Pairing: Clark/ Lois; Clois
Spoilers: Season 6 onwards. (Rating – PG13)
Summary: Whilst investigating Lex, Lois follows him to a small country town, convinced he is up to something. Aware of her presence Lex orchestrates a murder attempt by Lois. Problems are made worse when Lex bribes the Ruthless County Sheriff to arrest Lois without setting bail. Meanwhile Clark finds out that Lois is trailing Lex and may be in danger, so he follows her….
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Where ever he was going, he was in a rush to get there. Lois had been trailing Lex for the past five hours across Kansas and he showed no signs of arriving at his destination.
Lois had been investigating Lex's movements for the past two months and she was convinced he was up to something corrupt. Corrupt and the name Luthor were synonymous of course, but this was different. Something major was about to go down and she needed to know what it was.
After all, Lex had just gained his most prized possession, Lana and this out of town escapade was important enough to leave her back in Smallville.
Lois could not help feeling sorry for Clark. The growing relationship between his former girl friend and former friend, now turned nemesis had just about finished him off. All this had happened just months after his father's tragic death. The thoughts of Jonathan's passing tugged at her heartstrings. Jonathan Kent had been a better father to her than her own ever could be. Why did he have to die? Life was not fair.
Clark was in pieces. In fact she felt a little guilty skipping town because Clark and her had always been there for each other. To be honest, their relationship was very hard to define, sort of like a brother/ sister relationship but undertones of something else, something she could not quite put her finger on.
Lois snapped back out of her memories when she saw a sign informing her that she was entering Bradshaw County. Lois had never heard of this place, it was like the back of beyond – the sort of place you see in movies. She noticed the brake lights of Lex's car come on ahead, so pulled over a few 100 yards back so he did not see her. He got out and went into a large building.
She decided she would be better pursuing him on foot. She crossed the road and put on her disguise, well if you could call dark glasses and a blonde wig much of a convincing disguise. The building Lex had entered was a pretty wooden house, all perfectly kept with the white picket fence around a beautifully maintained garden.
Lois was puzzled. What would Lex be doing in a house like that. He must be meeting someone. She decided to approach the house from the back and see if she could see or hear anything. She crept quietly along the back veranda and stood by the window.
Suddenly a gunshot rang out and she peered in the window to find Lex lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Lois panicked and entered the house. There was a gun lying next to his lifeless body. She started to help him when the door bursts open.
Five armed police officers stormed in the house with guns pointing directly as her.
"Freeze...hands behind your head." One of them screamed.
Lois did as she was ordered, shouting. "This man needs medical assistance, he has been shot."
She never heard a reply before she is dragged to her feet and roughly manhandled into a waiting police car.
The sheriff got in the front seat turns around and announced...
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney during interrogation; if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you."
Lois could not believe what she was hearing. They were arresting her for attempting to murder Lex. Strangely enough she was not panicking because they would realise they had made a mistake when Lex came round. Hopefully Lex would come around. She was actually worried about him, even though she did not like or trust him, she would not wish death on him.
Sheriff Watson drove her the few minutes to the local jail. He was an evil looking man. Lois chastised herself, he was probably fair. After all looks can be deceiving. She tried to make conversation with him, but then realised since she had been read her rights, so maybe should stay quiet.
Lois was told to get out the car. She did as she was told, since she had a gun pointing at her. She could see Sheriff Watson was taking no chances with her. He took her photo, took her fingerprints and booked her. He then put her in the jail, the ominous sound of the door being locked ringing in her ears.
She was all alone. No one knew she was here. She had told no-one of her plan to follow Lex and even if she had, they would have no idea of where she had gone. She finally admitted that she was scared.
It seemed like hours before one of the deputies arrived with her meal. Not that you could call it a meal. It was a tough piece of beef and some burnt potatoes. However Lois had not eaten for a long time, so she would take anything she could get.
"How is Mr Luthor?" she asked, hoping to get some information.
"Ms Lane, you should get some sleep as you will be in court tomorrow morning."
The Deputy said and walked off, locking the door behind him.
Sleep, Lois thought looking at the metal bed with a pillow and two blankets. She didn't think she would be getting much sleep that night.
It took hours before she finally dozed off. All she could think about is the loneliness she felt. She wished she had told Chloe about her plans, but she knew her cousin would try and talk her out of it.
Earlier that evening, Sheriff Watson drove out of town and pulled up. Seconds later a limo pulled up and the window rolled down. Lex looked at the sheriff.
"Everything seems to be going to plan, Mr Luthor." The sheriff announced
"Well I hope for your sake that it continues that way. I would hate for anyone to find out about your little indiscretion. And to keep you motivated, here is a little something." Lex said slyly as he handed over an envelope full of money.
"Mr Luthor, don't you worry. You picked the best town to come to. Lois Lane will not be out of jail this side of Christmas" The Sheriff replied.
Lex motioned for his driver to leave.
Back in Smallville, Clark was starting to wonder where Lois was. Chloe had not heard from her all day. Her phone seemed to be out of range every time he called. If only he could get it to ring, he could concentrate on hearing the ring and follow it.
Lois had always been a bit too independent and daring for her own good. It was one of the values that her army life had instilled in her, but all too often it got her into trouble. Lois had been quite secretive lately, as though she was working on some top secret project. Clark thought to himself, he had no right to judge Lois for keeping secrets as he was an expert at it.
The next morning he finally got a signal. It only rang a few times but it was enough for him to fix on it and superspeed to its location. Seconds later he arrived at his destination – Bradshaw County – what the hell was Lois doing here. He was stood outside the local jail. That was definitely where the signal was coming from.
He used his x-ray vision and was shocked to find Lois locked up. He surmised that she must have been caught speeding or something, but that did still not explain what she was doing in this town.
Clark saw that a person was approaching the cell, so he listened in.
"Ms Lane, Judge Parsons is waiting for you at the Courthouse for your bail hearing."
Finally, Lois thought, I can plead my innocence and try and get out of here.
Lois arrived at the Courthouse. It only had one small room with a few benches for spectators. There was no one there, except for one familiar face – Clark Kent. She was overjoyed to see him, she could have kissed him. But how did he get here so fast and how did he know where she was. In the end, she didn't care as long as he was here.
Clark saw Lois. She looked tired and drawn but was pleased to see him.
Judge Parsons ushered Lois to sit down in the dock.
"Ms Lane, you are charged with the attempted murder of Mr Alexander Luthor, I have decided the crime is too serious for you to set bail, so you will remain in custody until your trial date."
Clark could not believe what he was hearing. Lois, attempted murder, Lex. It did not make any sense.
Lois screamed. "I didn't do it. When will my trial be."
Judge Parsons looked at Lois. "We will try our best to speed things up and find a jury. It should only be a few months."
Lois almost passed out with shock. All the color drained from her face. Clark attempted to go and comfort her but was held back by two deputies.
Lois was dragged past him, her face pleaded with him to help her.
He had to do something.
Clark stormed to the jail. He needed to see Lois to let her know that everything would be okay. At first he was told that he could not see her, but he told the Sheriff if he was not allowed to see her, he would make sure that the press were crawling all over the town by the morning.
Lois managed a weak smile when she saw Clark coming through the door.
"Clark, am I glad to see you. I didn't do it. I hope you believe me." Lois pleaded for Clark to believe her.
"God Lo, I would never doubt you. " He said with loving eyes and a smile.
"How did you know where I was." Lois asked
"I knew you were up to something, so I followed you yesterday." Clark lied, hoping Lois would not question him too much.
"God, that was lucky for me, otherwise I could have been stuck here with no-one knowing where I was."
"Lo, question is what are we going to do about this. I have tried getting in touch with Oliver but he is out of town and out of contact."
"Yeah he did mention something about being incommunicado for a week. We have only been dating a few weeks and he is turning out to be a man of mystery" Lois suggested.
"Makes him more interesting, I suppose." replied Clark, knowing full well that Oliver was the Green Arrow.
"Well I guess there is nothing we can do but sit and wait til Oliver gets back in contact and can arrange a lawyer. They offered me one from here, but I don't trust anyone around here." Lois said resided to the fact she was stuck here for the next few days at least.
She continued. "Will you let Chloe know where I am when you go back home later."
Clark was adamant. "Lo, the only place I am going til you are out of here is the guesthouse over the road. I am not going to leave you alone. I will call Chloe when I can get a signal and let her know."
Minutes later the Deputy came in and informed Clark his time was up and that he could not come back until tomorrow.
Lois was upset at Clark having to leave. She wanted to hold him, but the bars were in the way.
"Don't worry, Lo. I will be keeping a close eye and ear on things. I'm just over the road."
"Can you do me a favour when you speak to Chloe. Ask how Lex is, I believe he was medivac'd back to Metropolis General." Lois asked.
"I will, Lo and I will see you tomorrow."
Clark left the jail and was about to speed back to Smallville but then realised he needed to stay here in earshot of Lois as much as possible. Also it could raise suspicions if he started to go back and forward.
He did have to go back and get drive his car from Smallville though. Lois may question the absence of a car.
Clark drove back into town about 6pm and booked into his room at the guesthouse. He had told Chloe what was happening and she had started to do some digging. He x-rayed the jail. Lois was trying to get some sleep. He listened in for any sounds, there was silence.
Clark fell asleep pretty early that night but was awoken to the sound of Lois sobbing her heart out. He was half asleep and reached out to comfort her, thinking he was lying next to her. He then remembered that she was across the road. The sounds wrenched his heart, he could not bear it.
She soon settled back to sleep.
Then at 4am, he heard the sound of the jail door. He noticed that the Deputy was opening the door. What would he be doing at this time of the morning. He saw Lois jump to her feet in shock.
"What do you want?" asked Lois in a worried tone.
"Well, Ms Lane. I thought you might be lonely, and since we are alone here, maybe we could keep each other company." The Deputy said in a creepy tone.
"Well you thought wrong. I am fine by myself" Lois replied in a more forceful voice.
Clark was furious. If this kept going the way it was heading, he would go in and get her.
"Come on Ms Lane, let's have some fun." The deputy suggested as he moved his hand to grab her tee.
Before he could make contact, Lois had him on the floor. The Deputy was mad, and looked as though he was going to hit her, but he backed off and left the cell.
"We are not finished, Ms Lane..." he warned.
Clark calmed down a little and decided it was too dangerous for him to sleep. The remainder of the night was quiet.
Clark arrived at the jail the next morning at 9am to see Lois for his daily visit.
Lois looked awful. She had obviously not had much sleep and that incident had shook her. Luckily the deputy was not still on duty because Clark would have wanted to punch his lights out.
"Hi, Lo. How are you holding out?" Clark asked, not letting on that he knew about the events of last night.
Lois deflected the question, "Any news from Oliver or Chloe?"
"Oliver is still out of town, but Chloe is onto the case. She will dig up something."
"But how long is it going to take?" Lois sounded terrible.
Over the two years Clark had known her he had never her seen in such a bad way. He just wanted to scoop her up and take her out of jail, but he knew that would make matters worse. They had to wait on Chloe or Oliver.
"Give it a few days" Clark said trying to sound upbeat, but it was not working.
Clark was told that he needed to leave now.
"Please don't leave me Clark." Lois begged
"Lo, I have to. Remember I am watching. I won't let things get too bad." Clark said.
Lois was puzzled by that comment. What could Clark do? He was obviously just trying to make her feel better.
That night, Clark stayed awake again, watching over Lois. The deputy from the previous night was on duty again, but he seemed to be behaving himself.
Things changed though. At 2.30am, the Deputy got up from his desk and went towards the cell door.
"Ms Lane, told you we had unfinished business." The Deputy announced
Lois was terrified.
Clark decided it was time to act. This town was not going to know what had hit it.
