Chapter Forty-Six - Time Heals

Clark Kent, having just listened to Louise's last heartbeat, looked down at her lifeless body in his arms and knew that he was the one responsible. He'd known exactly when she was going to die, he'd known exactly how she was going to die, but he'd done exactly nothing to prevent it. He'd just stood back and watched. Sure, he'd possibly saved the whole of the space-time continuum by doing so, but so what? Louise was dead now, just like Lana.

And then Clark remembered Lana's body residing in that cryogenic chamber on the Tardis and realized that there was something he could do. Maybe, if he could find the Tardis, he could swap Louise's body's with Lana's. Lana was irretrievably dead, but maybe The Doctor could still save Louise. It was a long shot, but still…

Suddenly, Clark was distracted from his thoughts of saving Louise by somebody tapping him on the shoulder. Getting up, holding Louise in his arms, he turned around to see that, while he'd been lost in his grief, The Doctor, along with his Tardis, had managed to sneak up behind him. The Doctor was now standing there, next to Clark, holding a seemingly identical Louise in his arms.

"Swap?" asked The Doctor. Clark smiled - it seemed great minds really did think alike.

The Doctor then lay the new Louise, who Clark knew to be Lana (but was, in actual fact, Louise), down on the ground, and then Clark carefully passed his Louise (who was actually Lana) over to The Doctor.

"Do you think, we'll be able to save her?" asked Clark hopefully.

"No, Clark," replied The Doctor, "I might be able to save her, whereas you - you still have to keep the timestream happy."

The Doctor was right, thought Clark. There was nothing that Clark could do for Louise now - it was all up to The Doctor with his sonic screwdriver.

As The Doctor headed towards the Tardis, carrying the body of what Clark thought was Louise but was actually Lana, he and Clark heard a shout of "Louise!" from outside.

"Sounds like your cue," said The Doctor, looking back at Clark.

Clark nodded at The Doctor, as The Doctor stepped back into the Tardis with Louise, and then Clark ran out of the barn, catching sight of Dexter standing there. He wanted to go to Dexter, tell him how sorry he was, tell him the truth, but that was yet another thing Clark couldn't do here. He just had to keep on running.


Sheriff Billy Tate's conscience had finally gotten the better of him, and so he'd rushed over in the hope of stopping Lachlan Luthor from shooting the drifter. At first Billy thought he'd arrived too late as he heard the gunshots echoing from the barn and saw Lachlan running out, but then, just like the newly-arrived Dex (who'd failed to notice Billy hiding in the shadows) he saw the drifter emerge from the barn unharmed. Billy gave a sigh of relief as he watched Dex run to the barn.

"Louise!" shouted Dex again, and then Billy's heart sank. The first time Dex had shouted Louise's name, Billy had thought nothing of it. After all, it was the drifter who would have been shot, not Louise. But now, with the drifter alive…

Slowly he walked towards the barn, fearing what he would see.

"Dex! Louise! You out here?" he shouted as he entered, and then his eyes saw Dex, weeping as he held Louise's blood-spattered body.

In all his years of policing he'd never seen somebody as devastated as Dex was right now.

"Dex… What have you done?" he said, not sure whether he was talking to himself or to Dex.


Inside the Tardis, Lana's lifeless body lay on the floor while The Doctor struggled with the Tardis' controls.

"How much longer until we get there?" asked Chloe, determined not to lose two Lanas so close together.

"Should be any moment now," said The Doctor. "The Tardis can be a bit temperamental but we'll be there soon."

"Can't you fix Lana up yourself?" asked Jimmy. "You don't call yourself The Doctor for nothing, do you?"

"Well, yes, I can fix real people," said The Doctor, "but human biology's different. Bad design - no spare heart."

"So, where exactly is this hospital we're going to?" asked Rose, trying to take her mind off the length of the journey.

"Don't know, just a hospital," replied Jimmy. "I wasn't there long."

"Maybe we'll meet George Clooney," pondered Chloe. "Or maybe we'll get House, who'll waste an hour coming up with bizarre explanations for Lana's chest stigmata and the build-up of lead in her left ventricle before finally saving her. He'll also no doubt deride us for being fictional."

"As long as it's not Doctor Quinn," added Rose, much to Chloe's non-comprehension, as the Tardis suddenly came to a halt.

"We're here," said The Doctor, scooping up Lana's body. "We're in America, Boston to be exact, somewhere in the 1980s."

The Doctor then carried Lana out of the Tardis and into a hospital emergency room.

In the emergency room, the doctors who'd been looking bemused at the new police telephone box that had appeared from nowhere, suddenly saw the blood-covered body being carried out of that telephone box and their medical reflexes took over. Within seconds Lana Lang was lying on a bed, surrounded by several doctors.

Meanwhile, The Doctor was busy restraining Jimmy Olsen from interfering with the doctors' attempts to save Lana.

"But you can't trust them," said Jimmy. "I'd recognize that guy with a baseball hat anywhere, even without the beard. It's Mr. Mxyzptlk."

"It's a different dimension here, Jimmy," explained The Doctor.

"But Mxyzptlk can cross dimensions," countered Jimmy. "And he's brought Jason Trask with him."

"But Jimmy, he's not Jason Trask in this dimension," reasoned Chloe. "Here, he's one of the good guys."

"Excuse me," said a nurse, interrupting their conversation, "but we need to get some details about the patient."

"Okay," said Chloe, breaking away from the rest of her group. "Her name's Lana Lang."

"Lana Lang?" exclaimed the nurse sarcastically. "Where's she from? Smallville?"

"Yes," said Chloe nodding. "That's amazing."

"So where are Clark Kent and Lex Luthor?" asked the disbelieving nurse.

"Clark's busy in Smallville," said Chloe earnestly. "Not sure about Lex, he seems to have gone missing."

"Any next of kin," continued the nurse, trying to ignore Chloe's previous response.

"Well, her parents got hit by a meteor…"

"Of course they did," said the nurse, forcing a smile. "Now, what's your time."

"Chloe," replied Chloe.

"Well, Chloe. Maybe it's best if you come with me."


"Thought I'd find you here," said Rose, looking at Lex lying on the floor next to a sledgehammer and a final broken door.

"Can't resist a mystery," said Lex. "Never could. That's my trouble."

"So, you broke all these doors, and in the end that's all that's behind them - a brick wall?"

Lex nodded. "Your Doctor's sure got a weird sense of humor."

"That's The Doctor," said Rose, sitting down beside Lex, and then, changing the subject, she added "So you missed all the action."

"You swapped Lana for Louise?"

"Certainly did. Had to dress up Louise first though and then shoot her. Hopefully they won't spot the broken neck."

"Why bother going to all that trouble?" asked Lex. "You could have got Clark to change her clothes at super-speed and then flick one of the bullets that missed Lana into Louise."

"The Doctor suggested that, but Chloe pointed out that Clark might have felt guilty seeing Lana naked."

Lex laughed. "I doubt it. Lana's been naked 24/7 for Clark ever since he got his X-ray vision. Anyway, who got to shoot Louise?"

"We drew lots for it. Chloe ended up doing it. Must have been awful for her - like shooting Lana."

"I can imagine," replied Lex. "Still, somebody had to win. So, where's Lana now?"

"When I left her, lots of doctors were working on her, so they haven't given up hope yet. On the negative side one of the nurses wanted to take Chloe to the psych ward - just because she thought you and Clark Kent were real people."

"So, where exactly are we?"

"Some hospital. I think it's called St. Eligius."

"Where else," said Lex.

"So, Lex, about that stone…"

"Oh yes, that stone," he said reaching into his pocket. "Here it is."

He placed the stone on the ground between them.

"Thanks, Lex," she said, taking the stone.

"You're sure you're making the right decision?"

Rose nodded. "Never surer, Lex. Never surer."

And with that Rose left Lex and set off to find The Doctor.


Lana watched as the doctors tried desperately to resuscitate her.

"Don't fancy their chances much," said a voice behind her.

Lana turned around to see a familiar figure standing there.

"Oh, nothing personal," said the familiar figure. "Just that, from a probability standpoint, things aren't that good for anyone coming here. Frankly speaking, you'd have stood a much better chance if they'd just left you lying on that barn floor."

"Why are you saying these things?" said a horrified Lana.

"Well, it's just that you're dead at the moment and I'm an angel who's come to collect you and take you to Heaven."

Lana couldn't believe what Gabe Sullivan was telling her.

"Mr. Sullivan. Are you my guardian angel?"

"No, that's a different Mr. Sullivan you're thinking of, from a different reality. I'm not him," replied the angel.

"So, you're not Gabe," said Lana.

"Well, some people call me that," replied the angel. "But, if you don't mind, I much prefer Gabriel."