Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to sailorgirl129 for giving me the motivation I needed to put the proper oomph into this chapter. You would be surprised how far a review can go. Please enjoy.

Chapter Thirteen

Clark sat in the school library, working his way through Jane Eyre. He could certainly see why Lana would relate to it. It was a pretty intense book, but he was surprised by how much he was liking it, and the more he read, the more he liked. It had been a week since Lana had come to the loft. He had been avoiding the Internet like the plague. If he was going to give himself a chance, his cyber-self needed to be out of the picture, at least for a little while.

"Hey." He looked up at her voice. When had she come in? He was surprised he had not noticed; he had always been hyperaware of Lana's whereabouts. She seemed to notice his surprise at her sudden appearance. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

She started to walk away, but Clark bolted up anxiously, his face full of desperation, "No, you weren't, I … " he sat back down and tried to lower his voice an octave or two, "I was just surprised. You weren't bothering me. I'm never too busy for you."

Lana smiled gratefully, "I'm sure that's not true."

"I can't think of a time I wouldn't welcome your company."

"Well, I don't think you would want me there if you were trying to use the bathroom."

Clark thought for a minute, "I'd rush out." He said with a smile.

Lana laughed. "Well, what about sleeping?"

Clark shrugged. In truth, he had levitated in his sleep once or twice, so that did make him a little nervous, but having Lana's company while he slept was an appealing concept.

"Why would that bother me?"

"I might keep you up."

"I don't need a lot of sleep to function. I live on a farm, I get up with the crows." This was technically not true. Clark actually tended to sleep rather late, but he had had to function on little sleep on occasion, and he had been fine. Lana laughed, "Face it, you cannot find a way that I would want to get rid of you."

"Well, what about when you are taking a shower? I'm sure you wouldn't want me there then." Lana said. Then, realizing what she had just suggested, blushed. Did I really just say that? She thought about that dream she had had about Clark, the one she had had after he had kissed her. In her mind's eye, she saw Clark shirtless, with water rippling down his muscles. She tried to blink the image away. She wished she could just distract herself by what Clark was saying, but he was just sitting there in silence, probably as uncomfortable as she was after her stupid comment. She stared at him, but the reality gave her no more solace than the image in her head. She felt herself getting a little woozy, needing a water. At the word water, her mind went straight back to Clark in the shower.

At the same time, Clark was thinking about what Lana had said. He had not noticed her blush; he had been too preoccupied with his own. In his mind, he saw himself stepping into the shower, and Lana was there waiting for him. She held the soap out to him, and he took it, brushing her fingers. He yelled at his mind to shut up, but the scene continued to play out. Lana was wearing a bikini. She turned the shower nozzle on and Clark watched as the drops drenched her hair and slithered down her body. She started to peel the bikini off. This was too much! Clark had to stop daydreaming! But hard as he tried, he could not seem to turn off the fantasy. The drenched Lana in his head winked at him and she started to strip him of his boxers. Then, she began to untie the bikini she was wearing and let it fall to the side, leaving her exposed. Clark watched as her newly bare skin became as drenched as the rest of her, and he felt himself getting hard, both the him in his fantasy, and the him sitting across from a fully dressed Lana in a school library. He felt dirty. He was disgusted with himself, thinking this now, here. His head started to feel warm. His eyes were burning. The Lana in his mind was coming close to him, placing his hands on her with her right hand as she slathered them each with soap using her left. Now Clark's eyes were stinging terribly. His head felt like he was on fire. He tried closing his eyes to cool them off, but that did not seem to help. He kept looking around, trying to find anything to relieve the burning pain. His eyes focused on a sign that said "Non-fiction." Then, after one huge burst of pain, he finally felt relief. It was short-lived however, because soon after the burning stopped, he heard screams. The spot he had been starring at was now on fire. Somehow, he knew he had been responsible, but he also knew he did not have time to focus on that now. He did his best to help usher everybody out as quickly as possible. Once everybody was out of the room, he took care of the fire.

Chloe had heard the commotion by the library, and never one to ignore commotion, she had made her way over. She saw a bunch of students and a couple of librarians huddled outside the library.

"What happened?" she asked one of the librarians.

"I don't know. The sign just … caught on fire."

Interesting, Chloe thought. She looked around and saw one of the librarians making a call, probably to the fire department. Then, she spotted Lana, who was looking around nervously. Despite their differences, Chloe decided to be friendly. After all, if things worked out with her and Clark, they would probably be seeing a lot of each other.

"Hey. You okay?" Chloe said, approaching Lana.

Lana nodded, then started shaking her head, "Clark was in there." She started to explain, "I didn't see him come out. I can't find him anywhere. What if-"

"Calm down." Chloe said, though she herself was freaking out a little. Clark was in there! He was still in the room with a fire! She was as terrified as Lana seemed to be, but right now, she did not think two panicking girls would make the situation any better.

The teachers started ushering kids out of the building, perking their ears for the sound of sirens.

"Miss Lang. Miss Sullivan." One of the teachers said, noticing the two were not moving.

"There's somebody still in the library." Chloe said.

The teachers eyes flickered with a sudden panic, but then it was gone, "We all need to evacuate now."

"But-"

"If there is somebody in there, I am sure the firemen will take care of it."

"They haven't even gotten here yet."

"You two standing there, putting yourselves in harms way as the fire spreads is not going to help. All you can do is get yourselves to safety."

"We can't leave without Clark." Lana said. Chloe was surprised by her resolution.

"I cannot knowingly leave two students behind."

"You were going to leave one." Chloe returned.

"Please girls!" the teacher said, desperation in her eyes.

Clark heard all the commotion outside. He did not hear what was being said, but he recognized Chloe and Lana's voices. The fire was out now; he had taken care of it. However, now that the danger was over and the adrenaline he had no clue what to do. How could he explain that he was fine and the fire was out? It had not been just a small flame, and it had been spreading. He could hear sirens; he knew somebody had called the firemen. What could he say? 'It was nothing, I handled it all on my own?' how could he explain that. And even if they believed him, how could he take credit for putting out a fire that he had somehow started? Well, whatever he was going to do, he had to come out eventually. Cautiously, he pushed the door open. Three heads turned towards him, Lana, Chloe, and Mrs. Millar. He saw relief on their faces. Chloe ran to him, giving him the biggest bear hug he had ever gotten. If he were not invulnerable, he was certain he would not be able to breath. Lana stood there, watching. Finally, Chloe let go, and Mrs. Millar ushered them all outside with the rest of the students.

It took a while to sort everything out with the firemen, who were rather confused by the whole thing, but they were grateful that everyone was okay, and thankful to Clark for his act of heroism.

Lana nervously tapped on the doorway to the loft.

"Hey." Clark said, looking up from his telescope. He was smiling, but it was a half smile. He seemed happy to see her, but there was definitely something on his mind.

"Everything okay?"

Clark nodded, "Yeah, just thinking."

"That was quite an act of heroism you pulled today."

Clark shrugged, "People keep saying that, but I don't feel like a hero." Lana looked at him, questioningly, "I mean, I didn't really do anything."

"You put yourself in harms way to protect others. What do you think a hero is?"

"I was never in any real danger … I mean, I knew what I was doing so … we've had small fires at the farm before. I knew how to handle. There was no risk."

There was a pause, "Well, I thought you were." Clark looked at her, "In danger." She clarified. "I didn't know if you'd be okay, if I'd ever see you again. It really scared me. Terrified me, actually, more than I thought it would. I don't remember the last time I was that afraid. I guess what I'm trying to say is, you mean a lot to me. I think you're probably my best friend, and I don't know what I would do if …" her voice trailed off, unable to say the words. A tear slid down her cheek.

"Hey," Clark said, approaching her. His voice was quiet and soothing, "I'm not going anywhere." He put his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She leaned into his chest, and let herself cry.