Title: Alive and Kicking
Author: Louise
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Zod
Category: Romance
Pairing: Lois/Clark and Chloe/Jimmy
Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Smallville or its characters. No infringement intended.
Summary: Set one day after the end of "Zod". Chloe, Jimmy and Clark came to bring Lois home at the same time.
Dedication: To Luke for beta reading this fan fiction and helping me with my English.

Lois Lane was excited this morning. She was finally leaving that hospital since she was feeling so much better after spending the night there, but she doesn't want to spend another day lying in a hospital bed when she can do more interesting stuff instead. She had an argument with her doctor earlier asking him nicely to release her sooner.

So, she was excited to come back to her home and nothing would stop her at that moment. She was finishing dressing, sitting on her bed when she noticed Chloe, Clark and a blonde boy she didn't know holding a Nikon camera in his hands.

"Hey!" she said to them. Lois was curious about the boy who apparently was with Chloe.

"Hey!" Chloe said with a smile as she went to hug Lois. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty great," Lois said with a smile putting her hair in a ponytail. "A wonder what one night of rest can do for your body."

"Hey, Lois." Clark said with a shy smile, still embarrassed about the day before when he grabbed Lois's hand.

"Hey Smallville," Lois said giving him a look without say anything else. She was also feeling uncomfortable. Clark could hear her heartbeat racing fast. She was just nervous as he was.

"So, you are the famous Lois Lane who Chloe told me about," the boy said with a silly grin.

Lois turned to face him with a look of confusion as Chloe chuckled before introducing them formally.

"I'm sorry, Jimmy Olsen this is my cousin, Lois Lane. Lois, this is Jimmy… he … uh… we work together at the Planet!"

Lois shakes Jimmy's hand before raising her eyebrow to Chloe. "Really?"

"Yes." Jimmy said grinning.

"Jimmy Olsen, huh?" Lois repeated, remembering a conversation she had with Chloe a few years ago about a boy named Jimmy.

"Ahem," Clark cleared his throat trying to change the subject as to not embarrass Chloe who was turning red already. "So, Lois… are you sure you are well enough to come home? You still have some scratches."

"I'm fine, Smallville," Lois snapped at him looking annoyed already. "I'm just dying to see Mrs. Kent already. I have to thank her, she saved my life!"

"How?" Chloe asked curious about Lois. "Where were you by the way?"

"I don't know. We were in our plane and then the plane lost pressure and crashed some place on the Artic. All I remember was being in an ice palace and that I felt safe there."

"Lois…"

Chloe gave Clark a look and then turned to Lois. "Ice palace?"

"Yeah," Lois nodded. She was trying to walk but apparently she was still pretty hurt.

"Lois, you can't do that or you'll hurt yourself even more," Clark pointed out. He was looking around trying to find a nurse to bring a wheelchair to help Lois leave the hospital but seemed all the nurses and interns were busy at the moment. "Come here!" Clark said surprising Lois as he put her in his arms to walk through the hospital wings.

"Smallville, you don't need do that!" Lois said half surprised and half annoyed. "I can walk myself, thank you."

"Lois, can you stop to being so stubborn? You can barely walk. It's for your own good," Clark reminds her. Chloe and Jimmy looked amused by the scene, and Jimmy decided to take some pictures of the two.

"Hey!" Lois snapped at him angrily. "Don't you dare show these pictures to anyone!" Lois yelled before Clark brought her to his truck.

"Are they dating?" Jimmy asked Chloe who chuckled at him.

"No… why?"

"Weird, they are acting like one of those old married couples," Jimmy answered as they watched Clark's truck leaving the hospital parking lot with him and Lois.

In the truck, Lois was in silence and Clark definitely noticed. She was very angry with him at the moment.

"Come on, Lois. Talk to me," Clark pleaded as Lois rolled her eyes at him.

"No."

"Too late, you already did," he grinned at her as she rolled her eyes again. "So, what's really bothering you?"

"Okay. First you didn't believe me when I told you about the ice palace. Then, you grab my hand and now you are carrying me around? What's up with you, Clark?"

"Nothing is going on with me. I'm just glad you are okay, like I said before. You survived a horrible ordeal! I can't be happy for one of my best friends being alive and safe?"

"I'm one of your best friends?" Lois asked totally caught by surprise. "Seriously?"

"Yes. You and Chloe are my best friends," Clark nodded while he was driving. "And about the the ice palace. I believe in you, Lois. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression I didn't. It's just… seems so…"

"Unbelievable?" Lois completed his sentence as he nodded. "I know," she said smiling. "But I was there and although I can't remember all the details, I know it was real."

"Seems like a nice place," Clark smiled at her even though he knew that the Fortress was dormant now. "You weren't afraid of it?"

"No. I felt at home, like I belonged there somehow," Lois explained as Clark raised his eyebrow, curious. "It doesn't make sense, does it?"

"Actually it makes very much sense."

"Well, at least I know that somehow I was healed there. I don't know how but… I'm alive and still kicking."

Clark couldn't help himself and grabbed her hand one more time as they exchanged smiles, this time without Clark letting her hand go. "That's the Lois Lane I know."

The End