Chapter 2:
A few weeks later:
"...And then Perry ran like a little dog with its tail between its legs! Oh my god Smallville you had to see his face!"
Clark laughed the hardest he had in weeks. Only Lois could make him feel this light. It had been almost a month since he had dropped her off at the airport and this was the first time they were seeing each other's faces. Well, through a screen that is. The moment her pixly image popped up on his screen he could tell she was exhausted but she looked...exuberant. He could see immediately how happy she was.
"So what's the rest of your team like? Are you playing nicely?" He asked with a smirk.
"Ha. ha. Very funny, Smallville. I'm definitely the youngest one here but they respect me enough. Mostly cause they do whatever Perry tells them to do, but yeah they're nice. There's Tom the photographer, he's actually married with two little girls at home. Then there's Ben, the tech guy. He's pretty funny…"
Clark smiled to himself. He was so proud at how quickly she could ease into her new, crazy life across the ocean. She was thriving. But that was Lois. His Lois. Could he even call her that anymore? He hadn't mentioned to anyone how much it really hurt not to see her saunter through the Dailey Planet's basement doors everyday but he knew it was for the best. Especially with this new dark force already infiltrating Metropolis. She was far, far away and that was exactly how it should be right now...he just had to keep telling himself that.
"..And then there's Tariq, the translator who's like in the middle of this love triangle. It's hilarious. Oh! And Perry said we might be getting one more person on the team at some point. They write for some travel blog or something like that. I think that pretty much covers everything new with me. How are you? How's the planet? I would ask how the farm is but we both know nothing's happening in Podunk City."
"Gee, thanks Lois. Good to know you care so much about my family's well being." He said sarcastically. He carefully avoided the personal questions of how he was specifically and moved on to something he could actually talk about. "Everything's pretty much the same at the Planet. Oh. Except for my new partner."
"What?! They've already given you a new partner? Geez it's like they barely miss me! Who's gonna be a better partner for you than me? What's his name? Do I know him?"
"Actually...He's a she. And her name is Cat Grant." He couldn't help but chuckle at Lois's now scrunched up face. She looked like she had just chewed on something bitter.
"Whose actual name is Cat? What is she-12 and playing with Barbies while dressing up in a kitty-cat costume?"
"She's..uh..not so bad."
"Hah! You hesitated, Smallville! Let me guess. She has a lot of pink, probably dyed blonde hair, and bakes more cookies than your mother."
Clark shook his head. Lois did have a knack for pegging people. "That's..not too far off. She's no Lois Lane, that's for sure."
"Damn right she's not!"
They both laughed as the conversation slowly came to a natural stop.
"Well I guess I should-" "I should let you-"
They both started at the same time which only made them laugh harder.
"I'll let you go to bed. I think it's past your bedtime, Smallville."
"And you've got a long day ahead of you, Lane." He sighed, quietly, not wanting to say goodbye. "Talk soon?"
Lois hesitated and also sighed. Or was that his imagination? Did she want to stay on the call as much as he did?
"I hope so. It's hard to predict when we can talk with all this dinosaur technology they gave us. You'd think they'd splurge a little more on Metropolis's best newspaper but no-o-o they're just trying to make it harder on us aren't they?"
He shook his head. Oh Lois. Ever the cynic. "How about I email you? I'll tell Ollie and Chlo-"
His tongue caught in his mouth. Should he tell Lois about Chloe's disappearance? She should know, right? But knowing about Chloe would just distract her. He didn't want to ruin her exciting new adventure just because Chloe decided to leave on her own.
"Earth to Smallville?! You'll tell Ollie and Chloe what? You know it's actually kind of weird. I've only gotten like one email from Oliver but I haven't heard a peep from Chloe. I even got a nice email from your mom but nada from Chlo. What's up with that?"
Clark had to think fast. "Oh shoot. Sorry Lois but my mom is calling me so I've gotta go. I'm sorry but I've been waiting for her to call. I'll email you!" Before she could ask anymore about Chloe, he ended the call with a horrible, disgusting feeling in his gut. He hated lying to Lois any more than he already was. He knew he was going to have to tell her eventually and when he did…he knew it was going to be bad.
2 weeks later:
Clark paced back and forth in Watchtower, finally having some peace and quiet to figure out his thoughts. So much had been going with Kara showing up, this new anti-hero spokesperson, and worst of all this entire time the guilt he felt for lying to Lois about Chloe was eating him up completely. He swore he was probably thinking about it in the back of his mind every hour of every day. The lies were haunting him, berating him for making such a stupid decision. He had to tell her or he was gonna break. It was late for him but he took a chance and sent Lois an email asking if she could video chat anytime soon. Just as he hit send the doors to Watchtower burst opened and Oliver came walking through the large double doors. His usual confident, carefree stride was replaced with a slower gait with slumped shoulders and sad, shadowed facial expression.
He nodded to Clark with slight surprise. "Boyscout. What are you doing here so late?"
Clark put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the desk. "Trying to think, I guess."
"That makes two of us." Oliver moved slowly as if underwater and sat down on the spiral staircase with a deep sigh. "Let me take a stab at what's on your mind. Let's see…tall, gorgeous, talks like there's no tomorrow...someone who's miles and miles away…"
Clark's eyebrows rose. "How'd you know?"
Oliver chuckled. "I can always tell when you're thinking about Lois. You've always got the same confused, endearing look on your face. Like a puppy waiting for its owner."
"I am not like a puppy-"
"Oh I beg to differ. You've got it bad Kent."
Clark couldn't deny that part. Ever since he admitted to himself how deep his feelings were for Lois they were almost impossible to keep below the surface.
"She's been gone almost two months and I still can't fathom how much I miss seeing her everyday."
"Tell me about it." Oliver always tried to mask his emotions, almost more than Lois did, but Clark could clearly hear the pain behind his words.
"I really am sorry Oliver."
"Are you? Because you don't seem as interested in finding Chloe as I am."
"I thought we decided not to actively look for her, Oliver? You said it yourself, she did this on purpose. What do you want me to do?"
"Help her, Clark! God only knows what kind of situation she put herself in! What happened to the guy who did whatever it took to save his friends huh?" He said, his voice rising with each sentence.
"It's not so black and white anymore, Oliver." He tried to speak calmly. "If Chloe did this on purpose, then I trust Chloe to have a good reason to do it. You should too."
Oliver scoffed. "And what if this were Lois, huh? What would you do then?"
"You don't think I want to run across the ocean right now and bring Lois home?" He reached into his pocket and showed Oliver what had been burning a hole in his pocket the past several days. Oliver looked mildly surprised at the plane tickets to Iraq but he quickly masked it with a stony expression. "It kills me knowing that Lois is so far away that I may not be able to get to her in time if something were to happen to her. But I also know that I need to respect her decisions and let her create her own path. Even if that path is away from me."
"This is different, Clark. Chloe doesn't even exist anymore! She's just.." Oliver's voice cracked with emotion. Clark regarded him sadly. He knew Oliver's heart was breaking and there was no one else to take it out on but him. Before he could console Oliver, Clark's phone pinged. He looked at his phone and his heartbeat sped up. Lois had responded to his email!
"That's Lois. I'm sorry Oliver but I've got to-"
Oliver waved his hand "Just go, Clark."
Clark patted Ollie's shoulder and made his way to the door.
"You gonna tell her? About Chloe?" Ollie called out.
Clark stopped and weighed this heavily. "I think I have to."
"Hah. Good luck with that. She's gonna kill you."
"Don't I know it." He said making his way home with a gnawing feeling that this conversation was not going to go well.