Author's Notes: I'm doing a different approach. This entire story will be directly in Clark's POV, which is new for me because my stories are not written this way. Clark isn't being stalkerish, not really. He watches her when he's near her, but he doesn't actively go out of his way to see her, or move his telescope around in hopes to find her on the porch. lol!
The Talon
It's been a couple of days since my meeting with Lex and my run-in with Lois Lane. I haven't heard or seen her around. I'm beginning to wonder if she's as reclusive as Lex.
"Hey Clark," Chloe greeted him enthusiastically. There was something up. "Tell me who the best reporter in town is?"
I look up from my seat and I stumbled for an answer. "You?" I didn't come out all that convincingly, but Chloe didn't seem to notice. So I relaxed.
She sat down and removed a file folder from her large purse.
"I got the information you wanted." She placed it squarely in front of her, both hands flat on top of the folder. She eyed me and I felt like I did something wrong.
"What?" I asked.
"You never mentioned she was drop dead gorgeous"
"Huh?" I didn't know what exactly she was trying to imply. "I'm just being cautious, Chloe."
"Uh-huh," she replied disbelievingly. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.
"Tell me what you've got," I say, getting back to the reason why they were doing this in the first place.
Chloe slid the folder to me and I open it. I look at it and I don't quite believe what I'm seeing. As I read through it, Chloe did the pleasure of narrating what she remembered out loud.
"Seems like our new resident brunette will be attending Met-U this fall as a sophomore." She paused, recalling the minor details. "She's a military child. Her father is a 3-star General and she has a younger sister, home schooled and has already lived in six continents by the time she was twelve." She mentally shared details of Lois's life like a manifest.
I cleared my throat when I find something else interesting. "It says here she was in the Peace Corp," I pointed out, impressed by her resume. That was the last thing he expected to see.
"For about a year." Chloe nods. "Kind of hard to believe any friend of a Luthor can be so..."
"Humane," I finished for her. Not the kind of word appropriate enough to describe Lois, but I wouldn't mind getting to know her and find out. If only she took up my offer for a drink.
"Chloe..." I began a little nervously.
"Yeah?"
"I'm thinking of asking her out again"
Chloe's eyes go wide as saucers. "Excuse me. Did you say 'ask her out again?' When did you ask her out the first time?" she asked me in surprise.
"When I saw Lex," I answered meekly.
"But you barely knew her." I only shrugged. I minor oversight. "Are you sure, Clark? I mean, we barely know her"
I hold up the file in her face and Chloe rephrased.
"We don't know her personally," she corrected and I smile.
"Well maybe I want to get to know her personally," I tell her.
"Know who personally?" someone else says. I know that voice anywhere. Lana Lang.
Chloe smiled up at her and she does the same for Chloe, and then with me. "Hey guys." Lana has changed a lot after leaving a month ago to Paris. She came back all of the sudden and said that it wasn't her thing. I never could understand how her mind works.
When she left, I thought that was that. Now that she's back in Smallville, we're back to square one.
"Hi Lana," I return friendly.
"Hi Clark"
And this is how our relationship worked. I say hi, Lana says hi, we try to make conversation but I can barely get a word out that's really my own without feeling like I may hurt her feelings. Then I feel bad, and she feels bad and then I run back to the loft and wonder why it always leads me back to her.
"So what are you guys up to?" she continued on nicely. I felt like being anywhere but here now.
"Nothing that won't get us into trouble," Chloe says.
Lana nods and the uncomfortable level spikes up to a roaring 11 on a 10 point scale.
By some God that didn't like me, Lana sat down beside Chloe in our booth and they start to talk animatedly about something I wasn't listening to when she came in.
It was Lois Lane.
She had her hair down this time. Long, wavy and beautiful, it was like she came in during the slow motion part of a romantic movie scene.
Am I going crazy?
I watched her, not on purpose but it couldn't be helped. She wore a business suit. Black. It looked great on her. Very professional. She had a phone in one hand and a laptop bag swung over other shoulder. She looked very sure of herself, just like the fencing match the other day.
At that point I felt like getting up and going to her, but I'm reminded of my present company and I immediately stay put.
"Are you okay Clark?" Chloe asks.
"No, I'm all right"
Maybe she'll see me and come over here.
A moment later she takes a seat in the farthermost area from where I sat.
Maybe not.
I sat in front of Chloe and Lana waiting for a chance to talk to Lois. What happened next wasn't what I had in mind.
"EVERYBODY GET DOWN RIGHT NOW!" a tall man with a ski mask on entered The Talon with a shot gun. Instinct told me to take him out. Rationality told me to wait for the right possible moment.
I watched as the thug walked in behind the cash register and wipe it clean.
"ANY BODY MOVES, I'M GONNA SHOOT YOUR HEAD OFF!"
On the floor I watched him until I see movement coming from the front door. X-raying through it, my eyes open in shock.
Afraid.
It was my mom.
No.
She walked in and the thug got spooked and opened fire. My legs froze and I scream out to her. "MOM!"
Someone else pushed her away and one of the school's football players tackled the thug with the gun down. I run to my mom in hopes that she's all right, but the closer I got to her, the clearer my vision became.
My mom held Lois's head on her lap, her stomach bleeding.
"Lois," I whispered, kneeling. I moved my shaking mother's hand off her wound and applied the pressure myself. "Shhhh... it's gonna be okay," I say to her softly, glancing at my mom and then to Lois, the feeling of dread and failure suddenly engulfing me in a sea of guilt.
"It's... nothing," she struggled to breathe.
She's dying and she made me laugh. How does something like that work?
Lois was losing consciousness. I'm no doctor, but I think she's going into shock. "Hang on!" I apply the pressure a little more firmly, hoping in some way that my will can give her the will to stay strong. Please don't die.
"CHLOE!" I screamed. I don't know if super speeding out of there and to the hospital would do more damage than good.
"I've called the police," I barely heard her say. "The ambulance are on there way," Lana added.
I watched Lois helplessly as my vision focused on her wound. I saw the blood filling her stomach in fast speed, they needed to get her help and they needed it now. I was scared. I should've stopped him when I had the chance. I should've put aside my secret and did what was right. What was the point of these powers if I can't openly use them to save people?
"You're not going to die," I say to her softly, and I saw that her world turned black.
To be continued...