The Outskirts of Metropolis.

He didn't know how long he had been out. The last thing he remembered was hearing her say that everything was going to be okay. We'll get through this.

Yet death had eluded him once again. He remembered her words and how a bolt of lightning just struck through him. His body felt as though it was slammed into tonnes of concrete and thrust into a blazing fire. A shard of glass was sticking out the right side of his stomach.

Biting his lips he pulled it out. Then like normal his skin started healing. He looked down and saw how burnt his hands were, the skin scarred and peeling. The wind was cold and had a burning sensation on his wounds – plus he needed to find some clothes.

The wind blew a page of a newspaper near his feet. He picked it up and saw a picture of himself and of Doomsday. The headlines read:

DOOMSDAY DESTROYED
CORNFIELD KILLER CREMATED

He dropped to the floor and put his hand to his mouth. A month ago, in a fit of rage he had stabbed Jimmy Olsen. Chloe Sullivan had told the cops what happened. But he couldn't understand it. His body was cremated in Metropolis yet he now woke up in its outskirts. And even he couldn't survive being turned into ashes.

Was there something else going on?

...

Watchtower.

"Clark, I may not tell you my deep dark secrets but it doesn't mean that you have to accuse me every second you get."

"No one is accusing you Chloe."

"Then why bring him up."

"Because you need to talk."

Chloe got up from her chair and went to put some files in her cabinet.

"That psycho murdered my husband. Plain and simple."

Clark folded his arms. He hated going head to head with his best friend but it needed to be done. "That was what you told the cops Chloe. But you were hiding something."

"What? What exactly was I hiding Clark?"
"The Why" Clark replied. "You were ready to bite my head off when I accused Davis of those killings. After you and Jimmy fell apart the first person you ran to was him. You were the same person who pulled that lever to keep me out of danger, yet I have never seen you so depressed for anyone. You lied to me and hid him in your basement for weeks now. You practically gave up everything and everyone you loved…"

"What's your point Clark?" Chloe looked at him with a cold stare. "I did this all for you. I have sacrificed everything. Everything."

"I didn't want to see it." Clark continued. "I saw the way you looked at Jimmy and Davis and I saw the way they looked at you. Davis scared me in a way. You held his gaze like he was trapped in an orb, like he would move through hell and back to keep you safe. I thought that's why he's dangerous. With Jimmy around…"

"He would be the sweet clueless hubby and whenever I need my hero I'll just call you, right?"

His silence spoke it all

Chloe went over to her desk and took her car keys.

"Where are you going?"

"To drive. Clear my head. If I need your help I'll holler."

...

Chloe didn't know exactly where she was heading. Whenever she needed to think she would drive in circles around the vicinity of Watchtower. Now she just drove straight, taking a few turns here and there but moving as far away as she could from her base.

Then she came across the site where Clark had destroyed Doomsday. She heard about the story – covered by Milly Slater, a reporter for the Daily Planet.

You've become my entire world.

I can't kill you Davis.

I do care about you Davis.

We load up the car and never look back

I would do anything for you.

When I watched you die in that lab, it was like the meteor rock was killing a part of me. Now I am not going to let anything hurt you like again.

Just focus on me okay. We'll get through this…

Suddenly she slammed her foot on the brakes and screeched to a stop.

In front of her car, a man lay on his stomach, as if dead, skin exposed to the elements. Chloe rushed out of her car. She didn't think she had hit him. She would know. Right?

She stopped over him. She would know that short black hair anywhere and those shoulders. His broad neck that her hands couldn't cup fully.

Her head stopped a beat and she saw in his hand a newspaper page he was gripping. She skimmed through it and then looked over at the destroyed site. Her heart skipped a few beats.

"No." she whispered.

Her mind flashed back to the two dead men in her apartment. One buried, one cremated months ago. And now? It wasn't what it seemed to be.

"WHY?" he screamed at her. Not once had he ever raised his voice to her even when she felt he should have. To at least tell her that she was being foolhardy.

She watched his end three times. When she pulled the lever that rained pure torture on him, when Jimmy plunged a pipe through his stomach and when she watched as he was cremated and saw the ashes. She needed closure and not even ashes could regenerate from the white hot heat of a human sized oven.

She turned him over gently and a few tears fell. The guy she cremated, it wasn't him. He was here. He wasn't split. The Beast had created another Davis, just to fool them. The real Davis was trapped within.

She traced her finger over his thick lips.

"Davis." she whispered as her hands traced over his cheek.

"Chloe." his eyes slowly opened. He reached up to wipe a tear from her cheek and she helped him sit up.

He saw the newspaper page in her hand and shook his head. "Chloe I am so…"

Chloe threw his arms around him. "It's not your fault. It never was."

…
(in offscreenville, Chloe is no longer mad at Clark. She wasn't before exactly. But by him opening his eyes to the truth, she has therefore begun to open hers. Maybe then she can heal)