The Beginning in the End
Chapter 3
Lois ran into the building only stopping briefly after the automatic doors opened in front of her and she was through them to put on her other shoe. Only a few hours ago she had gotten off a plane and had had only one goal since then which was to reach the hospital as soon as possible.
She flipped her brunette hair out of her eyes as she looked up towards the elevators. Her heart sped up as she noticed that the doors of one were about to close and she saw the arrows indicating it was on its way up.
"Hold the elevator!" She yelled out as she sprinted toward the elevator. "Wait!"
A hand shot the doors stopping them from shutting. Relief flew through her whole body as she reached the elevator finally.
And she was even more relieved to find Clark sticking his head out from the elevator. "Lois?"
She beamed at him and catapulted into his arms. He willingly caught her. The comfort and warmth she found in Clark spread through her body as she closed her eyes. Lois felt the elevator lurch into action as it took them up the building.
And thankfully, they were the only two in the elevator.
"Oh, Clark, you have no idea how good it is to see you." Lois said as she wrapped her arms around him and the doors closed behind them.
"Tell me about it." Clark replied. "It's been an awful couple of days."
Lois enjoyed the safety of his embrace for a few more seconds before she leaned back as the elevator started to rise up.
The lines in his face relayed the stress Clark had been under and her heart clenched in her throat with the anxiety that began to build in her system. It had been hard to hear all of the information second hand from Clark about what had happened to Tess.
"So how's she doing?" Lois asked and her eyes searched his frantically for information while he ran one hand through his hair.
He kept his arms around her waist and held her tightly. "She's doing fine. When Oliver found her she was bleeding profusely. Someone stabbed her and she lost a tremendous amount of blood. I don't think that she would have survived much longer if he had not found her and called for me. I don't even think she had enough time for an ambulance."
Lois shook her head. "Oh my god, but you got to her in time. What did the doctors say when you brought her in?"
Clark flashed her half of a smile. "Well, that's the interesting part of this story… I had to bring her to the hospital while I was still dressed in my suit so…"
"Look, someone has to keep tabs on you because goodness knows the best lies you can come up with to excuse your frequent absences is that you had to return your movie rentals. So you just leave your sudden appearance to me and I will come up with something to knock the socks of this city. But back to little miss spitfire."
Clark nodded. "The doctors worked on her for a while, seven hours, but they are confident that she's going to be okay. She has been awake all morning but wouldn't tell us anything until you got here. We don't know who did this or where she was when she went missing the day of our wedding… that's another thing we need to talk about."
Lois nodded and released herself from his grip. The elevator dinged indicating they had reached their floor. She turned around but held Clark's hand in hers as the doors opened. "I know, we should already be Mrs. and Mr. but instead we are stuck saving the world. Once everything settles back down we can strut down the aisle once more and say I do. Sound good?"
Clark smiled at her as they began to make their way down the hallway. "It sounds perfect."
Only a few moments later they were opening the door to Tess' room. The couple stopped short as Oliver sat next to her bed with his head on the mattress and his eyes shut. Tess was wide awake and looking out the window.
She turned her head slowly toward the door. Lois could see the pain in her friend's every movement. Tess tried to crack a smile but it was stiff. Her hair was matted and dull, her skin was pale, and she was bandaged around her middle as well as hooked up to multiple machines.
But what amazed Lois was the ease with which Tess was handling the sleeping Oliver. She was obviously comfortable with him being there. She wanted to chalk it up to their friendship but something inside her was telling her differently.
Before Lois had time to analyze it any further, Clark cleared his throat so loudly it caused Oliver to lurch into alertness.
"Huh? What?" He groaned out as he fell back into the chair he was sitting in. Oliver looked to the door.
Lois saw slow recognition come across his face and she smiled. "So… taking a little cat nap? I think that between you and Tess, she is the only person that deserves the rest. Why don't you just throw Tess out of the bed? Sleeping is so much better when your covered up, you big baby."
Oliver snorted. "Hello to you, too, Lois."
Lois and Clark walked into the room further. Clark shut the door behind them as Lois made her way to the side of the bed opposite Oliver and sat down in another chair. She looked at Tess and smiled the best she could.
"How are you doing?"
Tess shrugged but Lois could see she immediately regretted the decision. She winced in pain and hissed in a quick breath.
"Are you okay?"
"What's wrong?"
Oliver and Lois both asked their respective questions at the same time. They looked at each briefly in annoyance but turned their attention back to the patient as she answered them both at the same time as well.
"Yes, I am okay and there is nothing wrong. I just shouldn't be moving as quickly as I am used to."
Oliver sprang to his feet and began to adjust the pillows behind her. "Do you need the nurse or the doctor?"
Tess said softly. "No. I am fine."
Lois watched as Oliver continued to fuss with Tess' pillows and in his sincere attempt to help Tess in her recovery process, she could see on Tess' face that he was not helping at all. Tess cringed as he kept on fluffing pillows until Lois rolled her eyes and snapped.
"Okay, that's it. Oliver, would you please stop fluffing her pillows?" Lois looked at him sternly and he backed away suddenly and sheepishly.
He blushed. "Oh, I am sorry."
Oliver sat down in his chair as Clark stepped up to the end of the bed and put his arms over his chest. Lois could see the warm look in his eyes but knew that he was ready to get down to business now that they were all gathered in the same place.
And that is exactly what Clark had in mind. "Okay, so… can you tell us now what happened to you, Tess?"
Tess looked each of her friends in the eye as she nodded her head.
The anticipation of each person seemed to fill the room with nervousness and anxiety as all eyes were on the young redheaded lady that had been through as much hell as any of them had in the last few days. While they had all been fighting for the world, she had been fighting for her life and everyone was happy that there had been success all the way around.
But now they were going to find out exactly what had happened to Tess that had resulted with her lying in this bed in front of them. She took a deep breath and then said…
"Lex stabbed me."
End of Chapter 3.
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