LANA.
Thanks for having me, Mrs. Kent.
MARTHA.
Anytime, Lana.
MARTHA and JONATHAN return to the house. CLARK walks LANA very slowly to her truck.
LANA.
They love you so much.
CLARK.
I know. I don't know what I would do without them.
(Beat) You know, when I fly through Metropolis I notice different things all the time. Subtle changes nobody probably notices. But when I fly over Smallville, it's like nothing ever changes. It's just the way I left it. It's like time doesn't work here.
LANA.
(laughing to herself) It works. It just works very slowly.
(beat, very serious) I miss you, Clark. I miss you so much.
CLARK.
I miss you, too, Lana.
LANA looks at him realizing he doesn't understand.
LANA.
You really don't know, do you? You can hear clouds collide into each other but you are so oblivious sometimes.
(Beat) You know every time your parents see you on TV they are so proud and so terrified at the same time. When other people worry if their kids are making friends and eating right your parents are worrying if some super-powered goon is going to get the best of you. If you're going to be trapped in space or buried in a lava flow or something.
CLARK.
(Beat) I had that lava flow under control.
LANA.
You're missing the point, Clark. They love you and worry about you. I worry about you. Sometimes I wish you would just come home one Sunday for dinner and stay but I know that can't happen. I've known you since we were kids and I know how your parents raised you. You could never stay in Smallville knowing there were things happening in the world you could prevent. You couldn't live with yourself. You could never be that selfish.
(Beat) But I could.
CLARK.
You know, there are ten million people in Metropolis and I don't know any of them. Sometimes I think about it and I'm saving a city full of strangers when the people I know and love are here. And the worse part is everyone there thinks they know me.
LANA.
But there things actually happen. They need you more than we ever could. They depend on you. You're their hero.
CLARK.
Am I? NASA lost contact with the Constitution and on reentry it exploded and twelve men died. I might have been the only man on Earth who could have saved them.
LANA.
But you didn't, Clark. You didn't save them and they died. You can't save them all.
CLARK.
Instead, I spent my afternoon saving the life of a billionaire egomaniac.
LANA.
And what if you hadn't? What if that woman blew up the building and a few thousand people died? Clark, you can't be everywhere.
CLARK.
But if I had been- LANA.
If you had been what? Two places in the same time? Stronger? Faster? You may be the most amazing person on the planet and the world may call you Superman but inside you're just a man. You have to accept that.
CLARK reaches over and holds her hand. She smiles and leans in and kisses him.
LANA.
Remember that night after graduation when you took me out into the back field.
I knew you were going off to college but somewhere, I thought you were going to ask me to marry you.
CLARK has a look of surprise.
LANA.
I thought we would get married and you'd get me out of the one cow town and I'd actually see something in my life.
CLARK.
Lana, I didn't...
LANA shushes him before he can finish.
LANA.
It's okay.
CLARK.
I should have married you when I had the chance.
LANA.
You'll always have the chance, Clark. Whenever you're ready to come home, I'll be here.
They both gaze up into the open Kansas sky.
CUT TO:.
INT. LEXCORP CONFERENCE ROOM.
In the room seated around a large marble table are thirty men from various divisions of the LexCorp empire. One entire wall is a window overlooking a breathtaking view of night-lit Metropolis. The massive seat at the front of the table is empty.
The two giant doors to the room are tossed open and in walks LUTHOR (everyone stands). As always, within arms distance is MERCY, followed by two SECRETARIES. He sits at the front of the table with a SECRETARY on each side.
MERCY stands behind him. LUTHOR Gentlemen, I've had a hell of a day and I am not in a very good mood so let's make this short.
(calling out) Accounting?
VAN HYNING, the Accounting Rep stands and clears his throat.
VAN HYNING.
We have acquired six more research facilities in Southeast Asia. The munitions plant in Northern Europe that has been prohibiting our use of their new patented circuit board is no longer a problem.
LUTHOR.
Then the merger went well?
VAN HYNING.
The details are in my report. LexAir, LexOil, LexCom and their subsidiaries are all doing well, twenty-two percent above the projected goals.
LUTHOR.
(excited) That's what I like to hear!
VAN HYNING.
(nervous) The stock divided this morning and LexCorp took a two hundred point seven million dollar loss... the lowest percentage loss of all the listed companies. A loss sixteen percent higher than Maxwell Lord's holdings.
LUTHOR doesn't look happy with the news and everyone waits for his reaction.
LUTHOR.
What exactly am I standing in?
VAN HYNING.
Company assets are at four point two trillion dollars.
LUTHOR.
(long beat) That's acceptable.
(Beat) Research?
HOLLISTER, the rep from RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT stands.
HOLLISTER.
Construction of our new facilities in South America and Greenland are proceeding ahead of schedule. The great news is medical research has perfected the Leukemia vaccine prototype. It works flawlessly.
LUTHOR.
Have they sent the conditions to the pharmaceutical firms?
HOLLISTER.
Yes they have and they've all declined. They argue the asking price is outrageous.
LUTHOR.
If it were their kids let's see how outrageous it is. Very well, we keep it and it goes no where. The Antarctica facility?
HOLLISTER.
Running totally on your new energy source for eight months on a less than a quarter of a percent what it previously used. The new fuel is clean, stable and most importantly cheap. Of course, we only have limited resources.
LUTHOR.
Is it possible to replicate the chemical structure?
HOLLISTER.
We know it isn't from Earth but it's being worked on as we speak.
LUTHOR.
And the Metropolis Energy Commission?
HOLLISTER.
That news isn't as good. There needs to be a unanimous vote to change the city's power source. We own ten of the twelve commission members but the other two refuse to cooperate. They think it's unnecessary to spend billions of dollars of taxpayer's money on an untested source.