Ok.. chapter 7.

and just so you know, this is one of my favorite chapters i've ever written. and i'm in tears.

so remember.. everything has meaning. they're not always just words on a page. :)

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Author: Alison

Disclaimer: Characters belong to DC, WB, AlMiles, etc., etc., etc. I only own the story and a really cool brand new Nikon digital camera I used to take pictures of me hanging out with James D'Arcy and Joshua Jackson last week.

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Chapter 7

It'd been a long day. But she hadn't really noticed.

She just couldn't stop thinking about it. It still weighed heavily on her mind even as she and Chloe sat in the Kent kitchen earlier sipping the hot mugs of coffee. It still affected her even through her evening shift at the Talon.

The long hot shower had at least relieved some of the tension she'd felt building all day.

She sighed as she slipped on her light blue bathrobe and dried the excess water out of her hair with the towel.

What was wrong with her? She felt so embarrassed. She didn't know what she'd do when she saw him again.

Oh, who was she kidding? She knew exactly what she'd do.

She'd ignore it.

Unless he brought it up. Then she'd make some excuse and feign temporary insanity and hope he buys it.

She reached into the cabinet for the hairdryer. Then, she heard it. It wasn't very loud, but she still heard it.

A soft knock. She slowly walked out of the bathroom, across her bedroom and to the door.

Who could it be? She didn't want to see anyone. She just wanted to go to sleep. She was exhausted, mentally and physically.

She grasped the doorknob and turned, pulling the door open.

And there he was.

A slight chill ran over her as she tugged at her bathrobe, pulling it tighter around her. She'd blame it on the wet hair and a draft.

"Smallville, what are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?" She didn't know why she was that way. She just was. Tonight she was tired. As much as she wanted to console him and help him overcome the pain, she just didn't want to spend that night doing it. She also didn't know how long the conversation would last until someone brought up the fact that they slept in the same bed last night. He looked a little taken aback. Okay, Lane. Back off just a little. She sighed and rolled her eyes, more out of frustration with herself than directed at him. "Is everything okay?"

He cleared his throat and shifted his footing. He held a black coat in one hand.

"Yeah, Lois." She raised her eyebrows and gestured with the hairdryer to the coat. "What? Oh, you left this at the farm. It was still hanging on the hall tree in the living room."

She took the black coat from his outstretched hand.

"Wow, I completely forgot I wore it there. I guess this morning I was still a little out of it since last night we--" Oh crap. Way to go, Lane. Okay, just smooth it over. Act like you never said it. She smiled and glanced up at him. "Thanks." She paused as she briefly studied him for a moment. He was acting weird. Weirder than normal…err…weirder than Clark. He seemed…nervous. "But you didn't have to bring this out here at eleven o'clock at night. So…spill it, Kent."

That's when it happened.

He looked back up at her with that beaming Kent smile.

"Well, I figured you'd need it tonight."

She furrowed her brow as she attempted to make sense of his usual confusion.

"Tonight? Smallville, I--"

"I've got something I wanna show you, Lois."

Anyone else and she wouldn't want to go. Anyone else who knocked on her door at nearly midnight and she would've kicked 'em in the groin.

Anyone else and she would've said no.

But after the events of the past few weeks, and last night, she just couldn't say it.

No. One look at those blue eyes and the beaming smile, she just couldn't tell him no.

She was curious though.

She did her best to cross her arms while still holding the hairdryer in one hand and her coat in the other.

"So, what is it that's so important you have to show me tonight?"

He shoved his hands deep in his jean pockets and looked to the ground.

"It's just…" He took a breath, looked up at her and smiled. "Just trust me."

Okay. Now it was even weirder.

She sighed as she looked at him. Maybe she'd just roll with it.

Act now, ask questions later. That was usually her motto anyway.

"Fine. But…I need to dry my hair and change clothes."

He nodded as she looked at him one last time before tossing her coat on the barstool and turning around and slowly walking back to the bathroom.

She stopped at the bathroom door, her hand on the door frame. She turned and looked back at him again. He just stood there, his hands still shoved deep in his pockets, his gaze to the floor.

What was the boy up to?

He didn't seem upset. At least, not that she could tell.

But something was definitely up with him.

She sighed and looked down, pausing before she continued into the bathroom to dry her hair and prepare for whatever he had up his sleeves.

Taking one last look in the mirror twenty minutes later, she paused for a brief second and realized just how anxious she was. He was outside her door, in her apartment. It was this time last night they were laying together in his parents' bed as she sang to him.

She sang to him. Maybe it would be forgotten.

Running her fingers through her hair one last time, she pulled her long-sleeve shirt down smoothing it out, and then slowly walked to the door.

She quietly turned the knob, opened the door and made her way across her bedroom. She stopped in the wide doorway of her bedroom when she saw him standing in her living room holding and studying a picture frame.

She smiled when she realized which picture it was.

"I decided that picture didn't need to be kept in a box any longer, even if it was always right on top." He turned around and smiled faintly when he saw her. They stared at each other briefly before she realized she was staring at him too long. She cleared her throat. "So…you ready to go see whatever this is you have to show me that I need a coat?"

He grinned and set the picture back on the coffee table.

"Sure."

He stepped to the door and opened it as she grabbed her coat off the barstool. He held it open for her as she walked out. He followed her all the way, down the stairs and out the front door to the beat up old blue pick up truck.

They drove down Main Street, continuing away from the bright lights of the small town. She glanced over at him. He had that same look as the day on the way to the cemetery. The day he gave her something she never dreamed possible.

He gave her mother back to her again. She'd been so obsessed with the pictures, pouring over them once a year, that in her attempts to remember her mother, she'd actually forgotten her.

But when he walked in her apartment unannounced that cold rainy night, it all changed.

Everything changed.

Her mother came to her in her dreams. She told her everything would be okay.

For some reason she felt closer and more at peace with her mother now than she ever had since the day she died.

She knew it was all because of him.

And she would never forget that.

The truck turned right off the main road and down a dirt path. He drove a couple of miles down the path and made another right turn into a field. He continued driving through the field to the small rise just beyond it.

He stopped the truck and cut the engine before opening his door.

What was this? Where were they?

What was going on?

She grabbed his arm as he began to slide out of the truck.

"Hold up there, Smallville." He turned back to her. "Where are we?"

He grinned.

"I just wanna show you something, Lois. Something…something that I think might help both of us."

What?

She knew she should've taken some aspirin before she left. Between his weirdness and confusion she was sure she'd have a migraine by morning.

She sighed and opened her door, watching him as he got out and slammed his door. He walked around to the bed of the truck and grabbed a couple of blankets.

"Whoa there, buddy. What are those for?"

He smiled and shook his head.

"Come on, Lois or we're gonna miss it."

What was he talking about?

"Miss what?"

He walked to a higher spot on the hill. She followed, tugging her coat tighter around her body as he unrolled one of the blankets and laid it on the ground. He sat down on the blanket, unrolled the second blanket, draping it across him and slowly laid back.

What was she doing here? It was freezing.

She looked out across the field below and past the farms. The lights from town dimly lit the sky. There was no moon, only stars. And they shone brighter than she'd seen in a long time.

"Come here, Lois." He patted the blanket as she looked down at him. "They should be starting soon."

She didn't know why she did it. Maybe her curiosity got the better of her. Maybe she was intrigued by his sudden childlikeness.

But she squatted next to him then laid down beside him on the blanket.

It all looked so much bigger laying down. The dark sky spread out above her, the stars twinkling against the black backdrop.

"Wow."

She saw her breath in the cool night air as she took it all in.

The silence only lasted a few seconds, but it seemed much longer.

"My dad used to bring me up here when I was a kid to watch the meteor showers, at least the ones that we knew wouldn't kill us, and just look at the stars." He paused, smiled and pulled the blanket higher across his chest. "He used to say…if you're ever confused, lonely or have lost your way, then just look to the stars. Because they'll always prove a light shines in a dark place."

She turned her head and looked at him, the brightness of the stars reflecting off his face. She couldn't help but smile.

"The wisdom of Jonathan Kent. I'll always miss that."

He turned his head to look at her.

"Me, too."

They were so close. She gazed in those baby blues longer than she should have. What was that feeling? She swallowed, hoping it would go away.

But it didn't.

A gleam of light streaking across the sky caught her attention.

She gasped as she pointed across him to the sky.

"Look! A shooting star!" She took a breath and softened her voice. "Wow…I haven't seen one of those since I was a kid."

He turned his head in the direction she pointed.

"I missed it. There'll be plenty more though. It's the Leonids meteor shower. Tonight is supposed to be the peak time to see 'em." He looked back at her as she lowered her arm, laying it across her chest. "So, what'd you wish for?"

She looked at him and grinned.

No way.

Not yet, anyway.

"Now, everyone knows, Smallville, that you can't tell or else it won't come true."

He laughed softly and nodded his head. He turned away from her, looking back up to the stars.

She took a deep breath as she continued to lie there, watching him as his eyes danced back and forth as if they were searching for something. What? She didn't know. Maybe another meteor, maybe answers to questions, or maybe more of his father's wisdom.

She was only sure of one thing at that moment. He was right. As usual.

This really had helped her. And she quietly knew it helped him, too.

Because now she'd seen one of those other many sides of Clark Kent, as his mother one time said. She could also feel the walls breaking. Over the last day and night, she knew those all too familiar walls were beginning to fall.

He was letting her back in. She only hoped her wish came true before he began to build those walls back up the way she so often did.

He looked at her and smiled, tossing half the blanket over her. She smiled, took a deep breath and leaned closer to him, pulling the blanket close under her chin.

It was completely involuntary. She never meant to lean her head so close to his. But she did.

As she continued to watch him point up proclaiming, "There's one!", she knew from that moment on her wish had to come true.

After all, Mr. Kent said it best.

There's always light in a dark place.