Rated: K
"I know you don't know quite what you mean to me. I'm not very good at expressing myself, and when I try it usually comes out wrong, but I love you. I love you when you're yelling, especially when it's at me. I love you when you cry and tell me it's your hay fever, especially that time we were flying and there was no pollen for a thousand miles. I love how you lie, by the way, because you're exceptional at it. Except for those times when you can't at all. I love those times even more. I love how you've stopped looking at Superman like he's everything, and how you've started looking at me like I'm something. I love how you always smell like coffee, no matter what perfume you're wearing. I love how you smile, every single different one. I love how you're quiet only when you think you're not being looked at. I love-" he choked, his head falling to the bed beside her small, too still hand. "I love you so much sometimes I think about killing Superman, letting him die, so that I could spend my life protecting you and making you happy. Even if it's just as Clark Kent, super-friend. Lois, if you don't wake up, I don't know what I'll do. I'm scared of myself- I'm scared of how broken the world looks without you in it. I need you," he sobbed, the air in his chest burning in a way kryptonite never could. He buried his face in the scratchy hospital sheets and cried.
"Please, God, I'll do anything, anything. I'll serve the world for a million years, I'll give up my family, I'll give up her, I'll let myself die and be Superman forever, just let her live! Let her live!" His fingers pressed dents into the bedrail he was clutching. "How could I have let her get hurt? Please," he whispered brokenly. "Please, let her live."
A cold hand stroked down his cheek. He jerked up to see her watching him, a small smile tugging at the bruised corners of her mouth. She patted her throat, and rolled her eyes, to tell him that she couldn't talk. His entire body sagged at once, in a relief so profound it too was painful, and he scattered fervent kisses over the hand he now cradled in his own.
"Lois," he murmured. "Lois, thank God, thank God!"
She withdrew her hand gently, moving it to rest on his chest.
"Clark," she croaked, tracing the crest of the House of El.