Clark had arrived at the airport, he was late, but he was there, a white rose in hand and a million feelings in his heart. As the bus in front of him passed by he raised his head and picked through the crowd of faces until he found Lana's. He could tell she was confused, wondering why he hadn't shown himself.

"Don't worry" He thought to himself. "I'm not going to let you down this time."

But as he went to take his first step towards her a figure in a sleek suit moved out of the crowd and grabbed her by the arm. Clark dropped the rose and it fell to the sidewalk at his feet. His gut reaction was to run to her and protect her like he always had. Even though Lana was leaving him she was still his number one priority. He stopped in his tracks when he recognized the figure of his former best friend.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" Clark thought. Lex had already wormed his way into every aspect of clarks life, that was apparent now, but he was beginning to suspect he was trying to do the same to Lana.

There had been obvious signs that lex's interest had surpassed that of a business partner or concerned friend. It tore at Clark that he had been so blind to lex's invasion of his world, of their world. Clark stood there and watched as the two had a conversation and shared a hug. He was tempted to listen in but he stopped himself. He couldn't bare to hear her kind words wasted on that liar one more time. They exchanged goodbyes and lex walked away with a smile on his face.

"Get away from her!" Clark muttered under his breath as he followed lex with his eyes.

By this time Lana was picking up her bags and getting ready to cross the street when she suddenly felt the urge to look up."Hey you!" She exclaimed at the site of her friend.

Clarks mind jolted and he quickly came back to reality, he turned his head to see Lana looking over at him and smiling wide. He quickly retrieved the rose, waited for yet another bus to pass, and began to cross the street towards her. As he walked he couldn't help but think, "Gotta love that Lana Lang smile, gets me every time."

He tried to stop staring when he reached her but they had both learned that staring at each other was something that couldn't be helped at this point.

"Well hey there traveler" he said as he stopped in front of her. He began to go for his signature move( standing there awkwardly with his hands in his pockets) but to his surprise Lana reached out and gave him a firm hug. Without hesitation he wrapped his arms around her and returned it. It made him happy that she still felt comfortable enough with him to want more than a pat on the shoulder.

"I'm glad your here" she said still embracing him." I was beginning to think you were gonna stand me up." Clark pulled back with a determined face and looked Lana in the eyes,

" Lana if I had my way I would never leave your side ag..."

" come here" she said, cutting him off and bringing his head back to her shoulder with her hand. " let's not start this argument again, I want this moment to be happy."

The way she used her voice was always comforting to him, how she brought it down to almost a whisper when she got really emotional, it was one of the many things he loved about her.

" You're right, I'm sorry." Clark replied nervously.

As they pulled away from each other he realized he still had the rose in his hand and moved it up into their line of site. Lana looked at it and started to giggle.

"Clark Kent there is a hopeless romantic hiding behind all those walls you put up around yourself isn't there?"

"Is it too much?" Clark questioned. "Mom let me pick it from the rose bush she's been growing in the garden, I just thought I'd bring you a little piece of smallville, and of me to take with you on your trip. You know, just to get you there safely."

Lana brought the rose up to her face and gently inhaled, then looked into his eyes again" It's beautiful Clark. Thank you."

They stared at each other a few more moments, both of them wondering why they couldn't find a way to be together, Lana snapped out of it first. "Well, looks like it's time for me to be on my way." She said, giving Clark another big smile.

Clark put on a happy face and with a resistant "yeah I guess so" He reached down for her duffle bag, throwing it over his shoulder he grabbed her backpack with his other hand.

Lana chuckled as she whatched him. "Just like Clark Kent not to let anyone else lift a finger"

"Like you said Ms. Lang," Clark stated as he straightened his posture and tried to look proper. "You ordered a super taxi, that's a full service package, street to baggage check luggage transportation" He smiled and gave her a quick wink which caused her to bust out laughing.

"I'll make sure to leave a good word with your boss" Lana joked.

They exchanged a few more words as they crossed the street to the airport entrance, as they walked inside Lana placed her hand in the small of clarks back and moved it up and down along his spine, that could be the last time he would ever feel her hands upon him and it made him hate with every fiber of his being that she had to let go, and that he had to let her.

END