A/N: Thank you everyone for the reviews! As you can see I ended up making this into a story (because of your great input!) which I hope you like. I must warn you though, the story may go a little bit slow because I want them to little by little develop their feelings. I just think that it would be too strange for them to 'suddenly' fall in love.

I hope they are not too OOC, call me on it when it happens, I want to keep it as real as possible. But if there are any discrepancies between the story and the TV show do keep in minds that it is a story and anything could happen (mwahahaha!)

(should I change the title? Suggestions are greatly appreciated)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. If only Tom Welling was mine…

Loss

It had been a year since Clark and Lois' failed wedding, courtesy of the evil Darkseid, but now things were going back to normal. Mostly. Well, there is nothing abnormal about putting off the wedding till "the time is right" or so did Lois say. There is also nothing strange with the fact that somebody was pregnant. So… things were normal, just in a different way.

"Positive." She saw the pregnancy test and could not believe her eyes, so what the doctor had told her about a month ago was true. Not that she didn't want kids, she did, but maybe right now was not the best time. She had taken up her position as Watchtower again (all the begging and puppy dog eyes from many of the members actually worked) , to help the Justice League in their various activities. She had re-applied at the Planet realizing that she had never let the dream of becoming a top shot reporter she had since a child die away. She was helping Emil with research involving heroes and meteor rocks, also the League was growing and she had to make sure everyone maintained their dual identity a secret, so hacking into archives of various cities and governmental institutions was part of her daily routine.

Oliver wasn't ready to be a father either, they were only in their mid-twenties and well he had taken a lot of responsibilities as a hero, he also had a company to run, which was by no means an easy task. Yeah, now was probably not the best time to become parents, but the idea of having a little being inside her somehow made her really happy and warm inside.

Her cell phone rang, it was Lois, "Hey cuz, you have to come to the Planet, it's an emergency!" her voice sounded urgent. The blond quickly gathered her things and headed towards the Daily Planet. She arrived at the Planet and went to the bullpen, but the lights were off and it was to dark to see anything. She heard a BAM! and the lights flickered on.

"Congratulations!" she heard many voices say. She recognized many of her previous co-workers and Lois who was approaching her with her arms wide open.

They hugged, "What did I tell you cuz, you were destined for this job." Lois then, went to get the 'congrats!' cake.

"She's right you know," Chloe heard a soft whisper behind her, and smiled, she knew that voice all too well. "You belong here. I'm just scared for my job now, having such fierce competition such as yourself, it'll be hard for me an Lois to keep up." He said jokingly.

Chloe turned around and hugged her best friend, "You better be scared, I might even become Lois' new partner in the near future." What she really wanted to say was 'I hope we become partners in the near future' but would never dare say it out loud. Their embraced linger a little longer than it should have, and as Lois watched the scene, she began to feel a little uncomfortable. She was well aware of Chloe's feelings in the past, but that was years ago, besides her cousin was with Oliver now, so she brushed those feelings away.

The celebration was short lived because Perry said they all had worked to do, and when you worked for the Planet, there was always work to be done. Since it wasn't Chloe's official day of work, she thanked everyone and took a big chunk of cake with her, too bad Oliver was out. Oh well, more for her. When she pressed the button for the elevator, her right earring began to blink, she knew what that meant, she got into the elevator and touched her earring, "This is Watchtower," before the doors closed she felt a breeze.

Clark also pressed the little communication device that was in his ear, "This is Superman,"

Batman spoke into their ears and said that there were signs of an unknown force combined with radioactive activity in Metropolis and that there was some havoc being caused by Toyman in downtown.

"We're on it." They answered in unison. Clark changed in what was probably three seconds tops, and asked Chloe to keep his clothes for now, that he would pick them up later.

She nodded and went to her Watchtower base in Metropolis, (there was one base in every city a hero resided, and of course the Justice League's Headquarters in DC) Before she entered the base there was an explosion that came from the building in front, which sent her flying away and hit her back with a brick wall. Debris from the explosion came flying her way, she clutched Clark's garments and waited for the inevitable, one piece hit her in the head and left her unconscious, the second hit her in the stomach.

{x}

She could here a beeping noise and tried to open her eyes slowly, for some reason she felt sore all over. She also felt a hand holding hers and thought it was probably Oliver and smiled at the thought. It wasn't him.

"Clark?" The last thing she remembered was heading to Watchtower to look up the radioactive activity Batman had warned them about. "What ha—" she tried to sit down, but felt extreme pain her lower abdomen, she winced. Nonetheless, she was able to sit.

"Hey," he said softly, the look of concern on his face soften a little when he saw her wake up, but when she winced he cursed himself for not being there to protect her. "how are you feeling?" it was a dumb question, but it was the best he could come up with.

She gave him the how-do-you-think-I-feel? Look and crossed her arms against her chest, "If I had been ran over by a truck, thrown down from the Empire State, and had a one-on-one combat with Wonder Woman, I would feel pretty much like I do right now." Ah, her snarky comment made Clark crack a smile, that was Chloe all right.

She looked at her surroundings and realized that she was in Metropolis Medical Center, she was also looking for someone else.

"Oliver is in Europe right now, he said something about Queen Industries and a merger," Clark knew how to read Chloe like a book, "Lois had to fly to Africa today after your welcome party so she was unable to be here."

She tried to stand up but the pain in her lower abdomen became too intense and she had to sit back down. Clark took notice and recommend that she lay down instead, but she didn't listen. He never let go of her hand, and stroke it gently, if only he had been there sooner. She smiled up at him, she had cuts and bruises all over, her hair looked like a mess, but in Clark's eyes she still looked lovely, "I'm sorry Chl—"

"Don't." she interrupted. " I'm okay, really. Besides, this could've happened to anyone." She placed a hand on his cheek, "You do too much already."

The doctor came in and looked over some papers that were over his clipboard. "Hello Miss Sullivan, Mr. Kent," he didn't look directly at either Chloe or Clark. "Thankfully, you are not in any critical danger Miss Sullivan, and after two weeks you will be as good as new." He took off his glasses and sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm sorry to inform you that…" he paused.

Chloe knew, she knew what he was going to say and tears instantly welled up in her eyes. Why was this happening? Why? Was it because she wasn't ready? This was probably divine punishment for her thoughts early in the morning. Suddenly she was unable to stop the tears and they began trickling down as if there were no tomorrow.

Clark was worried, what was the doctor going to say that made Chloe react that way? It must be something really bad because Chloe never cried, never. Unless it was a life or death situation, but other than that Chloe was one of the strongest persons he knew. He instinctively squeezed Chloe's hand in sign of support for whatever news she was going to receive.

"… we were unable to save the baby."

The words broke her heart and her silent sobs turned into loud cries. Before it got any more emotional, the doctor excused himself and left the room.

Clark was stunned to hear the news, heck he didn't even know Chloe was pregnant to begin with. He looked at her and the sight in front of him broke his heart as well. Here was the strongest woman he knew, his rock, his strength when things got tough, his counsel and comfort every and any time he felt down. Here was that woman that pushed him to be a 'hero', his best friend of all times. Here was Chloe Ann Sullivan… broken. He took her in his strong arms and held her tightly –as tight as he could without crushing her with his superstrength.- He was at a loss of words, this was one of those situations where 'everything is going to be ok' was nothing but a lie. He rested his head on top of her and some tears escaped his eyes. Although he valued human life more than most humans did, what made him shed those tears was the fact that a woman he loved dearly, as a friend, was suffering. He couldn't bare that, he just couldn't.

Last time, when Jimmy had died, he left her.

This time he would not make the same mistake.

She cried for what seemed hours, but in reality it had only been a couple of minutes. Her sobs started to die down, and her tight grip on his shirt had loosened a bit. She pulled away a little, but not enough to break the embrace. She looked up at him with her red and puffy eyes that had yet to stop streaming with tears.

"Pl… please do… don't tell anyone," she was chocking on her own sobs. He cleaned one of her stray tears with his thumb. "Not Ollie… not Lois."

He nodded slightly

.

.

.

She had kept his secrets all those years ago. Today it was his turn to keep her secret.