Clara Kent Superwoman

Chapter 8: Dr. Swann

Chloe Sullivan prided herself on being a first rate reporter. She could dig up information the public was not privileged to. Some of which was gained through less than legal means. But then, what was a computer genius worth if they didn't snoop a little?

Through her recent net wanderings she had discovered several peculiar things.

Whitney Fordman's grades had been in steady decline since last semester.

Whitney had been working triple the hours she usually did at her father's store

Whitney had dropped all her extracurricular activities apart from Cheerleading.

Whitney was visiting the school counsellor twice a week.

None of this had been reflected in her behaviour towards the school populace. Or perhaps it had, Chloe knew from experience that disturbances in school were often related to something going on at home.

Chloe dug into the Fordman family.

What she found was not what she expected.

Copious hospital bills, Health insurance receipts and the beginnings of funeral arrangements...

These were all for George Fordman, Whitney's father.

Amlodopine Besylate, George Fordman had a heart condition that had become terminal. Whitney's father was going to die within the year, perhaps only in a few months. The cost of his hospital treatment meant that Whitney wouldn't be able to go to college and that they couldn't afford to pay employees to work at the department store. Once Whitney graduated from high school, she'd be trapped at her father's store.

Whitney had always been a bitch, but she didn't deserve this.

Chloe knew what it was to lose a parent, even if her mother had left rather than died. If lashing out was Whitney's coping mechanism, if focusing all of her energy on Lucas, all her hopes, helped her get through it...that was her prerogative. Falling back onto prescribed behaviour as a coping mechanism, it wasn't dissimilar to how she had buried herself in studying after her mother left.

But, just because she understood her, didn't mean she had to like her.

She couldn't take revenge on Clara's behalf. Whitney had kept her father's condition a secret because she didn't want pity, or to be treated differently.

Perhaps, the situation called for a change of tactics. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Helping Whitney may in fact help alleviate some of her burden and therefore her behaviour.

An icon flashed on Chloe's screen, she had e-mail from Dr Swann. Clara had told her about her meeting with the Martian, the not so little green man. Well, she'd started to tell her, then Chloe had gotten impatient asking questions, so Clara handed her a journal with everything written down. Chloe was a speed reader so quickly finished and had a list of questions for Clara about her close encounter. Apparently, Martians like cookies and dress in flamboyant colours. But when she read about Dr Swann's involvement with Kryptonian symbols, she had to e-mail him more directly than before. A lot had changed since they began corresponding, the veil had been dropped. With Clara's permission she proposed a meeting between the three of them, and stated that a certain detective has suggested it.