This one was a bit of a challenge. The first reason being that the my DVD was damaged and of course the only episode that won't play on that particular disk was this one. So I had to rely on episode synopsis and a few clips I found on youtube to refresh my memory. It was also challenging because Lois's role in this one is pretty pointless, and she's not that sympathetic of a character at the beginning. That being said, she did get hurt which is of course is an excellent way to get more Clois in. :) I hope you like this one. Clark's POV should be coming soon. Enjoy.

'Fragile' rewrite Lois POV

Why didn't people listen to her? She was usually right.

The social worker seemed to think she was either borderline abusive or an idiot, regardless, he should do them all a favor and maybe take a couple of seconds to hear her out about the girl.

Lois followed them out into the Kent's drive, pleading with the guy to not put Maddie in a car. She made an exasperated noise and silently cursed Clark for leaving her to deal with this mess. Whatever was up with the little girl was Smallville level weird, and things in this town didn't surprise her like they used to, but she was still a little girl and Lois had tried to remind herself of that after her screw up earlier.

"Seriously, for your own safety the girl can't be near glass." Lois said in one last attempt to get him to understand.

"I heard you the first time." he said dismissively, "Will you get her belongings please?"

Lois bit back about three different insults and turned towards the farmhouse. She was about twenty feet away when she heard the telltale sound of glass beginning to shake. "Oh God."

She made eye contact with Maddie, only briefly thinking that the girl looked confused and frightened, not upset. "Maddie get out of the car!" she yelled as she turned back to the house and began to run as fast as she could.

The blast from the car threw her another five feet and she landed hard. It took a moment for her head to clear. When she pushed herself up a bit she saw Maddie about to get out of the car but a man she had never seen before pushed her back in and ran around to the driver's seat, pealing out of the Kent's drive.

As Lois went to push herself up a sharp pain in her left shoulder made her gasp. The fiery heat was spreading and she could feel warm traces of blood making its way down her back. Looking over her shoulder all she could make out were multiple shards of glass imbedded in her upper back. Her jacket seemed to have given her some protection but not enough. She collapsed back down onto her chest, any movement making the pain more intense. Her head was swimming but she needed to get up. She had no idea if the social worker was alive or not, though by what she could see and the force of the blast she didn't know how he could be.

She pushed herself up again, using only her right arm and finally made it to her knees, black spots dancing in front of her. Lois clutched her left arm to her chest as she sat back on her heels for a moment, trying to clear her head and hoping she wouldn't lose consciousness. She took a few deep breaths as a wave of nausea passed over her. Lane's didn't puke.

She heard the sounds of wheels crunching on gravel but she concentrated on her breathing instead of looking up. The next thing she knew there was six foot three inches of hulking farm boy skidding to his knees in front of her. "Lois!" he said, a touch of panic in his voice. His arms were outstretched like he wanted to touch her but not wanting to hurt her at the same time.

Lois felt a surge of relief that Clark was here although she'd never admit it to him. She reached a hand out to rest on his. "I'm fine Smallville." and as if she could almost hear his eyebrows raise she added "Well, I'm not fine, but I'm better than that guy. Go check on him."

Clark hesitated "Go!" she commanded,

In just a moment he was back with her, his voice grave "He didn't make it." she shut her eyes briefly, knowing just how lucky she had been that she hadn't been any closer when the windows exploded. His hand was on her good arm now "Lois, I'm so sorry I left you with her, what happened."

She looked up to see his brows furrowed in worry and guilt "It's ok. No one knew that was going to happen, although I did warn him not to put her anywhere near glass, but does anyone listen to me? No. And look what happens."

She saw him smirk a little at her rant. "Where did she go?"

"There was another guy. After the car exploded he pushed her back in the car and took off in it." she paused, her own guilt rendering her mute for a moment.

"Hey." he said, giving her hand a squeeze "You said yourself, no one could have known."

She didn't answer , but gave him a small glare letting him know what she thought of having her own words used against her.

"Let's get you to the hospital." he said, moving to put a hand under her good arm to help her up.

"No. You need to call the cops or go after her. I can wait." she protested

"Lois. You've got shards of glass sticking out of your back. You're going to the hospital. I'll call the Sheriff on the way." he replied in a voice that said this time she wasn't going to get her way.

She mumbled insults under her breath before pushing herself to her feet, Clark's arms helping her up but a wave of dizziness hit her so strong when she was upright she would have gone down again if he hadn't caught her around the waist doing his best to not bump her bad arm.

"Lois!" he exclaimed moving to pick her up but she stopped him

"Chill, Smallville. I'm fine. Just give me a minute." hating that she had to clutch his arm to keep her balance.

Clark stood still as a rock but she could tell he was anxious.

As her head cleared she released him but noticed that he didn't let her go at all.

"Let's go." she said and headed for the truck, fighting with every step to appear that she was fine while trying to ignore the pain that threatened to drop her again.

Clark let her go but kept one hand on the small of her back and the other at her elbow just in case.

He helped her into the cab of the truck and raced to the other side.

The ride to the hospital was mostly silent. Lois had to sit facing the door in order to keep pressure off the glass and by the time Clark had finished filling the Sheriff's office in on what had happened they were almost there.

Clark pulled in at the emergency room entrance and was over to her side of the truck before she could reach for the handle.

The pain making her irritable, coupled with her guilt for letting Maddie be taken Lois was in no mood for his chivalry act. "I can open a door, Smallville." she ground out, sliding out of the cab and wincing as the landing jarred her injury.

"I'm just trying to help, Lois. It's what nice people do." his annoyance evident

Lois just glared at him, feeling an arm go around her waist again, wishing there was some way she could make it into the hospital on her own. The last thing she wanted right then was Clark being nice to her after she had lost the little girl he had trusted her with.

He eased her down into a chair to wait while he signed her in and got the necessary paperwork. Putting the clipboard in her lap he knelt down in front of her and rested his hands on her knees. "You sure you're going to be ok? I could call Chloe or maybe my mom."

"Smallville" she growled in warning

"Ok. You're fine. I got it. Most people are fine when they have five inches of glass sticking out of their back, don't know why I bothered to ask." he pushed himself to his feet "I'm going to head back to the farm and meet the Sheriff there. I'll be back by later to check up on you, ok?"

"Don't bother, Smallville, I'll be fine." she said, purposely looking down at the paperwork she needed to fill out.

"I know, but I'll still be back." was his smug reply and before she could say anything else he was gone.

"Ugh, obnoxious farm boy." she muttered under her breath before returning to the clipboard.

It took almost an hour for them to dig all the glass out and even with them numbing the area around the wounds first it still hurt like hell. Only the biggest cut needed stitches and the nurse had just finished bandaging her when Clark appeared in the doorway.

"Lois, are you ok?" he said, coming to her side quickly

She ignored his question, her thoughts while they had been patching her up had been on the colossal failure she had made in keeping Maddie safe. First Lucy, now this little girl, Lois had no business being caregiver for anything other than maybe a house plant.

"I've screwed up a lot in my life but this ranks up there. That little girl was on my watch." she said bitterly, trying to push herself to a sitting position but found it proved to be difficult with the pain in her shoulder a throbbing ache now.

Clark rushed forward and helped her up "I already told you, there's nothing you could have done, I should have never left you two alone."

"Who's kidding who Smallville, if you had been there you would have been shredded beef."

Clark just hung his head.

"Look Clark she's gonna be fine. Chloe called me, they put out an Amber Alert and every cop in the state is looking for Maddie." and she wondered when the conversation had turned from her feeling guilty to her trying to make him feel better.

"Did you get a good look at the guy?"

Lois just shook her head "Like I told the Sheriff, mid 30s, sandy blonde hair, good-looking in that psycho killer kind of way." reaching up to rub at her shoulder as an intense throb shot through it, the painkillers wearing off.

He nodded his head "I just don't understand who would want to kidnap Maddie."

"Considering her dangerous disposition I'm guessing somebody who's pretty desperate to be with her."

Just then a nurse came in to help her get dressed and put her arm in a sling. Clark blushed and stammered that he was going to check in with Chloe and he'd be back later to pick her up and take her home.

"Your boyfriend's cute." the nurse said conversationally as she helped Lois get her shirt on

Lois was taken aback by her comment. Smallville. Her boyfriend. The thought was so absurd it was laughable.

"Ha. As if. He's not my boyfriend. I'm not his type." she protested

"Oh, well I'm sorry, he just seemed so concerned when he brought you in and then he came back to check on you..."

"He's just a friend." Lois said "And a giant pain my ass. No way could that ever, possibly be an option." she threw in, almost nervously. Where had that come from she thought to herself, a simple 'no' would have bee sufficient.

The nurse just smiled at her as if she had a secret and Lois gave her a glare. "I've got it from here, thanks." and snatched the sling out of her hands.

By the time she waited for her discharge papers and for her prescriptions to be filled she was anxious to get out of there and find out what had happened.

Clark was waiting for her outside the building when she stepped out. "Let's go. I've got a couch and some legal narcotics with my name on them." she bit out as she breezed past him.

He said nothing but as he caught up with her he grabbed her bag out of her good hand. Her head whipped towards him but as she caught his eye the exclamation she was about to shout died on her lips. His unspoken words said 'Let me do this.' and for some reason she relented.

During the drive he filled her in, that the man who had taken Maddie was actually her dad and he could cause glass to break as well, that it was him and not Maddie that had blown out the car windows. Lois thought she saw his jaw clench a bit as he told her the last part but she didn't question him about it. She still felt guilty about what had happened and how she had treated Maddie. When they arrived she tried to convince him she didn't need any help getting up to the apartment but he wasn't having any of it.

She unlocked the door and he walked in behind her "Remember, the doctor's told you to take it easy so you might have to lay off the arm wrestling. He went to place her bag on the kitchen counter but she grabbed it away from him much the same way he had taken in from her. They were on her turf now.

"My arm doesn't even hurt anymore. What hurts is knowing how badly I treated that poor girl. I had no doubt she was a cold blooded killer." she said sitting dejectedly on the couch.

Clark didn't participate in her pity party or berate her for what had happened. "Just goes to show you people aren't always who you think they are." he said as he busied himself in the kitchen getting her a glass of water.

"I have to give you credit Smallville, who would have thought you'd be such a natural with kids." she said as she got settled on the couch, grateful that he wasn't blaming her for what had happened to Maddie.

"Maddie's pretty special." he said with a smile

"So, what happens to her now? It can't be easy finding a family thats willing to live without windows."

"Maddie's going to go live with her grandmother who couldn't be happier. She didn't even know she had a granddaughter until now."

"Wow. She must be pretty brave." she said, glad to hear Maddie would have someone to take care of her.

"She sounds pretty excited. Kinda like my parents when they adopted me." he couldn't keep his grin from growing, his happiness for Maddie evident.

"But they didn't have to worry about their house getting destroyed." she said pointedly

"Well, he had his moments." came an unexpected voice from the door and she looked up to see Martha Kent sticking her head in the door.

She walked across the room and handed Lois a file folder "Since you're going to be bed-ridden for a few days I brought you some stuff to read."

Lois took the folder automatically, not understanding what Mrs. K was talking about.

"Thank you." she said

"The Chief of Staff for a state senator needs to be fully informed of all sides of the issues." Martha said

She saw Clark's quizzical look and knew it matched hers. "Wait a minute, you want me to be your Chief of Staff?"

"Mom..." Clark said and got up to face his mother "Are you sure you don't want to think this through."

Lois felt a sting at his words, did he not think she was capable?

But Martha came to her defense "If it weren't for Lois Lane you father would have never been elected and I wouldn't be in office. Besides, Lois, it's pretty clear you destiny lies far beyond a cappuccino maker." she said with a smile.

Lois was shocked but a warm feeling of pride filled her chest. She had liked working on Mr. Kent's campaign, she was good at it and she knew it. It would be an honor to serve as Martha's Chief of Staff.

"What do you think?" the senator asked

Lois paused for a long minute, knowing she was doing the right thing but wondering how this could change her life. "I'm in." she said with a large smile.

"I'm glad to hear it." Martha said, she bent down and put a motherly hand on Lois's cheek. "Get better soon dear. I'll call you tomorrow to work out the details but right now I've got to run."

Martha was almost out the door when she turned back and addressed her son "Take good care of my Chief of Staff, Clark."

Clark gave his mom a wave "No worries, Mom."

When he turned back Lois locked her gaze with his "Are you sure you don't want to think this through." she quoted back at him, letting him know in no uncertain terms that she wasn't pleased.

Clark ran a nervous hand over the back of his neck. "Now, Lois..." he began "I'm sorry, it just took me by surprise. Mom hadn't mentioned it to me yet."

She didn't say anything, just kept her steely eyes on him, daring him to continue.

"But she's right, Dad would have never been elected without you." his voice had softened as he spoke about his father and he came back to sit on the table across from her. "I think you'll do a great job." his hand coming out to cover the one that wasn't in a sling

At the mention of Mr. Kent she dropped her gaze and took a deep breath. "Thanks." she said softly. Clark was probably the only one who knew how much his dad had meant to her.

Her eyes were moist when she looked back up and she needed to get this conversation back to safe ground. "You know what this means, Smallville." she said with a hint of sarcasm.

"What?" he questioned,picking up on her playful tone.

"I'm going to be around a lot more."

Clark just dropped his head and she heard him mutter "What was my mother thinking."

"Well, someone has to keep you in line." she said, smugly

"And I suppose that someone has to be you." he answered

"Yup. And don't you forget it." she replied with a smile.

"As if you would let me." and she was rewarded with the Clark Kent million watt smile.

Sighing in contentment, she settled herself back on the couch and went to open the folder. Whatever was on her horizon she knew it was guaranteed to be interesting.