Chapter 11

Clark stared at the door as it closed soundly. It's noise echoing in his ears loudly as he felt his legs stiffen and go rigid. He had no idea what had just happened, and he had no clue why she had been so upset. Finally mustering the strength back up in his legs, he turned to the table. Jimmy was shaking his head, while Chloe had hers in her hands. "What?" He asked. When they didn't respond, he turned to Candice with a pleading glance.

"So that was Lois?" She asked.

"Yeah." He replied, his eyes drifting back to the front door.

"I see." She let out slowly. When Clark continued to stare at the door, she punched him in the arm fairly hard. She knew he felt that one.

"Ow." Clark exclaimed. It was honest, it truly hurt. "What was that for?" He asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"My god you're dense." When he frowned at her, she grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him towards the door. He didn't want to move, and he was struggling against her. "Go after her." She said with a loud breath, finally pushing him forward.

Clark looked back at her and nodded in realization. "I'll be back as so as I can." He said, turning his head back around and going towards the door.

"Don't you dare!" She almost yelled back. She knew he could hear her. "My oh my, he sure is an idiot." She laughed, turning back to the two people who were staring at her. Their penetrating eyes were uncomfortable, but she stared right back.

"Who are you?" Chloe asked with a half sneer.

"You must be Chloe." Candice smiled politely. She extended her hand, the blond woman warily reaching out to take it. She pumped it softly and disengaged. She quickly put it towards the man across the table. "You must be Jimmy." She said. He seemed more approachable, quickly jutting out his own hand and shaking it strongly.

"Yes, I'm Jimmy, and that's Chloe." He said, looking from the tall woman standing in front of them and gesturing to his girlfriend.

Candice looked to Chloe and smiled tightly. "You don't like me do you?" She asked.

"Well with what just happened, I can't say I'm your biggest fan." Chloe replied, her eyes never left the woman as the tall figure wiggled in beside Jimmy. Her boyfriend looked uncomfortable as she continued to stare.

"I don't know why you guys were thinking the worst. I think it's pretty obvious that Clark and Lois have it in for each other." She smiled wide as the blond woman's eyes went round. "What?" She asked, looking over to a smiling Jimmy.

"I told them it wasn't what it looked like." He said.

"And it's not." She chimed in. Noticing that Chloe's eyes were still lingering on her, she squinted and said. "I'm not a slut. I didn't do anything wrong." She didn't feel the need to have to explain herself, but it might have some effect on them. The woman continued to stare at her though. Fed up, she turned to Jimmy. "Do you mind getting me a drink?" She asked, stepping out of the booth.

Jimmy frowned at her forwardness and looked to Chloe. She was frowning too, but he shrugged. "Sure, what would you like?"

"Any kind of beer is fine." She said, her eyes never leaving the stout blond across the table.

Jimmy nodded and headed off to the bar.

Candice smiled and sat down. Chloe's gaze wandered after Jimmy for a second, but not before she scowled. "Who are you?" She asked, once again fixing her attention of the dark haired woman.

"Candice." She replied back.

"What about you and Clark?" She asked suddenly. She wanted answers and she wanted them now.

"We're friends."

Chloe didn't know what to make of the woman. She seemed friendly, but in her eyes lied something she couldn't place. "How long have you known him?"

She wasn't entirely pleased with the questioning, but she played along. "About and hour or two." She replied.

"And you're already touchy and feely? Clark doesn't do that kind of thing with strangers." Chloe said with a frown.

"Like I said, we're friends. Friends laugh with each other and touch one another. Not in a dirty way of course, but you get my drift."

Chloe put a hand to her forehead as she shook her head back and forth. "Clark just doesn't make instant friends. Usually he's wary about strangers. What makes you so different?" It was incredibly peculiar that the woman seemed so close to her best friend.

Candice shrugged. "I guess you can say that both he and I share some things in common." She smiled as the woman across from her frowned deeply in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Chloe asked with an angry tone. She hated it when people answered her with riddles or open ended words.

"Did you see the way I pushed him? Could you do that?" She asked, leaning forward and crossing her arms on the table.

Chloe's left eyebrow cocked suddenly at the woman's words. "So what, you have some kind of ability?"

"Meteor one in fact." She said softly so that no one else could hear. When the woman stared in shock, she laughed. "Clark told me I could trust you, but I had to send your boyfriend off so I could tell you."

With shock still firmly in place, Chloe asked. "You're from Smallville?"

"Originally."

"So what do you posses?"

"Strength." She said hoarsely, leaning even closer. Their faces were scant inches apart as she smiled. "Sure, I'm not as strong as him, but I have what it takes to push people around."

Chloe almost choked on air. "So you know about his abilities?" She asked, her voice squeaky.

"Everything." Candice replied, sitting back suddenly as she saw Jimmy calmly walking over with three bottles in hand.

"I thought I'd get one for all of us." He said cheerfully. He spied his girl and her scared look. "Something wrong?" He asked her, placing a beer in front of her nose.

"What!" Chloe said loudly. When she realized that it was Jimmy, she apologized. "Sorry. No, nothings wrong."

He didn't know if he believed her, but he wasn't going to pry. Still feeling a little uncomfortable around the stranger at the table, he wiggled in beside Chloe. "So?" he asked, taking a good gulp and placing the bottle on the table. "How long have you known Clark?"

"Couple hours." She replied, taking a small sip of her beer.

"How did you meet?" He asked with a smile.

She liked this Jimmy fellow. He had a good head about him, but most of all he was friendly. Again she leaned forward, her eyes going to Chloe, who looked deflated. "He found me naked on a picnic table." She said, her eyebrows wiggling up and down suggestively as she looked back to the man in front of her.

-

Clark rushed down the sidewalk, frantically searching for Lois. He didn't know where she went, and he was too confused to try and search for her heartbeat. He had only done it once or twice before, and he was pretty sure he'd be unable to pin point it. The farther he walked, the closer he got to the hotel. He wasn't sure if she'd go back there. Lois would likely do one of two things. Go back to the hotel and cry, or get hopelessly plastered. And since she had done the latter the night before, he gauged it more likely she was heading back to the hotel.

He quickened his step as he pushed his way through the crowded sidewalks. He cursed to himself that he couldn't just go into super speed and disappear. He didn't know what Lois would think if he showed up at the room before he did, but part of him wanted to surprise her. Settling for not doing it, he walked briskly along the street instead, hugging the curb so that any vehicle passing wouldn't hit him. He let out a deep breath as he turned onto the street that led up to the resort hotel. There weren't as many people around. Looking left and right to see that no one was watching, he sped towards the large resort.

Stopping behind a nook of the building, he quickly walked out and to the front entrance. His heart beat a mile a minute as he made the seemingly arduous trudge up the steps and into the main foyer. He now knew why Lois had been upset. She thought he and Candice were up to something, and he knew it broke her heart. It confused him that she would jump to conclusions like that, but he somewhat understood that she was in a weird place. He was in the same spot as her, but Candice had convinced him that he had to do something about it. He had planned to tell her his feelings tonight, but things had just become so much more difficult.

He struggled walking as he almost tripped over the lip of a large rug at the entrance. His eyes weren't focused on the floor, they were watching and brown haired woman enter and elevator. Wanting so badly to speed into it with her, he tripped and finally fell. Quickly gathering himself, he brushed away a few hands that had tried to help him. Looking at the Elevator again, he watched as the light changed on the numbers as the seconds went by. His eyes fell to the stairwell door as he struggled with what to do. With regular running speed, he crashed the door open and began his ascent.

His mind ran faster than he did. Inside his head were so many things he wanted to say to her, but there was one thing he wanted to say above all else. He wanted to tell her he loved her with all his heart. For so long he had been denying himself something he knew could be wonderful. Sure, they were both more stubborn than a couple of rabid badgers, but that didn't mean they couldn't change. He had come up with a plan to gently plant seeds about how much he liked her, but he never thought about how easier it would have been to just blurt it out. He knew why he didn't, he was scared. He was always scared. Hating that feeling, he jumped three steps at a time at almost breakneck speed, his hearing searching any signs of life that he might run into on the stairwell.

His running and emotions had his heart beating a mile a minute. He rarely got exhausted, but everything that was happening almost made him tired, as if he wanted it all to be over in a second. The faster he went the more his mind screamed to him that he was doing the right thing. Lois was even more stubborn than him, so he knew it would have to be him that said it first. There was a point where he was too scared of her rejecting him, but he had soon realized that living with regrets hurt more than not knowing. He would risk it. To him love meant everything.

He reached the floor to their rooms and let out a long breath. He had exited just beside the elevator. He could tell by the lights that it hadn't reached the floor yet. He shifted nervously in his boots. Not knowing whether or not to go into the room, or greet her at the elevator, he stuck his hands into his jeans pockets. It hit him as he fumbled his fingers around the change in his right pocket. He didn't have the card for the room, Lois did. Taking a deep breath, knowing he would come face to face with her in mere seconds, he felt the butterflies in his stomach toss and turn violently. He removed his left hand nervously out of his pocket and rubbed it through his shaggy hair. His breath caught in his lungs as the elevator doors in front of him began to open.

Lois fumbled through her purse, trying frantically to find the card for the room. "He better not have it." She said through tears, her hand firmly dug into the shoulder strapped bag.

"I don't."

Her head snapped up suddenly. It was him, the last person she wanted to see. She stared in confusion as he had both hands in his pockets. He looked scared, and she knew suddenly that he had lost the ability to speak when her eyes settled on him. She quickly let out a held breath as she found the card in her purse. "Out of my way!" She said authoritatively.

"Lois." Clark wheezed, turning around to try and grab her arm as she brushed past him.

"Don't touch me!" She screamed at him, yanking her arm free from his grasp and almost running to the room.

Clark felt his butterflies disappear, replaced with guilt and pain as he started after her. "Lois, I don't know what's going on. I understand some of it, but you have to explain to me what's wrong."

"No." She said simply, finally unlocking the door and going inside.

He went to follow, but he was almost hit in the nose with the door as it slammed shut in front of him. "Lois." He said again, his voice clearly etched with pain.

"Go away!" She shouted from inside the room as she dropped her purse on the bed and went into the bathroom.

Clark leaned his forehead on the door and sighed. He could simply wrench the door open, but that would not only raise questions, but piss her off. "Come on Lois, just open the door." He said finally.

"I said go away!" Lois yelled back, exiting the bathroom and finding her luggage bag. She quickly changed into her pajamas a she heard a soft knock at the door. "Did you not hear me the first time Smallville, go away!" The knocking stopped, but it didn't make her feel any better.

"Come on Lois, what you saw meant nothing." He rested his two hands on opposite sides of the doorway.

"Nothing?" She screamed, flinging the door open and staring angrily at him. When he nodded at her, she slammed the door shut in his face. "It sure didn't seem like nothing." She said heatedly, still upset beyond belief. She was pained more than angry, but her pain was coming across in a heated fury. She dropped herself onto the crimson bed and cried into the pillow.

Clark leaned forward on the doorway with his arms, his eyes closing in pain. A few tears threatened to drop, but he kept them at bay. "Her name's Candice." He said softly.

"Do you think I care what her name is?" She snapped back from her lying position on the bed.

"I guess not." He answered to himself. He listened to her crying, her sobs tearing apart his heart each time she inhaled raggedly. He wanted so badly to rip open the door and engulf her in his arms, but he knew she wouldn't welcome it. No matter what powers he possessed, fixing a broken heart wasn't one of them. He finally let a tear drop to the floor and said. "We're just friends."

Lois bit back a horrible comment, but said something else instead. "You sure don't look like just friends." She had her head on one of the large pillows as she lied with her back to him. Even if he was on the other side of the door, she still felt like he was staring right into her.

"I don't know why you're so upset Lois. I'm allowed to have friends, aren't I?" He was acting desperate, turning the tables on her for a second.

Lois thought about it. Sure, he was allowed to have friends. He had Chloe and Jimmy, but the fact that he went out and made a new friend, without simply giving her a second thought, hurt. "Just go away." She said in frustration. She knew he wouldn't though; he was like a cockroach sometimes. When you didn't want him around, he tended to show up and linger.

"I just met her tonight Lois, there's no way I would ever do anything with her." He was still leaning up against the door with his forehead.

"Do friends laugh and interlock arms with each other like that. I saw the way you two smiled at each other." She said with a pained voice.

"What does have locking arms and smiling have anything to do with it?" He asked, confused. He didn't know what she expected from him. Did she want him to say he was sorry? Sighing in frustration, he leaned even more heavily on the door as he agonizingly waited for her response.

"Don't deny it Clark." She said in anger. She didn't believe her words, but she was too upset to keep them back. "You just couldn't wait for a fresh pair of legs to come waltzing by."

Clark's eyes flared in anger. He almost burnt a whole in the door with his vision, but he held it back. "You know me Lois." He said sternly, turning his anger onto her. He was glad that they had the whole floor to themselves; otherwise people would have been poking their heads out into the hallway to see what was going on.

She laughed at his comment. It was a bitter laugh, nothing with sincerity or warmth. "The Clark Kent I knew doesn't exist anymore."

He let out an exasperated breath. "I will always be your Smallville." He said softly.

Even through her pain and anger, she managed to smile. That name represented everything about him. His awkwardness, his hero complex, and even the color of his eyes, but it just didn't feel like enough. She wanted so badly to slip the door open and tug him into the room, but she told herself that if he was more preoccupied with making new friends than speaking to her, that meant he didn't care as much for her as she did for him. She loved him, and he didn't love her. It should have been so simple, yet it was more complex and confusing than anything else in the world. Again she allowed her tears to fall steadily on the pillow.

Clark turned his back to the door and slumped down to the floor. With tears welling in his eyes, he leaned his head back with a loud thud. Why did she have to be so stubborn? He asked himself. Why couldn't he just be a man? He lifted his knees and rested his elbows on them. His head fell into his upraised palms as he let the tears fall steadily down his cheeks.

Lois cried some more, her racking sobs tearing her heart to pieces. She didn't know what to do. On one hand she loved him more than life itself, but on the other hand she had her dignity to hold onto. Her body went limp as she laid still, the pillow almost completely drenched. Her hearing picked up on something, but she dismissed. After a few more minutes she heard it again. It sounded like crying. She lazily turned herself over and rested on an elbow. Her eyes went to he door and the small shadow at the bottom that poked through. Was Clark crying? She couldn't believe her ears. She sat up suddenly, her ears still tuned to his sobs. The only time she had seen him cry was when Alicia had been killed. He didn't even cry when his father had died. Sure, he probably did, but she never saw him. Clark was usually one to keep his emotions locked away.

Getting to her bare feet, the breast of her pajamas wet with tears, she leaned up against the door with her right ear. They were louder than before, each sob he took drawing in a sharp breath. Her heart broke again as she felt like slumping to the floor. She was being stubborn again, she knew it, but deep down she couldn't will herself to give in. To her it always had to be about a winner. It had been like that her whole life. She had been so angry with the fact that her sister seemingly had everything handed to her, while she had to work for it, that she was bitter. Now those traits that she once admired about herself were quickly turning into regret. She couldn't change her nature though, that's what she was and nothing could redirect that.

As she continued to listen to him, she closed her eyes. Slowly the sobbing died down to heavy breathing. She couldn't possibly look at him while he was crying, and she wouldn't allow him to see her with tears staining her cheeks. Drying up the fountain, she wiped her cheeks clean and opened the door. There he sat, his back to her and his knees pulled up to himself as his head rested in his hands. "Clark?"

Clark was pulled out of his misery by her voice. Leaning his head up, he looked into her hazel eyes. He hadn't heard the door open, but there she was, staring down at him. By the redness of her eyes he knew she had been crying too. His steadily got himself up, his eyes struggling to find hers again as he stood straight.

Lois didn't know what to say. She was a loss for words, but somehow it seemed as if none were needed. When he softly responded to why she had said his name, she looked at him sadly. "There are some things I want to know."

He nodded glumly as he adverted looking at her eyes. They were too beautiful to look at. He would have gotten lost in them if he looked right at her. So he continued to look at his feet. He could see she was wearing her pajamas, a sudden pang of pain shot into him knowing she wasn't wearing one of his flannel shirts. He wanted so badly to see her in one again.

Lois steeled herself as she thought up her first question. She really didn't have any questions already thought up, and she should have probably thought ahead, but his sobbing had torn her into opening the door. "This Candy-."

"Candice." Clark corrected. When she glared at him, he shut up and looked back to the floor. He didn't need to upset her any more than she already was.

She almost slammed the door in his face again, but she held strong. "You met her tonight, and you're already friends?"

Clark nodded, not bothering to say anything else. He felt as if he let anything out, she would use it to burry him into the ground. The simple fact that she was willing to talk to him face to face was a fine edge to balance on already.

She continued. "This Candice," she said sternly, drawing the name out completely to get across her anger. "how did you meet her?"

He looked back up to her eyes. They were so beautiful, yet they didn't betray her anger. "I ran into her after I left here."

"How?" She asked quickly.

"I was walking on a trail, and I stumbled on her-." He stopped talking suddenly. He couldn't tell her, but if he didn't, she would slam the door on him anyways.

"Well?"

Clark looked back to the floor. "I found her lying naked on a picnic table." When he finally managed to look back at her after a minute of silence, he could have sworn she was smiling, but it was soon replaced with her once again steely glare.

She had thought it funny for a moment. There was something about him and meeting people naked for the first time. As quickly as she had slipped, the more quickly her anger had settled back in. "What did you do?"

Clark sighed and looked back to the floor. He couldn't talk to her when she was staring at his eyes. "I apologized and went to leave."

"But you didn't." Lois scolded.

"No."

"Why?"

He shook his head as he continued to look at the floor. "I don't know, she wouldn't let me I guess."

"You guess?" Lois asked with a frown, her tone of voice going low. It had a disapproving note to it. "So you became friends just like that?" She asked suddenly.

Once again he nodded.

"I don't get you Clark, how in the world did you go from being awkward to palling around with her like you've known her for years?"

He didn't know how to answer her. He couldn't very well tell her that he had made out with Candice, and that he was so comfortable around her because of the fact that she was meteor enhanced. Lois didn't even know about his secret. The probability of getting himself killed by the woman in front of him was rising higher by the second.

When he didn't answer, she reached out and lifted his chin. In his eyes tears were welling, something telling her he was going through this with even more pain in him than her. "Do you feel more open with her?" She asked, dropping her fingers from his face. When he hesitated again, she felt her heart beginning to tear apart all over again. "What is it that she has that I don't?"

Clark couldn't stand listening to her pained questions. They ate at his gut and gnawed at his mind. He couldn't tell her the truth, it was too important to let slip. He had made a promise to Candice.

Again he didn't answer, and her mind ran a mile a minute. What was he so terrified of? Why wasn't he willing to tell her the truth? Her head buzzed for an answer, and when he groaned, she got it. "There's something else isn't there."

"Maybe." He responded.

Her hand went to her mouth in shock. She had thought the worst, but like earlier she wasn't willing to jump to conclusion, so she asked him. "You kissed her didn't you?" She didn't know why she asked him, but she needed to know none the less.

He couldn't lie to her, he just couldn't. "She kissed me." He said, looking up to her eyes while the tears that had threatened to fall earlier were finally dripping down upon his cheeks.

Lois saw his horrid face, and wanted to slap him, but she knew enough that he might have reacted the way she hoped. "Did you kiss her back?" She asked with a hoarse voice. When he didn't respond, but simply looked to the floor again, she got her answer. Her heart finally let go of the final piece she had been holding onto. "Clark." She said sadly, closing the door on him as a new wave of tears erupted from her. She slumped down onto the floor and buried her hand into her eyes as she cried.

Clark leaned his head against the door as the tears came unbidden. After a few minutes, and not being able to listen to her cry anymore, he said. "I broke the kiss after I realized something."

Lois didn't want to hear it, but her voice managed to get the words, "Realize what?" out.

He leaned his right cheek against the door. "I broke it after I realized I didn't love her. I couldn't love her." He waited for her to respond, but when she didn't, he continued anyways, his heart putting it all out on the line. "I love you Lois."

Again he waited nervously, he his heart beating a mile a minute as he continued to lean against the door. The minutes ticked away and still nothing. He knew it, it wasn't enough. She probably knew he loved her, because he knew she loved him, but it still hurt not to get a response. He also knew she knew that they weren't a couple, but still, him kissing another woman while they both knew what they were feeling, was like cheating. New tears came out as he backed away from the door. The silence filled him as he turned slowly and made the painfully long walk back to the elevator.

Half way there, he heard a click. He didn't know if it was the door opening or the lock being put into place, so he continued forward. The next thing he heard made him stop though.

"Clark?"