teenager.

Robert brought his free hand to his mouth and heartily laughed at the girl's innocence. "Your naivety astounds me," he choked out between his laughter. "I was the one who called off the guards, turned off the laser systems, and replaced all the security tapes. Without me you'd be dead."

"I guess I should thank you for that."

Dr. Baum raised the gun slightly and cocked his head to the side. "Don't be so quick. Any more questions?" he asked, sounding a bit too much like a cliché movie for Cassie's comfort.

"Yeah, is it really worth it?" she replied, her eyebrow furrowed skeptically.

Robert only smiled at first, but that smile held the only answer Cassie needed to hear. "For a discovery like this, you better believe it," he stated, barely above a whisper.

Cassie gazed down at Clark, all her thoughts on how the hell to get him out of this predicament. He hazily blinked back at her, his face scrunched in pain. She needed to do something…anything. He had too much to live for to be caged up like an animal for the rest of his life. Tears quickly welled up in her eyes. She opened her mouth to whisper apologies to him. Apologies of failure and hopelessness. "I-" she was instantly cut off by her colleague, a man she hated more than she ever thought possible.

"Well, now that we're done here…goodbye," he coldly stated as he pulled the trigger.

Cassie never heard Martha's scream. She never felt the bullet enter the chest. She was never aware of when her body hit the floor. The only thing she saw was Clark desperately reaching out towards her, tears already streaming down his face. Her heart never broke at the bullet or at the pain, but it shattered at his anguish.

Robert looked down at the woman's fallen body. "Thank you, for everything. I knew you'd pull through. Hey, that's why I chose you." His face set with determination, he turned towards the mother, pointing the gun directly at her heart.

A second gunshot echoed throughout the room.

Martha braced herself for the inevitable, yet it never came. She looked up at the scientist in shock as he gazed down at his own chest and fell to the floor. Behind him stood a second man with a rifle, the end smoking from the discarded bullet. "John…" Martha whispered in disbelief, as the farmer quickly tossed the rifle to the side. Quickly snapping out of her stupor, she looked back at Cassie, a pool of blood rapidly forming around her. "I'm gonna call 911," she stated more to herself than to her husband.

Nodding, Jonathan quickly rushed to his son and fell to his knees. "Clark…" he whispered as he lifted the boy's head and placed it on his lap, trying to find the clasp to the poisonous necklace. Seemingly unaware of his father's presence, Clark continued to reach out to the fallen woman, his savior…the only person who seemed to truly understand him. "Clark, stop moving," Jonathan ordered as he fingered his way around the cursed piece of jewelry. Finally finding the clasp, he snapped it off and threw it as far away from his son as possible.

Unable to get to her fast enough, Clark scrambled to Cassie, tripping over his own weakened limbs. Ignoring the blood quickly surrounding her, he carefully lifted her head into his lap. "Don't worry, Cassie, I'll take you to the hospit-" he was immediately cut off by her feebly grasping his arm.

"C…Clark," she stated, gazing up into his eyes. She didn't have the heart to tell him. She had so much to say, and she was quickly running out of time to say it. "Don't do thi-" her words halted as blood began to trickle out of her mouth.

Ignoring the tears streaming down his face, Clark frantically breathed, "I need you…"

Cassie merely shook her head, her hazily eyes bright with her own tears. "Y-you're going t-to be okay," she whispered as she placed her hand on the side of his face and stroke his cheek with her thumb. "I…b-believe in you," she stated as loud as she could.

Barely able to breathe, Clark placed his hand over hers. Cassie only smiled. Content for the first time in ten years, she closed her eyes and sighed.

Hearing the soft sigh, Clark looked down. "…Cassie?" he breathed, praying for any type of response. "Cassie!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

And in the distance the soft wail of sirens could be heard.

The End.

"You were right," Clark stated to Cassie as he fingered the grass. He paused for a moment, even though he didn't expect an answer. "It makes sense though, you always said the right thing, your last-" Biting his lip, he quickly looked away, unable to finish his thought. "It probably doesn't come as a surprise to you, since you were right about everything…at least about me." He looked up at the sun, trying to find the right words. There were so many things running through his mind he didn't want to forget anything.

"I'm sorry I didn't come visit you sooner. After everything you've done for me you deserve better." He let out a long sigh, praying something would break the silence surrounding him. "I'll visit more often, I promise. It's just hard, the first time and all…" He looked back down at her and smiled. "I know you probably don't want me to cling onto the past…say it was unhealthy or something, but I want to. I want to talk to you."

A cool autumn breeze brushed through his hair. "I started school again, but you probably already knew that. With help from the tutor in the evenings I should still be able to graduate on time. Everybody's been really supportive."

Clark talked for the better part of an hour. Cassie never responded, but somehow he knew she was listening. Glancing at his watch, he stood up and casually brushed off his jeans. "I should be going, my Mom's probably almost done with dinner."

Leaning down, He placed one hand on the tombstone and gently rubbed the top of it with his thumb. "Goodbye, Cassie," he whispered. He slowly turned and left, the crisp fall leaves crushing underneath his feet.