Chapter Seven

"Where is he?" Lois Lane demanded as she stormed into a private room in the hospital with Chloe.

Oliver, Bart, Dinah, Victor, and Bruce all turned around, all speechless at the sight in front of them. Chloe walked to Oliver and pulled him aside to find out what happened.

Lois walked forward afraid to see the sight, the last thing she wanted to see was her beloved Clark terribly hurt. Dr. Emil Hamilton was standing in front of Clark, monitoring him.

Lois pushed through the rest of the Justice League to get to Clark, "Let me through! LET ME SEE HIM!" When she reached his bedside, she fell onto the chair right next to him, collapsing in tears.

"Miss. Lane, we'll have him stable… eventually." Emil said as he began to write notes on his clipboard, "Let's give them some time." He gestured for the others in the room to leave and they all nodded in agreement as they proceeded to follow.

Lois carefully pulled her hand up to Clark's face. She wiped the dirt away from his face and played with his hair. She couldn't believe that the man that she thought was invincible could land into this state.

Lois realized her life was too good to be true. Just when she realized that she was tired of all the B.S, and wanted to be happy instead of trying to please others, something unfortunate would happen.

As she sat staring at him, she took his hand and held it. She wasn't sure as to what she should do, the only thing she knew was that she wanted him to be okay.

"Hey, Smallville…" she began to talk to him, "I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, you better get better. And by better, I mean waking up now. I have some really good news, I'm done being the little diva and walking away from you… the truth is, I was walking away from the truth, and the truth is that I love you,"

She paused, "I've never been more in love with someone in my entire life. You are the most amazing person in my life and I cannot picture it without you…" a single tear fell, "Remember the time, we went out on our first date? You said you knew there would be an 'us'… I didn't want to tell you then, but I did too. There was also the time when we went away together for the first time. I have been to some pretty nice places courtesy of ex boyfriends but none compared to what you did for me. The sincerity and genuine reasoning for it was so special to me. I took a sneak peek at you and saw you fixing up the bed, and I only wondered to myself how I got so lucky to get someone like you."

She smiled as she reminisced, "Of course, we've had our fair share of bad times, but through those bad times, I only loved you more because you wouldn't give up on me, you wouldn't let me go. You could have any girl in the world and for some reason, you wanted a wreck like me… you changed me, Clark." She leaned forward and kissed him on the head. She sat back down and continued to smile at the man before her.

Chloe and Oliver walked in and called out to Lois, "Lois…" she turned around, "Emil says he should be fine. It was too much kryptonite but in a few hours, he should be fine…"

Lois nodded, and looked back at Clark.

Oliver walked to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "Keep talking to him, Lois, it could bring him back quicker."

Chloe proceeded to walk over as well, "Lois, if this is too much, I can take you back ho-."

"No." Lois interrupted, "I'm not leaving him, I'm not ever leaving him."

Chloe and Oliver looked at each other and shrugged, "We're going to go, we have more work to continue, if anything happens, please, let us know."

Lois didn't look back at them, her full attention was still on Clark. Oliver released his hand on his shoulder and put his hand on Chloe's back as he helped her out of the room. All that remained in the room was Lois and Clark.

Lois waited until everyone had left and she proceeded to talk to Clark, "When I first walked in here, I told myself to be strong, I tried to tell myself that I can't be weak for you, but seeing you in this state, I can't help it. I can't not break down seeing you like this. It's hard, Clark, it's so hard."

She paused as the tears began to fall, "I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you in any way, I was scared, I didn't want to let myself be with anyone. Richard, I've failed him, and I understand when you wake up if you don't want to be with me, why would you want to be with someone like me who has just hurt you so much? But you were so persistent about us being together, that I won't lose faith yet… not until I hear you say you don't want to be with me."

She wiped more tears, "I love you, Clark Kent. I love you more than I have ever loved anyone else in my entire life. I need you by my side, I want to grow old with you and have little Lane-Kent's running around the farm playing with Shelby. I want to write more stories together and I want to come home with you, Smallville, I miss my home." She let out all of her feelings and she gasped when she felt someone touch her shoulder.

She turned around to see Richard standing right behind her, "Richard?" She looked confused to see him, "What are you doing here?"

"I saw on the news that the worlds favorite super hero was seriously hurt and I realized that his number one reporter would be with him…"

"Richard, it's not what you think." Lois tried to cover up Clark's secret.

"I know, Lois… I figured it all out. I know his secret…" He said.

"How?" She asked.

"I kind of... read your journal... I didn't mean to. It was right there and open, you're not the best at hiding things, and I saw my name and my curiosity peaked a bit. But then, I read how much you loved him, Clark, Superman, but mostly Clark..." He said quietly.

"Please, don't say anything."

"I never would. I couldn't hurt you like that…" But while he was confessing that he couldn't hurt her, she noticed the hurt look on his face.

He looked hurt and sad, she realized he must of heard her spilling her heart out to Clark, "How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you belong with him." He said quietly, "I'm sorry."

"What?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, Lois. I was too insensitive to notice all this, the best thing I could ask for is your happiness. I apologize for the way I behaved the other day. I knew that you never stopped loving him, I saw it the first day you saw he had returned. That look you gave him, the way you stopped everything you were doing when he walked into the office and you two gazed at each other for a few minutes." He paused but Lois cut him off before he could finish.

"Richard, you're a wonderful man," she stood up, "You will make some woman very happy one day, but that woman is just not me. I'm sorry it has to be this way, and I'm so sorry I lied to you. I never meant to hurt you, not after how good you've been to me these last fourteen months…"

He smiled, "Take care, Lois… I wish you two a long, happy and healthy life together. I'll clean my stuff out of the apartment right when I get back." She smiled at him and leaned in to hug him.

To her surprise, he received the hug. They held each other for a few seconds until he released her. He gave her a brief nod before walking to the doorway. When he reached the doorway, he gave her a subtle smile and said, "Love each other, just the way you used to" With that, Richard White exited out of Lois Lane's life.

Lois looked back over at Clark who began to make sudden movement.

"Clark?" she whispered as she grabbed his hand once more. She began to notice his sudden move to get out of the bed, "No. No. No. You're not moving out of there yet," She sat on the bed and put her hand on his chest pushing him back towards the bed. "You're still healing, Super Stud."

"Lois? What are you doing here?" Clark asked still half asleep.

He was so happy to see her there. Even after everything that had happened between them, she was still there.

"Oliver called me and told me what happened. I guess those kryptonite bombs at the schools were all set ups for you?"

Lois was beyond glad to see her Smallville awake. She was so scared that he wasn't going to make it. But everything was ok now. He was going to live.

"Superman is a hero to a lot of people," Clark said. He looked worried to Lois. "But for some people Superman is a threat. Some people even want me dead."

"Well, I don't. I want to see you alive and saving the world," Lois said.

Clark had a huge smile on his face as he began to think.

"What's the dorky smile for?" Lois asked.

"I can't get my dream out of my head," he said.

"Dream? Care to share?" Lois asked.

Clark smiled at Lois. "I don't think I should," he said.

She hated it when he had that innocent smile on his face because it always got to her. "I think you should."

"Nah," Clark said. He teased her with a smile.

"You know, you are the 'Man of Steel' I think I know how to get to you somehow," Lois said.

"I think I can stop you somehow," Clark said. He leaned closer to her and began tickling her sides at super speed.

"No. No! Smallville! Stop!"

"Make me," Clark challenged.

"Clark, I swear to God if you don't stop I'm going to kill you myself," Lois said.

"No, you won't. You love me too much," he said. He didn't mean for it to come out like it did, but it was too late to take it back, "I didn't mean it like that-."

"I do love you, Clark," Lois said.

"I know. I know, Lois. You told me earlier today," Clark said.

"There's something I forgot to tell you," he said.

"What's that?" Clark asked.

"I'm not ready to give up on us," she said.

"What?" Clark asked. Was he really hearing thing correctly? Or was he still dreaming?

"I love you so much, Clark. I thought I could just settle for having you in my life, but the truth is I need more. I want to wake up every morning and find your arms wrapped around me. I want to go to work together and I want our co-workers to be jealous because they see how happy and in love we are. I want to take walks in the park. I want to have children with you. I want to grow old together," Lois said.

"You really mean it?" Clark asked with the biggest smile on his face.

"I've never wanted these things with anyone, Smallville. I want us to be together always and -," Lois began saying.

Clark finished their phrase for her. "Forever."

She smiled at him.

He couldn't stop smiling. He reached over and entwined their hands together. He looked down at their hands and then returned his stare back to her. "I'm so sorry for leaving you, Lois. Looking back now I don't know what I was thinking. I was such an idiot. If I would have jus-."

She shut him up with a kiss.

He wasn't going to fight her. He never could deny Lois Lane a kiss. She meant everything to him. So, he pulled her closer to him and depended the kiss.

Lois put her hand on his chest. Out of excitement she pushed into his chest a little harder than she intended to.

"Ow," Clark said against her lips.

Lois immediately pulled. "I'm so sorry, Clark," she said. She couldn't stand that she had put him in pain.

"It was a good ow, Lois," Clark said.

"Maybe we should continue later…You know, when you're fully healed," Lois said.

He smiled up at her. "As long as you promise me, we will," Clark said.

"I promise," she said placing one last quick kiss on his lips. "I love you, Smallville"

"I love you, Lois," he said.

Lois changed the subject on him. "So, are you going to let me in on your dream?" she asked him.

"I can't anymore," he said.

"And why not?" Lois asked curiously.

"Because you've already made that dream come true."

TBC