Title: Vulnerable

Author: Ashley Graham

Rating: K+ -Just to be safe…there is some swearing and a bit of blood…

Summary: Who exactly found Clark in the middle of the road in Hidden, after he was shot? This is an AU version of what I wish had happened…Hints of a future CLIOS relationship, nothing too obvious since Clark is with Lana at this point in time.

Authors Note: I hope everyone had a great holiday : ), I know I did! I now have all 5 seasons of Smallville, so you can just imagine how busy I'm going to be watching them ; )

Thanks for all the great replies!

Vulnerable

Chapter 4: A Little Relief

Soon, they found themselves back in the waiting room, looking dazedly at Martha and Jonathan.

"What happened?" Jonathan demanded as he stood, immediately noticing the tears on their cheeks and the faraway expressions they wore.

"H-he flat lined…he…" Lana began, unable to continue as the hard reality hit her. She had almost lost Clark forever, and he still wasn't in safe territory. He could still die…

Martha choked back a sob. "Is he going to be okay?" She whispered.

Before either of the two could answer, the doctor was in the room.

"What happened?" Jonathan repeated, directing his question to the doctor.

"We almost lost him, but we managed to bring him back. I don't know if his body is going to be able to handle the stress, it has become very likely that he won't make it through the night."

"Please, you've got to let us see him." Martha pleaded, her eyes sparkling with fresh tears.

The doctor nodded and said, "As soon as we have him settled in his new room I'll send for you. I'm not suggesting that you give up hope, but I advise that you prepare yourselves for the worse."

With that, the doctor swept out of the room.

Martha was shaking noticeably as she sat back down, her legs unable to support her own weight anymore.

Jonathan sat beside her, thoughts of the missile silos driven clear out of his mind. His eyes were glazed over, but he put an arm around his wife, he needed to be strong for her.

Lois, who had been silent since Clarks near death experience, was snapped out of her daze when she heard shouting coming from the reception area.

"I'm looking for Clark Kent, WHERE IS HE?" A voice mixed with both anger and worry yelled.

Lois shot up from her seat, she recognized that voice. Running out of the room, she turned a corner to see a very distraught Chloe waving her arms animatedly at a nurse, clearly furious that she wasn't getting any answers.

Her younger cousin looked relatively unhurt, and, aside from her disheveled hair, the mascara running down her face, and the speckled blood on her shirt, she seemed normal. We kind of look the same right now.

"Please, I was with him when he was shot…tell me where he is!" Chloe continued to rant at the nurse, completely oblivious to Lois, who by now stood only feet away.

"Chloe?" Lois finally managed to say, staring at the blonde woman in shock. How'd she get herself out of this one?

Chloe turned quickly when she heard her name being called. "LOIS?" She cried when she realized who was standing near her.

"Oh my god, Chloe. I didn't know where you were…Smallville told me you'd been taken, are you okay?" Lois asked quickly as she enveloped her cousin in a tight hug.

"I'm okay…where is Clark? Is he alright?" Chloe asked anxiously as Lois led her to the waiting room.

Lois gave her cousin a torn look, not exactly sure how to answer the question. She was spared however, when the Kent's and Lana cried out when they saw Chloe. All three of them temporarily forgetting about Clark as relief washed over them, she was alive and safe!

"Chloe! Are you alright?" Lana exclaimed, jumping to her feet and giving her friend a tight hug.

"Where's Clark?' Chloe repeated, not answering the question. Her gaze landed on the Kent's, who both looked absolutely terrible. She couldn't remember a time when she had seen them in a worse state.

"Uhmm…" Martha started awkwardly.

"Please tell me that he's okay…." Chloe whispered, her eyes wide with terror. The thought of losing her best friend this way was unbearable.

"He's still alive." Jonathan said throatily.

Lois sighed, knowing that they wouldn't get any answers out of Chloe until that gave her some, and started to explain what had happened.

Martha, Jonathan and Lana filled her in on how they had found out, and what had happened since they had gotten to the hospital.

Chloe had sunk into a chair by the time they had finished; her face was in her hands as she tried to keep her emotions in check.

"Chloe, what happened after Gabriel took you? Considering that Smallville wasn't turned into a massive, smoking crater, I'm assuming that you had something to do with it?" Lois asked as gently as she could manage.

The young reporter looked pale, and was tremling slightly when she nodded her head. She quietly explained what had happened right up until the point where Gabriel had stuck the gun in her back.

Everyone looked at her expectantly when she paused to regain her composure.

Heaving a great, shuddering sigh, Chloe continued to recount what had happened next…

Unknown Location, Earlier That Day

"Gabriel, you can't kill me. Who else is going to tell your story? Who will make everyone understand why you did it?" Chloe said after taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"You aren't going to make everyone understand…you don't even understand! You're going to make me look like a bad person, a physco and a freak!"

"I won't, Gabriel…I'm sorry that I hit you, I'm just so scared…" Chloe replied, purposely making her voice shake uncontrollably.

"Yes you will…" Gabriel replied, but he spoke hesitantly.

Chloe felt the pressure of the gun ease away from her back, and she knew that it was now or never. Twisting around quickly, she grabbed the gun and struggled to get it out of a shocked Gabriel's hands.

The two fought for the weapon mightily, and Chloe could feel herself being overpowered. Just when she thought she was going to lose, she heard the computerized female voice say, "Three minutes to launch…"

This prompted her to fight with renewed vigor, and soon she felt the gun twisting so that it was aimed at Gabriel instead of herself. Chloe suddenly felt the gun vibrate in her hands as it fired off a shot.

Gabriel looked at her, shock mingled with pain gracing his features before he stumbled backwards and clutched his bloodied stomach.

Chloe watched with wide eyes as he collapsed to the ground, clearly dead. She stared at the body as the realization hit her. She had killed him, she was a murderer…She was soon snapped out of her trance, when she heard the monotone voice say again, "Sixty seconds until launch…"

"Crap!" She exclaimed as she quickly stepped over Gabriel's dead body and sat down in front of the desk. Chloe couldn't recall a moment from her past when she had typed as fast as she was typing now. Her breaths became labored when she realized that she only had 30 seconds to stop the launch.

Soon, she was down to a mere 10 seconds.

Somehow, miraculously, she was granted access to the page she needed. The blast doors were closing and the alarms were shrieking when she hit the cancel launch button.

Chloe's body was shaking uncontrollably when the voice over the speakers said, "Launch terminated…"

She sat there for at least 5 minutes before coming back to her senses. She had saved Smallville from certain destruction…she had saved countless lives…It was at that moment that she remembered…Oh my god, Clark!

Jumping up from her seat, she tore out of the room and down the hallway, hoping against hope that Clark had been saved from death as well.

TBC

It was a short update…I have a lot more written but I just wanted to end it there, please let me know what you think!