Hoo-boy, this one was a tearjerker.
Emmeline went inside the Talon to find Chloe. The plan was to meet up there so that they could head over to Chloe's house for one last girls' night before she headed off to Metropolis U.
"Hey, Chloe!" she called when she saw her best friend.
Her smile disappeared when she saw that Clark was with her.
Awkward silence stretched between the three of them for several very tense seconds.
"Um…I'll just wait outside for you," Emmeline said softly.
"Uh, okay, I'll be right there," Chloe answered.
Emmeline gave one last glance towards Clark before heading back out of the building.
"Wow," the blonde remarked turning to face her tall friend. "That was painful. Now I know how it was for her all these years when the two of us were fighting."
Clark looked off in the direction Emmeline had gone. It had been a couple weeks since the sudden declaration that broke off their friendship. And a very long two weeks at that. Smallville was not a huge place so they bumped into each other pretty often. And those moments were always awkward with only glances and no words exchanged.
"She told me what happened. I doubt it will last though."
"Yeah, but Chloe…did you ever think that maybe she has a point?"
"Clark—"
"No, really. There's been several times that she, and even you and Lana, have gotten caught up in something just because of me and who I am. In fact, none of this would've happened if I hadn't come here and brought all the kryptonite with me in the first place."
"Clark, the exact same thing happened between you and Lana two years ago and look where you guys are now. She's hurting. Just give her some time. Things will work out."
"I don't know. You didn't see her when she told me she couldn't be around me. I've never seen her like that before."
"Look, take it from someone who's lost her mom too, her emotions are all over the place. When everything happened with those psycho criminals, it just pushed her way too far over the edge. Once everything is semi under control again, she'll realize that pushing away the people she's closest to isn't going to help anything."
"I didn't really realize how much I liked having her as a friend until she dropped that bomb on me."
Chloe smiled. "That's usually how it goes. Just let her heal in her own way for now." She grabbed her bag off the counter. "I better not keep her waiting. See you later."
"Yeah, bye, Chloe."
Clark let out a long breath of air. He just hoped he got Emmeline back as a friend sooner rather than later.
Once Chloe and Emmeline reached Chloe's house, Chloe retrieved a pint of ice cream from the freezer and then crashed on the couch next to her best friend.
"So let's talk about this whole thing with Clark, shall we?"
Emmeline groaned. "Chloe, we've been over this."
"Yeah, well, we're going over it again. I mean, there have been a couple times when you got caught up in something because of me. Like the whole thing with Brendan? You wouldn't have gotten added to his collection if you weren't my friend. Or that whole killer email thing where you got whacked on the head by one of the recipients. That wouldn't have happened if you weren't with me. So why are you still talking with me?"
Emmeline sighed but didn't answer.
"I think it's because you know that everything that happens really isn't Clark's fault."
"I just…can't worry about getting hurt every time I'm with him."
"That's an irrational fear and we both know it. The things that happen to both of us are because we live in Smallville which is home to all things weird and crazy."
"Maybe Hannah had a point about me moving to New York with her."
"You living in the Big Apple? I don't think so. Em, I know how much you care about Clark, and I may not know exactly how you're feeling, but I do know what it's like to lose your mom."
"But your mom is still alive."
"True, but I haven't spoken to her since she left when I was twelve."
Emmeline quieted. Her mother may as well have been dead since Chloe had basically no hope of contacting her again.
"The pain will dull considerably, but I don't think it ever really goes away. But, Em…pushing away the people who care about you the most is a surefire way to make sure that the pain never stops. And think about all of the great times you've had with Clark over the past four years. Do you really want to sacrifice all of the great times you could have in the future just because of a few possible bad moments?"
"I'm just…scared, Chloe."
Chloe put her hand on her arm. "I know. Just don't let your fear cancel out all of the good too."
Chloe and Emmeline exited out the back of the Talon with the last of Chloe's possessions. Her car was filled to the brim with stuff for her dorm room and Emmeline wondered how she was going to make sure nothing fell out on the way there.
"Thanks for the help, Em," Chloe smiled. "I know it's super early."
"Are you kidding? I couldn't let you head off to Met U without one more send-off from me."
Her blonde friend laughed as her phone rang. She quickly took it out and answered it. "Hey, Gabriel. I'm surprised MIT even lets you converse with us pedestrian Met-Uers so early."
If it was the same Gabriel Emmeline was thinking of, she remembered him as a fellow staff member at the Torch who occasionally wrote stories for them. She had proofread them, but never really spoke to him at all. Their paths had really just never ended up crossing.
"I've been trying since yesterday," Chloe continued into the phone. "I had no idea 'just the necessities' would take so long to pack…I know it sucks to say goodbye. But if Smallville managed without their cyberwizard, I'm sure they'll survive without their star reporter." Chloe's brow furrowed as she listened to the other end. "Gabriel, what are you talking about?"
Emmeline looked at her friend questioningly.
"What happens in an hour?"
Gabriel explained something on the other end before Chloe fearfully shut her phone.
"What is it?" Emmeline asked.
Chloe scoffed. "Looks like I'm not leaving just yet. That was Gabriel who used to work at the Torch with us. I don't know what's going on exactly, but he's saying that in an hour, Smallville's going to be gone. I'm going to go talk to Clark so we can figure out what he means and stop him from doing something stupid."
"Okay, keep me updated. And let me know if I need to get out of town."
"Don't worry. Clark and I can fix this."
Emmeline nodded. She hoped Chloe was right or their town might get destroyed.
Emmeline's heart was in her throat. All of the worst-case scenarios ran through her mind over and over again and she feared that she would be too late.
Clark had been shot.
She didn't understand how this could happen. Not to him. Anyone but him.
She ran through the hospital doors into the waiting area.
"Mrs. Kent!" she called when she saw Jonathon and Martha. "I heard what happened. Is…is he okay?"
"Um, they just finished operating on him," Martha answered. "They're waiting for him to stabilize before we know anything concrete."
Emmeline ran her hand through her hair. "I'm gonna…get a cup of coffee."
"Okay, we'll let you know if we hear something."
Emmeline went in the direction of the coffee machine, but instead of getting a drink, she went to the room Clark had been put in. Taking a quick look around to make sure no one was looking, she stepped inside and shut the door behind her.
She felt sick at the sight of her best friend lying unconscious on a gurney. She slowly approached his side before sitting in the chair next to the gurney and putting her hand on his.
"I never thought I would be in this situation," she said softly. "You always seemed invincible." Tears filled her eyes and sank down her cheeks. "Oh, Clark…I'm so sorry. But you can't leave me. Not now. Please. I…I need you. I can't lose my mom and you. I just can't. I should never have pushed you away. The truth is I don't think I could ever live without you. You're always there for me when I need someone the most. So, please…you have to pull through this. For all of us. For me."
The door opened behind her, and Emmeline whipped around, afraid that she had been caught.
But instead of a doctor or a nurse, it was Lana.
Emmeline wiped some of her tears away, but they were just replaced by more. She looked back at Clark's still form. "The last thing I said to him was that I couldn't be around him anymore." She turned back to look at Lana. "What if that's the last thing I ever say to him?"
Lana looked at her sadly.
Emmeline got up from the chair so that Lana could speak to her boyfriend.
Lana put her hand to Clark's head and gently rubbed her hand through his hair. "I don't even know if you can hear me, but I need you to know that from the first moment that I saw you, I knew that no one could make me happier than you. But I also knew that you'd never change. You'd-You'd always be running around, trying to save the day. All those times I pulled away…it's because I knew this day would come."
Clark moved his head and opened his eyes a little.
Emmeline gasped quietly as she rushed next to Lana. "Clark?"
Clark smiled at them. Then his eyes closed once again.
To their horror, the EKG began beeping rapidly and the number plummeted to zero. The line went red and flat.
"No," Emmeline gasped, all available air leaving her lungs. "No. No!"
Nurses and doctors rushed into the room.
"You're not supposed to be in here," one of the nurses said sternly. "Please, you need to clear the room."
She roughly took hold of the two girls' arms and pushed them out into the hallway.
Lana and Emmeline grabbed hands as they watched the horrific scene before them. The doctor grabbed some defibrillator paddles while one of the other nurses administered oxygen.
Emmeline flinched as the paddles touched Clark's bare chest and caused his body to convulse once.
"Please," she whispered. "No…"
The doctor upped the charge once, and then twice, and then again.
Nothing.
"Okay, I'm calling it," the doctor stated. "Time of death, 7:18 AM."
"NO!" Emmeline screamed. "No! No!"
Lana took a firm hold of her as she sank a little as her legs were unable to find the strength to keep standing.
They both rushed into the room to Clark's body. Lana put her hand to his forehead while Emmeline took hold of his hand.
"Please…no!" Emmeline sobbed.
The nurses once again escorted them from the room, but much gentler this time as they understood that they had both just lost someone very dear to them.
They walked down the hall back towards the waiting room. Emmeline grabbed onto Lana and sobbed her heart out. Lana tightly held her, crying just as much.
The whole moment felt so surreal. Clark Kent could not be dead. It just didn't make sense. After all they had been through for the past several years, how could it have just ended like this?
Emmeline felt like her heart had completely shattered. How could she lose the two people she loved most in the world so close together like this? How was she ever going to recover from the pain?
The doctor followed them out and approached Jonathon and Martha. "Mr. and Mrs. Kent, we did everything we could."
"No," Martha cried.
"But we lost him."
No sooner had those words left the doctor's lips when a nurse ran out to the waiting room. "Doctor, we have a problem with the Kent boy."
Jonathon, Martha, Emmeline, and Lana hurried back towards Clark's room.
Clark's body was gone.
Chloe had called earlier explaining that the missile Gabriel had set to destroy the town had successfully been stopped so they were all safe.
While Emmeline received the news gratefully albeit numbly, she almost wished that the missile had actually hit so that all of this horrible pain would be over.
When the doorbell rang at her house, she almost didn't have the motivation to answer it.
But she forced herself up and slowly opened the door.
And her heart nearly stopped.
"Clark?" she whispered.
Clark smiled a little.
"Is that really you?"
He nodded.
She rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck as she began to cry again. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry…"
Clark gently hugged her back. "I know."
Emmeline did not release him for a long time. She was afraid that if she did, reality would hit and he would die all over again.
While Clark was frustrated that his powers were back and he was no longer human, as he held his crying best friend in his arms, he had to admit that it was really nice to have Emmeline back in his life.
