Always & Forever

Chapter One:

May 18th, 2003

It was a warm and beautiful evening on the coast of Washington.

The bright sun was slowly disappearing behind the beautiful mountains, as everyone from soldiers to civilians rustled around the vast base, attempting to finish their duties for the day before enjoying the rest of their night in bliss, but there was one person—one person that was feeling anything but blissful at this moment in time, actually, she was completely and utterly miserable.

And she has been like that for over one month now.

Lois was sitting on her bed in the furthest corner of the room with her arms wrapped around her legs, as she sat in complete and utter darkness, and even though she knew that she needed to find a way to heal—find a way to move on, she couldn't—she couldn't because she knew that she would never, ever be whole again until she saw the face of the person that meant absolutely everything to her again.

And that was never going to happen.

She was gone.

The most important person in her life was gone.

Her mother, Ella Joanne Lane, was gone.

The tears rolled down her cheeks before her eyes snapped closed like that would stop the sadness from overwhelming her, and even though it was the last thing she wanted to think about, she couldn't stop herself from remembering—remembering the last moment she ever shared with her a little over one month ago…

It was a chilly night on the base, as Lois made her way through the desolate hallways of the hospital towards a room—a room that she had refused to come to until now. It wasn't that she didn't want to see her mother, but it was the fact that she didn't want to see her like that. She wanted to remember her as the bright and vibrant woman she knew her to be. She didn't want to remember her as this sickly woman, who was in so much pain from the cancer overtaking every single part of her body.

But…

She had to do this.

She needed to do this.

There was a small part of herself that wanted to just turn back around and go back to her quarters, but the other part of herself wouldn't allow her mother to leave this world without seeing her one more time—without hearing her voice one more time—without saying goodbye to her. She would never be able to live with herself if she didn't say goodbye to the most important person in her life.

As soon as she made it to the wooden door, she took a deep, deep breath before walking into the room, and her heart shattered into a million pieces from the sight in front of her. Her mother was lying on the bed with her father on one side of her, while her sister was on the other, but that wasn't what was breaking her heart. It was what she was saying to them.

She was saying goodbye to them.

Nope, she thought to herself, she couldn't do this—she couldn't listen to her mother say goodbye, and quickly turned around, intending on leaving, but was stopped dead in her tracks by the sound of her weak and shaky voice.

"Lois, honey…don't leave."

Lois slowly turned around, but for some reason she couldn't get her feet to move from their spot. Maybe it was because she didn't want to see her mother like this or maybe it was because she knew that they would be able to see the sadness consuming her, and she didn't want them to see her like this—she didn't want them to know how much this was crushing her.

"Mom…"

Ella smiled a faint smile. "Come here, Lo."

After much contemplation, she slowly made her way over to her mother, her heart breaking even more from the sight of her, and she wanted to leave more than anything. She didn't want to see her like this, but her mother needed this more than anything, and she would do anything for this woman.

"Sam, Lucy, could you give me a minute with Lois?"

As soon as they disappeared from their sights, Ella motioned for her daughter to sit down next to her before wrapping her hands around her own, and smiled, softly at her. "I was wondering if you were going to show that beautiful face of yours."

Her heart clenched in an unimaginable pain from her words, not only because of the sadness that was bound to come from this conversation, but also from the guilt that was consuming her from the simple fact that it had taken her this long to come see her.

"I'm sorry, mom. I would have come sooner, but I didn't…" she trailed off not really sure how to finish that sentence without hurting her feelings, and that was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

"It's okay, Lois. I understand why it took you so long, but I'm glad you're here now. There are a few things I want to discuss with you—"

"Please, mom," she interrupted her before her tear-filled eyes locked onto hers. "Please don't say goodbye to me. I-I don't think I can handle it."

"Yes, you can, Lois." She slowly brushed the hair away from her face with one hand, while the other one wiped away her fallen tears. "I need you to be strong for me, okay? Your father is going to be a wreck, and your sister is going to need someone to be there for her. I know this is a lot to ask, and I know this is going to be hard on you as well, but I need you to promise me that you will look after them."

She nodded. "I promise."

"That's my strong girl." She slowly opened her arms, inviting her to lay down with her, and as soon as she had her in her arms, she closed her eyes, softly, wanting to enjoy this moment with her. "Now, tell me, what have you been up to? Have you been causing havoc with those best friends of yours?"

Even though all she wanted to do was break down in her arms, she knew that she was just trying to lighten the darkened mood between them, and she would give her everything she wanted—needed. "Claire and Wes miss you."

"I miss them too, but that's not what I asked."

Lois smiled at the way her mother could see right through her. "No, we're not causing any havoc, but we have been spending a lot of time together. I'm pretty sure Wes has a thing for Claire."

That made her smile. "What makes you think that?"

A wide grin spread out across her face before she told her absolutely everything that was happening between her best friends, including the fact that both of them had expressed their feelings to her instead of to each other.

And just like that every single thing she had been feeling before walking into this room vanished into thin air.

It was like nothing was going wrong in their lives, and even though she knew that her time was limited, she was intending on enjoying every last second she had left with her.

A soft smile graced her lips, as she pulled herself out of the memory.

It was the best and worst day of her life.

After spending hours talking, her mother had fallen asleep, and there was a small part of herself that had hoped they would be able to talk again—would be able to spend more time with each other—would be able to enjoy themselves for a little while longer—would be able to say goodbye to each other.

But…

She never woke up again.

It had broken every single one of their hearts, and she had lived up to the promise she made that day, but now—now she was just living in a world of complete darkness and utter sadness. She had been the strong one for her father and sister after the funeral, but now she was the weak one. Her sister usually kept herself busy, while her father was always gone, and she, well, she just stayed locked inside of her room, waiting for brighter days, but deep inside she knew that they would never come.

She would always feel this way.

She would never be able to heal—be able to move on with her life.

Her mother was the one that made everything so much better, and she couldn't even begin to imagine what her life was going to be like with her gone.

She was the one that taught her how to ride a horse when she was six years old—she was the one that attempting teaching her how to cook when she wanted to surprise her first boyfriend with a homecooked meal—she was the one that taught her beauty was on the inside and not the outside when she was feeling self-conscious about her appearance just like every other teenage girl—she was the one that taught her how to be her own person instead of following in the footsteps of her friends—she was the one that taught her anything was possible as long as she kept believing that she could do anything her little heart desired.

And now—now she was gone.

How was she supposed to move on from the best thing in her life?

She wasn't, and even though she knew that she should try to find a way to heal from this indescribable loss, she also knew that she would remain living in this darkened isolation until she found a way to deal with her pain—her loss, and the only thing that did that was drowning her sorrows. It wasn't the right way to deal with her problems, and she knew that, but it was the only thing that could help her right now.

Maybe one day she would find a better way of dealing with her problems, but that day wasn't today.

She quickly jumped out of bed, and starting going through her clothes, intending to enjoy a night out just like she always did when thoughts of her mother consumed her mind, which was almost on a daily basis, but the sound of the bedroom door opening halted her movements, momentarily before she glanced over towards the open door.

It was her best friend, Claire Williams.

"Did you and Wes have fun on your date?"

Her two best friends have been dating for about one week now, and they spent most if not all of their time together. It was a little weird, especially since she could never picture herself wanting to spend every waking moment with a guy, but if she was being honest with herself, it kept them from berating her on her coping methods, and she was more than a little thankful for that.

She didn't want or need their help.

"Yeah. We did have a good time. Did you know that Wes has a romantic side?"

"Did you just use the words Wes and romance in the same sentence?" At her nod, she shook her head from side to side with a soft smile gracing her lips. "Now that I can't believe."

"Well, believe it or not, but he does know how to make a girl swoon." She eyed her best friend, suspiciously, as she rummaged through her closet, and there was a small part of herself that hoped she wasn't doing what she thought she was doing, especially since she had engaged in a conversation with her, which was something that hasn't happened in quite a long time, but deep inside she knew what she was doing—what she intended on doing—where she intended on going. "Are you going to the pub again?"

"Yes."

A heavy sigh escaped past her lips. "Lois, don't you think you should stay in tonight? I mean, it's not good for you to keep going out like this every night. Wes and I are really starting to get worried about you."

"You have nothing to worry about, Claire, and neither does Wes. I'm fine."

"You're not fine, Lois. You need to talk to someone—"

"I don't need to talk to anyone," she interrupted her before rushing to the bathroom to put on her outfit for the night, and when she returned she could see that disapproval lingering in those bright green eyes of hers, but refused to let that stop her from doing what she needed to do.

Claire quickly grabbed her arm when she attempted walking past her, stopping her from taking another step, and stared at her with an expression of pure sadness. "Lois, please. You can't keep doing this to yourself. You need to talk to someone. If it isn't going to be me or Wes then it needs to be your father or even your sister."

Lois laughed at that, but there was no humor laced in her voice. "Are you being serious right now? My father is never around anymore, and my sister won't even mention her, so why would I talk to them about this?"

"Then let me and Wes—"

"No," she interrupted her. "I don't need to talk to anyone."

And with that she walked away.

Claire watched, sadly, as her best friend disappeared from her sights, and even though she was feeling like nothing mattered in this world anymore, she also knew that what she was doing wasn't the right way to do things. She needed her family—her friends, but she kept pushing them away.

When was she going to realize that they just wanted to help her?

She didn't know, but she did know that she needed to find a better way to cope with her feelings or she was going to regret the choices she was making later down the road. It would only lead to heartbreak, and there was no way in hell she was going to allow her best friend to go down this dark path.

Claire quickly left her quarters, and rushed towards the main building on base, where there was one person that was capable of stopping her from making a complete mess of her life, of course, it would probably result in a very emotional argument, but honestly, they both needed it.

This had to work.

In Smallville, Clark Kent rushed inside of the barn towards his loft before packing the rest of his things into two duffel bags, as his mind, heart and soul was consumed with everything that he had done—everything that he had caused.

For several days, he has been dealing with the voice of his biological father, Jor-El telling him that he needed to fulfill his destiny, and instead of allowing the memory—the will of his father to take him away from his family and friends, he disobeyed him.

And now he had this scar on his chest.

It could have ended there.

He could have just continued to ignore his callings—he could have went to his friend's wedding— he could have enjoyed his new relationship with his girlfriend—he could have enjoyed the idea of being a big brother— he could have fixed his broken relationship with his best friend.

But…

It wasn't enough.

He needed to end this, and that's exactly what he did, but to what cost?

Not only did he destroy his spaceship just in the name of getting rid of his current problem, but he had put his own mother in the hospital because of his actions, and now—now everything was ten times worse than it was this morning.

A pained expression spread out across his face, as he recalled the conversation he had had with his father less than one hour ago…

His father was standing outside of the hospital room, where his mother was unconscious, and as he entered the hallway directly behind him, he could see three different doctors taking care of her, while his father watched.

This was all his fault, but she had to be okay.

She just had to be.

"How is she?"

"Doctors don't know yet," he responded, quietly before pausing, momentarily. "What did you do, Clark?"

"I stole Lionel's Kryptonite key, and put it in the ship."

Jonathan slowly walked away from the window, brushed past him, softly, and leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, as he attempted to understand why he would do something like this. "And why did you do that?"

"Dad, I lied about the voice." He quickly turned around to face him, but his back was still turned to him. "It did come back. It told me I had to leave by noon. I didn't have a choice, dad. I had to destroy the ship."

He attempted holding back his tears, but it was merely impossible. Not only was his wife and unborn child fighting for their lives, but his son was the one responsible for putting them there in the first place.

How the hell was he supposed to understand his reasonings behind his choices when all he could think about was his family inside of that hospital room?

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I knew you wouldn't agree with what I did, dad. I didn't want it to take me away from you. I'm so sorry for what I did."

Those words caused him to turn around towards him, angrily. "You're actions have consequences Clark! Didn't your mother and I ever teach you that?"

"Yes but—"

"There's no time for excuses, Clark," he interrupted him before taking a deep breath, attempting to calm down the several emotions he was feeling. "It's too late. You didn't think this thing through. You had no idea what was going to happen, and now-now you're mother is lying in a hospital bed."

Before he had a chance to respond to the heartbroken words his father had spoken to him, a doctor came out of the room with a neutral expression lingering on her face, as she took a few steps towards them. "Mr. Kent?"

Jonathan quickly composed himself before locking his eyes onto her. "Doctor, how is my wife?"

"She has a mild concussion, but she'll be fine."

"And how is our baby?"

"I'm sorry."

Jonathan felt like the entire world had just crashed down around him, as he stood there completely motionless while watching the doctor disappear down the hallway, and there was a small part of himself that couldn't help wondering how he was going to tell his wife that their baby was gone—that their baby was dead.

"Dad…"

He quickly shook his head from side to side, as he rose his hand in the air, not wanting to hear another word, and walked into the room before slamming the door behind him, preparing himself to say the words he never thought he would have to say to her.

Clark stood there completely and utterly shaken, as he watched his father sitting beside his mother, and in that moment, he knew that he had majorly screwed up. Not only was he responsible for putting his mother in the hospital, but he was also the reason she lost her baby, and now—now his father was severely disappointed in him.

What the hell has he done?

The tears fell down his cheeks from the heartbreaking memory, but he quickly swiped them away, aggressively with the back of his hands, and continued packing his things.

It was all his fault.

He had caused the accident that put his mother in the hospital—he had caused his own mother to lose a baby that every single one of them were excited about—he had caused his own father to look at him in complete disgust.

There was a part of himself that knew he should just stay and be here for his family, hell, his best friend had told him exactly that, but the other part of himself couldn't—wouldn't stay in the place where he had caused so much pain.

He needed to leave, and he needed to leave now.

And that's exactly what he intended on doing.

After making sure that he had everything he would need, he slowly started pushing his father' motorcycle out towards the dirt path outside of the house, but before he could slip that red Kryptonite ring on—before he could escape from all his problems—before he could leave his life behind, he heard the familiar voice of his girlfriend, Lana Lang echoing from directly behind him.

"Clark, where are you going?"

He glanced over at her, immediately taking notice of the worried expression lingering on her face before he grabbed his leather jacket from the bale of hay, and put it on, as he made his way back over to the motorcycle. "Away from here."

"The Clark Kent I know wouldn't run away from his problems."

"The Clark Kent you know is a lie."

"Why won't you let me in?"

"Because, Lana. You won't like what you see."

Lana quickly walked over to his side, and grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn around to face her. "I am not giving up on you."

"No one can save me. Not even you."

"Your parents need you," she told him, as she started to feel her heartbreak shaking her entire body, and the tears started falling down her cheeks before she whispered, "I need you."

Clark looked away from her, painfully. He couldn't—wouldn't be able to do this if he was looking at her. It was one thing to imagine having to break her heart, but it was another thing entirely to actually go through with it.

But…

It had to be done.

He couldn't stay here, and he couldn't have anything or anyone here waiting for him to return because he wasn't coming back.

"No one needs me. My parents, Chloe, Pete…you. You're all better off without me."

She quickly placed her hands on his face, and turned him back towards her. "I love you, Clark."

Why did she have to make this so hard?

"No, you don't, Lana. You just think that you love me, but you don't."

"Your wrong, Clark. I love you."

He quickly turned away from her, not wanting to listen to her words any longer, and pulled out the Red Kryptonite ring, as he sat down on the motorcycle before he slipped the ring onto his finger, causing his veins to burn with the effects of the Kryptonite, while his eyes glowed bright red, briefly.

A breath of relief escaped past his closed lips, as all the pain—all the guilt left him before he turned towards the woman, who was pleading for him to stay, and as he roamed his eyes up and down her slim figure he knew that he needed to let her go right now.

There was no point in giving the poor girl hope, and he was more than a little excited to get out of this town—excited to move onto this new chapter in his life.

"That's where you are wrong, Lana. I'm leaving and there is nothing you can do or say to stop this from happening."

The tears fell down her cheeks faster and faster. "What about us?"

"There is no us."

Kal quickly started the motorcycle, and sped away from her—from his home, feeling excitement rush throughout every fiber in his being from the thought of what this new life was going to bring him.

No pain.

No guilt.

No regrets.

This was going to be fun, he thought to himself.

Sam Lane was sitting inside his office, glancing over the several papers scattered across his desk, and he honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do in a situation like this.

Just yesterday, he had been informed that a business deal he had been working on months ago hadn't exactly panned out the way his superiors had expected it to, and now they wanted him to fly out tonight to fix the problem. It wasn't the fact that he didn't want to deal with this personally because he did. It was the simple fact that he would have to leave his daughters, and that was the last thing he wanted to do right now.

Of course, he has left them before, but they had their mother here with them, and now that she was gone they would be completely alone. He didn't want to do this to them, especially since they needed him more than anything right now, but if he was being honest with himself, he wanted to leave this base for a little while.

This is where he found out his wife would be leaving him.

This is where he told the love of his life goodbye.

This is where he lost the one woman that loved him more than anything.

He wanted to leave just in the name of escaping for a few weeks.

But…

His daughters needed him.

What the hell was he going to do?

A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts, and he was more than a little surprised to find Claire, his daughter' best friend standing at the door, but smiled at the spunky blonde, nonetheless. "Claire, what are you doing here?"

Claire took a few steps towards him, not really sure how to say this him, but maybe just maybe he could get through to her ways that she couldn't. "I'm sorry to just come in here unannounced, but this couldn't wait. Wes and I have been trying to get through to Lois, but she won't listen to us. Maybe she will listen to you."

That was highly doubtful, he thought to himself, his daughter was a lot like him.

She was fierce.

She was stubborn.

She was high-strung.

And she didn't hold anything back.

"What's going on with her?"

"Well, as you know both Lucy and Lois have been having quite a hard time with everything. Lucy doesn't talk about it, and neither does Lois, but um, for weeks she has been frequenting the pub. I hate to out her like this, but I'm worried about her, and I thought that maybe you could get her to understand that she shouldn't be living her life like this."

Sam narrowed his eyes, slightly at her, not wanting to believe that his beautiful, smart and wise daughter would take to drinking just to forget about everything that was going on in her life, but in several ways, it didn't surprise him.

She was hurting just like him.

She was trying to heal just like him.

She was trying to move on just like him.

"Are you telling me that she is drinking illegally?"

She nodded, nervously.

He sighed, heavily before slowly standing up. "Thank you for telling me, Claire. I'll take care of it."

"Your welcome, but um, could you possibly go easy on her? She is going through a lot right now, and so are you and Lucy, but she tends to snap very easily these days, and I know you two are close so…" she trailed off, hoping that he could understand her ramblings.

Sam just nodded at her before leaving his office, and headed towards the pub.

There was a small part of himself that wanted to ignore her warnings, mainly because he had explicitly told her on more than one occasion that she wasn't aloud to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted, but the other part of himself understood that she was feeling all kinds of things right now, and no matter what, he wouldn't be leaving her side until he was positive that she understood that she couldn't drink her sorrows away.

It was one way to cope, but it wasn't the right way, and there was no way in hell he was going to her to go down this dark path.

When he made it to the pub, where he found her sitting down at the bar with a few older soldiers, he was half-tempted to just leave her alone since this was the happiest—the most carefree he has seen her in months, but even though he loved it when she smiled and laughed, he couldn't—wouldn't allow this to happen.

"Lois Joanne Lane!"

Lois groaned, loudly from the sound of his gruff voice echoing from directly behind her, and quickly dropped her head onto the table, as every single one of the men she was drinking with scurried away like they had been burnt.

It wasn't all that surprising, she thought to herself, every single man that worked underneath her father were absolutely terrified of him, especially when he was angry, and he was definitely pissed right now, but she could handle his temper.

She was his daughter after all.

"Hello, daddy," she greeted him, as she rose her head to look at him.

His face remained as stoic as ever. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She sarcastically replied before she started pouring herself another shot, but he quickly pulled it away from her, causing her to glare at him, heatedly. "I was drinking that."

"Not anymore you're not." He crossed his arms over his chest, as he glared right back at her, and stood taller, not allowing her obvious turmoil to sway him from taking care of this situation before it turned into something she would regret later on. "Now, do you care to explain to me what you're doing here?"

"And don't you dare give me a sarcastic answer, young lady," he added, as soon as he noticed that she was going to say something.

Lois grumbled, miserably at how well he knew her, but what was she expecting?

She was a lot like him.

"I'm doing the same exact thing I've done for over one month now, but you would know that if you actually spent some time with your daughters, but no. All you care about is working. You know, I used to love the way you put so much effort into your job, but now it's just a distraction for you. Ever since mom—"

"Don't you dare bring your mother into this," he interrupted her before taking a few steps towards her. "She wouldn't agree with what you're doing, and neither do I for that matter. I understand that your hurting, but this isn't the way to cope with your feelings."

She completely ignored his words. "How did you even figure out where I was? You've been cooped up in your office for weeks, hell, the only time Lucy and I see you is when you leave in the morning, and I know for a fact that the only one person knew where I was going…"

She trailed off, as realization dawned on her, and even though she wanted to hate her best friend for intervening in the way she had, she also understood that she was just trying to help her, but sending her father after her wasn't helping, actually, it was only making things worse.

He was a living, breathing reminder of what she had lost, and she didn't want a reminder.

She wanted to forget all her pain—all her sadness—all her heartbreak.

"Claire told you, didn't she?"

"She just wants to help you."

"Typical!" She quickly stormed out of the pub, wanting to get as far away from him as possible.

Sam quickly followed her, and grabbed her arm, lightly before turning her back around towards him. "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Somewhere you won't be," she told him, as she ripped her arm out of his grasp.

He quickly blocked her from escaping when she tried walking around him. "You're not leaving until I'm positive that you're not going to do this again."

"Then I'll leave base."

"If you think I'm letting you leave this base then you are sorely mistaken."

"What are you going to do? Put me on lockdown?"

"If that's what I have to do. You can't keep doing this to yourself, Lois. Your mother wouldn't want this life for you, and I don't want this life for you either."

Those words caused her to laugh, loudly, but there was absolutely not humor laced in her voice. "Now you care what I do with my life?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what you think it does." She took several steps towards him. "You've been gone for weeks now. At first, I just thought that it was because you needed some time to yourself after losing mom, but now I'm starting to wonder if it's us that you're trying to avoid. Is it that hard for you to be around your daughters who obviously need you?"

"No, Lois—"

"I'm not finished," she interrupted him. "You've been spending most if not all of your time in your office, hell, my best friend was the one that told you what I've been doing. If she hadn't told you then you would still be doing god knows what, and I'd still be inside that pub. Do you have any idea what has been going on?"

At his complete and utter silence, she continued, "Lucy is a complete wreck. She refuses to talk about mom, and she won't even say her name. She feels like if she says the words it would make it real, and she doesn't want it to be real. None of us do."

Tears filled her eyes, as she took a deep breath. "Do you want to know what it's been like for me? I feel like I've completely lost myself, hell, I don't even know who I am anymore. Half the time I feel like I can't even breathe, so yes. I've been drinking, but what else am I supposed to do? How he hell am I supposed to move on? How the hell am I supposed to heal?"

Sam felt like his heart was going to break into a million pieces from the pure emotion—pure heartbreak that was coming from his daughter, and there was a part of himself that knew she was right. He has been distracting himself with his work, but it wasn't because he didn't want to be there for his daughters. It was because he didn't want them to see how heartbroken he was over losing the love of his life, but now—now he understood that what he was doing was only making things worse.

He needed to be there for them.

Instead of continuing to berate her, he quickly wrapped his arms around her body, hugging her to his chest, and whispered in her ear, "I miss her too, Lo."

Lois hesitated on hugging him back, but everything she had been holding back—everything she had been keeping to herself came bubbling up to the surface, and she collapsed into his chest, as her tears rocketed her body. "I miss her so god damn much, dad!"

"I know, Lo. I know."

They stayed like that for several minutes, but as soon as he couldn't feel her body shaking anymore, he released his hold on her before wiping away her fallen tears. "You might think that I haven't noticed all of these things, Lois, but I have. It kills me to know that my two beautiful girls are having such a hard time, but you aren't the only ones. You didn't just lose your mother, but I lost my wife. It's not an excuse for the way I've been acting, but I promise that I won't be straying too far from either of you from now on."

"You promise?"

"I promise and—"

"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but um, General Raymond is on the phone," one of his officers interrupted him before taking a few more steps towards them. "He wants to know what time we we'll be landing in Sacramento tonight."

"Tell him that I'm busy and I'll call him back in a few minutes."

He nodded before walking away.

Lois stared at her father for the longest time before she took several steps away from him, as her already broken heart shattered even more. "You're leaving?"

"I was planning on tell you, but—"

"Just answer the question!" She interrupted him before he gave her another one of his excuses.

"Yes, Lois, but I was going to tell both of you—"

"Was that going to be before or after you left?" She questioned him before shaking her head from side to side, knowing that she didn't want the answer to that question. "I should have known better than to trust anything you had to say."

And with that she walked away.

"Lois!" Sam yelled out.

When she just kept walking, completely ignoring him, he knew that he was going to have one hell of a fire to put out as soon as he returned, but for now he needed to focus on this business deal, even though he knew that his mind, heart and soul was going to be elsewhere the entire time.

Lois quickly stormed to her quarters, not able to think of anything other than the promise her father had made only for him to break it not even five seconds later.

How could she be so dumb?

She had allowed her emotions—her feelings to get the better of her, and for a split second she had actually believed that things were going to change, but it was quite obvious that nothing was going to change.

She was still lost.

She was still heartbroken.

And it would remain that way as long as she stayed here.

Her father would be pissed when he found out, and her sister would be upset, but she didn't care.

Not anymore.

This was the last place she wanted to be right now—this was the place where she her mother died—this was the place where she lost herself—this was the place she felt like nothing mattered anymore—this was the place where she felt like she was empty and broken inside.

She needed to feel free.

She needed to feel better.

She needed to forget.

And that's exactly what she intended on doing.

Later that night, Lois waited until her father left with his men on the helicopter before she left the base, and as she was driving down the highway, she knew that there was only one place she could imagine going—one place that would give her exactly what she wanted and needed—one place that would make her feel like herself again…Metropolis.

It was less than a weeklong drive, and she wanted to be somewhere that brought her closer to her mother instead of the hellhole she was living in now.

There was a small part of herself that knew this little taste of freedom wasn't going to last very long, but the other part of herself needed this more than anything, and no matter what she was going to enjoy her freedom for as long as it lasted.

It was the only thing that could help her.

Back in Smallville, Pete slowly made his way down the narrow corridors of the hospital towards the room, where he knew Jonathan would be, and even though he hated coming here under such bad pretenses, he also knew that this wasn't something he couldn't keep to himself.

He had to be honest with him.

He had to tell him that not only was his son gone, but that he also was under the influence of Red Kryptonite.

After his best friend had taken the class ring from the Torch, he had fought with himself, internally on whether he should stop him from doing this, especially since he knew what he was like when he was infected by that ring until he finally decided that he needed to find some way to stop him from making the biggest mistake of his life, but instead of finding his best friend at the farmhouse, he found Lana, who was completely and utterly heartbroken, and without her having to say anything, he knew that it was too late.

His best friend was gone.

How the hell was he supposed to tell his parents that?

He didn't know, hell, it's been the one thing he has attempted figuring out for hours, but it had to be done.

When he rounded the corner, he found the man he was searching for walking back towards the hospital room, and quickly made his way over to him, not wanting Martha to overhear this conversation.

It would only upset her.

"Mr. Kent, how is she doing?"

Jonathan slowly turned around towards the familiar voice, and smiled, softly at the young man he has known for several years. "Hey, Pete. She is doing much better. The doctors tell us that we can go home in a couple of days. Did you want to see her?"

Pete shook his head from side to side. "I don't want to intrude. I'm just glad that she is doing better."

Jonathan eyed him, suspiciously. "You didn't just come here to check on us, did you?"

"No, I need to tell you something…about Clark."

He could feel his anger building up inside of him again, but quickly pushed it down. "What about my son?"

Here goes nothing, he thought to himself.

"He's gone."

All the color drained from his face at those words, and all that anger he had been feeling just a few seconds ago was immediately replaced with complete and utter guilt. "What do you mean he is gone?"

"I mean, he packed all his bags and left. I don't know where he went, but I do know that he broke up with Lana right before he left. That's not all though…after his conversation with you, he stopped by the Torch, and he, um, he took one of the class rings. My guess is that he put it one right after that, but he's gone."

Jonathan felt like the room was closing in on him, and quickly grabbed a hold onto the wall like that was going to stop the world from spinning around him before he locked his eyes onto the young man in front of him. "He's on Red Kryptonite?"

He nodded. "I know that the two of you had an argument, and I know that it was one of the reasons he did what he did, but I promise that I'm going to find him. I'm going to bring your son home."

Jonathan watched him disappear down the hallway before he slowly made his way into the room, where his beautiful wife was sleeping, and he honestly didn't know if he could take anything else happening to his family.

His wife was recovering in the hospital.

His baby was dead.

His son was gone.

And it was all his fault.

If he would have just pushed aside his anger for one single second—if he would have just listened to his son when he tried explaining himself—if he would have just realized that his actions were going to drive his son away then he would have probably been able to stop him, hell, they would all three be together right now, but he didn't, and now his son was gone.

He stared down at his wife with a heavy heart.

It had literally broken her heart when she found out that her baby had died. At first, she didn't want to believe it, and kept asking where her baby was over and over again until the doctors and nurses were forced to sedate her.

That was one of the hardest things he has ever had to tell her, but this—this was going to break her down completely, and he honestly didn't even know how to explain all the things their son had done before he made the decision to leave his family—his friends.

How the hell was he supposed to tell her that their son was gone?

This was a pretty emotional chapter on both sides.

The scene between Sam and Lois was very, very difficult to write. I want to keep him in character as much as possible, but I also want him to be closer to his daughters, so hopefully it wasn't too dreadful to read.

As for Kal and Lois…their journey starts in the next chapter.

Hope you enjoyed chapter one