To everyone who has read this story, thank you! I appreciate that you are probably a busy person just like all of us are and yet you took the time to read my work. I hope you are enjoying it.
To those who added this story to your favorites or just your watch list, thank you! I'm so happy you enjoyed the first part enough to hang around for the rest. I hope it will live up to your expectations and I also hope that however you feel about it, you'll be kind enough to review it. I thrive on feedback, and even constructive criticism is appreciated since that's how I get better!
For those few that have already left feedback, THANK YOU! I was so happy to see that anyone took the time to leave a small note letting me know what they thought of it. In the words of the little guys on the Toy Story movies, "We are eternally grateful!" ;)
I am so sorry that it has taken this long to get the second part up. I've been going over it and over it, tweaking it here and there until I was finally satisfied. Every time I went to upload it and post it, I've had something interrupt me. I hope it's worth the wait. Please let me know.
I hope to be starting a XO fic with Smallville and Batman soon. Keep an eye out for it!
Chapter 2
Later that evening…
Clark hung up the phone with the pizza place and smiled at Lois. "It'll be here in about half an hour," he told her.
"Of course," Lois answered, sitting back on the couch at the farm.
They had spent the better part of the afternoon filling out paperwork and getting her hand looked at by a doctor. She wasn't going to but Clark insisted, just in case. Turned out that most of the damage was relatively minor and the only thing the doctor was concerned about was keeping an eye on it for infection.
After finally leaving the emergency room at Met Gen, it was well after lunch and on the way to nearing dinner time and they still hadn't found any time to talk like they had been trying to do all day. That's when Clark had suggested going back to the farm and ordering a pizza. Lois had agreed and they spent the drive there each lost in his or her own thoughts, trying to figure out exactly what they wanted to talk about.
Clark moved to sit next to her on the couch and her eyes roved over his face as they turned towards one another. Both wondered what the other was thinking. Finally, he blurted out the first question he could form. "How long have you known?"
Lois' eyebrows raised a little and her smile grew. "Wow. Guess we're talking now. Let me see, how long have I known…well, see here's the thing. If you remember, I had it figured out when that bozo Sacks tried to kill me. I really knew then that you were the Blur, but then you denied it and I got that phone call…who was that by the way?" she answered all in one breath.
Clark felt like he had just stepped off the tilt-a-whirl, his head was spinning with so many emotions. Guilt was at the top of that list. His remorse was written all over his face. "It was Chloe, pretending to be me. I'm sorry, Lois. I probably should have told you then."
She gave him a slightly exasperated look. "Why didn't you? I mean, I even blamed myself for trying to make you into someone you weren't…but you were." She got a thoughtful look on her face for a moment, trying to figure out if what she had just said made sense.
Thinking back on that time, Clark chose his words carefully. "Lois, part of the reason that I couldn't tell you is what you figured out yourself later. Anyone who knows my secret is put in danger. I was trying to protect you, but…" he thought about what he wanted to say. "I had already tried telling the world my secret once, and you were the first person I told but the whole thing didn't go well." At the confused look on her face, he knew he was bringing up more questions. "I'll explain about all of that later. Then too, things were still pretty new between us back then and it just got more complicated. I just didn't want to put you in danger if…" He trailed off not wanting to complete that thought at this point in their relationship.
Lois gave him an understanding smile and finished it for him, however. "You didn't want to put me in danger if we weren't going to work out. I get it, Smallville, I do." She gave him a self-depreciating smile. "Guess I didn't make it easy on you, always talking about the Blur and then upset when you didn't talk to me…he didn't talk to me…you didn't…oh, you know what I mean! I'm sorry if you felt you couldn't trust me until now." That last sentence was said so softly only Clark would have heard it clearly.
His expression changed to one of soft frustration and love. Moving closer, he cupped the side of her face. "Lois, it was never a question of not trusting you. Don't ever think that! There was another part of me that was trying to protect me as well." At her questioning look, he explained, "Lois, I saw how things ended with you and Oliver. I was so worried that you would feel like you couldn't deal with this secret…couldn't live with it. Not to mention that you would look at me differently. I was so worried that you wouldn't be able to still see…the real me. I had to be sure that you wanted to be with me…Clark."
She clutched one of his hands with her own, squeezing in reassurance. "Oh, Clark, I love you and we've known each other too long to let a little…meteor infection come between us. I not only still see the real you, I see more of the real you, the parts you were trying to keep from me."
Flashing a sheepish grin, Clark took a deep breath to bolster the courage to drop the other shoe on her. "Lois, I'm not a meteor freak." She started to reassure him that she didn't call him a freak, but he placed a finger on her lips. "I'm not from this planet. I'm from a planet called Krypton." He gave her a minute to let that sink in. Her eyes had widened but she said nothing. Clark was a little worried; that wasn't the Lois Lane he knew. Tilting his head to look her straight in the eye, he asked, "Are you ok?"
Blinking a couple of times and trying to catch her breath from this bomb he just dropped on her, Lois shook her head a little, trying to wrap her brain around what he was telling her. "Explain please," she said in a small voice.
"Krypton was a dying planet. My parents, my biological parents that is, sent me to Earth to survive and to become a hero for this planet. The Kents found me and you know I was adopted by them. I came to Earth the day of that first meteor shower." Clark's eyes dropped with the weight of the guilt he felt about that day. "It's my fault all that devastation happened."
Taking his hand in hers and squeezing it, she touched his face again until he looked back up at her. "How old were you when the meteor shower hit? Really little, a baby, right?" He nodded. "And whether or not you were sent here, Clark, your planet would have died and that meteor shower would have happened. It's not your fault and there's nothing you could have done about it. You are the one bright spot about that day, for both Martha and Jonathan Kent and everyone else whose lives you've touched and will touch."
Feeling like a weight had been lifted off of him, Clark pulled Lois into his arms and kissed her, trying to convey how soothing her words were for him and how much they meant to him. She deepened the kiss and he didn't object or resist. Something about this particular kiss seemed familiar and Lois moved just a certain way and suddenly his eyes popped open. Pulling back a little, a smile lit Clark's face as he watched Lois bite her lower lip and wait for him to say something.
"That's how you knew! The kiss, by the phone booth…that's how you knew it was me, wasn't it?" he asked in amazement. How could he have not known she would figure it out then? Up until that point he had always been so careful! "Why didn't you tell me you knew before now?"
Giving a soft laugh, Lois smiled up at him. "I didn't tell you for two reasons. First, that Lex clone told me that I was your greatest weakness and I didn't want to stand in the way of your destiny. Second, after Carter convinced me that I could actually be a help to you and not a hindrance, I was waiting for you to tell me in your own time…when you trusted me and yourself enough. But I'm an investigative reporter, Smallville. I was bound to figure it out sooner or later. You just helped me out a little that night." Her smile faltered a little and her eyes darted away and back up to his face.
"Lois?"
"I guess I can't call you that anymore," she stated softly and a little sadly. At his questioning look, she clarified. "Smallville. I'm sorry. It started out being somewhat derogatory, but after a while, it just seemed to fit and well, like the town, you sort of grew on me. But you aren't really just a farm boy from Kansas. I'll try to watch myself so I don't call you that anymore."
Shaking his head, Clark gave a little growl. "See! This is sort of what I meant by 'looking at me differently'! Lois, I'm still Clark Kent. I'm still that same farm boy you've known over the past years. I'm not just a farm boy from Kansas, but that's still part of who I am. I know that 'Smallville' has come to be a term of endearment and I've grown to like hearing it as much as you've grown to mean it to be sweet or affectionate. I hope you never stop calling me that." The way her face lit up at his words made his heart constrict a little. God how he loved her!
He held her close for a moment or two and then they pulled back and grinned at each other. Lois couldn't stop herself. "So you really are from another planet, huh? That is so cool! So I know about the faster than a speeding bullet thing…hence the name The Blur, but what else can you do?"
Clark began listing his abilities and watching Lois carefully, looking for any hesitancy or pulling away on her part. She just seemed to get more and more excited. She stopped him at the x-ray vision. "So you can see through anything?" she asked, sitting up a little straighter.
He nodded. "Almost."
"Hmm," she said, thinking. Clark wondered what was on her mind with the mischievous glint that sparkled in her eyes. She sat back and spread her arms open wide. "What color underwear am I wearing?"
Swallowing, Clark glanced down at Lois and concentrated, trying not to go too far. His eyes darkened and shot to hers and his gaze heated from something other than his heat vision. "Black lace hip huggers with a matching bra."
Lois bit her bottom lip again and swallowed, her face reddening. Licking her lips, she leaned in closer to kiss him again, but at that moment, the doorbell rang. Jerking back, they both laughed a little in slightly embarrassed shyness. Clark ran a hand through his hair and stood up.
"Pizza's here," he stated, pointing out the obvious.
Lois nodded and stood up. "I'll get a couple of beers if you want to get the pizza."
After several minutes they were again settled on the couch, this time with food and beer. Clark noticed that Lois was a little restless and kept watching him, as if…well, as if he were an alien. "All right, spit it out. Whatever it is you want to know, go ahead and ask. I can see that it's just eating you up inside," he teased her in an amused tone.
Lighting up, Lois turned to face him, bouncing on the couch and taking a big swig of her beer. "Ok, so do you have to eat? Sleep? Do you ever get sick? Is Kara your real cousin? Because I noticed that you both have those same big, bright baby blues…but if she's your cousin, and she can fly, can you fly? You didn't mention that."
Grinning from ear to ear, Clark held up his hand. "Whoa! Slow down! One question at a time!" he laughed. He was just about to answer her when his trained super-hearing picked up a distress call. He turned his head towards the sound and listened for just a moment. When he turned back to Lois, she was watching him curiously.
Tapping his ear, Clark explained. "Somebody needs my help. Sounds like a wildfire in California is getting out of control."
Lois looked at him incredulously. "California? You can hear people in California? That is so awesome!" She stood up with him but before he could take off, she put a hand on his arm. "Wait! Take me with you! I can cover the story."
Pushing back her hair with one hand, he smiled affectionately at her. "I can't, Lois. How would you explain how you got the story?" When she huffed and crossed her arms, he chuckled and drew her into his embrace. Kissing her until her arms wrapped around his neck and she was gasping for air, he set her back and steadied her before dropping his arms to his sides. "I'll be back as quick as I can. Then we can pick up where we left off with the off the record interview," he said with a grin.
With a whoosh of air and a peck on the lips, he was gone, leaving a stunned Lois in his wake. She wondered if she would ever get all her questions answered because just as she thought she had one answered, another three would pop up into her brain. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she dropped onto the couch and guzzled the rest of her beer. Reaching for the remote, she flipped stations until she came across the national news. There was a special report on the wildfires in California and how they were minutes away from engulfing another town. One mother couldn't find her small child and firefighters were too busy working to contain the damage to look for the toddler.
As Lois watched, the flames that the camera could pick out were extinguished and suddenly, the worried mother was crying tears of joy and almost strangling her young son in her relief and happiness. The reporter was unable to hide her shock at the unexpected rescue and then the view switched to an aerial view from a news chopper. Among the devastation was the 'S' symbol that was the calling card of the Blur.
Smiling in pride, happiness and love, Lois listened as the news reporter gave the credit where it appeared it was due. "Go get 'em, Smallville!" she said softly.