Chloe was unaware that she'd fallen asleep until the door opened. She opened her eyes and looked around. Lex was standing in the doorway looking slightly amused, even displaying that sort of half-smirk that he did sometimes.

"Comfortable?" he asked, his voice rumbling slightly. "Clark looks to be."

She glanced down and realized that at some point Clark had turned over and had buried his face in her shoulder. She blushed when she saw that but reached over to stroke his hair back out of his face anyway.

"He was crying in his sleep."

Lex nodded and walked over to the bed. He sat down beside her. "Lana tells me she visited."

"Yeah," Chloe admitted.

"How'd it go?" The look on his face told Chloe that he knew far too much. He still knew how she felt about Clark and he obviously knew how Lana's visit had made her feel.

"Good, actually."

He smiled knowingly. "You sound surprised."

"I am," she admitted truthfully. "I expected to be brushed to the back again."

"But you weren't."

The man really was far too perceptive. "No," she agreed with a smile. "I wasn't. It was nice."

"What was nice?" Clark's sleep-fogged voice asked.

"You're awake," Lex announced quietly, his pleasure evident. Looking at Chloe he requested, "May I have a word with Clark?"

She nodded and got up. Clark looked reluctant to let her go but said nothing. The click of the door made Clark flinch as he remembered how doors in the lab had sounded like that while he was being left alone for a good few more hours.

"Feeling better?" Lex asked once she was gone.

"Yeah," Clark murmured, smiling softly at Lex. "You should really stop blaming yourself, Lex. I'm not blaming you and I'm the one who went though Hell. Don't you think it's a little stupid to be blaming yourself if I'm not blaming you?"

Lex laughed, but it was a bitter sound. "Clark, I watched you beg me and I saw your face when they did things to you. You were all but pleading non-stop for me to help you. You don't know what it's like to watch your best friend do that."

Clark nodded understandingly. "I may not, but I know what it's like to see, in retrospect, the looks on your best friend's face while he watches you beg. I might not have understood at the time, Lex, but I understand now."

"Thanks." Lex ran a hand over his head and then asked, "So you and Chloe..."

"What about us?"

"C'mon, Clark, I saw the way you were looking at her."

Clark shrugged beneath his blankets. "Yeah?"

"You looked at her the way you used to look at Lana."

Clark nodded and bit his lip. He was silent for a moment before saying, "I always thought that I'd end up with Lana, you know? She's a great person and I could do a lot worse. It was just this whole thing-this will sound cliché-it made me see her in a whole new light. It was like I'd taken off blinders and-"

"You were seeing her for the first time," Lex finished for him. "And what did you see?"

"That maybe there was more to offer than I thought. I get the impression that she did a lot to bring me home."

Lex laughed softly. "More than you know. I don't think you would have made it back on that car ride without her."

"Yeah, that was a help. I don't know, Lex, it's just she looks at me and I know she knows she loves me-and she knows what love is. Lana-as great as she is-I don't think she knows what love is. Up until this point I'm not sure I did either."

"So you think you're in love with Chloe now?" If this hadn't been Clark he would have sworn he was on a bad soap opera.

"I don't know," Clark replied seriously. "But I'm certainly willing to find out."

Lex only gave him a soft smile. They held each other's stares for a long time.

----------------------------

Lana walked away from the door, tears in her eyes. She knew that she shouldn't have been listening to Clark and Lex's conversation, but she hadn't been able to help it. She'd been worried about Clark and had wanted to know about Jason.

As she walked down the hall she had to work to keep her sobs low and her step even. It hurt so much to realize that Clark didn't love her. Despite what Clark thought, she really did love him. It had been the reason she'd gone to see him in the barn before the meteor shower. It had been the reason she'd given him the stone.

She finally reached her room and went inside, being sure to lock the door. As she sat down on her bed she realized she couldn't really blame Clark. After all, she'd been the one who'd run to Paris and come back with a new boyfriend. She'd blown him off that whole year. She'd pushed him away.

She had no one to blame but herself.

---------------------------

Chloe had gone to the farm to tell Clark's parents that Clark was home and that they needed to come see him. As she was driving her little red Volkswagen beetle down the road she smiled as she thought how happy the Kents were going to be.

Jonathan's leg was getting better, and Martha was recovering nicely at home. Clark was going to be so happy, and Chloe liked that.

She wasn't prepared when the car in front of her swerved. As quickly as she could she slammed on the break, barely avoiding hitting the car. Her heart dropped when the door of the other car opened and Jason got out with a gun. He pointed it level to her head and made a motion for her to get out of the car.

"What do you want?" she asked, noting the dark circles under and the blurry quality of his eyes.

"Kent. I want Kent. I want those stones. He knows where they are," Jason yelled.

"Clark doesn't know anything!" she tried to tell him.

Jason cut her across by screaming, "Shut up! Don't lie to me! Where is he!"

"I don't know! He's been missing for a couple of weeks!"

"But you know where he is!"

Jason shook the gun threateningly, still yelling. He looked very much like a man possessed. "I don't have time to play games. Tell me or I'll blow your damn head off!"

"I don't know!" she repeated.

"He's at Luthor's, isn't he?" He shot the gun into the air. "Isn't he!" He re-cocked it and leveled it with her again.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about! Lex hasn't been able to find Clark!"

"That's where he is, isn't it!" Jason repeated.

"Clark's not at Lex's!" Her face was paling with every second that passed. Could this really have been the man Lana had dated for a year?

"Yes he is!"

The man was obviously crazy. Nothing had ever been more apparent to Chloe in her life. Before she could do anything, Jason raised the gun and pulled the trigger.

The impact was nearly instantaneous. The bullet hit her in the chest and she stumbled backwards. There was a sharp pain and a mysterious warmth. "Uh," she gasped, sinking to her knees as Jason got back in the car.

The last thing she saw before blacking out was Jason driving away.