Title: In the Ruins
Author: Damara
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: The characters herein are NOT mine. I just wanted to bring them out to play for a little while…They belong to Warner Brothers and the CW Networks, as well as to the creators of Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. I promise to return them when I'm done with them…NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.
Spoilers: For Combat (Season 6)
Summary: Lois/Clark (Alternate Ending for "Combat") -- What do you do when in the blink of an eye, everything that you never knew you always wanted, suddenly hangs in the balance? Clark Kent is about to find out…
[Chapter One -- Fallout]
She was lying completely motionless on the floor of the ring when Clark found her. When he saw her, he immediately, if not somewhat desperately, sprang into action and hurried to her side.
"Lois?" his voice broke slightly as he bent down beside her. When she didn't move or respond in any way to the sound of his voice, Clark found it impossible to squelch the terror that gripped him.
This is all my fault…
Then more urgently he spoke again, "Lois..."
By now he was hoping for anything; a twitch, even a murmur would placate his growing unease.
But when his plea again went unanswered, Clark knew he needed to get her to a hospital.
"Hold on Lois," he spoke softly. He didn't know if she could hear him. He only hoped that she could, and that she would find his words comforting.
"You're going to be okay," he quelled as he gently gathered her small body in his arms. He whispered the words to her again; unconscious of whether they were an attempt to reassure her or himself.
You're going to be okay.
Clark nestled Lois's bruised frame against his chest and ran as fast as his powers would allow him. In an instant he would get her to the hospital.
Don't you dare leave me Lois…
Frantically bursting through the doors of Smallville Medical Center, Martha Kent spied her son pacing near the entrance of Lois Lane's room.
"Clark?" she hurried towards him, the depth of her concern was written in the lines of her face. When she finally reached her son Martha embraced him; Clark's relief was instantly noticeable.
"How is she?" Martha asked as she pulled away to look him in the eye.
"I don't know Mom," he murmured.
Knowing her son as only she did, Martha immediately sensed his distress when he continued, "The doctors...they don't know anything yet. They said they'd let me know as soon as they knew something. But Mom...she was, she was thrown so far. And she hit the ground so hard. And by the time I got to her..."
From the state of her son's distress, Martha got a real sense of the condition he must have found her in.
"I just...," he sounded resigned and it broke her heart, "I should have protected her. She shouldn't have been there. None of this should have happened."
"What did happen Clark?" his mother prodded gently.
"I'm not really sure exactly. Chloe helped me track down this underground fight club that was turning people with meteor powers against each other in live combat. But somehow, by the time I'd gotten there Lois was already inside. We were both in the ring when I got distracted by this Kryptonian who'd escaped from the Phantom Zone named Titan. He threw me to the other side of the ring and that must have been when she was, when she was..."
"It's going to be alright sweetheart. Lois is a very strong young woman. She's a fighter. I know she'll pull through this. If anyone can do it, I think we both know it'll be her."
Nodding solemnly at his mother's encouragement, Clark paused for a moment before announcing, "Chloe!"
"What about her sweetheart?" Martha asked.
"I can't believe I didn't think to...Mom, I didn't call her to tell her about Lois. She's going to be so worried."
Martha reached a comforting hand up to stroke his arm, "I'll call her Clark. I'm sure she'll want to come home to be with Lois."
Nodding thoughtfully, Clark was so distracted that he'd failed to notice Lois' doctor coming up behind him.
"Mr. Kent?" The older man spoke somewhat grimly.
"Doctor!" Clark turned to face him eagerly, "How's Lois? Is she going to be okay?"
"To be quite honest Mr. Kent, at this point there's no way to know for sure. She's sustained a fairly severe head trauma as well as several injuries and fractures along her ribs and forearms. But what I'm the most concerned about is her continued loss of consciousness. Her CT scan indicates that the contusions she's sustained have resulted in some low level swelling of her brain. Until it's alleviated we've no way of determining if or when she'll regain consciousness."
"...If?" Clark's croaked dryly.
"I'm going to be completely frank with you son; injuries of this nature and magnitude are extremely unpredictable. There's really no way of assessing recovery at this juncture. Although, I do want to stress that for the time being we've every reason to remain hopeful. Once your friend has been settled into her regular room, I've ordered an MRI to better assess the extent of her injuries, and to rule out any bleeding in the brain which could explain her loss of consciousness and swelling. Hopefully that'll give us a more complete picture of what's going on."
The hospital commotion faded into the background; Clark thought he heard his mother thank the doctor as he walked away. He wasn't really sure, since he'd aimlessly wandered away from both of them after listening to the doctor's assessment.
He'd heard what the doctor said; he was just having trouble understanding how it could be true.
...If or when she'll regain consciousness.
It was then that Clark was struck, not only by the seriousness of Lois's condition, but also by the realization that he couldn't lose her.
How could this have happened?
