Lois walked on her tiptoes toward the kitchen, trying not to wake anybody. She passed by the couch where Clark was sleeping, in what seemed to be a very uncomfortable position. Lois couldn't help but smile a bit.
She entered at the kitchen still in silence. After all that night's events, she hadn't noticed how starving she felt. Lois opened the refrigerator carefully and grabbed a piece of chocolate cake.
She didn't even sit. She just stood there, eating her cake, in silence, thinking about Chloe and that psycho killer that had attacked them earlier.
She trembled unconsciously.
Lois wished she could stop thinking about all that, but it was difficult. Her own cousin being possessed and trying to kill herself, a killer torturing them and a spirit looking for revenge weren't exactly topics she would forget easily.
She heard a sound coming from the door and turned around quickly, almost dropping her plate.
She tried to calm herself down when she saw who it was.
Clark walked toward her with a worried expression on his face.
"Jeez, Smallville! Some warning next time." she said, putting a hand on her racing heart.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." he said. Lois looked at him sharply and stared at her own hands. They were shaking. She turned around to put the plate on the sink. The evening's events had let her really unguarded. And she hated that. Because if the walls around her trembled, she felt like if anything could break into them.
"Lois?" he called. She turned around quickly.
"What?" Clark watched her wakefully. She seemed really disturbed.
"Are you okay?"
Lois faced him bravely. She couldn't let him see through her. She wouldn't.
"Yeah, I'm fine." she said, sounding more harshly that she intended to sound. Clark made a sceptical face. Lois rolled her eyes. "I just... this whole psycho-nut-possessed thing kind of left me..."
"Freaked out?" he suggested, simpathetically.
"Yeah." she nodded, fast.
"Well, good thing I asked you to stay with us until the police finish their investigative job in your apartment."
Lois looked at him.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't sure if I could stand living under the same roof with you again for a few days." she said, quickly. Clark smiled.
"Me neither." he said. She frowned.
"Then why did you ask?"
Clark shrugged.
"Well, it was Mom's suggestion. Besides, I think I'm too good-hearted for my own good."
Lois laughed a bit.
"Yeah, you are." she said. Then, she noticed that was the first time she laughed on the last few days. She stopped laughing when she felt the walls around her trembling. Lois struggled to keep them up.
"Lois, are you sure you're okay?" asked Clark, watching her again.
She growled.
"My cousin is possessed by a spirit, cut her wrists, I find a corpse in my apartment, we're kidnapped, tortured and almost killed by a psycho who was absolutely crazy, so yeah, I'm doing just great." she said, the sarcasm obvious on her voice. She sighed. They stood a minute in silence. "Where's Chloe?" she asked, suddenly.
"I think she's at Belle Reeve, you know... visiting her... mother." said Clark, gingerly. Lois seemed even more disturbed when she heard that. "Lois, Chloe's gonna be fine."
"I know she will. She always does." answered Lois. "I just... I can't believe she didn't tell me about her mother... I mean, she's my aunt!"
"She knew you'd be upset." explained Clark. "She doesn't like to worry or hurt the ones she love."
"Nobody does!" said Lois, exhaling frustration. "But that doesn't mean she has to keep the most important secret of her life from somebody who really cares about her!"
Clark felt really uncomfortable.
"Maybe she was just trying to protect the ones she love..." he said, apologetically. She looked strangely at him.
"Don't use this as a reason to justify your secrets, Smallville." she said. "But... well, I think she would have told me when she felt ready."
Was Clark's turn to seem disturbed by Lois's words.
"Yes, she would have." agreed Clark. They looked at each other for a second. Then, she looked away. He watched her. She was still bothered, though.
When that man stood in front of her and brandished that knife, Lois really thought she would die. She really did. And that scared her half to death. But it wasn't her main worry.
"But that's not what's actually bothering you, is it?" asked Clark, wisely.
Lois looked at him quickly, feeling her space invaded. But she couldn't help.
"No." she answered, smiling a bit, amazed by the way he could see through her. "It's just..." she felt a knot on her throat as visions of Chloe with her wrists cut popped into her mind. "It's just... It scares me, Clark." Clark faced her simpathetically. "It really scares me how much I actually believed she had done it."
Clark seemed a bit surprised by her confession. He nodded.
"We all did." he said, trying to console her. Lois shook her head.
"But you knew something was wrong. I started to imagine several theories about how I should have seen that one coming, how she was working hard and was overwhelmed by her school work..." She shighed again. "When I found out a spirit was possessing her, I couldn't be more relieved. But that doesn't change the fact that I believed my cousin tried to kill herself." Her heart clenched even more. "I feel terrible."
The walls around her trembled dangerously as the corner of her eyes started to burn. Clark frowned. He couldn't think of anything to say.
"Lois---" he started. But she cut him off.
"Do you want some cake? I ate a piece and I've gotta tell you, your Mom cooks better than a chef. Well, I better go back to sleep or I'll be like a complete zombie tomorrow. You should do the same, you know? Good night..." she said really fast, as she walked toward the stairs. Clark walked after her.
"Lois..." she stopped walking and breathed hard. Then, she started walking again, but Clark grabbed her arm, holding her back. She turned around, looking up at him bravely, but her wet eyes betrayed her.
"Let me go." she said, getting rid of his arm.
"Lois, it's okay to feel like this---"
"No, it's not. My cousin was possessed and tried to kill herself and I actually believed she had done it on her own, and this makes me the most heartless person in the world."
"No, listen to me." Clark held her shoulders and shook her slightly. "We all thought she had done it. None of us knew. That does not make you heartless or cruel. All the facts aimed to that point, there was nothing we could do about it." Lois refused to face him. "But none of that matters, because she's okay now. She's gonna be okay."
Lois inspired with difficulty. She finally looked up at him. She hated herself for telling him so much. Her eyes were getting more wet every second.
Clark couldn't think of anything else to do.
He just pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around Lois, feeling her walls crashing down while she, after struggling for a moment, buried her face on his chest and hugged him back, shivering.
All the fear, all the sadness, every emotion she had felt that night and wasn't able to show, it all came to the surface, while she finally cried in his arms.
"Thanks," she said in a very low voice, while she struggled with all her heart to pull away from him.
He smiled a bit.
"No problem."
"Allright, now I really have to sleep." she said. Lois started to climb up the stairs to Clark's room. "Oh, and maybe you should consider to buy yourself some pajamas. Although, I think I prefer your way."
Clark looked down and noticed he was wearing nothing but his "Tweety and Sylvester" underwear. Clark felt his cheeks flushing. Lois grinned widely.
Clark looked at her embarrassed and annoyed at the same time. But he was smiling. "Goodnight, Smallville." She smiled teasingly and started to climb up the stairs again. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about this underwear of yours." she said. Then, she turned around with another shifty smile on her face. "Tweety."