Title: "Check List"
Author: Annie M
Series: Smallville
Rating: G
Codes: Clark and Lois
Part: This story is complete
Date: September 30th 2006
Summary: Clark checks on Lois. A short addition to the hospital scene from the season six episode, "Zod". Spoilers ahead.
Notes: This is my first attempt at a Smallville fan fiction, so feedback would be much appreciated.
Hopefully any grammatical errors that remain are not significant enough to ruin your reading pleasure. As I'm English all spellings used here are British.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. No infringement intended to DC, Warner Bros or whoever else owns these characters.
(c) Annie M, September 30th 2006.
Check List
Clark moved with purpose through the throng of injured, unconscious and traumatised at the unusually busy Smallville Medical Centre. He tried not think about the carnage the facility might have had on its hands if the spirit of Zod had not been banished, hopefully for good, back to either the Phantom Zone or some other equally terrifying netherworld where his father's nemesis could spend eternity rotting.
Finding the hospital room his mother had informed him Lois was occupying, he entered, moving aside as a nurse was wheeling out an injured man on a bed.
Lois lay on a small bed looking pale, but conscious, her face turned towards the window of the cramped room, wearing an expression of deep thought.
Something caught her attention and she turned towards him, a small smile lit her face and she attempted to sit up a little higher in bed to greet him.
"Hey, Smallville," she breathed. Her greeting to him sounding more grateful than the sarcasm she usually addressed him with. She was hooked up to a couple of intravenous drips and he could see numerous healing cuts about her head and face.
"Hey, how you feeling?" he asked softly, moving across the room to take a chair by her bed. His Mom had told him that Lois had been pretty badly hurt and he could see that she was in obvious pain.
"Bad enough to know I'm still alive?" she tried to joke. "I guess I have your Mom to thank for that. You know, honestly," she continued, "I don't even remember the plane going down."
She took a breath, her voice catching a little as she described her experience. "The cabin lost pressure, I was gasping for breath. And then I was in this palace of ice," she said, her eyes growing large in wonder at the memory.
Clark knew she was describing the Fortress of Solitude, but according to his mother, Lois was pretty much out of it while they had been there.
"It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen," she continued, completely caught up in the memory. "I was bathed in this warm light, and I knew everything was going to be okay."
He'd never thought of the Fortress as beautiful ice palace before, and her description almost made him smile. Instead he acted on instinct, doing what he'd always done--what had been drilled into him to do since before he'd even learned the nature of his special abilities--protect his secret.
"Lois, you were hurt pretty badly--maybe you were hallucinating," he offered gently.
Lois responded firmly. "No, it was real." She turned her eyes towards him and continued in a near whisper, "I think I died and went to heaven."
Clark had never seen her look as vulnerable as she did in this moment. Offering him her naked confession without any shame or second-guessing of herself, offering no sarcasm, and no world-weary excuses.
Clark smiled, accepting her truth and leaned in, wrapping his large hand around her small one. "Then I'm glad your back," he told her truthfully, squeezing her hand in confirmation.
Lois looked down at their joined hands and then back up at Clark. He saw her expression change from peaceful repose to confusion within moments. The change in her so sudden that it took him a second to realise that he had her hand in his to begin with. He withdrew it quickly, turning away from her with an embarrassed smile.
A long moment of uncomfortable silence followed, neither one of them knowing quite what to say next.
Clark rubbed his hands together and shifted his line of vision to the pale grey sheets of Lois' bed. "My Mom tried to call the General, tell him you were okay," he said eventually.
"He's in Turkey," Lois supplied flatly.
"Yeah. Mom couldn't reach him directly, they said they'd get a message to him."
"Thanks."
"Do you want me to try and contact your sister, Lucy? Is she back in the States?" Clark inquired hopefully.
"She's still in Europe," Lois said behind a wry grin. "Believe me," she turned towards him, "Lucy's not planning on coming back to Smallville anytime soon."
"Sorry, I forgot about the whole fugitive thing."
"Not your cross to bear," Lois shrugged. "So, tell me, Smallville," she went on, her voice brightening, "what's going on out there? The nurses mentioned something about all hell breaking loose in the last twenty-four hours?"
"Something like that," he answered ruefully.
Clark noted the change in subject, not blaming her for wanting to skip the topic of her wayward younger sister. He was beginning to realise just how much Lois kept inside that tough exterior she wore with so much pride. If he were to steal one of the many military analogies Lois liked to spout off, he'd describe that exterior as an armoured tank out on manoeuvres, weaving and dodging its way through heavy fire. Strike it though, and he had the feeling nothing would be more fragile.
He didn't know why but Clark found that thought strangely comforting.
"Some kind of computer virus managed to shut down the infrastructure of every major city across the globe," he explained. "It spread like a wildfire, and as soon as the lights went out, so to speak, people started going a little crazy."
"Looting, burning, rioting?" Lois surmised with a grim expression.
"The usual," Clark confirmed unhappily.
Lois' eyes went wide as something struck her. "Is Chloe okay?"
"She's next on my check list."
"You don't know?" Lois questioned hotly. "Have you tried calling her?" she demanded, panic rising in her voice.
"All the cell phone networks are still down, Lois. I'm gonna head to Metropolis in the morning," he tried to assure her. "I'm sure she's fine."
"Your sure she's fine?" Lois mimicked angrily. "Look, Smallville, I know Chloe can kick ass, but she's alone out there in what you've just described as the equivalent of the burning of Rome. You've checked on me," she said forcefully, her eyes boring into Clark's. "And I'm fine, thank you," her tone softened briefly, before returning its previous intensity. "Now go find Chloe. Please," she urged him.
Clark looked down at the hand that covered his own. Somewhere during their heated exchange Lois' hand had wound up covering his, clutching at it as she pleaded her case for her cousin. Lois followed Clark's gaze, but this time there was no awkward pulling away.
Clark stood slowly, twisting his hand so that it held Lois'. "I'll find her, Lois," he promised, rubbing his thumb against her knuckles before setting her hand gently back down against the bed covers. He turned to leave, stopping at the door when he heard his name.
"Clark," Lois called, her voice considerably more subdued than it had been moments before. He turned to face her and wondered if the look of agitated concern he was seeing on Lois' face mirrored his own surfacing guilt that he hadn't thought of Chloe sooner. "Be careful, okay?"
He nodded in acquiescence before turning to leave once more.
Striding purposefully along the tiled hallways of the Smallville Medical Centre, Clark listened to the rustling of her sheets, the deep intakes of her breaths, and the beating of her heart. It's steady rhythm giving him some measure of confidence that she believed he'd find Chloe, alive and safe.
"Bring her back to me, Smallville."
He had every intention of doing just that.
End.