CHAPTER 4A – Realizations

Lex entered Lana's room and pulled a chair next to her bed. He reached out and stroked he hair gently. Lana's eyes fluttered open. Upon seeing Lex she gave him a confused look.

"Hey" said Lex softly.

"Lex? What are you doing here?" asked Lana.

"I came here as soon as I found out. Lana, you have to know I'm really sorry about everything." Said Lex with an apologetic look on his face.

"What do you mean?" asked Lana still confused.

"About the helicopter crash, about my guys not being able to get you to safety and about the way I acted before you left."

"Lex… I…" Lex interrupted Lana..

"Listen Lana you don't have to say anything. And I don't blame you for saying what you said to me before you got on the helicopter. I have no excuses for the way I acted, and especially to you."

Lana sighed upon seeing the disappointed look on Lex's face. "Look Lex… I mean we were all stressed at the time and probably did and said things we didn't mean."

Lex smiled weakly at Lana. "You know, that's what always amazed me about you. You're just a bigger person than anyone I know. Sometimes I even cynically thought that you are too good for your own good, and I was afraid that people would try to take advantage of that." Said Lex with a sad smile on his face.

Lana's mood changed then, when she remembered that she, or most probably Isobel, had killed Genevieve Teague, and according to that monstrosity that nearly killed her she had committed something terrible by staining the stone with blood. Could the meteor shower have been a result of that, she thought. She hadn't had time to consider the implications of all of this.

Lex seeing her sudden somber mood, realized what the reason was. "Lana you have to stop beating yourself over this. It was self-defense and I saw it. Besides it has already been taken care of."

"Lex it was not self defense! And the more I think about it, I believe it was the same thing that happened to me in China." Said Lana obviously distraught.

Lex lightly turned her head so as to look at him. "Lana listen to me. No matter what happened there, I won't let anything happen to you. I took care of everything and will keep your secret safe."

Lana felt somewhat uneasy at that thought.

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Clark, Chloe and Lois were at the Hospital's cafeteria. Clark seemed quite tired and worried at the same time.

Chloe noticed this. "Clark, everything will be ok, you know that right?"

"Thanks Chloe, it's just that with everything that's happened with the meteors, my parents and Lana I… It just doesn't feel right." Said Clark really emotional.

Chloe turned to Lois. "Lois could you go to Mrs. Kent's room and see if they need anything?"

Lois looked at her cousin curiously and Chloe just put on a pleading face. Lois sighed got up and went to check on the Kents.

"Clark listen, you shouldn't trust Lex! He's on to you." Said Chloe with urgency in her voice.

Clark looked at her surprised by her outburst. "What? What do you mean he's on to me?"

"Listen Clark I don't have time to fully explain. Let's just say that he suspects that you were in his mansion today and that you took an artifact of his."

Clark felt uneasy with the disclosure Chloe made. It meant that Lex was indeed suspicious of him and that Chloe knew more than she let on. "What? That's absurd how…"

Chloe cut him off. "Listen Clark, I know you were there. I went to the mansion to find Lana and saw you unconscious on the floor of one of his 'secret rooms'".

Clark was speechless. So that's how he got away from the Kryptonite; but if that was true that must mean that Chloe knew about what Kryptonite did to him, and that led to the question of how much more Chloe knew about him. "Chloe … I…" Clark couldn't find anything to say.

Chloe offered him a quick way out. "Listen you don't have to explain anything to me now. I just want you to know the facts and to be careful of him."

"Be careful of who Chloe?" said a voice behind them.

Chloe turned surprised to see Lex coming over to them. He smiled as he sat beside her.

"Nothing important Lex. Just a conversation I was having with Clark about Jason. Lana told me some weird stuff about him." Said Chloe quickly trying to cover up.

"I'm sure she did, and I could tell you even weirder stuff about him, but as Clark should have told you, there's no reason for him to be worried about Jason." Said Lex with a sly smile.

Clark realized the mistake Chloe unknowingly made a bit too late. He just seemed uneasy now.

"What do you mean?" asked Chloe not sure what Lex was talking about.

"You see Chloe, Jason is dead." Said Lex plainly.

Chloe was shocked. Firstly from the simple fact that someone she knew had died and secondly from the blunder she just made, since she now realized that Clark must have known about this. "Dead? What happened?"

"Well… Chloe… that is a very long story that I shouldn't bore you with now. Let's just say that he went a little Norman Bates and tried to harm the Kents. One of my security guys killed him before he had a chance to do any serious damage."

"Oh…" was all that Chloe could mutter.

"So it seems your warnings were for nothing. Right?" said Lex looking at Clark with intent.

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The next day, Mrs. Kent was released, and they decided to stay at a hotel in Metropolis, until they had finished the repairs at their farm. They would go to the farm every morning and work on the house and they would return to Metropolis on the evenings. Lex offered to put them in the suite of the Plaza hotel in Metropolis, but the Kents kindly rejected the offer.

As Lana would have to stay for a couple more days in the hospital, Chloe and Lois, who decided to stay at Lois's place for a while, kept her company as long as they could. Lex also visited a couple of times, as well as Clark who had his hands full trying to help his parents put the farm back in a decent shape.

Clark after sharing with his parents what had happened and what Chloe told him, tried to avoid both Chloe and Lex for a while until he had gathered his thoughts and decided what to do. His conversations with Lana were also kept pleasant and short. No mention of what had happened or their feelings for one another had been made. Clark wanted her to be out of that place before they had any serious talk.

All of Smallville was busy putting the town back together again for the second time in less than 15 years and trying to put the meteor shower behind them again.

The day Lana was released from the hospital, Clark excused himself from the work on the farm and went to see her.

When he entered her room, he saw her standing and packing her stuff, that they had carried there, with the help of Chloe. As it turned out the doctors had kept her there for treatments for a little over a week.

"Hey. Need some help with those" offered Clark with a smile.

"It's ok Clark, we got it under control." Answered Chloe with a smile.

Clark approached Lana and with his hand stroked her cheek. "How are you feeling today?" he said softly.

Lana smiled and was happy to see that Clark, despite not being able to be with her more this past week and in spite of everything that happened, he showed his tenderness and the closeness he felt they now had. "I feel fine Clark. Or as fine as I can, considering everything."

"Have you decided where you want to go?" Chloe asked Lana.

"I think I will return to my apartment. From what I heard the Talon suffered minimal damage. Plus I want to be able to help wherever I can there."

Clark smiled. "Don't you worry about the Talon. My mom has already gotten that place working."

As they left the hospital, Chloe started feeling uncomfortable, like she was intruding in something. "Ok guys I'm off. Lois is waiting for me. We're going window- shopping, and then for lunch, so it's a big day ahead of us."

Clark and Lana smiled at her. Lana approached her and hugged her warmly. "Chloe thank you very much for everything. You don't know what your company meant to me during this past week." Said Lana very emotionally.

"Hey don't even mention it. It was my pleasure. Besides I know you'd do the same for me." Said Chloe sincerely.

"In a heartbeat." Said Lana.

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As they were driving towards Smallville Clark and Lana didn't talk much. There was an uncomfortable silence between them. Clark had so much he wanted to say to her, but he waited for a whole week, so what was another day? Cause Clark had decided that tomorrow they would meet just the two of them and they would talk; really talk. Something they hadn't done in a long while. At least that's how he had planned it. He just hoped she would agree.

On her part Lana also felt that she had a lot to say to Clark, and most of all share what exactly happened with Genevieve, Lex and later on when she found the ship and that stranger tried to kill her. She especially wanted to tell him what he told her. She was also very curious on what Clark had to say for himself about all of this, that is if he had anything to say. She had decided a long time ago though that she would not push him. A simple question though wouldn't harm now would it? Thought Lana.

"So…"

"So…:

They both talked at the same time, which caused them both to laugh. That eased the tension a bit.

"You go first" said Clark with a smile.

"Well… ok. Ever since I woke up at the hospital, I wanted to ask you something. How did you find me Clark?" Asked Lana, as her eyes were on Clark full of hope.

"I… I was passing with… my parents near there when… I saw the helicopter crash. So I ran over there and saw you unconscious and hurt." Said Clark never taking his eyes off the road, as he couldn't bear to look at Lana in the eyes.

Lana was silent, with disappointment evident in her eyes. "Oh… ok." She just said as she turned her head straight towards the road. Even though she didn't know what had happened she was almost certain that Clark had been there. She had decided not to push him though so she let it drop for the moment.

Clark on the other hand, was silently cursing himself. Why did he so openly lie when he was still thinking of whether he should tell her what happened? It was more of an instinctive answer. He didn't think before he answered and now he regretted opening his mouth.

"So what about you?" asked Lana.

Lost in his thoughts Clark didn't understand what she meant. "Huh? What about me?"

"What did you want to say?" asked Lana troubled but a little amused with his aloofness.

"Oh. Right. I was thinking that it's been a long time since we did anything together, and I thought maybe we could meet tomorrow and … you know … talk… Not like a date kind of thing… you know…" said Clark feeling really uncomfortable. He'd known Lana his entire life, she was his best friend, they even were something of an item a year ago, even if it was for only a couple of days, and they had admitted that they loved each other. Still whenever Clark tried to say something meaningful to Lana he became like a mumbling fool. At least that's how he pictured himself being.

Lana on the other hand, despite her disappointment over his lie (as she thought it was), couldn't help but find that incredibly adorable. In fact that exact thing about Clark is what she found extremely endearing. Plus it gave her self-confidence a little boost, whenever she needed one, since she was capable of having that effect on Clark Kent, even after everything they've gone through together.

"I think it is a wonderful idea Clark." She said smiling to him.

Clark turned and looked at Lana and he swore that her smile could melt anything. He just managed to put up a smile, as he remained transfixed by her face. Lana smiled a little and politely with her index finger pointed to the road.

"Oh… sorry." Mumbled Clark as he turned his eyes to the road. It just occurred to him then that driving with Lana Lang in the passenger seat is a very dangerous endeavor.

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Meanwhile at the Luthor mansion, as Lex was sipping whiskey, and listened to the "Ride of the Valkyries", up on the guest bedroom, Lionel suddenly sprang up from his bed, like he was waking up from a bad nightmare.

To be Continued