Jeremy Shane: Thank you!

DS: Thank you; glad you're liking it, and hope you enjoy the next part.

The fallen sky: Yeah, I just figured Lana would mature a little after being forced to be with and spy on Lex to protect Clark and all that jazz; and besides, Chloe is her friend; and I believe that even though they had such a huge blow out, the fact that Lex nearly killed Chloe just made her happy her friend's alive, and the other issues shrank a little. Not saying that they're not still there; but I'd like to think Lana'd choose an alive Chloe over a possible future with Clark. Rambling, sorry.

Thank you for your review, and I'm really flattered you read my other story. I don't expect you Chlarkers to; and don't think that just because it says my favorite Smallville couple is Lois and Clark in my profile that I'll do more 'Clois' than 'Chlark' stories. On contrary, what I love so much about Clark and Lois is their banter; and they do plenty of that in my Clark/Chloe stories as you can see.

I'm currently working on another Chlark story. It's called 'Boundaries'. I'll probably start posting that one in about three weeks; maybe sooner. I hope you get a chance to read it when I do. Okay, now I'm done for real.

Dispatcher652: lol. Totally agree. Poor Lois.

Crazy girl writer: No problem, and thank you for your support.

Dizzy78: Thank you, and yeah, the bomb was removed in 'I Promise' chapter 3… I think it was chapter 3 anyway.

~~{(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)}~~

We have to tell Lois several times to get into the car once Lana's convinced me to tell her the truth. She doesn't move. It's almost like she's afraid to hear what we, I have to say. I doubt Lana will help me tell my cousin about what her fiancé did to me, us. In fact, I'm surprised she hasn't gotten out and decided to catch a cab.

Lana leans over the front seat, rolls the window down, and hunks the horn a few times. "Let's go! Move it Lane!"

I gap at her. Is she crazy? Lois is gonna kill her.

When Lois starts walking toward the car, Lana climbs over me and gets out via my door.

"I'm gonna call a cab," she says before hurrying toward a crowd and most importantly, witnesses.

I scowl at her retreating back. I can't believe she left me. Sort of. Okay, I would've left me too. In fact, I still want to leave me.

Lois gets into the driver's seat and… does nothing. She just sits there, holding on tightly to the steering wheel.

I sigh deeply and clumsily climb up into the passenger seat.

"I thought the front seat makes you dizzy," she says softly.

I'm not used to hearing her say anything softly. Not even when she tries to whisper. She's freaking out in a way that's completely foreign to me; and quite frankly, it's freaking me out. I don't know what to do; or what to expect, so I start off with the easy stuff first.

"I lied," I say.

"Obviously," she answers, and it doesn't take me long to figure out that she's referring to the 'front seat making me dizzy' comment.

"Not about that," I answer.

She tightens her grip on the steering wheel, and it doesn't take me long to figure out that she was still hoping I was referring to the 'front seat making me dizzy' comment.

"Do you remember that time when I went off for a week?"

She frowns slightly. "You mean when you were trying to get away from Clark and I had to tell everyone you were on vacation because I didn't know where you were because you didn't tell me?" She rambles on while steadily getting angrier and angrier at my irresponsible actions.

"Yes Lois," I cut her off. "That week."

"Oh," she answers tersely. "Well then, yeah, I remember it fine," she answers through clenched teeth; obviously, she's remembering just how worried and upset she'd been by my sudden disappearance.

And now to let her know her worrying hadn't been for nothing. It really sucks for me that this is the 'easy' part as it's so damn hard.

"Lois, I wasn't on vacation; or taking a break from Clark. I was…I was…"

She turns to look at me once I seem to get stuck; and it makes me gulp. She's staring at me with a look on her face that's practically daring me to come up with a good enough excuse for why I made her worry for seven full days.

'Just say it Sullivan,' I try to egg myself on.

I take a deep breath before going with an almost inaudible, "I was missing."

"What do you mean by missing?" She asks with narrowed eyes.

"I mean I was kidnapped."

She doesn't respond at all. There's no gaping, jaw dropping, gasping, 'oh my godding'; nothing. Absolutely no sign that she's heard me at all.

I watch her closely, my gaze settling on her eyebrows because I can't exactly look her in the eyes; but via my peripheral vision, I can see them just fine. She's staring at me, probably waiting for me to say 'just kidding' and tell her what's really going on.

I sigh, and look out the window, nervously wringing my hands together. I've never been a 'hand wringer' before; and the thought makes me want to cry. In fact, I am crying. Again.

'Damn it.'

I close my eyes when I feel Lois reach over and grab my hand. It doesn't make me feel better at all.

It's…weird.

I don't like it at all, and I have to make a conscious effort not to snatch my hand away from hers. It feels…empty. Almost like a baby crying for milk, but the mother's run out so she puts water in the bottle instead.

I open my eyes when I hear a light tapping on my window.

It's Lana.

I nearly smile and roll the window down.

"Maybe we should do this together," she suggests while leaning her elbows on the windowsill and offering a hand out to me.

I nod my head in agreement and take it.

Lois just looks at us, waiting. It's the first time she hasn't made a comment on our 'relationship'.

~{(O)(O)(O)}~

I'm having one of those dreams. You know the ones where subconsciously you realize it's just a dream; but at the same time, it's so vividly real that it can't possibly be a dream.

I'm at work. Realistic enough way to start out because it's the only place I ever go. I'm even working on a story.

A good one too.

It's a serial kidnapping case in which newlywed couples keep coming up missing or dead.

'If Clark were here, we could go undercover and investigate this,' I think bitterly to myself.

See what I mean? Even that was completely realistic because majority of my thoughts tend to be bitter these days.

I gasp a little and clutch at my stomach. I should really be getting used to this, but I can't. It hurts. He's been kicking me a lot more often than usual for the past couple of days.

I sigh. If Clark were here, he'd say we couldn't do it because of the baby; and because it's dangerous.

Who am I kidding? If Clark were here, he wouldn't even think about letting me work during my pregnancy.

I look down at my watch and glare it. I'm starving; but according to this I just ate half an hour ago.

I stand up; I don't give a damn if I just ate. I'm going on lunch. Again. Tess can fire me if she wants. It's not like I wanted to work here in the first place.

It doesn't take me long to gather my things. I have to pack light because of the fact that I have to walk to wherever I want to eat. My car's still at the farm because Lois drops me off.

Then I freeze when I look up toward the exit.

Clark's there. The real Clark. Not some guy I'd mistaken as him because he was tall, or had dark hair, or was just…a guy; but my Clark.

"Clark," I whisper.

He gives me a small smile and I run to him; ignoring the fact that everyone's watching; ignoring how completely absurd a crying, yelling, running, pregnant woman must look.

"Clark!" I slam into him.

Immediately, he wraps his arms around me. It feels good, and right, and familiar, and real.

I inhale deeply. He smells good, and right, and familiar, and real; but…

"Chloe. Chloe wake up. Chloe!"

I feel myself coming to, and I fight it. Hard. I'm happy right now. For the first time in a long time, I'm so happy.

I begin to shiver, and involuntarily my eyes open up.

"Chloe?"

There are arms around me; but they're not Clark's. They must belong to Lana because I should be feeling a million times worse than I'm feeling right now; which is saying something, because I'm absolutely miserable. I'm actually crying. And though I've cried a million times, they were all silent cries.

Not this time.

"He's not here," Lana repeats over and over again while rubbing my back soothingly.

I keep crying and the sounds I make are loud, really loud. That's when I realize I'm in the fortress and that my cries are being echoed back to me.

I've been sleepwalking.

"He's not here," Lana continues to say soothingly, and I have to admit I like it better than the usual 'it's going to be okay' line. No matter how devastating the realization may be.

"But I want him to be," I sob back.

She nods her head. "Me too," she whispers.

~~{(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)}~~

A/N: Next post will be Wednesday, august 4th .