CHAPTER 2: AWAKENING

THE APARTMENT ABOVE THE TALON

Eighteen hours had gone by since Clark intruded into Lex´s private room at Smallville Medical Center to find his former friend coming round amidst a blinding light. A hunch had driven the farm boy back to the hospital and his intuition had once again proven right. He loathed to think what would have happened if he hadn´t arrived in time. Lex would just have had to put two and two together to arrive at the correct conclusion. Had Clark hesitated to enter that room for a millisecond, the second best-kept secret in Smallville would have come to light.

Keeping Lois away from the apartment above The Talon, once he had located both her and his cousin Kara in that scrap yard back in Detroit, had been an extraordinary feat. And lying to Lana in the face about his current whereabouts had put another nail to the coffin of their already dying relationship. Who could understand the feminine mind? He was surrounded by them and still he´d never be able to figure them out- a Jezabel who had ensnared him in a quasi-adulterous relationship, an amnesiac cousin who eyed him as if he were the enemy, an obnoxious devil-may-care army brat and now... a sleeping beauty ready to sacrifice her life for... whom? For Kara and Lois? For him? Or... ? He daren´t think of the third alternative, not after everything that had passed between Chloe and his former best friend in the last four years.

It was close to two in the afternoon when Clark crossed the deserted cafeteria and climbed up the stairs with a glass of milk and a piece of blueberry pie. He had resisted the urge to super-speed downstairs all morning afraid of leaving Chloe alone even for a fraction of a second, but his stomach had started grumbling, demanding sustenance, and he was forced to relinquish his post by her bed.

At exactly two-oh-five the blonde reporter´s dormant body stirred suddenly back to life, and Clark walked into the apartment to find her sitting on the bed with a hammering heart and a disoriented look in her eyes.

"Chlo´? " asked a relieved farm boy, setting down his snack on the night-table.

"Clark?" responded Chloe with a raspy voice as she focused her blurry eyes on the blue and red-clad figure sitting on the bed.

"God, Chloe!" he exclaimed, tucking a few loose strands of blonde hair behind her ears. "What in heaven´s name did you do?" he added, wrapping his arms around her in a big hug.

"Easy, Clark. You´re going to crush my bones, " she laughed, swallowing the lump in her throat as reality came crashing down on her.

" I´m sorry, " he smiled sheepishly as he loosened the grip on her petite frame. "You scared me to death, Chlo´. Why... ?"

"Lois and Kara, are they...? " she cut him off, slipping away from his grasp and trying to get a grip now that she was back on solid ground.

"They´re out of harm´s way," he responded, eying her back with a concerned look on his face. "I found them in Detroit. You told me before slipping into a coma. "

"Right, " she whispered, making an effort to keep the tears in check as she started to process everything she´d seen and felt when her essence had left her body in that hospital room.

"Chloe, why did you do it?" he asked tensely, walking towards her as she busied herself with some dirty dishes Lois had no doubt left in the sink before rushing away to Motor City.

"Clark... it was the only way," she responded after taking a deep breath.

"You know that isn´t true. Lionel said... " he began only to be cut off by her.

"Come on, Clark! You know what would have happened if we had let him do what he suggested. Or didn´t you hear what Lana told us about that experimental procedure?" she answered, trying to control the emotions and images of an infant Alexander which kept popping into her mind.

"Chloe, you could have died, " he reproached her.

"You don´t know that. Last time I did OK, didn´t I? " she asked with the ghost of a smile.

"Last time you weren´t dead for eighteen hours."

"Well, it was worth it, wasn´t it? I got Kara and Lois´ location. "

"Yes, but... I don´t understand... after everything he´s done to you and... "

"Clark... I still don´t know why I´ve been chosen to have such an extraordinary gift; but it was my decision to make. He might be a jerk sometimes... OK... most of the times lately... but I simply couldn´t have someone´s death on my conscience knowing I could have done something about it. I wish I hadn´t been saddled with this ´power´. It´s amazing, but too big a responsibility to handle. We aren´t God, Clark."

"I know... It´s just that... when I saw him lying on that bed in hospital , I... " he stuttered, lowering his head in shame," I... shouldn´t have felt this, but... for a minute there, I thought he had got what he deserved. After everything he´s put Lana through... " he continued, shaking his head.

Chloe´s breathing hitched as the Princess´ name slipped through Clark´s lips. He had always been blinded by his love for the brunette, a fact which had been a constant source of sorrow and pain for Chloe during her high school years. She had envied and hated the prom queen in equal measure half of her life until that fateful summer when Chloe decided to bury the hatch after she realised her feelings for Clark had been nothing but a deep crush. In recent years, Chloe had seen things in Clark´s eternal flame which made her feel uncomfortable; however, she had decided to cut Lana some slack based on her own animosity towards Lex. Funny how things could change drastically over the course of a few hours.

"We only know half of the story, Clark," she responded, drying the dishes and stacking them on a shelf." What?" she frowned, noticing Clark´s puzzled look.

"What happened in that hospital room?" he asked gravely, making her turn to face him.

"I sneaked into the room, checked out nobody was watching, approached his bed, touched him and... you know the rest," she shrugged her shoulders, forcing her eyes to hold his questioning gaze without wavering.

"In order to get Lois and Kara´s location you had to do something other than just touch him."

"Look, Clark. I´m new to this. My educated guess is it must have taken you a while to master your powers... to be able to control them. I simply touched him, OK? I can´t tell you anything about the dynamics of it all. Gee! We saved my cousin and yours, isn´t that enough?" she snapped, feeling the pricking of tears behind her eyelids.

"Chloe, you can´t blame me for getting worried. After all, it´s Lex we´re talking about, and I´ve never seen you this agitated."

"That´s what eighteen hours dead does to you, Clark," she retorted ironically. "Don´t worry. Touching Lex hasn´t contaminated me. I´ll be as fit as a fiddle in no time."

"Chloe, I know you´re hiding something from me. Why did you just say we know half of the story?"

"There´s nothing unusual about my assertion. All of us know that there are two sides to any story. Don´t try to look for any hidden meaning in my words, Clark. Now, if you´ll excuse me, I´d like to have a shower and grab something to eat."

"OK, " said Clark resigned."We´ll let it rest for a while."

"No, Clark. We´ll let it rest for good," she told him tilting up her chin.

"Have you ever thought what would have happened if I hadn´t super-sped you out of that room when I did?"

"What matter´s that you did take me away, Clark. Why worry about the what-ifs?"

"And what´ll happen next time, Chloe? Have you ever stopped to think about that? Are you planning to use your power again?"

"I honestly don´t know, Clark. I´m just glad you were there when I needed you. Now, go," she shooed him away.

"I´ll tell Lois you´re opening this afternoon, if it´s all right with you. I don´t think I´ll be able to retain her for too long with the story I concocted," he smiled, looking at her cocked eyebrow. " Ant invasion?" he added with a twist of his lips.

"Right," she smiled back."Don´t worry about me, Clark; I don´t. I just want to get back to my life and forget the last couple of weeks... or months, whatever."

"You know you can talk to me, right?" he said warmly, grabbing her gently by the arms.

Chloe looked at her oldest friend with fondness and simply hugged him back. For years he had kept his secret locked away and, now, he was keeping hers too. However, she just didn´t feel ready to share everything with him when it came to her latest `supernatural` experience, particularly when the third party involved was Lex. There was no love lost between the two young men and Lana was a big portion of the trouble. Moreover, while fifteen-year-old Clark might have been ready to give Lex the benefit of the doubt, there was too much history between them, and the young adult he now was had been too much influenced by Jonathan Kent´s ways to change his opinion about Lionel Luthor´s first-born. Hell, if she hadn´t put aside all the resentment she felt for the way Lex had treated her in the last four years, she wouldn´t have tried her powers on him and she would still think very much like Clark.

`Well, Sullivan, get your butt in gear. Life goes on and feeling pity- or whatever it is you´re feeling for the bald billionaire right now- or even worse, doing something about it... will just make your life more complex than it already is,´ Chloe told herself as she opened her wardrobe and picked a change of clothes. `You have to put this behind you and go on as if nothing had happened,` she tried to convince herself. `Yeah, who are you kidding? Nothing´ll be the same.´