Note: Thanks for all your reviews! Sorry about the long wait. I was busy working my butt off this week. Doesn't it seem like teachers give more work out before the holidays? haha I was going to post this up yesterday, but my computer crashed! Anywayz, you have #1CLANAfanLOVER to thank for this update! She was very persisting. Thank you!

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Metropolis: The Vertical in Skye Towers

9:01 P.M.

Sunday, June 6th

Clark didn't think. He acted.

Even in super-speed, Clark could see the shard of glass approaching Lana rapidly. Never mind about the other people in the room who were being hit with glass and scrambling for their lives. Forget the fact that glass was now pounding against Clark's face and shattering simultaneously. All that mattered was the woman sitting in front of him; her approaching scream about to be cut off by the cruelest shard. As heaven knew it, if Lana Lang died, he would die right with her.

Clark Kent knocked his seat to the ground and practically threw himself over the table, tumbling into her. His action forced the shard to hit his right side of his head and shatter instead of taking a life. Clark had tumbled Lana unto the ground and he now scooped her into his arms and allowed his steel body to protect her from any other shards.

Things were beginning to come back into their normal frame now. The flying glass had passed and people who had ducked under their tables slowly came out. Clark still held Lana tightly against his chest. Clark could feel her shaking underneath him.

"Lana?" Clark's voice was laced with concern. "Are you okay?" When Clark didn't get a response from her except more shaking and rushed breathing, he tried again. "Lana?"

"Clark…" Clark let a breath of air that he didn't even know he was holding. He was going to live.

"Lana…" Clark loosened his grip around Lana so he could get a look at her. Besides having a few tiny nicks and cuts on her face, she was physically fine. Emotionally though, was another thing.

Clark ran a hand through her hair and kissed her head softly. He had never been more scared in his life. Not even when the scientists were prodding and poking him. Just the fact that he could've lost her scared him out of his wits.

"Lana, please tell me you're okay," Clark begged as he lifted her chin up to meet her eyes. He was surprised to see tears of love instead of fear there.

"Clark…just hold me…." Lana gasped through her sobs. And Clark did; he held her as if she were his world.

Unfortunately, all worlds come to an end sometime.

"Look there's a fire down at the docks!" a teen clinging on to his girlfriend exclaimed to the entire room. Clark snapped his head toward the direction of the docks. It was the same docks that he and Lois had had their stake-out at. Maybe Jimmy's informant was right. Illicit and dangerous drugs could've caused an explosion that triggered the fire. It would explain the broken glass too.

Clark used his x-ray vision to check out the abandoned warehouse if anyone was in there. His eyes widened when he saw several bodies laying still on the cement floor and some of them struggling to get out of the building.

"Someone call the police!" Clark yelled, panicked. "There are people down at the docks!"

Nobody questioned how he knew that. They all dove into their pockets all trying to reach 911 at the same time. Someone had apparently dialed 911 for Skye Towers since the door to the restaurant was kicked down by a fireman.

"Is anybody hurt?!" Medical assistants were following him and several other officers into the room. Clark saw one officer bend over a woman lying motionless on the ground. Her husband was bending over her crying hysterically. Clark knew that if he didn't have any super powers, he would be doing the exact same thing.

Clark glanced quickly back toward the docks. He knew that the police would never be able to make it in time. Besides, they probably thought it was an abandoned warehouse and nobody would be in it. Clark had a decision to make; and a fast decision it was.

"Lana," Clark whispered. "There are people down at the docks."

Lana pulled away from Clark to look at his face. His expression was torn between leaving her and letting those people in the warehouse die. Lana knew that Clark would have to leave her to save those people.

Lana gave him a quick kiss on his cut-free cheek. "Go."

Clark gave her one last glance and her hand a quick squeeze before running out of there. It was then that Clark Kent made a vow to profess his love to Lana Lang after he had saved those people down at the docks. Who cared if there was someone yelling for help or a boy trapped in a fire? For once, the world could wait. He was going to ask Lana Lang to be his wife whether it suited the world or not.

Metropolis: Gateway Docks

9:12 P.M.

Sunday, June 6th

"Ahaha," a girl dressed in a frilly pink dress sang. "Faster!" she cried to her best friend and brother who were turning the jump rope.

"Jill, don't you think we should be heading back now?" her brother questioned. He and his sister's best friend both held flashlights. It was obviously dark; dark enough for their mother to be worried. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that she had called the army by now.

Whoosh Jill's brother felt. He dropped the rope and turned to his right. A man dressed in a not-too-fancy-but-fancy-enough-for-dinner tuxedo.

"Whoa, how did you do that Mister?" he cried, his eyes wide open.

"Doesn't matter," the man replied. He bent down so that he was eye level with the three kids. "Don't you think you should be heading home now?" Clark Kent noticed that the three kids were too close to the fire for his liking.

"Y―yeah. We're gonna go now. Pl―please don't call the president on us Mr. Army Man."

Despite the situation, Clark couldn't help but smile. "Don't worry, I won't. Just get going now." And the three kids grabbed their things and ran back toward the direction of Skye Towers. Clark figured that their parents were probably at one of the restaurants located at the tower.

Clark slipped on a stony expression when he realized that a fire was still burning about a hundred yards off and there were people to be saved from the flames.

Squeak. Clark had prepared to super-speed away again when he stepped on something squishy and soft. It was a brown, ragged stuffed rabbit. One of the girls had probably left it behind. Clark ignored it and super-sped away, leaving a trail of dust.

Clark watched the fire, blazing and continuously puffing out smoke. He used his x-ray vision to check the interior of the building and found that seven people in total were trapped in the massive fire. Clark grimaced when he learned that three of them were lying in the flames; probably dead. The other four were either pounding on doors that wouldn't open or had collapsed. Clark's lips were thin and his face was etched in determination. He was going in.

Metropolis: Outside of Skye Towers

9:32 P.M.

Sunday, June 6th

"Miss, are you alright...? Miss?"

"Oh, yes! I'm fine…." Lana said hurriedly to the officer that had helped her to her feet after Clark had run out.

I wonder if Clark is okay…. Lana thought as she followed the officer out of the building to where a massive crowd of press and worried family members were standing.

"Lana!" Lana looked into the crowd and spotted Lois Lane with a tape recorder, notepad, and pen.

"Lois?" Lana said breathlessly as she ran over to her which proved to be quite difficult since she was wearing high heels. Lois slipped under the Caution Do Not Enter sign and gave Lana a quick hug.

"Are you okay? Where's Clark?"

"He's…" Lana thought hard for an answer, but she was too worried to be thinking up a lie for Lois to gobble. "I don't know…."

"What do you mean you don't know? Don't tell me Smallville left you?" Lois said, astonished.

Lana frowned. "No, he didn't," Lana said defensively even though it was the entire truth. Clark did leave her, after all. But, Lana knew it for the cause of good.

"Right…." Lois said, unconvinced. "Look, I'm sorry that the evening was ruined. I mean it was supposed to be the third best day of your life; after your wedding day and your first time in bed."

Lana's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What the heck are you talking about Lois?"

Lois blinked at her before replying, "You mean he didn't do it yet?"

Metropolis: Santa's Toy Factory

9:43 P.M.

Sunday, June 6th

The door of the building fell down with one massive kick. Heat and ash stung Clark's eyes as he searched the room for any fallen victims. So far, he managed to get four men out. The four of them had been in what Clark figured was the processing room along with three dead men. Clark knew that he couldn't do anything about them except leave them there for the police to come; hopefully that would be before they were cremated. One of the men had stopped coughing long enough to tell Clark, outside of the factory that another two were inside. Clark thought he was bluffing, but another one confessed that the fire was caused by an explosion and the two were directly in the path of the heat and flames. Clark was going to prompt more out of him, but a black bearded man clearly gave him a look that Clark read as 'shut up; you're giving too much away.'

Which brought Clark to his current situation now. Ash was flying into his eyes and although his lungs could probably last longer than a normal person's, he felt suffocated already. Clark gave another cough as he walked into a lick of flames and came out without a single burn or scratch on him. So, being an alien does have its benefits, Clark thought as he searched the room for any intelligent life. Clark paused when his eyes came upon a door.

That's funny…I don't remember seeing a door there. Clark tried to x-ray it, but failed. Lead.

As Clark's swift foot steps brought him closer to the door, he felt a something come over him that he had only felt when he was near his favorite rock. The light headiness and nauseating sensation was almost too much for Clark as he stumbled back and nearly fell into flames. If it weren't for the new experience and pain of being burned, he would have fallen right into the flames and died.

"What the hell is going on?" Clark gasped, but soon regretted speaking at all when his lungs were filled with ash, heat, and carbon dioxide. He searched the area for any signs of the familiar green rock and found none. Clark felt the room spinning and reeled in every direction that was possible. Unfortunately, he happened to stagger right into the steel door and through the hole that had been melted by the blaze. Clark landed with a heavy thud in the next room that had a ring of fire around it.

What the hell is going on?! Clark thought groggily as his shoulder and back was inflamed with pain from his fall. Clark fell into such a state of coughing and sputtering that even Lana hadn't experienced. His eyes watered and the poisonous fumes were blocking his mind of concocting a plan that would somehow free him from his current predicament.

Phone…in left hip pocket….

Clark gathered his remaining strength and fumbled in his pocket for his Verizon Wireless flip phone, courtesy of his mom as his high school graduation gift. Clark lifted his head and scrolled up and down his contacts list until he hit Lana's number. He aimed dazedly and somehow managed to hit the right button that would dial her number. He knew that she probably couldn't do anything now, but he just wanted to hear her voice before….

Clark lifted the phone to his ears and heard the dial tones. With a click, he heard his angel's scared and shaking voice.

"Clark? Is that you? Where are you?" She sounded like she was the one who was trapped in the burning building instead of Clark. She had a hint of fear in her voice even though she was trying to repress it.

"Lana…" Clark breathed raggedly. His response was greeted by an 'oh my God' and 'where are you?'

"…Docks…something wrong…kryptonite…"

"Clark?! Baby, hold on, I'm going to tell an officer right now!" Lana sobbed over the phone. Her voice and cries were now frantic.

"Lana…no, stay with me," Clark said aguishly. The pain was beyond bearable now.

"Clark…noo…." More sobs.

"Lana...I'm sorry…." He could tell it was the end now. A deep-pitch black was slowly unraveling at the corners of his eyes.

"Clark!" Lana's desperate and shrill voice rang over the phone. "Don't leave me!"

"I…I love you…."

"Clark? Answer me!"

Dead silence.

"CLARK!!!"