Lana Lang was sitting up in bed, her naked body covered by the blanket that she had pulled up to cover her chest. In the dim glow of the light cast by the lamp on her night stand, she looked over to the man asleep next to her, his nakedness covered by the blanket, then looked up at the clock on the wall. 11 pm. She let out a sigh. She laid awake hoping that Clark's phone wouldn't go off, because she knew what that meant. The call would wake him up, he would get up, find his clothes that were strewn around the room, he would get dressed, give her a small kiss on the lips, then he would leave, and she would start to cry, wishing that he didn't have to leave, that he would just stay with her. How had she let herself become the other woman?

Lana felt one little tear fall down her face. She wiped it away as she lightly sniffled. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her forearm. As she looked down she saw Clark's green eyes looking up at her. She looked away as he propped himself up on his left elbow, keeping his right hand on her arm.

"Why are you crying?" He asked softly.

Lana felt a knot start to form in the back of her throat, making it hard for her to speak. "You'll leave soon, and it just feels like a million years before we'll be here again." She sniffled again as more tears fell down from her tired green eyes. She didn't bother to wipe them away because she knew more would be coming. Besides, she needed Clark to see how much this was starting to hurt her. She looked into his eyes and saw...sadness? Regret? She didn't know which. Maybe he was finally starting to get it.

"Baby, there will come a time, very soon, where I will leave her, and be with you. Forever."

Lana scoffed as more tears fell, tears of sadness were turning to tears of anger. She got out of bed, went to her dresser and pulled out a knee-length light purple silk night gown. She put it on and turned back toward Clark, who was now sitting straight up in bed.

"You keep telling me that, Clark." She runs her hands through her hair in frustration. "You know what? I don't think that's the truth anymore."

Clark gets out of the bed, grabbing his boxers from the floor. He puts them on and walks over to Lana, who has started pacing at the foot of the bed.

"It is the truth, Lana."

She stops pacing and looks at him in disbelief. "Three years, Clark." She whispers. "It has been three years!" She looks into his eyes as more tears fall. Tears of sadness, anger, and frustration.

Their conversation is interrupted by the ringing of Clark's phone. Clark looks down and sighs, as he walks over to Lana's dresser where he set his phone earlier in the night, and answers it. "Hey...I'm on my way home from work right now...okay...I love you, too. Bye."

Lana's heart breaks when she hears him tell his girlfriend of three and a half years 'I love you.' Clark starts gathering the rest of his clothes and begins to get dressed as Lana sits on the foot of her bed. "Work?" Clark looks over at Lana as he puts his t-shirt on. "She thinks I'm working late." Now fully dressed, he leans against her dresser.

Silence falls upon them, neither knowing what to say next. They stay like that for a few minutes before Clark breaks the silence. "I should get going." He walks over to her and gently kisses her on the lips then starts heading for her bedroom door, but Lana's voice stops him.

"Don't go."

Clark's heart breaks when he hears her voice crack. He turns around to look at her and he sees her head down, focusing on fidgeting with the hem of her night gown.

Sensing that Clark is looking at her, she lifts her head to look at him. She sniffles as fresh tears fall. "Stay. For once, please...just...stay."

She knows begging him to stay won't work, because it never does, she just hoped that one of these times it would.

Clark sighs. "I want to, but I already told her that I'm on my way."

Not moving her head, Lana's eyes drop to look at the floor. "You say that every time." She says barely above a whisper.

She looks back up at Clark. "She can't love you like me, and you know it. Because if she could, you wouldn't be here." Holding back a sob, Lana chokes out the next few words. "God, what...what do I have to do to make you see that?"

Lana grabs Clark's face and looks into his eyes. "Can't you see how much this is hurting me? I am so tired of being lonely, Clark. Don't I give you what you need?"

Clark's phone goes off again, he doesn't have to check it to know who the text message is from. Clark grabs Lana's hands from his face and holds them at waist level. He looks back and forth between her face and their hands. "I have to go." He drops her hands and heads out her bedroom door, leaving Lana standing paralyzed where she stands. When she hears her front door open, then close, she crawls back into bed before breaking down in tears, like a dam that has ruptured. She clutches a pillow to her chest as she cries herself to sleep.

A few weeks have passed since Clark and Lana have seen, or even spoken to each other. It was not uncommon. That's just the way it was. It also didn't help that Clark worked full time at the Daily Planet and Lana split her time between managing The Talon and running the Isis foundation. But they both lived in Smallville, so one would think that in such a small town, they would run into each other, but that was rarely the case.

This time, however, Lana began to think of the situation that she was in, and how long it had been this way. It was always there in the very back of her mind, but she never let herself dwell on it too much. It has been three years, she finally decided that it has been three years too long. If Clark was doing this with her while being with his girlfriend, how did she know that he wouldn't do this again if they were ever together? How could she trust him?

She wanted to be with him, be completely his, but that thought would always be there whenever he would be late. This had to end. But would she be able to go through with it? She had ended it before, but Clark was such a smooth talker, that she let herself be sucked into this unhealthy situation once again. She was ashamed of herself. This was going to be the last time she let this happen. She was determined.

She drove out to the farm and saw Clark's truck parked by the house as she drove up the driveway. She parked beside his truck and as she got out of her suv she heard noises coming from the barn, so she started walking that way.

As she walked into the barn she saw Clark, shirtless and sweaty, bailing hay with a pitchfork into a wheelbarrow. Clark looked up when he saw a shadow coming toward him on the floor of the barn. Lana was wearing a deep purple tank top and jean shorts with black flip flops, and her long brunette hair was tied up in a ponytail.

"Hey." Clark stops bailing hay and rests the pitchfork up against the wall.

Lana starts fidgeting with her hands. "Clark, we need to talk."

He sighs. "Right down to business huh?"

"Would you rather we make small talk first? The weather has been hot, The Talon has been busy, and I think that's all."

"I broke it off with her." Clark says, rather straight-forwardly.

Lana just looks at Clark, stunned. "Say that again?"

"I'm single. My relationship is over."

"Wow. Since when?" Lana says, trying to wrap her mind around the news.

"A few days ago. She begged me not to end it, that we could work things out, but I didn't want to. She's gone, already moved out and everything." He walks closer to Lana. "We can be together now."

That brings Lana back to reality, and why she came here in the first place. "Clark, that's what I came here to talk to you about. Over these last few weeks I let myself think about this situation, and the more I thought about it, the more I knew that I can't do this anymore."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that this has to end. For good this time. I've made up my mind. I don't know how I ended up being the other woman, once let alone a second time, but it stops now. I don't have to live like this. I'm done."

"Lana, I broke up with her because I want to be with you."

"After three years!" She starts getting angry. "If you really wanted us to be together as a couple, and not just as a booty call, you would've ended things with her when this all started!" Every emotion wells up inside her and tears start forming in her eyes. "I love you, Clark. I really do, but if we were together I would never be able to stop thinking about if you were doing the same thing to me as you were doing with her. I trust you, as a friend, but I could never trust you as a boyfriend. You can't give me what I need."

"We can atleast try though, right?" Tears well up in Clark's eyes.

Lana gains her composure as tears fall. "No, we can't."

"I love you, Lana."

"I know you do. It's just not enough. Not anymore." She kisses him softly on the lips, then looks into his watery eyes. "Goodbye, Clark." She turns and walks out of the barn, and against every fiber of his being, Clark lets her go.

THE END