Chloe had waited the night. She had waited until she knew that the Kandorians were gone - they had disappeared along with the violence they had brought to Earth. When the dust settled, she contacted the Justice League and sent them to search for Oliver. Now, there was only one thing left for her to do. She picked up her cellphone and dialed Lois.

"Lois, it's about Clark. I don't know how to explain this to you," she started. "But..."

"No, no - you don't have to worry. I know. I understand it all now. Clark's the one. He's the Blur, and he just couldn't tell me. But I know now. He kissed me, and I realized it. I should have known all along. I don't know why I didn't just realize it before. I was so suspicious but..."

"Lois. You're right, but... but that's not what I have to tell you."

"What do you mean? What could possibly be bigger than that? My boyfriend's a superhero, and now I know. He just hasn't been answering my calls. I have to go find him."

Chloe sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. She took Lois by the arm and led her to the couch in her apartment. Lois, jittery with excitement and enthusiasm, jostled her legs, folding and unfolding them with impatience. She knew she had to find Clark, talk to him, tell him that she knew, and that she loved him. For him, not for the Blur. And Chloe was just taking up her time for no reason - she needed to get out of there, and she had no idea why Chloe had called her, the morning after the Blur - no, Clark - saved her, telling her they needed to talk.

Chloe took Lois' hands. She opened her mouth to speak but the words didn't come out. She stared into her cousin's eyes, shivering from a chill that was not caused by a wayward draft, but instead by the paradigm shift she was about to impart.

"God, Chloe. You're not breaking up with me. Just get on with it. I need to get out of here."

Chloe took a deep breath. She started again:

"Lois, I'm glad Clark finally told you about him, who he is. He wanted to for so long, but it was never safe for you to know. He never even told me - I just discovered it by myself, years ago. We all discovered it. He didn't want to keep it from you, but he felt he had to, to keep you safe."

She faltered again, turning away from Lois to hide the tears glistening in her eyes.

"Chloe, who else knows? Besides you and me?"

In a voice thick with tears and grief, she answered "Well, Clark's parents, obviously. And me, you, Ollie, Lana knew... Tess found out too. But the important thing is... well, Clark's gone. He's not coming back."

"Wait." Lois' heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean, he's gone? He - he can't be gone. He loves me, and I love him. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Lois. This is going to take a while, but I have to explain everything. You deserve to know what happened."

And so Chloe began to explain the story of Clark Kent. Stuttering at times, and faltering for moments, she described his history on Earth - from the meteor shower that began it all to the discovery of his powers during high school to the two distinct lives he led, as Clark and as the Blur.

As she listened, Lois' face took on an expression of what could only be described as enlightenment. All the memories she had of disasters in Metropolis and in Smallville were suddenly explained. Lois understood - as though she had finally fought her way to the eye of the storm, and now stood in the calm of the center. All of those years, of poking and prodding, of underestimating his abilities, of overestimating her worldly perspective in comparison to his small town ways, caught up to her. She could not even begin to calculate the apologies she owed him, nor could she even comprehend the difficulties he had faced, the burden of his secret. But for all of that, she loved him even more than words could express.

Chloe's voice slowed, and came to a halt. She studied Lois for a moment, debating what she should say - how she should deal this final blow. The explanation of why the love of her cousin's life was gone forever.

Caught up in the story, Lois had nearly forgotten Chloe's declaration that Clark had disappeared. But suddenly the thought reemerged.

"What does this have to do with Clark leaving? I still don't understand why you would say that."

"The thing is... those aliens that you were researching... The whole Book of Rao thing... All of it. It is real. And Clark - he had to stop Zod from taking over Earth - from killing more people. The Book of Rao took them all to a world of their own, away from here, where they could recreate Krypton, and start again. He didn't want to go, Lois, but he can't come back..."

Lois screamed as sobs began to wrack her body. "No! No! He couldn't leave me! He can't leave me!"

Chloe hugged her cousin, and began to weep as well.