-1Authors Note: It's been a while sine I've written fan fiction, so bare with me. This story is set in the Smallville universe, taking place in Season 6, after the episode "Static". In other words: Lana is engaged to Lex and preggers with his baby, Lois is dating Oliver Queen, who is over his Venom addiction, and Clark has run across, but not actually met, a certain Oreo-loving, green skinned alien who is very important should anyone want to form a Justice League.

This story is not beta-ed. While I do have a strong mastery of the English language and have proof read it a few times, sometimes you just miss stuff when you were the one to write it. Feedback is welcomed and loved.

Multiverse

1: Lois

"Driving nearly everyday between Smallville and Metropolis is getting to be a real pain." Lois sighed and turned off the radio. Her decent rock station was melding into country the closer she got to the hickville she had come to call home. Two years. Two years of backwater and so much small town charm one could puke. True, living in the Meteor Capital of the Nation had it's perks: for as much as she complained, things were rarely dull in dullsville. She'd always loved poking her nose into a good mystery, and between all the 'meteor freaks' (as Chloe called them), objects falling at random from the sky, and town billionaires, there were certainly enough mysteries to keep a gossip busy.

Though she'd never admit it to anyone, and certainly not Mr. Smallville himself, Clark Kent, she'd grown to love the place. It had it's charm.

Once you got past the obsession with the FFA and Tractor Supply Co.

However, it was tedious driving between her home above the Talon and her moonlighting position at the Inquisitor. And that wasn't even mentioning dates with Oliver, which meant the ride home would be at 11:00 at night or later. It felt like the 3 hour stretch got longer every time she drove it. Look, there's the burned out Dairy Queen. And up next is that bit of fence someone needs to fix. And look! More corn! Yippy!

This particular evening was no different. Lois felt slagged. She was up early to help Mrs. Kent with writing a speech, then she pulled some barista duty in the Talon, then it was off to the city to turn in her latest piece on how oil prices were being controlled by the Illuminati. The only consolation was that Oliver had to cut their date short for a business meeting. "Great," Lois said out loud to herself, "I just thought of a canceled date as a consolation prize. I really need a break… or a massage… or maybe a smoke…"

No. No smoking. She'd promised Chloe no smoking. She sat for a moment, the road lulling her into a sort of haze. Deciding music was in order, Lois flipped the sun visor in front of her down and began to pick a CD. As she pulled out her selection and pushed the visor back in place, a shape darted into her headlight beams.

Slamming on the breaks, Lois swerved the car, but she wasn't fast enough. She bit back a scream as the deer or whatever clipped the front fender of her car an it the side before disappearing from sight. "Shit… Shit… Shit…" This day was just getting better and better. She pulled the car over into the shoulder and bolted out of the car to see if the whatever was alright. The shape was faintly illuminated in the combo of her break lights and the waxing moon above. Popping the trunk, Lois hastily dug for her emergency flashlight. The beam of light cut through the darkness, highlighting a tan bit of flesh, a red streak of blood and a torn black tee-shirt.

"No…" Terror gripped Lois' insides. She ran to the figure. A boy. Couldn't be more than 17. His face was bruised and battered, arms bleeding. "Oh God.." She leaned in, feeling for a pulse and breath sounds, "Oh, please don't be dead, Kid…"

Then he coughed. A little blood spattered on her cheek and neck, and Lois would have never though she'd ever be that glad to be coughed on. He moaned in pain. "It's OK, Kid…" she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice, "I'm gonna call an ambulance and you'll be OK…"

Her hands were shaking so bad she could barely dial 9-1-1. It was like the kid had appeared out of thin air. He must have darted out of the corn. Why would anyone dart out of the corn? She reported quickly to the dispatch that an ambulance was needed on Hwy 73 about 10 miles out of Smallville, that she'd found a boy laying bleeding on the side of the road. The kid was breathing and moving slightly, but looked to be in bad shape. Sure it wasn't the whole truth, but her insurance premiums or criminal record couldn't handle the stress of near vehicular manslaughter.

It felt like forever before the ambulance arrived. Lois stayed with the kid. She knew that basic first aid said you shouldn't move a body, but they were in the middle of a highway at night. She put an arm under the kid and started to lift. Jeez… someone got their Wheaties. He weighed a lot more than he looked.

She waved down the ambulance when it arrived. The EMT's briefly questioned her as they loaded the boy on a stretcher. An officer from the Sheriff's office questioned her too, but she was more or less on auto pilot. "I was driving along and something darted out in front of me. I thought it was a deer or a cow or something. I tried to stop and swerve but it clipped me and I pulled over to see what it was and…" Reality was sinking in. "Oh god, I swear I didn't mean… I didn't…" Her breaths were coming in quick gasps, like she couldn't properly fill her lungs. The cop said something to her but she didn't hear. "I didn't.. I didn't…"

The world tunneled black around her. She didn't feel her head hit the pavement.

Lois awoke to the all to familiar sounds of Smallville Medical Center. Her head was ringing, "Ow…"

"Lois! Oh thank God…" Martha Kent swooped in like the mother hen she was. "The Sheriff called and said you were in some kind of accident, you bumped your head pretty hard when you passed out."

Lois blinked some of the still lingering stars out of her eyes and slowly sat up, rubbing the bandage she could feel on the back of her head, "Yeah.. I can tell…" The events of the evening came slowly swimming back. Work, Date with Ollie, Driving, Boredom, then.. "The boy! Is he alright?"

Lois swung her legs off the stretcher and stood, which was a mistake as her vision suddenly swam in front of her. Martha put a steadying hand on her shoulder, "He's fine. He had some cuts and bruises but was otherwise unhurt. The Sheriff wants to ask you some questions once you feel up to it."

"I didn't mean to hit him, Mrs. Kent!" As Lois' balance returned she started down the hall, peeking in the doors to find the boy's room.

Martha trotted along to catch up, "I know, Lois. I think the Sheriff knows too, it's just normal procedure. Here…" she put a comforting arm on Lois shoulder, "He's this way." Martha led her to a room that Lois was relieved was not the ICU. Lois pushed open the door and walked in to find the town's new Sheriff, a man named Parker, standing alongside a uniformed officer who was taking pictures of the still unconscious boy's face and Dr Currie of the medical center staff.

The doctor turned to face the intruders, ready to tell them off, "Oh… Miss Lane. Are you alright? You probably shouldn't be up yet…" he moved over, pulling a pen light from his coat pocket and flashing it in her eyes.

Annoyed, Lois batted away the light, "I'm fine. What I want to know is if he's ok." she said, gesturing to the boy.

The sheriff frowned some, and the doctor responded, "He is still unconscious, but he should recover…" there was something else in the Currie's tone that Lois could detect, but not decipher.

"Miss Lane," Sheriff Parker started, "Did you see anyone else on the road? Another person on foot?"

Lois made a quizzical face, "No… just him. Why?"

"Well, because his injuries aren't congruent with what we see when someone is hit by a car." The doctor said, frankly. "No broken bones, no major lacerations. Most of the injuries are to his face and torso, not his arms and legs. There's no road burn, either."

"His bruises look more like they came from punches than from a car." the uniformed officer remarked as he put away his camera.

The doctor nodded in agreement, "I can't tell you even buzzed him, let alone clipped him. Maybe you just hit a pothole in the road and thought you clipped him?"

Lois blinked. How was that possible? How did someone get hit by a car at 65 miles per hour and not have serious trauma? She turned to look at Mrs. Kent, who had picked up the boy's bloodied tee-shirt from where it had been sat on the bedside table. As Martha ran her fingers across the printed logo across the front of the shirt, Lois looked back to the Sheriff and Doctor, "Yeah… I guess so… I mean… it all happened so fast that I thought…"

The Sheriff nodded and said something that boiled down to 'we'll investigate this so don't skip town.' Lois just nodded. The doctor said something else about stepping out into the hall. "Actually," Lois asked, "Can I stay in here a few minutes? I need to… I don't know…" She made a slight frustrated noise, as she didn't even know why she wanted to stay. She knew she hit the boy… she had to have…

The doctor seemed to understand, "We'll give you a few minutes. If he wakes up, call us." Lois nodded and stepped up to the boy's bedside as the doctor, sheriff, and officer left the room.

Mrs. Kent was absorbed in the boy's tee-shirt. Lois blinked and looked down at the kid, tilting her head slightly. He did look like he'd been beaten up, but oddly enough, he didn't look as bad as he had looked on the road. "You know… He looks kind of like Clark… The chin is a little different, thought."

Martha nodded, finaly pulling her eyes away from the shirt. She placed it back on the side table, "Common, Lois… You can stay at the house tonight. You shouldn't be alone unless you have a concussion." Lois nodded, but she did notice as they left that Martha looked a little more upset than Lois would have expected. 'Wonder why…' she thought as they headed out.