CHAPTER 11

Clark sat in stunned silence. He didn't know how to respond, for the second time that day he found himself speechless, he couldn't articulate the right words to say. Clark felt useless at that moment, here Lana was bringing up the most painful conversation he will probably ever have and he was afraid. Clark Kent was afraid and speechless.

Lana was on the other line listening to the silence. She knew she just kind of threw that question out there and that Clark wasn't expecting it. She knew they had promised not to bring up the past, but after her short conversation with Chloe, she could no longer hide from her past. She needed answers, she needed reasons, she needed honesty, she needed Clark.

Finally after what seemed a lifetime, Clark found his voice, "Lana I… I don't think we should talk about this over the phone, maybe we could meet up somewhere and talk about it," he drew in a sharp breath, Clark was ready to tell Lana the truth, "there's a lot of things I need to tell you and it' s better to explain in person."

"Okay, I agree. How about we meet at the coffee shop around the corner from my place in about half an hour," Lana suggested, relieved Clark didn't shut her down and it seemed he was going to finally give her some of the answers she had been searching for over the years.

"Alright, see you in a little while. Bye Lana," Clark said before hanging up the phone, wishing he had more time to try and figure out what he was going to say to her. Slowly he stood up and looked out his window, it was starting to turn dark and Clark could tell it was about to rain. He walked towards a desk in the corner of his living room and opened up the bottom drawer. Pulling out a small box and opening it, Clark saw the small piece of coal he had kept over the years to remind him of the day Lana told him she would marry him. He picked it up and held it to his chest and shut his eyes remembering that day. It was the single most painful and happiest day of his life the first time around, the second time around was just plain painful. He opened his eyes back up and looked down at the piece of coal. Clark played with it for a second in his hand before putting it back in its box and sighing. He then walked to the front door to go meet up with Lana.

Lana was now nervous, she wasn't totally expecting Clark to agree so easily. She was nervous and excited at the same time. She grabbed her purse and headed for the door. Lana swung it open and came face to face with Lex looking as if he was about to knock. He leaned down to give Lana a kiss, and she unconsciously pulled away.

"Uh, Hello to you too," Lex stated, taken aback that she pulled away from his kiss.

"Hey Lex, what are you doing here?" Lana questioned sounding rushed, she didn't want to be near Lex right now, she only had Clark on her mind.

"I seem to recall having set a certain reservation at a certain prominent restaurant for a certain anniversary with a certain special woman?" Lex eyed her, he was surprised she didn't remember it was their two year anniversary.

Lana's eyes shot open wide at the realization she had actually forgotten! It was her who asked Lex to make the reservations, "Oh Lex! I'm so sorry! I totally spaced and," Lana racked her brain for some excuse to come with, "and I just got called into the office. It seems that can't go a day without me." There that seemed like a good enough lie. She smiled meekly up at him, silently hoping he would believe her.

Lex studied her for a second, he knew something else was up, but he wouldn't let Lana know that, "Well then let me drive you to work."

"Oh no, its ok. I don't know how long I'm gonna be there. You just go and have a nice night off," Lana grinned, pecking him on the cheeks.

Lex smiled down at her, said goodbye and then walked away. Once inside of the elevator he flipped open his cell phone and pressed a number on his speed dial. Once he heard a lady greeting him on the other line he said, "Hi, I was wondering if you could inform me what time Lana Lang will be in tonight."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but Miss Lang will not be here tonight. She is off…" before the woman could say anything else, Lex flipped his phone shut, he couldn't believe Lana had lied to his face. He knew they haven't seen each other much lately, but still couldn't understand why she would lie. 'Nobody lies to Lex Luthor' he thought to himself. He got on his phone once more, he was going to be clearing the next few days of his schedule to find out what his dear fiancée was up to and who she had been associating with lately.

Lana stood in her hallway for a few more minutes making sure Lex wouldn't see where she was going. She noticed it was raining so she went back inside of her apartment and grabbed an umbrella. She looked to her hand with the ring on it and found herself disgusted by looking at it. Lana twisted the ring around so that the diamond was facing down. Rain was pouring down as she stepped outside and the night sky was pitch black. It wasn't too late, but Lana still felt uneasy walking in the dark alone. She only had a block and a half to walk so she increased her pace hoping to get their faster.

She walked past an empty alley where she heard someone whistle. Lana stopped and quickly turned to look all around her, but found nothing. Uneasiness crept inside of Lana as she started to walk again only to hear a man's voice this time, "Hey pretty lady, why don't you come ova here so we can have a lil chat?" Lana saw a big man in tattered clothes coming out of the shadows. He pulled a gun out and pointed it at her. Lana couldn't move, fear filled her body. She didn't know what she was going to do. The man spoke once again, "How bout ya come a lil closer?"

"Here, all the money I have on me is in this purse. Take it and leave me alone," Lana said, trying to sound brave as she tossed the purse at him. She felt glued to the spot.

The man looked her up and down, "Sweetie money isn't what I wanted." Lana started to finally get feeling back as the man got closer. She shifted her eyes to the left and right, there was no one around who would be able to help her. Should she make a run for it? He was getting nearer and before Lana could put much more thought into it, she dropped her umbrella and took off running. The man followed in pursuit and was quickly catching up to her. If she hadn't worn heels she might have been able to outrun him, but now she couldn't. As she ran, one of her heels broke sending Lana flying onto the concrete sidewalk. She moved the hair out of her face, winced in pain, and looked up at the man now standing over her. He held a wicked grin on his face and roughly grabbed one of her arms before yanking her to standing position. She felt weak and wobbly and had sprained her foot falling and could hardly walk. The man put the gun in her back and pushed her forward while he held onto her closely with his hand over her mouth. They walked back into the dark alley and he pushed her up against the wall of a building. His face was inches away from hers and she could feel his hot sticky breath on her face. She wanted to gag when she felt his hand creep inside her shirt. Lana wasn't about to become a victim, she was tired of always being the victim so she bit into the man's hand hard. He let out a yelp and quickly removed his hand giving Lana access to knee him in the groin. The man backed away in pain and Lana was able to take off running again. "HELP!" She cried, running through the alley, hoping someone could hear her.

The man regained his composure, "You Bitch! You asked for this!" He screamed, pointing his gun at her back. And then he pulled the trigger.

Lana heard the gun go off through the roar of the rain and loudly screamed, "HEEELLLP!!"

Clark sat in the coffee shop nonchalantly glancing at his watch, 'Lana should have been here by now' he thought to himself. That's when he heard it, a cry for help. Clark looked around him, he really didn't want to leave in case Lana showed up and thought he hadn't come, but the cry for help he heard sounded dire. He couldn't leave the person to fend for themselves. When no one was looking, he zipped out of the shop and headed in the direction he heard the cry come from. Lucky for him it seemed close by, and about a block away he saw a woman running away from a man pointing a gun. The man fired the gun and Clark quickly flew down to him, knocked him unconscious then raced to the woman before the bullet. He wrapped one arm around her pulling her into his chest, moving her away from the bullet's path. Before looking at the woman he saved, he looked towards the man lying on the ground, only to find him gone.

Lana was shaking and scared, she had been sure for a moment there that she was dead, but then this man in red, blue and yellow saved her life. She pushed closely up against his chest and felt completely safe with his arm wrapped tightly around her. Somehow it felt oddly familiar, she couldn't explain it. Lana looked at the S symbol on the suit the man was wearing and instantly recognized it. It was Superman. Lana tore her eyes away from his chest to look at the man who had saved her. Looking up at him and all words seemed to fail her except for one, "Clark?!"

It was barely audible, but to Clark it was loud and clear. Shocked that he had been recognized, he slowly turned to glance at the woman. He looked down and was met with the two most beautiful hazel eyes he had ever seen, "Lana!" Clark breathed.

Lana couldn't believe her eyes. She stared at Clark unable to speak, her mind unable to coherently process anything. Everything seemed to come together. Clark's mysterious resurrection, the number of times he would just disappear from a room, the number of times he was able to save her… Lana ignored the rain pouring like buckets onto the both of them, she had become numb, she felt as if she was about to faint. Clark was Superman. It dawned on her that this was the big secret, the answer she had been searching for. She blinked water from her eyes and noticed a sadness in his eyes. But Lana wasn't about to let him feel sad. She was so infuriated with him. How could he lie to her about this. About how he was an alien! Did he not trust or love her enough. She felt her blood boil and anger rising, why hadn't he ever trusted her with this secret?! Lana couldn't hold it in anymore and exploded due to the years of frustration and pain, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!"

Clark watched the rage building in her eyes and knew something was soon to come, but was still taken aback when he heard her yell. She backed away from him, hurt and anger filling her eyes. Mixed with the rain, Clark could see tears falling carelessly from her eyes and he stepped close to wipe them away.

Lana backed up farther, swatting his hands away, "No! Don't touch me! I want answers Clark, and I want them now!" She was shaking worse than before, beginning to feel the pain in her ankle, but continued to ignore it. Clark was going to finally be truthful even if she had to stand there all night.

"Lana, I… I didn't tell you because," Clark started, but was soon cut short.

"BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T LOVE ME ENOUGH, BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T TRUST ME ENOUGH," She yelled. Lana shook her head and started pounding on Clark's chest. He let her as she continued, "Why?" Lana cried out, "Why? I loved you more than anything and you lied to me over and over again. I could of handled this, why didn't you trust me?" Tears were spilling from Lana's eyes, she couldn't control her emotions anymore. She couldn't believe herself the way she was acting, but when you're in love, it can make you irrational at times. Sobbing she begged, "Why, Clark, please just tell me why?"

Clark gently grabbed her wrists pulling her closely to him, "Don't ever say I didn't love or trust you enough, because that is far from the reason," he said gently, not raising his voice, but sounding firm at the same time.

Lana suddenly felt weak, she collapsed into his chest and gazed at him, "Then why Clark? Why did you push me away, why did you lie to me, and why…why did you stop loving me?" Her voice cracked, she choked on her words through tears falling from her eyes and looked away from him.

Tears began forming in Clark's own eyes listening to Lana,. He grabbed her chin and brought her to look at him once more, "Lana I never told you not because I didn't trust you, but because I loved you too much. I was afraid Lana. Afraid that if you found out, YOU wouldn't love me anymore. Afraid that if you knew my secret you'd be in danger. If anything were to ever happen…" Clark's voice started to quiver so he paused and took in a gulp of air, "if anything were to happen to you because of me, I would never be able to forgive myself. Lana, I never stopped loving you. Never! I only said that to you so that you'd be able to move and be happy once again."

"Clark, I was only happy when I was with," Lana weeped, "I lied when I told you I was happiest in Paris. Don't you understand, I was happiest when I was with you. I tried so many times to move on, but you stole my heart from the beginning and I could never bring myself to get it back!" She buried her head in his chest and Clark's hand brushed through her wet hair. His heart was screaming, he couldn't believe how much he still felt for this woman and how much she still felt for him. He lowered his head, kissed the top of her head and he squeezed her gently. Lana looked up at him again and forgetting everything around them, wrapped her hands around Clark's neck and brought him into the most passionate kiss either of them had ever experienced. Both were letting years of frustration, anguish, love, pain, and every other pent up feeling into this one kiss. Clark could feel Lana's hot tears as they kissed so he moved his hands to her face and wiped them away. He then picked her up and held her closer with his arms wrapped tightly around her small frame, neither breaking for air. He didn't want to ever let go of her again. Lana put her legs around Clark and brought her hands to his face and finally broke the kiss. Still holding his face, she set her forehead against his and sighed deeply. She then looked into his beautiful green eyes, also containing tears. Smiling, Lana wiped away the tears as he leaned in to give her a softer, gentler kiss and she whispered, "I love you Clark, I love you sooo much."

Clark smiled back at her and softly spoke, " I love you. Always know that Lana, I love you and always will. There's so much more I need to explain to you."

Lana placed a finger on his lips, "Shhh. Later, just hold me right now." And hold her he did.