A/N: As always, I would thank all of you that have comment on this story. We all know that without any reviews, the stories would never survive. And I personally have learned a few things when it comes to the English spelling; my future fan fics will hopefully prove that. Now, I realize that some of you might want to hurt me after this ending and I'm willing to take that chance. I had a different ending in mind when I started writing this story, but it just didn't stick. What am I talking about? Well, guess you just have to read and find out...
She glanced sideways and noticed that the beeping sound was in fact an EKG machine.
"Morning, sleepyhead!"
Lois quickly turned her head and stared up at Chloe, unsure of how to react. It all started to look like an unpleasant deja-vú, except that Chloe seemed more relieved than worried this time.
"What am I doing here?" Lois asked and shifted around in the bed, glancing around the room. She had already come to the consultation that she was at the Smallville Medical Center, but how and why did she end up there in the first place?
"Mr. Kent found you unconscious in the middle of the driveway yesterday morning. I was hoping you would remember anything?" Chloe asked and took a seat next to the hospital bed, now with a concern look on her face.
"Yesterday morning? But…I was only gone for a few hours" Lois mumbled and glanced down at her hand, for a moment expecting to see the meteor rock still there. Chloe gave her a confused stare, and Lois snapped out of her daze. She was definitely not going to be taken for a crazy person again after all she had been through.
"So, what did the doctor say?" Lois asked and slowly sat up in bed.
"Well, that's the weird part; he couldn't find anything wrong with you. Other then you were comatose. I gotta say, you gave us quite a scare!" Chloe said with a relieved smile and Lois noticed how her eyes filled with tears.
"Aw, come on now; you won't get rid of me that easily!" Lois said and grabbed a hold of Chloe's hand, putting on a brave smile.
"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that" Chloe said and squeezed Lois' hand, slowly wiping away the tears. Despite everything that she had been through in the past thanks to the meteor freaks, this was far by the worse. She could actually have lost one of the most important people in her life and that scared her more than anything else.
"Nice to see you're awake."
Lois and Chloe simultaneously looked over at the doorway, and a smile spread across Lois' face as she saw Clark standing there.
"Impeccable timing as ever, Clark. Listen, I gotta go find Dr. Williams so you mind staying and keep an eye on her for me?" Chloe asked as she got out of the chair.
"Sure" Clark said and Chloe turned to Lois.
"I'll be right back. Try and be nice now, okay?" she whispered and Lois silently nodded, merely refraining from smiling like an idiot. Chloe gave her a warning look before walking out of the room, unsure of how long it would take before her cousin started ripping poor Clark to pieces.
"How are you feeling?" Clark asked and walked over to the empty chair next to the hospital bed. Before she blurted out anything, Lois had to remind herself that Clark obviously didn't know about her little time travel. Nobody did.
"Fine. I've had hangovers that's worse than this" Lois said with a shrug.
"Well, you certainly seem fine. So I guess I can tell my parents not to worry anymore" Clark said with a smile and Lois tried to fight her urge to kiss him in that moment.
"Uh huh. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with me. Although I'm not exactly sure what happened. Chloe said something about Mr. Kent finding me unconscious" she said.
"It's a long story. I'm sure dad will fill you in once you get back" Clark said and nervously cleared his throat, shifting around in the chair.
"So, when will I be getting out of this place?" Lois asked.
"Well, the doctor has to check up on you first. But I don't see why you can't be back at the farm by dinnertime" Clark said and Lois let out a happy sigh.
"God, I hope so! I'm in desperate need of Mrs. Kent's cooking!" she cried out and Clark couldn't refrain from laughing.
"I'm sure she'll be more than happy to whip you up something" he said. Lois suddenly realized she was smiling at him for no obvious reason, and quickly put on a serious face again. Everything was still a mess and she couldn't even be sure of her own memory at the moment, so she decided to just act normal for now.
"Ms. Lane, how nice to see you're finally awake!"
Both Lois and Clark looked over at the doctor as he walked into the room, quickly followed by Chloe. She gave Lois an inquiring look, reassuring herself that everything had run smoothly in her absence.
"Believe me, Doc, nobody is more relieved about it than me!" Lois said and the doctor let out a heart-warming laughter, slowly walking over to the hospital bed.
"Well that's understandable. I must say, your recovery is somewhat of a miracle if I've ever seen one. And if you're lucky, you might be going home today already" Dr. Williams said with a smile and Lois let out a sigh of relief.
"Music to my ears, Doc! Just tell me which papers I need to sign and consider them signed!" she said with a relieved smile on her face.
"Well, I'm afraid it's not quite that simple, Ms. Lane. Considering the fact that you were comatose less than twenty-four hours ago, I'm going to need to take a few samples just to be sure everything's okay" Dr. Williams said and looked down at Lois' medical chart, nodding approvingly. Chloe sat down next to Lois in the hospital bed and glanced over at Clark with a concerned look on her face. She wanted nothing more than for Lois to be released from the medical center, but she also wanted to make sure that her cousin was fully recovered first.
"Oh, okay. Well I guess that seems only fair, as long as you can promise me that I don't have to spend another night here" Lois said and grabbed a hold of Chloe's hand, while looking into Dr. Williams' kind eyes. Just like most people, Lois couldn't stand hospitals or medical centers and at this point she wanted nothing more than to be back on the Kent farm. Not just because of Clark, but because that's where she always seemed to feel at ease.
"I'll do my very best, Ms. Lane. Now, if you'll go with this nurse we can start taking the samples" Dr. Williams said as a nurse walked into the room. With her she had a wheelchair and Lois almost felt like laughing at the irony.
"Doc, I appreciate the concern, but I'm capable of walking on my own" Lois said and tried to get out of the bed, but Chloe wouldn't let her.
"Oh no, you don't! You're going to sit down in that wheelchair and let Dr. Williams here take all the required samples he wants or I'm going to drag you there myself!" Chloe said and refused to let go of Lois' hand. Lois glared at her but this time Chloe didn't budge. Clark had to force back an amused smile, although he did agree with what Chloe had just said. Lois seemed to be feeling fine but you could never be completely sure without having the right samples taken.
"You seriously expect me to be pushed around in a wheelchair when I can walk there myself?" Lois said and kept glaring at Chloe, her hand remaining in a firm grip.
"It's just standard procedure, Ms. Lane. And if I were you, I would listen to Ms. Sullivan" Dr. Williams said with a concerned look. Lois glanced over at Clark, who also seemed to agree with Chloe. She sighed heavily and reluctantly got out of bed, sliding down into the wheelchair.
"See you in a while!" Chloe said with a triumph smile on her face and waved at Lois.
"Oh, I'll be seeing you alright…!" Lois muttered to herself as she was wheeled out of the room and down the hallway.
"Home sweet home" Clark said as he opened the car door. Lois stepped out of the car and looked around the farm, a smile spreading across her face when she realized that this was no illusion. This was the real thing. She was finally back at the real Kent farm but more importantly; she was home.
"Is that…?"
Lois trailed off and inhaled deeply, knowing for sure that it was Mrs. Kent's food cooking. Never before had she appreciated such simple things as food like in this moment. She turned around and faced Clark, still with a smile on her face. He looked so perfect standing there, smiling back at her. But could she be sure that his feelings towards her weren't just strictly platonic? Just a few hours ago she herself had considered Clark Kent nothing more than a friend, and now she had much stronger feelings for him than she could ever have imagined. Lois Lane wasn't one to be in denial and she had just recently accepted the whole situation. The more she thought about it, the more sense it all made. Her feelings towards Clark weren't going away just because she had returned to reality. She couldn't just turn them off because Chloe might tease her or because Lana wouldn't approve.
"What?" Clark suddenly asked with a nervous smile.
"Do you believe in destiny, Clark?" Lois asked, knowing how corny that must have sounded. But she also knew that she would hate herself unless she took this leap and found out the truth, no matter how embarrassing things could get.
"Sometimes. Why?" Clark asked and this time he didn't seem a least bit nervous. He actually seemed eager to hear what else she had to say.
"Look, I'm never gonna be able to explain what happened but let's just say that I have a whole new way of looking at things now. And one of those things…are you" Lois said, feeling herself getting more hesitant. Clark gave her a confused look, but didn't say anything. At this point, all he wanted to know was why. Lois took a few steps closer and stared up at him, now with a serious look on her face. Trying to find the right words for something like this was much harder than she had thought. But then again, words were so overrated when it came to things such as love. Lois took a deep breath, shutting out that little doubtful voice inside her head, and finally kissed him. It was a brief, innocent kiss but as Lois pulled back, she couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed. This was after all Clark Kent she had just kissed. Even just thinking it sounded so weird; she could hardly imagine how it would be to say it out loud.
"What was that for?" Clark asked, not being able to disguise his confusion. Strangely enough, he didn't mind being kissed by her even though it came as a huge surprise. This was after all Lois Lane who had just kissed him. They were hardly even friends before and now she was actually kissing him.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you" Lois said, avoiding looking him in the eye. That little voice inside of her started getting louder by the minute and she silently cursed herself for being so damn impulsive. Her father had always said that it would get her into all kinds of trouble. Now she finally realized what he meant.
"Try me" Clark suddenly said, and for a brief moment Lois contemplated telling him the truth. But at the last minute she changed her mind and just smiled at him.
"It's complicated. Trust me. Look, all I ask of you is an answer" she said.
"To what? Lois, you're not making much sense right now" Clark said with a puzzled look and Lois sighed, knowing that he was right as usual. She was being way too confusing and knew that he deserved an explanation after all.
"I'm only gonna say this once so you better listen damn good, okay? It's not an easy thing to explain so I'm just going to cut straight to the point. Clark, I…"
Lois found herself losing voice, just staring at Clark, feeling absolutely clueless. It wasn't that she had a problem with saying the L word, but because he was the person she was saying it to.
"I've missed you" she finally said, doing her best to maintain a straight face. And from the looks of things, it seemed to be fooling Clark for once.
"Really? You go around kissing people you've missed?" he asked sarcastically with a teasing grin and Lois rolled her eyes, giving him a friendly punch on the arm as usual. For a moment she forgot all about the things that had happened her to back in that other version of Smallville. Here he was still the same pain-in-the-butt Clark Kent. Lois wondered if it all had been some weird twisted dream; she had after all been comatose. People tend to experience strange things in situations like that. She was torn when it came to deciding if it was real or not. But no matter what the answer was, didn't she feel the same about Clark?
"Guess there's no chance of you accidentally forgetting all about this?" Lois asked with a nervous smile, digging her hands into the front pockets of her jeans.
"Don't worry; your secret is safe with me. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you the one who was starving five minutes ago?" Clark asked and walked past her up towards the Kent house. Lois slowly turned around, watching him slowly increasing the distance between them. In a perfect world she would run after him and tell the whole truth, no matter how silly or weird it might sound. She would make sure that he knew how she felt about him and with a little luck, maybe he felt it the same about her. But Lois just stood there, watching him walk away. Despite all the reasons why she should do the exact opposite, Lois didn't move. She stood there, hands in her pockets, feeling completely lost. That little voice inside of her was gone now and Lois wasn't able to hold back a sad smile.
"So much for destiny…" she whispered to herself, reluctantly starting to walk up towards the Kent house. No matter what would ever happen between her and Clark, she wasn't going to allow herself to forget about all the other wonderful things that were reason enough to stay put in Smallville. Family. Friends. Happiness. Home. Lois couldn't imagine not waking up to another beautiful morning in Smallville, Kansas. For once she would chose the farm life over the big city any day of the week. And if God was on her side, then one day maybe she could be with Clark. One day…
THE END! --- But fear not; my latest Smallville fan fiction'Bittersweet' will beup soon enough.