I'll be expecting my imaginary money in the imaginary mail soon, ClanaLover4Life!. :P

"What…what're are you doing here…in Metropolis?" Lana asked in a voice that did a bad job at acting calm.

"Forgive me, Lana, but…telling you that I would be out of town for the next couple of days was a lie." Whitney stood, feeling quite in the right and dignified as he slowly slinked towards us. His gaze inevitably fell on me as he narrowed his eyes and added, "Seems we're both pretty good at lieing to the other…aren't we?"

"Whitney, Fox was just – "

"I don't want to hear anymore of your stupid cover-ups! Give me a little credit, Sweetie - I'm not stupid enough to really believe that you and this ahole aren't doing something behind my back!" He spat with venomous rage as he took the palms of both of his bony hands and shoved me backwards warningly.

Lana rushed in between us, attempting use her meager stature to protect me. "Look, I didn't mean to hurt you – "

"No, of course not! Because of course it wouldn't hurt me to see you with another guy, let alone one named Fox." He scanned me up and down again and then turned towards Lana in amazement. "Come on, Lana. Just look at him. It's clear that he's a broke college student who couldn't provide you with so much as a blow up couch. How could you see more in him than in me? I'm more of a man than he'll ever hope to be. I'm a Luthor!"

"You're a money-loving jacka, Whitney. You only want me for my looks. Fox sees me for who I truly am."

"Shut up, woman! You're nothing but a backstabbing whore!"

Whitney's eyes burned with anger as he grabbed Lana by the wrists and launched her across the living room, letting her land painfully on the hard, wooden floor.

Adrenaline shot threw my core as I grabbed the collar of Whitney's shirt. "Don't you ever fking treat her like that, you son of a btch!" I shouted through clenched teeth as I brought up one tightly-squeezed fist, aiming it at his cheekbone and more than ready to let it fly.

But suddenly my stomach lurched and my muscles quivered. I felt as though my very life was draining away…my mind whirled with fright as I realized there was only one thing in the world that made me feel that way…

It was then that I noticed a small class ring on Whitney's right ring finger that held a glowing, green stone of kryptonite in its center just before I collapsed onto the floor from the aching pain.

"What's the matter, dude? Have a little too many drinks with my fiancé earlier tonight?" Whitney guessed as he moved over me, increasing the flesh-eating feeling that coursed through my veins.

Without warning, I felt the sharp toe of his dress shoe stab my stomach. I squeaked and coughed, causing Whitney to burst into an evil fit of laughter. Another jab to my stomach had my eyes bulging and my cough increasing almost to the point where I thought I might throw up. I could feel my cheek begin to stick to the wood floor beneath it from the beads of sweat that slid down my face.

"What a pansy…couldn't even get one damn swing in." He shook his head with amusement. "You look so helpless. Too bad the pain you're feeling now is your own fault. Maybe next time you'll remember not to steal a girl from a Luthor."

"She's not…yours…" I spat out as loud and determined as possible. "and she…never will be…"

"What's that?" he asked ignorantly, putting a hand behind his ear as though he was hard of hearing. "You need a kick to the groin to get my point across? Why, sure I can help with that."

I closed my eyes, mentally psyching myself up for the worst, but to my surprise, no pain came. Instead, I heard a loud noise that sounded like breaking glass and I cautiously opened my eyes to see Whitney unconscious on the floor, the back of his head slightly damp with blood and Lana – my hero – standing over him with a jagged end of a bottle in her hand.

"Oh God…oh my God…are you alright?" She fell down to my side, holding my face in her hands carefully.

"That ring…Whitney's class ring…" I pointed towards his hand frantically, "…get rid of his ring."

"His ring? Why?"

"Just do it. Please…" I urged, clenching my jaw in agony and wishing Lana would move faster. "Get it as far away from here…as quick as you can…"

She nodded in confusion, but reached over and jerked his ring off anyway. She dashed into the bathroom and I heard the clank as she dropped it in the toilet and the flush as it whirled away from my aching body.

By the time she came back into the living room, my stomach was almost fine. I no longer had trouble breathing, though still acting like I did to keep things realistic.

"Are you alright?" she asked, pulling on my bicep to help me rise from the floor.

"Yeah…I'll be okay." Once I was standing fully, I held onto Lana's shoulder's inspecting her quickly. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

To my surprise, she winced at my grip on her arms and before she could protest, I moved my hand to see a small gash on her arm. She quickly shook her head with a smile. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

I wasn't ready to let the subject of her injury drop, but I knew we couldn't say here much longer. My heart began to pound harshly in my chest. "We need to get out of here…Whitney's going to wake up soon."

Lana bit her lip as she looked around, trying to help me think. "Ok…we could…go to Dean's. Oh no, but Whitney would look there. Um…we could…"

"We could go to my place."

"Your place?"

"Whitney doesn't know who I am. He still thinks I'm Fox," I whispered, just in case Whitney was awake and just pretending to be knocked out.

Lana considered the suggestion for a minute and then nodded. "Alright. Okay. Um…I should call Dean and let him know what's going on."

"Okay. Use your cell phone and call him on the way there. And get some clothes together," I suggested, still keeping my voice low and my words vague. I suddenly felt like those runaways in the movies – so many things to remember and consider. I wasn't sure how long Lana would have to stay with me and I wasn't sure how long my dorm would be safe for us. Whitney was not one to drop any problem – especially one that involved an attractive woman.

But I was very willing to put up a good fight for her.

Lana moved fairly fast around her apartment, scooping up some clothes into a bag and snatching her cell phone. Luckily I had used the truck to drive down to the alleyway to pass the time, so within the next ten minutes, we snuck into my dormitory bathrooms to change.

Lana insisted on cleaning her cut up herself, but I finally broke her down. Just looking at the injury she sustained because she was trying to defend me…it made me hurt too.

"Really, it's not that bad, Clark," she said for the fourth time as I soaked up some of the blood from her injury with a damp cloth.

"It doesn't matter," I admitted truthfully as I search for a bandage in the first aid kit I'd quickly snatched from Pete's dresser drawer. "The guy actually threw you down, Lana. I can't even…if you ever actually married him what he'd – "

"Clark, please…just…" I glanced in the mirror to see that she'd closed her eyes intolerantly, "…I don't want to talk about that. I don't want to talk about anything."

I pursed my lips and decided to finished up her cut in silence. I could tell she was tired, stressed, and scared. For once, avoiding the problem as much as possible really felt like the right thing to do.

We slipped back into the dorm room which was sans Pete because he had now practically moved in with Shannon. Lana had changed into some fuzzy blue pajama pants and a plain white tank top and still seemed as though she were effortlessly dazzling a stage as she curled into my bed.

I dragged my blue-boxer-shorts-and-gray-Met-U-shirt-wearing self over to Pete's bed when I heard a small voice tickle my ears from the other side of the room.

"Clark?"

I subconsciously smiled. "Mhm?"

"Stay over here with me."

I felt a million butterflies fluttering for joy as I meandered back over to my side of the room without hesitation and squished onto the side opposite Lana. "Don't kick me off."

The giggle that made each day a little brighter trickled from her lips as she closed her eyes, but still turning her head to face me. "I'll try not to."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight…" I almost fell into a complete sleep when I suddenly felt her arm run over my chest, hugging my waist tightly as she added, "I love you, Clark."

"I love you too, Lana," I proclaimed as I kissed her forehead gently. I slipped my own arm under her and rested my hand on her back, affectionately pulling her closer.

It wasn't long before sleep finally took its course.