Author's Note: I am SOOOOOOOOOO sorry for this long delay. Please forgive me and thank you guys so much for sticking with it. Finally camp is over and I'll be able to focus on this again :). Again, I really apologize, but hopefully you'll find this next chapter totally kickass. I read a lot of comments about how much Lana sucks, but don't fear too much...except for in this chapter. You've been warned! XOXO Love all my readers and reviewers, enjoy!

Lana frowned at her softly. "I'm here to visit Clark," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Chloe's insides stirred. Did she have no clue how much misery and hell she had unleashed with that damned tape a couple months ago? How could she just disappear for a long couple of months without a sign that she was even alive? She clenched her fists and slowly opened them, inhaling and exhaling softly to calm herself down.

"Lana, where have you been for almost 3 months? You've had us worried sick!" Chloe questioned her, trying to keep the anger out of her voice by adding the kind little sentence at the end.

It was as if Chloe was the voice for Clark, which was currently inactive right now. He could barely wrap his head around the current events. Lana. Was. Actually. Back.

Many nights he had spent tossing and turning, wondering if it was over for good. Every night grew longer as he spent hour after hour simply wondering and hoping if she was okay. He thought about going after her many times, but to where? Where could she even be? He cringed at the thought that she was not as safe with him constantly knowing where she was, and now she was here right in front of him.

He didn't even know what he felt. There was so much anger, relief, happiness, and confusion washing over him all at once he could barely move or speak. So he just watched the events unfolding in front of him as Chloe battled for him like a guardian angel, a real warrior, yet still trying to keep peace. Gratitude. That emotion, he realized, was washing over him, too.

Lana looked at Chloe as if she had no right to be asking these questions.

"Away...thinking things over. Can I please talk to Clark alone for a second," Lana told her with little kindness. Frankly, she was losing her patience. She was not here to see Chloe. Who was she to be jumping in for Clark when he could easily speak for himself?

Chloe paused, anger slowly swallowing up. She blinked and looked at Lana insistently to hold it back. "Lana, I think that anything you need to say can be said in front of me, too, considering I deserve answers just as much as Clark does."

That did it for Lana. "This doesn't concern you, Chloe, and I didn't drive all the way out from Metropolis just to argue with you."

"Oh, so you've been in Metropolis all this time," Chloe said, as if Lana was the sorriest, most pathetic thing on Earth.

Chloe was swallowed up in anger and before she had the chance to really tell Lana what was on her mind, Clark miraculously found his voice as the angry tones woke him up from his stupor.

"Why don't we all talk about it? Together. Everyone. In the living room," he said pleadingly, holding his hands up and out on either side of him, as if he was holding the two back from pouncing on each other.

Lana looked up at the ceiling for a second and licked her lips. "No Clark, I don't think thats such a good idea," she said blinking at him angrily, frustration clear in her voice. "Why don't we go talk in the living room while Chloe stays here like she should," she said angrily.

Chloe just about snapped. "Like I should? Like I should?" Chloe laughed a bit and took a step towards her. "Lana I don't think you understand the hell that you've caused over these months. I don't know what you're thinking of saying to Clark, but I assure you, it will involve me."

For a second, the room was quiet. For a second, no one spoke. And for a second, Lana Lang feared Chloe Sullivan. And it all evaporated.

"Chloe you have no business involving yourself in something between me and Clark! You're not part of this and you've never been...ever."

Chloe was taken aback by Lana. Something told her when Lana said 'ever', it didn't mean just this month. Was she bringing up the fact that she was never a part of them, never a part of everything they had?

Was she dangling the fact that she was always a third wheel in her face? Chloe had always felt that way sometimes, and perhaps Lana knew it too. But how could Lana ever admit it?

Clark had picked up on it, too, and for a moment, Chloe's strong, angry flame also burned inside him. Yet, Clark wasn't the type to get verbally angry as fast as Chloe did, so he took a deep breath to keep the fire down.

But he knew after this point in time, Chloe would always be on his side, a place where Lana could never go.

Always.

"Lana, maybe you really don't have to take this somewhere else," he said firmly, but still in a way that asked her for permission to discuss it with Chloe.

She laughed in disbelief. "Ar-are you kidding me," she cried. "Are you really going to just talk about all of our relationship problems for her to hear? You're not ashamed of that?"

The flame in Clark errupted. He felt like he was burning in the fire, his heart burning also. Ashamed? When was he ever ashamed to talk to Chloe about anything and everything?

"Chloe is my best friend and not once was I ever ashamed when I had to go to her just to hear her say its going to be okay. Not once was I ashamed to have her fill a place that you almost destroyed, Lana."

And all Chloe could do was smile, because she knew she had fell in love all over again.

"I go where this conversation goes, Lana," she said simply, looking her dead in the eye.

"There'll be no conversation," she declared icily. She turned to Clark, the one who had caused her so much drama and stress over the past years. The one who had her going crazy with the hold he had on her. The one who had never let her go, even when she left.

And she knew this was the time to cut the string. There'd be no coming back at this point.

"This is why I left you again, Clark. Not because of what I said on that tape but because you're too damn stubborn to ever see or hear what you really need to know. You have to have people constanly behind you or you fall apart- you do every time I tell you I need some space. And I can't be with someone who finally told me probably the biggest secret in the world, yet you can't even have a private conversation with me without having to have someone there with you to hold your hand. And being a clingy little baby- that's another thing." She walked to the door.

"Have fun with your sidekick," she muttered, and left, never looking back.

Releif. Happiness. Elation. It all washed over him before his heart broke in two. He just looked at Chloe. Just looked at her.

"She's really gone now," he said with a sad smile, his voice weak.

With just a look at him, Chloe's heart broke in two, too.

He looked away. "She's really gone now..."

In a flash, a gust of wind whooshed through the hall, a faint blur rushed through the front door, and before she realized what just happened, Clark was gone.

"Oh Clark..." Chloe whispered to the emptiness. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she swallowed back her emotions. "Oh Clark..."

She leaned against the wall and slid to the floor in a sad heap.

Why is it that every time Lana comes back from wherever the hell she ran away to, she always causes hell between everyone? Why?

It just wasn't fair...it just wasn't fair.

And for the first time in a long time, she cried.

Author's Note: A lot of you were worried about Lana ruining everything...well, there you go, haha. But not necessarily everything was ruined...Clark and Chloe are just...well you'll have to read the next chapter to find out. XOXO Love all my readers and ('specially) reviewers!