Chapter 10

Lois took the wheel while Clark sat nervously in the passenger's seat of his father's red pick-up truck. They were on their way back to the farm, and they did it in silence.

Clark didn't like the silence especially when Lois is involved.

"I said I was sorry."

Lois glanced at him oddly before giving her attention back to the road. They were only a couple of miles away from the farm.

"Were we talking about something?"

Clark breathed in deeply. "I don't think we should tell them."

"I agree."

"It'll make things – did you just agree with me?"

Lois smiled. "You sound surprised."

"Well – I am."

"What? I don't agree with you back in your world?"

"Not always."

"Hmm…" she responded thoughtfully.

Clark leaned back against the passenger's side seat, relieved that he didn't have to tell his parent's the whole story. He didn't feel that he had the strength to look his father in the eye and tell him that back in his world, he was dead.

No.

He couldn't go there.

The car suddenly slows down to a halt.

Clark breathed in again.

"We're here," she announced obviously. "Okay, so here's the plan." She paused to get ready to explain. "I don't have one."

Clark stared at her with wide eyes.

"You don't have a plan?"

Lois shrugged. "I was hoping it'd come to me on our way over, but nadda."

"And you're telling me this now?" he tells her unbelievably.

"Riiiiight. Like it's all my fault."

Clark sighed, his head falling against the glove compartment. She really is no different than the woman he knew. She's stuck up when she wants to be. She's rude. But there was something different about her. It might have something to do with the tiny little fact that he liked being around her.

"We'll just pretend we went for a drive in town," he suggests.

"Yeah, sure because there are lots of things to do there," she remarked sarcastically.

Anytime she and her boyfriend went into town, they ended up in a different state, she recalled pleasantly.

Clark glared at her.

Lois replied with a smirk, hiding what she was really feeling. The memories of time spent with her boyfriend brought her feet grounded back in reality. He was still gone and she had no clue how to get him home.

"Come on, your mom's making meat loaf. And it wouldn't hurt you if you'd hang out with them for a little bit. They were just as worried about you as I was."

A pang of sadness hit Clark. He hadn't told her yet that his father was dead in his world, and he was going to keep it that way. He didn't want anything bad looming over this family's future even if it may not come to pass.

Clark grabbed a hold of her hand.

"Wait!"

Lois stopped and turned to him. "It's gonna be okay," she assured, squeezing his hand ever so slightly.

"Maybe we could just hang out in the barn."

Lois raised her eyebrows. "You're parents would want to see you," she pressed lightly.

Clark sighed. "I know, I'm just – I'm just not ready to see them again."

"Did something happen?"

"No," he answered a bit too quickly.

"You've been jumpy since we left the caves," she observed keenly.

"Things are just different here."

"I know," she nodded. "You told me. You don't like your powers. You don't trust Jor-El. There was a second meteor shower and you're obsessed over some Lana chick."

"I'm not – I'm not obsessed with her!"

Lois wasn't buying it.

"Oh, you're not."

Clark rolled his eyes. "It's complicated."

"Obviously," she said, crossing her arms.

There was something enjoyable about making this Clark Kent uncomfortable. It amazes her how different this guy is from the man she's fallen in love with. Whereas her boyfriend was naïve in an endearing way, the Clark before her was naïve to a fault.

She's learned a lot about him from his reality, but she noticed that there were things he didn't want her to know.

Personal things.

She understood his need for privacy even if it was about a world she'll never see, so she let him reveal anything to her in his own time.

All she needed to do now is get him to relax, and maybe, just maybe, they'll find a way to bring her boyfriend back.

Lois awoke the next morning hearing a bustling sound downstairs. She stayed at the farm with Martha and Kent – truthfully, mostly for Martha and a little bit for Kent.

Hurriedly, she got properly dressed and sprinted downstairs.

As soon as she was halfway down the steps, she saw the living room in disarray. It wasn't a big old mess but it wasn't as tidy as it normally was. The couch was moved. There were papers everywhere.

Where's Kent?

Suddenly, she felt a gush of wind touch the back of her neck. She turned to find an exhausted looking Kent by the doorway.

"Hey," she said.

Lois didn't know what else to say.

"I can't find it," he said, looking very upset.

Kent strode back into the living room and started to go through everything again that it left Lois completely confused.

"You lost something?"

Kent looked at her without really looking at her.

"It was mine. I had it with me and now it's gone. I can't find it anywhere." He moved to the window. "I had it with me right here a few nights ago," he said in a panic-stricken voice.

That's when she realized what it was he could be looking for.

"What is it?"

"It's – " he started hesitantly. "It's a photograph. It means a lot to me." He sighed, falling back against the window and sliding down to the ground. He covered his face hoping to mask his emotions. "It's the only thing I had that was mine."

Lois felt remorse for having kept it for as long as she did. It was just; it was still hard for her to believe that they were such good friends let alone anything more. And she still wasn't sure whether or not Kent and her other self were even involved in that kind of way.

She slowly walked towards him, removing the photo she kept to herself in the back pocket of her jeans. When he made no move to look up, she sat on the floor directly in front of him; her legs crossed Indian-style.

"You mean this."

Kent looked up and saw the photograph she was holding out to him. He slowly took the photo from her hand and stared at it.

It was the photograph he had thought he lost forever.

Kent looked back at her with a clearly surprised expression.

"How did you – "

"Find it?" she completed. "The night Clark disappeared."

"You've had it all this time?"

Lois's eyes darted away from him briefly, a flush of red and embarrassment making waves all around her.

"I'm sorry. I should've given it back."

A moment of complete silence passed between them.

"She's my girlfriend," he revealed.

Lois didn't seem surprised.

"I kind of figured," she said which was then followed by a chuckle. "I can't say that I'm jealous. I mean – she's sort of like me, right?"

"More than you know."

"Well, isn't this awkward?"

Kent smiled.

"That was awkward," she said to Clark as they climbed up the steps to his loft inside the barn.

"I'm sorry for putting you in that position. I can tell you don't lying to my parents," he expressed with genuine appreciation.

"Look. Clark. I don't know exactly what kind of life you led have led up to this point, but I can tell that whatever it's been like, you're hurting because of it. I'm sorry I'm not going to be a lot of help with that."

Clark smiled. "He loves you, you know."

Lois smiled. "I know."

"He talks about you all the time. I didn't know it was about you at first, but I got the signs. To be honest, half the time he was there, I was jealous of him. Jealous that he had everything I've ever wanted."

Lois looked at him and his situation as objectively possible. She's come to terms that alternate universes existed, so now it's all about figuring out what to do next that has her mind running on overdrive.

"You make it sound like everything is pitch perfect between us."

"Isn't it?" he argued.

"We have our disagreements."

"I have a feeling that he'll move a mountain for you if you asked."

Lois blushed slightly. "No, he wouldn't."

Clark's hand found its way hovering close to her cheek.

"Why not? I would," he said softly.

Lois took a step back and Clark felt like a jerk for making a move like that.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

It just happened.

"It's okay."

"No, it wasn't. Having heard so much about you from him. Seeing the photo of the both of you in Chicago – "

"He still has that?" Lois asked surprised.

Clark chuckled before continuing. Obviously, Kent can still surprise her even after everything she's seen.

"This world is addictive."

"But it isn't perfect," she pointed out. "No world is perfect. We have our share of problems here but instead of running away from it, he faces it head on. Something that you made aware that you don't do."

Clark looked away, ashamed.

"But he has the advantage."

"And what's that?"

"You."

Lois closed her eyes. He he shouldn't be thinking of it that way.

To be Continued…