Chapter Four

'thoughts'

Dean put the Impala into park and stared at the two story yellow farmhouse that was the Kent establishment. He'd found out where the Kent farm was located after researching the background to Clark. It turned out that the home-bound Clark had been involved in almost all of the meteor freak attacks that had been going on for the past seven years in both Smallville and Metropolis, either with being attacked or having been involved in the capture or destruction of the various perpetrators. It had definitely raised Dean's suspicions. So after discussing things with Sam, as well as ribbing his brother over having gotten caught and in the hospital, he'd decided to have a little one on one with dear old Clark.

Getting out of the car, Dean adjusted his coat as he looked around, taking in the farm setting. It was like any other farm that he'd seen with fencing, a large red barn, and a couple of other buildings outside of the farmhouse. He heard the cows that were out to pasture as well as some horses and he found himself just relaxing. He wasn't sure what it was about the place, but he felt safe and comfortable. It was weird and not what Dean had expected.

Shrugging it off, Dean strolled towards the barn where he could hear the sounds of a hammer hitting some metal. He stepped inside and cocked an eyebrow as he saw Clark bent over an old green tractor that looked like it had seen better days. He also noted a golden retriever standing next to Clark and stopped when the dog growled at him and stood up. He smirked as Clark looked over and blinked in surprise when he was spotted. "Hey. Am I interrupting you?" he asked as he leaned against one of the wooden support pillars.

"Um, not really...just fixing up the tractor," Clark replied as he wiped his hand of the grease he'd gotten from the engine. He watched Dean cautiously as he tossed the rag onto the old rusted red toolbox that was sitting on the barrel that was near him.

"What's wrong?" Dean inquired as he stepped closer.

Frowning a bit at the unexpected inquisition, Clark rolled his shoulders a bit. "Engine's been clunking every time I get to a certain speed," he answered before tossing a glare at the recalcitrant machinery.

"Let me take a look. I've got some skills with engines. Maybe I can find what's acting up...help ya out," Dean offered as he shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on a nail that was protruding from the nearest pillar. He grinned as Clark shrugged before he brushed past him to look in the engine. He ducked down under and looked up into the parts. "Hey, hand me a ratchet wrench with a three eighths inch socket," he called out as he worked on one of the nuts that was in his way. He grinned as said ratchet was handed to him from above and he started tightening the bolt. "Looks like a couple of your bolts were loose and the belt was then not sitting right on its gears," he commented with a grunt before crawling out and taking the rag that Clark handed him. "Shall we give it a try?" he suggested with a winning grin at Clark, who grinned back slowly before climbing into the tractor seat. He started it up and smirked at Dean before driving the tractor out of the barn and revving it up to the speed necessary for the test.

When there was no sound, Clark whooped before bringing it back around and parking it. He turned it off and beamed at Dean. "That did it, whatever you did! Thanks!" he declared as he hopped down and met Dean as he sauntered out of the barn.

"Not a problem. Sometimes you just need a new pair of eyes to see what's wrong," Dean answered with a nonchalant shrug. He cocked an eyebrow as Clark snickered and shook his head. "What?"

"Nothing. I just...never mind. Anyways, what brings you here? I thought you were just passing through on your way to Metropolis to pick up your brother," Clark asked as he leaned against the fence and crossed his arms over his chest. He watched as Dean rested back against the fence next to him with his arms on the top rail and found himself admiring the easy grace with which he did so. There was a man who didn't have any misconceptions about his body or his place in life. Clark envied him for that. He let his eyes wander over the toned body up to the chiseled, almost pretty features that were so much like Jason Teague, yet definitely were Dean Winchester and appreciated that. His eyes fixated on the plush lips that somewhat reminded him of Lana's mouth, but then realized that he was being spoken to. He shook himself and asked dumbly, "Huh?"

Dean grinned knowingly at him as if he'd discerned just *what* had distracted Clark and Clark found himself flushing a bit in embarrassment. "I said I'm actually looking into various goings-on that have been happening around here. You seemed like a good place to start since you were involved in both of the recent accidents," he repeated himself and cocked an eyebrow as Clark looked away self-consciously while shrugging. "So, wanna tell me what happened?" he prodded gently, not wanting to lose the camaraderie that they'd just been working on.

Pursing his lips stubbornly, Clark sighed before straightening up. "What are you really? Some kind of investigator?" he asked gruffly as he went back towards the barn. He heard the crunch of gravel behind him and knew that Dean was following him. He didn't know if he should be pleased or annoyed with that.

"Something like that," Dean replied as he followed after the younger man into the barn. He leaned against the pillar again as he watched Clark put away his tools with more force than was necessary. "So, are you going to tell me or do I have to find another way to get it out of you?" he questioned with a smirk and waggled an eyebrow playfully when Clark looked over at him with a frown. "Come on man...you had iron railroad stakes thrown at you and some kind of machinery fall on you here on the farm! How do you *not* have any marks?" he demanded teasingly as he crossed his arms loosely over his chest.

"I was lucky. Those other people weren't so lucky," Clark responded harshly as he straightened up and gazed at Dean. "Look, just...stop looking into this. It's being handled," he said uneasily as he rubbed the back of his neck before running his hand through his hair.

"Not the way it should be," Dean retorted darkly, all traces of his jovialness now gone as he stared at Clark. "So tell me...did you have flickering lights and voices just before the attacks?" he tossed out and was grimly satisfied to see the startled look on Clark's face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Clark stated firmly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Why are you asking about this? Just drop it! You don't even know what it's about!" he almost shouted at Dean as he shifted uncomfortably to lean defiantly against the saw table.

"I think you know a lot more about this than you're saying and people are dying because you're being so damn stubborn!" Dean shot back in exasperation before running a hand over his face and adjusting his stance. "See, my brother is currently in Metropolis investigating the accidents there. Last night, he was attacked along with Lex Luthor. Two guards died, but he told me that there were flickering lights that exploded before two examination tables went flying at the guards, crushing them. He also told me that, according to reports from the survivors, there were voices and flickering lights. Now, if you know something about these attacks, I need to know so I can take care of it," he explained sharply as he straightened up, his laid-back manner replaced with his hunter side. He was sick of the runaround this guy was giving him. Especially since he seemed to know a *lot* of what was going on.

"Is your brother ok?" Clark asked in concern as he felt his chest tighten. Lex had almost been killed and two more were dead because of all of this. And yet, Dean seemed to know what was going on and even seemed to think he could stop it. But there was no way to stop it...at least no way that he as a human could.

"It'd take more than that to kill Sammy," Dean responded smugly and smirked when Clark glanced at him skeptically before looking away again. "Look, whatever secret you're trying to keep, it's going to get more people killed. Just...tell me what you know," he said as persuasively as he could as he walked up to Clark. He laid a hand on Clark's arm and rubbed it slowly, soothingly as he encouraged Clark to trust him. But then he found himself watching his hand before looking slowly up at Clark to find the other man watching him with an unreadable expression. Dean suddenly wanted to press closer and feel the warmth that Clark seemed to be radiating, have those strong arms wrap around him and take away all of the fear that had been chasing him recently as he walked through life towards his death row sentence. He'd been so cold recently...cold and lonely. What he saw in Clark he wasn't sure, but he realized that he just wanted to be wrapped up in Clark and shut out the world and all that went with it.

Clark contemplated him silently as he seemed to relax a bit and Dean knew that he'd gotten through to him. But before Clark could say anything, a throat cleared behind them, startling them both. They stepped away from each other automatically in reaction as they turned towards the source and found Lana and a blonde girl that wasn't Kara standing nearby, both looking disturbed at what they had walked in on. Lana appeared to be on the verge of a major hissy fit while the blonde looked bemused, as if she wasn't sure she could believe what she had just seen or thought she'd seen. Lana's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest tightly while she stared at Dean. "What are *you* doing here?" she demanded icily and Dean cocked an eyebrow as he briefly contemplated how a nice guy like Clark had ended up with a bitch like her.

But he didn't say that as he smiled charmingly. "I was helping Clark here and asking him about the area. He and I hit it off so well yesterday that I thought I could pick his brain," he answered easily before going over to get his jacket. He pulled it on and fixed the collar before glancing at Clark. "I better get going before it's too dark out to see. I forgot how the country got at night," he added with a smile and a small smile lit Clark's face in response before he looked down.

"Yea, you do that," Lana replied before Clark could and Dean looked over at her. He sneered suddenly at her, a silent challenge that she bristled at before he nodded amiably at Clark and walking between the women on his way out, splitting them both physically and metaphorically speaking.

He headed for his car as a frown settled on his face. He'd been so close to finding out what was going on. Damn that woman for getting in the way *again*! He had a sneaky suspicion that she knew even more than Clark did and that didn't settle well within him. He was also studiously *not* thinking about how warm Clark had felt and the whiff of natural musk that he'd caught from the other man when they'd been so close together. Nope, not thinking about it at all. He sighed as he got to his car and rested his forehead on his arm against the car side. He so needed to either get laid or get the job done and leave before his heart decided to do something stupid...like actually start caring about the tall farm boy. With only ten days left before his contract came due, it would be stupid to fall in love or anything like that which involved more emotion than was necessary. He was already paying a heavy price with Sam and there was really nothing he could do about it. All he could do was make sure that Sam was taken care of after he left. He didn't want to leave another person hurting in this life.

"Dean!"

Clark's call broke through Dean's contemplations and he looked up as Clark strode over towards him looking a bit put out. Dean briefly wondered if there was 'trouble in paradise', but didn't let it show as he turned in Clark's direction. Clark stopped before him so that they were just a couple of inches apart, which was *much too close* for Dean's comfort, but he didn't step back or show any other sort of reaction as he stared up into Clark's face. Clark studied his face, but then tilted in slightly. "I'm sorry about Lana. But I can tell you something about what's been going on or at least what might have started it. The attacks started after me and Chloe found out that Lex was experimenting with some kind of substance that uses the energy from meteor infected people. We managed to stop the experiments, but there have been a lot of accidents at places that were Lex's bases for his past experiments the meteor infected," he said quietly and Dean nodded before smiling.

"Thanks Clark...for trusting me," he whispered in return before taking a step away from Clark. He shivered as a cold wind seemed to slam into him, but he didn't think anything of it. It was something he'd grown used to. He turned a bit and got out his keys, but was stopped by a hand on his own and looked up into Clark's intent gaze.

"Be careful. I...I don't want to see you hurt," Clark murmured and Dean felt a rush of warmth wash over him as he stared into the concerned gaze.

He flashed a grin, but it was sad and he knew that. "I always take care of myself. I just don't have as much to live for. Don't worry about me," he replied before turning his hand and squeezing Clark's once. He let it go and got into his car before slamming the door shut. Starting the Impala, he looked up through the windshield at Clark and watched as the other man moved back towards the barn little by little while observing him in turn. He swallowed hard and glanced aside as he put his car into reverse before looking over his shoulder and turning around. As he drove away with the dust flying around his car, he gazed into his rearview mirror at the diminishing figure of one Clark Kent. He wondered briefly if he would get to see the other man again, but then shook it off as he refocused on the road. There wasn't anymore time for there to be 'something more' with a person. That, out of everything else that had been happening so far recently, hurt him the most. He had a feeling that if they would have met sooner, he and Clark would have definitely had a thing. Now, well, he just hoped that Lana treated Clark with the love and respect he deserved.

If not, well Hell wasn't just a place to visit...it was something to be paid and raised.

TBC

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