Oh my god! I'm sooo sooo very sorry about my update. College can be very demanding, but anyway; here I am again. Hope you like it and forgive the long wait. Thanks!
** HELP **
"Chloe...you're okay, right? say something please" Lois caught her breath as she decided not to drink her already cold coffee. They were in the Talon's apartment.
"Lois, what can I say?" Chloe sighed as she threw her cousin a scrutinizing glance.
"I don't know, tell me I'm crazy for coming back to Smallville, I don't know...just say something!"
"Well, now I understand your reasons for being here...but...what will you do?"
"Chloe, you could just...pretend for a moment that you are supporting me, please!"
"Ok, ok...sorry...is just that I can't believe that you know Jor-el"
"Our little reunion was accidental" Lois said, showing for the second time the kryptonian symbol in her back, to Chloe.
"Did he give you an expiring date?"
"No, should I start worrying about that?"
"Well, in my experience...if Jor-El doesn't get what he proposed...he has other methods to enforce his will." Lois was terrified by what was said by Chloe. What kind of people she had gone into? She began to hyperventilate...something rarely seen in Lois Lane.
"Lois. Lois!" Chloe took her by the shoulders and forced Lois to see her.
"Just breathe...breathe..." ordered the blonde at her panicked cousin.
"Yeah...I'm ok...great...super"
"Only to set the record straight...how much do you know about Clark?
"Everything...his parents, his abilities...that he's not from around here" Lois again took a sip of coffee, and made a face...ughh...very, very cold...
"That's all you need to know for now" Lois raised an eyebrow. If Chloe ventured to speak of the types of kryptonite, she would need to go back to that chaotic Valentine's Day...better not to go there yet...
"Chloe...could we go back to the main problem...?" Lois sank into the chair. She stared at Chloe who stood in the kitchen.
"Alright...did you already talk to Clark about it?"
"Chloe...what part of 'make Kal-el accept and fulfill his destiny', you didn't understand?"
"Sorry..."
"No...I'm the one who's sorry...I just...I shouldn't" Lois massaged her temples in frustration.
"So...Then you have to make Clark, Kal-el, -or whatever his name is- fulfill his destiny"
"Yes"
"And...how did you feel when you saw him after so long?" Chloe asked excitedly. Lois growled annoyed.
"Chloeee..." warning tone from Lois.
"Loiiiiis..." Chloe followed her cousin. Lois gave her a wry smile.
"I had planned never to return to Smallville, Chloe. How do you think I feel with all this?" Chloe could see the words imbued with pain that her cousin let out, when her walls started to fall little by little.
"You hate this, don't you?" Asked the blonde, not waiting for an answer. Hate, maybe the situation...but you can't hate somebody you love, right? Lois was suspended in thought. As lost in space.
"Lois..."
"Yeah?" Chloe's silent question reflected in her eyes, and Lois didn't know how to escape from the truth...
"You still have feelings for Clark?"
"N-no..." Lois Lane is a liar, but she knows she's a great actress. Chloe knows that the answer it's not true...Lane is in doubt, and she proves it with her little assertiveness..."Honestly, Chloe? I don't know anymore"
"Wow...who are you and what did you do with my cousin Lois?" Chloe asked, amused.
"Chloe" Lane again warned Sullivan to leave the issue aside. Chloe decided to tackle the problem of the intricate feelings that Lane had, before continuing with the 'other' problems. Lois suddenly stood up and made a move to go away.
"Lois, I know you'll want to kill me for telling you this, but I think you need to talk to Clark, once and for all..."
"No, I don't..."
"Ohh, yes you do"
"No I don't, Chloe"
"Well...then if you don't want to talk to him, you're going to talk to me. Stop running."
"Chloe"
"Don't you dare to use that aggressive tone with me. And don't ever think about throwing this conversation away...You need to know how do you feel"
"Okay...do you want to talk? then let's talk!" Lois sat back in her chair and folded her arms.
"That's it! That's the Lois Lane I know!" Chloe sat opposite her on the carpet.
"Chloe...!"
"Let's start...first question: What happened between you and Clark after you helped Lana with her problem?" Lois moved uneasily in her place, and pressed her hands on the edge of the chair.
"He quit his job in the Planet to spend more time with Lana...and I finally moved to Metropolis" Lois snapped irritably. Chloe felt the air in the room was heavy.
"And after that, you never saw him again?"
"No..."
"Clark told me he went to see you several times to Metropolis, and you refused to see him. Is that true...?"
"Yeah..."
"Why?"
"Chloe...seriously...I don't want to talk about that"
"Lois" Chloe again made the warning.
"Good!...I didn't want to see him because I knew that if I spoke with him, I would feel the same way again" Lois spoke more angry with herself, than with Chloe for doing these questions.
"All I want is to return to my normal life, Chloe...so I need your help." Chloe could swear she saw the rising tears in her cousin's eyes.
"Don't try to change the subject, Lois Lane..."
"Nothing works with you, uhh?"
"Keep going...did you know that Lana got back with Clark only two years ago?"
"Yes, he told me"
"Then why you didn't do anything...?" Was Chloe Sullivan hinting that she should have begun a relationship with Clark, before Lana Lang returned to his life?
"What was I supposed to have done...go back to Smallville and jump into his arms?"
"That would have been a good start" Chloe shrugged, and Lois gave her a cold stare.
"I'm beginning to think that your side is by that friend of yours who is a pleasing fan of plaid shirts, than by your own cousin..."
"Hey...that was a low blow!" Chloe groaned. Lois tried to leave again, but Sullivan grabbed her hand and shook her head.
"One last question...I swear...the last...I promise!"
"Ok, but I really need your help"
"Yes, yes, I'll help you and you know it. Now...Do you love Clark Kent?" Lois stuttered several times, tried to deny it almost in a whisper, and then stood in silence...
There was silence, longer than normal and a furious blush (rarely seen) on Lois. Chloe opened her eyes in surprise, and smiled a radiant smile.
"Ohhh, my God! Lois...you love him, you love him!" Chloe almost started to dance with emotion...
"Chloe, you are helping me sooo much to overcome the situation...seriously...are you my cousin?" Her sarcasm served too little...Chloe took that smile, and held it all the time.
"If you want, I can..." whatever thing Chloe was going to suggest, Lane didn't let her finish.
"I know you have an evil mind, Ms. Olsen. So don't even think about using your arrows, cupid...because between Clark Kent and Lois Lane there's nothing...zero...oil and water. We are a bad combination, like ice cream and fish...elevated to the tenth-largest." Chloe laughed loudly and heartily. Ahhh, denial! Typical...thought Chloe.
"I'm happy to serve you to release stress beloved cousin, but...could you for the first time in all day, support a person in misfortune, who is married to an intergalactic traveler who doesn't know yet?" Uh-oh...Lois Lane, please tell me you didn't just say that last aloud! Chloe stared at her, and the mischievous smile on her face widened more (if that was possible)...
"OH GOD!...YOU ARE MARRIED TO CLARK!" Chloe cried more excited than before...she put both hands over her mouth to suppress the feminine screams of joy, still jumping like crazy, and almost choking Lois as she hugged her.
"Chloe, I'm turning purple" Lois said with mock fear intonation. Chloe smiled and embraced her again.
"Show me, show me...I want to see it!" Lois raised both eyebrows. She sighed and showed her left hand to Chloe. Sullivan gently stroked the kryptonian ring.
"Then it's serious!" Chloe saw Lois' face of affliction, and stopped her outbursts of joy.
"Lois, come on! Cheer up!" Sullivan stroked her cousin's cheek, and saw that she couldn't even smile. There were so many things, so many memories, the simple act of returning to Smallville...and the worst was that she couldn't control these feelings...
"I can't, Chlo. I can't do this...it's cruel for him and me..."
"If Jor-el asked you to do this, there must be a reason, right?"
"I don't know Chlo...but you can go through life pretending that 'forcing someone to do or say something' is correct..."
"Let me tell you that Clark is not exactly the obedient son, either." Chloe said more to herself than to Lois, remembering the time when Kal - as Clark called himself that time- went to Metropolis under the influence of red kryptonite.
"With a father like that, everybody goes rebel." Lois smiled sideways.
"Sooo...Jor-El told you what you had to do, exactly?" Asked Chloe, leaving poor Lois take a break from her emotional problems.
"yes...I have to separate...Clark and Lana" Chloe raised an eyebrow. Oh, don't worry dear cousin, you're getting that without even planning it she thought.
"Chloe...Chloe...earth calling Chloe!"
"Oh, yes...sorry, got a little sidetracked"
"Unless I steal the groom, or hire someone to kidnap him...I am not clear on what I should do. And if as you say, this Jor-El guy is something special, I think it's a good idea to start write my will...I'll let you my Whitesnake collection, Chloe" Lois said sarcastically, Chloe just refused.
"Lois, seriously...what will you do?"
"Let's see...Clark Kent, is getting married in a few months with his lifelong love Lana Lang...ahhh, yes! I will interrupt the wedding and I'm going to kidnap the groom, then I will take him to the Fortress, even if I have to kick his kryptonian ass to make him do whatever he has to do...how about my idea?"
"You always have to use brute force" Chloe laughed.
"It always works" Lois' shoulders slumped in carefree attitude.
"Lois, taking up the subject...I didn't mean that exactly. When I asked you what will you do, I was talking about you and Clark."
"Ohhh"
"Yes, I'm listening Lo."
"I'm not doing anything about Clark and me in that way, Chloe" Lois frowned. "I came here for a normal kind of help; just the usual. Possible feelings that were buried for years, are not involved."
"Well if that's the case...I'm not going to help you to kidnap him, Lois!"
"Haha! Very funny..." her eyes narrowed. Chloe spoke as if she knew all the truths of the universe.
"I think..." Chloe took a deep breath "there's no need to do something to break them apart..."
"If you know something important, tell me, Chlo." almost pleaded Lois. Sullivan just laughed.
"Lana and Clark are no longer living together."
"And that's good, because..."
"Just because. Trust me, it's good! Lana told me that they fought days before you came...so she has been a few days out of the Kent farm"
"Then I had nothing to do with that" Ohhh Chloe, you'll get into big trouble if you're still lying to your cousin...but of course you are the main reason for the split up, Lois Lane! Lois' face of disbelief spared her from keep thinking about the consequences of her actions.
"Like I said...I think you should keep acting normal. Things are going well...trust me, Lo."
"So if I die at Jor-el's hands, promise me you'll protect my Whitesnake collection with your life, Chloe." Sullivan laughed again...
"You're being a bit extremist, Lo." Lois nodded and smiled in relief.
"Hey...I think I feel a little better." Lane said, touching her chest.
"really?"
"Yes...I think sometimes it's good to have someone to talk with."
"That's why I'm here Lo, to help the helpless." Lois laughed.
** KENT FARM **
Half an hour passed in silence. With his fingers he twirled the ring trying to contain his emotions...fear, pleasure, ignorance of the facts, all he had collected when he began to remember what he had done as Kal-el...first as incomplete dreams, then he saw the ring on Lois' finger. Clark Kent and Lois Lane were married under the kryptonian laws. He had little to say...if the big smile from ear to ear was not sufficient evidence of Clark's emotional state, then there was nothing else...Ms. Kent reached the top of the barn, and stood a few feet from him...
"Your friend John Jones told me what happened, Clark" Martha Kent looked at him intently.
"Did I do something more of what I have to apologize for?" Clark asked, fearing the possible answers.
"You slept with Lois, and tried to force her..." Martha blushed and was silent.
"One more reason for her to hate me" He sighed, disappointed.
"Clark, she doesn't hate you. Did you notice how she reacted when she heard about your wedding?"
"Yes" that 'wedding' word again, and again that sickening feeling in his stomach...wait...a kryptonian can feel sick besides the obvious green kryptonite poisoning?
"Lois matured, son." He understood the point...his mother said, in a few plain words 'let her go'...and how was he supposed to do that? It's easier said than done...
"And I don't." he sighed again. Martha shook her head and took him by the shoulders.
"Clark...I told you a long time ago that you needed to choose well the woman with whom you wanted to spend the rest of your life, remember?" Clark nodded.
"Then you should think again, because since Lois came back to your life again, you haven't done more than to confirm me that you don't love Lana anymore, son." Martha's voice was low but soft.
"Mo-Mom, of course I love Lana!" Martha raised an eyebrow when she heard the insecurity in her son's words. Clark was in a marked state of anxiety, and inevitably Lois Lane had much to do with that.
"Clark...I hope this is not another desperate attempt to cling to the past, to easiest times and to a young love...Lana." the weight of truth fell on his shoulders, and Clark felt a huge, endless hole in the stomach.
"You know I want you to be happy" Clark nodded, and again the words made his stomach knot.
"I know it's wrong to feel this...but I can't help it, mom." Martha raised both eyebrows and stood silent.
"Are we still talking about Lana...or Lois?" She did not need him to say something. The deep and intense look in Clark's eyes while Martha pronounced her name, gave her the answer.
"Do you have feelings for her? Maybe love?" Love? Clark Kent loved Lois Lane?...Hmmm...Could it be that? He wondered inwardly.
"I don't know." His voice was so weak that Martha could barely hear it. She smiled somewhat stressed by the harsh mental revolutions of her son.
"When you know, you'll decide"
"Decide what?"
"Clark, you're not going to like hearing this, but...even though you want Lois to stay with you, she already has her own life...and unfortunately, my son; is away from you" His mother was teaching him the true meaning of the word 'disappointment'.
"I know I lost Lois a long time ago. I didn't see what was right in front of me the whole time."
"And if you want her back, albeit as a friend...you must respect her decisions Clark"
"Mom...I don't want her to leave again. I miss her." Martha was surprised. His son was being selfish...
"That's not in your hands, son. If Lois is gone, neither you nor I are going to stop her."
"The truth is that I never should have let her go. I want her to stay...with me. No more mistakes or pretenses between us." Martha sighed. Clark was speaking as if he could make her stay in Smallville.
"No Clark. At some point you could begin a relationship with Lois, and you chose Lana. Lois doesn't deserve being hurt again." Clark was speechless, his face pale with fright. His mother was defending Lois. She was right.
"Mom, I never wanted to hurt her, I swear, I..." Martha was quiet and felt guilty for being so direct with his son. She took a last breath and gave him a kiss on the forehead, walked down the barn, but not before telling him...
"Think about it, son." And Clark began to remember a special moment...
** Flashback **
"It's very nice!" Said Lois, who was carrying boxes from her moving out the Kent's to her car. Lana had gone for days and came back again, after her "fake death" and was helping to put the boxes in the car...She was wearing the bracelet Kyla had given to Clark, which according to the prophecies of the caves, was destined for his soul mate. Clark had given it to Lana thinking that she was the one...
"Clark gave it to me."
"At least in that he has some fashion sense". Clark was behind them.
"Thanks Lois. Did I tell you how much I'll miss you?" Clark said sarcastically, while helping them. Lois squinted and smiled acidly. Lana told Clark she didn't want to ruin the beautiful jewel, and that she was leaving it in a safe place inside the house. He nodded. Lana entered the house. Lois continued putting boxes with her other belongings, then went into the house. Clark stood outside putting the last boxes in the car.
"Do you want to see it closer?" Lana asked Lois. Both were in the room.
"Uh...okay." Lois shrugged and looked attentive as Lana took off the bracelet, at the center was a diamond-shaped turquoise. Lois held it between her hands, as she watched anxiously at Lana as asking permission to wear it.
"It's nice, isn't?" Lana asked, looking with tenderness at Clark's gift.
"Yes." Lois nodded. Clark entered the room at that very moment, and felt his heart almost jumping out of his chest, with what he saw. The bracelet was reacting to Lois...
"That shine is normal?" Lois asked staring at the turquoise, emitting a flashing greenish-blue light. Lana stared at him demanding an explanation.
"No, I don't think so." Clark said trying to clear his voice. He had found his true love... his soul mate...and it wasn't Lana Lang.
"Well, then I don't want to ruin it. Here, Lana." Lois took off the bracelet and handed it back to Lana. Then the light disappeared, and Clark and Lana stared at one another, while Lois walked out of the house toward her car.
It couldn't be...Since his childhood he had been in love with Lana Lang...So he gave her the bracelet...and the bracelet was telling him that Lois Lane was his perfect match...no...no...he would decide whom to love, and that definitely couldn't include Lois Lane. He kissed Lana again as he put the bracelet back on her wrist, and felt a burning sensation in his chest. He felt guilty...guilty because the notion of Lois Lane being his soul mate, his true love, didn't displease him at all.
** End Flashback **