Clark left Chloe's dorm making a bee-line for his truck. He didn't know where she had gone but his run in with Lana and Lex had left him uncomfortable. He couldn't understand why they had been so quick to lock her away. Especially Lana. Chloe was her roommate, her friend, for her to turn to Lex without even talking to him first....he didn't know what to think of that.
More and more he felt like there was no chance of him and Lana reconciling. His dad had been gone for almost a month and he had only seen her a handful of times since the funeral. Shaking away the strings of melancholy that threatened to distract him he picked up his phone to check in with Lois, she had returned to the Talon in the hopes that Chloe had gone there.
He and Lois had become closer after his dad's death but as the time passed they soon fell back into their old familiar routine. He needled her, she busted his chops, but it gave him an odd comfort to know that she didn't look at him any differently after breaking down in front of her. Every now and then though they'd catch each others eye and there would be a moment where he thought maybe they both felt a little bit more than they did before.
As he waited for Lois to pick up he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel in time with the wiper blades.
"Smallville, tell me you found her." her voice came across the line, no time taken to greet him properly.
"Not yet." he admitted, already wincing for the criticism that was sure to come his way.
"I told you she should have stayed at the hospital, Clark." she said in that annoyingly superior tone of hers. The way she said 'Clark', as if it could have easily been substituted with 'idiot' or 'stupid'.
He sighed quietly before responding "I'm going to go see if Chloe's been at the Planet."
"Ok. Fine, fine. I'll call you if she shows up." and then before he could say a word, the line was dead.
She really needed to work on her phone manners, he though distractedly before turning the truck around and heading back towards the Planet.
Two hours later he was still going through the files on Chloe's computer. Lucky for him there was hardly anyone around and the ones that were there were so used to seeing him with Chloe they barely gave him a second glance.
At some point he started going back through old issues of the Torch. Gretchen Winters had been a student at Smallville High so it occurred to him that her disappearance may have been covered.
He was reading an article about a candlelight vigil for her when something made him take a closer look at the picture that accompanied the story. There. One of the people at the vigil, it was the orderly from the hospital!
Knowing this was the only possible connection they had he opened Chloe's bookmarks and found the one that would link him to the hospital's online database, the secure, password protected database that she had hacked a long time ago. It didn't take him long to find the orderly and his address. Forgoing the truck he supersped back to Smallville.
When he arrived at the house he stood on the lawn in the rain for a minute and scanned the building. The two main floors seemed to be empty but in the basement there were three people, two of them appeared to be tied down.
His brow furrowed, Chloe had to be one of them, but who was the other. Had this guy already found another victim.
Around the back of the house was a dim staircase that led down to a basement access door. Busting the lock as quietly as possible he slowly made his way through the dark rooms. Careful not to knock into anything, he used his vision again to see exactly where they were. Staying out of sight he could hear Westmore ranting and he could see Chloe but he still didn't know who the other person was.
And then a hunting knife flew and embedded itself in the kidnapper's upper chest.
"Are all the women in your family crazy?" he roared and then went after the one who had just fought back.
Lois! Clark thought as a cold fist seized around his gut and he stepped out just as Westmore raised the knife over her body.
A burst of his heat vision on the knife and then the threat was gone. Clark rushed forward and grabbed him by the front of his jacket but suddenly he was overcome with pain. Kryptonite. There was another one of those bracelets and it was on Chloe's wrist.
He staggered backwards, trying to put enough distance between himself and the rock, but Westmore took advantage of the situation and Clark didn't have enough time to block the fist that sent him crashing backwards onto the concrete floor. The last thought he had before he blacked out was that he had failed them.
Lois's desperate cry of 'Chloe!' was what brought him back. He scrambled to his feet and saw the body of Westmore on the floor. Lois was kneeling by Chloe, who was still tied to the chair.
Chloe's eyes met his and she quickly threw the bracelet as far as she could.
"What happened?" he demanded.
Lois and Chloe both looked shellshocked. "I guess Gretchen got what she came back for." Chloe answered, face still streaked with tears.
Lois looked at him, gag loose around her neck and ropes hanging from her wrists. For a second she allowed him to see how scared she had been.
He stepped towards them, and first wrapped Chloe in a tight hug, feeling how desperately she clung to him. She gave him a small smile when he pulled back to turn to Lois.
When he reached for the gag she jumped a mile. "Hey. It's ok Lois, I'm just trying to he..."
"I've got it Smallville." she barked, ripping the gag from around her neck and struggling frantically with the last of the bonds before she finally succeeded in ridding herself of them.
He reached a hand out to her shoulder to offer some comfort, as much for him as it was for her but she shrugged his hand off violently "I'm fine Smallville! I'm fine. Chloe's the one this monster was after, she's who you should be worried about."
Chloe put a hand on his arm and shook her head no. He understood. Lois was in protection mode and he wasn't going to get to her right now.
"Let's get out here, ok. I've about had all I can take of being tied down for a lifetime."
Clark followed the girls up the stairs and to Chloe's car where they called the Sheriff.
It was the early morning hours when they were finally done giving their statements. Chloe dropped Lois off at the Talon before making her way back to Metropolis. Clark was intending to head back to the farm but made an impromptu decision and went in the direction of town instead.
He could see all the lights on in her apartment when he pulled up. When he knocked on the door, it took her a few minutes to answer. When she did she wore the fluffiest robe he'd ever seen, had her bunny slippers on her feet and her hair haphazardly wrapped in a towel.
"Smallville." she said, sounding surprised.
"Um, hi. I just...I wanted to make sure you were ok." he stammered a bit, not really knowing why he had decided to come over
She rolled her eyes at him before turning away and heading to the kitchen counter. "I'm fine. I told you that already. It's going to take a lot more than some low life nut job to mess with Lois Lane." as she spoke her words became faster and the pitch of her voice higher.
"Hey." he said and unthinkingly reached out to grasp her wrist. Her hiss of pain and shriek of fright made him drop it immediately and then take her hand in his and push the sleeve of her robe back, ignoring her protests. Her wrists were torn all around from where she had struggled to get out of her bonds.
"Let it go, Smallville." she said, a hint of desperation entering her voice as she tried to pull away from him.
"What happened?" he asked carefully but with a glint of force to his voice, his concern leaking though, he knew something was going on with her that she didn't want him to know about. But he didn't let go of her hand.
She stopped struggling and took a deep breath before speaking "He came here. I knew there was something creepy about him and I should have kicked his ass out as soon as I knew but...I didn't and I thought he was gone and I was trying to call the Sheriff but he came back and attacked me before I could talk to them." she looked down, almost looking ashamed at getting taken.
"Did he hurt you?" he asked worriedly, a large hand reaching out to brush her cheek.
"No, not really. He knocked me out with chloroform. And thats all I remember until I woke up in the basement of doom, gagged and tied to the chair."
"Hey, this is not your fault. You had no idea he was going to come back."
She brushed his hand away dismissively "Still, if I hadn't gotten taken I could have alerted the Sheriff's office of what was going on and none of this would have happened."
"Yeah, and if I had gotten to you sooner it wouldn't have happened either." he said, his guilt evident in the harshness of his voice.
Lois started to contradict him when she stopped "So, I guess Guilt Avenue happens to be a two way street tonight, huh."
"Yeah, something like that." he agreed and gave her a half smile. "Let's get you fixed up, ok?"
"First aid kit is in the bathroom, I'll just go grab it." she turned to leave but was stopped by the hand that was still holding hers. "Uh, Smallville." she said pointedly and looked down.
"Oh. Right, sorry." he said quickly and dropped her hand, hoping his face didn't flush too red.
She returned from the bathroom and was silent as he worked on her wrists, being as gentle as he could. He could still feel her wince occasionally and he wished he could take her pain on as his own. When he was done, he put the materials back in the kit and turned to face her. He was about to speak when she cut him off.
"Ok. Now it's your turn. Sit."
"Wha..what are you talking about?"
"Sit. You must have gotten a pretty good clunk on the head, you were passed out when I came to." she had her hands on her hips and was looking at him in that 'take no prisoners' way she had that let him know she wouldn't take no for an answer.
He sat obligingly on the bar stool "Lois, I'm fine. I got the knife away from him before he could stab you and then he got in a lucky shot."
"Shush." she said sharply, pressing his shoulders down and then beginning to run her hands through his hair, fingers strong but careful.
His eyes slid shut involuntarily and the rush of emotion that welled up in his chest took him by surprise.
She had stepped closer to him when she had begun her exam and now stood between his legs, seemingly oblivious to their current position.
Her fingers slowed and he heard her breath hitch. There, he thought, she realized it now.
Her hands fell to his shoulders. "Well Smallville, you must have a head like a boulder, I can't find a thing." her voice was slightly shaky and he could tell she wanted to bolt.
She went to step away and in a flash his hands reached out to grasp her hips. He stood from the stool and looked down at her. And again, like she had for that brief moment in the basement, he could see how scared she had been.
Neither of them said a word and he pulled her in for the hug he had wanted to give her hours ago. He felt her arms slide down and then underneath his jacket, palms spread across his red t-shirt.
"I was scared." she admitted, face pressed tightly into his chest.
He leaned into the towel still wrapped around her head "I was too."
"He...he wanted me to slit my wrists or he was going to shoot Chloe." her voice was shaky and he felt a tremor go through her as she remembered.
Clark sucked in a sharp breath and pulled her closer, he had no idea the guy was that twisted. "But you didn't, thats what's important."
"No. I threw the knife at the bastard's heart." came her muffled reply "Left-handed" and there was no denying the bit of pride he could hear.
"I'll have to thank the General for that the next time I see him." he said with a soft chuckle, hoping to make her feel better.
"You do that." she said, smile evident.
He gave her one more squeeze before pulling back a step. "You sure you're ok? You could come stay at the farm tonight, I know mom wouldn't mind."
"I'll be ok. Really." she added at his arched eyebrow. "You should get going, you didn't exactly have a restful night yourself."
"I'm fine, but if you ever want to play 'Doctor' again..." he smiled playfully, enjoying the way her eyes lit up and her cheeks flushed before she hauled back a hand to smack him in the arm.
"Smallville!" came her retort "I didn't know you had it in you."
He made his way to the door before he was stopped by her hand. "Thanks for the save."
"Anytime, Lois. Goodnight." he gave her one more smile before pulling the door shut behind him.
"Goodnight, Smallville." he heard as he walked down the stairs, wondering why he seemed to be ending up with Lois in his arms an awful lot lately and why that didn't seem to bother him as much as he thought it would.