Part 13

All the way home from work, Clark remembered the relative honesty of the conversation that he and Lois Lane shared during the trip to Metropolis from Smallville. As she had promised his mother, Lois returned to the Kent Farm just in time for dinner. By that point, his parents had been able to get him to talk about whatever it was that had affected him like that.

They arrived at the same conclusion, one that caused both fury and elation to war inside him. Lex Luthor, despite all the show and pomp of holding the funeral, had really not listened to Gabe and Clark. Chloe was alive somewhere. Was Lex holding her on life support still? He was enraged at the idea, but somehow strangely relieved. But no matter what he felt, it still did not change the fact that a man who claimed to be his best friend had lied to him.

He would deal with Lex later.

Clark asked Lois on the road to the city where she had been. At first, she fidgeted with her pantsuit and averted her eyes. And then she confessed. "I was in the library researching." Clark nodded for her to continue. "I looked into the details of her death, Clark." The word had a different reaction now than it did before. Now he knew that the actual death was staged, so rather than get that pang of pain, Clark experienced a flash of anger that he quickly tamped down. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It really doesn't change a thing." Lois nodded. She wasn't going to question that because as far as a friend was concerned, it didn't matter who Chloe Sullivan was engaged to in the face of the accident. "So," Clark continued, "you spent the entire day in the library?"

"Ummm, no." Lois licked her lips, and Clark glanced at her. He had a very bad feeling about this now. "I spent most of the day with Mr. Sullivan."

"What!?" Clark demanded. Lois gripped the dashboard when the car swerved. "You went to the Sullivan house? Why?"

"I wanted to know more about her, all right?" she snapped.

"What," Clark said calmly, "she's suddenly an interesting figure because you find out that Lex Luthor was involved with her?"

"No," she answered stiffly. It wasn't completely true of course. Lois' interest in her was piqued because of her engagement to the billionaire. That was the reason why she hunted all the articles done about her at the time. Apparently, the newspapers in Smallville were paying tribute because the girl was a journalist, had been since high school. But the more Lois read about the young woman the more she felt that Chloe Sullivan was a kindred spirit. "I felt a connection to her, okay?" she said. And that was the reason why she had gone to Gabe Sullivan's house.

Clark nodded, accepting the answer. "How is Gabe?"

"Well he had a cold," Lois offered. "He should probably retire."

"Lex," he said with more bite than he intended, "told him that too. But he still refuses."

"He works for his daughter's fiancé?"

"Uhuh. He won't leave the plant because it's a connection to Lex, therefore a connection to his daughter. He enjoys having that line of communication with Lex Luthor. I think he's playing at being his father."

"I can see that," Lois said thoughtfully. "He was very welcoming, especially when he found out I was there to ask about his daughter."

"So you were a captive audience?" Clark forced a smile. Gabe Sullivan will regale you with hours of stories. When they were in high school, he and Pete were forced to sit through Mr. Sullivan's tales about working in a fertilizer plant while waiting for their friend.

"I enjoyed listening to him. He talked for hours."

"Just like Chloe."

Lois grinned. She became silent for a while before she turned to Clark and said, "I would have liked her, you know."

Chloe would have liked her too, Clark decided. "Well it wouldn't be one- sided." Lois grinned her thanks. And then Clark thought hard about the next step in dealing with Lex Luthor.

Clark opened the door to his apartment. He was pretty relieved that Lois was covering a news item outside of the office that day. He was not prepared to go into another conversation about what she found out in Smallville.

Suddenly, he stiffened. It wasn't as though the sound was loud enough to disturb, but his senses picked up on that breathing that was not his. He could feel the slow throb of a heart not his. Clark narrowed his eyes and scanned around him.

At first, it did not seem likely that anyone could just walk inside his apartment, close the door behind himself and remain. But that was how it seemed. The presence was still strong, but nothing seemed missing. Clark used his enhanced vision to see into the rooms.

That was when he saw the skeletal figure inside his bedroom, lying on his bed. He sprang forward and kicked open the door, snarling at the intruder.

The small blonde on the bed sat up, with a look of fear and shock. And then her eyes welled up with moisture as she regarded him, frozen on his feet as he was. "Clark," she whispered. He watched in stunned silence as Chloe Sullivan, who appeared surprisingly alert after what she must have been through, rose from his bed and walked over towards him. "Clark, I need your help!"

He commanded his legs to move, to go over to her. He told his arms that the moment he was close enough, he would enfold her in the tightest embrace she had ever been in. His breath caught sharply when she took one tentative step towards him.

Chloe's eyes widened at the sight of Clark Kent falling onto his knees and gritting his teeth. She watched the veins in his arms and his temples throb an unflattering green. She rushed over to him and reached out to touch his skin, which brought another hiss and a loud groan. "What's wrong?" she sobbed. "Clark, what's happening?"

Moisture seeped out from under his tightly closed lids. He shied away from her in pain. "Chloe-" he choked out. She was in need, and she was there. But right at that moment nothing else mattered but, "Get away from me."

"What?" she repeated softly.

"Step back!"

"Clark." She looked on helplessly as Clark's pale face grew bluer at her proximity. She lifted her hand away from his arm and saw the throbbing veins subside a little. When she reached for him again, the sickly shade returned. "Oh God," she murmured. She was causing this. Whatever happened to her caused this, whether it was from the accident or from Lex's cure, she was affecting Clark like this. She took a step back. "I'm sorry," she stammered. And then she pushed away from him and ran out the door.

Chloe ran and ran, almost like she was trying to reach the end of the world where she could just fall off into oblivion. But the earth was round and she cursed that. There was nowhere she could disappear too, no entrance to the gates of hell around the corner. Out of breath, she leaned on the wall of a building. It wasn't as though she could go far. It had only been a while that she's been using her muscles, and even now they were already screaming in pain.

She looked down at herself. The bags she'd packed were left in Clark's apartment. Much use her visit was. She had been turned into a freak by the meteors! She finally had proof and she didn't even find fulfillment at being right in her theories. Chloe slipped her hand inside the pocket of her pants and found the small amount of cash she managed to get from her purse still in there. This was everything she had now.

This was a part of Metropolis she wasn't too familiar with. But when she spotted a coffee shop nearby, she pulled herself over to take a hot drink. Chloe selected an isolated area where she could mull over what she was going to do now.

There was no way she could go back to Clark's. She had gone there using her old key to ask for help. But now that she could actually kill him unintentionally, she wouldn't dare come close.

Lex was out of the question. She was going to bring him down. Everything he'd done, she was the reason. She could not let him do to himself what they've always been afraid he was destined for.

She wondered how Lana and Pete were. Last time she was in contact with them before the accident, they've been going steady and planning on settling in Smallville. But they had such a promising and bright future. They probably didn't know about her. In fact, Chloe was pretty sure they had no idea.

Her father. Tears gathered in her eyes as she considered how this would affect her father. Damn you, Lex Luthor. She couldn't give her father the hope of having his daughter back when it could turn out that this mutation inside her could kill him too. She didn't even know if she was safe to walk around a city full of people like she's doing.

"May I sit here?"

Chloe sniffed into her napkin, prepared to snap at the woman for intruding on her privacy. But like all establishments in Metropolis, the coffee shop was busy and full even this late. She nodded and continued to sob into her napkin.

The woman took a seat in front of her. Chloe could feel the discomfort the woman was feeling. She supposed she should be a little more discreet and subtle about this. She looked up to apologize to the other customer.

Chloe frowned when she saw the woman staring at her, blinking slowly and her mouth working close and open like a fish. "You," the woman whispered. "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry you just look like someone-"

Chloe gratefully took her cup from the waitress and gulped down the coffee. "It was probably an easy mistake to make," she murmured. And then Chloe looked out the glass window and into the street, effectively ending the conversation.

"My name is Lois Lane," the woman said.

Chloe nodded. Before thinking of an assumed name, she slipped, "Chloe."

"Oh my God!" Chloe's green eyes focused back on the brunette in front of her. The woman was hyper. Was she just having coffee? "Chloe."

"Do I know you?" That was impossible, of course. But there wasn't anything you can courteously reply to that.

The woman shook her head. "I can't believe this," she whispered. She drew out a bag which still contained some of the items she brought with her to Smallville. She took out a paper and unfolded it. On the table lay a rather worn printed photo of her dance with Clark in high school prom. Chloe raised fearful eyes at the woman. "Chloe Sullivan, you're not dead."

Chloe bit her lip. Somehow, although it was preposterous since she had just met this woman, she felt that she was safe. Maybe because in her eyes Chloe saw not an opportunistic snoop, but rather the same excitement and fervor she used to have in high school give her father the She couldn' eyes as she considered how this would affect her father. e managed to get from her purse still when she chased all over the town for the truth, rather than a story. "That's still on deliberation," Chloe said.

"That's the exact same response I got from Lex Luthor!"

Chloe's eyes snapped again. "You've been speaking with Lex," she breathed.

"I just can't figure out why I'm looking at you right now," Lois continued. "How are you talking back to me? I-Kent and I just got back from Smallville visiting your grave."

Chloe swallowed the hurt that the words brought. Lois wasn't affected by her 'mutation.' Neither was Lex. So maybe she was safe enough to be allowed to mingle with people. "It's a long story."

"I bet," Lois said eagerly. And then the hunger for the story dissipated when she saw how lost and small the woman in front of her appeared. "Have you had dinner?" she asked. The truth would be sought later. When Chloe shook her head, Lois left a few bills on the table. "Come on with me back to my place. We'll pick up some Chinese along the way." Chloe regarded her with uncertainty. "Come on, Chloe. It's not safe to stay out alone so late. I'll tell you about my visit with your dad."

Walking home with Chloe Sullivan, Lois Lane grappled with everything she was now privy to. Maybe it was shock, or maybe it was the same brand of reporter's instincts she had been told Chloe Sullivan possessed, but all she could think of was, 'I'm walking with a dead woman.'