Chapter 38

Slumping down onto the porch swing, Leonardo just curled up into a blanket as he watched the road. While only a very few vehicles drove by, he watched as Pete's car drove up the driveway with Clark in the passenger seat. Judging by Clark's expression it was a long day for him if his frown was supposed to go by.

"Long day." Leonardo called out.

"Nearly a four hour trip to Metropolis for a field trip where Clark got into an accident in the elevator at Luthor Corp. Then another four hours back." Pete answered. "So yeah it's been a long day. Anyways I will catch both later."

"Trapped huh. You ok?" Leonardo asked.

"I'm fine, though I was seen by Alicia Baker." Clark replied.

"Is that so?" Leonardo said softly. "What are the chances of her exposing your abilities?"

While a few days did pass since gaining his body, Leonardo still had the lingering feeling as he adapted. It was getting better, but he still stumbled a bit or felt his world begin to spin if he moved too much. Which sucked as Clark and Martha basically put him under house arrest until he fully adapted.

"Not very high. She has the ability to teleport which saved me from being exposed fully." Clark sighed.

"If I recall, Alicia tends to avoid having friends or hanging with others." Leonardo stated.

"Yes, which earned her a reputation of being a snob." Clark nodded.

"Be careful Clark. She spent most of her life hiding this ability and now discovers someone with abilities like her." Leonardo warned. "She might do something drastic as I doubt she has understanding parents."

"I will keep an eye out." Clark said. "Feeling any better."

"A bit." Leonardo said. "In a few days I should be up and going fully. Until then, I guess I will get my fill of the lovely blonde vampire slayer."

Clark just rolled his eyes at him as he knew for certain Leonardo didn't watch the show for the plot. Instead he was just like the lead actress since Clark had figured out that Leonardo did have a thing for blondes like Buffy. Though, the more Clark thought about it, Leonardo's range of girls were a bit bigger as he didn't mind them being taller or different hair colors. As long as they had nice personalities, he tended to like them.

"Any progress on the boat?" Clark asked.

"Not really. Anytime I wandered out there, Jonathan or Martha swept me back to the house." Leonardo grumbled. "I am fine, really."

"You tore the door handle off of the barn and broke your coffee mug." Martha stepped out.

"I said I was fine, not that a few items weren't." Leonardo huffed lightly.

Clark frown vanished as he lowered his head to hide his smile. Leonardo always seemed to make things better. Not to mention, to naturally have the ability to brighten up or break someone's bad mood. A fact he noticed since Leonardo gained a body.

"Clark, why don't you give your father a hand with some chores." Martha said. "While he doesn't want to admit it, his back is giving him a small fit these last few days."

"Alright," Clark tossed his bag onto the swing.

--

Later on, back in his small room, Leonardo was lightly dabbing his paintbrush on the canvas before him. He was currently painting a red-haired woman on a beach as a photo sat next to him. The photo was of Martha and Jonathan not long after they got married and Jonathan asked him if he could paint him a picture for a birthday gift for her.

While it took the man a bit of courage to ask, Leonardo agreed knowing this was just an extra. Not that he minded, as he was about to begin painting Jonathan next to her so it appeared they were on a beach holding each other as the sun set in the background. However, before he dabbed his paintbrush, he heard the door open as Clark stumbled in with a few panic footsteps behind him.

Setting his things down and turning the easel to face the wall. Leonardo walked out to find Clark sitting in a chair as Jonathan and Martha held him.

"What happened?" Leonardo asked.

Clark held his hands on his ears, making Leonardo suddenly understanding. "So his super hearing is finally showing itself huh."

"Super hearing?" Jonathan asked.

"Yep, if I guess he should be hearing a needle drop five states over and everything from there to here all at once." Leonardo said. "If I recall, once he gets the hang of it he will be able to hear the entire planet if he wants. By then he should be able to filter out most sounds and only hear certain ones."

"Leo, now is not the time." Clark basically yelled when he didn't mean too. "How do I get it to stop?"

"Focus, just like the rest of your abilities." Leonardo shrugged. "Jonathan go to the couch and begin speaking very softly, no louder than a whisper. Clark, your goal is to listen to him and drown out the rest of the sounds."

It took a few minutes, but Clark soon got the hang of it, but tended to lose focus for a moment and ended up hearing everything again. Which wasn't very enjoyable, since Leonardo knew it would happen to him too. Though he did practice a bit in Clark's body beforehand.

"Any other abilities I should worry about suddenly appearing." Clark grumbled.

"You haven't really paid attention to Jor-El training have you." Leonardo sighed. "He did go over most of the abilities you should develop. Besides, it's not like you suddenly developed it, but something must have happened to trigger it."

"Being told and experiencing them are two different things." Clark grumbled, before something clicked in his head. "I did hear a loud screech of some kind, then a bunch of glass breaking and some shouting."

"That is a bit concerning." Jonathan said.

"I also heard that the clerk pulled what sounded like a shotgun and put whatever happened to rest." Clark added.

--

The next day, Leonardo felt worse since it was a cloudless day. His resistance or whatever of adapting to Earth's atmosphere decided what it wanted its last hurrah. So he felt like someone threw him into a dryer and turned it on.

Holding the counter as he attempted to get a glass of water. Clark rushed in through the door.

"Leonardo, I need your help." He said.

"What wrong," Leonardo asked, grabbing a glass.

"Pete is missing and I looked everywhere and didn't find him." Clark said.

"Clark, did you try your super hearing? There are more ways to go about things for use compared to the average human." Leonardo suggested.

"I tried but all I hear is everything and can't focus on finding him." Clark said worried.

"Did you ask Pete's mother where he might be?" Leonardo asked a different question.

"Yeah, she said she hadn't seen him a few hours ago."

"That was a few hours ago, try now." Leonardo said.

Clark shook his head before picking up the phone and dialed a number. Judging by his expression, it wasn't good news he was getting. Especially when he basically slammed it down.