This kind of Lonely

Clark woke up the next morning feeling… mixed up. He was still quite distraught with everything that had happened, he was confused and torn by what Lionel had told him, but for the first time in quite a long while he also felt a slight glimmer of hope.

Despite everything that had happened between them, despite all the mistakes he had made and how she must have felt, Lana Lang was there when he needed her yesterday, making him feel even for a while, that he wasn't carrying all the burdens in his life by himself. Was he still in love with her? As he sat on his bed contemplating the question, another question popped in his mind. Was there ever any doubt that he would always love her? He remembered all that his mother had told him about her the previous day, but when his mother came to his mind, his eyes became wet again. He already missed her. The only thing that made it somewhat easier for him, was the certainty he felt that somehow his parents had reunited wherever they were.

He got out of bed slowly and tried to think what he would do? Should he go back to the Daily Planet? Should he move back to Metropolis? The fact of the matter was, he still hadn't done what he came here to do; which was to sort out his head. If it was even possible his mind was even more of a mess right now. The only thing he was certain of at the moment was Lana. He had to see her again.

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Lana went down to her kitchen to prepare breakfast for Laura and found Chloe already there in her kitchen drinking coffee. "Morning."

"Chloe… you should have waited I was about to prepare breakfast for everyone." Said Lana smiling. It felt like old times with Chloe and Pete in her house. Even if it was only for a day.

"No offense Lana, but if I don't make my own coffee in the morning, exactly as I want it, my day goes off straight to hell from then on. Besides I don't have that much time. Pete and I are leaving for Metropolis as soon as we can. But first… let's talk… we haven't done that in a long time…" said Chloe with a wink.

"Ok… wait till I prepare Laura's breakfast, and then we can sit and talk."

"Oh… by the way… Laura… she is the cutest most adorable thing I have ever seen… and she is so well behaved… she even says "pwease" and "sank you" or something to that effect anyway…" said Chloe with a big smile on her face.

Lana chuckled lightly. "She is an angel… I really have no complaints whatsoever from her… the only thing that's a bit worrying is that she is incredibly shy and she scares easily…"

"I believe that's something that will slowly change with time… Besides you weren't the most social of people till you got in the cheerleader squad…" said Chloe with a chuckle.

Lana looked at Chloe quizzically. "Really? … You think so? …"

Chloe chuckled. "Oh come on Lana… in class no one could hear a pip from you unless a teacher asked you something… I mean… I bet Martha will have already told you that Laura reminds her of how you were at that age."

With the mention of Martha, the mood darkened a bit in the room. Lana looked downwards. "Yeah… she has…"

Chloe bit her lip. She knew how close Martha and Lana had been over the years and she silently cursed herself for bringing this up. Now that she had though, she thought that she could move forward to the serious issues. "So… how did it go last night?" she asked with concern.

Lana fidgeted a bit uncomfortably as she turned to continue preparing Laura's breakfast. "Well… it was weird…"

"Is he alright?"

"When I found him last night, he was a mess… but later on when we parted… he seemed somewhat more calm…"

"Lana Lang did her magic again…" said Chloe with a light smile.

"Believe me Chloe I did nothing…"

"Well you must have done something… If you say he was calm… do you remember how he stormed out on us… By the way… how did you find him?"

"Well… I first went to his old farm house, thinking that he might have gone there… but then I realized that the place he would go if upset, was his parents… much like I did the years past. And something else very weird happened. You won't believe who was there with him."

"Lex?" asked Chloe with uncertainty.

"No… It was Lionel Luthor."

Chloe widened her eyes in surprise. "Lionel? But… how can that be… everyone thought he was dead."

"I know… that's what I'd heard… but believe me… he is not. The thing is that when I got there, Clark was very angry about something and he had grabbed him violently. Now I didn't ask him what that was all about… but when I saw him like that, I got to tell you… I was scared…"

"Oh my God! ... What does that mean… I got to find out… this could be huge… Lionel alive…"

"Chloe please… Don't mention it to anyone… I don't know what happened there and I don't know what they said with Clark… so I think it would be best if we kept this to ourselves… at least until Clark clarifies the situation…"

Chloe remained silent for a while. "You're right… sorry… reporter's instinct… got carried away for a while… Don't worry… I won't mention it to anybody…"

As Lana finished preparing Laura's breakfast, she made a coffee for herself and sat down with Chloe. "So… where's Pete?"

"He went to see Clark before we left… so… how are you feeling?" asked Chloe a bit hesitantly.

"I'll be fine… Martha's passing was quite a blow… but I don't have the luxury of breaking down…" said Lana with a weak smile. "I don't think Martha would appreciate it either… I got to think of Laura… but sometimes it just seems so … hard… I don't know why…" said Lana with a troubled look.

Chloe looked at her sympathetically. "Lana… of course it would be hard… you're trying to raise a kid by yourself… it's a tough thing to do… but if there's one person I'm sure can do it, that's you honey…" said Chloe smiling supportively at Lana.

Lana smiled back. "Thanks Chloe… but ever since Clark got here… I've had an even harder time concentrating. All the feelings and frustrations I was trying to keep in check for so many years, resurfaced… and now with him being divorced and so sad and lonely … I… I don't know if I can be there for him and still keep it together myself…" said Lana trying hard to keep her feelings under control.

"I'm sure you'll find your way Lana… You both will."

To be Continued…

Thank you guys for your wonderful comments. I hope that these two chapters will be as good. :-)