Author's Note: I have to make this quick, because I'm in a hurry, but I just want to say thanks to everyone for all the wonderful support and reviews from everyone here. You guys have been amazing, and I ran out of time to reply to reviews like I planned to, so I want to say thanks; you guys were amazing.

So here's the final chapter. I hope you like it, (I also hope it turned out okay - I had to write it all in four hours :S) and I can't wait to write more fics after this.

Doomsday airs tonight!!!

AC made a face at him, and Dinah interrupted with, "So we have our plan of action. What exactly are we waiting for?"

Oliver glanced at Clark. "Nothing, I hope."

Clark shook his head, standing tall and firm. He looked around at his friends, watching him expectantly, and at Lois, standing by his side. "No. Let's end this."

There was a flurry of activity as everyone moved to get their gear together. Lois' eyes sparked with interest, but Clark tugged gently on her arm, pulling her into the seclusion of a hallway.

She looked up at him with a frown. "What is it, Smallville?"

Clark's hands reached down to clasp hers. "Look, I know that this didn't really work out very well last time, but I need you to stay here, okay?" Before she could interrupt, he continued urgently. "Lois there's no way that I can go and fight this thing if I'm worried about your safety. Please. It's different this time, I promise. See this?" He held up a large crystal for her to see. "All we need to do is distract it until I can get close enough to send it away."

Lois stared at the crystal in silence. It wasn't that she didn't trust him; it was just that she couldn't stand the thought of Clark going head to head with Doomsday again. Knowingly letting him go into such danger went against the grain. The thought of it was as disturbing as the thought of willingly throwing puppies onto the freeway.

But when she looked at his face, determined and brave, she already knew that she would do as he asked this time. If her staying was what he needed, then she would do it. This, she realized with little surprise, was not a new development, and it went both ways. This was just how they had been for a while now. Whether what was needed was someone to run in after them when they got into trouble, or someone to talk to when things got rough, the other would be there without question. She sort of doubted that there was much she wouldn't do for Clark Kent. And by the burning look in his eyes, she got the feeling that that sentiment was very much mutual.

"Lois?" his quiet voice interrupted her thoughts. "Will you –?"

She cut him off suddenly by reaching up and pulling his face down to hers, smothering his words with her mouth. Rapidly recovering from his surprise, his arms wound around her, pulling her closer against him. This kiss reminded her of the one they had shared before his first battle with Doomsday; it was demanding and urgent like that had been, neither wanting to let go for fear of what would happen if they did. But there was a difference this time; there was even more between them than there had been two days ago. Maybe it was the result of the past twenty four hours – not even that much, she realized with a jolt; he hadn't even been back for a day – that had intensified the feelings between them. She had known she loved him before all of this, and now he knew too. And he loved her. She thought back to the earlier morning, laying with him in bed, and she wondered if that was how things could be after all this was over. Simple. Easy. Just the two of them, happy.

When she broke away for air, she looked him in the eye and said softly, "Just make sure you come home, Smallville."

Clark attempted to find his voice enough to tell her that he had no problem following that order, but couldn't seem to get any words out. Lois' kisses always seemed to be able to render him breathless; even the ones initiated by Red K did that to him.

He simply smiled instead. "So you'll stay?"

Although he could tell the thought of staying behind still bothered her, she nodded. "I'll stay."

"Boy Scout! Let's go!" Oliver called from the living room.

Lois' lips twitched into a smile. "Boy Scout? That's your codename? Talk about hitting the nail in the head with that one."

Clark rolled his eyes at her as they rounded the corner. Oliver was the only one left in the doorway. He looked up as they walked in. Noticing Lois' reluctant expression, he gave her a smile. "We'll be back soon, Lois."

And then they were gone.

"You're sure it's here?" Victor asked as they scanned the quiet wooded area around them. "Seems kind of tame for a monster bent on human carnage."

"It should be here," Oliver answered. He held up a small electronic device and studied it carefully. "The military is searching for this thing too, you know. They tracked reports to this general location."

"Why would it come here, though?" Dinah asked quietly, her eyes searching the trees.

"Seclusion? The darkness? It has a thing for bunnies? Does it matter?" AC asked, shifting slightly in his spot. "It won't stay here for long, will it? It's going to end up moving onto another city if we don't stop it now."

Oliver turned to Clark, a frown playing at the edge of his lips. "You're being awfully quiet, Boy Scout."

"Just listening," Clark said distractedly as he sorted through the cacophony of sounds the woods and its creatures made. Oliver nodded in understanding and turned back to the rest.

"Just keep in mind that we need to distract it long enough for Clark to beam him up to wherever the hell he's sending it to."

"The Phantom Zone," Clark elaborated, still watching the woods. He frowned; the surrounding area was suddenly very quiet.

"So, say this –"

"Um, guys?" Bart said quietly, cutting off Victor mid speech. "I'm no woodsman, but I'd be willing to bet that that is no squirrel."

The five other heads swiveled in the direction of Bart's gaze. A pair of luminous, crimson red eyes shone out of the dark, almost like an overgrown cat out of hell, some fifty feet away. Nobody moved.

Until it did.

There was a sudden groaning and snapping noise as trees suddenly went flying in every direction, their towering forms toppling over easier than a house of cards on a windy day as Doomsday streaked out of the darkness. Clark knew the plan was for him to hang back as much as possible until he had a clear go at it, but the creature was coming at them too quickly, heading towards the spot where Oliver and AC stood in plain sight. So he shot forward towards it, charging it down with as much strength as he could put into the hit. To Clark's relief, Doomsday reeled backwards and struck another tree with a snarl. It spun around, searching for him.

The tree tipped, and Bart yanked Dinah out of the way before she could be crushed. Pulling away from his grasp, Dinah planted her feet firmly on the ground, determined to distract its attention from Clark. She opened her mouth.

Clark heard the others gasp as the shrill scream drove into their eardrums like piercing needles. His hands scrabbled up to cover his ears, but he kept his eyes on Doomsday. It shrieked loudly, whether in pain or anger he wasn't sure, responding with its own deafening roar. It made a move towards her, deterred only when Oliver appeared on its right, firing off a few arrows into its face. Oliver's arrows, usually so efficient, were as useless as they had been days before. Doomsday swatted them aside with an almost lazy swipe of the hand. But the distraction was enough so that Victor could knock into it, enraging it further…

Clark gripped the crystal tightly in his hand, preparing to make his move. He just needed them to move so he could get closer, just enough to send him away for good.

Bart streaked towards the fray, at the same time, it seemed, that Doomsday decided it had had enough. Barreling past the others, it knocked Bart into the woods and sped off after him.

Bart cried out, and Clark was in the woods faster than he had a chance to form an updated plan of attack. No one, he had vowed, no one was going to get hurt by this thing again. He struck Doomsday from behind, sending them both crashing into an outcropping of rocks. The majority of the rocks shattered to dust on impact. With a roar, its bony hand stuck his cheek, sending shockwaves of pain throughout Clark's body. He knocked it down again, gripping his shoulders and knocked it against the ground, creating a crater. Clark spit out some blood.

Please be right, Jor-El, he thought as he struggled to keep the creature still. Please let this work.

But as the worries about the blind faith he had placed in his birth father started to arise in his mind, the crystal started to glow in his hand. Doomsday bucked again, attempting to throw Clark off. But Clark held tight, able to do so from an increase in strength or just plain determination he didn't know. Clark slammed the crystal down against Doomsday's chest, trying to keep it there as long as possible until it sent him away. He had to let go; he had to let go at just the right moment so that he wasn't taken too. He remembered Lois accidently tagging along with him once by merely touching his wrist. It would be too easy to get sucked in to the Phantom Zone too.

"Just make sure you come home, Smallville."

And he would, he decided. That's all he wanted. After all this was over, he would go to the only place that ever really felt like home to him now:

Wherever Lois was. She was home.

The crystal flared brightly in his hand, and Clark prepared to let go. Almost uncontrollably, his eyes flicked up to the red ones that stared back at him. There was no trace of Davis Bloome left in them. There wasn't anything, nothing that represented or reminded him of the planet and the people he loved so much. There was nothing human about those eyes. They were empty. Doomsday had become the blank killing machine that it was intended to be. It didn't belong on earth. And that final look cemented his resolve. He pushed the crystal against it one last time and then leapt away.

Bright light flooded the area, and Doomsday roared out again, shaking the trees nearby. Then as quickly as it had come, the light faded, receding back to a single point. The roars faded away to an echo. Moving cautiously, Clark stepped forward.

The crater where Doomsday had lay was empty. It was gone.

A smile spread across Clark's face, and he wiped a smear of blood of his face. They had done it; Doomsday was gone.

A moan from the woods caught Clark's attention suddenly, and he sped back into the woods.

"Bart? Bart!" he yelled, his eyes searching the ground for his friend.

"Ugh. Right here."

Clark turned around. Bart was sitting half in half out of a bush, his costume torn slightly and twigs stuck in his hair.

"Are you okay?" Clark asked urgently, pulling Bart out of the tangled plant.

Bart brushed himself off and gave Clark a feigned reproachful look before he smiled a slightly bloody smile. "What took you so long, Stretch? That big head of yours weighing you down?"

Clark smiled back. "I save you and that's the thanks I get?"

"Were you expecting a kiss?"

"Keep it in your pants, Impulse," Oliver said, emerging from the trees with the others in tow. He looked at Clark. "It's gone?"

Clark nodded. "It's gone."

Oliver grinned. "Then let's get out of here."

"Great!" Bart said enthusiastically. "I'm thinking Arby's."

"Bart, dude, you still owe me a burrito," AC pointed out.

"And what did I tell you earlier?"

"That I needed to wear tighter jeans to make that happen."

"You can borrow some of mine," Dinah said with a smirk. "I'll even throw in some fishnets."

"I'm so hungry that I'd actually consider that."

"Wow, Fishstick," Victor grinned, "I didn't know you swung that way."

"Feel like going to celebrate, Clark?" Oliver asked over the teasing voices of the others.

"Actually," Clark smiled softly, his mind far away, "I think I'm just going to go home."

Clark said a quick goodbye before speeding off back towards Metropolis. Oliver held back a laugh at Clark's eager retreat. He recognized that look.

Yep, Lois Lane could do that to you.

Over the next few days, the various JLA members returned back to their lives, slowly leaving Oliver's apartment to rejoin the world.

Dinah and Victor were the first to leave, waiting only a few hours after Doomsday had been sent away before making their departure. Dinah had some business to take care of elsewhere, and Victor was going somewhere in Europe on a job from Oliver.

AC left the next morning, after catching up with Lois. He was currently living in the Miami area, it turned out, and was quite eager to get her to visit, much to Clark's chagrin.

"You should see the coastal area," he told her. "It's gorgeous. Perfect beaches."

"Last time you saw me I was a lowly muffin peddler," Lois pointed out. "Nowadays I can't exactly up and leave my job."

Thank God, Clark thought, glaring at AC. He wondered if AC really was that anxious to get Lois to Miami or if he was purposely taunting Clark for kicks. He figured it was the latter.

"Maybe you should join us then Lois," AC suggested with a grin. "Lot more free time and flexibility. Plus, there's not a good guy to girl ratio as it is."

"Thanks but no thanks," she said with a laugh. "The last time I wore tight leather and kicked ass things got a little out of hand."

"It's a long story," Clark said in response to AC's confused expression.

"I like long stories," Bart asserted hopefully, his eyes lighting at the mention of tight leather and Lois. The look Clark gave him was enough to shut him up, unless he wanted to feel the searing effects of heat vision.

Bar t left almost a few hours after AC made his departure. Although Clark liked having Bart around, it was almost a relief when the younger guy left, having spent the last few hours entertaining Lois with stories of his exploits in Mexico earlier that year while Oliver snickered in the corner at Clark's sullen expression.

Picking up his bag at the door, Bart grinned and clapped Clark on the shoulder. "Make sure you give me a call or drop by sometime. It's been too long since we've really hung out."

Clark smiled back and assured him he would. Bart then turned to Lois, his grin widening even more.

"And you, beautiful," he said flirtatiously, "should definitely call me."

Clark's expression darkened and he made a slight move towards Bart. Lois felt a slight, fleeting pressure against her arm, and then Bart was gone with a parting laugh, the door slamming behind him. Clark threw an annoyed look at the door before directing his gaze at her arm. Lois looked down and laughed.

Bart's name and number were scrawled in messy blue print across her arm, complete with a big misshapen heart.

Oliver passed through the room, and laughed when he saw Bart's parting gift. "I see Bart's taken a liking to you, Lois."

"I liked him," she agreed with a grin, prodding her inked arm. Clark scowled further, and she snorted at his expression. She leaned up and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Relax, Smallville. There's someone I like a whole lot more."

Clark's smile was blinding. "Oh yeah?"

"Yes," she said feigning seriousness and attempting to keep a straight face. "AC."

Clark growled. "Oh yeah? Well I'd like to see AC do this."

Clark swept her up into his arms suddenly and sped out of Oliver's apartment, Lois laughing against his chest the whole way.

One day Later.

"There you are."

Lois turned as Clark walked off the elevator and made his way to their joined desks to sit down across from her. It had been only a day since he had sent Doomsday away, and she was still attempting to regain some sense of normalcy. The two of them had returned to work today, for the first time since the attack.

He leaned back in the chair and smiled brightly. "I came by earlier, but you weren't here."

She shrugged. "I was visiting Chloe."

Clark nodded, understanding. He hadn't known originally just how much she was dealing with when he had came back, coping both with his 'death' and Chloe's hospitalization. And in her shock over Clark's return, Lois had momentarily forgotten all else until she had switched her cell phone back on the next day to find a frantic phone call from Jimmy, the only words comprehendible in the whole message being "Chloe", "critical", and "hurry". Lois had gotten Clark to speed her to the hospital immediately.

"She's around here somewhere," Lois had muttered tersely as she sped down the hall, Clark hot on her heels. She had jumped back in shock when she nearly plowed Jimmy down as he rounded the corner.

"Lois!" Jimmy had cried. "I was starting to wonder if you fell off the face of the earth. You too, CK. Where've you been?"

"Never mind that! What happened? Is Chloe okay? Jimmy, where is she?" Lois' hands had made their way to the collar of Jimmy's shirt, shaking him slightly. Jimmy looked positively alarmed.

"What are you –?"

"The message! The phone message! You called and said –"

"Oh – oh," he realized. "Lois, that message is from yesterday."

"I know what day it's from!" Another violent shake. Out of the corner of her eye, she had seen Clark edge closer, fearful for Jimmy's safety, no doubt.

"Lois, Chloe's fine! There was a moment yesterday when things didn't look good, but they managed to stabilize her. The doctor said it's going to take some time, but she'll make a full recovery." Jimmy smiled at her widely, clearly waiting for her to do the same. His smile faded when he noticed the look of murderous rage on her face. "L-Lois?"

"You didn't think that maybe, just maybe," Lois' voice carried a quiet, deadly tone, "you should have left a second message telling me that?!"

"Well –" Jimmy took a step backwards.

With an enraged cry, she lurched forward, stopped only by Clark's arms suddenly fastened securely around her waist, holding her back.

"Olsen, you better be glad you're already in a hospital, because in about two seconds –"

"She's awake!" Jimmy said quickly. "She's been asking for you. You can go visit her now, if you want."

The fight left her immediately, and she smoothed her shirt. "Why didn't you say so?"

Pulling out of Clark's reach, she marched past the two men and down the hall into her cousin's room. She paused at the door and looked back at Jimmy. "This," she said, gesturing between them with narrowed eyes, "isn't over, Jimbo."

Jimmy looked faint.

He gave a shaky laugh as Lois disappeared from sight, pulling a hand through his hair. "Hell of a week, huh CK?"

Clark gave his friend a small smile. "You have no idea, Jimmy."

"Speaking of Chloe," Lois said slowly. She was hoping to breech the subject of Clark's situation with his best friend delicately. Clark had been extremely uncomfortable around her cousin at the hospital, only coming in the room for a few minutes before ducking away. Chloe was no different; she seemed to be both torn about the distant tension and awkward about the situation herself. "Have either of you two had the chance to really talk yet?"

Clark was silent for a moment. "I stopped by the hospital to see her this morning."

"And things between you two are…?"

Clark regarded her quietly. She wasn't prying, he knew; she was genuinely curious about how things were now between both him and Chloe. It pained him a bit to admit that he didn't really have a straight answer yet.

"Truthfully," he sighed, "I don't know. We talked about it; what she did with Davis and everything, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Chloe's been my best friend since the eighth grade and I don't want to lose that friendship, but right now… I can't help but think that maybe if I hadn't –"

"Smallville, what happened with Chloe and Davis isn't your fault," she cut him off. When Clark looked skeptical, she sighed and plowed on, deciding to cut any brooding off at the source. "Look, Chloe and Davis met before you even knew he existed. And I know that you'll argue that if you weren't here he wouldn't be either, but I don't think that that matters." She paused for a minute. "Chloe is my cousin, and I love her, but she did make her own decisions. She did what she did because she chose to do so. Maybe what she did was wrong, or maybe she could have done things differently, but the bottom line is that Chloe made her choices. And that doesn't make it your fault. We always have a choice. Just like it's your choice about whether or not you're going to forgive her."

"I do want to forgive her," he admitted. "But even if I do, I think it will be a while before I can trust her again completely."

"I don't think that will be a problem," Lois smiled, taking a sip of her coffee. "I'm willing to bet that Chloe would be more than happy to work up to that trust again."

Clark smiled at the woman across from her. "Thank you, Lois. I needed to hear that."

"One save at a time," she winked.

A sudden flash alerted them to another presence. Jimmy stood by their desks, his camera in hand.

Lois scowled as she blinked away spots. "You're already on my hit list for that stunt you pulled with the phone messages. You really think blinding me is going to get yourself back into my good graces?"

"I just thought I'd let you know that I'm officially reinstated as a Daily Planet photographer," Jimmy said proudly. "You were the one encouraging me to come back, after all."

"Congratulations, Jimmy," Clark said warmly.

"Right. So no more dramatic exits, okay?" Lois said seriously. "Or bartending stints. The Daily Planet is where you belong."

Jimmy smiled. "I had no idea you were so sentimental, Lois."

"Sentimental? About you?" Lois laughed. "Please, Olsen; I just keep you around because I'm going to need someone to snap the photo when I win my Pulitzer." Her eyes drifted off to a coworker waving her over. "Hold on, I'll be right back."

Jimmy grinned. "She can say what she wants; I still think she's sentimental."

Clark watched her leave before turning back to Jimmy. "So things are looking up again, Jimmy?" When Jimmy simply nodded, Clark began awkwardly, "Look Jimmy, I um, I heard about the painkillers, and I just wanted to make sure–"

"Oh." Jimmy shook his head, looking faintly ashamed. "There's no need to worry about that anymore CK, I'm clean."

"That's good to hear," Clark said sincerely. And it was: he felt slightly guilty for the lack of attention Jimmy had received in the wake of his and Chloe's divorce.

"Yeah, I stopped with a little help from Oliver. And then Lois found out recently, and trust me, I'm done for good. Scariest two hours of my life." When Clark looked curious, Jimmy elaborated. "Let's just say that if all junkies went to see Lois Lane about their problems, Metropolis' drug dealers would be out of a job."

Clark still looked slightly confused, but Jimmy held up his camera and said, "I should go: I'm supposed to be shooting the opening of some new environment-friendly power plant in an hour. I'll talk to you later."

Jimmy made his way through the desks towards the doors, passing Lois on her way back to her seat.

"I'm glad he's back," Clark said as Lois sat back down. "Although I'm surprised he managed to convince Tess to give him his job back."

"Actually, our resident ice queen Tess Mercer isn't even our editor anymore. I just heard; apparently she's giving up her power in the Daily Planet to spend more time working on advancing Luthorcorp."

"Who's editor, then?" Clark frowned.

"I don't know. Apparently we're getting someone new. I only caught parts of the conversation. Parker? Perry? Something like that. We'll find out tomorrow anyway," Lois shrugged. She looked up at Clark's pensive face and snorted. "Please don't tell me you're actually disappointed that she's gone."

"Not really," he said dryly. "Tess Mercer and I didn't exactly see eye to eye. Besides, she had some weird ideas about me."

She raised an eyebrow. "Like?"

Answering truthfully, he said dryly, "Long story short, she seemed to think that I was the alien version of the second coming."

Lois stared at him for a minute, trying to gage whether or not he was joking. Even when she realized he wasn't, she burst out laughing.

"I knew she had some sort of weird worshiping thing going on," she said between laughs, "but I thought she had the hots for you. I didn't think she worship worshiped you."

"It's not funny," he protested. But he was smiling too, happy to see her laughing.

"Of course it is! She probably had an alter in her penthouse dedicated to you, complete with one of your flannel shirts as the centerpiece!" Once her laughter subsided, Lois leaned back in her chair and said, "At least now everything can start going back to normal."

Clark raised an eyebrow. "You want everything to go back to normal?"

Lois looked surprised. "You don't?"

Clark looked down to where his hand had moved to cover hers, his thumb stroking the back of her hand lightly. "Not exactly."

Lois smiled, looking pleased.

"So Lois, I was wondering," Clark said slowly. "Do you think maybe you'd want to go to dinner with me after work?"

"First you kiss me, then you tell me you love me, then you die, then you come back, kiss me again, tell me you love me again, and then you ask me out?" Lois raised an eyebrow. "Got the steps a bit backwards, don't you Smallville?"

"Better late than never," he grinned. "Besides, when have you and I ever done anything traditionally?"

She pursed her lips. "True."

She stood up and made her way towards the elevator. He followed her as she went. "Where are you going?"

"I'm covering the reconstruction efforts downtown," she answered, stepping into the elevator. Clark reached out to stop the doors from closing.

"So will you go to dinner with me?" he asked hopefully.

Lois regarded him with a slight smile. "Are you going to show up this time?"

"Lois!" he exclaimed, embarrassed. His voice softened. "Of course I will."

"Just checking Smallville."

"So, you'll come?"

Lois reached forward and pulled him into the elevator, out of view from their coworkers. She pulled him down for a slow, sensual kiss, pulling on his bottom lip slightly and making him groan as she pulled away. She smiled at his goofy, dazed expression.

"Why not?" she winked, before sending him back out of the elevator.

Clark grinned widely at her before the doors closed. "I'll see you later, Lois."

"See you around, Smallville." She smiled as the doors closed. And the best part was this time, she knew she really would. And that was good enough for her.

I wouldn't mind if this is how they kicked off Season 9, in my own opinion :)

So I'd like to state that I had the PZ crystal planned way before "Injustice" aired (where apparently they destroyed Clark's (?)), so I'm still going to go with it, rather than spend days trying to figure out a new ending. Besides, Clark got this one from the Fortress, not his barn, so I guess it still works. Plust the PZ leaves it open for Dooms to return when Clark becomes Superman. So that's all I've got for now guys. Please let me now what you think, whether it's about the last chapter, or the story in general. :)

Songs Used:

More Time - Needtobreath

What About Now - Chris Daughtry

Sweet and Low - Augustana

We Could Be Heroes - The Wall flowers (-- Totally corny sounding, I know, but if fics had end credits, I would so play that song for this one.)

Reviews are loved! Hope you enjoy the finale!