SIX
Fitz jumped up from his chair when he saw Xavir enter the lab. He and Chloe waited as Xavir walked over to them.

"What did he say?" Fitz asked. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to call a meeting," Xavir answered despondently. He turned to face Chloe. "I need you to come with me."

Chloe glanced at Fitz, who continued to watch curiously, and followed Xavir toward the Lab's exit.

"I take it your meeting didn't go well," Chloe stated.

"Well enough."

Chloe frowned and stopped walking. "Where are we going?"

Xavir paused at the door. "Listen, I'm sorry about this. I really am, but until we get this situation under control, you're going to have to be isolated."

"Isolated?"

"It's dangerous for you to learn too much about the future… things could change." He forced a smile, trying to bring some humor into the situation. "I'm rather attached to my life as I know it."

"The only constant thing in life is change," Chloe quipped. "I don't think I can be of much help to you if I'm locked away in a room somewhere."

"It's not my call," Xavir said softly, reaching out to press a button on the wall. The doors slid open to reveal two men in black jumpsuits.

Chloe gave Xavir a disappointed look and stepped toward the men. As they escorted her down a stark hallway, she began to wonder why Xavir hadn't thought about how attached he was to his life before he decided to go Time Surfing.

Lois's stomach growled as she exited the bathroom dressed in the white, long-sleeved v-neck top and dark cargo pants that Clark had purchased.

"I got us some breakfast." Clark handed her a silver pouch about the size of a candy bar.

She read the label aloud. "Breakfast Protein Supplement. Yum."

"It's all they had downstairs when I called for room service. It actually doesn't taste too bad."

Lois nodded and inspected his new clothes. The black cargo pants and tight ribbed crew shirt were a definite improvement over his ever-present flannel.

She took a bite of the protein bar and gratefully accepted the water bottle that Clark tossed in her direction. She forced herself to swallow the powdery tasting food, washing it down with a drink from the bottle. Looking at Clark's expression, she sighed. The King of the Brooders was back.

"How did you get the clothes?" she asked. She had a suspicion of why his mood was so bleak.

"Computer."

Lois studiously screwed the top back on the water bottle. "So, you know."

"Yeah."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Clark…"

Clark shook his head and turned for the door. "We should get going. It's already after noon."

Lois exhaled a sharp breath and followed him. While part of her still felt guilty, another part was angry that he was judging her based on something that she had done in the future.

"Smallville," she demanded, grabbing his arm as they entered the hallway. "Maybe us coming to the future and learning about our mistakes means we can change them."

She thought their future marriage was a mistake, Clark thought sadly. "Yeah. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll never get married."

Lois could no longer keep her indignant anger at bay. Why did he always have to be the victim? "I don't get why you're acting like this when you should be the one upset that you didn't marry your smoky-eyed sweetheart."

"Hey, who knows what happened… I guess I had to settle for you," Clark snarked back, too far gone in the argument to realize the bite in his words.

Lois's eyes flashed.

Settle, she thought flatly. No wonder she cheated. "Why don't you just go find a way for us to get back home so we can get back to hating each other like normal?"

"My pleasure," Clark shot back, stalking down the hall toward the stairwell.

Lois released a grunt of frustration and returned to the room. She stopped at the door and looked at the heart-shaped bed. This was turning out to be a very bad day.

Clark hit the lobby fuming. He didn't know how or why she was able to press his buttons. He was normally a mild-mannered person, but something about Lois made him go from hot to cold and back in record time. As he passed through the front entrance, a sharp pain caused him to grab the wall.

"Are you okay, sir?" a man called from inside the hotel lobby as he rushed to the spot where Clark was leaning against the wall.

Clark's jaw muscles twitched as he nodded and forced himself to stand. It was the same pain he had felt the night before when he and Lois were at the replicated Daily Planet. "Yes… I'm fine. Thank you."

Clark turned to re-enter the hotel. In the midst of everything else that was going on, he had forgotten about the pain in his side from last night.

Lois stumbled to the desk and sat down, grabbing her side as the sharp pain she'd had the day before hit her with twice as much force.

The pain faded a little when the door to the room opened.

What was that?> she asked herself.

I don't know.>

Lois looked up startled. Clark's voice sounded clearly in her head.

"How did you do that?" she asked, rubbing her side.

"Do what?" Clark asked.

Lois shook her head, thinking that she must have imagined what she heard. She noticed that he was clutching his side, mirroring her own actions. She looked at him with a wide-eyed stare. "You're hurt?"

Clark met her gaze and nodded. "Last night…?"

Lois nodded. A thought suddenly occurred. "It didn't stop until you came back… just like now."

They stared at each other for a long moment before Lois scoffed. "Looks like someone wants us together, Smallville. I guess you're stuck with me."

Clark sighed. "Looks like it."

Somehow, their trip into the future had attached them together with an invisible connection. For whatever reason, they were not able to put a great distance between them without suffering pain. The impossibility of their situation had just heightened. At this point, it wasn't worth questioning it.

They exchanged a look and Clark knew that a silent truce had been called.

"I'm sorry if I overreacted a little," Clark offered weakly.

Lois arched an eyebrow. "A little?"

Clark gave her a pointed look.

"Okay!" Lois replied, lifting her hands in defeat. "Me too. It's just… how can you be so touchy about something that hasn't even happened yet?"

"I don't know. I guess my ego was a little bruised by your reaction to being married to me."

Lois's eyes narrowed. "My reaction? Give me a break… I can't imagine being married, period. To you or anyone else. I think we both have proof, now, that I wouldn't be any good at it."

Clark heard the sadness in her voice. "What do mean, proof?"

Lois's brow creased and her head tilted a little. "You didn't read everything, did you?"

Clark shook his head, and Lois had to laugh at the fact that she was going to have to confess to a crime she had yet to commit. "I had an affair… I cheated on you."

Clark was unsure of how to take the admission. He wondered if he was entitled to the hurt he suddenly felt in his heart. "Are you… how do you kn… With who?"

Lois hated the rush of guilt she felt at his expression. She figured that the best way to deal with the truth was the way she treated one of Mrs. Kent's pies: all or none. "Superman."

"Who?"

"Superman. You know the guy that flies around saving people from certain doom… you didn't read that part either?" Lois rolled her eyes. "You really need to be more through when you're snooping."

Clark couldn't help but smile. "I just figured that you'd fill in the blanks for me."

"Yeah, but what will you do when I'm not around?"

"I have no idea," he answered sarcastically.

They shared a small sigh as both realized that they had been upset over different things.

Clark had an idea of the identity of Lois' supposed affair, but wanted to hear more about what Lois had found through the computer to confirm his suspicions. A grin found its way to his face as he contemplated the irony.

"What's got you all Cheshire Cat over there?" Lois asked warily.

"Nothing… So, tell me more about this super… man, person, who swept you off your feet… or who will, in the future."

Lois glared at him for being so smug about her future indiscretion. Flipping her hair over her shoulder haughtily, she stood and headed for the door. "I'll tell you on the way."

Fitz turned from his station in the lab and called to Xavir. Xavir walked over to him, leaving the station where a group was working on creating another batch of the Llecom complex. Fitz turned and pointed to something on his monitor. "The wave is building. I'm a little worried that my calculations might be off."

Xavir looked at the 3D model of the wave and the future projections Fitz had programmed next to it. After the emergency meeting they had called earlier, the lab was bustling with people trying to bring resolution to their predicament.

Xavir knew that this was his chance to prove to Professor Kairo that he was worthy of his father's name. After he had revealed that Chloe Sullivan was the identity of the person who had been caught in his time window, the Professor had berated Xavir for his carelessness. Now that Chloe was here, their problem was only getting worse.

The Professor had sat back while Xavir debriefed the head personnel on their current situation, but as soon as he had finished, Kairo had taken over. A crisis of this magnitude required the highest level of authority.

Xavir looked up to the wall where a countdown was showing on the main view-screen.

"Let's just leave it for now, Fitz. Until we know what to change it to, there's no reason to make people panic more than they already are." They couldn't afford to have people making mistakes out of fright.

Fitz nodded and faced his friend. "Where'd they take the girl?"

"Just to some private quarters so she would be out of the way… and so she could get some rest."

Fitz smiled. "I didn't know that was your type."

"What?"

"Don't deny it, Xav. You don't act that nervous around anyone but the Professor," Fitz teased.

Xavir's eyes widened in horror. "It's not like that at all."

"No?" Fitz asked unbelievingly.

"No," Xavir repeated firmly. "She's my great-grandmother."

TBC