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A Summer In Love

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  • #61
    Chapter Twenty-One:

    Her mouth fell open, and she clung onto Clark’s hand. She just couldn’t believe it. “U-Uncle Jeff?”

    He smiled, and took several steps towards her, ignoring the glare he received from her companion. Well, someone’s protective, he thought. “Hello, Lois, it’s been a long time.”

    She nodded. It had been well over six years going on seven since she had last saw her mother’ best friend and favorite uncle. One part of her wanted to jump up and down in excitement and wrap her arms around him excitedly, but the other part of her knew that he wasn’t here for that. This was definitely not going to be a heartwarming welcome, she thought. He was here for one thing and one thing only…to bring her back to base with Wes, but she couldn’t—wouldn’t do it.

    She needed to figure a way out of this.

    She didn’t want to leave, but most of all she didn’t want to leave Clark.

    She squeezed his hand, in reassurance, and smiled to herself when she felt him squeeze back, and knew deep inside that he was conveying to her that everything was going to be alright. She just hoped that, that was the case.

    “Yeah. It has been quite a long time. Why are you here, exactly?”

    He sighed, his eyes darting back and forth between them. “I think you know why, Lo.”

    She knew why, of course she did, but that didn’t mean she had to accept it, hell, she was never going to accept it. “How did you know where to find me?”

    “Well, Lois, you haven’t been very careful, at least not since you’ve been in Washington. I saw you about a week ago, and called your father.”

    She felt her heart accelerating in her chest. This couldn’t be happening right now. “W-Why? Why would you call him?”

    He was about to answer, but Wes stepped forward intending on explaining, and stopped dead in his tracks at the set of glares he received from both of them. “Lois, your father, he was sick and tired of coming up with nothing but dead ends. He tried pretty much everything to find you, but always came up empty handed so, he did the only thing he could do.”

    “Which was?”

    “He called every Army General in The Unites States, ordering them to contact him as soon as they found you.”

    Her eyes widened. “He did what?”

    Jeff stepped forward. “Yes, Lois, he called me about a month ago searching for you, and told me to call him if I happened to cross paths with you.”

    She felt like the whole world was crashing down on her. Not only did her father go to such lengths to find her, but he dragged Jeff into it, and once again forced Wes to bring her back. “W-why? Why would you do this? Why couldn’t you have pretended that you never saw me?” She looked between the two of them. “You both know how he treats me. I-I can’t go back.”

    “I’m sorry, Lois. I know that you don’t want to leave, hell, I don’t want to do this to you, but I have no choice.”

    “Yes, you do!” She exclaimed, glaring at the man she had considered her best friend when she was younger.

    “Except that I don’t. Lo, think about this. What if Oscar or Kristin did what you have done? What do you think I would do?”

    She shrugged her shoulders. She knew what he would do, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of telling him that.

    “I would do whatever it took to get them back home.”

    “At least, they would have an actual home to come back to. I have nothing. I have never considered that a home, and I never will.” She looked up at Clark, softly smiling, and he smiled back down at her. “The only thing that matters is staying with him-with the man I love.”

    He sighed. “You have a point, and I do understand where you’re coming from. I know you don’t want to leave him. It’s obvious that you love him very much, and I’m pretty sure he feels the same way about you, but I owe it to Sam to make sure you go back.”

    “You don’t owe him anything!” She yelled.

    “Maybe not, but I would expect him to do the same thing if anyone I loved, especially my children disappeared for three months.”

    “I didn’t disappear. I ran away,” She said smugly.

    He shook his head from side to side. “That’s even worse, Lois, don’t you understand that I’m only doing what’s right. You need to go back.”

    She scoffed. “What’s right? What’s right is me staying as far away from my father as possible.”

    “I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen. You’re going back…tonight.”

    “No! No, I’m not!”

    Wes was completely done with this back and forth bickering. It was time he ended this, and make her leave with him. “Enough!” Everyone looked at him. “Dammit, Lois! I’ve been chasing you for three months now, and I’m done! Whether you like it or not, you’re leaving with me tonight, and we’re going back to base.”

    “Why? Because The General ordered you to?”

    He squared his shoulders. “No, because I’m sick and tired of this ********! I’m tired of spending my days wondering when I’m going to get my life back-wondering when everything is going to go back to normal. Have you even thought about what your decisions have caused? Lois, ever since you left, my life and Cassie’ has gone to complete ****, and I’m not going to deal with this another second longer. You’re leaving with me.”

    She glared.

    How dare he insinuate that she didn’t care about him or Cassie! That wasn’t the case. It was quite the opposite. She thought about them a lot, wondering what they were doing and how they were, but that didn’t mean it was enough to make her go back. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

    Jeff sighed. “Look, we could sit here all night and argue about this, but it still doesn’t change the facts. Lois you will be leaving this town tonight, no matter what.”

    She was definitely not having that. “No! I’m not leaving with either of you!”

    “Honey, I’m sorry, but you’ll be leaving tonight. I don’t want to do this, and I’m pretty sure Wes doesn’t either, but we have to. You are going to pack up your belongings, and leave before the night is over.”

    “Really? How do you know I just won’t find a way to escape from him once were on the road?”

    He softly chuckled. “Dear Lord, child, you are so much like you’re mother. She was just as head strong as you are.” His smile fell. “But, I’m not leaving anything to chance. You will be riding with Wes, and one of my men will be following behind you in your car.”

    She smirked. “And what makes you think that I won’t just run away like last time?”

    He gave her a serious expression. Wes had told him all about how she escaped from him last time, and that would not be happening this time. “That’s not going to happen. I have every road in and out of this town blocked. You have no choice in the matter, sweetheart.”

    She felt all the color draining from her face. “Y-You what?”

    “It was the only way we could ensure that you didn’t try to escape again, like you did in Colorado. I’m sorry, Lo, but it’s time for you to go back-it’s time for you to go back to reality.”

    She glanced up at Clark, and saw the absolutely horrified expression plastered on his face. It was useless trying to fight this because there was no way to get around this. She would have to leave—she would have to leave Clark. A small part of her wondered if maybe, just maybe Clark could superspeed them out of this town, but if he did it would only be a matter of time before her father found her again, besides she didn’t want anybody finding out about his abilities.

    It was over.

    It was time for her to go back to base.

    She had no choice but to leave.

    She didn’t agree with this whatsoever, but what made things worse was that she would have to leave Clark…again, and she really, really didn’t want to do that to him again, but what choice did she really have?

    There was no way out of this.

    Clark had listened, intently to everything that was being said, and decided to keep his mouth shut for the time being, but he couldn’t—wouldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t leave him. They had promised each other that they would be together for forever and for always, and he would do everything in his power to keep her by his side.

    He quickly dropped her hand, and stepped in front of her, effectively blocking her from their sights, glaring, fiercely at them. “No! No! I will not let you take her away from me! She isn’t going anywhere!”

    Both Wes and Jeff stared at him with surprise. They hadn’t expected him to say anything since he had been eerily silent throughout the entire exchange.
    He felt her small hands wrap around his arm, and looked down at her. She softly shook her head from side to side, tears in her beautiful hazel eyes, and in that moment, he knew. He could see the truth lingering in her eyes.

    She was going to leave.

    She was going to leave him…again.

    He turned his body towards her, and gripped her face in his large hands, as the tears brimmed in his eyes. “Lois, baby, no, Lois.”

    The tears fell down her cheeks, and she whispered through her sobs. “I-I’m sorry, Clark.”

    The hot, sticky tears rolled down his face, and he quickly pulled her towards him, hugging her tightly against his chest.

    This was it.

    It was over.

    They were over.

    He was about to lose the best thing that has ever happened to him, and this time, this time it wasn’t just going to be for a few weeks or for a few months. It was…forever.

    He could feel her trembling in his embrace, as she cried into his chest, and tightened his hold around her, burying his face into her soft, blonde hair. “It’s okay, baby. It’s going to be okay, Lois. I love you.” He repeated this over and over again, trying to reassure them both that they were going to be alright.

    They both pulled away from each other when they heard Jeff clearing his throat, loudly, and turned to look at him, but kept their arms wrapped around each other.

    “So, you understand? You will be packing your things and leaving with Wes as soon as possible.”

    She never looked at him, as she mumbled, “Yes.”

    Wes didn’t like the idea of her packing her things alone. He knew exactly what she was capable of, and he would not fail…not again.

    He stepped forward. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Jeff, I gave her the same luxury last time, and she still managed to escape. I won’t let that happen again.”

    Clark and Lois glared at him.

    Jeff placed a hand on his shoulder. “That’s not going to happen this time so, I need you to back off. I will handle this.” He looked back over at them, and settled his eyes on his niece’ boyfriend. “What’s your name, young man?”

    He felt Lois’ body tense, and rubbed her back reassuringly before responding, “My name is Clark. Clark Kent, sir.”

    “Clark, can you assure me that you will be returning with my niece?”

    He nodded, meekly. He didn’t want to, but he didn’t really have a choice.

    “Good. Now, Clark, I can see how hard this is for not only Lois, but for you as well. How much do you love her?”

    He didn’t hesitate. “I love her more than life itself.”

    He smiled. “I know you do. I’ve been watching you two for the past week, and quite honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people more in love than you two are.”

    Lois gasped. “T-Then why are you doing this? Why are you tearing us apart? Why can’t you just let us live our lives the way we want…together? I-I don’t want to leave him. I want to stay with him.”

    “I know that, Lois.” He smiled at both of them. “But, who says you have to be apart?”

    They both frowned at him.

    He chuckled, softly. “Oh, come on, you both obviously love each other very much, and don’t want to be apart so, what’s stopping you from bringing him with you?”

    They both looked at each other, tears welling in their eyes, and could feel their hearts breaking a little more because they both knew that wasn’t a possibility. She couldn’t bring him with her, especially not to a military base, besides her father would have questions, and she highly doubted that he would ever allow him to stay with her. Clark, on the other hand, couldn’t go with her, even though he wanted to, for multiple reasons, the number one being that he was needed—wanted—missed elsewhere. It was time for him to go home.

    She looked over at Jeff. “That’s not possible.”

    He frowned. “Why not?”

    “You know what my father is like. There is no way in hell he would allow him to stay on base with me.”

    He nodded. He knew that very well. “Who says he has to stay on base?”

    They frowned, even more so.

    He glanced between the two of them. “Look, I’m trying to help you out here, okay? I know you don’t want to leave each other, that much is obvious.” He looked directly at Clark. “What about you, Clark? What if I could get you a nice place outside the base, would you leave with Lois?”

    “Of course, I would want to-I want to more than anything, but I-I can’t.”

    He sighed, “And why the hell not?”

    “B-because I’m going home.”

    He narrowed his eyes. “You ran away from home too?”

    He simply nodded.

    He sighed, heavily. He had tried to help them find a way to be together, but it seemed that it wasn’t going to be possible for either of them. He hated that he was forced to tear two people apart, who were obviously so right for each other, but it just couldn’t be stopped.

    “Well, I guess that means you guys want some time alone to say goodbye to each other then?”

    They didn’t say anything, just trained their eyes to the ground, and he knew that their hearts were breaking at what was about to happen to them. “Go ahead, but I expect both of you to be back down here when you’re ready, is that clear?”

    They both nodded, and silently walked into their hotel with their arms wrapped around each other. He watched them go with a miserable expression plastered on his face.

    He hated this.

    He hated that he was about to rip them apart—about to rip their love for each other apart.

    But, he had a feeling that one day they would find their way back to each other.

    It was destiny. He could see that, hell, the same exact thing happened to him and his wife. They had been separated for over two years before they found each other again, and their love was stronger than it had ever been before.

    If it was possible for him, it was possible for them. It just had to be.

    His thoughts were broken by Wes’ voice, “I can’t believe you just let them leave together…completely alone. Who knows what they’re going to do. Hell, they could be planning ways to escape right this minute.”

    He turned towards him. “Seriously, Wes, would you just calm down? I have faith that they will return, besides it’s not like they’re going to get very far if they try.”

    He frowned. “What do you mean?”

    “I mean, that I not only have my men blocking all the roads, but I also have them patrolling all across town, including inside their hotel. Trust me, they aren’t going anywhere.”

    “That still doesn’t mean they won’t find a way to escape.”

    He sighed. “Let me ask you something. Do you have someone out there who you love more than anything?”

    He shook his head. Yeah, he loved Cassie, but it’s not like they were together, and he obviously didn’t feel the same way about her that Lois felt for Clark.

    “Then you couldn’t possibly understand what they’re going through right now, but you need to think about how this is affecting them. Lois left wanting to be free, and what did she find? She found true love instead. We aren’t just taking her freedom, but we are also ripping apart two people who are completely and irrevocably in love with each other. We’re going to let them have this moment, no matter how long it takes, because it will very likely be their last for a very, very long time.”

    He stared at him, wide-eyed. No wonder Lois and The General were so close to this guy, he thought. He was really good at giving advice, albeit he did have a wife and children, but he did have a point, he needed to think about what this was going to do to both Lois and Clark. He had thought that she had found someone to have fun with, a lot like a summer love, but maybe, just maybe they were destroying something that could’ve been so, so much more.

    “I know this is going to be hard for both of them, but I can’t just leave her here with him, not when The General is on my ass.”

    “I understand that, but we’re going to give them as much time as they need because they need it.”

    He nodded. “So, what do we do now?”

    He smiled, glad that he knocked some sense into this guy. “Just pull the car around, and we’ll wait for them.”

    As he walked towards his car, he wondered, briefly if this was all finally going to end, albeit at the pain of his best friend, or if this was just a ruse, and she was going to pull one over them once again. He really, really hoped that it was the former. He just wanted his life back, no matter what.


    Clark leaned against the wall with his arms folded across his chest, and tears rolling down his cheeks, as he watched Lois pack away her things, quite frantically.

    He couldn’t believe this was happening.

    They had been so happy today, actually, it was probably the happiest they’ve ever been. He had taken her to the beach, and was looking forward to moving onto their next adventure…together, but that had all changed in the blink of an eye.

    She was leaving.

    He didn’t want her to leave, god, he wanted to be with her for forever and for always, but it seemed like that wasn’t going to be a possibility for them.

    He had forgiven himself for everything he had blamed himself for.

    He had moved forward from everything that he had caused back home.

    His broken heart and mind had been healed.

    It was all because of her—because of the way she accepted him when they first met—how she helped him move past everything—how she cared for him when he would break down in front of her—how much she loved him.

    And now, now it was all about to come to an end.

    He hated it.

    She was leaving—leaving him…again, and he doubted that they would ever see each other again. He clenched his eyes shut, as that thought shattered his heart into a million pieces.

    When he opened his eyes again he could see her body trembling—hear her silent sobs, and it broke his heart.

    “Lois, stop.”

    She didn’t.

    “Lois! Stop!” He said a little more forcefully.

    “I-I can’t…” She continued to pack her things.

    He walked up to her, ripped the bag from her hands, throwing it across the room, and turned her towards him. “Dammit Lois! Just stop, okay?”

    She stared up at him, tears running down her rosy cheeks. “I-I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to leave you.”

    He softly rested his forehead against hers, and wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. “Then don’t. Lois, please, please just come away with me. We can be together. I’ll superspeed us out of here, and make sure that no one ever finds us again.”

    She wanted to, god, she wanted to more than anything, but it just wasn’t possible. “Clark, we can’t do that.”

    “Why not?”

    She rested her hands on the sides of his face. “You promised me that you were going to go home, and if we do that, it will only be a matter of time before my father finds me again.”

    “No!” He exclaimed. “Lois, baby, please! I-I can’t do this again. I-I can’t lose you. You’re everything to me. Do you know how much I love you? How much I need you? I can’t do this without you.”

    She gently kissed him. “Yes. Yes, you can. Clark, you have people who love and miss you, and they want you back where you belong.”

    “What about what I want? What about what you want? What about us?”

    “There will always be an us, baby.” She pressed her hand against his chest. “I’ll be in here forever and for always, just like we promised each other.”

    He shook his head. “It’s not the same. I need you, Lois, god, baby, I need you more than anything I’ve ever needed before.”

    “I know. I need you too, but sometimes we can’t get what we want.”

    He sighed, heavily, his heart shattering, at the notion of what was going to happen, and the tears cascaded down his cheeks. “I-I don’t want to lose you.”

    “I know, baby, me either.”

    “This is it, isn’t it?”

    She nodded.

    He softly closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. “I mean, there won’t be no seeing each other again in a few weeks like before. This time is for real. We are never going to see each other again.”

    The tears came harder and harder, making her entire body tremble. “I’m so, so sorry, Clark.”

    He shook his head. “No. Lois, you have nothing to be sorry for. This isn’t your fault.”

    “How can you say that? I promised you that I would never leave you again, and now I’m breaking that promise.”

    He stared deeply into her eyes. “You haven’t broken any promise, Lois. We promised each other we would be together forever, but it seems that fate has different plans for us, and I don’t blame you for anything. I love you and I always will.”

    She hated this.

    She hated that they had to go through this pain—through this torment all over again, but this time it was ten times worse because they knew for a fact that they wouldn’t be together ever again.

    “Clark, I-I don’t want to leave-I don’t want to leave you.”

    “I know, baby, I know. I don’t want you to either, but it’s not like we really have a choice in the matter.”

    He slowly pulled away from her, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a gold locket. He had bought it a few days ago, wanting to give it to her when they arrived in Kansas, but since that wasn’t going to happen now was as good a time as any. He twisted it around, and used his heat vision to write an engraving on the back of it.

    She watched him with a slight frown, and wondered what the hell he was doing. She grasped it in her hands, careful not to burn herself when he handed it to her, and read the inscription:

    Lois

    I love you forever and for always

    Love Clark

    Her heart broke at the simple, but heartfelt words, and slowly opened the locket seeing a picture of them, one they had took in Montana, in the shape of a heart. “It’s beautiful.”

    He smiled, faintly. “I want you to always have something that you can hold close to your heart to remind you of us-of what we shared together.”

    The tears cascaded down her cheeks. “Clark, I could never forget you, no matter how much time passes.” She handed him the locket. “Can you put it on for me?”

    He grabbed it, slowly walked behind her, and clasped it behind her neck before resting his hands on her shoulders, squeezing slightly.

    She softly closed her eyes, clutching the locket in between her fingers, and turned around towards him. “I-I don’t know how to say goodbye to you.”

    More tears fell down his cheeks, at her words. “I know, Lo, oh god, baby, I don’t know how to either.”

    She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close to his chest. She couldn’t stop the tears that rocketed her body, and broke down in his arms. He tightened his arms around her, and whispered in her ear. “It’s okay, baby. It’s going to be okay.”

    “No. No, it’s not,” she vehemently denied before her knees gave way, and she slowly collapsed to the ground.

    He fell to the ground with her, gathered her into his arms, and pulled her into his lap, crying harder than ever before.

    He didn’t want this.

    He wanted to stay with her always and forever, but it just wasn’t going to happen, and there was nothing he could do about it.

    He slowly pulled away from her, and stared into her eyes, deeply. “I love you, Lois. Don’t ever forget that.”

    She rested her forehead against his. “I love you too, Clark. Oh god, Clark, I don’t want to say goodbye to you.”

    “I know, baby.”

    “Make love to me,” she whispered, as she stared into his eyes.

    He knew she needed this, hell, he needed it too, even if it was their way of saying goodbye to each other without actually saying the words.

    He slowly leaned forward, and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

    They slowly removed each other’s clothing, not wanting this moment to end too soon. They wanted it to last forever.

    He picked her up off the ground, bridal style, and carried her to the bed before gently laying her down on the soft, plush blankets. He stared down at her, as he hovered above her. “I love you, Lois.”

    She smiled, weakly. “I love you too, baby.”

    They stared at each other for a few seconds before their lips met in a soft, tender, and passionate kiss. As they made love that night, they took their time exploring each other’s bodies, and felt every movement—every touch—every caress—every kiss, searing it into their minds, knowing that this would be their very last moment together.


    Wes sighed, heavily, as he leaned up against the side of the car, and crossed his arms across his chest. He had waited for over three hours before they made their way out of the hotel, and had even helped pack her things into his car. He had done most of that waiting time by himself since Jeff had left an hour or so after they went inside to check up on things, and to make sure everything was in order.

    He glanced over at them for about the hundredth time. Yep, they were still at it, he thought.

    They had been practically making out for the last twenty minutes, and hadn’t left the confines of each other’s arms.

    It was sickening.

    And it was just making him more and more irritable.

    He had thought that they would pack her things, they would say their goodbyes, and then they would leave, but of course, he was still waiting for them to finish saying goodbye.

    They needed to go, and they needed to go now. He was sick and tired of waiting. It was time to leave.

    He quickly walked over to them, gripped her arm, and began to pull her away from Clark. “Okay, come on, you’ve said your goodbyes, now it’s time to go.”

    She tried ripping her arm away from him, her eyes glued to Clark, as she tried reaching for him. “No! Wes! God dammit Wes! Let me go!”

    “No, we’re leaving!”

    Clark saw red. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her yet, and he knew she wasn’t either. And he definitely didn’t like the way this guy was manhandling his woman, whether he was her best friend or not, nobody touched her like that.

    He quickly grabbed her, using enough of his strength to pull her away from him before turning towards Wes, and slammed him against the side of the car. “Don’t! Don’t you ever touch her like that again!”

    Wes stared at him, wide-eyed, completely unable to believe this guy’s mere strength. “Look, man, I get it okay? You love her, but you’ve spent the last twenty minutes saying goodbye to her, and now it’s time for us to go.”

    He glared, and pressed him a little harder against the car. “You will let me say goodbye to the woman I love, is that understood?”

    He simply nodded.

    Clark quickly let him go, walked over to Lois, and grabbed her arm, checking for any injuries. “Are you okay?”

    She nodded before wrapping hers arms around his neck, hugging him with all her might, and cried, softly into his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly, and whispered in her ear. “I have something for you.”

    She pulled away from him, a slight frown on her face, and a multitude of questions running through her mind. She watched as he pulled out a picture from his back pocket, and handed it to her. She gasped at what she saw. It was the picture they had that elderly woman, Shelia, take of them at the beach today. “Clark, how? When did you do this?”

    “While you were taking a shower earlier before we went to dinner. I, um, I left to go get it printed. I was planning on giving it to once we…” he trailed off, unable to finish that sentence since it wasn’t going to happen anymore. She wasn’t coming home with him.

    “It’s okay, baby. I love it. Thank you.”

    He smiled at her.

    “Wait! I have something for you too.”

    He watched as she went to the car, digging through her things, and pulled out the bear he had won for her on their first date.

    She handed it to him with a soft smile lingering on her lips.

    “No. Lois, I won that for you. It’s yours.”

    She pressed it against his chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Clark, just take it. I want you to have it. Think of it as a token of my love, and a way to remember me, just like the locket you gave me.”

    He grabbed the bear in one hand, and rested the other against her cheek, rubbing his thumb across her soft skin. “I don’t need this to remember you, Lois. Baby, I could never forget you, but I’ll hold onto this because I know in some way it will make me feel closer to you somehow.”

    “I’m sorry, Clark. I-I don’t want to do this.”

    He placed the bear on the ground, and gathered her into his arms. “I know, baby.”

    “Clark, can you promise me something?”

    “Anything.”

    “Promise me that you won’t be sad forever. Promise me that one day you will find it in your heart to move on from me, and let someone who can love you in.”

    He pulled away from her, frowning. “No! Don’t you dare ask me to promise you that! It’s a promise I could never fulfill. Lois, I will never, ever move on from you. I will never love anyone as much as I love you.”

    “You don’t know that.”

    “Yes, I do.”

    “How?”

    He grabbed the locket hanging around her neck. “This. This is how I know. Lois, if you ever feel like you’re losing yourself or if you feel lost just hold this, and remember that I will love you forever and for always, no matter what.”

    She smiled. “I love you, Clark. I love you so damn much, and that is never going to change.”

    They leaned their foreheads together, tears streaming down their cheeks, as they stared into each other’s eyes, and shared a sweet, passionate kiss.

    “I love you, Lois. I want you to know that you will always be in my heart, my mind, and soul forever.”

    “I love you, Clark. I think I’ve loved you from the moment we first met, and that’s never, ever going to change.”

    They kissed one last time before she started walking away from him. He watched her, tears rolling down his cheeks, and his heart shattering as she opened the car door. She looked over at him, tears rolling down her cheeks before she took off running, jumped into his arms, and wrapped her legs around his waist.

    He quickly caught her, and tightened his arms around her before he kissed her with all the love—with all the passion—with all the yearning and desire he felt for her.

    They pulled away from each other, breathing heavily, and rested their foreheads together.

    “God, Lois, I love you so much!”

    “I love you too, baby, and I’m never going to stop.”

    He slowly set her back on the ground. “You have to go.”

    “I know.”

    They leaned forward, their lips meeting, and poured everything they felt for each other into that kiss, knowing it was going to be their last.

    She slowly walked away from him, and as soon as she got back to the car looked back at him, whispering, “Goodbye, Clark,” before she got into the car.

    As they drove away, she watched in the rearview mirror until she couldn’t see him anymore, and she couldn’t stop the tears from falling down her cheeks.

    Wes looked over at her, feeling his heart break for his best friend, and he didn’t know what to do to help her. “Lois, I’m sorry. I—”

    “Shut up!” She interrupted him. She wasn’t in the mood for his apologies right now.

    She looked back out the window, and softly closed her eyes, as visions of every moment they ever shared together flashed behind her eyes. It was the best three months of her life, and she knew deep down that she would never, ever love another, even if that meant being miserable for the rest of her life.

    There was no happiness for her if she didn’t have Clark, and she would never, ever have him again.


    Clark watched her drive away—drive away from him…forever, and as soon as she was out of sight collapsed to the ground, tears cascading down his cheeks, as his heart shattered into a million pieces.

    He couldn’t believe it.

    He had lost her.

    She was gone.

    He would never see her again.

    He had lost the one person that had meant absolutely everything to him.

    From the moment he met her he knew that she was something special, and at the time he didn’t really understand why he felt so connected to her right from the start, but now he knew. They were destined to meet on that bridge that day, and it was the best thing that could have happened to him because he found something he never thought he would find…true love.

    And now, now she was gone, but he would do right by her—he would fulfill his promise to her—he would go home to his family and friends.

    All of a sudden, his chest started burning in intense pain, and he screamed at the top of his lungs, “AHHH!” He ripped his shirt open, and watched in confusion, as the symbol of his ancestors disappeared from his chest.

    He panted, breathlessly once the pain subsided, and roamed his hands across his smooth chest, wondering why the hell that had happened, but didn’t have to wonder long as he heard a familiar voice in his head.

    It’s time, Kal-El.

    Time for what? Time for him to try to control him?

    He didn’t know, but he was going to find out what Jor-El meant. He slowly stood up, walked over to his bike, and revved the engine. He looked over towards the direction Lois had headed, and whispered, “Goodbye, Lois,” before speeding off into the night.

    He didn’t know what was in store for him when he got home, whether he was going to have a heartwarming welcoming with his family or friends or if Jor-El was only going to force him to leave with him. Either way, it didn’t matter. He promised her he would do this, and he wouldn’t break this promise, not one that came from the love of his life.

    She was right. It was time he went home.


    This was the saddest chapter I have ever written before, and it took me quite a while to get through it, but I did, thankfully. I can’t believe it took me over twenty chapters to write their three months together. I honestly didn’t expect this story to be this long, but alas I will keep writing the chapters until this is done. So, Clark and Lois have said their last goodbyes to each other…or it is?

    I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-one!!!

    Comment


    • #62
      My heart just shattered into a million pieces. They're both in so much pain. But it was the right thing to do. Lois is right. Wherever they go, the general will still keep searching for her and the last thing they need is for him to investigate Clark. As for Wes, I could kick that man's butt!

      Comment


      • #63
        My heart shattered just writing this chapter!!! They both are in quite a lot of pain, especially since they believed they would always be together, and as much as i hate writing sad scenes like this it had to be done.

        Yeah, Wes is definitely a pain in the butt!!!

        Comment


        • #64
          Man, oh man! Sad makes me grumpy😒 I have all kinds of scenarios to fix this cluster running through my head. I'm REALLY hoping this separation doesn't last too long. I know MY ideal fix. I'm just hoping we aren't talking years before the much needed reunion and resulting, long term togetherness happens. Cause, hey, this is Clois and by the very definition that means they are one!
          *Deep, cleansing breath*
          Okay all ranting, pouting and tantrum throwing aside, I was glued to my screen. Dinner had to wait! So now that I've fed the masses, and had my say, I'm off to re-read and savor Wes getting put in his place by our favorite farm boy😊 He's lucky Clark didn't hand him his head. Thanks for the rescue. Will be waiting, a bit less than patiently, for MORE. Please😇

          Comment


          • #65
            Originally posted by Sykobee
            Man, oh man! Sad makes me grumpy I have all kinds of scenarios to fix this cluster running through my head. I'm REALLY hoping this separation doesn't last too long. I know MY ideal fix. I'm just hoping we aren't talking years before the much needed reunion and resulting, long term togetherness happens. Cause, hey, this is Clois and by the very definition that means they are one!
            *Deep, cleansing breath*
            Okay all ranting, pouting and tantrum throwing aside, I was glued to my screen. Dinner had to wait! So now that I've fed the masses, and had my say, I'm off to re-read and savor Wes getting put in his place by our favorite farm boy He's lucky Clark didn't hand him his head. Thanks for the rescue. Will be waiting, a bit less than patiently, for MORE. Please
            Sad makes me grumpy too, and i hated writing this, but it had to be done. I actually had three different reunion scenarios for their reunion, and it took me a while to figure out which one I wanted to do. For how long this separation will be you'll just have to wait and see.

            When this story was just an idea, I had pictured that scene between Clark and Wes, and i enjoyed writing that scene very much. It was fun having Wes being put in his place by Clark.

            Glad you're enjoying still enjoying this

            Comment


            • #66
              Chapter Twenty-Two:

              Clark drove down the all too familiar dirt roads in Smallville, breathing in the rustic smell of cornfields, which surrounded him on either side, and felt the fresh air brushing across his skin. As he slowly began approaching the yellow farmhouse he started to feel a little apprehensive about all of this.

              It was exciting to be back home again.

              But…

              He couldn’t help but be worried about his parents and his friend’s reactions to him.

              Would they welcome him home with open arms? Would they all be upset that he had left in the first place? Would his friends be angry with him? Would they despise him? Hate him? Would his mother be sad? Would his father be disappointed in him?

              He wasn’t sure he was ready for this—ready to confront his family and friend’s after leaving them, and being gone for three months, but he was here, and it was time he put all that pain and suffering behind him, besides he promised her that he would do this.

              He slowed the motorcycle to a complete stop next to the slightly worn, red barn, killing the engine before stepping off the bike, and glancing around his surroundings.

              Everything looked pretty much the same, except for a few little things that needed some maintenance, but he figured that, that was his fault, and he couldn’t help but feeling a tad bit guilty since he wasn’t here to help his father with the farm work and animals or to help his mother with her gardening.

              As he roamed his eyes across the open fields, he realized that he had missed this place, his home, a lot more than he previously thought.

              He had missed the yellow farmhouse—the red barn—his loft or as he liked to call it his fortress of solitude, but most of all, he just missed being home, and it felt great being back.

              He was glad to be home.

              A loud gasp coming from behind him had him twirling around, coming face to face with his father, who was staring at him with wide-eyes, like he couldn’t believe who was actually standing in front of him.

              Jonathon, who was in the barn working on that no-good-piece-of-crap tractor, which he refused to get rid of, rushed outside as soon as he heard the familiar sound of his motorcycle, and couldn’t believe his eyes.

              It was his son. Clark.

              His son, who had been gone from his life for way too long was standing right in front of him, and he had no idea what to say or do.

              He couldn’t believe it.

              He was actually here.

              His son had come home.

              He took a slow step towards him, his heart beating frantically in his chest, and croaked out, “C-Clark?”

              Clark smiled, slightly, not too sure how his father was going to react to him. “Hi, dad.”

              “Clark? Clark, is it really you? Are you really home?”

              His heart ached, painfully, at the obvious pain in his father’s voice, and couldn’t help wondering just how much pain he had put his parents through by running away. “Yeah, dad, it’s really me, a-and I’m home…for good.”

              Jonathon grinned from ear to ear, extremely happy before darting towards his son, and engulfed him in a bear hug. “We’ve missed you so much, son.”

              He quickly responded to his father, and felt his earlier apprehension fading as his father welcomed him home with open arms. “I’ve missed you too.”

              He pulled away from him, his eyes studying him, and clamped his hands down on his shoulders. “You look good, son.”

              “I am, dad. I really am.”

              “I can’t believe this. You don’t know how many times your mother and I hoped and prayed that you would come home to us, and speaking of your mother, she is going to be extremely happy to see you.”

              Clark smiled, tightly, as his father dragged him towards the house. It seemed that this was going to be a great day for his parents, but he felt that all-consuming guilt building inside of him, at the thought of the pain he had put them through.

              They walked into the house, the smell of apple pies baking in the oven overpowering his senses, making him smile, god, he had missed that, he thought.

              “Martha?” Jonathon called out, as they entered the kitchen.

              Martha, who was busy washing the dishes muttered, “yes, dear,” without ever turning around to look at her husband.

              Clark stood rooted to the spot in the foyer between the kitchen and dining room. She looked good, actually she looked better than good, but he had a feeling deep inside that his disappearing act had done a lot more harm to her than his father.

              Jonathon sighed, heavily. “Can you stop what you’re doing, and come here for a second?”

              She didn’t. “I’m almost done here.”

              “No, Martha, I need you to come here right now.”

              She sighed, heavily, men, she thought, could never do anything by themselves. She slowly turned around, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head, as she saw her son, Clark, standing less than two feet away from her. The glass plate in her hand, slipped from her grasp, and fell to the ground, shattering into a million pieces, but she didn’t care about that.

              No.

              He was really here.

              Her son, who she had missed so much, was standing in her kitchen.

              Clark was home.

              She grinned, widely, exclaiming, “Oh my god! Clark!” before rushing into his arms.

              He quickly wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly, and softly closed his eyes, as he felt her all-consuming love for him fill his heart with complete and utter happiness. “Hi, mom. I’ve missed you so much!”

              “I’ve missed you too, sweetie,” she slowly pulled away from him, and roamed her eyes over every inch of his body. “You look good. Are you okay?”

              He smiled, tears pooling in his eyes. “Yeah, I’m good mom.” He shifted his gaze between them, seeing the sadness lingering in their eyes, the faint smiles plastered on their faces, and it broke his heart.

              Just what had he done?

              A few tears fell from his aquamarine eyes, “I-I’m so, so sorry.”

              Jonathon gave his shoulder a slight squeeze. “It’s okay, son. We’re just glad that you’re finally home.”

              He shook his head from side to side. “No, it’s not okay. I left you guys. I shouldn’t have done that. I-I should’ve stayed, but I-I thought I was doing both of you a favor by leaving. I blamed myself for everything that happened, and I didn’t want to disappoint you anymore than I already had. I’m sorry.”

              A few tears fell from her eyes, at her son’ words, and she could see the pain that he has held inside for so long come to the surface. She wiped away his tears. “It’s okay, baby. You don’t need to think about that anymore, It’s in the past. You’re home now, and that’s the only thing that matters.”

              “H-how can you say that? I-I did so many things wrong, and it’s my fault that you lost your baby, mom, I’m so, so sorry.”

              “Son, we never blamed you. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. If anything, we blamed ourselves.”

              He stared at his father, confused. “What?”

              “After you disappeared, we blamed ourselves for not seeing how much pain you were obviously in. If I would have just seen past my own anger, I might have been able to stop you from leaving.”

              He shook his head. “No, dad, nothing would have stopped me from leaving. I-I made that decision on my own, and I never, ever blamed you guys for anything that happened. If anyone’s to blame, it’s Jor-El.”

              They frowned at him.

              “What does Jor-El have to do with this?”

              He took a deep breath, “Well, you know that he wanted me to leave—leave you guys, my friends, my home, but I couldn’t—”

              “That’s why you blew up your spaceship?”

              He nodded, at his mother. “Yeah, and I thought I was doing the right thing, but everything just got worse. You lost your baby. Dad, you were so disappointed in me, a-and I couldn’t deal with everything I had done—everything that I had caused so, I left.”

              “Oh, honey, you should have told us. We could have helped you through this.”

              He smiled. “Mom, it still wouldn’t have changed anything. I still would have left. It took me a very long time to come to terms with everything, but as soon as I did I knew I had to come home.”

              “It wasn’t your fault, Clark.”

              He nodded. “I know, actually someone helped me realize that.”

              Martha quirked her brows, inquisitively. “Really? Who?”

              “It doesn’t matter.”

              She narrowed her eyes at her son, there was more to that than he was saying, she thought. “Well, I’ll be forever thankful that this person helped you because you’re home now, and I’m so happy that you are.”

              He smiled, widely. “Yeah, me too.”

              “Okay, how about you two go make yourself comfortable in the living room? I’m going to make us all some coffee.” She looked at her son. “Clark, do you want some tea?”

              “No. Coffee’s fine, mom.”

              She stared at him, in astonishment. “When did you start drinking coffee?”

              He smiled, sadly, as memories of all the times he shared coffee with Lois come rushing back to him, but he quickly pushed those thoughts away. It wasn’t the time or place to think about that, and he really didn’t want to ruin such a happy moment with his parents. “Uh, I took a liking to it while I was away.”

              She nodded, and started making them coffees, as they made their way into the living room. She noticed an expression of pure sadness cross his features, and how he successfully hid it with a smile, but she had seen it.

              What was that all about?

              She didn’t know, but she had a feeling that it had something to do with this person he off-handedly mentioned. Who was this person? How had they helped him? Was this person important to him?

              They all sat down in the living room, enjoying the refreshing coffee before Jonathon spoke up, “So, son, tell us about what you did while you were gone?”

              He sipped his coffee. “Uh, there’s not much to tell.”

              Martha rolled her eyes. “Don’t pull that on me. You were gone for three months, Clark so, where did you go? What did you do?”

              He set his coffee down, and took a deep breath before telling them everything. He told them about travelling through so many states, and how he stayed for a few weeks in Colorado, Montana, and Washington. He told them about all the things he had done over that time, but tried his hardest to hide the pain he was feeling inside since everything he was telling them were things he had shared with Lois, and he would never, ever share another moment with her.

              Jonathon didn’t notice anything amiss. “Sounds like you visited a lot of places.”

              He nodded.

              Martha, on the other hand saw right through her son. It was quite obvious that something was bothering him, she could see it in his eyes and the way his body tensed, he was hurting. She had a feeling that it was about something that happened while he was gone or someone he had met while away. She grabbed his hand, and softly squeezed. “Clark, honey, are you okay?”

              He should have known better, he thought, his mother always could see straight through him, but he couldn’t talk about that—about Lois. It was too fresh. It was too new. And he wasn’t too sure how far he would get before breaking down, and he didn’t want his parents to see the pain he felt inside. He plastered on a false smile. “Yeah, I’m fine, mom. Actually, I’m great now that I’m back home.”

              “So, what’s been going on around here?” He quickly changed the subject.

              “Hmm, well I think you should probably ask your friends that question. You know, they’ve really missed you.”

              He smiled, “Yeah, I’ve missed them too.”

              Jonathon quickly stood up. “Well, before you go off to see them, I think we should get your things inside. It’s supposed to storm tonight.”

              They walked outside, while his mother made more coffee. He grabbed his two duffel bags, and the bear Lois had given him, while his father rolled the motorcycle into the barn.

              He was about to head up the stairs when he heard his father’s voice, “What’s the bear for, son?”

              He froze, not quite sure how to answer that question.

              He wanted to tell them, especially his mom since she had been the one to tell him that one day he would find his true one—his soulmate, but he didn’t want to think about it, let alone talk about it. It’s all he’s been doing for the past week. He didn’t want to be sad anymore, but that wasn’t possible, not unless he could be with her, and that was never going to happen.

              She saw the expression on his face, and knew something was seriously bothering him. “Clark, what is it?”

              “It’s nothing.”

              She gave him ‘the look’, the one he was all too familiar with, and quickly averted his eyes from her. He hated it when she looked at him like that.

              “Nuh-uh, young man, something is obviously bothering you. Why are you so sad?”

              “I’m not.” He quickly changed the subject, “So, um, I’m going to get these things upstairs and stop by The Talon to see Chloe and Pete.”

              “Oh, no you don’t.” She grabbed his hand, stopping his movements, and pulled him towards the couch, making him drop his things and sit down.

              Jonathon shook his head at his wife, “Martha, honey, would you leave him be? He just got back, and is probably just overwhelmed by everything.”

              Clark quickly nodded, and started to get up, but was pushed back down onto the couch.

              She glared at her husband. “I know my son better than anyone, and it’s quite obvious that he is upset about something.” She faced her son, making him squirm underneath her heated gaze. “Okay, out with it. You have been forlorn ever since I brought up coffee and when you told us about your time away. So? What is it? What's bothering you?"

              He sighed. It was hard enough thinking about everything, let alone actually saying the words out loud, and now his mother wanted a full disclosure, one he didn’t want to share, but he knew that she wouldn’t allow him to leave until he had confessed.

              He trained his eyes to the floor, and muttered, “I met someone.”

              Jonathon smiled. “See? That’s all it is, honey, he must have met a lot of people while away, and he just misses them.”

              He cringed, slightly, his father had no idea how right he actually was.

              “Shut up, Jonathon!” She growled before sitting next to Clark, and studied his composure. “This is about a girl, isn’t it?”

              His head snapped up, and he stared at her in utter astonishment. “H-how did you know?”

              She smiled. “Need I remind you that I’ve seen you brood over girls, one in particular, for most of your life, but this is different somehow. So, is this the same girl who helped you forgive yourself?”

              He nodded, tears pooling in his eyes.

              “Who was this girl to you?”

              He took a deep breath. “S-she was my girlfriend. I-I met her not even one day after leaving Metropolis, and I felt an instant connection to her. I didn’t understand what I was feeling, but I knew I wanted to spend more time with her. And that’s exactly what I did. We spent every waking moment together, as friends at first, but um, I soon realized that I wanted more than just friendship…”

              She rubbed his back, feeling his body tremble underneath her touch, and knew that something horrible had happened. “What happened?”

              “W-we were happy, mom, I fell deeply and madly in love with her. I had never felt this way before, and I didn’t want it to end, but…” He trailed off, as his tears racked his body, making it hard to speak.

              “But what?”

              He managed to calm himself enough to finish speaking. “We were going to come back here…together, but the night before her best friend found her, a-and he made her go back.”

              She frowned. “Go back?”

              “Yeah, she was running away from her father, and he forced her to go back home.” He felt the tears flowing even faster down his cheeks. “Mom, I love her so much, but I’m never going to see her again. She’s gone.”

              She wrapped her arms around him, as he cried, silently into her shoulder, and rubbed soothing circles across his back. “It’s okay, Clark, It’s going to be okay.”

              He shook his head, vehemently. “No. No it’s not going to be okay, not without her.”

              “I know it seems like it now, but one day it will be okay. What was she like?”

              He pulled away from her, and smiled, faintly, as memories of her came rushing back to him. “She was perfect, mom. She had the longest, blonde hair and dazzling hazel eyes. She was absolutely beautiful. I-I had never seen someone as mesmerizing as her. She is everything to me. She understood me better than anyone has ever before. She made me feel normal, but most of all, she accepted me.”

              Jonathon, who had been listening to his son’ story, his heart breaking at his words, lifted his head at that last remark, and warning signs went off in his head. “What do you mean she accepted you?”

              He looked over at his father. “She didn’t judge me or ridicule me, but mostly it was in the way she helped me—the way she cared for me, and especially how much she loved me.”

              That still didn’t answer his question, but he had a feeling that he already knew the answer. “Clark, does she know?”

              He frowned. “Know what?”

              “Does she know the truth about you?”

              He hesitated, knowing how protective his parents were over his true origins, especially his father, but he wouldn’t lie to them, besides he was glad that she knew everything about him, just like how he knew everything about her. “Yes.”

              Jonathon stood up, completely outraged. “How could you tell her that, Clark?”

              “I-I wanted to.”

              “Why would you do that? Clark, what if she tells someone? What if she’s a danger to you—to us—to our family?”

              He glared at his father. “She won’t tell anybody.”

              “You don’t know that, hell, Clark, you don’t even know this girl.”

              Now he was pissed off. He quickly stood up, facing his father. “Yes, I do. We know everything about each other, and we shared things that nobody else knows about us. So, yes, I do know her.”

              Martha quickly intervened, sending her husband a glare, now was not the time to lecture him. “Clark, honey, I think what your father is trying to say is that we have raised you not to tell anybody about this so, there must have been a good reason why you did.”

              He looked over at his mother. “There wasn’t a specific reason why.”

              “What is that supposed to mean?”

              He glared at his father. “It’s means, that I didn’t need a reason to tell her. I told her the truth because from the first moment I met her, I knew she was special, and I wanted her to know me completely.”

              “Clark, when did you tell her? Were you dating or just friends at the time?”

              He gulped. They weren’t going to like this, he thought. “Neither. I told her only after a few hours of meeting her.”

              She sighed. “Oh, Clark.”

              Jonathon grew even more angry. “Why the hell would you do that?”

              “Because I wanted to! I was tired of all the secrets! I was tired of hiding myself from people I cared about! I barely knew her at the time, but I wanted her to know me, and I knew I could trust her.”

              “How do you know she won’t tell somebody?”

              “Because she loves me, and would never do something like that.”

              “Just because she loves you, doesn’t mean she won’t let it slip.”

              “You want to know how I know she won’t say anything?” He continued when both his parents nodded, “because when we were in Colorado, her father found her, and she left—she left me because she was terrified that someone would find out about me.”

              Martha was surprised. “She did that?”

              He nodded. “Yes, she was trying to protect me.”

              “What would she be protecting you from?”

              “Her father, who happens to be a military General.”

              Jonathon about blew his head. “Military? Dammit Clark! Not only did you tell this girl about yourself, but her father works for the military! Did you know before you told her?”

              He didn’t hesitate, glaring, heatedly at his father. “Yes.”

              “Why would you do that?”

              “Because I love her!”

              Martha calmly intervened, “Clark, you didn’t love her when you told her so, what made you tell her even knowing that she was involved in the military?”

              He stared at his mother. “I didn’t know it at the time, but I-I think I’ve loved her from the first moment I laid eyes on her.”

              She smiled, knowing exactly what that felt like since that had happened with Jonathon. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry you have to go through this. I can tell you loved her very deeply, and if by what you’re saying is true than it’s obvious that she loved you very much as well.”

              He smiled, at least she understood, he thought.

              “Martha, are you seriously okay with this? What if the military comes knocking on our door looking for Clark?”

              She sighed. “Jonathon, I think you need to calm down. First of all, I don’t think that would happen. Secondly, this girl literally sacrificed her love for Clark because she was trying to protect him from her father. And thirdly, can’t you see that if Clark didn’t trust her he never would have told her in the first place?”

              He knew she was right, but he was too stubborn to admit that to her right now, and muttered, “I got work to do,” before walking out of the house.

              Clark watched him leave, a pitiful expression plastered on his face. “Why can’t he understand?”

              “Don’t worry about it. I’ll knock some sense into him, but right now, I want to know more about this girl who captured my son’s heart.”

              He nodded. He could care less if his father thought he had made a big mistake because it was his decision to make, and he would never, ever regret telling Lois the truth about him. It made them closer—closer than he’s ever been to anyone in his life, and it was one of the many reasons he fell in love with her.

              She pulled him back over to the couch, making him sit down next to her. “So, this girl, you’ve told me how special she was to you, but I want to know how you met.”

              He chuckled, softly, as he remembered that day. “It was the day after I left Metropolis, I, um, I kind of saved her life.”

              She quirked a brow. “Saved her life, how?”

              “Well, um, her car’ brakes went out while she was driving down the highway. She veered off the road towards a bridge, where I was standing, and I stopped the car before she went off the bridge.”

              “So, that’s how she found out?”

              “No, well, sort of. She knew I had abilities, but she didn’t ask me any questions about what she had seen, and that was one of the main reasons why I decided to tell her.”

              “Why did you? You didn’t even know her at the time.”

              He smiled, memories of that day coming back to him. “I wasn’t planning on it, but um, we were sitting by her car waiting for the tow truck when she told me that I could trust her. I didn’t even know her, but I knew I could trust her, besides she had already seen me use my powers, and I couldn’t lie to her. I wanted her to know the truth.”

              “I know you, and I know you don’t tell just anybody. Even Pete, you only told him because you had no choice, but with her you told her because you wanted to, not because you had to.”

              He nodded. “Telling her, it was the best decision I’ve ever made. It brought us closer, and the way she accepted me made me fall deeper in love with her.”

              “Do you think that she was the one?”

              He looked over at her, new tears streaming down his cheeks. “Yes, oh god, mom. I know she is my soulmate, a-and now, now she’s gone. I’m never going to see her again.”

              She wrapped her arms around him, letting him cry into her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay.” She felt for him, she really did. He had left, wanting to escape from everything he had blamed himself for, and fell madly in love with someone only to lose her in the end.

              “I miss her so much, mom, and I’m never going to stop.”

              She rocked him back and forth. “I know, honey, I know.” She had absolutely no idea what he was going through since she had never been torn apart from Jonathon, but she knew his heart was shattered, and it was going to be quite a long time before it healed, if ever. “What was her name?”

              He wanted to tell her, but he couldn’t—wouldn’t do it. He didn’t even want to talk about this in the first place, and saying her name—saying the actual words was only going to make this much more worse than it already was.

              “I-I can’t. I’m sorry, mom, but I can’t talk about this—about her anymore.” He quickly stood up. “I’m going to unpack my things before heading to The Talon.”

              She nodded, completely understanding. It would be a long time before he could talk about it, she thought before standing up and heading outside. It was time to have a little conversation with her husband.

              He sat at the end of his bed, head buried in the palms of his hands, as tears fell from his eyes. It was so hard telling his parents all of that, especially since he didn’t want to, but now that he had it just made everything so much more real.

              She was really gone.

              He was never going to see her again.

              He didn’t know how to deal with this pain, a pain so deep that it seemed almost impossible to breathe sometimes, and he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to move forward from here.

              He quickly shook his head, trying to clear his head, and wiped away his tears. He didn’t want to think about this right now, actually, he was tired of thinking about the pain of losing the one person who meant everything to him. He needed a distraction, and what was a better distraction than seeing his friends?

              He grinned, slightly, at the thought. He couldn’t wait to see Chloe and Pete’ faces when they saw him.


              Lois was completely and utterly pissed, as they pulled up to the main gates on base in Phoenix, and felt like she could strangle someone—anyone at this very moment.

              She wasn’t just pissed—she was furious as all hell.

              She had been dragged, albeit forcefully back to this hell hole, of course, she had missed her friends, especially Cassie, but she definitely under no circumstances wanted to be back here.

              Her father had done so, so many horrible and unimaginable things to find her, even going as far as dragging her best friend, who she wasn’t happy with at the moment, into the mix of things, and she really, really wasn’t looking forward to the conversation she knew she was going to be having with her father.

              It wasn’t going to be pretty, she thought, and she had a feeling deep inside that things were going to change drastically around here.

              Wes slowly brought the car to a stop outside Lois’ housing unit, and they both maneuvered themselves out of the car. She immediately opened the back door, and started grabbing her belongings, wanting to get this over with so, she could lock herself in her room…forever. She didn’t want to be here or anywhere for that matter, not unless she was with the man she loved, and that was never going to happen again.

              He watched her, a desolate expression plastered on his face. She hadn’t said a single word to him the entire ride here, which was surprising since she was always talking for as long as he has known her, and it had been one hell of a long drive. He knew she was hurting—pissed—upset, but mostly, she was angry. He couldn’t blame her, not really, hell, he would be feeling the same way if their roles had been reversed, but he couldn’t help feeling a little thankful that this was finally over. He could have his life back.

              “Lois, I know you’re—”

              She glared over at him. “No. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk to you. I just want to be left alone.”

              He sighed. “Lois, please! Just talk to me! You have barely said anything to me since we left Washington. Look, I know you’re upset, pissed even, but I need you to say something—anything. I know you probably hate me, and I don’t blame you, but please, please just talk to me.”

              She dropped the bag she was currently holding onto the ground, and walked over to him, her hands on her hips, as she glared, fiercely at him. “Wes, I don’t hate you.”

              “You don’t?”

              “I don’t hate you. Your one of my best friends. I couldn’t hate you, even if I tried, but that doesn’t mean I’m not pissed at you.”

              “Lois, can’t you understand that I didn’t have a choice? Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”

              She narrowed her eyes. “My heart? You mean the same heart you shattered? I can’t just forgive and forget, Wes. I love you, I really do, but it’s going to be quite a long time before I even contemplate forgiving you for everything that you did.”

              “I didn’t have a choice!”

              “I know that! I know, okay? I get that my father forced you, but you could have gone about it a completely different way. You need to think about this on my side of things. Not only did you force me to come back when I didn’t want to, but you ripped me away from the one person who meant absolutely everything to me.”

              He stared at her, a sad expression on his face. “I’m sorry, Lo, I really am.”

              “I know you are, but that doesn’t change anything. I’m still pissed at you, and it’s going to be a while before I get over this. I-I just need some time, okay?”

              He could do that, he thought before smiling, slightly. “You really loved him, didn’t you?”

              Her heart ached, painfully, a pain she hasn’t ever felt before, and her eyes watered at the thought of never seeing the man she was completely in love with—her soulmate ever again. “Yes. Yes, I love him more than anything.” And with that she quickly grabbed her things, taking them inside.

              After making a few trips, she came back outside to grab the last of her things, but stopped what she was doing when she heard her father’ voice echoing from behind her. “Well, look who decided to come back home.”

              Home? Not even close, and she didn’t decide anything she was forcefully brought back. She groaned, dropping her bags on the ground, and turned to face him. “Hello, daddy.”

              He stood all stoic-like, just like usual, in front of her with no readable expression or emotion on his face. “We have a lot to talk about.”

              Oh great, she thought, here comes the conversation she was dreading. “Can you give me a few minutes?”

              “No.”

              She glared. “You know, I need to unpack my things before you rip me a new one, General.”

              “Not happening, Lo. I’ve waited three months to have this conversation with you, and I’m not waiting another second.”

              She didn’t move, making him even more irritated at her attitude. “Let’s go, young lady! To my office, now!”

              Typical, she thought before rolling her eyes, and practically stomped her way to his office. Once there, she waited, quite impatiently for the onslaught to begin.

              He stared at her for a few minutes before speaking. “I’m not even going to get into the fact that you ran away from home—”

              “It’s not a home, it’s a damn military base!” She interrupted him.

              “Don’t! I’m not finished.” He stepped towards her. “I could care less why you felt the need to leave, but we’re going to get one thing straight.”

              She smirked. “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

              He growled, low in his throat. “Don’t start. From this point forward, I’m going to ensure that something like this never happens again.”

              “How do you expect to do that? I ran away once. I can do it again.”

              “No, you won’t. I have placed an order to every officer on this base that clearly states that you’re not to leave this base unless you’re with me, and there will be guards at every entrance and exit of this base every day and every night.”

              Her mouth fell open. This was a lot worse than she thought. He was practically holding her prisoner! “You can’t do that!”

              “Yes, I can, and I did. You will not be leaving this base under any circumstances; therefore, you won’t be able to leave as easily as last time.”

              She hmphed. “This is completely unfair! I’m your daughter not a damn prisoner! You can’t just keep me locked up here!”

              “You’re under my care so, yes, I can do this. Just be lucky that I didn’t send you to military school instead.”

              She growled, in annoyance, of course, he would bring that up again. It had been one of the many reasons why she left in the first place. “Yes, sir. Are we done here?”

              He glared. “Don’t smart mouth me, Lo, you’re in a world of trouble right now.”

              She knew that, but that didn’t mean she had to agree or accept anything else he had to tell her. “You’ve already taken away all my freedom and rights as an American so, what else is there? I ran away, you found me, and now we can move on.”

              He shook his head. She was absolutely relentless, he thought. “I don’t think so. You not only will be on lock down, but you will be doing KP duty for the next six months, and I don’t want to hear a single complain coming out of that mouth!”

              She gasped, visibly. “KP duty? Are you insane? This is outrageous!”

              “I don’t care. You will do it whether you like it or not. It’s time you deal with the consequences of your poorly decided actions!”

              “Whatever!” She quickly stormed out of his office, not even caring if he was done talking to her or not. This was unbelievable! It was bad enough that he had locked down this place like some sort of prison, in which she was the only prisoner, but now he expected her to do KP duty for six ****ing months!

              Yay! It felt great being back, she thought.

              She was almost to her room, albeit in a sour mood when she heard a familiar voice screeching behind her, “LOIS!”

              She twirled around noticing that Cassie, someone she had missed very dearly running full force towards her, and broke into a huge grin before running towards her. “CASSIE!”

              They crashed together, hugging each other tightly, and swung each other around in circles before collapsing to the ground, in a fit of laughter.

              “Oh my god! I’ve missed you so much!”

              “I’ve missed you too, Cass!”

              Cassie pulled away from her. “Okay. I need details! Where have you been? What have you been doing? Did you see cool places? How was everything? Did you meet anybody? Were there cute guys, no scratch that, were there smoking hot guys?”

              She laughed. “Oh lord, what have I done to you? You have been spending way too much time with me!”

              She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, you see, you’ve been gone for three months so, I had no choice but to bring out my inner Lois.”

              “That’s my girl!” She hugged her again. “I’m so happy to see you!”

              She pulled away from her, “Okay, enough of this mushy stuff! I need details! I want to know everything!”

              She gulped, not too how she felt about that, but figured she owed it to her since she had been gone for quite a long time. She quickly stood up, and held out her hand. “Fine, but only if you help me unpack.”

              “You’ve got yourself a deal!” Cassie slipped her hand into hers, shooting up from the ground, and bounding into Lois’ room. She couldn’t wait to hear about everything she had done, seen and experienced.


              Chloe laughed, good-heartedly, tipping her head back, as her and Pete sat in The Talon on the couch or their couch, as they had dubbed it, and enjoyed some refreshing coffee. “No way! I’m not telling you anything! Remember what happens in Metropolis stays in Metropolis.”

              He grinned from ear to ear. “Uh, I hate to burst your bubble, Sullivan, but I’m pretty sure that only works for Vegas definitely not Kansas so, spill the beans!”

              She shook her head. “Nope! Not telling you anything, Ross!”

              He groaned. “Please! I want to know who the hell this guy is! I mean, you’ve been going to the city almost every weekend so, who the hell is this guy? Does he treat you right?”

              “Yes, he treats me right, but that’s all you’re going to get. My lips are sealed.” She drew an imaginary zipper across her lips, and threw away the key.

              “Oh, come on, Chlo. I’ve never seen you this happy before. Please, please tell me something! Like what does he look like? How old is he? Is he short? Tall? What’s his name?”

              She laughed. He wasn’t going to give up until she told him something about her mysterious boyfriend. “Fine! I’ll tell you one thing, and one thing only until I’m ready to introduce you to him.”

              He sat up in his seat, eagerly listening.

              “His name is…Jimmy.”

              He waited, patiently for more, but it seemed that, that was all he was going to get, and pouted, in dismal. “Really? That’s all I get? Not even a last name? I can’t even try looking him up.”

              “Hence why you only get a first name. You know, you’re almost as good as me at hacking into things. I think you’ve been spending way too much time with me.”

              “Well, what do you expect when we work side by side together at The Torch.” He was thoughtful for a few seconds. “You’re really not going to tell me anything more about this guy?”

              She smirked. “Oh, don’t worry, Pete. You will find out soon enough who this guy is.”

              He fell back against the couch, pouting. “You’re no fun!”

              She snickered at him before falling into a comfortable silence for a few minutes just enjoying her coffee, and how she managed to yet again get Pete to give up on his tirade to find out more about Jimmy. “I’m glad we’re doing this. We haven’t done it in so long.”

              “Yeah, but we both know why that is.”

              “Yeah.”

              “So, where is the princess?”

              She smiled, at his nickname for her, but honestly, she really deserved that one. “She sent me a text saying that her aunt needed her for something, but she’ll be by later.”

              “Oh great! Well, I better make myself scarce if I want to escape from her constant dawdling on something that can’t be changed.”

              “Yeah…” She started, but whatever she was about to say was lost in translation, as she noticed Clark walk inside, like he hadn’t been gone for three months, and dropped the coffee cup she was holding.

              Pete jerked, unexpectedly, as coffee splayed on him. “Woah! Chloe!” He looked up at her, noticing that she was staring off into space, and waved his hand in front of her face. “Hey, are you okay?”

              She never looked at him. “Clark.”

              He frowned. “Uh, yeah, who else would I be talking about?”

              She shook her head, and pointed towards the front door. “No, I mean, Clark.”

              He quickly spun around, his eyes widening in surprise, and stared in confusion, as he saw Clark standing by the entrance looking around the room, like he was searching for someone.

              He couldn’t believe it.

              His best friend was actually here.

              He was back.

              How the hell did that happen? Last time they talked, which was three months ago had made it adamantly clear that he wasn’t going to be returning, but here he was.

              He never thought he’d see his overly, tall and clumsy best friend again.

              He slowly stood up, on shaky legs. “C-Clark?”

              Clark turned around when he heard his name being called, and smiled before he started walking towards them. “Hey, guys.”

              Pete narrowed his eyes. “Clark? Are you really here?”

              “Yeah, I am.”

              He grinned from ear to ear before pulling him into a hug. “It’s so great to see you again, man! I didn’t think we would ever see you again.”

              He pulled away from him. “Yeah, well, I figured that it was time I came home.” He gave him a pointed look, mentally telling him that they needed to talk later. “Besides, I missed you guys.”

              He discreetly nodded. He had lots and lots of questions, ones that couldn’t be asked in front of Chloe. “I missed you too, bro!”

              Clark looked over at Chloe, who was just staring at him with a blank expression on her face. “Chloe?”

              Silence.

              “Hey, Chloe, are you okay?”

              She shook her head, riding away her confused thoughts, and blinked a few times before standing up. “Am I okay?” She glared at him, incredulously. “No. I’m not okay. What the hell did you expect? Were you expecting me to be all excited and happy now that you’ve returned? You left Clark! You left all of us, even your parents, and you expect me to be okay with that! How the hell am I supposed to feel about that?”

              He sighed. He had a feeling that Chloe would have been the one mostly upset by all of this, especially him leaving without saying a single goodbye to anyone. “Chloe, I’m sorry. I really am. I know me leaving the way I did probably hurt you, and I know I don’t deserve anything from either of you, but, um, I really missed you.”

              She sighed. She could never stay mad at those baby blues, which were practically pleading with her, and the well-known Kent puppy dog look. It was frustrating as hell! “I missed you too,” she admitted before hugging him, and pulled away from him, smirking. “Don’t think this gets you off the hook, mister! I want an explanation, and I want one right now!”

              He grinned. She would never change, he thought. “Well, where do I start?”

              Pete piped in, “How about from the beginning, that’s a good place to start.”

              He mock glared at him. “Ha! Ha! Very funny!”

              “I’m waiting.”

              “Okay. Okay, well I, um, I—”

              But before he could even finish one sentence he was interrupted by a familiar voice, practically screaming his name from across the room. “CLARK!”


              I’m pretty sure you all can guess who will be in the next chapter. I know this chapter mainly focused on Clark, but I promise the next chapter will have more Lois in it. This was originally supposed to be one chapter about them reuniting with their friends and families, but it was way too long so I had to split it up into two chapters.

              I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-two!!!

              Comment


              • #67
                Darn it! I KNOW better than to read this before bed. And sucker that I am, I just can't resist. All I'm gonna say is, thank goodness for Martha, Sam Lane is one $h!tty human excuse for a father, and I am deeply hoping that the farm boy puts the pink princess in her place, which would be distanced from himself. Also, Uncle Jeff deserves an ulcer from worrying over Lois' situation and his part in it all. Still grumpy about that whole sad business 😒 Please post more soon.

                Comment


                • #68
                  Originally posted by Sykobee
                  Darn it! I KNOW better than to read this before bed. And sucker that I am, I just can't resist. All I'm gonna say is, thank goodness for Martha, Sam Lane is one $h!tty human excuse for a father, and I am deeply hoping that the farm boy puts the pink princess in her place, which would be distanced from himself. Also, Uncle Jeff deserves an ulcer from worrying over Lois' situation and his part in it all. Still grumpy about that whole sad business  Please post more soon.
                  On my part, i'm glad you can't resist reading this, i love that you're enjoying this story. Yes, Martha is always there for Clark, and knows how to set her men straight, mainly Jonathon LOL

                  Sam is definitely not being a very good father, and hasn't been since his wife passed, but maybe that will change, you'll just have to continue reading to find out

                  Lana, Lana, what can i say about Lana, other than she is a pain in the arsh, and i definitely don't like writing her scenes, but it must be done. Clark will know what to do with her, especially in the next chapter

                  Sorry about the sadness from last chapter, but it had to be done...sadly, and believe me I hated writing it. Uncle Jeff, on the other hand, is conflicted between his love for Lois and his loyalty to Sam.

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    Taking a peek to see if I'd somehow missed an update. Nope. Sort of a good news/bad news sitch. Oh well. Hope all is well with you, your use, RL, and the Clois fairies. 😎

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      Originally posted by Sykobee
                      Taking a peek to see if I'd somehow missed an update. Nope. Sort of a good news/bad news sitch. Oh well. Hope all is well with you, your use, RL, and the Clois fairies. 
                      I've been dealing with some things the past two weeks so I've been kind of busy, plus i just started a new job. I should have the next update up this weekend or early next week. Sorry to keep you waiting, but i will post it soon

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        Chapter Twenty-Three:

                        But before he could even finish one sentence he was interrupted by a familiar voice, practically screaming his name from across the room. “CLARK!”

                        “Oh no…” Chloe and Pete muttered simultaneously.

                        Clark glanced at them, warily before turning towards the familiar voice, noticing Lana practically running full force towards him with a splitting grin plastered on her face, and lunged into his arms.

                        He froze.

                        He had no idea what he should do, but very, very gently hugged her back before quickly pulling away from her.

                        She frowned, slightly. “Oh my god! I can’t believe you’re actually here! I’ve missed you so, so much!”

                        He smiled, forcefully. Not really sure what he should do or say at this moment. When he had decided to come to The Talon to see his friends, he hadn’t even thought about her, actually he had all but forgotten about her. Three months ago, that would have been surprising, but now, now he knew that what he had felt for her beforehand was never real love. It was a schoolgirl crush.

                        “Uh…Hi, Lana.”

                        She frowned, even more so. “Is that all you can say for yourself? Where the hell have you been? What have you been doing? Why did you leave? Why did you leave me?”

                        He quickly took a step back from her, wanting to put some space between them. “Well, um, I just needed to get away for a little while.”

                        She nodded, and stepped closer to him, making him feel very uncomfortable. “So, now that you’re back does that mean we can pick up where we left off three months ago?”

                        His eyes widened to the size of saucers before glancing over at Chloe and Pete, noticing them hiding their laughter behind their hands, and knew they were going to be no help. He decided to play dumb, even though he knew exactly what she was referring to, but he could never, ever be with her like that or anyone for that matter.

                        “Um…Where we left off?”

                        She stepped even closer to him, their bodies almost touching. “Yeah, we can be together again.”

                        He stared at her, wide-eyed, like she had grown two heads or something. Was she ****ing crazy? Didn’t he break up with her or at least insinuate that before he left?

                        He was pretty positive that he did, literally seconds before he left town so, why was she pretending like they were still together? He was definitely not going back down that road, besides it would be a long, long time before he even contemplated something like that, especially since he was too in love with Lois to even think about being with anyone else. She was it for him.

                        He stepped away from her, hoping to keep as much distance between them as possible. “Um, Lana, we’ve been over this. I thought I made things perfectly clear before I left.”

                        “What are you talking about?”

                        “We broke up,” he tried saying it as nicely and gently as possible, but he could see the hurt and pain cross her features before she quickly hid it.

                        “No. No, we didn’t. Clark, you just needed some time to yourself. You were going through something, which you couldn’t share with me then, but now, now you can, and we can have our second chance.”

                        He shook his head. “No, we can’t.”

                        She frowned, at his words. “But, Clark, didn’t you miss me?”

                        He hesitated.

                        In all honesty, he hadn’t thought about her all but a few times since he left, and in no way was he inclined to be with her again or ever, but he couldn’t exactly tell her that. He might not love her, but she was his friend, and he really, really didn’t want to hurt her.

                        He glanced at his three closest friends, and completely ignored the way Chloe and Pete were staring at him with questioning gazes, like they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. “Uh, well, I, um, I missed you all…a lot, especially my parents.”

                        She didn’t like that answer one bit. “Clark. It’s a simple question. Did you miss me or not?”

                        He sighed, heavily. He wasn’t in the mood for this. He just wanted to spend some time with his friends, and try to get some normalcy back into his life. “Look, Lana, can we talk about this later? I just got back into town less than two hours ago, and I really don’t want to talk about this right now.”

                        She crossed her arms over her chest, and scowled. “Fine! I’ll stop by your house later tonight!”

                        They all watched her turn on her heels, and walk out of The Talon. Clark sighed, heavily, and plopped down onto the couch, burying his head into the palm of his hands.

                        Chloe and Pete, sat down across from him, and stared at him.

                        He could feel their gazes lingering on him, and looked up at them, noticing the confused expressions plastered on their faces. “Okay, say it, I know you both want to.”

                        Pete was the first to speak. “Okay, fess up man. What the hell was that all about?”

                        “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

                        Chloe scoffed. “Yeah right. Come on, Clark. Who do you think you’re talking to? What the hell was that about? Why did you just blow her off like that?”

                        He shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t blow her off exactly—”

                        They both raised their brows at him, smirks on their faces, and he relented. “Okay. Okay, maybe I did, but I’d rather not talk about this right now.”

                        Or at all, he thought, silently.

                        “Nope! You’re going to tell us what the hell just happened.”

                        “Yeah,” Pete agreed, “Why did you just blow her off like that? I mean, the Clark I know would have never disregarded Lana like that.”

                        “Well, I’m not the same guy who left three months ago.”

                        “That’s obvious.”

                        He glared at Chloe. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

                        She threw her hands up in surrender. “Nothing. It was meant as a compliment. You’ve changed, that’s for sure, but that still doesn’t explain why you blew off the chance to be with the girl you have all but daydreamed about being with since you were ten years old.”

                        He shrugged his shoulders. “Well, things change.”

                        “Come on, man, why don’t you want to be with her? It’s all you used to talk about.”

                        “I just don’t, okay?” He glanced between his two best friends. “Look, I won’t be getting back together with her anytime soon, if ever, so can we please just talk about something else?”

                        Pete nodded. He had, had fleeting thoughts over the past few months about his friend’s true feelings for the pretty brunette, and now knew that he was right. His best friend didn’t love her, and he was starting to wonder if he ever did.

                        Chloe studied him for a few moments. “There’s something different about you.”

                        He raised his brows at her. “What do you mean?”

                        “I mean, that there is something off about you.”

                        He shared a worried glance with Pete, both of them wondering where she was going with this.

                        “Yeah, something has definitely changed,” she continued, completely oblivious to their shared thoughts. “I mean, three months ago if Lana had even insinuated that she wanted to be with you, you would have jumped on the chance, but now…” She trailed off, as an unbelievable thought occurred to her, and her eyes widened. “Oh, my ****ing god! You fell in love with someone!”

                        He stared at her, completely surprised, and felt slightly uncomfortable underneath her heated gaze, reminding him of the way Lois would glare at him sometimes, hell most of the time, especially when she knew he was hiding something from her.

                        He shook his thoughts away. He couldn’t think about that right now. “Um…”

                        Pete saw the expression on his face, and grinned from ear to ear, at the truth lingering in his eyes. “It’s true, isn’t it? You fell in love with someone?”

                        He flickered his eyes between the two of them, knowing that they wouldn’t drop this until he said something, but there was no way in hell he could talk about her again. Not so soon after having that same exact conversation with his mother. It just wasn’t a possibility. He wasn’t ready to talk to them about her yet, if ever, but he could at least share some of the truth.

                        He looked down to the ground, and muttered, “Yes.”

                        Pete grinned from ear to ear. It was true. His best friend had fallen in love with someone in his time away, and he couldn’t help but feel extremely happy for him. “Clark! Are you serious? Who was this girl? What was her name? What was she like?”

                        Chloe, on the other hand, couldn’t believe this was actually happening. Her best friend had actually fallen in love with someone, who wasn’t Lana, which was surprising in itself, but she was starting to wonder if he was ever in love with her. One part of her wanted to be jealous, but the other part of her was extremely happy for him. Over the past three months, she had lots of time to think about her feelings for him, and of course she loved him, she always would, but she didn’t want to be with him, not anymore. She had Jimmy now, and she was already falling for the cute, squirmy red-head.

                        “You need to tell us everything! What does she look like? Where did you meet? How did you meet her? Was it love at first sight? Why didn’t she come with you?”

                        He smiled, sadly at both of them. They had absolutely no idea that what they were saying and doing were only adding onto his pain and suffering, but he couldn’t exactly blame them for that. They didn’t know, and probably never would.

                        He was going to sad for quite a long time, he thought, forlornly.

                        “It doesn’t matter.”

                        “Of course, it does, man!”

                        “No, it doesn’t. Can we please talk about something else?”

                        Pete saw the painful expression plastered on his face, and knew immediately that something had went horribly wrong. He had a feeling that the only reason he was here right now was because of something that had happened pretty recently, and it had everything to do with this girl.

                        Chloe, on the other hand was completely oblivious to her best friend’s pain. “Aww, Clark, come on, you have to tell us something. You’ve been gone for three months, we need details!”

                        He sighed. “Look, I can tell you about what I did over the past three months, but under no circumstances will I be talking about her, okay? I-I just can’t.”

                        She sobered, immediately, and that’s when she noticed his demeanor.

                        He was sad.

                        He was in pain.

                        He was missing this girl.

                        And now she felt like a complete idiot because she probably only made it worse, and decided that it was best to drop the subject. If he wanted them to know, he would tell them when he was ready, but she had a feeling that he was never going to be ready for that conversation. It was obvious that he loved this girl very, very much.

                        “Okay then. Well, how about you tell us about what you’ve been doing for the past three months? Where did you go? What did you see?”

                        He smiled, softly, completely thankful that she wasn’t going to badger him about it. “Well, it all started after I left Metropolis…”


                        Cassie laughed, her head falling backwards, and tears fell from the corners of her eyes as she listened to Lois tell her about her cliff jumping experience in Estes Park, Colorado. “What was it like?”

                        Lois grinned from ear to ear, remembering the thrill of jumping off that twenty-foot high cliff. “It was great! I had never felt anything more freeing—more exhilarating, especially feeling nothing but the open air beneath me.”

                        “You’ve always wanted to do that.”

                        She nodded, agreeing with her, and continued unpacking her things. She tried keeping a believable smile on her face as a mask to hide what she was really feeling inside.

                        Pain.

                        Her heart felt like it was going to shatter even more than it already has since everything she had told her, especially the cliff jumping memory was something she had shared with Clark, and she would never, ever share anything with him again.

                        “So, aside from the thrilling experience of cliff jumping, what was all the places you visited like?”

                        She smiled at her best friend, who she missed so, so much before telling her everything. She told her about the piece of **** town she was forced to stay in for a whole week, the beautiful mountains in Colorado, the magically green forests in Montana, and the absolutely mesmerizing beaches in Washington.

                        As she spoke, she couldn’t help but wish that they could stop talking about this since it only reminded her of Clark, who she was never, ever going to see again, but she completely understood that she only wanted to know everything she had done and seen.

                        But…

                        It was hard talking about this, especially after it only being a week since she was forced to say goodbye to the one man she never thought she would have to live without—the one man she thought she was going to spend always and forever with.

                        She wanted to share everything with her, including the most amazing and blissful three months she spent falling in love with him.

                        But she couldn’t.

                        In all honestly, talking about this—about him made it feel like her insides, especially her heart was ripping apart into a million little pieces. It felt like she was dying, and she just wanted it to stop—she wanted to be happy, but that wasn’t possible. Not unless she was with him, and that was something that would never, ever happen again.

                        “Wow! It sounds like you had a lot of fun!”

                        “Yeah, I did.” She quickly changed the subject, “Um, so, what has your life been like since I’ve been gone?”

                        Cassie sighed, heavily. “Hell. It has been absolute hell.”

                        “Wes told me some of what my father put you through, but it couldn’t have been that bad, right?”

                        “It was worse than bad, Lois. The first few weeks were okay, I guess, but it only got worse. I felt inclined to protect you, even though I didn’t know where you were so, I did everything I could to find out what he and Wes were up to.”

                        Lois felt like ****. If she would have just stayed then none of this would have happened, but on the other hand if she would have stayed then she wouldn’t have never met Clark, and that was something she didn’t want to think about. She couldn’t imagine never meeting him. It was the best thing that ever happened to her, even if they weren’t together anymore.

                        She looked over at Cassie. “I’m sorry, Cass.”

                        Cassie looked up at her, slightly surprised. “It’s okay, Lo, it wasn’t your fault.” She studied her for a few moments, and couldn’t help but notice the flux of emotions cross over her face, as they talked about Wes, and as much as she wanted to side with her best friend she couldn’t help but try to intervene. “So, um, about Wes…”

                        “No. We will not be talking about him.”

                        She was still pissed at him, and knew she would be for quite a long time, but she did understand that he was only doing what her father ordered of him. But that didn’t mean she was going to forgive and forget. It would be quite a while before she even contemplated forgiving him after everything he had done to her.

                        “Come on, Lo, you can’t stay mad at him. It wasn’t exactly his fault.”

                        “You don’t think I know that?”

                        “Then why are you so pissed at him?”

                        She couldn’t—wouldn’t tell her, even if she wanted to, besides it was hard enough thinking about it let alone actually saying the words. “I just can’t, okay?” She quickly grabbed a few bags, and took them into the bathroom, starting to unpack her bathroom supplies.

                        Cassie watched her with a sad expression plastered on her face, and wondered what she wasn’t telling her. It was obvious that she was upset about something, and it had nothing to do with what Wes and her father had put her through so, what was it?

                        Whatever her lovely best friend was pissed about had something to do with her three-month long extravaganza, and Wes was a part of it. She had no idea what it could be, but she was sure in hell going to figure it out.

                        She started sifting through the last bag on the bed, and was about to put some of her clothes away when a strip of pictures fell to the ground.

                        She slowly dropped the clothes down onto the bed, picked up the strip of pictures, and her eyes widened to the size of saucers when she realized that it was a group of pictures of Lois and some guy, who looked awfully smitten with each other.

                        She studied her best friend in the pictures. She looked really, really happy, like she didn’t have a single care in the world, and it made her wonder what had happened. She wasn’t stupid. She could tell that Lois wasn’t telling her something. She seemed sadder and more reserved than normal, which was extremely odd since she was never, ever like that no matter what she was going though. Was it about this guy?

                        Why hadn’t she told her about him?

                        They told each other everything, at least they usually did so, why wasn’t she divulging information about this guy?

                        “How is it even possible to have this much crap? I swear, I only left with a few essentials, but I come back with a **** load…” she trailed off, and came to a complete stop, as she noticed Cassie was holding the strip of pictures from her and Clark’s first date.

                        Cassie looked up, grinning from ear to ear. “Who’s this?”

                        “It’s not important.”

                        She quirked a brow. “Really? Not important? I’m not buying that. This looks pretty important to me. It seems that you have some explaining to do missy.”

                        She groaned, silently before quickly walking over to her, and tried grabbing them from her hands, but Cassie kept pulling it away from her. “Can you please give them back?”

                        “Why? You said it wasn’t important to you so, why should I?”

                        “Cassie!”

                        “Lois!”

                        “Can you please just give them back?”

                        “No. Not until you tell me who the hell this guy is.”

                        She sighed, heavily and plopped down onto the bed, dejectedly. She didn’t want to talk about this, not because she didn’t want to tell her, but because it was so, so hard. “I-I, um, I met someone while I was away.”

                        Cassie sat down next to her, and looked down at the pictures. “You looked really happy here.”

                        She glanced down at the photos, her heart twinging in pain, and felt the tears pooling in her eyes, as she saw how happy they both looked, but knew she would never be that happy again. “I was.”

                        “What do you mean you were?”

                        She shook her head, trying to hold her tears back. “It doesn’t matter.”

                        Cassie was not having that. She glanced over at her, and for the first time since they had started talking noticed that her body shaking, her breathing was heavier and more lapsed, and there was tears in her eyes. “Oh god, Lois, what’s wrong? What is it? What happened?”

                        “I don’t want to talk about it.”

                        She grabbed her hands, squeezing reassuringly, and forced her to look at her. “You might not want to, but I think you need to. I can tell that this guy meant quite a lot to you.”

                        Tears fell down her cheeks. “He did.”

                        “What happened?”

                        She took a deep, shaky breath before she told her everything. She explained how they had met not even one day after she left base, how they spent all their time together in Colorado, how they were separated for three weeks, how they spent their remaining time in Montana and Washington, and the night they had to say goodbye to each other.

                        Afterwards, she just cried—cried over the fact that she had lost the one person that meant absolutely everything to her.

                        Cassie’ heart broke for her best friend, and she slowly wrapped her arms around her. “It’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be alright.”

                        She shook her head, vehemently, the tears falling more forcefully. “No. No, it’s not going to be okay. I love him, Cass, god, I love him more than anything, and I’m never going to see him again.”

                        She didn’t know what to say or even do so, she just rocked her back and forth, trying her damnest to comfort her in her time of need. Several minutes later, after she had seemed to calm down she spoke up, “You really loved him, didn’t you?”

                        “I love him more than I’ve ever loved anybody, and I-I don’t think I’m ever going to stop.”

                        “What was his name?”

                        “C-Clark. His name is Clark.”

                        She looked down at the strip of pictures. “Look, Lo, I have no idea what you’re feeling right now, but I do know that it’s good to get things off your chest. It will make you feel better. So, tell me about him.”

                        And she did.

                        She told her how he made her feel things that she had never, ever felt before--things that she had never felt for a guy before. She told her how sweet, charming, and extremely romantic he was, even to the point of being nauseating, but that was one of the things she loved most about him.

                        Cassie giggled. “Romantic? Since when do you fall for guys who are romantic and sappy?”

                        She smiled, sadly. “I don’t, but he was different. God, Cass, he was special, and we had a connection from the moment we laid eyes on each other.”

                        “He was really that special to you?”

                        “Yeah, he really is. I-I love him so damn much. I don’t think I could ever love another as much as I love him, and what makes it worse is that I’m never going to see him again.”

                        “What about this day?” She asked, holding up the pictures.

                        She grabbed the pictures, more tears falling from her cheeks. “It was our first date. The night before, he had finally kissed me, and asked me to go out with him. That day we went to a carnival. We went on all the rides, played all the games, and I had to practically drag him to the photo booth. It was one of the best days of my life.”

                        “It sounds like it.”

                        “Oh, Cass, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I miss him so, so much, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop.”

                        Cassie forced her to look at her. “Yes. Yes, you will. It might not seem like it now, but one day it will be easier, and you’ll be able to move forward.”

                        She shook her head back and forth. It didn’t even seem like a possibility, and quite honestly, she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to. He was it for her. “I don’t think that’s possible for me, Cassie. I just know deep inside that he was the one, and now, now I’ve lost him. I don’t think I will ever be able to stop loving him.”

                        She hugged her, holding her tightly. “I’m so, sorry, Lo.”

                        She cried, in the comfort of her best friend’s arms until she eventually fell asleep.

                        After a few minutes, Cassie slowly got up from the bed, covered her with a blanket, and left her room. She had never in her entire time knowing Lois ever seen her so broken hearted before, and she didn’t know how to help her or soothe her pain.

                        But…

                        She did know one thing…she had a bone to pick with one Wes Keenan. She now understood why Lois was so pissed at him, and she would be too. Lois was happy, and now, now she was miserable. She would be for a very, very long time.

                        She was a woman on a mission, as she practically marched to Wes’ quarters. How dare he tear her away from the man she loved!


                        Clark stood in his ‘fortress of solitude’ leaning against the wooden beams, and looked out across the night sky, like he used to do all the time.

                        It had been a pretty amazing day.

                        He had come home after being away for so long.

                        He had reunited with his parents, which was both bittersweet and emotional.

                        He hung out with his best friends, who had missed him as much as he had missed them.

                        A smile crept onto his face, as he thought about his afternoon with Chloe and Pete. It had felt just like old times—like he hadn’t been gone for three months, and it felt incredibly nice spending time with them again. They had talked about so many things in such a short amount of town, like what each of them had done in the past three months, but most importantly how much they were looking forward to this school year.

                        Chloe, of course, had all but demanded that they help her with The Torch, which was a given anyways, besides he honestly enjoyed solving the town’ many mysteries with them, even if Pete was the only one that knew the truth.

                        He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t hear Lana walking up the steps to the loft, and jumped, in surprise when he heard her voice echoing from behind him. “Hey, Clark.”

                        He groaned, silently, wondering how he could have forgotten that she would be stopping by tonight before turning around, and smiled, slightly. “Oh, hey, Lana. I didn’t hear you come up. What’s up?”

                        She stepped towards him, an incredulous expression on her face. “What’s up? Clark, you promised that we could talk so, here I am.”

                        More like you demanded it, he thought before nodding, at her words. “Here you are.” He didn’t know how to have this conversation with her. He didn’t know how to tell her that he wasn’t in love with her—that he had never been in love with her. He wasn’t sure how to say this without hurting her, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He cared about her, hell, he had, had a crush on her for as long as he could remember, but he just didn’t feel the way she obviously felt about him, and he really, really hoped they could stay friends after this.

                        She shifted, uncomfortably, from one foot to the other. “Clark, why did you leave? Why did you leave me? Why did you leave us?”

                        He sighed, heavily. “Look, Lana, I can’t really explain why I left, but just know that I had my reasons, and I needed some away to think—some time to be myself.”

                        “For three months?”

                        “Yeah, for three months. I’m sorry if my leaving upset you.”

                        She moved closer to him. “Clark, you told me that you were leaving, and offered for me to come with you, but when I tried reasoning with you, you just left. That hurt. You didn’t just upset me…you hurt me, but I had three months to move past that. I thought that what we shared meant more to you, but um, now that you’re back what does that mean for us?”

                        He looked her straight in the eyes, trying to be as sensitive as possible. “There is no us, Lana. I don’t think there ever was.”

                        She stared at him, with questioning eyes. “What are you talking about, Clark? We were together, in love, three months ago, and now that you’re back we can have that again—we can be happy again.”

                        “That can’t happen.”

                        “Why not?”

                        He walked around her, making his way over to the couch, and sat down, his eyes fixated on the ground. “Lana, I just can’t, okay?”

                        She wasn’t having that. She quickly sat down next to him, and rested her hand on his upper thigh. “Why not?”

                        He glared down at her hand, trying not to cringe from her touch but couldn’t help it. It didn’t feel right, actually nothing felt right anymore, but he knew he didn’t like her touching him. He didn’t want anyone touching him like that, unless it was Lois, the woman he was in love with—the woman he would always be in love with, and that was just something that would never happen again.

                        He removed her hand from his leg. “I-I just can’t, okay?”

                        She moved closer to him, crowding him against the arm of the couch. “Clark, we were happy before you left, and we can be like that again. I love you, Clark.”

                        He closed his eyes, unable to look her in the eyes. This was going to be a lot harder than he assumed it would be, he thought before whispering, “I don’t.”

                        “What did you just say?”

                        He opened his eyes, looking directly into her own. “I-I don’t love you, Lana.”

                        She quickly moved away from him, tears pooling in her big, brown eyes. “That-that’s not true. Y-You told me that you loved me a few days before you left.”

                        He couldn’t stand looking into her sad, tear-filled eyes, and quickly walked back over to the window, staring out into the star-filled night. “Things change, Lana. I don’t think I’ve ever loved you. Believe me, it took me a while to figure that out, and I’m not trying to hurt you, but what I felt for you was just a school crush. That’s all it was ever going to be. I’m sorry.”

                        She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He didn’t love her? He never had? It couldn’t be true. She quickly stood up, and walked over to him, placing her hand on his arm. “You don’t mean that. You love me. You wouldn’t have told me so otherwise.” She could feel his arm twitching, and knew he was going to try to protest, but quickly continued speaking, “No, Clark, feelings don’t just change like that. Something had to have happened while you were gone. What was it?”

                        He turned towards her, effectively removing her hand from his arm. “You’re right. Something did happen. Lana, I, um, I met someone.”

                        She backed away from him, tears falling down her cheeks. “Y-y-you cheated on me?”

                        He groaned, silently, at her words. Why couldn’t she get it through her head that he had initially broken up with her, even if he didn’t say the words, the day he left?

                        “Lana, when I left town that was the moment we ended so, no I didn’t cheat on you.”

                        “Clark, you can’t be serious. It was just a summer love, one you will get over sooner or later, besides you can’t seriously stand there and tell me that she meant more to you than what we shared together.”

                        He looked straight into her eyes. “It wasn’t.”

                        “What?”

                        “It wasn’t a summer love. You don’t understand, hell, even my father doesn’t understand. I didn’t just meet some girl, and have fun with her for a few months. I met a woman who was special, amazing, and absolutely everything I’ve been looking for. I fell deeply, madly, and irrevocably in love with her. It’s always going to be her, no matter what happens or how much time passes, she will always be the one that holds my heart.”

                        The tears cascaded down her cheeks, faster and faster, and she could feel her heart breaking inside her chest. “How can you say that to me? I thought you loved me! I have spent the last three months searching for you, not only so your parents, Chloe and Pete could all be happy, but so we could be happy again—so we could have our second chance.”

                        He felt for her, he really did, but it still didn’t change anything. He didn’t love her, and he never would. “I’m sorry, Lana.”

                        She shook her head, vehemently. “No, I don’t believe that. I love you, and I know you love me. I can prove it,” and with that she clutched his shirt into her hands, pulled him towards her, and kissed him.

                        His eyes widened, in complete surprise.

                        His hands flung up into the air for a spit second before resting them on her shoulders, and pushed her away from him, a little forcefully. He couldn’t believe that she had just did that. He wasn’t expecting it, that was for sure. Normally, he would have been thrilled by the idea of kissing her, but now, now he felt like he just cheated on Lois, even though they weren’t together anymore. He knew, in that moment, that he would never, ever be able to kiss another woman unless she had long, blond hair, beautiful hazel eyes, a smart mouth, and went by the name of Lois Joanne Lane.

                        “Don’t!”

                        She leaned forward, intending on kissing him, but he quickly moved away from her. “Please! Lana! Just don’t!”

                        “Why not?”

                        He turned towards her, an expression of pure and absolute pain plastered on his face. “Because I can’t! Because I’m completely in love with someone else! Because without her my life is meaningless! Because I can’t imagine being with anybody but her! She is everything to me, and she always will be!” He took a deep breath, “I’m sorry, Lana. I just don’t feel the same way you do.”

                        She had thought that kissing him would remind him of what they had—of what they shared together, but it was quite obvious that, that wasn’t going to work. She could tell that he had feelings for this girl, but she would show him that they were right for each other. Just not tonight. But one day soon she would call him hers. “I’m sorry, Clark. I shouldn’t have done that.”

                        He looked down at her, surprised by her words, and smiled, feeling incredibly thankful that she was starting to understand.

                        “Clark, I know you’re hurting over this girl right now, but no matter how long it takes I will wait for you. We’ll be together one day, you’ll see.”

                        She leaned forward, making him freeze, momentarily, and kissed his cheek before walking away, leaving him standing there completely and utterly dumfounded.


                        She tried her damnest to focus on the movie they were currently watching, but of course, she could feel his eyes practically boring into her. “You know, it’s not nice to stare.”

                        He grinned from ear to ear, loving how beautiful she looked underneath the moonlight. “What can I say? You’re just so breathtaking.”

                        She turned towards him, and glared, playfully. “That was sappy.”

                        He moved a little closer to her. “Yeah, but you love that about me.”

                        “You know, I’m trying to watch a movie here, and you should be doing the same. We did pay almost thirty dollars for this experience.”

                        “True, but I’d much rather watch you.”

                        She rolled her eyes. “Now you’re just being silly.”

                        He moved even closer to her so, he was practically looming over her. “Admit it, you love me this way.”

                        “Hmm. I’m not too sure about that, but I do know that you’re blocking a really good movie with your gigantic head.”

                        He growled, low in his throat, and crawled on top of her, pinning her to the hood of her car. “Say it.”

                        “Make me.”

                        He quickly swooped down, his lips capturing hers in a sweet, and passionate kiss before pulling away from her completely, breathless. “Come on, baby, just say it.”

                        She tried catching her breath after that breathtaking kiss. What was it about him and his powerful kisses that always took her breath away? “I love you, Clark Kent.”

                        He grinned from ear to ear, god, he loved it when she said that. “I love you too, Lois Lane.”

                        “Always and forever,” they spoke, simultaneously before pressing their lips together in a sweet, soft, and tender kiss.

                        Lois woke up with a start, her chest heaved up and down, as she breathed heavily, and the tears rolled down her cheeks. She replayed the dream—the memory in her mind over and over again, wanting to replay a moment where they were completely and utterly happy.

                        It was a few days after they found each other again in Montana, and they had decided to go to a drive-in movie, but of course, he had been too occupied with her to pay attention the movie. Which wasn’t surprising, since every time they did watch a movie he would either just watch her or fall asleep.

                        She shook her thoughts away, the tears falling full force down her cheeks, knowing she was never, ever going to watch another movie with him—she was never going to tease him again—she was never going to see those mesmerizing eyes again—she was never going to see his handsome face again—she was never going to kiss him again—she was never going to be with him again.

                        He was out of her life…forever.

                        She quickly jumped out of bed, and rushed outside, relishing in the feeling of the cool night air brushing across her skin. She clutched the necklace he had given her the night they said goodbye in her hands, opened the locket, and smiled sadly down at the picture inside before turning it over and reading the message, like she had done a million times over. She missed him, oh god, she missed him so damn much, and she had a feeling that she always would.

                        She slowly lowered herself to the ground, her salty tears rocking her body, and looked up into the night sky, the twinkling stars reminding her of all the times they used to stargaze together. She closed her eyes, and whispered into the night, “I miss you, Clark, oh god, baby, I miss you so much. I want you to know, even if you can’t hear me, that I can still feel your love, and I always will…forever.”

                        Several minutes later, she made her way back inside, and laid down on her bed, just staring up at the ceiling. It would be so easy to fall asleep again, she thought, but she couldn’t—wouldn’t because if she did she was just going to be miserable. She wanted to attempt to get her mind off things—off Clark, but that was nearly an impossible task.

                        It was like Montana all over again, except this time she knew that they would never find their way back to each other again, and that hurt worse than any pain imaginable. It hurt the most because she had found her lover—her best friend—her soulmate, and now he was gone. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to deal with that. Where the hell did she go from here?


                        He watched as she walked down the loft stairs, feeling completely dumfounded by their entire conversation. So much for understanding, he thought, she would be waiting quite a long time because he would never, ever move on from Lois.

                        It just wasn’t possible.

                        He walked back over to the window, and sighed, heavily, as he roamed his eyes across the darkened corn fields.

                        Lana was so, so much different compared to Lois, he thought.

                        Where Lois was passionate with everything she did and everyone she loved, Lana was only passionate when she felt the absolute need to be. He had never felt the kind of passion with her as he did when he was with Lois. Lois is caring, whereas Lana only seemed to care about her own feelings, wants, desires, and wishes. Lois is selfless. Lana is selfish. Lois is confident within herself and everything she does, while Lana only seemed to be confident in herself when she knew she was getting what she wanted. Lois’ heart was filled with warmth and love. He couldn’t exactly say Lana was cold-hearted since that wasn’t exactly true, but she also doesn’t show the true depth of her love or warmth like Lois does.

                        As much as he regretted leaving his parents and friends, he couldn’t help but be glad that he had left because if he hadn’t then he wouldn’t have met her, and he didn’t want to think about what his life would have been like if he had never met her. No matter what he would love her until his last breath, even if that meant always being alone because there was no way in hell he could love another.

                        “Now, this seems oddly familiar.”

                        He quickly spun around, at his father’s voice, and smiled, tightly, not too sure what to say to him after their argument earlier. “Let me guess, mom sent you?”

                        He walked over to the window, and stood next to him. “Yes and no.”

                        He frowned, but didn’t question him any further.

                        Jonathon looked up at the night sky. “You know, I came up here every night while you were gone, and stared up at the sky wondering if you were okay, but now I know that you were…because of her.”

                        Clark looked over at his father, completely surprised. “Dad?”

                        “I want to apologize for earlier. I shouldn’t have gone off like that. I might have overreacted a tad bit.”

                        He smirked, “A tad bit?”

                        “Don’t start. You mother already lectured me about it.”

                        He chuckled. “She’s really good at it.”

                        “Yeah, she is, but that’s not why I came up here. I know you love her son, and I know I overreacted, but you have to understand where I’m coming from.”

                        “I understand that you’re scared that she might tell someone, but she would never do that, and I hope you can trust me enough to believe that.”

                        “Of course, I trust you, Clark. Don’t doubt that for a second.”

                        He looked over at his father. “I love her dad. I love her more than I’ve ever loved anybody before, and when I met her I was at such a low point in my life, but she seemed to lighten up the darkness I was feeling. I was so surprised by the feelings I had for her from the first moment I laid eyes on her, but it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

                        “I know that, son.”

                        He frowned, “You do?”

                        He grinned. “Yeah, I might have eavesdropped on your conversation with Lana.”

                        “Oh…that.”

                        “Yeah…that, but that’s not the only reason I know. You showed it earlier when you stood up to me. If you didn’t love her as much as you say you do than you never would have done that, hell, you never would have told her your secret in the first place.”

                        He wasn’t sure what his mom told him, but he hoped what he said next wasn’t going to piss him off…again. “Um, I-I’m not sure how to say this, but um, dad I told her my secret—”

                        “Within only knowing her for a few hours.” He grinned, at the expression on his son’s face. “Your mother told me, and while at first I wasn’t happy about it. I know that you wouldn’t have done that if you didn’t trust her right from the start.”

                        “I did. I didn’t know what is was about her, but I just knew deep inside that I could trust her, and I was right. I felt a connection—an attraction to her right from the start. I think I’ve loved her from the first moment our eyes met.”

                        Jonathon smiled, knowing that feeling all too well. “That’s called true love, son.”

                        He dropped his head, his fists clenching around the wood, and stared down at the ground. “Yeah. You found yours and married her. I find mine, and have to live the rest of my life without her.”

                        “You don’t know that.”

                        He looked over at his father, tears in his eyes. “Yeah, I do. She’s gone, dad, and I’m never going to see her again.”

                        “Clark, look at me.”

                        He didn’t.

                        He gripped his son’s shoulders, and turned him towards him. “Clark, listen to me. I’m going to tell you something. Your grandfather hated that his brilliant and beautiful daughter was choosing to marry a small-town farmer, and it actually drove a wedge between us.”

                        “It did?”

                        “Yeah, it did. For almost one year, we were separated, not because we didn’t love each other, but because things kept getting in the way.”

                        He stared at his father, completely confused. “What are you saying?”

                        “I’m saying that it doesn’t matter if you’re not with her now because one day you will be.”

                        “How do you know that?”

                        “She’s your soulmate, son, and no matter what life throws at them they always seem to find their way back to each other.”

                        He smiled, slightly, at the thought of seeing her again one day, but a part of him just couldn’t believe that something like that could happen. “Do you really believe that?”

                        “Yeah, I do. It might be weeks, months, even years from now, but I have faith that you will be with her again one day.”

                        He really, really hoped so. “Thanks dad, and I’m sorry about our fight earlier.”

                        He squeezed his shoulder, “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t out first, and it probably won’t be our last.”

                        He chuckled. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

                        He slowly turned away from him, and started walking away, but stopped before walking down the stairs. “Clark?”

                        “Yeah, dad?”

                        “I know you don’t believe me, but I promise one day that everything is going to be alright. It will work itself out. It always does.”

                        He just nodded. Deep inside he wanted to believe that, but despite everything, even the possibilities of that happening, he couldn’t. He didn’t want to think like that—he didn’t want to get his hopes up for something that could very possibly never happen, no matter how much he wanted it to.

                        He slowly walked over to the corner of the room, and grabbed the large teddy bear Lois had given him before walking back over to the window. He clutched the bear in his hands, breathing in the scent of her, which lingered across the bear.

                        He missed her so god damn much, and he wished with every fiber in his being that they could still be together. He softly closed his eyes, memories of the good and the bad came rushing back to him, and the tears flowed down his cheeks.

                        He couldn’t believe that this was actually happening.

                        One week ago, he had been blissfully happy with her at the beach, and now he was back home completely miserable without her. He looked up at the night sky, staring at the beautiful stars remembering all the times that they stargazed together, and whispered, as tears rocked his body, “I miss you, baby, I miss you so god damn much. I know you can’t hear me, but I hope that wherever you are, you can still feel how much I love you. I always will, Lois.”

                        He stared into a space for a few seconds, which seemed like hours, and breathed in her scent one last time before setting the bear down on the couch, and very slowly made his way towards the house.

                        He had absolutely no idea where his life was going, but he knew he was going to take it one day at a time, and that started with spending time with his family.


                        I’m sorry that this chapter took so long to get posted, but I just started a new job, and I’ve been sick the past week or so. It was killing me not to post this, but I had like zero energy to do anything so, I apologize for making you wait so long. I’m sure a lot of you have several ideas about the perfect way to reunite Clark and Lois, but my version is a little unique, and you will find out soon enough. I know many season three/four plot line stories have Chloe being jealous over Clark and Lois, but that will not be included in this story. I thought that was stupid in the show so, I didn’t include it in my story. Now, this was the last chapter in the first segment of this story. There will be three main plot segments in this story so, I hope you enjoyed the first part.

                        I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-three!!!

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          This is so sad. Lois and Clark are broken without each other. I'm wondering if the general will eventually learn what happened and maybe, wishful thinking, I guess, he will come around and show some sympathy for his daughter. I'm glad Jonathan and Clark talked and sorted a few things out. As for Lana, will she cause trouble? Seriously, she needs to take a long, hard look at herself.

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            Originally posted by phoenixnz
                            This is so sad. Lois and Clark are broken without each other. I'm wondering if the general will eventually learn what happened and maybe, wishful thinking, I guess, he will come around and show some sympathy for his daughter. I'm glad Jonathan and Clark talked and sorted a few things out. As for Lana, will she cause trouble? Seriously, she needs to take a long, hard look at herself.
                            That they are, and i hate writing the sad stuff, but it's a focal point in this story, especially the beginning of the story. As for The General, he's a tricky character for me to write, but there just might be some hope for him, but you never know.

                            Lana, on the other hand, I wouldn't be too concerned about, but that doesn't mean you're going to like her in the upcoming chapters.

                            Comment


                            • #74
                              Chapter Twenty-Four:

                              Part One:

                              “I’m pregnant.”

                              Lois, who had just taken a sip of her soda, practically choked on her drink, at the unexpected and shocking words that came out of her best friend’s mouth. She breathed in and out, heavily, trying to catch her breath and took a few seconds to let what Cassie just said sink in. “What the hell did you just say?”

                              Cassie, who wasn’t too sure why she just blurted that out, stared at her for a moment before repeating her words. “I think I’m pregnant.”

                              She couldn’t believe it.

                              Her best friend was pregnant.

                              Cassie was going to be a mother.

                              Wes was going to be a father.

                              And, her, well, she was going to be an aunt to an adorable niece or nephew.

                              She grinned from ear to ear, at the thought of having a mini Wes or mini Cass to spoil to death before jumping from her seat, and enveloped Cassie in a bear hug. “Oh my god! Are you serious? Are you really pregnant?”

                              Cassie chuckled before pulling away from her. “Well, at least I think I am. I’ve been having some symptoms the past week or so, and I’m late.”

                              “This is great, Cass! Wes is going to be so happy!”

                              She paled, visibly. “Woah! Hold on a minute. We can’t tell him anything until I know for sure.”

                              She frowned. “What do you mean until you know for sure?”

                              “I haven’t taken a test yet.”

                              She stared at her, in complete shock. “Why the hell haven’t you taken one yet?”

                              “Well, you know how crazy my work has been the past couple of weeks so, I haven’t been able to get off base to buy a damn test.”

                              That was true, she thought. It was like everyone on base was gearing up for something, even Wes, and it had Cass working on overload. What could it possibly be? She didn’t know, but figured that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to ask her father, if she even saw him today. He was exceptionally busy lately, even more so then usual.

                              “Why don’t you just tell Wes? I’m pretty sure he would happily buy the test for you.”

                              “No!” She practically yelled out, then took a deep breath before calmly replying, “I can’t do that. You don’t know how bad he wants this. It’s all he talks about. I don’t want to get his hopes up, if it’s just a false alarm, you know?”

                              That was understandable, but how did she expect to get the test if she couldn’t do it and neither could Wes?

                              Cassie shifted, quite uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “That’s kind of why I’m telling you. I, um, I was hoping that you could try to get me the test.”

                              Of course, she would be the next best option, and she would gladly do it for her, but there was only one problem. “Cass, you know I would if I could, but there is no way I’ll get off base, especially after my little escape a few months ago.”

                              “Is he still pissed about that?”

                              “That’s an understatement.”

                              “Doesn’t he understand that you were just worried about your cousin?”

                              A few months ago, she had found out that Chloe, had been in some safehouse explosion, and since the authorities weren’t saying jack **** she wanted to find out what exactly happened to her whether she had to go through the small town’s authorities or Lionel Luthor himself. She managed to escape base, which was quite tricky, but only made it about two miles before her father had, had her surrounded, and dragged her back to base. Ever since that day, things had gotten so, so much worse. She wasn’t able to leave base under any circumstances, not even with him. It was like she was really a prisoner now.

                              The only good thing that came out of this was that her lovely cousin was safe and sound, and it turns out that she wasn’t murdered, but kept under protective services, by her father no less.

                              No wonder he didn’t want her searching around for her, she thought, he already knew where she was. It all worked out. Chloe was safe, and back to living a normal life, but she couldn’t help wondering when she could have a somewhat normal life. She couldn’t wait to leave for college, that way she could escape from the likes of her father for good this time.

                              “I highly doubt it.”

                              “Could you at least try to get off base?”

                              It was going to be hard, she thought, but this was for her best friend. “Alright. Alright, I’ll try.”

                              She grinned, widely before wrapping her arms around her, and squeezed, tightly. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

                              Lois chuckled, and pulled away from her. “Don’t thank me yet. I highly doubt I’ll be able to get off base, but I’ll try.”

                              Cassie sighed, and shook her head from side to side. “I can’t believe that he still won’t let you leave base.”

                              “Yeah, tell me about it,” she grumbled, miserably.

                              “What’s it been? Like a year?”

                              “One year, and three months,” she corrected her, and reddened, slightly at the look she received in return for her comment. “I’ve been keeping count, but I guess that’s my punishment for running away for three months, and trying again a few months ago.”

                              “Well, if you want my opinion I’d say that it’s completely outrageous and out of proportion. You’re eighteen now, Lo, you shouldn’t have to follow his stupid rules anymore.”

                              They were both surprised to hear his voice, since they never even heard him come in, and it made Cassie wonder how much he had actually heard.

                              Lois laughed, and turned to look at her other best friend. “That’s great advice, Wes. Maybe you should tell him that. You know, for the sake of your best friend.”

                              “What? Are you crazy? I’ll get my ass handed to me, not to mention my job if I even tried to speak on your behalf. I think I’ll just leave his bad attitude and temper to you.”

                              She glared. “Wow! I’m really feeling the love, Wes.”

                              He chuckled. “Aww, come on, Lo, you know that I love you.”

                              “Yeah. Yeah, whatever.” She turned towards Cassie, winking, discreetly, and said, “I’ll do my best, Cass.”

                              She just nodded, not wanting to say too much in front of Wes, and watched as she left her room.

                              He looked over at his beautiful girlfriend, with a questioning gaze. “What was that all about?”

                              “Nothing important,” she replied before quickly changing the subject, “So? What are you doing here? Did you get a break or something?”

                              He sighed, heavily. “Yeah, I wish. The next few months are going to be hectic. I’m only here to give you the bad news.”

                              She eyed him, curiously. “What’s going on?”

                              He walked over to her, and wrapped his arms around her. “The General has been working us all hard for months, as you know. Well, now we know why.”

                              “What is it?”

                              She listened, intently, as he told her of what was happening, and all thoughts of her impending pregnancy disappeared, and were transfixed on her best friend. “Has he told her yet?”

                              “Nope, but I’m sure she’ll find out soon enough.”

                              “She isn’t going to like it.”

                              Nope, she was definitely not going to like this new turn of events, and there was absolutely nothing either her or Wes could do about it, but maybe this would be good for her. It might just bring her out of her shell that she still seemed to be encased in since she returned from her little extravaganza a little over a year ago, and maybe, just maybe she’d be able to move on from the man she was still completely in love with, but she doubted it.


                              Clark kneeled carefully—precisely behind the center, and eyed the other players, as he replayed the last play of the game over and over again in his mind. “Blue 42! Blue 42! Set! Set! Hut!”

                              He staggered back a few steps after Brad Williams hiked the football to him, and looked for an opportune opening before fake throwing the ball to the wide receiver, Justin Chrisely. Instead of finding another opening, he took off running down the field since their original play was no longer concrete.

                              He bypassed every player from the other team, even jumping over one of them that attempted to tackle him, and swiftly passed the end zone, as the buzzer ending the game rung loudly.

                              The crowd jumped up from their seats, in a frantic excitement, just as he tossed the football to the ground, relishing in their big win, and heard them chanting, “Smallville Crows!” over and over again.

                              The cheerleaders screamed and shouted, as they did their victory cheer routine, and he could hear his parents and friends in the stands clapping and voicing their own excitement to his epic win.

                              Perks of super hearing, he thought.

                              It had happened roughly about six months after returning home. He had been shopping at the town’ local jewelry store, searching for a gift for his mother’ birthday, and of course, it wasn’t emerald like he thought it would be—it was green kryptonite. Nathan Dean, another meteor infected teen had attempted to rob the store with his ultra-sonic scream, which was painful as all hell, and when he tried to use his heat vision to stop them he accidentally hit the green kryptonite causing it to reverberate back into his eyes, blinding him. He had to adjust to his downfall, and in the process gained another ability…super hearing, as he liked to call it. In order to save Pete from certain death, he had to rely on his new hearing ability over his other abilities.

                              It was an incredibly, horrible experience. One that he would hopefully never have to experience again because those glasses he was forced to wear were absolutely atrocious. He would never, under any circumstances, wear glasses of any kind ever again.

                              Every single one of his teammates, who hadn’t taken to him very kindly at first, but were more accepting now, ran up to him, slapped him on his back before lifting him up into the air, and chanted, “Kent! Kent! Kent!” over and over again, as they carried him down the field, and into the locker rooms.

                              After a very well-versed pep talk from Coach Quigley and Assistant Coach Teague, who was currently dating Lana, which was extremely weird and disturbing, they were all dismissed to shower and relish in their victory.

                              As he was packing away his uniform into his black duffel bag, one of his teammates came up to him. “Yo! Kent!”

                              “Hey, Justin.”

                              “The team is all going to The Talon for a little celebration party, you in?”

                              He thought about that for a few seconds. It would be nice to just let loose for a little while, especially after the week he’s had. “Yeah, I’m in.”

                              Of course, he still had to ask his parents if it was okay, but surely, they would let him have some fun just this once. His father would probably protest, while his mother thwarted him into letting him go. It always seemed to work that way, he thought.

                              “Well, well, if it isn’t Smallville’s newest super hero.”

                              He grinned from ear to ear, as he exited the locker rooms, and was greeted by his two best friends. “I don’t know about super hero.”

                              Pete smirked. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I think the way you jumped over that player in the last play would definitely qualify as super hero quota.”

                              He glared at him, mentally telling him to ‘shut up’.

                              Chloe grinned. “Yeah. That was insane! How did you do that?”

                              He really, really wanted to kill Pete at this moment. Chloe still didn’t know the truth about him, of course, he wanted to tell her, but he didn’t know how to explain to his journalistic best friend that he was an alien from another planet. “Uh…adrenaline, I guess.”

                              She didn’t seem to believe that, but didn’t press any further, and clapped her hands together, excitedly. “I think this calls for celebration. Don’t you think, Pete?”

                              “I think you’re right, Chlo. So, Clark where are you taking us?”

                              “Yeah, Clark, where are we going to celebrate on this lovely day?”

                              He glanced at his two best friends, and shook his head at them. “You two are ridiculous, you know that?”

                              “Yup! But you love us anyways.” Chloe interjected.

                              He rolled his eyes. “Okay. Okay, fine. How about The Talon? Some of the team are having a little celebration there.”

                              “Oh, fun. A room full of over-confident jocks. Should be exciting.”

                              He glared at her, playfully. “And what would that make me?”

                              “You’re the exception.”

                              “Whatever,” he playfully replied, “I’ll meet you guys there. I have to talk to my parents first.”

                              “Meaning, he has to convince his dad to let him go,” Pete commented.

                              “Shut up!” He smiled, and shook his head from side to side, as he watched his friends trot towards Chloe’s car. They were both pains in his side, but he would be lost without them, especially since they were really his only true friends. His teammates only liked him because he was good at football. The girls only liked him because he now wore a letterman’s jacket, and Lana, well she was a completely different story. One he’d rather not think about…at all.

                              He walked through the parking lot, his eyes roaming as he searched for his parents, and found them waiting by the bright, red truck.

                              “There’s our superstar,” he heard his mother say, as he walked up to them.

                              He groaned, outwardly. “Not you to.”

                              She chuckled, and enveloped him in a hug. “I’m so proud of you, Clark.”

                              “Thanks, mom.”

                              “That was one hell of a game, son.”

                              He smiled at his father, “Thanks, dad.”

                              “Now, about that last play…”

                              How did he know he was going to bring that up? “I know. I know. I shouldn’t have done that, but it was kind of a heat of the moment thing. We really needed this win dad.”

                              “Why? So, you could make it to the championship?”

                              He was really getting tired of this. He loved his father, but his trust in him when it came to his abilities was beginning to irk.

                              “Jonathon…” Martha warned, warily. She didn’t need them fighting about his abilities right now. “It’s not like anyone noticed.”

                              Except someone did, he thought, but he wasn’t going to mention that Chloe was becoming more and more curious about him. He really needed to tell her the truth.

                              He glanced at his parents. “Um, so, there’s something I want to ask…”

                              “What is it, son?”

                              “Some of the teammates are throwing a celebration party at the Talon—”

                              “And you want to go?” His mother guessed.

                              He nodded, and hoped against all odds that they would let him go.

                              Jonathon crossed his arms over his chest. “And what about your chores?”

                              Of course, his father would protest, just like he figured he would. He looked at him. “I’ve already done most of them before the game, besides I can do them when I get home.”

                              “That doesn’t mean you can slack off just because you want to have some fun.”

                              “Oh, shut up, Jonathon!” She scolded before turning towards her son, “Of course, you can go, sweetheart.”

                              “Martha…”

                              “Don’t start with me, Jonathon. He wants to go celebrate with his friends, and were going to let him. He will be home by curfew, won’t you Clark?”

                              He nodded, enthusiastically. “Of course.” He kissed his mom on the cheek, “Thanks, mom.”

                              “What am I? Chopped liver?”

                              “Thanks, dad. I’ll see you guys at home.” And with that, he ran off towards an isolated location so, he could superspeed to the Talon.

                              They both smiled, as they watched him run off, quite excitedly. It had taken him a very, very long time before he was able to truly smile again after he returned to them, fortunately, six months ago he had started to get back to his old self. He was smiling, laughing, and even spending more and more time with his friends.

                              “It seems that Clark is finally back to his old self again,” Jonathon commented.

                              “Mhmm,” She off-handedly agreed, but didn’t comment any further.

                              Anyone would make that assumption just from seeing the way he acts, and would deduce that he was back to his happy, cheerful self, but she knew the truth.

                              He was still in pain.

                              He was still consumed by his sadness.

                              But, of course, he hides that part of himself from everyone, unless he was completely alone.

                              She had noticed things—things he had no idea that she knew about. At first, it started out as little things here or there, but as time went on the instances kept coming more and more often. She wasn’t as naïve, as he might believe.

                              He would sit in the barn at night, almost every night, thinking about the one thing that was always on his mind…his three-month adventure and her.

                              He would zone out several times a day, no doubt thinking about the woman he loved so deeply—so madly—so irrevocably.

                              Every time someone mentioned his three-month disappearance act or how he needed to find a woman to love he would inexplicably leave the room.

                              She had even seen him crying, a few times before, but, of course, he didn’t know that she had seen him, and it broke her heart.

                              Her son still missed her—still loved her, and she knew deep inside that he always would.


                              Lois sighed, heavily, as she walked, quite desolately, towards Cassie’ quarters.

                              That went well, she thought.

                              After leaving Cassie and Wes, she had confronted the guards at the main gates with a hell of a lot more determination than she actually felt. It went just as well as she thought it would, maybe worse, but at least she could tell Cassie that she tried.

                              Because that’s exactly what she had done, she even tried bribing them with the normal drinking waivers, and even money, but of course, they refused, repeatedly telling her that it was orders.

                              Orders from her father no less!

                              She was completely and utterly sick of this ********!

                              It was bad enough that she was reminded of the consequences of her actions over and over again, especially by her father, but that didn’t mean she needed to be treated like a damn prisoner.

                              A few more months…A few more months…A few more months.

                              She repeated that in her head, consistently, reminding herself that she only had to deal with this for a few more months before she could officially be free.

                              She was going to college, hopefully Metropolis University, and she couldn’t wait until she could leave the life of a military brat behind her…forever.
                              If only she had the ability to speed time, she thought.

                              She walked into Cassie’ room, without knocking, and immediately regretted her decision. “Oh my god!” She quickly covered her eyes, and turned away from the spectacle she just walked into. Her two best friends were wrapped around each other, making out quite intensely on the couch.

                              It wasn’t the first time that this has happened, but that’s her own fault since she kept forgetting that they were in a very heated, and committed relationship.

                              She was happy for them, she really was, but in all honesty, she hated—despised seeing couples looking so lovey dovey together. It only reminded her of what it was like to be in love, something she had experienced firsthand, but most of all, it reminded her of how she lost the one person who meant everything to her.

                              She quickly shook her thoughts away, not wanting to think about losing the best thing that has ever happened to her, even though it was always there…every single day and night, eating away at her subconscious. “Um, sorry.”

                              “You can turn around, Lo, were decent.”

                              She very, very slowly did. “Um, sorry for interrupting, but, um, I needed to talk to Cassie.”

                              He quickly stood up. “Don’t worry about it. I should get going before The General finds out I’ve been slacking; besides I need to talk to him about something.”

                              “You and me both,” she muttered.

                              He shared a worried glance with Cassie, both of them wondering the same exact thing. “He told you?”

                              She frowned. “Told me what?”

                              “Uh…nothing.” He quickly kissed Cassie, and walked out of her room.

                              “What the hell was that about?”

                              Cassie shifted, uncomfortably. “I don’t know.”

                              She squinted her eyes at her best friend, studying her. “You’re lying.”

                              “No, I’m not!”

                              She crossed her arms over her chest. “Really? Then what does The General want to talk to me about?”

                              “It doesn’t matter.”

                              “Yes, it does. Now, are you going to tell me or am I going to have to find out the hard way?”

                              “I’m sure he’ll tell you soon enough.” She quickly changed the subject, “Um, so I’m guessing since you’re here that means you couldn’t get off base?”

                              She knew that she was keeping something from her, but she wasn’t going to force her to tell her, besides if it was important her father would eventually fess up. “You would be right. I tried everything.”

                              “Bribery?"

                              “Duh!”

                              “Not even the drinking trick worked?”

                              “Nope.”

                              “Did you bribe them with money and alcohol?”

                              “What do you take me for? An amateur?”

                              She chuckled. “Definitely not. So, what do you think I should do?”

                              “Tell him, Cass. I know you don’t want to, just in case it’s not true, but whether it is or isn’t, he isn’t going to love you any less.”

                              “Are you sure about that?”

                              She quickly grabbed her hands, and squeezed, softly. “He loves you, Cass. I’m pretty sure he loved you long before you two even got together.”

                              She sighed. “Your right. Okay, I’ll tell him, but not today, not with everything that’s going on.”

                              She narrowed her eyes at her. “And what would that exactly be?”

                              “I can’t tell you, Lo, but I think you should go talk to your father.”

                              A little part of her began to worry, especially with the way everyone was acting, but quickly pushed it away. It couldn’t be that bad, could it?

                              Even though she told herself not to worry, she couldn’t help but doing just that as she walked towards her father’s office. It was infuriating that everyone except her knew what the hell was going on, and whatever he wanted to talk to her about had to be about why things have been in such an uproar around here lately.

                              “Lois!”

                              She stopped walking, and turned towards her father. Just the man she was looking for, she thought. “Hi, daddy.”

                              He gruffly replied, “I need to see you in my office,” before brushing past her, and swiftly headed towards his office.

                              What the hell was going on?

                              Once they were in his office, they stayed in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, until she couldn’t take it anymore. “Okay, what the hell is going on? Cassie and Wes are acting extremely weird, and now you’ve dragged me in here. Care elaborating?”

                              He folded his hands in front of him, and stared at her. “Let me ask you a question. How are those applications for college going?”

                              She was stunned and shocked by that question. When did he start caring about her college education? “Um, well, I’ve applied to a few campuses, but I’m really waiting for the acceptance letter from Metropolis University.”

                              “I wouldn’t get your hopes up because it’s not coming.”

                              She frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

                              He opened his desk drawer, and pulled out a few envelopes, tossing them to her. “All of these came in the mail this week.”

                              A heavy mask of disappointment washed over her, as she read the several letters, even one from Metropolis University. Every single college she had applied to, had sent denial letters, but it didn’t explain why.

                              “They’re all denial letters,” she stated, unnecessarily before looking up at her father, glaring, heatedly, “You kept these from me? Why?”

                              He stood up, and crossed his arms behind his back. “If I must remind you, Lo, anything that concerns you comes through me first.”

                              She groaned, outwardly. “No need for the reminder, daddy. It’s been like this for well over a year now.”

                              “And who’s fault is that?”

                              She rolled her eyes. “Whatever! So, is there another reason why I’m here or did you only want to rehash everything I’ve done that’s disappointed you?”

                              He ignored that barb. It wasn’t that he was disappointed in her, but more so that he couldn’t trust her to make rational decisions, especially after her disappearing act a year ago and how she tried to escape again not even a few months ago. “Drop the attitude, Lo. I wanted to inform you personally that you wouldn’t be going to college this semester.”

                              She glared at him, ferociously. “You can’t stop me from going, daddy. I’m eighteen now. I have choices—rights, and if I want to go to college then I will!”

                              “I’m not trying to stop you from going, Lois, actually I want you to get an education, but that doesn’t change the facts.”

                              “What facts? I’ll just reapply. I probably filled out the paperwork wrong or something.”

                              “You didn’t fill out the paperwork wrong, Lo. You never graduated from high school.”

                              She frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? I might have missed a few classes here and there...”

                              “You didn’t just miss a few classes, you failed the last semester.”

                              She couldn’t believe it. Of course, she knew that she had skipped way more than a few classes, but that wasn’t exactly her fault. If her father would stop dragging her around the world like she was a spare piece of luggage then maybe, just maybe she wouldn’t have failed.

                              But, she knew it wasn’t entirely his fault either. She just wasn’t classroom friendly. The teachers, the students, and worse the homework was just not her style, and it never would be.

                              “I guess that means I’ll be repeating the last semester of my senior year then?”

                              He nodded. “But not here.”

                              “What do you mean not here? Where the hell am I supposed to finish my last semester? And I swear to god if you say online, just so you can keep an eye on me, then we are definitely going to have a problem!”

                              “Not online, Lo, I don’t trust that you will actually get your school work done.”

                              She huffed at that. She didn’t need a reminder of how much he didn’t trust her. “Then where the hell am I supposed to finish my senior year at?”

                              “I’m sending you somewhere where I know you can’t get distracted easily.”

                              That perked her interest…immensely. “Your letting me leave?”

                              He knew this could very possibly be a bad idea, letting her leave on her own, but he had taken precautions. “Yes, but I wouldn’t get any smart ideas if I were you. If you’re not there within three days’ time I will know about it, and if you think this past year has been hell for you then I’d think again. I could still send you to military school.”

                              Back to the military school threat, she thought, it had been about the millionth time she’s heard it, and it was getting very, very tiresome.

                              A small part of her wanted to rebel against his direct orders, and escape from him again, but it was pointless. She knew that for a fact, especially if what happened over a year ago said anything, but it wasn’t just that. It was what he had said that caught her full attention.

                              How the hell would he know if she showed up or not?

                              And that’s when a horrible thought popped into her head. She hoped to all the gods that he wasn’t sending her where she thought he was sending her. That was last place she wanted to go. It was his fault that all this had happened in the first place. If he would have just kept his damn mouth shut then maybe, just maybe her life would be a hell of a lot better. She wouldn’t be miserable—she would be happy—happy with the man she still loved with all of her heart.

                              She stared at him, questioningly, before cautiously asking, “Where exactly am I going?”

                              He smiled, slightly. “Pack your bags, Lo, you’re moving to Smallville, Kansas.”

                              That was definitely not what she was expecting. What he said was starting to make more sense. If she didn’t show up then her uncle Gabe would be the one that informed him, and Chloe, well she would be the reason she wouldn’t get distracted.

                              How wrong he was about that, she thought. They used to get into all kinds of trouble back in the day, but of course, he didn’t know anything about the chaos they caused all those years ago in Metropolis.

                              One part of her was extremely excited about spending some very much needed quality time with her favorite and only cousin, but the other part of her was not happy about this situation.

                              Kansas.

                              That was the last place she wanted to be. It was filled with memories—memories that only made her pain—her sadness increase, tenfold.
                              It was where she met him. It was where she found out the truth about him. It was where she had felt their undying connection. It was where she said goodbye to him…for the first time.

                              Yeah, she definitely didn’t want to live in the place, where memories of him would flood her mind every minute of every day, but it’s not like she had much of a choice in the matter.

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                              • #75
                                Chapter Twenty-Four:

                                Part Two:

                                Songs used in this chapter: 'I Miss You' by Beverly Craven and 'You're Gone' by Diamond Rio

                                Clark, Pete and Chloe sat on their usual couch in The Talon, talking about trivial things, laughing, and enjoying spending some quality time together. It wasn’t every day that they were able to talk about nothing and everything.

                                Chloe was usually busy with the school newspaper, and her boyfriend, Jimmy Olsen, who lived in Metropolis. She visited him practically every weekend, except for the times he had come down to Smallville for the weekend.

                                Pete, on the other hand, was usually busy helping Clark solve the mystery of his origins, which was getting more and more confusing by the minute, especially with these stones that Jor-El wanted him to find. He was also helping Clark deal with the meteor infected, that seemed to enjoy causing havoc on the lives of the people they cared about. But, most of all, he was trying to steer the likes of Lex Luthor as far away from Clark’s secret. He was the last person that needed to find out the truth.

                                Chloe was in the process of telling them a story about her and Jimmy, when her phone rang, and she couldn’t stop herself from grinning ear to ear at the caller id. “It’s Jimmy. I’ll be right back.”

                                They watched her disappear out the front door, huge smiles plastered on their faces, at her obvious happiness.

                                “I can’t believe that they’ve been dating for over a year now.”

                                Clark nodded. “I never thought that Chloe would go for a guy like him, but I think they’re kind of perfect for each other.”

                                Pete laughed. “Do you remember the first time we met him?”

                                It was a month or so after he returned. Chloe had been super secretive about him, to the point of driving them insane, and finally one weekend they all went up to Metropolis to meet the man who had Chloe so smitten. It was eventful to say the least. Jimmy connected with Pete right away, but he was a different story. Chloe had obviously told him about her past feelings for him, and it had caused some uncomfortable tension between them, but Clark had taken care of that before leaving. He had explained their friendship to him, and reassured him that nothing romantic would ever happen between them. Ever since that day, things had changed for the better, and they considered each other really good friends.

                                “I remember that he was completely terrified of me.”

                                “That’s because he thought you were going to steal away his girl.”

                                “You know, after I had that conversation with him he started calling me CK, and hasn’t stopped since.”

                                “I think that nickname suits you, perfectly, besides would you rather him call you farm boy or something?”

                                He cringed, internally, at the nickname. It was the first time he’s heard that in such a long time, and it immediately brought back so, so many memories. He definitely didn’t want Jimmy or anybody else using that nickname. It was for her and for her only.

                                He shook away the sadness that started to consume him, and changed the subject, “So, I haven’t heard much about this new girl you’ve been seeing. What’s her name again?”

                                Pete frowned, slightly, at the random change of conversation, but didn’t dwell on it. “Natasha. How many times do I have to tell you that? We’ve been dating for like a month.”

                                Clark smirked. “You mean, you were already dating her in your mind two weeks before you had the guts to ask her out.”

                                “Shut up!”

                                “Seriously. Tell me about her. I’ve only met this girl once, and I’d like to know about the girl who has captivated my best friend.”

                                He grinned from ear to ear. “Well, she’s beautiful.”

                                Was that all he could say about her? He could care less about what she looked like, actually he didn’t even notice things like that anymore. It wasn’t something that he paid much attention to. Of course, he noticed a woman’s beauty, but he wasn’t affected by it, and the only reason for that was because they weren’t her. Nobody, in his eyes at least, would ever compare to her.

                                “Okay, besides that, what is she like?”

                                He grinned, like a maniac. “She’s…perfect. I mean, I know nobody’s perfect, but to me she really is. She’s loyal and honest. She never lets anybody tell her what she can or can’t do. She speaks her own mind. She isn’t afraid to tell you what she’s thinking, and she is extremely caring about everything and everyone she cares about. I-I can’t explain it, but I’ve never felt this way before. Do you believe it’s possible to feel this way after only knowing her a short amount of time?”

                                As Pete spilled everything he felt inside about this girl, he couldn’t help but think about the one woman who had made him feel all the things that Pete was feeling at that exact moment. Love. He might not know it yet, but he was already falling for her, and it made him happy, but also sad. This Natasha girl was just like Lois. They both were open-minded, caring, and most of all, perfect in the eyes of their lovers. Except Lois wasn’t his anymore. He remembered feeling all of these things, hell, he still felt them, but it was different. Where Pete could live in the moment with this girl, he only had the option of reliving the memories that were seared into his mind.

                                He smiled, sadly. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

                                Pete stared at him, wondering, briefly how he could know such a thing since he wasn’t in a relationship, but then he saw the expression on his face, and immediately regretted talking to him about this. It had brought back memories of her, the girl he was still completely and irrevocably in love with. “You felt this way with her, didn’t you?”

                                He nodded.

                                “Oh, man, I’m sorry.”

                                “For what?”

                                “For bringing this subject up. For bringing up things you don’t want to think about.”

                                He smiled, reassuringly. “I asked you about her, besides it brought up good memories.”

                                That made him feel a little better, but he could see the pain—the suffering his best friend was feeling, and wanted to find a way to make him feel better. But what could he possibly do or even say to help his friend feel better about the fact that he couldn’t be with the girl he wanted—needed, and desired above all else?

                                Clark felt his heart clenching tightly in his chest. He had lied when he said it brought back good memories. Of course, he had thought about all the times she made him feel like that, but mostly, it only reminded him that he was never, ever going to feel that way about anybody ever again, and that’s what hurt the most. He would never feel a connection with someone again—he would never fall in love with someone again—he would never be truly happy again.

                                It was sad.

                                It was depressing.

                                But, it was his choice to make, even if that meant he would be alone and miserable for the rest of his life. It was either her or no one.

                                Pete was about to change the subject, when Lana waltzed into The Talon, and plopped down on the couch, purposefully putting herself in between them. “You guys would not believe the night I’ve had! Remember I told you how Jason wanted to take me out for the night, well let’s just say that it wasn’t what I was expecting…”

                                They both tuned her out, as she went on and on about her failed date with Jason. Pete could care less about Lana and her constant problems with the assistant football coach. Clark, on the other hand, wished upon all the stars that he could be anywhere but here at this moment. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about what was going on in her life, it was the fact that it was the same thing every single time they had problems. Her love life was like an overdramatic soap opera.

                                “I’m glad to have been able to get that out.” She quickly turned towards Clark, placed her hand on his thigh, and fluttered her long eyelashes. “But, enough about Jason. I want to hear about you. I heard about the game. I would have been there, but Jason just wouldn’t take no for an answer. So, how was the game?”

                                He immediately became annoyed, with her antics. It was obvious what she was doing. Every single time she had a problem with Jason she would come to him about it, and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with wanting support from a friend. No. She was trying to make him jealous, and it was becoming very, very tiring. He had been trying to keep his distance from her, as of late, but not because he didn’t want to be around her, it was the fact that she was trying everything possible to win his affections and heart.

                                It was useless, he thought. His heart, mind and soul were taken, it didn’t matter that they weren’t together because he would always and forever be hers.

                                Pete was amused by the situation. It was incredibly fun watching Clark squirm, uncomfortably when Lana flirted with him. It was practically an everyday encounter, and her attempts to attract him were becoming more and more hilarious. He had a feeling that if it was her, the girl he missed more than anything, he wouldn’t be so guarded, hell, he’d probably be more at ease. Maybe he’d even flirt with her. Now that was a sight he would love to see, but knew that would never happen because there was no way in hell he would even think about being with another woman, let alone flirt with one.

                                Over the past year, he had heard very few things about her, and he only got those things out of Clark by provoking him. A part of him wished he could know more about her, but he was scared to ask because he knew it would only make his best friend even more depressed than he already was.

                                Chloe walked back inside, and towards her best friends, but stopped dead in her tracks, at the scene she had just walked into. Lana was flirting, more than she’s ever seen before, with Clark. Pete was refraining himself from laughing, and she couldn’t blame him because it was quite hysterical. And Clark, her poor best friend, looked as if he wanted the floor to open up, and swallow him into a dark abyss.

                                It was quite a scene indeed, she thought.

                                Normally, she would have basked in his obvious torture, but figured she’d help him out this once, besides she needed to talk to Lana about Jimmy, things she couldn’t talk to Pete or Clark about.

                                She walked up to them, not able to stop the smile from appearing on her face. “Hey guys. Lana, when did you get here?”

                                “A few minutes ago. Clark, here, was just telling me all about the game. I wish I could have been there, but I had no doubt in my mind that he would win the game.”

                                He ducked, in embarrassment. “It wasn’t just me, there is other players on the team.”

                                Lana flipped her long, brunette hair over her shoulder. “But, you’re the quarterback. That makes you the most important player on the team.”

                                Wow! She was really pulling out the stops tonight, Chloe thought, too bad her attempts were useless. There was no way in hell Clark would ever fall for that, maybe before he fell in love with a woman in his three months away, but now, it was like no other woman could compare to her. It was quite romantic, but also a little sad.

                                “Lana, how did your date go with Jason?”

                                She never took her eyes off Clark. “Horrible.”

                                “Really? Well, maybe we should talk about it you know, anywhere but here.”

                                “But, I was about to ask Clark a question.”

                                “And, I’m sure you can ask him later.” She grabbed her hand, pulling her off the couch, and away from Clark, “Besides I need some much-needed girl advice.”

                                Clark sighed, in absolute relief, as he watched Chloe pull, a reluctant Lana away, and reminded himself to thank her later. It had been the worst five minutes of his damn life. It wasn’t a new or surprising thing for Lana to flirt with him, but she had been more assertive this time, and that was disconcerting.

                                Pete, who had been holding himself back, burst into a fit of laughter.

                                He glared. “It’s not funny, Pete!”

                                He laughed, even harder. “I’m sorry, man, but I can’t decide which was funnier. The expression on your face or Lana practically throwing herself at you.”

                                It did seem like that, he thought, and he wondered, briefly if she was up to something. He remembered her telling him that she would wait for him the day he came back home, and it wasn’t the first time she had said it. When was she going to understand that he didn’t want to be with her?

                                Pete sobered, several minutes later. “I think that’s the hardest she’s ever come onto you before. Why do you think she’s upped the game now?”

                                He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I know she wants to be with me, and two years ago that would have meant everything to me, but now, it’s the last thing I want.”

                                “Because of her, right?”

                                He stared at him, in complete shock, at his remark. “Am I really that transparent?”

                                “No, you’re not, but you don’t exactly hide your feelings very well either. You realize that you haven’t even talked about a girl or went on a date in over a year, right?”

                                “I-I just can’t.”

                                “Because of her. Because you still love her. Because a part of you still wishes you were together. Because you can’t imagine being with anyone else. Because you miss her more than anything.”

                                He was dumfounded. Pete had never been this forward with him about Lois before, and it made him feel very, very protective over the choices he’s made since coming back home. “Yes, it’s because of her! Is it so wrong that I still want to be with her—that I wish we were still together?”

                                “Of course not.”

                                “Then what’s with the third degree?”

                                “Because I want to hear you say what we all know.”

                                “Fine! I still love her! I miss her more than anything! I can’t imagine being with anybody else, because she is the only person that has made me feel this way before! I don’t just wish we could be together. I dream about it. I think about it. I want it more than anything than I’ve ever wanted before. I’d do anything to see her again—to see her smile again—to just be with her again.”

                                Pete smiled, slightly. “I know, Clark. It’s obvious to everyone except Lana, and you just proved what I have been asking myself for over a year now. She was the one, wasn’t she?”

                                He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

                                “I know you don’t like talking about her or the time you spent with her, but I think you should talk about it. What was she like?”

                                He smiled, sadly, memories of them rushing to the forefront of his mind. “She was perfect. She was everything you said about Natasha, but so, so much more.”

                                “Tell me about her.”

                                “She was unlike anybody I’ve ever met before. She was fascinating—alluring, but most of all, she captured my heart from the first moment I laid eyes on her.”

                                “Was it love at first sight?”

                                “I guess you could say that. I-I felt this undeniable connection to her from the first moment we met, and it only took me a few weeks to realize that I had fallen hard. I had never felt this way before, and it only made me want to spend more time with her. She excited me. She cared about me. She loved me. But, more importantly, she healed me.”

                                He frowned. “Healed you? What are you talking about?”

                                He took a deep breath. It was hard talking about this, but a part of him knew that he needed to share this with somebody who wasn’t his mother, besides Pete would be the only other person who would understand. “After leaving Metropolis, I was consumed by the pain—shame, and guilt I felt, but that all changed when I met her. She made me understand that it wasn’t my fault. She helped me forgive myself. She’s the reason why I came back home.”

                                It was probably the most incredible thing he had heard, and it was amazing that one girl did all of that for him, but it did raise questions, one in particular. “Clark, how could she have helped you through all of that if she didn’t know about the real you.”

                                He looked him straight in the eyes. “She did know the real me.”

                                “Y-you told her?”

                                “Yeah.”

                                “How did she react?”

                                He smiled, remembering her reaction to his bombshell. It might have been slightly painful then, but now, it was a good memory. “She accepted me, Pete. She didn’t judge me or even ridicule me. I didn’t even know her at the time, and all she wanted to do was protect me from the world.”

                                “What do you mean you didn’t even know her?”

                                “I-I told her within only knowing her a few hours.”

                                That was surprising, especially since he had always been so careful about who he shared his secret with. “Wow! It really must have been love at first sight.”

                                He smiled. “It was.”

                                Never, in over a year, had he heard this much about her, and he wanted to know more about her. He wanted to know everything. “What was her name?”

                                “Lois. Her name was Lois Lane.”

                                He smirked. “Another LL? Why am I not surprised?”

                                “Shut up!”

                                “So, how did you and this Lois meet?”

                                He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again. It was nice talking to someone about her, but now that he had actually said her name out loud, which is something he hasn’t done in a very long time, made him realize what he was doing. In over a year, he had never talked about her this much, and now that he had, it only made him miss her more. “It doesn’t matter.”

                                And just like that the walls were back up, Pete thought. They had come so far, but he figured that was all he was going to get out of Clark tonight, and that was okay because he was starting to understand why he was so smitten with this Lois Lane.

                                He quickly stood up. “Um, I should probably get going. I promised my parents that I’d be back in enough time for dinner.” And without another word he walked away, and super sped home.

                                It was a lie, of course. He still had a few hours before his parents were expecting him, but right now, he just wanted to be alone. He had said way, way too much tonight, and it had brought back a lot of emotions that he had kept hidden within himself. It had been easier than he thought it would be talking about her to Pete, but now that he had gotten his deepest feelings off his chest, he wanted to just live in their memories because that was the only thing keeping him together these days.


                                In a matter of a few hours, Lois had all her things packed, which was only some essentials, and a few things Cassie and Wes had given her.

                                And now, now she was standing near the foot of her bed, slightly hesitating, and she wondered if she was ever going to get her feet to move. It was hard enough looking at those items every single night before she went to bed, but the thought of packing them away made her sick inside. It was one of the only things keeping her going—keeping her from completely breaking down.

                                It was now or never, she thought, before making her way to the bed, sat down, and slowly lifted her pillow. She stared down at the two items, an emptiness consuming her, and she could feel her heart clenching in unbearable pain.

                                The first, was a wooden-framed photo of Clark and herself smiling widely at the camera. It was the day he surprised her by taking her to the beach in Washington.

                                She smiled, tears already pooling in her eyes, as she remembered how she had gotten that elderly woman, Shelia, to take the picture. Clark had teased her endlessly about it, afterwards, but it was so worth it because if she hadn’t of done that then she wouldn’t have this to remember him by.

                                A few tears rolled down her cheeks, as she thought about the heart felt words she shared with them, and a part of her wondered if it was a foreshadowing of some kind because that was their very last day together.

                                The second, the one she cherished the most, was the strip of photos from their first date in Colorado. She felt more and more tears fall down her cheeks, as she remembered that day.

                                It was one of the best days of her life.

                                She remembered the Ferris Wheel—the mind-blowing kiss—the bear he had won for her—the photo booth—the way she fell asleep in his arms, which seemed to happen a lot—and the way she woke up the next morning with his arms wrapped around her.

                                She slowly, and tentatively ran her fingers across the five photos, lingering them over the one where they had kissed…passionately. It had been amazing, and only left her wanting more. She clutched the photo to her chest, and softly closed her eyes, as more and more of their memories washed over her.

                                It had been the best three months of her life, and now, now she was left feeling utterly empty and completely alone. Instead of packing them away in her suitcase, like she intended to, she put them in her purse.

                                They were safer there—closer to her there.

                                She grabbed the locket that hung loosely around her neck, and flipped it around so she could read the engraving, just like she would whenever she needed some faith—some hope. She desperately needed some right now, and he was the only one that could give it to her, even if she couldn’t see him or hear him, he was with her always and forever.

                                The tears fell more fiercely down her rosy cheeks. It had been one of the last things he said to her, and it was true, whenever she felt like the world was crashing down around her, she would grab this locket, remembering all the love he shared with her—all the love she hoped he still felt for her.

                                She still missed him like crazy, and even though it’s been well over a year, she still loved him just as deeply as she did the day she left him.

                                She left him.

                                That thought was what made this so hard. As much as she wanted to believe that she had no choice, she couldn’t help but blame herself for everything that had happened, even though he had told her that he didn’t blame her. She had broken his heart more than once, and no matter what she tried to tell herself, the truth would always come crashing back to her.

                                It was all her fault, and she would never forgive herself.

                                A loud, booming knock on the door brought her out of her stupor, and she quickly composed herself, wiping away her tears before opening the door.

                                It was her father.

                                “It’s time to go,” was all he said before walking away.

                                She grabbed her belongings before leaving her room, and as she walked towards the main gates she prepared herself for saying goodbye to the two most important people in her life. Cassie and Wes.


                                Several hours later, she drove down the highway, all the windows rolled down, the wind whipping around her face, and listened to soft music coming from the radio.

                                It had been so hard to say goodbye to Cassie and Wes, but she knew deep inside that she would be seeing them again sooner or later.

                                Her father, on the other hand, hadn’t showed any emotion, as she said goodbye, but of course, she wasn’t surprised by that. She knew that he cared about her—that he loved her, but he just didn’t know how to show it, and it had always been like that between them.

                                A song came on the radio, one she didn’t know, and was about to switch the channel, but stopped her hand midair, as she realized that it reminded her of him—of Clark.

                                Here in the silence I wait
                                There's nothing else I can do
                                It feels like my heart's gonna break
                                And all I can think of is you
                                And how my aching arms long to hold you
                                And show you how much I care
                                But I'm counting the hours without you
                                And I don't know how much I can bear

                                The words hit her like a jackhammer, but she couldn’t stop herself from continuing to listen to it, and slowly lowered her hand.

                                'cause I miss you
                                More than words can say
                                And I need you here
                                In my life always
                                Yeah I miss you
                                And I'll always be
                                Waiting here for you
                                Til you're back with me

                                Just like that, everything faded, and her vision began to cloud, as tears filled her eyes. The words ‘til you’re back with me’ rung in her mind, and she completely broke down because that was never, ever going to happen.

                                She slammed on her brakes, pulling off the side of the road before jumping out of her car, and leaned up against the car door, as tears strolled down her cheeks.

                                You found a place in my heart
                                From the first moment I saw you
                                And you are my light in the dark
                                And I would do anything for you
                                'cause you're everything I've ever wished for
                                The answer to all of my dreams
                                And I want you back
                                Home is here with me

                                She missed him so god damn much. There hasn’t been a single day where she wasn’t thinking or dreaming about him, and it seemed that every day that passed she fell in even more in love with him. How was it possible to love someone when you never saw them—never heard their voice?

                                She didn’t know, but she did know what she wanted.

                                She wanted to be with him again—she wanted to see his boyish, handsome face again—she wanted to feel his touch again—she wanted to feel him holding her—kissing her again.

                                She just wanted him, and she knew that, that would never happen again.

                                He was gone.

                                She would never, ever see him again.

                                She slowly slid to the ground, her body trembling, as sobs rocked her to the core, and she wished—prayed that she could see him at least one more time.

                                Oh I miss you
                                More than words can say
                                And I need you here


                                Clark stood in the barn, leaning against the wooden beams, and stared out into the night sky, as the radio played a song that only reminded him of how alone he felt—how he didn’t have her anymore—how he hasn’t had her for over a year now.

                                And I bless the day I met you
                                And I thank God that he let you
                                Lay beside me for a moment that lives on
                                And the good news is I'm better for the time we spent together
                                And the bad news is you're gone.

                                As the words consumed every fiber in his body, he slowly made his way over to the treasure chest, opened it, and pulled out the large bear—the bear he had won for her.

                                He brought it to his chest, and inhaled deeply, sighing, peacefully when he could still smell remnants of her sweet and overpowering scent.

                                It had been one of the most prominent memories he had.

                                Their first date.

                                It was special.

                                It was unique.

                                But, most of all, it fitted them perfectly.

                                He had used his abilities, just so she could have the one she wanted, and it was one of the best decisions he had ever made. He wouldn’t have this, right now, if he didn’t do that, that day.

                                Looking back it's still surprising
                                I was sinking you were rising
                                And with a look you caught me in midair.

                                He walked over to his desk, opened the drawer, and pulled out a wooden-framed picture of them. It was the day he took her to the beach in Washington.

                                He smiled, weakly, as he remembered how she had wrangled that elderly woman to take their picture since he obviously couldn’t do it right.

                                His smile fell, and he could feel the tears prickling behind his eyes, as he remembered that, that was their very last day together, hell, that was their last truly carefree and happy moment together.

                                He had lost her that day.

                                If he knew that, that was going to happen than he would have made that day so, so much better, but he couldn’t change the past even if he wanted to.

                                If he could turn back time, they never would have said goodbye to each other, and she would be with him right this minute.

                                Now I know God has his reasons
                                But sometimes it's hard to see them
                                I lie awake and find that you're not there.

                                He slowly pulled out his wallet, opened it, and pulled out the strip of pictures they took on their first date. He stared down at the five photos, his eyes lingering on her beautiful face, and felt his heart ache in a pain he knew all too well.

                                After all this time, he was still heartbroken—still in pain, and deep inside he knew that he would always feel this emptiness—this loneliness inside.

                                He softly closed his eyes, trying to stop the tears that he knew were coming, just like they did every single night, but it was useless, especially when images of their three months together flashed behind his eyes.

                                You found hope in hopeless
                                You made crazy sane
                                You became the missing link that helped me break my chains.

                                He squeezed the items in his hands, tightly before collapsing to the ground, as their last words echoed in his mind, and he completely broke down, the tears cascading down his cheeks causing his entire body to tremble.

                                And I bless the day I met you
                                And I thank God that he let you
                                Lay beside me for a moment that lives on
                                And the good news is I'm better for the time we spent together
                                And the bad news is you're gone.

                                He missed her so god damn much—he wanted her here with him, like they planned—he wanted to see her beautiful face again—he wanted to feel her touch again—he wanted to hold her and kiss her again.

                                He just wanted her, and he knew that, that was never going to happen.

                                She was gone.

                                He would never see her again.

                                His head fell back against the wooden beam, the tears falling faster and faster, as he stared up at the ceiling, and wished—prayed that he could see her at least one more time.

                                Umm umm
                                Ohh ohh you're gone
                                Ohhh you're gone!


                                Chloe sighed, heavily, and took a deep breath, as she watched Lana walk away from her.

                                It had been the worst two hours of her life.

                                They had spent that entire time talking about her difficult situation with Jason, and her feelings for Clark, which was driving her absolutely insane. Lana was either complaining about how Jason wasn’t there for her when she needed him to be and how she felt like he was hiding something from her or how much she wants to be with Clark, but doesn’t know what to do to make him see that they would be perfect for each other.

                                It was irritating as all hell.

                                The only reason she was with Jason was because she wanted to make Clark jealous, which was obviously not working, but that didn’t seem to even faze her. She might have loved Jason when they spent the summer in Paris together, but ever since she saw Clark again she had been back to her annoying self.

                                She really, really wished that she would just give up already and move on because it was quite obvious to everyone else that Clark already had. She has spent most of the past year revolving herself around him, flirting, trying to win his heart, but what she couldn’t see was that he didn’t share those same affections. Ever since he returned over one year ago, he was different—he had changed, and that was all because of the woman he fell in love with, hell, the woman he was still in love with.

                                And it changed him for the better, she thought.

                                It was clear that he was still in pain over what had happened, not that he talked to her about it, but he was at least just a little bit happier since he returned home. He was still in love with the woman, who had stolen his heart, and she doubted that he would ever stop.

                                RING! RING! RING!

                                It was probably Lana, she thought, and quickly answered the phone without checking the called id. “What? You know, I’m not really in the mood to rehash this…yet again.”

                                “Well, hello to you to cuz! Is that any way to greet your favorite cousin?”

                                Chloe was shocked to hear her voice on the other line. “Lois?”

                                “Well, yeah. Who else would be calling you from this number?”

                                “I’m sorry, cuz! I thought you were someone else.”

                                “Obviously, and by the sounds of it, it was someone you really didn’t want to talk to.”

                                She sighed. “Not particularly. I’ve been talking to her for the past few hours about the same old ********. Can you believe that she is dating one guy, but desiring another, one who wants nothing to do with her by the way.”

                                “Oh great! Something to look forward to.”

                                That comment puzzled her, but she didn’t think about it for too long. “Why are you calling me so late? I thought uncle Sam was watching your every move, which included who you contacted since your little escape.”

                                “Don’t remind me, and for your information it isn’t that late. I just wanted to chat with my lovely cuz!”

                                She wasn’t buying that for one second. “Spill, Lane! I know you, and you don’t just call out of the blue. You either want something or something is wrong. Are you okay?”

                                “I’m fine. Don’t get your panties in a bunch, but I did want to tell you something.”

                                “Well? What is it? Don’t leave me hanging here?”

                                “I hope you have room for one more at your house because I’m currently driving towards that pathetic small town of yours, as we speak.”

                                She nearly dropped her phone, at her words, and quickly calmed herself before replying. “What? Are you ****ing serious? Why are you driving here? Does uncle Sam know about this?”

                                “Woah! One question at a time, damn girl, you’re starting to sound like me, and that’s scary.” Chloe could hear her chuckling on the other line. “Yes, I’m serious. My lovely father enlightened me on the fact that I failed last semester, and instead of sending me back to school near base he is shipping me off to that town you call home.”

                                She couldn’t believe it. This was the best news she has received in quite a long time. “Oh my god! I can’t wait to see you! It’s been what? Over two years?”

                                “Three, I think, but who’s keeping count?”

                                Something she had said finally registered. “Wait a minute! He actually let you leave? On your own? How does he know that you won’t just drive somewhere he couldn’t find you?”

                                “He talked to uncle Gabe, and threatened military school if I didn’t arrive within three days.”

                                “My father knows? Why the hell didn’t he tell me?”

                                “I have no idea, but if I had to guess, it would be because you haven’t been home in a few hours.”

                                She was speechless. How the hell did she do that? It was like she could read anyone perfectly, whether she could see you or not. “How do you know I haven’t been home?”

                                “Firstly, you just confirmed it, and secondly, do you realize who you’re talking to?”

                                “Whatever! So, when are you going to be here?”

                                There was a brief silence before she replied, “Well, I’ve been driving all day and night so, I would say about two days tops.”

                                “Two days!?!”

                                “Jesus! You don’t have to scream so loud, yes, I’ll be there in two days.”

                                “Oh my god! I’m so excited! I can’t wait to see you!”

                                “Yeah. It’s going to be great repeating my senior year and being stuck in yet another small Kansas town.”

                                “Oh, come on, it won’t be that bad, besides that town you were stranded couldn’t have been that bad.”

                                “Oh, but it was. Look, I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you real soon, cuz!”

                                Chloe hung up the phone, still unable to believe the turn of events, and started mentally planning all the things they were going to do together. She was so lost in her thoughts, that she didn’t even see or hear Pete. “Hello? Chloe? Earth to Chloe!”

                                “What?”

                                He frowned at her. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for over five minutes now.”

                                “You have?”

                                He nodded. “What has you so distracted? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this way before.”

                                She grinned from ear to ear, and practically jumped up and down in her seat. “I just got the best news! My cousin, Lois, is moving to Smallville! She’ll be here in two days!”

                                He smiled, at her apparent enthusiasm. He hadn’t heard much about her cousin, only that she was an army brat and that they used to be really close when they were younger. It was obvious that she was super excited about this, and he was happy for her, but that happiness faltered once he realized what she had actually said.

                                Lois.

                                Her cousin’ name was Lois.

                                Could it be? Was it even remotely possible? “What did you say her name was?”

                                She frowned, at that question. “Lois Lane, why?”

                                He couldn’t believe it. It was her. The woman his best friend missed terribly, and loved entirely was Chloe’s cousin. What were the chances of that? “Oh my god! I can’t believe it!”

                                Now she was extremely confused. He was acting really weird. Firstly, he wanted to know Lois’ name, and now it was like he was having a realization of some kind. “What? What is it?”

                                He grinned from ear to ear, not able to hide his excitement at what was to come. It wasn’t possible, but it was happening. “Your cousin, Lois, is the same exact girl Clark spent three months with.”

                                “What? Are you crazy? Clark’s never met Lois before.”

                                “How would you know?”

                                “Because she would have told me if she met some guy, and fell in love with him.”

                                “Not if she was hurt so badly from the prospect of losing him, and doesn’t want to talk about it. Just like Clark. Think about it for a second. Your cousin’ name is Lois Lane, and the woman Clark fell in love with has the exact same name.”

                                She shook her head, vehemently. “No, it’s just not possible. It’s a common name. There could be thousands of people with that name.”

                                That was true, he thought, but he wasn’t going to be deterred. He knew he was right about this. “Okay, you have a point. Do you know if she might have gone on a summer vacation or something at the same exact time that Clark was gone for those three months?”

                                It hit her, almost immediately. Lois had run away from base around the exact same time Clark had disappeared, and she had also returned to base not even a day after Clark returned home.

                                She couldn’t believe it. It was true. “Oh my god! Your right! This entire time I’ve been in constant contact with the one person he has been missing—the woman he loves!” A feeling of queasiness rolled inside of her stomach, at the thought. “If I knew—if I would have just convinced Clark to tell me her name than they could have been reunited by now! Why the hell didn’t I question him more about it?”

                                “Because you’re his friend, and you didn’t want to hurt him more than he already was. Neither of us wanted that. But, hope isn’t lost, Chloe, we could still reunite them.”

                                “What do you mean?”

                                “You said she’s moving to Smallville, right?”

                                She nodded.

                                He grinned, feeling more excitement than he’s felt in a very, very long time. “I think I have an idea…”

                                She listened, quite intently to his plan, and it was a brilliant one. It could work. It would only be a matter of time before her cousin and best friend’ lives got turned completely upside down, hopefully for the better.

                                She couldn’t wait.

                                This was one hell of a chapter to write, since it was extremely long, it was a whole 28 pages long, and that’s the longest chapter I’ve written before. I could have split it up again, like I’ve done before, but I didn’t want to keep you waiting too much longer for that promised reunion.

                                I hope you enjoyed chapter twenty-four!!!

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