Clara Kent Superwoman

Chapter 25: Aftermath

"You're sure you're alright sweetheart? You Grandfather has offered to drive you to the airport for an earlier flight" Martha Kent asked, her voice crackling slightly on the phone.

Clara and William Clark had only returned to their hotel room half an hour ago, in the early hours of the morning. They had been kept at the museum for hours, waiting for their turn to make a statement. When finally a young lieutenant had given them permission to go, they'd had to wait for the hire car to arrive. The first order of business when they returned was to call Clara's parents and apprise them of the situation. William Clark had talked to his daughter for 15 minutes, before handing the phone to his grandchild.

"No, Mom, I'm great. You know nothing could have happened to me, and I'm having a good time here, I've learned so much already. Plus, taking me to the airport would take time out of the preparation for Grandpa's big meeting. I still want to help him by taking notes, Mr Wayne is a big businessman, I'm sure I'll learn a lot from the experience."

"As long as you're sure Clara-Lily. I packed your work-wear in the garment bag, as well as the shoes, call me if you can't find anything. Try to get some sleep, I know you don't need is as much as I do, but it'll make me feel better."

That was true, while Clara liked to sleep, she didn't require it as much as a human would. While she kept to a regular sleeping pattern, she knew she could go days without it. Her mother discouraged it, but it came in handy when exam time came.

"I will, I promise, I'll go to bed right now. Do you want me to pass the phone back to Grandpa?"

"Please, I love you, you're father says he misses you."

"I love you both too."

Clara passed the phone back to her Grandfather, who talked for another 5 minutes, while Clara left his room and went to her own.

She kicked off her shoes, not bothering to put them away, which she knew her father would have raised an eyebrow at. She took care to put her dress back in the garment bag, and changed into her Smallville Crows T-shirt and some jogging pants. The familiar clothes were comforting, while the dress was nice, Clara felt more herself in her regular clothes, safer.

Clara closed her eyes, laying facing the window, and pondered her evening. Lex had been an unexpected surprise, but a pleasant one. Somehow, leaving Smallville, it hadn't occurred to her that anyone else did. In Gotham, Smallville seemed a world away and for Lex to appear changed her concept of the world, it was a lot smaller than she thought. To see him in that room of strangers had been comforting, and though she had felt chagrined by his prevention of her intervening in the robbery, it was probably for the best, who knew what those cameras could have picked up?

With that thought on her mind she allowed the haze of sleep to take her.

She didn't see the silhouette of a bat appear like a beacon in the sky.

...

It was a fake.

Oliver Queen examined the beautiful piece of jewellery in front of him, comparing it to the photographs on the computer. The same colour, the same shape, the same weight and the same setting, yet the necklace in his hands was not the true Tear of Atlantis. The diamond chain was real enough, but the real prize, the blue diamond, was little more than tinted cubic zirconia. He'd planned everything, down to the last detail, he'd researched the diamond, tracked it from the temple in India, all the way to Luthorcorp, what had gone wrong?

Had it been switched before Luthor got his hands on it? Lionel couldn't have bought a fake, Luthor was more careful than that. Had he deliberately given Wayne a copy to display? No, it would have been too embarrassing for him if he was found out, and he liked to flaunt his wealth. That left another possibility, Wayne, Wayne has switched the necklaces. Why?