A/N: Thanks all for the Reviews, Favorites and the Follows!

Now without further Adieu, Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Let Go

Clark reflexively grabbed for his cell phone as the ringtone sounded, almost forgetting to control his strength from breaking the delicate device in his hands. He was so on edge about finding Lois and knowing there was a huge reason for her staying away. Every little call or message his way had him antsy. Wound up, to say the least.

"Hello?" He sounded desperate even to his own ears.

"Hey, Clark, man, it's Ryan." Came the voice on the other side of the line.

Clark deflated inside, it not being the one person he'd hoped it would be.

Aww, missing me already, farm boy? Clark shook his head, even the taunting in his head was beginning to sound like, Lois. Something big had to be happening in the universe of things. He knew it was, and her fight to stay away only proved it.

Just, stop! Stop, looking for me, Smallville!...Let, go!

I can't. Was the one truth that rang true in the chaos of the battle in his mind and heart both.

It wasn't her, though. It was a former classmate from Central Kansas that he had a few classes and labs with, nice enough guy. They eventually exchanged phone numbers to help each other with homework and projects they were partnered up for. Didn't really keep in contact much after Clark all but swayed away from his curricula affairs in lieu of becoming something more...

"Oh, hey Ryan. How's everything?"

"Hey, I remember you telling me about a friend that went missing some months ago that you were looking for... Yea, I remember you showing me her picture..." He told as he turned his head over his shoulder to take a few peaks in the small window of the room before proceeding a little ways down the hall. "A Lois...Lois Lane? Tall, sassy brunette, chestnut hair with highlights?"

"Yea, yea that's her!" Clark could feel every nerve on his body wound tight as he waited on nails for a reply. "Where is she?"

"She's at the hospital, man. Look, I was visiting a family member when I saw her being wheeled in by a nurse and your blonde friend. I followed to make sure it was really her, but...yea, it is. She's in labo-" The words never finished and the line on his end suddenly died and nothing but the usual dial tone sounded.

"Ryan? Ryan!" Clark screamed in panic slamming down his phone and this time feeling the cracked pieces under his palm. He groaned dragging hands through his dark locks, he needed to calm down or he wouldn't be able to think clearly. But every inclination of his being after hearing that Lois was in the hospital was on full throttle to find out what was going on. To find her. He waited months for this and if he had to scourge the whole planet he would. He practically already had, trying to find the bane of his existence. Someone, he was realizing, maybe, was becoming something more to him.

"Mom!" Within seconds Martha with a look of curious concern, appeared in the door way of the kitchen long enough to see her son in such a panic frenzy and about to shoot off, leaving her with these words. "Lois is in the hospital!"

A second later in a blur of red and blue that was exactly what he did, sped off with the clapping of the back door against the wall behind him, leaving her there dumbfounded and praying everything was alright with the girl who had claimed her heart like one of her own children.

"God, please be with her ." Martha whispered, starring out the open door toward her vanishing son, while aged hand placed whipped hair behind her ear.

Chloe silently approached the young man, his back was turned to her in a small sitting area of the hall as he busy with talking on his phone. She heard him using Clark's name, but he wasn't the only one in the world with that first name and she would have settled on that if it wasn't for the fact the boy looked familiar. Then it dawned on her and she knew she met him once or twice before. He was a former classmate of Clark's and from Ryan's cell phone, and with her proximity she could hear Clark's panicked voice on the line.

Not seeing as she crept up closer to him, hand pulling out a Taser gun from her black purse slung on her shoulder.

"Sorry, about this." she whispered inching the weapon to the guy's neck.

"She's at the hospital, man. Look, I was visiting a family member when I saw her being wheeled in by a nurse and your blonde friend. I followed to make sure it was her, but...yea, it is. She's in labo-" He didn't get to finish his words as 10,000 volts of electricity coursed through his body, dropping him to the ground like a sack of potatoes in a fit of convulsions.

Chloe could hear Clark's panicked shouts coming from Ryan's smart phone before heel coming down to smash in the screen beyond repair. She dropped down to his side like a happenchance bystander who just came upon a withering person.

"Somebody, help! This person is having a seizure!" Chloe shouted down the hall as a Doctor and Nurse came around the corner and immediately ran to assist the male on the floor.

With the medical personnel distracted with giving care, Chloe smoothly slipped from the scene before immediately sprinting back down toward Lois' room, hearing her shouts of pain as her contractions began again, relentlessly.

Chloe came into the room to see a female Dr at the end of the bed, Lois' legs propped up on stirrups and her womanhood exposed for the world to see. The brunette didn't seem to mind any since she was too occupied with pain to think of modesty at the moment. The blonde cousin was instantly by her side, grabbing up her hand to give comfort as the female OBGYN acknowledged her. "Your cousin is fully dilated and the baby is in the birthing canal. There is no waiting for your Dr Emil at this point."

"Where the hell did you go?" Lois managed to bite out between clamped teeth, squeezing for dear life on Chloe's hand as she rode another contraction.

"Sorry, had to take care of a little...issue." Chloe winced at the agony in her hand, but knowing it was nothing compared to what her big cousin was going through.

"Whoa, something's happening!" Lois' body tensed as the need to push came full force signaling it was time for the baby to arrive.

"It's ok, Ms Lane, it's just your body's way of letting you know it's time to push."

"AHHHHHH!" Sweat pored down her paling face as Chloe pat a cool washcloth against her head.

"1...2...3...Breathe! You've got to breathe!" The female Dr instructed, her hands assisting with the emerging baby.

The feeling of being ripped in two was at the forefront of her mind as pain and heat seared through every cell. "Ugggh-AHHHHHH!"

"Come on, just a little more! I can see black, curly hair...The baby is crowning!" The Dr tried to encourage the struggling girl.

"Oh, my God, Lois I can see the baby!" Chloe exclaimed in excitement to see her new niece or nephew soon to be out in the world.

"I can't..." Her head weakly shaking her protest side to side. "...I can't do this!"

"There's a lil one here that wants to see their momma. Now PUSH!"

"Lois, you can do this! You're not a quitter, now come on." Chloe spoke in her ear, not allowing the woman to give up.

"FUCK!" Ripped from her throat as her teeth clamped down tightly, mouth stretched wide and thin, teeth barring as she bore down, giving it all she got.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Cries from the new bundle of joy emanated in the small maternity room. A huge smile on the Dr's face as she held up the messy newborn and announced.

"It's a boy!"

The Dr stood up placing the crying babe on Lois chest covered with a receiving blanket, tears of joy streaming down Chloe's face as she chocked out sobs of laughter seeing the new life entering the world. Wet, loud, a squirming mess of bodily fluids and absolutely adorable! Rolls after rolls on the chubby mass and a full head of short black curls plastered wet to his newly born scalp.

"Wow!" Lois said in awe, finally seeing the thing she had to give up coffee and alcohol for. That would give her heartburn even when it came to drinking water and who would make her tummy bounce at the same time, every time, two in the morning when he had hiccups from her divulging into cravings of too much spicy foods.

"He's beautiful, Lois!" Chloe cooed, leaning in close to see her baby nephew, using the blanket in helping Lois to clear off the muck from the weeping baby whose bottom lip shook with his cries.

"Naturally." Lois said pride in her words, tears in her voice and in her eyes she couldn't stop from flowing as her heart swelled having the little one in her arms.

"Congratulations, mommy." One of the maternity nurses said as she approached the two after a moment. "I just need to take the baby for a few minutes to weigh and get prints."

Lois reluctantly gave up the babe but seemed to snap to, the spell that was over her in the baby's presence replaced by a woman who was trying to distance herself emotionally from the thing she decided to give up. The brunette wiped her hands down her face, taking extra swipes against her eyes as she tried to compose herself, chalking up her emotions on the overload of hormones leaving her body.

"Lois you don't hav-" The blonde knew she was walking on eggshells but she had to try. Someone needed to stand in Clark's stead, since he himself wasn't here to do so.

"Chloe." One word and the sound in her voice bode no reproach on the sensitive matter she was sure her little cos was about to delve into.

"Here you go! 8 and a half pounds and 22 inches long." The nurse said gleefully as all maternity nurses were even though they probably witnessed hundreds of births. "He's going to be a big one! Look at that head full of dark curls!"

She motioned to put the baby back into the mother's embrace but was rebuffed by the coldness radiating from the woman in the bed who seemed over joyed a few minutes ago when she first took the baby from the young woman.

"I'll take him." Chloe quickly stepped forward, carefully wrapping her arms around the small bundle, the nurse leaving her to him.

"Look at you, little guy." The Aunt spoke gently, her eyes couldn't help but notice the looks of interest giving toward the now slumbering babe in her arms from an inconspicuous Mama. "I'm you're auntie Chlo...Well, technically your first cousin once removed, but whose keeping track, right?"

The women's heads turned toward a disturbance, the person who broke the serene moment by speeding into the room.

"Hello, sorry I'm late." Dr Emil rushed in, placing gloves on his hands, ready to jump into business but stopped short seeing nurses tidying up and a baby in the woman's arms he knew as Chloe Sullivan. His hands rising to fix the slump of his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I'm...really late."

"You are?" The female OBGYN questioned with a tilt of her head.

"I am Dr Emil Hamilton, Ms Lane's private Physician. I will be needing all blood samples, the placenta, cell samples and medical files on both mother and child packaged and sent to my facility at Star Labs." He spoke as one in authority and use to getting clearance when it came to his work. "No copies of my client's information are expected to be retained in this hospital in due respect of her privacy."

The young female doctor wasn't quite sure if that was allowed, but this Ms Lane must be someone of great importance or wealth, those types usually came with all kinds of pull. And she was just a two year resident Dr in a small town of New Jersey, who was she against the rich and powerful?

"Yes...if you will come this way." She still wasn't sure about the man's authority for such requests but it's not like she could stand up against him, either.

He nodded to the Dr as she past by in front of him to exit the room, his warm disposition going to the female cousins and their new arrival. There were tests he would eventually need to conduct on the child to see how much Kryptonian he inherited from his father, but seeing how he was just born, now wasn't the time.

"I will return shortly, to give my own checkup of the little one. I do apologize again for the late arrival." With that said he nodded his departure before leaving.

Chloe turned to Lois, baby gently swaying in her arms as she walked the scant inches to her older cousin. "How are you doing?"

"Like I need coffee...alcohol...or maybe both." Lois covering up her emotional baggage with a snarky reply, to keep from crying.

"Lois, this is ridiculous. This is your son...hold him. Cancel this stupid idea of adoption." Chloe admonished, she could see how much Lois was tearing up inside over the decision and proceeded to place the baby back to his mother.

"No...Chloe, no!" Lois held hands up, turning her face away so she wouldn't be swayed, because she knew her heart couldn't put up much of a fight any longer if she had to lay eyes on the precious cargo for another second. A cargo she carried around inside for 9 months, feeling his flips and turns and kicks that seem to know exactly when to annoy her the most. He was definitely turning out to be his father's kid.

Clark. She winced inside, she definitely couldn't afford to think about him right now...not now, when her insides still felt like they were being ripped apart for a whole other different reason. If she had to name the anatomy, it was her heart feeling the brunt of the agony in guilt of what she very well knew she was doing. How could she even possibly look him in the eyes after all this time, keeping such a secret away?

"This isn't because he's a meteor freak, is it?" Chloe striked out, breaking Lois from her thoughts and angry enough to put the brunette in her place, not caring if she did just give birth. This child was her family! And her best friend's kid!

Lois gave her a glare of offense that had Chloe feeling she should of known better then to think so low of the brunette. "I wouldn't care if he was a little green alien from another planet!"

"Sorry, Lois, I'm upset, okay? I just think you're making a big mistake. I trust Dr Emil that he's found the perfect family experienced with the baby's condition. I just-"

"No, the mistake would be me raising the kid...I mean come on, Chlo, look how well I did with Lucy."

"Lois, you were 6 years old and Lucy wasn't your responsibility. You can't compare the 6 year old forced into being a mother to the amazing mom I know you can be now to this little guy."

"I will...by making sure he has the best family to look after him." Lois was convinced and her mind was made up.

"Lois!" Chloe's voice rose, knowing her stubborn cousin was being difficult on purpose. "Come on, you're already proven to be a good parent. You gave up coffee for 9 months, for crying out loud, and alcohol! Do you know what it was like putting up with a caffeine deprived you for the past 3 trimesters of your pregnancy?"

Lois gave out a small chuckle knowing it to be true, she was a monster from what she heard from Chloe, Oliver and the rest of the little JLA group. "Chloe this won't work, I don't have a stable job and the Inquisitor is a joke for a career. So you can finally say, 'I told you so', and where would I keep him? I barely have a place to live if you don't count the Kent farm which I can't and you know why. And I can't very well just put all this on you and move in permanently at the Talon."

"Yes, you can and why not?!" Chloe exasperated, doing one of her older cousin's number with attitude and placed her hands on her hips. "Lois, you're my cousin, more you're a sister to me. A sibling I never had and I hope you know by now that I would do anything for you."

"I know..." Lois groaned knowing it to be more than true and suddenly realized Chloe pulled a fast one on her while she was distracted and the baby was once again laying in her limp arms. "Come on Chloe, take him back. Don't make this harder than it already is."

"Lois...look..." Chloe directed with her silver-green eyes down toward the baby boy.

The baby taking advantage of her distraction, as well, managed to pull down the front of her hospital gown with his squirming and head pushing against her chest at the smell of milk, exposing her breast to latch on to. Lois eyes dropped down to the babe in her arms, Chloe saw for a moment, a flash of a look, like she was going to pick the thing up and toss it across the room in horror, but something softened in her features. Contentment. Love. Lois hugged the baby closer to her chest, enthralled by the angelic scene of her baby suckling away. Her heart swelled even more and she swore it was the most beautiful thing she ever saw.

"Oh, excuse me..." Dr Emil faced away seeing Ms Lane's chest exposed and the baby feeding as he walked back into the room. His head nodding to a woman who followed in behind him. "The..."

"Hi, I'm Patricia, the social worker for the private adoption Dr Hamilton set up on your behalf."

"Right." Lois said, as if she almost forgot about this part, she signed up for weeks ago. She stared at the pleasant smile on the woman's face, and she felt frozen inside. She couldn't move and it felt as if she couldn't breathe. Was she really about to do this? Give up her child?

At that moment the baby detached, full from feeding, and was making gurgling sounds, Lois and Chloe looked down to see the new baby boy. His small, new eyes squinted against the artificial lighting in the room and blinked open to reveal, the most precious blue eyes. Eyes that already stared at Lois, his mom, with such interest and love, knowing that the person holding him was his whole world.

The same guy in an instant snapped to, on both the female's minds, so apparent in the baby's appearance; the thick, black curls and ocean blues of the baby's orbs.

Chloe sucked in a sharp breath, fresh tears in her eyes. "H-He...looks just like-"

"Clark." Lois finished, a sob in her throat she managed to keep inside, while her eyes pricked from tears she fought from shedding.

"Lois, have you changed your mind?" Dr Emil questioned lightly, cautious, as if approaching a caged animal on the edge of breaking.

The woman from the adoption, hurriedly stepped forward to protest. "She's already sign-"

"No...no..."Lois shook her head, a tear escaping from the corner of her eyes despite the fight. "...I haven't changed my mind. This is the best thing for him...I know it is."

"Well, then..." Dr Hamilton sighed heavily, waving the woman on toward the baby.

"Don't worry, Dear. You're making the right choice." The social worker praised as she approached the bed, leaning over to retrieve the babe from Lois's arms that didn't seem to want to budge it's grip from around the child.

Chloe made a noise of disgust at the woman's words and rolled her eyes in annoyance. The baby boy begun to cry sensing even for someone just born that he was being ripped away from the most important thing in his life. Being inside this person for so long, he'd come to know the rhythm of her heart like a lullaby that lulled him to sleep on many occasions and the sound was growing faint as he felt stranger's arms around him instead. He cried even louder, a heart wrenching sound, as little tears streamed down his puffy cheeks and his pink toothless gums displayed in his open wailing mouth.

"There. There, little one, we're going to your new family now." Patricia spoke softly to the chubby, crying bundle in her swaying arms.

Lois' hands clamped into tight fists at her sides, fighting against herself, not to jump from the bed and snatch back her baby. But he wasn't, not anymore, she signed all rights away to a family Dr Emil hand picked. They had experience with his condition and Dr Emil highly recommended them to raise the baby, they would know how to handle him. Even after meeting the family many times, and knowing her son was going to have a good life didn't make this decision, not nearly easy enough to say, goodbye. Her heart felt like lead, heavy in her chest, she could have sunk down to the bottom of the ocean from it's weight... it was painful...it wouldn't beat. Her arms felt like there was something missing, a part of her anatomy gone, forever.

Her cousin standing on the other side of the bed turned her head away in pain, tears she didn't want anyone to see pouring down her face hearing and seeing her little nephew being taken away. Lois couldn't watch, the pain too palpable, the cries from her son slashing gashes deep down inside where stitches couldn't mend and band aides couldn't cover. She knew it would take a long time, if not forever, to heal. This moment, she knew years from now, she would think back on and kick herself one day. She knew this moment would haunt many a nights in her dreams to come. Nightmares she would never be able to get rid of for the rest of her life, agonizing over this one moment.

But, I'm doing the right thing! I can't be a mom, I'll just screw him up! Lois drawn by the depature turned her face to watch the back of the social worker as she headed out the room, Dr Emil following behind. The haunting cries of the baby ceaseless and fading as he was carried further away, never to return.

Chloe grasped Lois' hand inside her petite one, shoulders bouncing with her sobs and Lois didn't realize her own face was drenched in salty tears until her cheeks began to burn and her hand raised to feel the wetness on fingertips. The tall brunette sucked in air shrilly, as reality began to peek it's ugly head. The feel of a panic attack wracking her body as she squeezed her cousin's hand back hard like a life line...in fear...in loss of her child...in torture that went deeper than anything she ever felt in all the painfully cruel situations of her life. This one took the cake.

What the hell am I doing?!

To Be Continued...

A/N: Hope you guys are liking! Review, please