"Goodnight, Lois," Clark called.
"Goodnight, Clark," she called from the other side of the bedroom door.
Clark sighed. It was a mix of exasperation and amusement, but also a little relief. Once he was certain that Lois had settled in for the night, he dropped his pillow off on the couch and headed upstairs to Lane's room.
The boy was sprawled over his bed, listening to some kind of jangling noise over a set of headphones. It was probably an indication of super hearing that he even noticed when Clark knocked. "What?" he groused, still keeping his eyes partially closed.
"Hey," said Clark. He double checked that the door to the master bedroom was still shut. "Um, can we talk?"
Lane removed his headphones and shut off the stereo by his bed. "What?" he repeated in a tone no cheerier than before.
Clark cautiously stepped further into the room. "Ah," he began, hesitantly, "don't tell Lois about this, but I think I can help you with your...shall we say...vision problems?"
That got Lane's attention. He sat up straight and looked at Clark, one eyebrow raised. "What do you know about it?" he almost whispered.
Clark glanced outside the room one more time, then shut the door. "That fire in school...it was an accident, wasn't it," he stated more than asked. "You were just staring at something...maybe you were even thinking something angry, and suddenly...". He gestured. "Fwoom. Smoke everywhere, the alarm ringing, and you're sitting there confused and terrified."
Lane wrapped his arms around his knees and drew himself into a little ball.
"Am I close?" Clark asked, softly.
The boy nodded, and Clark thought he caught a sniffle. "She lied to me," Lane whispered.
The statement caught Clark off guard. "What?"
"I thought she and my dad loved each other," Lane continued, almost seemingly unaware of Clark, now. "Either she lied to both of us, or they both lied to me! They all lied to me!" He buried his face in his knees, and the ball became smaller.
Clark gaped at the boy, a stab going through his heart as he realized what Lane thought. "Lane," he murmured, coming over to put a hand on the boy's back, "it's not what you think! I promise." He couldn't tell if the respondent noise was a sniffle or a snort. "Hey," he said, "I may be from another universe, but trust me; this is something I know about. Look at me."
Lane slowly picked his head up and looked in Clark's direction.
"Maybe I don't really have the right to tell you this," Clark mused, "but I think it's something you really need to know. Just...please promise that you won't tell Lois."
Lane nodded, his expression one of open curiosity.
"This is your father's body that I was transferred into," Clark said, reaching a hand up to his glasses, "so you'll be able to see the truth for yourself. Lane..." He removed the glasses from his face. "I'm--" Clark frowned as he suddenly noticed that the world was a little bit blurrier than it used to be. He squinted. "...nearsighted," he concluded.
Lane snorted. "Well, I already knew that," he said. He frowned at Clark. "You know, this is the first time I ever really got a good look at my dad without his glasses, though. You look different without them."
"This isn't right," Clark mumbled, slipping them back on. "Just give me a second...ah!" With a grin, he tucked his legs under himself and floated three feet in the air. "This is what I was trying to tell you," he said.
Lane stared, goggle-eyed. "Well," he said, "now this is also the *weirdest* day of my life."
