Fight For Peace, a smallville fanfic

Fight for Peace

Disclaimer: If I owned Smallville, that would never have been the season finale.

Rating: T

Note: Uhmm… Wow. Doomsday… sort of sucked. Who kills Jimmy Frickin' Olsen?! And you just have to love the five minutes of screen-time Lois received. At least she's off in the future, or past, or whatever. But I figure, if any show can be totally horrible one day, and then pull through and be awesome the next, it's Smallville so… Season Nine will be better. It just has to be. Anyway, I felt the need to deal with the aforementioned season finale, and wrote this. One-shot, post-Doomsday, set in Speculative Season Nine Land. It was supposed to be hugely depressing but… I can't help it.

Dedication: For Angela.

Genres: Angst/Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Pairings: Clark/Lois (how crappy is it that I can't now add: Jimmy-Lois-Clark friendship?!)

She says:

"Look. I know you have that super-hearing thing or whatever, so… Mr. Blur, whatever you name is, I need your help. My friend is dead. My cousin lost the two men she loved. My best friend is missing. My boss is… completely insane. I just – I just don't know what to do anymore. Please. If you're out there, if you're listening, I need you. The city of Metropolis needs you. The world needs you. Please."

She waits, standing on the Daily Planet roof. Nothing.

She sighs, and turns to leave, when she hears a whoosh of wind behind her. She spins on her heel, and there he is.

"Clark!" she exclaims.

Her mind is buzzing. He's the Red-Blue Blur? What's going on?

She flings herself into his arms nonetheless, because mostly, she's just glad he's alright. She buries her face in his shirt.

"Oh thank God. You have no idea how worried I was."

He doesn't respond. He sort of just stands there, not hugging her back. She blinks, and pulls back a little, to look up at him.

"Clark? You alright?"

He places his hands firmly on her shoulders, and pushes back slightly, moving her a step back and away from him.

"The man you call Clark Kent is dead," he says, expressionlessly.

Lois laughs, because this would be really funny if he wasn't totally creeping her out.

"What do you mean? C'mon. You look really tired. We should get you –"

"The man you call Clark Kent is dead, Ms. Lane," he repeats.

"What?"

"I must leave," he says, bowing his head to her.

"What are you going on about –"

But he's already gone.

So she calls Martha. It seems like the smart thing to do.

He walks into the familiar farm house, glancing around him. Lois is standing there, and when she sees him, she gives him a hesitant smile.

For a moment – just barely a second – his heartbeat accelerates. And then it slows, back to the pace it's supposed to go at, and he faces her with tired indifference.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

She's still smiling a little.

"I've really missed you. I just thought I'd stop by, you know? I thought maybe we could talk."

He shakes his head.

"You should leave."

She chews her lower lip.

"Look, Clark –"

"I am not Clark Kent."

"Smallville, what has gotten –"

"Do not call me that."

"Fine! Mr. King-Of-The-Freaking-Universe! What is your problem?!"

"I do not have a problem. Emotions make you weak. You cannot be a hero if you're weak."

Lois hesitates for a moment, and then she shakes her head.

"You know," she says, "you're right. You're not Clark Kent. Because Clark Kent was a good man. He cared about his friends, when they died or went missing. He comforted me when I was sad, or lonely. He was smart, kind, and brave and strong. He was a hero."

She walks to the door, and pauses with her hand on the doorknob.

"Clark Kent was a man worth loving," she says, and leaves.

Martha is standing at the top of the stairs, having heard the entire conversation. She looks tired, having just gotten in from Washington, but exactly the way he remembers her.

For a second, he's the little boy who used to steal an extra cookie when they came out of the oven. For a moment, he's the teenager who used to throw tennis balls for Shelby in the snow. For a minute, he's the adult who used to take his coffee with two extra sugars, just so that when Lois stole it from him in the mornings, it was just the way she liked it.

Then he's not, he's a mask of indifference, and he nods to her.

"Will you be staying here for several days?" he asks, politely.

Martha Kent shakes her head.

"Son, how could you say those things to her?" she asks.

He nods his head.

"They were true. Emotions make you weak."

Martha walks down the rest of the steps to stand in front of him, and touches his cheek.

"No they don't. Human emotions make you strong. They give you a reason to fight."

"I'm not human."

"You're just as human as the rest of us."

He finds her sitting on the railing of a bridge, looking down at the water below her feet.

"You know," she says when he approaches, "I could slip off into the water right now and no one would ever know or care. Maybe Chloe would, but she'd get over it. She'd move on. She's had to before. All it would be is one little fall, a splash, and then… nothing."

He puts a hand on her shoulder.

"I would know," he says softly. "I would care. I… I don't know if I'd be able to exist without you."

She smirks coldly.

"I'm sure you'd find a way."

"I'm sorry," he murmurs.

Lois shrugs.

"What for?"

"For… not being there for you," he responds. "I thought… I thought I had nothing left here, you know? Jimmy was… and it was my fault… and you were missing… and… And I thought that if I didn't have emotions, if I could just… leave, it'd be better for everyone. For you."

She shrugs again, and swings her feet. The water swirls below.

He takes her hand. Her skin is cold.

"Hey, why don't we get you back to the farm, okay? You're freezing cold."

She sighs.

"Yeah –"

But just then, Chloe pulls up in a panic, calling out to them. Lois, surprised, loses her grip, and falls from the bridge.

He has her in his arms before she can even think about hitting the water.

She snuggles in against his chest. She's depressed, sure. She's hurting, fine. But it feels like home, in his arms, and she snuggles desperately against his shirt. He holds her bridal style against him, and gives Chloe an 'a-okay' sign with one hand, before super-speeding Lois back to the farm.

When they get there, he closes the front door quietly behind them.

"I guess my mom went to bed," he says.

Lois nods.

"You know," she says, "my legs are working perfectly fine. You can put me down now."

He grins at her a little.

"Yeah, but where would the fun be in that?"

She rolls her eyes, but lets him carry her up to his room, set her gently down on the bed, and pull the covers up over her. He touches her hand.

"Goodnight."

She sits up.

"Wait! You're not leaving, are you?" she exclaims, almost frantically.

"I was gonna go sleep on the couch," he replies.

She frowns, and takes his hand.

"Well, maybe you could stay instead," she offers.

"You want me to?" he asks.

There are tears in her eyes, but she blinks them back.

"Yeah," she says, moving over and making room for him.

He smiles at her, and kicks off his shoes, climbing under the covers beside her. He presses a warm kiss to her forehead, then her temple, then her cheek, before caressing the side of her face, and resting his head back against his pillow.

She smiles at him, a small crooked smile, then closes her eyes as the second onslaught of tears threaten her.

"Lois?"

She swallows hard, as the first few tears roll down her cheeks.

It all hurts too much. Jimmy – he didn't deserve to die, and she can't get the memory of him out of her mind, taking pictures, trying to convince her to "jump" Clark's "lily pad", smiling that crazy smile at her.

No one deserved to die.

More tears rush from her eyes, and before she knows what's happening, Clark takes her in his arms, covering the side of her face with kisses, and holding her close. Her back is pressed along his chest, and they lie on their sides, his arms locked around her waist.

She wants- needs him to tell her that everything is going to be alright, that everything –

"Everything's gonna be okay, Lois. I'm here, it's alright," he whispers smoothing her hair back out of her face.

She takes deep shuddering breaths to calm herself, and concentrates on the way his arms feel around her.

There's a tapping noise on the floor, and then the bed bounces slightly. Lois sneezes. Clark sighs.

"Shelby," he says, but the big dog is already curled up against Lois, his head on her arm, looking at her with big, sad eyes.

Lois smiles, and slips one hand free of Clark's, reaching out to pet Shelby.

"My two favorite boys," she says affectionately, and Clark kisses her jaw.

"Yeah, but you like me more," he teases.

Lois shrugs.

"It's a close toss-up," she replies, grinning just a bit.

Martha wakes up at six in the morning, and walks down the hall, her feet quieted by pale purple slippers.

She pokes her head in her son's room, and feels her heart swell. He's back. They're both back. Lois is sandwiched between Clark and Shelby, sleeping peacefully. Shelby glances up at Martha, thumps his tail a few times, and then rests his head on Lois's arm again. Lois moves a little, and Clark places a sleepy, semi-conscious kiss to the corner of her mouth, succeeding in lulling her back to sleep.

Martha smiles, her heart warmed, and heads downstairs to start breakfast.

Lois wakes up to the smell of eggs and bacon, and shifts closer to her two bodies of warmth. She yawns after a second or two, and leans back against Clark.

"Hey, are you awake?" she asks.

"Mmm hmm," he murmurs, dropping a kiss into her hair.

"Sleep well?" she inquires.

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah."

Shelby, realizing there's the possibility of bacon scraps downstairs, hops off the bed.

Lois rolls over so that she's facing Clark, and stares at him for a moment.

"What?" he asks sleepily.

She shakes her head, and strokes his cheek.

"Nothing."

He covers her hand with his large one, and says,

"Come on. Mom's making breakfast."

They end up outside in the snow, because Martha tells them to go get some fresh air, and Shelby has been begging someone to play with him for hours now. So Lois ends up bundled up one of Clark's too-big coats, and they head outside while Martha cleans up from breakfast.

Shelby runs circles in the snow, and Lois gives the ball a good toss. When Shelby goes zooming across the lawn in chase, she turns to Clark, hands on her hips.

"So," she says.

"So," he responds.

Shelby chooses that moment to barrel into the back of Lois's knees, knocking her into Clark's arms, and successfully knocking them both to the ground. Lois is laughing, and Clark is grinning, and it takes them a few seconds to realize that Lois is lying directly on top of him, their faces only inches apart.

Clark kisses her.

It seems like the natural thing to do, and he leans up and kisses her, cupping her face in his gloved hands. She responds to the kiss instantly, moving her lips against his. He moves his hands down to her waist, tugging gently on her lower lip.

They break apart when Shelby nudges Lois in annoyance with the end of his nose. She pulls back breathlessly, her lips tinged red, and there's a moment of tense silence, until Clark grins up at her.

She smiles back.

Time goes by, and one day, a few years later, they're working at the Daily Planet, when a young boy walks up.

He has a camera swung around his neck, and he gives them a friendly smile and sticks out his hand.

"Hi, I'm here to intern for a few weeks after school. I'm Jimmy."

They exchange a glance across their desks.

Lois smiles, and takes his hand.

"That sounds great, Jimbo. Mind getting me a cup of coffee?"

End.